News politics 2008-06-05 Andanh.com

Obama names a Kennedy to help pick vice president Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:40 EDT
Barack Obama turned to the hunt for a running mate Wednesday, with Hillary Rodham Clinton's supporters urging him to put her on the ticket now that she's decided to back his inevitable nomination.

Obama indicated he would at least consider his long-running rival for the No. 2 slot. "Senator Clinton would be on anybody's short list, obviously," he told CBS News, adding they agree on most all the issues.

Obama's campaign announced the vetting of potential running mates was to be managed by a three-person team of one-time first daughter Caroline Kennedy, former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and Washington insider Jim Johnson.

Clinton has told lawmakers privately that she would be interested in the vice presidential nomination. Under pressure from Democratic leaders to step aside, a campaign official said Wednesday evening that she has decided to end her candidacy now that Obama has more than enough delegates to win the long primary race. She scheduled her announcement for Saturday.

News of Clinton's decision broke as Obama attended a $2,300-per-person fundraiser on Park Avenue that he called "our first post-nomination event." Attendees included "Sex and the City" actress Sarah Jessica Parker, President Kennedy's speechwriter, Ted Sorensen, and Caroline Kennedy, with Obama noting her role in his vetting team before the crowd of about 200 supporters.

Obama's next task: Heal rift with female voters Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:50 EDT
Barack Obama has some urgent making up to do among a lot of angry white women - lifetime Democrats who spurned him for Hillary Rodham Clinton in the primaries and now are threatening to stay home or even vote for Republican John McCain in November.

Amid all the talk about a first black president, many women are deeply disappointed, in some cases furious, that Clinton's own historic campaign fell short and that Obama's campaign undercut her along the way. Her loss was painful for women who have encountered sex discrimination themselves, especially older women who saw her as the best hope for electing a female president in their lifetimes.

Obama himself must heal the rift with women, said Clinton fundraiser Susie Buell of San Francisco, or a new brand of "stay-at-home moms" might sit out the election.

"I know that women are very worked up right now," she said. Obama "has never apologized for the way Hillary has been treated."

"Worked up" could describe Cynthia Ruccia, a Democratic activist in Ohio who got a phone call from party chief Howard Dean about her concerns last week.

Kenyans' hopes are high after Obama seals nomination Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:09 EDT
Hoisting plastic cups of "Obama" beer and gathering around television sets, Kenyans celebrated Wednesday as Barack Obama laid claim to the U.S. Democratic presidential nomination.

Some hoped for promises of more U.S. aid to Africa, while others simply wanted to bask in the glory of a successful black politician with Kenyan roots. And in this region of western Kenya, where the candidate is seen as a local son, Obama's Kenyan relatives described him as a great hope for both Kenya and the United States.

"It would be good if he becomes president of the United States," Obama's step-grandmother, Sarah Hussein Obama, told The Associated Press in her tribal language, Luo. "Barack could help build schools in Kenya, hospitals, help the orphans here. It would be a blessing."

The Democratic senator was born in Hawaii, where he spent most of his childhood raised by his mother, a white American from Kansas. He barely knew his late father, an economist from the western Kenyan village of Nyangoma-Kogelo. But his presidential bid has sparked excitement here - and his most recent visit in 2006 attracted thousands.

"God willing, I would like Mr. Obama to be the first black African to be president of the United States," said William Ochieng, who was among a crowd in Kisumu toasting Obama with a brew called Senator Keg - nicknamed "Obama" beer since the U.S. senator's presidential campaign took off.

Today on the presidential campaign trail Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:20 EDT
IN THE HEADLINES

Clinton to end historic candidacy, support Obama ... Obama starts looking for a running mate ... President Bush and Rice congratulate Obama ...With Clinton vanquished, Obama now must win back the women who supported her ... McCain urges Obama to join him in 10 town hall meetings ... Obama says Iraq war makes Iran stronger, US and Israel less secure ... National Education Association to endorse Obama

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton has decided to end her historic bid to become the first woman president while leaving her options open to retain her delegates and promote her issues, including a signature call for universal health care.

