mercoledì 3 marzo 2010
sabato 11 luglio 2009
giovedì 21 maggio 2009
venerdì 10 aprile 2009
UN GIORNO CON CLINTON PER PAGARE IL DEBITI ELETTORALI DI HILLARY
By Al Kamen
You might have thought that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton would have retired her nearly $6 million presidential campaign debt a long time ago.
Apparently not, judging from an e-mail sent out today by Hillary Clinton for President announcing a lottery -- only $5 a ticket -- and offering as prizes a day with Bill Clinton in New York (as part of "your own special New York City weekend"), a trip to the American Idol Finale in Los Angeles or a flight to Washington for you and a guest for a tour of the District with political operatives and commentators James Carville and Paul Begala.
Almost every dollar raised from the Carville-Begala pitch will go toward someone who those advisers had quite a stormy relationship with -- Mark Penn, the pollster-strategist who was ousted midway through the 2008 primary season.
According to year-end filings with the Federal Election Commission, Clinton's campaign had outstanding debts of $5,943,385. Of that total, Penn's firm was still owed $5,362,278 as of Dec. 31.
In the e-mail from Carville, he says that he "knew it was going to take an extraordinary effort to help pay off Hillary Clinton's campaign debt." Especially after the economy sank and the job situation turned dreary.
So the idea would be "to have some fun" while settling her debt, Carville says. "These amazing prizes are only being offered online and are available only for a limited time," he says, "so please don't delay in acting today."
Then you can "win one of three truly once in a lifetime opportunities." A day with Bill, a night at Americana Idol or, he says, you can "talk politics with me" -- and Begala.
And you can, of course, contribute more than the price of a ticket.
martedì 20 gennaio 2009
lunedì 12 gennaio 2009
venerdì 14 novembre 2008
IMITATION IS THE GREATEST FORM OF FLATTERY
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/world/middleeast/15bibi.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalinkClick on the Russian-language version of the campaign Web site of Benjamin Netanyahu, the conservative Likud leader running for prime minister of Israel, and up pops a picture of the candidate with Barack Obama. On the Hebrew version, Mr. Obama is not pictured. But he is, in fact, everywhere.
The colors, the fonts, the icons for donating and volunteering, the use of videos, and the social networking Facebook-type options — including Twitter, which hardly exists in Israel — all reflect a conscious effort by the Netanyahu campaign to learn from the Obama success.
“Imitation is the greatest form of flattery,” noted Ron Dermer, one of Mr. Netanyahu’s top campaign advisers. “We’re all in the same business, so we took a close look at a guy who has been the most successful and tried to learn from him. And while we will not use the word ‘change’ in the same way in our campaign, we believe Netanyahu is the real candidate of change for Israel.”
Those who created the Obama Web site, including Thomas Gensemer, managing partner of Blue State Digital, say the Netanyahu site is closer to Mr. Obama’s than any others they have seen.
“Nothing has been so direct as the Netanyahu Web site, though we have seen others with shades of it,” he said, adding that when a campaign is successful, “people are going to knock things off, both in terms of functionality and aesthetic.”
Web sites aside, for liberals in both countries, the idea of Mr. Netanyahu as the Obama candidate of Israel seems mystifying. Of the three main contenders for prime minister in February’s election, including Tzipi Livni of Kadima and Ehud Barak of Labor, Mr. Netanyahu is the most hawkish and the least interested in the focus on dialogue with adversaries that Mr. Obama made a centerpiece of his foreign policy platform. Mr. Netanyahu has said he would shut down the current negotiations with the Palestinian leadership.
But it is precisely the break with the current policy that Mr. Netanyahu, known by his nickname Bibi, believes will help him take the largest share of votes. The most recent polls show him slightly ahead of his rivals.
Sani Sanilevich, who is managing Mr. Netanyahu’s Internet campaign, said the Web is one of the biggest focuses of the campaign, and with good reason.
“The main advantage of the Internet is the ability to communicate with citizens and people directly,” he said. “You can actually hear them and get them involved in this campaign. The whole idea is, together we can succeed.”
