Presidential News.
The rapid decline of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean in the Democratic presidential sweepstakes has convinced former Clinton advisor Dick Morris that the eventual Democratic nominee-be it John Kerry or someone else-will ask Hillary to be his running mate. "Now that Howard Dean is clearly not going to be the nominee, there is a very good chance that Hillary will be the vice presidential candidate," Morris told Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes." He argues that accepting second banana on the ticket would be the best way for Hillary to assure her own term as President. "If I were advising her right now I would say take it, because, you're not going to lose by a lot," said Morris. "And if a Democrat wins, if Kerry wins, how is she going to stay fresh for eight years in the Senate?" Morris is not the only political prognosticator predicting big things for Hillary. Nonpartisan analyst Stuart Rothenberg told USA Today that Hillary is "absolutely" running for President in 2008. He also told the paper that Hillary "knows she needs to wait. She knows she can build up her own credentials a little bit more. And she knows if George Bush wins re-election, that 2008 will be a very nice Democratic year. But if a Democrat wins in 2004, it will turn all of her political calculations on their head." Give Us Money. Now.
Hillary recently spoke in front of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, where she drew strong support for her proposal to send homeland security money directly to local authorities. The senator has spent the past few months complaining-along with the mayors-that federal homeland security funds have been stalled in state capitols while many fire and police departments continue to lack critical equipment and training. Hillary's legislation would force federal security officials to send much of that money directly to cities. Said Hill: "The governors are not passing the money on to the cities and the counties," and "I've got a plan to get the money unstuck. I call it 'Leave No City Behind.'" This line brought the house down. Hillary also estimated that approximately $100 billion would be spent on homeland security over the next five years, and that "Whatever money we appropriate to homeland security, the bulk of it needs to go to our cities." After her speech, Sen. Clinton told reporters she couldn't quite put her finger on the source of the problem, but it wasn't hard to tell she was implicitly blaming a potential challenger for her Senate seat in 2006: New York Gov. George Pataki. "I really have been bewildered," said Clinton, "by how bureaucratized this process has become when everybody knows the money has to get out the door to deal with a budget crisis like the one in the city of Buffalo." Gov. Pataki's office was quick to respond: "We agree with the senator that we must make sure our first responders are prepared, which is why the state has already committed or provided 100% of the available federal funds and equipment to counties for distribution to the locals," said Pataki's spokeswoman Lynn Rasic. The governor's office also slammed Hillary, saying she "does not understand how this program works because she continues to get the facts wrong," Pataki's aides said that the senator should persuade Congress to change the homeland security funding formulas so the state receives a larger share of the money. HRC and the NAACP.
On April 25, Hillary will be the keynote speaker for the 49th Annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner held by the NAACP's Detroit branch. The occasion is the 50th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education. Previous speakers at the annual event include Hillary's husband, Thurgood Marshall and Colin Powell. "We are honored to have Sen. Hillary Clinton as our keynote speaker," the Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the NAACP's Detroit branch, said in a statement. "Who better to capture the spirit of our dinner's theme." As with most events that Hillary attends, money will be at the root of the matter, as tickets range from $15 per person to $2,500 per corporate table.
