Results tagged “senatorclinton”

The other day, Senators Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton were thrilled with securing $18.55 million in funds to build an Army Reserve Center complex on Staten Island. However, today the Staten Island Advance reports it's improbable the complex will be built on Staten Island: "The Army Corps of Engineers has told the Advance that the three-building training complex for 300 Reservists likely will be built in Caven Point, N.J., in Hudson County, because there wasn't enough federal land available to accommodate the project here." The S.I. site thought to be appropriate turned out to be...a flood plain. Schumer's office "insisted" to the Advance that the center would be built on S.I., since the funding is for S.I. Stay tuned!

Team Obama can breathe a sigh of relief, they officially got the Russell Simmons endorsement. From a letter sent out this weekend, Simmons declared:

Today I am announcing my personal endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States. During the last nine months, I have closely observed the presidential campaigns, analyzed the issues and platforms of the major candidates, and have had substantive discussions with Senator Clinton and Senator Obama. From the sidelines of the primaries and debates, I have been particularly inspired by the fact that Senator Obama has built an unprecedented, national movement comprised of people from all ethnic, racial, political, social and economic backgrounds.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama march into tonight's Ohio debate with their arms swinging over a 2006 photograph of Obama visiting Kenya. The Obama campaign blamed the Clinton campaign for "shameful" tactics, while the Clinton campaign denied responsibility and said the Obama campaign should be "ashamed" of thinking the photo would be controversial.

Senators and rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama met at the University of Texas in Austin tonight for the CNN/Univision debate. The debate was less a showdown than an "agree to disagree" type affair. You can read a transcript here and clips will start to appear, but, per Austinist, here are some of best lines of the night:

“I have to confess, I was somewhat amused, the other night, when, on one of the TV shows, one of Senator Obama's supporters was asked to name one accomplishment of Senator Obama, and he couldn't.” -- Clinton

Continue reading "Texas Hold 'Em: Clinton, Obama Debate in Austin"

After the NY Times story revealed how NYC votes for Barack Obama appear to have been undercounted for the unofficial (yet official enough to be sent to the AP and other news outlets) results on primary night, State Senator Bill Perkins of Harlem spoke out. Perkins, who supports Obama, told the Post

: "Every election has problems, but in this case, all the problems seem to have been his," said state Sen. Bill Perkins (D-Harlem). "He got all the zeroes and undercounting.

Continue reading "Pol: NYC's Unofficial Count of Primary Votes Contributed to Clinton's "False Momentum""

After losing by considerable margins in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia primaries to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton unveiled an ad attacking her rival yesterday. The voiceover says:

Both Democratic candidates were invited to a televised debate here in Wisconsin. Hillary Clinton has said yes. Barack Obama hasn’t. Maybe he’d prefer to give speeches than have to answer questions.

Continue reading "Clinton Attacks Obama's Lack of Debate Desire"

The specter of a Mormon multimillionaire as president has been lifted; Mitt Romney announced his withdrawal from the Republican primary race this afternoon. Romney used his speech to the Conservative Political Action Committee to declare: “If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win.” Wonkette liveblogged the speech to great comic effect.

That's what Senator Hillary Clinton told Tim Russert on Meet the Press yesterday, but no matter what anyone says, race and gender are obviously factors in the hotly contested Democratic primary race.

At last night's ABC News/Facebook debate in New Hampshire, both parties' candidates held debates. After the Thursday's Iowa results presented Barack Obama as a winner and Hillary Clinton as a disappointing (to her campaign) third place, some interesting things transpired during the Democratic debate. Obama and Iowa runner-up John Edwards apppeared to team up against Clinton. The NY Times called it an "allegiance of convenience" and noted that the defining moment was when Clinton tried to call out Obama's leadership:

As Mrs. Clinton attacked Mr. Obama as waffling on the Patriot Act and Iraq war funding, she sought to make an ally out of Mr. Edwards. She suggested that Mr. Obama had hypocritically tried to paint Mr. Edwards as inconsistent on the issues. All eyes turned to Mr. Edwards, and he delivered a coup de grace — siding dramatically with Mr. Obama instead of Mrs. Clinton.

Continue reading "Videos of the Day: Hillary Clinton on Change, Feelings"

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...