That last phrase, “Together we can succeed,” is the campaign slogan on the Netanyahu site, and it does echo, to some extent, Mr. Obama’s “Yes we can.” Mr. Sanilevich said the Netanyahu campaign plans to make use of Twitter, the mass text-messaging service that sends out short “tweets.”
“There are a couple thousand in Israel on Twitter,” he said. “We have lots of people using the Web sites registered as volunteers, and I am sure we will be able to use Twitter, which is an amazing tool. I have it on my phone and I go around with Bibi and everywhere we go he gives me things to say on Twitter.”
Netanyahu aides say direct communication with voters is important for many reasons; one of them is their belief that Israel’s mainstream media are not sympathetic to the candidate, and he needs to go around them.
The campaign said that like the Obama operation it would bombard its supporters with messages for volunteering and donating opportunities and set up a site where supporters could communicate with one another without the campaign’s direct involvement.
At least before Mr. Obama’s victory last week, Mr. Netanyahu might have been expected to have a stronger political rapport with Senator John McCain. The Republican positioned himself as the more reliable friend of Israel. His campaign portrayed Mr. Obama as an uncritical friend of a prominent Palestinian critic of Israeli policies in the West Bank, and also accused him of associating with a terrorist.
But Dore Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and a close Netanyahu adviser, said the Likud leader liked and respected Mr. Obama, so it was not strange that he had taken a page from the president-elect. He said that the two meetings they had held so far, in Washington in 2007 and in Jerusalem last summer, had gone very well.
“I was at both meetings, and it was clear that the two leaders established a very good chemistry very quickly,” Mr. Gold said. “We are convinced that the Obama administration will be open to hearing new ideas from Israel on how to make progress in the region.”
Mr. Netanyahu is positioning himself as the candidate of new ideas both for Israel itself and for peace with the Palestinians.
The ideas revolve around economic opportunities, aides say, cutting red tape to improve the Palestinian economy, building peace from the ground up instead of the top down, and improving life in Israel with a bold domestic agenda involving improved education, economic growth and personal security against increased crime.
The aides are convinced that negotiations with Palestinian leaders will lead nowhere and that while waiting for Palestinian attitudes to change, the best steps Israel can take involve building the Palestinian economy. Ms. Livni, on the other hand, has vowed to continue the negotiations with the Palestinians, which she is helping to lead.
Mr. Netanyahu’s aides add that just as the Obama campaign linked Mr. McCain to President Bush, they plan to label Ms. Livni as continuation of the status quo and Mr. Netanyahu as the candidate of change.
“Yes he can,” one aide said, with a touch of self-parody. “He believes he is the guy who can do it.”
Ethan Bronner reported from Jerusalem, and Noam Cohen from New York.
venerdì 7 novembre 2008
giovedì 6 novembre 2008
IL SIGNOR ROSSI - THE CANDIDATE
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mercoledì 5 novembre 2008
martedì 4 novembre 2008
lunedì 3 novembre 2008
L'Armata Potomac
A woman in her mid-40s, my friend was processed like a new recruit joining the Marines. One person had her name on a list and details about where she was needed that day (she was being sent to Richmond, while some were going elsewhere in Virginia or up into Pennsylvania); another had handouts for her that included talking points; another had campaign materials; still another a map to guide her to her destination; and so on. There was no milling about aimlessly, trying to get someone’s attention. No confusion as to her assignment for the day. She was inducted, equipped and on her way.
And that reminded me of the operation I saw as early as July a year and a half ago in Iowa. The process would be fine-tuned, certainly, as the campaign’s experience and staff steadily grew. But Obama’s operation was defined like no other campaign this cycle, Democrat or Republican, by two things: a supremely disciplined organization and a legion of volunteers that made this vast grassroots effort possible.
