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Hoping to replicate her strong showing last month in California with a much-needed win this Tuesday in another big state with somewhat similar demographics — Texas — Hillary Clinton is getting some help from some California friends, including Antonio Villaraigosa. The peripatetic Los Angeles mayor was one of the warmup acts for Clinton at her Friday night rally in San Antonio (where, not too far away, Barack Obama had been campaigning earlier). Also firing up the crowd before Clinton spoke was Rep. Hilda Solis of El Monte. Clinton is hoping that, just as in the California primary, a wave of Latino support will sweep her to a win in Texas, and Villaraigosa and Solis are doing their part to make that happen. Indeed, The Times Michael Finnegan, traveling with the Clinton team, learned that after accompanying the presidential contender to stops Saturday in the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan, Villaraigosa will work the same area by himself on Sunday. His Honor already has put in a fair number of hours for Clinton. As we noted … earlier, he did his part in her losing Iowa effort. And, as we also noted before, he won some high-profile recognition for his hard work on her behalf in the Golden State. Finnegan reports that Clinton received a rousing reception at her outdoor event in San Antonio — a crowd of 5,000, perhaps more, came to see her. Obama, typically, outdrew her at the indoor event he held in town, but the Clinton folks were happy with their turnout. One of Clinton’s prime themes in her speech adhered to the much-noticed ad her campaign started running earlier in the day — she questioned Obama’s readiness to grapple with key national security issues. – Don Frederick
Jeffrey Rosen’s TRB column in the February 27, 2208, New Republic is about how Obama would be the first truly civil libertarian president. That column really sums up what I like about Obama. As a libertarian, civil and fiscal, I don’t agree with a lot of his ideas, but I love his honest and strong civil libertarian bent. After the Bush 43 years this approach to personal liberty and privacy would be a welcome change. And as far as government spending goes, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess he’d be less “liberal” than Bush. Sure Obama’s spending will focus on different areas than Bush’s, but in pure government expansion it’s almost impossible for Obama, or any other “spend thrift liberal,” to match Bush’s woeful record. Plus an Obama presidency might push the GOP to look deep into the dark night and find a core that seems to be lost in Rovian factions and coalitions. The Rove gloat of creating a generation of GOP rule died, oh, about two or three years in. All that being said, I sincerely hope Obama wins either Texas or Ohio and forces Clinton out of the Democratic nomination race. Of course that would also involve Clinton conceding with grace. An outcome still in serious doubt at this time. Here is Rosen’s lede:
Barack Obama’s presidential campaign showed off its nimbleness — and, even more so, its overflowing treasury — with the quickly produced response ad to the "3 a.m. in the morning" spot that the Hillary Clinton team unveiled earlier in the day (here’s the Clinton ad; here’s the Obama one). But Obama’s cadres of aides also pay attention to the smallest of details. And that was on vivid display tonight at the candidate’s rally in San Antonio. Every urinal in the men’s rooms at Verizon amphitheater was outfitted with a door hanger that not only urged support for Obama, but had an explanation of the "Texas two-step" voting procedure — how those who really want to make a difference on Tuesday first should cast a primary ballot, then show up for local caucuses. It’s unknown whether locales for the hangers were found in the women’s rooms; understandably, The Times’ Mark Z. Barabak was unable to obtain firsthand knowledge of that. Barabak does relate that, as has been so often the case of late, Obama … proved quite the draw, attracting about 8,000 folks. And the candidate drew a roar from that crowd when, after terming the war with Iraq "the greatest foreign policy decision of a generation," he referenced the ringing phone featured in the new Clinton ad. Said Obama: "Hillary Clinton picked up the phone and gave the wrong answer. And John McCain picked up the phone and gave the wrong answer. And George Bush picked up the phone and gave the wrong answer." Perhaps most tellingly, his initial mention of the Clinton ad sparked a chorus of boos. The tension — between the two candidates, between their camps and between their partisans — is growing. And if the race continues past Tuesday, look for more and more of the Democratic leaders who have remained neutral to began expressing concerns about the divisive effects that the battle may start to produce for a party once so giddy about its fall prospects. – Don Frederick
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02/29/2008 
