Clintons Leading Times Square New Year's Eve Ball Drop

NEW YORK — Last New Year's Eve they were in Iowa. This year, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton will be in Times Square, helping Mayor Michael Bloomberg lower the glittery New Year's Eve ball.

The Clintons will lead hundreds of thousands of revelers in the final 60-second countdown and push the ceremonial button that lowers the ball, ending their roller-coaster year that saw the former first lady lose to President-elect Barack Obama but be named secretary of state.

Up to a million people are expected Wednesday to wait for the clock to strike midnight, with the forecast calling for snow and temperatures in the low 30s. Portions of the event will be televised live on ABC-TV and other networks.

Five minutes before midnight, 1,000 balloons with the words "Joy," "Hope" and "2009" will drift down from rooftops in the area. More than a ton of confetti will be released at midnight.

The Waterford crystal ball _ some 12 feet in diameter and weighing nearly 12,000 pounds _ will remain on display atop One Times Square as a tourist attraction after the event.

Security will be tight, with a large police presence and additional counterterrorism units, said Paul Browne, the NYPD's deputy commissioner of public information. Streets will be closed off to traffic, backpacks won't be allowed into Times Square and alcohol is forbidden.

"I have no concerns other than we always have concerns," Bloomberg said Tuesday. "There's no reason why anybody should stay home, I'm going to be there ... I would urge everybody to be there."

The first-ever Times Square celebration was held in 1904 to commemorate the official opening of the new headquarters of The New York Times.

Story continues below

advertisement

The city had just renamed the oddly shaped Longacre Square in the newspaper's honor and the newspaper's owner, Adolph Ochs, threw a giant party that culminated in a fireworks display at midnight. In 1907, after the city banned fireworks, Ochs had an illuminated iron and wooden ball lowered from the building's flagpole at midnight.

___

Associated Press writer Sara Kugler contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

http://www.timessquarenyc.org/nye/nye.html

(This version CORRECTS spelling to Adolph from Alfred Ochs. )

Comments

[fayemac]

Lighten up, thier droping the ball on new years. For gods sake get a grip.

[partyofone]

Any New Yorker and any American who values DEMOCRACY should be very concerned about the Clintons. New reports say efforts are underway to pressure Gov. Patterson to appoint a "caretaker" Senator to hold Hillary's Senate seat until 2010, so she will have the option of "reclaiming it". Bill would be a likely choice.

http://wcbstv.com/politics/ny.caretaker.senator.2.897875.html

This strategy of course would also mean the option for HIllary to challenge Obama in the 2012 presidential campaign as a Senator, something she could not do Constitutionally as a sitting SoS.

ENOUGH OF THE CLINTONS!


When did a nation of 300 million citizens become so totally dependent on the Bushes and Clintons for LEADERSHIP. We do not need the Clintons and would do well to leave them behind. THE VOTERS of NY should determine who represents NY in the Senate, and the Seat should not be used as a stepping stone power base for the Clintons' greedy aspirations. ENOUGH

[fayemac]

Boy you really have a chip on your shoulder. Maybe you should get some therapy.

[stell]

Disgusting. She wants to have her cake and eat it too. Here she gets the next best thing to being President, and she's ungrateful. She wants to leave herself an out. Not surprising though, she held out to the bitter end, had to be coaxed into doing the correct thing and finally "suspended" her campaign. And how about those lovely pictures of that loving couple dancing in the New Year's night?

[closetodemfection]

The primaries are over. Pack up your CDS pills, you can probably start popping them again in 2012.

[fayemac]

OH PLEZ! Such drama should be left for the stage.

[partyofone]

Careful Bill, if Hillary has too much champagne she may take advantage of you. Yikes!

[gotalifepost]

The most powerful woman in the world:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/12/30/2008-12-30_new_yorker_of_the_year_hillary_clinton_p.html

Obama is just a face for a Clinton third term and the Clintons will run our government.

2009 will be a bad year but we come back in 2010, stronger than ever.

Just like after daddy bush left office.

The Clintons rule.

[dct1999]

The Clintons only rule your fantasy life.

[fayemac]

I love the Clintons too, but I think Obama is doing a great a job at fitting the best person for the best job. I cant think of a better post for Hillary than SOS. The problems we are facing right now in the world we will need someone as strong as Hillary to take them on and her full time focus on them. Have Fun Obama, Hillary and Bill and the rest of the team. Its time to take this country back once you all get into office.

