Jason Horowitz

If you are bewildered by the labyrinth of a public storyline about Hillary Clinton's potentialpossiblemaybe appointment to serve as Barack Obama's secretary of state, you're not alone.

Apparently, most people in Hillaryland have no clue what's going on either.

A former adviser to Hillary, speaking on background, told me of receiving calls in the last couple of days from people close to the Clintons claiming that Hillary's acceptance of Obama's secretary of state offer was "a done deal," that Hillary had been offered the job but was sure to decline it and that the job had actually never been offered at all. These contradictory accounts, the former adviser said, were made with "absolute authority.  read more »

On a recent weekday afternoon, a handful of policy wonks sat in a corner office adorned with maps and books in the Vanderbilt Street headquarters of the Manhattan Institute discussing a political opportunity presented by the current financial crisis.

“We feel that the moment is here,” said Steve Malanga, an economic policy expert at the Institute.

After losing the presidency and both houses of Congress for the first time in 15 years, Republicans are scrambling to find something different. Different is the Manhattan Institute’s specialty.

Socially eclectic, fiscally conservative and proudly contrarian, the institute is home to people like Myron Magnet, who wears mutton chops and capes and carries gold-knobbed canes, and fellow sartorial pioneer Tom Wolfe, who, while not a member, considers himself the institute’s biggest fan and unofficial biographer.  read more »

Why, if you’re Barack Obama, would you choose Hillary Clinton to be your secretary of state?

Yes, since it was first reported last week that the two had met to discuss the possibility, there has been no shortage of theories in the press: He wants her out of the Senate and into a pliant administration post; he’s paying her back for conceding graciously and then campaigning for him; he wants to score points with women voters.

But if you ask some of the most prominent members of the Democratic foreign policy establishment, the consensus about her appeal as a potential secretary of state is much simpler: She’ll deliver.  read more »

The search for real news on the Hillary Clinton-Secretary of State front continues:

A source familiar with Clinton's thinking told me that Obama did indeed offer the job to her and that she was weighing the decision with her husband, who returned home on November 17 from a speaking engagement in Kuwait. But, the source said, reports that she had decided to accept the position were premature and wrong.

According to the source, the Obama transition team and Clinton team were, as of this afternoon, still "working through" the parameters of Bill Clinton's charitable activities.

"She is still weighing it," said another source, a close associate of Hillary Clinton, who added that the sticking point of the negotiations was not Bill's willingness to be vetted, which the source said had been overblown in importance, but rather "a question of whether she wants to give up her Senate seat.  read more »

All the talk about Hillary Clinton possibly contending for the job of secretary of state has overshadowed the search for someone to fill the arguably more vital post, given the economic crisis, of Treasury secretary.

As is often the case in Obamaland, very few people have first-hand information about which way Barack Obama and his transition team are going with this, though several Democratic officials have recently confirmed to me the early talk that the position is being decided between former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and New York FED president Timothy Geithner. Job Corzine, the New Jersey governor and former Goldman Sachs chief, was mentioned often as a wild card, but his chances seemed to have dimmed.  read more »

Speculation about Barack Obama selecting Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state has spread despite a paucity of real information on the matter—spokesmen for both sides refuse to comment, many advisers swear they simply just don't know.

But a recent conversation with one former Clinton campaign aide, before Andrea Mitchell reported that Clinton was actually being considered for the position, suggested that Clinton's greatest obstacle to a cabinet appointment may be her husband.

According to the former aide, the lack of transparency that has characterized contributions to the former president's library, plus the considerable amount of foreign money given to his charitable Clinton Global Initiative fund, can only complicate Hillary's chances by raising the prospect of unpleasant surprises for an Obama team famously averse to them.

Just about every story written about Rahm Emanuel since Barack Obama selected him to serve as White House chief of staff has described him as the tough Chicago operative who became the consummate Washington insider.

But how sensitive will the bulldog at Mr. Obama’s gate be to New York interests?

