News politics 2008-05-26 Andanh.com

Today on the presidential campaign trail Mon, 26 May 2008 15:20 EDT
IN THE HEADLINES

After a week of setbacks, Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks of faith ... Obama subs for Kennedy at Wesleyan, promotes public service and evokes Kennedy legacy ... Libertarian Party picks former GOP Rep. Bob Barr as presidential candidate ...

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Clinton speaks of faith in face of adversity

HORMIGUEROS, Puerto Rico (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton offered a spiritual defense for continuing her presidential campaign, as she sought to put to rest the uproar over her comments about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

Obama defends his patriotism, quarrels with McCain Mon, 12 May 2008 19:53 EDT
Wearing a flag lapel pin, Sen. Barack Obama emphasized his patriotism and support for a strong and humane military Monday, while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton implored West Virginians to sustain her hopes of somehow denying him the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama expects Clinton to win Tuesday's primary in West Virginia, which has large numbers of working-class whites - a group that usually backs the former first lady - as well as a strong military tradition. He used his visit to Charleston to combat critics' claims that he is not particularly patriotic or ready to be commander in chief, in part because he never served in the military, usually does not wear a flag pin, and opposed the Iraq war from the start.

Obama broke from his usual practice by wearing the flag pin and reading his speech instead of talking without notes. He told several thousand people at the Charleston Civic Center that patriotism means more than saluting flags and holding parades. He criticized Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain for opposing a Democratic bill to expand education benefits for veterans.

"At a time when we're facing the largest homecoming since the Second World War," Obama said of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, "the true test of our patriotism is whether we will serve our returning heroes as well as they've served us."

Pointing to the Bush administration, he said, "we know that over the last eight years we've already fallen short of meeting this test." He cited once shabby conditions at such facilities as Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and long waits and bureaucratic obstacles facing many who seek care from the Veterans Administration.

Former Ga. Rep. Barr picked as Libertarian candidate Mon, 26 May 2008 04:20 EDT
The Libertarian Party on Sunday picked former Republican Rep. Bob Barr to be its presidential candidate after six rounds of balloting.

Barr beat research scientist Mary Ruwart, who also sought the party's presidential nomination unsuccessfully in 1983, on the final ballot. The vote was 324-276.

Barr endorsed Wayne Allyn Root, who was eliminated in the fifth round, to be his vice-presidential nominee.

Barr left the GOP in 2006 over what he called bloated spending and civil liberties intrusions by the Bush administration.

The former Georgia congressman said he's not in the race to be a spoiler.

Clinton speaks of faith in the face of setbacks Mon, 26 May 2008 13:15 EDT
Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday offered a spiritual defense for continuing her presidential campaign, as she sought to put to rest the uproar over her comments about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

Speaking to a full congregation at the Pabellon de la Victoria evangelical church, Clinton spoke in measured terms about faith in the face of adversity.

"There isn't anything we cannot do together if we seek God's blessing and if we stay committed and are not deterred by the setbacks that often fall in every life," Clinton said.

Clinton is campaigning for Puerto Rico's primary on June 1, which offers 55 pledged delegates to the national Democratic convention. The New York senator is expected to win the contest, thanks partly to her ties to the large Puerto Rican community in her home state.

Clinton spoke of her determination to stay in the race despite trailing Illinois Sen. Obama, who picked up three more superdelegates in Hawaii on Sunday, giving him a total of 1,977 delegates, just 49 delegates short of the 2,026 needed to clinch the nomination. Clinton still has 1,779.

Obama hasn't shown Missouri voters enough yet Sun, 25 May 2008 19:37 EDT
When Linda Sanders mounted an eight-foot sign on her property urging neighbors to vote Democratic, people threw eggs at it and someone set it on fire.

Sanders, a retired hairdresser, was a fan of former North Carolina senator John Edwards. She's all for Barack Obama now, but she's afraid that if he gets her party's nomination, he may not be an easy sell in Missouri.

"I know people who are distrustful of Obama. But it's not because he's black. They're Hillary people. .. We're not sure we know enough about him personally," said Clara Vaughn, a nonprofit administrator in Lee's Summit, a Kansas City suburb.

