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News Updates |
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| Clinton wins Puerto Rico but Obama gains delegates |
| SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton won a lopsided, but largely symbolic victory Sunday in Puerto Rico's presidential primary, the final act in a weekend of tumult that pushed Barack Obama tantalizingly close to the Democratic presidential nomination. |
| See the full story at myway.com: Clinton wins Puerto Rico but Obama gains delegates |
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| Florida, Michigan Delegates Each Get Half a Vote |
| After hours of emotional testimony and sometimes contentious debate, Democratic Party officials agreed yesterday on a pair of compromises to seat Florida's and Michigan's delegations to their national convention. The compromises by the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee called for both delegations, originally barred from the convention for violating party rules, to be seated in full in Denver but with each delegate casting only half a vote. |
| See the full story at washingtonpost.com: Fla., Mich. Delegates Each Get Half a Vote |
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| Criticism big for ABC Democratic presidential debate |
| ABC News drew both record ratings and a heap of complaints about how Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos moderated the Democratic presidential debate. By midafternoon Thursday, more than 15,600 comments were posted on ABC News' Web site, the tone overwhelmingly negative. A prominent TV critic, Tom Shales of The Washington Post, said Gibson and Stephanopoulos "turned in shoddy, despicable performances." |
| See the full story at washingtonpost.com: In Pa. Debate, The Clear Loser Is ABC |
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| Disenfranchising the 2.45 million democratic voters in Florida? |
| When we get an answer from somebody, we’ll let you know. |
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| Fox News Story says Report Raises More Questions Over McCain’s Close Ties to Lobbyists |
| John McCain, who has based much of his political career and his presidential candidacy on his high ethical standards, faces a new set of questions about his ties to the lobbying industry that he has decried publicly. |
| See the full story at foxnews.com: Report Raises More Questions Over McCain’s Close Ties to Lobbyists |
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| John McCain, The Anti-Lobbyist, Advised by Lobbyists |
| John McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, co-founded a lobbying firm whose clients have included Verizon and SBC Telecommunications. His chief political adviser, Charles R. Black Jr., is chairman of one of Washington's lobbying powerhouses, BKSH and Associates, which has represented AT&T, Alcoa, JPMorgan and U.S. Airways. Senior advisers Steve Schmidt and Mark McKinnon work for firms that have lobbied for Land O' Lakes, UST Public Affairs, Dell and Fannie Mae. Senator McCain has at least 59 federal lobbyists raising money for his campaign. "He has a closer relationship with lobbyists than he lets on," said Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "The problem for McCain being so closely associated with lobbyists is that he's the candidate most closely associated with attacking lobbyists . . . The potential harm is that should Senator McCain become elected, those people will have a very close relationship with the McCain White House," Sloan said. "[That] would be very helpful for their clients, and that would give them a leg up on everybody else." |
| See the full story at washingtonpost.com: The Anti-Lobbyist, Advised by Lobbyists |
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| Teamsters Union Endorses Obama |
| Sen. Barack Obama won an endorsement from the powerful Teamsters union (1.4 million members), critical labor support for the Democratic front-runner with upcoming contests in Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania. |
| See the story at the Washington Post: Teamsters Union Endorses Obama |
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| Elder Bush endorses McCain |
| Former President George H.W. Bush endorsed John McCain on Monday, a nod of approval from the Republican political dynasty's patriarch that sends a strong signal to a GOP establishment wary of the Arizona senator. |
| See the story at USA Today.com: Elder Bush endorses McCain |
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| Clinton, Obama Offer Similar Economic Visions |
| Clinton and Obama both promised that they would make the tax code more middle-income-friendly and would protect consumers from threats -- including predatory credit card companies and rapacious college lenders. Both candidates condemned corporate tax breaks that they say send jobs overseas. Both pledged to protect homeowners and said they would repeal President Bush's upper-income tax cuts while extending those for the middle class. Both promised to rein in credit card companies that arbitrarily raise interest rates, sending families into a downward spiral of debt. |
| See the story at washingtonpost.com: Clinton, Obama Offer Similar Economic Visions |
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| SEIU and UFCW Endorse Obama |
| Sen. Barack Obama won the support of the 1.9-million member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), his second endorsement in as many days from large labor organizations. The other was from the the United Food and Commercial Workers, (UFCW), a politically active union with significant membership in the upcoming Democratic battlegrounds. The 1.3-million member UFCW has 69,000 members in Ohio and another 26,000 in Texas (both with primaries to be held on Tuesday, March 4th). The food workers also have 19,000 members in Wisconsin, (primary to be held on Tuesday, Feb 19th.) |
| See the stories at washingtonpost.com: SEIU Endorses Obama |
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| Romney endorses McCain for GOP nomination |
| "Former Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney announced that he is backing Senator John McCain in his bid for the Oval Office." |
| See the story at CNNPolitics.com: Romney endorses McCain for GOP nomination |
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| Ex-GOP senator endorses Obama |
| Former Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee endorsed Democratic Senator Barack Obama, saying he is the best presidential candidate to restore the nation's credibility. Chafee was the only Republican in the Senate to vote against the war in Iraq, and said Obama's early opposition to the war was key to his decision. "We need people with good judgment," he said. (Senator Chafee endorsed Sen Obama even though Sen McCain campaigned for Sen Chafee in 2006) |
