Articles of Interest 5-8-08
180 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
McCAIN DOES MICHIGAN…in a whirlwind fundraising, political, and ‘town hall’ style meetings across Michigan, John McCain reminded America why he’s tested and ready to be our next Commander-in- Chief.
McCAIN TALKS JUDGES…in what is now considered a key speech to the “center-right” coalition in America, John McCain promised to appoint constructionist, conservative, main-stream judges to the court…not liberal activists.
STATE SUPREME COURT… ruled yesterday that public institutions are not permitted to provide health benefits to same-sex domestic partners. Read more below.
LIVINGSTON COUNTY GOP WIN SCHOOL BOARD RACES…as Republicans and taxpayers groups teamed up to challenge the MEA backed candidate for the Brighton School Board, both “non-MEA”, “non-partisan”, candidates defeated the MEA, union backed candidate. Yes they used Voter Vault walking lists!!! Congratulations.
NEWT’S APPEAL TO THE GOP…here is a great message that should resonate with Republicans running this fall. Republicans need an opportunity society styled agenda!
ANDY DILLON…missing in action. While Rome (Michigan) burns, while OTHER House and Senate members work to help bring Michigan back…Democrat Speaker Dillon is missing in action. Rumor has it he’s still celebrating Cinco de Mayo?
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS ANDY DILLON?...timing is everything.
CONGRESSMAN ERIC CANTOR …was profiled in the May 6th edition of “Roll Call”, the article was titled “Leader in Waiting”. I’ve met with Congressman Cantor several times over the last few years… sharp, committed, politically savvy, and forward looking. Cantor is someone worth watching…and on of the “Young Guns”.
PETITION CIRCULATORS…time is running out. If you have petitions for our federal candidates…please mail them in so they can track their progress.
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THE REST OF THE STORY:
STATE SUPREME COURT…The state Supreme Court ruled this morning that public institutions are not permitted to provide health benefits to same-sex domestic partners under the "one-man, one-woman marriage" constitutional amendment of 2004.
Under the 5-2 ruling in National Pride at Work v. Governor, the five Republican-nominated justices upheld an appellate court decision that since the amendment bans the public recognition of any union that isn't between one man and one woman "for any purpose," granting a gay employee's significant other benefits typically reserved to a married employees spouse is not allowed. The two Democrat-nominated justices wrote in a dissenting opinion that "it is a perversion" to read into the constitutional amendment an extension into health care benefits.
In the 5-2 decision, Democrats Kelly and Cavanaugh were the ONLY two dissenting.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
PUBLISHED: Wednesday, May 7, 2008
John McCain rolls into Oakland
ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain says there's no more fundamental right to a free society than the right to religious freedom, and he would make it a priority in international relations if elected.
The Arizona senator also used the town hall meeting Wednesday at Oakland University to say he would establish a task force to prosecute human traffickers and rescue its victims.
More than 20 protesters stood outside the Shotwell-Gustafson Pavilion ahead of the meeting chanting "Outsource McCain." Some carried anti-war signs.
McCain: Mich. economy fix lies in helping displaced workers
5/7/2008, 2:52 p.m. EDT
By JEFF KAROUB
The Associated Press
ROCHESTER, Mich. (AP) — The answers to fixing Michigan's ailing economy lie not in junking free trade agreements but in retooling the skills of laid-off manufacturing workers, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said during a campaign stop in the state Wednesday.
"The problem is not free trade ... we have not cared for the displaced worker," McCain said at a town hall meeting at Oakland University, north of Detroit.
"Innovation is here in the great state of Michigan — the birthplace of the modern automobile industry," he said. "Of course, the old kinds of doing business (are) not coming back. But the new innovation and new technology and green technology that will both eliminate our dependence on foreign oil as well as greenhouse gas emissions is right here in the state of Michigan."
OU crowd puts McCain on hot seat
BY KATHLEEN GRAY and EMILIA ASKARI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
The questions came fast and furious at Republican presidential contender John McCain — What about his bad temper? Why he would want to keep troops in Iraq for 100 years? Why does he want veterans to go into debt when they attend college?
It wasn’t journalists trying to score a scoop by asking the questions. They came from ordinary citizens in a crowd of several hundred people at Oakland University’s Shotwell-Gustafson Pavilion in Rochester Hills. They were there to learn more about the senator from Arizona who was holding a town hall meeting. Not all the questions were pointed. Consider: Why aren’t children taught more about patriotism in school? And who was he picking to run with him as vice president?
