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Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - Memo: New Information

February 03, 2008

To: Interested Parties

From: Mark Penn, Chief Strategist

Date: Sunday, February 03, 2008

Re: New Information

Just yesterday I noted that people had very limited information on Sen. Barack Obama as we go into millions of people voting on the two candidates.

And then in the last two days we see three stories that illustrate the point very clearly about what Sen. Obama says about his views and record and what journalists find when they dig into the facts:

1) The New York Times on its front page explains how Sen. Barack Obama told voters he stood up to the nuclear power industry and how he passed a bill to require reports of any radioactive leaks after hearing from his constituents. But The Times discovers, after a lengthy examination, that the bill was watered down after meeting with Exelon, the company whose plants created the issue and whose key executives are big contributors and bundlers to his campaign. Answering written questions for the NY Times, the campaign, in the words of the paper, never "directly" explains why Sen. Obama would tell voters he passed a bill that in fact was not passed and did not become law.

2) The Chicago Tribune features a similar story on a different topic. While Sen. Obama on the stump tells people about the plight of Maytag workers who lost their jobs, ("Obama's fundraising collides with his rhetoric") the Tribune documents that the union covering those workers believes they got no help from the Senator, who was again taking significant contributions and bundling from one of the company's directors and biggest investors.

3) And yesterday there was an AP story where Senator Obama told the voters of Idaho: "And then there are people who say, 'Well, he doesn't believe in the Second Amendment,' even though I come from a state -- we've got a lot of hunters in downstate Illinois. And I have no intention of taking away folks' guns." But he didn't disclose to those voters, as the AP said that "he does support gun control and has a record of voting for it in the Illinois Senate. He backed limiting handgun purchases to one a month, but he made no attempts to ban them." When he originally ran for the state legislature 12 years ago, he filled out a questionnaire saying he "supported banning the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns." He gave the voters of Idaho no indication whatsoever of either his record in the State Senate or his prior views on the questionnaire.

Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - Memo: New Information Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/293571

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