Hours after Barack Obama sealed the nomination, Democrats coalesced around his candidacy, sending a strong signal to Clinton that it was time to bow out. The former first lady told House Democrats during a private conference call Wednesday that she will express support for Obama's candidacy and congratulate him for gathering the necessary delegates to be the party's nominee.

Thirst for change trumped Clinton's experience Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:09 EDT
On her first campaign visit to New Hampshire in February 2007, Hillary Rodham Clinton was confronted by a voter who demanded she explain her 2002 Senate vote authorizing the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

"I want to know if right here, right now, once and for all and without nuance, you can say that war authorization was a mistake," Roger Tilton asked Clinton. "I, and I think a lot of other primary voters - until we hear you say it, we're not going to hear all the other great things you are saying."

Clinton replied, as she would repeat in the ensuing months: "Knowing what we know now, I would never have voted for it."

Her refusal to admit error failed to satisfy Tilton, a 46-year-old financial analyst from Nashua even though he loved her position on health care and capping Iraq troop levels.

That exchange, pounced upon by some reporters to the displeasure of Clinton's aides, foreshadowed her demise. Her refusal to back off that vote tied her to the past and to an unpopular war. It embodied her campaign's fundamental miscalculation: the decision to present her as the standard-bearer for Washington experience, ready for office on Day One.

From Greek mythology, Obama learned a lesson Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:09 EDT
To understand how Barack Obama won the presidential primary, you have to look at what he learned when he lost.

Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton solidly in the Iowa caucuses in January, but five days later she beat him, painfully and unexpectedly, in New Hampshire. That loss showed him that toppling the royal family of Democratic politics would not come easily.

"I think this was meant to be," Obama said privately the next day, recalls adviser David Axelrod. "I think we were flying too close to the sun, like Icarus. When you're fighting for change, it's not supposed to be easy."

In Greek mythology, Icarus' father gives him wax wings that empower him to fly, but warns of the danger in soaring too high. Obama got similar warnings. When he arrived in Washington, Senate dean Robert Byrd cautioned him not to be in too much of a rush to leave for the White House.

But like Icarus, Obama wouldn't heed his elder's advice. Icarus would crash into the sea. Obama would learn from his own crash in New Hampshire and make history.

Poll: Country more receptive to female president Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:09 EDT
People are more receptive to a woman running for high office than two decades ago, a poll showed Wednesday. Yet women are seen as facing a tougher time than blacks running for the White House.

Nearly nine in 10 said they were glad to see a woman make a serious run for president this year, the CBS News poll said a day after Hillary Rodham Clinton's run for the Democratic nomination fell short. In 1984 when Geraldine Ferraro was the Democrats' vice presidential pick, about six in 10 said they were pleased a woman had been nominated.

Asked if the country is ready for a female president, six in 10 said yes. That's less than the seven in 10 who said the U.S. is ready for a black in the Oval Office - perhaps reflecting how close Barack Obama was to winning the nomination when the survey was taken days ago. He clinched the nomination Tuesday.

In another measure of the difficulties reaching the White House, 46 percent said women face more hurdles winning the job while 32 percent said blacks do. Women were likelier than men to say females face the tougher path.

About seven in 10 said Clinton's candidacy has made it easier for other women to run, including majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents. The same number said they expect a female president in their lifetime - with women slightly more optimistic about that than men.

Obama clinches nomination Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:07 EDT
Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, seizing a place in American history on the final day of a grueling five-month primary that forced him to battle rival Hillary Clinton to the very end.

The 46-year-old senator from Illinois becomes the first African-American ever to win a major political party presidential nomination and lead it into a general election.

He'll face Republican Sen. John McCain, 71, of Arizona, at a time when Americans are anxious about the economy at home and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Their campaigns are certain to offer very different visions. Obama opposed the Iraq war from the start; McCain, a heroic former prisoner of war, is the steady supporter of invading Iraq who pushed for more troops, not fewer, when the long conflict looked increasingly dire. McCain embraces the Bush administration's economic policies favoring private-sector leadership and low taxes, while Obama favors higher taxes on the wealthy, lower taxes on the middle class and more government intervention in economic affairs.

