THIS WEEK IN POLITICS WITH DON WILLIAMS!

WHAT THE PEOPLE OBSERVE ABOUT NATIONAL POLITICS!

By: Don Williams - Hello all and welcome to the first edition of "This week in politics." You could have been doing anything else in the world, but you're on the Insite reading this and other great articles, and on behalf of the Insite, I appreciate that:


Since this is the first week in April, the talk of the political world is the $$$ each candidate raised in March. Barack Obama, on the verge of shattering political fundraising records, received $40 million in contributions from donors this month. More than half of these were 1st time donors, and that brings his primary total to over $200 million. That's amazing considering the Rev. Wright controversy that keeps finding a way to rear it's ugly head and find it's way back into the political scene every couple of days so far. Hillary Clinton, still battling calls for her to drop out of the race, showed that she still has some fight in her campaign by announcing she's collected $20 million in March. Although that's half of what Obama received, it's still very impressive, it keeps her competitive in Pennsylvania where she is being outspent 2:1 by Obama. The best part of that is she can put to rest (at least for a couple of weeks) the rumors about her campaign being...well, let's just say financially challenged, as she struggles to keep pace with Obama's fundraising totals. On the Republican side, John McCain didn't release his totals for March, but his campaign did attempt to lower the expectations game by announcing that his totals would be considerably lower than Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama. However, in an interesting financial twist in the McCain campaign, according to The Boston Globe he is returning about $3 million in checks to contributors who have given to his general campaign, another sign that he may opt for accepting public financing this fall. I'll keep you posted on new developments.

A Quick glance into each campaign:

John McCain is continuing his Bio Tour. He make a stop today to pay respects to Dr. King by visiting the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN. In other news, he seemed to take a jab at Barack Obama's foreign policy experience by responding to statements made by Obama and his campaign that McCain has stated we may remain in Iraq 100 years. To paraphrase his response, he stated that Obama obviously took his words out of context, and said either Obama misunderstood him or was vastly inexperienced about war and the aftermath, referring to our presence in Germany and Korea today, long after those wars have been over. He also took to task Hillary Clinton for her unveiling of the "3am" TV ad on the economy. His campaign responded with an ad of it's own, and in an interview McCain stated he was better versed on the economy that both Senator Clinton and Obama. In other McCain news, contrary to an interview he gave earlier this week where he stated his campaign was "unifying the GOP" he still appears to be struggling to shore up the support of the entire Republican party, as evident with reports surfacing this week that quote Rev. James Dobson, prominent minister and long time anti-McCain republican, as stating McCain has fractured the republican base...although, I'm not sure how much more damaging a comment like this would be from someone who's said on several occasions that they wouldn't vote for McCain "under any circumstances." We'll keep you posted, but in the meantime, what do you think? Has McCain united the Republican party yet?

Hillary Clinton's had....well, let's just say not the greatest political week. There have been media reports of her attempting to salvage the endorsement of Bill Richardson by reminding him of Obama's perceived unelectability in the general election. She was reportedly heard saying to Richardson "He cannot win Bill! He cannot win!" While I personally don't think there's much wrong with this statement, (I mean, what's wrong with saying your opponent can't win?) it's been heavily scrutinized by media outlets as a possible subtle dig at race? What do you think? In other news, her campaign also took an apparent swipe at John McCain by airing a new "3am" economic ad. She is also visiting Memphis, TN today to honor Dr. King, and plans to attend a couple of fundraisers in California over the weekend. Former President Clinton and other top Clinton advisers are holding private meetings with undecided Super delagates in an attempt to woo them to the Clinton camp, and rumor has it that these meetings have become quite intense at times with everything being discussed from calls for her to drop out of the race to the Rev. Wright controversy. Meanwhile, Chelsea Clinton has had quite an interesting couple of weeks on the campaign trail. While visiting college campuses, she's twice been asked to respond to different questions that refer to Monica Lewinsky. She's responded by telling the student's that the Lewinsky matter is a private family matter, it's none of their business. Ouch?!?! I think that one may have stuck a nerve somewhere in her. What do you think? Should the Lewinsky scandal be "out of bounds" for Chelsea while she acts as a top surrogate for her mother's presidential bid?

Barack Obama, after looking like a fish out of water in a bowling alley in Pennsylvania last week, (he bowled a 37 through 7 frames?!?! WoW) showed good signs of making inroads in Pennsylvania as we near the April 22 primary. Polls show him closing what was two weeks ago a 16 point lead by Clinton to single digits. Still, he appears to be 8-9 points behind, and has an uphill battle in the state. He also seemed to be turning his attention, albeit slightly, toward the general election, by sending out emails to his supporters to start organizing their grassroots effort for the fall. After a couple of rough weeks, he's seemed to for the most part turn the topic of conversation away from Jeremiah Wright, and his campaign has seemed to weather the storm fairly well if consider his fundraising totals for March. He hinted that he may offer Al Gore a spot in his administration (an attempt to snag an endorsement from "The Godfather" of the democratic party?), and he appears to being on the verge of getting an endorsement from Super delegate and former President Jimmy Carter. With politics, you're up one week, and down the next...we'll see how next week goes for Senator Obama, who, last but not least, has 4 fundraisers scheduled in California in the upcoming days.


Until next week.....