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Obama Fights Back Against Bill Clinton
Law & Politics |
2008/01/21 15:38
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Presidential candidate Barack Obama accused former President Bill Clinton of distorting his words as the Democratic race in South Carolina heated up on Monday. Meanwhile, Republican presidential hopefuls kept their focus on economics as they began campaigning for the Jan. 29 primary in Florida. Obama, who was edged out by the ex-president's wife Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Saturday caucuses in Nevada, had harsh words for Bill Clinton, who is beloved in many Democratic circles _ including among many blacks, who could be key to a win in South Carolina's weekend primary. The former president "has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling" by making statement that are not supported by facts, Obama said in an interview broadcast Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America." The Clinton campaign has suggested it would continue pointing out inconsistencies in Obama's record. Republicans are preparing for delegate-rich Florida, where the race remains wide open despite John McCain's recent wins in South Carolina and New Hampshire. A win in Florida would afford the candidate a whopping 57 delegates and a huge jolt of energy in the run-up to Feb. 5, when 22 states hold nominating contests. Clinton and Obama have been locked in a fierce battle for the party's nomination in a history-making campaign that pits a black man and a woman. Obama won the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses and Clinton emerged triumphant in New Hampshire, five days later. Their campaign has vacillated between congenial exchanges, a dispute on race and, before Nevada's contest Saturday, charges of dirty politics. So far, no clear front-runner has emerged, making the Jan. 26 contest in South Carolina, where blacks make up about 50 percent of the Democratic electorate, particularly important going into the Feb. 5 de facto national primary. Trailing candidate John Edwards is looking to make the Democratic contest a three-way race with a strong showing in South Carolina, which neighbors his home state of North Carolina. Edwards got 4 percent of support in Nevada, compared with Clinton's 51 percent and Obama's 45 percent. On Sunday, Obama took to the pulpit at Martin Luther King Jr.'s Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on the eve of the federal holiday marking the civil rights hero's birth 79 years ago. He based his speech on King's quote that "Unity is the great need of the hour." Obama is counting on blacks to stick with him in South Carolina to halt his losing streak in the last two state races, and his campaign has worked to overcome concerns among black voters that he would not be able to win an election in white America. He lost Nevada despite winning 83 percent of blacks, who made up 15 percent of the total vote. |
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Domino's Pizza Founder Supports Romney
Law & Politics |
2008/01/11 17:32
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Get the door, it's Tom Monaghan. And he's delivering family values to Mitt Romney in 30 minutes or less.
The former Domino's Pizza owner and noted anti-abortion activist today cast his lot with the struggling Romney campaign, which, using its own internal nomenclature, has yet to win a gold medal in a state larger than Wyoming.
Romney is coming of back-to-back second-place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, places where he once appeared a lock to win. The good news is that he lost those states to two different candidates, Mike Huckabee and John McCain, meaning the GOP race is still relatively wide open.
Monaghan is the wealthy Michigan businessman who, among other things, launched Ava Maria School of Law in Ann Arbor, which was intended to be a conservative counterweight to liberal-leaning law schools. He also runs an anti-abortion political action committee. He is building his own town in southeastern Florida to house his academic and philanthropic ventures.
Many prominent Catholic lawyers, including Mary Ann Glendon, recently nominated by the White House to serve as U.S ambassador to the Vatican, have joined up with the Romney effort because of the candidate's anti-abortion stance.
The Michigan Republican primary is Jan. 15.
"As someone who values the importance of faith in one's life, I recognize in Mitt his deep religious convictions which will serve him well in facing the critical moral issues facing our society," Monaghan said in a statement. " I believe he will stand firm on the pro-life issues and for the traditional family values that our country was founded on and which are so critical to the future of our nation."