| See the story at USA Today: Ex-GOP senator endorses Obama |
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| McCain Adviser Won't Fight Obama |
| On February 13, 2008, ABC News reports that Mark McKinnon, a top adviser to John McCain, said he will step down from the Arizona senator's presidential campaign if the presumed GOP nominee faces Sen. Barack Obama in the general election. "I would simply be uncomfortable being in a campaign that would be inevitably attacking Barack Obama," he said in an interview with NPR's 'All Things Considered.' "I think it would be uncomfortable for me, and I think it would be bad for the McCain campaign." |
| Read the story at ABC News: McCain Adviser Won't Fight Obama |
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| Ron Paul calls McCain’s foreign policy ‘immoral’ |
| On Tuesday Feb. 12, 2008, Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul told the Tribune he will not back Sen. John McCain as his party’s nominee unless the Arizona senator "has a lot of change of heart." "I can not support anybody with the foreign policy he advocates, you know, perpetual war. That is just so disturbing to me," Paul said.”I think it’s un-American, un-Constitutional, immoral, and not Republican." |
| See the story and read the quote at CrooksandLiars.com: Ron Paul calls McCain’s foreign policy 'immoral' |
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| Obama and McCain win in Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. |
| "Obama Sweeps Clinton In D.C., Md. and Va." "McCain Takes All Three Potomac Primaries" |
| See the stories at washingtonpost.com: CAMPAIGN 2008: POTOMAC PRIMARY |
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| Huckabee sees momentum, looks ahead |
| Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is hoping his victories in Kansas and Louisiana over the weekend are a sign of things to come in Tuesday's presidential primaries in Virginia and Maryland. |
| See the story at USA Today: Huckabee sees momentum, looks ahead |
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| Clinton replaces campaign manager |
| Hillary Clinton, coming off a weekend of big losses, today replaced campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle. |
| See the story at CNN: Clinton replaces campaign manager |
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| Obama landslides could break deadlock |
| Barack Obama’s landslide victories this weekend in Washington, Nebraska, Louisiana, and the U.S. Virgin Islands on Saturday and Maine on Sunday, give him the opportunity to build a significant lead over Senator Clinton. |
| See the story at Politico: Obama landslides could break deadlock |
| See the story at the Washington Post: Obama Defeats Clinton in Maine Caucuses |
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| Bush: McCain a 'true conservative' |
| John McCain is a "true conservative," President Bush says, although the likely Republican presidential nominee may have to work harder to convince other conservatives that he is one of their own. |
| See the story at USA Today: Bush: McCain a 'true conservative' |
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| Mitt Romney Suspends Presidential Campaign |
| Mitt Romney suspended his presidential campaign on Thursday, effectively sealing the Republican presidential nomination for John McCain. |
| See the story at BREITBART.com: Romney Suspends Presidential Campaign |
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| The largest Spanish language newspaper endorses Senator Barack Obama |
| Senator Barack Obama today received the endorsement of La Opinion, the largest Spanish language newspaper in the United States and the most read newspaper in Los Angeles after the Los Angeles Times. |
| See the story at California Majority Report: La Opinion Endorsed Obama |
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| Maria Shriver, the wife of California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorse Obama |
| Maria Shriver is the niece of Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy and President Kennedy. Both his daughter, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, and the Massachusetts senator have endorsed Barack Obama in the past week. |
| See the story at CNN: Maria Shriver endorses Obama |
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| John McCain has said the economy is "not his strong suit." |
| Mitt Romney claims that John McCain has said the economy is "not his strong suit." Did he say that? He denied it at a Republican debate in Boca Raton, Fla., when journalist Tim Russert questioned him about it. Politifact states that "McCain tried to explan it but it doesn't change the fact that he did say that economics was not his strong suit. In this instance, Romney is accurately quoting McCain's past remarks, so we find Romney's statement True." |
| See the "truth-o-meter" at politifact.com: John McCain has said the economy is "not his strong suit." |
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| Schwarzenegger and Giuliani endorse McCain |
| California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed Sen. John McCain in the Republican presidential race |
| See the story at MSNBC: Schwarzenegger endorses McCain |
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| Major endorsements for Barack Obama |
| MoveOn has endorsed a candidate. Their endorsement process is more democratic than most: They poll their membership and promised them they wouldn't back anybody until one candidate had a 2/3 majority. A few weeks ago, they were split. But earlier this week, they surveyed over 200,000 MoveOn members to see if they should endorse, and a big majority agreed. Their vote Friday delivered for Obama: 70 percent of MoveOners preferred Barack Obama to 30 percent for Hillary Clinton. The California SEIU (Service Employees International Union), an organization of 1.9 million members, voted to switch its endorsement from the defunct Edwards camp to the Obama campaign. Add the Los Angeles Times to a list of California newspapers to endorse Obama. |
| See the story at the San Francisco Chronicle: MoveOn, CA SEIU and LA Times Endorse Obama |
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| Mitt Romney picks up some key convervative endorsements |
| Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has announced three endorsements of conservative radio talk show personalities Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Lars Larson. |
| See the story at the Washington Post: Romney Radio Endorsements |
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| John Edwards and Rudy Giuliani drop out of the 2008 Presidential Race |
