Articles of Interest 5-9-08
179 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
SMOKE FREE MICHIGAN…bill passes the Senate, on its way to the House. Smoking banned in all public buildings.
OBAMA..DOESN’T HAVE THE RECORD…so says FOX commentator Juan Williams: http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2008/05/obamadoesnt-hav.html
2nd CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT ROUNDUP…with Congressman Pete Hoekstra and other leaders from around the district and state will be held Saturday, May 17th at Muskegon Community College. The round up will begin promptly at 9 a.m.
ABC’s ‘THE NOTE” ON CLINTON… Will we see an exit that’s a Mitt Romney (crisp and timely), a Mike Huckabee (a few weeks too late), or a Ron Paul (non-existent)?
SPEAKER ANDY DILLON…we’re still looking for him, while his colleagues are working in session, in Lansing, in Michigan. Where the world is is Andy Dillon???
STOP TAXING OUR CELL PHONES…States and cities are all too often raising the cost of your monthly wireless service by imposing new discriminatory taxes and fees. The "Cell Tax Fairness Act of 2008" - would place a five-year hiatus on new, unfair state and local wireless taxes.
CARD CHECK…Protect the workers' right to a secret ballot. The vast majority (around 81%) of Americans believe that American workers have a right to have a secret ballot election before they are forced to join a union. Last year the House Democrats passed a bill that would strip American workers of the secret ballot. A new bill should be introduced re-affirming that right, and it should be brought up again and again until marginal Democrats are forced to vote with the American people against the union power structure. This coming from a Teamster.
TALK RADIO 1400 AM…I’ve become a weekly guest on the Hughes Sullivan Show on WDTK-AM 1400, which is broadcast in Metro-Detroit every evening. I am scheduled to regularly appear Mondays and Fridays between 8:20-8:50pm. Good, conservative talk radio. You can hear it online at http://wdtkam.townhall.com/
NATIONAL TRACKING POLL…
Rasmussen Tracking
5/3 - 5/6 (1600 Likely Voters)
McCain 44%
Obama 45%
McCain 44%
Clinton 47%
WALL OF HONOR…we are honoring Michigan Republicans who have served our party in the past…remembering those who have built our party…more info below.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
- WALL OF HONOR…Nominations are currently being accepted for the 2008 Michigan Republican Party Wall of Honor.
Last year marked the inaugural year for the Wall of Honor and we recognized 43 Republican activists from across the state. To submit a nomination this year, or to review the nomination criteria, please download a nomination form at http://www.migop.org/WallOfHonor/.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
Bolger endorsed by Walberg, Schwarz, Durham
The Enquirer • May 8, 2008
Republican Jase Bolger, candidate for the state House 63rd District seat, announced Wednesday he has been endorsed by U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, former U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz, R-Battle Creek, and Calhoun County GOP Chairman Scott Durham.
All three said Bolger’s experience as a small business owner would be valuable in Lansing.
Michigan Senate OKs ban on smoking in bars, restaurants
Posted by David Eggert | The Associated Press May 08, 2008 14:39PM
The Michigan Senate on Thursday voted to prohibit smoking in all bars, restaurants and workplaces.
The 25-12 vote, a major development in efforts to enact a smoking ban in the state, came after a Democratic senator asked to discharge legislation from a committee where bills traditionally have gone to die.
Republicans who control the chamber allowed the request. The bill passed the Democratic-led House in December. But it had been opposed by Senate leaders, who said it would put unnecessary government restrictions on private establishments.
Gasp! A smoking ban at last?
May 8, 2008
The Michigan Senate, in one surprising fell swoop, pulled the bill to ban smoking in public places out of committee today and then passed it. Good for them.
The House had passed a similar bill months ago, but Senate leaders seemed determined to bury it in committee. The major difference between the two versions is that the Senate apparently allows no exemptions, while the House had allowed smoking to continue at casinos and bingo halls. That could be a poison pill, as exempting casinos was a major reason the House bill got passed. The Free Press would hope it isn’t, though.
As other states and countries have passed smoking bans – even the French, mon Dieu! – Michigan has looked sillier and sillier. So this is really a great step forward for everyone’s health.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Editorial
Incentives too steep at $900,000 per job
The Detroit News
Michigan is placing a large bet on the ability of a producer of silicon in the Saginaw Valley to trigger a high-tech boom. State lawmakers have approved bills that could help the firm defray its electricity costs for up to a dozen years at a possible total cost of $357 million, if it expands operations.
The state is hoping to win a $1.4 billion expansion of the firm, Hemlock Semiconductor, and the possible creation of 400 to 500 jobs. In addition, it is hoped the firm will serve as the hub of high-tech development in the region.
Perhaps, if the firm ultimately decides to expand here and generates jobs and spinoffs, the bet will pay off. But the size of the tax credit also says something about Michigan's energy costs and competitiveness.