Obama wrapped up a majority of delegates needed to win the nomination at the party's August convention in Denver as a tide of unelected super delegates came out for him throughout the day Tuesday.

A front-runner's road to runner-up Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:02 EDT
Hillary Clinton's quest for the Democratic presidential nomination began with an air of inevitability and ended with the inevitable reality that she could never make up the ground she lost to Barack Obama through a series of miscalculations and wrong turns by her campaign.

As Clinton considers her next move in the presidential sweepstakes, a number of campaign staffers and confidants close to the New York senator offered a postmortem on a campaign that started with $133 million war chest but ended millions in the red, that won the big state primaries but scoffed at delegate-rich caucus contests, that didn't have a Plan B after the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests failed to secure her nomination, that misread a country's mood and underestimated her young, upstart rival and his message of change.

"He measured the mood of the country; our message did not resonate, Barack's did," said one Clinton campaign official, who like others interviewed requested anonymity in order to speak frankly about why their candidate lost. "His message was at 30,000 feet; ours was at 5,000 feet. We had a much better candidate than we did a campaign."

Clinton herself had a hand in her loss, however. A candidate who claimed to be ready on Day One committed several gaffes on the stump. Her exaggerated claim of visiting Bosnia under sniper fire and her comment about her appeal to hardworking white people raised eyebrows and reinforced her already high negatives.

Some early decisions seemed to seal Clinton's fate. First was the strategy to run her as an incumbent, a White House insider with a firm grasp of the nuts and bolts of policy.

No rest for the Democrats Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:02 EDT
Tracy Wilkerson, an electrical lineman, sums up the Democratic Party's problem in a nutshell. "After eight years of having it taken away from you, it's hard to be enthusiastic about anything in politics," he said.

Democrats are still seething about 2000, when Al Gore won the popular vote but lost to George W. Bush after a Supreme Court ruling. They're still irked, too, about 2004, when many think that their nominee John Kerry should have won at a time when the nation was split over whether Bush was managing the Iraq war wisely.

On paper, everything points to a big Democratic rebound in 2008. An April Opinion Research Corp. poll found that 56 percent of those surveyed had favorable opinions of the party. President Bush's approval numbers, as well as the percentages of Americans who think the country is on the right track, have hit historic lows.

The nation is reeling from a sluggish economy and mired in a deeply unpopular war, two factors that usually have turned voters away from the incumbent White House party. In addition, the presumptive Republican nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, who'll turn 72 in August, is the oldest major party candidate ever to seek a first White House term.

Still, Democrats enter the general election less than confident that their party can heal the wounds of the long and divisive primary battle between Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Clinton of New York in time to defeat McCain.

Clinton to end historic candidacy, support Obama Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:25 EDT
Hillary Rodham Clinton is ending her historic bid to become the first female president and will back rival Barack Obama on Saturday, capping a 17-month quest that began with the words "I'm in it to win it" with a more humble plea for party unity.

Hours after Barack Obama sealed the nomination, Democrats coalesced around his candidacy, sending a strong signal to Clinton that it was time to bow out. The former first lady told House Democrats during a private conference call Wednesday that she will express support for Obama's candidacy and congratulate him for gathering the necessary delegates to be the party's nominee.

"Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington, D.C., to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity. This event will be held on Saturday to accommodate more of Senator Clinton's supporters who want to attend," her communications director Howard Wolfson said.

Also in the speech, Clinton will urge once-warring Democrats to focus on the general election and defeating Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

The only degree of uncertainty was how. Clinton is exploring options to retain her delegates and promote her issues, including a signature call for universal health care.

KENTUCKIANS LIKE OBAMA/CLINTON IDEA Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:02 EDT
Although U.S. Sen. Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, staunch Kentucky supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton quickly brightened at the thought of the two candidates teaming up.

