By BETH FOUHY
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK
In competition for a key Democratic voting bloc, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is enlisting the help of her husband, former President Clinton, at a weekend civil rights commemoration headlined by a formidable black rival, Sen. Barack Obama.
Clinton and Obama, the party's top 2008 presidential contenders, will be in Selma, Ala., Sunday to observe the 42nd anniversary of a civil rights march that helped end racial segregation in the South. Obama is scheduled to deliver the day's keynote address at a Selma church that morning, with Sen. Clinton speaking at another church nearby.
But late Thursday, the Clinton campaign announced that the former president would join his wife in a symbolic march across the Edmund Pettus bridge, where civil rights workers were beaten by state troopers in 1965. Obama also will participate in the march, along with civil rights activists and others.
Bill Clinton also will be inducted that day in the National Voting Rights Hall of Fame _ another high-profile opportunity for the Clintons to grab the spotlight from the...
...charismatic Obama.
The joint appearance marks the first time the Clintons have appeared together publicly since she announced her candidacy in January.
Normally, Clinton might not worry much about the support of black voters after serving eight years as first lady in a White House that enjoyed legendary popularity among blacks. Bill Clinton was dubbed "the first black president" by author Toni Morrison, and Hillary Clinton has enjoyed strong support from black voters _ a critical Democratic constituency _ as a senator and presidential contender.
But that popularity is being challenged by Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois who some believe has a real chance at becoming the nation's first black president.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the more people who attend the anniversary events, the better.
Copyright 2007 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Likely U.S. presidential candidates in 2008
(Reuters) - Here are the declared U.S. presidential candidates for the Republican and Democratic Party nominations for the 2008 election.
In alphabetical order:
DEMOCRATS:
Announced candidates:
Joseph Biden, U.S. senator from Delaware and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. senator from New York and former first lady.
Chris Dodd, U.S. senator from Connecticut.
John Edwards, former U.S. senator from North Carolina and the vice presidential nominee in 2004.
Mike Gravel, former U.S. senator from Alaska
Dennis Kucinich, U.S. representative from Ohio and 2004 presidential candidate.
Barack Obama, U.S. senator from Illinois.
Bill Richardson, New Mexico governor.
Declared candidates who dropped out:
Evan Bayh, U.S. senator from Indiana.
Tom Vilsack, former Iowa governor.
REPUBLICANS:
Announced candidates:
Sam Brownback, U.S. senator from Kansas.
James Gilmore, former Virginia governor.
Rudolph Giuliani, former New York mayor.
Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor.
Duncan Hunter, U.S. representative from California.
John McCain, U.S. senator from Arizona and 2000 presidential candidate.
Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor.
Tom Tancredo, U.S. representative from Colorado.
Tommy Thompson, former Wisconsin governor.
Declared candidates who dropped out:
None
In alphabetical order:
DEMOCRATS:
Announced candidates:
Joseph Biden, U.S. senator from Delaware and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. senator from New York and former first lady.
Chris Dodd, U.S. senator from Connecticut.
John Edwards, former U.S. senator from North Carolina and the vice presidential nominee in 2004.
Mike Gravel, former U.S. senator from Alaska
Dennis Kucinich, U.S. representative from Ohio and 2004 presidential candidate.
Barack Obama, U.S. senator from Illinois.
Bill Richardson, New Mexico governor.
Declared candidates who dropped out:
Evan Bayh, U.S. senator from Indiana.
Tom Vilsack, former Iowa governor.
REPUBLICANS:
Announced candidates:
Sam Brownback, U.S. senator from Kansas.
James Gilmore, former Virginia governor.
Rudolph Giuliani, former New York mayor.
Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor.
Duncan Hunter, U.S. representative from California.
John McCain, U.S. senator from Arizona and 2000 presidential candidate.
Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor.
Tom Tancredo, U.S. representative from Colorado.
Tommy Thompson, former Wisconsin governor.
Declared candidates who dropped out:
None
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
McCain to Formally Announce Bid in April
Republican Sen. John McCain to Officially Enter 2008 Presidential Race in Early April
By LIZ SIDOTI
WASHINGTON Feb 28, 2007 (AP)— Republican Sen. John McCain will officially enter the presidential race his second run after a bitter loss to George W. Bush in 2000 with a formal announcement in early April.
The Arizona senator disclosed the timing of the long-expected announcement in a taping for the "Late Show With David Letterman" on CBS for airing Wednesday night.
"I am announcing that I will be a candidate for president of the United States," the senator told the talk show host and then added he would give a formal speech to that effect in early April.
