Blue Spot

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama rode a wave of voter discontent to an historic White House victory, promising change as the first black U.S. president but facing enormous challenges from a deep economic crisis and two lingering wars.

Obama led Democrats to a sweeping victory that expanded their majorities in both houses of Congress as Americans emphatically rejected Republican President George W. Bush's eight years of leadership.

Raucous street celebrations erupted across the country, but Obama will have little time to enjoy the victory. He was expected to start work on Wednesday, planning his formal takeover on January 20 and assembling a team to tackle the financial crisis and other challenges.

Democrats gained at least five Senate seats and about 25 seats in the House of Representatives, giving them a commanding majority in Congress and strengthening Obama's hand. Four Senate seats remained undecided.

The son of a black father from Kenya and white mother from Kansas, Obama was born when black Americans were still battling segregationist policies in the South. His triumph over Republican rival John McCain on Tuesday is a milestone that could help the United States get beyond its long, brutal history of racism.

"It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, at this defining moment, change has come to America," Obama, 47, told some 240,000 ecstatic supporters gathered in Chicago's Grant Park.

Many world leaders welcomed Obama's victory and some hailed it as an opportunity to restore a tarnished U.S. image.

"Your election has raised enormous hope in France, in Europe and beyond," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.

Newspaper headlines captured the momentous nature of the result. A New York Times banner headline said simply "OBAMA", while the Washington Post declared "Obama Makes History" and USA Today: "America makes history; Obama wins".

Labels: General Election 2008, Obama

Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman declared himself the winner the state's tight Senate race on Wednesday, despite rival Al Franken's choice to go forward with an automatic statewide recount.

Labels: Al Franken, General Election 2008, Senate

Real Clear Politics - News - Elections 2008 - Opinion - Commentary - TIME Chicago – For the past several months, a board of advisors has been informally planning for a possible presidential transition. Among the many projects undertaken by the transition board have been detailed analyses of previous transition efforts, policy statements made during the campaign, and the workings of federal government agencies, and priority positions that must be filled by the incoming administration.

With Barack Obama and Joe Biden's election, this planning process will be now be formally organized as the Obama-Biden Transition Project, a 501(c)(4) organization to ensure a smooth transition from one administration to the next. The work of this entity will be overseen by three co-chairs: John Podesta, Valerie Jarrett, and Pete Rouse.

The co-chairs will be assisted by an advisory board comprised of individuals with significant private and public sector experience: Carol Browner, William Daley, Christopher Edley, Michael Froman, Julius Genachowski, Donald Gips, Governor Janet Napolitano, Federico Peña, Susan Rice, Sonal Shah, Mark Gitenstein, and Ted Kaufman. Gitenstein and Kaufman will serve as co-chairs of Vice President-elect Biden's transition team.

Supervising the day-to-day activities of the transition will be:

Transition Senior Staff:

Chris Lu – Executive Director

Dan Pfeiffer – Communications Director

Stephanie Cutter – Chief Spokesperson

Cassandra Butts – General Counsel

Jim Messina – Personnel Director

Patrick Gaspard – Associate Personnel Director

Christine Varney - Personnel Counsel

Melody Barnes – Co-Director of Agency Review

Lisa Brown – Co-Director of Agency Review

Phil Schiliro – Director of Congressional Relations

Michael Strautmanis – Director of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs

Katy Kale – Director of Operations

Brad Kiley – Director of Operations

The phone number for the transition headquarters is 202-540-3000. The official website for the transition is www.change.gov and it will be live later today.

Labels: General Election 2008, Obama administration, President-elect Obama

House Dems win their biggest majority in 15 years - CNN.com

(CNN) -- House Democrats are on track to gain at least 17 seats in the next Congress, according to CNN projections, giving Speaker Nancy Pelosi her party's most powerful majority since 1993.

Such a margin would arm Democratic President-elect Barack Obama with a formidable tool to push his legislative agenda after he takes office on January 20.

Democrats took at least 21 seats from Republicans in Tuesday's election, with the GOP taking four seats from the Democrats, according to CNN projections.

With winners yet to be called for 11 of the House's 435 seats, Democrats were projected to win 251 seats, with Republicans having 173.

Among Tuesday's GOP casualties was longtime Rep. Chris Shays of Connecticut, whose reputation for occasionally bucking his party couldn't keep him from losing to Democrat Jim Himes.

Shays' defeat leaves New England without any Republicans in the House. Shays was seeking his 11th full term.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said Tuesday night she was confident Democrats would ride a "wave" of pro-Democratic sentiment across the country and add to their House majority, though she declined to predict by how much.

"We have surfers to ride that wave," Pelosi said at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, where she was watching election results.

Heading into Election Day, the Democrats had a 235-199 House majority. The Democrats' gains come two years after they took control of the House -- with a gain of 30 seats -- after 12 years in the minority.

Labels: Congress, General Election 2008

I wonder if McCain is feeling a little like the Jimmy Stewart character in Mr. Smith goes to Washington.

I don't no about you but I'm glad this day is finally here and with Obama with the clear lead and the likely winner, I can't wait for the day we all (especially the media) can stop fawning over the man and start holding him accountable for all his promises of change.

Labels: classic films, General Election 2008, McCain, Obama

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama is holding his lead nationwide a day before the presidential election while he and rival John McCain are in a dead heat in some contested swing states, polls showed.

Democrat Obama has an average lead of 7 percentage points over Republican McCain, according to surveys compiled by Real Clear Politics. Obama has been ahead between 5 and 8 points since the beginning of October, the political Web site said.

The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey shows Obama leading 51-42 percent. The Illinois senator received 53 percent support in the Gallup Poll daily tracking survey to 42 percent for Arizona Senator McCain. In the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll, Obama led 52 percent to 46 percent.

A CBS News daily tracking survey showed McCain gaining 4 percentage points among likely voters, narrowing Obama's lead to 9 percent from 13 percent. The telephone poll, conducted Oct. 31- Nov. 2, included 952 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Obama leads in the battlegrounds of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada. The two candidates are in a closer fight in Florida, North Carolina and Indiana.

Economy the Issue

``Voters overwhelmingly say the economy is the major issue that leads to their vote, and they see Senator Obama as better able to handle the nation's money problems,'' Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement.

The Gallup poll surveyed 2,472 likely voters from Oct. 31- Nov. 2 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. The Wall Street Journal/NBC News telephone poll of 1,011 likely voters was conducted Nov. 1-2 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The Rasmussen telephone survey polled 3,000 likely voters and had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

Most likely voters in Quinnipiac polls in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida say the economy is the most important issue. In each state, Obama, 47, is seen as the more effective candidate than McCain, 72, to work with Congress on the financial crisis.

Those same polls had Obama with a 50-43 percent lead in Ohio and a 52-42 percent lead in Pennsylvania. There were 1,574 likely voters surveyed in Ohio and 1,493 in Pennsylvania. Both had a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.

Labels: General Election 2008, polls

Florida midnight rally drew 35,000 to hear Clinton, Obama | MiamiHerald.com KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Former President Bill Clinton stumped alongside Democratic nominee Barack Obama for the first time this campaign season in a late night outdoor rally that attracted more than 35,000 supporters.

Taking jabs at Republican nominee John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as a vice presidential pick and denouncing the last eight years of President Bush's administration, Clinton echoed the rallying cries for ''change'' that have been a trademark of the Obama campaign.

''Folks, we can't fool with this,'' Clinton told the boisterous crowd that braved the chilly conditions at Osceola Heritage Park. "Our country is hanging in the balance, and we have so much promise and so much peril. This man should be our president.''

Clinton's pitch to voters, whom he described as ''teetering'' between the two candidates, comes at a crucial time at a crucial place for both campaigns. With five days left until the election, both candidates and their high profile surrogates have been crisscrossing the swing state trying to shore up votes to declare Florida in their camp.

