On a flight between Macon, Georgia, and Birmingham, Alabama, Sunday morning, Barack Obama took a few questions from reporters gathered in the aisle of the campaign plane. He walked back to the press section of the airplane to talk to the gaggle for about 7 minutes, as the plane was making its descent into Birmingham’s airport.

During the avail, he made it clear that Obama was still the underdog going into the February 5th contests - despite his overwhelming victory last night in South Carolina. Jumping from state to state and holding quick rallies - known as “tarmac campaigning” - is not how Obama won Iowa and South Carolina, where he spent a lot of time on the ground talking to voters and organizing a grassroots movement.

“It presents more of a challenge for us, I don’t think there’s any doubt about it,” he admitted, citing Clinton’s name recognition as a reason. “Here we’re going to have to work with a much more compressed schedule. It’s clear that Senator Clinton, I think, has the advantage in a lot of these states. We would expect them to do very well, but we’re going to campaign and compete across the country and we think we have a strong base of support and certainly coming out of South Carolina, I think we’ve got a lot of energy behind us.”

Obama remained mum when asked about Ted Kennedy’s endorsement, which has been confirmed by FOX News. “Ted Kennedy has not official endorsed my candidacy. I’ve had ongoing conversations with Ted since I’ve got into this race. At the point where he is clear about what he’s doing and wants to make it public, I will let Ted make it public.”

He was more forthcoming on Caroline Kennedy’s glowing endorsement in today’s New York Times, calling it “an extraordinary honor.” He said, “I thought the piece she wrote in the Times today, which I didn’t get a chance to see until last night, was deeply moving and I’m gratified. For somebody who, I think, has been such an important part of our national imagination and who generally shies away from involvement in day to day politics to step out like that is something that I’m very grateful for.”

And on the State of the Union address for which the Senator will return to Washington tomorrow:

“It’s not clear to me where the President wants to take the country in this last year. Obviously this will be his last State of the Union Speech. I suspect he may devote some time to try to explain his record over the last seven years. I am gratified that you’ve at least seen conversations with the White House and the Democrats and the rough outlines of a deal on an economic stimulus, but I hope the president recognizes that the problems we have are deep-seeded; they go beyond the immediate problems of the stock market and the credit markets. We’ve got an economy that’s been out of balance for a very long time, a lot of workers, a lot of middle class families that see their wages and incomes flat-lined over the last several years. We need to move aggressively forward, whether the president feels he can muster an aggressive strategy for the economic problems we face, I don’t know. I also suspect he will talk about Iraq and tout the reductions of violence there. I think the reductions of violence are a positive, so I believe that now is the time to send a clear signal that we’re going to begin pulling our troops out of Iraq. I don’t expect to hear that from the president.”

After a sound victory in the South Carolina primary, Senator Barack Obama delivered a rousing victory speech to a crowd of about 1,500. The 18-minute long speech, delivered with the aid of a teleprompter, was conciliatory and, at times, stinging when it came to his rivals.

Gracious in victory, Obama said his “fierce competitors” were “worthy of our respect and admiration.” He observed, “And as contentious as this campaign may get, we have to remember that this is a contest for the Democratic nomination, and that all of us share an abiding desire to end the disastrous policies of the current administration.”

But realizing his fight is far from over, he also noted, “We are up against the idea that it’s acceptable to say anything and do anything to win an election. We know that this is exactly what’s wrong with our politics; this is why people don’t believe what their leaders say anymore; this is why they tune out.”

“The choice in this election,” Obama said, “is not between religions or genders. It’s not about rich versus poor; young versus old, and it is not about black versus white.” The crowd cheered. “It’s about the past versus the future.”

The senator concluded his remarks with a hopeful, yet patently Obama mantra. “Where we are met with cynicism and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t – we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people in three simple words: Yes we can.”

Watch (most of) Senator Obama’s speech here:

Birmingham, AL-

While campaigning in Alabama, Mike Huckabee, stepped into the fray between the two leading GOP candidates for the Florida primary, by defending John McCain from allegations by Mitt Romney  that he was” dishonest”. Romney had used that term after McCain accused him of supporting a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.

” Senator McCain and I disagree on some things like immigration and Human Life amendment, but I’ve never known Senator McCain to be dishonest,” Huckabee said to reporters, after a massive rally at Stamford University, outside of Birmingham.” Many things might be said about him but I would not attribute dishonesty to Senator McCain.”

Huckabee agreed with McCain that Romney had supported a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. Huckabee said that Romney supported a plan authored by Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor (D) that called for a “secretly-held” timetable  for withdrawal without a publicly disclosed date.

” I have seen some of Governor Romney’s statements on withdrawal,” Huckabee said.” I’ve seen the actual quotes and he did support that secret withdrawal plan, and its documented in a number of accounts.” 

