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A sticky wicket

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Illinois
Obama

* This might become a bit touchy…

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Gov. Martin O’Malley is scheduled to attend a campaign event this week for Barack Obama.

The event is set for Friday in Chicago. Other Democratic governors have been invited to attend to talk about economic issues.

I don’t know anything about O’Malley, but I do wonder whether our own governor will be attending. I have a call in to the Blagojevich campaign, but I also have a feeling (call me crazy) that the guv will be “too busy” touring flooded areas to attend.

* While we await a response, the Illinois Republican Party just sent out a press release posing the following questions to Obama…

1.) Does Rod Blagojevich still have a role with your campaign?

2.) If so, what role is Rod Blagojevich playing in your campaign?

3.) Do you welcome Rod Blagojevich being a part of your campaign?

4.) You returned all of Tony Rezko’s dirty money, will you call on Rod Blagojevich to return the $1.4 million he received from Tony Rezko, as well?

5.) A recent poll of Illinois voters found that 59% support beginning impeachment proceedings against Rod Blagojevich, do you share the same view with the majority of your constituents?

They seem like valid questions.

* Meanwhile, perhaps the IL GOP should be asking the Tribune Co. some questions. Check out this story…

The deal is, if you sign up for the Chicago Tribune at one dollar a week, you can get one of the hats or teeshirts for free.

And what’s on the teeshirt?

Why “Obama” of course. It wasn’t the official campaign logo but it was his name splashed across the white cotton fabric. The only reason I noticed is because the woman called out to everyone entering the store saying they could get a free “Obama” teeshirt if they signed up for the Tribune.

* Wait ’til the National Review sees this pic…

That sound you hear is Colonel McCormick breaking the sound barrier as he spins madly in his grave.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 10:56 am

Comments

Is this the Same GOP who just had a texas Vendor selling racist buttons asking if Obama is elected will we still call it the White House? before the worry abour Rod they might want to consider their own.

Comment by Ghost Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 11:05 am
Obviously the Trib is growing more desperate for new subscribers by the day.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 11:08 am
I still can’t get over this. Someone moves to Illinois 20 or 25 years ago, runs for office, becomes Dem nominee for President, so everyone here should support his candidacy simply because “he’s from Chicago.” Even the formerly conservative Tribune is now on this silly bandwagon.

If crazy Aunt Sally ran for president, shouldn’t we all vote for her, because, hey, she’s from Illinois, isn’t she? Simply mind boggling!

Comment by Snidely Whiplash Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 11:08 am
Ghost, the Texas GOP has banned that vendor and essentially put him out of business. Plus, that’s Texas, not Illinois.

Take a breath.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 11:14 am
Does this mean that the Tribune is also going to file campaign finance disclosure reports with the Federal Elections Commission?

Comment by Squideshi Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 11:15 am
Ghost - Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 11:05 am:

Is this the Same GOP who just had a texas Vendor selling racist buttons asking if Obama is elected will we still call it the White House? before the worry abour Rod they might want to consider their own.

What Rich said!

Free Hat!

Comment by Wumpus Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 11:16 am
Rick, I’m not so sure what you said about Col. McCormick is totally accurate. He hated federal deficit spending, so it would be hard to se him support the current administration in that regard, much less a candidate (John McCain) who in effect promises more of the same.

Comment by fedup dem Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 11:21 am
Rich. My name is Rich. Rick is that other guy.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 11:25 am
Interesting about the Dem. Governors rallying around BO — I guess they had to.
In O’Malley’s case, seems to me he was full-force behind Clinton & rallied all sorts of folks in maryland to back her.
In fact, I just googled him & he was named Hillary’s campaign chairman in maryland, so he better get himself to chicago to make nice-nice…

He’s a young, up & coming governor from Maryland who is talked about for bigger & better things down the road… (although perhaps he made a big mistake backing hillary in such a big way).
He was a very young mayor of baltimore & then became governor recently — a pretty good guy.

Comment by dupage progressive Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 11:33 am
Thanks for the info. I just canceled my Tribune.

Comment by Maggie Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 11:41 am
They’re obviously trying to increase sales, but is the Obama campaign ok with this?

Comment by reasonable 1 Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 11:47 am
Martin O’Malley is a pretty sharp guy. He is someone to be on the lookout for on the national level someday.

Comment by paddyrollingstone Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 11:52 am
We wonder if the Chicago Tribune is violating McCain-Feingold? Anyway,what better proof than this that the Trib is a partisan supporter of Obama? No word yet from former Trib reporter David Axelrod on this story.

Comment by Steve Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 12:14 pm
Medill and the Trib were instrumental in founding the GOP and in elevating Lincoln. Col. McCormick was many things, including bedrock, isolationist, anti-New Deal, Midwestern GOP. When the Trib called on Nixon to resign, he knew he was done.

Besides the politics, what about the modern era’s supposed objective journalism? Are they back to the 19th Century openly partisan model? Gnashing of teeth in the newsroom, I assure you.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 12:15 pm
I’d rather just buy my Obama shirt and not support the Scabune. I hear that they are going broke. What goes around comes around.

Comment by Bill Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 12:18 pm
How the Blago issue plays out will be quite revealing. If he’s not there, it’s a major smackdown by Obama. No matter how it’s spun, governors can find time in their schedules to share the podium and tv cameras with their wildly popular favorite son presidential candidate.

