Obama-McCain Squabble Injected Into Army Readiness Hearing
A controversial anecdote relayed by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in last week's Texas debate wended its way into a Senate Armed Forces hearing on Army readiness today.
Obama claimed that he'd "heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon" that was sent to Afghanistan grossly undermanned and underequipped. "They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief," Obama said during Thursday night's debate.
Lindsey Graham, who lately has been stumping hard for Republican John McCain, relayed the story to Army Secretary Peter Geren and Army Chief of Staff William Casey during the hearing. "Has Sen. Obama talked to you or anyone in the department about this?" the South Carolina Republican asked.
"I have not discussed this with Sen. Obama," Geren replied, before handing the baton to Casey.
"As we looked into this, the best we could tell was this incident occurred back in 2003 and 2004," Casey said. "We talked to the brigade commander, looked at readiness reports. The brigade was manned over 100 percent and stayed 100 percent manned when they were there."
A fight over whether Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., can reject federal funds for his presidential campaign has thrown new attention on a stalemate hamstringing the Federal Election Commission and given unexpected attention to the role of McCain's possible election opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in that impasse.
The situation presents problems for both McCain, whom Democrats are accusing of defying the same campaign finance regulations he has championed, and Obama, who is seeing a hold he placed on an FEC nominee used in a bid to undermine his claims of working in a bipartisan manner.
McCain's problem, meanwhile, is generating calls for the White House or Senate Democrats to blink in their battle over FEC nominees.
"When you talk about the FEC, people's eyes glaze over.... But there will be increasing public pressure to do something as more and more people understand" the situation, said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Her group called Friday for Republicans to compromise to end the standoff.
Did Hillary Rodham Clinton step under a ladder and over a black cat before announcing her presidential campaign last year? The hits -- in the bad sense -- just keep on coming at her.
She was booed last night after sniping that Barack Obama was pushing a message of "change you can Xerox" -- a reference to Camp Clinton's charges that Obama plagiarized Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick -- an Obama supporter. It was an Ouch moment for Clinton, and the audience did not like it.
Yesterday's CNN/Univision debate at the University of Texas (transcript) was tense at times and warmly collegial at times. Neither candidate tripped up too badly, but it was clear that Obama has greatly improved his debating skills. Clinton's been strong there from the beginning, so she's not being awarded any extra points.
The New York senator ended the evening on a high rhetorical note that won a standing ovation. Points for that, right? Nope. Many viewers read her lips and saw a concession speech.
McCain Denies Improper Relationship With Female Lobbyist
John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, denied a New York Times report that hinted at a prior inappropriate relationship with a female lobbyist. The article, published online yesterday evening, quoted anonymous former aides who said they had grown concerned that McCain's relationship with Vicki Iseman had become romantic.
"If they were [concerned], they didn't communicate that to me," McCain said, speaking to reporters in Toledo, Ohio, with his wife, Cindy, at his side. "I've seen her on occasion, particularly in receptions and fundraisers and appearances before the [Commerce] Committee. I have many friends in Washington who represent various interests and those who don't, and I consider her a friend."
According to the Times report, Iseman's frequent appearances alongside McCain at events, in his office and on trips -- beginning in 1999 -- moved top advisers to intervene. Aides began "instructing staff members to block the woman's access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him," according to the report.
And either the Clinton campaign is too arrogant or too tone-deaf for its own good.
Beware the punditocracy.
Whereas two weeks ago it was premature to call Ohio and Texas do-or-die states for Hillary Rodham Clinton, that is not the case today. In most other election years, Wisconsin and Hawaii would be two "so what?" states. Not this year, and not on the heels of three straight primary/caucus sweeps for Barack Obama.
Out of the 10 contests Obama's won since the Super Tuesday draw, Wisconsin's tilt toward Obama is the most significant. (NJ's James Barnes has a feature on this today.) Obama is eating into all of Clinton's constituents, including older white men, single white women and lower-income Democrats. Now the question everyone is asking is whether Camp Clinton can slow this train down.
Those words, spoken by Mitt Romney about John McCain, might have seemed hard to believe just a few short weeks ago, when the two candidates were regularly exchanging harsh words both on the stump and on the airwaves. McCain's distaste for the man who endorsed him this afternoon was evident and amplified during the final month or so of the campaign. The acrimony was often attributed to Romney's wealth, the perception that he was a flip-flopper and the negative ads he aired against McCain and Mike Huckabee. But close watchers of the race know that McCain gave as well as he got in recent weeks, airing attack ads against Romney in Florida, Super Tuesday states and even in the Washington, D.C., metro area after Romney dropped out of the race.
"As all of you saw over the past year, things can get pretty rough in the thick of a campaign," Romney said as he announced his endorsement.
Despite the history of bad blood, however, those who heard Romney's exit speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference and saw McCain's smiley photo op with House Republicans earlier this week might not be too surprised at today's endorsement. Many prominent members of the GOP establishment -- talk-radio hosts and conservative commentators notwithstanding -- are making it known that they are throwing their full support behind McCain, if only because they prefer him to the alternative.
Looks like the GOP has its very own Joe Lieberman: former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee.
Chafee, the only Republican to vote against giving President Bush the authority to invade Iraq, is bypassing former colleague John McCain in favor of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who wasn't yet in the Senate for the 2002 vote but opposed the war as an Illinois lawmaker.
"I believe Senator Obama is the best candidate to restore American credibility, to restore our confidence to be moral and just, and to bring people together to solve the complex issues such as the economy, the environment and global stability," Chafee said in a conference call with reporters.
Chafee, always a popular lawmaker in his state, was swept out of office on an anti-GOP tide in 2006. His successor, Sheldon Whitehouse, campaigned on an argument for Democratic control of the Senate to challenge President Bush's authority. The Republican Party didn't exactly rush to Chafee's defense, and last year Chafee left the GOP to become an independent.
The Providence Journal reports that Chafee excoriates the leaders of both parties, particularly on the Iraq war vote, in a soon-to-be-released memoir.
In homage to the great sportswriter (and Brookings Institution egghead) Gregg Easterbrook, we're dubbing today's spate of regional votes the Potomac Drainage Basin Primary. (It's no worse than any of the other nicknames we've seen.)
So in case you missed it, there's a primary vote happening today in Virginia, Maryland and right here in the District. Barack Obama's going to sweep those votes, and Hillary Rodham Clinton is going to keep losing contests until March 4's Ohio and Texas primaries, which she might also lose. Wow, those are a long way away. She's a goner.
And... scene.
So goes our cheeky ribbing of the media speculation-a-thon regarding today's primaries, which according to MSM bylaws a) must have a cutesy nickname (Chesapeake or Crab Cake?) and b) must be predictive of the nomination winner and, while we're at it, the winner of the November general election vote.
McCain & Conservatives: It's Not Love, But It'll Do
Conservative activists still haven't forgiven John McCain for thumbing his nose at them in 2000, when he challenged their candidate, George W. Bush, for the Republican nomination. That's evident this week, as thousands of the conservative grassroots convene at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington for the 2008 Conservative Political Action Conference.
Eleven months ago, as the 2008 presidential race was kicking into gear, there was zero support for McCain at CPAC. Though Mitt Romney emerged the CPAC straw poll winner, support for him at the time seemed to be borne of resignation. The conservative base was agonizing over its choices for the nominee, and at its dim hopes of hanging on to the White House in the wake of a tremendously unpopular Republican presidency. The ennui prompted Mike Huckabee to quip that the conference ought to be renamed, "Dude, where's my candidate?"
With no offense intended to Huckabee, who still remains in this contest, it's now pretty clear that, dude, your candidate is John McCain.
"I hope you will pardon my absence last year, and understand that I intended no personal insult to any of you. I was merely preoccupied with the business of trying to escape the distinction of preseason front-runner for the Republican nomination which, I'm sure some of you observed, I managed to do in fairly short order," McCain said at the conference yesterday, using humor as he often does to defuse an awkward situation.
It worked, and not just because the room was packed with the McCainiacs who were totally absent at last year's CPAC. Just hours before, Mitt Romney informed attendees he was dropping out of the race. Romney supporters were also on hand to hear from McCain, in an irony-laden, fresh-start introduction to the GOP's presumptive nominee.
Just a few hours after Mitt Romneyannounced he was pulling out of contention, a swarm of conservative activists were pushing and shoving their way into a hotel ballroom to catch a glimpse of the soon-to-be-officially-anointed Republican presidential nominee, John McCain. Much like the Arizona senator's revived White House hopes, the sight of hundreds of attendees brandishing "McCain for President" shirts, buttons and placards was a stunning turnaround.
The ballroom at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington was filled beyond capacity. After making the mistake of wandering around to interview attendees, this Gater was nearly shut out, along with fellow reporters from AP, the Financial Times and Time magazine. Hotel staff weren't even cracking the doors for NPR's Mara Liasson and the New York Times' Maureen Dowd.
After mistaking this Gater for one of CPAC's College Republican organizers (humph!), Liasson was squeezed in, along with some of the rest of us -- including yours truly.
Speaking before a roomful of conservative activists in Washington, Mitt Romney drew his presidential campaign to a close.
"This is not an easy decision for me. I hate to lose," Romney said before an audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "If this were only about me, I would go on. But I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, I feel I must now stand aside, for our party and for our country."
Romney was announcing the suspension of his campaign -- a technical term that allows him to keep raising funds -- two days after a deeply disappointing performance on Super Tuesday. John McCain has won 13 of the states that have held primaries or caucuses so far, and Romney is close behind with 11. But McCain's wins in big-prize states like California on Tuesday gave him a nearly insurmountable delegate-count lead. With Mike Huckabee strongly defending his turf in the South, it became impossible on Wednesday morning to see how Romney could overtake the Arizona senator.
"I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Osama bin Laden and on eliminating al-Qaida and terror," Romney said. "If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator [Hillary Rodham] Clinton or [Barack] Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."
The crowd let its disappointment be known, booing Romney's decision to bow out and pleading with him to hang on. But the politically tuned-in CPAC attendees know better than anyone that their guy has virtually no shot at the Republican nomination.
McCain skipped the conference last year because he had no support there. He's scheduled to speak at 3 p.m. today, and now that Romney's out, will ride in as the Republican nominee. We got a preview of how he'll be received, courtesy of talk-radio host Laura Ingraham.
We called it quits last night with two states outstanding. The results are in for one of the states, while the other is turning out to be a nail-biter.
In the New Mexico Democratic caucus, the Clinton-Obama contest is still too close to call. Fewer than 120 votes separated Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama after counting earlier today, so that contest will be decided by provisional ballots, the Albuquerque Journal reports. State Democratic Party workers will begin counting the more than 16,000 provisional ballots today.
Per the Journal, Clinton took most of the counties while Obama bested her in Santa Fe and Bernalillo counties. The strong Latino vote helped Clinton here, but it's too soon to tell if that will be enough.
New Mexico is a proportional delegate state, with 38 up for grabs. That means both will walk away with some of the booty. But a win here for Obama adds another swing state to his column, further undergirding his claim that he would perform better than Clinton in the general election. That's why both candidates lobbied so hard for New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's endorsement. He declined to tap either until the nomination is decided, but he did watch the Super Bowl with Bill Clinton. (Of course, President Clinton used to be Richardson's boss.)
The excitement surrounding yesterday's unprecedented Super Tuesday nominating contests obscured the latest and perhaps most damning news to come out on the troubled economy: Activity in the crucial service sector slowed for the first time in nearly five years last month.
The report from the Institute of Supply Management shows a significant decline in non-manufacturing activity (previously the "firmest pillar of economic expansion") in January. Those numbers, coupled with last week's news that jobs were declining, are heightening concerns that the economy is not only headed for a recession, but is already in one.
"Recession is here," the headline on CNNMoney.com read yesterday. The report quotes several economists who said the ISM report was the tipping point for them.
National Journal's Ronald Brownstein and James A. Barnes are up this morning with first reactions to the Super Tuesday results.
On the Republican side, Barnes parses John McCain's victory across a broad geographic and ideological spectrum of voters and notes that GOP nominating rules in the biggest states are working in the Arizona senator's favor.
Meanwhile, Brownstein pores over the exit polls and concludes that the persistent demographic divides separating Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama could keep the Democratic race hanging in the balance well into spring.
1:58. Obama's declared the "winner winner" in Missouri. He and Clinton are running about even in New Mexico.
In the Republican field, it's near impossible to see how anyone stops McCain. A comeback for the history books, surely. It will be interesting to see how he's received Thursday at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, which he skipped last year because there was so much hostility toward him. The Gate will be there.
Meanwhile, Romney is meeting with his top advisers tomorrow to discuss his future, the Boston Globe reports. He's been accusing Huckabee of splitting the evangelical vote, but Huckabee's supporters are more likely to go to McCain should their guy bail out. The South was in a pretty anti-Romney mood today, and there's reason to believe this has something to do with religion.
Knowingly or not, Huckabee has used the religion wedge to his advantage. Somewould say knowingly, although he hasn't really been called out on it.