So far we have seen it vanquish the Hillary Clinton campaign, which was itself thought to be an invincible machine. If the Obama army goes down to defeat this time, analysts everywhere will be trying to understand exactly what trumped its organization and enthusiasm. The polls suggest, however, that it will finish the job and seize the objective, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Disciplined armies, with lots of soldier, do have a tendency to win.
giovedì 30 ottobre 2008
INFOMERCIAL
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama's 30-minute TV ad, which ran simultaneously on broadcast and cable networks at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, is muscle-flexing that has little precedent, a campaign advertising expert said.
Sen. Barack Obama aired a 30-minute campaign ad Wednesday night."It's evidence, if you needed any, that the Obama campaign has more money than there is ad time left to buy," said Evan Tracey, director of the Campaign Media Analysis Group. "This is flexing the muscles."
Tracey estimates that it will cost the campaign "in the $4 to 5 million range -- at a minimum, $3.5 million."
But, he said, spending the money is a "no-brainer" for the Democratic presidential hopeful.
"The strategic brilliance of this for Obama is that he is going to consume about 24 hours of the news cycle," Tracey said. "It boxes [John] McCain in, takes the oxygen out of the room."
In the carefully produced infomercial, Obama laid out his plans for the economy and for bringing an end to the war in Iraq.
It also featured stories of struggling families in swing states such as Ohio and Missouri and included testimonials from high-profile supporters, including Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
Obama's Republican opponent, Arizona Sen. John McCain, was not mentioned, nor was the GOP. The spot ended with a brief, live Obama address to a rally in Florida, another hotly contested state in this year's campaign.
"I'm reminded every single day that I am not a perfect man," he said. "I will not be a perfect president.
"But I can promise you this: I will always tell you what I think and where I stand. I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you when we disagree. And, most importantly, I will open the doors of government and ask you to be involved in your own democracy again."
There was so much buzz surrounding the infomercial -- which was announced about two weeks ago -- that on Tuesday, Time magazine's Mark Halperin put the ad's two editors on his daily list of the "five most important people in American politics not running for president."
Those editors, Erik Smith and Mark Putnam, were "still in an edit room" cutting the 30-minute piece Tuesday when he published the list, according to Halperin, Time's editor-at-large and senior political analyst.
The ad ran at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, NBC, MSNBC, Fox, BET, TV One and Univision, the Spanish-language network, six days before Election Day.CNN declined to run the spot, and talks between ABC and the Obama
campaign fell apart.
"We were approached by the Obama campaign and declined their request," said Sal Petruzzi, senior vice president for public relations of Turner Broadcasting, CNN's parent company.
"We did not want to pre-empt our programming lineup with a 30-minute spot. We would rather use our air to continue to cover the campaign, candidates and issues like we always do, from all points of view with the best political team on television."
An ABC spokeswoman declined to comment about the network's talks with the Obama campaign.
"As a matter of policy we don't comment about clients with whom we are doing business," said Julie Hoover of ABC. The Obama campaign has bought advertising on ABC in the past, she said, "but they did not buy the half-hour."
Obama taped an interview Wednesday with ABC's Charles Gibson, which is to run Thursday, his campaign said.
A source familiar with ABC policy suggested the network had offered the Obama campaign a different time slot.
"Hypothetically, we would have offered them equivalent time," the source said. "We don't have to give them the exact slot they are asking for."
Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said ABC had ultimately offered Obama the slot he wanted, but the campaign turned it down.
"By the time they agreed, we had already committed our resources," Burton said.
The Obama campaign reported last week that it had raised a record-shattering $150 million in September.
Obama has outspent McCain by a huge margin, according to CNN's consultant on ad spending.
Between the time the two candidates clinched their party's nominations in the spring and October 25, Obama spent more than $205 million on TV ads. McCain spent more than $119 million, according to TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group.
The McCain campaign launched an ad Wednesday attacking Obama for his 30-minute special.
"Behind the fancy speeches, grand promises and TV special lies the truth: With crises at home and abroad, Barack Obama lacks the experience America needs," the ad said.
The timing of Obama's informercial pushed back the start of a World Series game, provoking a jab from McCain during a Wednesday afternoon appearance in Florida.
