Barack Obama: 'Our Time for Change has Come'

NEWSWEEK: Cover: 'Our Time for Change has Come'

'This is the campaign I always wanted to run. If it doesn't work, it's not because of the organization we built or the respectful tone that we set,' Sen. Barack Obama Tells Newsweek.

Winning in Iowa: 'I think there's no doubt that it's a measure of our progress as a country. I've said from the beginning I had confidence in the American people.'

John McCain Says the Lesson of the GOP Iowa Caucus: 'one, you can't buy an election in Iowa, and two, negative campaigns don't work.'

NEW YORK, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire/ --

On the eve of the Iowa caucuses Sen. Obama tells Newsweek in the January 14 issue "Our Time For Change Has Come" (on newsstands Monday, January 7), "I feel calm," -- 24 hours before he'd know if it had all been worth it, or if he had been wasting his time. "This is the campaign I always wanted to run. If it doesn't work, it's not because of the organization we built or the respectful tone that we set," Obama tells Newsweek.


(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080106/NYSU003 )


Senior White House Correspondent Richard Wolffe and Newsweek's political team report that the Iowa caucuses reshuffled the presidential field in both parties, throwing primary season into dramatic full swing. Obama's high-minded themes of hope and change-and not getting your hands dirty-can come off as earnest, even naive in the world of hardball presidential politics. But Obama is also a streetwise Chicago politician who put together a campaign machine formidable enough to take on the Clintons and win, Newsweek reports.


Polls had made it seem the contest would be close. Instead, Terry McCauliffe, Hillary's campaign manager, conceded that even Bill Clinton was "very surprised" by Obama's 9-point victory over his wife. The win crowned Obama the frontrunner, and put to rest the doubts of many people, both inside and outside his campaign. It also suggests that if his unorthodox approach to presidential politics worked in Iowa, it may also win over voters in other states around the country, Newsweek reports.


Generally shying away from discussing how "historic" it would be for him to win the White House, Obama nevertheless acknowledged that Iowa was, in fact, a noteworthy moment. "I think there's no doubt that it's a measure of our progress as a country," he tells Newsweek. "I've said from the beginning I had confidence in the American people. Race is no doubt still a factor in our culture. But people want to know who is going to provide healthcare that works, schools that work, a foreign policy that works. If they think you can do the work, I think they are willing to give you a chance."


This week's cover story reports that Obama's approach does not endear him to some Democrats who, furious at George W. Bush, came to the '08 campaign hoping for a fight. But for a more direct, unvarnished approach to politics, they need to look no further than Obama's wife. Michelle has thrown herself into the cause and the competition. Where Obama emphasizes hope and self- belief in his stump speech, Michelle Obama throws down a challenge to voters to step up.


While Obama rarely references his own racial identity or his personal struggles, Michelle draws a direct link between his experiences in overcoming prejudice to his readiness for power. Sitting on the campaign bus the night before the caucuses, Michelle explained her desire to shake up American politics. "We complain that politicians are mean and cynical and angry, but we've been doing the same thing over and over again," she tells Newsweek. "We have been making the same irrational decisions. When faced with the most rational choice, we hesitate -- and that is, that we have to break out of this." Obama explained his impact on politics a little more modestly. "What I was so pleased with was not just the fact that we won, or the raw numbers, but what it showed about the country," he says.


In an exclusive interview, a day after winning the Iowa caucus, Wolffe talks with Obama about what his win in Iowa -- an overwhelmingly white state -- says about America today. "It means that America is hungry for change... You know, when the American people get it in their minds that they have the power to change things, it's very hard to stop them," Obama says.


Newsweek also examines the shake up and future of the Republican Party. Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas and White House Correspondent Holly Bailey report that John McCain and Mike Huckabee have been exceedingly polite to each other, aiming their scorn at Mitt Romney. The lesson of the Iowa caucuses, said McCain, was, "one, you can't buy an election in Iowa, and two, negative campaigns don't work" -- a clear dig at Romney, who outspent Huckabee by about 20 to 1 and bought a slew of ads trashing his opponent. Openly praising each other while slyly knifing a mutual foe can work for a while. But if Romney goes down in New Hampshire and McCain and Huckabee roar into South Carolina on January 19 as the two frontrunners the love fest between them could be long over, Newsweek reports.


