(CNN) - VoteBoth, the organization that is aggressively seeking to land Hillary Clinton on Barack Obama's presidential ticket, says it has upwards of 25,000 signatures on its petition calling for the New York senator to serve as No. 2.
According to the group's co-founder, Sam Arora, the vast majority of those signatures came entirely after Obama clinched the party's nomination Thursday and were generated largely on media buzz and interest in the potential for a unity ticket.
"The online activity we've seen is a sneak peak at the millions of Democrats who are hoping for an Obama-Clinton dream ticket," Arora told CNN.
"The choice is Sen. Obama's alone, and we hope to continue making the case to him that choosing Sen. Clinton would unite the Party and lead us to victory in November," he also said.
Those who have signed the petition include several prominent Democrats, most of whom were backers of Clinton, including Govs. Ed Rendell and Tom Vilsack and Sens. Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein.
Since Obama officially clinched the nomination Tuesday night, several high-profile backers of Clinton have publicly urged she serve as the Illinois senator's running mate.
Clinton even reportedly said she was open to the possibility in a conference call with supporters earlier this week, though her campaign issued a statement saying she is not actively seeking the job.
Arora said the organization will continue to step up its efforts for a unity ticket, and explore several different avenues for getting its message out. On Thursday, ardent Clinton support Lanny Davis, whose fierce support of the former presidential candidate has become a fixture on cable news shows, signed on to the group as a senior adviser.
(CNN)—In the latest installment of CNN=Politics Daily, CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux has the details on the meeting between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton Thursday night.
As Hillary Clinton prepares to officially end her 16 month presidential campaign Saturday, a new poll shows the general election will be just as eventful. Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider has the latest numbers showing John McCain and Barack Obamas running neck and neck.
McCain made a visit to the Everglades in Florida Friday in bid to highlight his environmental credentials. CNN’s Susan Candiotti reports from the campaign trail in Florida.
The next president won’t take office until next year, but the pentagon is already getting ready for the new administration. CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr reports on the unprecedented circumstances the next president will face as he assumes control of the war in Iraq.
Finally, in a podcast exclusive, CNN’s Jennifer Mikell serves up your weekly dose of Trail Mix—the most memorable campaign moments in the news this week.
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(Above: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama talk backstage at AIPAC in Washington Wednesday. Photo credit: Callie Shell/Aurora for TIME)
WASHINGTON (CNN) – The general election season opens with a neck-and-neck race between Barack Obama and John McCain, with more than one in five voters admitting that they might change their minds between now and November.
In the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted entirely after Obama became the presumptive Democratic nominee, he leads his Republican counterpart 49 to 46 percent among registered voters - a statistical tie, given the question’s 3 point margin of error.
The poll is the first conducted entirely after Obama became the presumptive Democratic nominee.
McCain and Obama aren’t alone: independent candidate Ralph Nader and Republican-turned-Libertarian Bob Barr are both vying with the two major-party candidates for independent voters.
But at this point, it looks unlikely either will play a spoiler role: the margin between Obama and McCain is virtually unchanged, with the Illinois senator leading 47 to 43 percent. Nader pulls in 6 percent, and Barr 2.
What would Hillary Clinton bring to a Democratic ticket? Answer: about three percentage points.
A hypothetical Obama/Clinton ticket would currently get 52 percent, compared to 46 percent for a hypothetical McCain/Romney ticket. And if she's not on the ticket? Sixty percent of her Democratic supporters would vote for Obama, 17 percent would vote for McCain, and 22 percent say they would stay at home in November and not vote for anyone.
“That's just one estimate of the ‘Clinton factor’ and it may not be an accurate predictor since it piles several hypotheticals on top of each other and asks people to guess their state of mind five months from now,” said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “Nonetheless, it does indicate that unmotivated Clinton supporters may be a bigger risk to Obama than defections from the Clinton camp to McCain.”
The results are based on interviews with 1,035 adult Americans, including 921 registered voters, conducted by telephone on June 4-5.
(CNN) – Barack Obama made a splash in the hip-hop world last summer when his name showed up as a lyric in two singles from Common and Talib Kweli.
Then came the online mega-hit “Yes We Can” by Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas, who artfully re-mixed Obama’s New Hampshire election night speech into a star-studded music video that racked up millions of views on video-sharing Web sites.
Big-name performers like Jay-Z, T.I. and 50 Cent have all endorsed Obama, and Mos Def even campaigned for him before the North Carolina primary.
Now that Obama has secured the Democratic nomination, a new mix tape is making waves on the Internet - “Black President,” from the New York-based rapper Nas and DJ Green Lantern.
The song opens with a memorable line from Obama’s victory speech in Iowa (“They said this day would never come”), and then dips into a sample from Tupac Shakur’s 1998 hit “Changes” (“We ain’t ready to have a black president”).
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Can John McCain put California in play in the general election?
He does have Arnold Schwarzenegger - a popular twice-elected governor - in his corner.
McCain also has some support in the Latino community given his long-standing backing of comprehensive immigration reform - although since the collapse of the McCain-Kennedy immigration reform legislation, which was backed by President Bush, the Republican candidate has stressed the need for border security first.
The Republican National Committee has been reaching out to the Latino community for years, though with only mixed results. Now the McCain campaign is undertaking its own aggressive outreach.