 

 Earlier, Huckabee was met by a massive Alabama crowd at this Baptist university, a size that took campaign staffers, and school officials by surprise.  The auditorium where Huckabee  gave his remarks was  fully packed, but there was an amount triple that size in the overflow room. The “room” was actually a larger auditorium opened up at the last second to accommodate the long lines. Local police put the number of people at five hundred in the first smaller auditorium, and 2 thousand plus in the second auditorium. 2,500 plus, combined,according to the officials. Reporters covering the event placed the amount closer between 1,500 to 2,000.

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As we in the press corps wait for Senator Barack Obama’s 9 o’clock victory speech here at the Columbia Convention Center, the crowd is trickling in after going through security. Obama’s staffers are freely mingling in the press area - something they did in Iowa, but not in New Hampshire - or Nevada, when they all left the state before the caucus. A giant television screen suspended from the ceiling is blasting CNN - which just showed video of Senator Hillary Clinton leaving her South Carolina hotel. The crowd booed. The boos were just as loud when the monitor showed video of former President Bill Clinton speaking in Independence, Missouri. The crowd, of course, cheers every time the network delivers pro-Obama news. At one point the diverse crowd chanted, “Race doesn’t matter!”

Barack Obama began what would be a successful day in his candidacy at Columbia’s Bethelehem Baptist Church, followed by a quick stop at a polling precinct at the historically black Benedict College - sans press. A small press pool was allowed to accompany Obama to greet patrons of Harper’s Restaurant, where Obama exchanged pleasantries and posed for photos with nearly every table and some of the restaurant’s employees before leaving.

The Senator spent much of the day holed up in his Columbia hotel, where he did multiple interviews via satellite with South Carolina and February 5th state television stations. To unwind, Obama along with two staffers (including his body guy, Reggie Love, who used to play for Duke University and 6′8″ trip director, Marvin Nicholson) played a little basketball with some of Obama’s Secret Service detail. Obama’s team won the best of three contest, two games to one.

Shortly after the polls closed in South Carolina, Senior Advisor David Axelrod and Communications Director Robert Gibbs emerged from their hotel to walk the short block to the Columbia Convention Center. Gibbs told a gaggle of reporters that it appears the white vote was “far closer” than anyone had thought it would be - early exit polls show that Obama received a whopping 80% of the African American vote and 24% of the caucasian vote as compared to Hillary Clinton and John Edwards’ 38% each.

This is an election about delegates - not states, Gibbs said. The campaign sent out a statement that estimated Obama snatched 25 delegates here in South Carolina. Clinton picked up 12 and Edwards 8, per the Obama campaign. Their tally now has Obama leading the delegate count 63 to Clinton’s 48 and Edwards’ 26.

Gibbs waas sure that the race for the nomination would not be decided by February 5th. Expect a long battle that could extend into April. Gibbs was unsure if Hillary Clinton had called Barack Obama to congratulate him on his victory, but in a statement put out by the Clinton Camp, Clinton said she had called to “congratulate him and wish him well.” It continued, “We now turn our attention to the millions of Americans who will make their voices heard in Florida and the twenty-two states as well as American Samoa who will vote on February 5th.”

Senator Barack Obama today spoke on the campus of Clemson University in South Carolina. About 3,000 or so, mostly students, stood outdoors in the cold to hear the candidate for president. “I know that a lot of young people have grown up cynical and skeptical about the political process, and don’t believe that change is possible,” Obama said at the top of his speech. “And what I hope to do,” he said, “is to persuade you that anything is possible if you’re ready for change.”

The senator didn’t speak long, but attempted to empower the young voters by letting them know that their vote counts. All they have to do is take a look at Iowa.  Obama explained that although the youth turnout in Iowa was unexpected by political pundits, students came through in unprecedented numbers - something he surely hopes will happen in South Carolina and elsewhere.

Take a listen to the senator’s close to the student voters:

In a tight race, the expectations game is crucial; a better than expected second place in a state can be spun as a win for an underdog, while a closer than expected victory can be seen as a loss for a front-runner.

So when Clinton aides point to recent polls to suggest they’re expecting a double-digit loss in South Carolina, reporters see them trying to set expectations low so that a four-point loss might turn into a positive story for the campaign.

Similarly, when the Obama campaign released a memo today pointing out just how much Clinton has done to win the state, reporters understand that they’re trying to prevent an Obama win of any size from being seen as a loss — or just as bad, as expected and therefore unimportant.

In the memo, Team Obama tells interested parties to look past the Clinton spin — saying  “the truth is Hillary Clinton’s campaign is pulling out all the stops to win in South Carolina. And it includes saying and doing just about anything to win.”
Trouble is, Obama himself criticized Hillary for not taking the state seriously enough after spending much of the last week in Feb 5th states — telling CBN’s David Brody, “I think the South Carolina voters will have to make an assessment in terms of how seriously she’s taking the state. She said last night that Bill Clinton wasn’t the one running for resident, but this is the next primary and he’s the one who’s staying behind.”

