From The Road
March 4, 2008 3:35 PM

Obama Says Press Bites on Clinton Spin

By
Maria Gavrilovic
Topics
Barack Obama
(CBS)
From CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic:

HOUSTON -- Barack Obama described Hillary Clinton today as a "tenacious" candidate but blamed her for running a negative campaign. He said Clinton has employed a "kitchen sink" strategy in attacking him, and that negative ads running against him may have caused a sense of "turbulence" in the minds of voters.

"I am a little surprised that all the complaining about the refs has worked as it has for them. This whole spin of just how the press has been tough on them and not tough on us. I didn't expect that you guys would bite on that," Obama said.

Michelle Obama, who has been campaigning alone in Texas and Ohio, called her husband "calm, cool, and collected."

"You know this is a tough game, you know this is how it goes," Michelle Obama told the reporters on the plane. "This hasn't been anything other than what we expected. You have to be ready for tough questions and he's handled himself well."

Meantime, he continues to downplay expectations for today's contests, saying that the results will be very close and he doesn't expect Hillary Clinton to gain on his pledged delegate lead.

"We know there's not going to be a huge shift in delegates one way or another just given the math, which means that either way we will go to Mississippi and Wyoming next week." Obama told reporters on the flight from Houston to San Antonio.


Add a Comment See all 23 Comments
by popstom1 March 6, 2008 2:19 AM EST
It''s human being
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by xzonz March 5, 2008 12:24 PM EST
TORONTO %u2014 Canada%u2019s conservative government said Tuesday it was investigating the leak of a memo that suggested Barack Obama%u2019s harsh words about the North American Free Trade Agreement were for political show.

The memo circulated within the government and obtained by The Associated Press said Obama%u2019s senior economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, discussed the debate over free trade in the Democratic presidential primary campaign with Canadian officials in Chicago.

%u201CThe primary campaign has been necessarily domestically focused, particularly in the Midwest, and that much of the rhetoric that may be perceived to be protectionist is more reflective of political maneuvering than policy,%u201D Goolsbee was quoted as saying in the memo.



Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Tuesday called the memo%u2019s leak %u201Ccompletely unacceptable,%u201D and vowed his government would find out who was responsible.

%u201CThe Canadian Embassy in Washington expressed it%u2019s apologies regarding the leaking of this information,%u201D Harper said in Parliament. %u201CThe government is trying to find who%u2019s responsible for this information being made public.%u201D

Harper has disputed the suggestion that his government was trying to complicate Obama%u2019s chances or favor Republican Sen. John McCain, who strongly supports NAFTA.

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by placidgirl8 March 5, 2008 8:53 AM EST
Obama is a master at spin....he cleverly turned the South Carolina campaign against the Clintons by getting people to believe they were racist...what a joke, but people bought it unbelievably. He is always playing the victim....people need to wake up and recognize his ploys. He''s been very negative toward her...he''s using all the ploys in Karl Rove''s playbook against her but fortunately, more people are not fooled by him.
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by acleave171 March 5, 2008 4:41 AM EST
Prayerman3 says: "...I think in the consitution it should be put that no human beig that has a muslium name should not be allowed to be President."

This is one of the types of ignorant comments that will tear the Democratic party apart. I wish I could say that this is only one voice in the wilderness, but Hillary''s negative tactics -- and the results she''s getting from them-- proves just the opposite. Please stop spouting this nonsense. It is time for Americans to finally realize that this nation is populated with many people whose names ARE NOT "Bill," "John," "Mary," and "Susie".
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by prayerman3 March 5, 2008 3:51 AM EST
Hillary won by people voting for the right candidate.
I think in the consitution it should be put that no human beig that has a muslium name should not be allowed to be President.Obama will not stand and pledge to the flag thats not American. Obama wants kids to go to school 12 months , thats not right. Hillary is going to be President.
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by kenbomc March 5, 2008 3:51 AM EST
Congrats to HRC for winning a couple more delegates -but it will be all over soon. John Edwards will be endorsing Obama soon along with 50 or so super delgates. Nice try though. Obama''08
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by craigh9 March 5, 2008 3:39 AM EST
Hillary registers very strong with uneducated voters.

Wow - aren''''t these the folks that react most to negative - fear mongering tactics. Way to go Hillary, those that can''''t think for themselves are on your side. What an accomplishment
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by wstcstmsgr March 5, 2008 3:18 AM EST
Sounds like sour grapes on Obama''s part. He didn''t complain to the press when they were "biting" on his spin. The thing is his ploy to paint Hillary as "desperate", as if she was one of the "Desperate Housewives", to be made fun of and disregarded-- well frankly it backfired on him.
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by minette7 March 5, 2008 1:33 AM EST
Hillary and the media (other than CBS) have been rude, insulting, berating of Barack who has maintained his calm coolness. And I''m a 62 year old white woman who voted for Barack. Obama ''08
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by minette7 March 5, 2008 1:30 AM EST
I have been follwong the democratic campaign for over 2 months and Hillary''s behavior has been and attitude have been ruthless and the media has been very tough on Barack as well as rude and insulting to him and he has handled it extremely well.Obama ''08
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