"It used to be that only rain or some other act of God could delay the World Series," he said. "But I guess network executives figured an Obama infomercial was close enough."
The Obama campaign did not ask that the game be delayed, said a spokesman for Fox, which broadcasts the World Series.
"They asked Fox to buy the air time," the spokesman said. "Fox went to our partner, Major League Baseball, and asked if it would be OK to delay the game to take this important political advertisement. They agreed.
MLB's willingness to delay the fall classic for a political ad shows how very unusual the Obama TV spot is.
"Ross Perot did it in 1992, but it wasn't this close to Election Day, and now you have a very different media consumption environment. You didn't have the cable then," Tracey said. "There is no precedent for this sort of an ad this late in the race."
mercoledì 29 ottobre 2008
Could the polls be wrong?
Sen. John McCain and his allies say that they are. The country, they say, could be headed to a 2008 version of the famous 1948 upset election, with McCain in the role of Harry S. Truman and Sen. Barack Obama as Thomas E. Dewey, lulled into overconfidence by inaccurate polls.
"We believe it is a very close race, and something that is frankly very winnable," Sarah Simmons, director of strategy for the McCain campaign, said yesterday.
Few analysts outside the McCain campaign appear to share this view. And pollsters this time around will not make the mistake that the Gallup organization made 60 years ago -- ending their polling more than a week before the election and missing a last-minute surge in support for Truman. Every day brings dozens of new state and national presidential polls, a trend that is expected to continue up to Election Day.
Still, there appears to be an undercurrent of worry among some polling professionals and academics. One reason is the wide variation in Obama leads: Just yesterday, an array of polls showed the Democrat leading by as little as two points and as much as 15 points. The latest Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll showed the race holding steady, with Obama enjoying a lead of 52 percent to 45 percent among likely voters.
Some in the McCain camp also argue that the polls showing the largest leads for Obama mistakenly assume that turnout among young voters and African Americans will be disproportionately high. The campaign is banking on a good turnout among GOP partisans, whom McCain officials say they are working hard to attract to the polls.
"I have been wondering for weeks" whether the polls are accurately gauging the state of the race, said Steven Schier, a political scientist at Carleton College in Minnesota. Borrowing from lingo popularized by former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Schier asked what are the "unknown unknowns" about polling this year: For instance, is the sizable cohort of people who don't respond to pollsters more Republican-leaning this year, perhaps because they don't want to admit to a pollster that they are not supporting the "voguish" Obama?
If so, that could mean the polls are routinely understating McCain's support. "I have no evidence that this is happening," Schier said, but he added: "I'm still thinking there's a 25 percent chance that this is a squeaker race and McCain pulls it out."
Other experts are less uncertain. Ruy Teixeira, a political demographer at the Center for American Progress and the Century Foundation, said averaging the daily polls points to "pretty much the same thing -- that the race is pretty stable and that Obama has a stable lead. Typically, when you are this far ahead at this point, it's hard to lose."
"It is very unlikely that we are going to get surprised by a last-minute movement," said John R. Petrocik, chairman of the political science department at the University of Missouri. "Obama has been running six to eight points ahead for the better part of two weeks, and it's hard to imagine that turning around."
The McCain campaign's case that the race is closer than many polls suggest appears to rest largely on the proposition that the composition of the electorate this year will closely resemble that in 2004.
McCain pollsters do anticipate that turnout could be even higher this year than the robust turnout four years ago, but they also expect that Democratic gains among African American voters and younger voters will be offset by higher turnout among more Republican-leaning voters. They also assert the race is tightening in battleground states, with independent voters increasingly receptive to McCain.
"As other public polls begin to show Senator Obama dropping below 50% and the margin over McCain beginning to approach margin of error with a week left, all signs say we are headed to an election that may easily be too close to call by next Tuesday," McCain pollster Bill McInturff wrote in a memo released last night by the campaign. Obama officials voiced confidence in their ultimate victory but said they have always expected the election to be close.
