Results tagged “billrichardson”

It's all drama for Obama! Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), who President Obama nominated to be Secretary of Commerce after Bill Richardson withdrew, has withdrawn his nomination, claiming "irresolvable conflicts" between himself and the Obama administration. Gregg told Politico, "I’ve been my own person, and I began to wonder if I could be an effective team player. The president deserves someone who can block for his policies. As a practical matter I can contribute to his agenda better—where we agree—as a senator and I hope to do that.” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that Gregg had "sought out" the nomination, “Once it became clear after his nomination that Sen. Gregg was not going to be supporting some of President Obama’s key economic priorities, it became necessary for Sen. Gregg and the Obama administration to part ways. We regret that he has had a change of heart."

After what has been notably a smooth transition, the would-be Cabinet put together by President-elect Obama suffered its first hiccup today with Bill Richardson withdrawing his name from becoming the next secretary of Commerce. The withdrawal was sparked by a federal grand jury investigation that is underway in Richardson's home state of New Mexico into whether a financial services company won state contracts after its CEO contributed to a political committee controlled by the governor. Richardson emailed a statement saying, "I have concluded that the ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process." Obama accepted the withdrawal "with regret" but praised the governor by saying,"It is a measure of his willingness to put the nation first that he has removed himself as a candidate for the Cabinet in order to avoid any delay in filling this important economic post at this critical time." Politico says that there was a nervousness among some senators of any associations between the investigation on Richardson and the pay-to-play scandal of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

If CBS News Writers Strike, Democrats Will Nix Debate Several presidential candidates - Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson -have announced their intentions not to cross picket lines for a debate sponsored by CBS News on December 10th. The Writers Guild of America announced earlier this week that its members who work for the network’s television and radio operations at both the national and local level have authorized a strike vote. The members have...

Things were feisty during last night's Democratic debate in Las Vegas. The big story is how frontrunner Senator Hillary Clinton seemed to hold her ground by going on the attack. The NY Times said she "shifted to a much more assertive tone" and even the NY Post thinks she won the debate, though not by a knockout. During the October 31 debate, Clinton stumbled while trying to explain her support-nonsupport of Governor Spitzer's driver's...

The eight Democratic presidential candidates debated in New Hampshire last night, covering immigration, health care, and, of course, Iraq. Former Senator John Edwards, who is a distant third in the polls, went after Senators Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's voting on the Iraq spending bill, saying, "They went quietly to the floor of the Senate. They were among the last people to vote. They cast the right vote, and I applaud them for that. ... But there is a difference between leadership and legislating." But Obama fought back, pointing out that Edwads voted to go to war in 2002 (the Daily News gave Obama an "A" for his debate performance).

Last night, eight Democratic candidates met in the first debate of the already very long road to the 2008 presidential election. And the debate, which included Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, and Joseph Biden, as well as former Senator John Edwards and Mike Gravel, Representative Dennis Kucinich, and New Mexico Bill Richardson, was more an opportunity to criticize President Bush's policies, versus each other. With eight candidates vying to make the most of the time, it was a somewhat underwhelming debate.

A who's who of the Democratic party has been at the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network conference in Midtown this past week. Opening day saw hopeful John Edwards and Democratic party chair Howard Dean, yesterday included former president Bill Clinton, Senator Joe Biden, Senator Christopher Dodd, and Governor Bill Richardson, today has Senator Hillary Clinton and tomorrow Senator Barack Obama and Representative Dennis Kucinich are appearing - which is why it's called the "Sharpton primary" by many. With his profile very high after the Don Imus-Rutgers women's basketball incident, the Sun notes that Sharpton is a political force.