Controversy Over Obama's Small Donors | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008

CHAPTER 3
The Long Siege
11/5/2008 12:00:00 AM
III. In the days after his wife's back- from-the-brink victory in New Hampshire, Bill Clinton was full of righteous indignation. The former president had amassed an 81-page list of all the unfair and nasty things the Obama campaign had said, or was alleged to have said, about Hillary Clinton. The press was still in love with Obama, or so it seemed to Clinton, who complained to pretty much anyone who would listen. If the press wouldn't go after Obama, then Hillary's campaign would have to do the job, the ex-president urged. On Sunday, Jan. 13, Clinton got worked up in a phone conversation with Donna Brazile, a direct, strong-willed African-American woman who had been Al Gore's campaign manager and advised the Clintons from time to time. "If Barack Obama is nominated, it will be the worst denigration of public service," he told her, ranting on for much of an hour. Brazile kept asking him, "Why are you so angry?"
CAMPAIGN 2008
Texas 'Obamacans' Head to the Polls
2/28/2008 12:00:00 AM
One of Sen. Barack Obama's surest applause lines comes about halfway into his standard stump speech. It goes like this:
LETTERS
The Fall Campaign: How Low Will It Go?

"The O Team": Readers commented on how Barack Obama's campaign team has resisted getting down and dirty. One said, "I hope Republicans will rise to meet Obama, instead of dragging him down to them." And another posited, "We have yet to see the nastiness, the vile thing we call a 'campaign'." Some charged us with "blatant favoritism," but one said, "NEWSWEEK did Obama no favor. Both parties will resort to spirited, pointed attacks this fall, as they should; the key difference between the likely nominees is that John McCain's seen and withstood far worse in his life."
THE TRAIL
Hillary and the Invisible Women

Hillary Clinton's run-up to the Texas and Ohio primaries was the political equivalent of Hell Week for a Navy SEAL. At least it felt that way for the reporters who'd been participating in this killing Democratic marathon since the Iowa caucuses in January and now, dosed up on Airborne and bad coffee, were covering what was being billed as Hillary's last stand.
Hillary Should Get Out Now
Jonathan Alter
If Hillary Clinton wanted a graceful exit, she'd drop out now—before the March 4 Texas and Ohio primaries—and endorse Barack Obama. This would be terrible for people like me who have been dreaming of a brokered convention for decades. For selfish reasons, I want the story to stay compelling for as long as possible, which means I'm hoping for a battle into June for every last delegate and a bloody floor fight in late August in Denver. But to withdraw this week would be the best thing imaginable for Hillary's political career. She won't, of course, and for reasons that help explain why she's in so much trouble in the first place.
LETTER FROM HILLARYLAND
How Deep In the Hearts of Texas?
Arian Campo-Flores
This was one fired-up crowd. At a rally for Sen. Hillary Clinton at St. Mary's University in San Antonio last Wednesday, thousands of people erupted with euphoria. They cheered, they chanted, they stomped their feet. Many a time, I've seen Clinton grab hold of such fervor and wrestle it into submission, beat it down with so many 10-point plans and monotonous "I believes" that the multitudes finally collapse into a stupor. But not these rapturous souls. Clinton mentioned her fondness for hot peppers (preferably jalapeños, which she thinks have medicinal properties), and they roared. She vowed to pull the troops out of Iraq, and they roared. Even when she got to the part about her "35 years of experience" and her many, many policy proposals, they roared. More than once, audience members shrieked, "We love you, Hillary!"