STATE STORIES
http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/010608/loc_n2001.shtml
It's still anyone's to win
Despite Iowa
's surprises, no one's out of Campaign '08 just yet
January 6, 2008
By Chad
Selweski
The Iowa
earthquake is sending tremors throughout Michigan
. As the anti-establishment outcome of the Hawkeye
State
vote reverberates, and the all-important New Hampshire
primary election looms just two days away, political pundits say the Jan. 15 Michigan
primary may play a pivotal role in Campaign '08. Mitt Romney's stumble in the Iowa
caucuses may make his home state of Michigan
a must-win situation, especially if John McCain bests him in New Hampshire
, said longtime political analyst Bill Ballenger. "If he doesn't win here -- especially if he loses in New Hampshire
-- he's probably finished," said Ballenger, editor and publisher of the Lansing-based Inside Michigan Politics newsletter. "It would take some real intestinal fortitude to continue at that point."
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080106/ELECTIONS01/801060411/1416
Primary players
Huckabee's big win in Iowa
makes Michigan
contest a new ballgame
January 6, 2008
By Chris Andrews
When Tim Fair was helping organize Clinton County Republicans' Lincoln Day Dinner last fall, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee wasn't exactly a household name. "A lot of people in mid-Michigan said, 'Mike who? Huckleberry? Who are you talking about?'" Fair recalled. "We actually had people who were on our Lincoln Day Committee two weeks before the event who were still calling him a Huckleberry." They are not now." Michigan Republicans' moment in the spotlight is fast approaching, and Huckabee's win in Iowa
adds a layer of uncertainty here.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080106/COL04/801060588/1007/NEWS05
Who's afraid of Michigan
voters?
January 6, 2008
By BRIAN DICKERSON
It's happening again. For the third time in as many election cycles, two states that bear a closer resemblance to Manitoba
than to Michigan
are setting the agenda for both major parties' presidential derbies. The contests for the Democratic and Republican nominations have electrified the country. But voters in Michigan
, and especially supporters of Barack Obama and John Edwards, are condemned to watch them the way the Detroit Lions watch the Super Bowl -- with a keen interest, to be sure, but little chance of changing the outcome.
http://www.livingstondaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080106/NEWS01/801060331/1002
McCain campaign rolling into county
January 6, 2008
By Kristofer Karol
Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is scheduled to visit Livingston
County
next Sunday, according to a former chairwoman of the Livingston County Republican Party. Cindy Pine said she heard from the McCain campaign that the senator will hold a town hall meeting that is free and open to the public at 2 p.m. that day at Crystal
Gardens
banquet center, off Grand River Avenue between Brighton
and Howell.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080106/OPINION01/801060558/1068/OPINION
Despite party's mess, Democratic voters can still send important message
January 6, 2008
Detroit
Free Press Editorial
It would be great to be able to pick a favorite in the Michigan
Democratic primary, given this state's national importance and the party's historical attention to issues near and dear to Michiganders, from urban issues in the big cities to environmental concerns surrounding the Great Lakes
. Unfortunately, the Democratic primary has been reduced to practical irrelevance by the refusal of most of the hopefuls to participate in it, or even campaign here. In October, half of the Democrats withdrew their names from Michigan
ballots, leaving Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich as the only choices. That renders supporters of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and John Edwards -- both of whom bested Clinton
in Iowa
-- essentially without a voice in the race to choose a Democratic nominee. They can vote "uncommitted," and hope that delegates to the convention will somehow honor their intentions. Sadly, if they write in their preferred candidate's name, their ballots will be tossed.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_BALANCING_THE_BOOKS_MIOL-?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=INTERNATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Economists expected to say state will continue to struggle
January 6, 2008
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Ending the last budget year with a $353.1 million surplus was good news for the state, but most of that money will be needed to keep the current budget from going into the red. Slower economic growth and less revenue from tax increases passed late in 2007 were pushing the state toward a shortfall of at least $200 million, but the surplus will help keep the budget balanced - at least in the current year. The outlook for 2008-09 isn't so good. "It looks like we're OK, and the reason we're OK is because of the big surplus we're carrying over from '07," said Jay Wortley, senior economist with the nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency. "But it doesn't help us in '09."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080106/NEWS06/801060602/1008
