Kennedy Adviser Discusses History in Backing Obama

Thursday, October 4, 2007

CLAIMING THE JFK MANTLE

Kennedy Adviser Discusses History in Backing Obama

The comparison has been floating around for a while, so it was only a matter of time before Barack Obama's campaign started making the claim explicitly itself: Meet BHO, the new JFK.

The Obama campaign is seizing on the comparison itself to rebut one of the main arguments against his candidacy -- that he lacks experience. At stops this week in Chicago and Iowa, Obama was introduced by Ted Sorensen, the 79-year-old former Kennedy speechwriter, who went to great lengths to knock down the inexperience charge by invoking his former boss.

In a packed hotel ballroom in Coralville, outside Iowa City, Sorensen spent several minutes on the podium retelling Kennedy's handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis, "the most dangerous crisis in the history of mankind."

"That young president who had been accused of being too inexperienced and too young successfully steered the country through that crisis," Sorensen said.

He compared Kennedy's secret negotiations with the Soviets to end the crisis to Obama's stated willingness -- criticized by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton -- to meet with the country's foes without preconditions in his first year in office. And he compared Kennedy's refusal to take the advice of his military advisers to invade Cuba to Obama's early opposition to the war in Iraq.

The crowd of more than 1,000 grew slightly restless by the end of Sorensen's history lesson, but Linda Yanney, a historian who heard it, said the JFK comparison was apt. Obama "has that sort of ease, and he looks great on a podium," said Yanney, who lives in Iowa City.

-- Alec MacGillis

THE RELIGIOUS VOTE

Giuliani Says Evangelicals Know Where He Stands

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani insisted yesterday that he can appeal to evangelical voters because they know where he stands on issues even if they disagree with him.

The Republican presidential candidate started a one-day swing through New Hampshire at the Red Arrow Diner in Manchester, where reporters asked him about threats by some religious conservatives to run a third-party candidate if Giuliani is the party's nominee.

"I don't worry a lot" about that threat, Giuliani said. "You know when we will find out who will be influential in this election? When it's over."

Giuliani's support of abortion rights and questions about his commitment to conservative social issues such as gun rights have dogged his campaign since it began. But Giuliani said that he can still appeal to voters who care about such things.

"I'm not a threat at all," he insisted. "I have great respect for religion. . . . With me you know what you're going to get. I mean, I explain to you who I am. I tell you who I am. You can figure out the areas you agree, the areas you disagree. It's not like five different positions on every issue."

That last line was a thinly disguised swipe at his rival, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, whose positions on abortion and other social issues have changed since he first started running for office in his state in the 1990s. Explaining what he said are polls that give him an edge with evangelical voters, Giuliani said: "Maybe it is respect for the idea that I'll be straight with you."

Giuliani's appearance came as his campaign launched a new radio ad in the state. Titled "Tested," the ad features Giuliani talking about having been tested in crisis on the two issues he says matter: terrorism and the economy.

"They're not going to find perfection, but they're gonna find somebody who's dealt with crisis almost on a regular basis and has had results, results people thought were impossible," he says in the ad. It ends with the argument about electability that Giuliani has been making with abandon recently: "The Republican that Democrats just don't want to run against," a voice-over says.

-- Michael D. Shear

THE IRAQ CAMPAIGN

Edwards Faults Clinton On Proposal to End War

Former senator John Edwards had sharp words for Hillary Clinton yesterday, accusing her of proposing a plan for Iraq that would not end the war.

"A week ago Sunday, Hillary Clinton said that she would continue to conduct combat missions in Iraq. If you're not ending combat operations, you're not ending the war," Edwards said during a campaign speech in New Hampshire, according to a release issued by his campaign.

Edwards is stepping up his attacks on the Democratic front-runner as she consolidates her national lead but remains in a three-way tie with Edwards and Obama in Iowa, where the first voting will be held. Edwards also announced a proposal to end the outsourcing of security in Iraq.

-- Anne E. Kornblut

A BOOST FROM THE WEB

Paul Reports $5 Million In Fundraising for Quarter

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) raised $5.1 million in the third fundraising quarter, with at least 70 percent of those donations coming online, according to campaign spokesman Jesse Benton. Paul's total represents a jump of 114 percent.

That means that not only does Paul have more MySpace friends than Mitt Romney, he now has more money than former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who finished second in Iowa's Ames straw poll this summer and reported taking in roughly $1 million this quarter.

-- Jose Antonio Vargas

FLORIDA FIGHTS BACK

Democratic Lawmakers Sue Party Over State's Primary

A federal lawsuit to be filed today by Florida lawmakers against Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean alleges that Dean and the national party are violating the equal protection provisions of the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act by refusing to recognize the state's Jan. 29 primary.

In a draft of the lawsuit, being filed by Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Alcee L. Hastings, Dean is accused of disenfranchising more than 4 million voters in a scheme that the lawsuit contends would also reduce minority voting. The DNC and the Florida Secretary of State are also named.

"In the annals of modern politics, no national party has inflicted so devastating and sweeping a 'geographic discrimination' upon an entire state's electorate consisting exclusively of members of its own party," the suit says.

-- Michael D. Shear