The O'CONNOR Factor

Obama Sign In Yard Stirs Up Neighbors

2008-09-13T00:03:00.000-05:00

A sign in one Barefoot Bay yard is stirring up a controversy. Neighbors of Andy Lacasse say the sign, which says "OBAMA HALF-BREED MUSLIN " breaches the fine line between free speech and inappropriateness. "I got nothing good to say about Obama," Lacasse told local news. Lacasse put the sign in his front yard four days ago. "If I see anybody touching that sign, I got a club sitting right over there," Lacasse said. The Korean War veteran said he was a registered Democrat until Obama won the nomination. "That's the Democratic Party.They're nothing but a bunch of cutthroats. Like I always said, you show me an honest politician, I'll show you an honest thief," Lacasse said. But Lacasse's neighbors are not all content with letting him show his opinion where everyone can see it. "When you use words in that nature, people tend to discount anything you have to say," said Steve Rice. "If you're going to attract attention, at least make sure your spelling is right." Rice was referring to the misspelling of Muslim. He lives a couple streets away and says everyone is talking about the sign. He said he has no problem with free speech. He just doesn't think it's appropriate to bring race into the issue.Rice dropped by to chat with Lacasse, whom he hadn't met before. They talked about campaign tactics and the fact Rice was a Clinton supporter. "Are you happy what they did to her?" Lacasse asked. "Of course not, but am I going to post a sign going after a race or group of people because of it? No, I'm going to say vote for someone else," Rice replied. "Look what he's doing to Palin. Come on. He got people going to Alaska, looking for something to say bad about her," Lacasse said. Lacasse said he plans to put an even bigger sign in place of the small handmade one that is already there.

Muammar Gaddafi Endorses Barack Hussein Obama

2008-09-11T00:03:00.000-05:00

Where Is Kim Jong Il?

2008-09-07T00:03:00.000-05:00

Speculation was mounting last night over the health of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il. He has not been seen in public for more than three weeks, and, according to a source who has seen intelligence reports, five Chinese physicians entered North Korea about a week ago and are still there.The 66-year-old leader was last seen on 14 August, when he inspected a military unit. State media carry reports every time Mr Kim attends a public event, but never comment on his health.An official with South Korea's main spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, has said Mr Kim has chronic heart disease and diabetes but that his illnesses have not affected his public duties. North Korea next week marks 60 years since its foundation. An annual military parade is usually staged on the anniversary. If Mr Kim doesn't attend, this may indicate his health has worsened, South Korean officials believe.

GOP Wants Barr Barred From Pa. Ballot

2008-08-22T00:03:00.000-05:00

Pennsylvania Republicans want Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr booted from the state’s ballot, alleging shady dealings by local Libertarians. Meanwhile, the Barr camp blamed Republican presumptive nominee Sen. John McCain for trying to shove him off the ballot and demanded that McCain personally intervene. Cumberland County GOP chairman Victor Stabile, an attorney who filed suit to remove Barr, said he’s fine with third-party candidates, but is crying foul because Libertarians listed Rochelle Etzel of Clarion County as their prospective presidential candidate when gathering petition signatures to put a nominee on the ballot. Stabile acknowledged that state law allows parties to replace a candidate who withdraws, but said Pennsylvania Libertarians never intended for Etzel to run. “The problem we have is that, as we understand it, and based upon the evidence that I’ve seen is that they circulated these petitions with Etzel’s name, never intending her to be the candidate," Stabile said. "They went to the convention, nominated Barr, and then she withdrew.” Stabile said his court filing cites internal Libertarian e-mail indicating that they intended to nominate Barr, not Etzel, and likened it to voter fraud. “We have a horrible problem in this state with voter fraud,” Stabile said. “This is just another variety of that.You can’t go around and, under false pretenses, saying ‘Hey, sign this petition.'” But according to the Barr camp, the lawsuit is nothing more than a ploy to dislodge Barr’s Pennsylvania campaign. Barr, a former Republican congressman from Georgia, runs on a conservative platform that some fear could splinter the McCain vote. "This move by the McCain campaign completely contradicts everything John McCain stood for in 2000 when his competitors were trying to keep him off the ballot," Barr said in a statement issued Thursday. "McCain has become a part of the same corrupted machine he spoke vehemently against only eight years ago." In his statement, Barr accuses McCain of hypocrisy, citing a New York Times report from the 2000 election cycle that detailed McCain’s struggle with George W. Bush to get on the New York ballot. The Times quoted McCain as saying: ''People should be able to get on the ballot in states. I'm sure that if Gov. Bush told them, don't do that, don't remove McCain's name, they would respond. Everybody knows that I am a legitimate candidate. I should be on the ballot.'' McCain spokesman Paul Lindsay defered all questions to the Pennsylvania GOP. "They're the ones who are handling that suit," Lindsay said. Calls to the Pennsylvania Libertarian party were not immediately returned Thursday night.

Obama, Indonesian Citizen?

2008-08-18T00:03:00.000-05:00

Was Sen. Barack Obama a citizen of Indonesia at any point in his life? That question has been circulating on the blogosphere with increased fury the past few days, ever since a photograph emerged of Obama's school registration papers as a child in Indonesia – the world's most populous Muslim nation – showing the presidential candidate listed as a "Muslim" with "Indonesian" citizenship. An investigation into Indonesian citizenship law and a review of Obama's biography and travels suggest the Illinois senator at one point may have been a citizen of Indonesia. That would not necessarily disqualify Obama to run for president, but it could raise loyalty concerns. A 2007 Associated Press photograph taken by Tatan Syuflana, an Indonesian AP reporter and photographer, surfaced last week on the Daylife.com photographic website showing an image of Obama's registration card at Indonesia's Fransiskus Assisi school, a Catholic institution. In the picture, Obama is registered under the name Barry Soetoro by his step-father, Lolo Soetoro. The school card lists Barry Soetoro as a Indonesian citizen born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His religion is listed as Muslim. Jack Stokes, manager of media relations for the AP, confirmed to WND the picture is indeed an AP photo. It was supposed to accompany an AP story last January refuting charges that Obama attended an Islamist school, but the picture was not used. After attending the Assisi Primary School, Obama was later enrolled at SDN Menteng 1, an Indonesian public school.Obama's campaign did not return repeated WND phone calls and e-mail queries the past week asking for a clarification regarding the school documentation listing the presidential candidate's citizenship as Indonesian. Obama spokesmen have in the past stated the candidate is a natural-born citizen amid rumors he may have been born in his father's home country of Kenya, but the campaign has not addressed whether Obama became a citizen of Indonesia at any point. Obama's American mother, Ann Dunham, separated from her first husband, Barack Obama Sr., in 1963 when the presidential candidate was two years old. Dunham and Obama Sr. are reported to have later divorced. Dunham married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian, and moved to Indonesia sometime between 1966 and 1967. It was not clear whether Soetoro adopted Obama, either in Hawaii or in Indonesia, but there is strong circumstantial evidence that he did as far as Indonesian law was concerned. In Indonesia, which was under tight rule in 1967, Obama clearly took on the last name of his stepfather in school registration documents. All Indonesian students were required to carry government identity cards, or Karty Tanda Pendudak's, which needed to bear the student's legal name, which should be matched in public school registration filings. Following his enrollment at the private Assisi school, Obama attended public schooling in Indonesia until he returned to Hawaii at age 10. According to Indonesian legal experts, it was difficult to enroll non-Indonesian citizens in public schooling. Obama arrived in Indonesia at about the age of five according to most accounts, although it was possible he arrived at the age of six, according to a few sources. If Lolo Soetoro adopted Obama at age five or younger, than Obama would automatically have become an Indonesian citizen according to the country's laws in the 1960's, which stipulated any child aged five or younger adopted by an Indonesian father is immediately granted Indonesian citizenship upon completion of the adoption process. Lolo Soetoro could have adopted Obama in Hawaii, although such an adoption would not have necessarily been recognized by Indonesia. Indonesian law at the time also did not recognize duel citizenship, meaning if Obama became Indonesian, then as far as that country was concerned, his U.S. citizenship was no longer recognized by Indonesia. But U.S. law would still recognize Obama as an American citizen.In a revelation that raised a few eyebrows, Obama last April disclosed he traveled as a college student to Pakistan in 1981. "I traveled to Pakistan when I was in college – I knew what Sunni and Shia was [sic] before I joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee," Obama reportedly stated at a fundraising event. The senator had not previously discussed any trip to Pakistan, either in his books or in scores of policy talks regarding Pakistan. Prompted by Obama's statements, ABC News contacted the presidential candidate's campaign, which affirmed that in 1981 – the year Obama transferred from Occidental College to Columbia University – Obama visited his mother and sister Maya in Indonesia. Obama then went on to Pakistan with a friend from college whose family was from that country, the campaign said. Obama was in Pakistan for about three weeks, said the campaign, staying with his friend's family in Karachi and also visiting Hyderabad in Southern India. Pakistan in 1981 was under military rule. It was difficult for U.S. citizens to travel to the country without assistance. It would have been easier for someone to enter Pakistan on an Indonesian passport. If Obama indeed possessed Indonesian citizenship as a child, it is unlikely he retains such citizenship. The country's bylaws require any Indonesian citizen living abroad for more than five years to formally declare his intention to return, otherwise risk losing his citizenship status. The law does not necessarily mean Indonesian citizenship would be immediately lost. The law can be overruled by ministerial order. Obama's registration in Indonesia under the name "Barry Soetoro" also raises questions as to whether he adopted that name in the U.S. at any time. According to Illinois state filings, when Obama registered as an attorney in 1991, he stated he did not have any former names.

Barr Is Best Gun Candidate

2008-08-14T00:03:00.000-05:00

While defending Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's record, Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Tuesday that Montana voters whose main issue is guns might consider voting for Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr instead of either Obama or Republican John McCain. Schweitzer said he doesn't believe McCain can point to any edge over Obama with voters on the gun issue because the Republican senator sponsored a 2004 amendment to require criminal background checks on all firearms transactions at gun shows. Still, Schweitzer, a Democrat endorsed by the NRA, conceded that neither Obama nor McCain “are the favorites of the NRA.” “If guns are your primary issue, you're probably not going to like either of these guys,” Schweitzer said during an telephone news conference put on by the Obama campaign. He said a third option for voters for whom guns is their primary issue is to vote for Barr, a former Georgia congressman, “if you're absolutely not going to vote for McCain or Obama on guns.” The NRA has given Barr a grade of A-plus, while handing McCain a C and giving Obama an F for their votes on gun-related issues in Congress over the years. Schweitzer, who said he enjoys going to gun shows, said McCain's amendment could have shut down them down in Montana and elsewhere.As for Obama, Schweitzer said, “He ain't going to take your gun away. He ain't ever going to take your gun away.” Obama also favors improving access to public lands for hunting, camping and fishing, Schweitzer said, contrary to the Bush administration's efforts to limit public access. Obama campaign spokesman Caleb Weaver said later that he doesn't believe Schweitzer was really suggesting that Montanans vote for Barr. “My understanding is that Gov. Schweitzer's point was that gun owners have nothing to fear from Sen. Obama, and because Sen. McCain has also taken positions at odds with (the) NRA on some key issues, such as the gun show loophole, voters who make their decision only on the gun issue will find that neither McCain or Obama are entirely acceptable,” Weaver said. In response, Republican National Committee spokesman Bill Riggs said that Schweitzer knows that Obama is “possibly the most anti-gun candidate to ever seek the presidency and even predicted he would not win Montana.” “John McCain worked to ensure citizens continue to have the right to purchase firearms at gun shows by instituting an instant background check,” Riggs said. He said that Obama, in a questionnaire he filled out while running for the Illinois Senate, said he opposed “the manufacture, sale, and possession of firearms” Riggs called the news conference “just more political posturing from the Obama campaign to try to divert attention from his actual record.”During the conference call, Steve Hildebrand, Obama's national deputy campaign manager, said the Obama campaign believes Montana is up for grabs along with six other states that often vote Republican for president - Alaska, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, North Dakota and Virginia. The Obama campaign believes they have a good chance of winning these seven state. “We are spending significant resources here,” Hildebrand said. “It's unmatched for a Democratic campaign in Montana. We have a giant volunteer structure.” Obama campaigned here three times in the primary election and spent the Fourth of July holiday in Butte with his wife and two children. Obama's national television ads have been running in Montana. He said the campaign's goal is to have Montanans talking with each other about Obama. So far, the campaign has 14,000 active volunteers in Montana, 1,100 team members and 40 team captains, said Mike Dorsey, Obama's Montana campaign director. Those numbers are expected to grow significantly between now and Nov. 4. But those numbers today would enable the Obama campaign to knock on 363,000 doors of their neighbors and call 687,000 voters in their towns through the get-out-the-vote effort in a month, Dorsey said. In addition, Dorsey announced that Obama's campaign has opened 10 more offices in addition to the six previously open in Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Great Falls, Helena and Missoula. The newest Obama offices opened in Bigfork, Dillon, Glendive, Hamilton, Havre, Kalispell, Livingston, Miles City, Whitefish and Wolf Point.

Communist Party Backs Obama

2008-08-13T00:03:00.000-05:00

Barack Obama is not a left candidate. This fact has seemingly surprised a number of progressive people who are bemoaning Obama’s “shift to the center.” (Right-wingers are happy to join them, suggesting Obama is a “flip-flopper.”) It’s sad that some who seek progressive change are missing the forest for the trees. But they will not dampen the wide and deep enthusiasm for blocking a third Bush term represented by John McCain, or for bringing Obama by a landslide into the White House with a large Democratic congressional majority. A broad multiclass, multiracial movement is converging around Obama’s “Hope, change and unity” campaign because they see in it the thrilling opportunity to end 30 years of ultra-right rule and move our nation forward with a broadly progressive agenda. This diverse movement combines a variety of political currents and aims in a working coalition that is crucial to social progress at this point. At the core are America’s working families, of all hues and ethnicities, whose determination to move forward does not depend on, and will not be diverted by, the daily twists and turns of this watershed presidential campaign. They are taking the long view.Notably, the labor movement has stepped up its independent mobilization for this election. It is leading an unprecedented campaign to educate and unify its ranks to elect the nation’s first African American president. Last week, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka told the Steelworkers convention that there is “no evil that’s inflicted more pain and more suffering than racism — and it’s something we in the labor movement have a special responsibility to challenge.” If Obama’s candidacy represented nothing more than the spark for this profound initiative to unite the working class and defeat the pernicious influence of racism, it would be a transformative candidacy that would advance progressive politics for the long term. The struggle to defeat the ultra-right and turn our country on a positive path will not end with Obama’s election. But that step will shift the ground for successful struggles going forward. One thing is clear. None of the people’s struggles — from peace to universal health care to an economy that puts Main Street before Wall Street — will advance if McCain wins in November. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize.

Russia-Georgia Conflict Demonstrates Importance Of Avoiding Unnecessary Foreign Entanglements

2008-08-12T00:03:00.000-05:00

“George Washington long ago warned America against ‘entangling alliances,’ and he was right,” says Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate for President. “Russia and Georgia risk falling into a full-scale war in which the U.S. can and hopefully will avoid any involvement. But had Georgia been a member of NATO we would now be risking a full-scale confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia,” Barr observes. “Obviously, America should encourage both countries to back down and resolve their differences peacefully,” explains Barr. But “the status of South Ossetia, as well as Abkhazia, another Russian-supported separatist zone within Georgia, matters a lot more to Russia, on which the two territories border, than to the U.S. Moreover, Washington itself set a precedent for Russia when it intervened in Kosovo a decade ago, attacking Serbia to win independence for the separatist ethnic-Albanian majority,” notes Barr. “The purpose of alliances is to defend America,” says Barr. “We should not create or expand alliances where the U.S. does not have vital interests. If the Europeans want to defend distant countries like Georgia, they can do so—after all, the European Union has a larger population and bigger GDP than America, without any of Washington’s other global military commitments.It is time for Europe to accept responsibility for its own security.” “Any war is tragic, but not every war requires American intervention,” explains Barr. “We can do our best to mediate between Russia and Georgia, but we should avoid any military involvement. It is time to put the defense of America back into America’s defense policy.” Bob Barr represented the 7th District of Georgia in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, where he served as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, as Vice-Chairman of the Government Reform Committee, and as a member of the Committee on Financial Services. Prior to his congressional career, Barr was appointed by President Reagan to serve as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and also served as an official with the CIA. Since leaving Congress, Barr has been practicing law and has teamed up with groups ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the American Conservative Union to actively advocate every American citizens’ right to privacy and other civil liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. Along with this, Bob is committed to helping elect leaders who will strive for smaller government, lower taxes and abundant individual freedom.

11 Other Candidates Also In Presidential Race

2008-08-11T00:03:00.000-05:00

As US media devote wall-to-wall coverage to the bitter race between Barack Obama and John McCain for the White House, it's easy to forget there are 11 other candidates running for president. None of them has any chance of actually winning though, and few are likely to become household names like Democrat Obama and his Republican rival McCain locked in battle with just three months to go until the November 4 elections. Instead their ambitions are more modest, and their first hurdle is to get their names added onto the ballot in as many states as possible. It is a difficult task, requiring a grass-roots organization that many lack as well as funds, again often in short supply for candidates seeking to work outside of the traditional Democratic and Republican party behmoths. Legislation also varies from state to state. Signatures have to be collected and draconian timetables have to be adhered to. But some, such as independent consumer champion Ralph Nader and Libertarian Party candidate Bob Barr, could end up being a thorn in the side for both the Illinois senator Obama and his rival from Arizona. Mere mention of Nader's name still triggers howls of fury from Democrats who blame him for Al Gore's defeat in the 2000 presidential elections, when George W. Bush won in Florida by just 537 votes.Standing as a Green party candidate then, Nader had snapped up some 97,000 votes in the Sunshine State. Similarly Barr, a representative for southern Georgia from 1995-2003, who played a key role in the congressional impeachment of former president Bill Clinton, could siphon off votes from McCain this time round. "Barr conceivably could be to John McCain what Ralph Nader was to Al Gore in 2000: ruinous," wrote political columnist George Will in Newsweek magazine. A leading conservative voice and champion of indivdiual liberties, Barr, a former Republican, broke with the Bush administration after the Patriot Act was introduced in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Barr will appear on the ballots in at least 34 states, some of which such as northern Ohio and western Nevada are seen as key swing states this year. In Georgia, where polls give McCain only a seven-point advantage over Obama, Barr's presence could significantly muddy the vote. Barr himself faces competition from another former Republican, Chuck Baldwin, who is running as a candidate for the Constitution Party, which has an election manifesto very similar to the Libertarian's. Baldwin is standing in at least 24 states. Nader, 74, is making his fifth tilt at the White House, this time as an independent and will be running in at least 29 states, including key battleground Michigan. Nader, who is of Lebanese origin, could win significant support among the large Arab-American community in the northern state, and according to some polls could even take some 25 percent of their vote."You have in Ralph Nader's candidacy a genuine Arab-American who has a lot of notoriety and publicity. It would be detrimental to Obama's candidacy," said Morley Winograd, former chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party. The Green Party has chosen as its candidate African-American former Democratic congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who will be on the ballot in 24 states. Her presence could handicap Obama by slicing into his support among women and pacifists against the Iraq war. "Obama cannot take the peace vote for granted. There are peace candidates running from across the political spectrum," said Kevin Zeese, executive director of Voters for Peace. "On the right are Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin. On the left are Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader. He needs to earn the vote of Americans opposed to further war." At least three of the others who have thrown their hats into the ring are standing under a Socialist ticket, including Gloria La Riva who is the candidate for a pro-Castro party defending the interests of Cuba. There is also a former sports agent standing for the conservative Boston Tea Party, as well as pastor Gene Amondson who won't be quaffing any champagne on election night. He is the candidate for the temperance Prohibition Party.