We're going to call it a night. Check back tomorrow later today for those lingering New Mexico and Alaska results.
1:26. MSNBC's Chuck Todd did the math, and he projects Obama and Clinton will be about tied in delegate counts. They will have to soldier on in the upcoming contests: Louisiana (2/9), Washington (2/9), Maine (2/10), D.C. (2/12), Maryland (2/12), Virginia (2/12) and probably beyond.
Mike Huckabee became Super Tuesday's first winner after cleaning up West Virginia's 18 delegates in that state's close GOP nominating convention. The sniping has already started over the legitimacy of Huckabee's win.
Mitt Romney's campaign reacted to his loss by lashing out at main rival John McCain, accusing him of colluding with Huckabee at the convention.
"Unfortunately, this is what Senator McCain's inside Washington ways look like: he cut a backroom deal with the tax-and-spend candidate he thought could best stop Governor Romney's campaign of conservative change," said campaign manager Beth Myers.
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are dueling for the coveted Latino vote in California, Arizona, Illinois and New Jersey. Though Clinton was viewed as having cornered this demographic, Obama's late-breaking sweep of support following his South Carolina primary victory could net him a significant portion of the Latino vote.
Carin Zissis of the New York-based Americas Society/Council of the Americas breaks down where these voters might go today.
We've been quietly wondering whether John McCain's sudden ascendancy would worry Democrats supporting Barack Obama enough to make them rethink their vote. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been cast as the "experience" candidate, and the veracity of that claim aside, she has been viewed as a safer bet to win against a strong war-on-terror candidate like McCain in the general election.
Remember Obama's victory speech after he won the South Carolina Democratic primary, when he and a stadium full of supporters asked America not to tell them change was impossible? Well, the "believe" mantra you've been seeing on all those campaign signs and hearing in so many of Obama's speeches appears to be taking hold, less than 24 hours before Democratic voters in 22 states go to the polls.
Several new surveys show Obama outperforming Clinton in national matchups against McCain. In one poll showing the two Democrats both beating McCain, Obama does it by an 8-point margin, compared to a 3-point margin for Clinton. Others show Clinton losing to McCain and McCain losing to Obama.
(Mitt Romney, by the way, gets bludgeoned by both.)
It looks as if Democratic voters tomorrow won't have to make a painful choice between following their heads and following their hearts after all.
McCain Wins Giuliani Nod, Puts Entire Field On Notice
UPDATED.
"I made it clear at different times in this campaign that if I had not decided to run -- I believe I even said it at a debate -- the only person in the country that I clearly would've supported for the president of the United States would be John McCain. And that came from the heart.
"Today, I'm officially announcing my withdrawal as a candidate for president of the United States."
And with that, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani closed the chapter on his own presidential aspirations and opened a new one in this rollercoaster ride of an election cycle. McCain's victory in the Florida Republican primary yesterday was already validation that he's now the GOP front-runner. Giuliani's decision to ally himself with McCain today sent a strong message to the challengers in both fields: This election will once again center on security and defense.
"It will be a clear choice this November, and I believe that my life has prepared me. A life of service, and a life of dedication to lead this nation and the transcendent challenge of the 21st century: the great threat and evil of radical Islam," McCain said, accepting Giuliani's endorsement.
The person who should fear McCain's ascendancy most immediately is Mitt Romney, who's been pushed out of the headlines as the nation digests McCain's comeback, unthinkable just months ago. McCain not only has a delegates-count advantage going into next week's Super Tuesday contests, he also has a wide margin over Romney in national polling, which at this late date can be considered a fairly reliable indicator of how the big-prize states will vote.
McCain Edges Romney In Florida; Giuliani Bowing Out
UPDATED.
John McCain edged out rival Mitt Romney to win the Republican primary in Florida, sealing his comeback status as the front-runner in this race.
"Our victory might not have reached landslide proportions, but it is sweet nonetheless," McCain said, as supporters cheered an increasingly familiar refrain, "Mac is back! Mac is back!"
"To everyone who in good times and bad devoted much time and energy and hope to keeping our candidacy competitive: Thank you from the bottom of my heart," McCain said, in reference to his astonishing revival after being left for dead last summer when his campaign operation imploded.
These numbers will be confirmed tomorrow, but McCain bested Romney by about 36 percent to 31 percent. Rudy Giuliani won 15 percent of the registered-Republicans-only vote, followed by Mike Huckabee 2 points behind. The exit polling data show some surprising alliances. Latinos overwhelmingly went to McCain, even though Romney was up with Spanish-language ads in Florida nearly a year ago. McCain also bested Romney among voters middle-aged and older. The two fared about equally among middle-income voters, with Romney gaining an edge in the $100,000-$199,990 bracket. But McCain won over Republicans earning $200,000 or more, 44 percent to 30 percent.
With Super Tuesday just a week away, McCain heads into that 24-state competition the delegate-count winner, with Romney his chief rival and Huckabee the wild card.
Meanwhile, without actually saying he was dropping out, Giuliani all but drew his campaign to a close in his concession speech tonight. He said he was "proud" of his campaign for keeping things positive -- he never really went after anyone except Romney and Ron Paul -- and nodded to his improbable candidacy and improbable strategy.
When he's not freestyle rapping, Mitt Romney also enjoys running for president of the United States. Tonight, we will find out if the Republican voters of Florida will crown him the candidate to beat going into next Tuesday, or if his chief rival in this state, John McCain, definitively becomes 2008's Comeback Kid.
We kid the former Massachusetts governor, of course, who is poised to win the Florida primary today and put to rest doubts that he can sweep enough Super Tuesday delegates to carry him to the nomination. He shot for and missed winning the nod in the supposedly crucial (but probably not so much anymore) states of Iowa and New Hampshire, which prompted a bunch of fortune tellers to write his WH '08 obit. But Romney doesn't have the best ground game and organization in this field for nothing. Pollsput [PDF] him in a dead heat for first with McCain, which could effectively make Feb. 5 a two-man contest.
That is, if potential spoiler Rudy Giuliani doesn't beat expectations. The former NYC mayor is promising he will deliver in spite of the polling numbers. He's crossing his fingers that a lot of the absentee balloting went his way, though it's not clear that would make a difference, our colleagues at Pollster.com say.
As Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius noted in her Democratic response to the State of the Union address last night, states and municipalities are experimenting with health care reforms in the absence of what many agree is a badly needed overhaul on the federal level. One of the leaders in this movement is California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who negotiated last year with Democratic state lawmakers over a universal health insurance program for his state.
The $14.9-billion proposal was eagerly anticipated by other states eyeing similar measures. Congressional lawmakers were also keen to learn from California's experience. They'll all have to wait a little longer, though, because yesterday the state Senate rejected Schwarzenegger's plan.
Per the Los Angeles Times: "Senators said it was too risky a financial commitment when California faces a $14.5-billion budget gap that could force them to cut existing healthcare programs. Schwarzenegger has proposed $2.9 billion in healthcare cuts over the next 18 months."
When Gen. David Petraeus returns to Washington in March, he will brief Defense Secretary Robert Gates on the progress of the U.S. troop drawdown. He'll be asked how units are faring in Iraq as more of them leave, and whether the targeted reduction -- from about 160,000 to the pre-surge 130,000 by this summer -- should progress as planned.
What he won't be asked is whether troop levels can be brought down further.
On the one hand, that isn't surprising. The answer is clearly no, although the Pentagon hasn't publicly confirmed that. Violence against U.S. troops is back down to 2005 levels -- which isn't great, but it beats the carnage of 2006 and 2007.
The main U.S. objective moving forward is to help Iraq rebuild its military and security forces. In an interview with the New York Times published Jan. 15, Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul Qadir forecast that Iraq's military forces would not be able to fend off internal and external threats independently until at least 2018.
That lines up with many U.S. commanders' assessments that significant assistance from their own country will be required in Iraq for at least a decade. Right now, the presidential candidates are bickering over whether the surge is working. A better debating point would be whether the U.S. has a responsibility to help Iraq become a fully sovereign nation or whether Washington can live with the very real possibility that all the gains made last year could be undone if American politicians oppose commanders' recommendations.
Obama Pulls Off Decisive S.C. Win, Plus One Heck Of A Speech
UPDATED.
When Barack Obama announced his candidacy for the White House in February last year, he knew he was a mere mortal going up against a dragon. Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, comprised the head of the Democratic Party establishment. The race for the nomination was Hillary's for the taking, the chattering classes believed, because the Clinton machine was simply too entrenched, too monied, too formidable.
Tonight, Barack Obama drove a dagger into the heart of that dragon.
In a rousing, to-the-rafters speech reminiscent of a religious revival, the one-term, 46-year-old senator from Illinois delivered a damning indictment of the very thesis of Clinton's candidacy.
"We're looking to fundamentally change the status quo in Washington. We are looking for more than a change in the party in the White House," Obama told a packed auditorium of supporters. "This is a status quo that extends beyond any particular party. We are not going to let them stand in our way any more."
Hey, you guys! It's so super to see you! No matter what happens in Florida on Tuesday, let's promise to always be friends. I am so serious!!!
Ahem.
The Republican candidates debate last night was mind-bogglingly polite -- proof that in politics, anything really is possible. Gone were the condescending swipes at Mitt Romney that dominated the previous GOP debate earlier this month. Romney, in kind, held his fire, and so for once we had a forum that was dominated by issues.
We heard some interesting ideas from the candidates on how to jump-start the economy. Mike Huckabee, for instance, made a pretty good point when he said that the rebate checks millions of Americans will receive as part of a congressional stimulus package will likely go to goods made elsewhere, which does nothing to address the dying manufacturing sector here at home.
"And frankly, in talking about the stimulus package, one of the concerns that I have is that we'll probably end up borrowing this $150 billion from the Chinese. And when we get those rebate checks, most people are going to go out and buy stuff that's been imported from China. I have to wonder whose economy is going to be stimulated the most by the package," the former Arkansas governor said.
You won't hear talk like that on the Democratic side, where it's anathema to question the soundness of cutting those checks even though economists doubt they are actually stimulative.
Yesterday's debate also saw the return of the Iraq war as a campaign issue. Romney in particular foreshadowed the general-election argument to come on this topic: "We cannot turn Iraq over to al-Qaida and have al-Qaida have a safe haven from which they could recruit people to carry out bombings, to attack this country and our friends around the world. It's unthinkable. And that's why I will not walk away from Iraq until we have been successful and finish that job."
Where there were policy differences, the candidates managed to lay out their arguments without elbowing the others along the way. We saw what looked to be genuine camaraderie between Romney and Rudy Giuliani on the heels of a New York Times article on why Romney is the most disliked candidate in this field. And speaking of Giuliani, his chuckling and snorting punctuated nearly all the lighter moments of the 90-minute debate. (Where was that Giuliani when he was mayor of New York??)
Haha, we kid. About the "coveted" part, anyway. But seriously, Sylvester Stallone really has endorsed Arizona Sen. John McCain for president.
"I like McCain a lot. A lot," Sly told Fox News. "And you know, things may change along the way, but there's something about matching the character with the script. And right now, the script that's being written and reality is pretty brutal and pretty hard-edged like a rough action film, and you need somebody who's been in that to deal with it."
After running what often seemed a half-hearted campaign for the presidency, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson is dropping out of the race for the Republican nomination.
"Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for president of the United States," Thompson said in a brief, 45-word press statement. "I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people."
His campaign delivered the same message to his supporters on the popular social networking site Facebook, though with this added note: "Thanks for your support, everyone."
Thompson opted for an exit not typical for major presidential candidates, most of whom choose to deliver the news that they are ending their bids in a personal address to the volunteers and supporters who've spent months toiling on their behalf. Saturday night, after the results of the South Carolina Republican primary showed he'd finished a negligible third, would have been a prime opportunity to have done so.
Many expected Thompson to drop out that night if he did not place at least second. Instead, he joked that he still might win and gave no indication one way or another about the future of his campaign.
Super Saturday I: McCain Wins S.C. Primary In Nail-Biter
UPDATED.
Now you may call it a comeback: John McCain has taken the South Carolina Republican primary.
McCain pulled out a narrow victory over Mike Huckabee, 33 percent to 30 percent. Fred Thompson (16 percent) and Mitt Romney (15 percent) basically tied for third.
"You know, it took us a while, but what's eight years among friends?" McCain quipped in his trademark self-deprecating manner, referencing his South Carolina loss to President Bush in 2000. "As I have said before, I know that before I can win your vote, I must earn your respect. And the only way I know how to do that is by being honest with you. I have tried to do that throughout this campaign, and to put my trust in your willingness to give me your fair consideration. So far, it seems to be working out just fine," he continued, in a room filled with ecstatic volunteers and supporters who minutes before had been chanting "Mac is back! Mac is back!"
McCain also made sure to note -- or gloat, perhaps -- that the chattering classes had declared his campaign DOA just months ago. "I am aware that for the last 28 years, the winner of the South Carolina primary has been the nominee of our party. We have a ways to go, of course," he said. "There are some tough contests ahead, starting tomorrow in the state of Florida. But, my friends, we are well on our way tonight. And I feel very good about our chances."