IN OUR OPINION
Show leniency to Michigan prison escapee
After 32 years of exemplary freedom, Susan LeFevre will soon return to Michigan, where she faces up to 10 more years in prison for a drug trafficking crime she committed at 19.
But for the state to spend nearly $35,000 a year to keep this 53-year-old mother locked up in Michigan's crowded prison system would serve neither justice nor taxpayers. LeFevre is clearly rehabilitated and poses no threat to society.
LeFevre was arrested outside Saginaw for selling about $300 worth of heroin to an undercover cop. She pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in 1974 and served one year of a 10- to 20-year sentence, before climbing over the fence of a prison in Northville Township and fleeing to California. There, LeFevre married and raised three children in a San Diego suburb, using the name Marie Walsh.
Lawyers for Detroit police chief deliver Tamara Greene file
5/8/2008, 6:34 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — A police homicide file on slain stripper Tamara Greene has been turned over to a federal judge.
Documents filed Thursday in U.S. District Court show that lawyers representing Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings complied with Judge Gerald Rosen's April 15 order to produce the file. Greene was shot to death in 2003.
Detroit mayor says he probably wore dress in school play
5/8/2008, 5:36 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — Scandal-plagued Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has changed course and now acknowledges he probably did wear a red dress with a plunging neckline in a middle school play.
Earlier, Kilpatrick's staff took aim at a Washington, D.C., newspaper that published a photo purportedly showing the young mayor-to-be in the dress.
The Hill identified Kilpatrick as being one of eight boys wearing wigs and dresses in a grainy, color photo of a 1984 performance of "Little Annie" at Dwight Rich Middle School in Lansing.
Same-sex benefits ruling might have minimal effect
Many packages already reworded to blunt state Supreme Court ruling
Christine Rook • Lansing State Journal • May 8, 2008 • From Lansing State Journal
A potentially devastating ruling Wednesday by Michigan's high court about same-sex benefits is likely to have little local effect.
That's because months ago many Lansing officials began rewording their domestic partner benefits packages. The concern at the time was that the Michigan Supreme Court would view a 2004 ban on gay marriage as also blocking public employers from offering health insurance to same-sex partners.
That very ruling came down from the court on Wednesday in a 5-2 decision.
"In some ways this is an expected decision," said Grant Littke, president of the Gay and Lesbian Faculty and Staff Association at Michigan State University.
Airline executives to meet with Michigan lawmakers
5/8/2008, 5:42 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The chief executives of Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines plan to meet with members of Michigan's congressional delegation to discuss their proposed merger.
Delta CEO Richard Anderson and Northwest CEO Doug Steenland will meet with Michigan lawmakers next Wednesday on Capitol Hill. The airline executives have said their airlines would be stronger together than they are apart.
Northwest is Michigan's largest passenger air carrier and the dominant airline at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
Jury finds Lansing man guilty of murder in deaths of 2 women
5/8/2008, 7:28 p.m. EDT
By TIM MARTIN
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Matthew Macon, suspected of being a serial killer, dabbed his eyes and broke into tears Thursday as a jury found him guilty of two murders and an attack on a third woman, setting the stage for an automatic life sentence in prison.
The relatives of victims also sobbed in a Lansing courtroom as the verdicts, which took a jury about two hours to reach, were read. Macon, of Lansing, was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder for killing Sandra Eichorn, 64, and Karen Delgado-Yates, 41. He also was found guilty of assault with intent to commit murder in an attack on Linda Chapel Jackson, 56.
Julie Camp runs for Calhoun County board
Battle Creek Enquirer 5/8/08
Republican Julie Camp of East Leroy has announced her bid for the 5th district seat on the Calhoun County Board of Commissioners.
Camp, 45, says the key issues deserving attention include public safety, improved road maintenance, and effective fiscal management, as well as communication to foster economic development. “I plan for continued dialogue with employers addressing their concerns about a productive business environment,” Camp said in a press release.
GM buys its Detroit headquarters for $626 million
5/8/2008, 10:55 p.m. EDT
By DAVID N. GOODMAN
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Corp. said Thursday that the shaky real estate market convinced the automaker that it was a good time to buy its previously leased headquarters in downtown Detroit's towering Renaissance Center for $626 million.
GM revealed the May 1 purchase in a filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. GM said it paid $626 million cash for the headquarters and $200 million cash for two office properties in nearby Pontiac.
Energy Conversion Devices posts $7M profit
by Sven Gustafson | Oakland Business Review
Thursday May 08, 2008, 11:26 AM
Energy Conversion Devices Inc. said Thursday it swung to a profit of $7 million, or 17 cents a share for the quarter ending March 31 as revenues surged from better use of factory capacity and favorable market conditions in Europe for its lightweight, flexible solar panels.
The company [Nasdaq:ENER] also said it plans to self-finance a previously announced 120 megawatt expansion of its United Solar Ovonic production facility in Greenville through available funds and cash flow from operations.
