News politics 2008-06-09 Andanh.com

Clinton's exit a preoccupation for reporters Mon, 09 Jun 2008 08:40 EDT
Now that Hillary Clinton has ended her bid for the presidency, political journalists are suddenly deprived of one of their favorite stories: When is she going to drop out?

A study shows the only campaign topics that got more attention the past two months were Barack Obama's talkative former minister, the Pennsylvania primary and the fallout from President Bush's remarks about appeasement while in Israel.

More time was spent talking about when Clinton might call it quits than about how the candidates might deal with the war in Iraq, the high price of gasoline, home foreclosures or the sputtering economy. Or about anything that presumptive Republican nominee John McCain said or did during April and May, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism's analysis of political coverage in newspapers, on Internet sites and on television news.

This doesn't even count the frenzied days after the Iowa caucuses in January, when there was so much media discussion about whether Clinton's campaign would end if she didn't win in New Hampshire that many experts believe a backlash against it was a factor in her victory.

The coverage embittered the Clinton campaign and, in the eyes of one veteran journalist, should provoke some soul-searching.

No summer break for McCain, Obama Mon, 09 Jun 2008 08:40 EDT
While many people will work on their tans this summer, or on summer reading lists or on not working too hard, two exceptions - John McCain and Barack Obama - and their underlings will be working.

Working industriously on an election that only one can win.

With 11 weeks to the start of the Democratic convention - and the GOP event just days later - Republican McCain and Democrat Obama will be focused on strategy, fundraising, shoring up weak spots and exploiting opportunities to prepare themselves for the sprint to Nov. 4.

Here's what they'll be worrying about:

Shrinking the electoral map.

Today on the presidential campaign trail Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:13 EDT
IN THE HEADLINES

McCain, Obama reject Bloomberg, ABC News offer to host first proposed presidential town hall ... Journalists no longer have to predict Clinton's exit from campaign ... For Obama and McCain, 11 weeks, miles to go and millions to raise before conventions ...

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McCain, Obama reject NYC offer on town hall

NEW YORK (AP) - John McCain and Barack Obama rejected an offer from Mayor Michael Bloomberg and ABC News to host the first proposed presidential town hall because they do not want it limited to one television network.

Both parties duck on immigration Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:43 EDT
The tricky politics of immigration, an issue once seen as a driving force of the 2008 election, have relegated it to a back but hot burner in the presidential campaign debate and paralyzed Congress on the topic.

Both John McCain and Barack Obama support giving legal status to millions of illegal immigrants, a position that strategists see as crucial to winning over Hispanics. But Republican and Democratic candidates are also wary of alienating white conservatives and blacks who oppose granting legal status or benefits to people who broke the law to come to the United States.

The searing rhetoric from opponents who brand that idea as "amnesty" has made the topic virtually untouchable, according to strategists and lawmakers.

"Politicians from both parties are caught between Lou Dobbs voters and Latino voters. Presidential candidates will avoid this issue - both of them - and when they can't avoid it, they'll straddle," said Tamar Jacoby, president of ImmigrationWorks USA, a coalition pushing for an immigration overhaul. "It doesn't pay as an electoral issue."

The high-profile Dobbs is a CNN host who has used his early evening show as a platform to protest illegal immigration.

Obama family joins neighbors for a lake shore bicycle ride Mon, 09 Jun 2008 08:40 EDT
Barack Obama joined family and neighbors for a bicycle ride along the shores of Lake Michigan on Sunday.

Obama, who last week claimed the Democratic presidential nomination, capped his victory with a quiet, long weekend at home in Chicago.

The Illinois senator and his wife, Michelle, rode to a neighbor's house with their daughters, Malia and Sasha, on Sunday and the group then headed out for the ride along the scenic lake shore. But the outing was cut short by a downpour.

Obama's brief respite from the campaign was scheduled to end Monday with a speech in Raleigh, N.C., and an evening fundraiser in St. Louis. The speech will launch a two-week tour of the country focused on economic issues.

Presidential election mostly will be about Obama Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:58 EDT
The presidential election will be about many things. Mostly, it will be about Barack Obama.

Millions of Americans are ready for change. But many aren't comfortable with the man who's calling for it, at least not yet.

Obama's ability to reach a comfort threshold with large numbers of those voters - backers of the defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton among them - will have a huge impact on whether he defeats Republican John McCain in November.

