James Carville Declared Barack Obama Will Become Democratic Nominee

From CNN, Peter Hamby

James Carville has been one of Hillary Clinton’s most energetic defenders, but on Monday he all but declared Barack Obama will become the Democratic nominee for president.

Speaking to students at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, Carville argued Clinton should stay in through the final nominating contest in early June, but said the Democratic tide appears to be moving in Obama’s direction.

“I still hear some dogs barking,” Carville said, according to The State newspaper. “I’m for Senator Clinton, but I think the great likelihood is that Obama will be the nominee.”

“As soon as I determine when that is, I’ll send him a check,” he added.

Asked about who might share a ticket with Obama, Carville floated Clinton’s name, as well as that of Clinton ally Gen. Wesley Clark. Carville also mentioned Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg as possible running mates, according the Greenville News.

Keep reading….

Barack Obama Defends Patriotism

From the AP

Wearing a flag lapel pin, Sen. Barack Obama emphasized his patriotism and support for a strong and humane military Monday, while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton implored West Virginians to sustain her hopes of somehow denying him the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama expects Clinton to win Tuesday’s primary in West Virginia, which has large numbers of working-class whites — a group that usually backs the former first lady — as well as a strong military tradition. He used his visit to Charleston to combat critics’ claims that he is not particularly patriotic or ready to be commander in chief, in part because he never served in the military, usually does not wear a flag pin, and opposed the Iraq war from the start.

Keep reading….

Barack Obama Committed To Ensuring Israel’s Security

From the AP

Democratic presidential leader Barack Obama said he regrets the division that has grown between Jews and blacks and he remains committed to ensuring Israel’s security.

Obama discussed his relationship with the Jewish community and Israel in an interview posted Monday on The Atlantic magazine’s Web site, part of his continuing effort to reassure Jewish voters who have expressed some unease about his candidacy. The situation didn’t improve as an adviser to the militant Palestinian group Hamas recently said they hope Obama wins the presidency.

Obama said some in the Arab world may be attracted to his candidacy because he spent part of his childhood in the Muslim nation of Indonesia, has the middle name Hussein and advocates presidential-level talks with foreign leaders ostracized by the Bush administration.

“I welcome the Muslim world’s accurate perception that I am interested in opening up dialogue and interested in moving away from the unilateral policies of George Bush, but nobody should mistake that for a softer stance when it comes to terrorism or when it comes to protecting Israel’s security or making sure that the alliance is strong and firm,” Obama said. “You will not see, under my presidency, any slackening in commitment to Israel’s security.

Keep reading….

Hillary Clinton Hopes For Win In West Virginia

From the AP

Hillary Rodham Clinton hoped a convincing win in Tuesday’s West Virginia primary would raise doubts about Barack Obama’s electability, but her rival was already mapping out his strategy for the upcoming presidential campaign against Republican John McCain.

Clinton has every reason to expect a big victory over Obama in West Virginia yet scant hope it could turn around her bid to become the first female U.S. president. Polls show her leading by as much as 40 percentage points in a state that has large numbers of working-class whites — a group that usually backs the former first lady.

Obama may be only a few weeks from clinching the Democratic nomination, no matter what happens in West Virginia or in another Clinton stronghold, Kentucky, a week later.

In his tone, words and itinerary, Obama is focused on McCain almost to the exclusion of his fading Democratic rival. He planned to spend primary night in Missouri, a bellwether in the general election

Keep reading….

Barack Obama Focuses On Expected Presidential Contest Against John McCain

From the AP

Barack Obama turned his focus to the expected presidential contest against Republican John McCain, but Hillary Rodham Clinton tried to keep her campaign afloat even though her Democratic rival has an almost insurmountable lead in the delegate count. Clinton spent Sunday wooing voters in West Virginia ahead of Tuesday’s primary, aiming for a big win that she hopes will keep her campaign afloat.

Obama, inching closer day by day to claiming enough delegates to secure the nomination, was spending the Mother’s Day holiday off the campaign trail at home in Chicago.

Obama’s chief strategist said in a television interview Sunday that his campaign is considering a suggestion from McCain’s campaign for the two presidential hopefuls to participate in joint town meetings and debates around America starting this summer.

Keep reading….

John McCain Vowed To Attract Young Voters

From the AP

He’s a Republican, for starters. He describes himself as “older than dirt.” And he makes no apology for an Iraq war that is especially unpopular on college campuses. Doesn’t sound like a recipe for winning the hearts of young voters. And yet John McCain has vowed to make a serious play for the 18- to 29-year-old crowd that’s often identified with “Obama-mania.”

Could the 71-year-old grandfather possibly have a shot?

Several polls, including a recent AP-Ipsos survey, show Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton faring far better with that age bracket when pitted individually against McCain.