Obama's "Birth Certificate" Forged With Sister Maya's Original

2008-08-09T00:03:00.000-05:00

Independent analysts, working separately, claim to have discovered that the original Hawaiian Certificate of Live Birth used in the fabrication of the Barack Obama "birth certificate" belongs to the Presidential candidate's younger half-sister, Maya. Examining the high resolution image originally posted by the "Daily Kos" left-wing blog and subsequently claimed as authentic by the campaign, and posted in lower resolution on the campaign official "Fight the Smears" website, at least two analysts have been able to independently discern the name "Maya Kassandra Soetoro" from artifacts left behind in the process of forging a new fake document for Barack from an image of Maya's original document. Additional confirmatory information, such as her birthday and the nationality of her father have also been resurrected. A full report documenting all details is to be published in the coming days. Israel Insider has not yet seen proof that would validate the claim. The dramatic claim comes just a day after a forensic specialist, posting on the Texas Darlin blog under the name Techdude (his real name is known to Israel Insider), announced the discovery of the identity of the original owner of the COLB document used in the forgery but would initially only indicate that it was a woman born in the 1970's. However, he provided enough clues to enable another graphic specialist (screen name KG) to independently reproduce the incriminating evidence. (Techdude had said that he wanted to give the guilty parties time to confess to the forgery, but also to allow independent confirmation of his discovery. He even offered to pay for a trip to Vegas to the first person to discover the name and detail the method by which it was discovered.)According to Texas Darlin, which exclusively published these latest revelations, there is more to come: "In the coming days, Techdude will provide a final report that fully discloses his discovery, and provides all the fancy technical data, images, formulae etc. that everyone has come to expect. He will respond to questions posted on this blog to the best of his ability. (NOTE: KG has asked Techdude to donate the trip funds to help retire Hillary's debt, and Techdude has agreed.)" In the meantime, KG has posted details on how artifacts of the name "Maya Kassandra Soetero" were discerned. The revelation that the COLB of Obama's own sister was evidently used to create the electronic forgery represents what supporters of this analysis claim is a "smoking gun" that appears to implicate Senator Obama directly. Hawaii law limits access to vital records to family members only, a fact which slowed down the ability of researchers to compare the purported Obama "birth certificate" -- which displayed from the start a peculiar provenance and inexplicable features -- to genuine specimens. Therefore, it would seem that either Maya K. Soetoro-Ng (as she is now called) supplied the document or its image to half-brother Barack or his campaign, or Obama/his campaign used it without her permission.Embossed seal of the State of Hawaii absent from the purported "birth certificate" of Barack ObamaIt appears unlikely, to say the least, that the campaign would have independently managed to obtain Maya's COLB, forged Barak's fake COLB using Maya's original, and verified the result as genuine without the candidate's knowledge and involvement. This is particularly true given the high profile treatment with which the campaign has treated the purported veracity of the supposed "birth certificate" in its Fight the Smears website. The apparent use of the Soetero document increases the likelihood of direct Obama involvement in the supply, production, and/or propagation of the forgery. The stakes couldn't be higher. Even the Snopes anti-rumor site acknowledges that Obama's constitutional fitness to be president depends solely on his being born in the United States, because his mother -- not yet 19 at the time of his birth -- would not have had a sufficient number of years as an adult citizen, according to the laws prevailing at the time, to pass on "natural born citizenship" automatically.There have been reports, so far unconfirmed, that Obama was born outside the country, either in Kenya, his presumed father's native land, or in Canada. The fact that the Obama campaign has been touting as genuine a forgery since June 12 will likely increase pressure to not only account for the fake but produce a genuine paper birth certificate. Obama, in his book Dreams from My Father, specifically mentioned having such a document in his possession, but it has not been submitted for public inspection or analysis if it in fact exists. As strident as the claims are with respect to the source of the purported Obama COLB, and despite the claimed ability to replicate Techdude's work, not all experts are convinced. Veteran forensic analyst Joseph Cannon expresses frustration with what he considers Techdude's vague instructions for "resurrecting" the artifacts that allegedly spell Maya's name.AJ Strata, who has been an extreme skeptic with respect to the fake certificate claims, believes this latest analysis is a "joke" from a "cult," proof that "the inmates have taken over the asylum." Indeed, there are still too many unanswered questions to reach a reliable assessment about the veracity of Techdude's claims for the hidden name. Much appears dependent on his ability to lay out replicable instructions and demonstrate graphics which show the hidden name appearing. He promises a full report in coming days. Until then, the jury is still out. Intriguingly, too, Maya Soetoro-Ng is believed to have been born outside the United States, in Indonesia, so her apparent ownership of a Hawaiian Certificate of Live Birth raises questions about how such a document could have been produced for an Indonesian-born girl. There do appear to be circumstances which would enable a foreign born child to get a US birth certificate, including a consular report of an overseas birth by an American citizen, or an adoption. Those factors and circumstances, too, may shed light on Barack Obama's citizenship status and his ability, or inability, to document it. Ironically, but perhaps not coincidentally, the Obama campaign has challenged the credentials of Republican opponent John McCain, because he makes no secret of being born out of the country, in Panama. But both of McCain's parents were Americans so, unlike Obama, are by statute able to pass on natural born citizen status to their foreign-born child.

National Poll: John McCain 42%, Barack Obama 41%, Bob Barr 2%

2008-08-06T00:03:00.000-05:00

Here are the latest results from the Zogby National Polls poll by Zogby International for Associated TV published on USAElectionPolls.com: There were 1011 voters polled on 7/31-8/1. McCain gained 20% and Obama lost 16% among voters ages 18-29. Obama still leads that group, 49%-38%. Among women, McCain closed 10 points on Obama, who still leads by a 43%-38% margin. Obama has lost what was an 11% lead among Independents. He and McCain are now tied.Obama had some slippage among Democrats, dropping from 83% to 74%. Obama’s support among single voters dropped by 19%, and he now leads McCain, 51%-37%. Even with African-Americans and Hispanics, Obama shows smaller margins. Pollster John Zogby: “The McCain camp seems to have turned lemons into lemonade. Huge crowds and mostly favorable press reviews of Obama’s overseas trip have been trumped by McCain’s attacks on Obama. Loss of support for Obama among young voters may also be due to his perceived reversals on issues they care about, such as the war and government eavesdropping.”

Poll Has Obama, McCain Tied

2008-08-03T00:03:00.000-05:00

Barack Obama and John McCain have moved into a statistical dead heat, according to the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update for the presidential general election, which tracks responses for July 28-30. Obama is supported by 45 percent of respondents, while 44 percent support McCain, the poll shows.Obama briefly held a 49 percent to 40 percent lead over McCain among registered voters "at the height of publicity surrounding his weeklong visit to Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East, and Europe," reports Gallup but he hasn't held on to it. "The story of the election through the summer months has been a close race that simply does not seem to want to change. Obama has generally been in the lead, and it is significant that McCain has never held even a 1-point lead among registered voters," reports Gallup.In other words, the race has been essentially stable. Don Frederick of LATimes.com's "Top of the Ticket" blog tells readers he will be "watching the track closely over the next couple of days to see if ... the McCain camp's spot tying, improbably to many, Obama with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears has a clear effect on either candidate's standing." Gallup editor Frank Newport writes: "It may be the conventions in late August and early September that will offer the next potential timeframe for significant and/or sustained change."

Barr On Wiccan Issue

2008-07-31T00:03:00.000-05:00

There’s a certain amount of humiliation that comes with running as a third-party candidate for president. The federal deficit, loose nukes, angry Muslims, the economy — these are topics that the major party candidates are asked to address. But if you’re Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate, there are times when your campaign must seem like a never-ending Star Trek convention, with no Scotty to beam him up.This is a recent blog entry on Dispatches from the Culture Wars: I got to ask Barr a question I’ve wanted to ask him for quite some time. He’s repudiated and apologized for many of his previous positions and I asked him if he would repudiate his absurd anti-Wiccan crusade of 1999, when he wanted all Wiccans banned from the military. He said yes, with a bit of hemming and hawing. He said that he had reports from several military leaders that Wiccans doing rituals on military bases were causing problems and that’s why he did what he did, but that since that time it’s become clear that there are no problems with allowing Wiccans to serve and to practice their religion on military bases like any other religion.

Barr's Campaign Steps Up Appeals For Cash

2008-07-30T00:03:00.000-05:00

Bob Barr's Libertarian Party bid for the White House needs cash, but is NOT on the verge of being broke, Barr's campaign manager said Tuesday. Despite a fund-raising plea he sent out recently that said the campaign's progress "will stop dead in its tracks" without an immediate cash infusion, Russ Verney told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Barr has enough money to maintain his campaign at present levels. But that's not the goal, Verney said. "We're able to raise enough money to execute our plan, but we've got ambitions and that takes even more money," Verney said Tuesday. Those ambitions center around participating in the national debates with Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama. Barr, a former Republican congressman from Cobb County, has said he needs to be at 15 percent in the national polls by mid-September to qualify. He's yet to come close to that mark, although recent polls have shown him at or near 10 percent in several states, including New Hampshire, Nevada and Arizona. Money would help that effort by allowing Barr to buy advertising, do direct mail and other staples of national campaigns.Bob Barr (right) with his running mate, Wayne Allyn Root.Thus far the campaign has mostly been limited to personal appearances from Barr and his vice presidential nominee, Wayne Allen Root, as well using the Internet to raise cash and spread the word through Web videos, blogs and social networks like Facebook. But the money has been slow to come. Verney would not say how much cash the campaign currently has to spend, but Barr's June 30 monthly report to the Federal Election Commission put that figure at $68,000. His Web site, bobbarr2008.com, tracks fund-raising hour-by-hour. As of Tuesday afternoon the site said the campaign had raised about $550,000 toward its goal of $750,000 by Friday. "All campaigns, the big money flows right in close to the election," Verney said, "when there's a lot of public attention. Summertime is not a great fund-raising time and this year you have the added problem of $4 a gallon gasoline and a recession hanging over people's heads. We're asking people to give as early and often as they can." Daniel Adams, chairman of the Georgia Libertarian Party, said it's important to keep the current crunch in perspective. Barr, by polling as well as he has, is on pace to be the best-performing Libertarian Party candidate ever. "We're miles beyond any past Libertarian candidacy, so we're in unchartered territory," Adams said.

The Time for Liberty

2008-07-29T00:03:00.000-05:00

Bob Barr Says: Maintain Economic Growth & Find New Energy

2008-07-27T00:03:00.000-05:00

Bob Barr, former member of Congress from Georgia and Libertarian Party Candidate for President, Issued the following statement on energy and global warming: As America confronts a variety of domestic and foreign challenges in the future, it is essential that we preserve our prosperous, productive, and innovative economy. Without a strong economic foundation, it will be impossible for our nation to deal with the many serious financial, social, and environmental problems facing the U.S. One of the most complicated and controversial issues facing America is global warming. Although temperatures have increased in recent decades, the scientific community has been unable to make definitive judgments as to the past cause or future course of climate change. Indeed, the models which predict problems in the future did not predict the lack of any temperature increase over the last decade. Unfortunately, many climate processes are not yet clearly understood. Thus, we need to conduct more and better scientific research about climate change to assess likely problems in the future and develop appropriate solutions. More dialogue is key to understanding global warming and developing the best means of dealing with the important questions surrounding the phenomenon. This dialogue must include scientists from all sides of the issue, including those who are skeptical of the assertion that humans are primarily responsible for global temperature changes and that those changes pose a substantial danger to humanity. Moreover, we must develop cost-effective policies which will not undermine the U.S. economy. So-called cap and trade legislation, recently rejected by the U.S. Senate, would do grievous damage to the American economy, threatening to create a permanent recession by reversing industrial growth and destroying millions of jobs. Attempting to adjust global temperatures by artificially cutting energy consumption would undermine the very prosperous and innovative market system upon which we must rely for answers to everything from health care to international poverty to environmental protection. Our energy future must be built on a commitment to both find more conventional energy sources and expand use of alternative fuels. The U.S. has large deposits of petroleum, oil shale, and natural gas. Barriers to their development in the Outer Continental Shelf, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and other federal lands should be lowered or eliminated, which would provide Americans with a more secure source of energy over the short term and help bring down todays high prices, which are causing such economic hardship to so many Americans. Such steps would also allow us to begin seriously considering and developing alternative sources of energy that will be essential in the long term. The development of alternatives to fossil fuels would provide the country with many benefits, ranging from lower CO2 emissions to greater diversity of energy supplies. Given the failure of past government subsidy programs, this transformation can only be led by the private sector.The government must remove regulatory barriers, which limit the development of alternative as well as conventional energy sources. Moreover, public officials should cease their demagogic attacks on the energy industry, which has made money only by finding, refining, and transporting gasoline, natural gas, and heating oil for the American people. Vote-minded legislators risk creating an environment in which companies are punished for doing good, which will only make them more reluctant to invest in all technologies and fuels, alternative as well as conventional. Indeed, the challenge of promoting continuing energy innovation should cause us to reconsider other policies which discourage business investment and capital formation more generally. Americans for Tax Reform recently reported that the tax and regulatory burden rose at both the state and national level over the last year. Americas corporate income tax is one of the highest in the world, creating a self-inflicted economic wound. Congress now routinely votes for new spending programs for which we have no way to pay, putting our entire economic future at risk. The challenges that we face are serious, but I am convinced we can find solutions. We are more likely to develop policies that simultaneously promote economic growth, expand energy supplies, and lessen any adverse effects of climate change, if we promote a genuine dialogue among contending factions. Although I do not agree with the tax and regulatory policies advanced by former Vice President Al Gore, I do believe his call for greater reliance on alternative energy could be given positive effect by American industry. Only the market economy can balance his passion with the reality of preserving the growing economy upon which our future -- and that of our children and grandchildren -- depends. We must address the issue of climate change, but do so realistically, recognizing the importance of simultaneously expanding energy supplies and maintaining economic growth. Our greatest strength in confronting the problems of the future is our free market economy. Only by reducing government barriers to private research and development are we going to achieve the innovative, even transformational, changes necessary in the years and decades ahead. Barr represented the 7th District of Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, where he served as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, as Vice-Chairman of the Government Reform Committee, and as a member of the Committee on Financial Services. Prior to his congressional career, Barr was appointed by President Reagan to serve as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and also served as an official with the CIA. Since leaving Congress, Barr has been practicing law and has teamed up with groups ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the American Conservative Union to actively advocate every American citizens right to privacy and other civil liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. Along with this, Bob is committed to helping elect leaders who will strive for smaller government, lower taxes and abundant individual freedom.

Bob Barr Seeks New Coalition

2008-07-23T00:03:00.000-05:00

Libertarian Party Presidential candidate Bob Barr says he won't draw votes from likely Republican nominee John McCain. At an appearance Sunday in Houston, Barr, a former U.S. Congressman from Georgia, said he won't play the same role for Senator McCain, R-Ariz., that independent candidate Ralph Nader did for Democratic Party nominee Al Gore in 2000, the Houston Chronicle reported. Some observers say Nader's presence drew just enough liberal votes away from Gore to allow U.S. President George Bush to win that year."Somebody willing to vote for a big government Republican like John McCain is not going to switch to a small government candidate like Bob Barr," he told reporters, adding that he'll instead try to put together a bloc comprised of young people and disillusioned voters of all political persuasions. Barr is best known as a former Republican hardliner who helped lead impeachment efforts against then-U.S. President Bill Clinton for lying under oath about sexual improprieties.

Bob Barr: Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Bailout Unfair To Taxpayers

2008-07-16T00:03:00.000-05:00

The New Yorker Shows The Real Obama

2008-07-14T00:03:00.000-05:00

On the cover of the upcoming New Yorker: Satirical portrayal of Obama through the eyes of his opposition, or McCain recruitment poster? Senator Obama shrugged and said he had "no response" when asked about the cover on Sunday by CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic. The Obama campaign, on introspection, was more decisive on the issue; it might have appreciated the humor, if not for the delivery. The cover art, depicting Senator Obama in a turban, while wife Michelle, packing an assault rifle, shares a "fist bump" with him, is described by the New Yorker as artist's Barry Blitt's lampooning of "scare tactics and misinformation in the Presidential election to derail Barack Obama's campaign.""The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create," countered Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton. "But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree." "This is as offensive a caricature as any magazine could publish," one high-profile Obama backer told ABC News, "and I suspect that other Obama supporters like me are also thinking about not subscribing to or buying a magazine that trafficks (sic) in such trash." "We completely agree with the Obama campaign," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds added. "It’s tasteless and offensive."

McCain Stops In St. Paul To Rally Volunteers

2008-07-11T00:03:00.001-05:00

John McCain dropped in on a phone bank to tell campaign volunteers they can make or break him in Minnesota. McCain's brief stop at his regional campaign headquarters in a St. Paul warehouse was long enough for him to thank - and warn - about 125 supporters. The presumptive Republican nominee was trailing Barack Obama by 17 points in a recent statewide poll, and he said Minnesota is a battleground. "We're going to win this state because of your efforts and we can lose because of your lack of efforts. Let's have some straight talk," McCain said, to laughter and applause.Gov. Tim Pawlenty, McCain's national campaign co-chairman and a potential running mate, acknowledged that picking up Minnesota's 10 electoral votes - which haven't gone to a Republican since Richard Nixon - won't be easy. "The Upper Midwest and Minnesota in particular will be challenging - it's always challenging - for any Republican candidate for president," Pawlenty said before meeting McCain at the airport and riding on his campaign bus to the event.

Jesse Jackson Wants To Cut Off Obama’s Nuts

2008-07-10T00:03:00.000-05:00

Jesse Jackson made some "crude and hurtful" remarks about Barack Obama Wednesday next to a microphone that Jackson didn't know was still on. Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama. Jackson said Obama was "Barack.. he's been talking down to black people... I want to cut his nuts off." Jackson told reporters that the interview had wrapped up and he didn't realize his remarks were captured by live microphone. Jackson didn't elaborate on the context of his remarks, except to say he was trying to explain that Obama was hurting his relationship with black voters by recently conducting "moral" lectures at African-American churches."My appeal was for the moral content of his message to not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy which would be a corrective action for the lack of good choices that often led to their irresponsibility," Jackson said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon. "This is a sound bite in a broader conversation about urban policy and racial disparities. I feel very distressed because I'm supportive of this campaign and with the senator, what he has done and is doing," he said. "I said he comes down as speaking down to black people. The moral message must be a much broader message. What we need really is racial justice and urban policy and jobs and health care. That's a range of issues on the menu. Then I said something I regret was crude. It was very private. And very much a sound bite," he also said."

