WASHINGTON - Barack Obama’s almost insurmountable lead in the race for the Democratic party presidential nomination is mainly the result of a two-week period in February when he outspent rival Hillary Clinton 3-to-1 on advertising while winning nine straight state races, according to a new analysis released Monday.

Obama beat Clinton in states ranging from Maryland to Nebraska to Hawaii between Feb. 6 and Feb. 19, winning 281 delegates to 163 for Clinton for a net gain of 118, said the study by the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project.
 
Democratic candidates need the votes of 2,118 delegates to the party’s convention in August to seize the nomination. Obama currently leads Clinton in the race for elected delegates 1,729 to 1,625, a margin of 104, according to a count by MSNBC. When the votes of party leaders and others who have declared their support are factored in, Obama’s lead grows to 2,076 to 1,918, MSNBC says.

The advertising advantage alone does not explain Obama’s February winning streak, but it was likely a factor. The study found that in the nine states he won during that two-week period, Obama was on the air first and had the paid media airwaves to himself for a significant part of the time. During a nine-day advertising battle in Nebraska, for example, Obama was alone on the air for six days unchallenged by Clinton.

“Unbalanced flows of paid information in a generally positive free media environment have the greatest potential to move numbers and influence races,” said Ken Goldstein, a professor who directs the advertising project. “This was the environment between Feb. 5 and Feb. 19 and that is what won Barack Obama the Democratic nomination.”
 
The study found candidates for the U.S. presidency have spent nearly $200 million on advertising so far during the 2008 election campaign, with Obama leading the pack at nearly $75 million.
 
Obama has spent nearly $30 million more than Clinton, who has paid $46 million, and almost $20 million more than all the Republicans combined, the study found.
 
The Illinois senator has spent nearly seven times as much on advertising as the Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has paid $11 million.
 
Obama and Clinton spent about the same amount on advertising through the Super Tuesday contests on Feb. 5, when nearly half the country voted for presidential nominees.
 
But Obama outspent Clinton on advertising 3-to-1 over the following two weeks — Feb. 6 to Feb. 19 — and has outspent her 2-to-1 since that time, the study said.

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Photo credit: Top: Reuters/Jason Reed (Obama campaigns in Detroit Monday); Bottom: Reuters/Rick Wilking (Clinton campaigns in South Dakota Monday)

GUAYNABO, Puerto Rico – Miles from the Democratic Party’s machinations to decide whether she will get her votes counted in the disputed primaries of Florida and Michigan, Hillary Clinton on Saturday smiled and clapped her way through the streets and small towns of Puerto Rico.

Clinton, who trails front-runner Barack Obama by what most consider an insurmountable gap in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, waved from a campaign truck at bystanders who gathered in the steamy afternoon heat to cheer her on.

Accompanied by loudspeakers blaring “Hillary Clinton, La Proxima Presidenta,” pounding music and trucks carrying photographers, television crews and reporters, Clinton cruised the palm tree-lined streets in towns around San Juan for hours past fruit vendors and fisherman who paused to point and smile.

Supporters honked car horns and waved banners while small children jumped up and down. One woman rushed up to Clinton and presented her with a giant bouquet of flowers.

“Si, si, si,” exclaimed Blanca Rivera, 69, standing by the side of the road in Guaynabo, when asked if she planned to vote for the New York senator in Sunday’s primary. “Si, si, si.”

Clinton is heavily favored to win Puerto Rico’s primary, although the result is not expected to make a significant dent in Obama’s lead among delegates to the party’s nominating convention.

Clinton remained well out of questioning range of reporters who might have asked her about the Democratic Party’s rules committee, meeting in Washington to decide the future of the primary results in Florida and Michigan. Clinton won both primaries, but the contests were held earlier than party rules allowed and the results were invalidated.

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Photo: REUTERS/Ana Martinez (Clinton appears at a rally in Puerto Rico)

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - As a Democratic presidential candidate, New York senator and former first lady, Hillary Clinton has had her share of media scrutiny. Still, she says the news media should become a more aggressive public watchdog.

“I really do. I really do,” Clinton told reporters when asked if she sincerely favors greater press scrutiny. 

“On the right things. On things that are important to the future of our country. On things that actually matter. I would love that,” said Clinton, long hounded by the press as one of the nation’s most popular yet polarizing figures.

Clinton made the remarks to reporters on her campaign plane on Wednesday night in wake of the new book by former White House spokesman Scott McClellan, who says the Bush administration manipulated information to lead the U.S. into the Iraq war.

“What I hope is that the press and the public and the political class will be much more vigorous and skeptical than everybody was,” Clinton said.

“Everyone, you know, in his or her own way, basically let the administration get away with it. And they got away with it. They got re-elected and here we are,” she said.