There was no doubt that McCain would eventually become a full-fledged White House candidate, and he had been expected to make his candidacy official in the spring.
The 2006 midterm campaign had just ended when McCain took the first formal step toward a presidential run in November. He formed an exploratory committee and gave a speech casting himself as a "common-sense conservative" in the vein of Ronald Reagan who could lead the party back to dominance after a dreadful election season by returning to the GOP's core principles.
A political celebrity, McCain is considered a top contender for the nomination.
However, he faces strong challenges from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has widened his lead over McCain in popularity polls in recent weeks, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is little-known nationally but is drawing notice for his deft fundraising.
The other two have spent the past two months mostly campaigning while McCain largely has been tied to Capitol Hill in his role as the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is focused largely on the unpopular Iraq war.
McCain, a former Navy pilot who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, has emerged as the Senate's go-to guy on Iraq. He has become President Bush's most outspoken supporter of sending 21,500 additional U.S. troops to Iraq, a position that could endear him to GOP primary voters but anger much of the rest of the electorate.
By LIZ SIDOTI
WASHINGTON Feb 28, 2007 (AP)— Republican Sen. John McCain will officially enter the presidential race his second run after a bitter loss to George W. Bush in 2000 with a formal announcement in early April.
The Arizona senator disclosed the timing of the long-expected announcement in a taping for the "Late Show With David Letterman" on CBS for airing Wednesday night.
"I am announcing that I will be a candidate for president of the United States," the senator told the talk show host and then added he would give a formal speech to that effect in early April.
There was no doubt that McCain would eventually become a full-fledged White House candidate, and he had been expected to make his candidacy official in the spring.
The 2006 midterm campaign had just ended when McCain took the first formal step toward a presidential run in November. He formed an exploratory committee and gave a speech casting himself as a "common-sense conservative" in the vein of Ronald Reagan who could lead the party back to dominance after a dreadful election season by returning to the GOP's core principles.
A political celebrity, McCain is considered a top contender for the nomination.
However, he faces strong challenges from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has widened his lead over McCain in popularity polls in recent weeks, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is little-known nationally but is drawing notice for his deft fundraising.
The other two have spent the past two months mostly campaigning while McCain largely has been tied to Capitol Hill in his role as the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is focused largely on the unpopular Iraq war.
McCain, a former Navy pilot who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, has emerged as the Senate's go-to guy on Iraq. He has become President Bush's most outspoken supporter of sending 21,500 additional U.S. troops to Iraq, a position that could endear him to GOP primary voters but anger much of the rest of the electorate.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
What Mitt's Got That Bush Lacks: Intelligence
The Nation -- A blueprint for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign pays close attention to the question of how the former Massachusetts could distinguish himself from an increasingly unpopular President Bush. The Republican strategists who prepared the plan suggest that the best way to differentiate their man from Bush is to focus on the fact that Romney is, uh, smart.
"Like every Republican in the race, Romney faces the delicate task of how to talk about President Bush, whom the country gives low job-approval ratings," reports the Boston Globe, which obtained the blueprint. "But the plan lists two ways Romney can set himself apart from Bush. The first says, simply, 'Intelligence.'"
The document also outlines schemes for "positively branding" Romney while "negatively framing rivals John McCain (news, bio, voting record) and Rudy Giuliani," according to the Globe, which obtained the plan that had been prepared in secret by the Romney campaign's media adviser, Alex Castellanos, and others.
The blueprint also suggests that Romney run against "bogeymen" such as "France" -- there's even a proposal for a "First, Not France" bumper sticker -- and "Massachusetts."
"Like every Republican in the race, Romney faces the delicate task of how to talk about President Bush, whom the country gives low job-approval ratings," reports the Boston Globe, which obtained the blueprint. "But the plan lists two ways Romney can set himself apart from Bush. The first says, simply, 'Intelligence.'"
The document also outlines schemes for "positively branding" Romney while "negatively framing rivals John McCain (news, bio, voting record) and Rudy Giuliani," according to the Globe, which obtained the plan that had been prepared in secret by the Romney campaign's media adviser, Alex Castellanos, and others.
The blueprint also suggests that Romney run against "bogeymen" such as "France" -- there's even a proposal for a "First, Not France" bumper sticker -- and "Massachusetts."
Hunter's campaign ads may violate campaign laws
MANCHESTER, N.H. – Republican presidential candidate Duncan Hunter,
a California Congressman, has used his political action committee to run New Hampshire TV ads introducing himself to voters -- in what some
specialists say could be a violation of campaign finance laws.
