News politics 2008-07-21 Andanh.com

Republicans hoping for a grand old party in Minn. Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:41 EDT
Republicans are counting on a glitch-free convention to help lift the party's sagging morale and boost John McCain's presidential prospects when they assemble in this picturesque city on the Mississippi River in six weeks.

Organizers began construction Monday at the Xcel Energy Center, home to the Minnesota Wild NHL hockey franchise, to host 4,600 delegates and alternates and thousands more guests and media Sept. 1-4. Dozens of construction workers began unscrewing seats and unloading equipment from trucks, making room for the stage where McCain will deliver his acceptance speech. The Republican Party will have exclusive access to the arena through the convention.

The GOP sessions get under way just four days after Democrats conclude their own convention in Denver; never before have the two parties' events been scheduled so late in the summer, and so close together.

McCain strategists believe the timing could work to their advantage, potentially blunting the post-Denver "bounce" Obama should receive as a newly minted nominee. And even though Obama now leads McCain by double digits in most Minnesota polls, his strategists hope a successful convention could help the Arizona senator's chances of winning the state.

Elected officials of both parties have taken a leadership role.

League of Conservation Voters to endorse Obama Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:41 EDT
In an election all about change, environmental groups are doing the usual - endorsing the Democratic presidential candidate.

The League of Conservation Voters will become the latest green group to back Democrat Barack Obama in six separate events across the country Monday. Its pick shouldn't be a surprise. Its scorecard of votes on environmental issues for the first session of the current Congress gave Obama a score of 67 and Republican John McCain a zero. The Arizona senator did not show up for any of the votes the group scored.

"When you look specifically at the twin challenges of cutting global warming pollution and moving toward a clean energy future, on those issues Barack Obama has the most comprehensive plan we have ever seen for a presidential nominee," said league president Gene Karpinski. The league has endorsed presidential candidates since the early 1980s, but not once has it selected a Republican.

Obama thanked the group in a statement, saying that "together, we will create a better, cleaner, more secure future."

Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club announced their support for Obama earlier this year, citing McCain's support for more offshore drilling, expanding nuclear power and a gas tax holiday. Neither group has ever backed a Republican presidential candidate, although in 1988 Sierra Club made no choice because both Republican George H.W. Bush and Democrat Michael Dukakis would have been good stewards of the environment, said spokesman Josh Dorner.

Details of June presidential fundraising Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:41 EDT
Fundraising figures for June as released by the presidential candidates.

REPUBLICAN

JOHN MCCAIN

Total receipts to date: $144 million.

Total contributions to date: $126.3 million.

Today on the presidential campaign trail Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:51 EDT
IN THE HEADLINES

Iraq welcomes Obama with common goal: hope of US troops pullout by 2010 ... McCain ad blames Obama for high gas prices, cites opposition to drilling ... GOP counting on convention planning, venue to lift McCain's prospects in November ... Obama cuts back on spending in June as he builds up cash reserves ... League of Conservation Voters latest environmental group to endorse Obama

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Iraq sees hope of US troop withdrawal by 2010

BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's government welcomed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Monday with word that it apparently shares his hope that U.S. combat forces could leave by 2010.

Is media playing fair in campaign coverage? Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:11 EDT
Television news' royalty will fly in to meet Barack Obama during this week's overseas trip: CBS chief anchor Katie Couric in Jordan on Tuesday, ABC's Charles Gibson in Israel on Wednesday and NBC's Brian Williams in Germany on Thursday.

The anchor blessing defines the trip as a Major Event and - much like a "Saturday Night Live" skit in February that depicted a press corps fawning over Obama - raises anew the issue of fairness in campaign coverage.

The news media have devoted significantly more attention to the Democrat since Hillary Rodham Clinton suspended her campaign and left a two-person contest for the presidency between Obama and Republican John McCain, according to research conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

News executives say there are reasons for the disparity, such as the continuing story about whether Clinton's and Obama's supporters can reconcile. They even partly blame McCain. By criticizing Obama for a lack of foreign policy experience, McCain raised the stakes for Obama's trip, "especially if he winds up going into two war zones," said Paul Friedman, senior vice president of CBS News.