| Rudy decides to endorse John McCain, but John Edwards holds his endorsement for now. |
| See the story at the Washington Post: Departures Alter Campaign Landscape |
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| Endorsements for McCain, Obama, and Clinton. |
| This week, John McCain, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton each racked up some key endorsements. |
| John McCain secured the endorsement of Florida's Republican Governor Charlie Crist and Florida's Republican Senator Mel Martinez. |
| See the Washington Post story at: Republican Governor Charlie Crist for McCain |
| See the CBS story at: Republican Senator Mel Martinez for McCain |
| Barack Obama earned the endorsements of the daughter of President John F Kennedy - Caroline Kennedy, Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, Rhode Island Democratic Representative Patrick J Kennedy, and Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison who originally annointed Bill Clinton as the "first black president". |
| See the New York Times story at: A President Like My Father by Caroline Kennedy |
| See the MSNBC story at: Nobel Prize-winning writer cites presidential candidate's vision |
| See the Washington Post story at: Kennedys Endorsements Give Obama Key Boost |
| Hillary Clinton has the endorsements of the daughter and son of Robert Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy Townson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a leading environmental activist. |
| See the wjz.com story at: Kathleen Kennedy Townsend Supports Clinton |
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| A President Like My Father |
| Caroline Kennedy endorses Barack Obama . . . "I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans." |
| See the story at the New York Times: A President Like My Father by Caroline Kennedy |
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| Obama wins a series of endorsements from top Democratic officials |
| Today and yesterday Obama won a series of endorsements from top Democratic officials -- Senators John Kerry, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, and Arizona governor Janet Napolitano. These endorsements send a worrisome signal to the Clinton campaign that politicians in these areas judge her as more polarizing than Obama -- more likely to energize the Republican base -- and fear that she could damage the chances of local Democrats on the ballot next November. |
| See the story: Flurry of Endorsements for Obama. |
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| New Mexico Gov. Richardson drops out of '08 race |
| New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson dropped out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday after fourth-place showings in the campaign's first contests. When making his announcement, Richardson declined to endorse any candidate but called the Democratic field "the most promising field in my lifetime." |
| CNN has the story: New Mexico Governor Richardson drops out of '08 race. |
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| John Kerry endorses Barack Obama |
| Kerry's Endorsement of Obama: Assessing the Impact: |
| " . . . two immediate benefits become clear. |
| First, Kerry still carries a 3 million-plus person email list from his run for president in 2004. That is, without question, the largest list of small-dollar donors within the party and one that Obama should benefit from in the very near future. Kerry showed in the 2006 election that the list responds when he asks it for money -- even for House and Senate candidates -- so it should be a financial windfall for Obama's campaign. |
| Second, Kerry still has the remnants of a national operation in nearly every state. That means donors, activists and operatives who know these states and will be able to add to the already large team of Obama backers around the country. Local knowledge and on-the-ground operatives are crucial to winning any of these early contests and could even prove decisive if Obama winds up as the nominee and is looking for people with in-depth knowledge of the general election battleground states." |
| For the full story, see Chris Cillizza's Washington Post article Kerry's Endorsement of Obama: Assessing the Impact: |
| The NY Times also has the story at Kerry Endorses Obama as Campaign Goes Nationwide |
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| Romney wins Wyoming Republican caucus |
| Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won the Wyoming Republican presidential caucus on Saturday, taking eight of the state's 12 delegates and giving him a much-needed boost after his recent loss in Iowa.
See Reuters for the story Romney wins Wyoming Republican caucus |
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| Dodd and Biden drop out of White House race |
| Senators Were Never Able To Generate Broad Support In Presidential Bids
See Yahoo News for the story Dodd and Biden drop out of White House race CBS News Biden, Dodd Drop Out Of Democratic Race |
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| Huckabee, Obama have huge night in Iowa. |
| Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee have claimed victories in Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses.
See CNN.com article for the full story Huckabee, Obama have huge night in Iowa |
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| NH GOP drops sponsorship of FOX debate. |
| The New Hampshire Republican Party dropped their affiliation with a Republican debate sponsored by Fox News scheduled for January 5, 2008 because they have limited the number of candidates that can participate. The debate has been cancelled due to lack of participation by other candidates.
See BOSTON.com article for the story NH GOP drops sponsorship of FOX debate. |
| On Saturday the New Hampshire Republican party expressed its disappointment with the decision to exclude Mr. Paul and Representative Duncan Hunter of California by severing its partnership with Fox.
"We believe that it is inconsistent with the first in the nation primary tradition to be excluding candidates in a pre-primary setting," said Fergus Cullen, chair of the state G.O.P. party. "All candidates regardless of how well known they are or how much money they’ve raised should be treated equally here."
See The NYTimes.com article for the story New Hampshire G.O.P. Backs Out of Fox Forum. |
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| Ron Paul not invited to the Fox debate scheduled for January 6, 2008. |
| In the last USA/Gallup poll conducted on December 19th, it showed Ron Paul at 9% tied for 4th with Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson was in last with 4%, Giuliani was at 11%. This is a New Hampshire forum, but Huckabee, Giuliani, and Thompson are all invited, so why is isn't Ron Paul? . . .
