IOWA
PRESIDENTIAL WATCH
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on each candidate to see today's news stories
(caricatures by
Linda Eddy)
Monday, Sept. 22, 2008
GENERAL NEWS HEADLINES with excerpts
Oil jumps record
$25 in one day -
$130 per barrel...
Palin erases 34-point
Obama lead
on question
of which ticket
better understands women
Since picking Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain has obliterated what had been a 34-percentage-point deficit in a poll of likely women voters on the question of which candidate has a “better understanding of women and what is important” to them.
The two are now effectively tied, with McCain's 44 to 42 percentage lead within the margin of error of the most recent poll conducted by pollsters Kellyanne Conway and Celinda Lake for Lifetime Television. In Lifetime's July poll, women preferred Barack Obama on the same question by nearly three-to-one— 52 to 18 percent...
Palin draws 60,000 to Florida rally
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Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin told wildly cheering,
flag-waving, chanting supporters that John McCain is "the only great
man in this race" and promised Sunday he will fix the nation's e "He won't say this, so I'll say it for him," the Alaska governor said in an almost confidential tone at the close of her first Florida stump speech. "There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you. John McCain wore the uniform of his country for 22 years -- talk about tough." ... "Sa-Rah! Sa-Rah!" they chanted at every mention of her name, applauding loudly and waiving tiny American flags that were distributed -- along with free water bottles -- by local volunteers. The fire chief estimated the crowd at 60,000. Gov. Sarah Palin reaches out to sign a giant lipstick. |
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Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov., Sarah Palin, right, lets her daughter, Piper, 7, say a few words during her first public rally in The Villages, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008. (AP Photos/Phelan M. Ebenhack) |
Palin says Obama voting 'present' on the economy
PALIN:
"This week, when the economic crisis threatened the livelihoods of millions of Americans, John McCain took a clear stand and he offered his own recovery plan," Palin told an enthusiastic crowd of thousands. "Our opponent refused to even take a stand on the position.
"And that's a lot like his tenure in the Illinois state legislature where Barack Obama voted present about 130 times. This week he voted present on the major economic issues of the day, and that is not leadership, America. It's not leadership Americans can afford."
UK Daily
Mail: Sarah Palin is as popular as Diana
in the hearts of the American public
In
Palin they see optimism; in Obama cynicism.
In Palin they see pride in her country;
in Obama an element of shame...
...The
liberal elite of the East and West coasts despise her,
but middle Americans seem to have fallen for Palin as
the figurehead of a new kind of politics.
...while the East Coast intellectuals may sneer at her homespun ideology and lack of experience, these are the very credentials that are attracting an increasing number of middle Americans.
... as another mom in the audience put it: 'She justifies what we do every day. She does what we do, she lives like we do. She's just as flawed as we are. There are more American parents with unwed pregnant teenage children than American parents with Harvard graduates. She's real.'
... There is a growing sense that Obama and his wife, Michelle, are secretly condescending to ordinary folk, contemptuous of their smalltown ambitions and narrow horizons. ... there's a certain smugness about them, a superiority that alienates ordinary voters...
In the midst of U.S. financial crisis,
McCain and Obama gird for Friday's debate
Barack Obama and John McCain clash on Friday in the first of three crucial one-on-one debates, which have the potential to make or wreck their rival challenges for the White House.
The foes will clash at a rare moment of national peril, with the staggering US financial system spawning a global crisis, the stock market reeling and the life savings of millions of Americans in the balance.
Tens of millions of television viewers are expected to tune into the contest, in Oxford, Mississippi at 9 pm (0100 GMT) on Friday, five weeks before election day.
see also:
Pact on debates will let McCain and Obama spar
In debates, McCain has pleased or seethed
Ohio poll: McCain holds 6-point edge over Obama
In the battle for Ohio’s 20 electoral votes, Republican presidential nominee John McCain holds a 48 percent to 42 percent lead over Democratic opponent Barack Obama.
... The Ohio News Organization — a cooperative formed this year by the state’s eight largest daily newspapers — commissioned the poll.
see also: Florida polls show McCain, Obama nearly tied
Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain together spent $94 million in August, a record spree mostly aimed at about a dozen states that will probably decide their historic presidential contest.
Their campaign finance reports, filed before Saturday's midnight deadline, show that more than half of their $3-million-a-day spending rate was devoted to advertising...
