Edwards, Obama: The enemy of my enemy ...

[ariesgem]

They switched on the lights in the bar at the Hotel Fort Des Moines at 2:00 a.m. Sunday, and a crowd of two dozen buoyant young field organizers for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) spilled out onto the sidewalk, some jostling past Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, who had paused for a moment just inside the hotel's glass doors.

The organizers were men and women in their 20s, and all dressed identically: jeans and red T-shirts with Obama's logo and his call to arms, "Fire it up."

When a man on the edge of the group yelled the slogan, they answered with the response they'd been chanting all night: "Ready to go."

"Fire it up!" the rumpled, older man yelled again.

"Ready to go!" the crowd shouted back again. "Fire it up!" he called. "Ready to go!"

"Let's kick her ass," the cheerleader finally called out, and the crowd roared.

The cheerleader — Joe Trippi, chief adviser to Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Obama's rival John Edwards, new-politics guru, and all-around mischief maker — glanced gleefully over at McAuliffe.

snip...................


The Obama and Edwards campaigns have come to view each other — warily on Obama's side, more warmly on Edwards' — as arms-length allies against her.

"The differences between Sen. Clinton and myself are much more dramatic than the differences between Sen. Obama and myself," Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, said last Thursday in Des Moines.

Asked whether they were teaming up on Clinton, the campaigns' spokesmen offered blunt denials.

"Sen. Obama has a singular goal in this race — to win the Democratic nomination so we can get to the work of transforming this nation," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.

"No, John Edwards is fighting to win the White House so he can get this government working for regular people again," said Edwards spokesman Mark Kornblau.

The shared tactical goals of the Edwards and Obama campaign fall far short, at the moment, of the true coordination between Sen. John F. Kerry and Rep. Dick Gephardt in 2004, when — former staffers of both campaigns say — aides to the campaigns secretly coordinated their attacks on the insurgent Howard Dean.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/6822.html

[Rowdyboy]

1. The night of the Iowa cacuses will tell the story......

Obama/Edwards and Richardson/Biden can use the system to make things very hard for senator Clinton, should they choose.

[cuke]

2. Yes, the difference is dramatic

Clinton has a long list of accomplishments compared to Obama and Edwards

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. List them. nt

[asdjrocky]

4. Yes, please do...

Edwards/Obama... 16 years of Democratic leadership in the Whitehorse.

[BringBigDogBack]

8. love it!

[asdjrocky]

14. oops.... Whitehouse... I'm such an idiot.

[gmudem]

5. Such as?

I'm a constituent of hers and I certainly don't remember her doing much other than running for President since the day she took office.

[oasis]

6. "Don't remember her doing much". What did you want done that didn't get done?

:shrug:

[cuke]

7. Here's a few from her Senate career

Forced * to increase funding for the Ryan White Care Act which helps people with AIDS

helped secure the $20billion to rebuild after 9/11,

fought to provide compensation to the families of the victims, grants for hard-hit small businesses, and health care for front line workers at Ground Zero.

She also passed legislation to track the health status of our troops so that conditions like Gulf War Syndrome would no longer be misdiagnosed.

She is an original sponsor of legislation that expanded health benefits to members of the National Guard and Reserves,

introduced legislation to tie Congressional salary increases to an increase in the minimum wage,

She worked to strengthen the Children's Health Insurance Program, which increased coverage for children in low income and working families.

She authored legislation that has been enacted to improve quality and lower the cost of prescription drugs,

she worked to ensure the safety of prescription drugs for children, with legislation now included in the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act

her legislation to help schools address environmental hazards.

proposed expanding access to child care.

passed legislation that will bring more qualified teachers into classrooms and more outstanding principals to lead our schools.

one of the original cosponsors of the Prevention First Act to increase access to family planning.

Her fight with the Bush Administration ensured that Plan B, an emergency contraceptive, will be available to millions of American women and will reduce the need for abortions.

[flpoljunkie]

9. Total speculation on Ben's part...

Democratic presidential hopefuls, former Sen. John Edwards, left, and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., take the stage at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner in Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)


Democratic presidential hopeful, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, left, greets fellow hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., at the end of the Iowa Democratic Party's Jefferson Jackson Dinner, Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

[Adelante]

10. Sounds like a crock of Trippi bullshit to me

Disinformation.

[Apollo11]

11. All the other candidates want to see Hillary's poll numbers falling.

Hillary has been the frontrunner since January, up to 20 points ahead of her nearest rival in some polls.

Obama, Edwards and all the other candidates have no other choice.

If they want to have a shot at winning they have to weaken the perception that Hillary is the best-qualified candidate and that she is going to be the Democratic nominee.

The Iowa caucuses are just a few weeks away. So it's only natural that things are hotting up! B-)

[BeyondGeography]

12. Trippi: "Let's kick her ass"

Right in MacAwful's face at 2 in the morning.

Primary season.

[GreenArrow]

13. interesting choices of focus

Asked whether they were teaming up on Clinton, the campaigns' spokesmen offered blunt denials.

"Sen. Obama has a singular goal in this race — to win the Democratic nomination so we can get to the work of transforming this nation," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.

"No, John Edwards is fighting to win the White House so he can get this government working for regular people again," said Edwards spokesman Mark Kornblau.

[rinsd]

15. Joe Trippi .....still a tactical moron

"Obama's communications director, Robert Gibbs, refused to respond in any way to questions about how or if the two men are aligned.

"Just not something we're interested in commenting on," he e-mailed.

But Trippi, for his part, an hour after his performance in front of staffers for all three campaigns and several reporters, urged perhaps a bit too much that this reporter not write about the scene, virtually guaranteeing it would see print."