“We’re fortunate to have a president-elect who represents a big state, who lives in a big city, who understands the needs of cities like ours,” Hillary Clinton told The Observer during a conference call on Nov. 11. “I think we are going to have a strong ear in the White House.  read more »

“Before I took over, there was sort of an unwritten rule—do you mind if I put my feet up?” said Chuck Schumer, as he plopped his black stockinged feet onto a conference room in his Third Avenue office on the afternoon of Nov. 9.

As he chewed his way through a bag of oatmeal cookies, the senator explained how, as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, he bucked tradition and recruited promising Senate candidates before primary contests, leading to a pick-up (so far) of six seats to add to the six the party picked up during his first cycle in charge two years ago.  read more »

Now, the press stands for Barack Obama.

At the start of his first press conference since winning the presidential election, the press corps rose to their feet to greet him, a sight that brought a smile to his face. As his senior political adviser David Axelrod slumped against a wall on the side of the room, Obama stood on a small stage at a local Chicago Hilton, flanked by the economic advisers he had met with for the better part of the afternoon.

Obama wore a blue power tie and was at turns folksy, inquiring how Chicago Sun reporter Lynn Sweet hurt her arm (she said she shattered it running to hear his acceptance speech), talking about the difficulties of finding a hypo-allergenic shelter dog for his daughters, then calling himself a "mutt" and, oddly, saying he had only consulted living presidents since his victory because "I didn’t want to get into a Nancy Regan thing about doing any séances.  read more »

Most of the candidates for Treasury Secretary, including Larry Summers and Bob Rubin, will be in Chicago today for a meeting between Barack Obama and his Transition Economic Advisory Board. But one much buzzed about potential pick, Timothy Geithner, the head of the New York Federal Reserve, is missing. A source familiar with the transition process strongly advised against reading too much into his absence.

"He couldn't go out there," said the source. "He has to be studiously neutral in all this stuff."

Asked when a selection for the the Treasury position could be made, the source said, "They’ve got to be close, and I can't imagine there will be any massive surprises.  read more »

Dateline Chicago: The Very End of the Obama Campaign

CHICAGO—On the night before Election Day, Barack Obama’s Hyde Park neighborhood was dead.

Concrete barriers and a couple of cops prevented the rare pedestrian from walking past the stately houses and manicured lawns and red and yellow leaves falling on Obama’s street. A couple of blocks away, the lights were on in the living room of Bill Ayers, the Chicago education advocate and former member of the 60s radical group the Weather Underground to whom the McCain campaign pinned its last ditch hopes of bringing down Obama. The room had an exposed brick wall, wood furniture that looked like it could have been purchased in a set from West Elm, unlighted candles, and a ceramic plate inscribed with the names of Ayers and his wife.  read more »

The Chicago Tribune probably wishes there were more days like this.

People are actually lining up on the street in front of the Tribune Building on the Magnificent Mile to buy copies of today's paper, which has Obama smiling, over the headline "Obama Our Next President."

CHICAGO—On the night before Election Day, Barack Obama’s Hyde Park neighborhood was dead.

Concrete barriers and a couple of cops prevented the rare pedestrian from walking past the stately houses and manicured lawns and red and yellow leaves falling on Obama’s street. A couple of blocks away, the lights were on in the living room of Bill Ayers, the Chicago education advocate and former member of the 60s radical group the Weather Underground to whom the McCain campaign pinned its last ditch hopes of bringing down Obama. The room had an exposed brick wall, wood furniture that looked like it could have been purchased in a set from West Elm, unlighted candles, and a ceramic plate inscribed with the names of Ayers and his wife.  read more »

CHICAGO—In the end, it was Barack Obama by a mile.

With a comprehensive victory over John McCain that included solid wins in traditional Republican strongholds, the Obama campaign emphatically ended the era of George W. Bush and prepared to take power armed with a mandate for change.

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time," Mr. Obama said from a flag-adorned stage in front of tens of thousands of euphoric supporters here in Grant Park, "tonight is your answer.  read more »

Chicago—Exclusive! Oprah Winfrey’s dreams have come true.

