Today on the presidential campaign trail
By The Associated Press, Associated Press
Supporters of Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., offer campaign stickers at the Democratic National Committee Fall Meeting in Vienna, Va., Friday, Nov. 30, 2007. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
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IN THE HEADLINES
McCain calls Obama a liar in harshest criticism yet ... Obama says McCain should be more specific about economic crisis ... Palin expands criticism of Obama to include Rev. Wright; tones down description of Ayers ... As deadline nears, one Palin ethics investigation cloaked in secrecy; another beset by lawsuit ... Despite Wyoming's long tradition as a red state, Obama campaign has office and staff
McCain calls Obama a liar
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) Behind in the polls, Republican John McCain on Monday called Democratic rival Barack Obama a liar as he leveled his harshest criticism yet, and said the campaign boils down to one basic question: Who is Obama really?
Adopting an aggressive tone on the eve of their second debate of the season, the GOP presidential candidate criticized Obama's ties to Chicago, his legislative record and even his pair of best-selling memoirs.
McCain, speaking about the financial crisis, took offense at Obama's accusation that McCain opposed regulation that would have prevented the credit crunch. "I guess he believes if a lie is big enough and repeated often enough it will be believed," McCain said.
The Arizona senator, a veteran of more than two decades in Congress, told his audience that while he is a known quantity the same cannot be said about Obama, who is midway through his first term as a senator from Illinois.
Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor said McCain is a "truly angry candidate" who is trying to divert attention from the economy and that it was Obama who warned, in 2007, of the subprime mortgage crisis now blamed for the turmoil in the financial industry.
Obama says McCain should focus on economy
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) Barack Obama said Monday that John McCain is trying to shift attention from the troubled economy because the issue is bad for the Republican presidential nominee's campaign.
The Democratic presidential candidate also implored federal officials to take swift action as Wall Street recorded another record one-day decline amid a global sell-off of stocks.
Obama told reporters in Asheville, N.C., that he was surprised his Republican rival's campaign would signal an effort to avoid talking about the financial turmoil because McCain advisers fear it could cause him to lose the election.
"I've got news for the McCain campaign: The American people are losing right now," he said. "They're losing their jobs. They're losing their health care. They're losing their homes. They're losing their savings. I cannot imagine anything more important to talk about."
An aide to McCain recently said the GOP campaign would like to shift the presidential race's focus away from the economy, which has been a better issue for Democrats than Republicans. Since then, McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, has been questioning Obama's character based on his association with an incendiary pastor and a 1960s radical turned college professor.
Palin criticizes Obama's ties to Wright, Ayers
CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin expanded her attack on Democrat Barack Obama's character Monday to include his relationship with an incendiary former pastor as well as his ties to 1960s-era radical Bill Ayers.
In the process, Palin toned down her description of the Obama-Ayers relationship after her weekend remarks were criticized as exaggerated, but at the same time she embarked on a discussion of Obama's relationship with his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., which Republican John McCain had signaled he did not want to be a part of his campaign.
In an interview with conservative The New York Times columnist William Kristol published Monday, the Alaska governor said there should be more discussion about Wright, Obama's pastor of 20 years at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
Obama denounced Wright and severed ties with the church last spring after videotapes surfaced showing Wright making anti-American and anti-Semitic comments from the pulpit.
At a morning rally in Florida, Palin kept up her criticism of Obama's ties to Ayers, a founder of the violent Weather Underground group blamed for several bombings during the Vietnam War era, when Obama was a child.
The Illinois senator has denounced Ayers' radical views and activities.
"This is someone who sees America as 'imperfect enough' to work with a former domestic terrorist who targeted his own country," Palin said of Obama. Over the weekend, she had said Obama "pals around with terrorists."
Palin ethics probes beset by secrecy and lawsuit
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) Republican Sarah Palin says she's an open book regarding an abuse-of-power investigation. Apparently her staff doesn't feel the same way.
While the Alaska governor has waived her privacy rights so details about her firing of a state commissioner can be made public, she has not called on others in her administration to do the same. Unless they do, the results of a personnel board investigation may never be revealed.
The personnel board and the state Legislature are running separate investigations into whether Palin abused her power by firing Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, who says he resisted pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a messy divorce with the governor's sister.
The controversy, known in Alaska as Troopergate, could hurt John McCain's presidential bid. Legislative investigators are due to submit a report Friday that could reveal embarrassing details about Palin's leadership and provide campaign fodder in the final weeks of before the election.
Obama bucks past and establishes Wyo. office
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) Wyoming is as red a state as there is when it comes to presidential elections.