Both candidates know this full well.

Speaking on the "NBC Nightly News" last week, Obama said that the Republicans want "to paint me as a very risky choice as President, partly around national security, but partly around cultural issues and, you know, he's got a funny name. And we don't know where he's coming from. ... I think that's going to be the race they run."

McCain's free ride over, but he worked hard to exploit it Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:53 EDT
For nearly three months now, as Democrats quibbled and quarreled in their quest for a presidential nominee, Republican John McCain had a luxury rare in politics: time.

Time to unite a party often suspicious of him, to sketch a vision for the country, to hone attacks on Democrats, to raise money. Time, in short, to prepare for a general election campaign free from intramural squabbling in his own ranks as the rivalry between Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton preoccupied the enemy.

Now, with Democrats set to nominate Obama and the general election campaign under way, McCain's free ride is over. Whether he made the most of the opportunity won't be known until Election Day. But in this north-central Missouri town of fewer than 400, in a Republican-leaning part of an important swing state, some undecided voters looked blank when they were asked about the presumptive nominee.

"I don't know much about McCain," offered Sherry Anderson, an upholsterer and undecided voter in LaClede.

Agreed Ronald Thomas, who works for a nearby bedding company: "I haven't really heard much about him."

Clinton backers eager to blame the media Sun, 08 Jun 2008 02:04 EDT
Bettyjean Kling is tough, she's mad and she's about ready to kick some MSNBC butt.

"Chris Matthews, I can't even look at him anymore," Kling spat as she waited for Hillary Rodham Clinton to take the stage. "What's the name of that other nut?"

"Keith Olbermann," said a friend.

"Keith Obama-man," growled Kling, a retired teacher from Shippensburg, Pa.

Clinton's campaign valedictory was "the very definition of bittersweet," said Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., a longtime Clinton supporter, who insisted that the greater goal of a Democratic White House would unite those who gathered on a steamy day in the cavernous main hall of the National Building Museum.

Yarmuth challenges voters on race Sat, 07 Jun 2008 02:04 EDT
U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth addressed the racial overtones from Kentucky's Democratic presidential primary, urging state Democrats Friday night to challenge voters who dismiss presumptive nominee Barack Obama simply because he's black.

Yarmuth, of Louisville, cited exit polling that showed one in five Kentucky Democrats said after voting in the May 20 primary that race was a factor in their decision. Ninety percent of those who said so voted for U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton instead of Obama.

"In recent weeks, racial bigotry has reared its ugly head. We've been labeled -- perhaps unfairly, perhaps not -- one of the most racist states based on exit polling," Yarmuth told 1,000 Democratic faithful at the party's Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner in Lexington.

"I can only hope and pray that when Sen. Obama takes the Oval Office next January, those who are offended or intolerant of his race are at least open to being impressed by his talents," Yarmuth said, sparking applause from the crowd that visibly tensed up when Yarmuth began wading into the sensitive subject.

He urged Democrats to challenge those who say they won't vote for Obama because he is half black.

Young voters: Obama's race as an asset, non-issue Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:59 EDT
For young voters, Rosa Parks' refusal to sit at the back of a bus in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955 is schoolbook history. Even the racially charged 1992 riots in Los Angeles are a distant memory.

The United States is far from a blueprint for racial harmony, but for today's young adults - all born after segregation was outlawed in the mid-1960s - race is not the issue it once was.

They have grown up with Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan among their highest-profile and wealthiest role models. And in their everyday lives, they are much more likely than their elders to have friends of another race, studies show.

Is it any wonder, then, that young adults have been the most willing age group to support a black man for president?

Primary exit polls conducted for The Associated Press illustrate the generational shift that has helped Barack Obama secure the Democratic presidential nomination. About 56 percent of Democrats younger than age 30 supported Obama. That number dropped steadily with each age bracket to a low of 30 percent for voters 65 and older.

Clinton to help Obama in state Mon, 09 Jun 2008 02:03 EDT
Regardless of whether U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes the Democratic vice presidential candidate, she's expected to campaign for nominee Barack Obama this fall in Kentucky, which she won in last month's primary by 35 percentage points.

