Clinton Targets Elderly

Senator Clinton has geared her campaign toward women who were born before the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920. Elderly woman have become set pieces at Clinton's political events in Iowa. These woman are "visibly demonstrating the candidate’s effort to highlight her sex and her overtures to female voters, whom the campaign is counting on to propel her to the Democratic presidential nomination." Many woman of younger generations have shown great enthusiasm in Clinton's campaign; however, Clinton shows great pride in her elderly supporters by spending extra time speaking with them and sharing their stories with her audiences. According to some polls, Obama and Clinton are running even among women voters, so it seems as if Clinton is hoping to pull out ahead by gaining support of the older women of the state who may feel a connection to her because of gender.

Obama Admits His Mistakes

On his tour through Iowa, Obama invited his audience to ask whatever question they would like. Making this statement was like an open invitation for the type of questions that candidates try to avoid. One such question involved the use of marijuana. Obama was asked if he inhaled, and unlike president Clinton, who is infamous for lying when it comes to admitting his faults, Obama said he did inhale and "It’s not something I’m proud of. It was a mistake as a young man." I believe that Obama's willingness to tell the truth and show how he has learned from it is a trait we should welcome in our next President.

Clinton's Push for Iowa

Hillary Clinton is doubling her staff in Iowa, and increasing the number of her appearances there in order to gain more support in the state. Her campaign has been on the defensive since the last Democrat debate, and this seems to be her way of trying to regain some of the support she lost due to the attacks she suffered from her fellow Democrats. The only problem with this is it shows that Clinton is not as confident with her lead in the polls as she seems.

Democratic Candidates Promise to Combat Global Warming

Saturday Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Dennis Kucinich all expressed their views on how to fight global warming and encourage energy independence. They all expressed the need for government mandate to reduce greenhouse gases, as well as their willingness to negotiate treaties on the environment. According to many surveys, After immigration, reducing oil dependence and global warming is the second most important issue among independent voters. Therefore this issue could help to sway the undecided 20% of voters to the Democratic side in 2008.

The Immagration Issue

The Republican candidates have placed great importance on the issue of immigration during this primary season. The New York Times stated that the Republican cadidates "talk about illegal immigration as if they were in an arms race on toughness." Could this platform hurt their chances of winning the 2008 race for the White House by offending the growing number of Hispanic voters? Or will it help them maintain the White House by using the issue against the Democratic candidates who have remained more or less silent on this issue until lately?

Attacking the Messenger in Action

Yesterday John McCain was asked by a voter, "How do we beat the bitch?" The voter was referring to Senator Clinton. Today, Rick Sanchez suggested that McCain should have "admonished" the voter who asked him that. McCain decided to use Sanchez's accusation to his advantage by attack CNN, and asking supporter to "help us fight Rick Sanchez and CNN and stand with John McCain.”

Thompson Gains Anti-abortion Endorsement

The National Right to Life Committee has chosen to endorse Fred Thompson's presidential campaign, which will assist in his efforts to gain the conservative vote. A spokesman for the committee stated that they chose to endorse Thompson "because of his record on abortion issues as a former senator from Tennessee." Mitt Romney, who has been struggling to gain support among ant-abortion advocates due to his switch from being a defender of a woman's right to choose. Though James Bopp Jr, a founder of the group, is a Romney supporter he was still unable to gain the endorsement.

Clinton Decides to be Against Driver's Licenses for Illegal Immigrants

In what seems to be an attempt to remove the issue of illegal immigration off the table, Senator Clinton has issued a statement saying that "As president, I will not support driver’s licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration, including border security and fixing our broken system.” I'm sure it is not a coincidence that this statement comes the day before Clinton engages in a debate tomorrow night. Her opponents have more than likely no forgotten her unclear position on this issue in the last debate, and are unlikely to go easy on Senator Clinton this time. Senator Clinton's statement on Immigration relates closer to Republican views than Democrat, which makes it seem as if Clinton is focusing on the general election more than the Democratic Primaries.

Electability

A poll of Democratic voters in Iowa and New Hampshire showed that people believed that Obama and Edwards were more likely to say what they believe, unlike Senator Clinton who is believed to say what she thinks voters want to hear. However, the majority of those polled saw Clinton as the candidate that was more prepared and the most electable Democrat running in the 2008 presidential race. The same poll was conducted for Republican voters in these two states, and they showed that Romney was viewed as the candidate that shared the same views on immigration and that he reflected Republican values more than any of the other Republican contenders, but they believe that Giuliani would be the party's strongest candidate in the general election. This could be bad news for Romney, because a large number of Republicans in both Iowa and New Hampshire said they would be open to voting for someone who had conflicting views on issues such as gay rights and abortion if they had a better chance at winning the Presidency.

A Global Warming Platform

Leading Democratic presidential candidates are committed to cut back on United States greenhouse gas emission. Senator Edwards has even made global warming one of the three pillars of his campaign. Edwards stated "its time for a president who asks Americans to be patriotic about something other than war." Edwards is not the only Democrat making global warming and climate issues a staple in their campaign. Senator Clinton promised to address climate issues by requiring U.S. vehicles to average 55 miles per gallon by 2030. Republican candidates still remain skeptical on the global warming issue. Thompson went so far to say that "warming on other planets has led some people to wonder if they are actually inhabited by alien SUV-Driving industrialist who run their air-conditioning at 60 degrees and refuse to recycle."

Deadliest Year in Iraq

2007 is the deadliest year so far for United States troops in Iraq. Six soldiers were killed Monday, which brings the total number of deaths this year alone up to 852. It is ironic how these deaths came only a few days after the military announced that there has been a significant drop in the rate of American deaths this year. The average number of American military deaths per month is 69, however this October 38 service members died in Iraq, making it the lowest total since 2003. The growing number of deaths is attributed to the large number of troops present since the surge, which brought around 165,000 new troops to Iraq. The Bush administration claims "despite the high cost in terms of lives lost, the strategy has brought improved security to the country."