Libertarian Party Offers Only Real Alternative In November, Says Bob Barr

2008-07-09T00:03:00.001-05:00

"Americans are deeply dissatisfied with the direction their country is going and desperately want real change," says Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party presidential nominee. "But real change will not come from the two major parties, with their well-established commitment to the status quo. It will only come from outside the current system -- and through the Barr presidential campaign and the Libertarian Party." The American people have made their feelings known in the latest Zogby poll, which found that six percent of them favor Libertarian Party nominee Bob Barr. "And that is without benefiting from all of the media attention paid to the primaries and the big advertising campaigns already initiated by the other parties," notes Barr. At six percent "we have more than three times the support of any other alternative party," Barr explains. Seven percent of conservatives, 11 percent of independents, and 43 percent of libertarians said they backed the Barr campaign. Pollster John Zogby observed that "Bob Barr has some juice among conservatives..." With this level of support, "which will only grow as the Barr campaign's message of limited government and individual liberty reaches more people, it is only fair for the American people to include the Libertarian Party nominee along with the candidates of the Democratic and Republican parties in all public forums, from candidate town halls to national debates," says Barr."The November election should be about issues, not personalities," notes Barr. "The American people have suffered for too long from the big-spending policies and partisan antics of Republicans and Democrats alike in Washington." The country desperately needs an alternative. "The latest poll demonstrates that the one real alternative is the Bob Barr campaign and the Libertarian Party," Barr adds. Barr represented the 7th District of Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, where he served as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, as Vice-Chairman of the Government Reform Committee, and as a member of the Committee on Financial Services. Prior to his congressional career, Barr was appointed by President Reagan to serve as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and also served as an official with the CIA. Since leaving Congress, Barr has been practicing law and has teamed up with groups ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the American Conservative Union to actively advocate every American citizens' right to privacy and other civil liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. Along with this, Bob is committed to helping elect leaders who will strive for smaller government, lower taxes and abundant individual freedom.

Coleman Has Strong Lead In Senate Race, With Or Without Ventura

2008-07-08T00:03:00.000-05:00

Former Gov. Jesse Ventura would trim support from both Sen. Norm Coleman and Coleman's DFL challenger, Al Franken, if he were to enter the U.S. Senate race, a Survey USA poll has found. The poll, which was commissioned by a local TV news outlet and conducted of 700 Minnesota adults last week, showed Coleman winning a three-way match over Franken and Ventura. Forty-one percent of poll respondents said they would support Coleman, compared with 31 percent for Franken and 23 percent for Ventura. The margin of error on that question was plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.If Ventura doesn't enter the race, 52 percent said they support Coleman and 40 percent said they were for Franken. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points. Ventura has said he is considering running. The deadline for filing is mid-July. The poll also tested how things might change if former Senate candidate Mike Ciresi entered the race and beat Franken in a primary election this fall, thereby becoming the DFL candidate. Under that scenario, Coleman had 41 percent, Ciresi 28 percent and Ventura 26 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. Before he dropped out of the race in March, Ciresi said he would abide by the party's endorsement.

Libertarian Bob Barr Says GOP Is Played Out

2008-07-06T00:03:00.000-05:00

Libertarian Presidential candidate Bob Barr said that the Republican Party has utterly failed to present a "new program, new leadership or vision." "What's wrong with John McCain is symptomatic of what's wrong with the Republican Party in these first years of the 21st century," Barr said: "They talk one thing but do something different, and that's become very obvious to the American people." Barr said that he tends to agree with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on issues of civil liberties, while he tends to agree with McCain, a senator from Arizona, on issues of government spending and taxation. "Neither of these candidates is talking about the deep cuts in government spending and returning power to the people that we are," Barr said.Asked whether his presidential bid might cost McCain needed votes in the fall, Barr said that McCain has lost his way, in particular through his support of the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program, which Barr said "would provide the authority for the federal government to surveil American citizens in their own country." "This is a fundamental issue that goes to the very nature and power of our government, but nobody's really talking about it," Barr said. Barr was asked about his own positions as a congressman, when he voted for many of the measures and policies he now seems to oppose. He said he regretted voting for the Patriot Act. He saw his vote in favor of codifying marriage as between man and a woman as a proper exercise in returning the question to states. "That's a very conservative principle reflecting the fundamental notion of states' rights in our country," he said.

Barr: GOP Says One Thing And Does Another

2008-06-30T00:03:00.000-05:00

Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr, who has some Republicans worried that he might take votes from their nominee, on Sunday accused the GOP and its standard-bearer Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) of saying one thing and doing another. “What’s wrong with John McCain is symptomatic of what’s wrong with the Republican Party in these first years of the 21st century,” said Barr, a former Republican congressman from Georgia. “They talk one thing but do something different, and that’s become very obvious to the American people.” When asked about his potential role as spoiler, Barr said on Fox News Sunday that, “if [Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)] wins on November 4th and Sen. McCain and I lose, it will be because he presented a vision and a platform and a candidacy to the American people that resonated with a plurality of the voters.” Despite his former party affiliation, the Libertarian candidate also said that he did not necessarily view McCain as preferable over Obama. “This is very much a mixed bag. For example, on some of the civil liberties and privacy issues with which I and the Libertarian Party are very concerned, Sen. Obama clearly is much better,” he said. “On other issues, those relating to the cost of government and government spending, while neither candidate is good, Sen. Obama clearly would favor a more expansive federal spending policy.”Barr especially took issue with the GOP’s position on government surveillance of Americans. “This is a fundamental issue that goes to the very nature and power of our government, but nobody’s really talking about it,” he said. In the interview, the former lawmaker was pushed on his own record, with host Chris Wallace pointing out that Barr had supported the Patriot Act and backed the Iraq war. “I was wrong with regard to the Patriot Act, entrusting the administration with its assurances that the act would not be used and abused,” he said. “And I certainly was wrong, along with a lot of others in the Congress, who now realize that their vote in support of military operations in Iraq was not what the administration intended. They intended to occupy the country even though they didn’t tell us or the American people that at the time.” Barr also had to answer questions about wanting to run a national campaign on a shoestring budget. However, the candidate said that his campaign is just beginning, adding that his staff includes Ross Perot’s former campaign manager, deputy campaign manager and finance director. In addition, Barr said, the Libertarian Party has “an Internet team that worked for Ron Paul,” the Texas Republican who had shocked the establishment with his online fundraising prowess in the GOP primary.

Nader To Democrats: Stop Blaming Me For ’00 Election

2008-06-29T00:03:00.000-05:00

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is frustrated over his failed attempts to testify before congress on consumer issues and believes Democrats are still angry at him for the role his 2000 presidential candidacy played in the election of George Bush. In an interview with The Washington Times, Nader expresses frustration with the current state of politics on Capitol Hill and says it is the motivating force behind his sixth attempt at winning the White House as a third party candidate. The wealthy political activist and perennial competitor for the nation’s highest office believes Democrats still hold a grudge against him for marring up the first election of Bush over defeated Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore by 537 votes in Florida. Nader believes the 96,000 votes he garnered in Florida in the 2000 election is the sticking point with Democrats and the reason he’s being kept from participating on legislative issues in Washington. Nader says Democrats still erroneously believe the vast majority of those votes would have gone to Gore, ultimately tipping the scale in favor of their party’s beleaguered candidate. “They [the Democrats] are so small-minded to keep the myth up that it wasn't them that got Bush in the White House, it was Nader/LaDuke,” he says, referring to his 2000 vice presidential running mate in the hotly contested race.“To keep that myth and sustain it in the public's mind, they can't possibly associate with me or have me testify, even though they knew they [the Democrats] blew it in a thousand ways in 2000 and 2004.” Nader complains he isn’t given the same chance as other presumptive nominees to promote his candidacy’s objectives and is being denied the media opportunity to speak out on political issues he’s championed throughout his decades-long career. Nader suggests Democrats stop scapegoating him for their own failings and goes on to accuse the party of selling out to corporate interests they aren’t compelled to pull away from.“The liberals and progressives have lost their guts,” he chides. “They fight the one candidacy that has a chance of slightly shoehorning their recommendations inside the electoral arena. I don’t know a country in the world where you have to fight your traditional economic adversaries and your ideological allies.” Nader cites several examples of when he has been denied the opportunity to testify on such issues as President Bush’s nominations, or on policies regarding civil liberties and consumer affairs from which his career as a political advocate stems. “I used to be the most frequent person there," he reminds, but that now a “spite mentality prevents Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman,” in particular, from his being asked to testify. “If somebody that strong is worried about that peer group pressure, it tells you something,” he says, conferring that it’s been more than seven years since he last testified, ironically coinciding with the merciful end of the 2000 presidential debacle. Nader believes the 220-year old system of two-party, winner-take-all Electoral College duopoly that excludes third parties is archaic. “It’s insane,” he explains. “I understand the prison, but I don’t understand why [voters] don’t break out of it. There are millions of you.”

Bob Barr Calls Heller Decision On Gun Rights 'One Of Court's Most Important Rulings On Behalf Of Liberty'

2008-06-27T00:03:00.000-05:00

Today the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the individual right of Americans to own guns in District of Columbia v. Heller. The ruling "will go down as one of the Supreme Court's most important rulings on behalf of liberty," says Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr. Until today, the Court had never held that the Second Amendment directly applied to individuals. "Today's decision marks a new era for gun rights in America," explains Barr, who is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association. Barr also drafted the Libertarian Party's amicus curiae brief in Heller. "By protecting an individual's right to keep and bear arms, the Second Amendment ensures that all Americans are able to participate in sporting activities, hunt, and protect themselves and their families," he explains. The right to self-defense is particularly important for women and minorities in a city like Washington, D.C. "Where crime rates are high, a gun may be the only means for law-abiding citizens to safeguard themselves and their families," Barr notes. "Lawful gun ownership deters an untold number of crimes every year." But the Court's ruling, though welcome, is not enough. "It is important to have a president who also supports the right of Americans to own firearms," says Barr. "Sen. Barack Obama says that he believes in such a constitutional right, but he supports the District of Columbia's ban, which gives criminals an advantage over law-abiding citizens," notes Barr.Sen. McCain has not advocated an absolute prohibition, "but he cosponsored legislation which could require registration of attendees at gun shows and even ban such shows," Barr warns. And Sen. McCain's campaign legislation "curtailed the First Amendment right of gun owners to protect their rights by participating in election campaigns." As part of the Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment undergirds American liberty. "The individual's right to keep and bear arms helps ensure all of our freedoms," says Barr. "The Supreme Court's recognition of the constitutional right to gun ownership is a recognition of the right to life, liberty, and property for all Americans." Barr represented the 7th District of Georgia in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, where he served as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, as Vice-Chairman of the Government Reform Committee, and as a member of the Committee on Financial Services. Prior to his congressional career, Barr was appointed by President Reagan to serve as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and also served as an official with the CIA. Since leaving Congress, Barr has been practicing law and has teamed up with groups ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the American Conservative Union to actively advocate every American citizens' right to privacy and other civil liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. Along with this, Bob is committed to helping elect leaders who will strive for smaller government, lower taxes and abundant individual freedom.

Hindu Monkey God Asked To Lead Obama To Triumph

2008-06-25T00:03:00.000-05:00

A dozen priests chanted around a sacred fire in New Delhi on Tuesday as a group of Indians offered prayers to the Hindu monkey god Hanuman asking him to grant U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama an election victory in November. Several dozen people took part in the ceremony held at a Hanuman temple. Many said they believed an Obama victory would bring positive change to the world. "From the land of (Mahatma) Gandhi we convey our best wishes to Mr. Obama for the forthcoming presidential elections in the United States," said Brij Mohan Bhama, a local businessman who organized the event. Bhama said an Obama victory would be good for India and the rest of world "because he stands for change" and would help stem rising prices, poverty and terrorism. Bhama said he got the idea for Tuesday's event after reading reports in Indian media that among the many good luck charms Obama carries is a replica of Hanuman. Hanuman is one of the most popular gods in the crowded pantheon of Hindu deities, and devout Hindus ascribe great strength and valour to him.Hanuman's most famous feat, as described in the Hindu epic Ramayana, was leading a monkey army to fight the demon King Ravana and rescue a kidnapped princess. Bhama said he plans to send Obama a 15-kilogram statue of Hanuman that has been polished with gold. Bhama does not represent any official group in India, but Carolyn Sauvage-Mar, the chair of the U.S. group Democrats Abroad-India, attended Tuesday's ceremony. Sauvage-Mar, is one of 22 delegates who will represent overseas Americans in August at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Col. "I will definitely and happily bring their best wishes with me," she said of Obama's Indian fans. Taking the idol may prove more difficult, though. Sauvage-Mar said U.S. federal law prohibits senators from accepting any gifts that cost more than $10. But Bhama said he was certain the idol would make its way to Obama. "It is understood that representatives of Mr. Obama will help with sending the idol to him," he said without providing details.

Republicans Worry Barr Will Play Spoiler In A Tight Presidential Contest

2008-06-23T00:03:00.000-05:00

A fiery former GOP congressman who gained national prominence for doggedly pursuing impeachment of President Bill Clinton has some Republicans worried he'll play spoiler in a tight presidential contest. Bob Barr's Libertarian Party bid for the White House is the longest of long shots, but political experts said he may be able to exploit the unease some die-hard conservatives still feel about Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee-in-waiting. Combined with the surge in turnout among Democrats during the primaries and a difficult political climate for Republicans, they see what could be a recipe for trouble for the GOP. Dan Schnur, a GOP consultant in California who worked on McCain's 2000 campaign but is not involved in this year's contest, said Barr could be "the Ralph Nader of 2008."Consumer advocate Nader is the third-party candidate many Democrats blame for helping George W. Bush narrowly win in 2000. Barr, a former federal prosecutor, was swept into Congress with more than 70 other House GOP freshmen in 1994. An articulate, sometimes outspoken orator, he gained attention as the first lawmaker to call for Clinton's resignation over the Monica Lewinsky scandal and was one of the House prosecutors who pressed the impeachment case in the Senate. Some Republicans aren't worried about Barr's candidacy. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said voting for Barr is the same as voting for Democrat Barack Obama, and said he's confident most GOP voters will understand that. Barr scoffs at talk that he will play spoiler, saying he is in the race to win it and it won't be his fault if McCain loses. Barr said in an interview: "If Senator McCain is not successful, it will be because his message and his vision did not resonate with a plurality of the voters."

Obama Flip Flops Out Of Public Financing

2008-06-20T00:03:00.000-05:00

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday he will bypass the federal public financing system in the general election, abandoning an earlier commitment to take the money if his Republican rival did as well. Obama, who set records raising money in the primary election, will forgo more than $84 million that would have been available to him in the general election. He would be the first candidate to do so since Congress passed 1970s post-Watergate campaign finance laws. Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee in waiting, has taken steps to accept the public funds in the general election. Obama officials said they decided to take that route because McCain is already spending privately raised funds toward the general election campaign. Obama has vastly outraised McCain, however, and would likely retain that advantage if McCain accepts the public money. The public finance system is paid for with the $3 contributions that taxpayers can make to the presidential fund in their tax returns.“It’s not an easy decision, and especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections,” Obama told supporters in a video message today. “But the public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken, and we face opponents who’ve become masters at gaming this broken system.” Obama said McCain and the Republican National Committee are fueled by contributions from Washington lobbyists and political action committees. “And we’ve already seen that he’s not going to stop the smears and attacks from his allies running 527 groups, who will spend millions and millions of dollars in unlimited donations,” Obama said. Obama has shattered president campaign fund-raising records, raking in more than $265 million thus far. Obama campaign lawyer Robert Bauer said he had met with McCain lawyers to discuss terms for both campaigns operating in the public financing system, but he said they could not agree on how to limit spending by the campaigns and outside groups heading into the late summer party conventions.

Barr, Nader Make Play for Paul Voters

2008-06-18T00:03:00.000-05:00

When rebel Republican Ron Paul formally removed himself Thursday from the party’s presidential nomination race, both Libertarian Party candidate Bob Barr and independent candidate Ralph Nader quickly stepped up their respective campaigns to court Paul’s abandoned supporters. An effort is underway by both camps to appeal and gain the majority of Paul’s voters and pledged delegates to the GOP convention in September. Paul amassed 1.16 million votes during the Republican primaries and caucuses and won 35 delegates who now can back other candidates. "Congressman Ron Paul has fought tirelessly in both the Libertarian Party and the Republican Party to minimize government power and maximize individual liberty," Barr says in a statement released Saturday aimed at Paul’s supporters. "I want to thank him for all he has done for liberty in this nation and encourage him to continue his fight through whatever avenues he sees fit." Barr, a former Georgia member of the U.S. House of Representatives, is appealing to Paul’s backers who are libertarian-minded on economic and social issues. Barr, like Paul, believes in cutting government spending and getting a handle on entitlement spending.The Libertarian Party plans to get Barr on the ballot in 48 states in November’s general election, and Paul's supporters could provide the kind of boost he needs to be a spoiler to GOP presidential candidate John McCain’s chances of being named the party’s nominee. Barr is counting on Paul's supporters for money and the number of votes he needs in order to qualify for participation in the upcoming presidential debates. Paul, a 10-term Texas House member who once ran as a Libertarian presidential nominee in 1988, raised nearly $35 million in donations from hundreds of thousands of supporters this election season, mostly via the Internet. Similarly, Ralph Nader, the wealthy political activist and perennial candidate for president in five elections, is also courting Paul voters and delegates for his bid to win the White House in November. “Ron Paul was a lightning rod for millions of Americans against the war in Iraq and for the protection of personal liberties the two major parties have turned their back on,” reads a statement released over the weekend by Nader’s campaign team.
“Now that Dr Paul has formally withdrawn his candidacy for the GOP nomination and is no longer seeking the Presidency, there is a clear choice for those who want to support a candidate who will stand up against the war and stand up for personal liberties and privacy that have been trampled by the notorious, misnamed, ‘Patriot Act,’” the statement reads. Nader, although commonly associated with the political left, has wooed conservative voters in the past, most recently in his 2004 independent candidacy in which he attracted a record number of disaffected conservative and libertarian voters in the general election. Nader says Paul’s supporters should rally around his campaign because he, like Paul, opposes the war in Iraq and the ‘Patriot Act,’ and is a fierce supporter of civil liberties. Ike Hall, an insider from the folded Paul campaign who coordinated his Georgia primary, says Paul’s supporters might even vote for Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin. Or even for Democratic or Republican presumptive nominees Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., or Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "Ron Paul doesn't encourage or discourage anyone voting for any other candidate,” he says.

Ron Paul Ends His Campaign, Praises Bob Barr

2008-06-13T00:03:00.000-05:00

Republican Ron Paul ended his rebel campaign Thursday night and announced a new effort to help elect libertarian-leaning Republicans to public office around the country. "With the primary season now over, the presidential campaign is at an end. But the larger campaign for freedom is just getting started," Paul told supporters in a letter posted on the website of the new group, Campaign for Liberty. "We will be a permanent presence on the American political landscape," added Paul, who announced his move during a rally coinciding with the Texas GOP State Convention in Houston. "That I promise you. We're not about to let all this good work die. To the contrary, with your help we're going to make it grow - by leaps and bounds." The 72-year-old Texas congressman won 24 delegates during the Republican primaries, but was the last remaining challenger to John McCain, the party's presumptive nominee. Paul has said he won't endorse McCain, but in an interview earlier Thursday, Paul had nice things to say about Bob Barr, a former Republican congressman from Georgia who is the Libertarian Party's nominee.Barr "talks our language, so I do really believe that he can have a very positive effect in this campaign and let the people know that limited government is a very, very important message," Paul said. Paul raised more than $34 million, much of it online, and had more than $4.7 million in hand at the end of April that he could use to fund Campaign for Liberty. He also developed a large grass-roots following among those who backed his call for ending the war in Iraq and smaller government at home. He easily passed the 1 million-vote mark during the primaries, and in the final three contests on June 3 he finished second to McCain, with 22 percent of the vote in Montana, 17 percent in South Dakota, and 14 percent in New Mexico. His new book, "The Revolution: A Manifesto," zoomed to the top of bestseller lists. Supporters, staging uprisings at state and county GOP conventions across the country, have pushed for a speaking role for Paul at the Republican National Convention in September in St. Paul. Because that does not appear likely, Paul confirmed plans Thursday to hold a counter-rally at an arena in neighboring Minneapolis on Sept. 2, the second day of the GOP convention.