But in the last month or so, there have been blips in McCain’s favor. One recent AP-Yahoo News poll found that 38 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds supported McCain, while 37 percent were for Obama. When pitted against Clinton, it was McCain 43 percent, Clinton 28 percent. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

The varying outcomes may indicate the difficulty pollsters have in getting a good sample of youth, particularly when many have cell phones and no land lines. Some political scientists also note that young voters have historically been among the most “fickle” or “soft” — more willing than some to change their minds right up to the election.

Keep reading….

John McCain’s Free Market Approach To Bring Global Warming Under Control

From the AP

Republican John McCain, reaching out to both independents and green-minded social conservatives, argues that global warming is undeniable and the country must take steps to bring it under control while adhering to free-market principles.

In remarks prepared for delivery Monday at a Portland, Ore., wind turbine manufacturer, the presidential contender says expanded nuclear power must be considered to reduce carbon-fuel emissions. He also sets a goal that by 2050, the country will reduce carbon emissions to a level 60 percent below that emitted in 1990.

“For all of the last century, the profit motive basically led in one direction — toward machines, methods and industries that used oil and gas,” said McCain. “Enormous good came from that industrial growth, and we are all the beneficiaries of the national prosperity it built. But there were costs we weren’t counting, and often hardly noticed. And these terrible costs have added up now, in the atmosphere, in the oceans and all across the natural world.”

Keep reading….

Barack Obama Headed To Florida And Michigan

From the AP

Barack Obama is headed to the neglected Democratic states of Florida and Michigan, as he focuses on a general election strategy with his primary race winding down.

It will be Obama’s first time in either state since signing a pledge nine months ago not to campaign in the two states that violated national party rules with early primaries. Obama will have to build relationships in the two critical general election battlegrounds if he wins the Democratic nomination.

The Obama campaign announced a five-state tour over the next two weeks that includes stops in remaining primary states South Dakota and Oregon but is dominated by swing states where he hopes to run strong against Republican John McCain once the marathon Democratic race ends.

Obama leads in delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination, even though he’s expected to lose badly on Tuesday to rival Hillary Clinton in West Virginia. He’ll try to move on from the loss by campaigning in Missouri, a state that President Bush won in 2000 and 2004.

Keep reading….

Libertarian, Bob Barr Presidential Bid Could Hurt John McCain

From Foxnews.com

Former Georgia Rep. Bob Barr announced Monday that he’s running for president as a Libertarian, a candidacy that could hurt John McCain.

“I will be a candidate for the presidency of the United States, and it is precisely to give the American people a voice, to give them a meaningful choice so that they do not have to once again go into the polling booth on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, hold their nose and pull a lever — or touch one of those magical touch-screens that seem to be so much in vogue now — and vote for the lesser of two evils. America deserves better,” Barr told reporters at his Washington, D.C., announcement.

Barr plans to run to the right of McCain and to position himself as the true conservative in the presidential race. His third-party candidacy would likely draw more disenchanted Republican voters than Democrats.

“Anybody who stands at the foundation of their domestic agenda McCain-Feingold, to me, can not ever lay legitimate claim, at least with a straight face, to calling themselves or being labeled as a conservative,” Barr said of McCain’s landmark campaign finance reform law, which the Arizona senator co-sponsored with liberal Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold.

Keep reading….

Obama Closer To Securing Democratic Presidential Nomination

From Alan Silverleib and Mark Preston
CNN Washington Bureau

Sen. Barack Obama took a major step Tuesday toward securing the Democratic presidential nomination. He not only scored a convincing victory in North Carolina, but he also made Hillary Clinton’s path to the nomination even more difficult by finishing closely behind her in Indiana.

Clinton vowed to soldier on, telling supporters at an Indiana rally that “it’s full speed on to the White House.”

Obama on Wednesday morning has a larger lead in pledged delegates as well as the overall popular vote. For Clinton, time for a rebound may be slipping away.

The finish line is 2,025 delegates. With North Carolina and Indiana in the rearview mirror, six contests and 217 pledged delegates remain.

In addition to wooing the dwindling pool of voters remaining in this nomination battle, Clinton and Obama are actively pursuing the roughly 280 uncommitted superdelegates, aides said.

These party insiders and elected officials — who are granted special voting privileges at the national convention — eventually will determine the next Democratic nominee.

Keep reading….

Time For Hillary To Go?

From CNN Political Ticker

Former Democratic presidential candidate and North Dakota Sen. George McGovern is switching his support to Barack Obama and actively urging Hillary Clinton to drop out of the presidential race, CNN has confirmed.

McGovern is not a Democratic superdelegate, though he is the first major Clinton supporter to publicly suggest the New York senator should abandon her presidential bid following Tuesday night’s results.

According to the Associated Press, McGovern now feels it is impossible for Clinton to win the nomination following her tight win in Indiana and bruising defeat in North Carolina.