Labels: Bill Clinton, General Election 2008, Obama supporters

AFP: Obama, McCain wage Florida fight as White House race tightens

TAMPA, Florida (AFP) — Democrat Barack Obama Wednesday rolled out a new offensive on the stricken US economy while his White House rival John McCain pressed back with character attacks six days from the historic election.

Polls suggested the presidential race could be tightening a notch, as Obama geared up to deliver a prime-time campaign pitch on national television in the closing stretch of his bid to become America's first black president.

Upping the pace to an intense new level with less than a week to go before next Tuesday's election, the Illinois senator was to hold his first joint rally with former president Bill Clinton at a midnight event in Orlando, Florida.

En route to the Sunshine State, the biggest of the battleground states where the election will be won and lost, Obama said a vote for McCain was a vote to cripple the hard-pressed middle class and reward well-connected fat cats.

"He wants to give more to billionaires, more to corporations that ship jobs overseas, more to the same people whose greed and irresponsibility got us into this crisis," he told 28,000 supporters in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Obama , 47, also derided his Republican opponent's attacks on his own tax proposals as "socialism."

"By the end of the week, he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten," he said.

Labels: Florida, General Election 2008

Obama leads in 5 key states, McCain in 2 | Reuters

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Barack Obama leads John McCain in five of eight crucial battleground states one week before the presidential election, with McCain ahead in two states and Florida dead even, according to a series of Reuters/Zogby polls released on Monday.

Obama held steady with a 5-point lead over McCain among likely U.S. voters in a separate Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby national tracking poll, the same advantage he held on Sunday. The national telephone poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

Republican McCain is struggling to defend about a dozen states won by President George W. Bush in 2004, including all eight of the states surveyed over the last three days.

Breakthroughs by Obama in any of those states could move him close to or above the 270 electoral votes he needs to win the White House on November 4.

Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, held narrow leads over McCain in Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio and Nevada, most within the margin of error of 4.1 percentage points. McCain had a solid 10-point lead in West Virginia and a 6-point edge in Indiana.

The two candidates were tied at 47 percent in Florida, the largest of the battlegrounds with 27 electoral votes and the state that decided the disputed 2000 election.

Most polls show Obama comfortably ahead in all of the states won by Democrat John Kerry in 2004, but the Reuters/Zogby polls show McCain in serious danger in several states won by Bush.

Labels: General Election 2008, polls

Death threat, vandalism hit ACORN after accusations | MiamiHerald.com

WASHINGTON -- The furor over the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now's national voter registration drive exploded with new controversies Friday, including a call by Barack Obama for an independent prosecutor, a Supreme Court ruling over voter access and the disclosure of a death threat against an ACORN worker.

What remains unclear is whether the presidential campaigns of Democrat Obama and Republican John McCain will reach a truce over voter access to the polls by Election Day or whether their legal and rhetorical battles will persist to the finish line - or beyond.

Republicans allege that ACORN is engaged in rampant voter fraud, but they've offered no proof of such a systematic effort. The GOP does have evidence that some of the group's 13,000 canvassers submitted fraudulent applications, but ACORN says it alerted authorities to most of the phony forms.

Democrats counter that the GOP is trying to whip up fears of voter fraud so it can knock students and low-income minorities off the voter rolls to enhance McCain's chances of victory.

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled an attempt by Republicans to challenge the validity of 200,000 voter registrations in Ohio, saying that the party lacked the standing to sue.

The Republicans had sued to force Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, to provide county election officials with lists of registrants whose personal information did not exactly match Social Security or driver's license data, a step that would leave those voters vulnerable to eligibility challenges.

Tensions began to escalate Thursday with disclosures that the FBI is investigating ACORN and the possibility that it's engaged in a vote-fraud scheme.

On Friday, Obama's legal counsel, Robert Bauer, wrote Attorney General Michael Mukasey, charging that the inquiry is politically motivated and that it risks repeating the 2007 scandal over the Bush administration's politicization of the Justice Department.

Bauer asked Mukasey to broaden a special prosecutor's investigation to examine the origin of the ACORN inquiry.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment, except to say: "We will review the letter."

Earlier Friday, ACORN told McClatchy that one of its senior staffers in Cleveland had received a death threat and that its Boston and Seattle offices had been vandalized sometime Thursday, reflecting the mounting tensions over the group's role in registering 1.3 million mostly poor and minority Americans to vote.

ACORN attorneys drafted a letter alerting the FBI and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division of the incidents, said Brian Kettenring, a Florida-based spokesman for the group.

Labels: General Election 2008, Supreme Court, voter registration, voting rights

US election: Pollsters say odds of John McCain winning election are 'incredibly remote' | World news | guardian.co.uk

US pollsters today put John McCain's chances of overtaking Barack Obama in the final weeks to win the White House as extremely remote given the leads he has built up, the most recent putting him a staggering 14% ahead.

Polling experts expect the gap between the two to narrow as election day, November 4, draws closer, and some caution against a landslide win for Obama. But they regard the contest as effectively over barring some dramatic national security crisis.

"You are more likely to be killed by a meteor dropping on your head than McCain becoming president," said Professor Michael McDonald, who specialises in polls and election number-crunching at Virginia's George Mason University.

Pollsters said no US candidate has ever been as far behind as McCain at this stage in an election in recent political history and won. Once the electorate shifts in favour of a candidate, as it seems to have done over the last few weeks, it seldom moves again, they said.

Doug Usher, who was a pollster for John Kerry in his failed bid against President George Bush in 2004, is more cautious than many of his colleagues. He predicted a tightening of the race - especially since the instinct of the average US voter tends to be conservative - and that the US media would inevitably at some point write about an incredible McCain comeback.

Even so, Usher, who works for Washington, DC-based Widmeyer Communications, described McCain's chances of winning as possible but "incredibly remote".

Labels: General Election 2008, polls

Vice presidential candidate Joe Biden stumped in his northeastern Pennsylvania hometown Sunday alongside New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton.

Labels: Bill Clinton, General Election 2008, Hillary

Bloomberg.com: Politics

Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Republican John McCain said he will participate in tonight's presidential debate, as the host of the event and officials in Mississippi said they were ready to go ahead without him.

Democrat Barack Obama already is on his way to the University of Mississippi in Oxford, the venue for the debate. The university's chancellor said earlier today that he wanted to go ahead with the event even if it meant only Obama showed up.

McCain had put the debate in limbo earlier this week, saying he wanted to postpone it until an agreement was reached on a $700 billion proposal to address the U.S. financial crisis.

Although a tentative agreement broke down yesterday following a meeting at the White House that included McCain, Obama, President George W. Bush and congressional leaders from both parties, McCain's campaign said in a statement that there has been ``significant progress toward a bipartisan agreement.''

Both candidates said they planned to return to Washington afterward to continue taking part in the rescue plan negotiations.

Aboard his campaign plane before leaving Washington this morning, Obama said that while it's critical to resolve the standoff over the rescue plan, the debate is important.

`Delicate Negotiations'

The Illinois senator said the best thing he can do is ``rather than to inject presidential politics into some delicate negotiations is to go down to Mississippi and explain to the American people what is going on and my vision for leading the country over the next four years.''

Robert Khayat, chancellor of the University of Mississippi, said he was ready to go forward without McCain, by recommending the format be changed to allow the audience to question Obama.

``We're prepared, we're ready to do it,'' Khayat said in an interview on CNN.

Labels: Debates, General Election 2008

Barack Obama advisor Robert Gibbs says "debate is going to happen" - Lynn Sweet

WASHINGTON--"I believe the debate is going to happen as scheduled," said Barack Obama top advisor Robert Gibbs on Thursday morning about the first presidential debate scheduled for Friday night in Oxford, Mississippi.

John McCain said he will not show up if Congress had not made a deal on an economic bailout package. McCain, Obama and the congressional leaders meet with President Bush at the White House this afternoon to find common ground on a rescue plan. Congress balked at the $700 billion bill Bush sent to Capitol Hill. Bush on Wednesday night signaled he is open to a bi-partisan compromise.