Michigan
sees fewer gun deaths — with more permits
January 6, 2008
By DAWSON
BELL
Six years after new rules made it much easier to get a license to carry concealed weapons, the number of Michiganders legally packing heat has increased more than six-fold. But dire predictions about increased violence and bloodshed have largely gone unfulfilled, according to law enforcement officials and, to the extent they can be measured, crime statistics. The incidence of violent crime in Michigan
in the six years since the law went into effect has been, on average, below the rate of the previous six years. The overall incidence of death from firearms, including suicide and accidents, also has declined. More than 155,000 Michiganders -- about one in every 65 -- are now authorized to carry loaded guns as they go about their everyday affairs, according to Michigan State Police records.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GADGET_SHOW_DRIVERLESS_CARS_MIOL-?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=INTERNATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
GM says driverless cars may be on market in 10 years
Jan 6, 2008
By TOM KRISHER
DETROIT
(AP) -- Cars that drive themselves - even parking at their destination - could be ready for sale within a decade, General Motors Corp. executives say. GM, parts suppliers, university engineers and other automakers all are working on vehicles that could revolutionize short- and long-distance travel. And Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner will devote part of his speech to the driverless vehicles. "This is not science fiction," Larry Burns, GM's vice president for research and development, said in a recent interview.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-48/1199620206184110.xml&coll=5
Paint 'em green
At Detroit
auto show, get ready to glimpse an eco-friendly future -- if you haven't already
January 06, 2008
By Melissa Burden and Todd Seibtmburden
Greens and dreams. The North American International Auto Show in Detroit
- home of great design, worldwide unveilings and the biggest gathering of media of any global auto show - will be environmentally conscious this year. "Green is going to be the theme, right, wrong or indifferent," said auto show co-chair Joe Serra, chief executive officer of Grand Blanc Township-based Serra Automotive. The show, featuring some 90 exhibitors, opens to the public Jan. 19 and runs through Jan. 27 at Cobo
Center
in Detroit
. Environmentally friendly cars - including concepts from Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge - are among the more than 50 production and concept vehicles that will be unveiled to the media Jan. 13-15 and then to the public during the show.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080106/OPINION01/801060397/1085/opinion
Leadership: Clarke, Jeffries and Bernero have opportunity to make major impact
January 6, 2008
Lansing
State
Journal Editorial
Lansing
has new leaders in two key roles, giving the community a chance to pursue new directions with vigor and energy. Brian Jeffries is the new City
Council president, and Hugh Clarke Jr. is the new president of the Lansing School District Board of Education. Both are veterans of their respective boards and have prior experience in the No. 2 leadership spot. Both bring a commitment to community service.And both will confront major, new challenges in the year ahead. At the school district, a new superintendent, staff and community members are crafting a master plan that will, among other things, take a hard look at the number of buildings the district can afford to operate. The board, and Superintendent T.C. Wallace Jr., also must deal with academics, particularly at the high schools, which have failed to make adequate progress under federal guidelines.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/REPUBLICANS_RDP?SITE=MIDTF&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-01-06-21-57-22
McCain, Romney Battle
in NH Stretch
January 6, 2008
By GLEN JOHNSON
MANCHESTER
, N.H.
(AP) -- Mitt Romney and John McCain sparred Sunday over their tax and spending records and who was a better agent for change, in the second Republican debate of the final weekend before the New Hampshire
primary. "You have a choice," Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts
, said after ticking off his accomplishments in office. "You can select somebody who wants to fight for those things, or you can select somebody who's actually done those things." McCain, a senator from Arizona
, listed the pork-barrel spending he has exposed, as well as an Air Force tanker contract he squashed. "I think it was a reason why I wasn't elected Miss Congeniality in the Senate," McCain said. "I have a record of saving billions of dollars."
http://youdecide08.foxnews.com/2008/01/06/gop-candidates-to-strut-their-stuff-in-fox-news-presidential-forum/
In GOP Forum, Sparks
Fly Over Taxes, Illegal Immigration and Change in D.C.
