Texas And Ohio Turnouts Key For Clinton

Hillary Continues To Press National Security As Central Campaign Issue

(AP)  Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton turned her attention Saturday to the mechanics of delivering voters to the polls in a round of primaries Tuesday that could hold the key to the future of her presidential ambitions.

Clinton also sharpened her criticism of rival Barack Obama, hoping to give her backers a jolt of energy.

"His entire campaign is based on a speech he gave at an anti-war rally in 2002," Clinton told reporters aboard her campaign plane as she flew between events in San Antonio and Fort Worth, Texas. "The speech was not followed up by action, which is part of a pattern that we have seen repeatedly."

It was the second day she has made national security the focus of her closing argument to voters, seeking to portray Obama as inexperienced and untested.

Obama fired back at rally in Providence, R.I., telling supporters: "Real change isn't voting for George Bush's war in Iraq and then telling the American people it was actually a vote for more diplomacy when you start running for president."

Clinton was racing between key primary states, opening in Texas and moving to Ohio, both seen as competitive contests with Obama.

"This is one of the most momentous decisions any Texan could make," Clinton told key activists as she launched a last-weekend blitz. "You are, in effect, hiring the next president of the United States."

She opened her weekend by rallying backers at a training session aimed at preparing activists for the incredibly complex primary system, widely known as the "Texas two-step." Two-thirds of the delegates at stake in Texas will be picked during a traditional primary. That's followed Tuesday night by a round of caucuses in the state's 8,000 precincts where the other third will be allocated.

The Byzantine process calls for a focus on grass-roots organization, and Clinton's campaign - boasting 40,000 volunteers in the state - was spending the weekend preparing backers for that task.

Activists from 20 counties gathered for a training session on how to take charge of those caucuses and sway voters who may be undecided. Clinton dropped by to raise their enthusiasm, telling them they could prove the crucial difference in a breathtakingly close primary contest.

Polls have shown Texas to be a virtual dead heat and the outcome could hinge on which campaign does a better job of getting backers to the polls. Clinton has a lead, albeit a shrinking one, in Ohio and the same dynamic is in place.

After losing 11 straight contests, many strategists argue that Clinton must win the big tests on Tuesday to continue. Her strategists have begun to dispute that thinking and carve out a scenario for continuing if results in Texas and Ohio are disappointing.

Rhode Island and Vermont also holding contests Tuesday, but with far fewer delegates at stake.

"We've got to do (is) the Texas two-step," Clinton told cheering backers. "We're going to take our country back."

Clinton planned to kick off an "88 counties in 88 hours" bus marathon through Ohio beginning Saturday night and stretching into Monday morning.

Speaking with reporters, Clinton said she'll continue to hammer on the distinctions she's drawn with Obama on national security.

"It's a defining issue and it's one that the voters of Texas and America deserve to think about," said Clinton.

Obama has accused her of trying to scare voters. Her campaign began airing a commercial a TV ad Friday that asks voters who they want to answer the phone in the middle of the night at the White House when there's a national security emergency somewhere in the world.

But Clinton said presidential candidates must assure voters they understand security issues, particularly in a campaign against Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain, a former prisoner of war.

"I think it would be really a disservice to voters not to raise national security in this campaign in a way that focuses the attention of voters," said Clinton.

"Everybody knows that John McCain will make this election about national security, that's a given," said Clinton. "If Senator Obama is unwilling to engage me on national security how is he going to engage Senator McCain."

She also hammered Obama over Afghanistan, noting he's complained about the conflict but done little, though he heads a key committee.

"He never held a substantive hearing on the situation in Afghanistan and what we needed to do," said Clinton. "A lot of talk, little action."

[smitafix8]

Hilarious discussion between Hillary and obama. Must watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7150u9sfCo

[popstom1]

patricia37 Bill Clinton try real hard to kill Osama Bin Laden Bush drop the ball now this is for you and the Obamanites when bill clinton left office his Approval rating was 65% the hightest since Dwight D. Eisenhower oh that impeachment thing you all like to forget is The United States Senate acquitted him

[blondie4359]

Thanks rozz62 for reminding us about the Obama''''s and Rezko.. ROZZ62 WROTE..

