IOWA
PRESIDENTIAL WATCH
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Where Presidents Begin
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on each candidate to see today's news stories
(caricatures by
Linda Eddy)
Monday, Oct. 6, 2008
GENERAL NEWS HEADLINES with excerpts
The
GOP presidential candidate told a campaign rally: "Sen. Obama has
accused me of opposing regulation to avert this crisis. I guess he
believes if a lie is big enough and repeated often enough it will be
believed."
In some of the harshest language yet, McCain said the campaign comes down to a simple question: Who is the real Barack Obama?
McCain drew the loudest cheers when he said the Democrat has written two memoirs but "he's not exactly an open book."
Town hall debate
Tuesday night
McCain-Obama deal puts limits on debate
Barack
Obama and John McCain meet for a second debate Tuesday night with a
"town hall" format, but a deal made between the camps limits the
interaction the candidates will have with the undecided voters in the
pool of questioners.
Almost every important detail about the debates -- three presidential and one vice presidential -- is governed by a 31-page "memorandum of understanding." It was collegially negotiated between the Obama and McCain camps and covers everything from how the candidates are addressed to the permissible camera shots.
... Tuesday's match-up at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., will be moderated by NBC's Tom Brokaw, with the questions to be culled from a group of 100 to 150 uncommitted likely voters in the audience and another one-third to come via the Internet. The Gallup Organization -- as in past debates like this -- has the job of making sure the questioners reflect the demographic makeup of the nation.
Brokaw selects the questions to ask from written queries submitted prior to the debate, according to the "contract."
An audience member will not be allowed to switch questions. Under the deal, the moderator may not ask followups or make comments. The person who asks the question will not be allowed a follow-up either, and his or her microphone will be turned off after the question is read. A camera shot will only be shown of the person asking -- not reacting.
While there will be director's chairs (with backs and foot rests), McCain and Obama will be allowed to stand -- but they can't roam past their "designated area" to be marked on the stage. McCain and Obama are not supposed to ask each other direct questions.
As in all the debates, the contenders cannot bring in notes, though they can take them once at the lectern.
RNC to file fundraising complaint against Obama
The
Republican Party on Sunday said Democratic presidential candidate
Barack Obama had not done enough to screen out illegal campaign
contributions and asked U.S. election officials to look into the
matter.
Citing news reports, the Republican National Committee
said Obama had accepted contributions from foreigners
and
taken more than the $2,300 maximum from donors who give in small
increments. The Obama campaign denied the charges.
... Two apparently fictional donors using the names "Doodad Pro" and "Good Will" gave Obama more than $11,000 in increments of $10 and $25, according to Newsweek.
Other news accounts suggest that roughly 11,500 donors who gave a total of $34 million to the campaign may be citizens of foreign countries, who are not allowed to contribute to U.S. elections, the RNC said.
"We see a lack of control, a lack of willingness on the
part of the Obama campaign to ask relevant questions," Cairncross
said...
Pitbull Palin goes after Obama
At
weekend rallies and fundraisers she criticized
Illinois Senator Obama personally, particularly his association
with Bill Ayers,
a former member of the Weather Underground radical group, whom she
described as a ``domestic terrorist." The Democratic presidential
nominee "is not a man who sees America as you see it,'' she said at a
campaign rally in
Carson, California.
Her supporters said they liked the new tone. ``It's about time the pit bull got loose,'' said Ken Gow, a 47-year-old police officer who was among the more than 10,000 people at the Oct. 4 rally.
see also:
Palin on Rev. Wright: "appalling"
Jujitsu Obama calls McCain 'erratic' in crisis
Branding
his opponent as “erratic in a crisis,” Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is
preempting plans by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to portray him as
having sinister connections to controversial Chicagoans.
Obama officials call it political jujitsu – turning the attacks back on the attacker...
Obama launching 'Keating 5" attack -despite previous statement it isn't 'germane'
Today the Obama campaign will start hitting Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on his role in the late 80s/early 90s Keating 5 scandal, despite previous indications by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill, made months ago, that the scandal was not "germane" to the presidency because McCain had apologized for his role.
Youth pledge allegiance to Obama!
Registration gains favor Democrats
As
the deadline for voter registration arrives today in many states, Sen.
Barack Obama's campaign is poised to benefit from a wave of newcomers
to the rolls in key states in numbers that far outweigh any gains made
by Republicans.