To buttress its point of view, the McCain team points to results reported yesterday by the Gallup organization, whose daily tracking poll showed Obama up 49 percent to 47 percent using Gallup's traditional turnout model, which assumes that turnout will follow the patterns of past elections. Obama has a larger lead, seven points, using a model that allows a higher presence of first-time voters.
A Pew Research Center poll released yesterday shows a 15-point lead for Obama, a result based on relaxed criteria for when to consider an African American respondent a likely voter, said Andrew Kohut, president of the center. He said the poll shows that roughly 12 percent of the electorate this year is black, up from 2004, with a similar increase among younger voters. Kohut defended this approach, saying there are historically high levels of interest in this contest among both demographic groups. At the same time, he added, "we've consistently shown less enthusiasm and engagement among Republicans than is typical, and the composition of the electorate shows that."
Kohut said several variables signal Obama has not convinced voters, such as a large number of respondents in the Pew poll who see the Illinois Democrat as a risky choice. But Kohut said the odds are against "a huge shift" in voter preferences by Election Day.
Some polls show Obama with a healthy lead even without an assumed surge in African American and young voters. Obama's seven-point lead in the Washington Post-ABC News poll is not premised on disproportionately higher turnout among those demographic groups. The poll's turnout model currently shows that 10 percent of likely voters are black, compared with the 11 percent who voted in 2004, according to the network exit poll. Voters younger than 30 make up 16 percent of the Post-ABC sample, little different from the 17 percent four years ago.
Post polling director Jon Cohen said the survey designers "carefully consider a range of likely voter scenarios and use our best judgment. Our polling throughout the campaign has been on target and, we believe, helpful to understanding what is really happening. I hope it stays that way."
He noted that to address "one potential pitfall," The Post and ABC conduct interviews with a random selection of those who have only cellular phone service alongside a traditional random sample of those with residential phone service. One recent criticism of current polling has been that it does not accurately capture the sentiments of those who primarily use cellphones.
martedì 28 ottobre 2008
Blog & Election
The Web is flat, especially when it comes to this marathon campaign. Every twist and turn, every new character, not only unfolds stateside in real time, endlessly commented on by the blogosphere, but also keeps the rest of the world on its collective mouse, with bloggers from countries as disparate as the Philippines, South Africa and Brazil glued to the historic race.
Differing time zones aren't considered barriers on the Web, where different languages can be easily translated on Google. Sure, many foreigners have paid attention to America's presidential elections through newspapers and television in the past. But the continued mainstreaming of the Internet, online experts say, has given non-Americans access to more information than ever before -- and, through blogging, an interactive platform to express their views. David Sifry, founder of the search engine Technorati, says: "As the tools have gotten simpler and easier to use, there's been an absolute explosion in the number of bloggers outside of the U.S., and one of the subjects they blog about is politics."
And right now, American politics.
Just visit Voices Without Votes, an aggregator of the international blogosphere. An offshoot of the nonprofit site Global Voices, which aims to summarize the goings-on in every blogging corner of the World Wide Web, the site focuses solely on the U.S. presidential race.
Voices Without Votes was born in early February -- yep, in time for Super Tuesday -- and it's edited by Amira Al Hussaini, a 35-year-old journalist from Bahrain who currently lives in Canada. The site's motto reads: "America votes. The world speaks." Recent elections in Zimbabwe and New Zealand have attracted some attention online, Al Hussaini says, but not nearly to the extent that the battle for the American presidency has.
"The Internet makes the world smaller, just a few clicks away, right?" says Al Hussaini, who was the former news editor at the Gulf Daily News, the largest English newspaper in Bahrain. With Voices, she says, "Americans can see, if they don't realize it already, that their votes affect the rest of us when it comes to foreign policy, the environment, the global market, you name it."
The site is not an online hit, garnering fewer than 100,000 pages views since its launch. But what Voices lacks in traffic, it makes up for in the scope of its content. There's nothing else quite like it.