Terry McBrayer, a strong Clinton supporter and Democratic superdelegate from Kentucky, said after he spoke Tuesday with "a number of her top people," he considered the likelihood of an Obama-Clinton ticket "pretty high."

"For Obama to win at this point, he really needs her. She's done very well in states he needs to win," McBrayer said, adding that Kentucky would be among those states in which Clinton's presence on the ticket makes a difference. "Sure, it puts us back in play, without question," McBrayer said.

The Associated Press reported that Clinton told key supporters she was "open" to serving as Obama's running mate.

Jonathan Hurst, political director for Clinton's Kentucky campaign, said that statement is a continuation of a sentiment Clinton expressed when campaigning in Kentucky last month. "She has always said she will do whatever it takes to help the nominee, and I think what she said affirms that," Hurst said. "In Kentucky, Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama together could go a very long way in making this a competitive election cycle."

3 education groups back Beshear pension effort Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:02 EDT
Three Kentucky education groups are backing Gov. Steve Beshear's plan for a special legislative session later this month on public employee pension reform.

In a joint announcement Tuesday, the Kentucky Association of School Administrators, the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents and the Kentucky School Boards Association supported the Democratic governor's proposal to begin to overhaul the state's retirement systems in a possible session to begin June 23.

"This endorsement followed assurances by the governor's office that an issue of paramount importance to local school leaders -- any changes in the retirement system in which classified school employees participate -- will be thoroughly studied for action at a future time and will not be part of the proposed special session this month," the groups said in a statement.

The groups said their endorsement is also contingent on having "a place at the table -- which has not been the case so far."

The three groups are calling for:

McCain defends position on Florida measures Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:50 EDT
Republican John McCain was confronted Thursday about why he opposed an Everglades restoration measure that had broad support from Florida officials, including Republican Gov. Charlie Crist and GOP Sen. Mel Martinez.

McCain also drew criticism from Democratic rival Barack Obama for opposing another Florida priority, a national hurricane insurance fund.

Both issues are meaningful to Florida, a hotly contested state in presidential races because of its rich trove of electoral votes. In both instances, McCain sided against Florida officials and with President Bush, while Obama went the other way.

McCain said he couldn't support the Everglades measure because it was part of a massive, pork-barrel spending bill last year. The Arizona senator is a crusader against wasteful spending, a cause that helped push him to national prominence.

But he said he would have supported the measure on its own. He planned a boat tour Friday of the Everglades, the largest wetlands in North America and a fragile ecosystem with three dozen threatened or protected species. Its restoration is a politically charged issue in Florida.

People who might complicate Obama's campaign Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:10 EDT
Who's Tony Rezko? William Ayers? Few Americans know, but they probably will by Election Day.

Rezko is a Chicago businessman, convicted of more than a dozen charges this week. Ayers is a professor - and former member of the radical Weather Underground. Both have ties to Barack Obama and may well show up in anti-Obama ads you'll be seeing before long.

These days, presidential candidates can expect to have every personal relationship, new or ancient, inspected like a crime scene on "CSI." Then, if there's political hay to be made, a version of the details is quickly out.

Republican John McCain has his own potential problem people whom Democrats may try to exploit. In some cases, they have been for years.

For example, there's Charles Keating Jr., a wealthy savings and loan executive from Arizona who was the focus of a congressional ethics investigation in which McCain was ensnared in the 1980s. Rick Davis and Charlie Black, two men in the inner circle of McCain's campaign, are former lobbyists - hardly a crime but still fodder for critics who want to undermine McCain's self-portrayal as a senator fighting to lessen big money's influence on politics.

Obama revels in new status as presumed nominee Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:09 EDT
Barack Obama reveled Thursday in his newfound status as the likely Democratic nominee and signaled that Republicans face a fierce fight over Virginia this fall, a state long-held by the GOP.

"I'm proud of America for giving me this opportunity, but we've still got work to do," the Illinois senator told a crowd in this southeastern city of about a 20,000 on the Tennessee border.