John McCain goes one-on-one with the Free Press
By BRIAN KAUFMAN/DFP
In a on-on-one interview, Republican presidential nominee John McCain sat down with the Free Press after his appearance at a town hall meeting at Oakland University.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Decision 2008
McCain: U.S. auto industry can be tops again
Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
ROCHESTER HILLS -- Michigan's flagging auto industry can regain its world prominence by investing in new technologies and the federal government can help with tax breaks, incentives and worker retraining programs, John McCain said Wednesday.
After a free-wheeling, 75-minute town hall meeting with about 700 people on the Oakland University campus, the Republican presidential candidate told The Detroit News that he thinks he can win Michigan in November with his action plan to revitalize the state's automotive might. "You have to care for displaced workers, give them education and training that works so they have another chance to be part of the economy," McCain said.
Environment, gas prices, Iraq are hot topics
By Matt FranklinDETROIT (WJRT) -- (05/07/08)--The race to the White House pushed through Michigan Wednesday, as likely Republican candidate Sen. John McCain held a town hall forum in the Detroit area. Among the topics discussed were the state's economy and the automobile industry.
McCain made it very clear: The answer to fixing Michigan's economy is to keep taxes low and keep the focus on laid-off auto workers. For about an hour, McCain answered some tough questions from the men and women that could send him to the White House in November.
McCain jokes about reputation for temper
5/7/2008, 10:08 p.m. EDT
By LIBBY QUAID
The Associated Press
ROCHESTER, Mich. (AP) — Republican John McCain pretended to snarl when asked about his temper Wednesday.
"How dare you ask that question!" McCain said, chuckling. His questioner persisted, reading a comment by a fellow Republican, Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, that the idea of McCain as the GOP presidential nominee sent a chill down his spine. "I'm all too familiar with the quote," said McCain, who has since smoothed things over with his colleague.
Cleaning lady and baker help run Walberg’s office
By Kris Kitto
Posted: 05/06/08 04:26 PM [ET]
There’s the conventional way to land a job on the Hill — multiple internships, campaign work or policy expertise — and then there’s the Kristin Sutton-Lindsay Ingels way.
Sutton, 25, who started in January as one of Rep. Tim Walberg’s (R-Mich.) staff assistants, owned and operated a construction cleaning company in her prior life. Her colleague, Lindsay Ingels, 24, promoted in November from staff assistant to executive assistant, tested out the restaurant industry before moving to Washington.
After graduating from Liberty University in 2005, Sutton decided that instead of immediately going to work for someone else, she first wanted to work for herself.
PUBLISHED: Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Recall group criticizes Michigan House speaker's vacation
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- A group trying to recall Democratic Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon is criticizing his absence from the Legislature this week.
Dillon is on a previously scheduled family vacation in Mexico. The House is meeting this week.
Lawmakers of both parties occasionally have missed session for family trips in recent years. But critics say it is rare for a legislative leader to do so.
A Dillon spokesman said Wednesday the speaker's vacation time has been limited during regularly scheduled House breaks because of his leadership role.
Mich. Dems settle on delegate-seating plan to bring to DNC
5/7/2008, 10:53 p.m. EDT
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Democratic leaders settled Wednesday on a plan to give presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton 69 delegates and Barack Obama 59 as a way to get the delegates seated at the national convention.
Clinton won the Jan. 15 Michigan primary and was to get 73 pledged delegates under state party rules, while Obama was to get 55. The state also has 29 superdelegates.
The state party's executive committee voted Wednesday to ask the national party's Rules and Bylaws Committee to approve the 69-59 delegate split when it meets May 31. The plan would shrink Clinton's delegate edge in Michigan from 18 to 10 and allow the state's 157 delegates and superdelegates to be seated at the convention.
Mayor Kilpatrick's team dresses down media over school play photo
Ron French / The Detroit News
First, he denied authorship of scandalous text messages. Now, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is denying he appeared in a dress in a middle school play.
In the quirkiest mayoral flap in recent months, aides are attacking a Washington D.C. newspaper for publishing a grainy, color photo of a 1984 performance of "Little Annie" at Dwight Rich Middle School in Lansing. It shows eight boys wearing wigs and dresses, including one wearing a red dress with a plunging neckline identified as Kwame Kilpatrick.
Prosecutor: Detroit mayor attorneys seek to delay court case
5/7/2008, 4:01 p.m. EDT
By COREY WILLIAMS
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy on Wednesday accused lawyers for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his ex-top aide of attempting to delay their pending criminal case.
Defense attorneys filed a motion in 36th District Court claiming Worthy's office has withheld documents it plans to use in the prosecution of Kilpatrick and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty on perjury and other charges.
