New York – Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday dismissed criticism from her chief rivals over her acceptance of campaign contributions from lobbyists, calling their concerns “a little inauthentic” because they accept money from lobbyists’ employers and relatives.
In an interview for an online candidates’ forum sponsored by Yahoo, Slate Magazine and the Huffington Post, Clinton also announced she would release her plan to offer universal health coverage Monday.
“I hope the headline will read, ‘Hillary is back and we’re going to get it done this time,”‘ she said.
All eight Democratic contenders participated in the so-called online “mashup,” including Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden and Mike Gravel.
They took questions from moderator Charlie Rose on education, health care and the Iraq war, many of which were submitted from readers online. Comedian Bill Maher also made a surprise appearance, offering “wild card” questions on issues such as whether marijuana should be legalized.
When pressed by Rose on why she accepted contributions from insurance company representatives when they had worked to thwart her reform efforts as first lady, Clinton bristled.
“You know, I think it’s a little inauthentic for people to say, ‘Don’t take money from lobbyists,’ but it’s OK to take it from their spouses, their children, their associates and from people that work for companies that employ them.”
The Democrats agreed on most of the major issues raised during the forum.
All said the testimony of Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker to Congress this week failed to convince them that a political consensus was achievable in Iraq.
The candidates also generally defended Petraeus when pressed by Rose on whether they agreed with a newspaper ad sponsored by the anti-war group MoveOn, calling him “General Betray Us” and suggesting he had political motives.
Maher, with his offbeat questions, provoked some interesting responses from the candidates.
Dodd told Maher he would not legalize marijuana but would favor decriminalizing the drug in part to prevent prison overcrowding.
Biden, asked to rank the relative dangers of high-fructose corn syrup, coal soot or a terrorist attack, chose air with too much coal in it, followed by corn syrup. “But that is not in any way to diminish the fact that a terrorist attack is real,” he added.
Gravel was asked whether he would be willing to tell the American people they were “fatter and dumber” because of the obesity epidemic and poor standardized test scores in schools.
“I am prepared to tell you that Americans are getting fatter and dumber. I have no problem saying that,” Gravel said, adding, “I’ve also said that the Americans are going to get the government they deserve.”
Related
Ex-governor to run for Senate Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner will announce this morning that he plans to run next year for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican John Warner.
Sources close to the Democratic former governor said Warner has told them he will announce his intention to run for the Senate in 2008, which would set the stage for one of the most competitive races in the country next year.
Judge wants new campaign rules A federal judge struck down campaign-finance regulations Wednesday that govern when candidates and independent groups can coordinate their political messages. The judge called on the Federal Election Commission to write stricter rules in time for the 2008 elections.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said the FEC regulations too narrowly apply to coordinated advertising that takes place within 90 days of a congressional election or 120 days of a presidential election.
The regulations unreasonably ignore advertising run outside those windows, the judge said.
This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to an error by the Associated Press, it included incorrect information about Joe Biden’s ranking of relative dangers. He chose coal soot, closely followed by corn syrup.