The outcome in South Carolina tonight is meaningful for at least two big reasons. One is that neither Huckabee nor McCain directly engaged in a negative way in a state infamous for its down-and-dirty politics.
It's been one year since the unofficial kickoff of the 2008 presidential campaigns, and the state of play for the Republican nomination contest is remarkable both for what has changed and what hasn't.
Most obviously different are the front-runners. Mike Huckabee, nationally unknown this time in 2007, now rides comfortably in the top tier. He's always had the goods to do well in this campaign but faced long odds against better-funded celebrity candidates.
Both he and John McCain have smashed pundits' expectations and are now enjoying the attention and funding that front-runner status guarantees. But in many ways, the game for the Republicans hasn't changed one bit. This field still lacks a candidate who is all things to all GOP voters. The party isn't coalescing around one or two choices, as is happening in the Democratic race. Rather, the party is being divvied up like a pie, with each candidate representing just a slice of the big-picture GOP platform.
The primary vote is so fractured, in fact, that a brokered convention actually seems a distinct possibility. Yeah, yeah, we hear that every other cycle. Only, the longer you examine the differences among Huckabee, McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, the more completely, utterly irreconcilable those differences seem. MSNBC's Chris Matthews is taking even more heat this week for a comparison he made between the GOP and Iraq's warring factions. Matthews may have stumbled through that analogy rather inelegantly, but he is on to something.
"When I was in college, we used to take a popcorn popper, because that was the only thing they would let us use in the dorm, and we would fry squirrels in a popcorn popper in the dorm room."
Rising food prices may be one of the most underreported economic stories. New data show that this trend is impacting the larger economy.
Consumer prices rose 4.1 percent last year, according to the Labor Department. In a new report, the Federal Reserve found no growth in factories, mines and utilities last month. Inflation is the highest it's been in 17 years, and the Fed is expected to announce a half-point rate cut to ease the pain when it meets later this month.
AP reports: "Energy costs rose by 17.4 percent this past year while food costs rose by 4.9 percent. Both were the biggest increases since 1990. Gasoline prices were up 29.6 percent, the biggest increase since they soared by 30.1 percent in 1999."
Obviously, this is hitting Americans who live paycheck to paycheck the hardest, which is why we've seen the economy skyrocket among voters' lists of concerns going into the 2008 elections. But the rise in food prices is perceived as a mixed blessing by analysts.
End note. We've suspected for a while that the media have blown up trivialities in the Democratic nomination contest because the candidates are mostly on board with each other on the major issues. This forum was a case in point.
Have Clinton and Obama really been squabbling over who is the rightful heir to MLK? Of course not. But you might have been led to believe otherwise by the previous days' news cycles, which is why it came up tonight.
Is Obama really struggling to convince voters that he's not a jihadist in disguise? Certainly. Not. The only plausible defense Williams et al. could give for bringing that story up is that it's already out there, and they were simply giving Obama a chance to put the rumors to rest. Again, we say: Anyone willing to believe those rumors hasn't been following Obama hardly at all and probably wouldn't vote for him no matter what. Imagine George Stephanopoulos asking John McCain about his rumored illegitimate black baby. Some things, my friends, should simply be out of bounds.
You're going to hear more about the rocky beginning of this debate tomorrow, I suspect. We'll update with reaction in the afternoon. [I lied; we'll go up with it Thursday.]
By the way, with 89 percent of precincts reporting, it's not even close: Romney trounced McCain 39 percent to 30 percent. Because Romney is a native son, a win in Michigan means much less than a loss would have. Still, he needed a gold, and he'll use his victory tonight to convince GOP voters that he's still in it to win it. See reports on the GOP contest here and here.
No, he won't. Keith Olbermann just reported that Nevada's Supreme Court has overruled a lower-court judge in favor of MSNBC's decision to exclude Dennis Kucinich from tonight's debate.
On the merits alone, it looked like the network would have to reinvite Kucinich in order to air the Democratic candidates forum at 9 p.m. EST as scheduled.
The Ohio rep sued parent network NBC earlier for excluding him from the Las Vegas debate. District Court Judge Charles Thompson ruled in Kucinich's favor and told the Peacock Network that he would order an injunction stopping the debate if Kucinich was not included.
NBC appealed Thompson's decision to Nevada's Supreme Court. With less than an hour to go before showtime, the court announced that MSNBC had not breached its contract when it disinvited Kucinich from the debate.
If there were any doubts about the continued importance of the Iowa and New Hampshire nominating contests in light of this year's accelerated primary schedule, a slew of new national polls should put them to rest.
Last week, a Gallup/USA Today poll, the first national survey taken after the Iowa caucuses, showed significant jumps in support for that state's two winners -- Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee -- propelling each to the top of their respective party's slate. But those gains were apparently short-lived, as a flurry of new national polls conducted after the New Hampshire primary last week has the Granite State's victors -- Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain -- leading their respective fields.
For more details on recent national polling on the White House race, see today's Poll Track. And see National Journal's current cover story for analysis of how the dominant demographics and ideologies of future primary states are likely to impact the campaigns ahead of Feb. 5's "Super Tuesday" contests.
Newsday columnist and FOX News regular James Pinkerton has signed on as an adviser to Mike Huckabee's campaign. Pinkerton, an alum of the Reagan and Bush 41 administrations, said in a statement that he "jumped at the opportunity" to help the former Arkansas governor "restore the magnificent Reagan coalition."
That Pinkerton is suspending his relationship with FOX and his column of 14 years is not only surprising, but also says something about the momentum building around Huckabee.
It's been oft-noted that the 2008 GOP presidential front-runners all clash with the Republican Party establishment in some way. (Mitt Romney is the GOP Establishment Candidate to a tee, but is having trouble convincing Republicans of his authenticity.) It was believed that despite his Iowa win, Huckabee would face vehement opposition from the anti-tax/pro-wealth, anti-illegal immigration and libertarian wings of his party. That may yet be the case. But the fact that the campaign was able to convince Pinkerton to sign on may indicate that Reagan idolizers in the party see more that they like in Huckabee than not.
Today's campaign news cycle is all about how the media and pundits boo-boo'd so badly, having declared Clinton's campaign DOA heading into the New Hampshire primary and John McCain out for the count for the last six months running. There's a sea of red faces out there but, we contend, for the wrong reason.
Last we checked, journalism was about reporting facts, not predicting them. Some amount of prognostication can be quite useful for contextualizing the news. But when so many talking heads call a close contest well before the first vote tallies come in, what's the point of that, exactly? It seems as if egos, and not the public, are the ones getting served.
Leave it to quirky, independent-minded Granite Staters to tell the rest of the country: Not so fast.
Clinton Takes New Hampshire In Stunner; McCain (& Huckabee) Also Triumph
UPDATED WITH FINAL RESULTS.
Hillary Rodham Clinton has pulled out an upset in New Hampshire, where a surprisingly tight battle with Barack Obama upended early predictions that a misguided strategy might doom her bid for the Democratic nomination. The upside for those embarrassed by their premature crystal ball-gazing is that voters across the country have a real menu of options in both parties.
"I come tonight with a very, very full heart," Clinton said to tremendous cheering and applause from supporters. "I want to especially thank New Hampshire. Over the last week, I listened to you, and in the process I found my own voice."
The crowd roared in response. More than anyone else on the 2008 slate of presidential candidates, the question of "how human" she seems dogs the former first lady. When Clinton appeared to be the inevitable nominee just months ago, it was because she had defied expectations in her strong debate performances and favorable responses from voters on the trail. In what was probably a moment of simple, human fatigue (although longtime Clinton-haters will say otherwise), she appeared to choke up during an exchange in a diner yesterday. A media frenzy ensued, and pundits were wondering out loud whether Clinton was too soft to endure the knocks of a presidential campaign.
By a hair (39 percent to 36 percent), Granite State voters voiced their preference for Clinton today, putting on pause the post-Iowa surge Obama appeared to be riding. If you aren't already convinced, Clinton's squeaker may be yet more proof that cable news is often best watched on mute.
Study: U.S. Lags Industrialized Nations In Preventable Deaths
When the Republican candidates for president met Saturday for one of their final debates before today's New Hampshire primary, there was one point on which all six of them seemed to agree -- America has "the best health care system in the world."
While the Democrats have spent much time and energy proposing sweeping reforms to increase access for the 47 million uninsured Americans, the Republicans have been warning that a move to "socialized medicine" -- which is how they characterize the government-run systems of most other industrialized nations -- would compromise the quality of care. For example, Rudy Giuliani asserted in a radio ad that, when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, his chances of survival in the U.S. were nearly double what they would have been in England "under socialized medicine."
Those figures were later disputed by some experts, but in the end his point about disease treatment may be irrelevant. As Mike Huckabeepointed out in the debate, "What we have in America is a health care maze. It's built on the idea that we wait until people are so desperately ill that the cost to try to fix them is catastrophic and out of control."
A new study published in the policy journal Health Affairs seems to echo Huckabee's concerns. In the study, the United States came in dead last among 19 leading industrialized nations in preventable deaths. The researchers based their analysis, which placed France, Japan and Australia at the top of the heap, on the number of deaths that "could have been prevented by access to timely and effective health care," Reuters reports.
N.H. Countdown: Of Knuckleheads, Huckaburgers & Crybabies
As much as you might resent the presidential candidates for forcing you to confront the 2008 election so early, it's hard not to feel a little sorry for them. Most are sleep-deprived and anxious just four days after the Iowa caucuses, the results of which forced some candidates to retune their campaign strategies on the run.
This is especially true for Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is locked in a super-tight battle for first in tomorrow's New Hampshire primary, pollsreleased today show. Her decisive loss to Barack Obama in Iowa seemed to send her camp into a tailspin. There are strong hints that if she is humiliated in the Granite State, a personnelshuffle will follow.
A mixture of anxiety, adrenaline and sheer physical exhaustion may explain why we've seen such a range of emotions from Clinton this week. First, she feistily returned fire at rivals Obama and John Edwards at the ABC/Facebook debate on Saturday -- a performance that indicated she wasn't going to take the onslaught of attacks lying down.
An uncharacteristically emotional moment for her today is sucking up most of the oxygen in coverage of New Hampshire. That she seemed to choke up when asked about the hardships of campaigning by a voter raises questions about her gender again. Those questions have distracted the media before, but the Clinton Crying story comes less than 24 hours before Granite Staters go to the polls.
Liveblogging the FOX Republican Roundtable -- Minus Ron Paul
9:37. It's over. If anyone's feelings were hurt tonight, like Hillary Rodham Clinton's were yesterday, it's Mitt Romney. He seemed to be running an impeccable campaign, and that's part of the problem. Schadenfreude is a female dog, as he is learning all too well.
As we said before, the GOP primary is shaping to be a real knife-fight between Romney and McCain. Will Huckabee deliver another surprise? The ground seems to be shifting yet again in the Republican nomination battle, but with the primaries so front-loaded voters have little time to carefully weigh their options. If there is buyer's remorse come spring, we'll hear a lot of calls for shaking up the primary calendar for 2012.
Check back tomorrow for a roundup of reaction to tonight's forum and the ones ABC held last night. Good night.
9:30. Why are you best qualified to go to the general?
Giuliani: I'm not perfect, but I can solve problems.
Thompson: I've never lost an election. OK, so I haven't run in many elections...
Huckabee: I can relate to ordinary, hardworking Americans.
Romney: "Chris, I got in this race because my family told me I ought to." [ed: Really??]
McCain: I can re-energize the Republican base. And I love New Hampshire!
WH '08: A Brusque, But Not Brisk, Farewell To Iowa
We haven't matched the rest of the media's outsized coverage of the Iowa caucuses because of the very nature of the caucuses themselves. But we have to admit that what we saw last night was pretty astonishing, in part because a poll predicting the results actually turned out to be right.
Of course, that could just be a coincidence, but the Des Moines Register appears to have corrected for some of the factors that plagued surveys past. (Though it's still not without its problems, Mark Blumenthal points out.) The David-vs.-Goliath victory of Mike Huckabee (results) flew in the face of conventional wisdom, proving that a virtual unknown with hardly any money to campaign with and virtually no organization could sell himself to voters.
Huck's defeat of Mitt Romney does not, however, mean that the conventional wisdom won't prevail.
If you know anything about how the caucuses work, you know that they are unrepresentative of party voters nationwide and are undemocratic, particularly on the Democratic side (irony, irony), to boot. So of course all the attention now goes to New Hampshire (but not Wyoming, which holds its GOP caucus tomorrow), for the first primary vote of the season. New Hampshire's results will almost certainly be different from Iowa's, so a lot of comparing and contrasting will ensue.
We purposely did not devote a lot of blog space to the caucuses for good reason. But yesterday's surprising results dispelled some long-standing prognostication about the 2008 presidential election. Since dispensing with conventional wisdom can be fun (OK, we're nerds), let's take out the trash after the jump.
