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McCain Widens Delegates Lead, Clinton Lends Self Cash
2008-02-07 17:26:00
Sen. John McCain padded his commanding delegate lead in the Republican presidential race Wednesday and urged conservative critics to cut him some slack. In a Democratic surprise, Hillary Rodham Clinton disclosed she'd lent $5 million to her cash-short campaign. "And I think the results last night proved the wisdom of my investment," said the former first lady, one day after trading victories with Barack Obama in a Super Tuesday string of contests from coast to coast. The competition for Republican delegates was a runaway. Nearly complete returns from Super Tuesday left McCain with 707 delegates, nearly 60 percent of the 1,191 needed to win the nomination at the national convention in St. Paul, Minn., this summer. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had 294, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee 195 and Texas Rep. Ron Paul 14. Despite steadily lengthening odds, neither Romney nor Huckabee offered any hint they were ready to exit the race. McCain, the Arizona senator, said the n...
More About: Today , Cash , Delegates , Lead

McCain Tries to Patch it Up With Conservatives, But is It Too Late?
2008-02-06 15:56:00
National Review's Byron York has an interesting take on John McCain's Tuesday night speech. Basically, McCain tried to use the occasion to appease the conservative base of the Republican Party which appears to be stiffening its opposition to him. But is too late for the Arizona Senator to make amends? When he took the stage here at the Arizona Biltmore Tuesday night, John McCain didn?t know he had won California, or even Missouri. He hadn?t even been able to keep a close eye on the other returns coming in from across the country; less than an hour before appearing at the Biltmore, McCain was attending a fundraiser at a home in Phoenix, proving that there is no time, not even Super Tuesday, when a candidate not named Romney is free from the pressure to raise money. As McCain prospected for cash, his top aides were locked in a room at the Biltmore, writing his speech while the crowd waiting downstairs grew a little restless. Had McCain known he would win the nation?s biggest s...
More About: Conservatives , Patch , Late

Tuesday Night Lights
2008-02-06 15:39:00
So much for the best laid plans of Terry McAuliffe. The former Democratic Party chairman helped to design the first national Presidential primary in the expectation that its sheer expanse would sink any challenger to Hillary Clinton. Instead, the most important result from Super Tuesday is that Barack Obama showed how broad his appeal to Democratic voters really is. Mrs. Clinton more than held her own in the Northeast, including a victory in Massachusetts, where Mr. Obama had the much publicized support of Senator Ted Kennedy and Governor Deval Patrick. She also showed her now-familiar strength among women and especially among Hispanic voters. This reflects a fault line between black and Hispanic Democrats that the Clinton campaign has worked hard to exploit. But Mr. Obama was able to win in Connecticut and Delaware, and did well enough in New Jersey and other states to grab a competitive chunk of delegates. His appeal was also geographically diverse, stretching to Georgia, with i...
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Huckabee stays in race
2008-02-06 15:30:00
DALLAS (Reuters) - Republican Mike Huckabee probably hasn't got a prayer in his bid for the U.S. presidency. But the guitar strumming, joke-cracking Baptist preacher may be a longshot for the second White House job. The former Arkansas governor remains behind rivals Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney but did better than expected in Super Tuesday voting, drawing on support from his evangelical base in the South. "We're still in this, we've been saying that for a long time," Huckabee said on CNN on Tuesday night. Political analysts say only a miracle could push him over the top -- but they're not ready to consign Huckabee to the electoral wilderness. "Huckabee represents the social conservative wing of the party right now and I think he's in it at least partly for the movement," said David Domke, a professor of communication at the University of Washington. "If he steps out of the race, that part of the party has no influence and so they appre...
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US Says al-Qaida in Iraq Using Children
2008-02-06 15:23:00
Videotapes seized during U.S. raids on suspected al-Qaida in Iraq hide-outs show the terror group training young boys to kidnap and assassinate civilians, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Wednesday. Footage aired for reporters showed an apparent training operation with black-masked boys - some of whom appeared to be about 10 years old - storming a house and holding guns to the heads of mock residents. Another tape showed a young boy wearing a suicide vest and posing with automatic weapons. But U.S. and Iraqi officials said they could offer no estimate on how many children have fallen under the terror group's control. They named just a handful of attacks blamed on women or children. The American military said some of the tapes were found in December during a U.S. raid in Khan Bani Saad, northeast of Baghdad, and said it indicated a pattern that al-Qaida in Iraq was increasingly using children for sinister means. "Al-Qaida in Iraq wants to poison the next generation of Iraqis," Rear...
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McCain, Clinton Lead Delegate Race
2008-02-06 15:16:00
Sen. John McCain won a commanding victory in the Republican delegate race over Mitt Romney on Super Tuesday. Sen. Barack Obama, trailing much of the night, nearly pulled even with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the contest for Democratic delegates. McCain won 511 delegates to 176 for Romney and 147 for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in incomplete results. A total of 1,023 delegates were up for grabs in 21 states. Overall, McCain led with 613 delegates, to 269 for Romney and 190 for Huckabee. It takes 1,191 to win the nomination at this summer's convention in St. Paul, Minn. Clinton led with 584 delegates to Obama's 563. A total of 1,681 delegates were at stake in 22 states and American Samoa. Overall, that gave Clinton 845 delegates, to 765 for Obama, with 2,025 delegates required to claim the nomination in Denver at this summer's convention. The AP tracks the delegate races by projecting the number of national convention delegates won by candidates in each presidential ...
More About: Politics , Today , Race , Lead

