click on each candidate to see today's news stories (caricatures by Linda Eddy)

Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008

This is it - Super Tuesday

43 presidential nominating contests in 24 states today

For Republicans, two states could end up determining whether the race goes on from here: California and Massachusetts... Should Mr. McCain win in Massachusetts and hold on to California, that would probably be the lights-out moment at the Romney headquarters....

For Democrats, watch California, Massachusetts, New York, Missouri, Arizona and New Mexico. If Mr. Obama wins California, that is a real momentum blocker for Mrs. Clinton: There are few states in the country that are more identified with the Clinton presidency than this one.

for Dems, Super Tuesday results likely to be close, inconclusive

“The nominating battle is likely going to continue well past tomorrow’s [today’s] voting, past the primaries of March 4 and maybe even beyond to Pennsylvania [April 22],” said Howard Wolfson, Mrs Clinton’s campaign manager. “The Super Tuesday results are likely to be close and inconclusive.” David Axelrod, Mr Obama’s campaign manager, also lowered expectations, saying he expected the race to continue for several weeks at least. “We need rough parity [in delegate numbers],” he told Politico, the Washington-based publication.

Voting machines in Hoboken, NJ malfunction

Presidential candidates are ready for Super Tuesday. Voters are ready. Some voting machines in Hoboken, however, are not.

CBS 2 HD has learned that several voting machines are not working Tuesday morning. Voting officials are trying to fix the problem.

The site which saw technical difficulties was where Governor Corzine intended to vote. 

DNC urged to end fight over delegates

The woman who oversaw the documentation of voter disenfranchisement during the disputed 2000 presidential election has asked the Democratic Party to settle a fight with Florida and Michigan to avoid damage to the party.

Mary Frances Berry, who served as U.S. Commission on Civil Rights chairwoman until 2004, is concerned that there will be a battle at the August convention over the seating of delegates from the two states. The Democratic National Committee stripped the states of their delegates as punishment for moving up their primaries before Feb. 5.

"There will be a challenge at the convention and there will be a big, bloody fight with everybody arguing," she said in an interview. "And at the end of the day you have people going away angry and it's hard to get them together for the general election."

Democrats' superdelegate info

Republicans' delegate info

John McCain... today's headlines with excerpts

Mellencamp asks McCain to stop using his tunes

At some recent John McCain campaign rallies, John Mellencamp’s “Our Country” and “Pink Houses” have been booming out over the speakers. Uplifting heartland rock must have seemed like a smart pick, but there’s just one problem: Mellencamp is an ardent Democrat. And, until recently, he supported John Edwards – who had been playing “Our Country” and “Small Town” at his rallies. Mellencamp hasn’t yet made a public response, but his reps are quietly reaching out to McCain and asking him to stop playing his tunes.

Pataki endorses McCain

GOP front-runner Sen. John McCain has won a key endorsement from ex-New York Gov. George Pataki, in a last-minute show of support that may sway some Super Tuesday voters.

McCain ad casts Romney as anti-Reagan

WashingtonPost: Top McCain flip-flops

1. Taxes. John McCain was one of two Republican senators to vote against President Bush's tax cuts of 2001, saying that he could not support cuts that benefited the rich rather than the middle class. He now favors making the tax cuts permanent.

2. The religious right. During the 2000 presidential campaign, he attacked Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson as "agents of intolerance." He withdrew that remark in a 2006 interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," saying that the Christian right has a "major role to play in the Republican Party."

3. Immigration. Last year, he sponsored a bill that would combine a temporary-worker program and a path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants while also increasing border security. He now emphasizes securing the borders first.

4. Roe v. Wade. In August 1999, he told the San Francisco Chronicle that he would "not support repeal of Roe v. Wade" because it would force women to have illegal abortions. He has subsequently said that he was speaking about the need to change the "culture of America" and that he supports the repeal of Roe, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

5. Ethanol. In 2003, he said that ethanol "does nothing to reduce fuel consumption, nothing to increase our energy independence, nothing to improve air quality." Campaigning in Iowa in August 2006, he described ethanol as a "vital alternative energy source, not only because of our dependency on foreign oil, but its greenhouse-reduction effects."

Dole scolds Limbaugh, defends McCain

Bob Dole, the former Senate Republican leader, wrote an insistent letter to Rush Limbaugh on Monday and suggested that for the good of the party, the conservative talk-show host should stop his strafing of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). 

On Monday's show, Limbaugh asserted that McCain has "lied about his reason for opposing the Bush tax cuts," and added: "I think McCain has an animus toward the Republican Party. I think ever since South Carolina 2000 he's had it in for the Republican Party, and one of his objectives is to destroy it and change it."

