News politics 2008-05-06 Andanh.com

Who are the Democratic superdelegates? Mon, 05 May 2008 12:54 EDT

In nod to right, McCain promises more conservative judges Tue, 06 May 2008 21:27 EDT
Sen. John McCain sought to burnish his conservative credentials Tuesday with a broadside against "the common and systematic abuse of our federal courts by the people we entrust with judicial power" and a promise of "better judges" in the mold of Supreme Court justices John G. Roberts and Samuel Alito.

In a speech on his judicial philosophy delivered in a chapel at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, decried federal judges who "assured of lifetime tenures ... show little regard for the authority of the president, the Congress and the states. They display even less interest in the will of the people."

The intended audience seemed delighted.

"From a conservative perspective, he says all the right things," wrote University of Utah law professor Paul Cassell on the popular conservative legal blog The Volokh Conspiracy.

Liberal groups blasted McCain, saying his bouquet for the right undercuts his self-styled maverick appeal to independent voters and even some Democrats.

Hillary Clinton makes an Indy pit stop, visits Sarah Fisher on campaign trail Tue, 06 May 2008 21:27 EDT
The stars were out in force at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday, along with a newcomer to the track.

On the opening day of IndyCar Series practice for the 92nd Indy 500 on May 25, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and her campaign party swung by the Speedway, Secret Service agents clearing the way in Gasoline Alley as she met with owner-driver Sarah Fisher and Indy Racing League officials in Fisher's team garage.

Out on the track, Tony Kanaan (Andretti Green Racing) and Helio Castroneves (Team Penske) were soon running 224 m.p.h, and Danica Patrick (Andretti Green Racing) topped 223 by mid-afternoon. Fastest of the day was Marco Andretti (Andretti Green Racing) at 226.599, with Kanaan second quickest at 225.269 and Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) third at 225.001.

Clinton, who is campaigning for the Democratic nomination for presidential, arrived at the Brickyard late in the morning and chatted with Fisher and her team for more than 40 minutes, during which time Fisher presented her with an autographed helmet. Clinton, in turn, fiddled with Fisher's steering wheel on her No. 67 Sarah Fisher Racing Dallara/Honda and learned about the car's paddle shift system.

"I was thrilled to have a chance to meet Sarah and her team," Clinton said. "The first owner-driver who is a woman is a big deal. She's a trailblazer, and I hope to be a trailblazer myself. I've never been to the Speedway before, and to be part of this historic event even in a minor way like today is a thrill for me. I admire people who set goals and do their best to achieve them. I admire people who come together to try and really set their sights high and do their best to achieve them."

Obama declared the winner in N.C.; Indiana too close to call Tue, 06 May 2008 21:27 EDT
Barack Obama won North Carolina's primary Tuesday while Indiana initially remained too close to call, according to several national news organizations, suggesting that the lengthy race for the Democratic presidential nomination could plod on through the summer.

Early exit polls suggested that neither Clinton nor Obama got what each badly wanted in the Tuesday contests - twin slam-dunk victories. As a result, neither of them appeared to garner persuasive evidence to bolster their argument that they'd be the stronger Democratic nominee or gain enough momentum to make their nomination seem inevitable.

North Carolina had 115 convention delegates at stake and Indiana 72. Obama began the day leading Clinton in delegates, 1,745.5 to 1,608, with 2,025 needed to nominate.

The gap between the two - and the continuing uncertainty over who's the stronger nominee - appeared likely to remain unchanged, as each once again failed to show conclusively that he or she could attract sizable groups of voters beyond his or her core supporters.

Obama was expected to win handily in North Carolina, where African-Americans account for about one-third of the Democratic vote.

Obama takes early lead in race for delegates Tue, 06 May 2008 21:17 EDT
Sen. Barack Obama grabbed the early lead in the competition for delegates in Tuesday's primaries.

Obama won at least 40 delegates in the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, according to an analysis of election returns by The Associated Press. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won at least 31 delegates, with 116 still to be awarded.

In the overall race for the nomination, Obama leads with 1,785.5 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton has 1,639.

It will take 2,025 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination at the party's national convention this summer.

Superdelegates are the party and elected officials who will automatically attend the national convention and can support whomever they choose, regardless of what happens in the primaries and caucuses.

Obama victory racially lopsided in NC Tue, 06 May 2008 21:02 EDT
Hillary Rodham Clinton lost her last best chance to score an upset on Barack Obama's turf Tuesday, putting the Illinois senator a step closer to becoming the country's first black presidential nominee.

Obama was the long-standing favorite in North Carolina, and he won with the overwhelming support of black voters there despite an intense effort by Clinton to turn the state around.

Obama's victory there was tempered by the fact that Clinton beat him handily among white voters, extending her argument to superdelegates who will decide the nomination that she will be the stronger general-election candidate.

So far, she's been losing that argument.

Even as Obama has been struggling with the fallout over his former pastor's racially divisive remarks, even though Clinton is coming off a big win in Pennsylvania, he's still winning more superdelegates. Since the Pennsylvania primary two weeks ago, Clinton has picked up 11.5 superdelegate endorsements to Obama's 22, according to an Associated Press count.

How 3 voters made up their minds Tue, 06 May 2008 21:02 EDT
Millie Seifert finally made a choice. She voted for the ghost.

In the last week, The Associated Press talked to some respondents to a continuing series of AP-Yahoo News polls to see how they planned to vote in the primaries Tuesday in Indiana and North Carolina.

Several were undecided until practically the last minute. One was particularly troubled by how tough it was to come to a decision.

Here's what they did:

Millie Seifert, 69, of East Bend, Ind. A retired pharmacy technician who supplements her Social Security income by working as a nanny.