Democratic presidential frontrunner and New York Senator Hillary Clinton is feeling bruised from the Tuesday night debate, where the big moment was when Clinton gave meandering support of Governor Eliot Spitzer's controversial driver's license plan for illegal immigrants.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: An unstable building on Jewlett Avenue in Staten Island, a jumper down in Brooklyn and a double bank robbery (Commerce and Bank of NY) at 80 Broadway in Manhattan.
• Four winning MegaMillions tickets were sold, but in NJ, Maryland, Texas and Virginia. The numbers were 8-18-22-40-44 (with MegaBall 11), and a lump sum payment would be about $48 million.
• The fugitive businessman who donated thousands to politicians, including Senator Clinton, Governor Spitzer, Attorney General Cuomo, Representative Weiner, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, City Councilman Liu, Comptroller Thompson, has finally turned himself in after 16 years
• Former NJ governor James McGreevery is headed to the General Theological Seminary on Tuesday as a student in a non-degree program.
• Also, if it's back-to-school for students, it's back-to-finding good fake ids for college students.
• onNYTurf is demanding that the MTA offer schedule data as a public feed. We'd be surprised if the MTA can wrangle that much data, but given that they're interested in collaborating with Google...
• Musician Patti Smith posted a poem for CBGB's founder Hilly Kristal on her website
• And in Minneapolis, 19 bicyclists were arrested during Critical Mass (see photographs here) - how was last night's ride?

You'd imagine that Kevin Burke, the chairman, president, and CEO of Con Ed, would want to attend at City Council meeting about the steam pipe explosion on July 18. But, no, Burke isn't showing up, which annoys many Council members. The Sun has a good look at the head of the city's essential and currently reviled utility.

The NY Sun details Senator Hillary Clinton's fundraising agenda in the NY area. Most notably, she and former President Bill Clinton will be on a "48-hour, six fund-raiser blitz" in the Hamptons that includes events at billionaire Ron Perelman's East Hampton home and Entenmann's heir Robert Entenmann's North Fork vineyard. From the Sun:

The Hamptons trip highlights just how crucial New York's wealthy donors are to Mrs. Clinton, and to all of the 2008 presidential candidates. Not only do they write large checks, but they serve as rainmakers who can secure donations from their wealthy network of friends.

Continue reading "Clintons Follow the Money and Head to the Hamptons"

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Amboy Rd. on Staten Island, a shooting on Lexington Ave. in Brooklyn, and a water rescue in the area of the George Washington Bridge, near Manhattan's 176th St.
• The Italian boyfriend of actress Anne Hathaway is being sued by a business partner for misusing $1.3 million of a joint venture fund, spending it on things like private jet trips with his girlfriend and subsidizing a lavish lifestyle.
• Former police officer Charles Schwarz completed his five-year prison term and was released from a halfway house where he finished it. While always maintaining his innocence of any involvement in the attack on Abner Louima that occurred while the man was in police custody, Schwarz agreed to a plea deal just before starting his fourth trial.
• Rudy Giuliani's getting it from both social conservatives and liberals after equivocating on questions of abortion during this week's Republican Presidential debate. Critics from both sides stressed that there is no middle ground in the debate.
• Ten current and former members of the M.T.A. Police Department are suing the agency, alleging discrimination against black and Hispanic officers.
• A ruptured 48-inch underground pipe near the Yonkers train station spewed as many as four million gallons of sewage into the Hudson River today.
• We thought stoners were immune to these types of impulses, but an LSU student was arrested after he made repeated threats of a violent attack against Senator Clinton, who is scheduled to be in Baton Rouge today. He was also found posessing marijuana and drug paraphenalia.
• The possible remains of six more WTC victims were found by recovery workers. Four potential body parts were found in material dug from beneath a service road and the potential remains of two more people were found on the roof of a Cedar St. building.

Mayor Bloomberg headed to Washington D.C. to ask for more federal aid related to September 11 illnesses. The NY Times noted that Bloomberg was "surrounded at the hearing mostly by Democratic lawmakers from New York who have sought more aid for 9/11-related health problems" and "The two Republican senators present asked gentle questions."

Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican and a physician, said he did not doubt that there were “a lot of pulmonary problems associated with large particulate intake” at ground zero, but he asked the mayor, “Is there a point at which this stops in terms of a federal obligation?”

Continue reading "Mayor Wants Help From Congress for 9/11 Health Funds"

Senator Hillary Clinton brought out a big gun in her fund-raising arsenal last night: President Bill Clinton, who introduced her last night, noting that they had met 36 years ago at Yale Law School. He said, "You will never find anybody who will do a better job of it than she will." It was their first major fund-raiser together, and tomorrow they'll be in DC for another event. About on million dollars was raised, with tickets ranging in price from $1,000 to $4,600 per person.

Ceasar Borja was invited by Senator Hillary Clinton attend last night's State of the Union address in order to highlight the need for more federal government aid to treatment September 11 workers. Borja's father, NYPD officer Ceasar, who volunteered at Ground Zero in 16 hour shifts, had been been waiting for a lung transplant. But a few hours before the State of the Union, 21 year old Borja found out his father had died while having dinner with other State of the Union guests. The Daily News reports what Borja said to his mother:

"He passed away right when I'm down here fighting for him. This is the most I've ever done for Dad. Mommy, you know I'm strong, Mom. You were with him, though, right? Good. That's all that matters to me. Comfortably and no pain... Dad always knew the man I could become, and I love him for that. Dad didn't go down without a fight, Mom. You know that."