Voices is funded by Reuters, whose server hosts the site, though Mark Jones, Reuters's global community editor, says the news service doesn't control what's on it. That falls to Al Hussaini, the site's only paid staffer. She manages an eclectic group of about 20 volunteers, all in their 20s and 30s, who speak English but are also fluent in other languages.
Scattered throughout the world, they scour the Internet, reading blogs and searching for mentions of the upcoming election. From February to August, 300 to 400 blog entries were featured on the site. It grew to 800 in September and about 1,100 this month.
There's no single directory of international blogs, Al Hussaini says, and she and her staff specialize in specific regions. They make sure that no one region is overrepresented on the site. It's a labor-intensive process. Though many sign their names in their blogs, just as many do not. Each volunteer has to read the blog, contact the blogger and locate where he or she is. "A lot of people write blogs without telling you where they're from," explains Al Hussaini, who speaks Arabic and monitors a list of about 1,000 blogs in the Middle East. Most bloggers write in English. Some, however, need translating.
Paula Góes, one of the volunteers, grew up in Bahia, in the northeastern part of Brazil. She moved to London six years ago and works as a translator. Brazil is a country of mixed races, says the 32-year-old, and many Brazilians are closely watching Sen. Barack Obama -- so much so that, as Góes wrote in a blog for Voices, six candidates in the country's local elections added "Obama" to their names. None of the Obama wannabes won. "The Portuguese blogs have been all over this election," Góes says in an interview. Even Tina Fey's impersonation of Gov. Sarah Palin has been dissected.
When Sen. John McCain visited Iraq in April, Iraqi bloggers chimed in. "I'll bet you anything, that the Americans will vote for McCain," a blogger named Layla Anwar predicted. Like many Americans, foreigners reacted with surprise at McCain's choice of Palin as his running mate. Some heralded the pick. Others didn't. A blogger in Kuwait, citing both Palin and Sen. Hillary Clinton, wrote on a site called Teach the Masses, "All in all this is a good lesson for the girls in our schools -- they have seen through Hillary Clinton and now Sarah Palin what a woman with an education can do." But a blogger in France, after watching Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention, wrote of the vice presidential nominee: "She is someone who believes in creationism and who thinks that global warming is a hoax! In the most scientifically advanced nation in the world, this is beyond shocking."
Al Hussaini says Voices tries to feature postings on McCain and Obama equally. She points to a Pakistani blogger who thought McCain won the first presidential debate, which was intended to focus on foreign policy. Still, there's no contest when it comes to online global popularity. Echoing the results of recent Gallup polls conducted in 70 countries showing overwhelming support for the Democratic nominee, most international bloggingheads are fascinated by Obama. On a site called If the World Could Vote, created by a 23-year-old Obama supporter in Iceland, about 475,000 people from 200 countries have cast their ballots. As of yesterday, Obama trumps McCain, 87 percent to 13 percent.
Perez, the high school teacher in Manila, can rattle off every state that Obama won in the primaries. Even his margins of victories. And state polls that now show him in the lead. "I've been too busy paying attention to this American election," Perez says, "that I don't really know what's going on here in the Philippines."
venerdì 24 ottobre 2008
sabato 18 ottobre 2008
DINNER
NEW YORK -Barack Obama and John McCain appeared together at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner. The entertaining pool report here comes from the New York Times' Jeff Zeleny:
Sen. Barack Obama was preceded - actually, introduced - at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner by Sen. John McCain, who took the first turn at the lectern. He delivered many lines that left Mr. Obama laughing out loud.
"I can't shake that feeling that some people here are pulling for me," Mr. McCain said, turning to the far side of the stage. "I'm delighted to see you here tonight, Hillary."
Mr. McCain assured those in the ballroom that his rival was not fazed by being called, "That one," during the second presidential debate.
"He doesn't mind at all, in fact, he even has a pet name for me: George Bush," Mr. McCain said.
Mr. McCain offered several words of praise, which Mr. Obama acknowledged with applause and a nod of the head.