See the CBS NEWS article for the full story Getting Stingy With Debate Invitations See the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire for the full story Paul Supporters Target Fox News See the Los Angeles Times for the story Should Ron Paul be allowed at Sunday's debate? |
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| Critical Flaws Found in E-Voting Machines |
| With the presidential race in full swing, Colorado and other states have found critical flaws in the accuracy and security of their electronic voting machines, forcing officials to scramble to return to the paper ballots they abandoned after the Florida debacle of 2000. See the Washington Post article for the full story Electronic Voting Is Questioned |
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| Huckabee Unveils Ad Only to Disavow It |
| Mike Huckabee unveiled an attack ad against Mitt Romney and then immediately pledged not to run it. He directed the attention of scores of reporters and television cameras to a movie screen, where he played the 30-second hit piece on Romney's honesty and record. Huckabee's decision produced loud snickers from reporters sensitive to hypocrisy. The move also was ridiculed by some in the party who said it called into question whether Huckabee is ready to be the GOP standard-bearer. See the Washington Post article for the full story Huckabee Unveils Ad Only to Disavow It |
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| An Issue to Watch in New Hampshire |
| At midnight tomorrow, civil unions for homosexual couples becomes law. Undoubtably, the candidates will likely be asked about it when they show up in the post-caucus, possibly in the two debates planned for the short 5-day gap. Read the story at MSNBC New Hampshire Gay Marriage |
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| Huckabee stumbles on foreign affairs |
| Mike Huckabee has made a series of public foreign policy gaffes, fueling attacks by rivals that he lacks the international experience to be president. What Huckabee seems to lack is a roster of respected foreign policy advisers to reassure voters on national security issues. Full story at USA Today . . . Huckabee stumbles on foreign affairs Also at Politico . . . Huckabee's foreign affairs lapses |
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| Build A Border Fence To Protect Against Illegal Immigrants From Pakistan? |
| Mike Huckabee used the volatile situation in Pakistan Friday to make an argument for building a fence on the American border with Mexico and found himself trying to explain a series of remarks about Pakistanis and their nation. Read the story at MSNBC Clueless Huckabee: Let’s Build A Border Fence To Protect Against Illegal Immigrants From . . . Pakistan? |
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| Stem Cell Groups, Contraception Groups, and Gun Control Groups paid Huckabee |
| Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee last year accepted $52,000 in speaking fees from drug-maker Novo Nordisk, a biotech giant, which engages in stem cell research; the Public Health Institute, which works to expand access to "morning after" contraception; and Grant Makers in Health, which is seeking to steer funding to studies of gun violence. Huckabee opposes embryonic stem cell research, emergency contraception and stricter gun laws — all of which rank high on the list of deal-breakers for many of the religious conservatives whose support he's ridden to the top of the Republican presidential field. See USA Today article for the whole story . . . Stem cell, gun control groups paid Huckabee Or see the Politico article . . . Stem Cell, Contraception groups paid Huck |
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| California to host 'Super Tuesday' debates |
| The top Democratic and Republican presidential contenders will be invited to appear in nationally televised debates in California less than one week before "Super Tuesday". Republicans will appear at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley on January 30, 2008. The California Democratic Party has sanctioned the Democratic debate, January 31, 2008, in Los Angeles. Read the whole story . . . California to host 'Super Tuesday' debates |
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| Nebraska Senator Kerrey apologizes to Obama over remark |
| Former Nebraska senator Bob Kerrey has apologized to Barack Obama for raising the Democratic presidential candidate's Muslim heritage while endorsing rival candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Some of Obama's ancestors are Muslims, but he is a Christian . . . See USA Today Article . . . Kerrey apologizes to Obama over remark |
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| Giuliani accused of running a closed City Hall |
| See MSNBC Article . . . Critics blast GOP hopeful’s assertion that his government was ‘transparent’ |
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| Tancredo Leaves Presidential Race - Endorses Governor Romney |
| See the Washington Post Article. . . Tom Tancredo Leaves Presidential Race - Endorses Governor Romney |
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| Obama Presents His $18B Education Plan |
| Barack Obama laid out a plan to spend $18 billion on early childhood education, dropout prevention and teacher incentives. His plan also touches on a hot-button pay issue on which he differs with education unions. |
| Obama wants to change the 2002 No Child Left Behind education law |
| He would end standardized tests in favor of more complicated assessments, fund early childhood programs, give teachers bonuses for working in high-needs schools, and fund schools that experiment with longer school days or school years. |
| Among the other Democratic candidates, only New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson would abolish the No Child law. Obama has said, "I would not scrap the idea of having standards that we want schools to achieve." |
| Obama criticized Democratic rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards for not voting in 2003 to make the law unenforceable without full federal funding. "I believe that was a serious mistake." |