January 6, 2008
By Fox News.com
Republican candidates clashed over taxes, illegal immigration and change at the FOX News Presidential Forum Sunday night as the verbal sparring centered on who’s got the influence and record to fix Washington
. Speaking in tax-averse New Hampshire ahead of Tuesday’s primary, the five GOP candidates polling 10 percent or higher nationally ripped at each other’s records while striving to capture the essence of Ronald Reagan that the Republican base hopes to recover 20 years after the 40th president’s departure from the White House.
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Romney+goes+on+the+attack&articleId=9f8a9399-2f89-45cb-8ee5-674a82c366d9
Romney goes on the attack
January 6, 2008
By JOHN DISTASO
Goffstown – After being attacked relentlessly by several of his rivals on Saturday night, a more aggressive Mitt Romney returned fire during a forum tonight as he fought for his political life. But rather than taking on New Hampshire
front-runner John McCain, Romney took aim at the man who beat him in Iowa
and is now in third place behind him in a new Granite
State
poll. Romney began the 90-minute event by pressing Mike Huckabee to admit that as Arkansas
governor, he raised taxes, net, by $500 million. Romney, Huckabee, McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson faced off for the second consecutive night at St. Anselm College, their final joint appearance before Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary. They sat inches apart at a desk and answered questions posed by Fox News anchor Chris Wallace. Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter were not invited, prompting the New Hampshire Republican Party to withdraw its co-sponsorship.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CONGRESSIONAL_SEATS_GLANCE?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
States that could gain, lose House seats
January 6, 2008
Associated Press
The following states could gain or lose the most congressional seats after the 2010 census, according to early projections from Election Data Services and Polidata, two Washington-area political demographics firms: WINNERS: Texas - up four seats to 36. Florida
- up two seats to 27. Arizona
- up two seats to 10.North
Carolina
- up one seat to 14. South Carolina
- up one seat to seven. Georgia
- up one seat to 14. Utah
- up one seat to four. Nevada
- up one seat to four. Oregon
- up one seat to six. LOSERS: New York
- down two seats to 27. Ohio
- down two seats to 16.Massachusetts - down one seat to nine.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/the_iowa_curse.html
The Iowa
Curse
January 06, 2008
By Susan Estrich
LOS ANGELES -- Call it the curse of Iowa
. If you don't believe me, go back 40 years and name a Democrat who has actually won in Iowa
and gone on to be elected president. There's only one, and no, it's not Jimmy Carter. Actually, he finished second in Iowa, behind uncommitted.The right answer is Bill Clinton, and it was in 1996, when he ran unopposed, not in 1992, when he lost the state, ceding it to its favorite son, Tom Harkin, and then lost New Hampshire as well before going on to win the presidency. On the Republican side, the right answer is one, as well: George W. Bush, in 2000, who did win Iowa
, but then lost in New Hampshire
before winning the nomination.
http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/01062008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/there_will_be_blood_556055.htm
There Will Be Blood
January 6, 2008
By DICK MORRIS and EILEEN MCGANN
January 6, 2008 -- Senator Eugene McCarthy once said that “politics is like coaching football. You have to be smart enough to know how the game is played and dumb enough to think that it is important." So forgive us if this column is a little bit like spelling out playoff scenarios in the NFL and assigning probable home field advantage in the case of different matchups. But here's what might happen in New Hampshire
and what it will mean. Get out your scorecards.
Democrats
Hillary cannot be knocked out even if she loses all the early primaries. Her berth in the finals is assured by her national standing, her strength among “super delegates" (Congressmen, Senators, Governors and State Party Chairmen who automatically get votes at the convention) and her financial clout.