Last night's Iowa caucuses created two decisive winners in the first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest and two new casualties in the overall race.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Barack Obama pulled ahead of the Democratic pack with 38 percent of the vote, followed by John Edwards in second with 30 percent and Hillary Rodham Clinton close behind at 29 percent.
On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee completed his ascent from relative obscurity just a few months ago to capture first place with 34 percent of the vote, with 96 percent of precincts reporting. Mitt Romney came in second with 25 percent, and Fred Thompson eked out a third-place finish with 13 percent, dispelling (for now) recent rumors that he could soon drop out of the race. John McCain tied Thompson for third, with Ron Paul close behind at 10 percent.
Meanwhile, two other candidates did bid their presidential ambitions adieu last night. Democratic Sens. Joseph Biden and Christopher Dodd announced they were abandoning their bids after the former drew only 1 percent of the vote in Iowa and the latter garnered even less.
If you're all Iowa-ed out, NationalJournal.com's Ronald Brownstein looks ahead to the New Hampshire contest coming up on Tuesday. NationalJournal.com also has the overall results for the Democratic and Republican caucuses, and the Des Moines Register breaks down the results by county. See On Call for more reactions and details from Iowa, and check back with The Gate later today for more analysis.
CNN, NBC and FOX News are calling it for Barack Obama. His margin over John Edwards and Hillary Rodham Clinton is much smaller than Mike Huckabee's over Mitt Romney's, however, so the Edwards and Clinton camps may well declare tonight a sort-of victory, too.
Campaigning in New Hampshire, John McCain declared Huckabee's win "a victory" for positive campaigning -- a dig at Romney. The enemy of his enemy is Huckabee... for now. Romney spent loads of cash in negative ads against McCain and Huck. Does his defeat tonight force his campaign to rethink that strategy? Or, does his loss in Iowa mean the "anything goes" strategy holds?
Again, check with On Call for updates as the night progresses; we'll have full analysis tomorrow.
[UPDATED 9:52] Obama's lead is turning out to be pretty significant, according to the Register's returns.
Goodness, the caucuses haven't been going for an hour yet. This is incredibly early, but CNN is projecting that Mike Huckabee will win the Iowa Republican caucuses by a comfortable margin. Keep in mind that this is NOT a primary, so don't try to project the totals onto Iowa's Republicans as a whole. Still, this result will come as a great surprise to those who believed the Huckabee surge was more media hype than anything else. He still has no money and no organization compared to Mitt Romney, so carrying the momentum onto other states will be a tall order. Stay with On Call for early reaction throughout the night; we'll have full analysis tomorrow.
Mike Huckabee seems poised to best Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucuses tonight despite having a fraction of the Massachusetts millionaire's organization or campaign cash. A solid win will make Huckabee the talk of the nation tomorrow. But don't expect the rush to last.
The reason being that Huckabee's economic record is deeply troubling to very important segments of the GOP base. Huckabee anticipates hitting a wall on his record of tax increases as Arkansas governor, which is why he has come out forcefully -- albeit to the disbelief of some -- in favor of abolishing the IRS.
"I'm not being facetious," Huck protested after stating this position in a November debate. Maybe not, but tacking to an extreme in order to disprove the appearance of softness is politically risky -- mainly because extremes themselves are risky, often unpopular and quite frequently unrealistic.
In case you missed it, and there's pretty much no chance you have, the Iowa caucuses are tomorrow, Jan. 3, more than eight months (!) before the first party nominating convention will be held. The ground in both fields has shifted dramatically this month alone, which indicates that what the tiny percentage of Iowans who caucus tomorrow have to say will probably not hold.
Nonetheless, there are more media outlets on the ground in Iowa today than ever before, and coverage is wall-to-wall. We've explained before why Iowa polls are unreliable. The new Register surveys, which show Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee in the lead, were conducted Dec. 27-30, when enough Iowans to skew the results were probably traveling and therefore were unable to pick up the phone. There are also questions about whether Iowans, who by some accounts are receiving more than one campaign-related phone call a night, are still picking up their phones at all. (Think about it: Would you?)
Pollster.com's Mark Blumenthal -- a new National Journal Group colleague (welcome!) -- has some must-readexplanations of Iowa polling.
Moreover, there are long-lingering questions about the actual significance of the Iowa caucuses. Democratic caucus-goers tend to be more liberal than primary voters elsewhere, and GOP caucus-goers more conservative. Fewer than 10 percent of Iowans, who are overwhelmingly white, participate, but the outsized media coverage arguably has a king-making effect. Those candidates who don't place in the top five might be considered road kill by Friday morning, which could doom them in other states where they are faring better.
Georgetown's Christopher Hull crunches the numbers in his new book, "Grassroots Rules" (seriously, there are charts and graphs). If you want to understand Iowa's effect on party nominations, read this book. His ultimate conclusion is that Iowa is important. But: "Controlling for New Hampshire results and measures of exhibition season performance, Iowa is not a statistically significant predictor of overall primary performance."
Before the Christmas break, we wrote that Americans' dwindling interest in the Iraq war might be perilous to the national interest, as Alasdair Roberts recently contended in Foreign Policy. Now the war on terrorism -- which even critics of President Bush must admit now includes Iraq -- is back in the headlines, thanks to yesterday's tragic events.
The view from Washington is that the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is a serious kneecap blow to U.S. foreign policy. To quickly review: President Pervez Musharraf, an ally by necessity, is increasingly unpopular at home and for good reason. (People who live under military dictatorships generally do not enjoy the experience.) Meanwhile, there's a virulent strain of anti-Western, Islamic fanaticism seeping through Pakistan at the moment, which means this White House's usually cherished principles of liberty and democracy do not apply.
The Bhutto-Musharraf power-sharing compromise was seen as the most feasible shot at calming Pakistan's restive populace. In Bhutto, Washington saw a more reliable and transparent ally in the war against extremism, in part because of her shady ethical past. She had something to prove.
Now that she's gone, we're back to where we were, and less than two weeks before Pakistan's elections no less. No doubt there is panic in the Beltway today, if only for the dearth of available options now.
Outraged supporters of Benazir Bhutto have taken to the streets following confirmation that the Pakistani opposition leader was assassinated today, with at least one province placed on emergency alert.
Bhutto had just spoken at a campaign rally in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, and had gotten into a car when a gunman opened fire. The apparent assassin then blew himself up. There are conflictingreports on how she was killed. Some witnesses said she had been shot in the neck and chest, while a doctor at the hospital that treated her told the New York Times she had shrapnel wounds but would not confirm she had been directly shot.
At least 15 other people were also killed in the attack, according to various news reports. "Police in Sindh have been put on red alert," a police official told Reuters, referring to Bhutto's home province. "We have increased deployment and are patrolling in all the towns and cities, as there is trouble almost everywhere."
Television footage is showing mobs of people setting fires and destroying property in the streets.
...But That Won't Mitigate A Really Bad Decade In Iraq
In his year-end press conference, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that the Pentagon would not be issuing furlough notices "at this time." The branches of the military have had to lay off employees and cut corners while Congress and the White House tussle over continued war funding. The result has been piecemeal funding for the military, as anti-war lawmakers continue to pressure President Bush to accept a withdrawal deadline.
A June Center for Strategic and International Studies report [PDF] advised the Pentagon to stop requesting funding through war supplementals, which aren't included in the defense budget in order to make actual spending appear smaller than it really is. Total U.S. defense spending is only about 4 percent of GDP -- a very low war-time figure. The constantly cash-strapped military need not be so, the authors conclude, and the Pentagon should be asking for much more money with which to fight the Iraq war, the most pressing security problem facing the country.
Gates seemed to dispute the criticism that his department was lowballing Congress in order to provide political cover for the president. "I actually think we had a very thoughtful conversation with the House Armed Services Committee earlier in the year over what percent of GDP devoted to defense and securing the nation should be. I got the impression from both sides of the aisle that it ought to be about 4 percent," Gates said.
"I will be putting out a letter later this afternoon that basically acknowledges that we have to do some planning because we didn't get all the money" requested from Congress, he added.
Neither FOX nor MSNBC bothered to cover Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo's announcement earlier today that he was dropping out of the race for the White House. CNN went to it at first, then cut away so the anchor could discuss the pronunciation of the congressman's surname. This, despite the pivotal role he has played in this cycle's Republican nomination battle.
Reached by phone at his Des Moines hotel room, Tancredo sounded relaxed and content with his decision to close shop. His candidacy, after all, was from the beginning about holding the big-name guys to account on illegal immigration.
"I have dedicated 10 years of my public life to warning the nation of the perilous consequences of massive, uncontrolled illegal immigration," Tancredo told supporters at a press conference this afternoon. "This message unfortunately has fallen on deaf ears in the highest office in the land. Without a president who is committed to securing the nation, we will always remain in jeopardy."
Tancredo's announcement had been expected since yesterday. He said the urgency he felt on illegal immigration compelled him to launch his bid despite what "we knew at the time were incredibly long odds." A nationally obscure figure best known among anti-immigration hardliners, Tancredo said in April that he was entering the race because of "the field, the field."
More on what he told us about Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson after the jump.
Long-shot Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo will make a "major announcement" from Iowa today, his campaign said yesterday, inviting speculation that the Colorado congressman will drop out of the race. AP reports this morning that "a person close to Tancredo" has confirmed that he will abandon his bid for the GOP nomination.
A campaign spokesman said he could not provide details.
Tancredo is perhaps too much of a niche (and not well-enough known) candidate for this race, but he may take credit for ensuring that his battle cry, illegal immigration, is a decisive issue in the GOP nomination fight. His is perhaps the most hard-line position of the GOP contenders -- he has called for an end to legal immigration as well -- and that has forced many of the front-runners to sharpen their own more moderate positions to avoid appearing weak by comparison. In the CNN/YouTube debate last month, he accused his aping rivals of trying to "out-Tancredo Tancredo."
It was a banner weekend for John McCain, as the GOP presidential hopeful whose candidacy was written off not so long ago by most reporters and pundits scooped up several major endorsements and a fawning profile in the Wall Street Journal.
Three key newspapers in the two top early primary states published glowing editorials backing McCain's bid for the GOP nomination this weekend. In Iowa, a state few are predicting McCain to win, the Des Moines Registerformally endorsed the Arizona senator (as well as Hillary Rodham Clinton on the Democratic side), deeming him "most ready to lead America in a complex and dangerous world and to rebuild trust at home and abroad by inspiring confidence in his leadership."
New Hampshire's Portsmouth Heraldalso backed McCain, citing a quality the three-term senator has long trumpeted: "McCain will tell you the truth," the board writes, "even if it costs him the election."
Jim Cramer & Ron Paul: The Interview Of The Century So Far
It's nearly the weekend, but we urge you all to run home and TiVo the following: Rep. Ron Paul sits down with Jim Cramer on "Mad Money" tonight(!!!).
No shouting or renting of garments, according to an early transcript. Paul and Cramer both HATE the Fed in a big way, and that's topic No. 1 in the interview.
"I always feel like I'm out there by myself criticizing this institution that everybody thinks is like a holy temple, when the reality is these are just men and women like you and me except for they're making policy with no checks and balances," Cramer tells the GOP presidential candidate. "I wish you the best of luck, sir, with your campaign. You are changing things with what you're saying."
Do we have another convert to the Ron Paul Revolution? Will Cramer be Ron Paul's very own Oprah? The magic begins at 6 p.m. EST and re-airs at 11 on CNBC.
Fingers point to strategist Mark Penn for allegedly running Hillary Rodham Clinton's bid for the Democratic nomination as if she'd already won it: here, here and here.
Curiously, these blame-the-strategist whisperings always seem to start when candidates are in mortal danger. Where were all these off-the-record critics earlier in the fall, when we first started to see that Clinton would actually have to, *gasp*, fight for the nomination? Might this not just be Camp Clinton's way of deflecting blame for the campaign's missteps away from the candidate?
4:10. All over, no more debates until next year, hurray!
Up until a couple of months ago, there seemed to be a critical mass of Democratic support building behind Clinton, in part because of her metamorphosis into a suddenly "human" and likable politician and the assumption that the Clinton machine could best take on the Republican nominee next year. The political press carried on that change vs. experience debate all summer and into the early fall.
But now the nomination fight has been upended, and polls [PDF] show(subscription) that Obama and Edwards are viable in general election matchups, too. That eliminates for some voters their primary thesis for supporting Clinton, and it's why she's been struggling to stay afloat this month.
Most of us can look forward to relaxing with family in a week or so, but for the presidential contenders and Iowans it's closing arguments time. One thought to keep in mind: Part of the shifting around in this field and in the GOP as well is that the Iraq war has largely dropped out of the debate. Iraq no longer dominates the front page because of the decrease in violence and because of the campaigns. That changes in March at the latest, when Gen. David Petraeus is due back in Washington to report on the ground situation. We know the military part of the surge is working, but we are not much farther than we were in September on political reconciliation. The "what's next?" question is still hanging out there, unanswered. The GOP front-runners have more or less indicated loyalty to the Bush administration's policies, so answers will have to come from the Democratic field.