Shares of the Rochester Hills-based company surged more than 34 percent in morning trading to $46.90, a 52-week high.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080508/NEWS04/80508079
Warren city attorney protests handling of court employee's case
FREE PRESS STAFF REPORT • May 8, 2008
The Warren City Attorney’s Office has asked the Macomb County Circuit Court to use “superintending control” to disqualify the entire 37th District Court in Warren from handling a drunk driving case that involves the district court administrator.
In the complaint filed today, city attorney David Richards said Walter Jakubowski, the district court chief judge, should have recused himself from hearing the case of James P. Conrad.
Conrad, who was arrested in January, on suspicion of drunk driving, is an employee of Jakubowski. In a hurried court hearing last month, Jakubowski denied a warrant that would have charged Conrad in the incident.
Tri-county agency gets money for 'No Worker Left Behind' training
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
By Eric English
eenglish@bc-times.com | 894-9652
A local employment agency is getting $170,555 to help some Bay County residents with job training.
The funding is earmarked for a program designed to help move families off welfare toward self sufficiency.
The $170,555 announced Tuesday is welcome, but not enough to meet demand for No Worker Left Behind programs, said Edward Oberski, director of the Saginaw-based Michigan Works agency.
CMU student from Sterling Heights dies from bacterial meningitis
FREE PRESS STAFF • May 8, 2008
Health officials are trying to identify “close, personal contacts” of a 26-year-old Central Michigan University student from Macomb County who has died of a bacterial form of meningitis while visiting the west side of the state.
Senior LaMott Smith of Sterling Heights died of meningococcal meningitis May 7 after becoming ill a day earlier at a party in Coopersville, Ottawa County Health Department officials have announced.
Bacterial meningitis results from a germ infection that affects the tissue around the brain and spinal cord, health officials said. Airborne droplets from the nose or throat of a person with the bacteria can spread the disease to others who have been in close contact with the infected. If untreated, meningitis can result in coma and/or death.
Ann Arbor drug startup to move here
Thursday, May 08, 2008
BY ALEX NIXON
KALAMAZOO -- An Ann Arbor startup firm is planning to set up its headquarters in Kalamazoo as it works toward government approval of a novel hearing-loss treatment.
OtoMedicine Inc. could get approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the next 12 to 18 months for its product, AuraQuell, said James Miller, the company's president and chief executive officer.
``We have a compound that has been shown in animal studies to prevent noise-induced hearing loss,'' he said. ``It's a health problem that could be considered an epidemic around the world.''
Sustainability director sees 'all shades of green'
Posted by B. Candace Beeke | Business Review Western Michigan May 08, 2008 07:20AM
Now the director of Aquinas College's Center for Sustainability, Steketee helps propel the region forward in its pursuit of a social and environmental equilibrium. One key to that, she says, has been the collaboration of business, rather than the combative relationship industry and environmentalism endure elsewhere.
"... What's good for the environment is good for the economy and vice versa," Steketee notes. "That was an important lesson for me to learn as an environmental activist.
Southfield mayor to challenge Patterson
Lawrence set to announce run for county exec Friday
BY GINA DAMRON • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • May 8, 2008
She unseated a long-serving politician once -- to become mayor of Southfield -- and now Brenda Lawrence will try it again with her eyes on a higher office.
Lawrence plans to announce Friday that she'll challenge Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson for the county's top job.
Her supporters and at least one fellow Southfield politician have acknowledged that unseating Patterson, who has served as county executive for the past 16 years and has high name recognition throughout the county, won't be easy.
Businesses push rising gas costs to customers
Thursday, May 08, 2008By Erin AlbaneseThe Grand Rapids Press
A jump at the gas pump to Wednesday's local-record high of $3.89 a gallon was a hard pill to swallow for Faro's Pizza co-owner Mike Clark.
"That's just unbelievable," said Clark, who responded by boosting pizza prices 5 percent at his restaurant, 3963 28th St. SE in Kentwood.
"We really needed to raise them 20 percent," he said.
GM to pay up to $200 million to help resolve American Axle strike
By JEWEL GOPWANI and KATIE MERX • FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER • May 8, 2008
General Motors Corp. today said it would give American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. as much as $200 million to help its resolve the UAW's strike at the Detroit-based supplier.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the automaker, which has had to idle or cut production at as many as 31 plants during the course of the strike, said the money would help "fund employee buyouts, early retirements and buy-downs to facilitate a settlement of the work stoppage."
The UAW's strike of 3,650 workers at four American Axle plants is in its 11th week.
"We believe the offer will help bridge the gap between American Axle and the UAW and that they will be able to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement in the near future," GM spokesman Dan Flores said Thursday following the filing.
Switalski: Let 16-year-olds vote
He responds to 4th-graders who say teens should have a voice in school elections
By Christy Strawser
Macomb Daily Staff Writer
State Sen. Mickey Switalski, D-Roseville, introduced legislation Wednesday to allow 16-year-olds to vote in school elections, an idea that was prompted by letters from two fourth-graders at Dresden Elementary School in Sterling Heights.
