Defying Predictions, Clinton Beats Obama in New
Hampshire
In defiance of polls and the political pundits, Hillary Clinton narrowly beat
Barack Obama to win the New Hampshire primary last night. The former First
Lady won 39 percent of the vote. Obama placed second with 37 percent. In the
Republican race, Senator John McCain beat former Massachusetts governor Mitt
Romney by a five percent margin. Political analysts say that with 300 days
until the November election, the 2008 race is shaping up to be the most open
presidential race in 80 years. For the past year, Senator Clinton had been the
clear frontrunner in New Hampshire, but after Senator Obama’s surprise victory
in Iowa, several opinion polls indicated the Illinois Senator had jumped to a
double digit lead. The polls were wrong and in the end Clinton pulled off a
victory.
Sen. Hillary Clinton: “I felt like we all spoke from our
hearts and I am so gratified that you responded. Now together let’s give
America the kind of comeback that New Hampshire has just given me.”
The race between Clinton and Obama was so close that it took the networks
until about 10:30 last night – two and a half hours after the polls closed –
to call the race for Clinton. Minutes later Senator Barack Obama addressed
supporters.
Sen. Barack Obama: “We will remember that there is
something happening in America, that we are not as divided as our politics
suggests, that we are one people, we are one nation and together we will
begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that
will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea–yes we can.”
Former Senator John Edwards vowed to stay in the race after placing third
with 17 percent of the vote.
John Edwards: “I want to be absolutely clear to all of
you who have been devoted to this cause and I want to be clear to the 99% of
the Americans who have not yet had the chance to have their voices heard
that I am in this race
through the conviction that I intend to be the nominee of my party.”
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson placed fourth with 5 percent. Ohio
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, who was excluded from Saturday’s debate in New
Hampshire, placed fifth with one percent of the vote.
McCain Beats Romney in Upset Win
On the Republican front, John McCain took New Hampshire with 37 percent of the
vote. The victory came six months after McCain’s campaign appeared over when
he nearly ran out of money and was forced to lay off staff. McCain managed to
beat Mitt Romney in New Hampshire even though Romney had served as governor in
neighboring Massachusetts and had outspent McCain on television ads by a two
to one margin.
John McCain: “I am grateful beyond expression at the
prospect that I might serve (America) a little while longer. That gratitude
imposes on me the responsibility to do nothing in this campaign that would
make our country’s
problems harder to solve or that would cause Americans to despair that a
candidate for the highest office in the land would think so little of the
honour that he would put his own interest before theirs. I take that
responsibility as my most solemn trust.”
Mitt Romney, who also placed second in Iowa, is now setting his eyes on
Michigan – the state where he was born and where his father once served as
governor. Republicans in Michigan holds their primary on Jan. 15.
Mitt Romney: “I will strengthen America as your
President and when I come back here next November I will fight across this
nation onto Michigan and South
Carolina and Florida and Nevada and states after that.”
Rounding out the Republican race: Mike Huckabee placed third. Rudolph
Giuliani narrowly beat Ron Paul for fourth place. And Fred Thompson came in a
distant sixth.
Bush Calls Iran Naval Incident a “Provocation”
U.S. tensions with Iran are on the rise over a naval incident Sunday in the
Straits of Hormuz off the Iranian coast. The U.S. claims Iranian speed boats
came within 500 yards of the US warships and threatened to blow them up. The
Iranian boats backed away before the American warships opened fire. Speaking
at the White House, President Bush accused Iran of a “provocative act.”
President Bush: “Well, we viewed it as a provocative
act. It is a dangerous situation. And they should not have done it, pure and
simple…. I don’t know what-–, I think, what their thinking was. But I’m
telling you what I think it was. I think it was a provocative act.”
Bush Arrives in Israel to Begin Mideast Tour
Meanwhile President Bush arrived in Israel today where he begins his week-long
Middle East tour. It’s Bush’s first visit to Israel and the Occupied
Territories during his time in the White House. Bush says he’s come to the
region to help revive peace talks launched out of November’s U.S.-brokered
summit in Annapolis. Bush is expected to visit the West Bank tomorrow. His
tour won’t include the Gaza Strip, now under control of Hamas. On Tuesday,
thousands of Palestinians marched in Gaza to protest Bush’s visit. Israel has
launched a series of attacks on Gaza over the past week. One man, Hamdan
Fayyad, lost his wife and two children to Israeli gunfire.
bq. Hamdan Fayyad: “I tell Bush, the weapon factories in
which you are an artist in perfecting the weapons and then you send them to
Israel, or what some call Israel, you send it to them so that they can kill
the Palestinian people,
especially the innocent, and as I heard and understood, this weapon is
internationally banned.”
Peace Group: Israel Seeking to Bar Release of
Settlement Report
On the eve of Bush’s arrival, Israeli and Palestinian leaders announced
they’ve authorized a new round of talks on key final-status issues.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says the talks will include the status of
Jerusalem and the Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank.
Saeb Erekat: “It was agreed that Mr. Abu Ala, and Ms.
Livni will begin immediately the deliberations, and will use any experts of
their choice, on all the core issues, hoping to have the year 2008 as the
year to reach the peace treaty between the two sides.”