Asked how she felt tonight as she walked into a V.I.P. tent here at Grant Park, Winfrey answered, “There are no words. It’s sort of like the culmination of a world of dreams. It’s everybody’s dream. It’s everybody who has come before me and before him and everybody who will benefit from his hopefulness. It’s amazing.”

CHICAGO—I just saw Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod outside the Hyatt as he was getting into a car, presumably to hook up with the candidate, who just arrived in town.

Asked how he felt, Axelrod raised his eyebrows and said, "good." The he hopped in the car and, after being told of all the streets closed for Election Night events, told Amy Rice, who has been filming a movie about Obama's campaign since time immemorial,"follow us."

CHICAGO—Jon Favreau, Barack Obama's chief speechwriter, said that if Obama wins tonight he will deliver an address that seizes the "first opportunity for most of the country and the world to look at him as bigger than a party and as a president" and emphasize a broad message of "reaching out" across traditional divisions.

Favreau, who I bumped into downstairs from Obama headquarters, and who said there was little to do now besides "sit down and freak out all day," said a victory speech would feature the candidate "reaching out" to "work with everyone" whether they supported him or not.

Favreau said that Obama would also "take a second or two to enjoy the America" he has gotten to know over the last two years.  read more »

CHICAGO--The preferred meeting spot for Obama staffers here is the Cosi chain restaurant at the foot of the elevator leading to Obama headquarters inside 233 North Michigan ("the most complete office environment").

On Election Day, the last day of work, essentially, economic adviser Austan Goolsbee chatted with regional finance director Jordan Kaplan and his fiancee, New York finance director Jenny Yeager, who flew into Chicago a few hours earlier.

Campaign adviser Stephanie Cutter talked with two reporters at table before running to meet Michelle Obama.

The Obama people didn't look especially nervous, though Goolsbee said the office had a weird feeling because "it was all emptied out up there.  read more »

If the Obama campaign prevails in Florida, where polls show him clinging to a narrow lead, a crucial factor will be the high volume of early votes cast. Which, in turn, could make the state’s Republican governor, Charlie Crist, a bit of a hero for the Democrats. (It was Crist who ordered that early voting hours be extended to accommodate what looks to have been record turnout.)

According to one of Obama's advisers in Florida, who spoke to me on background, Crist’s behavior is a very good sign for the campaign’s chances there. The adviser subscribes to the Crist-as-barometer theory of Florida politics. Which means that the governor’s Obama-friendly position on the voting, along with his less-than-full public embrace of the McCain campaign’s tactics, is a sign of the way he see things going.

As the adviser put it: "They call him a popularist, not a populist.”

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – As Sarah Palin shook hands and blew kisses and signed signs after delivering her stump speech on a baseball field here on the evening of Oct. 30, Diane Taylor stood on the pitcher’s mound and wondered what might have been if John McCain didn’t hold back the Republican ticket.

“I think youth and energy are what sweeps people into the White House,” said Taylor, a 42-year-old mother from Williamsport. “John McCain could have done a lot more with this campaign and she wanted to do more but they never let her loose.”

She pointed at her daughters, who were watching Palin wave goodbye to the crowd before hopping on another flight and starting another day of campaigning in Pennsylvania.  read more »

It seems that the final days of the presidential campaign have made Erica Jong and her friends more than a little anxious.

A few days ago, Jong, the author and self-described feminist, gave an interview to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, the choicest bits of which were brought to my attention by the reliably sharp-eyed Christian Rocca, the U.S. correspondent of Il Foglio, who published excerpts on his Camillo blog. Basically, Jong says her fear that Obama might lose the election has developed into an "obsession. A paralyzing terror. An anxious fever that keeps you awake at night.  read more »

Barack Obama promised change. And New York’s elite Democratic policy experts and political donors, at least, are going to get it.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a heavy New York administration like the last time,” said one prominent New York donor, referring to the prospect of an Obama presidency. “It’s a new world.”