Auchi helped French and Italian firms win a huge oil pipeline contract in Iraq, chiefly by paying off Iraqi officials, according to testimony given by an Italian banker to prosecutors in Milan. In 2003, he was convicted for his role in what was then the largest scandal in French history, involving payoffs from executives of the oil company now known as Total to political figures in Spain, Germany and Africa.. The connection between Mr. Auchi and Sen. Obama is cause for great concern in the U.S. The national news media have been remarkably incurious about Sen. Obama''''''''s relationship with Mr. Rezko, and his with Mr. Auchi. The Obamas bought the house for $1.65 million -- $300,000 below the asking price -- perhaps because Mr. Rezko''''''''s wife purchased from the owner an adjacent garden plot for $625,000. (The sellers deny they offered the Obamas a discount.) The Times of London wondered where Mrs. Rezko got the money to buy the garden plot. At the time, she had a salary of $37,000 and assets of only $35,000, the Times learned. Her husband told a court that at the time he had "no income, negative cash flow, no liquid assets," the Times said. Auchi participated in more than just Rezko''''''''s pizza and property ventures, however; he also contributed to Barack Obama''''''''s campaign by donating to a 2005 fundraiser through a company of which is wife is a Director.

[blondie4359]

Thanks rozz62 for reminding us about the Obama''s and Rezko.. ROZZ62 WROTE..

Auchi helped French and Italian firms win a huge oil pipeline contract in Iraq, chiefly by paying off Iraqi officials, according to testimony given by an Italian banker to prosecutors in Milan. In 2003, he was convicted for his role in what was then the largest scandal in French history, involving payoffs from executives of the oil company now known as Total to political figures in Spain, Germany and Africa.. The connection between Mr. Auchi and Sen. Obama is cause for great concern in the U.S. The national news media have been remarkably incurious about Sen. Obama''''s relationship with Mr. Rezko, and his with Mr. Auchi. The Obamas bought the house for $1.65 million -- $300,000 below the asking price -- perhaps because Mr. Rezko''''s wife purchased from the owner an adjacent garden plot for $625,000. (The sellers deny they offered the Obamas a discount.) The Times of London wondered where Mrs. Rezko got the money to buy the garden plot. At the time, she had a salary of $37,000 and assets of only $35,000, the Times learned. Her husband told a court that at the time he had "no income, negative cash flow, no liquid assets," the Times said. Auchi participated in more than just Rezko''''s pizza and property ventures, however; he also contributed to Barack Obama''''s campaign by donating to a 2005 fundraiser through a company of which is wife is a Director.

[relee42]

Clinton needs 64% of the delegates up for grab today in order to tie Obama. Will she get her "milagro"?

[relee42]

Hillary must take an average of 64% of the delegates up for grab on March 3 to tie Obama, translation; "milagro".

Hillary wants to keep the Clinton Amnesia virus" going until she has a foot in the door of the White House. She will "not recall" anything about the federal report Bill received in 1994 that "warned of possible terrorist strikes, including how hijackers could use airliners to hit landmarks such as the Pentagon or White House.%u201D On 6/24/94, this report was also distributed to the Defense Departments, State Department, FEMA, Intelligence communities and members of Congress. The Terrorism 2000 report was compiled after the WTC bombing in 1993. To quote: "Targets such as the World Trade Center not only provide the requisite casualties but because of their symbolic nature provide more bang for the buck. In order to maximize their odds for success, terrorist groups will likely consider mounting multiple simultaneous operations with the aim of overtaxing a government%u2019s ability to respond, as well as to demonstrate their professionalism and reach.%u201D The Clintons never released the report to the public purportedly because of concerns in the State Dept "it would cause panic."
History can%u2019t be re-written: if this failure to act depicts: "Presidential readiness" and "experience" then I will pass on the Clintons and on G. W. Bush.
Barack Obama has the leadership skills to focus and respond to threats to our country. He is highly intelligent, has integrity, communicates well with adversarial groups and is extremely qualified to be our POTUS.

[popstom1]

Realpatrio Do you bow three times to the east or just
to Obama

[smashwl7]

Hillary Clinton is going to destroy the Democratic Party, she will fracture Democratic support mark my words America! McCain may win in November and our country is going to face some of the worse financial times in American history. Further we are about to embark on a new world war with McCain at the helm. God help us all. We are going to need someone with Obama%u2019s talents to help us all pull together to get thru what I see coming. God Bless You All!

[boatdocster]

Clinton claims great leadership, experience and accomplishments, yet she spends all of her time attacking Obama...