"My opponent is an impressive fellow in many ways. Political opponents can have a little trouble seeing the best in each other. I have seen this man at his best. I admire his great skill, energy and determination," Mr. McCain said. "It's not for nothing that he has inspired so many folks in his own party and beyond. Senator Obama talks about making history and he's made quite a bit of it already.
"There was a time when the mere invitation of an African American citizen to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage and an insult in many quarters. Today, it's world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time. And good riddance.
"I can't wish my opponent luck, but I do wish him well."
After a handshake, Mr. Obama took the lectern for his turn.
"I was originally told the venue would be Yankee Stadium. Can somebody tell me what happened to the Greek columns that I requested?" Mr. Obama said.
Later, he added: "I do love the Waldorf Astoria. I hear from the doorstep you can see all the way to the Russian Tea Room."
(Yes, Mr. McCain laughed. A lot.)
Mr. Obama, noting his age, said he did not have the pleasure of knowing Al Smith, but added: "From everything Senator McCain has told me, he was a great man."
Then, he gave a shout out to Mayor Bloomberg.
"The mayor recently announced some news that he would be rewriting the rules and have a third term, which prompted Bill Clinton to say: You can do that?" Mr. Obama said.
As Mrs. Clinton laughed on stage, Mr. Obama added: "I'm glad to see you made it Hillary. I hear Chuck Schumer tried to tell you that we really did move this event to Yankee Stadium."
Mr. Obama continued with Mrs. Clinton, saying: "She's the primary reason I have all this gray in my hair now."
Mr. Obama called it "a tribute to American democracy" that the two rivals could come together two weeks before the election to "sit down at the same dinner table without preconditions."
He drew boos from the crowd when he tried making a joke about AIG, noting that the fine wine and gourmet food resembled a retreat of the troubled insurance company.
Finally, Mr. Obama did a riff on the question that Mr. McCain has been asking voters: Who is the real Barack Obama?
"I actually was not born in a manger," Mr. Obama said.
"Barack is actually Swahili for That One," he added.
"I got my middle name from somebody who obviously didn't think I would ever run for president," he continued.
He predicted that several October surprises were likely to occur, including: "My middle name is actually Steve," he said, speaking over loud applause. "Barack Steve Obama."
The McCains - the senator and his wife - clapped only tepidly when Mr. Obama said, "Fox News accused me of having two African American children in wedlock." The crowd, it seemed, wasn't sure how to respond.
Mr. Obama praised the service that Mr. McCain has made to the nation, saying: "I'm proud to be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with you."
He closed on a serious note.
"No matter what differences or divisions or arguments we are having right now, we ultimately belong to something bigger and more lasting than political parties," Mr. Obama said. "We belong to a community, we share a country, we are all children of God. In this country there are millions of fellow citizens, our brothers and sisters, who need us very much - especially now."
The motorcade waited about 30 minutes before departing at 10:20 p.m. for the final event of the evening: the fund-raiser with Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel.
Because I like America
Tribune endorsement: Barack Obama for president
Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama campaigns in Roanoke, Va. today. (Getty photo by Joe Raedle / October 17, 2008)
However this election turns out, it will dramatically advance America's slow progress toward equality and inclusion. It took Abraham Lincoln's extraordinary courage in the Civil War to get us here. It took an epic battle to secure women the right to vote. It took the perseverance of the civil rights movement. Now we have an election in which we will choose the first African-American president . . . or the first female vice president.In recent weeks it has been easy to lose sight of this history in the making. Americans are focused on the greatest threat to the world economic system in 80 years. They feel a personal vulnerability the likes of which they haven't experienced since Sept. 11, 2001. It's a different kind of vulnerability. Unlike Sept. 11, the economic threat hasn't forged a common bond in this nation. It has fed anger, fear and mistrust.
On Nov. 4 we're going to elect a president to lead us through a perilous time and restore in us a common sense of national purpose.
The strongest candidate to do that is Sen. Barack Obama. The Tribune is proud to endorse him today for president of the United States.
