swamppolitics.com

Traveling debates for McCain, Obama? Here's how

May 11, 2008 6:07 PM EDT

by Jim Tankersley

Nearly a year and a half of presidential campaigning has finally produced a genuinely breakthrough idea, and it has nothing to do - at least directly - with health care, taxes or Iraq.

Aides to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the presumptive Republican nominee, raised the possibility this weekend of staging a series of bipartisan debates with his Democratic opponent in advance of the November election. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who leads the race for the Democratic nomination, called it a "great idea." (McCain's camp says it would extend the same offer to Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York hould she rally to win the Democratic nod.) The plan would pit the nominees in a town-hall format with no moderator.

This campaign has already overflowed with debates, including more than 20 among Democratic candidates alone. They have produced a few campaign-changing moments - Clinton's armor began to crack on a question last year about driver's licenses for illegal immigrants - and more than a few quickly-forgotten theatrics. The problem with them, and with the annual "official" presidential general-election debates, is that reporters and pundits view them more as boxing matches to be scored than as forums for serious exploration of policy.

The "road show" format could change that with a few simple guidelines that wouldn't favor either candidate - only voters.

Clinton's gain despite pain

May 11, 2008 12:11 PM EDT

by Michael Tackett

On the outside, there is no quit in the Clinton campaign. They keep talking about finding a way to count the votes and seat the delegates for her from the Florida and Michigan primaries that were ruled rogue operations by the Democratic National Committee.

They keep churning out charts that (selectively) show that she would be the far superior candidate in the fall. "Hillary is the candidate who will win in the tough districts," they proclaim. They boast of raising $1 million after losing North Carolina in a landslide and eking out a victory in Indiana.

Sen. Hillary Clinton soldiers on in West Virginia, where she expects to win by double digits on Tuesday. She traveled to Oregon and will campaign in Kentucky. Chances are she will drop by South Dakota and Montana, and almost certainly Puerto Rico if she has the time and money to get there.

But as Clinton said of herself in a recent debate, of the many things she is, "dumb" is not one of them.

McAuliffe: don't "alienate" Clinton voters

May 11, 2008 12:07 PM EDT

by Christi Parsons

Some people have been looking for signs of a graceful exit from the Democratic presidential race by Hillary Clinton.

But Terry McAuliffe, her campaign chairman, made it clear on the Sunday morning talk shows today that that isn't happening any time soon.

McAuliffe was in there swinging on both Face the Nation and Meet the Press, arguing that Clinton still has a chance to win the party nomination.

And if they're smart, he suggested, superdelegates will hold out and not do anything that might turn off the many people who have voted for her this primary season.

"Most of the superdelegates will wait til the end til everybody's voted," McAuliffe said. Clinton will be ahead in the popular vote, he predicted, and ahead in delegates.

"They understand we're in a fragile time in our party," he said. "Let's let the process finish. People need to be careful not to alienate" the Clinton supporters.

Obama headed to battleground Missouri

May 11, 2008 10:32 AM EDT

by John McCormick

Advancing his efforts to prepare for a general election while still formally being a primary campaign candidate, Sen. Barack Obama is expected to head to the battleground state of Missouri this week.

Plans are still being worked out, but the Illinois Democrat is expected to head to his neighboring state on Tuesday for an economic town hall in Cape Girardeau with Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri.

Cape Girardeau is the hometown of Rush Limbaugh, the conservative commentator who has been encouraging Republicans to cross over in some Democratic primaries as part of something he has called "Operation Chaos."

Barack Obama: Looking for 51 percent

May 11, 2008 9:30 AM EDT

by Mark Silva

Now that Barack Obama claims a narrow majority of the Democratic Party's super-delegates, and with Obama poised to claim a majority of the pledged delegates in primaries on May 20, he's looking for a breakaway with the nation's Democrats.