Is that because Clinton has NO REAL leadership, NO REAL experience and NO REAL accomplishments to share with us?

If you are going to campaign on your "Greatness", Hillary and her campaign staff should have that list memorized, and pushing it out every single day!!

Reality check - I have yet to hear what any of those great accomplishments are.

[boatdocster]

Hillary "Win at any Cost" Clinton

Hillary Clinton and her campaign is pushing for precinct captains for Texas'' 8,000 Democratic polling places. They need to train folks to lead the caucus sessions that will determine more than 60 delegates after the primary voting is over. In training materials being handed out by the Clinton campaign, it is clear that they want to control those caucus sessions.
The materials say in part, "DO NOT allow the supporter of another candidate to serve in leadership roles." It goes on to say, "If our supporters are outnumbered, ask the Temporary Chair if one of our supporters can serves as the Secretary, in the interest of fairness. "The control of the sign-in sheets and the announcement of the delegates allotted to each candidate are the critical functions of the Chair and Secretary. This is why it is so important that Hillary supporters hold these positions."

[realpatriot1]

popstom1,

Unless your name is Patrick Fitzgerald there won''t be any last minute subpoenas issued for his testimony. Unless there''s a sealed subpoena or indictment which none of us knows about you''re just pissing in the wind.

[realpatriot1]

jpspec,

Hillary began the campaign with a $100 million war chest, the support of the media and the Democratic Party establishment, front runner status, and the beefit of being a household name. The only ones running with a hand tied behind their back was everyone else opposing her.

Those of us who never suported her had to endure a 2 year long pre-Coronation from the press before any votes were cast. We didn''t whine and we didn''t hear any whining from you all that the press was not withholding judgement and allowing the voters to decide.

Now that the voters are deciding and you all don''t like the results whining is all we hear.

Suck it up and back a better candidate next time!

[jpspec]

During this primary, Hillary has competed with one hand tied behind her back. As a fellow (Lady) democrat, she has not used a lot of her available ammunition against Obama. In contrast, the republicans will use their stock pile. The end result will not be sufficient to prevent Obama from becoming president. However, when the republicans are done, the country will end up with a wounded president. He will struggle to survive his 4 year term and result in the republicans regaining the presidency.

Why did Obama not wait and run later when he had more experience? I suspect that he felt that Bush was so bad that anyone could win against him. Apparently this is true as voter know nothing about Obama and he is winning simply promoting the word change. Also, he has been able to win supporters by using the word "against" instead of vote when talking about the Iraq war. Unfortunately most people do not see the important difference between voting and speaking.

[jkbowman-2009]

Hillary Clinton is like Wendy from the Snapple commericals in the 90s. She''s a relic from the past, and this latest statement is just the same old tired politics.

[ranakarimi]

as a former muslim woman and proud american citzen who is familier with islam law im going to prove that obama is very dishonest man and here is why Obama is a Christian now. But he was born a Muslim because his father was a Muslim. His step father was also a Muslim. According to Muslim religion, the religion of the father determines the religion of the offspring. Therefore, Obama was once a Muslim. He has denied that he is ever a Muslim, but that just shows that he doesn''''t have the backbone or the honesty to recognize his heritage. When he came back to the U.S to live with his maternal grandparents, that''''s when he was raised as a Christian. To hear him say that he''''s never been a Muslim his entire life is truly a lie since he spent his first 9 to 10 years in Indonesia, a Muslim country, living with a Muslim step father. and dont forget there is a law in islam called TAGIYEH which means u can lie about ur religion in order to do good for allah later now the question is waht good obama has plan to do for allah!

[jesterbelle]

Homosexuality is our religion and Bush is our new God!

All hail Bush and bow to our savior!

I can''t help popping in my pants everytime he says AlQueda!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by hillaryin08 at 10:48 PM : Mar 02, 2008

Must you air your personal problems here?

[missingamerica]

I don''t know who will win Ohio and Texas, but I am willing to wager that - should Obama win - about 67% of CBS''s more prolific hate-mongering posters will stroke out.

lolll...well, you can hope...

[popstom1]

Obama Rezko Auchi and the funding for that boneheaded
MISTAKE and HE talks about judgement RightVoices.com

[arr967]

Come on folks, let''s seal the deal for Obama! Let''s finish this thing, once and for all. Hillary is a great person but she''s not what''s needed right now. OBAMA ''08!