| The Edwards and Clinton camps in turn criticized Obama for voting, as an Illinois state senator, to implement the education law. Campaign spokesman Bill Burton said Obama voted yes to get "what little federal money was available." |
| Obama said he supports programs such as one in Denver, where a voluntary merit pay program is based in part on hitting student achievement goals. |
| Clinton said Monday in Iowa that merit pay for teachers "could be demeaning and discouraging." She favors giving more money to high-performing schools, which can then reward teachers. Edwards also has said he opposes merit pay based on test scores. |
| Source: Martha T. Moore, USA TODAY |
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| Obama used Koran? No, he didn’t |
| The facts are that Obama is a Christian and took the oath of office on a Bible. Read the whole story at PolitiFact.com |
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| More Trouble For Rudy? |
| November 17, 2007 |
| First there was Rudy Giuliani’s friend and former police commissioner, Bernard Kerik, who was recently indicted on 16-counts of various charges of corruption and mail and tax fraud. |
| Then, Judith Regan, once a mistress of Kerik and former publisher of ReganBooks, claimed in a lawsuit that two executives at her imprint's parent company, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., told her to lie when investigators questioned her about Kerik. She claims the lies were meant to protect Giuliani's presidential bid. When news broke of Regan's suit, Giuliani told reporters, "I don't know anything about it . . . And, it sounds to me like a kind of gossip-column story more than a real story." |
| Now, the latest is from the International Association of Firefighters. They have re-surfaced and have released the 13-minute video, titled "Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend", which offers testimonials from various members of the organization and family members of firefighters lost in the terror attacks of Sept 11, 2001. |
| FDNY Deputy Chief Jim Riche claims on the video, "We have the remains of dead heroes at the garbage dump because of Giuliani and his administration and they're still there today and they won't remove them." This quote is just the beginning of the video in which firefighters attempt to set the record straight about how they view Giuliani and his leadership on that tragic day. |
| In the DVD, the President of Uniformed Firefighters Union, Steve Cassidy says, "This image of Rudy Giuliani as 'America's Mayor' is a myth." |
| The firefighters say they plan to follow his campaign and let America hear and see their take on the former mayor. With this video they hope to raise many questions about the former mayor, including why firefighters used obsolete radios on September 11th that may have added to the death toll, why the search for human remains was suddenly stopped after a lost shipment of bank gold was recovered and why the emergency management bunker was on the edge of ground zero. |
| Giuliani campaign spokesman Michael McKeon said, "The union leadership makes Michael Moore look like Edward R. Murrow" and he called the video a "mocumentary". |
| From Politico.com, November 28, 2007, the headline reads "Giuliani Billed Obscure Agencies for Trips" |
| It seems that as New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses amassed during the time when he was beginning an extramarital relationship with future wife Judith Nathan in the Hamptons, according to previously undisclosed government records. The documents, obtained by Politico under New York’s Freedom of Information Law, show that the mayoral costs had nothing to do with the functions of the little-known city offices that defrayed his tabs, including agencies responsible for regulating loft apartments, aiding the disabled and providing lawyers for indigent defendants. Auditors "were unable to verify that these expenses were for legitimate or necessary purposes," City Comptroller William Thompson wrote of the expenses from fiscal year 2000, which covers parts of 1999 and 2000. Broadening the inquiry, the comptroller wrote, auditors found similar expenses at a range of other unlikely agencies: $10,054 billed to the Office for People With Disabilities and $29,757 to the Procurement Policy Board. The next year, yet another obscure department, the Assigned Counsel Administrative Office, was billed around $400,000 for travel. Thompson also warned that travel costs had increased by 151 percent in Giuliani's final fiscal year, to more than $618,000, a number which also includes police security on campaign swings for Giuliani’s abortive 2000 Senate run and trips to Los Angeles by Donna Hanover, who remained Giuliani's wife and the city's official first lady, in the fall of 2000. This is not good news for Mayor Giuliani. |
| November 30, 2007 - And now more problems, this time, another story getting national attention. - From the Carpetbagger Report "Giuliani Scandal Fueled by Contradictions, Unanswered Questions" |
| "As the 'Shag Fund' scandal continues to unfold, more reporters at more outlets are beginning to recognize the seriousness of Rudy Giuliani’s latest scandal. Worse, the former mayor’s presidential campaign has struggled to come up with coherent explanations, offering contradictory accounts. Worse, it’s insisting that Ben Smith’s original report is 'false,' but it can’t say why." The report, on the Politico Web site, cited documents obtained under the New York State Freedom of Information Law. But it was unclear from those documents whether Mr. Giuliani allocated those travel costs, from 1999 through 2001, to obscure city offices in an attempt to conceal expenses associated with the relationship or for some accounting purpose. |
| December 4, 2007 |
| The knock against Rudy Giuliani as a candidate for president is that he doesn’t have much foreign policy experience. So being asked to join the Iraq Study Group, the panel created in 2006 at the urging of Congress to conduct a bipartisan assessment of the situation in Iraq, seemed to be an opportunity to answer the critics.