Ohthankgod: Liveblogging The Last GOP Debate Of 2007
4:37. In a post-debate interview on CNN, Huckabee said he apologized to Romney for the Jesus/devil remark while sticking to his earlier insistence that the remark had been taken out of context.
"He was gracious," Huckabee said of Romney's response.
There's nothing in the Times mag feature, by the way, to suggest Huckabee meant anything by that comment beyond an expression of genuine curiosity. Andrew Sullivanfound background for the question on the LDS Web site. Anyone who used to go to Sunday school knows that according to the Bible Satan/Lucifer/the devil was a fallen angel. Before he went evil he was just a regular angel, and in that sense, according to LDS, the devil and Jesus are brothers of a kind. OK, that's enough theology from me.
3:50. It's over, and insane as it sounds it feels too soon. That's a product of there having been a few too many non-contenders on the stage, no doubt.
Did uncommitted Iowans get what they needed here? Depends on whom they're leaning toward. Nothing bad happened to Huckabee, which is exactly what he needed as his viability star rises. Tancredo tried to portray Huck as an immigration flip-flopper, but... he's Tancredo. Lucky for Huckabee, Giuliani only goes there at grave risk to himself.
Romney didn't get a chance to zing Huckabee, but with that ad on the air he may not have needed to. And Huckabee was not asked about that Jesus/devil comment or his own attack-ish ad. The absence of theology in this debate may not be what some campaign prognosticators wanted, but it was classy, for immediate lack of a better word.
Huge, HUGE endorsement for Mitt Romney, from a publication that has often seemed downright hostile to the former Massachusetts governor.
"Unlike some other candidates in the race, Romney is a full-spectrum conservative: a supporter of free-market economics and limited government, moral causes such as the right to life and the preservation of marriage, and a foreign policy based on the national interest," National Review's editors write.
Assessments on Romney's rivals: Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee are too polarizing within the party, John McCain could unify the party but is too moderate, Fred Thompson is conservative enough but has run a boring campaign.
On the religion issue: "For some people, Romney's Mormonism is still a barrier. But we are not electing a pastor."
Not counting the week between Christmas and New Year's, when presumably even Iowans will want to leave politics behind in favor of eggnog and football, the presidential candidates really have only about two weeks left of campaigning in the crucial caucus state -- and it shows. John Edwards is rolling up his sleeves for an eight-day Iowa bus tour. Barack Obama's showing off his most glamorous accessory. And yesterday, for the first time in his prolific ad campaign, Mitt Romney went negative.
The GOP contender became the first on either side of the aisle to purchase air time for an attack ad this week amid the continued rise of Mike Huckabee in both Iowa polls and national surveys of likely Republican primary voters. Romney's new spot blasts Huckabee's record on an issue that has proven to be a lightning rod for Republicans in Iowa -- immigration. Today's Ad Spotlight(subscription) has more details on the ad. Meanwhile, perhaps blunting the ad's blow to Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor was endorsed by Jim Gilchrist, founder of border security group the Minutemen, in Iowa this morning. MSNBC has more.
Univision Debate Postmortem: The Six Amigos (Plus Ron Paul)
So, our liveblog effort was a bust thanks to my lack of high-tech closed-captioning, but it doesn't look as if we missed a whole lot in the way of fireworks. Because the immigration debate has been alienating Latino voters, it was in everyone's interest last night to promote Brand GOP (as opposed to Brand Me). Most of the seven candidates present did that, but at the expense of specifics.
In other words, this was a very broad-strokes debate. The Republican candidates have been vying for months to prove just how tough they can be on closing the borders, etc., which is sort of mandatory, as they're trying to win over mostly white, conservative base voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. Then they found themselves in Miami last night before a sea of Latino Americans -- the fastest-growing bloc of voters in the nation. In order to hew to what they'd been saying about immigration reform up until last night, some of which may not have gone over well in this crowd, they had to fiddle with their rhetoric.
That translated to lots of talk of freedom and no trading barbs on sanctuary cities or sanctuary mansions. The central mission was to not tick anyone off, and on that score they probably succeeded.
In a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court said that federal sentencing guidelines for drug crimes were nonbinding, giving judges some breathing room on sentences for offenses involving crack cocaine. Writing for the majority [PDF], Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg drew on the U.S. Sentencing Commission's recommendations that the 100-to-1 cocaine-crack possession ratio established by Congress be revised.
In 1986, Congress set much harsher penalties for crack cocaine offenders out of fear that use of the drug was fast becoming an epidemic in urban areas. The disparity in penalties can be seen in U.S. prisons, where blacks are disproportionately represented while powder cocaine offenders, who are mostly white, get off relatively easily.
Some activists have called the lopsided U.S. drug policy blatantly racist, but that was not really a calculation in today's decision. "A district judge must include the Guidelines range in the array of factors warranting consideration, but the judge may determine that, in the particular case, a within-Guidelines sentence is 'greater than necessary' to serve the objectives of sentencing," Ginsburg wrote. "In making that determination, the judge may consider the disparity between the Guidelines' treatment of crack and powder offenses."
7:46. Just had to update with this: LOTS of applause in this crowd for a question about Hugo Chavez, Washington's least favorite South American leader. Have no idea what question was posed to Paul w/r/t to Chavez, but his response inspires waves and waves of boos. What just happened here? Tune in tomorrow to find out!
7:28. Well, I got my closed captioning to work -- and the captions are en Espanol. Sorry, readers, but looks like I'm going to have to abort this mission. Truly a first in Gate history.
That said, I am just dumbfounded that the producers would change the format of the Republican debate in such a way that many non-Spanish-speaking Americans would not be able to tune in. There are so many questions about where some of these candidates -- Romney, Giuliani -- really are on immigration reform. That isn't the case in the much more unified Democratic field -- questions about driver's licenses notwithstanding.
We'll have a roundup of reaction to the debate tomorrow. Daily Kos has a Spanish-speaker watching; you can check out their (hotly partisan) liveblog coverage here. The Corner was also stymied in its coverage attempt. Somewhere, Tom Tancredo is doing la cucaracha in front of a TV set.
Romney Stands Firm On Mormon Faith, Stresses 'Tolerance'
UPDATED.
In a speech meant to mark a turning point in his bid for support among evangelicals, Mitt Romney declared that as president he would serve the U.S. Constitution, not the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but that religious faith ought to be a permanent fixture in the public square.
"I will put no doctrine of any church above the plain duties of the office and the sovereign authority of the law," Romney said, speaking at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas. Adding that some voters might want him to sever Romney the politician from Romney the Mormon, he said, "That I will not do. I believe in my Mormon faith, and I endeavor to live by it. My faith is the faith of my fathers -- I will be true to them and to my beliefs."
Romney's address veered deeper into the topic of his faith, and its contrast to other faiths, than was previously indicated by his campaign. He was addressing the topic in more detail than he has since announcing his bid for the presidency because of a threat to his standing among Republican primary voters by Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and a Baptist minister. Huckabee has raised a meager fraction of what Romney has so far this cycle, and his sudden rise in the polls is attributed to support from evangelical voters who distrust Romney because of his faith.
Romney was speaking before a preselected audience of supporters, but the tenor and content of his speech was quite obviously directed at skeptics. "Some believe that such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. If they are right, so be it," Romney said. "But I think they underestimate the American people. Americans do not respect believers of convenience."
Romney To Skirt Specifics Of Mormonism In Favor Of 'Common Cause' Appeal
Excerpts of the "Faith in America" speech Mitt Romney is delivering this morning indicate that the Republican presidential candidate does not plan to address or explain the contrasts between his Mormon beliefs and those of evangelical Christians. Rather, he will argue that he shares the "moral principles" and goals of those belonging to other "churches in America," and that as president, he will lead their fight against "the religion of secularism."
"There are some who would have a presidential candidate describe and explain his church's distinctive doctrines. To do so would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the constitution," Romney will say, according to his campaign. "No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith. For if he becomes president he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths.
"We should acknowledge the Creator as did the founders -- in ceremony and word. He should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the teaching of our history, and during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places," Romney will also say. "Our greatness would not long endure without judges who respect the foundation of faith upon which our constitution rests. I will take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but I will not separate us from 'the God who gave us liberty.'"
This is a departure from the famous speech to Protestants delivered by John F. Kennedy in 1960, which was mostly based on a secularist appeal. It's a risky strategy, because some evangelicals who are already skeptical of Romney because of his faith want to hear him acknowledge and address the differences in their doctrines. At the same time, the "common cause" argument helped reconcile evangelicals with Catholics, a group that was met with similar skepticism back when Kennedy was elected the first Catholic president.
Romney is set to deliver his speech at 10:30 a.m. EST at the George Bush Presidential Library. Check back for our coverage.
When asked what issues matter most to them, Americans usually name the Iraq war, the economy and health care by a mile [PDF]. Yet immigration has been dominating the debates in both parties. What gives?
See GOP candidate Tom Tancredo's new campaign ad above. It is the most gruesomely graphic scare spot we've seen yet this cycle, and as much as you might want to turn away -- don't. This ad may well indicate that illegal immigration will be 2008's flag-burning/gay marriage, which in previous cycles had a very real effect on election outcomes despite Americans' protest that those concerns weren't part of their Election Day calculus.
Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has asked the Iowa attorney general's office to investigate the funding source behind a group calling itself TrustHuckabee.com.
That group is actually a front for a Delaware-based PAC called Common Sense Issues. All the leading GOP campaigns, includingMike Huckabee's, deny engaging in push-polling tactics.
In a letter [PDF] to Attorney General Tom Miller, Romney's campaign counsel accuses the apparently pro-Huckabee group of placing robocalls to Iowans without properly identifying itself. New Hampshire's AG is already investigating robocalls that highlight Romney's Mormon faith.
CNN's sorry, so very sorry, for the Clinton plant at last night's debate.
"We regret this, and apologize to the Republican candidates. We never would have used the General's question had we known that he was connected to any presidential candidate," said CNN exec David Bohrman.
"The Most Trusted Name In News" protests that it checked out retired Brig. Gen. Keith Kerr, the gay serviceman who asked the Republican candidates about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," to make sure he had not contributed to any of the candidates. But if CNN's producers had just, say, Googled the guy, they would have found that he is a member of Hillary Rodham Clinton's LGBT steering committee. Bloggers did, and they were alerting the media about it before the debate was over.
Let's assume that CNN tried its level best to ensure a fair and balanced debate for the Republicans. The network's defense of how it not only let the Kerr question through without full disclosure but gave him five minutes on the floor for follow-up rings pretty weak because of the swiftness and ease with which bloggers found him out. As I noted in my liveblog coverage yesterday, conservatives were already dubious about whether they would be treated fairly at last night's forum, and afterward, a few prominent bloggers agreed they were not.
What it comes down to is this: The debate last night was first and foremost about Republican primary voters, not the general electorate. The reasonable thing to have done was make sure there were plenty of questions being asked by Republicans on issues of primary concern to Republicans. Those illegal immigration questions were a good start, but the evening took several bizarre turns as the night went on. Since the debate ended, conservative bloggers have found out the following:
End note. I rode CNN pretty hard earlier, but overall this was a very good forum for these candidates. The producers did a better job than last time at picking interesting and varied questions (with the requisite gotchas, of course), and the holdouts for facing the YouTube Generation -- Romney, Giuliani -- probably did themselves a favor by deciding to show up.
What will get the most attention tomorrow is the knife-fight between Giuilani and Romney that kicked things off. Their cases against each other -- that Giuliani ran a liberal government in a crazy city and that Romney is a political changeling who accomplished little as governor -- went public only recently, and tonight is the first time we saw the candidates make their arguments mano a mano. Their squabbling produced a good moment for Thompson, who got to play the grown-up in the room as he methodically parsed what was wrong with both their records on immigration.
But as those anti-Huckabee press releases indicate, Thompson's camp realizes their man is in trouble. The "Law & Order" star was the one who was supposed to swoop in and rescue stranded GOP voters; now it looks like Huckabee's doing the rescuing, among evangelical Iowans, anyway.
Looking ahead to tonight's highly anticipated CNN/YouTube debate, we find ourselves pondering a few weighty matters.
How much representation will CNN give to questions about Iraq, now that coverage of the war has dropped off steeply on that network and elsewhere?
Will the format of tonight's debate prove more hostile to the Republican candidates than to the Democrats, as we suspected in July?
And finally: What are the chances Mitt Romneywon't be asked to take a question from that Snowman?
These and other issues will be resolved starting at 8 p.m. EST tonight on CNN; The Gate will be liveblogging the action starting at 7:45. But first, some prognostication, after the jump.
As The Holidays Begin, Campaigning Doesn't Slow Down
This week, Americans have turkey on the brain. But with a pushed-up primary schedule and the first-in-the-nation caucuses only six weeks away, it seems the holiday season and the campaign season will go hand-in-hand.
Several of the 2008 presidential candidates are not breaking from their busy schedules to celebrate Thanksgiving this week. Arizona Sen. John McCain will use the holiday recess to take his seventh trip to Iraq, while Democratic Sens. Christopher Dodd and Joseph Biden will head to Iowa to serve meals with their families and celebrate the holiday with supporters, according to The Caucus.