I recently spoke with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who acknowledged that the Democrats will have their work cut out for them to make sure California remains solidly blue in November.
But the mayor, a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton’s presidential ambitions, vowed to do whatever he could to help Barack Obama. And he predicted that the Latino voters will represent a major boost for the Democratic candidate. They did support Clinton in overwhelming numbers in the primaries, the mayor said. But that was because they knew and loved her and former President Bill Clinton, and didn’t really know Obama. That, he says, has now changed.
(CNN) – It may be time to take John Edwards' name off the list of potential vice presidential candidates.
The former presidential candidate, who was the 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee, continued to flatly maintain has no interest in the job. Traveling in Spain Friday, Edwards told two separate newspapers it’s not a role he is willing to take again. (Related: The rundown on Obama's VP possibilities)
“I already had the privilege of running for vice president in 2004, and I won't do it again," Edwards told El Mundo newspaper. He also made similar comments to El Pais.
The former North Carolina senator's comments are his first on VP speculation since Barack Obama officially clinched the Democratic nomination. Edwards, who ended his own bid in late January , endorsed the Illinois senator's White House bid in May, sending the political world abuzz that the two could team up on the same ticket. (WATCH: Edwards endorses Obama)
They appeared to have natural chemistry — something Edwards and then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry seemed to lack in 2004 — and the former North Carolina senator remains popular among a key demographic that has been reluctant to support Obama — working-class white voters. (WATCH: Edwards' motives for endorsement)
But Edwards immediately sought to quell rumors he was angling for the No. 2 spot, telling an interviewer shortly after his endorsement announced that it "Won't happen…. It's just not something I am interested in."
But he has been more coy about serving for Obama in other ways, specifically as his attorney general.
Mercifully it's finally over. Tuesday the interminable primary season breathed its last.
Republican Duncan Hunter led the parade of candidates entering the race for president in October of 2006. By the time they were all finished declaring, a small gymnasium wouldn't have held them.
It was 20 months of highlights and lowlights. It just seems longer. The drama over Michigan and Florida, the rantings of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the flame-out of Rudy Giuliani, Hillary Clinton's fictional tale from the tarmac in Bosnia, John McCain being left for dead in the summer of '07 only to rise like the phoenix and eventually grab the nomination, Mike Huckabee who burst on the scene and disappeared almost as quickly, the dizzying disappointment that was Fred Thompson, former President Bill Clinton running through the countryside throwing hand grenades, questions about Mitt Romney's Mormonism, charges of sexism and racism... and more bowling, shot drinking and eating in diners then we ever should have been asked to watch. Except one diner, where Hillary Clinton got all teary-eyed and shocked the world by winning New Hampshire.
To read more and contribute to the Cafferty File discussion click here
WASHINGTON (CNN) - A majority of Democrats think Barack Obama should select Hillary Clinton as his running mate, according to a new national poll.
Fifty-four percent of registered Democrats questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll out Friday think Obama should name his rival as his running mate, with 43 percent saying no. The poll is the first national survey conducted since Senator Obama (D-Illinois) claimed the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday night following the end of the primary season. Senator Clinton, D-New York, is expected to suspend her campaign and back Obama in a scheduled address Saturday. (View full poll results [PDF])
It seems men and women don’t see eye to eye on this question, with 60 percent of Democratic women saying Clinton should be named as Obama’s running mate. Only 46 percent of male Democrats agree, with 51 percent of them saying no. (WATCH: Panelists weigh McCain, Obama's VP options)
“What do women want, Sigmund Freud famously asked. The answer appears to be Clinton on the ticket. It’s pretty clear that many Democratic women are miffed and that Obama has to be very careful how he deals with Senator Clinton,” says CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider. (WATCH: The war over women voters)
(CNN) – John McCain’s released his debut spot of the general election ad wars Friday.
In the 30-second spot, which will air in major battleground states, the presumptive Republican nominee talks about his family’s history of military service.
“I hate war,” he says.
(Full script after the jump)
(CNN) - Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Friday shed some light on the surprise meeting between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton that took place at the California Democrat's Washington home Thursday night.
“I received them. Put them in the living room in two comfortable chairs facing one another and left,” Feinstein said Friday morning. (WATCH: Obama spokesman grilled on surprise meeting)
“They talked. I went upstairs and did my work," Feinstein continued. "They called me when it was over. I came down and said ‘good night everybody, I hope you had a good meeting.’ They were laughing and that was it.”
Among the other details Feinstein divulged:
- The meeting took place at 9 p.m. and lasted about an hour.
- Clinton called Feinstein Thursday afternoon to see if they could use her house.
- Feinstein served them water but nothing else.
- No one else was in the room with them. One person from each of the campaigns went to a separate room, a study, in the house. Security waited outside.
Asked why Clinton and Obama kept the meeting so quiet, Feinstein said the two formal rivals wanted "wanted an opportunity to meet together alone." (WATCH: Gergen, Brazile, Rollins discuss the meeting)
This is a deeply personal time too," Feinstein added. "You’re sorting out your feelings. Hillary’s going to be giving a big speech tomorrow. Barack is trying to put things together for a major presidential campaign. "
"There are a lot of decompression, nerve endings, that need to come together," she continued. "I think the opportunity to sit down, just the two of them, was positive."
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