Starting Gate: Around The Track
Obama has described Wright as "an old uncle who says things I don't always agree with," and has repudiated some of the comments. But Wright's suggestions that America's past in part invited 9/11, among other comments, are certain to draw attention, especially given the past relationship between the two men. Wright has been described as Obama's "spiritual mentor." He married Obama and his wife, Michelle and baptized their two children. And Wright has been credited by Obama for inspiring the title of his book, "The Audacity of Hope."
Campaign spokesman Bill Burton told Fox News Obama "does not think of the pastor of his church in political terms. Like a member of his family, there are things he says with which Senator Obama deeply disagrees.”
It's the latest in the "gotcha" game that has caught up previously unknown advisers like Samantha Powell (who left the Obama campaign after calling Hillary Clinton a "monster") and well-known figures like Geraldine Ferraro (who disassociated herself from the Clinton campaign after saying that Obama is succeeding because he's black). As columnist Charles Krauthammer asks in the Washington Post this morning, "if there are no policy issues between them and the personality differences have been whittled down, what's left? Identity. Race, age and gender. Is this campaign about anything else?"
Florida Democrats are far less optimistic. After unveiling a proposal for a combination mail-in and in-person primary, the state's Democratic chairwoman allowed that it was unlikely to happen. Florida's congressional delegation opposes the plan. Clinton has called for the delegates to be awarded based on the results of the January vote, something that is obviously unacceptable to the Obama campaign, which would be happy if nothing further were to happen that might lead to a reduced delegate lead.
As Florida Rep. Robert Wexler noted, "There's a high demand by one candidate [for a re-vote] and a low demand by the other, and somewhere in between is a resolution," Wexler said. "So that's what we're trying to figure out."
More from the Post: "The magnitude of the alleged fraud staggered Republicans, who are bracing for the final accounting from the forensic audit in six to eight weeks." For a party already being out-raised by Democrats and facing a tough environment in both House and Senate races in the fall, it's not what Republicans need at the moment.