Responding to the news, Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee said “Senator Clinton appreciates Senator McGovern’s friendship, but believes the voters in the upcoming states should have their voices heard in this process.”

McGovern formally endorsed Clinton last October, saying then, “I think that if we can elect her president, she’ll be a greater president even than her brilliant husband.”

McGovern has been a longtime friend of both Clintons. The couple’s long political career has its roots in McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign, during which both Clintons were dispatched to Texas to run the candidate’s operation there.

McGovern told the AP he will call former President Clinton to inform him of his decision. He also said he will remain a good friend of the Clintons.

Keep reading….

Obama Camp Credits Rush Limbaugh For Clinton’s Lead In Indiana

From Foxnews.com

Barack Obama’s campaign issued an e-mail on Tuesday night that appeared to relegate Hillary Clinton’s lead in Indiana to efforts by Rush Limbaugh to wreak havoc in the Democratic presidential primary contest.

In an e-mail entitled “The Limbaugh Effect in Indiana = 7 percent,” Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton wrote: “According to the latest exit polling data, 17 percent of voters in the Indiana primary today said they would vote for John McCain in a Clinton/McCain match-up. Forty-one percent of that number is constituted by people who voted Clinton in the primary but also indicated they will vote for McCain in the general election. That comes out to just under 7 percent of the primary electorate the number that may be attributed to a Limbaugh Effect.”

“The Limbaugh Effect” referred to “Operation Chaos,” which the conservative radio talk show host launched early in the primary season to create “balance” in the 2008 primary contest after he said liberal influences helped John McCain emerge as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Limbaugh has said his scheme to tilt the Democratic primary exceeded his expectations.

“I see the Obama campaign is saying Operation Chaos accounted for a 7-point bump for Hillary in Indiana. I think they are just jealous that I out-organized them,” Limbaugh told FOX News Tuesday night. “I am extremely proud of Operation Chaos volunteers. I never doubted they would triumph and it is a delight to see.”

Clinton was leading in Indiana by 4 percentage points with a few counties outstanding. Speaking from North Carolina Tuesday night, Obama credited Clinton for “what appears to be her victory in the state of Indiana.”

Keep reading….

Hillary Clinton’s Chances Of Beating Barack Damaged After Indiana and North Carolina

From Foxnews.com

Hillary Clinton might have added another large state to her list of victories Tuesday night, but her chances of beating Barack Obama were severely damaged after a lackluster showing in Indiana and a crushing defeat in North Carolina at the hands of Democratic rival.

Recognizing the new political landscape she faces, Clinton cut loose a planned day of rest Wednesday to start up the campaign machine for one final push. Six nomination contests remain over the next four weeks, 217 pledged delegates are still up for grabs and 269 superdelegates are undecided.

Her focus now? Keep hope alive among a jittery group of superdelegates who have stuck with her so far. To do so she’ll need to pull together a string of fourth-quarter miracles while dangling the prospect of bringing back into the fold votes from Florida and Michigan — which were written off in a pre-primary party dispute.

That hope is diminishing quickly after the latest balloting. Clinton eked out a 1.7 percent win over Obama in Indiana, lower than pre-election polls predicted, taking the Hoosier State 50.8-49.1. But in the Tar Heel State, Obama racked up a 15 percentage point win, winning it 57-42.

Seeing the end in sight, Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod appeared to be shifting the campaign toward a general election fight, saying presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain has “run free for some time now” because of Democratic preoccupation with the ongoing primary fight.

“I don’t think we’re going to spend time solely in primary states,” he said. “We have multiple tasks here.”

Keep reading….

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Lent Her Presidential Campaign $6.4 Million

From the AP

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton lent her presidential campaign $6.4 million over the past month, her campaign said Wednesday, underscoring the financial advantage held by her rival, Barack Obama.

The money more than doubled Clinton’s personal investment in her bid for the Democratic nomination. She gave her campaign $5 million earlier this year.

A campaign aide said Clinton gave her campaign another $5 million on April 11, more than a week before the Pennsylvania primary. She then again dipped into her personal wealth for $1 million last week and $425,000 on Monday, one day before the North Carolina and Indiana primaries.

Clinton’s campaign reported raising $10 million online after her Pennsylvania victory on April 22. Evidently, the money was not enough and her fundraising was unable to keep up with her expenses heading into Tuesday’s contests.

Moreover, Obama has routinely outspent her in primary after primary and has shown little difficulty tapping his vast network of donors. He spent more than $7 million on advertising head of Tuesday’s primaries in North Carolina and Indiana to her nearly $4 million.

 

Keep reading….

John Edwards in Race Until The End…

From CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Democrat John Edwards said Sunday he will stay in the presidential race through the party’s convention in late August, even if he fails to win any of the early presidential primary states.

“This is the call of my life, and I have no intention of stopping,” Edwards said on ABC’s This Week. “I’m in this through the convention and to the White House.”

