PUERTO RICO, May 24, 2008

Obama Needs Jews, Hispanics To Win Florida

That Means He Also Needs Clinton, Whose Rapport With Those Key Groups Is Strong

  • Play CBS Video Video Can Obama Get Clinton Fans?

    Barack Obama remains within close proximity of gaining the Democratic presidential nomination. But, as Priya David reports, Obama may face a tough fight if he can't gain the support of Clinton fans.

  • Political analysts tell <b>CBS News</b> that Democratic Presidential Hopeful Sen. Barack Obama needs to start thinking about courting Sen. Hillary Clinton's base, particularly Jews and Hispanics, if he expects to defeat Republican John McCain in the general election this fall.

    Political analysts tell CBS News that Democratic Presidential Hopeful Sen. Barack Obama needs to start thinking about courting Sen. Hillary Clinton's base, particularly Jews and Hispanics, if he expects to defeat Republican John McCain in the general election this fall.  (AP)

(CBS) 
Barack Obama said Saturday that he takes Hillary Clinton at her word. That she intended no offense by her remark about the assassination of Robert Kennedy.

Also, a new poll out Saturday suggests Obama would face a tough fight if he's the nominee this fall.

The Newsweek survey shows Obama tied with John McCain overall, but running well behind among white voters.

For Obama, reaching out to voters who've been cool to him so far is a top priority, as CBS News Correspondent Priya David
reports.


As senator Barack Obama moves within striking distance of winning the Democratic nomination, today in Puerto Rico he focused not on senator Hillary Clinton, but on his Republican presidential rival.

"I don't understand how John McCain could side with George Bush," the candidate said at a rally in Puerto Rico Saturday May 24, 2008.

Senator Hillary Clinton is heavily favored in the American territory's June 1st contest. But she's still unlikely to overcome Obama's delegate lead. So in recent weeks Obama's been aggressively pursuing her core supporters. Those are voters he'll need come the general election.

"Senator Clinton has shattered myths and broken barriers," Obama said.

He's wooing her brigade of women and blue collar workers. And re-introducing himself to Jewish voters. And he's making inroads into Florida's Republican leaning Cuban American community.

"It's time to let Cuban Americans see their mothers and fathers," Obama said.

"He can't win the general election without winning Florida, and he cant win Florida without winning the Jewish vote and a substantial stake in the Cuban vote," Political Analyst Michael Fauntroy, with George Mason University, told David.

The key, according to Fauntroy, is keeping Clinton close. But Clinton's comments yesterday as to why she's still in the race, in which she referenced the assassination of presidential candidate Robert Kennedy, could ice over her already chilly relationship with the Obama camp. Politico's Gebe Martinez says the pair must come together if the democrats are to win over swing voters -- especially Latinos.

"He needs to have Hillary Clinton, not necessarily as a VP nominee, but as a key surrogate in the Hispanic community," Martinez told CBS News.

For now, Barack Obama is making the pitch on his own.




© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 434 Comments
by terrorislami May 27, 2008 4:31 PM EDT
never pay fascist nazi terrorislam tribute,,, never,,,

Kipling poem %u201CDane-Geld%u201D

It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
To call upon a neighbor and to say:%u2014
%u201CWe invaded you last night%u2014we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away.%u201D

And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you%u2019ve only to pay %u2019em the Dane-geld
And then you%u2019ll get rid of the Dane!
Kipling runs briskly through the stages of humiliation undergone by any power that falls for this appeasement, and concludes:

It is wrong to put temptation in the pathof any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say:%u2014

%u201CWe never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!%u201D

It may be fortunate that the United States had to pass this test, and imbibe this lesson, so early in its life as a nation.
Reply to this comment
by terrorislami May 27, 2008 4:14 PM EDT
the defeat of fascist nazoi terrorislam,,,

%u201CIt is a settled policy of America, that as peace is better than war, war is better than tribute. The United States, while they wish for war with no nation, will buy peace with none.%u201D President James Madison
Reply to this comment
by terrorislami May 27, 2008 3:48 PM EDT
america stands up to fascist nazi terrorislam,,,

But one cannot get around what Jefferson heard when he went with John Adams to wait upon Tripoli%u2019s ambassador to London in March 1785. When they inquired by what right the Barbary states preyed upon American shipping, enslaving both crews and passengers, America%u2019s two foremost envoys were informed that %u201Cit was written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.%u201D (It is worth noting that the United States played no part in the Crusades, or in the Catholic reconquista of Andalusia.)

