By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN, Associated Press Writer
LANSING, Mich. - Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign accused Barack Obama on Tuesday of standing in the way of a second presidential primary in Michigan, as several state lawmakers expressed concerns over suggested rules governing any revote.
The former first lady planned a hastily arranged appearance in Detroit on Wednesday. Aides said she would argue for going ahead despite the obstacles.
Mo Elleithee, a spokesman, said Clinton would "make the case for counting the people of Michigan, that every vote must count and that Senator Obama is standing in the way of a revote, and that snubbing Michigan would hurt the Democratic party in November."
Even before Clinton announced her travel plans, Obama's spokesman accused her of merely looking out for her own political interests.
"As others in Michigan have pointed out, there are valid concerns about the proposal currently being discussed, including severe restrictions on voter eligibility and the reliance on private funding," said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor. "We have raised these concerns, as legislators in Michigan did today, and we're waiting to see if these issues can be resolved by the Legislature."
Michigan is one of two states that violated Democratic Party rules by holding primaries too early in the year. As punishment, the party stripped both states of their delegates to the national nominating convention.
Plans for a revote in the other state, Florida, collapsed over the weekend, leaving the future of its delegation unclear.
Originally, Michigan was to have 156 delegates; Florida's total was 210.
Clinton trails Obama in convention delegates after primaries and caucuses in more than 40 states, and her chances of catching up are remote.
Lopsided victories in second primaries in Florida and Michigan would help, and also would strengthen her argument that party leaders who attend the convention as superdelegates should consider a candidate's ability to win in the fall, rather than merely support the contender with the most delegates.
She won the earlier primaries in both states, although all the candidates had pledged not to campaign in either and Obama removed his name from Michigan's ballot.
One of the sticking points holding up a possible do-over election in Michigan is a rule that would ban anyone who voted in the Republican presidential primary from voting again in the Democratic one.
That ban would apply even to Democrats or independents who asked for a GOP ballot because Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was the only major candidate left on the Jan. 15 Democratic ballot.
To cast a ballot in a do-over election, voters would have to sign a statement saying they hadn't voted in the GOP primary.
That could hurt Obama more, since his supporters were more likely than Clinton's to have crossed over to vote in the GOP primary. Obama has had more success than Clinton attracting the votes of independents and Republicans in states where they could vote in Democratic contests.
A group of Democratic leaders from Michigan is trying to set up a June 3 do-over primary so the state can get its delegates seated at the Democratic National Convention, but that looked less likely on Tuesday.
Seventeen Democratic state House members said Tuesday they have concerns about holding another election, including disenfranchising Democrats who voted in the Republican primary.
"These people that chose to vote in that Republican primary in January did so after being told by the DNC that the Democratic primary did not count. They weren't told that if they participated in a Republican primary they wouldn't be eligible to participate in a redo that was going to happen in June," said state Rep. Matt Gillard, an Obama supporter.
Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer said he supports proposed legislation that would authorize a second primary, saying none of the legal objections "have any merit" and that in his opinion the legislation meets all national Democratic Party and legal requirements.
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin and the three Democratic leaders working on the proposal planned to lobby lawmakers on Wednesday.
Brewer said the party has the right, and the responsibility, to prevent non-Democrats from having a say in who becomes the party's nominee.
Michigan doesn't require voters to register by party to vote, so the parties have to use other tools to stop crossover voting. Both parties are due to get a list of who voted in the Jan. 15 primary and which ballot — Democratic or Republican — they chose. It's unclear whether those lists would be used to challenge anyone who had voted in the GOP primary.
Brewer said he's sorry some Democrats won't be able to vote again.
"I regret that that might be the case, but it's a national party rule and we have no choice but to follow it," he said.
Showing posts with label Some. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Some. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Some Wall St banks seen riskier than poor countries
By Peter Apps
LONDON (Reuters) - Turmoil and uncertainty over some of Wall Street's best-known investment banks has left some facing rougher market conditions that price them as riskier than developing countries or banks in volatile areas of the world.
Seen for decades as the power brokers in emerging market finance, Wall St firms' sudden underdog status points to the magnitude of fear surrounding them -- and perhaps a degree of confidence in the longer-term stability of developing countries.
Shortly before it received a Federal Reserve-backed rescue package late last week, the cost of insuring the debt of U.S. bank Bear Stearns (BSC.N) was higher than that for banks in Kazakhstan, one trader said.
On Monday, Bear Stearns was sold for a fraction of its value last week, further undermining global markets and confidence in what were once seen as some of the world's most reliable banks.
Early on Tuesday, before it posted results, the cost of protecting debt at Lehman Brothers was 443 basis points, or $443,000 a year for five years, to protect $10 million of debt with credit default swaps.
After Lehman Brothers (LEH.N) announced a fall in revenue but beat fearful expectations, its credit default swaps traded at 330 basis points according to Phoenix Partners.
One analyst said the bank's position appeared "survivable" -- but protecting its debt is pricier than protecting that of Turkey or Nigeria, traders say.
"You could say Lehman is riskier than Nigeria," one trader said, asking not to be named. "But it's not a trade or a comparison people often try to make."
Turkish credit derivatives swaps were trading at 290/298 despite worries over a wide current account deficit and volatile politics. Nigeria's are relatively illiquid but usually priced in the mid-200s, a trader said.