Also in the cover package:
-- Contributing Editor Ellis Cose writes that Barack Obama's win in Iowa
is a moment similar to where the country was in 1976, when another
largely untested idealist won Iowa's Democratic caucus. "It is quite
possible that Obama can succeed where (President Jimmy) Carter failed,
but not without helping America to embrace the fact that changing is a
lot harder than talking about it; and that being an agent of change
ultimately means shaking up things for many people who are quite
comfortable with the status quo."
-- Senior Editor and Columnist Jonathan Alter writes, "Iowa Nice" is over.
"The sweet culture of the cornfields ... is giving way to states with a
more bare-knuckle tradition. The question is how rough the Clintons and
their wide circle of political operatives will get."
-- Senior Political Correspondent Howard Fineman writes that, "while Mike
Huckabee advertises himself as a "Christian Leader," he is loath to
talk about his preacher days. On the campaign trail, it is the Lost
Decade of his life. Trying to have it both ways is what politicians do
for a living. But in Washington and the savvier precincts of elsewhere
(Nashville, for example), Republicans and their secular conservatives
allies are distraught at the thought of Huckabee as the GOP's 2008
presidential nominee."

(Read entire cover package at www.Newsweek.com)

Inside Obama's Dream Machine

'Hungry for Change' - Exclusive Interview with Sen. Obama


Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080106/NYSU003
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Source: Newsweek

CONTACT: LaVenia LaVelle of Newsweek, +1-212-445-4859


Web site: http://www.newsweek.com/
http://www.newsweek.msnbc.com/

NEWSWEEK: Cover: The Sleeper, John Edwards

16 Dec 2007 17:56 Africa/Lagos


NEWSWEEK: Cover: The Sleeper

John Edwards Believes he can Score Upset win in Iowa; Has Been Visiting Rural Precincts Where Frontrunners Have Paid Less Attention

Didn't get Negative Feedback After Being Combative With Clinton 'I Thought it was More Important for People to Understand ... The Substantive Policy Differences Between us, and now I Think we're at a Stage Where it's Time to Focus on why I Want to be President'

NEW YORK, Dec. 16 /PRNewswire/ --

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards believes he can still come from behind for an upset win in Iowa, Newsweek reports in the December 24 cover "The Sleeper," (on newsstands Monday, December 17). For months, Edwards has been doggedly working to round up support in the state's rural precincts where the frontrunners have paid less attention.


(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071216/NYSU007 )


As Correspondent Arian Campo-Flores and Senior Writer Suzanne Smalley report, while Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have drawn crowds in the thousands in places like Des Moines and Ames, Edwards has been winning over people in tiny towns like Sac City (pop. 2,189). That's important, Edwards's strategists say, because under Iowa's arcane caucus rules, a precinct where 25 people show up to vote gets the same number of delegates as a place that packs in 2,500. "The bulk of our support is in small and medium counties," says Jennifer O'Malley, Edwards's Iowa state director. O'Malley says Edwards has visited all 99 counties in the state; the campaign has so far trained captains covering 90 percent of all 1,781 precincts. Rural voters are sometimes reluctant to caucus, so the campaign has been enlisting respected community leaders to encourage first-timers to get past their apathy or fear.


Edwards has been campaigning in Iowa, on and off, for four years and polls show he's still in third. He tells Newsweek in an interview that his responsibility "is to close this campaign in Iowa with a very specific set of ideas about how we give all Americans the chances I've had ... It's what I've been able to do, and we can do it again ... both the specific policy ideas and also the heartfelt passion behind it, which is real, and they need to see it."


He says he wasn't getting negative feedback on the period when he was more combative with Clinton. "I thought it was important for people to understand the differences, the substantive policy differences between us, and now I think we're at the stage where it's time to focus on why I want to be president."