To an extent, the fortunes of New York’s would-be appointees to prestigious federal positions rose and, eventually, sunk with the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, with attention and influence shifting to power players in Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

But New York won’t be shut out entirely.  read more »

For the nearly two years he has been running for president, Barack Obama has deftly defined himself as a post-partisan candidate who embodies the hopes of both liberals and centrists among the Democrats in Congress.

If he wins, it won’t be long before some of them are sorely disappointed.

“For some members, they are going to find out, and maybe even Obama himself is going to find out, that when you make decisions, you are going to piss some people off,” said Leon Panetta, a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton who is working on Mr. Obama’s transition team.  read more »

It wasn't quite the "Lasciate ogne speranza" message he favored during the closing weeks of the Democratic primaries against Hillary Clinton, but Obama campaign manager David Plouffe suggested that supporters of John McCain should start abandoning hope in Pennsylvania, and as a result, in the election overall.

"It’s a daunting task," said Plouffe, talking about the ground McCain had to make up in Pennsylvania with 11 days left. Speaking on a conference call, Plouffe added, "The ratio of offense to defense has been strong for us all election."

He said that "both Virginia and Colorado have strengthened" and dismissed McCain's new emphasis on Joe the Plumber as a toothless "routine.  read more »

Bill Clinton can talk a lot.

Speaking at an event to help reelect Representative Anthony Weiner at Queens College on Thursday night, Clinton stood in a somewhat ill-fitted dark suit and in front of a big yellow sign that said “Weiner” and talked about the impressive diversity in the borough (“This room has Muslims and Jews, this room has Christians and Sikhs and for all I know Buddhists, Hindi and everything else”); the importance of electing a Democratic State Senate, his “love” of the subway; the importance of electing a president who understands the need to invest in “public mass transit or the rail network for the country” to create jobs and reduce the threat of global warming and “increase the economic independence of urban areas”; the “unchanging interest” Americans have in building a strong middle-class society; health care; Winston Churchill; bringing troops home from Iraq; obligations to veterans; Hillary Clinton; Barack Obama; the two million foreclosures this year and its ramifications on the credit markets and the entire national and then global economy.  read more »

In several conversations with Democratic insiders about Barack Obama's transition process over the last week, one prospect that apparently was under consideration by the campaign was to temporarily appoint a well-known and highly credible figure to the position of Treasury Secretary to instill confidence until the nation overcame the current financial crisis.

It was in that context that the name came up of Paul Volcker, who served two terms as chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve from 1979-87, has been credited often for helping prevent runaway inflation in the 1980s, and who appeared with Obama at an economic forum in Lake Worth, Fla., on Tuesday.  read more »

LAKE WORTH, Fla.—At a panel discussion about the economy on Oct. 21, Democratic governors from swing states, a captain of industry and a former Fed chairman flanked Barack Obama behind a desk with a sign that said “Growing American Jobs.”

They shared their ideas on taxes, energy and housing with him, and more than one of the panelists at the event, which was held in an overheated gym, told Mr. Obama they needed a “partner in the White House.”

Mr. Obama and his advisers are already thinking along those lines.

With exactly two weeks left before the election, Mr.  read more »

TAMPA—Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama stood together behind a podium as another enormous crowd for the Democratic nominee chanted “Yes We Can” over and over again at an outdoor rally in Orlando on the afternoon of Oct. 20.

“Not only that,” Clinton interrupted the nearly 50,000 supporters. “Yes we will!”

Her version didn’t catch on, just as it didn’t during the end of the primaries, when she adopted it as a last-ditch riposte to Obama’s. But besides some recycled lines from her protracted battle against Obama, there was little reminder of the strained past between the two Democrats and Clinton enthusiastically made the case for Obama on the stump.  read more »

Before John McCain and his traveling press corps entered a packed hall in Concord, N.C., for a rally on the morning of Oct. 18, local members of Congress sought to rile up the crowd.

Then they had to calm it down.