"Yes, Senator Clinton will come back and be a part of the Kentucky political process and will do whatever she can, whether it's visiting Kentucky or calling her donors and supporters to ask them to do what it takes to make sure Senator Obama is elected," said Jonathan Hurst, the Clinton campaign's Kentucky political director.

Obama, as the Democrats' presidential candidate, starts the general election race in Kentucky with a huge mountain to climb. A Herald-Leader/WKYT poll last month showed him trailing Republican John McCain by 25 points in the fall campaign.

Last week, a SurveyUSA poll of 400 Clinton supporters in Kentucky revealed that they would be more than twice as likely to support Obama if Clinton were his No. 2.

Just 21 percent of the Kentucky-based Clinton backers interviewed said they plan to vote for Obama, but that jumped to 57 percent if Clinton joined the ticket.

First lady says she admires Clinton's 'grit and strength' Mon, 09 Jun 2008 08:40 EDT
First lady Laura Bush said Monday she admired the "grit and strength" Hillary Rodham Clinton demonstrated in the Democratic Party's long, hard-fought primaries, but said she would want to see a Republican woman as president.

She also came to the defense of Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, who's been harshly criticized by Republicans for saying last February in a Wisconsin campaign appearance that for the first time in her adult life she's proud of the United States.

"I think she probably meant 'I'm more proud,' you know, is what she really meant. You have to be very careful in what you say. Everything you say is looked at and in many cases misconstrued," she said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America." In fact, Michelle Obama later clarified the remark, saying she had always been proud of her country.

Mrs. Bush flew to Slovenia on Sunday after making an unannounced trip to Afghanistan - her third as first lady - to rally international aid for the war-weary Afghans. President Bush left Washington on Monday for Slovenia for his final U.S.-European Union Summit. He and Laura are also traveling to Germany, Italy, France, England and Northern Ireland.

In her interview, Mrs. Bush said she's been paying close attention to the 2008 election.

Conway to create unit to fight cybercrime Fri, 06 Jun 2008 02:04 EDT
Attorney General Jack Conway is creating a new investigative division in his office to fight cybercrimes, such as identity theft and attempts by sexual predators to lure children.

The state's top law enforcement official also is renaming and restructuring the Kentucky Bureau of Investigations -- an agency former Attorney General Greg Stumbo created that received much publicity for its investigation of hiring practices in former Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration.

Conway announced the moves Thursday at a news conference at Collins Elementary School.

The new cybercrimes division will have six investigators. Besides investigating sexual predators, identity thieves and people who steal from consumers via Internet scams, the division will train police officers throughout the state in processing evidence from computers and cell phones.

"It's imperative that we reach out to investigators across Kentucky to make sure they are discovering and preserving crucial evidence that could lead to successful prosecution," he said.

New Yorkers 0-for-3 in 2008 presidential race Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:20 EDT
Damn Yankees.

After 19 months of primary campaigning, that seems to be the attitude of the nation's voters. A year ago, three New Yorkers - Republican Rudy Giuliani, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and independent Michael Bloomberg - loomed large in the presidential sweepstakes. With Clinton's departure from the race, they officially have gone 0-for-3 - a shocking bagel hole for the Big Apple.

In January 2008, Clinton and former New York Mayor Giuliani were seen as the clear front-runners of their respective parties. They had the big names, the big money and big leads over their rivals.

Waiting in the wings was Bloomberg, a Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent and billionaire mayor who seemed ready to bet a chunk of his personal fortune on a third-party bid.

For all those advantages, the Empire State contingent wound up with zilch.

Obama hammers McCain, Bush on economy, gas prices Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:35 EDT
Democrat Barack Obama on Monday seized on heightened concerns about the economy, tying John McCain to the Bush administration's recent record of soaring gasoline prices and slumping employment.

Launching a two-week economics tour in a state the GOP usually considers safe, Obama warned that McCain's policies on taxes, spending and energy would continue the nation's slump, which some fear is already a recession. He called for new taxes on oil companies and wealthy individuals, along with $1,000 tax cuts for most working families.

With the presidential general election now fully engaged, McCain pushed back, saying Obama's bid to end the administration's tax cuts for upper-income earners would only worsen the economy. He is airing TV ads in key states on the Iraq war, which he sees as a better issue this fall. But he took questions on the economy from donors in Virginia on Monday, and planned a speech Tuesday to small-business owners in Washington.