When asked what lessons he had learned as a candidate in 2004 and what he is doing differently this time, Edwards turned cold. "I'm not in the business of going back and analyzing the '04 campaign," he says, "so I just don't."


"I can tell you what I believe about America today. I think that what the country is looking for in a president is somebody who has clear, very specific ideas and bold ideas about what needs to be done. I think that's what America needs. It's what I believe, and I think they're looking for somebody to be straight with them about the challenges they face, and very direct."


Edwards says in the interview that he wasn't sure whether to run again after the 2004 loss. "I was trying to decide during that period of time after '04, "Where is the best place for me to serve? Where can I do the most good?" because I had made the decision, Elizabeth and I made [it] together, that we were going to spend the rest of our lives serving and the question was what was the best way to do it ... I'd been through a national campaign, a national spotlight, and there's a seasoning and a toughness that comes from doing that. And Elizabeth's health, the two of us went through that, our family went through that together. And I think my feeling is that I'm going to tell people, "I'm going to speak the truth, whatever the consequences are."


(Read cover story and interview at www.Newsweek.com)

http://www.newsweek.com/id/78238

http://www.newsweek.com/id/78239 - Q&A w/ Edwards

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071216/NYSU007
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
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PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Newsweek

CONTACT: Jan Angilella of Newsweek, +1-212-445-5638


Web site: http://www.newsweek.msnbc.com/

RASMUSSEN REPORTS: Hillary Clinton Is The Most Presidential

Number of Democrats who See Each Democratic Candidate as Presidential
Hillary Clinton 44%
Barack Obama 17%
John Edwards 14%
Bill Richardson 4%
Joe Biden 3%
Chris Dodd 2%
Dennis Kucinich 1%
Mike Gravel 1%

In the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, it’s Hillary Clinton 38%, Barack Obama 27% and John Edwards 14%. Bill Richardson is supported by 4%, Joe Biden and Dennis Kucinich by 3% of Likely Democratic Primary Voters. (see recent daily numbers).

Iowa: Clinton 29% Obama 26% Edwards 22%

Florida: Huckabee 27% Romney 23% Giuliani 19%
47% Say White House Knew About CIA's Torching of Torture Tapes
Generic Congressional Ballot: Democrats 46% Republicans 36%
Obama Ties Giuliani 43% to 43%, Leads Romney by Four

Hillary Clinton is the American Dream

Dear Orikinla,


It has been 316 days since we started this journey.

I've been working my heart out from the very first day of this campaign, because your support deserves nothing less. And you've been right there with me, every step of the way.

In Iowa, we're in a dead heat. There are only 31 days until the Iowa caucuses, the first contest in the race to the White House. With so little time to go, what you and I do in the coming weeks will decide this race.

We are setting fundraising goals on a week-to-week basis, and this week we must raise $1.25 million to ensure we have the resources we need to win. You've already done so much to help me during the past 316 days. Will you contribute today so I can win the Democratic nomination for president?

Click here to contribute and help me win.

Think about what we can accomplish if we win. We can finally end the war in Iraq. We can make sure every last man, woman, and child in this country has affordable, quality health care. We can put our economy back to work for the middle class again, and create millions of new jobs. We can make stopping global warming a real priority, and achieve true energy independence.

We can achieve these together, but not if we don't pass the test we're facing now.

I'm asking you personally, from me to you, Orikinla -- with 31 days left, help me win these races so we can take on the Republican nominee in November 2008, win the White House, and change America.

With the Democratic nomination hinging on our actions over these next few weeks, we cannot take anything for granted or let up for a moment between now and then. That is why I am turning to you now. We have a goal to reach: $1.25 million by midnight Friday.

Contribute to help us reach our goal and win.

It means so much to me to know you're on my side. I promise to continue working as hard as I can to win every last vote.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you do.

Sincerely,

Hillary Rodham Clinton

The Hillary Clinton Interview

After a series of attacks from both Republican and Democrats, Sen. Hillary Clinton has decided to defend herself. The presidential candidate sits for an exclusive interview with Katie Couric.