Yesterday, Senator Hillary Clinton visited Ground Zero and asked for $1.9 billion in funding to address September 11-related illnesses. Various people afflicted with issues after working at the World Trade Center site were also on hand as Clinton said, "This is a crisis, and we need for the President to respond. We want the President and members of Congress to see the faces of those who have suffered because of our negligence." Yes, better to attack that negligence than discuss the war. The visit was mentioned by Clinton during her first web "conversation" last night, in the context of how she'd be tough on terrorism - you can see the chat here.

Ooh, the NY Times reports that Senator Hillary Clinton had lunch with former Senator Al D'Amato and former Mayor Ed Koch yesterday at the Four Seasons, which Four Seasons co-owner Julian Niccolini likened to "the Second Coming of Christ." And how, as D'Amato is a notable Republican power player. Apparently the trio have lunch at least once a year, and Clinton picked up this meal's check.

"Probably a lot of Republicans would want Hillary, but I think they'd be making a mistake," he said, pointing out that Democrats licked their chops over Ronald Reagan in 1980.

While the Senate race this fall is kind of boring, in that Senator Hillary Clinton is pretty much assured re-election, one thing that is exciting is the insanity of the Republican party. The two Republican candidates, John Spencer and K.T. McFarland, debated on NY1 last night and it was balls out nuts. Spencer won the Republican party's nomination, but McFarland is hoping to sway some people during the primary (September 12) with digs like this:

"You brought up your wife, and I must tell you that that’s not a personal issue. That’s a professional issue. Because when you were mayor of Yonkers, you had an affair with your secretary while you were married to somebody else. You tripled her salary and made her your chief of staff. You were living with her. You doubled your own personal income. You got financial gain from that. And you had two children... If you'd worked for the federal government and you'd behaved that way, you would have been subject to indictment."

Thousands of people (WNBC says 500,000!) lined Fifth Avenue and Greenwich Village streets to enjoy this year's Gay Pride Parade, in spite of a bit of rain. In fact, one performer on the "Carnival in Rio" float told the NY Times, "Today is our day. The rain won't stop us. Mother Nature is a drag queen." One of the stars of the parade was Kevin Aviance, the drag queen who was brutally beaten by some teens in the East Village. A parade parade spectator deemed Aviance, who was wearing red high heels, silver shorts, a white jacket, and sparkly silver top hat, "fabulous."

As the country mourned the 2,000 soldiers who have died in Iraq since 2003, Cindy Sheehan, the mother who has turned her grief over her soldier son's death into a public anti-war crusade, is telling people not to support Senator Hillary Clinton. Sheehan told the AP, "I believe that any candidate who supports the war should not receive our support. It doesn't matter if they're Senator Clinton or whoever." Essentially, Sheehan feels that Clinton has made decisions that will be politically tenable, versus of moral conviction, as the junior Senator considers higher office. The NY Times points out that at the same time as Sheehan's comments, Clinton proposed that oil companies should develop alternative fuels, a "politically potent issue." It should be interesting to see which candidates Sheehan does support, especially with midterms coming up next year.

about many local Democrats' support of Mayor Bloomberg, Gothamist started to think about the power of big name Democrats. Yes, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Senator Clinton are campaigning for Fernando Ferrer, and Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson stumped for him yesterday, but they still don't seem to add up to enough. Sharpton and Jackson are probably the most effective at trying to tip the balance of black voters, who, according to many polls, seem to support Bloomberg 2-to-1, but Spitzer and Clinton's power in the city is untested - voters tend to think about their quality of life first. We'll try to look at how certain neighborhoods voted, to see if an unusually high number of local Democratic endorsements can push a Republican mayoral candidate over the edge to win, but Ferrer is just so outmatched at this point, it might not be worth it. However, The Politicker says that Ferrer's latest ad, one that criticizes the Mayor's education policies, is pretty good, so the race could be closer (15 points?) as his ad spending kicks in more.

Yesterday's groundbreaking ceremony of the World Trade Center transit hub saw a number of politicians and designer Santiago Calatrava to the mark the first construction activity at Ground Zero. Calatrava and his daughter Sofia released doves/white pigeons into the air from Falcon Environmental Services with Governors Pataki (NY) and Codey (NJ), Senator Clinton, Mayor Bloomberg, and Tranportation Secretary Minetta looking on. The $2.2 billion transporation center will bring an estimated 10,000 construction jobs downtown, but construction won't officially begin until after September 11, when families traditionally get to visit the Twin Towers' footprints at Ground Zero. The NY Times has a cross-section graphic of the new hub and how it will hold various transit lines.

The big question about Hillary Clinton's book was whether or not she'd discuss Bill's peccadilloes. Now that the book will gone on sale next week, it's revealed that Senator Clinton does detail her experience during the Monica Lewinsky incident. Her initial thought was "For me, the Lewinsky imbroglio seemed like just another vicious scandal manufactured by political opponents." But then when Bill admitted the affair, she "was dumbfounded, heartbroken and outraged that [she'd] believed him at all."