Ambassador Abd Al-Rahman did not fail to mention the size of his own commission, if America chose to pay the protection money demanded as an alternative to piracy. So here was an early instance of the %u201Cheads I win, tails you lose%u201D dilemma, in which the United States is faced with corrupt regimes, on the one hand, and Islamic militants, on the other%u2014or indeed a collusion between them.
http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_2_urbanities-thomas_jefferson.html
Reply to this comment
by terrorislami May 27, 2008 3:26 PM EDT
fascist nazi terrorislam

In a way, I am glad that I did not have the initial benefit of all this research. My quest sent me to some less obvious secondary sources, in particular to Linda Colley%u2019s excellent book Captives, which shows the reaction of the English and American publics to a slave trade of which they were victims rather than perpetrators. How many know that perhaps 1.5 million Europeans and Americans were enslaved in Islamic North Africa between 1530 and 1780? We dimly recall that Miguel de Cervantes was briefly in the galleys. But what of the people of the town of Baltimore in Ireland, all carried off by %u201Ccorsair%u201D raiders in a single night?
http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_2_urbanities-thomas_jefferson.html
Reply to this comment
by quetzalcrist May 27, 2008 11:53 AM EDT
Its about time.....
Senor Obama, what are you going to do for my vote?
espero una respuesta.....
Reply to this comment
by terrorislami May 26, 2008 10:32 PM EDT
here is a must see movie for all you i hate america types,,,

all you defeatest,,, and entitlement types,,,

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036868/
Reply to this comment
by agog2 May 26, 2008 6:41 PM EDT
On Sunday, Aaron Klein and John Batchelor interviewed Ahmed Yousef, chief political adviser to the Prime Minister of Hamas, on WABC radio. The interview produced a scoop which, for some reason, has not been widely publicized: Hamas has endorsed Barack Obama for President. Yousef said, "We like Mr. Obama and we hope he will win the election." Why? "He has a vision to change America." Maybe Yousef has some insight into what Obama means by all these vague references to "change."

Of course, Hamas''s taste in American presidents is suspect. Yousef also described Jimmy Carter, who was about to pay a call on Hamas when the interview was taped, as "this noble man" who "did an excellent job as President."

Yousef was asked about Obama''s condemnation of Carter''s visit with Hamas, but didn''t seem troubled by it. Hamas, he says, understands American politics; this is the election season, and everyone wants to sound like a friend of Israel. Nevertheless, he hopes that the Democrats will change American policies when they take office.

Reply to this comment
by bobmarisol May 26, 2008 6:32 PM EDT
People can refuse to believe all they want, but Israel is the main reason for the turmoil in the Mideast. Land was taken away from the Arabs and given to Jews after WW2 and they will never give up.

Posted by dmw

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

DMW - are you really that uneducated and biased? do you really blame the Jews for wanting to live in peace? do you not know that the land that was ''taken'' from the Arabs and ''given'' to the Jews was the same land that the Jews lived on 2000 years ago, which was 700 years before Islam even existed?

The land was not taken from the Arabs and given to the Jews - the land was the Jews land way before it was ever the Arab''s land.

Following your logic, then the USA is also wrongfully possessing North America. After all, we ''took'' this land from England.
Reply to this comment
by terrorislami May 26, 2008 6:30 PM EDT
what does ham-asss, nation of terrorislam and ism(international solidarity movement) know that you do not know???

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=hamas+endorses obama&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=nation of islam endorses obama &btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=International Solidarity Movement obama &btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama islamic marxist group ISM &btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama Audacity of Hope I will stand with the Muslims&btnG=Search

snakes on the plane airforce one,,,
snakes in the whitehouse,,,

Once upon a time there was a serpent who was badly injured in a fight with another animal. It managed to slither away to safety but would have surely died if a benevolent man had not seen it suffering by the side of the road. The goodly man carefully wrapped the snake up and took it to his house, where he bestowed the kindest and gentlest care on the snake until it was healed and could return to the wild. Just as the man was releasing the serpent back into the grass, the ungrateful snake turned and bit him on the hand.

"What did you do that for?" cried the man, who knew that the bite of this particular snake was usually fatal. "Didn''t I take care of you when no one else would?"