The Illinois GOP might ask some pointed questions of its GA members and their current relationships with the governor.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 12:20 pm
Tribune in the tank for Obama? Naaah. I mean, just look at their utterly objective, unbiased, unflattering coverage of Senator Obama for the past 13 years.

Comment by phocion Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 12:28 pm
phocion, try to be a little fair. The Trib wrote extensively about the Rezko lot next to Obama’s house.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 12:29 pm
Rich, please…”extensively?” A story about the house, with John Kass following up (and Zorn defending) is hardly extensive. Especially in light of how brutal the Tribune is to any of Obama’s opponents - and considering the local paper completely ignored Rev. Wright until national media forced the Trib to mention it. If you can really say with a straight face that the Tribune staff (minus Kass) hasn’t absolutely been bitten in the neck by Obama, you’re much more observant than me. I stand by my earlier snarky observation.

Comment by phocion Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 1:02 pm
Wow. Some person, probably an independent vendor who gets some kind of commission, has the difficult task of trying to sell Trib subscriptions in the present environment of declining interest in newspapers, and decides s/he may have better luck if s/he offers a t-shirt with Obama’s name on it because he’s a popular guy and people don’t have much interest in t-shirts with Trib on it. Suddenly, it’s a grand conspiracy by the Trib to promote Obama’s candidacy. What a joke. And, are you so sure that the picture is even genuine? Not to question the integrity of an august publication like the National Review, certainly.

Comment by Willie Stark Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 1:05 pm
The pic didn’t come from the National Review.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 1:06 pm
phocion, you were here recently making claims about that bogus Michelle tape, so I doubt any coverage by any outlet that isn’t far to the ultra-right is going to satisfy you.

It has been my experience over 18 years that partisans see what they want to see and remember what they want to remember. What you may consider “good, hard-hitting” reporting, others might consider lunatic fringe goofiness.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 1:09 pm
“Rich. My name is Rich. Rick is that other guy.”

But both you and Rick stick your neck out for no man, right?

Comment by Anon Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 1:10 pm
lol. Wrong Rick.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 1:12 pm
The questions posed by the Illinois Republican Party are quite interesting.

IMHO, they provide Obama an opportunity to disconnect completely himself from Blagojevich, should he choose to respond to them. He might even rebuke the Governor.

We’ll see…………..

Comment by piper Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 2:06 pm
Er, no I made no such claims about the authenticity of such tapes. I did allude to the tapes being alleged to exist, which is a truism. As have the Tribune and Sun-Times, I may add. I’m not a right-winger at all. I just find the media’s fawning over Obama to be inappropriate.

Comment by phocion Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 2:23 pm
===I made no such claims about the authenticity of such tapes. I did allude to the tapes being alleged to exist===

And you wrote the other day…

===even if the alleged “Michelle tape” is the October Surprise this year.===

I read that differently than you, apparently.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 2:30 pm
You did read it differently than my intended message, which was full of qualifiers, and was a throwaway reference to a goofy internet rumor that everyone had already heard about.

Comment by phocion Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 2:39 pm
Regarding the Obama t-shirt story; someone isn’t thinking, but someone else in charge will start to think and do something before this day is through. That is - if the story is true.

Tying Obama to Blagojevich is a rudimentary political strategy. And why not? Obama, and Blagojevich both have long political ties to Tony Rezko, Chicago political circles and winning Illinois elections. Emanuel already told us that he and Barack met with then-US Rep Blagojevich in bull sessions to help him become governor. Why should we allow Obama to go unquestioned when his governor and their money-buddy-Rezko end up in hot water?

Obama is running on his judgement since he has no experience, remember? So, what kind of judgement does his dealings with Blagojevich and Rezko show us about Barack Obama?

New politics? From Chicago? Since when Mr. Obama? Oh, and I love how you will be the first presidential candidate since 1973 to go unaccountable regarding your presidential financing? How Nixonian of you!

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 3:09 pm
Wordslinger: I highly doubt that Nixon worried about what the Chicago Tribune had to say about him or that that was instumental or even incremental in his decision to resign.

Comment by Chicago's American Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 7:50 pm
I want to know when that vendor is coming here to Champaign so I can get a cheap subscription to the Trib and a few of those Obama shirts!!

Comment by Lynn S. Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 10:15 pm
I’m just now catching up on this. And without even checking with anyone I can pretty well assure you that if this story is true (unless I’m missing something there is one source, one witness, “Leo” and a partial image of a shirt that looks like it might spell out “Obama”) it was not a company authorized promotion. There is no history or tradition at the Tribune or any American newspaper that I’m aware of of using partisan political souvenirs as subscription incentives, and if you thought about it for five seconds you’d realize why. But even if somehow I’m wrong about that and this WAS an official promotion, sanctioned from on high, that wouldn’t have anything to do with the reporters, editors and columnists who are writing about the campaign. Nor would it influence the Tribune’s editorial positions or endorsements which, as some have noted, tend to run Republican.

Comment by Eric Zorn Thursday, Jun 19, 08 @ 11:00 pm
Chicago’s American, if you do the reading, you might have a different opinion. I suggest Ambrose and “Breach of Faith” by Teddy White.

The July 24 Supreme Court ruling on the tapes, the July 27 House Judiciary votes on impeachment and the Aug. 5 release of the Smoking Gun tape were the knockout punches. But the earlier Tribune editorial was viewed as a loss of support among Main Street Republicans.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, Jun 20, 08 @ 9:07 am