Clinton, Stretched for Cash, Pushes for Debates

[ProSense]

February 7, 2008, 11:27 am

Clinton, Stretched for Cash, Pushes for Debates

Susan Davis reports on the presidential race.

After the first request through the media failed to result in an official response, Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager sent a public letter to Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign again asking him to agree to a debate each week between now and the March 4 contests.

“As such, I was disappointed to see that Sen. Obama rejected the ideaof having more debates given the fact that he and Sen. Clinton have had only a single one-on-one debate. I think we can do better and so does Hillary,” wrote campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, who is currently going without pay following a poor fund-raising month for the campaign that saw Clinton loaning her campaign $5 million for the first time.

In an email to supporters Wednesday, Clinton is asking for $3 million in three days. Her campaign has said the response has been “overwhelming” but hasn’t offered dollar figures yet. Meantime, Obama’s campaign is crowing that it raised $7.2 million in the 48 hours following the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests, the Associated Press reports. That pace that is likely to put him on par with his stunning $32 million haul in January.

Clinton’s campaign is pressing Obama to debate, in part, because they believe she excels in those formats and helps boost her numbers at the polls. The first announced the dare through reporters on Super Tuesday. Senior strategist Mark Penn told reporters Wednesday that he believes there is a corollary between Clinton’s debate performances and last-minute boosts at the polls from voters who go in to election days still undecided.

Unlike pricey ad buys, debates are cheap, costing mostly a candidate’s time. And challenging your opponent to debate is a classic underdog move in political campaigns, and the Clinton camp has begun painting Obama as the “establishment” candidate in recent day. Obama’s campaign manager derided the move Tuesday as taking a page out of the “second-tier congressional campaign playbook” and said the debate schedule would not be dictated by the Clinton camp.

more

[Unsane]

1. Obama to Clinton: "I drink your milkshake!!!"

I drink it up!!!


No free publicity for YOU.

18 debates is enough.

[stillrockin]

2. Yeah, I saw she's flip flopped and is going on FOX.

same same same

[Saturday]

3. Actually, she just raised over 4 million in the last 24 hours. n/t

[Unsane]

5. Which will be inserted directly into her private bank account to pay back her bandaid loan.

[jakem]

6. only $1mil plus interest left-

to pay back the loan!

[ProSense]

7. Got a link to an

official source?

[Saturday]

8. I just got an e-mail from her campaign with that information.

Want me to post it?

[ProSense]

16. It's on Hillary's site now

posted here.

[libertee]

4. Debates are good but when change is your only "platform"

without defined "changes" it is a pretty tough row to hoe!

[Tarheel_Dem]

10. many would disagree with your assessment, just ask the 1/2 million

people who have just contributed upwards of $7 million to Senator Obama's campaign. You Hilbots have tried to make "change" a four letter word, but you're not breaking through, people apparently still have the Audacity of Hope.

[shaniqua6392]

9. The debates do show how inexperienced he is

so I don't blame her for wanting more of that exposure. She wipes the floor with him in debates. If you think of who you would really want to debate the Republican nominee in the fall, it would have to be her. The Republican candidate is going to make him look bad if he is our nominee when it comes to debating. He did get better as he went along, but still stutters and says ummmmm so much it drives me insane.

[Unsane]

12. lol McCain is going to make him look bad?

lol

[golddigger]

13. Who are you guys talking too?

:shrug:

[Tarheel_Dem]

14. I think that Obama supporters will agree with you about debate performances..

but how often does a president debate once elected? He is in his element on the campaign trail, and that's where he's managed to close the gap to dead even in national polling, as attested to by the throngs of people who show up at his events. On the other hand, Hillary sucks at stump speeches, totally uninspiring. She simply doesn't have that kind of voice or cadence. Sorry.......

[bigtree]

11. pro Sense, stretched for debating points

[liberalhistorian]

15. Oh, so NOW the Queen wants to debate?

Boo-fucking-hoo, where was she before? Too bad this campaign isn't turning into the cakewalk she expected and feels entitled to, NOT.

[stevietheman]

17. Re: "establishment candidate" -- Pot, Kettle, Black. n/t

n/t