Tom DeLay's Wife Plans To Vote For Bob Barr

2008-06-11T00:03:00.000-05:00

Tom DeLay will vote for John McCain but the former House Republican leader said his wife, Christine, is planning to vote for Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr. "I'm trying to convince my wife not to do that," the Texas Republican told reporters. "She said it publicly yesterday." Mr. Barr's candidacy is an issue conservatives appear to be grappling with since he won the Libertarian party's nomination on the sixth ballot at their May 25 convention in Denver. Early polls suggest Mr. Barr could draw small but significant support in key states such as Georgia and North Carolina, potentially complicating the electoral picture for Mr. McCain, Republicans' presumed presidential nominee.Some conservative leaders are expressing their concern over Mr. Barr's appeal to Republicans who say they don't want to vote for Mr. McCain. They list a host of problems including his support for citizenship rights for most illegal immigrants, his support for government mandates to control greenhouse gas emissions, his efforts to limit campaign finances, his votes against both of President Bush's tax cuts and his repeated political clashes with Republicans.

Barr Wants In On Debates

2008-06-09T00:03:00.001-05:00

About those 10 debates that Republican Presidential nominee John McCain has pitched to Democratic rival Barack Obama. Bob Barr wants a piece of the action. In an announcement the Libertarian Presidential candidate says he should be a part of staged confrontations between the Democrat and the Republican. “It is time for the American people to see a clash of ideas as well as of candidates,” Barr is quoted as saying. The Barr campaign said: Rock-the-Debates has called for “free, open and inclusive debates” that include all candidates with a mathematical chance of being elected.Barr says he would be pleased to begin at New York’s Federal Hall next week, as Sen. McCain suggested, or at a later time, if preferred by Sen. Obama. This raises an interesting question. McCain would probably oppose Barr’s participation. A higher Barr profile hurts the Republican. Does Obama insist on Barr’s participation — as Bill Clinton insisted on making Ross Perot part of the ’92 debates with George W. Bush? I talked with one strategist earlier today, before this topic came up. He said the Democratic campaign is quickly coming to realize that Bob Barr is Barack Obama’s best friend.

Bob Barr Says Young Voters Will Vote Libertarian

2008-06-06T00:03:00.000-05:00

"Bob Barr has a long Libertarian voting record," explained a satirical Stephen Colbert. "In Congress he supported such privacy-friendly, small government initiatives as the Defense of Marriage Act, which made the government small enough to fit into a bedroom." "I, myself, am a Libertarian," he said. "I don't want big government to infringe on my right to tell other people how to live. And we Libertarians are finally having our moment in the sun! This is the year that many believe Libertarians will 'hold some serious sway in American politics.' We'll use that power to fulfill our dream of eliminating maximum occupancy rules in elevators and suggested age ranges on board games." "We're a big swing vote this time," explained Rep. Barr, running for President on the Libertarian ticket, "because Americans are finally realizing, at long last, that the current two-party system--the Democrats and the Republicans--have failed, and failed miserably, and simply will give them more of the same."Younger voters, especially, see a bleak future under a corrupt government that grows no matter who is in charge, said Barr. Libertarians, he continued, have a good candidate, "a fellow named Bob Barr," with few similarities to the infamous Ralph Nader. Combined with a solid platform, Barr predicts unprecedented support for the Libertarian ticket in the 2008 election. "You're a big advocate of personal privacy," said Colbert, who then asked: "Is that why you voted for the PATRIOT Act?" "I voted for the PATRIOT Act not because of that," Barr said, "but certainly--certainly, I have come to realize, as many members of Congress did, who voted for it based on a number of promises that were given to us by the Bush administration--at the highest level, shall we say...We realized very quickly those promises meant nothing." "What I've been trying to do over the last five years is to try and undo the PATRIOT Act," he continued, "and I would do that as President."

Libertarian Candidate Could Nab Votes In Dissatisfied Red States

2008-06-05T00:03:00.001-05:00

Bob Barr's Libertarian P campaign is poised to play a serious role in this year's elections, with early polls showing him taking away enough votes from Sen. John McCain to give Democrats a chance to win states that should be safely Republican. Polls in Georgia and North Carolina over the last two weeks show Mr. Barr winning 8 percent and 6 percent respectively of the presidential vote, and in both cases helping keep likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama within striking distance of Mr. McCain in those states — which, taken together, account for more electoral votes than Florida, Pennsylvania or Ohio. "Barr does throw a monkeywrench in Republican plans in states people otherwise take for granted as Republican states," said Matt Towery, a former political adviser to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and CEO of InsiderAdvantage, an Atlanta-based polling and political analysis firm that conducted the Georgia poll.Mr. Towery said North Carolina and Georgia are exactly the places that Mr. Barr could put in play: both have high African-American populations that Mr. Obama can tap to boost his turnout numbers, and have conservative-leaning voters whose dissatisfaction with President Bush could lead them to a third-party candidate. The Georgia poll, taken just before Mr. Barr secured the Libertarian nomination, gave Mr. McCain 45 percent support, Mr. Obama 35 percent and Mr. Barr 8 percent. In North Carolina a Public Policy Polling survey released Monday found Mr. McCain at 43 percent, Mr. Obama at 40 percent and Mr. Barr at 6 percent. The poll's authors said Mr. Barr's support appeared to come particularly from independents who previously had broken for Mr. McCain. "It's a long way until the election but the early indication is that Bob Barr's presence on the ballot could be a good sign for whoever ends up as the Democratic nominee," said Dean Debnam, president of the poll. "He's likely to siphon off more voters who would otherwise be inclined to vote for McCain than he is from Clinton or Obama." Mr. Barr is a former Republican congressman from Georgia who switched to the Libertarian Party in 2006. He collected his new party's presidential nomination on the sixth ballot on May 25.

Is There A Shocking Michelle Obama Recording?

2008-06-03T00:03:00.000-05:00

An untold story lies behind Hillary Clinton's determination to remain in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination the possible revelation of a shocking recording of rival Barack Obama's wife Michelle. That's the word from longtime political analyst Roger J. Stone Jr., who writes on his The StoneZONE Web site that the recording purportedly documents Michelle Obama making racist comments in a speech.Michelle ObamaAccording to Stone, Hillary aides are in a race with Republicans to get their hands on the offensive recording. On the heels of Michelle Obama's quote that she has never been proud of her country until now, the new controversy could turn the contest upside down, but it more likely to benefit John McCain than to boost Hillary Clinton to the nomination if the alleged recording exists, Stone writes. He also asserts that Mark Penn, Clinton's former chief campaign strategist, has told sources that the bombshell could come this week.

Condoleezza Rice Meets Kiss

2008-06-02T00:03:00.000-05:00

The Kiss Army fan club has an enthusiastic new recruit: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In a departure from her normally staid diplomatic duties, Rice met the legendary glam rock quartet when they happened to share a hotel in the Swedish capital. Rice was in Stockholm on Thursday for an international conference on Iraq. Kiss had a sold-out gig to play on Friday. "I was thrilled," Rice said of her late-night encounter with frontman Gene Simmons and bandmates Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer in the executive lounge of the Sheraton Hotel where they signed autographs and handed out backstage passes and T-shirts to her staff.Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice"It was really fun to meet Kiss and Gene Simmons," she told reporters, noting they seemed well informed about current events. The band had asked if she could stop by after she finished dinner with the Swedish foreign minister and Rice readily agreed, she said. Simmons and his crew, who are on a European tour, weren't wearing their trademark stage makeup, but were recognizable as rock stars to even non-fans by their hair, according to State Department officials who were with Rice.Paul Stanley & Gene SimmonsRice, a classically trained pianist, said she has eclectic musical tastes ranging from Beethoven to Bruce Springsteen. Hard stadium rockers like Kiss are included in the mix and Rice said her favorite tune of theirs is "Rock and Roll All Day (and Party Every Night)." But, she conceded she had never seen the group in concert. In fact, although she frequently attends classical music performances, Rice claims to have been to only four rock concerts in her life. The first was in the early 1960s when she went as a 10-year-old to see Paul Revere and the Raiders in her home state of Alabama. After her family moved to Colorado, Rice went at the age of 16 went on her first date with an Air Force cadet to see Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. She later saw Earth, Wind and Fire in Denver and her last rock and roll show was a U2 concert in Washington, she said.

Karl Rove Keynotes MN GOP Convention

2008-06-01T16:29:00.002-05:00

The former chief advisor to President George W. Bush wrapped up the convention in Rochester Saturday afternoon. He criticized Democrat Presidential Candidate Barack Obama saying he was far from the main stream. And Rove rallied Republicans to go after the undecided voters to regain control of congress."America is less safe today because of Barack Obama and (Speaker of the U.S. House) Nancy Pelosi because of their view. They've got of the intellegence power of the United States government and that's wrong," Rove said. Rove was the mastermind behind President Bush's election victories in 2000 and 2004.

Bob Barr, The Candidate You Need To Know

2008-05-31T00:03:00.000-05:00

Barr is a famously irascible former Republican, with little name recognition outside his native Georgia. But the decision by America's quirky Libertarian Party to pick Barr as its Presidential candidate means trouble for McCain. Barr famously licked whipped cream off the breasts of two women at a charity event while running for Congress in 1994. Later on he managed Bill Clinton's impeachment. The twice divorced, former four-term congressman returned to the public eye in another smutty episode in "Borat."Now the Republicans would like to write him off as a joke candidate who will not get more than the party's usual 400,000 votes in November, but a surprisingly high number of voters - 10-20% - say they are “libertarians.” The Libertarians have the capacity to ruin things for the Republicans in November; think Ross Perot, who ensured Bill Clinton's election in 1992 and again 1996, splitting the Republican vote and getting 18.9% and 8.4% respectively. Barr expects to do well in Georgia as well as Colorado and other western states where the Libertarians are entrenched. He is worth watching.

Coleman Gets Backing Of Police Unions

2008-05-30T00:03:00.000-05:00

Senator Norm Coleman has won the backing of the police unions in Minneapolis and St. Paul in his bid for reelection. The endorsement comes a day before Minnesota Republicans gather in Rochester for their state convention. Coleman says the union support shows he can work with Democrats to get things done.Norm Coleman with the PresidentWhile Coleman doesn't have any serious opposition for the Republican endorsement, his embrace of the middle has turned off some of the more conservative factions of the state party. Former Republican Senator Rod Grams says Collin Peterson has a better conservative voting record than Coleman. Peterson is the Democratic congressman from Minnesota's 8th District. Coleman's likely Democratic opponent is mentally challenged Al Franken.

Fidel Castro Endorses Obama

2008-05-28T00:03:00.000-05:00

Fidel Castro stepped aside as president of Cuba in February and has not been seen much since undergoing surgery in July 2006, but he is still very much a presence in the island nation he has turned over to his brother Raúl. He also is full of opinions, and on Monday he gave Senator Barack Obama his endorsement, calling him “the most progressive candidate to the U.S. Presidency” while also berating him for his plan to continue the trade embargo against Cuba. “Were I to defend him, I would do his adversaries an enormous favor,” Castro said. “I have therefore no reservations about criticizing him.”Castro, 81, was reacting to Obama’s pledge last week to the Cuban American National Foundation in Miami to maintain the trade sanctions against Cuba as leverage to press for democratic change there. But Mr. Obama also promised to ease restrictions on travel to the island and sending money to relatives there. “Presidential candidate Obama’s speech may be formulated as follows: hunger for the nation, remittances as charitable handouts and visits to Cuba as propaganda for consumerism and the unsustainable way of life behind it,” Mr. Castro wrote in a column for Cuban newspapers, which was translated to English for a newspaper Web site, Granma Internacional. “I am not questioning Obama’s great intelligence, his debating skills or his work ethic,” Mr. Castro wrote. But, he added, “I am obliged to raise a number of delicate questions.” The Obama campaign declined to comment.

Bob Barr Is The Libertarian Party Nominee

2008-05-26T00:03:00.001-05:00

Former Georgia congressman Bob Barr, who used to be a Republican, today won the Libertarian Party's Presidential nomination. It took six rounds of voting at the party's convention in Denver to settle on Barr, one of the lawmakers who led the impeachement proceedings against then-President Clinton. In this statement issued by the party, Barr says "we emerge here with the strongest ticket in the history of the Libertarian Party."Jeri Dobbin, left, looks on as her husband former Republican congressman Bob Barr accepts the Libertarian Presidential nomination at the Libertarian National Convention.Party spokesman Andrew Davis says in the statement that "we're proud to present to the American voters Bob Barr as our Presidential nominee. While Republicans and Democrats will fight for their own power, Libertarians will fight for Americans. ... Republicans and Democrats have good reason to fear a candidate like Barr, who refuses to accept the 'business-as-usual' attitude of the current political establishment."

McCain To Meet Possible Running Mates

2008-05-22T00:03:00.000-05:00

Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, on Friday is scheduled to meet with two Republican governors who have been prominently mentioned as potential running mates, according to Republicans familiar with McCain's plan. The two governors, Charlie Crist, of Florida, and Bobby Jindal, of Louisiana, have both accepted invitations to meet with McCain at his home in Arizona, according to Republican familiars with the decision. One Republican said that Mitt Romney, a former rival of McCain for the presidential nomination wasalso expected to visit him this weekend. Romney's advisers declined to comment. McCain, after a week of campaigning, is heading home on Friday for three days without a public schedule. His campaign declined to comment on the meetings. "We don't talk about the V.P. selection process," said Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser. Still, the names of McCain's visitors and the timing — coming three weeks after the Arizona senator told reporters that he had a list of 20 potential running mates — strongly suggested that he was moving into an intensified phase in his search for a vice presidential candidate.McCain previously said that no decision on the timing of announcing his running mate had been made, and his aides have made clear they intended to keep the process as closely held as possible. Another governor who has been prominently mentioned as a strong contender to run with McCain, Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, is not going to Arizona; his associates said he had a wedding on Saturday. Crist, a popular first-term governor, has been included on various lists of potential running mates for McCain, whom he endorsed shortly before Florida's January primary that effectively helped McCain claim the nomination. He said Wednesday that he and McCain had not discussed the prospect, including at a fundraiser in Miami that the two attended Tuesday night. The McCain campaign, he said, has not solicited the kind of personal information typically requested to vet possible running mates. As governor of Florida, Crist, 51, would bring a number of obvious assets to the Republican ticket, beginning with his popularity in a state that is almost always an electoral battleground and where Senator Barack Obama, the leading Democratic nominee appears to be struggling. His relative youth could also be an asset for McCain who, at 71, has made clear that age will be a consideration in his search for a running mate. In Florida, Crist has long been known for his affability and a campaign skills. Instantly recognizable because of his perpetual tan and striking white hair, Crist, who served as Florida's attorney general before being elected governor in 2006, has also acquired a reputation as something of a hardliner on law and order issues.He supports the death penalty, and largely opposes restrictions on the rights of gun owners. Early on, he earned the nickname "Chain Gang Charlie" because he favored allowing convicts to be used in road work, and has described himself as a "pro-life and pro-family" candidate. Of all the names being mentioned as McCain's potential running mate, Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, the 36-year-old first-term governor of Louisiana, is not only the youngest and least experienced, but also the only one who is not white. Yet in a year in which Democratic voters have raised few objections to such traditional "obstacles," Jindal may be especially attractive as Republicans seek a way to offset the "post-racial" and youthful appeal of Senator Barack Obama. Jindal, who was born in Baton Rouge to a family that had just arrived there from the Punjab area of India, took office in January after serving three years in the House of Representatives. In a race with four candidates, Jindal, who was born a Hindu but converted to Roman Catholicism as a teenager, won 54 percent of the vote after campaigning as a social conservative, opposing human embryonic stem cell research and abortion in any form and favoring teaching "intelligent design" in schools as an alternative to evolution. But Jindal also has a reputation as a policy wonk, like the Clintons, with a specialty in health care issues. After graduating in 1991 from Brown University, where he majored in biology and public policy, and attending Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, he worked for the management consulting firm McKinsey and Company and was executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare. He later served as Secretary of the Louisiana state Department of Health and Hospitals and in the Bush Administration as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for planning and evaluation.

Barr On California Gay Marriage Decision

2008-05-19T00:03:00.000-05:00

Libertarian Presidential candidate Bob Barr says that when it comes to gay marriage, what happens in California is California’s own business. He’s a states’ rights man. Here’s the statement Barr’s issued, which — one week before the Libertarian national convention in Denver — is likely to generate some talk: “Regardless of whether one supports or opposes same sex marriage, the decision to recognize such unions or not ought to be a power each state exercises on its own, rather than imposition of a one-size-fits-all mandate by the federal government (as would be required by a Federal Marriage Amendment which has been previously proposed and considered by the Congress).The decision today by the Supreme Court of California properly reflects this fundamental principle of federalism on which our nation was founded. “Indeed, the primary reason for which I authored the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 was to ensure that each state remained free to determine for its citizens the basis on which marriage would be recognized within its borders, and not be forced to adopt a definition of marriage contrary to its views by another state. The decision in California is an illustration of how this principle of states’ powers should work.”

Monkeying Around Obama

2008-05-16T00:03:00.000-05:00

A Marietta tavern owner has stirred up a controversy. Mike Norman is selling T-shirts with cartoon chimp that looks like Curious George peeling a banana with "Obama in '08" written underneath. Norman considers the T-shirt cute but others say it's insulting and an exploitation of racial stereotypes from generations ago.Norman is no stranger to controversy. He's been posting his political views on signs in front of the tavern for 16 years. A small group of protestors turned out in front of Mulligan's Bar and Grill, which is down the road from the Big Chicken.Rich Pellegrino, a Mableton resident and director of the Cobb-Cherokee Immigrant Alliance says a lot of people are disturbed by the T-shirts and says it's time to put an end to it.

Barack Obama Is A Liar

2008-05-15T00:03:00.000-05:00

Republicans are using Obama's visit today to Michigan to question the veracity of one of his oft-cited campaign lines: that when he gave a speech in Detroit last year about Motown's car-makers needing to improve their fuel-efficiiency noboby clapped.