Romney and Monaghan met each other in 1998, when Monaghan sold Domino's to Romney's Bain Capital for $1 billion. |
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Giuliani tries to ease fears about his health
Law & Politics |
2007/12/24 00:55
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| With less than two weeks until Iowa kicks off the presidential nomination battles, several contenders took their campaigns to church on Sunday and a leading Republican tried to allay concerns about his health. Front-running Democrat Hillary Clinton, a New York senator seeking to be the first female president, won an effusive welcome at a mainly black Baptist church in snowy Waterloo, Iowa, where she criticized the Bush administration for failing to expand health care coverage and alienating foreign allies. "Do we take a leap of faith and once again bind the wounds of those who hurt, create a country that we're proud of, assume the leadership and moral authority of the world that we should or will we continue to just slowly but surely fall backwards?" she said, also touching on the upcoming Christmas holiday. Religion plays a big role in politics in the United States, where levels of belief and church attendance are much higher than in Europe. Other issues weighing on the minds of voters in the run-up to the November 2008 presidential election include health care, immigration, the war in Iraq and a mortgage crisis. Clinton's main rival, Sen. Barack Obama, also toured Iowa, bolstered by a new poll showing him alongside her in New Hampshire -- another early contest in the state-by-state process to nominate both parties' candidates for president. Republican hopeful Rudy Giuliani, a survivor of prostate cancer, returned to the campaign trail in New Hampshire after being hospitalized overnight last week with what he said was a "headache worse than I've ever had." "I feel great now, I feel terrific. I've been tested out, everything came back 100 percent," Giuliani, a former New York mayor, said on ABC News' "This Week" program, adding his doctor would address the episode after Christmas. "There's always the issue of cancer, so I'm going to have him put out a statement and then, you know, make everyone really comfortable that I'm OK." Giuliani's battle with prostate cancer prompted him to drop out of the 2000 Senate race in New York against Clinton. OBAMA SURGES, GIULIANI SLIPS Giuliani, who plays heavily on his leadership in New York after the September 11 attacks in 2001, has led national polls of Republican voters but trails in New Hampshire and Iowa, which holds the nation's first nomination contest on January 3. In New Hampshire's primary vote on January 8, Giuliani is fighting to keep up with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain of Arizona. |
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White House told to detail Christian leader visits
Law & Politics |
2007/12/20 10:04
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| A U.S. judge ordered the Secret Service on Monday to disclose records of visits by nine prominent conservative Christian leaders to the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's residence. The ruling, in response to a legal watchdog group's suit, could shed light on the influence leaders like James Dobson of Focus on the Family have had on President George W. Bush's administration. It may also affect legal efforts to force the release of visiting records of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and other similar cases. "We think that these conservative Christian leaders have had a very big impact," said Executive Director Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which filed the case. "The White House doesn't want to talk about how much influence these leaders have, and we want to talk about how much they do have," she said. Dobson is one of the most influential opinion leaders among conservative Christians who are at the heart of Bush's political base. Others whose visiting records were sought included Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, Gary Bauer, who unsuccessfully sought the 2000 Republican presidential nomination, and Moral Majority co-founder Jerry Falwell, who died in last May. U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth rejected as "misguided" the Secret Service's arguments that disclosing the records would reveal confidential policy deliberations. The Secret Service is responsible for presidential security and clears visitors for entry to the White House and Cheney's official residence. It also argued that the records were not under its control but were protected presidential documents. |
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GOP Candidates Face off in Iowa
Law & Politics |
2007/12/12 19:49
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The financial situation is a major problem that must be addressed, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said at the start of the debate.
Rep. Duncan Hunter of California called the budget deficit and the trade loss a threat to national security.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul agreed, saying, "It's absolutely a threat to our national security because we spent too much, we taxed too much, we borrowed too much, and we print too much."
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said the best answer for economic woes is to "make sure we have good jobs for our citizens, good schools for our kids, good health care for everyone and that we have policies that promote the growth of the nation."
The debate, sponsored by The Des Moines Register and Iowa Public Television, marks the last time the GOP presidential hopefuls will appear on the same stage before the crucial Iowa caucuses on January 3.
When asked what his plan is for keeping foreign markets open while protecting American jobs, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said excessive taxation "penalizes the productivity of a company."
"You add to that excessive regulation, which means that you've got more red tape than is possible to get through," he said. "I can't part the Red Sea, but I believe I can part the red tape."
