News politics 2008-07-31 Andanh.com

Obama-Clinton ticket group shuts down Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:43 EDT
An effort to urge Barack Obama to pick former rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as his running mate is shutting down under the assumption she is not a contender for the No. 2 spot.

The two former Clinton staffers who started the group Vote Both say Obama's decision to offer Clinton a prime-time speaking role at the Democratic Party nominating convention and other signals suggest Obama will not chose her.

"Because it seems that Senator Obama has made his decision to offer the slot on the ticket to another candidate, we believe that continuing to ask him to pick Hillary is no longer helpful to our party's chances of winning in November," Adam Parkhomenko and Sam Arora wrote in an e-mail they planned to send Thursday to the 40,000-plus supporters who signed onto their online petition.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the campaign won't comment on the vice presidential search and hasn't finalized the convention speaking program. Obama and Clinton advisers have said Clinton is likely to speak on the convention's second night, Aug. 26, which is the 88th anniversary of the ratification of the amendment giving the women the right to vote.

Parkhomenko and Arora have a combined 10 years experience working for Clinton. Most recently Arora was a press aide to her presidential campaign and Parkhomenko was executive assistant to former Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, who is now chief of staff for Obama's yet-to-be named vice presidential nominee.

Obama's convention crowd: Biggest phone bank ever Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:53 EDT
Those 75,000 Democrats who will pack a football stadium for Barack Obama's convention speech won't be there just to whoop and holler on television. They'll form the world's largest phone bank to boost voter registration - fired-up supporters using computer targeting the campaign has spent months putting together.

The move to the Invesco Field at Mile High stadium for the convention's final night next month - at an additional cost of $5 million - will capture a huge crowd the Obama campaign plans to put to work. They'll be armed with data gleaned through "microtargeting" unregistered voters the campaign believes are ripe to back Obama if pressed to get on board.

"If we do this right, we'll be unbeatable," said Steve Hildebrand, the Obama adviser overseeing the effort.

One key to Obama's victory plan is to expand the electorate, bringing in more young voters, minorities, suburban women, seniors on fixed incomes and people who have been disaffected by politics and might respond to the freshman Illinois senator's message of change over the more experienced Republican John McCain.

President Bush used microtargeting techniques effectively in 2004, but his target was regular voters who were likely to vote for him. Obama's focus is more on finding people who are not registered to vote and figuring out how to persuade them to sign up and back him.

Obama campaign rejects rapper Ludacris' rhymes Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:23 EDT
Barack Obama's presidential campaign said Wednesday that a new rhyme by supporter and rapper Ludacris is "outrageously offensive" to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Republican Sen. John McCain and President Bush.

The song brags about an Obama presidency being destiny. It uses an expletive to describe Clinton, calls Bush "mentally handicapped" and says McCain doesn't belong in "any chair unless he's paralyzed."

The lyrics also don't spare the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who recently apologized for making crude comments about Obama. "If you said it then you meant it," intones the rapper.

Obama's campaign blasted "Politics As Usual," which is on the "Gangsta Grillz: The Preview" mixtape with Atlanta spinner DJ Drama.

"As Barack Obama has said many, many times in the past, rap lyrics today too often perpetuate misogyny, materialism, and degrading images that he doesn't want his daughters or any children exposed to," campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in an e-mail statement. "This song is not only outrageously offensive to Sen. Clinton, Rev. Jackson, Sen. McCain and President Bush, it is offensive to all of us who are trying to raise our children with the values we hold dear. While Ludacris is a talented individual he should be ashamed of these lyrics."

Poll: Obama narrowly leads McCain nationally Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:59 EDT
THE RACE: The presidential race nationally

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THE NUMBERS

Barack Obama, 51 percent

John McCain, 44 percent

McCain spokeswoman calls Stevens charges `sad' Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:47 EDT
A campaign spokeswoman for John McCain says the indictment of longtime senator Ted Stevens is a "sad reminder" that the next president will have to work to rebuild the public's trust.

Nicolle Wallace says the Alaska Republican should be presumed innocent at this point of the charges that he lied about accepting gifts from an oil contractor.

She recalls that McCain and Stevens famously clashed over the appropriation process. McCain regularly says on the presidential campaign trail that appropriations are subject to corruption that causes voters to lose faith in government.

The GOP presidential candidate has not personally commented on Stevens' indictment, though it could damage his party's electoral prospects in November.

McCain has a few unclear moments Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:52 EDT

WASHINGTON . Republican John McCain announced this week that he backs an anti-affirmative action referendum that has drawn sharp debate in Arizona, his home state. Then he added a curious note: He doesn't know that much about it.

And when McCain was asked earlier this month about insurance coverage for Viagra but not contraceptives, he admitted he wasn't sure about that issue, though he once voted against requiring coverage for birth-control pills.