"The mayor looks forward to working with the group," Giuliani spokesman Sunny Mindel said in March 2006. Only, he didn’t work with them. During the next two months, the 10-member panel held two two-day meetings at the Washington, D.C., offices of the United States Institute of Peace. Giuliani attended neither, according to panel members. From March 15, 2006 to May 24, 2006 - his tenure on the panel - he was busy making 30 paid appearances, which netted him $2.25-million, according to his financial disclosure forms. Read the full story from Politifact.com - "Giuliani left Iraq panel, or it left him." |
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| U.S. Raids Issuer of Ron Paul Coins |
| Ron Paul is basing his presidential campaign in part on the argument that the federal government has been debasing the dollar. |
| In Ron Paul Coins, Federal Agents Don't Trust (Washington Post) |
| By Alec MacGillis - washingtonpost.com |
| As if Ron Paul's supporters needed any more motivation to storm the battlements and wreak havoc on the Republican presidential primary, now comes this: the feds are trying to take away their money. |
| Federal agents on Wednesday raided the Evansville, Indiana headquarters of the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve and Internal Revenue Codes (NORFED), an organization of "sound money" advocates that for the past decade has been selling what it calls Liberty Dollars, a private currency it says is backed by silver and gold stored in Idaho, with a total of more than $20 million in circulation, according to the group. |
| NORFED officials said yesterday that the raid occurred just as they were preparing to mail out the first batch of about 60,000 "Ron Paul Dollars," copper coins sold for $1 and decorated with the craggy visage of Paul, the libertarian Texas congressman, Iraq war opponent and sound-money advocate who has sparked a surprisingly vigorous insurgent campaign for the GOP nomination. The group says that it in recent months it already shipped out about 10,000 in silver Ron Paul dollars that sold for $20. |
| Bernard von NotHaus, NORFED's founder and executive director, said in an interview from his home in Miami Friday night that his employees in Evansville had received the copper dollars late last week and managed to mail out only about 3,500 of them so far. After a six-hour raid, he said, the agents left with the rest of the coins, which weighed about two tons total, as well as smaller amounts of silver Ron Paul dollars, gold Ron Paul dollars that sell for $1,000 and platinum Ron Paul dollars that sell for $2,000. There was a separate raid, NotHaus said, of Sunshine Mint in Coer D'Alene, Idaho, a company that prints the organization's coins, where von NotHaus said agents seized the huge pallets of silver and gold worth more than $1 million that the organization says back the paper certificates issued to its customers. |
| "They took everything, all of the computers, everything but the desks and chairs," said von NotHaus, who says he served 25 years as the mintmaster for the Royal Hawaiian Mint. "The federal government really is afraid." The Indianapolis branch of the FBI declined to comment on the raid and referred calls to the U.S. Attorney's office for Western North Carolina in Charlotte. That office's spokeswoman, Suellen Pierce, also declined to comment. But bloggers at the libertarian Reason Foundation posted on-line a 35-page copy affidavit for a search warrant filed last week with the Western District in Asheville laying out the government's case against NORFED. Pierce said that the search warrant in the case had been accidentally made public by a court clerk and has since been sealed, under court rules. |
| In the affidavit, an FBI special agent states that he is investigating NORFED for federal violations including "uttering coins of gold, silver, or other metal," "making or possessing likeness of coins," mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. "The goal of NORFED is to undermine the United States government's financial systems by the issuance of a non-governmental competing currency for the purpose of repealing the Federal Reserve and Internal Revenue Code," he states. |
| The agent states that the investigation started two years ago. And the U.S. Mint a year ago issued a warning against using the Liberty Dollar, prompting a lawsuit by NORFED. But that has not kept Liberty Dollar fans from speculating on-line that the raid was prompted by Paul's strong campaign -- which recently raised more than $4 million in a single day -- or by the precipitous recent decline in the value of the dollar. |
| A Paul campaign spokeswoman, Kerri Price, said yesterday that while Paul also supports abolishing the Federal Reserve, the campaign "does not have any affiliation with Liberty Dollars at all." von NotHaus confirmed this, saying that he knows Paul because they "move in the same circles" but that he had expressly not talked with Paul about his plans for the special coins so as not to violate federal election rules. |
| But the coins have been another rallying point for Paul's supporters, who have asked Paul to pose for photographs with the coins on the campaign trail. Jim Forsythe, a Paul organizer in New Hampshire who ordered 150 of the copper Ron Paul dollars, said yesterday that the seizure of the coins would likely fuel more support for Paul, who scores close to double-digits in some New Hampshire polls. "People are pretty upset about this," he said. "The dollar is going down the tubes and this is something that can protect the value of their money and the Federal Reserve is threatened by that. It'll definitely fire people up." |
| Von NotHaus, meanwhile, is urging Liberty Dollar supporters to express their outrage by donating to Paul, saying on the group's Web site that "in light of this assault on our financial freedom, it is clear that we need Ron Paul to lead this country more than ever." He said that all of his bank accounts have been frozen and that he expects that a federal indictment will soon be in the offing, saying that "once the federal government starts an investigation like this and takes it to a grand jury, they can indict a ham sandwich." Should he be charged, he said, "I'll turn it into my golden opportunity to validate the Liberty Dollar as a legal lawful currency and save the country from a monetary collapse." |