In the ads, Hunter walks beside a giant wire fence and calls for it
to be extended along hundreds of miles of the US border with Mexico.
Looking into the camera he asks for viewers to "join with me, Duncan
Hunter, at Peace Through Strength. Let's make sure Homeland Security builds the border fence."
At the end of the ad, viewers are encouraged to visit the PAC's
website, peacethroughstrengthpac.com. If viewers to go to the site a page appears asking them to "please visit Duncan Hunter for President 2008" and providing the link to his homepage, a move that implies the PAC's endorsement, another potential violation of federal law.
Campaign-finance laws limit the use of PACs, which have much higher
limits on individual donations than those imposed on presidential
campaigns, to no more than $5,000 in spending on any presidential
candidacy.
But in New Hampshire alone, Hunter's Peace Through Strength PAC made
two separate ad buys on WMUR-TV in Manchester totaling $17,575. Both
purchases were made after Hunter opened his presidential committee, which is supposed to cover the costs of his run for the White House.
"He is in some pretty dangerous [legal] territory," said Jan Witold Baran, a noted campaign law lawyer who served as general counsel to the Republican National Committee and to President George H.W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign.
Hunter's campaign spokesman, Roy Tyler, said the PAC-finaned ad is simply an "issue ad" and does not promote Hunter's presidential campaign.
He said the campaign's lawyers approved the decision to run the spot.
"We believe they are just issue ads and as such we can run them where
we want as often as we want," said Tyler, noting that Hunter does not
identify himself as a presidential candidate.
Among those Tyler said he asked was Michelle Kelley, an election
lawyer who serves as the PAC's treasurer. Kelley declined to comment for this story.
Politicians considering presidential races often have used political
action committees to pay for travel to early primary states, hire early staff, and build support by contributing money to people running for state or local offices. But once a candidate forms a presidential committees -- as Hunter has -- he is required to use campaign-committee accounts for all money spent running for office.
The advantage of using a PAC is that donors can contribute up to $5,000 per person a year versus a campaign account where donors are limited to just $2,300 per person per election cycle.
"I don't think [Hunter's use of both committees] is a loophole -- it
might be an outright violation," said Dr. Stephen Weissman, Associate
Director for Policy at the Campaign Finance Institute in Washington.
The Federal Election Commission has the jurisdiction to enforce
violations of campaign law. It fined the 1980 campaign of former President Ronald Reagan for using a political action committee to defray some of its expenses.
Hunter, the former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is a self-described "longshot" for the Republican presidential nomination. But campaign-finance specialists said that if he gets away with using PAC money for ads promoting himself then such expenditures will soon become routine, with candidates using PACS to bypass limits on funding presidential campaigns.
"If the FEC doesn't enforce this and do it in an airtight way then
others will surely exploit it," said Ray La Raja, a political science
professor at University of Massachusetts at Amherst who has written
extensively on the issue
Posted by James Pindell at 06:05 PM
a California Congressman, has used his political action committee to run New Hampshire TV ads introducing himself to voters -- in what some
specialists say could be a violation of campaign finance laws.
In the ads, Hunter walks beside a giant wire fence and calls for it
to be extended along hundreds of miles of the US border with Mexico.
Looking into the camera he asks for viewers to "join with me, Duncan
Hunter, at Peace Through Strength. Let's make sure Homeland Security builds the border fence."
At the end of the ad, viewers are encouraged to visit the PAC's
website, peacethroughstrengthpac.com. If viewers to go to the site a page appears asking them to "please visit Duncan Hunter for President 2008" and providing the link to his homepage, a move that implies the PAC's endorsement, another potential violation of federal law.
Campaign-finance laws limit the use of PACs, which have much higher
limits on individual donations than those imposed on presidential
campaigns, to no more than $5,000 in spending on any presidential
candidacy.
But in New Hampshire alone, Hunter's Peace Through Strength PAC made
two separate ad buys on WMUR-TV in Manchester totaling $17,575. Both
purchases were made after Hunter opened his presidential committee, which is supposed to cover the costs of his run for the White House.
"He is in some pretty dangerous [legal] territory," said Jan Witold Baran, a noted campaign law lawyer who served as general counsel to the Republican National Committee and to President George H.W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign.
Hunter's campaign spokesman, Roy Tyler, said the PAC-finaned ad is simply an "issue ad" and does not promote Hunter's presidential campaign.
He said the campaign's lawyers approved the decision to run the spot.