Meanwhile, a new poll shows some candidates would be more welcome at American dinner tables than others. Quinnipiac University pollsters asked likely voters which candidates they would most like to share their Thanksgiving meals with, and perhaps not surprisingly, the front-runners of each race were perceived to be the most desirable house guests.
"I've kind of pulled back. I'm not not supporting him, but I'm not doing anything,” said one House Republican who previously rallied for the former Tennessee senator. None of the lawmakers who spoke to CQ would go on the record with their discontent "because they did not want to damage him or themselves publicly." Any guesses on who they are? E-mail us: jroh[at]nationaljournal.com.
Rudy Giuliani upped the ante in the White House 2008 ad war today when he debuted the first TV spot of his presidential campaign in New Hampshire. The 60-second ad, entirely focused on the GOP front-runner's record as mayor of New York City, describes how he transformed the Big Apple from the crime and welfare "capital of America" to a city so clean and shiny, Disney filmmakers recently found it to be a fitting location for a live-action fairytale. But perhaps more interesting is what doesn't get mentioned in the ad: Giuliani's post-9/11 leadership.
See today's Ad Spotlight(subscription) for more details. Plus: Fred Thompsonfollows Tom Tancredo with an immigration-themed ad of his own.
It's no secret that Tom Tancredo has a one-track mind when it comes to his bid for the GOP presidential nomination. The Colorado congressman has made it clear that he is trying to push the immigration issue to the forefront of the conversation, and in some states (particularly Iowa), he appears to be succeeding.
For those who haven't heard the message, the Tancredo campaign released a new TV ad this week in Iowa and New Hampshire that is sure to grab viewers' attention with provocative images of real terrorist attacks in London and Madrid and an imagined scenario in which an illegal immigrant leaves a bomb in a crowded shopping mall -- just in time for the holidays, no less.
See today's Ad Spotlight(subscription) for more on Tancredo's debut ad buy. Plus: Did you know John Edwards is the son of a mill worker? The Democratic hopeful is once again reminding South Carolina voters of his humble beginnings in a new TV ad.
This is what Wanda Franz, president of the National Right to Life Committee, said of today's Fred Thompson endorsement:
Our endorsement is a testament to Senator Thompson's long-standing pro-life record, his commitment to protecting unborn children, and our belief in his ability to win.
Emphasis ours. Ed Morrissey rightly points out that NRLC could have easily waited until a nominee emerges to make its decision, rather than casting its lot so soon with a candidate who's not completely on board with them. Rudy Giuliani winning the nod puts all the pro-life grassroots in an awkward position, so they'd all be in the same boat.
The reason this endorsement is significant is because of what it says about Mitt Romney's candidacy. It's nothing new, by the way. But it's worth chewing over.
On the issues, Romney is more in line with the pro-life grassroots than Thompson (a federalist) or Giuliani (pro-choice). It doesn't take much to figure out what's going on here. The institutions that are the face of evangelical America won't come out and say it, but the men and women who make up that base will.
Campaign photo of Fred Thompson flanked by his Virginia team, former Sen. George Allen on the left and state Attorney General Bob McDonnell on the right.
Is this a good or bad cycle for the religious right, already?
Despite a season of complaints, it turns out all sorts of Christian conservatives are finding something they like in each of the leading Republican candidates. The latest recipient of endorsement manna: Fred Thompson, who has picked up the National Right To Life Committee.
The timing couldn't be better for the "Law & Order" star, whose two-month-long campaign is getting ho-humreviews(subscription). Joe Klein all but wrote Thompson off today, before news of the NRLC nod broke.
Clearly some will have to rethink the ETA of Thompson's political demise. The NRLC is expected to formally announce its endorsement tomorrow, and it will be worth keeping an ear open for the language they use. Thompson is a federalist on the abortion issue. That's pretty in line with a lot of conservatives, but not with advocacy groups like NRLC that won't settle for less than a federal ban on the procedure.
WH '08: Don't Quit Your Day Jobs! No, Seriously. Don't.
Many of the candidates for president say that the campaign finance system is in urgent need of repair, yet they are shelving the issue precisely because of said system. As a result, we've got the longest, most expensive and most annoying presidential election maybe ever.
Meanwhile, here inside the Beltway, Congress is still mostly deadlocked on such pressing concerns as the war and health care for disadvantaged children. Hence, disapproval ratings that have managed to exceed those of the pariah in chief, President Bush.
Might all this playing hooky in order to chase a dream that for some is very (very, very) distant explain why Congress doesn't seem to be accomplishing very much?
In an anticipated but nonetheless stunning development, televangelist Pat Robertson has endorsed former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for president.
"For months I have contemplated our future and the outstanding group of men who are offering themselves to the Republican Party to be its standard-bearer in the 2008 presidential election. Today, it is my pleasure to announce my support for a mayor, America's mayor, Rudy Giuliani, and a proven leader, who is not afraid of what lies ahead and who will cast a hopeful vision for all Americans," Robertson announced at a campaign press conference.
The controversial Christian right leader had been courted heavily by the Republican candidates. Mitt Romney delivered the May commencement address at Robertson's Regent University, and John McCain apologized to Robertson for grouping him with the "agents of intolerance" in the evangelical community after his failed 2000 presidential bid.
"Sometimes you say things in anger that you don't mean," the Arizona senator explained in a March interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network.
Robertson had made it clear that all was not forgiven, declaring on several occasions that McCain would never win his vote. Romney, however, was thought to have an actual shot. Robertson hadn't gone on the record criticizing the former Massachusetts governor's Mormon faith, even though it's considered by some evangelicals to be a cult.
Observers may describe this coup for Giuliani as a game-changing moment in Republican electoral politics. They might be overstating things a bit.
With two months to go before the first-in-the-nation nomination ballots, voters in states not named Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina may be forgiven for feeling neglected by the candidates vying for the presidency. But try to look at it another way: At least you can ignore this very early election season if you want.
Those of us from early primary states don't have that luxury. Last weekend, I found that a trip back home was no vacation from my job. In fact, driving around Greenville, S.C., provided ample evidence that while I may report from Washington on campaign activities, the crux of the action is quite far away.
Take, for instance, the time-honored tradition of yard signs. They're not as high-budget as TV or Web ads (although I did spy a Mitt Romney spot or two when I turned on the tube). During election season, the durable outdoor signs line roadways as well as lawns.
Based on a very unscientific count, the two most active candidates in the very conservative upstate seemed to be former Massachusetts Gov. Romney and Texas Rep. Ron Paul. The candidates were about even on road signs alone, although Paul -- known for his resourceful supporters -- also had signs along the freeway that declared a "Ron Paul Revolution." However, many of the Romney signs were seen near Bob Jones University, where the university's president recently created a furor when he announced his support for the Mormon candidate. Then there was the lone sign for Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, that predictably read: "No Amnesty For Illegals. Tancredo For President."
Philip Martin, a longtime friend of and major fundraiser for GOP White House hopeful Fred Thompson, resigned from the campaign today after a weekend's worth of revelations and speculations about his past. He was convicted on multiple drug charges in the late 1970s and early 1980s -- at least a decade before he became friends with Thompson, who contends he knew nothing of Martin's troubles with the law.
ABC News piled on today with new revelations about tax problems relating to companies run by Martin, noting that several of his former businesses owe massive tax debts, and that the IRS "and the state of Tennessee filed liens against Martin himself in 1995 and 2002."
Looking back on the past year, the most surprising development of Campaign '08 so far has to be the crash and burn of Sen. John McCain. Less than a full presidential election cycle ago, the Arizona Republican's popularity so transcended party lines that John Kerry sought him out as a running mate.
Today, the one-time front-runner is nearly broke, has a skeletal campaign staff and is trailing badly in the polls. When the campaigns started to get under way earlier this year, every other headline about McCain had to do with his dogged support for President Bush's Iraq war policy despite overwhelmingly pessimistic coverage of the "surge" strategy. The formerly adoring political press, which McCain used to refer to as "my base," seemed to be punishing the lawmaker they once hailed as a maverick.
It was ugly, all right. And we're not just talking about the city.
The Democratic presidential candidates chasing Hillary Rodham Clintonsought last night [video] to portray the front-runner as George W. Bush with a better health plan. Did they succeed? And does it matter?
We ask the second question because of how close we are to the primaries and because of how gaping the Big Mo gap's become. Clinton tops second-place Barack Obama by 14 percent and 28 percent per Zogby and CBS News, respectively. Though everyone on stage at Drexel University might come to regret it later in the general election, last night seemed as good a time as any to air out the family business.
By that we mean the internal conversation Democrats have been engaged in practically since Clinton announced she was running for the Senate, a move widely viewed as a springboard to this moment. To the amazement of quite a few old political hands, the former first lady has managed to overcome many of her negatives. In the latest survey, CBS respondents gave her the highest favorability rating among the candidates.
So last night, as expected, Clinton was attacked more pointedly and with more aggression than we've seen in this field. Did anyone manage to land a punch? Yep. Is Clinton down for the count? Nope. Are we going to ride the "Rocky" metaphors for the duration of this post? You bet.
Takeaways from the Dilly in Philly after the jump.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., will not seek re-election regardless of what happens in his long-shot presidential campaign, he told the Rocky Mountain News Sunday. "It's the fact that I really believe I have done all I can do in the House, especially about the issue (immigration) about which I care greatly," Tancredo told the paper.
His decision creates a vacancy in the solidly conservative and Republican 6th District, which includes suburban areas south and southeast of Denver. While Tancredo's presidential campaign remains just a blip on the political radar, he has suggested he might challenge Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar in 2010, largely over his signature issue of immigration.
Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Michael McNulty of New York is expected to confirm today that he, too, will not seek re-election. With the Tancredo and McNulty announcements, 17 House members have announced they will not be back in the next Congress, with 11 retirements and six members running for other offices.
- CongressDaily
Photo courtesy of Flickr user VictoryNH: Protect Our Primary
The eight major Republican presidential candidates have signed on to the CNN/YouTube debate on Nov. 28. We're not going to use the F-word, but this news apparently means Mitt Romney has changed his mind about participating in the forum.
In July, Romney sniffed that "the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman." Both he and Rudy Giuliani pooh-poohed the debate, originally scheduled for Sept. 17, to the consternation of Republican primary voters and, well, us.
The Family Research Council's Washington Briefing last weekend only reinforced the impression that religious conservatives are in for a frustrating election cycle. As the GOP front-runners continue to beat each other up over who wants abortion outlawed the most, and a new FOX News/Opinion Dynamics poll [PDF] indicates the eventual nominee might have to clam up on the issue when he enters the general.
The survey of 900 registered voters indicates a majority of Americans believe women should be given the option of terminating pregnancy in nearly all cases. Seventy-three percent said abortion should remain legal for those whose lives were endangered by their pregnancy; 70 percent said victims of rape or incest should also have access to the procedure. The majority thins for the greyer areas of the mother's mental health and if the fetus has a fatal birth defect. Fewer than 40 percent said an unwanted pregnancy justified abortion.
It's not as though abortion won't be a campaign issue next year; with two probable vacancies on the Supreme Court looming for the next president, it undoubtedly will. The Democratic Party has learned to ditch the talking points of pro-choice activists and moderate its language on abortion. So, in a departure from previous cycles, the ground conditions and these numbers indicate the abortion issue works more favorably for the Democratic candidate in '08.
A new Kaiser Family Foundation survey shows that, behind Iraq, health care is the second most important issue Americans want the 2008 presidential candidates to address. In many cases, particularly on the Democratic side, the candidates have heeded that call, putting forth detailed plans aimed at reforming the current system and avoiding the pitfalls of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton's notoriously failed effort in the '90s.
In this week's National Journal, health care reporter Marilyn Werber Serafini gathered a team of 10 experts to assess the health plans of the major presidential contenders, giving careful consideration to their potential impacts on consumers, employers, the uninsured, the economy and quality of care.
Meanwhile, the Kaiser poll shows that the Democratic front-runner in the race, Hillary Clinton, leads the field on this issue despite her previous failure. Today's Poll Track(subscription) has analysis of those numbers and other recent surveys on the '08 race.
Wildfires Roundup: Arson Suspected; Bush Tours Devastation
The fires that have ravaged a large swath of the Golden State since Sunday showed signs of letting up today, as the Santa Ana winds that had so fiercely fanned the flames for days began to subside, giving firefighters the chance to gain some control. Here's a snapshot of the latest news from Southern California:
Bodies found. The death toll from the fires appears to have risen to three, as the San Diego Sheriff's Department announced the discovery of two charred bodies inside a home in the community of Poway, which was hit by the biggest fire in the region this week.
Arson suspected. The major fires are still being attributed to a deadly combination of drought conditions and those Santa Ana winds, but at least two people have been arrested in Southern California this week for allegedly setting smaller fires contributing to the destruction. Federal and local officials are remaining vigilant to prevent further "copycat fires and looting," the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Well, bad for the Republican presidential front-runners, anyway.