President Worried Dem Victory Could Lead to Terror Attack

2008-05-14T00:03:00.000-05:00

President Bush said he was disappointed in "flawed intelligence" before the Iraq war and was concerned that if a Democrat wins the Presidency in November and withdrew troops prematurely it could "eventually lead to another attack on the United States." In an interview with Politico magazine and the Internet portal Yahoo, Bush also said he gave up golf in 2003 out of respect for U.S. soldiers killed in the war, which has now lasted more than five years. "I didn't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal." Bush said he made his decision after the August 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad.A question submitted from the online audience asked Bush whether he felt he had been misled about Iraq as he made the decision to go to war. "`Misled' is a strong word," he said. "Not only our intelligence community, but intelligence communities all across the world shared the same assessment. And so I was disappointed to see how flawed our intelligence was." "Do I think somebody lied to me? No, I don't. I think it was just, you know, they analyzed the situation and came up with the wrong conclusion," he added. He acknowledged concerns about leaving the unfinished Iraq war to a Democratic successor. Both Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have said they will bring troops home if elected. Bush said his "doomsday scenario of course is that extremists throughout the Middle East would be emboldened, which would eventually lead to another attack on the United States."

Bob Barr To Run For President As A Libertarian

2008-05-13T00:03:00.000-05:00

A former Republican congressman, Bob Barr, has announced he hopes to run for President of the United States - for the Libertarian Party. "I've heard from Americans from all walks of life... they want a choice," said Mr Barr, announcing his candidacy. The Libertarian Party, a small group with limited support, will choose its Presidential runner later this month. But America's political system is dominated by the two major parties, which enjoy almost all support. Third-party candidates always run the risk of being little more than a sideshow. Mr Barr wants to change that.He hopes many voters will be drawn to his plan to slash government spending, withdraw from Iraq and halt immigration. "They believe that America has more and better to offer than what the current political situation is serving up to us," he said. Mr Barr is the clear favourite to win the Libertarian nomination. Winning the White House is quite another matter - he would need a miracle for that. But he may prove a major thorn in the side for the Republican candidate John McCain. Right-wing voters may be tempted to switch to Mr Barr - which would cost the Republicans very dear.

West Virginians Keep Distance From Obama: 'He's A Muslim"

2008-05-12T00:03:00.000-05:00

Like most people in Mingo County, West Virginia, Leonard Simpson is a lifelong Democrat. But given a choice between Barack Obama and John McCain in November, the 67-year-old retired coalminer would vote Republican. “I heard that Obama is a Muslim and his wife’s an atheist,” said Mr Simpson, drawing on a cigarette outside the fire station in Williamson, a coalmining town of 3,400 people surrounded by lush wooded hillsides. Mr Simpson’s remarks help explain why Obama is trailing Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival, by 40 percentage points ahead of Tuesday’s primary election in the heavily white and rural state, according to recent opinion polls. A landslide victory for Mrs Clinton in West Virginia will do little to improve her fading hopes of winning the Democratic nomination, because Obama has an almost insurmountable lead in the overall race. But Tuesday’s contest is likely to reinforce Mrs Clinton’s argument that she would be the stronger opponent for Mr McCain in November, and raise fresh doubts about whether the US is ready to elect its first black President. Occupying a swathe of the Appalachian Mountains on the threshold between the Bible Belt and the Rust Belt, West Virginia is a swing state that voted twice for George W. Bush but backed Democrats in six of the eight prior Presidential elections. No Democrat has been elected to the White House without carrying West Virginia since 1916, yet Obama appears to have little chance of winning there in November. Recent opinion polls indicate that Mrs Clinton would narrowly beat Mr McCain in the state but Obama would lose by nearly 20 percentage points.West Virginia is hostile territory for Mr Obama because it has few of the African-Americans and affluent, college-educated whites who provide his strongest support. The state has the lowest college graduation rate in the US, the second lowest median household income, and one of the highest proportions of white residents, at 96 per cent. A visit to Mingo County, a Democratic stronghold in the heart of the Appalachian coalfields, reveals the scale of Obama’s challenge – not only in West Virginia but in white, working-class communities across the US. With a gun shop on its main street and churches dotted throughout the town, Williamson is the kind of community evoked by Obama’s controversial comments last month about “bitter” small-town voters who “cling to guns or religion”. “If he is the nominee, the Democrats have no chance of winning West Virginia,” said Missy Endicott, a 40- year-old school administrator. “He doesn’t understand ordinary Americans.” Ms Endicott was among roughly 500 people who crammed into the Williamson Fire Department building on Friday to attend a rally by Bill Clinton, the former President. He told them his wife represented “people like you, in places like this”, and urged voters to turn out in record numbers on Tuesday to send a message to the “higher-type people” who were trying to force her out of the race. Local leaders said Mr Clinton was the most important visitor to Williamson since John F. Kennedy passed through during the 1960 election campaign. Mr Kennedy’s victory in the West Virginia primary that year was a crucial step towards proving his electability as the first Catholic president. Nearly five decades later, the state appears less willing to help Obama break down barriers to the White House.None of the 22 Democrats interviewed by the Financial Times at the Clinton rally would commit themselves to voting for Obama if he became the nominee, and half said they definitely would not. The depth of opposition is particularly striking considering that Mingo County is one of the most Democratic places in West Virginia, having cast about 85 per cent of its votes for the party in the 2006 midterm elections. If Obama cannot win there in November, he has little chance of carrying the state. Most people questioned said they mistrusted Mr Obama because of doubts about his patriotism and “values”, stemming from his cosmopolitan background, his exotic name and the controversy surrounding “anti-American” sermons by Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor. Several people said they believed he was a Muslim despite the contradiction with his 20-year membership of Mr Wright’s church in Chicago. Others mentioned his refusal to wear a Stars and Stripes badge and controversial remarks by his wife, Michelle, who described America as “mean” and implied that she had never been proud of the US until her husband ran for president. Conservative commentators have questioned Obama’s patriotism for months and the issue is expected to be one of the Republicans’ main lines of attack if he wins the nomination. “The American people want a President who loves their country as much as they do,” said Whit Ayres, a Republican strategist. Obama supporters believe patriotism is being used as code to harness racist sentiment. Josh Fry, a 24-year-old ambulance driver from Williamson, insisted he was not racist but said he would feel more comfortable with Mr McCain, the 71-year-old Vietnam war hero, in the White House. “I want someone who is a full-blooded American as President,” he said.

Obama Slips Up With 57 State Claim

2008-05-11T00:03:00.000-05:00

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has made an embarrassing gaffe, declaring he has visited 57 US states in his campaign to become the Democratic nominee. The Illinois senator made the blunder, reminiscent of George Bush's infamous slip-ups, during Friday's speech in Beaverton, Oregon."It is just wonderful to be back in Oregon and over the last 15 months we have travelled to every corner of the United States — I have now been in 57 states," Obama said. "I think one left to go… Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."

Tancredo To Boycott Spanish-Language Debate

2007-12-06T00:03:00.000-06:00

Rep. Tom Tancredo says his fellow Republican presidential candidates are aiding immigrants in breaking the law by taking part in this weekend's Spanish-language debate in Miami. "What all my colleagues — what the other candidates are doing — it's encouraging violation of the law because it's saying, 'Don't worry about the fact that you have to know English to earn citizenship,' " said Mr. Tancredo, the only Republican to turn down the invitation from Univision for Sunday night's debate and who said the other candidates' participation was worse than pandering. For the Colorado congressman, it's a matter of principle: He said the other candidates are contributing to the Balkanization of the country by joining the debate, in which the candidates will speak English, but their answers will be translated into Spanish for broadcast on the nation's largest Spanish-language network. And it's one of the few areas left to Mr. Tancredo, the original anti-illegal immigration candidate in the Republican field, as he struggles to set himself apart from the others who have adopted many of his stances on the issue — so much so that he said he is being "out-Tancredoed."Yesterday, he released a stark television ad here that shows photos of bloody bodies, including those of children, lying in a street, victims of gang violence. The ad warns that the violent criminals behind those kinds of attacks are sneaking into the U.S., and calls for deportation of illegal aliens — something most other candidates have shied away from, calling for attrition through better enforcement instead. The ad blames "gutless politicians" for not acting to secure the borders and remove illegal aliens. Mr. Tancredo said he has a little money and a short period of time before the caucuses, so he figured he needed to make as much of an impact as he could. But he said he wasn't going for shock value in order to try to regain territory."That wasn't the purpose in this," he said. "It helps, but that wasn't on my mind." Also campaigning in Iowa yesterday was former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who accepted endorsements from Tim LaHaye, co-author of the apocalyptic evangelical "Left Behind" series, from his wife Beverly LaHaye, founder of Concerned Women for America, and from two former supporters of Sen. Sam Brownback, the Kansas Republican who ended his bid for the nomination. Mr. Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist pastor who was governor of Arkansas for 10 years, also accepted the personal endorsements of about five dozen Iowa pastors, part of a network he is building.Mr. Huckabee and Mr. Tancredo are on differing trajectories. Mr. Huckabee has translated a surprise second-place showing in the Iowa straw poll in August into a lead in the polls here, while Mr. Tancredo does not appear to have improved on his fourth-place showing in August. Mr. Tancredo said it was a "no-brainer" to reject Univision's invitation, but his decision has been widely debated on the Internet, and some of his supporters said he is missing a chance to take his message where it needs to be heard. Mr. Tancredo said he expects his voice is being heard this way. "My not being there is probably the strongest statement I can make on this issue," he said. He also rejected the criticism that he is refusing to address a particular audience, saying this is purely an issue of language. He was the only Republican candidate to accept an invitation to speak to the annual convention of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People this year. Asked if he would watch the debate from home, he said that wasn't the plan: "Nah, I don't know Spanish."

New Tancredo Ad Links Illegal Immigrants, Gang Violence

2007-12-05T00:03:00.000-06:00

GOP presidential candidate Rep. Tom Tancredo unveiled a new television ad that said open borders are leading to rapes and other violence against American citizens. The ad focuses on Central American gangs such as MS-13 and shows bloody pictures of victims of gang violence. Than a voice says that the gangs are now on American soil “pushing drugs, raping kids, destroying lives” and blames the violence on “gutless politicians who refuse to defend our borders.” It ends with the words: Secure the Borders. Deport those who don’t belong. Make sure they never come back. Tom Tancredo. President. Tancredo caused a stir last month with another ad that linked immigration to terrorism. That ad showed a hooded man blowing up a shopping mall. It condemned “spineless politicians” who “refuse” to protect the borders. Many groups decried the ad as anti-immigrant and an attempt at fear-mongering, but Tancredo stood by the spot.

Republicans Winning New Citizens For 2008 Vote

2007-12-04T00:03:00.000-06:00

Minutes after taking the Pledge of Allegiance, new American citizens are urged to register as voters by Democratic activists who see them as natural party supporters who could hold the key to the 2008 election. But with increasing illegal immigration threatening the economy and security of the United States, many legal immigrants anxious to uphold the laws of their adopted country are moving towards the more hard-line immigration stance of Republicans. Even in California’s Democratic-controlled San Diego, sizeable numbers of America’s newly-minted potential voters said that illegal immigrants should be penalised rather than given an easy route to citizenship as most Democrats advocate. “For a long time, immigration was OK,” said Sara Wright, 49, a seamstress from Mexico who arrived in the US legally in 1986. “But now, no more. A lot of really bad people come from Mexico and commit crimes. “People are coming in and having two, three, four babies and going on welfare. Some are making money here and spending it back in Mexico. "That’s not right. They should go back to Mexico and get a permit.” Mrs Wright, whose American-born husband Ed served in the US Navy, was one of 1,591 people from 89 countries who became citizens at a ceremony in San Diego’s Golden Hall on Tuesday.Nearly two thirds of them were from Mexico, whose border is just 17 miles from the city. During the 40-minute ceremony, performed by a judge, the new citizens waved American flags, sang “America the Beautiful” and raised their rights hands as they repeated the oath to “abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty” of another nation. Some men wore ties emblazoned with the stars and stripes while many women dressed in red, white and blue. After the oath, some wept, others hugged one another and many turned to the public gallery and flashed broad smiles. With the number of illegal aliens in the US estimated at anything between eight and 20 million people out of a population of around 303 million, how to deal with the problem is becoming an explosive political issue in the 2008 campaign. President George W. Bush’s plan to provide a “path to citizenship” was rejected by Congress and branded an “amnesty” by many senior Republicans. Hillary Clinton’s status as front runner for the White House was damaged recently when she declined to criticise a plan in New York state to give driver’s licences to illegal immigrants. Previously, new citizens could be relied upon to vote Democratic by a ratio of up to 10 to one.
But in San Diego this week there were indications that this could be changing. “I’ve had several people here, Hispanic people, say ‘No, I’m a Republican’,” said Bill De Risa, a Democratic worker eagerly registering voters outside Golden Hall. His colleague Mary Kennedy said that one woman had told her she wanted to be a Republican because of immigration policy. “She felt the Democrats were too soft. She wanted higher fences. It’s a very polarising issue.” Sarah Thomas, 42, a restaurateur originally from Salway Ash, Dorset and one of about two dozen Britons who took US citizenship, said illegal immigrants should be sent home. “They need to leave and come back legally. “Just because somebody has been here for 10 years illegally, not paying taxes, does that give them equal rights? No.” John Pauls, 46, a Canadian-born doctor, said that illegal immigrants were a major burden on the taxpayers who had to foot their health bills and that insecure borders could allow terrorists to come into the US. “Those that do come into this country illegally are telling us that they are morally and ethically not trustworthy. They should not be here. It’s insulting to those of us who are here legally.” Many other new citizens, however, took a more conciliatory stance. Parsa Haghani, 24, born in Iran, said: “We should help to make them legal so they can have all the benefits of this great land. “They’re here because they want to be part of this country, they want security, freedom and a future. We are a nation of immigrants and we should extend the opportunities we enjoy to others.”

Romney Plans Speech On His Mormon Faith

2007-12-03T00:03:00.000-06:00

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney will directly address the skepticism surrounding his Mormon faith in a speech Thursday in Texas, a move many political consultants and pundits have argued Romney should take to appeal to voters hesitant to vote for a member of the LDS Church. Romney's campaign said Sunday night the former Massachusetts governor would give a speech called "Faith in America," at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, and would highlight his views on religious liberty, a tradition of tolerance and how Romney's Mormon faith would impact his potential presidency."Governor Romney understands that faith is an important issue to many Americans, and he personally feels this moment is the right moment for him to share his views with the nation," campaign spokesman Kevin Madden said. Various polls have shown voters are less likely to vote for an adherent of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a faith some evangelical Protestant view as a cult.

Ron Paul Wins Virginia GOP Straw Poll

2007-12-02T00:03:00.000-06:00

Ron Paul won an informal straw poll of Virginia Republicans Saturday at the state party's annual weekend retreat. The Texas congressman got 182 of the 479 ballots cast, or 38 percent. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson finished second with 112 votes, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee third with 51. Dozens of noisy Paul followers packed the late afternoon speeches by proxies for the candidates in a suburban Washington, D.C., hotel and the voting afterward."They weren't here yesterday," said state GOP chairman John Hager. About 700 Republican activists registered for the Friday and Saturday event. "We had no indication until around 3 o'clock that this would happen." Mitt Romney got 43 votes, Sen. John McCain got 23, California congressman Duncan Hunter got 19 and Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo finished with four votes.

Republican Mental Health Tops Democrats?

2007-12-01T00:03:00.000-06:00

Republicans are reported "significantly more likely than Democrats or independents to rate their mental health as excellent," according to data from the last four November Gallup Health and Healthcare polls. Fifty-eight percent of Republicans report having excellent mental health, contrasted to 43% of independents and 38% of Democrats. This relationship between party identification and reports of excellent mental health persists even within categories of income, age, gender, church attendance, and education. The poll was based on an aggregate survey of more than 4,000 interviews conducted since 2004. Democrats are slightly less likely to report excellent mental health than are independents, the big distinctions in these data are the differences between Republicans and everyone else. A recent Gallup report reviewed these mental health data more generally, and found that men, those with higher incomes, those with higher education levels, and whites are more likely than others to report excellent mental health.Party identification appears to have an independent effect on mental health even when each of these is controlled for. In almost all cases, Republicans are more likely to report excellent mental health across the various categories. Republicans are significantly more likely to report excellent mental health than are independents or Democrats among those making less than $50,000 a year, and among those making at least $50,000 a year. Republicans are also more likely than independents and Democrats to report excellent mental health within all four categories of educational attainment. Gallup also conducted a separate multivariate analysis that looked at the impact of a list of variables -- including party identification -- on self-reported mental health. This analysis showed that even when the impact of these other variables is controlled for statistically, there is an independent and highly significant impact of being a Republican on mental health.Because Republicans have on average higher incomes than independents or Democrats, part of the explanation for the relationship between being a Republican and having better mental health is a result of this underlying factor. But the key finding of the analyses presented here is that being a Republican appears to have an independent relationship on positive mental health above and beyond what can be explained by these types of demographic and lifestyle variables. Results are based on an aggregated sample of telephone interviews with 4,014 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted in November 2004, November 2005, November 2006, and November 2007. For results based on the total aggregated sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±2 percentage points. The margin of error for smaller subsamples reported in this analysis will be larger.

Alan Keyes Accepts Invitation To Dec. 12 Iowa Republican Presidential Debate

2007-11-30T00:03:00.000-06:00

Republican Presidential candidate Alan Keyes has accepted an invitation to participate in the last scheduled — and in some ways most important — Republican debate before the Jan. 3 first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucus. The Des Moines Register's Republican Presidential Debate is scheduled for 1:00 pm on Dec. 12 at Iowa Public Television's Maytag Auditorium in Johnston, Iowa. At last report, all major Republican candidates except former NY mayor Rudy Giuliani have also accepted the invitation to participate.The Des Moines Register has a reputation for putting on fair and informative events. Their debates have become an Iowa tradition that reporters and editors from across the nation take seriously. The debate will be broadcast live on statewide Iowa Public Television from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. (CT) Dec. 12, and will be re-broadcast at a later time on IPTV. The program will also be offered to public television stations across the country. Ambassador Keyes expressed his thanks to the sponsors of the event, saying, "I'm grateful to those who will not abandon their resolve to raise the standard of political integrity. I pray God that my participation in the debate will vindicate their good will."

CNN Excludes Alan Keyes From Florida Debate

2007-11-29T00:04:00.000-06:00

CNN Political Director Sam Feist e-mailed the Alan Keyes campaign to inform the campaign — for the first time — that Ambassador Keyes would not be included in the CNN/YouTube/Republican Party of Florida Debate. Prior to this notice, the campaign had received no word from the debate's sponsors about their intentions, one way or the other, to include Dr. Keyes, despite several inquires. The most the campaign was able to learn was that the decision was "ultimately up to CNN." In the meantime, the campaign contacted numerous Florida party, state, and national leaders, encouraging them to ask CNN to include Ambassador Keyes in Wednesday's debate, so that all nine of the presidential candidates selected by the state for its primary ballot might be scrutinized by voters — instead of just eight.For reasons evident below, CNN's decision to exclude Dr. Keyes is obviously arbitrary, unfair, and presumptuous — overriding, in essence, the prerogative of the State of Florida to decide which presidential contenders voters have a right to learn about. The effect of this decision by CNN is far-reaching. Any candidate who does not appear in this nationally-televised debate — the last one scheduled before the primaries — will have little chance of compensating for the damage done to his campaign in the public mind. Note that Ambassador Keyes has already been excluded from two previous national debates on dubious grounds, and as a result, most people are not even aware he is running for president. Excluding Dr. Keyes from the debate arguably does irreparable damage to his campaign — a result that can hardly have escaped CNN. CNN is playing "gate-keeper," and that is not a legitimate role of the media, no matter how much influence they seek to exert in the political arena.