Bush’s trip comes amidst news the Israeli government is trying to block the
publication of a key report detailing its expanding settlement activity in the
West Bank. According to the Israeli group Peace Now, the confidential 2006
report provides the Israeli government’s most comprehensive analysis to date
of settlement activity beyond its internationally-recognized borders. The
report is said to detail widespread expansion in dozens of settlements, which
Israel vowed to stop under the U.S.-backed Road Map.
Kenyan Opposition Rejects New Cabinet
Kenya’s political crisis is deepening after opposition groups rejected a new
cabinet by President Mwai Kibaki. Kibaki’s new set of government ministers on
excludes any members of the opposition. His main rival, Raila Odinga, said he
opposed the cabinet.
Raila Odinga: “We will not go to State House to meet Mr.
Kibaki because we say he is there illegally, the whole world knows that, so
we will not go to meet Kibaki in State House the same religious leaders he
is calling are the ones
who called for a peaceful prayer at All Saints on Sunday, we did respond by
going there he did not go, if he wants them to offer prayer for him let them
invite them and they will pray for him.”
More than five-hundred people have been killed and two-hundred
fifty-thousand displaced in violence that followed Kibaki’s disputed election
win over Odinga last month. The shanty-town of Kibera has seen some of the
most intense clashes.
Kibera Resident: “I wish someone would just come and see
the people from Kibera whose houses were burnt, people who were chased from
their homes, we have nothing to go back to. We need to know where will will
go from here, or at least the government should tell us their plan, so we
can know our fate.”
A delegation of African Union officials including its chair, Ghana
President John Kufuor, have arrived in Kenya in efforts to resolve the crisis.
Marine Testifies in Afghan Mass-Shooting Inquiry
A former U.S. Marine has given the first testimony in an inquiry into the
massacre of at least nineteen Afghan civilians by U.S. forces last March. On
Tuesday, former intelligence sergeant Nathaniel Travers testified he saw
fellow Marines gun down unarmed Afghan civilians along an open road. The
shooting rampage followed a suicide car bomb attack on the Marine convoy. No
Marines were wounded in the attack. No charges have been filed against any
Marines so far.
Morales, Governors Agree to Seek Unity Deal
In Bolivia, President Evo Morales and regional governors have agreed to work
towards a national unity deal. The pact comes weeks after four regional
governors declared autonomy in protest of a draft constitution that would
increase the power of Bolivia’s indigenous majority. The four lowland
provinces contain much of Bolivia’s natural resource wealth and most of its
large natural gas deposits.
Pentagon Won’t Probe KBR Rape Charges
The Pentagon’s top watchdog has announced he won’t investigate rape
allegations made by a former employee of the war contractor Halliburton and
its subsidiary KBR. The alleged victim, Jamie Leigh Jones, says she was gang
raped by co-workers in Iraq. Jones has accused KBR and the U.S. government of
covering up the crime. On Tuesday, Pentagon Inspector General Claude
Kicklighter said he won’t look into the charges because the Justice Department
still considers it an open case. Democratic lawmakers and Jones’ defense team
both criticized the decision. A criminal probe has already lasted more than
two and a half years with no charges filed.
U.S. Reconsidering Amnesty for Immigrants With
Abusive Spouses
In immigration news, the U.S. government is considering doing away with a
longstanding policy that allows immigrant wives to remain in the country when
an abusive spouse refuses to sponsor their stay. More than 30,000 immigrant
women have been granted visas under the Violence Against Women Act since 1994.
Many of then have given birth to children in the U.S. Attorneys for immigrant
women say green-card applications have been put on hold as immigration
agencies await a decision on the policy review.
U.S. Last in Avoiding Deaths by Preventable
Disease
In health news, a new medical study shows the U.S. ranks last among
industrialized nations in avoiding deaths by preventable disease. Researchers
at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found a
preventable-disease death rate of 110 ten 100,000 Americans. These include
deaths from infections, treatable cancers, diabetes, and heart and vascular
disease. The study’s authors say it is difficult to ignore the likely
connection to the rising number of medically uninsured Americans.
Peace Activists Win Challenge to New York Ban on
Central Park Gatherings
Here in New York, peace activists are claiming victory in a more than
three-year dispute with the city over an ordinance limiting the size of mass
gatherings on the Great Lawn in Central Park. The National Council of Arab
Americans and the Answer Coalition sued the city after they were blocked from
holding an anti-war demonstration on the Great Lawn during the Republican
National Convention in August 2004. Under a new settlement, the city says it
will increase the cap on crowd size from fifty-thousand to seventy-thousand
people. The city will also conduct a study on whether the maximum size can be
further increased.
CIA Whistleblower Philip Agee Dies at 72
And the former CIA agent turned outspoken whistleblower Philip Agee has died.
Agee authored the 1975 book “Inside the Company: CIA Diary”, which detailed
several clandestine CIA operations around the world. Former President and CIA
chief George H.W. Bush would later call him a “traitor.” I spoke to Agee about
his book in October 2003.
Philip Agee: “We were right to do it then, because the
U.S. policy at the time, executed by the C.I.A., was to support murderous
dictatorships around the world, as in Vietnam, as in Greece, as in Chile,
Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil. And that’s only to name a few. We opposed that
use of the U.S. intelligence service for those dirty operations. And I’m
talking about regimes now that tortured and disappeared people by the
thousands.”