IOWA
PRESIDENTIAL WATCH
Iowa...
Where Presidents Begin
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on each candidate to see today's news stories
(caricatures by
Linda Eddy)
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
GENERAL NEWS HEADLINES with excerpts
First Clark, now Webb...
McCain told to 'calm down' over service
Sen.
Jim Webb on Tuesday became the third high-ranking Obama supporter to
question Sen. John McCain's military service, but Sen. Barack Obama's
campaign said it was not part of an orchestrated effort conceived or
approved by the Democratic presidential candidate.
"Of course they aren't," Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said.
Mr.
Webb, a Virginia Democrat who is often mentioned as a possible running
mate for Mr. Obama, said Mr. McCain should "calm down" about his
military record. "Don't be standing up and uttering your political
views and implying that all the people in the military support them,
because they don't," he said on MSNBC.
A Marine who served in Vietnam - a fact he mentioned often as he campaigned for the Senate, occasionally while wearing his son's desert combat boots - Mr. Webb said "we need to make sure that we take politics out of service."
Obama denies McCain Swiftboat
“He
hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy
that he commanded -- that wasn't a wartime squadron,” Clark told CBS,
“I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a
qualification to be president,” he added.
At a press availability in Zanesville, Ohio Obama denied the connection of Clark’s statement to that of the attacks by the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth to John Kerry’s war record in 2004.
“I don’t think that General Clark you know had the same intent as the swift boat ads that we saw four years ago, I reject that analogy,” Obama said curtly back to the allegation by a reporter...
see also:
The campaign comment that will not die
Meet the PUMAs...'Party Unity My Ass'
Why
do you keep hearing all these stories about grumpy old ladies still
hung up on Hillary Clinton, the ones who're threatening to make a
scene at the Democratic convention in Denver, or vote for John McCain
in November?
To be fair, it's not just women. There are plenty of Clinton supporters of every demographic description who are still ticked. But yes, it's true that the Clinton base skewed female, and that women over 30 are the most vocal of the malcontents. Some of them are calling themselves "PUMAs" (as in "Party Unity My Ass"), an acronym that makes them sound, appropriately enough, like cougars in a very bad mood. Who are these women, and why are they such buzzkills?
see also:
PUMAs are Swiftboats
12 Reasons Clinton supporters are mad (PUMAs)
THE CANDIDATES:
John McCain... today's headlines with excerpts
McCain: Obama should cut Wesley Clark loose
"I think it's up to Sen. Obama now to not only repudiate him, but to cut him loose," McCain said to a small group of reporters somewhere between Indianapolis, IN, and Cartagena, Colombia.
For two days, the Obama campaign has been off message, forced to manage the fallout surrounding comments Clark made about McCain's war service in a broadcast interview Sunday. The highly regarded former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO said of McCain, whose plane was shot down and was later held captive in Vietnam, "I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president."
McCain stressing trade on Latin America trip
McCain's latest trip -- to Colombia and Mexico -- is designed to highlight his positions on trade and, to a lesser degree, immigration. Its value has been questioned by campaign strategists in both parties, since neither issue seems a winner for his campaign. His insistence on the virtues of free trade remain suspect in Rust Belt swing states, and his position on immigration continues to make many conservatives wary.
... Asked whether his trade position will hurt his campaign, he took a swipe at his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.): "I take stands on principle, and I don't switch positions depending on what audience or what time it is in the electoral calendar."
Barack Obama... today's headlines with excerpts
Obama received lower-interest loan for mansion
his mortgage rate secured in '05 may add to a debate on whether officials' deals from lenders are illegal gifts...
Obama faith mission caught in old politics
An Obama zag -- one that zings: “Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans that would expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and -- in a move sure to cause controversy -- support their ability to hire and fire based on faith,” the AP’s Jennifer Loven reports.
see also:
Obama proposes expanding faith-based program
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