Dole to Limbaugh on McCain: Back Off ...
2008-02-05 02:45:00
The former Senate Republican Leader has written a letter to radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh asking him to back off from the attacks on GOP presidential nomination frontrunner, John McCain. The Politico's Mike Allen has more ... Bob Dole , the former Senate Republican leader, wrote an insistent letter to Rush Limbaugh on Monday and suggested that for the good of the party, the conservative talk-show host should stop his strafing of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). On Monday's show, Limbaugh asserted that McCain has "lied about his reason for opposing the Bush tax cuts," and added: "I think McCain has an animus toward the Republican Party. I think ever since South Carolina 2000 he's had it in for the Republican Party, and one of his objectives is to destroy it and change it." McCain, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, has always had a shaky relationship with the party?s conservative base. In a letter released Monday evening by McCain's campaign, Dol...
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Romney's Economic Claims Challenged
2008-02-05 02:37:00
It's part of Mitt Romney's core narrative: Massachusetts, in the throes of a fiscal freefall, fell back on his CEO skills and turnaround wizardry to spark - in his words - "a dramatic reversal of state fortunes and a period of sustained economic expansion." It's a rosy opinion of Massachusetts' economy that few in the state share. Instead, observers say, the state's recovery from a disastrous 2001 recession has been tepid at best, and Romney gives himself more credit than deserved on job creation and balancing the state budget. Romney says that by the time he left office, the unemployment rate in Massachusetts was lower and the state had recovered nearly 80,000 jobs from the low point of the recession. A fuller look reveals a state still struggling to recoup the jobs washed away in the recession, while much of the rest of the country has already sailed past pre-recession highs. According to state unemployment numbers, the net number of jobs added during the four years Romne...
More About: Politics , Today , Economic , Claims

Hillary Clinton may unite Republicans
2008-02-05 02:33:00
Tom Effertz is 73 and a wheat farmer. Rosie Erganian is 52 and lives in a town on the Missouri River. He's a Republican. She's a Democrat. Both Missourians want anyone but Democrat Hillary Clinton for U.S. president. "We're tired of the Hillary thing," Effertz said. "We'd had enough of Bill and Hillary." "I do not like the way they've been kind of nasty," said Erganian, of Rocheport, Missouri. "I don't want anybody in office like that." Tuesday is "Super Tuesday" when 24 states, Missouri among them, hold nominating contests for one or both parties. It is the biggest date in the six-month process to decide which of each party will face off in the November 4 election to succeed President George W. Bush. When it comes to the November election, Missouri, home to the plain-speaking late President Harry Truman in the heart of America, has long been viewed as a bellwether, having voted for the winner in every presidential ballot except one since 1904. The former first lady is vi...
More About: Politics , Republicans , Today