"We should be able to be part of America, too," student Keegan McMillan, 10, said, explaining why young people should vote.
The bill came after Dresden teacher Heather Schodowski asked her class to write a local legislator about any topic, no holds barred. Their letters were full of requests for lower-priced video games, pothole-free roads, cheaper Legos, and latitude in where they can chew gum. But McMillan and classmate Jennifer Amodeo, 10, struck a more serious note and asked that kids be allowed to vote. Switalski thought it was a good proposal, saying underage voting for school board members is something California has already considered.
Clinton campaign opposes giving Obama more Mich. delegates
5/8/2008, 5:22 p.m. EDT
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign opposes Michigan's plan to give fewer delegates to her and more to rival Barack Obama, a campaign spokesman said Thursday.
The Democratic National Committee stripped Michigan and Florida of their convention delegates for holding their primaries before Feb. 5. Both are looking for compromises that would get their delegates seated.
Michigan Democrats on Wednesday voted to back a plan that would give Clinton 69 delegates — four fewer than the 73 she gained by winning the state's Jan. 15 primary. Obama would get 59 pledged delegates even though he took his name off the ballot, forcing his supporters to vote for Uncommitted.
Fla. Dems ask national party to seat presidential delegation
5/8/2008, 6:41 p.m. EDT
By BRENT KALLESTAD
The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida's Democratic congressional delegation called on the national party Thursday to seat the state's delegation based on its January primary, and the state party is growing more hopeful that the campaigns will agree on a plan by the end of the month.
The Democratic National Committee stripped Florida's delegates because the state held its Jan. 29 primary earlier than party rules allowed. Hillary Rodham Clinton won 50 percent to Barack Obama's 33 percent.
"These are clear indications that — just like in other places throughout the country — Florida voters are tired of Republicans and are demanding a new direction in our country," Florida's nine Democratic members of Congress said in a letter to national party chief Howard Dean. "All of this will be lost, however, if we do not find a solution to this ongoing controversy that fully seats all of Florida's 211 delegates."
Bonior backs Obama as candidate for working families
By TODD SPANGLER • FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF • May 8, 2008
WASHINGTON – Saying he believes Barack Obama is the best candidate to fight for working people, former U.S. Rep. David Bonior of Mt. Clemens endorsed the Illinois senator’s run for the presidency this morning, adding that he has shown the fight he needs to win in November.
Bonior, who ran former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards’ unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic nomination, could be a key figure in helping to sway organized labor behind Obama. Many unions, including the United Auto Workers, have not yet made an endorsement.
NATIONAL STORIES
McCain Sets Stage for Fall Run Senator Stakes Out Positions and Fills Campaign Coffers
By LAURA MECKLER and ELIZABETH HOLMES
May 9, 2008
In the three months since effectively capturing the Republican nomination, John McCain has built up his staff, filled campaign coffers and tried to define himself as a reliable conservative but not a George W. Bush clone.
Sen. McCain received the gift of time to lay the groundwork for his fall campaign, as Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton fought each other for the Democratic nomination. Now that the Democratic fight appears to be nearing an end, the Arizona senator will soon find out how effectively he used the time.
McCain's savvy tax ideas
By Jack Kemp
May 8, 2008
McCain offers tax policies he once opposed
— headline, Page One of The Washington Post, April 25, 2008.
Ah, remember the good old days of opinion columns appearing on the opinion page opposite a newspaper's editorial positions? Notwithstanding The Post's — or any other newspaper's — very legitimate right to oppose Sen. John McCain on tax cuts, the above Page One headline properly belongs on the op-ed page and seems to me a story line that deserves a strong response.
For Jonathan Weisman of The Post to admonish Mr. McCain for supporting the extension of the 15 percent tax rate on capital gains and dividends, irrespective of Mr. McCain's opposition to the cut in tax rates, circa 2003, is hardly a breaking news story. It makes me wonder just what is so monumental or historical about a political leader/presidential candidate changing his mind as the facts change, as John Maynard Keynes once observed.
Next up: Romney v. Huckabee
By MATT LEWIS | 5/5/08 5:10 PM EST Text Size:
John McCain may be the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but a struggle to determine who will carry the conservative mantle into the future rages just below the surface of his success. The contestants’ faces will look familiar: former Govs. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, also-rans from the 2008 GOP primary scrum.
During the nominating race, obloquy was understandable. The other Republican candidates personally liked working-class son Huckabee, and they seemed to resent the wealthy and handsome Romney. And because they were both attempting to establish themselves as the conservative alternative to McCain, it’s not surprising that they sometimes clashed over turf.
Florida Dems: We're closing in on deal to seat delegation
Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida Democrats say they're on the verge of finishing a plan to have the state's delegates counted toward the party's presidential nomination.
Thursday's news comes after Michigan Democrats came up with their own plan. The Democratic National Committee stripped both states of their convention delegates for holding their primaries too early in violation of party rules.