"We believe they are just issue ads and as such we can run them where
we want as often as we want," said Tyler, noting that Hunter does not
identify himself as a presidential candidate.
Among those Tyler said he asked was Michelle Kelley, an election
lawyer who serves as the PAC's treasurer. Kelley declined to comment for this story.
Politicians considering presidential races often have used political
action committees to pay for travel to early primary states, hire early staff, and build support by contributing money to people running for state or local offices. But once a candidate forms a presidential committees -- as Hunter has -- he is required to use campaign-committee accounts for all money spent running for office.
The advantage of using a PAC is that donors can contribute up to $5,000 per person a year versus a campaign account where donors are limited to just $2,300 per person per election cycle.
"I don't think [Hunter's use of both committees] is a loophole -- it
might be an outright violation," said Dr. Stephen Weissman, Associate
Director for Policy at the Campaign Finance Institute in Washington.
The Federal Election Commission has the jurisdiction to enforce
violations of campaign law. It fined the 1980 campaign of former President Ronald Reagan for using a political action committee to defray some of its expenses.
Hunter, the former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is a self-described "longshot" for the Republican presidential nomination. But campaign-finance specialists said that if he gets away with using PAC money for ads promoting himself then such expenditures will soon become routine, with candidates using PACS to bypass limits on funding presidential campaigns.
"If the FEC doesn't enforce this and do it in an airtight way then
others will surely exploit it," said Ray La Raja, a political science
professor at University of Massachusetts at Amherst who has written
extensively on the issue
Posted by James Pindell at 06:05 PM
GOP Insiders Say 2008 Nomination Is Up For Grabs
February 27, 2007 | 4:02 PM
U.S. News White House Correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh gives us this item on what senior GOP insiders think of the field of 2008 presidential hopefuls:
Republican insiders are updating their assessment of the strengths and weakness of their presidential front runners. Their verdict: No one has a lock on the nomination and the campaign could last well into next year.
"Rudy Giuliani has had a really good couple of weeks," says a senior GOP strategist with close ties to the White House. The former New York mayor is proving himself a charismatic campaigner, very smart, and fully aware that he needs to address the concerns of conservatives that he is too liberal on social issues such as abortion, gay rights, and gun control. His answer: He would appoint conservative judges to the bench, including the Supreme Court, and won't let his liberal views interfere with that overriding objective.
This is proving to be an effective message to conservative activists, the insiders say, but these activists need further reassurance that Giuliani isn't too liberal.
And Giuliani still can't count on winning the Iowa and Nevada caucuses or the primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina--the first battlegrounds for the GOP nomination early next year. But if he can hold on until the mega-primaries shortly after that, including those tentatively planned for California, Florida, and other big states where his social views are more popular, he can reinforce his charisma with a barrage of TV ads and could go on to win the nomination.
John McCain, who trails Giuliani in some national polls, is still mistrusted in conservative circles for breaking with conservative orthodoxy on tax increases, campaign reform, and other issues. But he still benefits from a strong following among moderates and independents, and he seems to be more energetic and enthusiastic on the campaign trail than he was a few weeks ago. This is easing the concerns of some who had wondered if, at age 70, he was losing some of his fire.
Conservatives are also impressed by McCain's support of President Bush's surge of 21,500 troops into Iraq, which remains popular among many Republicans. This is reminding Republican voters of McCain's reputation as a principled leader who sticks to his guns despite adversity and someone who would be a strong general-election candidate.
Mitt Romney is doing well on the road but remains a questionable commodity among conservatives because he has changed his views on abortion and gay rights. Many GOP insiders think an image of flip-flopping would be devastating in the general-election campaign, as it was for Democrat John Kerry in 2004.
"It's wide open but no one has broken away from the pack, and it's doubtful that anyone will until early next year," says a prominent GOP strategist.
U.S. News White House Correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh gives us this item on what senior GOP insiders think of the field of 2008 presidential hopefuls:
Republican insiders are updating their assessment of the strengths and weakness of their presidential front runners. Their verdict: No one has a lock on the nomination and the campaign could last well into next year.
"Rudy Giuliani has had a really good couple of weeks," says a senior GOP strategist with close ties to the White House. The former New York mayor is proving himself a charismatic campaigner, very smart, and fully aware that he needs to address the concerns of conservatives that he is too liberal on social issues such as abortion, gay rights, and gun control. His answer: He would appoint conservative judges to the bench, including the Supreme Court, and won't let his liberal views interfere with that overriding objective.
This is proving to be an effective message to conservative activists, the insiders say, but these activists need further reassurance that Giuliani isn't too liberal.
