IOWA
PRESIDENTIAL WATCH
Iowa...
Where Presidents Begin
click
on each candidate to see today's news stories
(caricatures by
Linda Eddy)
Monday, March 31, 2008
GENERAL NEWS HEADLINES with excerpts
Obama, McCain forged fleeting
alliance in 2006
... the reform fight has emerged as a looking-glass moment of what a
fall campaign could resemble. McCain's backers view it as emblematic
of Obama's ability to talk grand ideas and aspirations, but also of
his ultimate failure to produce substantive results. Obama's
supporters contend that the moment was vintage Obama, with the
newcomer defusing the feud with a cool demeanor that allowed him to
claim the high ground while rolling up his sleeves to eventually help
pass a broader ethics overhaul bill in August 2007."
see also:
Obama-McCain letter exchange
Clinton, Obama shift to wider range of economic
woes
As the Democrats enter a 10-state closing stretch in which economic
concerns are likely to dominate the debate, Clinton and Obama - who
both gave speeches on the subject last week, as did John McCain - are
expanding beyond their past populist appeals and using a broader
language that can address different experiences of economic change.
Mideast Watch...
Suicide bombing attacks decrease due to West
Bank fence
PIJ leader Ramadan Abdallah Shalah told Hezbollah's
Al-Manar TV that the terrorist organizations had no intention of
abandoning suicide bombing attacks but that their timing and the
possibility of carrying them out from the West Bank depended on other
factors. “For example,” he said, “there is the separation fence which
is an obstacle to the resistance [i.e., the terrorist organizations],
and if it were not there, the situation would be entirely different”
(Nov. 11, 2006)
Mousa Abu Marzouq , deputy chairman of Hamas's
political bureau in Damascus , was asked by a group of Egyptian
intellectuals and politicians why the suicide bombing activity had
decreased during since the Hamas government came to power. He said
that “ [carrying out] such attacks is made difficult by the
security fence and the gates surrounding West Bank residents
” (June 2, 2007)
THE CANDIDATES:
John McCain... today's headlines
with excerpts
Blogger outreach boosts McCain
"If anybody needed the blogosphere it was McCain," Mr. Lewis said,
adding that Mr. McCain recently told bloggers he would continue to
give them access throughout the campaign. "He essentially said, 'How
could I not — there for a while this summer, you were the only people
who talked to me.' "
McCain polls well amid war,
economic worries
Those figures are particularly distressing inside the Democratic party
because the crossover effect in McCain's favor intensifies as the
Illinois and New York senators focus on one another over McCain with
five months remaining before the August party convention.
McCain's re-launch begins -
highlighting family's military roots
"...Generations of McCains were born and raised in Carroll County, on land
that had been in our family since 1848… By all accounts, the McCains of
Carroll County were devoted to one another and their traditions; a lively,
proud and happy family on the Mississippi Delta. Yet, many McCains left here
as young men to pursue careers in what has long been our family’s chosen
profession -- the United States Armed Forces.”
McCain’s campaign also has released a
Web
video highlighting his family’s military service.
see also:
McCain takes walk down memory lane
McCain tour to reveal his story to voters
McCain faces test in wooing elite donors
With attention focused on the Democrats’ infighting for the presidential
nomination, Senator John McCain is pressing ahead to the general election
but has yet to sign up one critical constituency: the big-money people who
powered the Bush fund-raising machine.
As he reintroduces himself to voters this week with stops like one at the
Naval Air Station in Meridian, Miss., where he was a flight instructor, Mr.
McCain will also attend to another crucial task by courting donors in
Mississippi, Florida and Tennessee.
Young voters may not remember McCain's heroic past
When his father became head of U.S. forces in Vietnam, the North Vietnamese
offered to let McCain out. But he refused to go unless all the POWs went
home with him. That meant remaining in captivity until March 1973.
He came home having suffered numerous broken bones. To this day he is unable
to raise his arms above his head because of his injuries.
Hillary Clinton... today's
headlines with excerpts
Clinton didn't pay health insurance bills
Among the debts reported this month by Hillary Rodham Clinton’s
struggling presidential campaign, the $292,000 in unpaid health
insurance premiums for her campaign staff stands out.
Clinton, who is being pressured to end her campaign against Barack
Obama for the Democratic nomination, has made her plan for universal
health care a centerpiece of her agenda.
Rosy words for Hillary Clinton by 90's nemesis
But in a striking about-face, Mr. Scaife now says he has changed his
mind — at least about one half of the duo.
“I have a very different impression of Hillary Clinton today,” he
wrote in an opinion article published Sunday, amid her campaign for
president. “And it’s a very favorable one indeed.”
His sudden conversion from fervid Clinton basher to lukewarm Clinton
fan occurred after Mrs. Clinton, a Democratic senator from New York,
sat down for a 90-minute interview with reporters and editors of The
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a newspaper owned by Mr. Scaife, the
billionaire heir to the Mellon banking fortune.
... Mr. Scaife, who attended the meeting, wrote in The Tribune-Review
that the senator “exhibited an impressive command of many of today’s
most pressing domestic and international issues.” Her answers, he
added, “were thoughtful, well-stated and often dead on.”
Bill Clinton: debate does not hurt the Dem party
Clinton said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York wasn't damaging
the party by staying in the race even though she is behind in
delegates and unlikely to overtake the Illinois senator based on the
contests to come.
Barone: Clinton wins popular vote, Obama w
... the Clinton campaign could argue that Obama cannot win states with
most of the nation's people even if he wins all the remaining eight
primaries. Could argue—but I don't think that's going to persuade any
superdelegates that Clinton is the real winner.