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Independents%27+day%3a+undeclared+voters+key+on+Tuesday&articleId=b7da337a-22c7-477f-82c9-3f2419bcd785
Independents' day: undeclared voters key on Tuesday
By JOHN WHITSON AND SCOTT BROOKS
Saturday, Jan. 5, 2008
Hollis resident Janet Chaney likes John McCain, but thinks Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani are OK, too.Any one of those Republicans could get her vote, she said -- that is, unless she gives her vote to a Democrat. Then, she said, she'll probably choose Barack Obama. "I don't know," said Chaney, who attended a McCain rally Friday afternoon. "It depends on the debates (this weekend). Then I'll make up my mind." Chaney isn't alone among Granite Staters who find themselves torn in these last few days before the New Hampshire Primary. And while some voters from each party are still struggling to settle on a candidate, perhaps no other voting bloc may be less predictable than the largest one: the independents, who will have the opportunity to vote in either the Democratic or Republican contest.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/us/politics/07mccain.html?hp
For McCain, Return Points Up Change in the Times
Published: January 7, 2008
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and MARC SANTORA
MANCHESTER
, N.H. — Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign wheeled out a confetti gun on Saturday in Peterborough
to boom a festive end to his 100th town-hall-style meeting. It was the same place he began his New Hampshire
primary campaign of 2000. Mr. McCain, a Republican, is methodically returning in these last days before the New Hampshire primary to the same venues he visited in that campaign, in which he defeated George W. Bush by 18 percentage points. He is surrounded by many of the same New Hampshire
aides, telling many of the same jokes, appealing to the same voters and promising what seems like unlimited access to the state’s residents and reporters. “It’s superstition,” Mr. McCain said Sunday. “And a bit of nostalgia.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/06/AR2008010601588.html?hpid=topnews
McCain Asserts That He Could Beat Obama in Nov.
Senator Says He Will Not Retreat From a Campaign in Which Change Is the Focus
Sunday, January 6, 2008
By Dan Balz and Chris Cillizza
NASHUA, N.H. -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) asserted today that he could win a generational-focused November election campaign against Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on the strength of his record combating special interests and his support for President Bush's troop surge strategy in Iraq. "I've made the most significant change that you could make -- or certainly played a key role in it -- and that is the new strategy in Iraq
," he said. "We went from failure with the old strategy and we have the new strategy and we're saving American lives. I can't think of better change, frankly, or more important than saving American lives."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080106/UPDATE/801060374
Romney steps up criticism of McCain as clock ticks in NH
January 6, 2008
By Deb Price
NASHUA, N.H. -- Deriding Sen. John McCain's chances of beating the Democratic nominee next fall, Republican Mitt Romney told a crowd that voters want "new faces," not Washington insiders who've failed to fix a broken Washington. "Americans are not looking for Washington
insiders. They are looking for change -- and change is what we are going to give them," Romney said to about 300 people at Elm
Street
Middle School
. " I will change Washington
." With only two days left before Tuesday's high-stakes primary, the latest WMUR-CNN poll shows McCain with 33 percent, Romney at 27, Rudy Giuliani at 14 and Mike Huckabee at 11 percent. The 5-point error margin underscores the closeness of the race between McCain and Romney.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7765.html
Romney dials down expectations hard
Jan 6, 2008
By: Jonathan Martin and Jim VandeHei
Mitt Romney, a dominant favorite in New Hampshire
just weeks ago, said Sunday that a "close second" to Arizona Sen. John McCain would be a significant feat on Tuesday. The almost frantic downsizing of expectations for the former Massachusetts
governor came as the candidate and his staff are publicly and privately preparing to explain away what would be a disheartening loss and shift to a last-ditch strategy predicated on his ability to outlast and outspend his rivals, according to sources inside the campaign.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0534975120080106
Huckabee tax plan raises eyebrows in U.S.
Sun Jan 6, 2008
By Ed Stoddard
MANCHESTER
,
New Hampshire
(Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's plan to eliminate all income taxes and replace them with a flat consumption tax has the support of martial arts guru Chuck Norris but few economic analysts. The former Arkansas governor's victory in the Iowa caucus, which kicked off the presidential nomination process for the November 2008 White House race, will bring his policy proposals under closer scrutiny as the candidates do battle in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday. Much of the focus has been on the social conservatism of Huckabee, an ordained Baptist preacher who has connected solidly with his party's influential evangelical base.
http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/13403227.html
The lessons of Huckabee
January 6, 2008
By JOHN BRUMMETT
Nothing has been more instructive in modern American politics than Mike Huckabee's surge to victory in Iowa
and semi-seriousness as a contender for the presidency. I hedge with "semi" because Huckabee likely will come in a distant third to fifth Tuesday in New Hampshire
, which will temper, at least for a week or two, his momentum. For the moment, though, here are four powerful Huckabee-demonstrated lessons: 1. Go where the voters are. The conventional wisdom was that Huckabee was erring by abandoning Iowa
on caucus eve to do "The Tonight Show." But consider what James Carville told me the morning after Bill Clinton went on "The Arsenio Hall Show" in Blues Brothers shades to play the saxophone in 1992, and after I had shared my inside-the-box judgment that Clinton
had fatally trivialized himself: "They asked Willie Sutton why he robbed banks. He said it was because that's where the money was."