Limbaugh continues McCain bash

Rush Limbaugh has been relentless in his criticism of John McCain, prompting suggestions that he may have to soften his stance if the Arizona senator wins the nomination and faces off against Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. But if that happens, Limbaugh said in an interview over the weekend, he would rather see the Democrats win the White House.

"If I believe the country will suffer with either Hillary, Obama or McCain, I would just as soon the Democrats take the hit . . . rather than a Republican causing the debacle," he said. "And I would prefer not to have conservative Republicans in the Congress paralyzed by having to support, out of party loyalty, a Republican president who is not conservative." 

When it comes to the McCain mutiny, Limbaugh has plenty of company on the right side of the dial. Laura Ingraham endorsed Mitt Romney last week, saying, "There is no way in hell I could pull the lever for John McCain." Sean Hannity, who also endorsed the former Massachusetts governor, regularly rips McCain.

Hugh Hewitt is urging the audience for his syndicated radio show to fight for Romney against what he calls a media-generated "McCain resurrection." But with a program heard on 600 stations, including Washington's WMAL, Limbaugh is the loudest and brashest voice inveighing against the man he derides as "Saint John of Arizona."

... Yesterday Limbaugh said the candidate had "stabbed his own party in the back I can't tell you how many times."

No public funds for McCain

The Arizona senator’s rejection of the presidential public financing program he once defended is just the latest evidence of how ineffective the post-Watergate reform has become in an era of multimillion-dollar candidacies.

Ron Paul... today's headlines with excerpts

Ron Paul, revved and ready

Several thousand people turned out to hear GOP candidate Ron Paul at the University of Minnesota the night before Super Tuesday. Though running well behind, he seems undaunted.

... Paul acknowledges that his message has been better received in Minnesota than in other places. That's why he spent the final evening before 21 GOP contests across the country here. His reason was simple.

"I saw it as an opportunity, saw it as a good state," Paul said. "Our money can go further."

As important as Super Tuesday is in determining who will secure the Republican nomination, Paul said today is far from a make-or-break day.

Instead, he simply wants to continue gaining momentum. "There were 11 candidates and now we're down to four," he said. "I don't think we're in fourth place at all. We started low, and we keep going.

"If I dropped out, my supporters wouldn't be happy."

Hillary Clinton... today's headlines with excerpts

Republicans for Hillary

She has long loomed in the Republican imagination as the savior of 2008, and there's been a desperate wishfulness to it. But now it just might be true.

... Obama may give inspiring speeches at campaign events thronged by thousands, but for Republicans, there's only one candidate of hope: Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Hillary on Letterman Show

Appearing on the "Late Show with David Letterman," Sen. Hillary Clinton, asked by Letterman about what role her husband would play in her administration, said, "in my White House, we will know who wears the pantsuits."

Congressional members give Hillary Clinton the edge

Sen. Hillary Clinton has nearly twice as many endorsements as Sen. Barack Obama from lawmakers representing districts that campaign strategists consider the most important on Super Tuesday, according to an analysis by The Hill.

Clinton has received endorsements from 29 lawmakers representing districts with an odd number of delegates, giving her an important organizational advantage in the most contested battlegrounds of the states holding elections Tuesday.  

Obama has received endorsements from 13 lawmakers representing districts with odd-numbered delegate totals.  

Hillary has support in stronghold of Obama (Yale)

Standing among a group of Yale Students for Hillary, Timothy Orr acknowledged that they are outnumbered on campus by Mr. Obama’s boosters. An informal poll in his dormitory showed Mr. Obama winning “by a significant margin,” said Mr. Orr, a 20-year-old junior. “Most college campuses are for Barack.”

He and his companions on the sidewalk are nonetheless staying loyal to Mrs. Clinton. Traits that others might consider flaws, such as her reputation for pragmatism, they applaud.

“I like the way she tones down the rhetoric and goes for the practicalities,” said Rek LeCounte, a Yale freshman who described himself as an “Army brat” from Virginia. “The fact that she comes off as calculating,” he said, does not trouble him. “She’s very strategic and weighs all options and is not quick to jump to conclusions. She’s not dogmatic in her politics, and that’s good.”

As for Mr. Obama, Mr. LeCounte said: “He’s a great candidate. I hope he’ll be veep.”

NY Post: Hillary's losing women

According to Gallup, Clinton's lost 8 points among women, while Obama's gained 13. No other recent polls show such a gender swing, so Gallup's numbers may be exaggerated - but Obama couldn't be gaining ground at his current rate without cutting into Clinton's female support.