In daily tracking of the sentiment of Democratic voters, Obama and Hillary Clinton have run a close contest for months. But neither has claimed more than 50 percent of the Democrats in the three-day averages of voters surveyed by the Gallup Poll.

With results in from the first three days of polling following Obama's big win in North Carolina and Clinton's squeaker in Indiana on Tuesday, Obama has gained another slight advantage in national daily tracking.

Yet, Gallup's Frank Newport notes, while "Obama's margin over Clinton is now larger than it has been over the last several days, he has yet to move into a significant or commanding lead, despite much discussion about the inevitability of his becoming the Democratic nominee.''

The standoff certainly has a lot to do with a lot of Democrats unwilling to give up on Clinton's candidacy as she struggles to keep a dwindling claim on the party's presidential nomination.

The results are based on a May 7-9 survey of 1,270 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, with a possible margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. For more, including a look at the contest from the start of January, see the Gallup Poll.

Stevens: Horses die better than condemned

May 11, 2008 7:50 AM EDT

by James Oliphant

Staying on the course he set last month with the opinion he wrote in the Supreme Court's lethal injection case, Justice John Paul Stevens suggested in a speech this weekend that racehorses are put to death in more humane way than prisoners.

Speaking to a group of lawyers and judges Friday in Chattanooga, Tenn., Stevens received a round of applause when he brought up the euthanasia of Kentucky Derby entrant Eight Bells.

"I had checked the procedure they used to kill the horse," Stevens said, expressing surprise to learn it is against the law in Kentucky to kill animals using one of the drugs in a three-drug lethal injection cocktail that many believe is cruel to humans.

Kentucky's method for executing prisoners was the subject of a legal challenge in the Supreme Court. Last month, in a 6-3 decision, the court held the three-drug protocol did not cause cruel and unusual punishment to prisoners and was constitutional.

Stevens sided with the majority, but wrote a separate opinion in which, for the first time, he declared his opposition to capital punishment, saying the law in the area had become a hopeless muddle.

In Kentucky, a separate, one-drug procedure is used for horses.In Kentucky, a separate, one-drug procedure is used for horses. Critics of the three-drug protocol says that when done incorrectly, it can cause great pain in the prisoner, while a paralyzing agent would prevent him from crying out.

AP: Obama leads in supers

May 10, 2008 5:14 PM EDT

by Jim Tankersley

The Associated Press has joined the long list of media outlets whose unofficial tallies now show Barack Obama leading Hillary Clinton among Democratic superdelegates.

Here's the wire report:

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Barack Obama erased Hillary Rodham Clinton's once-imposing lead among superdelegates Saturday when he added more endorsements from the group of Democrats who will decide the party's nomination for president.

Obama added superdelegates from Utah, Ohio and the Virgin Islands, enabling him to surpass Clinton's total for the first time in the campaign. He had picked up nine endorsements Friday.

The milestone is important because Clinton would need to win over the superdelegates by a wide margin to claim the nomination. They are a group that Clinton owned before the first caucus, when she was able to cash in on the popularity of the Clinton brand among the party faithful.

Those party insiders, however, have been steadily streaming to Obama since he started posting wins in early voting states.

Obama, McCain hitting road together?

May 10, 2008 4:23 PM EDT

by Jim Tankersley

BEND, Ore. - Barack Obama and John McCain, the traveling debate road show?

The Illinois senator - walking a careful line between his ongoing primary race and the general election campaign that increasingly appears within his reach - said in a press conference here this morning that should he secure the Democratic presidential nomination, he would welcome the chance to talk issues with the presumptive Republican nominee across the country this summer.

"That's a great idea," Obama said, responding to a question about a joint-campaigning/debate idea floated by McCain aides.

"There is going to be a very clear choice on policy that I don't think is going to have to do with ideology, who is theoretically more liberal or more conservative," Obama had said moments earlier, responding to a question about whether he believed race, ideology or experience would handicap him the most this fall.