Next President Could Come From Senate
2008-02-05 02:29:00
For all the talk of change and Beltway bashing in this campaign, the next president could well come from the ultimate Washington insider club - the U.S. Senate . That itself would be something of a change. Only twice before have voters sent a sitting senator from one end of Pennsylvania Avenue to the other: Massachusetts Democrat John F. Kennedy in 1960 and Ohio Republican Warren G. Harding 40 years earlier. And never have two sitting senators competed for the presidency as the Democratic and Republican nominees - a possibility if John McCain can ride his growing lead into the Republican nomination. While a president McCain, Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama wouldn't need to spend time getting to know Washington, that's no guarantee of peaceful White House relations with Congress or an easy transition. Sure, an ex-senator would take hard-won alliances and friendships with him or her to the White House, points out Julian E. Zelizer, congressional historian at Princeton. But...
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Candidates Race to Super Tuesday Finale
2008-02-05 02:22:00
Buoyed by cheering crowds and bolstered by more than $1.3 million a day in TV ads, Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton raced through the final hours of an unpredictable Super Tuesday campaign across 22 states. The Republican race turned negative on the eve of the busiest day in primary history. "We're going to hand the liberals in our party a little surprise," boasted Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, criticizing John McCain for his positions on tax cuts, gay marriage and immigration and predicting an upset win in delegate-rich California. McCain struck back a few hours later Monday with a television ad that showed Romney in a 1994 debate against Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, saying he was "an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush." utwardly, McCain projected confidence, not only about wrapping up the nomination but about November's general election as well. "I can lead this nation and motivate all ...
More About: Today , Race , Candidates , Finale

Clinton Health Plan May Mean Tapping Pay
2008-02-03 20:53:00
Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday she might be willing to have workers' wages garnisheed if they refuse to buy health insurance to achieve coverage for all Americans. The New York senator has criticized presidential rival Barack Obama for pushing a health plan that would not require universal coverage. Clinton has not always specified the enforcement measures she would embrace, but when pressed during a television interview, she said: "I think there are a number of mechanisms" that are possible, including "going after people's wages, automatic enrollment." Clinton said such measures would apply only to workers who can afford health coverage but refuse to buy it, which puts undue pressure on hospitals and emergency rooms. Under her plan, she said, health care "will be affordable for everyone" because she would limit premium payments "to a low percent of your income." Clinton also suggested Obama would be more susceptible to Republican attack ads in a general election b...
More About: Health , Today , Plan , Tapping

Super Tuesday Filled With Fuzzy Math
2008-02-03 20:50:00
When it comes to presidential primaries, Democrats and Republicans play by different rules. One party likes to share. The other, not so much. Which goes a long way toward explaining why Arizona Sen. John McCain hopes to take control of the race for the Republican presidential nomination in Super Tuesday 's primaries and caucuses. And why the busiest primary day in history may merely intensify the contest between Democratic rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. "The delegate selection process is designed to keep the campaign going for as long as possible" among Democrats, said Howard Wolfson, communications director for Clinton's campaign. The Democratic rules provide for delegates to be awarded proportionately on the basis of the popular vote. It wasn't always that way, but a change designed to weaken the control of party bosses was ushered in after the riotous Vietnam War-era 1968 convention. This year, Wolfson added, the calendar "was designed to pick a candidate ...
More About: Today , Math , Super Tuesday

McCain Tries to Assuage Conservatives
2008-02-03 20:42:00
Republican John McCain is trying to ease long-standing distrust among the party's powerful conservatives. It will be a slow process. "I believe that the majority of Republican Party conservatives are convinced that I'm best equipped to lead this country, unify our party and take on the challenge of radical Islamic extremism," McCain told reporters Saturday. As Super Tuesday looms - and the possibility that McCain could all but wrap up the nomination - the chattering conservative class is in an uproar. Talk show host Rush Limbaugh has warned that McCain as standard-bearer would destroy the Republican Party. Author and pundit Ann Coulter, in jaw-dropping heresy, said she would campaign for Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton if McCain wins the party nod. Commentators Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin have come out in support of McCain's rival, Mitt Romney. Surrogates for the former Massachuttsetts governor have claimed that McCain is outside the GOP mainstream. "If you ar...
More About: Politics , Today , Conservatives

McCain Wins Florida, Becomes Front-Runner
2008-01-30 16:09:00
Arizona Sen. John McCain triumphed over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Florida 's Republican presidential primary, taking a trophy of 57 convention delegates -- and bragging rights to front-runner status for the party's nomination. He also was poised to receive the endorsement of the Republican field's onetime front-runner. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was planning to drop out and throw his support to Sen. McCain, associates said, after coming in a distant third and losing his must-win bet on the first state where he aggressively campaigned. For Sen. McCain, the victory marked his third big step in a remarkable comeback march after his campaign was nearly written off last summer. Earlier this month he won New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary and then South Carolina's primary Jan. 19. Along the way, he lost to Mr. Romney in Michigan. With 80% of the vote counted, Sen. McCain led with 36%, followed by Mr. Romney with 31%, Mr. Giuliani with 15% and f...
More About: Today , Runner , Front , Wins