Obama held two events in the Southern state where Democrats sense opportunity this year after several years of the party's inroads fueled by the population-swelling, liberal-to-moderate northern swath of the state.

The last time Democrats won Virginia in a presidential election was 1964, when Lyndon B. Johnson was the nominee. George W. Bush comfortably won the state twice, but he lost the northern part to Democrat John Kerry four years ago. Voters there were critical in helping Democrats retain the governor's mansion in 2005 and seize a GOP-held Senate seat in 2006 that gave Democrats control of Congress.

Two top Democrats who have been mentioned as possible vice presidential candidates - Gov. Tim Kaine and Sen. Jim Webb - as well as Mark Warner, a former governor running for an open Senate seat, campaigned with Obama at an outdoor rally in the northern Virginia town of Bristow.

General election competitive states Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:46 EDT
An Associated Press analysis of the 50 states and the percentage-point margins of victory in the 2004 race between George W. Bush and John Kerry. Electoral votes are in parentheses.

BATTLEGROUNDS:

-Colorado (9): Bush by 5. Population growth and Hispanic voters give Democrats hope.

-Florida (27): Bush by 5. Always a hard-fought state given its large cache of votes.

-Iowa (7): Bush by 1. High Democratic priority.

Obama, McCain work to expand battlefield Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:27 EDT
Democrat Barack Obama hopes Virginia, a former GOP stronghold with a legacy of slavery and segregation, is fertile ground as he seeks to crack the Republican bastion of the South and become the first black president.

Republican John McCain won't yield there or elsewhere, setting up potential showdowns unseen in decades in certain states.

Virginia, where Democrats taste opportunity and Republicans play defense, is a prominent example of how the Electoral College map - and the fight to reach the requisite 270 votes for victory - has the potential to change from elections past as Obama and McCain square off over the next five months.

Both candidates argue that they appeal across the political spectrum and can expand the electoral playing field by making more states competitive than in previous elections. Obama, the first-term Illinois senator, hopes to rally black voters in Republican-held Southern states, Georgia, Mississippi and North Carolina among them. McCain, the four-term Arizona senator, wants to fight for Democratic-held coastal states, including Maine, Washington and, perhaps, California.

The reality: If the election is as close as Republicans and Democrats alike expect, the competition will play out primarily in 14 states.

For Obama, the pros and cons of picking Clinton Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:46 EDT
Memo to Barack Obama: Now that you've named three people to help you pick a running mate, they surely will list the pros and cons of Hillary Rodham Clinton. And no doubt some kibitzers will do the same without your encouragement.

We happily fall into the second category, so we asked an array of political insiders, from all persuasions and parties, to offer their thoughts. Herewith, free of charge, is a summary of their responses.

Pro: She helps with white, working-class voters. They abandoned you in droves in key states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. Although they lean Democratic, many are threatening to stay home or vote for John McCain in November. Clinton appeals strongly to them, and she might help you keep Michigan and Pennsylvania in the Democratic column (from 2004) while boosting your chances to grab Ohio, Missouri and Florida.

Con: She undermines your core message. Your campaign theme from Day One was "Change." You made it clear you weren't referring only to the Bush administration but to a longer legacy of partisan warfare and endless score-settling in Washington. That reads "Clinton administration." Choosing Hillary Clinton may be a smart conventional move, but it smacks of predictable, old-school politics and it summons the ghosts of the divisive 1990s.

Pro: She has enough experience and political heft to convince voters she could be president at a moment's notice, the "threshold question" for a vice president.

And who would be in charge of Bill? Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:05 EDT
Picture a cozy weekend at Camp David for President Obama, Vice President Hillary Rodham Clinton and their lively spouses.

They'd talk policy and politics in the confines of the rustic retreat. After the long campaign and all the bruised feelings, Michelle Obama could finally reach out to Bill Clinton, as she recently said she's been wanting to do.

To be exact, she said: "I want to rip his eyes out."

Then added: "Kidding."

