Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The latest developments on the campaign trail:
A top strategist for Barack Obama has reached out to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s former campaign manager about joining forces for the general election, the latest sign of political reconciliation between the two rivals as Obama begins consolidating his position as the likely Democratic nominee.
Obama strategist David Axelrod and former Clinton aide Patti Solis Doyle confirmed they had had informal conversations about how she might help the Illinois senator if he secures the presidential nomination as expected. The conversations were first reported on the Politico Web site.
“When the time comes, if we’re the nominee, we’re going to want to work with talented people across the party including those who worked for Senator Clinton,” Axelrod said. “Patti’s a good and talented person, and we all have a high regard for her.”
Clinton said Monday that Obama may be getting ahead of himself in acting like the party’s nominee before the final primary contests are over.
Clinton and Obama are still set to face off in several more primaries, including Kentucky and Oregon today, but Obama has been increasingly portraying himself as the nominee already facing Republican John McCain. Obama has scheduled appearances later this week in Iowa and Florida as he looks ahead to swing states in the general election.
“You can declare yourself anything, but if you don’t have the votes, it doesn’t matter,” Clinton said Monday in a satellite interview with an Oregon television station before a campaign appearance in Kentucky.
Republican John McCain accused Obama of inexperience and reckless judgment for saying Iran does not pose the same serious threat to the United States as the Soviet Union did in its day.
The likely GOP presidential nominee made the criticism Monday in Chicago, Obama’s home turf.
“Such a statement betrays the depth of Senator Obama’s inexperience and reckless judgment. These are very serious deficiencies for an American president to possess,” McCain said in an appearance at the restaurant industry’s annual meeting.
Source: Associated Press