[partyofone]

The most powerful wife in the world. Mrs. Bill Clinton, $o$ nominee, failed presidential candidate, absentee, do nothing Senator, former estranged first lady. Whopeeee

[closetodemfection]

Oh, yah, she's such a do-nothing loser, just Bill's wife and nothing more. How fun for you being part of the 13% that believe that absurdity. Such a special club.

[JazzPuff]

It's too bad Bill didn't slide into Hillary's Sen. seat for NY - that would've made for a real celebration.

[partyofone]

yep, for the Tabloids

[westcoastsc]

As my inadequate governor says, "I'll be back."

[westcoastsc]

Did anybody see how I responded to Drieffen's "most vetted" people in history comment?

[dreffein]

I did - and your response is a conspiracy theory with no backup, facts, nothing. And, btw, George Sr. and Clinton have raised millions for Katrina and tsunamai victims. I doubt they care about your conspiracy theories either.

[westcoastsc]

And, Frieden, I must respond to your 99% of blacks voted for Obama statement as to imply that blacks only voted for the color.

Blacks did not support Obama at first. Clinton did not get the majority of the white vote ever. The Clintons' political careers would be non-existent without blacks. The Clintons drove the whole black community away from them in droves because of their unwise repeated statements. Otherwise, blacks were firmly in the grip of the Clintons until they spoiled it.

And, let me tell you this. Blacks have always picked the best and most progressive candidates throughout history.

[westcoastsc]

I mean Driefen. Sorry, it is too early.

[dct1999]

You may have gotten the name wrong, but you got everything else right.

[dreffein]

AAs supported PE Obama once he won IA and believed he had a legitimate chance at winning. It had nothing to do with the Clintons.

[stell]

Why wouldn't African Americans believe that Obama had a legitimate chance at winning?

[jemiltd]

What people keep forgetting is the fact that African American citizens are only 12% of the US population. Out of that, many are not eligible to vote or don't vote. The primary reason the Black vote became an issue during the campaigns was primarily because our voting was used as a strategy to impact all other voting populations. There is, after all, a psychology to having polls and such: people like to be on the winning side, like to be considered part of the better crowd, the in-crowd, even if it's only vicariously. The continued labeling by the media -- the African American vote is an emotional vote, not a thinking vote -- was not even close to the truth. If that were the case,our voting solely because of race, why did we not vote for Jesse Jackson? The answer is, we did our own vetting and he came up short. The people who brought this labeling to the table as a strategy hoped that the people they were attempting to influence would forget about that. Now PE Obama will be President in 20 days, there is a new argument that some Anglo Americans are making: PE Obama is no longer African American, they see him as Anglo American because his mother was an Anglo American. The flipping of the script would not matter except for the reason it's being done: because there are still folks who cannot change their racial paradigm, no matter how illogical.

[stell]

Who could forget this article, written by a middle aged white woman, here on the huffingtonpost? Don't take it from me, take it from Ms. Freada Kapor Klein:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/freada-kapor-klein/another-55-year-old-white_b_103948.html

[dct1999]

Nice link, thanks.

[stell]

I thought it was interesting when Ms. Kapor Klein said this: "On a recent trip to Washington, D.C., where I spoke to a group of lawyers and social advocates, including three of the five Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) commissioners, I learned that white women voters in California and Michigan voted in favor of Propositions 209 and Proposal 2, both of which effectively ended affirmative action. Why would women, who had been assured equal opportunity under affirmative action, vote for such a measure? According to those who conducted interviews with them, because they believed that a vote for themselves and people of color was a vote against their white husbands and their white children."

Could this also be the real reason why so many white Republicans and Democrats are opposed to abortion?

[robXdion]

That's a precise part of the point I'm trying to make. Excellent article.

[boycottrightwingthings]

I am psyched to see my favorite power couple as always! The best president and first lady in my lifetime. I will make sure I stay up and watch this year, as Bill and Hill are awesome!!

[westcoastsc]

I'm happy that your'e happy.

[dct1999]

Awesomely egomaniacal.

[partyofone]

boycottrightwingthings, you're being facetious, right? The more we see of the true results of Bill Clintons presidency, and Hillary's "leadership" skills, the more we see the how the Clintons made George W. Bush possible.

