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PRESIDENTIAL WATCH
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(caricatures by
Linda Eddy)
Weekend Report, Oct. 4-5, 2008
GENERAL NEWS HEADLINES with excerpts
Candidates are refocused and on the attack
After a two-week detour through bailout-land, Barack Obama and John McCain returned to familiar economic encampments on Friday: bickering over taxes and the middle class and calling each other job-killers.
In a rally here, Obama, the Democratic presidential
contender, cited the government's report that America shed nearly
160,000 jobs last month as further proof that the Bush
administration's actions have wrecked the domestic economy and then
accused McCain, his Republican opponent, of mimicking President George
W. Bush's policies. McCain launched a new national television ad that
paints Obama as a habitual tax-raiser and big spender.
Palin says Obama 'palling around' with terrorists
Republican
vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is accusing Democrat Barack
Obama of "palling around with terrorists" for his association with a
former 1960s radical.
Palin was referring to Bill Ayers, one of the founders of the group the Weather Underground. The group took credit for bombings, including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol four decades ago.
In remarks to GOP donors in Englewood, Colo., on Saturday, Palin said Obama seems to see the U.S. as being so imperfect that, in her words, "he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."
see also:
Palin: Obama comments disqualify him for Commander-In-Chief
Hillary
Clinton on Sarah Palin:
I think she's good and effective
"It's amazing, you know, she's been thrust into the national spotlight with very little preparation and I think that, all things considered, you saw a very composed and effective debater last night."
VP
debate
Early results show
viewership 33% higher than presidential debate
The Sarah Show: 70,000,000+ watch
Highest rated debate since 1992
THE CANDIDATES:
John McCain & Sarah Palin... today's headlines with excerpts
McCain scales back in Michigan
John
McCain's campaign said Thursday that he has scuttled most of his
campaign for Michigan and is shifting people and resources to
Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, reshuffling his efforts amid falling poll
numbers.
The politically explosive economic crisis has erased Mr. McCain's lead in key states and in nationwide polls and propelled Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama ahead, squeezing Mr. McCain out of Michigan and making him look elsewhere...
McCain's fate hangs on three states
John McCain now must win Pennsylvania, Wisconsin or Minnesota in order to get enough electoral votes to win the presidency, his campaign says.
... McCain's political director, Mike DuHaime, told reporters on a conference call three hours before debate time that the campaign plans an "aggressive" front in Maine, a solidly Democratic state that gets virtually no attention in presidential races.
The sudden attention to Maine, which is getting some of the staff McCain is moving out of Michigan, reflects what a squeaker McCain expects.
Barack Obama & Joe Biden... today's headlines with excerpts'
Barack Obama is a "decidedly liberal"
senator "who was finding his feet, and then got diverted by his
presidential ambitions", according to a frank verdict delivered to
Gordon Brown by the British ambassador to the United States.
... he also judges that his "policies are still evolving" and that if elected he will "have less of a track record than any recent president".
... Mr. Obama "can seem to sit on the fence, assiduously balancing pros and cons", Sir Nigel wrote, and "does betray a highly educated and upper middle class mindset". Charges of elitism "are not entirely unfair" and he is "maybe aloof, insensitive" at times....
Robert Novak: How will Obama pay for new spending?
... Obama's dividends and capital gains proposals appear to be a major attempt at redistribution of income rather than a serious attempt to pay for the spending that he has proposed.
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