While the debate is supposed to be focused on national security and international affairs, Gibbs said the rivals have been told the subject of the financial crisis would be incorporated in the questioning.

"I think it will be an important, the beginning of an important series of events in the campaign...an opportunity, the debates are an opportunity for Sen. Obama to talk about his judgment and his vision for the country and I think also we'll see Sen. McCain, somebody who bragged repeatedly about his knowledge on foreign policy issues, so obviously he goes into the debate with an advantage on that terrain," Gibbs said, downplaying expectations.

Gibbs spoke at a reporters breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

Labels: General Election 2008, Government Bailout

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said he will break off from campaigning to help on a Wall Street rescue plan and asked that a Friday night debate with Democrat Barack Obama be postponed. In a statement to reporters, McCain said he would suspend his campaign on Thursday to return to Washington and called on Obama to join him, saying he had spoken to the Democrat. McCain said he did not believe a current $700 billion rescue plan would pass the U.S. Congress in its current form. He urged President George W. Bush to call for a bipartisan meeting of lawmakers to try to find an agreement. "It's time for both parties to come together to solve this problem," he said.

Labels: Economy, Financial, General Election 2008, McCain

2 polls: Obama's lead shrinks in NJ -- Newsday.com

TRENTON, N.J. - Two presidential race polls out Tuesday indicate Republican John McCain has cut into Barack Obama's lead in New Jersey.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll, McCain has narrowed his 10-point gap of a month ago to just 3 percentage points among likely voters, with 48 percent saying they favor Obama to 45 percent supporting McCain.

A Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll has Obama's lead at 8 percentage points among likely voters, down from 14 points in July. In the most recent poll, Obama leads McCain 49 percent to 41 percent, with McCain having picked up 5 percent of undecided voters since the July poll.

Among registered voters, Obama's lead jumps to 11 percent (49 percent to 38 percent) in the Monmouth poll, although a third of the voters say they are not firmly committed to either candidate.

Labels: General Election 2008, polls

How Obama can win the campaign? Ask the media | csmonitor.com

If Obama campaign honchos David Axelrod and David Plouffe are worried about the next steps for their candidate, help is on the way.

With 51 days to go and polls showing that Republican nominee John McCain is either slightly ahead or tied with Barack Obama, there is plenty of advice this Sunday morning specifically geared to help the Democratic nominee.

Willie Brown, former Mayor of San Francisco, tells Obama to knock off the jokes.

And forget the comedy, Barack. You are not naturally funny and you do not speak “street.” You speak like a professor. And you do not know how to set up a joke. That “lipstick on a pig” line clearly backfired.

If you had said, “As John McCain said about Hillary Clinton’s health care … lipstick on a pig is still a pig,” at least you would have had a frame of reference to fall back on.

You didn’t, you left yourself left wide open and you got nailed. Now everything you say will be double-examined for sexism.

Columnist Errol Lewis over at the New York Daily News says forget about Sarah Palin - focus your energy on John McCain.

Every day, in every speech, Obama needs to hammer home the Bush administration’s record of failure and remind voters that “McSame” has presented an astonishingly thin plan for rescuing the American middle class from lower wages, rising tuition prices and falling home values.

Obama’s message to swing voters infatuated with Palin should be: Sure, you like her, and why not? But teaching abstinence isn’t going to lower your taxes, help with your kid’s college tuition or save your job from being outsourced - and I have a plan that will. Take a look.

Columnist Frank Rich at the New York Times says the Obama campaign needs to follow the advice of Karl Rove in dealing with Palin.

How do you run against that flashy flimflam? You don’t. Karl Rove for once gave the Democrats a real tip rather than a bum steer when he wrote last week that if Obama wants to win, “he needs to remember he’s running against John McCain for president,” not Palin for vice president. Obama should keep stepping up the blitz on McCain’s flip-flops, confusion, ignorance and blurriness on major issues (from education to an exit date from Iraq), rather than her gaffes and résumé. If he focuses voters on the 2008 McCain, the Palin question will take care of itself.

Joan Vennochi at the Boston Globe says don’t forget Senator Clinton.

Today, Obama needs Clinton. He needs her to repeat often what she said to her supporters in Denver: “I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me?”

Labels: General Election 2008, Media

Clinton fulfilling new role with gusto - The Boston Globe

HILLARY CLINTON likes to say she put 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling that keeps a woman out of the White House. She shouldn't let Sarah Palin sneak through to become the first female vice president.

Ever since Barack Obama beat her to become the Democratic nominee, Clinton said she will do what it takes to help him win in November.

Obama didn't have to chase her, like Jimmy Carter chased Ted Kennedy in 1980 in an embarrassing quest for a picture of party unity. Clinton and Obama stood side by side in Unity, N.H., and Clinton called for Obama's nomination by acclimation from the convention floor in Denver.

"No way, no how, no McCain," she told Democrats in a forceful endorsement speech. She added "No Palin" after Republican John McCain picked the little-known, female governor of Alaska as his running mate.

Vanquished primary candidates usually go home to rest and ponder the high points and lows of their failed effort. Clinton, in contrast, raised more than $4 million for the Obama campaign and repeatedly urged her supporters to campaign for Obama and contribute to his cause. She hosted a reception in Denver for 250 of her donors and is scheduled to be in Chicago tonight for another fund-raising event. She has another fund-raising event scheduled for Sept. 22 in New York City, with the goal of raising $500,000.

Labels: General Election 2008, Hillary

AFP: Obama attacks McCain as White House truce scrapped

NEW YORK (AFP) — The White House contenders called off a brief campaign truce Friday as Barack Obama fired the opening salvo of a sharp counter-offensive against Republican John McCain's "smears and lies."

Obama's Democratic camp accused the Arizona senator of sinking "into the gutter" after the McCain campaign aired a new ad accusing their rivals of disrespecting the Republican's female running mate, Sarah Palin.

"He was the world's biggest celebrity, but his star's fading," the McCain ad said, accusing Obama and his supporters of belittling Palin as an attractive know-nothing who lies about her record.

The independent website FactCheck.org said the McCain ad explored "new paths of deception" as Obama parried with two ads of his own and his campaign manager David Plouffe, in a lengthy memo, ripped apart the Republican case.

One of the spots in the air war, which erupted after a pause in campaigning to mark Thursday's seventh anniversary of the September 11 attacks, hammered the Democrats' case that McCain is a clone of President George W. Bush.

"1982, John McCain goes to Washington. Things have changed in the last 26 years, but McCain hasn't," it narrator intoned.

"He admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an email. Still doesn't understand the economy, and favors 200 billion in tax cuts for corporations, but almost nothing for the middle class.

"After one president who was out of touch, we just can't afford more of the same."

Obama took up the attack personally in early morning remarks via satellite to the International Association of Machinists and AerospaceWorkers.

"The very companies that shipped their jobs overseas have been rewarded with billions of dollars in tax breaks that John McCain supports and plans to continue," he said.

"So when American workers hear John McCain talking about putting country first, it's fair to ask -- which country?"

Labels: General Election 2008, personal attacks - mudslingling

Lipstick comments color presidential campaign | Reuters

NORFOLK, Virginia (Reuters) - The U.S. presidential campaign erupted on Wednesday in a spat over gender politics, with John McCain accusing the Democrat of a sexist attack on his running mate and Barack Obama denouncing Republican "lies and phony outrage."

With the race tightening in a struggle for women voters, McCain put out a Web advertisement saying his Democratic rival was talking about Sarah Palin on Tuesday when he likened Republican plans for government reform to putting "lipstick on a pig."

Palin, a little-known Alaska governor before she became McCain's running mate, had told the Republican nominating convention this month that she was a "hockey mom" and joked that the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull was lipstick.