State party spokesman Mark Bubriski tells The Associated Press that Florida officials have been talking with campaign representatives of Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton about recognizing all, or part, of Florida's 211 delegates.
Once-secret memos question Clinton's honesty
By Jerry Seper
May 8, 2008
A decade before Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton admitted fudging the truth during the presidential campaign, federal prosecutors quietly assembled hundreds of pages of evidence suggesting she concealed information and misled a federal grand jury about her work for a failing Arkansas savings and loan at the heart of the Whitewater probe, according to once-secret documents that detail the internal debates over whether she should have faced criminal charges.
Ordinarily, such files containing grand jury evidence and prosecutors' deliberations are never made public. But the estate of Sam Dash, a lifelong Democrat who served as the ethics adviser to Whitewater Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr, donated his documents from the infamous 1990s investigation to the Library of Congress after his 2004 death, unwittingly injecting into the public domain much of the testimony and evidence gathered against Mrs. Clinton from former law partners, White House aides and other witnesses.
Yankee Fan Go Home
By George F. Will
Thursday, May 8, 2008; A23
Hillary Clinton, 60, Illinois native and Arkansas lawyer, became, retroactively, a lifelong Yankee fan at age 52 when, shopping for a U.S. Senate seat, she adopted New York state as home sweet home. She may think, or at least would argue, that when she was 12 her Yankees really won the 1960 World Series, by standards of "fairness," because they trounced the Pirates in runs scored, 55-27, over seven games, so there.
Unfortunately, baseball's rules -- pesky nuisances, rules -- say it matters how runs are distributed during a World Series. The Pirates won four games, which is the point of the exercise, by a total margin of seven runs, while the Yankees were winning three by a total of 35 runs. You can look it up.
Clinton idol McGovern tells her to end race
By Christina Bellantoni
May 8, 2008
Sen. Barack Obama's campaign yesterday steered clear of calls for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to quit the Democratic presidential race, letting one of her political idols deliver the message instead.
Mrs. Clinton vowed to forge ahead, ignoring Democratic icon George McGovern's request that she step aside for the good of the party. Obama supporters and his camp highlighted the mathematical impossibility of Mrs. Clinton's prospects and raised money off her insistence that the Democratic race would proceed.
What Part of 'In It to Win It' Does America Not Understand?
By Dana Milbank
Thursday, May 8, 2008; A03
SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. They say it's all over but the shouting. Fortunately, Hillary Clinton does that part very well.
"West Virginia is one of those so-called swing states Democrats need to win in the fall!" she told a rally at the old City Hall here, the day after her loss in North Carolina and her narrow win in Indiana all but sealed the Democratic nomination for Barack Obama.
"I want to start by winning it in the spring to lay the groundwork for a victory in November!" said the woman whose candidacy has been pronounced dead by George Stephanopoulos and Tim Russert.
Once-secret memos question Clinton's honesty
May 8, 2008
By Jerry Seper - A decade before Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton admitted fudging the truth during the presidential campaign, federal prosecutors quietly assembled hundreds of pages of evidence suggesting she concealed information and misled a federal grand jury about her work for a failing Arkansas savings and loan at the heart of the Whitewater probe, according to once-secret documents that detail the internal debates over whether she should have faced criminal charges.
Ordinarily, such files containing grand jury evidence and prosecutors' deliberations are never made public. But the estate of Sam Dash, a lifelong Democrat who served as the ethics adviser to Whitewater Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr, donated his documents from the infamous 1990s investigation to the Library of Congress after his 2004 death, unwittingly injecting into the public domain much of the testimony and evidence gathered against Mrs. Clinton from former law partners, White House aides and other witnesses.
Article published May 8, 2008
Protest votes handicap McCain in primaries
May 8, 2008
By Stephen Dinan - Sen. John McCain wrapped up Republicans' presidential nomination long ago, but a substantial percentage of voters — about one-fourth — still showed up to vote against him in the three most-recent Republican presidential primaries.
Based on the contests in Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina, Mr. McCain is doing better at winning supporters in his own party at this stage of the race than Bob Dole in 1996, but he trails the performance of then-Gov. George W. Bush in 2000 — the last two contested Republican presidential races.
In Tuesday's North Carolina and Indiana primaries, Mr. McCain won 74 percent and 78 percent, respectively. That compares with Mr. Bush's 79 percent in North Carolina in 2000 and 81 percent in Indiana. Pennsylvania was the exception, where he got 73 percent versus 72 percent for Mr. Bush.
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.
In a conference call with reporters, campaign officials offered as upbeat an assessment of the contest as they could muster. Asked whether Clinton had discussed dropping out, senior adviser Howard Wolfson flatly told reporters: "No."
Obama's Showing
Reshapes Dispute Over Delegates Michigan, Florida May Get Some Seats But Not Shift Result
By JUNE KRONHOLZ
May 8, 2008; Page A7
Tuesday's primaries may not have settled the Democratic nomination, but they may have settled the problem of whether to seat delegates from Michigan and Florida at this summer's convention.
