Clinton daughter gets "Pimped Out," Hillary threatens to boycott debate

In a conference call with reporters Friday, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson excoriated MSNBC’s David Shuster for making the comment, which he called “beneath contempt” and disgusting.

“I, at this point, can’t envision a scenario where we would continue to engage in debates on that network given that comment,” he said.

Shuster said on air Thursday: “Doesn’t it seem as if Chelsea is sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?”

Shuster has since been temporarily suspended and apologized on air twice Friday.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is threatening to boycott future debates on MSNBC after one of its correspondents suggested the campaign had “pimped out” Chelsea Clinton by having her place phone calls to Democratic Party superdelegates on her mother’s behalf.

“I used a phrase that was inappropriate. I apologize to the Clinton family, the Clinton campaign and all of you who are justifiably offended,” he said Friday evening on “Tucker.”

“As I said this morning on MSNBC, all Americans should be proud of Chelsea Clinton, and I am particularly sorry that my language diminished the regard and the respect she has earned from all of us, and the respect her parents have earned in how they raised her,” he said.

Outside of the apology, MSNBC said he would not be allowed on air.

“NBC News takes these matters seriously, and offers our sincere regrets to the Clintons for the remarks,” MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines said, adding the network was hopeful the debate would take place as planned.

But the debate is still up in the air. Clinton and Barack Obama were scheduled to participate in an MSNBC debate Feb. 26 in Ohio, one of just two debates Obama has consented to before March 4, when Ohio and other states hold primaries.

Wolfson said neither Chelsea nor Sen. Clinton had received a phone call offering a personal apology, even though Shuster told The Associated Press he’s tried to reach Clinton to do so.

“I’m not familiar with any apology,” Wolfson said, during a call where the campaign also announced raising more than $8 million online since Super Tuesday. “It’s the kind of thing that should never be said on a national news network.”

The Clinton campaign has pushed hard for as many debates as possible with Obama, but Wolfson said the Feb. 26 debate could be jeopardized.

Wolfson pointed to what he called a pattern of tasteless comments by MSNBC anchors about the Clinton campaign. Weeks ago, “Hardball” host Chris Matthews apologized to the former first lady after suggesting her political career had been made possible her husband’s philandering.

General Election Updates and Voter Confidence

Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton looked ahead last night for an extended battle for the presidential nomination after splitting wins in the biggest primary day in US history, while Republican John McCain cemented his front-runner status after a slew of big victories.

Clinton won in eight key Super Tuesday races, including the most valuable, California and New York. She also maintains a lead in the all-important tally of delegates.

But Obama is close behind with wins in at least 13 of the 22 states that held Democratic contests, and he has fresh momentum as the race moves into territory where he would seem to have an edge.

McCain's coast-to-coast "Super Tuesday" wins in crucial states put him on the verge of a stunning political comeback.

He still faces opposition from conservatives unhappy with his past stances on immigration, tax cuts and campaign finance reform. He planned a speech to a conference of conservative activists in Washington today.

"We will unite the party behind our conservative principles and move forward to the general election," he said in Phoenix.

The Arizona senator, whose campaign was all but dead last summer, won nine states, including California and New York, giving him a huge haul of the convention delegates who select the party's presidential nominee.

Since our democratic process suffered a fiasco in the 2000 presidential election, many states have spent millions to revamp their voting systems. The Help America Vote Act, which became law in 2002, set aside federal money for such reforms, enabling lever and punch-card machines to be replaced and poll workers to be better trained (well, more on that in a moment). Now about 40 percent of the votes in America are submitted through electronic voting machines.

So with record turnouts in all 23 states this week, and many states braving the transition to new technology — electronic or optical-scan machines — there were real concerns about what might happen to your ballot on its way to the box. New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Arkansas, Delaware and Tennessee were most closely watched for mishaps — mainly because they require neither any kind of paper receipt for your vote nor the random checks of voting machines conducted by other states. And on the flipside, concerns were raised in California — where Diebold and other electronic machines were decertified because of errors of potential tampering — by the quick conversion to paper ballots that left some counties counting votes by hand.

But most of the issues on Super Tuesday were isolated — if no less embarrassing for that fact. New Jersey can boast of a truly awkward moment, when Governor John Corzine had to wait an hour because the machines weren't working at his polling location and about a dozen voters turned away. In New York and Arizona, voters reported several instances of their names missing from the log at their regular polling locations. In addition, some New Yorkers reported that, in cases where voting machines malfunctioned, they were told to forfeit their vote rather than given an emergency paper ballot.

The longest waits were in Georgia, where poll workers checked IDs against computerized registration records for the first time, leaving some voters waiting for 90 minutes while booths stood empty (although that was still nothing compared to the infamous 12-hour lines that plagued 2004's general election in Ohio). Elsewhere, in Los Angeles, voting machines were not delivered to several voting locations, The Associated Press reported. But the far-and-away winner for sheer Three Stooges-style voting mayhem was Chicago, where 20 voters were told to fill out forms using "invisible ink," according to the Chicago Tribune. Truly. You can't make this up.

Election 2008: Romney Resigns

Officially, the Democrats, who polled 15 million votes this week compared with 11 million for Republican candidates, say their continuing contest is not an issue.

"I think it would be a problem if Senator Clinton's voters disliked me or my voters disliked Senator Clinton," Mr Obama said. "But I don't think that's the case."

However, many Democrats fear a drawn-out race will harm the party. Mr Obama is expected to win in the Washington area next week, with Mrs Clinton then making gains in Ohio and Texas in March.

For the Republicans, all now depends on Mr Huckabee, the last conservative left in the race.

MITT Romney dramatically suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination yesterday, placing John McCain in prime position.

The surprise move by the former Massachusetts governor puts pressure on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to wrap up their struggle for the Democratic nomination early.

Mr Romney said he had taken the decision because continuing his battle with Mr McCain would weaken his party, increasing the chances of a Democrat victory which would mean a "surrender to terror".

In what was the most passionate speech of Mr Romney's campaign, he said he was making the sacrifice for the common good. "If I fight on all the way to convention, I forestall the launch of a national campaign and, frankly, I would be making it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win," he said. "Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."

The Super Tuesday primaries had left him with 270 delegates to Mr McCain's 680. The multi-millionaire had said he needed a minimum of 400 to stay in the race. He keeps his delegates, but he can't order them to vote for someone else at the convention.

Money was not his problem: he had already pumped an estimated £15 million into his campaign from his own funds. Rather, Tuesday left him facing an impossible task – trying to win liberal voters from Mr McCain while appealing to the hardline conservative support of third-placed Mike Huckabee.

Mr Romney told a conservative conference in Washington yesterday: "Conservative principles are needed now more than ever. Soon, the face of liberalism in America will have a new name. Whether it is Barack or Hillary, the result will be the same.

"The opponents of American culture will push the throttle."

Mr Romney, a Mormon, addressed what he saw as Europe's problems as he called on the US to approve a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages. "Europe is facing a demographic disaster," he said. "That's the inevitable product of weakened faith in the Creator, failed families, disrespect for the sanctity of human life and eroded morality."