Obama has traveled to Afghanistan and is expected to go to Iraq. He is also scheduled to visit Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and England. Network anchors stayed home during McCain's recent foreign excursions.

Iraq sees hope of US troop withdrawal by 2010 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:21 EDT
Iraq's government welcomed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Monday with word that it apparently shares his hope that U.S. combat forces could leave by 2010.

The statement by Iraq's government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, followed talks between Obama and Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki - who has struggled for days to clarify Iraq's position on a possible timetable for a U.S. troop pullout.

Al-Dabbagh said the government did not endorse a fixed date, but hoped American combat units could be out of Iraq sometime in 2010. That timeframe falls within the 16-month withdrawal plan proposed by Obama, who arrived in Iraq earlier in the day as part of a congressional fact-finding team.

"We are hoping that in 2010 that combat troops will withdraw from Iraq," al-Dabbagh told reporters, noting that any withdrawal plan was subject to change if the level of violence kicks up again.

As he departed from talks with al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani in Baghdad's heavily protected Green Zone, Obama said, "We had a very constructive discussion." Obama also plans meetings with U.S. military commanders who will outline recent progress in the war he has opposed from the start.

Obama spends less in June, saves resources Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:51 EDT
Barack Obama reversed a two month trend in June by raising more money and spending less, a tangible result of clinching the Democratic nomination.

Obama continued to raise money for the primary stage of the election, a noteworthy showing that means he has not even tried to tap most of his 1.7 million donors for general election cash.

The Illinois senator reported bringing in $52 million in June, more than twice the nearly $21.5 million raised by Republican rival John McCain during the month. Obama had $72 million in cash on hand to McCain's $27 million, according to their reports with the Federal Election Commission.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who suspended her quest for the White House on June 7, faced a starkly different financial picture. She lent herself an additional $1 million in June to pay off vendors, increasing her total loan to the campaign to $13.2 million. She reported owing vendors $12 million. She raised $2.7 million from donors in June.

Unlike McCain, who spent more than he raised in June, Obama accumulated cash during the month, holding back on a ramped-up television campaign until July. McCain spent $16 million on advertising in June to Obama's $5 million. Obama is now matching McCain's and the Republican Party's spending on advertising.

Many may grumble, but few are running Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:12 EDT

When Kentucky's founding fathers put together this democracy, they gave voters the chance to fire their state legislators every every two or four years.

If things weren't going well in state government, the people could install better leaders, or so the theory went.

Well, the 2008 General Assembly is coming off a spring of gridlock and acrimony that left the legislature's approval rate hovering around 22 percent . down there with the same percentage of Americans who claim they've seen ghosts.

Yet there will be little that Kentucky voters can do to exorcise that frustration with state lawmakers at the ballot box this fall.

McCain, Obama to participate in church forum Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:51 EDT
Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama will participate next month in a question-and-answer forum at Saddleback Church, Pastor Rick Warren said Monday.

Warren, who oversees the 22,000-member congregation, will question the presidential candidates on Aug. 16 during the church's Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion.

Joshua DuBois, Obama's director of religious affairs, said the senator was "looking forward to going back to Saddleback with his good friend Pastor Rick Warren." Obama spoke at Saddleback in 2006.

Warren said the candidates didn't want a debate format but rather the two-hour forum. The candidates are expected to appear together briefly before each takes questions from Warren for about an hour. A coin toss determined that Obama will go first.

Warren is the author of "The Purpose Driven Life."

In Kabul, Obama pledges aid Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:12 EDT

KABUL, Afghanistan . Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged steadfast aid to Afghanistan in talks Sunday with its Western-backed leader, and vowed to pursue the war on terror .with vigor. if elected, an Afghan official said.

On the second day of an international tour designed to burnish his foreign-policy credentials, the Illinois senator and a pair of colleagues held two hours of talks with President Hamid Karzai at his palace in the capital.

Obama has chided Karzai for not doing more to build confidence in his government, which remains weak after the ouster of the Taliban in 2001.

He made no public comment after the meeting, but said in a written statement that his main purpose was to see U.S. troops, thank them for their .extraordinary service. and let them know the United States is proud of them.

Chinese Dir