| What he's most concerned about for now, though, is the thought of all his customers waiting for their Ron Paul dollars. "People aren't going to get their orders, and they aren't going to get them for a while," he said. That is good news, of course, for those already holding the coins. On eBay, the silver Ron Paul dollars that were purchased for $20 were selling for more than $170 last night. |
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| Democratic Presidential Debate in Nevada, November 15, 2007 |
| Analysis: Clinton makes a recovery in Las Vegas debate |
| CNNPolitics.com |
| STORY HIGHLIGHTS |
|
| By Mark Preston - CNN Political Editor |
| LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton stepped into the ring Thursday in this city known for prize fights, successfully beating back an onslaught of punches thrown from the left and right as her opponents sought to rattle the front-runner seven weeks before the Iowa caucuses. |
| Clinton, who entered this Democratic debate vulnerable following a lackluster performance two weeks ago, came out fighting in the first round. |
| For the New York Democrat, a good defense was a strong offense, and she sought to silence her critics who stood just feet away. |
| "I don't mind taking hits on my record, on issues," she said. "But when somebody starts throwing mud, at least we can hope that it's both accurate and not right out of the Republican playbook." |
| Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards each tried to set the tone early when asked to explain their criticisms of Clinton, such as their charges that she is unwilling to answer difficult questions. |
| "Sen. Clinton, I think, is a capable politician, and I think that she has run a terrific campaign," Obama said. "But what the American people are looking for right now is straight answers to tough questions, and that is not what we've seen out of Sen. Clinton on a host of issues, on the issue of drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants." Edwards knocked Clinton for her stance on Iraq and Social Security and tried to hammer home his claim that she is part of the problem in Washington. |
| "The most important issue is she says she will bring change to Washington, while she continues to defend a system that does not work, that is broken, that is rigged and is corrupted against the interest of most Americans and corrupted for a very small, very powerful, very well-financed group," he said. |
| In the lead-up to the debate, Clinton's campaign had accused the other contenders -- the "all boys club" -- of "piling on" and attacking her. Even though the senator's husband, former President Bill Clinton, had echoed this same sentiment, she denied it was a calculated attempt to play the "gender card." |
| "I understand very well that people are not attacking me because I'm a woman," she said. "They're attacking me because I'm ahead." |
| What started out as a debate sure to leave blood on the floor at the final bell eventually settled into a less confrontational conversation over issues. |
| While Obama and Edwards did not win in Las Vegas, neither suffered a devastating loss |
| Besides Clinton, Sen. Joe Biden's down-to-earth, tell-it-straight style helped him turn out a good performance. |
| And Sen. Chris Dodd and Gov. Bill Richardson made sure they were not forgotten in a race that is clearly being dominated by Clinton, Obama and Edwards. |
| Oftentimes the biggest news coming out of a presidential debate is when a candidate makes a major stumble, but on Thursday night it was about a recovery. |
| In Nevada, Clinton has a major lead, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. Poll. And even though the Silver State will play a role in helping to select the next Democratic nominee, the Las Vegas debate might have been more important to the caucus voters in Iowa. |
| A new poll released just hours before the candidates took the stage shows that the Hawkeye State is up for grabs. The KCCI-TV survey showed Clinton, Obama and Edwards are all in a position to win the caucuses, with 11 percent of Iowa voters still undecided about who they will back on January 3. |
| Though the finish line in the marathon for the Democratic nomination is in sight, the race is not yet over. The candidates are scheduled to meet several more times before Iowa -- more opportunities for stumbles. |
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| News for the Week Ending November 16, 2007 |
| CNN |
Giuliani - |
| The former mayor will be attending NASCAR's final race of the season this weekend in Florida. Also this week, Giuliani's First TV Ad, "Tested", starts running in New Hampshire. It is a 60-second spot that's all biography. He has aired some radio ads but not TV. This is a first for him. Giuliani says New York was considered "the best example of conservative government in the country,” and he chooses to highlight: the law and order and pocketbook issues of crime fighting and welfare-to-work, but makes no mention of immigration, or other social issues. These are the issues his competition has attacked him on. |
Fred Thompson Wants 'No Amnesty' |
| It's a big day for political TV ads, and in the case of Fred Thompson, he's got great timing. On the same day Rudy Giuliani releases his first TV ad, and the day Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D-N.Y.) decides to withdraw his plan to give illegal immigrants access to driver's licenses, the former Tennessee senator releases a 30-second spot called, "No Amnesty." It starts airing across Iowa today. |
| In a style similar to his previous ad, we. once again see Thompson in a non-descript diner/restaurant, and he speaks directly to the camera. |
| "Americans know we have an illegal immigration problem. And most of us have a good idea about how to start fixing it -- secure our borders, and enforce the law," he says, adding "giving up, by granting amnesty is not the answer. It's unfair to those who have played by the rules and ignores the rule of law. It's also a matter of national security." |
Edwards Is First Dem to Go on TV in S.C. |
| On the same day that his campaign started airing a new TV ad in Iowa, John Edwards becomes the first Democratic presidential contender to unveil a TV ad targeting South Carolina primary voters. |
| And he takes full advantage of his home field advantage. |
| "America's Jobs and America's Workers" is a 30-second spot, filmed at the Robbins, S.C., mill where Edwards and his father once worked. |