[fayemac]

Thats the stupidest thing Ive ever heard. Gore made Bush possible. Cheney made Bush posible. Kerry made Bush possible. Maybe you should read something besides the rags to get your information.

[westcoastsc]

I was reading helplessly from my bar on my iphone, unable to respond, but now I must respond to my brother, RobX. Most of your facts and figures are right. However, when you said that the women who worked for women's rights actually worked against black's rights, I don't know what you are talking about. Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas worked together to get their rights and there were other women who did champion black's rights. The abolitionist movement was no joke and many good white men and white women who worked tirelessly for blacks. I hope you don't believe the untruth about Abe as well. I'm sure there were some women who did do as you say and worked against blacks while working for their own rights, but the person who is noted for the women's movement, Susan B. Anthony and the people she surrounded herself with, did tie their rights to everybody's rights. To say what you did, which was an untruth, and does a disservice to the history of the AA movement and the women's movement. It hurt my feelings and I am sure hurt the feelings of others as well.

[dct1999]

I haven't read any scholarly articles on this since I was in college so please bear with me. But what I remember is that the suffragists changed their tactics during the post civil war period. Leaders of the movement including Susan B. Anthony and another woman with the last name of Field deliberately used race as a wedge. They promoted the idea that white anglo saxon women were more deserving of voting rights than black people.

There is a link between suffragettes and racism. I think you may want to do a little more research on the topic. The real history of white female suffragists is complicated and messy, like all revolutionary movements throughout history.

[westcoastsc]

I guess we both have to recheck our facts about this one. Will get back to you. I'm sure that if given the choice of which group to receive rights first, that each group would sell each other out.

[Carnacamarna]

Yes, suffragists did in fact change their tactics during the post Civil War period, but I think that was (quite dubiously) in response to black men earning the right to vote (at least officially -- I'm not counting how they were more than extremely harbored through shameful methods in the South). Black men earned the right to vote in 1870 -- they being "lessers" in society. Suffragists used that for their cause, and subsequently, women earned their right to vote 50 years later.

As a black man myself I can see the merits of such an argument even if I don't agree with the logic behind it -- the whole, black people are "lesser" than whites.

[robXdion]

I know all about Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas. She was the first woman to run for POTUS and had Douglas as her VP selection. And yes, the abolitionist movement went hand and hand with the 19th century feminist movement. And yes, they did work tirelessly. HOWEVER, that was immediately prior to and in the aftermath of the Civil War. In the ensuing years that changed. Most notably during the Women's Suffrage Movement exactly 100 years ago. Go and read up on that and you'll see what I'm getting mean. It's a tangled web of duplicity and opportunism and I'm sorry that hurt your feelings, but it goes to the heart of what's behind subtle attitudes of the present. And if you really want to know more, I can dig deeper and explain how the feminist movement of the late 1960s adversely effected the black community by needlessly creating adversarial relationships between black men and women that endure to this day. I'm sorry, I didn't make the history, I just tell it.

[westcoastsc]

Thank you for acknowledging the Susan and Fred relationship. It was glaringly missing from your argument and did not deserve to be painted with one brush. Things are more complicated than a gross oversimplification. There are always good and bad people in every movement. Anyway, I really dug everything else. And, yes I want to know how the recent women's movement did use it as a wedge issue.

[VOTER]

Welcome Back, Hillary and Bill!

Looking forward to 2009, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
working on our numerous problems.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[jesuslovesObama]

Bill Clinton is dropping a ball on New Year's Eve? I wonder.... left or right?

[jesuslovesObama]

Sorry, Bill. That was stupid.

[Monrocsol]

Yeah... very stupid!

[merger]

Someone tell Hillary about whitening strips, please, before tomorrow night.

[dreffein]

Sure and let's also tell Joe Biden that his hair plugs look bad and that he needs an eyelift (both upper and lower).

[merger]

Okay, you do it. I'm chicken

[jesuslovesObama]

Can't you people get over the hair plugs already? Freaking broken record.

[westcoastsc]

I wonder how she is going to do her hair. What lipstick will she wear? Will her assistant be there?

I suspect she won't pass the vetting. She did not look happy about Kerry doing the vetting. Perhaps, this is why.

http://makesusdumb.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/cia-cocaine-connection-evidence/

[chulanow]

YEAH......I LOVE the Cintons and will look forward to New Years Eve.

Great Job HIllary and Bill!