McCain's new advertisement juxtaposes the lipstick remarks by Obama and Palin, then cuts to a TV news presenter observing that one lesson of the campaign was the "continued and accepted role of sexism in American life."

"Ready to lead? No," McCain's ad says in print across the TV screen. "Ready to smear? Yes."

Obama tackled the controversy head-on during an appearance in Norfolk.

"What their campaign has done this morning is the same game that has made people sick and tired of politics in this country," he said. "They seize on an innocent remark, try to take it out of context, throw up an outrageous ad because they know that it's catnip for the news media."

Labels: General Election 2008, Gov. Sarah Palin, personal attacks - mudslingling

(New York, NY) Yesterday, Governor Paterson angered some state lawmakers by comparing them to vampires, calling them a bunch of blood suckers. Today, he raised eyebrows, and tempers, by accusing the John McCain campaign of veiled racism. CBS 2's Don Dahler reports.

Labels: Cultural issues, General Election 2008, Gov. Paterson, Race

John McCain cast himself as the whole country's candidate. Although he accepted the GOP's nomination before thousands of party loyalists, he promised that he wouldn't be bound by political party in the White House.

Labels: General Election 2008, McCain

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday that Republicans at their national convention are attacking him to avoid talking about the sagging economy and housing problems that voters care about.

Labels: Conservatism, Economy, Education, General Election 2008, Healthcare, Iraq War, Obama

Obama's bump is gone, poll says - 2008 Presidential Campaign Blog - Political Intelligence - Boston.com

CBS just reported that the bump in support that Barack Obama received after the Democratic convention last week has evaporated.

Obama led Republican John McCain 48 percent to 40 percent in national surveying finished on Sunday. But in the new poll, the two are tied at 42 percent, after one speech after another at the GOP convention blasting Obama.

And that was before vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin spoke Wednesday night before about 40 million viewers, and before McCain's acceptance speech tonight.

Labels: General Election 2008, polls

ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 3 -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin electrified the Republican convention Wednesday night, pitching herself as a champion of government reform, mocking Democratic candidate Barack Obama as an elitist and belittling media criticism of her experience.

In a speech that served as her introduction to most of the nation after Sen. John McCain's surprise decision to pick her as his vice presidential running mate, Palin pitched herself as the product of small-town America and laced her address with sarcastic digs at Sen. Obama. She said it is his experience, not hers, that is lacking, and she embraced the role of leading the attack against the Democratic ticket.

Labels: General Election 2008, Gov. Sarah Palin

Labels: celebrities, General Election 2008, McCain

Democracy Now! | American Foreign Policy Brought to You by China: Advisers to Obama, McCain Tied to US Multinationals that Profit from Beijing

President Bush is heading to China this week, where he will attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summer Olympics on Friday. The Games’ presence in Beijing have helped spotlight opposition to China on a number of policies, including its repression of the Tibetan independence movement, its support for the Sudanese government in Darfur and its crackdown on dissidents and civil liberties at home. In the latest issue of Harper’s Magazine, Ken Silverstein says many of the bipartisan experts who have advocated so-called “constructive engagement” with China are tied to major U.S. multinational corporations that profit heavily from the Chinese market.

Labels: China, Foreign Policy, General Election 2008

For Obama, The Latest News Is Not Good - Yahoo! News

John McCain's current ads and comments on Obama are false, ridiculous and beneath contempt. But they are working. The public is lapping up McCain's garbage. And Obama better do something to change that if he wants to be the next president.

McCain's success in taking the low road is reflected in the two big national tracking polls -- by Gallup and Rasmussen -- that canvass approximately 1,000 people every day and report a three-day moving average of results. Gallup's latest results show that, as of Friday, the race has become a dead heat, with Obama and McCain each with 44 per cent of the vote. Rasmussen's latest surveys show Obama ahead by a single point, 47 to 46. That means Obama has lost virtually the entire lead he gained on his trip abroad.

Labels: General Election 2008, polls

FL Poll: McCain +6 - Real Clear Politics - Elections 2008 - TIME

A new SurveyUSA poll in Florida shows McCain leading Obama by 6 points (August 1-3, 679 LV, MoE +/- 3.8%). Obama leads in southeastern Florida, while McCain leads by large margins in all other regions.

McCain 50
Obama 44
Und 3

Labels: General Election 2008, polls

Are the media pro-Obama?

What is known is Obama has graced the covers of six editions of Newsweek in the past year versus two for McCain. What is known is that Obama has been on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine twice in the past year (McCain on the cover of Rolling Stone? Unthinkable!) The Project for Excellence in Journalism's weekly summary of media coverage for the week ending July 20th reported the following:

"Last week, Obama was a significant presence in 83 percent of campaign stories studied, vs. McCain in 52 percent. (To be a significant presence in a story, 25 percent of the story must be about that person.)"

Are the media, overall, in love with Obama? You betcha. Is he getting a pass in terms of negative media critiques? You betcha. Is that fair? Life is not fair, as we all know. But the only thing fair about the media's portrayal of the two presumptive party presidential nominees is that media bias may be starting to backfire.

In the latest Rasmussen Reports poll, 49 percent of voters told pollsters they believe most reporters will try to help the Democrat with their coverage, up from 44 percent a month earlier. In the same time period, the Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking poll has McCain and Obama running neck and neck. A month ago Obama maintained a pretty consistent lead of five points, most of which has dwindled to nothing while perceptions of media bias rise.

Both candidates should be covered and reviewed in terms of their policies and on their ability to maintain consistent positions on issues while accurately recounting their records. Nothing more, nothing less. That is the type of coverage we should be viewing this campaign season, but it is not the coverage we are in fact receiving.

Labels: General Election 2008, Media bias

John McCain picks up steam in Colorado and Minnesota | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

If John McCain and his loyalists were hoping for something to brighten their day amid the blizzard of coverage of Barack Obama's foreign tour, they've gotten it with new poll results from four key states -- Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The survey by the Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, conducted between July 14 and Tuesday, contains especially good news for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in Colorado and Minnesota.

In Colorado, the one state among the four that President Bush carried in 2004, the poll showed McCain ahead by 2 percentage points. That lead is within the poll's margin of error, but it represents a positive trend for the Arizona senator; in a Quinnipiac survey a month ago, Obama led in the state by 5 percentage points.

The poll found McCain making even greater strides in Minnesota, host of the convention where McCain will formally become his party's nominee in early September. Obama's advantage over McCain there now is negligible -- 2 percentage points -- compared with a 17-point lead the same survey gave the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in June.

Here are the new results:

Colorado (nine electoral votes): McCain 46%, Obama 44% (in June, Obama 49%, McCain 44%).

Michigan (17 electoral votes): Obama 46%, McCain 42% (in June, Obama 48%, McCain 42%).

Minnesota (10 electoral votes): Obama 46%, McCain 44% (in June, Obama 54%, McCain 37%).

Wisconsin (10 electoral votes): Obama, 50%, McCain 39% (in June, Obama 52%, McCain 39%).

The Quinnipiac release on its poll notes that McCain "has picked up support in almost every group in every state, especially among independent voters and men voters."

Summarizing the change over the last month, Peter Brown, the poll's assistant director, says that Obama's "post-primary bubble hasn't burst, but it is leaking a bit."

Labels: General Election 2008, polls

VOA News - Survey: US Hispanics Favor Obama Over McCain by Wide Margin

Senator McCain represents Arizona, a state that borders Mexico and has a large Latin American immigrant community. Unlike Senator Obama, who is relatively new to the national spotlight, McCain is well known as a longtime advocate of many causes that are popular among Hispanics, including comprehensive immigration reform.

It is therefore all the more surprising that the latest poll shows Hispanics backing Obama over McCain by a ratio of nearly three-to-one.

The survey of more than 2,000 registered voters of Latin American descent was conducted by the Washington-based Pew Hispanic Center. Sixty-six percent of respondents said they support Senator Obama, compared to 23 percent for Senator McCain. Seventy-six percent of respondents said they view Obama favorably, while 44 percent said they have a favorable view of McCain.