Goldman Sachs (GS.N) credit derivative swaps tightened to 160 basis points after the bank said its first-quarter earnings fell by half after recording more than $2.5 billion of losses on loans and other assets, but with robust trading helping the bank exceed market expectations.
But liquidity in global debt markets remains poor with the world's largest banks suspecting each other of not coming entirely clean on losses in the U.S. mortgage market, and many analysts saying more bad news is to come.
GREAT UNKNOWNS
"I think with Africa people feel they know what they are dealing with," said Razia Khan, head of Africa economics at Standard Chartered in London. "In contrast, everything else is a great unknown."
That was despite investors being slightly put off by the speed at which Kenya -- a perceived oasis of East African stability -- collapsed into violence after a disputed election in December.
In credit derivative swaps markets, Turkey was trading at the same level as British bank HBOS (HBOS.L), while healthy Brazil with credit derivatives swaps at 191/197 basis points was roughly level with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L), BB Securities said.
That was despite worries over Turkey's wide current account deficit and concerns over an attempt by the country's secular prosecutors to ban the ruling party from politics for allegedly trying to build an Islamic state.
"It gives us some kind of snapshot of relative values," said BB Securities emerging markets research head Paul Hollingworth. "The fundamentals have become secondary to liquidity and technical factors.""
"Most banks in the UK and U.S. are trading well below valuations of top emerging markets banks," he said. "The Brazilian banking system has never had it so good. It is a stark comparison."
The country suffering worst in the credit crisis is not usually seen as a byword for trouble -- Iceland, ranked top in the world according to United Nations human development indicators.
Its highly leveraged banks are laboring under a greater proportion of debt than almost any other bank and this sent the Icelandic crown to all-time lows on Tuesday morning and the credit default swaps of its leading Kaupthing Bank to 864 basis points.
(Additional reporting by Sebastian Tong; editing by Stephen Nisbet)
LONDON (Reuters) - Turmoil and uncertainty over some of Wall Street's best-known investment banks has left some facing rougher market conditions that price them as riskier than developing countries or banks in volatile areas of the world.
Seen for decades as the power brokers in emerging market finance, Wall St firms' sudden underdog status points to the magnitude of fear surrounding them -- and perhaps a degree of confidence in the longer-term stability of developing countries.
Shortly before it received a Federal Reserve-backed rescue package late last week, the cost of insuring the debt of U.S. bank Bear Stearns (BSC.N) was higher than that for banks in Kazakhstan, one trader said.
On Monday, Bear Stearns was sold for a fraction of its value last week, further undermining global markets and confidence in what were once seen as some of the world's most reliable banks.
Early on Tuesday, before it posted results, the cost of protecting debt at Lehman Brothers was 443 basis points, or $443,000 a year for five years, to protect $10 million of debt with credit default swaps.
After Lehman Brothers (LEH.N) announced a fall in revenue but beat fearful expectations, its credit default swaps traded at 330 basis points according to Phoenix Partners.
One analyst said the bank's position appeared "survivable" -- but protecting its debt is pricier than protecting that of Turkey or Nigeria, traders say.
"You could say Lehman is riskier than Nigeria," one trader said, asking not to be named. "But it's not a trade or a comparison people often try to make."
Turkish credit derivatives swaps were trading at 290/298 despite worries over a wide current account deficit and volatile politics. Nigeria's are relatively illiquid but usually priced in the mid-200s, a trader said.
Goldman Sachs (GS.N) credit derivative swaps tightened to 160 basis points after the bank said its first-quarter earnings fell by half after recording more than $2.5 billion of losses on loans and other assets, but with robust trading helping the bank exceed market expectations.
But liquidity in global debt markets remains poor with the world's largest banks suspecting each other of not coming entirely clean on losses in the U.S. mortgage market, and many analysts saying more bad news is to come.
GREAT UNKNOWNS
"I think with Africa people feel they know what they are dealing with," said Razia Khan, head of Africa economics at Standard Chartered in London. "In contrast, everything else is a great unknown."
That was despite investors being slightly put off by the speed at which Kenya -- a perceived oasis of East African stability -- collapsed into violence after a disputed election in December.
In credit derivative swaps markets, Turkey was trading at the same level as British bank HBOS (HBOS.L), while healthy Brazil with credit derivatives swaps at 191/197 basis points was roughly level with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L), BB Securities said.
That was despite worries over Turkey's wide current account deficit and concerns over an attempt by the country's secular prosecutors to ban the ruling party from politics for allegedly trying to build an Islamic state.
"It gives us some kind of snapshot of relative values," said BB Securities emerging markets research head Paul Hollingworth. "The fundamentals have become secondary to liquidity and technical factors.""
"Most banks in the UK and U.S. are trading well below valuations of top emerging markets banks," he said. "The Brazilian banking system has never had it so good. It is a stark comparison."
The country suffering worst in the credit crisis is not usually seen as a byword for trouble -- Iceland, ranked top in the world according to United Nations human development indicators.
Its highly leveraged banks are laboring under a greater proportion of debt than almost any other bank and this sent the Icelandic crown to all-time lows on Tuesday morning and the credit default swaps of its leading Kaupthing Bank to 864 basis points.
(Additional reporting by Sebastian Tong; editing by Stephen Nisbet)
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