Pure Horserace: Obama Adds Heft
Barack Obama has so far offered policy proposals to deal with global warming and energy independence, but has still been unable to dispel the perception that his campaign is a little lacking in substance. However, today may have given Obama a boost in his bid to be seen as a serious candidate, thanks to the health care plan he unveiled in Iowa.
The plan, like others proposed in the past few years, doesn't seek to create a Canadian-style single-payer system, but instead focuses on helping those who cannot afford insurance buy it while also investing in information technology and requiring insurance companies to reduce administrative costs and premiums. Obama's plan also emphasizes prevention and would have the government help insurance companies cover expensive treatments for diseases like cancer and heart disease.
Such proposals are nothing new — many elements of Obama's plan bear similarities to those adopted in California and Massachusetts, which the Illinois senator referenced in his speech. But Obama wasn't under pressure to introduce a wholly original, revolutionary health care plan — offering any plan is what people wanted him to do. Now, he can safely check one item off his to-do list. — David Miller
Clinton's Iowa Solution? Hillary Clinton emphatically answered questions about her campaign's commitment to compete in the Iowa caucuses by stumping in towns large and small throughout the state over the holiday weekend. But even when she's not in the state, Clinton has a hard-working presence in former Gov. Tom Vilsack.
According to the Des Moines Register, Vilsack has become a hard-working and key member of the Clinton team — in Iowa and nationally. Vilsack, who endorsed Clinton shortly after abandoning his own presidential campaign earlier this year, is burning up the phone lines, bending the ears of donors and activists and advising the campaign on policy matters.
Endorsements — even those by former governors of key states — are often of dubious value. But an effective surrogate who's invested can't hurt, and a large role can only help Vilsack's chances of landing on the ticket, especially should Clinton win Iowa and then the nomination. Iowa is a battleground state that Democrats would love to have back in their column, and should his activism yield real results come next winter, Vilsack will certainly be worth a look when the veepstakes heat up next spring. — Vaughn Ververs
The League Of Super-Delegates: Of the 2,000-plus delegates who will be on hand to pick the Democratic nominee in Denver in 2008, most will be won through the primary process. But there are 314 :superdelegates," party leaders and elected officials, who are already picking sides.
The Associated Press has gathered up the current "delegate count" as it stands now, and Clinton leads in this category, much as she leads in most national polling and fundraising areas. Clinton has won the endorsement of 37 superdelegates, while Barack Obama counts 23 in his camp and John Edwards 15. Chris Dodd, Joe Biden and Bill Richardson have also nabbed a handful, mostly from colleagues in their home states.
Even as some campaigns have mounted concerted efforts to gain endorsements, these totals are symbolic at the moment. The overwhelming majority of delegates will be won in caucuses and primaries and endorsements of superdelegates are non-binding, meaning they will end up with any candidate who wins enough delegates elsewhere to secure the nomination. If the race ends up in a brokered convention, however, they'll be 314 very busy people. — Vaughn Ververs
Giuliani Gets Freeped Out: If you are looking for hardline conservatives online, there may be no better place to go than FreeRepublic.com. The Internet forum has been a popular gathering place for the right since Bill Clinton's impeachment. But if you're one of those conservatives who's been swayed by Rudy Giuliani's tough words on national security, you may want to look elsewhere.
According to a story in the New York Observer, Giuliani supporters claim they've been banished from the site, with their accounts deactivated. The former mayor has gone from placing second in one of the site's unofficial straw polls to being the only candidate with a "truth file" posted on the site, which includes links to articles that, overwhelmingly, paint him in a negative light.
The fissure at FreeRepublic.com could be a preview of things to come if Giuliani continues to lead in polls and even win the Republican nomination. If one of the most popular Web sites among conservatives is comfortable taking an openly anti-Giuliani stance, it suggests a significant break in the GOP as a whole is possible.
Then again, FreeRepublic.com has been accused of similar tactics before — in 2000, supporters of one aspiring Republican presidential candidate were reportedly shunned by the site's owner, Jim Robinson. Who was that candidate? Why, none other than George W. Bush. — David Miller
Editor's Note: Pure Horserace is a daily update of political news as interpreted by the political observers at CBSNews.com. Click here to sign up for the e-mail version.
By David Miller and Vaughn Ververs