The Rest Of The Stories, 11/2

** Welcome back to the trail, Elisabeth Bumiller!

** Obama, in a major civil rights speech today, per Lynn Sweet: "He's billed himself as the candidate of the Joshua generation. Now Friday in South Carolina, White House hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) calls for a revitalized civil rights movement--and more personal responsibility"

And, per his campaign:"Nearly a year before the 2008 presidential election, U.S. Senator Barack Obama will deliver a speech in Spartanburg, SC outlining how as President he would unite the country behind a sense of common purpose and turn the page on the divisive politics and broken promises that have dominated Washington in recent years."

** For Hillary Clinton, a positive editorial from the Des Moines Register:

Clinton ... is right about the big picture. Congress should have passed immigration reform last summer. It was gutless to duck this national crisis because it's so emotionally charged.

Yet emotions tend to get the better of people when the topic is immigration. Clinton's response simply acknowledged this issue has many facets.

** Hillary Clinton scores the endorsement of State Sen. Lou D'Allesandro

** Fred Thompson will be in New Hampshire on Monday and in South Carolina on Tuesday.

** Mitt Romney "pops" HRC in a new ad.

Comments

A new general election poll released this morning has John Edwards destroying his Republican opponents nationally. Link.

Posted by Daniel | November 3, 2007 12:15 PM

Something positive for Hillary out of Iowa? Amazing...

http://www.political-buzz.com/

Posted by matt | November 3, 2007 3:59 PM

What is the "Joshua Generation"? A cursory google yields only overly-intense home schoolers. Is Obama planning on marching at the head of an army of home-schooled children? Please tell me this is not so. The only worse than the return of the Deaniacs, imho, would be Deaniacs bearing scripture.

Posted by Lost in IA | November 3, 2007 5:48 PM

The Joshua generation refers to a speech Obama gave in Selma where he analogized his generation to the generation of civl rights activists of the 60s to the biblical story of Moses and Joshua--i.e. Moses got them to the gates of the promised land, but Joshua took up the burden and led them through. He was careful to point out that it was not him personally, but the next generation of committed citizens who would help to realize the founding principle of this nation that all people are created equal. The biblical metaphor was apropos of the fact that he was standing in a church when he made the speech and the popularity of moses as a symbol of liberation from the bondage of jim crow. Not sure about homeschooling, but maybe he could work that in in his next education speech.

Posted by JC | November 3, 2007 10:50 PM

Yeah...

Importing tons of low skilled workers (comprehensive immigration reform) is totally the best idea. What is wrong with people? Can they not see past lame appeals to identity politics?

Posted by Democrats Against Hillary | November 4, 2007 1:04 AM

Thanks, JC, for the clarification. The "Joshua Generation" moniker apparently appeals to both Obama and the home-schoolers, but I doubt there's a lot of overlap. Though who knows? It's getting to be a pretty big tent...

Posted by Lost in IA | November 4, 2007 9:46 AM