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0427445620080106?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&rpc=22&sp=true
Clinton, Obama in New Hampshire
dead heat
Sun Jan 6, 2008
By John Whitesides
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama has pulled into a virtual dead heat with Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire two days before the state's presidential nominating contest, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Sunday. Republican rivals Mitt Romney and John McCain are also essentially deadlocked as the White House races in both parties tightened ahead of Tuesday's New Hampshire
primary. About half of the polling in the four-day tracking survey was conducted after the Iowa
caucuses last Thursday, when Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee sailed to easy wins in the opening
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEMOCRATS_RDP?SITE=MIDTF&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-01-06-22-38-33
Clinton, Obama Clash in Personal Terms
Jan 6, 2008
By JIM KUHNHENN
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- The leading Democratic presidential candidates clashed Sunday over each other's claim to be the true candidate of change in the final hours of the slushy New Hampshire homestretch. Hillary Clinton told voters they should elect "a doer, not a talker." Barack Obama countered that his rivals are stuck in the politics of the past. At a raucous rally in a high school gymnasium in Nashua
, Clinton
skewered Obama for several votes he has cast in the Senate, such as his vote in favor of the Patriot Act and for energy legislation she described as "Dick Cheney's energy bill." She never mentioned
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/weekinreview/06powell.html?_r=1&ref=weekinreview&oref=slogin
Democrats in Sync, Mostly
January 6, 2008
By MICHAEL POWELL
DEMOCRATS might be forgiven for wearing shades, so bright are their days just now. The Democratic turnout in Iowa
more than doubled that of the Republicans. National polls show the party’s top candidates edging out the best of the Republican field. They have also declined to feast on each others’ entrails, although that could change as the campaign and the candidates grow more frenzied. And, whatever their differences in emphasis and philosophy of government, the Democrats have danced to remarkably similar themes. They favor universal health care, withdrawing troops from Iraq
, combating global warming, hiking taxes for the very rich, and slashing taxes for the working and middle classes. It’s all poll tested and much applauded by the party faithful.
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0661395320080107
Clinton
looks to youth for New Hampshire
rebound
Sun Jan 6, 2008
By Ellen Wulfhorst
NASHUA
, New Hampshire
(Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, after losing the youth vote to Barack Obama in Iowa
, turned her attention to young voters in New Hampshire
on Sunday. Young voters turned out in large numbers in Iowa, helping push Obama to victory in the nation's first presidential nominating contest there last Thursday, while a large swath of Clinton's support came from older voters, research showed. Clinton, a New York
senator once seen as the Democratic front-runner but who came in third in Iowa
after Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, is under enormous pressure to regain political momentum ahead of Tuesday's New Hampshire
primary.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0264367920080106
Clinton
battles to keep New Hampshire
from Obama
Sun Jan 6, 2008
By Ellen Wulfhorst and Jason Szep
NASHUA
, New Hampshire
(Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton, her back against the wall in New Hampshire
, battled to keep the state from swinging to rival Barack Obama on Sunday by accusing him of talking about change but failing to get results. In the hotly contested Republican race, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney tried to raise doubts about Arizona Sen. John McCain, who is threatening him in the state ahead of its vote on Tuesday. The race was taking a negative turn on both sides in a state that is vital to efforts by Clinton and Romney to revitalize their campaigns after disappointing showings last Thursday in Iowa
.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0108/Hillary_Putin_doesnt_have_a_soul.html
Hillary: Putin "doesn't have a soul"
January 6, 2008
By Ben Smith
This isn't going to play well in Moscow
.
Speaking in Hampton
this evening, Hillary Rodham Clinton said the president of Russia
"doesn't have a soul." She was riffing on the danger of inexperience, and reliance on personal relationships, in foreign affairs, indirectly comparing Obama to George W. Bush, who notoriously looked into Vladimir Putin's soul and liked what he saw. "I could have told him — he was a KGB agent. By definition he doesn’t have a soul," Clinton
joked. She may have been echoing John McCain's somewhat less personal shot at Putin: "I looked into his eyes and saw three letters: a K, a G and a B."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080106/UPDATE/801060369
Obama picks up support from Senator Bill Bradley
Sunday, January 6, 2008
By Phillip Elliot
MANCHESTER
,
N.H.