Since 1968, Wyoming has voted for the Republican presidential candidate in each election. As a result, recent Democratic presidential candidates have conceded the state to the GOP, and neither party's top candidate has spent much time or money on Wyoming.
But this year, Democrat Barack Obama is bucking that trend by establishing a campaign office in downtown Casper and hiring two paid staffers to oversee his campaign in Wyoming. Meantime, Republican candidate John McCain has no office or staff in Wyoming.
DAILY TRACK
Democrat Barack Obama has an 8-percentage-point lead over Republican John McCain 50 percent to 42 percent among registered voters, according to the latest Gallup Poll daily tracking update.
THE DEMOCRATS
Barack Obama and Joe Biden had no public events.
THE REPUBLICANS
John McCain held a rally in Albuquerque, N.M.
Sarah Palin campaigned in Florida.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"The notion that we would want to brush that aside and engage in the usual political shenanigans and smear tactics that have come to characterize too many political campaigns is not what the American people are looking for." Barack Obama, referring to economic turmoil.
STAT OF THE DAY:
In 2004, there were 4 million foreign-born Hispanics citizens of voting age. Today, that number is more than 5 million, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data by the nonprofit Pew Hispanic Center.
Compiled by Ann Sanner.
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"A group of big donors threatened to withdraw support from Democrats in Congress because Nancy Pelosi said that the people, not the superdelegates, should decide the Presidential nomination. " These Clinton supporters are trying to use their high-roller status to strong arm the Democratic leaders per MoveOn.org, CNN, CBS, etc.
We don't need more Corp running the government!
What a day!
Why did you bring this back up?
This isn't where i commented
hold on...LOL, i posted on latest news, on the RNC convention, and this popped up
Okay, now it makes sense.
Today on the presidential campaign trail
By The Associated Press, Associated Press
Relates to: Joe Biden, John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, George W. Bush, Laura Bush
Barack Obama
Supporters of Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., offer campaign stickers at the Democratic National Committee Fall Meeting in Vienna, Va., Friday, Nov. 30, 2007. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Biography Issues Fund Raising
Rivals Supporters Affiliations
Photos Videos Forums
IN THE HEADLINES
GOP convention appeals for hurricane aid; Palins say unmarried daughter is pregnant ... Palin says daughter, 17, is pregnant; attorney hired in separate Alaska trooper probe ... Convention delegates attacked; More than dozen arrested by police using pepper spray ... Obama curtails campaign to watch Gustav, asks for Red Cross donations ... McCain says campaign raised $47 million in August ... Biden, in Pa., recalls blue-collar roots in Scranton
GOP convention opens with appeal for Gustav aid
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) Republicans, determined to propel John McCain to the White House, opened their storm-shortened national convention on Monday amid distractions involving running mate Sarah Palin. Police made more than 50 arrests in the surrounding streets as anti-war protests turned violent.
Delegates had scarcely settled into their seats when it was disclosed a lawyer had been hired to represent the Alaska governor in an investigation of her firing of the state's public safety commissioner. The other disclosure was personal, not political the pregnancy of her 17-year-old unmarried daughter.
The convention's opening session was abbreviated as Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf Coast, sparing New Orleans the type of damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina almost exactly three years ago.
President Bush skipped his planned speech to go to disaster and relief centers, determined to avoid a repeat of the mismanagement of Katrina.
McCain was in Waterville, Ohio, where he helped pack supplies to be sent to the Gulf.
Both men's wives sparked cheers when they appeared before the delegates, shunning politics to urge contributions to help storm victims.
Virtually the only political business of the convention's 2 1/2-hour session was approval of a platform that sidestepped the Iraq War, one of the key issues in the campaign between McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.
Day of stunning Palin disclosures
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, said Monday her 17-year-old unmarried daughter was five months pregnant, the latest in a string of disclosures that left the McCain campaign defending the thoroughness of its background check of the little-known Alaska governor.
It was also revealed Monday that an attorney had been hired to represent Palin in a state ethics probe and that her husband, Todd, had been arrested for drunken driving two decades ago. The man who led McCain's vice presidential search team said he thought everything that came up as a possible red flag during the background check had now been made public.
"I think so," Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr. told The Associated Press. "Yes. I think so. Correct."
The revelations threatened to steal any remaining thunder from Day One of the Republican National Convention, which already was overshadowed by Hurricane Gustav and brought unwanted attention to the 44-year-old governor, a self-described "hockey mom" with little experience on the national stage.
The GOP convention had already been scaled back because of the hurricane, and just three days after McCain named Palin as his vice presidential running mate. Coming after the randomness of Gustav, the revelations added to the sense of unscriptedness hanging over the convention.