With a procedural clock ticking, the Democratic Party's rules committee will hear challenges on May 31 to its decision to strip Florida and Michigan of their convention votes as punishment for holding out-of-sequence primaries last winter.
FixCam: Clinton Endures
In the wake of Tuesday night's results in North Carolina and Indiana, there is only one question on the minds of political junkies: "Why is she staying in?"
The "she" in that query is Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) who appears committed to continuing her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination despite facing daunting odds that she can overcome Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in any measurable metric of the presidential race.
There are undoubtedly many reasons that Clinton is staying in, not the least of which is that she still believes a path exists for her to win the nomination.
How could she? The answer lies in a simple word that has defined the entirety of the Clintons long run atop Democratic politics: endurance.
May 8, 2008
Political Memo
For the Democrats, Signs of a Possible Changing of the Guard
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
After 16 years, the Clinton era may be coming to an end, presenting Democrats with a historic but potentially wrenching transition and a challenge to Senator Barack Obama as he seeks to reconcile a deeply divided party.
Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton have been at the heart of the Democratic Party since Mr. Clinton steered it back to the White House in 1992, with a campaign that combined a moderate appeal with the hard-edged political tactics that had once been the province of Republicans. Mrs. Clinton seemed poised last year to lead Democrats into the general election campaign if not beyond.
And while the relationship between the party establishment and the Clintons has always been uneasy at best, an entire generation of Democrats has known no other figures as dominant as the two of them.
Obama plans to declare victory May 20
By: David Paul Kuhn
May 8, 2008 01:30 PM EST
Not long after the polls close in the May 20 Kentucky and Oregon primaries, Barack Obama plans to declare victory in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
And, until at least May 31 and perhaps longer, Hillary Clinton’s campaign plans to dispute it.
It’s a train wreck waiting to happen, with one candidate claiming to be the nominee while the other vigorously denies it, all predicated on an argument over what exactly constitutes the finish line of the primary race.
The Obama campaign agrees with the Democratic National Committee, which pegs a winning majority at 2,025 pledged delegates and superdelegates—a figure that excludes the penalized Florida and Michigan delegations. The Clinton campaign, on the other hand, insists the winner will need 2,209 to cinch the nomination—a tally that includes Florida and Michigan.
Clinton-Obama cash gap looms large
By: Jeanne Cummings
May 7, 2008 04:40 PM EST
This year’s hard-fought Democratic primary may end where it started more than year ago – with the money race.
With six primaries to go, Barack Obama is flush with cash, sources say. Hillary Clinton is out of it, again, her campaign concedes. Obama has led the money race throughout the primary season and he already has more offices in the upcoming primary states.
He is already advertising in several of them, including Oregon and Kentucky.
Drug giants to be grilled on marketing
By: Samuel Loewenberg
May 7, 2008 05:44 PM EST
Senior executives from some of the nation’s largest drug companies are up for a tough grilling Thursday from a congressional oversight panel over allegations the industry engaged in deceptive marketing practices in its television commercials.
The scrutiny comes as many critics are questioning how direct-to-consumer advertising has affected safety, soaring health care costs and the public’s consumption of drugs.
The hearing is the latest in a series the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations has held on drug safety and on what its chairman, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), calls “the deceptive tactics of drug companies in their direct-to-consumer advertising.”
GOP stalls House action on housing bailout
By S.A. Miller
May 8, 2008
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, said that Americans "deserve the House's bipartisan housing plan," not a veto threat from the president. (United Press International)
House Republicans dragged the chamber to a standstill yesterday with procedural moves to protest Democrats' attempt to ram through passage of foreclosure-crisis and war-funding bills, as President Bush threatened to veto both legislative packages and urged Congress to take up a compromise agenda.
Republican lawmakers, who called more than a dozen time-consuming votes to adjourn, said Democratic leaders used backroom maneuvers to cut the minority out of the legislative process.
Lawmakers Finish Farm Bill as White House Repeats Opposition
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 8, 2008; 5:18 PM
WASHINGTON -- Married farmers with joint incomes of up to $1.5 million a year could still qualify for crop subsidies under a five-year, $300 billion farm bill compromise that would boost the Department of Agriculture's food and farm programs.
As details of the House-Senate compromise emerged Thursday, Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer reiterated a Bush administration threat to veto the bill. White House budget director Jim Nussle said the legislation still spends too much, relies on budget gimmicks and "doesn't have hardly enough reform."
Despite Veto Threat, House Passes Mortgage Rescue Bill
GOP Calls Bill Bailout for Irresponsible Borrowers
By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 8, 2008; 6:18 PM
The House today approved an ambitious plan to rescue hundreds of thousands of homeowners at risk of foreclosure by helping them trade exotic loans with rapidly rising monthly payments for more affordable mortgages backed by the federal government.
