Chelsea Clinton In Cincinnati: Low Key In Packed Downtown Bar

CINCINNATI (TBD) -- Chelsea Clinton campaigned for her mom across Ohio today, visiting Ohio State University and Ohio Wesleyan before finishing the night at a packed meet-and-greet in a dowtown Cincinnati pub. She didn't make a speech in the bar, but worked the crowd and took questions from all comers. She invited people in Sully's Bar and Grill to step up, shake hands, and share a brief political chat. It was low key and personal. She's scheduled to do more campus stops in NE Ohio Thursday. The crowd in the pub was mostly young professsionals.

Chelsea said she wanted to speak with those who hadn't made up their minds whether to vote for Hillary or Obama. She had a sales pitch to make. She said she wants Ohioans on the fence "to please come up and talk to me."

One of her selling points was universal healthcare for all Americans. She said her mom put the issue on the national agenda in the 1990s:

"I'm proud of my mom. I'm proud that she stood up for it. I'm proud that Democrats can now take it for granted" -- meaning that the party has united around the idea despite differences in how to write national legislation that would extend coverage to all Americans.

Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper, who has endorsed Hillary and is a chief organizer in her campaign's SW Ohio operation, said he's energized by the prospect of a tough March 4 contest against Obama in Ohio.

"Our job is to win Ohio. We've been waiting a long time to have this opportunity. I think he's got a lot of support, he's got great support. But we're going to win. I've been in enough elections, and I don't want to ever answer that it won't be tough. This will be tough."

An Endorsement That Matters

By froggermarch
I was sticking with John Edwards as long as I could. I’ve been angry with what the Republican Party has done to our nation and I didn’t really feel like making nice with everybody, or of backing a senator who had not, at the least, completely renounced a vote to authorize George W. Bush to use military force in Iraq. I also felt that Edwards had the best chance to ensure the Democrats recaptured the White House, with a real chance at making inroads in the Deep South that could be significant in the long term.

Then came the endorsements, and I started to waver. Surprisingly, to me given that I have yet to watch a complete edition of her show, Oprah first got my attention. She seemed to both capture and catapult the inspirational quality of a man we were all inspired by at the Democratic Convention. Kerry jumped in, but that didn’t mean a whole lot to me. As I received his fundraising letter on Obama’s behalf, however (made ironically possible by my donation to the Kerry/Edwards campaign) I realized the significance that such a mailing list would have on the financial viability of the Obama campaign. I began to cry “Uncle” at the same time Caroline followed the word with “Teddy” as she invoked her father’s memory and spirit. The only record album I can recall my mother ever buying was a commemorative edition of JFK’s speeches in 1963, and the words of the Kennedy’s and the candidate they endorsed reminded me of how those words—and more importantly the ideas behind them—had shaped my family’s and my country’s path.

But, in the wake of the Edwards withdrawal the endorsement that has put me over the top and cleanly into the Obama camp was this one from Ann Coulter.

Barack Vs. Hillary: Harris Poll Now Says The Race Is Dead Even

COLUMBUS (TDB) --A fresh Harris Poll shows that Sen. Barack Obama's support has grown since February and he now is even with Sen. Hillary Clinton. Both receive identical 41% support from among all voting age adults. But Democratic voters still give Hillary the edge when asked if they would consider voting for her, although the number, 27%, is 9 points less than a month ago.

For Ohioan Dennis Kucinich, he finally registered in a major national poll. The Cleveland congressman and his longshot campaign got 1% of Democrats and 1% of Independents, which means he's still sucking dust. But a handful of people seem to have noticed he's out there stumping

Al Gore is in third place among Dems, ahead of John Edwards, whose campaign seems mired in the Harris results. The Harris Poll was conducted online between March 1 and 12, and 2,776 adults were surveyed. Harris said it is not a prediction of who would win and called it a "snap shot of the presidential horse race at a very early stage in the race."

The data is HERE , and the thing that seems most striking is that Clinton has lost ground to Obama

"Among Democrats, Senator Clinton still has a clear (27% to 21%) lead over Obama as first choice, but this is down from 36% to 18% in February. Among independents, almost equal numbers prefer Clinton (10%) and Obama (9%). In February, Clinton had a two-to-one (16% to 8%) lead."

Iowa Dem Tom Vilsack: Tees Off On Bush Tax

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Iowa's former Democratic governor, Tom Vilsack, moved fast today to generate some attention for his longshot presidential campaign by accusing President George Bush of targeting the nation's middle class with a tax hike on medical insurance benefits. ''I think it's a terribly unfortunate circumstance that we're now faced with having to raise taxes on middle class families in America while we spend billions in Iraq," Vilsack said in a conference call with reporters.

Vilsack said Bush should move to raise income taxes on the wealthy to fund health care. Some Ohio conservatives already are attacking Bush for suggesting a plan that would raise taxes on workers with employer-funded health care benefits. Bush will make the details clearer during his State of the Union address tomorrow. But Vilsack said he's heard enough. 'It's the wrong policy and I sincerely hope the Democratic Congress rejects it out of hand,'' he said.

There's a good account of Vilsack's broadside in the Quad City Times, a daily newspaper in his home state. The story by reporter Charlotte Eby is HERE. The reaction at TDB: A bit surprised that Ohio's Democrats haven't jumped on the President with both feet. How often do Dems gets a chance to hammer Republicans for raising taxes?