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Posted: October 11, 2007 3:57 PM
Obama Takes on Clinton, Launches New Web Ad
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With Thursday marking the fifth anniversary of the Senate’s vote to authorize the war in Iraq, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is once again taking on his rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.

In an op-ed published Thursday in the New Hampshire Union Leader, Obama chastises Clinton for her vote to officially name the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization. He says the resolution could be construed as giving President Bush authority to go to war with Iran.

“Sen. Clinton says she was merely voting for more diplomacy, not war with Iran,” Obama writes. “If this has a familiar ring, it should. Five years after the original vote for war in Iraq, Sen. Clinton has argued that her vote was not for war — it was for diplomacy, or inspections. But all of us knew what the Senate was debating in 2002.”

Obama also released a new Web ad called “Blank Check.” The ad features clips of his 2002 speech against going to war with Iraq.

And Obama’s Iowa campaign staff is planning 11 news conferences across the state Thursday to mark the vote anniversary.

Earlier in the week, Obama made a two-day campaign swing through New Hampshire, where he announced his plan to combat global climate change.

“From the moment I take office, I will invite the world back to Washington and let it be known that the United States of America is ready to lead again,” Obama said in a speech Tuesday in Portsmouth, “that we are ready to rejoin the community of nations in taking on the greatest challenge of this generation.”

In addition to reaching out to foreign countries to discuss climate change, Obama’s plan calls for a cap-and-trade policy to reduce carbon emissions, investment in alternative energy and fuels, and reducing the energy intensity of the economy by 50 percent by 2030.

“Previously, Obama was criticized by some environmentalists for advocating on behalf of federal subsidies for liquefied coal, used for transportation fuel, which would help the Illinois coal industry,” writes Shira Schoenberg of the Concord Monitor. “But yesterday, environmental activists heartily praised Obama’s plan for its specificity and Obama’s willingness to take an aggressive leadership role.”
On Wednesday, Obama attended a rally in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

“Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., spent yesterday evening in Prince George’s County, speaking to one of the nation’s most affluent African American communities in an attempt to convince voters that he has a real chance of becoming the nation’s first black president,” writes Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post. “The ticketed rally, his first presidential campaign appearance in Maryland, drew a spirited and racially diverse crowd of thousands to Prince George’s Community College in Largo.”

The Obama campaign is also doing a bit of staff reshuffling. Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun Times blogs that staff members are being deployed from Obama’s Chicago headquarters to various other states holding Feb. 5 primaries.

And Kathleen Hennessey of the Associated Press reports that the campaign is opening four new offices in Nevada, which holds its caucus Jan. 19. Obama will then have seven offices in the state.

In media coverage, Matthew Mosk of the Washington Post profiled Obama’s finance director, Julianna Smoot in a Monday article. And Elizabeth Holmes of the Wall Street Journal looks at Obama’s youth voter outreach in Iowa in Wednesday’s paper.

“[Obama] has a proverbial seat at the cool kids’ lunch table, with his appearance on the cover of Vibe and having met with the likes of rapper Ludacris,” Holmes writes. “At 46, he’s the youngest of the presidential candidates, 14 years Mrs. Clinton’s junior. She will turn 60 this month. A few hundred extra teen votes in Iowa could make a big difference for Mr. Obama.”

It was also reported this week that the senator’s wife, Michelle Obama, was in a car accident while travelling to a rally in Iowa. A motorcycle hit the van she was riding in Tuesday, but she was not hurt.
Looking ahead, the Obama campaign is hosting a nationwide “turn the page in Iraq grassroots action day” on Saturday. In an e-mail to supporters, campaign manager David Plouffe urged volunteers to knock on doors to deliver Obama’s message.

“Some of your neighbors may know that Barack opposed the war in Iraq before it began,” Plouffe writes. “But they may not know that he spoke out publicly and passionately, that he demonstrated the judgment to stand up to conventional thinking in Washington, and that he has proposed a clear plan to end the war and bring our troops home.”

Obama also plans to travel to Madison, Wis., Monday for a Countdown to Change rally.