Sen. John McCain
Although the U.S. Hispanic community is diverse, from Cuban-Americans in Florida to Mexican-Americans in California, the Pew survey showed little variance among the segments of the community that were identified in the poll.

"This support for Obama is quite broad-based, and there are few differences within demographic groups. We did not detect important differences in support for Barack Obama between Hispanic registered voters who were born in the United States and those who are immigrants. We also did not detect differences in support for Obama between Latino voters who preferred to be interviewed in Spanish and those who preferred to be interviewed in English," said Susan Minushkin, the Pew Hispanic Center's deputy director.

The survey numbers seem to indicate a dramatic turnaround in Obama's fortunes among Hispanics. During the primary season, they voted overwhelmingly for Obama's rival, Senator Hillary Clinton. Some analysts at the time suggested a racial component to the trend, given friction and economic competition between Hispanics and African Americans for lower-paying jobs.

But the Pew survey finds only 11 percent of Hispanics view Obama's race as a detriment, while more than half say the fact that he is black makes no difference to them. A similar proportion said McCain's race is unimportant.

Labels: General Election 2008, Latino community, polls

Independent, uninspired, and undecided - 2008 Presidential Campaign Blog - Political Intelligence - Boston.com The oft-noted enthusiasm gap that favors Democrat Barack Obama becomes starkly apparent in a new poll out today.

But the more telling finding in the survey by the Associated Press and Yahoo News is that many independents -- who typically decide presidential elections -- are not very excited and are very undecided.

Only 21 percent of independent voters -- being targeted by both Obama and Republican John McCain -- said they find the election interesting -- down from 31 percent in November -- and just 7 percent say it's exciting. About a quarter support each candidate, about 40 percent remain undecided, and half say they could still change their minds.

The poll also found that supporters of Hillary Clinton are still cool toward Obama, who is trying to unite Democrats. Just 12 percent of former Clinton loyalists say they are excited about the campaign, one-third the excitement level among Obama's longer-term backers.

Labels: General Election 2008, Independents

RTÉ News: Obama's lead over McCain drops

US presidential hopeful Barack Obama leads rival John McCain by three percentage points, according to a Newsweek poll.

Barack Obama leads John McCain by three percentage points in the Newsweek poll released on today, a marked change from the Democrat's 15-point lead last month.

Democratic candidate Senator Obama captured 44% of respondents' support in the poll, compared to Republican opponent Senator McCain's 41%, a statistically-insignificant margin.

15% were undecided.

A 20 June Newsweek poll showed Senator Obama leading 51% to Senator McCain's 36%.

In the new poll, 53% of voters, including 50% of those who formerly supported Mr Obama's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, believe that Mr Obama has changed his position on key issues in order to gain political advantage.

Labels: General Election 2008, polls

Obama, McCain and their awkward Hispanic outreach - NewsFlash - mlive.com

"They just come to me and say, 'Who are the bosses of the Latin community?'" said Patrick Manteiga, who runs a family-owned newspaper for Hispanics in Tampa's historic Cuban neighborhood of Ybor City. "That's like coming and asking, 'Who are the bosses of white America, of the soccer moms?'"

Both candidates are pressing their case in three speeches in as many weeks to Hispanic umbrella groups and working in other ways to make their outreach more sophisticated. Republicans have opened an office in Orlando, where most of the state's Puerto Ricans live, and Obama opens one this week in Ybor City.

They've both got their work cut out for them in appealing to a large and growing segment of the population that has leaned Democratic but has not always been motivated to vote. A recent AP-Yahoo News poll found Obama leading McCain 47 percent to 22 percent among Hispanic voters, with 26 percent undecided.

McCain is respected by many Hispanics for refusing to pander to anti-immigrant sentiment over the years. Yet he is viewed in some Latin quarters as a sequel to the unpopular President Bush, a problem he has with voters at large, too.

Obama's vitality and soaring oratory appeal to Hispanics just as they do to others. Whoops of approval were heard throughout his speech this week to the League of United Latin American Citizens' convention.

Yet Obama emerged from Democratic primaries a distant second to rival Hillary Rodham Clinton among most Hispanic groups. Like voters at large, Latino voters question the one-term senator's experience. And there are tensions between blacks and Hispanics.

Hispanic voters are hardly monolithic. Some in the West have roots going back more than two centuries, while others were sworn in as citizens last week. Some consider themselves white and some black, and many represent every shade in between. During the last presidential election, Hispanics in key swing states such as Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Florida represented anywhere from 8 percent to more than 30 percent of voters, according to exit polls, and their numbers are only expected to grow this year.

THE CLINTONITES

Clara Apodaca, 73, of Las Cruces, N.M., is among the Clinton supporters who quickly made the shift to Obama. The longtime Democrat was hoping to see a woman in the Oval Office, but she now believes Obama would be the best candidate to handle the economy, the war and the country's reputation.

"We're so badly thought of throughout the world," she said. "We need to shore up our relationships."

Yet 64-year-old Denver resident Paul Sandoval, who was also a Clinton supporter, has yet to make up his mind.

"Obama has not sold me that he's the best candidate, regardless if he's a Democrat," the Mexican restaurant owner said as he served up eggs for the morning crowd. "I'm going to wait. I'm going to see how they perform on that stage, answering those hard questions."

Labels: General Election 2008, Latino community

Newsweek: Obama's Lead Slips - Real Clear Politics - Elections 2008 - TIME

Newsweek turned heads with a poll two weeks ago touting a massive 15-point lead for Obama. Their newest survey has heads turning in the other direction, showing Obama's lead dwindling to just 3 points over McCain:

Obama 44 (-7)
McCain 41 (+5)
Undecided 15 (+2)

In the Newsweek poll, Obama's support among Republicans and Democrats was basically unchanged, but his support among Independents dropped 14 points, to 34% from 48% two weeks ago.

McCain increased his support among Republicans by five points (to 83% from 78%) and among Independents by five points (to 41% from 36%).

Slicing the data by race and gender, Obama lost nine points among white voters (dropping from 45% to 36%) and nine points among women (dropping from 54% two weeks ago to 45% in the most recent poll).

Overall, Obama's lead in the RCP National Average is now 4.8%.

Labels: General Election 2008, McCain, Obama, polls

The Talk Radio News Service » Blog Archive » McCain simply “out of touch” with Americans

The Democratic National Committee held a conference call and discussed Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) “disastrous” week on the campaign trail. McCain was supposed to strengthen his stance on his economic policy this week, but instead showed how “out of touch” he is with the challenges that America’s families are facing. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said that she was insulted on behalf of the people she represents by McCain’s words and actions. She explained that McCain doesn’t understand what Americans go through everyday just to make ends meet and how his support for more years of a Bush economy would be disastrous for American families.

Stabenow explained that McCain actually called social security a “disgrace’ when he has “a total lack of understanding” of what it really is. She also said that McCain’s approach on tax policy would make it impossible to balance the nation’s budget, something that needs to be done. McCain also failed to vote for the current medicare bill; he was the only senator to miss the vote which “is critical to the future of medicare.”

Stabenow said that people in Michigan are suffering and are not experiencing “a mental recession.” Since President Bush took office, three and a half million manufacturing jobs have been lost in Michigan alone, and the state is currently experiencing an unemployment rate of eight and a half percent. Stabenow explained that McCain fully supported Bush’s policies and that the people of Michigan “cannot take four more years of this.”

McCain’s economic advisor Phil Gramm said that Americans are “a nation of whiners,” yet Stabenow said that the people of Michigan are not hallucinating when they aren’t getting a paycheck, when they can’t pay their mortgage, and when they can’t put food on the table. Stabenow said that people are struggling as every single cost has gone up while wages have gone down. She claimed that McCain is simply not in touch with what is going on in the real world. Stabenow also declared her support for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and said that she is absolutely confident that he will make the changes that will help the country grow, and gets what the American population is going through.

