Political Hot Topics
(Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country)
Compiled by Mary Grace Lucas
CNN Washington Bureau
CNN: Campaign stops add to VP speculation
In the run-up to the vice presidential announcements, a campaign stop is less about what's said than where it is; geography and choreography are clues.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/19/obama.mccain.vp/index.html
WSJ: McCain Takes Hands-Off Approach With Platform
Jean from Ferrisburgh, Vt., wants the Republican Party to get off "the global-warming bus." Paul from Carrollton, Texas, wants it to "reject fetal stem-cell research." And Larry from Waynesboro, Pa., wants the party to promise to "deport those who are here illegally."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121919935070455629.html?mod=todays_us_page_one
NY Times: Obama’s Ads in Key States Go on Attack
Senator Barack Obama has started a sustained and hard-hitting advertising campaign against Senator John McCain in states that will be vital this fall, painting Mr. McCain in a series of commercials as disconnected from the economic struggles of the middle class.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/us/politics/20ads.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin
AP: McCain, Obama to silence critical ads on Sept. 11
Presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain plan to pull ads on Sept. 11 that criticize each other, a respite from the political fray to honor the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5joaI2PgFE8-2IHjsjHRcm59baj1wD92LR9200
CNN Radio: Looking for clues in the VP whirlwind
The letters "v" and "p" may go up in value on the Scrabble board, as we get deeper into the daily guessing ...<< MORE >>
Political Hot Topics
(Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country)
Compiled by Mary Grace Lucas
CNN Washington Bureau
AP: Edwards' ally explains $14,000 payment to mistress
John Edwards' political action committee paid his mistress $14,000 after she stopped working for it to obtain 100 hours of unused videotape she had shot for his unsuccessful presidential campaign, an associate told The Associated Press on Thursday.The woman, Rielle Hunter, already had been paid $100,000 for the programs.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jfOq80s0bbfh1UP_b8x29EsWTXAwD92IHAU80
CNN: New DNC Web video tries to link McCain to Abramoff scandal
The Democratic National Committee’s is taking on John McCain in a new Web video calling into question his reputation as a campaign finance reformer and a maverick who stands outside the inner circles of political dealings in the nation’s capital.
LA Times: McCain back in Aspen, this time standing tall
The GOP candidate discusses Russia and ABBA at the event. Top advisors attend, fueling veep talk.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-mccain15-2008aug15,0,1186560.story
Washington Post: McCain's Focus on Georgia Raises Question of Propriety
Standing behind a lectern in Michigan this week, with two trusted senators ready to do his bidding, John McCain seemed to forget for a moment that he was only running for president.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081403332.html
CNN: Gorbachev: Georgia started conflict in S. Ossetia
Georgian leaders may be blaming Russia for the conflict raging in South Ossetia, but former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said Thursday ...<< MORE >>
Political Hot Topics
(Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country)
Compiled by Mary Grace Lucas
CNN Washington Bureau
Washington Post: Both Parties Now Ignoring McCain
The presidential campaign strategies these days are clear. For the Democrats, it's time to stop the bickering and rally round Barack Obama, who dominates the Democratic National Committee's Web site.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/12/AR2008081202883.html
CNN: Hagel won't endorse McCain or Obama, spokesman says
Sen. Chuck Hagel, a leading Republican voice on international affairs and an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, won't endorse either major-party presidential candidate in 2008, a spokesman said Tuesday.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/12/election.2008.hagel/index.html
NY Times: Book on Obama Hopes to Repeat Anti-Kerry Feat
In the summer of 2004 the conservative gadfly Jerome R. Corsi shot to the top of the best-seller lists as co-author of “Unfit for Command,” the book attacking Senator John Kerry’s record on a Vietnam War Swift boat that began the larger damaging campaign against Mr. Kerry’s war credentials as he sought the presidency.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/us/politics/13book.html
CNN Radio: Candidates candid on Caucasus
World affairs! A little-known (until recently) regional conflict has imposed itself on the presidential campaign as the candidates seize the moment to strut their foreign-policy stuff. Bob Costantini has today's CNN Radio Political Ticker.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/08/13/cnnradiopoliticalticker081308.mp3
Minneapolis Star-Tribune: Some predict hundreds of arrests, others far fewer; everyone's ready
The Minnesota ACLU is estimating that 800 demonstrators will be arrested, and it's ...<< MORE >>
Political Hot Topics
(Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country)
Compiled by Mary Grace Lucas
CNN Washington Bureau
CNN: Russian president calls halt to Georgian war
Russia's president has ordered an end to military operations against Georgia, the official Russian news agency Interfax reported Tuesday.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/12/georgia.russia.war/index.html
CNN: Memos show Clinton camp lines of attack, disarray
Sen. Hillary Clinton's one-time chief strategist wanted to attack Sen. Barack Obama for lacking "American roots" during the Democratic primary battle, according to a magazine article set to be published online Monday evening.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/11/atlantic.clinton.staff/index.html
WSJ: Obama Floods Florida Airwaves
In Florida's living rooms, the presidential contest so far has been a landslide — Barack Obama, 9,785; John McCain, zero.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121850408634131921.html
LA Times: Longtime Republican voters are airing new views