The motion seeks sanctions and asks that those documents not be admissible in court, said Mayer Morganroth, Beatty's attorney.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Error slows bid to oust mayor
Man files petition for Granholm to remove Kilpatrick, but request cites wrong state law.
Mike Wilkinson / The Detroit News
The first request to Gov. Jennifer Granholm urging her to invoke rarely used powers and dump Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick seems destined for failure because the petitioner cited the wrong law in his complaint.
Doug Johnson, a paralegal who also unsuccessfully attempted to recall Kilpatrick, acknowledged the goof Wednesday, one day after filing a four-page request excoriating the mayor for "betray(ing) the trust of millions of people throughout Michigan" and urging Granholm to act. Johnson said he'll fix the mistake and re-file his bid this week.
Wanted: Macomb County executive
Some big names already have shown interest in most powerful post
By Chad Selweski
Macomb Daily Staff Writer
County executive will be the most high-profile office ever offered in Macomb County politics, but only a select few have their eyes on the prize. Following Tuesday's historic election, with Macomb voters approving an executive-led government, there was no rush of contenders eager to be seen as CEO material.
Though the election of Macomb's first executive probably won't take place until 2010, the political speculation started to take shape several months ago, with county Treasurer Ted Wahby, Sheriff Mark Hackel and state Rep. Jack Brandenburg mentioned most frequently as candidates for the new post.
Macomb moves toward executive
56% of voters back panel to change county's charter.
Jim Lynch / The Detroit News
MOUNT CLEMENS -- Macomb voters took a major step Tuesday night toward creating their own elected county executive in the mold of neighboring Oakland and Wayne counties.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, 56 percent of voters approved the creation of a charter committee -- an elected panel that would reorganize Macomb County's government. The new charter, once approved by voters, is expected to provide for an elected county executive's office.
Grosse Pointe Shores to be Metro Detroit's newest city
Voters approve change designed to streamline government services.
Tanveer Ali / The Detroit News
GROSSE POINTE SHORES -- Residents of the posh hamlet on the Lake St. Clair shoreline voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to incorporate their village as Metro Detroit's newest city.
The changes in the village of about 3,000 people, the smallest of all the Pointes, will be subtle. The measure passed by a 505-127 margin, with about 28 percent of voters turning out. Supporters were enticed by the promise of streamlining the local government..
Mich. high court: Ambassador Bridge exempt from local laws
5/7/2008, 5:37 p.m. EDT
By JIM IRWIN
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — The Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, is exempt from Detroit zoning ordinances under most circumstances, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
The unanimous decision reverses a Court of Appeals decision and upholds Wayne County Circuit Judge James Rashid's ruling. The dispute arose when the Detroit International Bridge Co. decided in 2000 to install new tollbooths, a diesel fuel station for its duty-free plaza and truck weighing stations. The federal government eventually approved the projects.
Supreme Court hears 'cold case' arguments
5/7/2008, 5:47 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The case of a doctor who was charged with murdering his wife 38 years after she died is before the Michigan Supreme Court.
The issue debated Wednesday was whether the case against Charles William Mercer of Okemos should be dismissed because of the delay or if Mercer must first show that the prosecution delayed the case to gain an advantage.
Mercer was arrested in connection with the death of Sally Mercer in 2006. Investigators who re-examined the case say she died of a drug overdose, not bulbar polio as ruled in 1968.
Mich. appeals court hears arguments in absentee ballot suit
5/7/2008, 5:53 p.m. EDT
By JIM IRWIN
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — The Macomb County clerk says roadblocks to voting should be eliminated, and she's doing her part by mailing applications for absentee ballots to all senior citizens in the county.
But the Michigan Republican Party is backing an effort to block Carmella Sabaugh from mailing unsolicited applications for this year's remaining elections, claiming the practice is outside county government's authority. A Michigan Court of Appeals panel heard arguments on the issue during a Wednesday hearing attended by about three dozen Macomb seniors who traveled to Detroit by bus.
Mich. high court says gay partners can't get health benefits
5/7/2008, 7:06 p.m. EDT
By DAVID EGGERT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a voter-approved ban against gay marriage also prevents governments and state universities from recognizing domestic partnerships to provide health insurance to the partners of gay workers.
The 5-2 decision affects up to 20 universities, community colleges, school districts and governments in Michigan with policies covering at least 375 gay couples.
Gay rights advocates said the ruling is devastating but also are confident that public-sector employers have successfully rewritten or will revise their benefit plans so same-sex partners can keep getting health care.