Despite a White House veto threat, 39 Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the proposal, the centerpiece of a broader housing bill that represents Washington's most aggressive response to the nation's housing crisis. The measure aims to unfreeze mortgage markets by expanding the reach of the Federal Housing Administration and strengthening mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It also would create a $7,500 tax credit for first-time homebuyers that aims to boost sales and slow plummeting home prices.
Boston Globe
Key Superdelegates Keeping Preferences Strictly Under Wraps A lot of superdelegates have been working on their secret-keeping skills.
Scores of officially uncommitted superdelegates have voted in the Democratic presidential race, including such subjects of ongoing speculation as Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi. While some say that additional factors will affect how they vote at the party's convention, others are just staying silent about their preference. For them, what happens in the voting booth will stay in the voting booth - for now, at least.
GOP's Davis Urges Bloch to Quit Special Counsel's Office
By Christopher Lee and Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 8, 2008; A21
A veteran Republican lawmaker called on Office of Special Counsel chief Scott J. Bloch to resign yesterday, one day after nearly two dozen FBI agents raided OSC headquarters and carted off boxes of documents and equipment that officials said were related to a probe of Bloch's activities.
"In light of the various investigations into Mr. Bloch's conduct, including the FBI probe revealed yesterday, it's hard to believe he can continue to operate effectively," Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (Va.), the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a statement. "It's time the OSC put this turbulent period behind it."
Focus shifts from Legislature to the Colorado ballot
By STEVEN K. PAULSON, The Associated Press
2008-05-07 22:26:12.0
DENVER - Lawmakers and Gov. Bill Ritter shifted their focus to the November elections after wrapping up the 2008 legislative session, promoting a ballot initiative to make it harder to change the state constitution and another to end property-tax deductions for the oil and gas industry. Ritter said the Legislature made significant progress on health care, education funding and renewable energy.
His biggest disappointment: The failure to get money to fix crumbling bridges and roads.
Ritter said there was no political will to deal with the state's infrastructure among Republicans in an election year. He added that even though it's a major safety issue, he won't call a special session because it would require raising fees or taxes that would need the backing of a bipartisan coalition that doesn't exist.
Theft of tax data spurs change in process
By Bethany Fuller
jfuller@statesville.com
Friday, May 9, 2008
After 10 days of dealing with the aftermath of a stolen bank courier vehicle, Iredell County officials are changing the way they handle processed tax payments.
On April 22, a shipment of processed tax payments and unprocessed items from more than 450 taxpayers went missing when a courier’s vehicle for First Citizens Bank was stolen in Charlotte.
The bags included a computer report of the taxpayers’ check information, including account numbers, check numbers, check amounts and routing numbers, from 74 banks.
Warning: Stimulus Check Scam Reported
May 08, 2008 05:22 PM ET | Luke Mullins | Permanent Link
As Americans receive their economic stimulus checks, Internet fraudsters are already looking to swipe them.
The FBI is warning consumers to be on the lookout for E-mails such as the following, which purport to be from the Internal Revenue Service but are actually attempts to purloin sensitive information: Over 130 million Americans will receive refunds as part of President Bush program to jumpstart the economy.
Our records indicate that you are qualified to receive the 2008 Economic Stimulus Refund. The fastest and easiest way to receive your refund is by direct deposit to your checking/savings account.
The Truth about Oil
By Vasko Kohlmayer
FrontPageMagazine.com | 5/8/2008
A recent survey on the environment found that seventy percent of people worldwide think that the planet is running out oil. Only less than one quarter believe that there is enough of it to keep it as a primary source of energy. Petro pessimism runs especially high in the United States where a full two thirds think that the point of depletion is within sight.
Here are some hard facts. According the Energy Information Administration as of January 2007 there was more than 1.3 trillion barrels of proved crude oil on earth. Even if this were all the oil on the planet there would be no immediate danger of shortages, because at the current rate of consumption - roughly 85 million barrels a day - this supply would last for more than 40 years.
Unions reach out to expand war chest
The Colorado right-to-work initiative has drawn big money from national labor coffers.
By Andy Vuong
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 05/07/2008 11:58:24 PM MDT
The nation's largest unions are turning Colorado into a battleground state, throwing big dollars behind a local issue committee that's fighting the right-to-work ballot initiative and pushing a pair of competing measures.
Labor interests say they may spend as much as $35 million to defeat the right-to-work initiative, which seeks to ban compulsory union membership in Colorado.
"Whenever something like that comes on a ballot, national labor forces come into play," said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.
In Defense of RINO Hunting
By PAT TOOMEY
May 8, 2008; Page A13
The Club for Growth Political Action Committee has long been attacked for intervening in Republican primaries and targeting the party's most economically liberal incumbents.
In 2000, Pennsylvania Rep. Jim Greenwood called the Club "cannibals." When the Club ran ads against Ohio Sen. George Voinovich and Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe for resisting President Bush's 2003 tax cut, Karl Rove deemed the ads "counterproductive."
