August 2008

John McCain’s attacks on Barack Obama on national security issues seem to be working: Polls show McCain has cut the Democrat’s lead in half.

According to CNN’s average of several recent national surveys, Obama’s lead is now a slim 3 points over the Arizona senator, 46-43 percent — half of his advantage in a CNN poll of polls one week ago, and down from a high of 8 points in mid-July.

A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll out Tuesday evening was the latest national survey to indicate Obama’s lead is dwindling, putting the Illinois senator ahead of McCain by only 2 points, well within the poll’s margin of error. The CNN poll of polls also includes new surveys from Quinnipiac and Gallup.

Russia’s invasion of Georgia gave McCain an anvil to hammer away at Obama’s inexperience, CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider said.”The McCain campaign believes that some of Hillary Clinton’s tactics, especially questioning whether Obama is ready to lead, can be a real winner,” Schneider said.

President Bush is defending his line-in-the-sand approach to the fight against Islamic terrorism, following presidential rivals John McCain and Barack Obama in a speech to a major veterans group.

His address Wednesday in Orlando, Fla., was to highlight themes GOP hopeful McCain has been using to argue that he is better qualified to be commander in chief than Obama, the Democratic nominee-in-waiting.

Bush, in remarks to the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, also was expected to address the conflict between Russia and Georgia, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Tuesday.

Addressing both his opponent’s charges of weakness and vacillation, and public doubts about his credibility on military matters, Senator Barack Obama on Tuesday told the Veterans of Foreign Wars that he offered not just tough talk but smart answers to national security questions.

Mr. Obama appeared before the V.F.W. a day after his presumed Republican opponent, Senator John McCain, criticized him for advocating a policy of defeat in Iraq and suggested Mr. Obama put personal ambition before the interests of the country.

Stuck in no man’s land, no longer able to stand before adoring crowds of African-Americans who would welcome him as the “nation’s first black president” with thunderous applause and all kinds of pats on the back, he clearly is having issues dealing with the new world order.

Almost two months after Sen. Barack Obama captured the Democratic presidential nomination, the former president is still brooding about his wife’s loss. And his chief source of anguish? That supporters of Barack Obama accused him of injecting race into the campaign

.Never mind that the Obama camp — loaded with white male advisers — was so afraid to bring up race that it wasn’t funny.

In the wake of the evangelical Saddleback presidential faith forum and just as the veepstakes heat up for the Republican campaign, 2008 presidential candidate ex-Arkansas governor and Baptist minister with a grin Mike Huckabee turned up for his tenth trip to the Holy Land. The timely invitation came from the Jerusalem Reclamation Project, a rightwing New York foundation that urges Jews to settle in the Muslim quarter of the Old City in “undivided Jerusalem.” Huckabee’s visit here lasted 48 hours, 25 percent longer than Barack Obama’s whirlwind trip last month. Huckabee used the extra time to visit Jewish settlements near the controversial security barrier.

Fresh faced at a power breakfast, despite having had only his usual four hours sleep in a suite at the King David hotel, Huckabee chose to ignore the local English language paper, which had hailed the politician as “Huckabee the Maccabee.” This is an Israeli compliment, as the Maccabees were an ancient Jewish national liberation movement that founded a kingdom that held fast for a century, from 164 - 63 BC.

As we warned yesterday, it’s silly rumor week when it comes to the VP speculation. From rumors about Obama naming his ‘mate in hours to McCain picking his location to unveil his choice, both campaigns spent last night shooting down reports about who, when, and where. However, the Obama camp was more emphatic about shooting down the New York Times report (which said that an announcement could come as soon as tomorrow) than the McCain camp was about the Politico story (which noted that the Arizona senator’s pick will come on August 29, the Friday after the Dem convention). By the way, there are three reasons why an August 29 VP announcement for McCain could be a problem: 1) it will come as nearly every political reporter — save those actually following McCain — is headed on a flight from Denver to the Twin Cities; 2) it occurs at the start of the Labor Day weekend, when many Americans are probably headed to the nearest beach or lake; and 3) it’s the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Still, the upsides of picking that day: 1) it immediately forces the national press corps to turn its attention away from Obama and to McCain; 2) it steps on McCain’s 72nd birthday a tad; and 3) it creates a little buzz going into the weekend of what could be one of those bad press weeks for the Republican Party, as many media outlets focus on all the Republicans NOT showing up to the convention and the Bush-Cheney opening night potential dud.

Forgive me if I’m straining to believe John Edwards’ version of events. My last conversation with him wasn’t a good one.

In some ways, that talk reflected the difficult relationship we’ve had with him since he became a national political figure.

About 9 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 11, former Sen. Edwards reached me on my office phone.

Earlier that day, while campaigning in South Carolina, Edwards denied a report in The National Enquirer that he had an affair with an unnamed woman who once worked in his campaign.

In the newsroom, we debated whether to run Edwards’ comments about the Enquirer story in the next day’s print edition.

Broken record here. The more I think about it, the more Al Gore seems the only really interesting choice for Barack Obama’s vice presidential choice.Of course, Obama was and is the only really interesting choice for president.

But it would be great to have two top people on the ticket.But Gore has already been vice president! Two people have served as vice president under two different presidents: George Clinton served as vice president under Jefferson and Madison, and John C. Calhoun served under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson

In “If Clark is the VP-choice, Here are Some Contrasts with McCain” (August 16, 2008), there was a list of contrasts to John McCain, each one of which could have been elaborated upon to fill an entire article. Some were military, others character, still others “civilian.” By all those accounts McCain pales in comparison to Clark.

It could have been added that Clark had several appointments that required Senate approval. McCain never did. Clark was approved by a voice vote of the Republican-controlled Senate to be Supreme Allied Commander Europe. John McCain was part of that Republican-controlled Senate.

But, the selection of Wesley Clark as Barack Obama’s VP running mate will have another consequence that the McCain camp could not survive.

Inevitably, inexorably, indubitably the military records of these two men will be opened, examined, sliced and diced and compared by the press. Enormous pressure will build on McCain to sign a release form that allows access to all his military records, a step he has never taken.

But Clinton isn’t one to be mollified by symbols alone. Very likely, she has demanded - and gotten - a voice into whom Obama ultimately chooses for a running mate. She wants to make sure he chooses someone who will also be her ally in the White House; someone who will champion her cause until a future time when she can again mount another bid for her former abode. It’s the only way she could conceivably become motivated to aggressively and enthusiastically back him.

Despite a recent CBS poll saying a majority of voters would like to see Clinton in the vice presidential slot, she’s smart enough to know it wouldn’t be the right move for her - and therefore won’t push it. The two are philosophically complete opposites and would find it hard to work together. There’s also no faster way to shut someone down than to make them a vice president, where they are prevented from overshadowing or bad-mouthing their boss. Clinton would want the independence to criticize Obama and even outshine him, should the opportunity arise.

Politically, it would also not make the most effective ticket. The public senses the tension between them and will consider them insincere whenever they praise one another.