| As for the rest of the '08 field, fellow Democrat Barack Obama has aired radio ads targeting African American voters in the state, but no TV spots. |
| On the GOP side, Mitt Romney has aired several TV ads in South Carolina, while Rudy Giuliani's campaign has run several radio spots. |
| Edwards Threatens to Strip Health Care Benefits From Members of Congress |
| John Edwards is airing a new ad in Iowa. In it he repeats the threat to use presidential powers to take away health care coverage from his cabinet and from Congress if they cannot provide universal health care coverage by July 2009. |
New McCain Ad: 'Outrageous' |
| The ad isn't outrageous, but the title is. The 30-second ad, "Outrageous," will air in New Hampshire and in the Boston media market, in order to reach Granite State residents who live in the southern reaches of the state. |
Clinton Energy Ad, NH and Iowa Style |
| Television viewers in Iowa and New Hampshire today start seeing a new ad from Hillary Clinton that delivers the same message, tailored ever so slightly to each state. The 30-second spot called "Energy Independence" focuses on her plan for American energy independence. |
Romney Ad: 'Change Immigration' |
| Television viewers in Iowa and New Hampshire will start seeing another Mitt Romney ad today. "Change Immigration" introduces voters to his immigration reform proposals, and is bound to continue conversation about the controversial wedge issue. |
| Key soundbites: "As Governor, I authorized the state police to enforce immigration laws. I opposed driver's licenses and in-state tuition for illegal aliens," Romney says in the ad. "As President, I'll oppose amnesty, cut funding for sanctuary cities and secure our borders." |
| Romney also says he wants to cut funding for "sanctuary cities," or cities that don't strictly enforce immigration laws. The former governor has accused Rudy Giuliani of making New York City a sanctuary city during his two terms as mayor. |
Obama Advertising In, Flying Across Iowa |
| Barack Obama is spending most of this week in Iowa, as reported by washingtonpost.com's award-winning Campaign Tracker. But as The Post's Dan Balz reports in sister blog The Trail, Obama's schedule "was not supposed to include a stop Tuesday night in the Des Moines airport." But, "sometimes even in tightly scheduled presidential campaigns, the best-laid travel plans end up with a candidate about 100 miles away from where he needs to be." Meanwhile, Obama's campaign is airing a new ad in the Hawkeye State, called "High and Dry." It's about the senator's proposals to strengthen retirement security. The 30-second spot stars David Hartgrave, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His pension "was raided" the campaign says, when his company's directors pulled $19 million from the company pension fund. |
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| Hopes for an Al Gore Presidency is over - November 13, 2007 |
| Al Gore NYC Petitioning Drive Ends |
| by Bernadette Evangelist, Sally Swisher and Michael Minn |
| Over the past year, former Vice President Al Gore has indicated numerous times that he was not planning on seeking the presidency in 2008. However, he also did not absolutely rule out running and a number of grassroots organizations around the country recently began petitioning drives to get Gore's name on the primary ballot. |
| Al Gore's staff is now actively discouraging these grassroots efforts and the NYC petitioning drive for Gore is complying and ceasing activity. |
| (DFNYC will be holding a "mock caucus" as part of its Big December Linkup and will also hold a formal 2008 presidential endorsement vote in December. (Democracy for NYC (DFNYC) is a volunteer-driven non-profit political action committee, part of a national coalition of local groups committed to the ideals espoused by Democracy for America.) |
| (This article from DFNYC members Bernadette Evangelist & Sally Swisher was originally written for The Community Free Democrat) |
| "We have received a communication from his staff discouraging our efforts to put Al Gore's name on any primary ballots: |
| ...This includes California, New York, Massachusetts, and the write-in effort in New Hampshire, as well as any other states that are working to get him on the ballot. Accordingly, effective immediately, we are recommending that all groups cease their signature collection and related fund-raising activities. |
| With this news, quite devastating to those of us who were convinced that Al Gore would be our best Democratic candidate for president, our valiant and quixotic group has ceased petitioning efforts which began for some of us at a petitioning party on October 29, on the Upper West Side to distribute petitions, instructions and organize supporters determined to put Al Gore on the NYS Democratic primary ticket in February. Among those in attendance were members of Community Free Democrats, Bernadette Evangelist, State Committeeman Bob Ginsberg, Amy Glass, Hank Honig, Gail Bernstein Paris, Emily Pearlman, and Sally Swisher; members of Three Parks Independent Democrats, Chelsea Reform Democratic Club, Village Independent Democrats; and other members of our West Side Community. |
| Much of our enthusiasm and perseverance began when Vice President Gore recently issued "position statements" in the way of interviews posted on his new TV/interactive web site, Current.com in which he discusses the Iraq War ("our primary goal would be to get our troops home as quickly as possible."), Health Care ("I strongly support universal, single-payer, government provided or government funded health care."), Wiretapping ("Congress has failed to exercise its responsibility to make sure that the executive branch is living up to what it's supposed to do under the Constitution."), Global Warming ("We are in danger of pushing the extinction rate up to levels that are comparable to the five great extinction events in the history of life on this planet. This is the moral challenge of our time."). |
| These were the issues that made us gravitate to Gore and encouraged groups around the country to begin similar petitioning drives. Many will now turn their efforts to other candidates. |
| We wish to acknowledge and thank all of the volunteers who spent time and energy in pursuit of this noble and democratic endeavor." |
| Bernadette Evangelist and Sally Swisher are board members of Community Free Democrats. Sally is currently Recording Secretary. |
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