REP. EMANUEL: Good evening. I'm from Chicago, the hometown of the next president of the United States, Barack Obama. (Cheers, applause.)
In the 2006 election, Democrats, independents and even some Republicans scored a victory that President Bush himself called a "thumping." Well, Mr. President, as Ronald Reagan used to say, you ain't seen nothing yet. (Cheers, applause.)
THE 2008 CONVENTION:
AMERICANS COMING TOGETHER FOR CHANGE
Democrats Add New Speakers, Announce Gavel Times
For Opening Three Nights in Denver
DENVER - The Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) and the Obama for America Campaign today announced new speakers and gavel times for the opening three nights of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, to take place August 25th - 28th in Denver.
Joining the program on Monday, August 25th will be Former President Jimmy Carter; Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar; Miami Mayor Manny Diaz; Illinois state leaders Alexi Giannoulis, Dan Hynes, Lisa Madigan, and Tom Balanoff from Illinois SEIU; long-time Barack Obama mentor Jerry Kellman; NEA President Reg Weaver; AFT President Randi Weingarten; and NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan. The theme of Monday's program is One Nation.
WASHINGTON -- When Alexi Giannoulias was an undergraduate at the University of Chicago in the mid-1990s, one of the guys he would play pick-up basketball games with in Hyde Park was Barack Obama, who taught at the U. of C. law school.
Now Giannoulias is the Illinois state treasurer and Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee. Obama has been "like a mentor to me," Giannoulias told me. He will be one of the parade of Chicagoans who will speak at the Democratic convention Monday night, when Obama's family and friends tell the story of Obama's life.
There are going to be hundreds of parties during the Democratic convention in Denver; one hot ticket is for "Chicago night" sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.). They are pictured below as Jake and Elwood in a take-off of the "Blues Brothers." Durbin and Emanuel are each a power house in his own right in their respective chambers; they are also close pals of the presumptive Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe on Saturday tapped close Obama friend Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) to negotiate debate details with the McCain team and the
Commission on Presidential Debates. The bi-partisan commission has had debates on the drawing board for quite some time. While there is nothing to preclude the campaigns from having more, sponsored by others, Plouffe in his letter said that was unlikely.
Emanuel, said Plouffe, will "review the specifics of the Commission's proposal, discuss any requested changes to that proposal, and resolve any issues left open by the Commission's framework. .....Due to the late date of the two parties' nominating conventions, and the relatively short period between the end of the conventions and the first proposed debate, it is likely that the four Commission debates will be the sole series of debates in the fall campaign."
The debates are Sept. 26 at the University of Mississippi at Oxford; Oct. 7 at Belmont University at Nashville and Oct. 15 at Hofstra University at Hempstead, N.Y. There is a vice presidential debate Oct. 2 at Washington University in St. Louis.
Three pending major issues in Congress -- Iraq war funding, an immigration overhaul and tougher ethics rules -- are demonstrating the limits to the power of the Democratic House and Senate leaders and exposing rifts within the ranks.
COLUMBIA, S.C.--It's a long day for Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama, who is taking full advantage of the three hour time difference between here and California.
This morning, after a workout in his hotel gym, Obama and his team were heading to their chartered plane to head to San Diego, to appear later today at the California State Democratic convention. After his speech, he heads to Los Angeles for a high-dollar ($2,300-a-person) fundraiser at the home of Hollywood superagent Ari Emanuel. He's the brother of Rep. Rahm Emanue (D-Ill.)
House Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) was the Democratic speaker at last Saturday's Gridiron Club dinner.
Emanuel is know for his crude language. In the skit the club performed before Emanuel spoke the lyrics went like this--"Who is that frickin dude? And why is he so crude."
And this zinger from Emanuel:
AS A TEENAGER, I WAS WORKING IN A RESTAURANT AND ACCIDENTALLY SLICED OFF THE MIDDLE FINGER ON MY RIGHT HAND. OF ALL THE FINGERS TO LOSE! I COULD NOT EXPRESS MYSELF FOR MONTHS.
WASHINGTON--GOP White House candidate Mitt Romney and Democratic House caucus chair Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) are the speakers at the annual Gridiron Club dinner this Saturday night.
From the pulpit of the historic First Baptist Church in Selma, White House hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton talks about the march for civil rights "we all know we have to finish" towards "one America," that still has some distance to go.
"But we've got to stay awake. we've got to stay awake, because we have a march to finish. a march toward one America, that should be all America was meant to be," Clinton said.
SELMA, AL.---Just a short time from now, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are poised to take to the pulpits in two churchs down the street from each other in this town marking the 42nd anniversary of a bloody struggle for voting rights.
A contingent of House members are also here, flying from Washington to bear witness. They got caught in the cross fire of the two presidential campaigns. They could choose the service to attend. Rep. Rahm Emanual (D-Ill.), is sitting in the front row at First Baptist Church--the church where Clinton will soon speak.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) is personally closer to Barack Obama than Hillary Clinton. But he owes his vault to the upper levels of political life to the Clintons. So he has been bobbing and weaving when it comes to saying who he is for, though in the end, when he has to, he will check the Clinton box.
Anyway, Obama has the backing of the other two Emanuel brothers.
Click below for the latest try, this by NBC's David Gregory, to get Emanuel on the record on who he favors.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), chief of the Democratic House political operation, was not candid when he said on an Oct. 8 news show he and his staff did not know about the Mark Foley contacts with former pages before the story broke last fall.
Sen. John McCain worries that Congress will continue to resist meaningful lobbying and ethics reform. Rep. Rahm Emanuel is confident that lawmakers learned their lesson -- GOP scandals contributed to Democrats taking control of the House and Senate Nov. 7 -- and critical changes will be made.
"Lynn, the reason why we're here, we do not underestimate how hard this is going to be," McCain (R-Ariz.) said. ''This is going to be very difficult.''
What worse scenario could there be for Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), who fiercely values loyalty, than to have to choose between the 2008 presidential candidacies of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.)?
Two Sweet columns--from the Sun-Times and The Hill--on the Democratic leadership plan to try to send to the slammer anyone caught authorizing dirty trick election time robo-calls.
With their new power, Democratic leaders want to craft a constitutional way to stop voters from being flooded with robo-calls peddling deceptive information. They are floating the notion that authorizing calls with fraudulent content should be made into a crime.