Exit polls: Race key in NC, IN but Wright.s impact mixed Tue, 06 May 2008 21:17 EDT
Race again played a pivotal role in Tuesday's Democratic presidential clashes, as whites in Indiana and North Carolina leaned solidly toward Hillary Rodham Clinton and blacks voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama, exit polls showed. Half the voters said they were influenced by the focus on Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Obama, the Illinois senator who is battling to become the first black president, again failed to make an appreciable dent in a crucial voting bloc that has consistently eluded him - working-class whites.

According to preliminary results from the exit polls, two-thirds of whites in both states who have not completed college were supporting Clinton, which the New York senator can use to fortify her argument that she would be the stronger Democratic candidate in the November general election. Of 28 states that have held primaries in which she and Obama competed before Tuesday, Clinton has prevailed with working-class white voters in 25 of them.

Wright was a looming factor in the voting, with half in each state saying he was important in choosing a candidate. Of that group, seven in 10 in Indiana and six in 10 in North Carolina backed Clinton, including eight in 10 whites. Those discounting him as a factor heavily favored Obama.

Wright has said the U.S. government may have developed the AIDS virus to infect blacks and that the U.S. invited the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Obama has denounced the remarks.

Campaigns debate gas tax holiday Tue, 06 May 2008 02:03 EDT
Surrogates of U.S. Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton brought their debate over a federal gas tax holiday to Kentucky Monday as Obama's camp outlined how such a holiday might derail road projects in the Bluegrass State.

Specifically, former Mississippi Governor Ray Mabus and Louisville Metro councilman David Tandy argued on Obama's behalf that a temporary tax moratorium on gasoline would strip money needed to build several bridges over the Ohio River.

Obama, in recent weeks, has spoken against a proposed gas tax holiday this summer, which would suspend the 18.4-cent-per-gallon levy from Memorial Day through Labor Day. He has said such a move would flush away federal funds needed for road and bridge work and would do little to address the root of high gas prices.

Clinton favors the tax holiday, but adds that she would ratchet up levies on the oil companies to make up for the lost federal revenue. The likely Republican presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, also has pushed for the moratorium.

With Obama and Clinton differing on few major policy proposals so far in the competitive primary, the gas tax holiday has emerged as a key point of contention on the eve of elections in Indiana and North Carolina, which are preludes to Kentucky's May 20 primary.

Delegate system not super for all Mon, 05 May 2008 02:03 EDT
Most prominent Democrats claim, at least publicly, that they don't mind this protracted presidential primary that could wind its way through all 50 states, the District of Columbia and four territories over five months.

Other observers describe it a little differently.

The Democrats' nomination process "is ridiculously dumb," said Scott Jennings, a former deputy political director for President Bush who now works for Peritus Public Relations in Louisville.

"It's like a European soccer game: there's a lot of running around for almost an endless amount of time and it almost always ends with a tie," he said at the Lexington Forum meeting last week.

The close contest between U.S. Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has been rattling around the national electoral soccer field largely because of the way the party's delegate system is set up.

Barack Obama remarks: Primary night in Raleigh, N.C. Tue, 06 May 2008 21:37 EDT
You know, some were saying that North Carolina would be a game-changer in this election. But today, what North Carolina decided is that the only game that needs changing is the one in Washington, D.C.

I want to start by congratulating Senator Clinton on her victory in the state of Indiana. And I want to thank the people of North Carolina for giving us a victory in a big state, a swing state, and a state where we will compete to win if I am the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

When this campaign began, Washington didn't give us much of a chance. But because you came out in the bitter cold, and knocked on doors, and enlisted your friends and neighbors in this cause; because you stood up to the cynics, and the doubters, and the nay-sayers when we were up and when we were down; because you still believe that this is our moment, and our time, for change - tonight we stand less than two hundred delegates away from securing the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

More importantly, because of you, we have seen that it's possible to overcome the politics of division and distraction; that it's possible to overcome the same old negative attacks that are always about scoring points and never about solving our problems. We've seen that the American people aren't looking for more spin or more gimmicks, but honest answers about the challenges we face. That's what you've accomplished in this campaign, and that's how we'll change this country together.

This has been one of the longest, most closely fought contests in history. And that's partly because we have such a formidable opponent in Senator Hillary Clinton. Tonight, many of the pundits have suggested that this party is inalterably divided - that Senator Clinton's supporters will not support me, and that my supporters will not support her.

McCain to speak at NRA meeting Tue, 06 May 2008 02:03 EDT
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain is slated to speak at the National Rifle Associations' annual meeting in Louisville on May 16, an NRA official confirmed to the Herald-Leader.

McCain is penciled in to participate in the NRA's Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum on the first day of the pro-gun organization's annual gathering from May 16 to May 18 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville.

Others scheduled to speak at that forum include:

.. Former GOP presidential candidates Mike Huckabee, the past governor of Arkansas, and Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor.

.. Former White House political director Karl Rove.

Supreme Court justices feuding over appointment Tue, 06 May 2008 02:03 EDT
A squabble among state Supreme Court justices over a key appointment spilled into public view Monday as members of the state's highest court jockey for the title of chief justice.

Justice Wil Schroder of Covington criticized outgoing Chief Justice Joseph Lambert on Monday for reappointing Jason Nemes last month as director of the Administrative Office of the Courts after the state Senate declined to confirm Nemes.

Taking the rare step of making an internal disagreement public, Schroder said Lambert's action does not respect "what we call the rule of law in Kentucky."

"People don't get to pick and choose which laws they follow, including the Supreme Court," Schroder said.

Schroder said Nemes' appointment to head the administrative arm of the state court system has become an issue in the race to replace Lambert as chief justice. Lambert will retire in June.

Chinese Dir