Referring to McClellan’s book as well as ones by other former administration officials, Clinton said, “Unfortunately, there were a lot of people in a position to know much more than most of us who went along.

“I find that very sad.”

FLATHEAD INDIAN RESERVATION, Montana - Hillary Clinton took her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination to an Indian reservation where she received applause, thanks – and new footwear.

“You’ve gone a million miles for the Indian people — here are a pair of moccasins to help you on your journey,” Joe McDonald, president of Salish Kootenai College, said on Tuesday in presenting Clinton the gift.

A crowd of several hundred roared approval.

Drawing more applause, Clinton said, “We need a president next January who understands the obligation that the United States government has to the tribes that represent the first people of the United States.” 

As first lady, and now a U.S. senator from New York, Clinton has worked to upgrade health care, education and economic opportunities for native Americans, many of whom live in poverty.

In Montana, there are about 56,000 American Indians among seven tribes, making up  6.2 percent of the state’s population. 

Clinton recalled that when her husband was president, he held a meeting with more than 500 leaders of Indian tribes nationwide, marking the first such talks “in many, many years.”

Clinton vowed to reverse what she said was the rollback in relations between Washington and American Indians since President George W. Bush took office in January 2001. 

“I will stand with you,” she said in asking for their support in Montana’s Democratic presidential primary next week.

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Photo REUTERS/Ana Martinez.  (Clinton, her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and their daughter Chelsea attend a Memorial Day event in San Juan, Puerto Rico, May 26, 2008)

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Democrats will eventually unite once the hard-fought presidential nomination battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is resolved but that process may take time, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said on Monday. 

“There’s going to be a need for healing,” Richardson, a former White House hopeful who is backing Obama. 

Richardson, who had served as energy secretary and ambassador to the United Nations in former President Bill Clinton’s administration, remained on the fence for several weeks before deciding to support Obama, an Illinois senator, two months ago.

After announcing his decision, he talked of a tense phone call with Hillary Clinton when he broke the news to her. James Carville, a longtime adviser to Bill Clinton, called Richardson a “Judas.” 

Obama, who now holds a lead in delegates over Clinton that probably is insurmountable, was on the campaign trail with Richardson on Monday. The governor introduced the Illinois senator at a Memorial Day veterans forum in Las Cruces, New Mexico. 

Richardson, who is of Latino descent, is expected to provide a boost to Obama’s efforts to court Hispanic voters. 

Campaigning in Puerto Rico last weekend, Obama sprinkled some Spanish phrases into his speech. Richardson said the senator’s Spanish is “passable” but the effort is appreciated by these voters. 

Although Latinos gravitated toward Clinton in many primary races, Richardson said Obama can boost his support by increasing his visibility with the community. 

Listing some of the messages that will help Obama, Richardson said, “He talks about respect. He’s a minority himself” and comes from a family of modest means.

- Photo credit: Reuters/Edwin Montilva (New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, shown during an April 2008 trip to Venezuela.)

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush will hit the campaign trail next week to rustle up some badly needed cash for Republican candidates — including presidential hopeful John McCain — but catching a glimpse of him in action will be fleeting.

Bush will crisscross the Rocky Mountains Tuesday through Thursday from New Mexico to Arizona to Utah to Kansas raising money for McCain at three events and Republican congressional candidates at two others. They are all closed to the media.

“The reason that they’re closed is that the McCain campaign has a practice of having their fundraisers as closed press,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. Bush has permitted the media attend fundraisers at hotels and other similar venues but not at private residences (like the other two fundraisers on the trip).

Bush and McCain will attend one fundraiser together (in Arizona), she said,  but it remains unclear whether the two will be seen in public together.

“Stay tuned for the details … when we arrive or when we depart, I think there will be a chance,” Perino said. McCain has lagged his Democratic rivals in raising campaign cash — he pulled in $18.5 million in April while New York Sen. Hillary Clinton brought in $21 million and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama received $30.7 million.

McCain has been trying to shake accusations from Democrats that he would represent a third term of Bush, so he could choose to avoid a photo opportunity during their get-together on Tuesday.

Congressional Republicans have also been facing a fairly grim outlook, with more than two dozen members of the House of Representatives leaving, either retiring or seeking another office.  That has made it even harder to narrow or reverse the 236-199 advantage Democrats have in the House. Meanwhile, Republicans in the Senate must defend 23 seats while Democrats have 12 seats to guard. 

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (McCain listens to Bush at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in April.)

KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 22 - A Missouri car dealer has a message for Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama: Midwesterners love their guns.

Mark Muller, the owner of Max Motors in Butler, Missouri south of Kansas City, on Thursday said sales have soared at his auto and truck business since launching a promotion this week that promises buyers a $250 credit for a handgun or a $250 gas card with every purchase.

