Hillary Clinton vs. Barack ObamaThe Democratic race for US President - or should we say fight - really started to heat up this weekend. In the ring, Hillary Clinton vs. Barack Obama
It has been a rough two weeks for the former First Lady and Democratic Senator from New York, Hillary Clinton. While enjoying a rather comfortable lead in the Democratic race for US President over the past few months, Hillary Clinton has encountered a setback and her opponent, Barack Obama, appears to be capitalizing on her stroke of bad luck.
First, Hillary Clinton performed poorly in a debate two weeks ago where she was literally ganged up on. But worse, she appeared to be ill-prepared. Last week, her campaign was forced to admit they had planted people in the audience during an Iowa debate to ask questions of Hillary she supposedly already rehearsed the answers for. But the icing on the cake occurred this weekend.
A fiery speech by the Junior Senator out of Illinois, Barack Obama, has demonstrated his willingness to go for the jugular. In the past, he's been criticized for failing to capitalize on Hillary's perceived weaknesses.
A blog post at the Washington Post reports:
According to most accounts the Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Des Moines Saturday night was a big moment for Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), and our Readers Who Comment (RWC) seem to agree. Dan Balz and Shailagh Murray report that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) gave a strong speech in one of the important run-ups to the January Iowa caucuses, but Obama emerged as the oratorical winner in the view of many they interviewed. Columnist Ruth Marcus, who was there too, wrote that "Obama's impressive turnout and impassioned oratory offered the closing highlight" of the hours-long event.
David Yepsen, registered political columnist at ABCNews.com writes:
The six leading Democratic presidential candidates showed up for the Iowa Democratic Party's big Jefferson Jackson Dinner on Saturday night, and five of them gave very good speeches.
Barack Obama's was excellent. It was one of the best of his campaign.
The passion he showed should help him close the gap on Hillary Clinton by tipping some undecided caucusgoers his way.
His oratory was moving, and he successfully contrasted himself with the others — especially Clinton — without being snide or nasty about it.
That was an important thing for him to do. Historically, the Iowa party's "JJ" dinner is a landmark event in Democratic presidential caucus campaigns, Yepsen also points out.
Some of Obama's key points:
• He said the Iraq war "should have never been authorized and should have never been waged," a shot at the votes Clinton and most of the others cast in favor of it.
• Obama took another dig at the Clinton era when he said "we have a chance to bring the country together to tackle problems that George Bush made far worse and that festered long before George Bush took office."
• He tweaked Clinton for not taking questions at some of her events by saying: "Not answering questions because we're afraid our answers just won't be popular just won't do it." (Clinton is also currently vexed by controversy over her staff trying to plant questions with Iowans.)
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are essentially tied for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, the first time that the New York senator hasn't clearly led the field.
The Illinois senator bests Clinton by a single percentage point, 30%-29%, if the contest includes former vice president Al Gore.
Clinton bests Obama by a single point, 37%-36%, if it doesn't include Gore.
The survey of 310 Democrats and 160 independents who "lean" Democratic, taken Friday through Sunday, has a margin of error of +/- 5 percentage points.
But polls are not always a reflection of where people are putting their money. Until now, Clinton was a 1-3 favorite at Sportsbook.com and elsewhere for that matter. You would basically have to bet (risk) $3 to win $1. Should Hillary Clinton win, you would end up with $1 plus your initial bet back ($3). A $6 bet wins you $2 (plus your original $6). There was value here before in that nobody looked as though they could touch Hillary.
There may be even greater value should Hillary continue to hit stumbling blocks. Thursday's CNN Democratic Debate could provide Mrs. Clinton with further wounds.
For now the embattled former First Lady is safe in the Odds Department, where she has held steady at 1/3 odds at Sportsbook.com and +250 at BetUS.com. And Barack hasn't moved either. He's listed with 2/1 odds at Sportsbook and +800 odds at BetUS.com, the value bet of the day if Obama continues to make waves ($8 would be paid out for every $1 bet).
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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
Originally published November 12, 2007 11:18 pm ET