They could bring along Obama's national security adviser, let's say Samantha Power. She's the foreign-policy specialist who had to leave the Obama campaign after calling Hillary Clinton a "monster."

Obama, McCain teams plan town hall meetings Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:05 EDT
John McCain asked Barack Obama to join him in 10 town hall meetings with voters in the coming months, and their campaigns began negotiations to make it happen.

McCain, the Republican nominee-in-waiting, made the request Wednesday, the day after Obama clinched the Democratic nomination.

"We need to now sit down and work out a way that we can have these town hall meetings and have a great debate," McCain told reporters in Baton Rouge.

Campaign managers for the two sides later spoke by phone and agreed in spirit to participate in joint town hall appearances, McCain's campaign said.

"They both expressed a commitment to raising the level of dialogue, and they will be in close contact as we work together to make this idea a reality," said McCain spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker.

Guessing game: Who will be the next Democratic vice presidential candidate? Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:04 EDT

The short list isn't so short. Democrat Barack Obama says when he's ready to talk vice presidents, he'll talk. He's met with a few candidates already. The presumed Democratic nominee has a committee of three, including Caroline Kennedy looking into the candidates. Here are some of those possibilities (in alphabetical order):

Evan Bayh: The junior senator from Indiana, Bayh comes from a political family.
His father, Birch Bayh, held the same position his son now holds, more than a quarter century ago.
Following law school, Bayh went to clerk for a federal judge. He took a break before he entered politics to practice law with a private firm.
From there, Bayh won his first state level election for Indiana.s Secretary of State.
He then ran twice successfully for the office of governor.
Bayh serves on the following committees: Banking, Housing and Urban; Armed Services; Select Committee on Intelligence; Special Committee on Aging and Small Business.
Bayh, a Clinton supporter, is a possibility for the VP slot.

Clinton will endorse Obama Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:05 EDT
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will endorse Sen. Barack Obama on Friday, bringing a close to her 17-month campaign for the White House, aides said. Her decision came after Democrats urged her Wednesday to leave the race and allow the party to coalesce around Obama.

Clinton's aides said she would "express her support for Sen. Obama and party unity" at an event in Washington, D.C., that day. One adviser said that Clinton would concede defeat, congratulate Obama and proclaim him the party's nominee, while pledging to do what was needed to assure his victory.

A campaign official said Clinton has decided to keep her options open to retain her delegates and promote her issue agenda.

Her decision came after a day of conversations with supporters on Capitol Hill about her future now that Obama had clinched the nomination. Clinton had, in a speech after Tuesday night's primaries, suggested she wanted to wait before deciding about her future. But in conversations throughout the day Wednesday, her aides said, she was urged to step aside.

"We pledged to support her to the end," Rep. Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y., who has been a patron of Clinton since she first ran for the Senate, said in an interview. "Our problem is not being able to determine when the hell the end is."

Capitol offices project shelved Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:05 EDT
Facing criticism from lawmakers in his own party, Republican State Senate President David Williams indefinitely shelved a planned $448,997 renovation of an office suite for legislators on Wednesday, citing the "present financial constraints" in state government.

In a letter, the Burkesville Republican instructed Legislative Research Commission Director Robert Sherman "to take those steps necessary" to put off the planned remodeling of the Senate offices on the second floor of the state Capitol Annex office building.

The Herald-Leader first reported last week that the Senate office suites were slated to get additional meeting rooms with kitchens, a press conference area and a Senate lounge, as well as receive new electronics and appliances. The proposed new digs set off a storm of criticism from advocates of social service programs facing severe budget cuts.

At the time, Williams dismissed the criticism and denied any suggestion that budget cuts are inflicting real pain.

"We're in relatively good shape with our state budget, compared to what some other state governments are going through," Williams said last week. Regarding the Health and Family Services Cabinet and the Justice Cabinet, both of which are reporting sweeping program cuts, he said, "You're talking about people who you couldn't print enough money for. I don't accept the premise that they're cutting anything to the bone."

Chinese Dir