First, Representative Patrick McHenry cheered what he called the “biggest crowd John McCain has gotten in North Carolina” and emphasized that this was a critical election with a stark choice between the candidates.

“It’s like black and white,” someone in the crowd at the Cabarrus Arena & Events Center yelled out, laughing. McHenry let the remark pass and finished his speech. He yielded the microphone to Representative Robin Hayes, who prefaced his comments by saying it was important to “make sure we don’t say something stupid, make sure we don’t say something we don’t mean.  read more »

MIAMI—After several long introductions here in a gym at Florida International University, the hall went dark.

Spotlights roved around the stage. Inspiring trumpet music played on the loudspeaker. The lights came back on and an announcer on the loudspeaker introduced Senator Joe Lieberman, Cindy McCain and “the next president of the United States” John McCain.

The crowd went crazy. They waved their pompoms and held up all their “Mac Is Back” and "We Heart Cindy” and “In John We Trust” signs.

Lieberman, speaking first, said the welcome meant something indescribable to the McCains. “What that says to me,” he said, is that McCain will win Florida.  read more »

MIAMI—John McCain is about to appear at a rally in a packed gym here at Florida International University, where a giant American flag is hanging over the stage like a canopy between two big blue banners, one reading “Florida” the other “Victory.” Pro-McCain signs are written in Spanish and English, and a large Cuban contingent in the crowd is cheering and waving “Cubans for McCain” placards. Most everyone is waving blue and red pompoms. Also, there are cheerleaders.

The first speaker was Florida G.O.P. chair Jim Greer, whom the McCain campaign forced to book his own travel arrangements around the state after he criticized Sarah Palin’s very poor performance in the Katie Couric interviews.  read more »

Barack Obama and John McCain both spoke at the Al Smith dinner at the Waldorf Astoria last night, an event so glamorous that even New York’s shoes-optional senator, Chuck Schumer, was dressed to the nines.

While war protesters held mock funerals for American democracy and McCain supporters waved signs like “I Heart Trig,” Schumer walked toward the ballroom, wearing a white shirt and white bow tie under black tux.

I asked him how the event, the last time the two candidates would appear publicly together, would differ from the prior night’s debate.

“This one will be much lighter and more fun,” said Schumer, suggesting that McCain had to abandon his aggressive line of attack.  read more »

A pamphlet advertising the “National Center for Suburban Studies” was among the souvenirs Hofstra University distributed to reporters covering the final 2008 presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain on Oct. 15. The pamphlet’s back cover consisted of green-tinted cars commuting in heavy traffic. Travelers attending the debate from the city encountered a sign on the Northern State Parkway that read “Pres Debate at Hofstra U. Expect Delays.”

The most eventful and dramatic presidential campaign in living memory had its last confrontation in a part of the world known mostly for its traffic problems.

“It is odd when events like this come to Long Island,” said Dee Snider, a Long Island native and the former frontman of Twisted Sister.  read more »

The evening of Oct. 15 marked not only the final debate of the long presidential campaign, but also the last installment of the now time-honored tradition of the post-debate spin room.

Last night, as reporters bounced dutifully between the little clusters around the yellow square signs identifying backers of McCain and the blue rectangular banners above the heads of Obama supporters, they’d heard practically everything the two camps had said before. But some remarks were notable nonetheless, if only for their sheer spinniness.

Some highlights follow.

Here's Obama campaign manager, David Plouffe, a talking campaign memo, on where the campaign goes from here:

"We want to hold down all of the Kerry states.  read more »

Before the final presidential debate at Hofstra University on the evening of Oct. 15, Representative Pete King of New York, a vocal McCain supporter, said that there was “no silver bullet” John McCain could use to turn his candidacy around. He had to be strong, clear and resolute during the debate. His advice, in short, was “assert your personality.”

That, at least, he did. The first thing McCain did when he walked onto the stage for the final presidential debate against Barack Obama was make a point to look him in the eye, something he avoided doing in the previous debate, and said, “Nice to see you.  read more »

Barack Obama is in absolutely no danger of losing Philadelphia.