Summary Box: Court says gay partners can't get benefits
5/7/2008, 7:06 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
(AP) — SAME-SEX BENEFITS: The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled that a 2004 ban against gay marriage blocks governments and state universities from recognizing domestic partnerships to offer health insurance to partners of gay workers.
MAJORITY: Says domestic partnerships are similar to marriage and therefore can't be recognized under the law.
DISSENT: Argues domestic partnerships aren't similar enough because gay couples don't enjoy other benefits of marriage.
Michigan court says school plotter won't get longer sentence
5/7/2008, 6:52 p.m. EDT
By DAVID EGGERT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A student who plotted a massacre at his high school won't be sentenced to a longer term for making terrorist threats, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
The case involves Andrew Osantowski, who as a 17-year-old in 2004 sent messages to an Internet chat room saying he might kill fellow students at Chippewa Valley High School near Mount Clemens. Osantowski was convicted of threatening an act of terrorism and using a computer to threaten terrorism.
A dispute arose over how to calculate his sentence, and potentially future defendants, charged with terrorist acts. The case appears to have been one of the first in the country to apply anti-terrorism laws to threats of school violence.
Abortion only one facet of Planned Parenthood's mission
"Mom, this is supposed to be a great movie for me to watch without you," the girl said, reaching for the "Juno" DVD at my neighborhood Blockbuster last Saturday. She was 14 or 15, a redhead in jeans, the same demographic as the title character in last year's funny and original ode to the conundrum of teenage pregnancy.
Her mother looked worried, as she perused the DVD noncommittally: It might as well have been 1958 instead of 2008. It's precisely this kind of fundamental discomfort with sexuality, with those murky needs and desires at the core of life, that provided Lori Lamerand with a mission.
Mich. senator wants 16-year-olds to vote in school elections
5/7/2008, 3:02 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A constitutional amendment has been introduced to let 16- and 17-year-olds vote in Michigan school board elections.
State Sen. Michael Switalski, D-Roseville, said Wednesday his goal is encouraging young people to participate in important elections that affect the student body and usually attract "embarrassingly low" turnout. He hopes students can learn about democracy by voting.
Axle union reps leave talks
But dialogue goes on in 72-day strike at car supplier
Eric Morath / The Detroit News
United Auto Workers negotiators from out-of-town union locals were not at the bargaining table Wednesday with top American Axle officials, but talks continued to try to end the 72-day strike against the Detroit-based auto supplier.
Company and union officials said talks are progressing even without the plant-level bargainers.
UAW representatives from Three Rivers and New York returned home after a month of near continuous negotiations in Detroit with American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc.
Michigan Democrats to ponder delegate issue
By Sean Lengell
May 7, 2008
Michigan Democratic Party leaders will meet today to consider a compromise on seating the state's disqualified delegates at the national convention.
The proposal, offered by four prominent Michigan Democrats, would give Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton a 10-delegate edge, 69-59, for her victory in a race that did not include rival Sen. Barack Obama on the ballot.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Clinton's fading hopes cling to Michigan, Florida
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign Wednesday pinned its increasingly thin hopes for the Democratic nomination on winning full delegate slates from Michigan and Florida -- but the hard reality of delegate math makes victory nearly impossible.
While Clinton's aides described unlikely possibilities, the Obama campaign signaled Wednesday that it was willing to negotiate an end to the long delegate disputes in Florida and Michigan, even if it cuts into his delegate lead.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Democrats press fight for Michigan delegates
But deal at this point not enough for Clinton
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign Wednesday pinned its increasingly thin hopes for the Democratic nomination on winning full delegate slates from Michigan and Florida -- but the hard reality of delegate math makes victory nearly impossible.
While Clinton's aides described unlikely possibilities, the Obama campaign signaled Wednesday that it was willing to negotiate an end to the long delegate disputes in Florida and Michigan, even if it cuts into his delegate lead.
Watch Detroit burn if Clinton goes 'nuclear' with Florida, Michigan delegations
Posted by Susan J. Demas | Capitol Chronicles | Analysis May 05, 2008 21:44PM
Hillary Clinton
As if Detroit couldn't get much worse, riots could break out there as early as May 31. But a Democratic operative tells me I'm being premature; the real fun will start around Aug. 26.
Allow me to back up a few steps. I first reported on April 21 that Hillary Clinton could take more than 70 percent of Michigan's delegates and then wrote a column that made its way to Newsweek and NPR.
On Sunday, Joseph Edsall, Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, published a blockbuster piece, Clinton Camp Says It Will Use The Nuclear Option. That refers to both Michigan (hurrah) and Florida:
Frank Beckmann interview on Detroit and Clinton 'nuclear' option
Posted by Susan J. Demas | Capitol Chronicles | Analysis May 07, 2008 12:37PM
Frank Beckmann
While I was following John McCain around today, Frank Beckmann of WJR interviewed me about my blog, Watch Detroit burn if Clinton goes 'nuclear' with Florida, Michigan delegations.