The snake shrugged (no small feat for a snake!) and replied to the benevolent--and now doomed-- man, "What did you expect? You knew I was a snake when you picked me up."
Reply to this comment
by terrorislami May 26, 2008 6:29 PM EDT
International Solidarity Movement (ISM) an umbrella organization of communists, anarchists and social misfits working in conjunction with the PLO and Islamic fascist countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE
http://www.stoptheism.com/
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama+islamic marxist group ISM &btnG=Search

How Obama%u2019s church and associates link him to the ISM
The question is if we want a man in the White House who will regularly give his ear to the likes of a Reverend Wright, his and Sabeel%u2019s replacement theologies, and pro-terrorist propagandists like Ali Abunimah on a regular basis? In one sense, Obama could be considered the ISM%u2019s Manchurian candidate given his wide connections to ISM activists and campaign movements such as the Wheels of Justice Tour, Joseph Carr a.k.a. Joseph Smith, Hannah Mermelstein, Anna Baltzer and others.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/2462
Reply to this comment
by rushlimpdrug May 26, 2008 6:28 PM EDT

Posted by rudy654 at 03:24 PM


Seriously, you have issues.

See a doctor and deal with them.

They are eating your soul.
Reply to this comment
by rudy654-2009 May 26, 2008 6:28 PM EDT
Posted by bobmarisol at 03:27 PM

Are you Jewish or Hispanic?
Reply to this comment
by ajaxtheleast May 26, 2008 6:28 PM EDT
REMINDS ME OF A FUNNY STORY. .

THERE WAS THIS GUY SEE AND. . .

AHHH . .

MAYBE NOT ON THIS BOARD . . .

AT THIS PARTICULAR TIME . .
Reply to this comment
by bobmarisol May 26, 2008 6:27 PM EDT
The three most important swing states in the general election are Pennsylvania, Florida, and Ohio. Whichever candidate wins two of these wins the election.

In 2000, Bush took Florida and Ohio and beat Gore.
In 2004, Bush took Florida and Ohio and beat Kerry.

Obama won''t win Florida because too many Hispanics and Jewish people don''t like him. Plus, a ton of Hillary supporters in FL say they will vote for McCain if Obama gets the nomination.

On top of that, Obama might not even win New York, which is traditionally a Democratic-leaning state. Lots of New Yorkers like McCain over Obama.

Obama has no chance in November. You''d think the Dems would have picked somebody that actually had a chance to win! But then again, its not like they have much to offer anyway.
Reply to this comment
by rudy654-2009 May 26, 2008 6:24 PM EDT
Posted by agog2 at 03:22 PM

Your racist comment has just been reported.
Reply to this comment
by rudy654-2009 May 26, 2008 6:20 PM EDT
Obama must be a nice guy to get so much attention from people who call him names that are basically just ad hominem attacks.
Reply to this comment
by rushlimpdrug May 26, 2008 6:18 PM EDT

If rush is a racist he will vote for mccain any how so he is not part of the conversation. No white person (myself included) can understand what it is like to be a person of color. If you want change for the better which both Clinton and Obama will bring vote DEMOCRAT PERIOD. I support the Nominee of my party If that is Clinton Obama Gore who ever I will work hard for. If you can not vote for one or the other stop posting you a Republican anyway
Posted by olydem58 at 02:49 PM

How sad it has come to this in America.

An American can no longer vote for a candidate
because he/she feels the person is best qualified
to lead the nation.

Rather, we must vote to prove we are not racist.

I will say that I liked Edwards - and not because
he is white but because I thought he could do a
good job LEADING the country.

Believe what you want.
Reply to this comment
by omega39-2009 May 26, 2008 6:17 PM EDT
The Republicans on here sure are trying to pump Hillary up, too bad she is gone after June 3rd.
Reply to this comment
by agog2 May 26, 2008 6:13 PM EDT
The only thing that Obama has going for him is that he has good speech writers working for him. In real life he is so dumb that he would bring a knife to a gun fight. If he is the Democrats nominee for president he will suffer the worst presidential defeat in the history of this country.
Reply to this comment
by agog2 May 26, 2008 6:09 PM EDT
Obama is saying Pi$$ on Americans that reside in Florida and Michigan. Don%u2019t count their votes as they cast them. He!! That might give Mrs. Clinton more delegates and votes. And could cause more Superdelegates to vote for her. I think Mr. Obama is not the person we would like running our country for us when he can write that many American off as not counting. This man is a sleeper cell for disaster for our country. This is scary. Obama is sponsoring bill S2433 in the US senate. If passed, Obama''s bill will commit America to pay 845 Billion dollars to the UN over the next thirteen years for the UN Global Poverty Act. This money can only come from more taxes being levied on American citizens. Obama''s S2433 Senate bill will consume 0.7 percent of the US gross nation product. The UN Global Poverty Act also commits signing nations to ban their citizens from possessing small firearms. Goodbye second amendment. It also put''s parental rights under UN supervision. Barack Obama is a global Marxist who wants a one world government that will be UN ran. Are you ready to pay even more sky high taxes and give up your national sovereignty for Obama''s change? Stop Obama''s madness, call your senator and demand that Obama''s bill S2433 be killed.
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