"This is going to be a very concrete contest on very specific plans about how you improve the lives of Americans. "

Air Force, birds at war to dominate sky

May 10, 2008 3:45 PM EDT

by Aamer Madhani

LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. -- Tom Olexa, a wildlife biologist at this busy military installation, had just left his desk one morning last week when a grim-faced airman tracked him down to deliver some bad news in a Ziploc bag.

A plane ferrying troops returning from the Middle East had just passed through Langley. Soon after the plane departed, Air Force personnel found a dead bird on the runway, apparently the victim of a bird strike.

"Uh-oh," said Olexa, a 31-year Department of Agriculture biologist who works with the base's Bird and Wildlife Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) team, after he was handed the bag with a dead starling. "Bad luck."

Perhaps the most confounding threat to the Air Force's fleet isn't the fledgling Chinese defense industry or the service's shrinking piece of the Pentagon's budgetary pie. It's the birds.

The Air Force reported $16 million in 2006 from damage caused by bird strikes--a whopping sum but down from more than $54 million reported in 2003. The Federal Aviation Administration estimates that bird-related damage has cost the aviation industry as much as $600 million a year.

For the most part, most strikes go unnoticed by pilots, as birds collide harmlessly with jets. But in the worst situations--particularly when the plane strikes a large bird--the outcome can create a white-knuckle moment.

U.S. troops, pets cremated at same facility

May 10, 2008 2:17 PM EDT

by Julian E. Barnes

The Pentagon abruptly ordered changes Friday in the way it handles service members' remains after learning that one business used by the Air Force performs both human and animal cremations.

The Delaware facility maintains separate incinerators in different buildings for human remains and animal remains, said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. But the crematorium, in an industrial park, had one sign, which advertised pet cremation services.

Told of the situation, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates asked for immediate changes, ordered a broad review and issued an apology to military families, Morrell said.

"Secretary Gates believes the site and signage are insensitive and entirely inappropriate to the dignified treatment of our fallen," Morrell said.

"We just think our heroes deserve to be treated better than that."

The issue was brought to Gates' attention after an officer who attended the cremation Friday morning of a friend killed in combat lodged a complaint.

New poll: Clinton or Obama beat McCain

May 10, 2008 1:18 PM EDT

by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar

Although Democrats are tangled in a fractious primary contest, both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama probably would win the White House against presumptive GOP nominee John McCain if the election were held now, according to a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll.

Arizona Sen. McCain remains competitive, but the poll identified one important vulnerability: Voters ranked him lowest among the three candidates on who could best handle the nation's economy -- by far the most pressing concern for the public irrespective of party, gender or income. Of the three main candidates, New York Sen. Clinton inspired the most confidence on the economy.

In a hypothetical matchup, the poll gave Illinois Sen. Obama 46% to McCain's 40%, with 9% undecided.

Clinton led McCain 47% to 38%, with 11% undecided. The nationwide poll, conducted May 1 through Thursday and released Friday, had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The results represent a shift from a Times/Bloomberg poll in February, when McCain led Clinton by 6 percentage points and Obama by 2, within the poll's margin of error.

"Although there is such infighting now between the two Democratic candidates, we are finding that both Democrats are beating McCain, and this could be attributed to the weakening of the economy," said Times Polling Director Susan Pinkus, who supervised the survey.

Embattled NYC pol faces tough decision

May 10, 2008 1:05 PM EDT

by Aamer Madhani

The noose seems to be tightening around the neck of the embattled Rep. Vito Fossella.

Since his arrest for allegedly driving while drunk and a subsequent confession last week that he fathered a child in an extramarital affair, Fossella has resisted calls that he should immediately step down from his House seat.

On Friday, the editorial boards of the State Island Advocate and the New York Post, two newspapers with sway in Fossella's backyard, called on the Republican congressman to step down.

And now the New York Daily News has tossed another log on the Fossella fire. The paper is reporting in today's edition that Fossella told the woman that is the mother of his 3-year-old love child that he was separated from his wife.