We had a lively debate over my assertion that there's a palpable anger amongst Barack Obama backers that could become explosive if they feel Clinton stole the nomination. This hasn't been talked about very much. What's interesting is that Tuesday's election results may make the debate moot. Certainly it's a much less likely scenario, as Thomas Edsall reported that the nuclear option at the Rules Committee was predicated Hillary Clinton having a strong showing Tuesday.
McCain raises over $2 mil in Michigan
Jonathan Martin's blog -Politico 5/8/08
So said John Rakolta -- a former national finance chair and ubiqutous presence around Mitt Romney during the primary -- last night at the suburban Detroit funder for the GOP nominee.
Rakolta is now a Victory co-chair in Michigan. Per standard McCain practice now, the money will be split between the campaign and Victory committees.
NATIONAL STORIES
McCain indicts judges who 'make' law
May 7, 2008
By Joseph Curl - WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Sen. John McCain yesterday lashed out at liberal judges for making law rather than interpreting the Constitution and ripped the current Supreme Court for injudicious decisions, throwing some red meat to his conservative base on an issue dear to it.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee said America's courts have strayed far from the edict of the Founding Fathers, who laid out "not just guidelines," not "helpful suggestions," but a clear set of limits.
"The moral authority of our judiciary depends on judicial self-restraint, but this authority quickly vanishes when a court presumes to make law instead of apply it. A court is hardly competent to check the abuses of other branches of government when it cannot even control itself," Mr. McCain said.
Republicans Focus on Obama as Fall Opponent
By MICHAEL COOPER
May 8, 2008
At least one political party is acting like it knows who the Democratic nominee will be: the Republicans, who have greatly stepped up their criticisms of Senator Barack Obama in recent weeks while practically ignoring Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.
For weeks, Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, has directed his most pointed barbs at Mr. Obama. The Republican National Committee prominently features an anti-Obama advertisement on its Web site’s home page, which has no mention of Mrs. Clinton.
And at least one independent group that had prepared advertisements attacking Mrs. Clinton is compiling material to produce new ones attacking Mr. Obama.
Trust But Verify
McCain on judges.
By Shannen W. Coffin
There is much to respect in Sen. John McCain’s address on the judicial-selection process, delivered at Wake Forest University on Tuesday. There is also much to question. In discussing the philosophy that would guide his selection of Supreme Court justices and lower-court judges, McCain sought to reinforce a conservative base that accepts him as their standard bearer but views him with a well-earned skepticism. McCain’s words should comfort conservatives, but, measured against his actions, will require significant reinforcement to be believed.
McCain sounded all the right notes for a candidate seeking to reassure conservatives that he can be trusted on judicial selection. He cited some recent, well-trodden judicial horror stories, like Justice Kennedy’s decision in Roper v. Simmons, where the Court relied on unratified treaties and “the opinion of the world community” to conclude that the U.S. constitution somehow prohibited the execution of a 17-year-old cold-blooded killer. McCain recognized that Roper and similar decisions “disregard our Constitution, and brush off the standards of the people themselves and their elected representatives.”
May 06, 2008, 1:15 p.m.
Judicial Promise
By the Editors
John McCain is driven by his sense of honor. Far more than most politicians, he prides himself on keeping his promises — and to make only promises that he can keep. His speech Tuesday on how he as president would approach the critical role of selecting judges therefore deserves special attention.
In his speech at Wake Forest University, McCain identified the battle over the proper role of the judiciary as “one of the defining issues of this presidential election.” Defending the Constitution’s separation of powers, he forcefully decried how the decades-long “common and systematic abuse of our federal courts” by judicial activists has usurped the power of the American people to address policy questions through the democratic process. McCain drew a line between his own commitment to judges who will practice judicial restraint and Barack Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s overt embrace of liberal judicial activism. Obama and Clinton, he observed in understated fashion, “don’t seem to mind when fundamental questions of social policy are preemptively decided by judges instead of by the people and their elected representatives.”
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
McCain on Judges [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
See "Bench Memos" for more. And McCainiac Sam Brownback spoke to the "Campaign Spot" about the speech yesterday.