Tancredo Asks WHO Why Taiwan Was Left Out Of The Loop

2007-11-29T00:03:00.000-06:00

A leading supporter of Taiwan in the US Congress has demanded that the WHO explain its failure to notify Taipei of a potentially debilitating bacterial infection this summer, despite data that Taiwan could be affected. In a letter to WHO Director-General Margaret Chan (陳馮富珍) on Tuesday, Representative Tom Tancredo asked why her organization had refused to notify Taiwan directly of the danger, opting instead to let China notify Taipei. Beijing waited as long as two weeks to notify Taiwan. In his letter, Tancredo said WHO's International Food Safety Authorities Network issued an alert on Sept. 12 regarding a food-borne outbreak of shigella sonnei in Australia and Denmark. The alert requested data from WHO members to evaluate the extent of the danger and contain potential outbreaks. The WHO issued another alert two days later indicating that food from Thailand was the source of the outbreak and that "Taiwan had been a destination for some of these infected products," Tancredo wrote. The contaminated food was identified as baby corn from Thailand. Victims came down with a variety of symptoms, including diarrhea, stomach pains and fever.Chan's failure to notify Taiwan of the health threat "could have negative implications that extend far beyond the Taiwan Strait. What if some of these contaminated products had been trans-shipped out of Taiwan to one of the [WHO's] member states?" Tancredo asked. "Fortunately, it appears that the Taiwanese have taken sufficient measures in this case to preserve the health of its citizens and prevent tainted products from leaving the island. But we might not be so lucky next time," he wrote, adding "It is rather perplexing that the WHO would rely on the benevolence of the Beijing government when it comes to protecting the health and safety of the 23 million people of democratic Taiwan." Since the WHO Constitution states "the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being," Tancredo wrote, "WHO's recent actions seem to indicate the organization does not believe these goals apply to the 23 million people of Taiwan." "I sincerely hope ... that in the future the organization will focus ... less on complying with the petty parochialism of Communist China's foreign policy demands," Tancredo wrote.

Democrats Party Of The Rich

2007-11-28T00:03:00.000-06:00

Democrats may present themselves as defenders of the middle and lower classes, but in fact they have become the new “party of the rich,” according to a report from the Heritage Foundation. Democrats now control more than half of the wealthiest congressional jurisdictions, when a wealthy American is defined as a single taxpayer earning more than $100,000 a year and married income tax filers earning more than $200,000. More than half of the wealthiest households live in the 18 states where Democrats hold both U.S. Senate seats. In the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco district is home to more than 43,700 wealthy households, while House Republican leader John Boehner’s Ohio district has fewer than 7,000 well-heeled households.Democratic majority leader Steny Hoyer’s Maryland district has a median income of more than $62,000, while his GOP counterpart, minority whip Roy Blunt, represents a Missouri district where the median income is only $33,000, Michael Franc, the Heritage Foundation’s vice president of government relations, reported in the Financial Times. Democrats thrive in wealthy areas even in staunchly Republican states such as Georgia and Kansas. In Iowa, the three most prosperous House districts are represented by Democrats, while the two poorest are Republican seats. Noting that Democrats in Congress are readying a tax increase of at least $1 trillion over the next decade, Franc observes: “Pelosi says she wants to extract all of this from ‘the wealthy.’ When has a party ever championed a policy that would inflict so much pain on its own constituency? At what point will affluent Democrats crack and mount a Blue State tax rebellion?”

Huckbee Gears Up for More Attacks

2007-11-27T00:03:00.000-06:00

Mike Huckabee has no intention of being swept away by the inevitable attacks that have followed his surging poll numbers and with Iowa front-runner and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney renewing his criticism of the former Arkansans Governor, Huckabee took time this weekend to try and set his record straight. Campaigning in South Carolina Saturday, Huckabee tailgated with supporters at the Clemenson-South Carolina football game in Columbia, before taking time Sunday to leave politics at the door and give a sermon at a local church--Huckabee is a former Baptist minister. Taking up Romney on abortion, Huckabee lamented what he believed was a fair weather stance, telling tailgaters, “He’s come along. Even if he’s a little late, better late than never.” Speaking with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer late Sunday morning, Huckabee criticized Romney as a candidate who plays to political winds and that attacks against his own position on issues like immigration are misrepresented. "I never had illegals working on my lawn," Huckabee told Blitzer. “It was a meritorious scholarship,” said Huckabee, referring to a proposal he backed as Governor of Arkansans that would give illegal immigrants tuition breaks.“They would be able to acquire that scholarship because, quite frankly, I would rather have them college-educated. I’d have some folks become citizens, paying taxes, rather than being in a position where their income was so low they ended up becoming tax takers,” he continued. Romney has upped the attack on Huckabee in recent days and other hopefuls, including Fred Thompson (R-TN), have been quick to join the fray. Citing Huckabee’s record of raising taxes as Governor of Arkansas and several issues involving ethics violations during his tenure, opponents are giving the media ordained, “Mr. Nice Guy”, a rude awakening to the dirt and flying elbows of politics. Huckabee will face a difficult road ahead as his rising numbers have been met by rising attacks from rivals and interest groups like The Club for Growth, a conservative group focused on tax reform. Leading pundit Robert Novak is no fan of Huckabee either; the conservative commentator published an opinion piece about Huckabee Monday entitled, "The False Conservative". The roe among Republican hopefuls has increased dramatically in the past few days, with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani attacking Mitt Romney, Romney going after Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson slinging arrows at whoever falls in his sights. The rhetoric is already soaring and with the CNN GOP YouTube debate scheduled for Wednesday, a mêlée of mud between the front-runners will surely ensue.

Romney Pessimistic About Mideast Summit

2007-11-26T00:03:00.000-06:00

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said he does not expect much to come from this week's Middle East peace talks in Annapolis, Md. "I always like people to talk to each other and I'm hopeful, but I'm not terribly optimistic about it," Romney, a GOP Presidential hopeful, said in answer to an audience question. Romney said progress at Annapolis was unlikely because Palestinians are fighting each other and have not shown they have the ability to form a stable and secure government. "It's very difficult to establish peace when you don't have somebody across the table who has responsibility and can manage their side of the table," he said. "My expectations are modest because of (the Palestinians') inability to really follow the road map." Romney went on to say that the wider challenge is to control "jihadist extremism" around the world, from the Philippines to Nigeria. "I think our efforts are going to be broader than in that one hot spot as we help the Muslims themselves reject the extreme within them," he said.Romney spent much of the Thanksgiving holiday engaged in a debate - conducted via press statements - with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani about their relative economic records, health care strategies and electability. In a fitting end to the weekend, the last question that Romney took was to the point: What would he say to someone who wanted to support Giuliani because the former mayor was more likely to defeat Hillary Rodham Clinton in a general election? "I don't think he can, and I think I can," Romney answered to applause. "I think to beat Hillary you got to be different than Hillary. ... You have to be pro-life, and you have to be anti-illegal immigration, and you have to be pro-family and you have to have high ethical standards in the history of your administration. You have to stand up and say you are different. I just don't think we can win the White House and defeat Hillary Clinton by acting like Hillary Clinton."

Romney Calls On Judge To Resign After Graham Killings

2007-11-25T00:03:00.000-06:00

Mitt Romney is calling on a judge he appointed to resign after she released without a bail a man now accused of killing a Washington couple. Meanwhile, a rival for the Republican presidential nomination is seizing on the case. Rudy Giuliani says Romney's appointment of Superior Court judge Kathe Tuttman is not an isolated incident. He says there was an increase in murder and violent crime in Massachusetts while Romney was governor.Tuttman released Daniel Tavares Junior without bail in July after prosecutors tried to hold him on a charge of assaulting two prison guards. The assault allegedly came near the end of Tavares' manslaughter sentence for killing his mother. Tavares fled to Washington state and is now charged with killing Brian and Beverly Mauck last week. Romney says Tuttman showed such poor judgment in the case that she should resign.

Where The Republican Candidates Stand On Global Warming

2007-11-24T00:03:00.000-06:00

RUDY GIULIANI

Rarely discusses climate change, but describes energy independence as a national security priority. Wants to wean U.S. off of foreign oil in 10 to 15 years. Opposes cap and trade programs. Affiliated with law firm that lobbies for coal-fired power plants.

If president I would . . .

Expand nuclear power and push for coal-to-liquid fuel, support drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"Mandates often turn out to cost a lot more money and are unrealistic. I like the idea of achievable goals."

MIKE HUCKABEE

Promises energy independence by the end of his second term through aggressive use of alternative fuels, with some government grants and subsidies, and short-term increase in domestic drilling. Wants to rely on market forces, supports a cap and trade program for carbon emissions.

If president I would . . .

Promote greater use of nuclear energy, insist on "clean" coal in future power plants, accelerate development of hydrogen and other alternative energy sources.

"I'm one of the few people who's actually talked about the fact that as Republicans we have done a lousy job of presenting the case for conservation. Not only as a Republican, but as a Christian it's important to me to say to my fellow believers, 'Look, if anybody ought to be leading on this issue, it ought to be us.'

DUNCAN HUNTER

Talks about energy independence but sees no scientific agreement on global warming. On his web site, takes detailed positions on issues from immigration to federal obscenity laws but does not mention climate change.

If president I would . . .

Reduce taxes on alternative energy sources, set goals for greater use of renewable energy.

"Few people in global warming can tell you exactly what's happening. How much of it is attributable to mankind and how much of it is attributable the natural cycle? But I don't think you have to answer that question to do what I've recommended. I think we have lots of reasons to be energy independent."

JOHN MCCAIN

Called President Bush's approach to global warming "disgraceful." Co-sponsored first Senate bill calling for mandatory greenhouse-gas reductions. Supports cap and trade program.

If president I would . . .

Streamline licensing of nuclear power plants, subsidize research and development of coal gasification, support higher fuel-efficiency standards.

"It's like Tony Blair said: Suppose we're wrong, and there's no such thing as greenhouse-gas emissions, and we adopt green technologies. All we've done is give our kids a better planet.'RON PAUL

Reflecting his libertarian philosophy, does not believe government should play a major role. Not convinced global warming is caused by human activity. Says EPA is not needed, that strict enforcement of property rights would reduce pollution.

If president I would . . .

End subsidies for big oil companies and other energy producers, support use of coal and nuclear power and drilling in ANWR.

"To assume we have to close down everything in this country and in the world because there's a fear that we're going to have this global warming and that we're going to be swallowed up by the oceans, I think that's extreme. I don't buy into that. Yet, I think it's a worthy discussion."

MITT ROMNEY

Stresses energy efficiency and a drive toward energy independence as a "strategic imperative." Would consider a cap and trade program only if part of a global agreement, and wants to see China and India do more.

If president I would . . .

Support greater use of nuclear power, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, move toward alternative fuels.

"I don't think it's productive for us to act on a unilateral basis if we have China and India continuing to increase their output of greenhouse gases."

TOM TANCREDO

Sees no scientific consensus on global warming, or whether human activity is the cause. Illegal immigration is his big issue, and warns that an influx of immigrants is contributing to higher energy consumption. Described Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" as "last work of fiction he has read."

If president I would . . .

Support expanded use of nuclear energy, all forms of coal, and more drilling offshore and in ANWR.

"Most evidence does not substantiate the claim that (global warming) is caused by human activity, or at least to the extent that it would change things one way or the other if we started doing things quite differently. It's almost audacious of us to think that we can change this path with our activities on this planet."

FRED THOMPSON

Stresses need for energy security but says little about climate change. Climate change is not one of the 11 issues he discusses on his web site.

If president I would . . .

Invest in alternative energy, advanced technology on renewables, and lead a campaign for greater conservation.

"Quite a few planets in our solar system seem to be heating up a bit... Maybe Mars got its fever from Earth. If so, I guess Jupiter has caught the same cold, because it's heating up too, like Pluto. This has led some people, not necessarily scientists, to wonder if Mars and Jupiter, nonsignatories to the Kyoto Treaty, are actually inhabited by alien SUV-driving industrialists who run their air-conditioning at 60 degrees and refuse to recycle."

Romney Disagrees With Sen. Gregg On Iowa

2007-11-23T00:04:00.000-06:00

Republican Mitt Romney says he disagrees with New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg and his assessment of Iowa's presidential caucuses.Gregg, a Romney supporter, told reporters that he wasn't worried about Gov. Mike Huckabee's standing in Iowa polls.He said Romney remains strong where it counts: New Hampshire. Gregg says his state picks Presidents and Iowa picks corn. When asked if he aggress, Romney said he does not.

Moonlight Bunny Ranch Endorses Ron Paul

2007-11-23T00:03:00.000-06:00

Presidential candidate Ron Paul has been gaining support from a variety of people across the country. But an unlikely supporter in Nevada is brothel owner Dennis Hof. Hof showed at a Paul news conference yesterday, flanked by two of his prostitutes, to show his support and stated that he planned to place collection boxes outside the door of his brothel, the Moonlight Bunny Ranch. Paul’s libertarian platform and philosophy of limited government resonates with Hof. “I’ll get all the Bunnies together and we can raise him some money. I’ll put up a collection box outside the door.They can drop in $1, $5 contributions. What a great way for the working girls to support Ron Paul. It’s just the right thing to do,” Hof said. Paul campaign spokesmen told reporters the money collected by Hof would be welcome. “On a personal basis, he doesn’t condone those things,” campaign spokesman, Jeff Greenspan said. “At the same time, from his campaign perspective, it’s not the role of federal government and it’s not in the constitution for federal government to regulate these thing. The Nevada voters and Legislature have decided it is a legal activity in this state.”

Romney Defends President's Handing Of Iraq War

2007-11-22T00:03:00.000-06:00

Mitt Romney defended President Bush's handling of the Iraq war and bashed Democrat Barack Obama for his earlier statements calling for a troop withdrawal. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, said Bush "did a superb job knocking down Saddam" in Iraq and chastised the three leading Democratic presidential candidates for their stances on the war. He singled out Obama: "It's fortunate we did not have Barack Obama as president," he told a standing-room-only crowd of 200 at a coffee house here. "If he had been president, he'd have just pulled our troops out, and al-Qaeda would have been a safe haven in Iraq."Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said: "If Barack Obama were president, we never would have gone into Iraq in the first place. We would've gone after Osama bin Laden, finished the job in Afghanistan, and made America a lot safer than it is even after seven years of a diverse, failed foreign policy that Mitt Romney apparently wants to continue." Romney made headlines earlier this month for repeatedly targeting Democrat Hillary Clinton, who is bunched in a tight-three way nomination race with Obama and former Sen. John Edwards. "The surge is working, and we're seeing the Sunnis get rid of the bad guys there," Romney said. "And our forces are getting rid of al-Qaeda. And not only is it working, but we're seeing a resurgence of confidence in our own people to get the job done there."

Wrestler Ric Flair Endorses Mike Huckabee

2007-11-21T00:04:00.000-06:00

Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's endorsements now include retired pro wrestler Ric "Nature Boy" Flair.Ric FlairFlair joins Ted Nugent, a rock musician and hunting enthusiast, and Chuck Norris, a martial arts expert and star of TV's "Walker, Texas Ranger," in endorsing Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor.Mike HuckabeeFlair is to appear with Huckabee Saturday for a tailgate party when South Carolina meets Clemson in Columbia, S.C.

Giuliani Leads Among Republicans in Latest Blind Bio Survey

2007-11-21T00:03:00.000-06:00

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, long the favorite in nationwide samples of likely Republican voters in the 2008 race for the party's presidential nomination, has the strongest resume of four top contenders, a new Zogby International survey shows. The telephone survey, known as a “blind bio” poll because likely voters are given details of the candidates’ resumes without their names attached, shows Giuliani wins 34% support, compared to 22% each for Thompson and Romney. Ron Paul, who has surged recently in polls and has a significant online following, came in last with 13% support, while 9% said they were undecided on the question.Ron Paul Yucks It Up With Rudy GiulianiOnly those four candidates were included in the question, which was commissioned by Jones Productions, a media company based in Austin, Texas. The survey included 389 likely Republican primary or caucus voters and was conducted Nov. 14–17, 2007. It carries a margin of error of +/– 5.1 percentage points. The blind bio question was also posed to a larger pool of 1,009 likely voters nationwide, including Democrats and independents, and Paul was the big winner among that universe of voters, winning 33%, compared to 19% for Giuliani, 15% for Romney, and 13% for Thompson.

Romney Up, Thompson Way Down In N.H.

2007-11-20T00:03:00.000-06:00

A new New Hampshire poll shows a mini-surge for front-runner Mitt Romney, a dip for Rudy Giuliani, and continued cratering of support for Fred Thompson. The CNN/WMUR survey has Romney at 33 percent, up 8 percentage points; John McCain in second at 18 percent; and Giuliani in third at 16 percent, down 8 percentage points.Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee have leapfrogged Thompson, who is now in sixth in the Granite State with just 4 percent support, down from 13 percent in September when he entered the race. While there was quite a bit of initial buzz Thompson, the actor and former US senator from Tennessee, he thus far has failed to impress voters in New Hampshire and elsewhere. The poll was conducted Wednesday through Sunday among 404 Republican voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Huckabee Unveils First Ad

2007-11-19T00:03:00.000-06:00

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says he rejects letting states decide whether to allow abortions. Huckabee says that the right to life is a moral issue not subject to multiple interpretations. He says it's the logic of the Civil War -- if morality is the point, and if it's a right or a wrong, you can't have 50 different versions of what is right.Huckabee was appearing on Fox News Sunday. He also previewed his first television ad of the campaign, which will start running in Iowa on Monday. The 60-second spot stars actor Chuck Norris. The lighthearted spot includes Huckabee, staring straight at the camera saying, "My plan to secure the border. Two words: Chuck. Norris." The camera then cuts to Norris standing beside him. The tough-guy actor then vouches for Huckabee's stances on guns, taxes and conservatism.

What Dirt Does Hilary Have On Obama?

2007-11-18T00:03:00.000-06:00

As the Democratic primary draws near to the Iowa Caucus, the sparks -- and sleaze -- are starting to fly. The latest mud: columnist Robert Novak reported that "agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information" about Sen. Barack Obama. So what dirt does Hillary have about the Illinois Senator?Novak says the details, so far, have not been disclosed. Democratic primary campaigns can be particularly dirty. Remember Sen. Gary Hart's "Monkey Business" affair that was reportedly dredged up by operatives of his 1988 primary rival Al Gore. Also remember the Gennifer Flowers scandal. Republicans get blamed for the "Clinton Hate Machine" -- but the truth is that the buzz against Bill Clinton was fed by Democratic operatives in the '92 primary campaign. This time, Obama is on the offensive and quickly lashed out at Hillary. In a statement released by his campaign this weekend, Obama said: “The cause of change in this country will not be deterred or sidetracked by the old ‘Swift boat’ politics. The cause of moving America forward demands that we defeat it .... “I am prepared to stand up to that kind of politics, whether it's deployed by candidates in our party, in the other party or by any third party." Obama demanded that Hillary and her operatives release their "scandal" or deny they are part of an effort to smear him.An angry Obama added, “She of all people, having complained so often about ‘the politics of personal destruction,’ should move quickly to either stand by or renounce these tactics.” Clinton's campaign hurriedly responded to the growing brouhaha. Clinton spokesman Jay Carson told Fox News that the campaign has "absolutely no idea what [Novak] is talking about. ..." Carson said, bluntly, Hillary Clinton's campaign had no scandalous information about Senator Obama. Word of the Obama scandal comes as Hillary has lost her momentum after flip-flopping on the issue of licenses for illegals. Obama appears to be gaining, and recent polls in Iowa show him closing the gap with Hillary.

