2008 US Presidential Election.

TIME: What surprised you about this first trip to Iowa? Is there anything you want to do differently the next time you go out?

CLINTON: I was really excited by the intensity of feelings that I encountered in all of the events, large and small, and the energy that people brought to the events they came to. People were really geared up. It felt more like a week before an election than a year before an election. There was that much emotion and intensity and energy. I was delighted with the whole weekend. I though it went extremely well, thanks to all the hard work that everybody put into it, and I was pleased that I got to go to so many different places, and not just stay in one place, and obviously, I’ll go to many more when I go back over the succeeding months.

Time

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former presidential candidate Ralph Nader on Sunday left the door open for another possible White House bid in 2008 and criticized Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton as “a panderer and a flatterer.”

Asked on CNN’s Late Edition news program if he would run in 2008, the lawyer and consumer activist said, “It’s really too early to say. … I’ll consider it later in the year.”

Nader, 72, said he did not plan to vote for Clinton, a Democratic senator from New York and former first lady.

“I don’t think she has the fortitude. Actually she’s really a panderer and a flatterer. As she goes around the country, you’ll see more of that,” Nader said.

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - Senator Hillary Clinton vowed to end the Iraq war if she is elected president in 2008 and the war is still raging when she moves into the White House.

Clinton, criticized by core Democrats for her vote in the Senate to authorize the war, is facing intense pressure over her stance on the conflict as she heads onto the presidential campaign trail.

“I want to be very clear about this: If I had been president in October 2002, I would not have started this war,” she said at the Democratic National Committee’s winter meeting, the first chance for the party’s candidates to trade direct political blows.

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WASHINGTON - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton ended 2006 with $11 million in her Senate account, money she can transfer to the presidential bid she began in January.

Clinton won her second term as New York senator in November and announced on Jan. 20 that she would pursue the presidency, creating an exploratory committee that allows her to raise money for a White House bid.

The $11 million in her Senate account gives her a clear advantage over her Democratic rivals. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) had about $500,000 in his account, Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut had some $5 million that he could transfer and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware had about $3 million.

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NEW YORK - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton canceled her first presidential campaign visit to New Hampshire this weekend because of the illness of her husband’s stepfather, who died Wednesday.

“Due to the illness of President Clinton’s stepfather Dick Kelley, Senator Clinton will unfortunately have to postpone her trip to New Hampshire this weekend,” campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Hanley said. “She looks forward to rescheduling her trip as soon as possible.”

Kelley, 91, who had been in declining health in recent weeks, died later Wednesday at his home in Hot Springs, Ark. Hanley did not elaborate on the nature of Kelley’s illness, but two sources close to the Clinton family said Kelley had cancer.

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Angus Reid Global Monitor) - More Democratic Party supporters in the United States believe Hillary Rodham Clinton should be their presidential candidate in 2008, according to a poll by TNS released by the Washington Post and ABC News. 41 per cent of respondents would support the New York senator in a primary, up two points since November.

Illinois senator Barack Obama is second with 17 per cent, followed by former North Carolina senator John Edwards with 11 per cent, former U.S. vice-president Al Gore with 10 per cent, and Massachusetts senator and 2004 presidential nominee John Kerry with eight per cent.

Support is lower for Delaware senator Joe Biden, retired general Wesley Clark, Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich, and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson.

angus-reid

George W. Bush’s position on Iran is “disturbing” and “dangerous,” reads a position paper written in late 2005 by American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). One year ago the Bush administration accepted a Russian proposal to allow Iran to continue to develop nuclear energy under Russian supervision. Needless to say, AIPAC wasn’t the least bit happy about the compromise.

In a letter to congressional allies, mostly Democrats, the pro-Israel organization admitted it was “concerned that the decision not to go to the Security Council, combined with the U.S. decision to support the ‘Russian proposal,’ indicates a disturbing shift in the Administration’s policy on Iran and poses a danger to the U.S. and our allies.”

Israel, however, continues to develop a substantial nuclear arsenal. In 2000, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported that Israel has likely produced enough plutonium to make up to 200 nuclear weapons. So it is safe to say that Israel’s bomb-building technologies are light years ahead of Iran’s budding nuclear program. Yet Israel still won’t admit they have capacity to produce such deadly weapons.