What McCain is presumably addressing, of course, is not just differences between him and the Democrats, but conservative concerns. Like the Gang of 14, about which Mark Levin & Andy McCarthy wrote earlier this year:
The Gang of 14 deal was, for all intents and purposes, the deal that then-Minority Leader Harry Reid offered Frist the previous week. The Majority Leader turned Reid down flat. He opted to press ahead — something it would have been exceedingly strange to do if he secretly approved of the deal’s terms, as the Whites suggest. Frist obviously did that because he perceived, given the pressure from conservatives, that if compelled to be publicly accountable, many of the potential GOP defectors would vote in favor of ending filibusters despite their misgivings.
Obama and the Jewish Vote [Mark Hemingway]
From Marc Ambinder:
Gallup's tracking finds that 61% of all Jewish voters would choose Barack Obama in a general election versus John McCain, only a smidge less than the percentage who would choose Clinton over McCain (66%).
Caveat: Jews have voted for the Democrat in much higher proportions -- John Kerry took 76% of the Jewish vote; Al Gore took 79% of the Jewish vote.
What this suggests is that McCain attracts more than an average Republican's share of Jewish voters -- not that Obama repels him.
Rudy Giuliani on Newt Gingrich's Dire Warning for the GOP
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
This is a rush transcript from "America's Election HQ," May 6, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
BILL HEMMER, CO-HOST: FOX News Election Alert now: An exclusive on our program tonight, Rudy Giuliani is here. We want to get his reaction to the following story that broke last night.
The former speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, and a FOX News contributor, has just delivered a major warning to the Republican Party on the Hill. Gingrich believes the GOP could be headed for a, quote, "real disaster" this fall and is calling on the party to seek real change now to avoid it.
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/the-nominees-emerge-hobbled/index.html?ref=opinion
The Nominees Emerge, Hobbled
By David Brooks
Here are two things we learned tonight. First, Barack Obama is going to almost certainly be the Democratic nominee. He’s withstood seven weeks of bad news and he still exceeded expectations.
The second thing we learned is that this general election is going to look nothing like the last two. Those elections were base mobilization elections. The candidates did little to upset party orthodoxy or move dramatically toward the center. That won’t work this time.
The extended primary season has changed the profile of Obama supporters. Back in Iowa, he seemed to gather post-partisan and bipartisan support. He was strong among independents. But if you look at the exit polls from tonight and from the recent primaries, one thing leaps out at you: the further left you go, the more support Obama gets.
May 8, 2008
White House and Democrats Move on Ohio Court Plan
By NEIL A. LEWIS
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats and the White House moved ahead Wednesday with a compromise to break a years-long impasse over approving judges for the federal appeals court based in Ohio.
But Senate Republicans seemed markedly unenthusiastic about the plan as the Judiciary Committee held hearings on two nominees to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit who are at the heart of the compromise. One nominee is Helene N. White, a liberal Democratic candidate originally put forward by President Bill Clinton, while the other is Raymond M. Kethledge, a conservative Republican chosen by the Bush White House. One effect of the compromise would be to cement Republican conservative control of the court for the foreseeable future no matter who is elected president..
Limbaugh comes out for Obama
Posted: 08:50 PM ET
(CNN) – He has publicly urged Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton to keep the divisive Democratic nomination fight alive, but talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said Wednesday it's Barack Obama who he really wants to be the party's nominee.
"I now believe he would be the weakest of the Democrat nominees," Limbaugh, among the most powerful voices in conservative radio, said on his program. "I now urge the Democrat supereldegates to make your mind up and publicly go for Obama."
"Barack Obama has shown he cannot get the votes Democrats need to win – blue-collar, working class people," Limbaugh also said. "He can get effete snobs, he can get wealthy academics, he can get the young, and he can get the black vote, but Democrats do not win with that."
The Huffington Post
Big Rewards Await Clinton If She Ends Campaign Now
May 7, 2008 05:49 PM
She has ruled it out, but a prompt withdrawal from the contest for the Democratic nomination offers Sen. Hillary Clinton the prospect of major rewards.
One of the most inviting is the near certainty that the Obama campaign would agree to pay back the $11.4 million she has loaned her own bid, along with an estimated $10 million to $15 million in unpaid campaign expenses.
In addition, Democrats, both those who are loyal and those who are opposed to her campaign, say the odds of her winning a top leadership spot in the Senate would improve dramatically if she gracefully conceded now. The icing on the cake includes an improved political climate, giving Hillary and Bill Clinton the opportunity to heal the rift with the black political community.
Clinton Spurns Calls to Quit Race
Odds and Allegiances Shift Further to Obama
By Dan Balz, Anne E. Kornblut and Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 8, 2008; A01
Now facing almost insurmountable odds, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) came under fresh pressure yesterday to end her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination against Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), but she vowed to remain in the race "until there is a nominee."
