Pitched battles
Posted: Sunday, May 04, 2008 3:59 PM by Ian Sager
By Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor
Today we witnessed what is probably the closest thing to a debate before Tuesday's Democratic primaries in Indiana and North Carolina. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton appeared on rival Sunday morning news programs, and while each appeared alone, if you had placed two televisions side by side, you might have felt like you were in fact listening to a debate. Obama sat for a full hour on "Meet the Press," taking Clinton to task on her comments about "obliterating" Iran, calling it "the language of George Bush." He also continued to ridicule Clinton's proposed gas tax holiday. Clinton, appearing on another news program, pointedly responded to Obama's criticism, defending both positions and calling economists who oppose her gas tax plan "elitists." Our Lee Cowan and Ron Allen continue their reporting from both camps tonight, as the candidates press for an advantage in the final two days before the primaries.
Many people are still talking about the joy and sorrow that marked the ending to yesterday's Kentucky Derby. I watched the drama unfold from our Nightly News set as we were preparing to do our east coast feed last night. What a shock it was for all of us, as the victory celebration for Big Brown turned into a tragedy, as second-place finisher Eight Bells was euthanized after breaking two ankles. It was a brutal reminder of how fragile these equine athletes are. The tragedy raises a lot of question about what these animals are put through. Chris Jansing will address many of the questions in a report she is preparing for tonight's broadcast.
Two of our veteran war correspondents will be reporting from the front lines of different wars. Richard Engel called into the newsroom from Baghdad this afternoon, after returning from Sadr City where he and the U.S. forces he was covering were under fire for 5 hours. Richard says they were attacked with everything from Rocket propelled grenades to Molotov cocktails. He is filing a report about the harrowing ordeal for tonight. Meanwhile NBC's Jim Maceda, who last week was under fire in Afghanistan, remains with U.S. Marines who have taken up the hunt for Taliban fighters. Tonight he will introduce us to some troops who don't get a lot of glory, but take some extraordinary risks to keep their fellow Marines on the move.
Mike Taibbi will be on the program tonight with a reality check of sorts about those GPS navigation systems that so many of us won't hit the road without. The risk is, that we may be depending on them to a fault. Mike will have more on that. Thanks for checking in. I hope you'll turn on your TV later for the Sunday edition of NBC Nightly News.