Newt Gingrich on the Big Bail Out:
"You can't be for capitalism on the way up and socialism on the way down, and you can't be for a welfare state for the rich. The entire policy from Fannie Mae to AIG is a disaster. We need to recognize that most of the American economy is healthy, but Washington and Wall Street are sick. The politicians here would like to change America to be more like Washington, but we need to change Washington to be like the rest of America."
THE CANDIDATES:
John McCain & Sarah Palin... today's headlines with excerpts
McCain would abolish White House Office of Political Affairs
After holding his tongue for eight years, John McCain is getting his revenge on Karl Rove.
McCain said in an interview broadcast Sunday night that he would abolish the White House political office, once part of Rove’s extensive empire, and would name Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, to regulate the nation’s markets.
“I would move the political office out of the White House and into the Republican National Committee,” McCain said on CBS’ “60 Minutes.” “We've gotta have a White House that is without politics.”
... McCain also told correspondent Scott Pelley in Wisconsin that he would name New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, son of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under President Bill Clinton, as chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
see also:
McCain would make Cuomo head of SEC
Al Franken shocks staff - pens SNL skit mocking McCain
Franken,
who hasn’t been a staff writer on the show for 13 years,
“phoned in” a spoof of McCain recording campaign ads in
an edit booth, said an NBC source. Seth Meyers, the
show’s current head writer, wrote it, but the sketch was
hatched by Franken, a longtime liberal satirist and
comedian.
... Franken’s input to the show blindsided his campaign staff, who have been forced to explain away some of the more crass and profane parts of his past writing and acting that have been used as fodder against him in a state known for its polite manners...
see also:
Palin family incest joked about on NBC (Saturday Night Live)
Palin to meet Kissinger, Karzai, Uribe on Tuesday in New York
A
campaign aide said on Saturday that Palin will meet with Afghan
President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, in
addition to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
The meetings will take place on the fringes of the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York...
A spokesman for the McCain campaign confirmed the surprise visits tonight as well as hinted at as yet unannounced sessions between the Republican Party's surprise vice presidential pick and other foreign leaders...
FBI serves search warrant against UT student in Palin e-mail case
The FBI is stepping up its investigation into the possibility that a University of Tennessee student hacked into the personal e-mail of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
A person who identified himself as a witness tells 10 News that agents with the FBI served a federal search warrant at the Fort Sanders residence of David Kernell early Sunday morning. Kernell lives in the Commons apartment complex at 1115 Highland Ave.
Barack Obama & Joe Biden... today's headlines with excerpts'
Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks—many calling them "lazy," "violent" or responsible for their own troubles.
The poll, conducted with Stanford University, suggests that the percentage of voters who may turn away from Obama because of his race could easily be larger than the final difference between the candidates in 2004—about 2.5 percentage points.
see also:
Poll: White Democrats may pose problem for Obama
Race helps, hinders Obama, polls show
The discussion on race Obama didn't want
Obama in Florida, says McCain would gamble with retirement funds
Democrat Barack Obama accused Republican presidential rival John McCain on Saturday of wanting to gamble with the retirement savings and health care of Americans by subjecting them to the uncertainty of open markets.
Obama readies for first debate with McCain
Obama will leave Chicago on Tuesday to set up debate prep shop in the Tampa area, complete with a litany of advisors in tow.
Friday's debate in Mississippi focuses on foreign policy – and Greg Craig, one of Obama's top foreign policy advisors - will play the role of John McCain in mock debate situation.
David Axelrod, Obama's Senior Advisor, said that Obama started debate prep last week - mostly reading during down times on the campaign trail...
Biden to Obama: hands off my guns!
Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware sent a stern message to his boss, Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois to keep his hands off Biden's guns.
As reported by ABC News and Fox News this afternoon, Biden was trying to reassure rural Virginia voters that they have nothing to fear about losing their Second Amendment rights under an Obama administration.
From ABC:"
I
guarantee you Barack Obama ain't taking my shotguns, so don't buy that
malarkey," Biden said Saturday at the United Mine Workers of America's
annual fish fry in Castlewood, Virginia. "Don't buy that malarkey.
They're going to start peddling that to you."
Biden told the crowd that he himself is a gun owner. "I got two," Biden said, "if he tries to fool with my Beretta, he's got a problem. I like that little over and under, you know? I'm not bad with it. So give me a break. Give me a break."
From Fox:
Biden has said he doesn’t hunt, but shoots skeet with the two shotguns. “I like that little over and under, you know? I’m not bad with it,” he said today
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