The New Yorker's James Surowiecki writes a damning indictment of supply-side economics theory in this week's issue. "The supply-side argument that, in the United States, tax-rate cuts pay for themselves -- that, after cutting taxes, the government actually ends up with more revenue -- has little or no support within the mainstream economic profession, and no hard empirical data to back it up," he contends.
President Bush, of course, is the supply-sider in chief. Bush has been able to point to the growth of the economy during his term, and the post-9/11 rebound in particular, as proof that his controversial tax cuts are sound -- ignoring the "simple fact," as Surowiecki puts it, that "the American economy grows over time."
We're just getting around to this now, but others have made the case already. Ignore those Romney press releases: Mike Huckabee trounced the Republican field at the Values Voters Summit last weekend.
Huckabee came out with 51.3 percent of on-site straw poll voters, followed by Mitt Romney at 10.4 percent and everyone else in the single digits. Romney's camp declared him the big winner based on online voting by Family Research Council members in a poll that's been open since August. Even there, he and Huckabee came out virtually dead even, 27.6 percent to 27.2 percent.
Only FRC members were permitted to vote, and an FRC spokesman said that duplicate votes in the online and on-site polling were eliminated. According to The Caucus, a minimum donation of $1 is required for FRC membership.
Long story short, it's clear by those numbers that the guy with almost no money, organization or national name recognition was the real winner.
"If the Christian majority actually got behind Huckabee, and if they used all the organization that Christians already have, he could do really well," complained Daniel Briggs, a volunteer with Americans United for Life.*
That's a question we've been asking all cycle: Why isn't the evangelical right amassing its forces behind Huckabee, the religious conservative's religious conservative?
General Chairman Mel Martinez formally resigned from his top post at the Republican National Committee today, citing progress on the goals he set out to achieve when he first assumed the leadership role in the beginning of this year.
"It was my goal as General Chairman to lead the Party as it established the structure and raised the resources necessary to support our Presidential candidate and ensure Republican victories next November. I believe we have accomplished those goals," the Florida senator said in a statement. "That's why it is the appropriate time for me to step down as General Chairman and continue to focus my energy on serving my constituents in Florida."
The GOP senator took over for former General Chairman Ken Mehlman when he completed his two-year term in January. Martinez opted to remain in the Senate and serve his constituents in Florida while also acting as the public face of the Republican Party, along with Chairman Mike Duncan, at a time when cohesive leadership was sorely needed. Mehlman's exit came soon after the GOP's drubbing in November's midterm elections sent the party into a tailspin, but President Bush's decision to nominate Martinez did little to placate the party's restless base.
The Republican field has suffered another casualty, as Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback is expected to end his nine-month bid for the presidency after failing to register in fundraising and polls.
Although he had previously said he would drop out of the race if he finished worse than fourth in the Iowa caucuses this January, the final blow to his struggling campaign appears to have come much earlier. According to finance reports his campaign submitted this week, Brownback raised only $817,286 in the third quarter and $3.5 million since he announced.
The third-quarter money race is coming into focus this week, as yesterday marked the deadline for candidates to file their official fundraising reports with the Federal Election Commission. The national front-runners on both sides of the aisle -- Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rudy Giuliani -- pulled ahead of their closest rivals in the money race, adding fuel to their growing leads and fresh hurdles for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, who have been stagnating in the polls.
But for at least one candidate, the correspondence between campaign momentum and cash flow isn't quite as clear-cut.
Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has experienced something of a renaissance on the trail after a dismal second-quarter showing and a major campaign shakeup, is reporting $3.4 million cash on hand, $1.8 million of which is set aside for the general election. Factoring in his $1.7 million in reported debt, Marc Ambinderhelpfully does the math: "That means that McCain's campaign has no cash on hand -- in fact, even with the general election money factored in, it owes about $94,000. It is, in other words, bankrupt."
This is how low the bar is set for the 2008 Republican front-runners' debate performances: Don't screw up, and make us laugh at least once.
That's according to most of the news coverage, anyway. Of Fred Thompson's long-awaited debut in yesterday's GOP primary debate in Michigan, the general assessment is no, he didn't screw up, and yes, that one thing he said at the end was kind of funny.
"I've enjoyed watching these fellas," the former Tennessee senator said as things were winding down. "I've got to admit, it was getting a little boring without me."
Good line, were it not for the fact that the debate wasn't terribly exciting with him either. He didn't scuffle with any of his eight rivals there, so there were no fireworks. Nor, as Rich Lowryalso observed, were any of the "Law & Order" star's lines very funny. Does it matter? Thompson's catching a lot of flak for a rocky campaign launch -- before CNBC aired the debate, Radar magazine went up with a YouTube-laden "blooper reel" feature -- but his ready-made support in the polls guarantees him top-contender status. That support, remember, was there even before he officially entered the race. Unless he goofs up horribly on the national stage, it isn't going away because of one disappointing debate performance.
Thompson's viability is rooted less in who he is than who he is not. So voters might be better served by also paying attention to how Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney fared, even though this was their umpteenth televised debate.
CNBC's Republican candidates debate is airing right now. Don't worry, workers of America, it will re-air on MSNBC tonight at 9 p.m. EDT. Tomorrow morning, we'll have a wrap-up with reaction to the candidates' answers on the economy, plus an assessment of the long-awaited debut of Fred Thompson on the stage. You can watch the debate live right here.
Almost exactly one hour after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney boasted $10 million in primary contributions for the third quarter -- the largest announced sum of any GOP contender as of about noon today -- front-runner Rudy Giuliani finally came out with his own 3Q tally of $10.5 million, giving him the most cash on hand of all his primary opponents.
Sound familiar? The other side's front-runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton, similarly tried to take the wind out of her closest rivals' sails earlier this week when she waited to announce her $22 million 3Q take after the media had already rushed to crown Barack Obama the leader in Democratic dollars (he raised $19 million for the primary).
Giuliani's $500,000 leg-up on Romney isn't as impressive as Clinton's quarterly cash advantage over Obama, nor were his methods as smooth (was his press secretary waiting vigilantly by the computer for Romney to show his hand first?). But the Giuliani campaign is sure to use his second consecutive quarter of fundraising domination to foster the impression that the former New York City mayor is the GOP contender best equipped to face the Clinton juggernaut.
The list of Fred Thompson's verbal missteps continues -- and this time it seems the Republican presidential hopeful can't recall major details of an historical event in which he himself participated.
MSNBC reports that at a campaign event in Iowa Tuesday night, the candidate was asked about last year's Senate hearings on the nomination of Chief Justice John Roberts, whom Thompson "shepherded" through the confirmation process. The former Tennessee senator had this to say in response:
"Even though the other party controlled the Judiciary Committee, we got some votes there. For a good, sound, what I would call conservative justice."
News flash: Democrats didn't regain control of the Senate until 2006. Roberts' confirmation took place in 2005, when the GOP was still firmly in charge of both chambers.
The paradigm of the Republican Party heading into the 2008 presidential election is as follows:
The American way of life faces its greatest threat ever in the form of a hateful, violent ideology known as Islamofascism. The only way to stop this menace is through swift, aggressive, forceful action...
...by a giant, crazy-eyed, stomping-mad elephant.
Behold, the 2008 Republican National Convention logo, which appears to combine the feral, hulking strength of an elephant on stampede with the red-white-and-blue patriotism of the Stars and Stripes. We're not sure why the highly vexed elephant is so mad at the year 2008, but we wouldn't want to mess with something bearing such pointy tusks, either.
Third-quarter fundraising numbers from the Republican presidential candidates remain a bit murky (still no official reports from the Giuliani and Romney camps), leaving plenty of room for reporters hungry for word from the GOP field to pounce on the news that Ron Paul raised upwards of $5 million over the past three months.
That's right, the civil-liberties-loving, Rudy-Giuliani-challenging, rabid-fan-attracting congressman from Texas seems to have raised about as much as New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) and Arizona Sen. John McCain (R), who are both seen as much more viable candidates in their respective fields.
The latest round of polling should have many a pundit smiling with self-satisfaction this week, as new surveys confirm the prevailing conventional wisdom about the 2008 presidential primary races: Hillary Rodham Clinton looks more and more "inevitable" with every passing month, and the GOP primary remains (almost) anybody's game. Plus: Bill Clinton may have been onto something when he dubbedMike Huckabee the Republican dark horse to watch.
See today's Poll Track(subscription) for analysis of the latest state and national numbers on the White House race.
Clinton & The Democrats Lead In Third-Quarter Fundraising
As if further proof was needed, the third-quarter fundraising totals trickling out of the top presidential campaigns this week are demonstrating that in the 2008 White House race, the Democrats have the almighty dollar on their side.
And despite breathless media reports crowning Barack Obama the king of the third quarter yesterday, Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign reports this morning that she raised $27 million ($22 million for the primary) in the past three months -- $7 million more than her closest rival. Looks like Democrats are going to have an even harder time combating Clinton's image as the inevitable nominee.
Newt Gingrich's Non-Campaign: Things That Make You Go Hmm
Newt Gingrich spent the better part of a year toying with a possible White House bid, but after months of tantalizing interviews, op-eds and public appearances (both in real life and in Second Life), he announced on Saturday that he would not seek the Republican Party's nomination in 2008.
The move left campaign watchers and Gingrich followers scratching their heads, not because it was unexpected, but because the timing seemed suspect. Just a few days prior to his decision, Gingrich had announced that he was dispatching campaign advisers to embark on a three-week tour to gauge interest in his potential bid. He took a leave of absence from FOX News and said if he could raise about $30 million or more in pledges, he'd be in by November.
Less than a week later, Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler was telling the press that a legal review of Gingrich's involvement in his nonprofit group, American Solutions for Winning the Future, suggested that he could not continue to work on that project and run for the nation's highest office.
"He had to make a choice between being a citizen-activist, raising the challenges America faces and finding solution to America’s problems, or exploring a potential candidacy," Tyler told the Politico. "It's legally impermissible to do both."
Looks like Newt Gingrich is the latest potential '08 politician to get swept up, up and away by the Second Life craze.
Tech Daily Dose reports that Gingrich's town hall appearance in the "online fantasy world" yesterday was besmirched by the appearance of a virtual streaker. Or, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution so delicately put it, "a lovely young digital lady, who arrived moments before her clothes did."
Hmm, not sure how that's going to play with the conservative base Gingrich is trying to court as he weighs a potential White House bid. (Twig Tomorrow, an official with the Metaverse Mod Squad, which moderated the virtual event on Thursday, disputes media reports that the avatar appeared nude).
The highly anticipated season premiere of "Grey's Anatomy" opened with --
Oops, wrong post.
In case you missed it, and you probablydid, there was a Republican presidential debate last night at Morgan State University in Baltimore. As with the Democrats' turn in June, radio and talk-show host Tavis Smiley was on hand to host the All-American Presidential Forum on PBS before a mostly black audience on the historically black campus.
What was different this time around? The four empty podiums on stage.
Out of the belief that the gains made by the GOP under President Bush's leadership have been hopelessly eroded (by President Bush's leadership), or the belief that with independents out of reach, their socially conservative, mostly white base is more crucial than ever, front-runners Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson skipped the event.
The six candidates chasing them were smart enough to take advantage.
Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson are, apparently.
The leading Republican presidential candidates cited "scheduling conflicts" as their reason for skipping tonight's All-American Presidential Forum on PBS.
"I'm puzzled by their decision. I can't speak for them. I think it's a mistake," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich earlier this week.
President Bushalso weighed in on the matter last week: "My advice to whoever will be our nominee is to reach out to the African-American community as well as other communities, because I believe we've got a very strong record when it comes to" issues affecting them.
Last week, The Gate reported that President Bush was looking increasingly lonely, both in Washington and on the world stage. Looks like you can add the campaign trail to the list of unwelcome places for the president, as well.
Bush's approval ratings have teetered a bit lately, but they're still in the low-to-mid 30s (and in some cases the 20s) according to most national polls. So it comes as no surprise when AP puts out an analytical piece headlined, "Bush Unwelcome on the Trail," even though the president called himself a "strong asset" to GOP candidates in a press conference last week.
Indeed, while the Republican presidential candidates (not counting a few lower-tier contrarians) are careful not to criticize Bush in front of GOP crowds, they are loathe to volunteer his name or heap praise on him unprovoked. They are far more likely to rail against the current leadership -- both in Washington and in the Republican Party -- and present themselves as agents of change, much like their Democratic counterparts have been trying to do.
But is it already too late? Bloomberg News reported last week that the Bush backlash may be hitting '08 Republicans where it hurts most: their pocketbooks.
Sick of the controversy over MoveOn.org's "General Betray Us" ad? (And no, it hasn't died yet). For a distraction, check out the new ad war between the Mitt Romney campaign and Slate's Bruce Reed.
Reed, a former Clinton administration adviser and head of the Democratic Leadership Council, is miffed that "Team Mitt" has rebuffed his entry into the campaign's Create Your Own Ad! contest. In August, the Boston Globe characterized the contest as "the latest example of how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Internet to engage supporters in unprecedented ways." But it looks like it's also turning out to be the latest example of campaigns not recognizing how little control they have over their own Web efforts.
