All Blog Posts from Horserace

The Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed Republican strategist, is reporting that GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who has been criticized for lacking foreign policy bona fides, will meet with foreign leaders at the United Nations next week in an effort to "boost her foreign-policy credentials."

“The meetings will give her some exposure and experience with foreign leaders,” the strategist told the newspaper. “It’s a great idea.”

The Journal suggests that the meetings could take place on Tuesday at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly and that Republican presidential nominee John McCain will introduce Palin to the foreign leaders.

The McCain campaign would not confirm the report to CBS News.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, who mocked Sen. Hillary Clinton while delivering a guest sermon at Sen. Barack Obama's former church, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that he stands by his message, the Associated Press reports.

Pfleger said he regrets that his delivery may have detracted from the point he was trying to make when he pretended to be Sen. Clinton crying about "a black man stealing my show."

"I was giving a talk about race," Pleger said. "And is entitlement one of the things about race that I believe in? Is an unequal playing field one of the things I believe in? Yes, so I don't apologize for being passionate, I don't apologize for being free."

Obama left Trinity United Church after Pfleger's sermon and other controversial statements given by his former pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton plan to campaign together at a "Unite For Change" rally on Friday in the town of Unity, New Hampshire. (Now how's that for a symbolic location?)

As the Obama campaign's brief press release notes, "Both candidates received exactly 107 votes in the western New Hampshire town in the primary."

It will be the first joint appearance for the former rivals since Clinton suspended her campaign for the Democratic nomination. The Obama campaign has yet to release further details about the event.

Blue collar workers may not be flocking to Barack Obama in mining states like Kentucky and West Virginia, but the Democratic frontrunner has nonetheless secured the endorsement of the United Mine Workers of America.

"Senator Obama shares the values of UMWA members and our families. He understands and will fight for the needs our members have today and the hopes our members have for a secure future for themselves and their families," union president Cecil E. Roberts said, according to the Associated Press.

The Mine Workers had initially endorsed John Edwards, who subsequently dropped out of the Democratic race and last week backed Obama.

"Senator Obama will fight to preserve American jobs, not ship them overseas in greater and greater numbers," Roberts added. "Senator Obama will make sure that the nation's mine safety and health enforcement agency actually enforces the law, instead of coddling mine operators who repeatedly and willfully violate the law."

In a fund-raising pitch to supports this afternoon, Michelle Obama takes aim at what she calls the "win-at-all-costs" campaign by the Clintons – both of them. In the signed e-mail, she writes:

"In the past week or two, another candidate's spouse has been getting an awful lot of attention.

We knew getting into this race that Barack would be competing with Senator Clinton and President Clinton at the same time.

We expected that Bill Clinton would tout his record from the nineties and talk about Hillary's role in his past success. That's a fair approach and a challenge we are prepared to face.

What we didn't expect, at least not from our fellow Democrats, are the win-at-all-costs tactics we've seen recently. We didn't expect misleading accusations that willfully distort Barack's record.

Barack Obama isn't relying on a former President of the United States to campaign for him.

He's relying on us -- you, me, and hundreds of thousands of people like us who are giving whatever they can afford to support this movement."

More, from the fundraising appeal: "We've seen disingenuous attacks and smear tactics turn people off from the political process for too long, and enough is enough.

It's time for a change. It's time for a new kind of leadership and a new kind of politics in our party and in our country.

And while Senator Clinton has a former president in her corner, I'll put my faith in a movement of a whole lot of people who are ready for change."

In the last Democratic debate, Barack Obama responded to comments by Bill Clinton by saying, "I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes." Hillary Clinton shot back, "I think we both have very passionate and committed spouses who stand up for us. And I'm proud of that." Michelle Obama has maintained that she won't engage in the political debate in the past, but maybe she took Clinton's comments as a green-light to "stand up" for her man.

Judges are now deciding whether a movie critical of Hillary Clinton and the ads promoting it constitute political advertising.

The makers of "Hillary: The Movie" say the movie and its ads should not be subject to campaign finance laws, which limit when ads can be broadcast and require disclaimers. But the judges deciding the case seem skeptical of their claims, according to an Associated Press report.

An attorney for Citizens United, a conservative advocacy group, said the film and its ads should be considered "issue-oriented" speech, since there is no direct appeal over who to vote for. Here's the exchange that followed a judges inquiry into what the issue is, according to AP:

"That Hillary Clinton is a European Socialist," [attorney] Bopp replied. "That is an issue."

"Which has nothing to do with her campaign?" U.S District Judge Royce C. Lamberth interjected.

"Not specifically, no," Bopp replied.

In the film, AP reports, conservative commentators make the case for why Clinton is not fit to be president. One ad for the movie features conservative commentator Ann Coulter offering "a kind word" about Clinton: She "looks good in a pant suit." An announcer then says, "Now, a movie about everything else."