With many voters blaming Bush for the economic woes, Republican candidates for federal and state offices are scrambling to distance themselves from the bad news without abandoning core principles such as low taxes and modest government intervention in activities like banking and lending.

Democrats are trying to cut off any escape routes.

Group files complaint against McCain campaign Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:05 EDT
A group that supports public financing of campaigns filed a federal complaint against John McCain's presidential campaign Monday, calling for an investigation into two financial transactions involving two top McCain aides.

The Federal Election Commission complaint by Campaign Money Watch, a group that has received financing from Democratic leaning donors, questions payments from former finance chair Tom Loeffler to campaign finance director Susan Nelson. It also questions the reduction of a debt to a Web services firm co-owned by McCain campaign manager Rick Davis.

"A campaign manager renegotiating a debt with a company he partly owns raises serious conflict of interest questions," said David Donnelly, the director of Campaign Money Watch.

Donnelly also questioned whether Loeffler's payments to Nelson amounted to an illegal subsidy to a campaign staffer. Loeffler is a lobbyist and former congressman and Nelson is a former associate of Loeffler's lobbying firm. The campaign has said the payments, first reported by Newsweek, were for legitimate work and were legal.

Campaign spokesman Brian Rogers called the complaint "baseless."

McCain opens fundraiser to media Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:45 EDT
Republican John McCain reversed course Monday and allowed the media into three private fundraisers, including an event where he chided Democratic rival Barack Obama for his reluctance to agree to a series of joint town-hall meetings.

The $10,000-per-ticket reception for the presumed Republican nominee, the national party and several state parties marked the first time McCain, a champion of open government, had allowed reporters into his fundraisers. The four-term Arizona senator had kept such events off limits to the media for months with little or no explanation.

The event and a $1,000-a-ticket luncheon raised $800,000 for McCain and the GOP.

McCain also held evening fundraisers in Washington and McLean, Va. His campaign said it had raised more than $2 million during the day, some of which will fund McCain's bid for the White House.

In Richmond, McCain reiterated his offer to Obama to join him at a town-hall meeting and field questions from voters. McCain said he'd meet Obama wherever and whenever, then suggested this week in New York.

Racial attitudes pose challenge for Obama Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:00 EDT
Joyce Susick is the type of voter who might carry Barack Obama to the White House - or keep him out. A registered Democrat in a highly competitive state, she is eager to replace George W. Bush, whom she ranks among the worst presidents ever.

There's just one problem.

"I don't think our country is ready for a black president," Susick, who is white, said in an interview in the paint store where she works. "A black man is never going to win Pennsylvania."

Susick said her personal objection to Obama is his inexperience, not his color. "It has nothing to do with race," she said.

If Susick is right about Pennsylvania voters, it presents a major hurdle for the presumed Democratic nominee. Democrats have carried Pennsylvania in the last four presidential contests, and Obama would have to offset a loss of its 21 electoral votes by taking Republican-leaning states from John McCain.

Polls suggest mixed effects of Clinton on ticket Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:40 EDT
Lots of Democrats love Hillary Rodham Clinton. Yet plenty of Republicans, conservatives and all-important independents can't stand her, suggesting possible pitfalls for Barack Obama should he make her his vice presidential running mate.

The intense dislike for Clinton suggests that besides support from women and others she could bring to the ticket, she might make it harder for Obama to win over some independents, a pivotal swing group in the November election against Republican John McCain. It also means she might push some Republicans and conservatives to vote against the Democrats - or donate money to the GOP - who might otherwise lack motivation to do so because of tepid feelings toward McCain.

A substantial 32 percent of independents strongly dislike Clinton, 10 points more than say so about Obama, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll conducted over the last several months. Independents, a group that both Obama and McCain won during their party primaries this year, comprised a quarter of voters in the 2004 election and have been closely contested in every presidential election since 1992.

In addition, 67 percent of Republicans have very unfavorable views of Clinton, 24 percentage points more than feel that way about Obama. Among conservatives the spread is similar - 58 percent say they feel very negatively about her, 18 points more than say so about Obama.

Few conservatives and Republicans are going to vote under any circumstances for Obama, the Illinois senator who clinched the Democratic presidential nomination last week and already has advisers culling possible running mates. But both parties will be trying to discern whether putting Clinton on the ticket might in some ways backfire.

Chinese Dir