Some turn violent in march to GOP convention
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) Protesters attacked delegates, smashed windows, punctured car tires and threw bottles Monday, a violent counterpoint to an otherwise peaceful anti-war march at the Republican National Convention. Police wielding pepper spray arrested at least 56 people.
The trouble happened not far from the Xcel Energy Center convention site, and many of those involved in the more violent protest were clad in black and identified themselves to reporters as anarchists. They wrought havoc by damaging property and setting at least one fire. Most of the trouble was in pockets of a neighborhood near downtown, several blocks from where the convention was taking place.
Police estimates of the crowd shifted several times during the event, ranging from 2,000 to 10,000. The crowd was clearly in the thousands. Late Monday afternoon, long after the anti-war marchers had dispersed, police requested and got 150 Minnesota National Guard soldiers to help control splinter groups near downtown.
Obama curtails campaign to watch Gustav
DETROIT (AP) Barack Obama urged hundreds of thousands of supporters Monday to donate to the Red Cross to help victims of Hurricane Gustav. The Democratic presidential nominee scaled back Labor Day speeches to unions in an effort to keep the focus on the Gulf Coast.
Obama planned to finish his campaign schedule Monday with stops in Michigan and Wisconsin, two battleground states the campaign views as possible wins, before heading home to Chicago to monitor the situation and decide his schedule for the rest of the week.
"Instead of a speech, what I'd like to do is to ask all of us join in some silent prayer for all those Americans who are spending this Labor Day in a shelter waiting for another storm to pass," Obama said at an outdoor rally in the shadow of General Motors' headquarters.
McCain raises $47 million in August
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) Republican John McCain raised at least $47 million in August, his biggest haul of money so far and a sign that he is dispelling doubts about his campaign among conservative donors.
Two campaign officials discussed the fundraising Monday on the condition of anonymity because the numbers had not been officially tallied.
The amount was just shy of the $50 million that Democratic rival Barack Obama raised in July. Obama campaign officials would not comment on their August fundraising.
One official said the campaign had raised $10 million since McCain announced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate on Friday. Palin has emerged as a popular vice presidential candidate among social conservatives who have eyed McCain with suspicion.
Another official said that the Republican Party and the campaign will have between $224 million and $240 million available next week going into the fall campaign. That amount would include the $85 million in public funds that McCain will receive after he officially becomes the Republican nominee on Thursday.
Biden, in Pa., lauds blue-collar roots in Scranton
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) Sen. Joe Biden, campaigning in his boyhood town of Scranton with his 91-year-old mother Monday, gave voters a short course on the political climate as he grew up, saying that "to be Irish was to be Catholic was to be Democrat."
"This is where my family values and my faith melded," Biden, the Democratic nominee for vice president, told about 75 hand-picked supporters. "The one thing you learned here is, a promise made is a promise kept."
Earlier in the day, Biden nixed plans to march in a Labor Day parade in Pittsburgh, saying he needed to focus instead on Hurricane Gustav's landfall on the Gulf Coast. Asked about the Bush administration's storm preparations, Biden said, "So far I've been impressed."
Biden lived in Scranton until 1953, when his father moved the 10-year-old and other family members to Delaware to search for a better job. His mother, Jean, and a brother, Jimmy, joined him at the three-story home as Democrats sought to shore up support in Pennsylvania, a perennial battleground.
DAILY TRACK
Democrat Barack Obama has an 6-percentage-point lead over Republican John McCain he has 49 percent to McCain's 43 percent among registered voters in the presidential race, according to the latest Gallup Poll daily tracking update.
THE DEMOCRATS
Barack Obama is scheduled to hold a rally in Detroit before attending a barbecue in Monroe, Mich., and a rally in Milwaukee.
Joe Biden planned to discuss the economy in Scranton, Pa.
THE REPUBLICANS
John McCain planned to stop in Ohio, and Philadelphia.
Sarah Palin is in St. Paul, Minn., with no public schedule.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"While we're here in Minneapolis-St. Paul, we can do things for people on the Gulf Coast." First lady Laura Bush, who met with volunteers who will help send care packages to those affected by Hurricane Gustav.
STAT OF THE DAY:
The Republican National Convention is expected to draw about 45,000 delegates, alternate delegates, volunteers, members of the press and other guests.
Compiled by Ann Sanner.
Alright, I got it.
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2008 Campaign Contributions
mapped by location
| $2,300 | |
| The Great Debaters | $4,600 |
| American Gangster | $4,600 |
| Comedians | $9,200 |
| Time Warner, Inc | $18,095 |
Source: (InsiderAdvantage)
| Barack Obama | 34% |
| John Edwards | 33% |
| Hillary Clinton | 32% |
| Joe Biden | --% |
| Bill Richardson | --% |
