WASHINGTON (CNN) - Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter and member of the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee, will endorse John McCain for president on Wednesday, her spokesman tells CNN.
The announcement will take place at a news conference on Capitol Hill, just blocks away from the DNC headquarters. Forester will “campaign and help him through the election,” the spokesman said of her plans to help the Republican presidential nominee.
Forester was a major donor for Clinton earning her the title as a Hillraiser for helping to raise at least $100,000 for the New York Democratic senator’s failed presidential bid.
In an interview with CNN this summer, Forester did not hide her distaste for eventual Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
“This is a hard decision for me personally because frankly I don't like him,” she said of Obama in an interview with CNN’s Joe Johns. “I feel like he is an elitist. I feel like he has not given me reason to trust him.”
Forester is the CEO of EL Rothschild, a holding company with businesses around the world. She is married to international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. Forester is a member of the DNC’s Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York.
LOS ANGELES (CNN) - Senator Barack Obama rubbed shoulders with the glitterati in a pair of fundraisers Tuesday night that brought in about $11 million for his campaign and the Democratic Party - breaking his own campaign's one-night fundraising record.
With the likes of Will Ferrell, Chris Rock and Leonardo DiCaprio looking on, Obama told the crowd "the financial crisis has suddenly focused people's attention and it's reminded people of what's at stake, it's reminded people that this is not a game, this is not a reality show, no offense to any of you," he said to laughter.
Obama took a serious tone. "The pain that we're seeing now on Wall Street I've been seeing for the last 19 months as I've traveled all across the country," he said at a dinner at Greystone Mansion which boasted views of Los Angeles most only see in movies and the per plate cost was $28,500. "Just remember what this campaign has been about from the start, it's not about Barack Obama it's not Joe Biden or Sara Palin or John McCain but it's about you and it's about us and it's about those who will never see the inside of a building like this and don't resent the success that's represented in this room, but just want the simple chance to be able to find a job that pays a living wage."
Obama acknowledged the tight race and tried to assuage fears that he would not close the deal in November – a sentiment he has heard frequently from voters on the trail.
(CNN) - The nation's oldest and largest women's rights organization made a rare endorsement in a presidential contest, endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for president over the Republican ticket that features female Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
The National Organization for Women, which had originally endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, made no mention of Palin in its Statement, calling Obama "the candidate who is out there every day standing up - clearly and consistently - for women."
NOW has not endorsed a general election candidate since their endorsement of Democrats Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, the last year a woman was featured on a major party’s presidential ticket.
In a statement released yesterday, the Chair of the National Organization for Women Political Action Committee, Kim Gandy, praised Obama and slammed McCain for his policy positions on abortion rights, pay equity and the appointment of Supreme Court justices who share the group’s views on women’s issues. Palin holds virtually identical positions to McCain in these areas.
The McCain campaign criticized the feminist group’s decision. "It's extremely disappointing that an organization that purports to be an advocate for all women not only opposes but feels compelled to go out of its way to criticize and make negative comments about the only ticket in the presidential race with a woman on the ticket," said Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella.
The announcement comes four months after pro-choice political action group NARAL backed Obama over Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primaries. NARAL's decision angered fellow pro-choice Democratic group Emily's List who endorsed Sen. Clinton and criticized NARAL's decision, calling it "tremendously disrespectful." Emily’s List has since endorsed Obama.
(CNN) - Other states may grab their 15 minutes of Electoral College fame, but Barack Obama’s campaign manager recorded a new six-minute Web video for the Democrat’s supporters that suggests the new Florida is… Florida.
In a Web video sent to supporters Wednesday, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe displayed an Electoral College map that included 17 battleground states, including new targets like Montana, North Carolina and Virginia – and Georgia, where the redeployment of staffers elsewhere in recent weeks had raised questions about the campaign’s determination to make a play for this traditionally red state.
Plouffe also highlighted registration numbers in Pennsylvania and Nevada - two major electoral prizes where new Democrats far outpace new Republicans, or where the GOP has actually dipped into negative registration numbers (meaning the party now has fewer members than it did when the year began.)
But the veteran campaign manager spent half the video talking about Florida, the state that cost Al Gore the White House in 2000, where some recent trends in the tight race had prompted concern among Democrats.