Labels: General Election 2008, McCain

Tale of two speeches: Latino crowd gives polite applause to McCain, standing ovation to Obama

(07-08) 18:39 PDT Washington - -- Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain has called on his Democratic rival Barack Obama to meet him face to face in town hall-style debates across the country. It was easy to see why today after the two gave competing speeches to crowd of prominent Latinos.

McCain, a four-term Arizona senator well known and respected by Hispanics, gave a stock economic speech repeated word for word from the day before. He won only polite applause.

Obama, largely an unknown among Latino votes only months ago, drew a standing ovation after delivering a rousing populist speech aimed directly at their core concerns - immigration, education and health care.

Lidia Pope, a Cuban American who lives in Virginia and works for the federal government, said she was leaning toward McCain before hearing Obama address the League of United Latin American Citizens. She said she would be listening to Obama very carefully, looking for specific plans and ideas. "This is not any old election," she said. "People are worried."

After hearing Obama, Pope was more than impressed. "He was so energetic," she said. "I think he understands the issues."

McCain finds himself pinched between his sponsorship of a major immigration overhaul that failed last year in the Senate and his need to disown his own immigration bill that was loathed in his party.

The legislation would have offered a path to citizenship for the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. When the bill came up for a vote, McCain largely left the fight to others as he devoted his time to running for president. He finally said in a Republican debate this year that he would not vote for his own bill now but would work on border security first.

That left him today with a three-paragraph addendum to his speech, seemingly tacked on for his audience, where he addressed his admiration for the "patriotism, industry and decency" of the nation's Hispanic citizens and read over a line where he promised "to honor their contributions as long as I live."

Obama, who struggled to win Hispanics during the primaries and played a minor role in the immigration debates, said he had "reached across the aisle in the Senate to fight for comprehensive immigration reform." In fact, while Obama sponsored some amendments, he was not a key negotiator and mainly stuck to the party line. If anything, his amendments and others he supported undermined the fragile bipartisan coalition backing the bill.

His claim that he was deeply involved sends Republicans who were there into apoplexy. "Obama was consistently, absolutely AWOL" during negotiations over the bill, said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican, on a McCain campaign conference call.

A recent Gallup survey showed Obama making huge inroads into the Latino electorate, which gave an estimated 40 percent of its vote to President Bush in 2004. Republicans have long argued that their party has a natural appeal to Hispanics, the nation's largest and fastest growing minority group, who are mostly Catholic and culturally conservative with a strong entrepreneurial streak. McCain's outspoken support of citizenship for illegal workers and intimate familiarity with border issues in Arizona gave him a strong base to build on. Yet as of July 2, Obama was leading McCain 59 percent to 29 percent among Hispanic registered voters.

Obama promised to enact immigration reform by the end of his first term, and reminded the crowd today that he had backed controversial positions on immigration during the Democratic debates, referring to his support for giving drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants "when it was uncomfortable" to do so. Calling Hispanics an "aspirational community," he said there is no conflict between "excellence and diversity," touting his youthful work among poor minority groups in Chicago.

The election, he said, is "about making sure our government knows that when there's a Hispanic girl stuck in a crumbling school who graduates without learning to read or doesn't graduate at all, that isn't just a Hispanic-American problem. That's an American problem."

Cries of "si se puede" rang out from the crowd. Click here to read more.

Labels: General Election 2008, Immigration, Latino community, McCain, Obama

McCain, Obama court Latino group - Los Angeles Times

Each will speak today at a convention of the nation's oldest Latino advocacy organization. Changes to immigration policy will be a topic for both candidates.

POWDER SPRINGS, GA. -- Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama will speak today at a convention of the nation's oldest Latino advocacy organization as each eyes a key voting group in the November general election.

The pair will speak at different times before the League of United Latino American Citizens in Washington. Both will speak about the need for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and the need for secure borders.

McCain angered many fellow Republicans by helping lead efforts to pass a bill that opponents derided as amnesty for as many as 12 million illegal immigrants. In recent weeks, McCain has stressed the need for secure borders, a nod to his hard-line critics on immigration issues.

According to an advance copy of his speech provided by the campaign, McCain plans to tell the Latino advocacy group that the nation must secure its borders "while respecting the dignity and rights of citizens and legal residents of the United States."

The Obama campaign is hoping that the Latino vote will help him, especially in the Southwest, which backed President Bush in 2004.

Obama began his day in Georgia, whose 15 electoral also votes went to Bush in 2004. With a boost from a large turnout of African American voters in the state, the Obama campaign is hoping to switch that outcome. Click here to read more.

Labels: General Election 2008, Latino community, McCain, Obama

Bloomberg.com: Politics July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is trying to claim the political center, following in the footsteps of previous nominees including Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980. Yet the Illinois senator has a higher hurdle than most: a consistently liberal voting record.

In recent weeks, Obama said he supports gun-ownership rights, backs legislation giving immunity to telephone companies that participated in an anti-terrorism surveillance program and would consider cutting corporate taxes. On July 3, he said he would ``continue to refine my policies'' on the Iraq War.

Obama built his candidacy on the support of his party's liberal base, which favors restrictions on guns and wiretapping, raising taxes for companies, and pulling U.S. forces from Iraq. As an Illinois state legislator, he voted against a law carving out self-defense exceptions to local handgun bans; as a U.S. senator, he opposed business tax cuts and extending warrantless eavesdropping, and backed tougher gun laws. On Iraq, he has long focused on ending the war and withdrawing troops.

The candidate is now trying to fend off Arizona Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, who needs to try to ``unmask Obama as an old-style liberal in a flashy new costume,'' said Trent Duffy, a former aide to President George W. Bush and a partner at the Washington communications firm HDMK.

`Seeming Authenticity'

At the same time, changing positions may present risks by endangering one of Obama's biggest assets, his ``seeming authenticity,'' said Mark Corallo, a strategist who worked on Republican Fred Thompson's presidential bid.

Obama, 46, rejects the notion that he is trying to move to the center.

``I get tagged as being on the left and when I simply describe what have been my positions consistently, then suddenly people act surprised,'' Obama told reporters in Ohio on July 1. There haven't ``been substantial shifts,'' he said.

Gun control emerged as an issue last month after the Supreme Court struck down Washington's handgun ban. McCain, 71, quickly praised the decision.

Obama was on the defensive because of past support for more restrictive laws. In addition to the 2004 state vote on the self- defense bill, which critics said might eviscerate local handgun bans, Obama in 2005 voted as a U.S. senator to expand the types of banned ammunition and against a measure protecting gun makers and sellers from lawsuits.

Click here to read more.

Labels: General Election 2008, Obama, Obama critics

AFP: US Senator Webb rules out Obama VP nod

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Virginia Senator Jim Webb, a gruff marine veteran and military expert with blue collar appeal, on Monday definitively ruled out serving as Barack Obama's Democratic vice presidential running mate.

Webb, who could have brought national security heft to Obama's ticket, and may have been able to help deliver his home swing-state to the Illinois Democrat's column, said he owed it to his constituents to stay put.

"Last week I communicated to Senator Obama and his presidential campaign my firm intention to remain in the United States Senate, where I believe I am best equipped to serve the people of Virginia and this country," Webb said in a statement.

"Under no circumstances will I be a candidate for Vice President," he said, though vowed to proudly campaign for Obama who is gearing up to take on Republican John McCain in the general election.

The plain-spoken Webb was seen as one of the favorites for the vice presidential nod, in that he would have balanced Obama's comparative inexperience and is an expert on military affairs and national security.

Other possible Democratic running mates include Obama's vanquished party rival Hillary Clinton, Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell.

Labels: General Election 2008, Obama, Sen. Webb

Got the following in my inbox yesterday from Justin Krebs of Drinking Liberally. Sounds like Justin is not very happy with either candidate.