Romney, McCain: Tight Race As Fla. Votes
2008-01-29 16:17:00
After hammering each other on the economy and national security for a week, all that was left for Republicans John McCain and Mitt Romney to do Tuesday was urge their supporters to turnout as voting began in Florida's presidential primary. The contest could solidify one man as the GOP front-runner. Polls opened at 7 a.m. EST, but more than a million ballots had already been cast, either through the early voting that began Jan. 14 or in absentee ballots returned by mail. Critical phone calls, negative radio ads, and bitter, personal exchanges marked the final hours before the primary. The contest offers the winner the state's 57 delegates to GOP nominating convention and serves as a gateway to the 20-plus states with nominating contests on Feb. 5. Recent polls show McCain, the Arizona senator, and Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, in a dead heat; both hope a Florida win will provide a burst of energy heading into the virtual national primary a week later. Romney implor...
More About: Today , Race , Votes

Kennedy Say He and the Clintons Are Still Friends
2008-01-29 15:27:00
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Edward Kennedy may have thrown his political weight behind Democrat Barack Obama in the White House race, but he says that doesn't mean he harbors ill feelings toward his old friends, Hillary and Bill Clinton. "Absolutely not. I'm not against the Clintons. I'm for Barack Obama," the Massachusetts senator and brother of the late President John F. Kennedy said on Tuesday. "I've said I'm for Barack Obama. But I'm going to support Sen. Clinton or Sen. Edwards should they gain the nomination. It's imperative that the Democrats be successful," he said in an interview with NBC's "Today Show." Kennedy, patriarch of one of the leading political dynasties in the United States, endorsed Obama at a raucous rally in Washington on Monday. He was joined by his niece Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late president, and his own son U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy in backing Obama, a first-term Illinois senator who would be the country's first black president. The endo...
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Romney insinuates that McCain is a false Republican but a true Democrat
2008-01-28 15:45:00
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. -- At a small airport rally here, Mitt Romney was in the middle of criticizing John McCain?s legislative record when someone in the audience shouted, ?He?s a Democrat !? ?I don?t think McCain?s a Democrat ? but I do recall a story that he was thinking about being John Kerry?s running mate?he gave that some thought,? Romney said. ?Had someone asked me that question, there would not have been a nanosecond of thought about it. It would?ve been an immediate laugh. And of course, if someone asked him if he would consider me as a running mate, he would have also laughed immediately.? The Romney campaign has argued that McCain is not a true conservative. It has gleefully highlighted McCain?s endorsement by the liberal New York Times editorial board and Bill Clinton?s recent comment that the Arizona senator has a very friendly relationship with his wife Hillary. ?So, we are different,? Romney said at this morning?s rally. ?I?m conservative.?
More About: Republican , Today , True

Romney Praises Dead Mormon President
2008-01-28 15:37:00
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. -- At an early-morning press conference at a Texaco gas station, Mitt Romney remarked on the death of Gordon B. Hinckley, the Mormon church president who passed away yesterday at the age of 97. ?We will miss him as a family, respect him as a man of great character and courage, but particularly his humility and ability to touch the lives of each individual is something for which he will long be noted,? Romney said. ?His ability also to talk to people throughout the world and to make close relationships with people in the public sector and in the media distinguish him as one of the great leaders in our faith.? Romney, a Mormon, knew Hinckley through his work leading the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The former Massachusetts governor recalled a meeting he had with Hinckley, in which the LDS president showed such an impressive knowledge of detail of Salt Lake City that he knew the sewer system would be an obstacle for an event that was being planned on ...
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Primary votes will count, Florida Democrats say
2008-01-28 15:31:00
MIAMI (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidates have swarmed through Florida looking for votes but a family squabble has kept Democratic rivals out of the state or reduced them to sneaking inside its borders. As the fourth-most-populous state heads into its presidential primary election on Tuesday, Democrats hoping to unseat President George W. Bush's Republican Party are betting that all will be forgiven in a dispute that stripped Florida Democrats of their voting clout. "I believe that it absolutely will happen," Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman said. "Our voices do count and we're going to be heard and we're going to vote." In the labyrinthine process to choose party nominees for the November election, the national parties set the rules and decide who goes first in the state-by-state race. Florida jumped the queue by moving up its primary election to January 29, hoping to have more of a say in the selection of candidates. The Republican National Commi...
More About: Politics , Today , Primary