And Newt Gingrich, the man who ushered in a conservative Republican majority in 1994, once denounced the Club. "Their strategy is explicitly wrong," he said. "The key is to elect more Republicans and have a bigger majority and be more inclusive."
Kerkorian’s interest in Ford is glossed over
By TOM WALSH • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • May 8, 2008
WILMINGTON, Del. – Kirk Kerkorian was the elephant in the room, the subject almost nobody wanted to discuss Thursday in the DuPont Theatre at Ford Motor Co.’s annual shareholders meeting.
Indeed, there was precious little discussion of anything, which is pretty much the point of holding the meeting in Delaware, far, far from Dearborn or other concentrations of people avidly interested in Ford’s fortunes.
Only 56 shareholders attended, down from 79 a year ago.
Schwarzenegger challenges automakers to meet Calif. rules
5/8/2008, 9:24 p.m. EDT
By SAMANTHA YOUNG
The Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday that pressure from the auto industry will not deter California from attempting to impose strict emission rules for vehicles sold in the state.
The Republican governor met privately with seven auto executives who requested the get-together. In an interview afterward, he said he told them "the train has left the station" and that they should stop challenging California rules that are intended to help slow the rate of global warming.
May 8, 2008
City Council in Bay Area Declares Bankruptcy
By JESSE McKINLEY
VALLEJO, Calif. — In a potentially ominous harbinger for some cities in California and elsewhere, the Vallejo City Council voted to declare bankruptcy Tuesday night in the face of dwindling tax revenues, the housing market meltdown and a faltering economy.
The unanimous vote was cast after late efforts to squeeze concessions out of city employees failed and with the city facing a $16 million shortfall for the fiscal year beginning in July.
Ford Motor executives meet with shareholders in Delaware
by Ken Thomas | The Associated Press
Thursday May 08, 2008, 10:44 AM
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) -- Ford Motor Co. executives are meeting with shareholders in Delaware on the heels of billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's sizable investment in the car company.
Ford's Chief Executive Alan Mulally is briefing shareholders Thursday on the company's turnaround plan. The company posted a surprising $100 million profit during the first quarter and recently announced a new labor deal with auto workers in Canada.
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..
Olmert suspected of receiving funds
By Steven Gutkin
May 8, 2008
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, responding to fresh accusations that he illegally accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from a U.S. citizen, today said he will step down if he is indicted.
Olmert said he never took illegal campaign contributions, responding to a corruption case that also has the potential to derail delicate peace talks with the Palestinians.
Russia's Presidential Transition: Vladimir Putin Remains in Charge
by Ariel Cohen, Ph.D.
WebMemo #1917
Amid Kremlin pomp and circumstance, Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev will be inaugurated the third president of Russia on May 7. His presidency, however, is likely to be very different than that of his two predecessors, Boris N. Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin.
In fact, Putin is currently presiding over a far-reaching rearrangement of power, in which he, as the appointed prime minister, will remain the number one political figure in Russia, and will wield supreme power. The references to Putin as "national leader," introduced last fall during the parliamentary campaign, seem to be bearing fruit.
Israel at 60
by Nile Gardiner (more by this author)
Posted 05/08/2008 ET
Few countries in modern times could claim the title “warrior nation”. The United States and Great Britain definitely can, and Israel certainly qualifies for this distinction too. Today is the 60th anniversary of Israel’s founding and a reminder of the heroism of the Israeli people. This tiny nation of just 7 million has fought seven wars and survived in the face of insurmountable odds, international hostility and massive intimidation, a tribute to the strength of the human spirit and the willingness of Israelis to fight to defend their freedom.
Six decades on from its establishment, Israel continues to fight for its very existence, and remains the most persecuted nation in the history of the United Nations. The UN has left no stone unturned in its hounding of Israel, a relentless display of hatred and prejudice that shames the world body. Despite being the freest, most democratic country in the Middle East, Israel is the whipping boy for the UN’s Human Rights Council, a discredited basket case of an organization that boasts some of the world’s worst human rights offenders as members, including China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Russia and Egypt.
U.S. Disaster Relief Efforts Hampered
Blocked From Entering Burma, Charities Funnel Aid to Groups Already There
By Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 8, 2008; A14
Americans are responding to the devastation wrought by the cyclone in Burma last week with an outpouring of support to U.S. charities and disaster relief groups, but geopolitics are complicating their efforts.
Aid workers and supplies from some U.S. nonprofit groups are not being allowed into the country, and some of those charities said yesterday that they are refusing to funnel aid through the Burmese government. Instead of directing philanthropic dollars through the ruling junta government, some charities said, they are directly assisting relief agencies on the ground in Burma.
Still, Americans are opening their wallets to help those left orphaned, hungry and homeless by the storm that hit the nation Saturday.
Save the Children, one of the largest aid groups operating in Burma, said it received $644,000 in private contributions in 24 hours and will issue a plea for $10 million.