And yet on Oct. 11, he spent one of the precious few days remaining before Election Day making four separate campaign appearances throughout the city, telling predominantly black audiences how important it was that they got out to vote. He confessed, repeatedly, his love for “sweet potato pie,” called supporters “brothers and sisters” and warned them not to be “bamboozled.”

Just a few weeks ago, such an intensive investment of time turning out a vote that is so clearly his might have been seen as a defensive move of sorts—an effort to rack up the margins on friendly turf in a crucial swing state to hedge against a potential shortfall among those Obama-resistant white voters who went so convincingly for Hillary Clinton in the primary.  read more »

Governor David Paterson of New York thinks that the election of Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States will be positive in the extreme for upward-aspiring black elected officials and politicians around the country.

Unless it isn’t.

“If Senator McCain doesn’t turn out to be so great, well, he is just on a list of presidents that didn’t turn out to be so great,” Mr. Paterson said in a telephone interview on Oct. 14. “If Senator Obama doesn’t turn out to be so great, though unfair, it will probably manifest the destiny of others.  read more »

In Philadelphia this weekend, Governor Ed Rendell and Mayor Michael Nutter professed themselves utterly unimpressed with John McCain and Sarah Palin's personal attacks on Barack Obama.

"I have, like, zero interest in Sarah Palin," said Nutter, speaking to a scrum of reporters after an Obama event in Vernon Park. "You know people are focused on Senator Obama and trying to figure out what John McCain is talking about and I think Sarah Palin's 15 minutes of fame were up a long time ago."

Asked if he detected a racial undercurrent in the McCain attacks, Rendell said, "Not particularly.  read more »

SCRANTON, Pa.—For a while, the political rally that took place in here on Oct. 12 seemed to be happening in a parallel universe in which Hillary Clinton is running a general-election campaign.

Scranton, of course, is Clinton Country. Older white women constituted the majority of the crowd inside the Astroturf-carpeted sports complex, and many of them wore Hillary buttons on their shirts. Several of the men wore Hillary buttons on the suspenders they used to hold up their jeans. Bill delivered an address attesting to his wife’s wonderfulness. Vice presidential candidate Joe Biden spent the first portion of his speech talking about how close he was to Clinton.  read more »

PHILADELPHIA—In an effort to boost voter turnout in the all-important battleground state of Pennsylvania, Barack Obama held four separate rallies on the afternoon of Oct. 11 in which he sought to connect with largely black audiences on economic grounds.

At each event, Obama was introduced by Governor Ed Rendell, who plainly laid out the campaign’s mission to the crowd.

“Fifty-three percent this Election Day won’t cut it, right?” Rendell said during an event in Germantown, referring to the Democratic turnout of the Philadelphia area during the primary. “I want to see Philadelphia go over 70 percent.”

The day started early, in North Philadelphia's Progress Plaza, where Obama stood, in shirtsleeves, in a square surrounded by stores with signs like “Auto Tags,” or “Dollar World.  read more »

As a follow-up to a story I wrote for today's paper about black members of Congress detecting racism in the remarks of the McCain campaign, I called Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina to ask why different audiences were apparently hearing such different messages in what John McCain and Sarah Palin are saying.

"If your experiences help to make who and what you are, then words and phrases are understood to the extent that your experiences allow you to understand them," he said. "If somebody were to say to an all-white group, "you people," white people might understand that one way.  read more »

As the McCain campaign ratchets up the intensity of its attacks on Barack Obama, some black elected officials are calling the tactics desperate, unseemly and racist.

“They are trying to throw out these codes,” said Representative Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York.

“He’s ‘not one of us?’” Mr. Meeks said, referring to a comment Sarah Palin made at a campaign rally on Oct. 6 in Florida. “That’s racial. That’s fear. They know they can’t win on the issues, so the last resort they have is race and fear.”

“Racism is alive and well in this country, and McCain and Palin are trying to appeal to that and it’s unfortunate,” said Representative Ed Towns, also from New York.  read more »