McCain Edges into Lead in Florida
2008-01-28 15:16:00
Republican John McCain opened a narrow lead on rival Mitt Romney ahead of a critical Florida primary after picking up the endorsement of Gov. Charlie Crist, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Monday. McCain gained 3 points overnight after winning the Florida governor's backing on Saturday. The shift broke a tie at 30 percent and pushed McCain, an Arizona senator, into a 33 percent to 30 percent lead on Romney before Tuesday's primary. The margin of error in the poll is 3.4 percentage points.
More About: Republicans , Today , Giuliani

McCain, straight talker?
2008-01-27 21:47:00
Marc Ambinder on the McCain-Romney spat on the Iraq war ... Neck and neck with Mitt Romney here, Sen. John McCain sought to the pull the inter-campaign conversation away from the economy and back into his wheelhouse Saturday, dredging up an April 2007 quote from Mitt Romney and misleadingly suggesting that Romney agreed with Democrats' plans to set a withdrawal timetable for Iraq. "Gov. Romney wanted to set a date for withdrawal similar to what the democrats are seeking which would have led to the victory of Al-Qaeda in my view," McCain said, according to CBS News' Dante Higgins. As proof, McCain's campaign directed reporters to an April 2007 interview with ABC News where Romney said that the next "president and Prime Minister al-Maliki have to have a series of timetables and milestones that they speak about." That quote was derided by McCain at the time as a "secret timetable," although Romney never said he favored a particular withdrawal date and did not advocate an inf...
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Cheney's Daughter Joins Romney Camp
2008-01-27 21:43:00
Liz Cheney, one of Vice President Dick Cheney's daughters, has signed onto Mitt Romney 's presidential campaign as a senior foreign policy adviser. Cheney most recently worked in the State Department handling Middle East affairs. While her father and President Bush have both vowed to remain neutral as their fellow Republicans battle it out for the GOP nomination, the endorsement is likely to be well received among conservatives who comprise a critical primary voting bloc in both Florida, which votes Tuesday, and the 20-odd states voting Feb. 5. Romney has also enjoyed the support of aides with ties to the Bush family, including top assistants to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former President George H.W. Bush. Liz Cheney, 41, is the elder of Dick and Lynne Cheney's two daughters. Her younger sister, Mary, has been more prominently in the public eye after revealing she is a lesbian and having a son last year with her partner, Heather Poe, despite the administration's opposit...
More About: Today , Sexuality , Camp , Daughter

Despite Wealth, Romney Keeps Fundraising
2008-01-27 21:32:00
Mitt Romney 's millions aren't limitless, nor is his willingness to spend them, so the Republican presidential contender has begun taking valuable time from his primary campaign to raise money from outsiders. Once in Massachusetts the day after the New Hampshire primary, three times here in Florida this weekend and three more times this coming week in California, Romney has scheduled fundraisers to underwrite the expense of his campaign. He once hoped to cut the race short with back-to-back wins in Iowa and New Hampshire. But second-place finishes in both states extended his fight at least through the virtual national primary on Feb. 5. Rivals have accused the former venture capitalist of trying to buy the White House with personal donations thought to exceed $35 million. Romney's wealth has been estimated at up to $250 million. Romney insists he's trying to blend his own fortune with outside money to avoid the problems other candidates have faced. Mike Huckabee has had to cu...
More About: Politics , Wealth , Fundraising , Today