Clinton's narrow win in Indiana late Tuesday provided none of the boost that her campaign advisers had anticipated. Her small margin, coupled with Obama's runaway victory in the North Carolina primary, shifted the dynamics of the Democratic race dramatically and sharply against her overnight.
Clinton lends her struggling campaign $6.4 million
Liz Sidoti / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- 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.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Analysis: Dems tell Clinton to end it
McGovern says candidly what other party officials will only insinuate: Race for nomination is settled.
david Espo / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Apart from George McGovern, a plainspoken man who knows something about losing elections, not a single Democrat of national stature publicly urged Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday to end her campaign for the White House.
They didn't have to. There was no shortage of other ways to signal, suggest, insinuate or instigate the same thing. And certainly no need to apply unseemly pressure to a historic political figure, a woman who has run a grueling race, won millions of votes and drawn uncounted numbers of new Democratic voters to the polls.
May 8, 2008
Support for Clinton Wanes as Obama Sees Finish Line
By PATRICK HEALY and JEFF ZELENY
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton struck a publicly defiant posture on Wednesday about continuing her presidential bid despite waning support from Democratic officials and donors. Some of her advisers acknowledged privately that they remained unsure about the future of her candidacy.
With the political world trained on Mrs. Clinton’s financial and electoral viability, Senator Barack Obama moved closer to becoming the first African-American presidential nominee of a major party. Mr. Obama spent the day at home in Chicago, after increasing his delegate lead in Tuesday’s primaries — a result that led David Plouffe, a top Obama aide, to say on Wednesday, “We can see the finish line here.”
Clinton: I'm staying in the race
May 7, 2008
By Liz Sidoti and Beth Fouhy - SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — A tenacious Hillary Rodham Clinton pushed ahead with her White House bid today, revealing that she lent her cash-strapped campaign $6.4 million while vowing to seek the nomination at the ballot box and through Democratic Party channels.
Clinton met with fresh pressure to bow out of the race. Former Sen. George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee who had backed her candidacy, urged her to get out today and said he had decided to endorse Barack Obama.
But Clinton's campaign seemed determined to buy time to make her case to party elders and figure out how to overtake Obama. Indeed, few Democrats expect her to drop out anytime soon.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
McGovern, former Clinton backer, urges her to drop out, endorses Obama
Dennis Gale / Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Former Sen. George McGovern, an early supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton, urged her to drop out of the Democratic presidential race and endorsed her rival, Barack Obama.
After watching the returns from the North Carolina and Indiana primaries Tuesday night, McGovern said Wednesday it's virtually impossible for Clinton to win the nomination. The 1972 Democratic presidential nominee said he had a call in to former President Clinton to tell him of the decision, adding that he remains close friends with the Clintons.
"I will hold them in affection and admiration all of my days," he said of the Clintons.
Leader of Nepal's Maoist party endorses Clinton
May 7, 2008
By Chitra Tiwari - KATMANDU, Nepal — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has picked up an unusual endorsement in her bid for the presidency — the leader of Nepal's Maoist party and most likely Nepal's first democratically elected head of state.
Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who led a decade-long insurgency against Nepal's monarchy under the nom-de-guerre Prachanda, gave a quasi endorsement to Mrs. Clinton during an interview with The Washington Times at his home in Katmandu.
When asked if he was following the American election campaign, and if so, what was his preference, Mr. Dahal said he would like to see the Democrats take over the White House.
Tests Ahead for Obama
By Robert D. Novak
Thursday, May 8, 2008; A23
Buyer's remorse was beginning to afflict supporters of Barack Obama before Tuesday's primary election returns showed he had delivered a knockout punch against Hillary Clinton. The young orator who had seemed so fantastic, beginning with his 2007 Jefferson-Jackson dinner speech in Iowa, disappointed even his own advisers over the past two weeks, and old party hands mourned that they were stuck with a flawed candidate.
The whipping Obama gave Clinton in North Carolina and his near miss in Indiana transformed that impression. The candidate who delivered the victory speech in Raleigh, N.C., was the Obama of Des Moines, bearing no resemblance to the gloomy, uneasy candidate who had seemed unable to deal with bumps in the campaign road. Returning to his eloquent call for unity, the victorious Obama dismissed in advance Republican criticism of his ideology or his past as the same old partisan bickering that the people hate.
Did Rush Limbaugh Tilt Result In Indiana?