With one exception, Missouri has voted for the winner in every presidential election since 1904. If Obama, who's ahead of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination, gets the nod, he'll need to win over people like Vaughn in order to win Missouri's 11 electoral votes in November.

Opinions about Obama are largely polarized in the state's small towns and rural areas, but there's no single reason that voters are wary of him.

Obama urges Wesleyan grads to enter public service Mon, 26 May 2008 08:45 EDT
Filling in for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and tying himself to the family's legacy, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama urged college graduates Sunday to "make us believe again" by dedicating themselves to public service.

"We may disagree as Americans on certain issues and positions, but I believe we can be unified in service to a greater good. I intend to make it a cause of my presidency, and I believe with all my heart that this generation is ready and eager and up to the challenge," Obama told Wesleyan University's Class of 2008.

The Illinois senator peppered his speech with references to the Kennedy legacy: John F. Kennedy urging Americans to ask what they can do for their country, the Peace Corps and Robert Kennedy talking about people creating "ripples of hope."

He devoted special attention and praise to Edward M. Kennedy, the longtime Massachusetts senator who had planned to deliver the graduation address but backed out last week after he was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor.

Obama, who leads in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, said he and Kennedy had talked last week about Obama delivering the speech. Kennedy has endorsed Obama in the nominating contest against fellow Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and has campaigned for him.

Obama picks up 4 delegates Sun, 25 May 2008 13:57 EDT
Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton each picked up a delegate in Georgia on Saturday as state Democrats selected their delegation to the party's national convention in Denver this summer.

Obama picked up another superdelegate later Saturday in Wyoming, then one more in Alaska. Obama also took a pledged delegate from Clinton at Alaska's Democratic party convention Saturday.

That brings Obama's overall delegates to 1,974 - only 52 shy of the 2,026 needed to secure the presidential nomination - to Clinton's 1,779.

The two add-on delegates in Georgia are state party secretary Stephen Leeds, an Obama supporter, and Verna Cleveland, who was Clinton's Georgia state director.

The add-on in Wyoming was state Rep. W. Patrick Goggles, who told the Associated Press after his selection that he will support Obama at the convention.

Lunsford takes on McConnell Sat, 24 May 2008 02:04 EDT
After gaining the support of his chief foe in the primary election, Democrat Bruce Lunsford challenged Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell on Friday to a debate "anywhere, anytime" in Kentucky.

Justin Brasell, McConnell's campaign spokesman, responded that "Bruce should be careful what he wishes for."

"We are happy to discuss debates as soon as Bruce tells Kentuckians how he would vote on the budget being considered in the Senate," Brasell said.

Lunsford, a wealthy Louisville businessman who turned back six challengers this week to win the Democratic nomination, joined Democrats Friday at party headquarters for a unity rally in preparation of November's general elections.

It attracted Gov. Steve Beshear, several state officeholders and Lunsford's chief rival in the primary election, Louisville businessman Greg Fischer. Fischer pledged his support for the Lunsford campaign and said he would work hard for Lunsford's defeat of McConnell.

Rally puts face on those hurt by state health cuts Fri, 23 May 2008 02:04 EDT
As Deputy Health Services Secretary Steve Nunn bemoaned the "totally inadequate budget" that cuts state programs for the disabled and aging, several people in the audience held posters reminding him that "Every cut has a face."

One such face in the crowd of more than 100 rallying against planned further cuts was Robert Denton, 28, of Louisville. He was a resident for 18 months at Oakwood, Kentucky's largest residential center for adults with mental retardation and other disabilities.

"I was in Oakwood. I didn't like Oakwood," Denton said. "Keep people out of institutions. More money for community services. Put people first. Put people first."

Officials in the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services are planning 3 percent cuts to public health departments and community mental health centers, and smaller cuts to other social services.

Their plans are in response to Gov. Steve Beshear's request this month that most state agencies come up with a plan by May 23 to reduce their budgets by 4.5 percent for the new fiscal year that begins July 1.