Clinton spokesman Phil Singer asks “does the Obama campaign think we are giving up on South Carolina or going all out for it? I guess it depends on the day.”

Read the full Obama memo after the jump

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At a press availability following a town hall meeting in Kingstree, South Carolina, Senator Barack Obama took questions from his traveling press corps – not exactly a regular occurrence on the Obama bus. “I know that during the scramble on the campaign trail, we don’t always have a chance to do as much Q&A as you guys would like,” Obama noted at the start of the news conference. Obama spoke briefly about the economic stimulus agreement between Republicans and Democrats and spoke about the situation in Kenya before opening it up to questions.

The candidate took questions for just under twenty minutes, including the multiple interruptions from the PA system in the high school where Obama spoke. At one point Obama joked, “I think I’m getting called to the principal’s office.”

During the avail, a reporter, referring to past comments made by former president Bill Clinton, wondered if Obama thought he was was getting a “free ride” from the press. Here’s his answer:

Free ride or not, most of the questions Obama got today were regarding the Clintons. When asked if he thought he had underestimated the “Clinton Machine,” Obama said no. “The Clinton operation is a tough, well-honed political machine built up over the course of 20 years. We have always been the underdogs in this campaign; we have always been the outsiders, the insurgent campaign. People have forgotten that I think. ”

A reporter from the New York Times questioned what he meant when he said in last week’s debate that he felt like he was running against both Clintons, Obama answered, “Let me sort of dispose of the, the whole issue of President Clinton. I have said this repeatedly, that he is entirely justified in wanting to promote his wife’s candidacy. I have no problem with that whatsoever. He can be as vigorous an advocate on behalf of her as he would like. The only thing I’ve been concerned about is when he makes misstatements about my record. That’s what I’m seeking to correct. And I do hold the Clinton campaign, as a whole, accountable for statements that are made by such high-profile surrogates as the candidate’s husband, who also happens to be the former President of the United States of America. I don’t think you can distance yourself from comments that he made.”

And after Obama answered what was deemed as Communications Director Robert Gibbs’ last question, someone yelled out, “Do you think Bill Clinton is coming unglued?”

Obama kept walking - smiled, gestured to Gibbs, and said, “I think he said last question.”

Hillary Clinton finally made it back to South Carolina on Thursday, kicking off the final stage of her campaign here with what the campaign called a major economic speech focused on tacking the immediate and long-term economic challenges facing America. But if they thought it was major, they didn’t pretend it was new; the speech was largely centered on already-announced policies to stimulate the economy and fix the housing crisis.

She blamed the slide toward recession on President Bush’s “hands-off,” adviser-heavy approach to running the government — a trait she’s often ascribed to Barack Obama. The Illinois Senator has admitted he’s not much of a Chief Operating Officer, saying he would leave the day-to-day management of bureaucracy to others.

“We’re here in part because the President failed to listen to the voices of people who are hurting, failed to get involved in the actual work of running the government, and failed to act,” she said. “Instead, he has stayed at a comfortable cruising altitude, well above the realities of peoples lives, delegating responsibilities to his advisers, hoping the buck would stop somewhere else, anywhere else.”

And after bashing Obama for claiming the Republicans have been the party of ideas over the last decade, she also blamed the ideas of this administration for the economic downturn. “The problem with our economy is not the American people; instead, the problem is in part the bankrupt ideas that have governed us for the last 7 years.”

Finally, there was the familiar talk vs action theme that’s been the foundation of her campaign against Obama since Iowa. “The presidency matters more now than ever,” she said. “We need a president who will run the government and manage the economy. The American people don’t hire a president to talk about our problems, but to solve them; to set a vision for the future and then to roll up our sleeves and get about fulfilling it.”

“It’s time we had a president who believes leading an economic comeback is a full-time, hands on job.”

While addressing a crowd of 200 people in Bennettsville, South Carolina, John Edwards criticized Hillary Clinton for choosing to leave the state in the days before the January 26th primary.

Clinton left South Carolina after participating in Monday night’s Democratic presidential debate in Myrtle Beach to campaign in states scheduled to hold contests on February 5th.

“Right after the debate, she flew out and she’s been gone and she won’t be back until I don’t’ know—later in the week or until primary day,” Edwards said. “And the question is, if she’s not going to spend time here the week before the South Carolina primary, what do you think the chances are she’s coming back after the primary? And what are the chances she’s coming back when she’s president of the United States?”

In his criticism of Clinton’s absence, Edwards sought to depict her as a politician not genuinely committed to the needs of those living in rural South Carolina. He also characterized the rural South as “forgotten America,” emphasizing his Southern upbringing to persuade voters that he identifies with and understands their economic hardships.

“We need a president of the United States who actually understands your life. It’s one thing to fly into South Carolina from some place else, give a speech, go to a debate and then fly back out,” he said. “It is a very different thing to have lived here, to have grown up in this part of the country and to understand in a personal way what’s happening in your lives. I do.”