Iowa: Romney 29%, Huckabee 16%, Giuliani 15%

2007-11-17T00:03:00.000-06:00

Mitt Romney has extended his lead in the Iowa Republican Presidential Caucus for 2008 and three candidates are virtually tied for second place. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the race shows Romney with support from 29% of Likely Caucus Participants. Trailing the frontrunner by thirteen percentage points is Mike Huckabee who enjoys support from 16%. In a virtual tie for second with Huckabee are Rudy Giuliani at 15% and Fred Thompson at 14%. Further back are John McCain (6%), Ron Paul (4%), Tom Tancredo (4%), and Duncan Hunter (2%). Nine percent (9%) are undecided.Romney's thirteen point advantage is double his six-point lead from a month ago. Support for Romney has increased four-points since the prior survey while Thompson's support has fallen four points. Mike Huckabee is down two from the earlier survey suggesting his bounce may have reached at least a temporary plateau. Rudy Giuliani , the leader in national polls, picked up three percentage points over the past month. Romney also enjoys a strong lead in New Hampshire, site of the first-in-the-nation Presidential Primary.

Tancredo To Get $400 Haircut For Autism

2007-11-16T00:03:00.000-06:00

Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo will get his hair clipped for a cause in Concord today, while poking fun at a Democratic rival's high-dollar haircuts. The Colorado Congressman will pay $400 for a haircut. It's a nod toward a $400 cut that appeared on John Edwards' campaign spending reports. The owner of the Hair Biz Salon, David Holden, says the $400 fee will be donated to the Autism Society of America.Holden says he got the idea for raising charitable funds after hearing about Edwards' pricey haircuts, but didn't immediately pursue it. Holden's 12-year-old son has autism. Holden says offering $400 haircuts was a way to raise money and learn about government-funded research.

McCain Defends Reaction to Clinton Jab

2007-11-15T00:03:00.000-06:00

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain said he responded appropriately after a woman used the word ``bitch'' to describe Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton. ``She made a comment, I made light of the comment, and then I said very seriously I treated and continue to treat Senator Clinton with respect and I've said that many times,'' the Arizona senator told reporters at his Phoenix office. He chuckled when a reporter brought it up. When asked whether he thought the woman's comment was funny, McCain said he reacted that way because he wanted to move on. ``I can't dictate what other people say - that's not my business,'' he said. ``Nor is it an appropriate role for me to play in a gathering at a restaurant, and if anybody thinks that I should, then I think they have the wrong idea of what gatherings are all about.'' At the campaign event on Monday, the woman asked McCain, ``How do we beat the bitch?'' McCain laughed along with the crowd as he said, ``May I give the translation?'' ``That's an excellent question,'' he added. ``I respect Senator Clinton. I respect anyone who gets the nomination of the Democratic Party.'' McCain said Wednesday he's sure the New York senator understands.``Senator Clinton and I have a very good relationship,'' he said. ``She understands I've always treated her with respect, and I'm sure that's been the reaction of her campaign.'' Clinton's campaign did not immediately return telephone calls for comment. On Tuesday, CNN's Rick Sanchez raised the question of whether McCain should have admonished the woman. ``Most people who have seen it are looking at it as a real mistake on his part in terms of the way he handled it,'' Sanchez said on the cable network's ``Out in the Open.'' McCain said if the American people watch the entire exchange posted online between him and the woman, he's sure that would be good enough for them, ``even if it's not good enough for CNN.'' McCain's South Carolina campaign manager, Buzz Jacobs, said in a statement that Sanchez' comments reflect poorly on him and CNN. Hours later, McCain's campaign was using the controversy to raise money. Campaign manager Rick Davis e-mailed supporters, saying, ``We are asking you to help us fight Rick Sanchez and CNN and stand with John McCain. Please make your most generous contribution from $25 up to the maximum limit of $2,300 to the only candidate who can defeat Hillary Clinton.'' McCain laughed Wednesday when a reporter asked if he thought the tactic would help his campaign. ``We ask for money all the time,'' he said. ``I have no idea of its effect. I know that I continue to do what's right, and I'm sure in the eyes of the American people I do what's right, and I treat my opponents with respect.''

Tom Tancredo Airs Tough New Ad

2007-11-14T00:03:00.000-06:00

Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo is airing a graphic new ad this week in Iowa that depicts a terrorist planting a bomb in a crowded U.S. shopping mall and suggests that lax immigration policies have left the country vulnerable to such attacks.The television ad, called "Tough on Terror," shows a hooded terrorist carrying a backpack into a mall and leaving it by a bench, before the screen turns to black and an explosion can be heard. As images of an injured child and a wrecked train flash on the screen, the voiceover says: "There are consequences to open borders beyond the 20 million aliens who have come to take our jobs ... the price we pay for spineless politicians who refuse to defend our borders against those who come to kill." The Colorado congressman, who late last month announced he would not be seeking a sixth term in the House of Representatives, has made fighting illegal immigration a cornerstone of his struggling campaign. Tancredo is polling in the bottom tier of Republican candidates but has a loyal cadre of supporters who are strict border control proponents.In an accompanying radio ad, Tancredo says, "All issues pale in comparison to the fact that Islamic jihadists are here and plotting our destruction ... I will secure our borders and ports, I will stop all visas to nations that sponsor terrorism and arrest and deport any alien who preaches violence and hatred whether that's ... from a mosque or a street corner in a Mayday parade." Tancredo Press Secretary Alan Moore said the campaign expects to spend about $1 million over the life of the ad going from now to the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, and that, although the ad is currently running only in Iowa, it will be aired in New Hampshire next week. As for criticisms that might be leveled at the campaign over the explosive aspects of the ad, Moore pointed to reports that even the FBI suspects Al Qaeda may try to use the shopping mall scenario. He said that they already had been working on the ad before the FBI investigation became public but asked, "If legitimate national security threats are controversial then what are we going to talk about? If other presidential candidates don't talk about threats like this, how serious are they?" Tancredo says in both ads that he approves the message "because someone needs to say it."

Huckabee Gains Endorsement From Rev. Wildmon

2007-11-13T00:03:00.000-06:00

Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee announced today he's received the endorsement of conservative activist Donald Wildmon.Rev. Donald WildmonWildmon is the founder of the American Family Association and a retired United Methodist minister in Tupelo, Mississippi. He has frequently led national boycotts against corporations and once accused Mighty Mouse of teaching children to snort cocaine.Wildmon said in a statement released by Huckabee's campaign that he believes Huckabee understands the needs of the nation. Wildmon say his endorsement is a personal one and does not represent an official endorsement from the family association. Huckabee praised Wildmon as an influential member of the religious community and says the two share the same values on faith and family.

Hillary Clinton's Planted Audience

2007-11-12T00:03:00.000-06:00

The revelation that Hillary Clinton's team has planted friendly, helpful questions from the public during her presidential nomination campaign won't shock many of our readers. Over the years, especially the Blair years, we became inured to the callous mendacity, the casual deviousness of our own politicians; but we have regarded the United States as the home of low political skullduggery ever since Watergate.
That a candidate might organise a couple of full tosses for herself when engaging with the voters, with press present, seems to us an obvious device, and trifling compared with the rigging of a competition on children's television. Indeed, planting questions - whether on the stump or in parliament - is standard practice in just about every polity where the appearance of democracy still matters. But there are two reasons why this admission damages Senator Clinton. One is that, while the rest of the world regarded Richard Nixon's disgrace as an irrevocable degradation of politics that set a new and lower standard for all to follow, only without getting found out, Americans, led by Gerald Ford, kidded themselves that the damage could be undone. They desperately wanted to believe again that their heroes were all they cracked themselves up to be, and so even the claque in the crowd, a trick that wouldn't fool a children's tea-party in Europe, is scandalous if exposed.More particular to the senator, though, is that such micromanagement, whether ethical or not, enhances her reputation as someone who needs to control every situation, and, despite her undoubted intellect, lacks the confidence to deal with the unrehearsed. Again, this is something the British are now used to, but it is already playing badly for Mrs Clinton with American voters, who retain a robust dislike for being patronised and duped. They are not jaded as we are, and still hope for honesty in their leaders. Good luck to them.

Keyes On GOP Ballot In Alabama

2007-11-11T00:03:00.000-06:00

Former radio talk show host Alan Keyes has qualified for the Alabama Republican presidential primary ballot Feb. 5. The Keyes campaign, which has adopted the slogan "America's Revival," made the announcement Friday. Keyes' name will now appear on the GOP primary ballot in seven states, including Florida and Georgia.Keyes, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2000, worked in the Reagan administration and later hosted a national radio call-in show that was syndicated across the country. He currently writes books and makes speeches against abortion and for the elimination of the federal income tax.

Tancredo Radio Ad Attacks Radical Islam And Multiculturalism

2007-11-10T00:03:00.000-06:00

Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo is running radio ads in Iowa that hit hard on an array of core conservative issues. In the ad Tancredo says, “Everything we are, everything we have achieved in this nation is at under attack from jihadists abroad and from multiculturalists here at home.” Tancredo takes clear cut positions on both social and fiscal conservative issues. “I will fight to protect the innocent unborn. I will fight to put God back into the schools. I will demand a constitutional amendment to define marriage. I’ll cut taxes and spending secure our borders, enforce our laws, and I will defend our country against radical Islam.” Tancredo also makes the claim that the survival of the nation is at stake."My single issue is the survival of America we have been blessed to inherit". Tancredo did better than expected in the Iowa straw poll this summer by taking fourth place but has not gained any traction since. Tancredo has qualified for federal matching funds and appears to be placing his focus on Iowa where he will likely need a third or fourth plash finish to continue his campaign. Tancredo is arguably the most conservative candidate running and although being overshadowed by the frontrunners he does have a chance to do well in Iowa where social conservatives have done well in the past.

Tancredo Condemns Use Of Giant Crescent In Flight 93 Memorial

2007-11-09T00:03:00.000-06:00

A Colorado congressman says the National Park Service should scrap the planned design for the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County because it includes Islamic symbolism. Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Republican, sent the letter to National Park Service Director Mary A. Bomar. He claims the revised memorial design still includes a crescent -- an internationally recognized Islamic symbol. "I remain committed to ensuring that this memorial is a powerful symbol for the whole nation and a testament to the courage and will of the passengers of the flight -- as I am sure you are," Tancredo wrote to Bomar. "And while I regret having to contact the Park Service again about this issue, I sincerely hope that you will direct the committee to scrap the crescent design entirely in favor of a new design that will not make the memorial a flashpoint for this kind of controversy and criticism." The letter is the second one that Tancredo has written the service regarding the design of the memorial. The site will honor the 40 men and women aboard Flight 93, which was hijacked and crashed near Shanksville, Somerset County, on Sept. 11, 2001.In September 2005, just days after the design was introduced, Tancredo wrote to then-National Park Service Director Fran Mainella to criticize the memorial site's crescent shape. Tancredo questioned whether the crescent design would make the memorial a tribute to the radical Islamic hijackers -- rather than the passengers and crew who thwarted an attempt to use the plane as a bomb in Washington, D.C. Changes were made to the design, which had been called "Crescent of Embrace," in response to those initial concerns by Tancredo and others. The design changes, unveiled in December 2005, called for a tree-lined walkway that envelopes a roughly circular patch of land at the crash site known as the bowl. The previous design had the trees follow a crescent-shaped path. Two years later, Tancredo now claims that the changes aren't enough. "Unfortunately, it appears that little if any substantive changes to the most troubling aspect of the design -- the crescent shape -- have been made," he wrote. "This deeply concerns me." Tancredo's spokesman, T.Q. Houlton, said the congressman has no further comment. "The letter speaks for itself," Houlton said. Joanne Hanley, memorial superintendent, said the park service won't comment on Tancredo's letter because it has not yet been received. Hanley did reiterate what she has said all along about the design controversy -- that people are seeing things that aren't really there."I think the only controversy is the one made by a very small but vocal group of conspiracy theorists," Hanley said. Family members Ed Root, president of Families of Flight 93, and Gordie Felt, who serves on the family board as well as the Flight 93 Federal Advisory Commission, said they would welcome Tancredo to come to the memorial site and speak with family members and Park Service officials. "I think, frankly, he's off-base making this comment and taking this action," said Root, whose cousin, flight attendant Lorraine Bay, died on Flight 93. Felt, who lost his brother Edward on the flight, said he spoke to Tancredo in 2005, when the congressman raised concerns to let him know the family board was behind the design. "To see this again, I'm not sure if he's getting pressure with the politics of the day," Felt said. "I'm not sure of his motives, but I thought this whole design issue was behind us." Felt said that accusations that the family group backs an Islamic design are "distasteful.""My only concern is that any time that someone with any type of credibility raises a concern about the memorial -- valid or not -- that it potentially can be damaging to the memorial process," Felt said.

Hooters Girls Ambush Romney

2007-11-08T00:03:00.000-06:00

Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney got more than he bargained for when visiting a chili cook-off in Anderson, SC. After making comments at the Main Street Deli, Romney hit the streets to sample some of the local chilis. Little did he know a small group of "Hooters" waitresses were waiting at the end of a line of people waiting to meet Romney. The woman pounced on Romney, hugging him, urging him to vote for the "Hooters" chili. Romney was clearly impressed with the Main Street Deli's chili entry, stating emphatically "That's good."At one point, after putting on a brand new gray sweatshirt from Walmart, Romney was offered a Mardi Gras-like bead necklace. Romney declined, shrugging his shoulders, saying, "I have nothing to show." The crowd was overall very receptive to Romney's visit overall, several of the woman in the crowd asking him to kiss them on the cheek. One woman exclaimed, "Oh, wow, you're handsome." Romney assured one male resident, "Those other ladies were making me kiss them on the cheek. I'm not doing that to you." The gentleman simply responded, laughing: "Well thank you very much." The visit was part of a two day South Carolina swing for Romney.

Giuliani Says Hillary Makes Kerry Look Like An Amateur Flip-Flopper

2007-11-05T00:03:00.000-06:00

Rudy Giuliani criticized Sen. Hillary Clinton for changing positions so much on whether or not illegal immigrants should be given driver's licenses that she outdoes Sen. John Kerry in being a flip-flopper. "She makes him, John Kerry, look like an amateur," Giuliani said Friday while campaigning in Errol, N.H., according to the Boston Globe. During Tuesday night's Democratic debate, Clinton was unable to to say whether she supported a plan by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York to offer limited driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.She was roundly criticized for the gaffe. On Wednesday she came out in support of Spitzer's plan. "Senator Clinton supports governors like Governor Spitzer who believe they need such a measure to deal with the crisis caused by this administration's failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform," her campaign said in a statement. "As president, her goal will be to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would make this unnecessary."

Obama Mocks Clinton

2007-11-04T00:03:00.000-05:00

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) mocked Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) for having played the gender card, saying she cried "Don't pick on me" after being attacked by her foes on legitimate policy issues at this week's debate among Democratic presidential contenders. In an interview, Obama scoffed at the New York Democrat's complaint that she was being forced to "compete in the all-boys club" of presidential politics, saying he would never use his race -- Obama is black -- to shield him from political attacks. Obama's comments marked the first time that the undercurrent of identity politics has become an issue of open contention between the two trailblazing candidates. "I am assuming and I hope that Sen. Clinton wants to be treated like everybody else," Obama said on the "Today" show. Referring to debates where he has come under attack, Obama said, "I didn't come out and say, 'Look, I'm being hit on because I look different from the rest of the folks on the stage.' " Clinton, who says she wasn't at her best during the debate, seemed to both oppose and support New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's plan to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants."I got a lot of questions that night, a lot more than anybody else," she explained to a New Hampshire newspaper on Friday. "I'd be the first to tell you that I wasn't as effective in answering the driver's license question as I should have been." Later, she stepped back from her "boys club" remark, saying, "I don't think they're piling on because I'm a woman. I think they're piling on because I'm winning." Asked if she could take the heat of an increasingly nasty campaign, she quipped: "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. I'm very much at home in the kitchen." That was a markedly different message than the one her campaign issued after the debate when Clinton and aides invoked the gender issue. In a fundraising e-mail to supporters Thursday, Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle called her boss "one strong woman." Clinton pollster Mark Penn predicted a backlash against Obama and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) among female voters, who make up nearly 60% of the Democratic primary electorate. Obama said Friday: "The first time that people start challenging her point of view . . . suddenly she backs off and says, 'Don't pick on me.' That is not, obviously, how we would expect her to operate if she were president."

Romney Sets Himself Apart in Opposition To Gay Marriage

2007-11-03T00:03:00.000-05:00

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney drew some mild boos and hisses over his stand against gay marriage. From the students' section of his event at Luther College in Decorah, that wasn't so surprising. Romney faced a more pointed confrontation on the same topic during a question-and-answer session at the University of Denver last month. But it was noteworthy how Romney didn't feel like sharing the boos and hisses with a Republican rival who's starting to nip at his heels. Asked a generic question about the gay marriage issue, Romney went out of his way to say he was the only leading national candidate to support the federal constitutional amendment. That's true, but only if Romney ignores former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who runs second or third to Romney in the Iowa polls and slipped past him - just barely - in one national survey released last week. So, without speaking that other man's name, Romney tried to clear the battlefield in one of the Republican presidential race's contests within the contest: the fight for votes of social conservatives. "For those who are not familiar with it, of the four nationally leading candidates for president - and I count myself as one of those, but also Mayor (Rudy) Giuliani, and Sen. (John) McCain and (former Sen.) Fred Thompson - there's only one of us who's in favor of a federal amendment to the constitution to limit marriage to the relationship between a man and a woman," Romney said. "And that's me."Huckabee also supports the constitutional amendment, which has stalled in Congress since it was first advanced by two Colorado Republicans: Rep. Marilyn Musgrave and Sen. Wayne Allard, a Romney supporter. Despite Huckabee's recent surge in some polls, he still doesn't crack the top four when various national surveys are averaged together. Still, Huckabee's campaign considers it disingenuous for Romney to say he's the "only" top candidate who supports the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. "If he's defining who the top four are and tailoring his remarks to fit that situation, sure," said Huckabee spokesman Eric Woolson. "I think he's doing what he's very good at, and that's parsing his answers to suit the audience." While Romney got a cool reception from the students section for his marriage answer, he drew simultaneous applause from the part of the crowd he charitably called the "over-40" section. "I feel very strongly about this because, as I said earlier, I believe that maintaining the strength of the marriage relationship, the family relationship, is critical to the strength of an entire society," Romney said. The marriage issue has slipped from the national headlines since the Massachusetts Supreme Court first legalized same-sex marriages - just in time for it to become a hot-button issue in the 2004 presidential contest. Still, it's a key issue for religious conservatives - particularly evangelical Christians - and that's a key GOP constituency being sought by Romney, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Huckabee, a Baptist minister. Both men recently claimed victories at the Family Research Council's "Values Voters" summit straw poll, where Huckabee won more than 50 percent in the in-person vote but Romney eked out a narrow win when online votes were included. Neglecting to mention Huckabee on Thursday was "not intentional," Romney spokesman Tim Albrecht said. "I think that conventional wisdom states there are four leading candidates in this race," he said, meaning Giuliani, Thompson, McCain and Romney. "Poll after poll after poll has shown that."