Conservative Host Urged 'Chaos' Votes
By Alec MacGillis and Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 8, 2008; A01
Even as Barack Obama's campaign celebrated Tuesday's primary results, aides charged yesterday that they would have had an even stronger showing were it not for meddling by an unlikely booster of Hillary Rodham Clinton: the popular conservative radio host and longtime Clinton family nemesis Rush Limbaugh.
The impact of Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos" emerged as an intriguing point of debate, particularly in Indiana, where registered voters could participate in either party's primary, and where Clinton won by a mere 14,000 votes. As he had before several recent primaries, Limbaugh encouraged listeners to vote for Clinton to "bloody up Obama politically" and prolong the Democratic fight.
Union through necessity
By Karen Goldberg Goff
May 7, 2008
No longer is the theoretical choice between marrying for love or money. For some, a spouse may be considered quite a catch if he or she comes with health benefits.
Seven percent of respondents in a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released last week said they or someone they knew had made the decision to get married in the last year partly because they could share access to health care benefits.
Granted, a prescription card likely won't replace mutual attraction or a wedding ring among most people, but the pollsters nonetheless were surprised that the question got affirmative answers at all.
The Biofuels Backlash
May 7, 2008; Page A18
St. Jude is the patron saint of lost causes, and for 30 years we invoked his name as we opposed ethanol subsidies. So imagine our great, pleasant surprise to see that the world is suddenly awakening to the folly of subsidized biofuels.
All it took was a mere global "food crisis." Last week chief economist Joseph Glauber of the USDA, which has been among Big Ethanol's best friends in Washington, blamed biofuels for increasing prices on corn and soybeans. Mr. Glauber also predicted that corn prices will continue their historic rise because of demand from "expanding use for ethanol."
Guns for Oil
May 7, 2008; Page A18
Speaking of energy (see here), we can't help but give more attention to a recent press release from some of the Senate's leading liberals. Charles Schumer, Byron Dorgan, Bernie Sanders, Bob Casey and Mary Landrieu are demanding that President Bush tell OPEC nations to increase their oil supplies or risk losing arms deals with the United States. The Senators say U.S. consumers need the price relief that only increased oil production can bring.
Yes, that Senator Schumer and that Senator Dorgan, both of whom voted against increasing U.S. oil production because they couldn't abide drilling across 1% of Alaska's wilderness. Yes, that Senator Casey, who has called for mandatory reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide. At least Senator Landrieu of Louisiana has fought to allow more offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
Ethanol is not the problem
By Tim Johnson
May 7, 2008
Record energy costs and rising food prices are taking a painful toll on consumers' pocketbooks. Fuel and food are basic necessities, and there is a limit to how much Americans can tighten up their family budgets. As Congress considers how to turn the U.S. economy around, some suggest the choice we must make is to surrender our commitment to renewable fuels such as ethanol. That would be a mistake, costing Americans dearly by squandering our long-term economic and national security, while doing little to affect the food supply or prices.
Those calling for biofuels to take a back seat in our energy plan have waged a relentless campaign of misinformation, blaming U.S. policies in support of ethanol and biodiesel for inflation in the grocery aisle. Frightening Americans by arguing that ethanol made from corn is somehow taking food from the world's hungry might be sensational, but it is not supported by the facts.
Oil price might climb to $200
BLOOMBERG NEWS
May 7, 2008
Crude oil could rise to between $150 and $200 a barrel within two years as growth in supply fails to keep pace with demand from developing nations, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts reported yesterday.
Goldman analyst Arjun N. Murti first wrote of a "super spike" in March 2005, when he said oil prices could range between $50 and $105 a barrel through 2009. The price of crude traded in New York averaged $56.71 in 2005, $66.23 in 2006 and $72.36 in 2007.
Ford to address shareholders after Kerkorian investment
5/7/2008, 6:55 p.m. EDT
By KEN THOMAS
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ford's most prominent new shareholder is not expected at the automaker's annual meeting Thursday, but his formidable presence will be felt.
Ford Motor Co. executives are to brief shareholders in Wilmington, Del., on the company's progress more than a week after billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian disclosed that he had acquired a 4.7 percent stake in the car company.
Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. has said it hopes to amass a 5.6 percent ownership in Ford, expressing confidence in Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally's efforts to restore the automaker to profitability by 2009.
Death toll in Burma could hit 100,000
Associated Press
May 7, 2008
YANGON, Burma — Bodies floated in flood waters and survivors tried to reach dry ground on boats using blankets as sails, while the top U.S. diplomat in Burma said today that up to 100,000 people may have died in the devastating cyclone.
Hungry crowds stormed the few shops that opened in the country's stricken Irrawaddy delta, sparking fist fights, according to Paul Risley, a spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program in neighboring Thailand.