The woman, retired Air Force Col. Laura Fay, told those around her recently that the Staten Island congressman had split with his wife, Mary Pat, the Daily News reports. Fossella remains married.

Fossella and Fay's relationship came to light after the congressman was arrested on May 1 in northern Virginia suburbs of Washington and charged with driving while intoxicated.

McCain paints Obama's portrait

May 10, 2008 11:21 AM EDT

by Jill Zuckman

WASHINGTON -- Three months ago, Sen. John McCain made a calculated decision to begin painting a not-so-pretty picture of Sen. Barack Obama.

Although Sen. Hillary Clinton was -- and still is -- battling Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, McCain began preparing his case against the Illinois senator early on. McCain's advisers, like other observers, had concluded that Obama was the likely nominee and wanted to begin shaping Obama's image while the Democrat was still consumed with fighting Clinton.

Defining one's opponent is a key task of any campaign, and simply put, McCain has had a long head start. As early as Feb. 12--the day McCain and Obama each won primaries in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. -- McCain suggested Obama was guilty of hollow promises and a messianic self-image.

"To encourage a country with only rhetoric, rather than sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and courage of free people, is not a promise of hope," McCain said, alluding to Obama's speaking skills and campaign theme. And in another jab he added, "I do not seek the presidency on the presumption that I am blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save my country in its hour of need."

Unlike McCain, Obama has been fighting a two-front war, trying to beat back an onslaught from Clinton while taking opening shots at McCain. Recently Obama has started focusing more squarely on the presumptive Republican nominee, attacking his positions on the war and the economy.

But because of the long, bruising Democratic campaign, McCain has gotten an early jump. Day by day, week by week, McCain has been portraying Obama as inexperienced, self-entitled and effete, a candidate coddled by a loving press corps and lacking the judgment necessary for the highest office in the land.

It's a line of attack likely to last through the fall election.

Obama unstained by Chicago Way

May 10, 2008 10:09 AM EDT

by John Kass

Will Barack Obama's presidential candidacy serve his state and city by finally drawing national attention to the sleazy and corrupt politics of Illinois and Chicago?

It is all about context. The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate's politics were born in Chicago. Yet he is presented to the nation as not truly being of this place, as if he floats just above the political corruption here, uninfected, untouched by the stain of it or by any sin of commission or omission. It is all so very mystical.

Perhaps viewing Obama as a Chicago political creature would conflict with the established national media narrative of Obama as a reformer. Actually, there's no "perhaps" about it.

"I think I have done a good job in rising politically in this environment without being entangled in some of the traditional problems of Chicago politics," Obama told reporters and editors at a Tribune editorial board meeting several weeks ago.

Yes, an excellent job. Except for his dalliance with his indicted real estate fairy, Tony Rezko, a relationship Obama considers a mistake, the senator has not played the fly to Mayor Richard Daley's spider. Almost, but not quite.

Bush twin: For whom wedding bells toll

May 10, 2008 8:50 AM EDT

by Mark Silva

Wedding bells will ring at the Prairie Chapel Ranch outside of Crawford, Texas, today, as a first twin, Jenna Bush, marries Henry Hager, son of a Virginia Republican.

"Please excuse me if I'm a little sleepy,'' the father of the bride, the president of the United States, has been seen joking. "A 3 am the phone rang.... The wedding planner.''

"I've got a lot of on my mind, by the way,'' Bush also has been heard to say, "getting ready to walk down the aisle.''

The aisle will be behind closed doors, at the Bush family ranch -- unlike the last White House wedding in 1971, a Rose Garden affair for the Nixons.

"I wanted to have something private -- something that fits my personality a little more,'' Jenna Bush has said. Her sister, Barbara, will serve as bride's maid.

The couple met around the White House. Henry Hager, son of a Virginia Republican who has run the state party and served in the Bush administration, worked in the political shop at the White House. The couple plans to settle in Baltimore.