Conventional wisdom says that Obama
caved on FISA & talked up faith-based programs
because he's appealing to "Independents."

Who knew independents oppose the Constitution?

Obama HAD to disavow Wes Clark's comments --
though Clark only questioned his experience as leader
& specifically honored his courage and will --
since "dishonoring" McCain would turn off independents.

Who knew independents are so ill-informed?

And McCain keeps saying he's a "maverick"
as he continues his "Straight Talk Express"
because these words appeal to independents.

Who knew independents liked slogans so much?!

If "independent" voters read only the spin,
& don't read the Constitution or the news,
maybe we shouldn't ask them to decide elections.

Or maybe "independent" really means something else.

And maybe "independent" candidates
who shy away from principled stands
aren't what we're looking for either.

It's time we take strong positions,
stop listening to the media's darling tales,
and Declare our Independence...from "Independents."

Celebrate the holiday in the most American way:
sharing an evening of spirited discussion
as you share a few pitchers of liberal libations
at your local progressive social club.

Labels: General Election 2008, McCain, Obama

I and many others tried to warn the Obamabots that he was just a typical politician and they wouldn't believe it. "No, he's different...he's going to change everything. Hillary is a political machine." Well, at least Hillary was upfront about her centrist positions.

Labels: General Election 2008, Obama

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - Powell meets with McCain and Obama « - Blogs from CNN.com

(CNN) — Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who remains a popular figure among Democrats and Republicans, recently sat down with both presidential candidates, CNN has confirmed.

The Hotline first reported the meeting earlier Tuesday.

According to an associate of Powell's, the former Bush administration member and onetime chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had "pleasant, private conversations" recently with both Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain. An Obama campaign source confirms the Illinois senator recently met with Powell. McCain's campaign has not returned a request for comment.

Watch: Powell says he's undecided

Powell has long praised Obama's candidacy and he told reporters recently in Vancouver he "would listen carefully to what both [candidates] have to say" before deciding whom to support.

Labels: endorsement, General Election 2008, McCain, Obama

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - New CNN Poll: Obama, McCain in a statistical dead heat « - Blogs from CNN.com

(CNN) — With the dust having finally settled after the prolonged Democratic presidential primary, a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama locked in a statistical dead heat in the race for the White House.

With just over four months remaining until voters weigh in at the polls, the new survey out Tuesday indicates Obama holds a narrow 5-point advantage among registered voters nationwide over the Arizona senator, 50 percent to 45 percent. That represents little change from a similar poll one month ago, when the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee held a 46-43 percent edge over McCain.

CNN Polling Director Keating Holland notes Tuesday's survey confirms what a string of national polls released this month have shown: Obama holds a slight advantage over McCain, though not a big enough one to constitute a statistical lead.

"Every standard telephone poll taken in June has shown Obama ahead of McCain, with nearly all of them showing Obama's margin somewhere between three and six points," Holland said. "In most of them, that margin is not enough to give him a lead in a statistical sense, but it appears that June has been a good month for Obama."

But the new CNN/ORC polls shows the race gets even tighter when the two most prominent third-party presidential candidates are considered. In a four way match-up that includes independent candidate Ralph Nader and Libertarian candidate Bob Barr, Obama's lead over McCain dwindles to 3 percentage points, 46 percent to 43 percent. (Nader registers 6 percent while Barr gets 3 percent.)

Labels: General Election 2008, McCain, Obama, polls

McCain campaign gets greedy - War Room - Salon.com

With the assistance of a press corps willing to play along, the McCain campaign scored a hit Monday, feigning outrage and manufacturing a controversy out of Wesley Clark's questions on John McCain's presidential qualifications. It involved twisting the words of a four-star general a bit, and a pliant press corps willing to redefine the word "attack," but the McCain/GOP spin machine was in high dudgeon and it got precisely the result it was looking for.

Labels: General Election 2008, McCain, Media, Media bias, Obama supporters

CNN discusses McCain setting up a Truth Squad and responding to remarks by Wesley Clark and other Obama surrogates.

Labels: General Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Obama supporters, Veterans, Wesley Clark

Views of whites, Latinos toward Barack Obama analyzed | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

Mark Feierstein and Ana Iparraguirre write that Obama's relatively weak performance among Latinos in his primary battle with Hillary Clinton (who dominated among those voters) "has helped fan the idea that he has a Latino problem or that Hispanics are disinclined to vote for black candidates."

Not so, they contend. They note that national polls have shown that Obama "is running well ahead of John McCain among Hispanics, and significantly better than John Kerry did against George Bush in 2004."

That may be how it plays out ...

... in November's vote, but before then both Obama and McCain apparently have some repair work to do with Latino media outlets, including bloggers.

Labels: General Election 2008, Latino community, polls

The residents of Unity, NH gear up for the honeymoon.

Labels: General Election 2008, Hillary, Obama

The GOP made Obama do it

It was no surprise when Barack Obama flipped on public financing last week. When it suited his goals last year, he pledged, "If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election." When it didn't suit his goals, he ditched the pledge. And get this: Apparently he did it because the Republicans made him do it.

Obama has raised an impressive $296 million to date - dwarfing John McCain's $122 million. He stands to raise a lot of money - certainly more than the $84 million he would have received from the federal presidential public financing system - for the nine weeks following the Democratic convention. So forget "change we can believe in."

I cannot get as indignant as some critics seem to be. After all, public financing never was about reforming politics. It always was about helping Democrats get into the White House - which is why so many alleged reformers have not only accepted Obama's flip-flop, but praised it. Even the goo-goo Center for Responsive Politics Web site featured an opinion piece that suggested that the $1.2 million per day of public financing "just might not be enough" for a presidential candidate.

In a video e-mailed to supporters last week, Obama floated the argument that his huge war chest was akin to public financing because of all the $5, $10 and $20 checks his team has cashed. But, as the New York Times reported, Obama already "has collected more money in contributions of $1,000 or more than even Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's once-vaunted team of bundlers of donations." This week, Obama is trolling for big checks from Clinton fat cats.

Team Obama set up fightthesmears.com ostensibly to fight misinformation. Site visitors are invited to send viral e-mail that charges, "Rush Limbaugh and his fellow right-wing attack dogs have been spreading baseless rumors about a nonexistent video tape showing Michelle Obama using a racial epithet." It was a vile, baseless rumor.

You could applaud Team Obama for setting the record straight, if it did not gloss over the starring role of Larry C. Johnson, identified simply as a "blogger," not a supporter of Hillary Clinton, as David Weigel reported in the American Prospect online. Instead, it targeted Limbaugh for saying "a tape exists of Michelle Obama using the word 'whitey' from the pulpit of Trinity United."

Thing is, Limbaugh stipulated, "There's a rumor that there's a tape" - two weeks after Johnson's first blog alleging that Republicans were hoarding a "whitey" tape. (Limbaugh should not have repeated the rumor, but he did so as many political editors and reporters were grappling over whether to report the unsubstantiated but widely trafficked Internet rumor, or just ignore it.)

Then, Obama pulled the race card. At a fundraiser - where else? - Obama told supporters that he had to turn down public financing so that he can raise enough money to fight GOP 527s. As the New York Times reported, he said, "They're going to try to make you afraid of me. 'He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did I mention he's black?' "

Who does Obama think he is kidding? He has raised buckets of cash - but rather than be up front about opting out of public financing because of the math, he stooped to blaming other people for his decision to cash in. He also blamed the system and played the race card.

Labels: Campaign financing/contributions, General Election 2008, Obama, Race

AFP: Obama moves to solve his 'Latino problem'

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Barack Obama's presidential campaign has recently increased its efforts to reach Latino voters by appointing two veteran operatives to key outreach positions.

During the Democratic Party primary, rival Hillary Clinton attracted more than two-thirds of the Latino, or Hispanic, vote, making it brutally clear that Obama has problems winning over the community.