Will Obama fight for rural votes? Sun, 25 May 2008 02:04 EDT
It's hard to imagine now, says Charlie Peters, but back in 1960, the Catholicism of John F. Kennedy was every bit as big a problem for Appalachian voters as Barack Obama's race appears to be today.

When Peters, Kennedy's Kanawha County campaign chairman, first took him around Charleston, W.Va., at least 20 percent of the people refused to shake his hand. So Kennedy spent 16 of the 30 days before the primary showing West Virginians "he wasn't wearing the pope's clothes," Peters said.

The campaign brought in Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., distributed 40,000 copies of a Reader's Digest story about Kennedy's heroism in World War II and spread around plenty of money. Kennedy won the primary, which helped propel him to the nomination.

The Obama campaign chose a different route -- a smattering of TV commercials and fliers about his Christian faith, but just one visit by the candidate to Kentucky and West Virginia this year. There was little direct conversation about voters' misconceptions of his religion, or about concerns relating to divisive remarks by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

He lost to Hillary Rodham Clinton in both states by more than 30 points.

Obama is choice of state GOP Mon, 26 May 2008 02:04 EDT
Kentucky Democrats in Tuesday's primary vote sent a clear message -- by 35 percentage points -- that they wanted U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to be their party's presidential nominee.

But Kentucky Republicans, on the day after the primary, sent their own signals that they'd be pleased to have the Democrats nominate U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.

"The results speak for themselves," said GOP U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is up for re-election this fall. "He outspent Hillary Clinton and lost our state 2-to-1 -- 65 percent to 30 -- and carried only two counties, Jefferson County and Fayette County. That's not an indication of great appeal to Kentucky voters."

McConnell, in fact, immediately linked his Democratic opponent in the November race, Bruce Lunsford, to Obama in a statement on election night and the next day to reporters. Expect him to use the phrase "Obama-Lunsford agenda" often this fall.

The "Obama factor" might have been the biggest story line to emerge from Kentucky's primary as the state's congressional and General Assembly candidates look to November, said J. Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist for Peritus Public Relations.

AP INTERVIEW: McCain criticizes Obama on Iraq Mon, 26 May 2008 18:55 EDT
Republican John McCain on Monday sharply criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama for not having been to Iraq since 2006, and said they should visit the war zone together.

"Look at what happened in the last two years since Senator Obama visited and declared the war lost," the GOP nominee-in-waiting told The Associated Press in an interview, noting that the Illinois senator's last trip to Iraq came before the military buildup that is credited with curbing violence.

"He really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq and he has wanted to surrender for a long time," the Arizona senator added. "If there was any other issue before the American people, and you hadn't had anything to do with it in a couple of years, I think the American people would judge that very harshly."

McCain, a Navy veteran and Vietnam prisoner of war, frequently argues that he's the most qualified candidate to be a wartime commander in chief. In recent weeks, he has sought portray Obama, a first-term senator, as naive on foreign policy and not as qualified to lead the military.

The Iraq war, which polls have shown that most of the country opposes, is shaping up to be a defining issue in the November presidential election. McCain, who wrapped up the GOP nomination in March, supports continued military involvement in Iraq; Obama, who has all but clinched the Democratic nomination, has called for withdrawing U.S. troops.

FBI interviews former state highway official Sun, 25 May 2008 02:04 EDT
The FBI has interviewed an engineer who was closely involved with state highway contracts as part of an investigation of Transportation Cabinet procedures when Ernie Fletcher was governor.

Engineer James W. Rummage didn't want to talk about the probe; his attorney, Marc Murphy, wouldn't give details Friday about the FBI's interview, The Courier-Journal of Louisville reported.

Rummage oversaw the state's highway contracting process in 2005-07. He resigned from the department March 31.

Last month, Transportation Secretary Joe Prather confirmed that the FBI was investigating incidents that occurred in the cabinet during Fletcher's administration. Fletcher ran for re-election last year but lost.

Prather said his cabinet is cooperating with investigators. He declined this past week to elaborate on what he knows about the investigation.

Chinese Dir