Political Analysis of the CNN Las Vegas Democrats Presidential Debate

NEWSWEEK: Cover: The Billion Dollar Wild Card

NEWSWEEK: Cover: The Billion Dollar Wild Card

BLOOMBERG ON RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT: 'I am not running for president. I have 790-odd days to go in this job, the greatest job in the world-maybe the second greatest job.'

'One of the sad things is that at the moment America is not liked around the world. We are closing our eyes ... And I don't hear from the candidates how they would go about pulling the world together, getting people to respect us.'

One year from Election Day, Newsweek takes an in-depth look at the people - and places - that could have a major impact on Campaign 2008

NEW YORK, Nov. 4 /PRNewswire/ --

For New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg -- the billion dollar wild card in the 2008 presidential election -- public service and public attention are inextricably linked, and have been since boyhood. Now he is thinking hard about taking a turn on the biggest stage of all: a campaign for the White House. The odds against an independent bid for the White House are long, but if Bloomberg's life tells us anything, it is that he is often more motivated, and more successful, when other people say he cannot do something, writes Editor Jon Meacham in "The Billion Dollar Wild Card" cover story in the November 12 issue (on newsstands Monday, November 5).


(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071104/NYSU004 )


A rich man with a record of service and seemingly limitless ambition, Bloomberg represents a formidable threat to the traditional party nominees, Newsweek reports. "This is a billion-dollar campaign," Kevin Sheekey, Bloomberg's chief political adviser, told Newsweek aboard Bloomberg's Falcon 9 jet late last week. He then amended the declaration-slightly: "If it happens, it's a billion-dollar campaign." If it happens. What would make it happen? In Sheekey's view-on the record, Bloomberg himself answers questions about his White House ambitions by saying he has 790-odd days to go as mayor, and that he could not be happier-the two major parties may wind up nominating candidates with negative ratings at or above 40 percent.


Looking ahead to the future, Bloomberg tells Newsweek, "I am not running for president. I have 790-odd days to go in this job, the greatest job in the world-maybe the second greatest job. The mayor's job is where you can really get things done ... And I have been successful in business, and I hope when I leave this job they will say I was a good mayor or a great mayor. Philanthropy will probably be the next big thing. I am lucky enough to have a lot of money, I am planning on giving it all away, and I think you change the world that way."


Bloomberg believes, "The job of being president is to lead the country and the legislature, and it is pulling those together. And because America is the only remaining superpower, you are the leader of the free world, it is having the credibility and working with other countries to get them all to work together to stop genocide, to stop nuclear proliferation, to make sure we have fair trade among countries... And one of the sad things is that at the moment America is not liked around the world. We are closing our eyes ... And I don't hear from the candidates how they would go about pulling the world together, getting people to respect us."


Pressed once more, he says he is not running, but then offers a lucid, if indirect, case for a man like him at a time like this, Newsweek reports. "I think that the candidates are not addressing, in a way at least I can understand, what they would do if they got elected. Unfortunately in the process that we go through-all of these, quote, 'debates'- ... there's no way to do that," he says.


Also part of the cover package marking one year from Election Day, a team of Newsweek correspondents look ahead to the 2008 presidential campaign:


-- According to the new Newsweek Poll, almost exactly a year before
Election Day, Hillary Clinton's lead for the party's nomination remains
unchanged with 44 percent of the overall Democratic vote, compared to
24 percent for Barack Obama (down a point since Newsweek's August poll)
and 12 percent for John Edwards (down two points).
-- Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas and Senior White House Correspondent
Richard Wolffe examine why the Iowa caucus, although arcane and
confusing, has a critically important role in the 2008 presidential
race.
-- Senior Washington Correspondent Howard Fineman and Senior White House
Correspondent Richard Wolffe debut "Report From the Front," a new
series featuring interviews with candidates, with an interview with
Sen. Barack Obama. With the Iowa caucuses, a must win, just eight weeks
away, Obama talks about the sense of urgency in his campaign and amps
up his new willingness to criticize Democratic front runner Sen.
Hillary Clinton, whom he calls "disingenuous."
-- Trapped in a series of fuzzy nonresponses, Clinton was bruised in last
week's Democratic debate in Philadelphia. 'The lawyer is back, like one
of her bad hairdos from the 1990s," writes Senior Editor and Columnist
Jonathan Alter.
-- Washington Correspondent Eve Conant reports on what the Democratic
Party's new Faith In Action Initiative is doing to court religious
voters, and profiles Brooklyn's Rev. Leah Daughtry, the group's
charismatic leader, who serves as chief of staff of the DNC-No. 2 to
Chairman Howard Dean-and is in charge of planning for the '08
Democratic convention in Denver.
-- White House Correspondent Holly Bailey reports on GOP candidate Mike
Huckabee and how, despite only visiting Iowa three times since August
and spending almost nothing campaigning there, he is running a close
second to Mitt Romney in a recent Iowa poll. Also, Editorial Assistant
Andrew Romano reports on the time he spent with Huckabee and his
classic-rock cover band, Capitol Offense.


The cover package also features an extensive online component at www.Newsweek.com.


Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071104/NYSU009
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN1
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Newsweek

CONTACT: LaVenia LaVelle of Newsweek, +1-212-445-4859


Web site: http://www.newsweek.msnbc.com/

Highlights:

22:07 NEWSWEEK: Cover: The Billion Dollar Wild Card
22:05 NEWSWEEK: Interview: Sen. Barack Obama
21:17 NEWSWEEK: International Editions: Highlights And Exclusives Nov. 12, 2007 Issue
20:53 NEWSWEEK: Mel Brooks on 'The Producers,' His First Smash Hit: 'I Didn't Expect it. I was Just Adapting My Little Cult Movie - I Didn't Know how Much Resonance it Had'
20:21 NEWSWEEK: Media Lead Sheet/November 12, 2007 Issue (on newsstands Monday, November 5)
02:40 NEWSWEEK Poll: Hillary Clinton Took the Heat at This Week's Democratic Debate and Emerged Undamaged

Blackwater Stinks From America To Iraq

Let us call a spade a spade, Blackwater is blackwater indeed as defined by Wikipedia:

Blackwater (waste) is a relatively recent term used to describe water containing fecal matter and urine. It is also known as brown water, foul water, or sewage. It is distinct from greywater or sullage, the residues of washing processes.
Blackwater is heavily polluted and difficult to treat because of the high concentrations of mostly organic pollution.
The term is commonly used on recreational vehicles where separate tanks collect blackwater and greywater wastes.

American taxpayers are paying $445,000 per year for each Blackwater guard in Iraq.
A total waste of public fund in a lost cause.

The fact is, Blackwater is guilty of the violations of the Rule of Engagement in the war in Iraq. This is another glaring evidence that President George Walker Bush has bungled the mission in Iraq. Blackwater is a failure of military strategy by the US Armed Forces in Iraq.

When Bush knew that he would fail woefully, he passed the buck to Erik Prince and Al-Clark. The dummb and dumber have completed the mess. And Blackwater stinks from North Carolina to Iraq.
Finis.

"America used to be the beacon of the world, but under the Bush administration and people like Blackwater, the beacon is flickering."

"We can restore democracy to our military decisions about war. And we can make sure that scandals like Blackwater become, forever, a thing of the past."

~ Sen. John Edwards

"We cannot win a fight for hearts and minds when we outsource critical missions to unaccountable contractors," Obama said. "To add insult to injury, these contractors are charging taxpayers up to nine times more to do the same jobs as soldiers, a disparity that damages troop morale."

"Last week, I pushed through a provision to improve transparency by requiring our federal government to inform the public about how many contractors they're using, what it's costing us, and what their functions are."

"I've also proposed tougher government reform than any other candidate in this race -reforms that would eliminate the kind of no-bid contracts that this administration has given to Blackwater."
~ Sen. Barack Obama