-- Bill Bradley, a former presidential hopeful and senator, on Sunday endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president. "Barack Obama is building a broad new coalition that brings together Democrats, independents and Republicans by once again making idealism a central focus of our politics," Bradley said in a statement released by Obama's campaign. "Because of his enormous appeal to Americans of all ages and backgrounds, Obama is the candidate best positioned to win in November. ... His movement for change could create a new era of American politics -- truly a new American story." Bradley, a hall of fame professional basketball player, will campaign for Obama on Monday, Obama aides told The Associated Press.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080106/UPDATE/801060363/1020/NATION
Obama touts change as he ties lead in New Hampshire
poll
Sunday, January 6, 2008
By Deb Price
MANCHESTER
-- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told a crowd at the ornate Palace Theater this morning that he knows they want change with their votes in Tuesday's high-stakes primary, "I can be that president for you." Standing in front of a sign that read "Change we can believe in," Obama sketched out goals for affordable healthcare, ending the war in Iraq
, and stopping the partisan "food fight" in Washington
. "The real gamble in this election is to do the same things with the same folks playing the same games over and over and over again, and somehow expecting a different result," he said the a cheering crowd. "That is a gamble we can't afford."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080106/NEWS07/80106047
Obama campaign fires at Clinton
in abortion dispute
January 6, 2008
By NEDRA PICKLER
DERRY, N.H. — Barack Obama’s campaign fought back against rival Hillary Rodham Clinton today in an under-the-radar dispute over who would best protect abortion rights Obama’s campaign made automated phone calls to New Hampshire voters accusing Clinton of “last-minute smears.” recorded message came in response to a Clinton mailing that said Obama failed to stand up for the right to choose abortion. The mailing said that while serving in the state Senate in Illinois
, Obama voted “present” seven times on abortion legislation instead of taking a yes or no position.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23013962-7583,00.html
A Democrat even Republicans can like
January 07, 2008
By Andrew Sullivan
THE historical analogies for the phenomenon that is Barack Obama have already stretched credibility. For a while, pundits likened him to the Democratic Party's 1950s effete loser Adlai Stevenson. But Obama doesn't seem like such an airhead after his gritty, crushing defeat of Hillary Clinton in Iowa
. So now the favourite analogy is JFK: the young, hopeful rhetorician urging a New Frontier after two terms of conservatism. But that doesn't work either: John F. Kennedy won by out-hawking Richard Nixon in 1960, and Obama is a clear anti-Iraq war candidate. Bobby Kennedy is more apposite: a mix of inner steel and an evolving moral candidacy. Just as a vote for RFK in 1968 was seen by many as a form of collective self-absolution for Vietnam
, so Obama resonates among many Americans who do not recognise what their country has become these past few years.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/race_is_obamas_to_lose.html
A Last Hurdle for Obama?