Meanwhile, as AIPAC and Israel pressure the U.S. government to force the Iran issue to the UN Security Council, Israel itself stands in violation of numerous UN resolutions dealing with the occupied territories of Palestine, including UN Resolution 1402, which in part calls on Israel to withdraw its military from all Palestinian cities at once.

oped news

As most everyone knows by now, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) has recently thrown her hat into the ring of contenders for the 2008 Democrat presidential nomination. [1] [2] Because I happen to think that Ms. Clinton is among the most disingenuous individuals in American politics, I have decided to relate what I believe she would have said in her public announcement to run for president if she were capable of being honest with the people of this country.

The following quotes are from Hillary’s brief “I’m In” statement of January 20th, 2007. After each one I have included my own version of her message, written in a way that I feel more accurately reflects her true attitudes and desires.

HRC - “I announced today that I am forming a presidential exploratory committee.”

I announced today that I am forming a presidential exploratory committee, and before I say anything else, let me just point out that it was never my intention to complete my second term as the junior Senator from New York. I’ll be damned if I’m going to continue taking a back seat to Chucky Schumer, [3] while losers like John Kerry [4] get all the attention. Screw my constituents, I want to be president!

HRC - “I’m not just starting a campaign, though, I’m beginning a conversation - with you, with America.

I’m not just starting a campaign though, I’m creating a fearsome political hit squad to eliminate all of my competitors, and while I’m at it, I’ll be having conversations with wealthy Hollywood film actors, labor union leaders, sycophantic journalists, a slew of activist lawyers, and anyone else with the money and influence to help me get elected.

HRC - “Because we all need to be part of the discussion if we’re all going to be part of the solution. And all of us have to be part of the solution.”

Because limousine liberals are the solution to my fiscal problems, and sitting down to softball interviews with schmucks like Larry King [5] will be of tremendous help to me as I attempt to convince large numbers of Americans that I’m not really a communist.

news by us

The central character of the autumn 2008 U.S. presidential election has taken the stage. Hillary Clinton, the New York senator, has announced her bid for the presidency.

In the U.S. midterm elections last November, the Democratic Party scored a huge victory over the Republicans to gain control of Congress. Presidential hopefuls from the Democratic Party are hoping to ride that wave of success straight to the White House.

So far, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, former North Carolina Senator John Edwards who was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004 and others have announced their intentions to run.

Obviously, Senator Clinton’s decision to announce now was influenced by the other nominees within the party. But we cannot ignore the fact that as the situation in Iraq plunges deeper into dire straits, more Americans are hoping for a leader that is different from President George W. Bush.

Watching America

WASHINGTON - If elected president, Hillary Rodham Clinton says her spouse and former Oval Office occupant will be a “tremendous asset,” but she’s the decider. “I’m running to be the president, to make the decisions,” Clinton told ABC’s “Good Morning America” Tuesday. Since formally entering the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination over the weekend, Mrs. Clinton has been repeatedly pressed to elaborate on what role her husband, former President Clinton, would play in her presidency.

When he sought the presidency 15 years ago, Bill Clinton described his wife as a political partner, saying his campaign slogan should be: “Buy one, get one free.”

Asked if that slogan would apply to her as well, the former first lady responded: “I wouldn’t say it quite like that.”

But Mrs. Clinton also said she would “count on his advice and his experience, not only here at home with the great progress that was made on so many important issues when he was president, but also what he knows about the world in which we find ourselves today.”

In separate interview on NBC’s “Today Show,” Mrs. Clinton called her husband “a tremendous asset.”

“He knows what the job is like. He had great success on a number of difficult fronts when he was president. … So I’m going to be looking to him for a lot of advice and guidance.”

Yahoo! News

ALBANY, N.Y. - White House hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will not accept public campaign financing for either the Democratic primaries or, if she wins the nomination, the general election campaign.

Clinton’s decision had been widely expected given her and her husband’s proven ability to raise vast sums of money quickly. Her advisers have not disputed estimates that she will raise $100 million or more before the year is out.

The New York senator already has more than $14 million in the bank, money left from her successful re-election campaign last year. The funds can be spent on her presidential bid.

While both President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry rejected public funding for their primary campaigns in 2004, they did accept $74.5 million each for the general election campaign. The funding for the general election was expected to reach $85 million for the major party candidates in 2008.

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