And Giuliani still can't count on winning the Iowa and Nevada caucuses or the primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina--the first battlegrounds for the GOP nomination early next year. But if he can hold on until the mega-primaries shortly after that, including those tentatively planned for California, Florida, and other big states where his social views are more popular, he can reinforce his charisma with a barrage of TV ads and could go on to win the nomination.
John McCain, who trails Giuliani in some national polls, is still mistrusted in conservative circles for breaking with conservative orthodoxy on tax increases, campaign reform, and other issues. But he still benefits from a strong following among moderates and independents, and he seems to be more energetic and enthusiastic on the campaign trail than he was a few weeks ago. This is easing the concerns of some who had wondered if, at age 70, he was losing some of his fire.
Conservatives are also impressed by McCain's support of President Bush's surge of 21,500 troops into Iraq, which remains popular among many Republicans. This is reminding Republican voters of McCain's reputation as a principled leader who sticks to his guns despite adversity and someone who would be a strong general-election candidate.
Mitt Romney is doing well on the road but remains a questionable commodity among conservatives because he has changed his views on abortion and gay rights. Many GOP insiders think an image of flip-flopping would be devastating in the general-election campaign, as it was for Democrat John Kerry in 2004.
"It's wide open but no one has broken away from the pack, and it's doubtful that anyone will until early next year," says a prominent GOP strategist.
The political power of the network
Online campaigns and e-petitions are only the beginning of what the net can do to politics, argues Bill Thompson.
Over the last few weeks we have seen many candidates for the US Presidency launch campaigns to seek nomination by their respective parties, and all have used the internet to get the message out.
Hillary Clinton actually launched her campaign on her website, while Barack Obama has been pushing himself to the bloggers.
On the Republican side John McCain seeks to prove his own credentials with a somewhat stilted video outlining his position, and he too will be working hard to ensure that he speaks directly to the wired world.
Sites like Prezvid have been set up to keep a keen eye on what's going on, and commentators are already claiming that the activities of YouTube activists, blogging pundits and citizen journalists will be as significant to the outcome as editorials in the New York Times or commentary on Fox News.
Over the last few weeks we have seen many candidates for the US Presidency launch campaigns to seek nomination by their respective parties, and all have used the internet to get the message out.
Hillary Clinton actually launched her campaign on her website, while Barack Obama has been pushing himself to the bloggers.
On the Republican side John McCain seeks to prove his own credentials with a somewhat stilted video outlining his position, and he too will be working hard to ensure that he speaks directly to the wired world.
Sites like Prezvid have been set up to keep a keen eye on what's going on, and commentators are already claiming that the activities of YouTube activists, blogging pundits and citizen journalists will be as significant to the outcome as editorials in the New York Times or commentary on Fox News.
THE RUN FOR 2008; Obama Formally Enters Presidential Race With Calls for Generational Change
February 11, 2007, Sunday
By ADAM NAGOURNEY AND JEFF ZELENY (NYT); National Desk
DISPLAYING ABSTRACT - Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, standing before the Old State Capitol where Abraham Lincoln began his political career, announced his candidacy for the White House on Saturday by presenting himself as an agent of generational change who could transform a government hobbled by cynicism, petty corruption and ''a smallness ...
By ADAM NAGOURNEY AND JEFF ZELENY (NYT); National Desk
DISPLAYING ABSTRACT - Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, standing before the Old State Capitol where Abraham Lincoln began his political career, announced his candidacy for the White House on Saturday by presenting himself as an agent of generational change who could transform a government hobbled by cynicism, petty corruption and ''a smallness ...
Edwards apologizes for 2002 war vote
NEW YORK - Democrat John Edwards said Tuesday that honesty and openness were essential qualities for a president, and that he was proud to acknowledge his 2002 vote authorizing the invasion of Iraq was a mistake.
Trolling for campaign cash on a three-day visit to New York — home of his chief Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton — Edwards spoke to reporters after attending a union-sponsored workshop on eradicating poverty.
Asked whether his repeated apologies for his vote would be a turnoff to voters over time, the 2004 vice presidential nominee said that after six years of President Bush, voters craved a president willing to acknowledge errors and change course if necessary.
Trolling for campaign cash on a three-day visit to New York — home of his chief Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton — Edwards spoke to reporters after attending a union-sponsored workshop on eradicating poverty.
Asked whether his repeated apologies for his vote would be a turnoff to voters over time, the 2004 vice presidential nominee said that after six years of President Bush, voters craved a president willing to acknowledge errors and change course if necessary.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