January 06, 2008
By David Broder
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- It may seem paradoxical, but New Hampshire is poised to close down the race for the Democratic presidential nomination and launch a wide-open Republican contest. The difference is that Barack Obama, the winner of the Iowa
Democratic caucuses, can well repeat his victory here over Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. But Mike Huckabee faces much steeper odds in duplicating his Iowa
win on the Republican side. While Huckabee shattered Mitt Romney's strategy by winning Iowa
, where Romney had invested massively in advertising and organization, he is likely simply to empower John McCain to repeat his 2000 victory in New Hampshire
. A second Romney loss would effectively end the former Massachusetts
governor's candidacy -- a victim of a campaign that lost its credibility along with its ideological definition.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/06/europe/berlin.php
Barack Obama's popularity soars - in Germany
January 6, 2008
By Nicholas Kulish
BERLIN
: Barack Obama's popularity extends far beyond Iowa
and into the heart of Central Europe
. Germany
has swiftly developed a serious case of Obama-mania. Obama's high standing goes beyond his opposition to the Iraq War, which has always been unpopular here. The sudden crush is intimately bound up with the near constant comparisons here between the young senator from Illinois and President John F. Kennedy - still admired in Germany and particularly in Berlin - which have stuck fast as his identity in the German press.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/04/AR2008010404308_pf.html
Why I Believe Bush Must Go
Nixon Was Bad. These Guys Are Worse.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
By George McGovern
As we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have belatedly and painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president. After the 1972 presidential election, I stood clear of calls to impeach President Richard M. Nixon for his misconduct during the campaign. I thought that my joining the impeachment effort would be seen as an expression of personal vengeance toward the president who had defeated me. Today I have made a different choice. Of course, there seems to be little bipartisan support for impeachment. The political scene is marked by narrow and sometimes superficial partisanship, especially among Republicans, and a lack of courage and statesmanship on the part of too many Democratic politicians. So the chances of a bipartisan impeachment and conviction are not promising.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8U0FDHG0&show_article=1
Jerusalem
Readies for Bush's Arrival
Jan 6 2008
By MATTI FRIEDMAN
JERUSALEM (AP) - With hundreds of hotel rooms booked and municipal crews unfolding red, white and blue flags, Jerusalem is getting ready for its highest- profile visitor in years: President Bush. Jerusalemites are accustomed to waiting in traffic jams as convoys of black sedans shuttle visiting dignitaries around the city, the seat of Israel
's government. But Bush, who arrives for three days beginning Wednesday, constitutes a VIP of a different order. Israel
is pulling out all the stops to impress a man who is perhaps its staunchest foreign ally in his first visit as U.S.
president. Jerusalem
is spending nearly $400,000 to spruce itself up for the visit, said Jacob Avishar, the city official in charge of coordinating preparations. Garbage teams are in furious race to clean the city's often dusty streets and walls tagged with spray paint, he said.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4093635&page=1
American Al Qaeda Leader To Bush: 'We Will Be Waiting For You'
Native Californian Al Qaeda Leader Makes Threats Against Bush Middle East
Visit
By MADELEINE SAUER
Jan. 6, 2008
American Al Qaeda leader Adam Gadahn told his followers to welcome Bush "with bombs and traps" upon his upcoming visit to the Middle East
this week. "The occupied territories are awaiting their first visit by the crusader Bush and the mujahideen are also waiting for him," said Gadahn, a California
native and now an Al Qaeda spokesman. Gadahn is the star of the latest al Qaeda propaganda video to be posted online by the group's media wing, As Sahab. In his newest dramatic gesture, Gadahn tore up his U.S.
passport in protest of the imprisonment of fellow al Qaeda followers Abu Zubaydah, John Walker Lindh and Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/trudy_rubin/20080106_Worldview___How_safe_are_Pakistans_nukes_.html
How safe are Pakistan
's nukes?
January 6, 2008
By Trudy Rubin
Ever since 9/11, the nightmare scenario for American security has been the possibility that terrorists could obtain nuclear weapons I've just come back from the place where, in theory, that might happen. Not Iraq
, of course, not now and not before we invaded. (Our focus has clearly been on the wrong country.) I refer instead to Pakistan
, a country that is thought to have about 50 nuclear warheads, where al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other jihadis have established a substantial foothold.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/weekinreview/06burns.html?ref=weekinreview
Ghosts That Haunt Pakistan
By JOHN F. BURNS
Published: January 6, 2008
WHEN Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, the killers struck in Rawalpindi
, an ancient garrison town, on the edge of a leafy park named for another Pakistani who had served as prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan; he was assassinated in the park in 1951. Barely a mile away, Ms. Bhutto’s father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, another former prime minister, was hanged in 1979 at the city’s central jail. One of the doctors who failed to reanimate Ms. Bhutto at a Rawalpindi
hospital was the son of a doctor who similarly failed to save Liaquat Ali Khan. The killings varied widely — Liaquat Ali Khan was shot by a Pashtun separatist; Mr. Bhutto was hanged after a court appointed by a military dictator found him guilty of murdering a minor political opponent from Baluchistan; and the question of who sent the suicide bomber and the gunman who attacked Ms. Bhutto on Dec. 27 is the subject of an investigation in which the Pakistani police will be assisted by experts from Scotland Yard.