In the past year, the rolls have expanded by about 4 million voters in a dozen key states -- 11 Obama targets that were carried by George W. Bush in 2004 (Ohio, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Missouri, Colorado, Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico) plus Pennsylvania, the largest state carried by Sen. John F. Kerry that Sen. John McCain is targeting.
In Florida, Democratic registration gains this year are more than double those made by Republicans; in Colorado and Nevada the ratio is 4 to 1, and in North Carolina it is 6 to 1. Even in states with nonpartisan registration, the trend is clear -- of the 310,000 new voters in Virginia, a disproportionate share live in Democratic strongholds.
Republicans acknowledge the challenge but say Obama still has to prove he can get the new voters to the polls.
"The machine that has been put in place by the Democrats is effective. They have a lot of people holding clipboards," said Brian K. Krolicki (R) , the lieutenant governor of Nevada. But he added: "There's a difference between successful registration and a groundswell. It's mechanics versus momentum."
THE CANDIDATES:
John McCain & Sarah Palin... today's headlines with excerpts
McCain told to 'take gloves off'
Those who
came by the hundreds for John McCain's town-hall meeting in Denver on
Thursday delivered the message that he should start getting tough with
the opposition.
With polls showing McCain's standing slipping in the presidential campaign, one participant stood up and challenged McCain: "When are you going to take the gloves off?"
Steve Schmidt: driving force behind John McCain
Retained
in a summer shake-up intended to right McCain's faltering campaign,
Schmidt, 38, quickly put his stamp on the operation, aggressively
attacking Democratic nominee Barack Obama, often with biting ridicule,
and vying to dominate every day's news cycle.
It's an approach that would be familiar to Californians. Schmidt managed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign two years ago.
But pundits and Republicans have been left confused, particularly after McCain, in a head-spinning 72-hour period, canceled campaign appearances to work on the Wall Street bailout plan, tried to postpone the first presidential debate, and then showed up after all.
...The effort peaked with the choice of Palin as McCain's running mate. Convinced that McCain needed a dramatic gesture to make the race competitive, Schmidt pressed McCain to pluck the Alaska governor from obscurity.
McCain plans federal health cuts
John McCain would pay for his health plan with major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid, a top aide said, in a move that independent analysts estimate could result in cuts of $1.3 trillion over 10 years to the government programs...
Wall Street ends McCain's lucky streak
At every stage in the campaign, when the fickle finger of fate had to point one way or another, it turned in John McCain’s direction.
This good fortune had allowed him to be a competitive candidate in a year that the lousy economy, unpopular war and even less popular Republican president should have, based on everything we know about politics, made the election an easy Democratic win.
But the recent Wall Street meltdown has done almost as much damage to Sen. McCain’s presidential prospects as it did to the Dow Jones Industrial Average...
Poll: NP debate failed to boost McCain
The vice presidential debate has done nothing to inject new support for John McCain’s White House challenge, according to the latest polls.
Gallup’s daily tracking poll, taken between Oct. 2-4, yesterday revealed registered voters across the country continued to favor Democrat Barack Obama with 50 percent of the vote to McCain’s 43 percent.
Rasmussen’s daily tracking poll yesterday reported an identical lead for Obama with 51 percent of the vote to McCain’s 44.
Barack Obama & Joe Biden... today's headlines with excerpts'
Obama sought HUD grant for donor's project
Sen.
Barack Obama, who vows to change Washington by trimming wasteful
spending and disclosing special-interest requests, wrote the Bush
administration last year to seek a multimillion-dollar federal grant
for a Chicago housing project that is behind schedule and whose
development team includes a longtime political supporter.
Mr. Obama's letter, however, was never disclosed publicly. In fact, the letter was ghostwritten for him by a consultant for the Chicago Housing Authority, which wanted the money - a practice ethics watchdogs have frequently criticized...
The housing project through July had completed fewer than one-sixth of the 439 public housing units it had planned, court records show.
The Bush administration obliged Mr. Obama's request, awarding a $20 million competitive grant last month from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It called the project a “shining example” of urban revitalization.
Obama leads in new Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota polls
Democrat Barack Obama leads Republican presidential nominee John McCain in battleground states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Minnesota, according to new polls...
Obama and Ayers shared stage in 1997; Michelle Obama praised
[original 1997 article]
Biden cancels events after mother-in-law's death
Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden today canceled two days of events after the death of his mother-in-law.
"The Obama-Biden campaign today canceled Sen. Biden's schedule Monday and Tuesday because of the passing of Jill Biden's mother, Bonny Jean Jacobs, this afternoon after a long illness," Biden spokesman David Wade said in a statement.
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