At times McCain can appear to be short on details. In some instances, he has made misstatements or eyebrow-raising comments during the long days of campaigning in front of cameras and microphones.

.Every candidate, Barack Obama included, has shown they will make a misstatement,. said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.

Obama says McCain thinks nation is on .the right track' Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:52 EDT

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. . Barack Obama said Wednesday his Republican rival .thinks we're on the right track,. drawing a chorus of boos from a swing-state audience vocal about the status quo.

.These anxieties seem to be growing with each passing day,. Obama said on a campaign trip in Missouri, an economically ailing battleground state. .We can either choose a new direction for our economy or we can keep doing what we've been doing. My opponent, John McCain, thinks we're on the right track..

That elicited boos from some of the 1,500 people who filled a Springfield high school gymnasium. When an AP-Ipsos poll asked the .right track, wrong track. question this month, 77 percent said they thought the country was on the wrong track. The same poll set President Bush's approval rating at 28 percent. Both were records for the AP-Ipsos survey.

.It's true that change is hard, change isn't easy,. Obama said. .Nobody here thinks that Bush or McCain has a real answer for the challenges we face, so what they're going to try to do is make you scared about me..

Ad compares Obama to Britney Spears, Paris Hilton Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:52 EDT

WASHINGTON . GOP presidential candidate John McCain's campaign on Wednesday aired and defended a 30-second television ad that likens Democratic rival Barack Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.

.He's the biggest celebrity in the world,. an announcer says as viewers see quick photos of Hilton and Spears cut into scenes from Obama's speech to 200,000 people in Berlin last week. .But is he ready to lead?.

The ad, the latest McCain effort to gain traction against Obama, notes the Democrat's opposition to offshore drilling and accuses him of favoring higher taxes on electricity.

McCain aides acknowledged that the ad is as much about image as issues.

House passes tobacco measure Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:52 EDT

WASHINGTON .The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed legislation that for the first time would subject the tobacco industry to regulation by federal health authorities charged with promoting public well-being.

Its backers call the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act .landmark. legislation. While the bill appears to have enough support to pass this year, it's unclear whether the Senate will have time to act, and the Bush administration is strongly opposed.

The 326-102 House vote signaled solid bipartisan support for the measure. Both presidential candidates, Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., back the legislation.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., worked for more than a decade to get the House to pass tobacco regulation. .This is truly a historic day in the fight against tobacco,. Waxman said. .But it took us far too long to get here..

McConnell donating $10,000 from Stevens' PAC Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:52 EDT

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky on Wednesday said he will give to charity $10,000 his campaign accepted this year from the political action committee of indicted Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.

Stevens was indicted a day earlier on federal corruption charges related to gifts from an oil-services company.

McConnell did not say what will become of another $10,000 his own PAC, called the Bluegrass Committee, has accepted from Stevens' PAC since 2005.

At least two other Republican senators, Pat Roberts in Kansas and Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina, similarly agreed to give away Stevens' campaign donations, as GOP incumbents seeking re-election this year sought to distance themselves from the 84-year-old senator and his Northern Lights PAC.

Stumbo bill would allow video lottery at tracks Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:52 EDT

FRANKFORT . State Rep. Greg Stumbo released a working draft of a bill Wednesday he plans to prefile for consideration in the 2009 General Assembly that would allow video lottery terminals at race tracks.

Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said in a news release that his plan would create new revenue for the state's horse industry through larger purses, boost funding for primary education and reduce the tax burden on Kentuckians by removing the state property tax on motor vehicles and motorboats.

Some proceeds also would go to the Thoroughbred and Standardbred Development Funds, Kentucky PRIDE, treatment for problem gamblers and to assist the state lottery with the costs of expanding lottery options.

Under his plan, the lottery corporation would oversee licensing of the lottery machines and tracks that want the terminals.

McCain camp compares Obama to Spears, Hilton Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:13 EDT
John McCain's presidential campaign on Wednesday released a withering television ad comparing Barack Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, suggesting the Democratic contender is little more than a vapid but widely recognized media concoction.

Obama's campaign quickly responded with a commercial of its own, dismissing McCain's complaints as "baloney" and "baseless."

McCain's ad, titled "Celeb" and set to air in 11 battleground states, intercuts images of Obama on his trip to Europe last week with video of twenty-something pop stars Spears and Hilton - both better known for their childish off-screen antics.

"He's the biggest celebrity in the world, but is he ready to lead?" the voiceover asks, noting the Illinois senator's opposition to offshore oil drilling and suggesting he would raise taxes if elected.

It was the latest effort by the GOP hopeful to cast Obama as a lightweight with little experience in leadership or governing. It also was risky for McCain's campaign to both acknowledge Obama's worldwide fame and depict it as a weakness rather than a strength.

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:52 EDT

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