Asked specifically if he’d remain a candidate even if he failed to garner a win over the next month, Edwards said, “Absolutely.”

Keep reading….

Have Barack Obama and John Edwards Struck a Deal?

From CNN

(CNN) — Democrat John Edwards seemed to suggest Friday Hillary Clinton’s third place finish in Iowa may have rendered the New York senator effectively out of the presidential race.

Speaking at an early-morning campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, Edwards pointed to entrance polls indicating Iowa voters overwhelmingly listed “change” as the most important attribute they are looking for in a candidate. That means, he added, there are now only “two choices.”

Keep reading….

Fred Thompson Talks 2nd Amendment

From The Hawaii Reporter

In Fred Thompson’s own words….

Here’s another reason why it’s important that we appoint judges who use the Constitution as more than a set of suggestions. On Nov. 21, 2007, the Supreme Court decided to hear the case of District of Columbia v. Heller. Six plaintiffs from Washington, D.C. challenged the provisions of the D.C. Code that prohibited them from owning or carrying a handgun. They argued that the rules were an unconstitutional abridgment of their Second Amendment rights. The Second Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights, provides, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Keep reading….

Mike Huckabee Falls For “National Igloo” Joke…

]

Bill O’Reilly vs Barack Obama

From The Sun-Times

By Lynn Sweet

NASHUA, N.H.– Fox News host Bill O’Reilly got into a confrontation with an Obama aide after O’Reilly started screaming at him as he tried to get Barack Obama’s attention following a rally here. O’Reilly eventually did chat briefly with Obama and asked him to be a guest on his show.

Keep reading….

Clinton Machine Shaken by Setback…

From Time.com

By KAREN TUMULTY

The scope of Barack Obama’s victory in Iowa has shaken the Clinton machine down to its bolts. Donors are panicking. The campaign has been making a round of calls to reassure notoriously fickle “superdelegates” — elected officials and party regulars who are awarded convention spots by virtue of their titles and positions — who might be reconsidering their decisions to back the candidate who formerly looked like a sure winner.

Keep reading….

Hillary Clinton Slams Barack Obama on Abortion

From  Brietbart.com and The AP

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton criticizes rival Barack Obama’s record on abortion rights in a mailing sent to New Hampshire voters. The mailer says that seven times during his time in the Illinois state Senate, Obama declined to take a position on abortion bills, while Clinton has been a defender of abortion rights.

During his eight years in the legislature, Obama cast a number of votes on abortion and received a 100 percent rating from the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council for his support of abortion rights, family planning services and health insurance coverage for female contraceptives. He voted against requiring medical care for aborted fetuses who survive, a vote that especially riled abortion opponents.

Keep reading…

Hillary Clinton in Full Blown Attack Mode…

From FT.com

By Edward Luce and Andrew Ward in Washington

Published: January 4 2008 19:04 | Last updated: January 4 2008 19:04

Hillary Clinton was on Friday planning an increased campaign role for her husband and more direct attacks on Barack Obama’s political inexperience as she battled to prevent her rival for the Democratic nomination building up an unstoppable momentum.

Her supporters recognised that she was fighting for survival as she headed into next Tuesday’s crucial New Hampshire primary, which she must now win to stop the Obama bandwagon from building on its striking success in Iowa on Thursday.

Keep reading….

Rudy Giuliani Talks Vice President…

From The Concord Monitor

By BEVERLEY WANG
The Associated Press

Would a Rudy Giuliani administration be populated with a Cabinet of Republican rivals and a powerful, all-knowing vice president like Dick Cheney?

Possibly, according to musings Giuliani shared in answers to questions from New Hampshire voters yesterday in Hooksett.

Giuliani pivoted from a question about potential picks for secretary of state to this: “Let me answer with the question of what you would look for in a vice president first – again without any presumption that I’m going to be the nominee.”

Keep reading….

Can Hillary Clinton Come Back?

From ABC News Blog

ABC News’ Kate Snow Reports: Bill Clinton says his wife can be a “comeback kid” just like he was.

“Absolutely,” President Clinton said in a brief interview with ABC News.

“Remember I lost here,” Clinton added, referring to New Hampshire.  (Bill Clinton placed second in New Hampshire in 1992 behind Paul Tsongas.)

Keep reading….

ABC Cuts Three From Debates…

From Brietbart.com

By The AP

NEW YORK (AP) – ABC News is eliminating Republican presidential candidate Duncan Hunter and Democrats Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel from its prime- time presidential debates Saturday night because they did not meet benchmarks for their support. The Democratic debate three days before the New Hampshire primary will include Iowa caucus winner Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Bill Richardson. It starts at 7 p.m. EDT.

Before the Democrats take the stage in Manchester, N.H., Republicans Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul will hold their own forum.

Keep reading…