Sen. Norm Coleman Endorses Rudy Giuliani

2007-11-02T00:03:00.000-05:00

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee announced today that Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) has formally endorsed Rudy Giuliani and will serve as the campaign’s Minnesota State Chairman and Midwest Regional Chairman. “I have long respected and admired Rudy Giuliani,” said Senator Coleman. "Rudy Giuliani and I share a strong bond as former Mayors. We focused on bringing people together to get things done, and to ensure that our focus was on solutions, not problems.I am confident that his vision and his strength as a candidate will give Republicans a strong voice in the November 2008 elections." “I am honored to have the backing of Norm Coleman,” said Rudy Giuliani. “Norm was an effective Mayor and serves the people of Minnesota well in the United States Senate. I truly appreciate his continued friendship and support.”

Hillary Waffles

2007-11-01T00:03:00.000-05:00

Near the end of a Democratic debate where she deflected most darts aimed at her by her rivals, White House hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) just would not say whether she backed a proposal by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Clinton protested to NBC's Tim Russert, "This is where everybody plays gotcha.'' Her refusal to be pinned down allowed former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) to accuse her of double-talk and let Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) question her candor. "Unless I missed something, Senator Clinton said two different things in the course of about two minutes just a few minutes ago, and I think this is a real issue for the country," said Edwards. "I mean, America is looking for a president who will say the same thing, who will be consistent, who will be straight with them." Obama said, "Well, I was confused on Senator Clinton's answer. I can't tell whether she was for it or against it." The exchange was a rare Clinton debate misstep because the dust-up would not have happened if she did not jump in for a second try on the question. Russert had noted Clinton told a New Hampshire newspaper she backed the controversial Spitzer plan."I did not say that it should be done, but I certainly recognize why Governor Spitzer is trying to do it," Clinton said. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) called her out. "Wait a minute. No, no, no. You said yes, you thought it made sense to do it. Replied Clinton, "No, I didn't, Chris." On the surface, the question about licenses reflected the larger national debate about the millions of illegal immigrants in the United States. Congress has not been able to pass an immigration overhaul, despite the backing of President Bush. In the context of this debate at Drexel University with seven Democrats on the stage, Clinton's answer let Obama and Edwards question her credibility. Much of the drama in the runup to the debate was the result of Obama and Edwards telegraphing their intended punches for the past several days. In the opening round of the debate, Obama downplayed the expectations he helped raise over whether he will be more aggressive taking on Clinton."I think some of this stuff gets overhyped," Obama said. "In fact, I think this has been the most hyped fight since Rocky fought Apollo Creed, although the amazing thing is I'm Rocky in this situation.'' Until the flap over driver's licenses, Clinton, however, did not need much rescuing. Clinton deflected suggestions Obama made in a New York Times interview that she was sounding Republican. "I don't think the Republicans got the message that I'm voting and sounding like them. If you watched their debate last week, I seemed to be the topic of great conversation and consternation, and that's for a reason, because I have stood against George Bush and his failed policies." Clinton talked about Republicans and their "constant obsession with me," saying, "We have got to turn the page on George Bush and Dick Cheney. In fact we have to throw the whole book away." The "turn-the-page" line -- an Obama standard on the stump -- triggered a stepped-up response from Obama. "Part of the reason that Republicans, I think, are obsessed with you, Hillary," said Obama, "is because that's a fight they're very comfortable having. It is the fight that we've been through since the '90s. What we don't need is another eight years of bickering."

Romney's No Democrat

2007-10-31T00:03:00.000-05:00

Mitt Romney has been accused of flip-flopping by some Republican rivals, he has not gone so far as to switch parties. Fellow Republican Judd Gregg, a senator from early-voting New Hampshire, began an endorsement speech for Romney this way on Monday: "You know if somebody had said I was going to endorse a Democrat. ..." The crowd groaned. Gregg started over. "If somebody said I was going to endorse a Democrat, they'd be absolutely wrong," he said. "We don't need any more Democrats as president of the United States. We had enough when we had Bill Clinton"Republican Presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney, looks for a pen to file his declaration of candidacy papers, to have his name on the ballot for the New Hampshire Presidential primary.The crowd cheered as Gregg pivoted back to his scripted statement, a humorous reference to interstate rivalry. "But if somebody had also said I'd endorse a former governor of Massachusetts for president of the United States, I'd say, well, I didn't think the Red Sox would win the World Series twice in my lifetime either." That was a reference to the Boston baseball team that won the title Sunday night , a triumph that many in New Hampshire celebrated. Though Romney's GOP presidential rivals haven't labeled him a Democrat, they have said he has made major changes in his political stances on such issues as abortion and gay marriage since his campaigns in his home state.

Iowa Poll: Mitt Opens 23 Point Lead Over Rudy

2007-10-30T00:03:00.000-05:00

With just over two months until the Iowa caucus, former Gov. Mitt Romney continues to lead the field although a new player is emerging as Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has gained significant ground, according to a new poll. Romney, who has campaigned relentlessly in Iowa and spent millions on ads there, tops all Republicans with 36.2 percent support from likely caucus voters, according to the University of Iowa Hawkeye poll. The next closest candidate is former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani with 13.1 percent and Huckabee with 12.8 percent. Huckabee was at just 2 percent in August.Rounding out the top GOP hopefuls in the poll of 285 voters were actor and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson 11.4 percent followed by Arizona Sen. John McCain at 6 percent. Giuliani continues to top national surveys but the Hawkeye poll shows Romney has increased his lead in Iowa over the ex-Big Apple mayor by eight percentage points. U-Iowa professor David Redlawsk, who conducted the poll, said the results show that Romney remains the clear favorite in Iowa. “We see no . . . candidate catching up to Romney,” Redlawsk said. On the Democratic side, meanwhile, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton continues to lead with 28.9 percent support, followed by Illinois Sen. Barack Obama with 26.6 percent and John Edwards at 20 percent. View all the poll results at http://www.uiowa.edu/election/.

Romney Warns Of Hillary's House of Horrors

2007-10-29T00:03:00.000-05:00

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney offered a verbal tour of "Hillary's House of Horrors" conjuring images of Halloween spook houses to underscore his criticisms of Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton."You go in one room, she wants to raise your taxes. You go in another room and she wants to have government taking over health care," Romney said to laughter and applause at a town hall meeting in southwest Florida. "You go in the next room and she's weakened homeland security by voting against the authority of our government to listen in to al-Qaida's calls." Romney said he would keep Clinton from reaching the White House not by acting like her _ an apparent dig at rival Rudy Giuliani _ but by building on the conservative foundation laid by Ronald Reagan. Romney also touted his bipartisan work with a Democratic legislature while he was governor of Massachusetts. Responding to an audience member who expressed frustration with Congress members who strictly vote along party lines, Romney pledged to work with opposition leaders."We had to agree to solve things together," Romney said, citing his state's health care reform effort and balanced budget. "I will not make it a personal, rancorous battle." Reached by telephone phone later in the day, Clinton campaign spokesman, Mo Elleithee said: "Given Governor Romney's long history of flip flopping on issues, we're not worried. We expect him to endorse us any day." This is Romney's 18th campaign trip to the Sunshine State, but a recent poll from Quinnipiac University showed him last among the top four Republican candidates, with 12 percent voter support. Giuliani remained ahead of the pack with 30 percent; John McCain and Fred Thompson were tied with 14 percent.Asked about the poll numbers after the town hall meeting, Romney acknowledged, "I've got a long way to go." "But if someone were fortunate enough to do real well in Iowa and New Hampshire, you can bet they're going to get a real boost in Florida," Romney said. "I'm pleased that in the early states where I've spent the most time, I'm doing the best. If it were the opposite, I'd be worried." Earlier in the day, Romney joined a procession of swamp buggies, all-terrain vehicles and high school marching bands in the annual Swamp Buggy Parade in Naples. Romney shook hands, kissed babies and let dogs sniff his knuckles during the almost hourlong trek. He was to speak at the Panhandle GOP Celebration Dinner in Fort Walton Beach later in the day.

Chuck Norris Endorses Mike Huckabee for President

2007-10-28T00:03:00.000-05:00

Actor Chuck Norris, perhaps known best for his role in “Walker, Texas Ranger,” countless action movies, and his mastery of the martial arts, endorsed former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee for President on his blog.Norris stated in “My Choice for President” that, after considerable contemplation, he believes the “only one who has all of the characteristics to lead America forward into the future is ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.” “Part of our backward culture is reflected in the fact that we measure and value people by what they do, instead of first who they are. As a result, we nominate charisma, cast votes for articulation and repeatedly elect too many paper-thin corrupt politicians. Of course, I want a President who gets things done, but I first want one who has lived a life of integrity, commitment, truthfulness and respect. Mike is that man,” wrote Norris. Upon hearing the news, Huckabee said he was “gratified and honored” to receive Norris’ powerful endorsement. “Although I’m a fan of Chuck Norris – and my wife is an even greater fan – we’ve never had an opportunity to meet each other. Obviously I look forward to remedying that quick.”Norris wrote: “It’s not a coincidence that four out of the last five presidents we’ve had were governors because they proved their abilities, perseverance and heart for running our country by serving in those state capacities. “His proven ability to cast a compelling vision, as he did while governor, that transcends party, ideology and class might enable America to unite and begin to heal, an especially important goal at this point in our history,” he wrote. Norris concluded by urging “people to get off the bench and onto the playing field. If we are going to see a man like Mike Huckabee elected, it’s time to rally behind him, support him financially, pray for him daily and spread the word of his character, platform and experience,” he wrote. The star of more than 20 films and the television series, “Walker, Texas Ranger,” Norris also is a New York Times best-selling author. A martial arts expert, he was the first man in the Western Hemisphere to earn recognition as an 8th degree Black Belt Grand Master within the Tae Kwon Do system. He has served as spokesman for the United Way and the Veterans Administration.

McCain Lines Up Against Sea Treaty

2007-10-28T00:02:00.000-05:00

Sen. John McCain has become the latest presidential candidate publicly to express opposition to ratification of the United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). During a call with bloggers, McCain noted in response to a question about LOST: "I do worry a lot about American sovereignty aspects of it, so I would probably vote against it in its present form.”Other presidential candidates who have recently come out against ratification of LOST include former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson. LOST defines the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world's oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources. The United States has signed the treaty, but the Senate has not ratified it.

Edwards' Campaign Demands Student Journalist Yank Story From YouTube

2007-10-27T00:03:00.000-05:00

A UNC-Chapel Hill journalism professor said John Edwards' Presidential campaign tried to kill a student's video story about his campaign headquarters. Associate Professor C.A. Tuggle said two top staffers for the former North Carolina senator demanded that the school drop the segment from the student-run television program "Carolina Week." They also asked to have the video removed from the YouTube Web site. Tuggle said they threatened to cut off access to Edwards for UNC student reporters and other student groups if the piece aired. "My gosh, what are they thinking?" Tuggle said. "They're spending this much time and effort on a student newscast that has about 2,000 viewers? They're turning a molehill into a mountain." A spokeswoman for the Edwards campaign said it had no problem with student reporters. "This is silly," campaign spokeswoman Colleen Murray said in a statement. "We love all reporters, the problem is the feeling isn't always mutual." The campaign would not answer questions about the incident. The segment, by graduate student Carla Babb, began as a look at Nation Hahn, a UNC senior interning with the campaign. During the interview, Babb asked about a recent column in The Daily Tar Heel, the student newspaper, criticizing Edwards' choice of the posh Southern Village shopping center as the location for his headquarters.Babb rewrote the piece to focus on that angle and interviewed the columnist, prompting the complaint from Edwards' campaign. In the video, James Edward Dillard, a columnist for The Daily Tar Heel, says that the location conflicts with Edwards' campaign goal of reducing poverty in America. "To pick that place as your campaign center, when you're going to be the man who advocates on behalf of the poor, I just think, why not turn the media's attention to somewhere where there are huge, huge problems," Dillard said. On the other side, Hahn is quoted saying that the choice of Chapel Hill over Washington, D.C., shows that Edwards is a candidate for the average person. "Frankly, Chapel Hill is a relatively affluent area, period, so I don't know where they would rather him place his headquarters," he said.UNC student Carla BabbTuggle, who has overseen the "Carolina Week" news program for eight years and previously worked as a television reporter in Florida, said that it is not uncommon for the focus of a piece to shift during reporting. What made this case unusual, he said, was the decision to post it on YouTube before broadcast. Babb posted the piece to the popular online video-sharing site Tuesday to meet the deadline for an MTV "Choose or Lose" news contest. Despite the complaints, Tuggle said the piece will air as scheduled on Monday and will remain on YouTube.

Romney Open To Iran 'Bombardment'

2007-10-26T00:03:00.000-05:00

Republican Mitt Romney said he would be willing to use a military blockade or "bombardment of some kind" to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon. The former Massachusetts governor, who has been advocating a hard line against Iran throughout his presidential campaign, said such action would be necessary if severe economic and diplomatic sanctions don't convince Iranian leaders to abandon pursuit of a nuclear weapon. The Iranian government contends its program is aimed toward providing nuclear power. "If for some reasons they continue down their course of folly toward nuclear ambition, then I would take military action if that's available to us," Romney told a crowd of doctors and nurses during a question period that followed a health care speech. He added: "That's an option that's on the table. And it's is not something which we'll spell out specifically. I really can't lay out exactly how that would be done, but we have a number of options from blockade to bombardment of some kind.And that's something we very much have to keep on the table, and we will ready ourselves to be able to take, because, frankly, I think it's unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons." Romney heralded news Thursday that the Bush administration was announcing new sanctions designed to isolate the government in Tehran. Last year, while still governor, Romney refused to provide a security escort or any state services in support of former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who visited Massachusetts to speak at Harvard University. In January, Romney traveled to a security conference in Israel, where he called for economic sanctions against Iran similar to those against South Africa during its apartheid period. Subsequently, he has called for indicting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for saying "Israel's Zionist regime should be wiped off the map." Romney suggested using the U.N.'s Genocide Convention against the leader on charges of inciting genocide. In September, he also chastised Columbia University for allowing Ahmadinejad to speak on its campus, and railed against the Iranian leader after he asked to visit ground zero.

Keyes Weighs In On Republican Race

2007-10-25T00:03:00.000-05:00

We haven't seen him in many debates this time around. But republican Alan Keyes is making his third run for the White House. The former assistant secretary of state during the Reagan administration was in Little Rock last night. The well-known conservative showed up at the Clinton School of Public Service to speak on higher education. But before that he talked to reporters about how the race for the republican nomination is shaping up this year. And he's not too pleased. In fact, he calls this year's debate performance among republicans lackluster. "A lot of people are looking at what's available and saying we don't really have a good choice, the best choices are not out there. And that's part of the reason that I got involved," he said. His presidential runs in 1996 and 2000 garnered plenty of attention. But so far, his 2008 run has kept him close to the bottom of the polls and off television for the most part. So his campaign is more grass roots.The Maryland man who also served as an ambassador to a United Nations council isn't happy with the early start to the 2008 race, or the rush by states across the country to move up their primary dates, many to February. "Obviously what you would really want to do if you were caring about the people of this country, is make sure you scheduled the election in such a way that people would have a chance to learn, be informed about the candidates," he told us. As for former governor Mike Huckabee, Keyes respects him. "I think governor Huckabee represents those candidates who are more serious, I think, about their approach to these moral questions," he said. But he thinks most candidates view morality as a personal choice as opposed to a foundation for government. And he hopes voters will look hard at what each candidate stands for and make informed decisions. "They have to stop allowing media people, money people, to decide like the old Soviet Polit-bureau, who the slate of candidates will be," he said.

McCain Says He Wants To Shoot Osama

2007-10-24T00:06:00.000-05:00

Republican Presidential candidate John McCain told workers of small weapons factory that he not only wants to catch Osama Bin Laden if elected, but said he "will shoot him with your products". "I will follow Osama Bin Laden to the gates of hell and I will shoot him with your products," McCain said.McCain told reporters afterward he was joking when he made the comment at Thompson Center Arms in Rochester. "I certainly didn't mean I would actually shoot him. I am certainly angry at him, but I was only speaking in a way that was trying to emphasize my point," McCain said. "I would not shoot him myself."

Tancredo Calls Immigration Police On Participants Of Congressional Staff Meeting

2007-10-24T00:03:00.000-05:00

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), who runs his Presidential campaign on a platform of a tough immigration policy, alerted federal officials Tuesday to an event that he said would be attended by “several illegal aliens.” Tancredo brought to the attention of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) a staff briefing that was to be attended by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.). The briefing was meant to educate staff on the DREAM Act, a bill that would allow “certain long-term undocumented immigrant children to go to college or join the military if they meet stringent requirements,” according to Durbin’s office.A notice on the briefing, which said that students who would benefit from the DREAM Act would participate in the event, apparently caught Tancredo’s eye. “I call on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency to detain any illegal aliens at this press conference,” he stated. “Just because these illegal aliens are being used for political gain doesn’t mean they get immunity from the law.” The briefing was supposed to be held Tuesday afternoon in the Capitol. “If we can’t enforce our laws inside the building where American laws are made, where can we enforce them?” Tancredo asked.

Thompson Will ' Campaign The Way I Want'

2007-10-23T00:03:00.000-05:00

Defending his campaign work schedule, Republican Presidential hopeful Fred Thompson said Monday his strategy is working and "I'm going to do it the way I want to do it." His absences in early-voting states have been noticed. Thompson hasn't been in South Carolina in more than a month, he scrapped a recent trip to New Hampshire and then canceled a news conference Saturday in Florida. "You can name a lot of places that I haven't been, and you can name a lot of places that I have been several times," Thompson said in an interview with The Associated Press."I've been to Florida three or four times," he said. "The mainstream media, with all due respect, likes to concentrate on the process game on a daily basis, and I can't get caught up in that. I'm going to do it the way I want to do it." Thompson pointed out he comes in second among Republicans in most national polls and has more than 100,000 contributors, despite making decisions that defy conventional wisdom. He addressed the same issue at Sunday night's Republican debate in Orlando, answering a question about whether he is lazy. Thompson described his trajectory from teenage father to factory worker to federal prosecutor to Watergate counsel and senator, saying, "If a man can do all that and be lazy, I recommend it to everybody."

McCain Declares His Love Of ABBA

2007-10-22T00:03:00.000-05:00

During a campaign bus swing through South Carolina today, Sen. John McCain demonstrated his love of hot dogs and declared his love of ABBA. The comments about the Swedish group came up on the bus as he talked about what’s on his iPod. “Dare I say ABBA. Everybody says, ‘Ehhh, ABBA.’ Why is that? ABBA was the largest selling (recording act ever).Nobody likes them but they sold more records than anybody in the history of the world, including the Beatles. But everybody hates them. (But) you’re a no-class guy if you like ABBA. Why does everybody go see ‘Mamma Mia?’ Hypocrisy! Rank hypocrisy! I’m not embarassed to say I like ABBA, ‘Dancing Queen.’” More from McCain. If elected, “the background music would be ABBA in the elevators all over the White House.” And even more. “‘Take a Chance on Me.’ Maybe that’s what we should have as our (campaign) theme song. That would be good.”