Related: Check out CNN's Electoral College map
Plouffe laid out the $39.3 million battle plan, including radio and television ads, infrastructure, direct mail, staff, and phonebanking. He said the message narrative was again shifting their way - “the debate is about change, it’s about the economy, these are two areas we think we can prevail in” - but the focus was the ground game, as Plouffe pointed to potential turnout and registration gains among Obama base voters in Florida. “We’re going to win this election block by block, precinct by precinct,” he said.
Watch the Situation Room and check the Political Ticker at 4 p.m. for the release of the latest CNN/Time Magazine/Opinion Research Corporation poll on the state of the race in Florida and four other key fall battlegrounds.
(CNN) – Mitt Romney and Carly Fiorina, two high-profile supporters of Sen. John McCain, may just have to agree to disagree.
Watch: Romney on the economy
On Tuesday, Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, said that neither McCain nor his running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is capable of running a large corporation like the one she used to head. But Romney, who was a successful businessman before entering politics, has a different opinion.
“I think she’s just misinformed in that regard,” Romney told CNN’s John Roberts on American Morning Wednesday when asked about Fiorina’s comments. “I’d be happy to hire John McCain and Sarah Palin to run a business that I’m an investor in.”
Romney was one of McCain’s fiercest foes during the Republican primaries and often criticized McCain for his lack of economic knowledge. But that criticism ended with the demise of his presidential bid, and Romney has argued for months now that McCain has more knowledge and experience to handle the economy than Sen. Barack Obama.
As the U.S. economy has come under additional stress in recent days with the bankruptcy of Lehman Bros., the quick acquisition of Merrill Lynch, and the federal government’s intervention to prevent the collapse of the nation’s largest insurance company, both McCain and Obama have tried to convince voters that they are best suited to steer the troubled economy. For the second time in as many days, the two campaigns released dueling advertisements about the economy on Wednesday.
The Statement:
An Obama-Biden administration would "increase regulatory oversight of the very people John (McCain) has refused to regulate," Democratic vice-presidential candidate Biden said Tuesday, September 16, on CNN's "American Morning."
Get the facts after the jump!
(CNN) - One day after Barack Obama released an ad hitting John McCain hard over economic policy and the Republican nominee unveiled a spot that promised Americans he would keep their jobs and savings safe, the candidates switched approaches entirely Wednesday.
Barack Obama speaks to voters directly in a new two-minute economy-focused ad that doesn’t mention the Arizona senator, while McCain himself addresses viewers in a spot calling his Democratic opponent all “talk and taxes.”
“In the past few weeks, Wall Street’s been rocked as banks closed and markets tumbled. But for many of you – the people I’ve met in town halls, backyards and diners across America – our troubled economy isn’t news,” says Obama in the new ad, debuting Wednesday nationally and in battleground states.
Watch: Obama's 'Plan for Change' ad
CNN: Prominent Clinton backer and DNC member to endorse McCain
Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter and member of the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee, will endorse John McCain for president on Wednesday, her spokesman tells CNN.
NYT: Detroit Faces $3 Million Election for an 8-Month Mayor
Although some residents might argue that Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick’s efforts to cover up an affair with his chief of staff have cost this cash-starved city enough money, Detroit plans to spend as much as $3 million more on a special election to replace him.
CNN: Palin 'phenomenon' hijacks online sales
For the first time since the start of the election, merchandise for John McCain's campaign rivals sales of Barack Obama gear at CafePress, an online store specializing in user-generated T-shirts.
CNN Radio: Financial Shockwaves reverberate on the campaign
Wall Street woes and average American worries have the candidates jabbing each other in speeches and TV ads. And should Blackberry come out with a new McCain model? Bob Costantini has today’s CNN Radio Political Ticker.
CNN: House OKs bill allowing more offshore oil drilling
The House of Representatives on Tuesday night passed an energy bill clearing the way for more oil drilling off U.S. coasts, but not nearly as much as Republican leaders wanted.
* Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin campaign separately Thursday morning, joining up in the evening, holding their first joint town hall meeting. Palin will take questions from voters.
* Sen. Barack Obama campaigns in Nevada, stopping in Elko and then Las Vegas.
* Sen. Joe Biden and his wife Jill campaign in Charlottesville, Virginia.
From CNN Politics
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