By Reed's account, his entry into the race, a video called "Way!" that pokes fun at Romney's vision of "family values," is the most beloved according to viewers, who are supposed to be determining the outcome of the contest. But when the finalists were announced, "Way!" was nowhere to be found, prompting Reed to cry foul: "Our fearless leader promised us online democracy, not a Soviet-style election run by totalitarian Mittistas."
"Way!" isn't the only entry from Slate, which seems to have it in for Romney. A longer, better-produced parody from the online magazine is available here. Meanwhile, there's still time to weigh in on the real finalists here. The winner will have his or her entry aired on TV as part of Romney's prolific ad campaign.
First, he didn't know how much a gallon of milk costs. Now, his homeland security adviser is being accused of disparaging Muslim Americans.
On Wednesday, the Politico reported that Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said in an interview, “We have, unfortunately... too many mosques in this country."
King later complained that his remarks were taken out of context. Politico has since posted video of the interview to let readers decide, and it appears that King may be right -- sort of.
Proving yet again that his lame-duck status is the media's gain, President Bush treated the White House press corps to a freewheeling Q&A session this morning, in which the explainer in chief talked about the threat of war with Iran, that MoveOn ad, the GOP's record on race relations -- and even his feelings.
Before taking questions, though, the president scolded Democrats for failing to promptly renew a federal health insurance program for low-income children. "Unfortunately, instead of working with the administration to enact this funding increase to children's health care, Democrats have passed a bill they know will be vetoed."
Congressional negotiators are working to reconcile the House and Senate bills under threat of veto from Bush for provisions that raise the income ceiling for eligibility.
"One of the [Democratic] leaders said a veto would be a victory," Bush said, visibly irked. He was referring to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who said this week that a White House veto of final SCHIP legislation might be read as opposition to insuring poor children, which would be a "political victory" for Democrats.
Bush said that he has backed SCHIP since his days as governor of Texas, but that he opposed offering federally funded health care to children from families earning $80,000. The income ceiling is actually not that high in either the Senate or House bills, though some states are permitted to issue waivers to families earning around that much. Democrats want to roll back a policy introduced by the White House last summer that prohibits SCHIP coverage for households earning two and a half times the poverty level, or $51,625 for a family of four. They contend that private insurance is prohibitively expensive for some middle-income households.
The president also said he opposed all new taxes, including the cigarette tax hike that would help fund SCHIP. "There's no need to raise taxes. I believe this is a step toward federalization of health care," Bush said. "Their proposal is beyond the scope of the program."
Meet the newest GOP candidate for president! No, not Fred Thompson (he's old news now, silly). Newt Gingrich, you ask? Not yet -- he's still just thinking about it. No, we're talking about former State Department official and frequent candidate Alan Keyes.
Whether out of dissatisfaction with the field thus far or the hankering for a rematch with Barack Obama, Keyes made his bid official last Friday when he filed an official statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission.
"The more I thought about it and prayed over it, the more it seemed to me that the one thing I've always been called to do is just raise the standard -- not to worry about anything else, but to make sure that, clearly articulated, there is the sense of this national standard of our allegiance to God and His authority that has been the foundation stone of our nation's life," Keyes told talk-radio host Janet Parshall in explaining his decision to run.
End note. March is the new September. Petraeus has made it crystal clear he's not discussing an ultimate drawdown until that month next year. Reid and Pelosi have promised a super-charged challenge to Bush, which he is expected to ignore or squash. For now, it doesn't look like we'll get the GOP insurrection Democrats have been praying for, and we'll know for sure soon enough. Check back tomorrow for reaction from the White H
A controversial anecdote relayed by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in last week's Texas debate wended its way into a Senate Armed Forces hearing on Army readiness today.
A fight over whether Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., can reject federal funds for his presidential campaign has thrown new attention on a stalemate hamstringing the Federal Election Commission and given unexpected attention to the role of McCain's possible election opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in that impasse.
"When you talk about the FEC, people's eyes glaze over.... But there will be increasing public pressure to do something as more and more people understand" the situation, said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Her group called Friday for Republicans to compromise to end the standoff.
Did Hillary Rodham Clinton step under a ladder and over a black cat before announcing her presidential campaign last year? The hits -- in the bad sense -- just keep on coming at her. 
John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, denied a 
"We always had good laughs together."
Looks like the GOP has its very own Joe Lieberman: former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee.
Speaking before a roomful of conservative activists in Washington, Mitt Romney drew his presidential campaign to a close.
The excitement surrounding yesterday's unprecedented Super Tuesday nominating contests obscured the latest and perhaps most damning news to come out on the troubled economy: Activity in the crucial service sector slowed for the first time in nearly five years last month.
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Remember Obama's victory speech after he won the South Carolina Democratic primary, when 
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When he's not 
When Gen. David Petraeus returns to Washington in March, he will brief Defense Secretary Robert Gates on the progress of the U.S. troop drawdown. He'll be asked how units are faring in Iraq as more of them leave, and whether the targeted reduction -- from about 160,000 to the pre-surge 130,000 by this summer -- should progress as planned. 
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Hey, you guys! It's so super to see you! No matter what happens in Florida on Tuesday, let's promise to always be friends. I am so serious!!!
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Rising food prices may be one of the most underreported economic stories. New data show that this trend is impacting the larger economy.
End note. We've suspected for a while that the media have blown up trivialities in the Democratic nomination contest because the candidates are mostly on board with each other on the major issues. This forum was a case in point.
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Newsday columnist and FOX News regular James Pinkerton has signed on as an adviser to Mike Huckabee's campaign. Pinkerton, an alum of the Reagan and Bush 41 administrations, said in a statement that he "jumped at the opportunity" to help the former Arkansas governor "restore the magnificent Reagan coalition."
"Over the last week, I listened to you, and in the process I found my own voice," a relieved and triumphant Hillary Rodham Clinton 
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While the Democrats have spent much time and energy proposing sweeping reforms to increase access for the 47 million uninsured Americans, the Republicans have been warning that a move to "socialized medicine" -- which is how they characterize the government-run systems of most other industrialized nations -- would compromise the quality of care. For example, Rudy Giuliani asserted in a 
This is especially true for Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is locked in a super-tight battle for first in tomorrow's New Hampshire primary, 
9:37. It's over. If anyone's feelings were hurt tonight, 
We haven't matched the rest of 
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Barack Obama pulled ahead of the Democratic pack with 38 percent of the vote, followed by John Edwards in second with 30 percent and Hillary Rodham Clinton close behind at 29 percent.
The reason being that Huckabee's economic record is 
In case you missed it, and there's pretty much no chance you have, the Iowa caucuses are tomorrow, Jan. 3, more than eight months (!) before the first party nominating convention will be held. The ground in both fields has shifted dramatically this month alone, which indicates that what the tiny percentage of Iowans who caucus tomorrow have to say will probably not hold.
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In his 
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A campaign spokesman said he could not provide details. 
No 
4:10. All over, no more debates until next year, hurray!
4:37. In a post-debate interview on CNN, Huckabee said he apologized to Romney for the Jesus/devil remark while sticking to his earlier insistence that the remark had been taken out of context.
Not counting the week between Christmas and New Year's, when presumably even Iowans will want to leave politics behind in favor of eggnog and football, the presidential candidates really have only about two weeks left of campaigning in the crucial caucus state -- and it shows. John Edwards is rolling up his sleeves for an eight-day 
So, our liveblog effort 
In a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court said that federal sentencing guidelines for drug crimes were nonbinding, giving judges some breathing room on sentences for offenses involving crack cocaine. 
7:46. Just had to update with this: LOTS of applause in this crowd for a question about Hugo Chavez, Washington's least favorite South American leader. Have no idea what question was posed to Paul w/r/t to Chavez, but his response inspires waves and waves of boos. What just happened here? Tune in tomorrow to find out!
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Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has asked the Iowa attorney general's office to investigate the funding source behind a group calling itself TrustHuckabee.com.
"The Most Trusted Name In News" protests that it checked out retired Brig. Gen. Keith Kerr, the gay serviceman who asked the Republican candidates about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," to make sure he had not contributed to any of the candidates. But if CNN's producers had just, say, Googled the guy, they would have found that he is a member of Hillary Rodham Clinton's LGBT steering committee. Bloggers did, and they were alerting the media about it before the debate was over.
End note. I rode CNN pretty hard earlier, but overall this was a very good forum for these candidates. The producers did a better job than last time at picking interesting and varied questions (with the requisite gotchas, of course), and the holdouts for facing the YouTube Generation -- Romney, Giuliani -- probably did themselves a favor by deciding to show up.
Will the format of tonight's debate prove more hostile to the Republican candidates than to the Democrats, 
Several of the 2008 presidential candidates are not breaking from their busy schedules to celebrate Thanksgiving this week. Arizona Sen. John McCain will use the holiday recess to take his seventh trip to Iraq, while Democratic Sens. Christopher Dodd and Joseph Biden will head to Iowa to serve meals with their families and celebrate the holiday with supporters, according to 
Rudy Giuliani upped the ante in the White House 2008 ad war today when he debuted the first TV spot of his presidential campaign in New Hampshire. The 60-second ad, entirely focused on the GOP front-runner's record as mayor of New York City, describes how he transformed the Big Apple from the crime and welfare "capital of America" to a city so clean and shiny, Disney filmmakers recently found it to be a fitting location for a 
The reason this endorsement is significant is because of what it says about Mitt Romney's candidacy. It's nothing new, by the way. But it's worth chewing over.
Despite a season of complaints, it turns out all sorts of Christian conservatives are finding something they like in each of the leading Republican candidates. The latest recipient of endorsement manna: Fred Thompson, who 
Many of the candidates for president say that the campaign finance system is in urgent need of repair, yet they are shelving the issue precisely because of said system. As a result, we've got the longest, most expensive and 
In an anticipated but nonetheless stunning development, televangelist Pat Robertson has endorsed former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for president.
Philip Martin, a longtime friend of and major fundraiser for GOP White House hopeful Fred Thompson, resigned from the campaign today after a weekend's worth of revelations and speculations about his past. He was convicted on multiple drug charges in the late 1970s and early 1980s -- at least a decade before he became friends with Thompson, who 
The Democratic presidential candidates chasing Hillary Rodham Clinton 
Bodies found. The death toll from the fires appears to have risen to three, as the San Diego Sheriff's Department announced the 
Huckabee came out with 51.3 percent of on-site straw poll voters, followed by Mitt Romney at 10.4 percent and everyone else in the single digits. Romney's camp declared him the big winner based on online voting by Family Research Council members in a poll that's been open since August. Even there, he and Huckabee came out virtually dead even, 27.6 percent to 27.2 percent. 
General Chairman Mel Martinez formally resigned from his top post at the Republican National Committee today, citing progress on the goals he set out to achieve when he first assumed the leadership role in the beginning of this year.
The Republican field has suffered another casualty, as Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback is 
That's according to most of the news coverage, anyway. Of Fred Thompson's long-awaited debut in yesterday's GOP primary debate in Michigan, the general assessment is no, he didn't screw up, and yes, that one thing he said at the end was kind of funny.
Behold, the 2008 Republican National Convention logo, which appears to combine the feral, hulking strength of an elephant on stampede with the red-white-and-blue patriotism of the Stars and Stripes. We're not sure why the highly vexed elephant is so mad at the year 2008, but we wouldn't want to mess with something bearing such pointy tusks, either.
Third-quarter fundraising numbers from the Republican presidential candidates remain a bit murky (still no official reports from the Giuliani and Romney camps), leaving plenty of room for reporters hungry for word from the GOP field to pounce on the news that Ron Paul raised upwards of $5 million over the past three months.
As if further proof was needed, the third-quarter fundraising totals trickling out of the top presidential campaigns this week are demonstrating that in the 2008 White House race, the Democrats have the almighty dollar 
The move left campaign watchers and Gingrich followers scratching their heads, not because it was unexpected, but because the timing seemed suspect. Just a few days prior to his decision, Gingrich 
Out of the belief that the gains made by the GOP under President Bush's leadership have been hopelessly eroded (by President Bush's leadership), or the belief that with independents out of reach, their socially conservative, mostly white base is more crucial than ever, front-runners Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson skipped the event.
Bush's approval ratings have teetered a bit lately, but they're still in the low-to-mid 30s (and in some cases the 20s) according to most national polls. So it comes as no surprise when AP puts out an analytical piece headlined, "
Reed, a former Clinton administration adviser and head of the Democratic Leadership Council, 
On Wednesday, the Politico reported that Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said in an interview, “We have, unfortunately... too many mosques in this country."
Before taking questions, though, the president scolded Democrats for failing to promptly renew a federal health insurance program for low-income children. "Unfortunately, instead of working with the administration to enact this funding increase to children's health care, Democrats have passed a bill they know will be vetoed." 
Whether out of dissatisfaction with the field thus far or the hankering for a 