When asked to raise their hands if they believed global climate change is a serious threat and caused by human activity, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson said he wasn't "doing hand shows today."
Other candidates agreed. Thompson asked if he could answer the question instead, but was told no.
The Democratic candidates will face off at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
The battle to win Iowa has increasingly come down to Romney and Huckabee, who has surged to the top of the polls largely due to the support of evangelical Christians.
A McClatchy-MSNBC poll conducted earlier this week had Huckabee leading the GOP field with the support of 32 percent of likely caucus-goers. Romney, who had been leading in Iowa for months, was at 20 percent in that poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
Romney has sharpened his attacks on Huckabee, particularly on immigration, the issue the Romney camp views as one of his rival's biggest vulnerabilities, after the Arkansas Republican began rising in the polls. Huckabee was only at 12 percent in Iowa in September, according to the McClatchy-MSNBC poll. Video Watch Huckabee respond to Romney's latest attacks »
While Iowa's population is overwhelmingly white, the state's agricultural industry is attracting an increasing number of both legal and illegal Hispanic immigrants. The influx of these new workers has created a backlash among certain segments of Iowa's electorate, and is a hot button issue in the Republican presidential nominating contest.
Some GOP candidates are not only airing television ads touting their personal positions on illegal immigration, but they are also criticizing their opponents for being weak on the issue.
On Tuesday, Romney, who has lost his front-runner status in polls to Huckabee in Iowa, began airing an ad, titled "The Record." The ad compares the candidates' conservative stands on social issues but draws a sharp contrast on their track records on immigration policy, particularly the fact that Huckabee supported in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants in Arkansas while Romney opposed a such a measure in Massachusetts. Video Watch Romney's ad »
During an event Tuesday in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Huckabee called the ad "desperate" and said he thought it would backfire.
"I'm somewhat flattered in that I seem to be the recipient of the first negative attack ad in the Republican primary," Huckabee said. "That's usually the kind of desperation on the part of an opponent who feels that his only way of winning is to attack and destroy."
Tensions between Romney and Huckabee also picked up Wednesday over an article scheduled to appear in Sunday's New York Times Magazine.
In it, Huckabee asks "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"
Romney, who would be the nation's first Mormon president if elected, said Huckabee's question was out of bounds.
"I think it is totally appropriate to contrast their own record with the opponent, to talk about their differences on issues," Romney said in an appearance on NBC's Today show Wednesday. "But attacking someone's religion is really going too far."
"It is not the American way," he said.
In a statement, a Huckabee senior adviser, Charmaine Yoest, said Huckabee "believes this campaign should center on a discussion of the important issues confronting our nation and not focus on questions of religious belief."
While Romney and the other Republican candidates may continue to attack Huckabee during Wednesday's debate, CNN commentator Roland Martin said the sharp Huckabee could backfire on him and turn off Iowa voters.
"They're going to go after Mike Huckabee in their debate," Martin said, "but I think they must be very careful because he's been able to play this sort of role of being the nice, well-liked guy.
"If you attack him, he may see it as a badge of honor," Martin said.
But Cheri Jacobus, a Republican strategist said the other candidates have to aggressively, if carefully, differentiate themselves from Huckabee if they want to do well in the Hawkeye State.
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"This is the last chance really for folks to get to really take a good close look at these candidates," Jacobus said. "I think you will see the arrows pointed at Huckabee," she said. "The problem and the way these folks have to finesse during this debate is they have to be able to draw the contrast without going negative.
"It's a pretty tricky thing, but they have to do it," she added. |
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GOP rivals get probe into dirty trick 'poll'
Law & Politics |
2007/11/17 17:11
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The GOP presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and John McCain -- rocked in different ways by a highly negative "push poll" targeting Romney's Mormon faith -- demanded Friday that the New Hampshire attorney general investigate who is behind the tactic.
The attorney general's office said it was investigating the phone calls.
As part of the poll, which began Sunday, callers have been asking voters in Iowa and New Hampshire whether they know that Romney is a Mormon, that his five sons did not serve in the military and that Mormons believe the Book of Mormon is superior to the Bible.