Every buyer so far “except one guy from Canada and one old guy” has elected to take the gun, Muller said in an interview with Reuters. He recommends his customers select a Kel-Tec .380 pistol. 

“It’s a nice little handgun that fits in your pocket,” he said. 

Muller said he came up with the promotion after stewing over comments made last month by Obama at a fundraiser for his presidential campaign in San Francisco. The Illinois senator, who narrowly defeated Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Clinton in Missouri’s primary, said that small-town Americans bitter over hard economic times sometimes “cling to guns and religion.”

“We did it because of Barack Obama. He said all those people in the Midwest, you’ve got to have compassion for them because they’re clinging to their guns and their Bibles. I found that quite offensive,” said Muller.

“We all go to church on Sunday and we all carry guns,” Muller said in the interview. “I’ve got a gun in my pocket right now. I have a rifle in my truck. We’ve got to shoot the coyotes out here, they’re attacking our cows, our chickens. We’re not clinging to nothing. We’re just damn glad to live in a free country where you can have a gun if you want. This is the way it ought to be.”

Muller said the dealership, which has as its logo a grimacing cowboy wielding a pistol, has sold more than 30 cars and trucks in the last three days, far more than its normal volume. Phone calls and inquiries on car purchases from people around the country have poured in, Muller said.

He’s also had six protesters show up outside his business.

There may be more on the way because Muller said his next promotion is going to be a King James Bible for any car-buying Muslim. 

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- Photo credit: Reuters/John Gress (Obama speaks to supporters in Iowa); Max Motors (Mark Muller)

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky - Democrats are acting more like Republicans by not counting the results of the Florida and Michigan primaries and by not seating those states’ party delegates, former President Bill Clinton said on Tuesday.

“The Republicans are supposed to be the people that don’t count votes in Florida, not Democrats,” said Clinton, campaigning with his wife Sen. Hillary Clinton at Lynn’s Paradise Cafe, where she chatted with voters and he held an impromptu news conference.

The January votes in Michigan and Florida were deemed invalid by the national Democratic Party because both states moved their election dates forward in defiance of party rules.

“The Democrats said, ‘We’re going to decapitate them, smudge them, step on them, act like they never existed, act like they never voted,’” the former president said. “It’s very strange that the Democrats would be more authoritarian and more hostile to the voters.

Many Democrats, like Clinton apparently, believe the 2000 election recount in Florida unfairly favored the Republican Party. The dispute was resolved by the Supreme Court, giving Republican George W. Bush the victory and Democrat Al Gore the loss.

Hillary Clinton won Michigan’s Jan. 15 primary, which did not include Obama’s name on the ballot. She also won Florida and  is seeking to have the votes counted and the more than 350 delegates reinstated. The party’s rules committee meets next week in an effort to resolve the dispute.

Republicans were less harsh toward states that moved their contests early and stripped them of just half their delegates.

“Do the right and decent thing by Florida and Michigan. Don’t let the Republicans look more enlightened than us, which they do today. It’s unbelievable. I  never thought I’d see that,” Bill Clinton said.

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Photo: Reuters/John Sommers II (Hillary and Bill Clinton campaigning in Louisville)

BOWLING GREEN, Kentucky - Katelyn Jenkins got a surprise visit from Sen. Hillary Clinton on one of the biggest days of her life so far. But odds are, she didn’t even notice.

The eight-week-old girl was getting baptised on Sunday morning at the State Street United Methodist Church, where the Democratic presidential contender paused in her campaigning to attend services.

At the sight of the former first lady, the baby’s father said: “I was pleasantly surprised and amazed.”

As for the red-haired baby in her father’s arms, she slept a bit, looked around a bit and fussed a bit.

“She just knew there was a big crowd, and everyone was looking at her,” said the baby’s father, adding that he was ”possibly” a Clinton supporter. The candidate briefly chatted with the baby’s parents after the service ended.

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Photo credit:  Reuters/Jason Reed (Clinton speaks at her West Virginia Presidential Primary night rally in Charleston, West Virginia on May 13, 2008)

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Illinois Sen. Barack Obama sidestepped the Dream Team question on Tuesday when asked whether he would make rival Hillary Clinton his running mate if he beats her for the Democratic White House nomination. 

“Sen. Clinton is still competing. We haven’t resolved this nomination. I haven’t won the nomination yet,” Obama said, after jokinginly asking the audience member who asked the question whether he was a reporter.

“It would be presumptuous of me to pretend like I’ve already won and start talking about who my vice president’s going to be. I still have some more work to do.”

Presumptuous? Maybe. But he’s not exactly pretending. Obama, who has a nearly insurmountable lead over the New York senator in their race for the nomination, went to Missouri on Tuesday and campaigns in Michigan on Wednesday.

Both states have already voted in the primaries and will be crucial to him in a general election against Republican John McCain.

Photo Credit: Reuters/John Gress