Edwards keeps on running in presidential race
2008-01-27 21:10:00
COLUMBIA, South Carolina (Reuters) - John Edwards just keeps on running. He hasn't won a single contest in the Democratic race for the U.S. presidential nomination but the millionaire lawyer with the movie star smile still hopes to be a player in the November election. Edwards suffered a blow to his struggling White House bid with a disappointing third-place finish in Saturday's primary election in his native South Carolina -- the only state he had managed to win in his failed 2004 presidential bid. But the former trial attorney and 2004 vice presidential nominee, who had hoped to win over voters by focusing on his humble roots and a pledge to combat U.S. poverty, will not quit before "Super Tuesday" early next month, when 22 states vote.
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Independents to Help Pick Nominees on Super Tuesday
2008-01-27 20:58:00
More than half the states holding presidential contests next month on Super Tuesday allow unaffiliated voters to participate, giving millions of independents a chance to shape what is usually an insider affair among Democratic and Republican loyalists. Two of those states - California and New Jersey - together have nearly 6 million unaffiliated voters who will be allowed to cast ballots. Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts and Alabama are among other prized catches with millions of independents eligible for the Feb. 5 contests. The open voting is widely considered to benefit Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain, who have fared well among independents in recent polls and primaries. It also is reflected in Obama's words, from his outreach to Republican voters to his recent credit to Ronald Reagan in the context of elections that represent shifts in political direction. "Obama's trying to do two things at once. On the one hand, energize the liberal base, but a...
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Democrats Look Ahead to Super Tuesday
2008-01-27 20:52:00
Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, each claiming a pair of early victories, now leave the concentrated campaigning of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina for an unwieldy and costly 10-day dash through 22 states that hold presidential primaries or caucuses Feb. 5. Obama's surprisingly easy victory in South Carolina puts greater pressure on the New York senator to carry states she long has considered her strengths, including New York, Arkansas, Connecticut and the megastate of California. Obama's overwhelming support from South Carolina's black Democrats boosts his hopes of winning three other former Confederate states voting Feb. 5: Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee. The two candidates underscored those states' importance immediately. Clinton campaigned Saturday night in Nashville, and Obama traveled Sunday to Macon, Ga., and was then going on to Birmingham, Ala. Despite his huge win Saturday, Obama faces serious challenges. He must improve his showing among w...
More About: Politics , Democrats , Today , Super , Tuesday

Obama Routs Clinton in South Carolina
2008-01-27 20:25:00
Barack Obama routed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the racially charged South Carolina primary Saturday night, regaining campaign momentum in the prelude to a Feb. 5 coast-to-coast competition for more than 1,600 Democratic National Convention delegates. "The choice in this election is not about regions or religions or genders," Obama said at a boisterous victory rally. "It's not about rich versus poor, young versus old and it's not about black versus white. It's about the past versus the future." The audience chanted "Race doesn't matter" as it awaited Obama to make his appearance after rolling up 55 percent of the vote in a three-way race. But it did, in a primary that shattered turnout records. About half the voters were black, according to polling place interviews, and four out of five of them supported Obama. Black women turned out in particularly large numbers. Obama, the first-term Illinois senator, got about a quarter of the white vote while Clinton and former Sen. John E...
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Obama Walks a Tricky Racial Line
2008-01-26 15:52:00
Barack Obama is walking a tricky racial line, trying to excite black support in the South without getting tagged as "the black candidate" and scaring off anybody else. At a spaghetti dinner in the basement of a black church this week, he told a cheering crowd the civil rights movement started from the bottom up, with marches and boycotts. "That's how change comes," he said, linking black civil rights to his own campaign slogan. But here in South Carolina, which has its Democratic primary Saturday, he also says over and over that color doesn't matter. A new McClatchy/MSNBC poll holds warning signs for Obama. He leads Hillary Rodham Clinton in South Carolina, but his support among white Democrats fell in one week from 20 percent to a mere 10 percent after race became more of an issue in the campaign. Blacks comprise large portions of the Democratic electorate in Deep South states, and they could help Obama win a handful of primaries, including South Carolina's. Indeed, after th...
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Tentative deal reached on economic package
2008-01-24 22:06:00
The White House and the Democratic-led Congress on Thursday reached a tentative deal on an economic stimulus package of tax rebates for families and incentives for business investment with a cost that a top Democrat said may exceed $150 billion. Aimed at warding off a recession in the world's largest economy, the deal provides for tax rebates of up to $600 for individuals and $1,200 for married couples along with tax breaks for business investment. The package was hammered out in negotiations that marked a rare show of cooperation between President George W. Bush and the Democratic lawmakers. The plan also includes provisions aimed at shoring up the battered housing market by boosting the limits on the size of mortgages that can be financed by housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Confirming the deal to reporters, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid emphasized that the plan, which he hoped could be sent to Bush's desk to be signed by mid-February, could undergo changes. "W...
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