Barack Obama... today's headlines with excerpts
Obama had greater role on liberal survey
During his first run for elected office, Barack Obama played a greater
role than his aides now acknowledge in crafting liberal stands on gun
control, the death penalty and abortion– positions that appear at odds
with the more moderate image he’s projected during his presidential
campaign.
The evidence comes from an amended version of an Illinois voter
group’s detailed questionnaire, filed under his name during his 1996
bid for a state Senate seat...
Obama gains another superdelegate
Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is expected to endorse Sen. Obama
Monday, according to a Democrat familiar with her plans. Meanwhile,
North Carolina's seven Democratic House members are poised to endorse
Sen. Obama as a group -- just one has so far -- before that state's
May 6 primary, several Democrats say.
Obama exaggerates Kennedys' role in helping his
father
Contrary to Obama's claims in speeches in January at American
University and in Selma last year, the Kennedy family did not provide
the funding for a September 1959 airlift of 81 Kenyan students to the
United States that included Obama's father. According to historical
records and interviews with participants, the Kennedys were first
approached for support for the program nearly a year later, in July
1960. The family responded with a $100,000 donation, most of which
went to pay for a second airlift in September 1960.
Obama's charm offensive in PA
When Obama walked in with Sen. Bob
Casey, who recently endorsed him, locals stopped munching
mid-fry to stare. The presidential hopeful shook hands, posed for
pictures and then joined local Roxanne Hart to bowl a few frames.
"I haven't bowled in 30 years," Obama declared before putting on size
13 1/2 shoes. Casey joined in, and the two rolled. Casey's ball went
into the left gutter; Obama's rolled into the right. And so it went,
though the locals didn't seem to mind the poor performance. Little
kids offered advice and joined in the game. Casey managed to improved
steadily, though the last time he bowled was in high school. Obama's
balls on the on the other hand meandered their way into the gutter
time and time again.
"My economic plan is better than my bowling!" Obama declared at one
point to the crowd that had gathered around the lane, growing with
each frame as patrons texted and called friends and family to see the
political spectacle.
Eventually, in the seventh frame, Obama made a spare, cleaning up one
pin left standing with his second ball. He started chanting, "Yes I
can!" and a few in the crowd joined in. He quit while he was ahead,
signing two bowling pins for the owners before leaving...
Obama's war stance woos some Republicans
Call them the Obamacans...
The Obamacans include a former senator of Rhode Island, Lincoln
Chafee; a former senior Justice Department official under President
Reagan and senior legal adviser to Mitt Romney's presidential
campaign, Douglas Kmiec, and a granddaughter of President Eisenhower,
Susan Eisenhower. The group one day may include Senator Hagel, a
Republican of Nebraska, who has co-sponsored Iraq withdrawal
legislation with leading Democrats. Asked yesterday on CNN whether he
would endorse his party's presumptive nominee, Mr. Hagel said he would
base his support on the candidates' positions on withdrawing from
Iraq.
Ralph Nader... today's headlines with excerpts
...what
began as a promising collaboration between two men bent
on burnishing their reformist credentials collapsed
after barely a week. The McCain-Obama relationship came
undone amid charges and countercharges, all aired
publicly two years ago in an exchange of stark and angry
letters. Obama questioned whether McCain sided with GOP
leaders rather than searching for a bipartisan solution;
McCain accused Obama of "typical rhetorical gloss" and
"self interested partisan posturing" by a newcomer
seeking to ingratiate himself with party leaders. 
...as
they traveled through Pennsylvania last week, neither Clinton nor her
opponent, Barack Obama, once mentioned the North American Free Trade
Agreement - a frequent bugaboo in their Ohio politicking - and
refrained from a prolonged discussion of trade issues altogether.
The
leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad again admits that the Israeli
security fence built by Israel in Judea and Samaria prevents the
terrorist organizations from reaching the heart of Israel to carry out
suicide bombing attacks...
Mr.
McCain's blogger outreach, the most extensive of any
presidential campaign in either party, helped keep him
afloat in the dark days last summer when the major press
was sizing up his campaign grave. During those times,
Mr. McCain got attention and digital ink from the
bloggers he invited to biweekly conference calls, and
got a chance to talk policy.
Recent
polling shows large numbers of Democrats who back either Clinton or
Obama would vote for McCain if their candidate does not win the
nomination. One survey, for example, shows 28% of Clinton supporters
would cast their ballot for McCain ahead of Obama. Among Obama
supporters, 19% would back McCain over Clinton.
from
today's McCain speech:
Half
of all living Americans today were born after McCain's A4E Skyhawk was shot
down in an attempted bombing run on the Yen Phu power plant. Thus his story
here bears retelling.
To
Bill and Hillary Clinton, Richard Scaife qualifies as a charter member
of the “vast right-wing conspiracy,” having bankrolled an elaborate
multimillion-dollar campaign throughout the 1990s to unearth damaging
information about the couple. 
Allowing
the Democratic presidential race to continue several more weeks will
not hurt the party's chances in November, former president Bill
Clinton said Sunday in San Jose, Calif. He urged people to "chill out"
and let the balloting run its course.
ins
delegate count
Obama's
handwriting found on liberal statements he 'never saw;...
Obama
has launched a charm offensive in Pennsylvania, forgoing days packed
with town halls and cheering crowds at rallies to make small
unannounced stops that take the locals by surprise. Case in point,
trying not to strike out in Pennsylvania to Clinton, Obama went
bowling Saturday night at Pleasant Valley Lanes in Altoona, five
minutes from a hot dog shop that he had visited earlier in the day.
With
an eye to the general election and the Pennsylvania primary, some
Republicans who oppose President Bush's war policy are endorsing
Senator Obama.
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