The callers also inquire whether voters are aware that Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, accepted deferments to avoid military service in Vietnam while he was on a mission with other young Mormons in France.
At the beginning of the 20-minute survey, voters are asked whether they are aware of McCain's decorated military service during Vietnam. That has led many voters to assume the poll was sponsored by the Arizona senator's campaign. But McCain's campaign immediately denounced the effort and insisted it had nothing to do with it.
"Whoever did this wanted to hurt us by implication," said Mark Salter, a senior aide to McCain. "That's why we were very forceful."
Romney's supporters have long feared that a shadowy whispering campaign would arise at some point targeting his Mormon faith. The new push poll may be the most explicit anti-Mormon message to emerge in the campaign so far.
But Dean Spiliotes, a New Hampshire political analyst and founder of NHpoliticalcapital.com, said the attack may inadvertently help Romney.
"It certainly gives Romney a platform to speak about his religion, something that people have advised him to do," Spiliotes said. "It may also get him some sympathy from voters who don't like seeing religion mixed so intimately with politics."
Push polling, in which negative information is disseminated under the guise of a poll, is a well-known tactic, if a widely condemned one.
Former Rep. Charles Douglas (R-N.H.), vice chairman of McCain's New Hampshire campaign, handed his complaint to Deputy New Hampshire Atty. Gen. Orville Brewster Fitch II on Friday, calling the phone calls "repugnant.
"We find the whole thing a very bad trend eight weeks before the primary," Douglas told Fitch.
Aides to Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) also filed a complaint with the state's attorney general on behalf of the Romney campaign. Campaign officials said they are providing names of people who received the calls.
"Whichever campaign is engaging in this type of awful religious bigotry as a line of political attack, it is repulsive and to put it bluntly un-American," said Romney communications director Matt Rhoades. "There is no excuse for these attacks. Gov. Romney is campaigning as an optimist who wants to lead the nation. These attacks are just the opposite. They are ugly and divisive."
Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say the church embraces the truths accepted by other Christians but also accepts "additional information" from later revelations.
Romney blames McCain
Campaigning in Las Vegas, Romney called the poll "un-American." And he essentially blamed McCain, saying it was a direct result of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance legislation, which he said has been "ineffective" in removing special-interest money from campaigns.
Aides to McCain pointed out that before the legislation was passed, McCain was a victim of push polling in South Carolina during the 2000 presidential primary.
"It is appalling, but not surprising, that Mitt Romney would seek to take advantage of this disturbing incident to launch yet another hypocritical attack," said Jill Hazelbaker, McCain's spokeswoman. "It's the hallmark of his campaign."
New Hampshire law requires all political ads -- including phone calls -- to identify the candidate behind the effort, or at least the candidate who is being supported. The push polling calls were made by Utah-based Western Wats and did not identify a candidate that the calls were intended to help or hurt.
Previous news reports have linked calls by Western Wats to the Tarrance Group, which works for former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Ed Goeas, the head of the Tarrance Group, told The Associated Press that there is no connection between Giuliani and Western Wats.
Katie Levinson, Giuliani's communications director, said there is no room for push polls in the campaign.
"Our campaign does not support or engage in these types of tactics, and it is our hope other campaigns will adhere to the same policy," she said.
McCain says calls 'cowardly'
McCain, who arrived in New Hampshire Friday for a three-day swing through the northern and western parts of the state, called the phone calls "cowardly."
During the 2000 presidential race, South Carolina voters received calls and pamphlets alleging that McCain's wife, Cindy, was a drug addict, and that McCain had an illegitimate black daughter. The whispering campaign also suggested that McCain was mentally unbalanced after spending 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
After the South Carolina primary, which McCain lost, McCain's campaign made thousands of "Catholic voter alert" calls in Michigan informing voters that then-Gov. George W. Bush had appeared at Bob Jones University and describing Jones, the institution's leader, as someone with a history of anti-Catholic statements.
The phone calls infuriated Bush, who said he did not like being called a bigot. McCain won Michigan by 6 percentage points but lost the Republican nomination. |
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