After Obama's crushing defeat in the June 1 primary in Puerto Rico, Clinton's campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe told reporters the results "shows that he (Obama) has a problem with the Latino community," the Politico website reported.

The Hispanic community -- 45 million people, or 15 percent of the US population -- is the largest racial minority group in the country. Many live in states expected to be hotly contested in the November 4 presidential election.

In a bid to reach Hispanic voters, Obama on Monday appointed Patti Solis Doyle, a Chicagoan of Mexican descent, to be chief of staff to his still-to-be-named vice presidential choice.

Solis managed Clinton's campaign until she was ousted in February amid a wave of acrimony following the New York senator's less-than-stellar showing on February 5, Super Tuesday primary night.

In a less visible but equally important move, Obama appointed Cuauthemoc Figueroa, a California-born former union organizer and the son of Mexican farmworkers, as the point man in his effort to attract Hispanic votes.

Obama's campaign "has been moving the pieces in a positive way over the last weeks" in an effort to attract Hispanic voters, said Sergio Bendixen, a former Clinton campaign adviser on Hispanic issues.

"In the primaries, Obama spent a lot of money campaigning for Hispanic votes, but he had little experience with the community," Bendixen told AFP.

"No offense, but his Latino outreach team was a bit limited. Now however the indications are that this is going to change," he said.

Millions of Hispanic voters live in the key battleground states of New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, and Florida, as well as Republican John McCain's home state of Arizona.

Whoever gains their support could carry the state, said Daniel Restrepo from the Center for American Progress, a think-tank with close ties to the Democrats.

"The Latino vote will be especially important, mainly in the southeastern states," said Restrepo.

Historically, the large Cuban-American community in Florida has voted for Republican candidates, while Hispanics in New York and California have voted Democrat. Hispanics in the southwest are mixed, with strong regional Democratic pockets.

Labels: General Election 2008, Latino community, Obama

Labels: General Election 2008, Gov. Richardson, Hillary-haters, Judas, Obama, Obama supporters

Obama has narrow lead on McCain: Reuters poll | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama has a narrow 5-point lead on Republican John McCain in the U.S. presidential race, but holds a big early edge with the crucial swing voting blocs of independents and women, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

Two weeks after clinching the Democratic nomination and kicking off the general election campaign, Obama leads McCain by 47 percent to 42 percent. That is down slightly from Obama's 8-point advantage on McCain in May, before Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York left the Democratic race.

But Obama holds a big 52 percent to 30 percent edge among independents and 51 percent to 36 percent among women -- two critical voting blocs that could help determine the winner in November's presidential election.

Labels: General Election 2008, polls

Obama, Clinton set a date - 2008 Presidential Campaign Blog - Political Intelligence - Boston.com

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will apparently appear together for the first time since she conceded the Democratic nomination at an event next week with big donors.

The New York Daily News is reporting online today that Clinton's national finance director Jonathan Mantz sent top donors an email invitation today:

"As we move forward, we invite you to join us for a National Finance Committee meeting with both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on Thursday, June 26th in Washington, D.C., to discuss how we can work together to support Barack Obama and the Democratic Party."

"Hillary ran for President because she wants to put this country on the right track," the invitation says. "She continues to fight and stand strong for our values and priorities and will do everything she can to unify the party and to elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States."

The Clinton campaign is encouraging its supporters to contribute the maximum $2,300 to Obama's campaign.

But since she suspended her campaign and fully endorsed Obama on June 7, one of the lingering questions has been whether Obama's donors will help Clinton pay off her campaign debt. At the end of April, she owed $19.5 million, including $10 million she loaned herself.

Meanwhile, Obama addressed the boos that greeted the mentions of Clinton at his rally in Detroit Monday night when he was formally endorsed by former Vice President Al Gore.

Obama chided the crowd then, and told reporters on his campaign plane today, "When I got out there I shut that down, and made very clear that Senator Clinton deserves respect. She ran a great race and we are moving forward because we want to win in November. You know I think people were still in primary mindset, and we're moving into general election mindset."

Labels: General Election 2008, Hillary, Obama, Obama supporters

The Associated Press: Obama adds staff, taps ex-Clinton campaign manager

WASHNGTON (AP) — Barack Obama's campaign named new senior advisers on Monday, including former Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle as chief of staff to the presidential candidate's yet-to-be-chosen running mate.

Also heading the list of new top aides are Jim Messina, former chief of staff to Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana who will be Obama's chief of staff, and Stephanie Cutter, communications director to Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign who will be a senior adviser to Obama and chief of staff to Obama's wife, Michelle.

The campaign is beefing up as it anticipates the needs of a general election. Other posts being filled include a national field director, a post that will be occupied by Jon Carson, who was director of voter contact during the primaries. Another post — battleground states director — will be filled by Jen O'Malley, who directed John Edwards' Iowa operation.

Doyle, who stepped down as Clinton's campaign manager in February, is the only former high profile Clinton staffer to join the Obama camp so far. Clinton replaced Solis Doyle with longtime aide Maggie Williams after she and Obama essentially split the 22-state Super Tuesday contests on Feb. 5.

Her role in the Obama campaign did not come as a surprise. Last month, she and Obama strategist David Axelrod confirmed they had had informal conversations about how she might help the Illinois senator if he secured the presidential nomination.

Labels: General Election 2008, Obama

Likely Republican nominee, John McCain has already made some inroads with Latinos.
See NPR story here.

Labels: General Election 2008, Latino community, McCain, Obama

McCain targets message to Clinton backers - CNN.com

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain is working hard to win over supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton who may not be ready to back Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee.

McCain reached out to Clinton's base this week by resurrecting Obama's controversial comments during the primaries that blue-collar voters "bitter" about the nation's economy were "clinging" to guns and religion.

"I don't agree with Sen. Obama that they cling to their religion and the Constitution because they are bitter," McCain said Wednesday in Philadelphia.

On the economy, McCain also told voters he understands the pain caused by rising gas prices, but he didn't mention his proposal for a gas tax "holiday." His advisers had said it was a winning argument that he would be pushing all week.

The presumptive GOP nominee spoke off the cuff Wednesday instead of a planned speech on climate change. The town hall-type meeting was in the style of campaigning with which McCain is the most comfortable and an attempt, his advisers admit, to recover from last week's stumbles when he read from a teleprompter.

Labels: General Election 2008, Hillary, McCain

John McCain and Barack Obama each to address major Latino gathering | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

San Diego usually is a fine place to be under any circumstances, but for a couple of days this July the political world will flock there for clues about one of the crucial questions in the John McCain-Barack Obama matchup: Whither the Latino vote?

The National Council of La Raza, a leading Latino civil rights and advocacy organization, announced today that both presidential contenders have accepted invitations to speak at its July 12-15 convention in San Diego. No details yet on when each will speak, but their appearances likely will be among the most important they make during the month.

For Obama, the mission is straightforward: Woo an ethnic group that is absolutely essential to his hopes of carrying several key states in November but which heavily supported his rival, Hillary Clinton, during the just-completed Democratic primary season.

Presumably his campaign already will be hard at work on this task before the La Raza get-together, but his speech will offer him a golden opportunity to try to connect with a voting bloc that so far has generally resisted his appeals.

McCain will face more of a balancing act when he takes center stage ...

... at the convention.

As an Arizonan who last year was one of the few prominent Republicans on Capitol Hill pushing for controversial legislation that would have created a path to citizenship for most illegal immigrants in the nation, McCain is primed to build upon the inroads President Bush made four years ago in attracting Latino votes to the GOP banner.

But many conservatives who strongly opposed the 2007 immigration bill -- and whose turnout McCain needs on his behalf this fall -- will be listening carefully to his remarks. And it won't take much for them to renew their criticism of him on the immigration issue (witness this recent Michelle Malkin post).

-- Don Frederick

Labels: General Election 2008, Latino community, McCain, Obama