It’s not often presidential hopefuls are given an opportunity to fix a mistake they’ve made during past rough-and-tumble debates but the Democratic contenders seized the opportunity tonight in New Hampshire ahead of the state’s Tuesday primary.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said he would take back a statement about who was his favorite Supreme Court justice during an earlier debate because he picked Byron “Whizzer” White, appointed by his idol President John F. Kennedy.
He took a lot of flak because White was one of the dissenting justices in the Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion. He also picked a justice who was alive, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“I should’ve stuck to the alive, because I then said “Whizzer” White because I idolized John F. Kennedy, and I figured if he appointed “Whizzer” White, this was a great Supreme Court justice,” Richardson said.
“Well, then I find out that “Whizzer” White was against Roe v. Wade, against civil rights. You know, so that’s — that wasn’t — that wasn’t a good one,” he said to laughter.
Meanwhile former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards took the easy road and apologized for criticizing New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s choice of a bright coral-colored suit coat fo
r a previous debate.
“If you’re going to pick the one for me, it was when I made the horrendous mistake of teasing Hillary about her jacket,” he said to roars from the audience. “And I want her to know, I think you look terrific tonight.”
Meanwhile Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who bested her in Iowa, were in rare agreement.
“There have been one or two moments that I would have taken back,” she said, but did not elaborate. “But what’s really most important about these debates is that the Democratic Party stands in such contrast to the Republicans.”
“Actually, here’s an area where I agree with Hillary: that there has been a stark contrast, generally, between the four of us and those who aren’t debating with us now but were previously,” Obama said.
Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.
– Photo credits: Brian Snyder, Tami Chappell
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3 comments so far
Hillary did wonderful in the debate last night and if the media would give her the credit due she would be way ahead in the polls but the media choose to hype obama and trash Hillary. I guess they don’t remember how good we had it in the 90’s with the Clintons in the White House. So don’t vote for obama because he is black or Clinton because she is a woman. Vote for Clinton because she is the most qualified for the job….
- Posted by Dolores WardPolls, Polls, Polls: Obama vs. Clinton
Let’s put together all the polls released today and yesterday (carried in the last two days or so, most including Saturday).
##7NEWS/Suffolk Univ.(Sun):
Obama 33% —–Clinton 35%
#Rasmussen Reports (Sun):
Obama 39%—Clinton 27%.
#American Research Group (Sat):
Obama 38%—Clinton 26%
#Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby (Sun):
Obama 30—Clinton 31%
##MSNBC/Mason-Dixon (Sun):
Obama 33%—Clinton 31%
##CNN/WMUR (Sat):
Obama 33%—Clinton 33%
If we average all these polls, we should get a close to accurate picture: Obama leads Clinton by about 4%. But this math is true only from brute statistical/ mathematical perspective. If you like to believe the less known groups’ survey is truer against the establishment surveys, as was the case in Iowa, Obama could be beating Clinton by 10-12% in New Hampshire.
- Posted by Shital GreenBaracks $1.6-million house in Kenwood drew media scrutiny in November 2006 because of financial links with controversial Illinois businessman Antoin Rezko
Obama’s own experience in lawmaking involved dealings with the kinds of lobbyists and special interests he now demonizes on the campaign trail
- Posted by sarah