Many struggling families in the normally comfortable cul-de-sacs outside U.S. cities are thinking of switching parties.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-exurbs12-2008aug12,0,6209867.story
CNN Radio: Georgia on their Minds
Conflict in the Caucasus catch the candidate's eyes as they add their own rhetoric to the crossfire. Meanwhile, a Clinton confidant can't let go of the past. CNN's Steve Kastenbaum has today's CNN Radio Political Ticker.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/08/12/cnnradiopoliticalticker081208.mp3
Washington Post Op-Ed: Mikhail Gorbachev: A Path to Peace in the Caucasus
The past week's events in South Ossetia are bound to shock and pain anyone. Already, thousands of people have died, tens of thousands have been turned into refugees, ...<< MORE >>
Political Hot Topics
(Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country)
Compiled by Mary Grace Lucas
CNN Washington Bureau
NY Times: For a Week, McCain Has the Trail to Himself
As Senator Barack Obama headed off for a vacation in Hawaii last week, Senator John McCain was left in the continental United States with the Iowa State Fair to himself.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/us/politics/11mccain.html
CNN: Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama get prime time spots
The Democratic National Convention announced its “headline” speakers Sunday, with Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama each getting a starring role in prime time.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/11/hillary-clinton-michelle-obama-get-prime-time-spots/
Rocky Mountain News: Unconventional Wisdom: Tom Hayden, Chicago 1968
The New Left leader from four decades ago thinks Denver should be skeptical of federal authorities' warnings about violent protest.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/aug/11/officials-pressing-the-panic-button-begets-says/
CNN Radio: Spectacular speculations…media self-examination on Edwards and the Veepstakes continue
Barack Obama continues a vacation in Hawaii, taken off the front pages by news of a formal rival's infidelity. Also, John McCain goes Ridge running. Bob Costantini has today's CNN Radio Political Ticker.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/08/11/cnnradiopoliticalticker081108.mp3
WSJ Op-Ed: Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili: The War in Georgia Is a War for the West
As I write, Russia is waging war on my country. On Friday, hundreds of Russian tanks crossed into Georgian territory, and Russian air force jets bombed Georgian airports, bases, ports and public markets. Many are dead, many more wounded. This invasion, which echoes Afghanistan ...<< MORE >>
Political Hot Topics
(Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country)
Compiled by Mary Grace Lucas
CNN Washington Bureau
CNN: U.S. troops may leave by 2011, Iraqi officials say
Iraq and the United States are close to reaching a deal under which U.S. combat troops would leave by December 2010 and the rest would leave by the end of 2011, two Iraqi officials said Thursday.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/08/07/iraq.main/index.html?iref=24hours
USA Today: Flip-flops more fashionable this election
Models of consistency they are not. But because of who they are and the times they are running in, political analysts say, presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain are not likely to be felled by charges of flip-flopping.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-08-07-flip-flop_N.htm
LA Times: McCain ad plays up Democrats' praise of him
The montage includes Clinton, Kerry, Biden and Dean — and sets off a flurry of retractions.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-trailmccain8-2008aug08,0,6199660.story
Financial Times: Democratic jitters as Obama heads home
Few people are more likely to need a holiday than Barack Obama. Yet as he heads off on Friday for his first week-long break since he launched his presidential bid 19 months ago, Mr Obama is dogged by rising angst about his campaign’s direction.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/71ac6fdc-64ac-11dd-af61-0000 779fd18c,dwp_uuid=729ab242-9cb1-11db-8ec6-0000779e2340.html
CNN Radio: Heck no, they won’t go!
House GOP members vow to keep up their daily protests on the House floor for at least two more weeks. Also, democratic unity remains unsettled (at least in ...<< MORE >>
You've been invited to attend Mid County Office Opening.
Go to http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/44jcf#rsvp to RSVP.
Mid County Office Opening (Missouri Office Opening)
GRAND OPENING of the St. Louis Mid County Obama Office!
The office will serve the areas of University City, Clayton, Richmond Heights, Olivette, St. Ann, St. John, Normandy, Wellston, Pagedale and all of the small cities. Meet elected officials and campaign staffers and find out how you can help win this election! The office is at 1159 McKnight, at the corner of Olive and McKnight.
Time: Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 5:00-7:00 PM
Host: Michael Sandler
Contact Phone: 314-324-9862
Location: Mid County Obama Office
1159 N McKnight Road
Saint Louis, MO 63132
McCain has said again today that we should build *forty-five* nuclear
power plants over the next twenty years and repeated his allegation that
Obama is against nuclear energy. On MSNBC, Virginia Representative (D)
Allyson Schwartz has just countered McCain's claims by laying out
Obama's position on this issue.
First, she says that experts say it is impossible to build that many
nuclear plants over that period of time.
She also clarified Obama's position that nuclear energy may be an
option, providing there are appropriate safeguards for safe and secure
nuclear energy: public right-to-know, security of nuclear fuel and
waste, waste storage, and proliferation.
Obama's stance on nuclear energy is at:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/energy/
but it's not on the site itself. Rather it's in a PDF (the link is at
the end of the energy section of the issues statement).
His four criteria are:
1. public right-to-know
2. security of nuclear fuel and waste
3. waste storage
4. proliferation
It's not clear (at least to me) what the last of these means, although I
assume he is concerned about unauthorized parties getting hold of
fissionable material.
Additionally, the position paper states that Obama will develop
requirements to ensure that the waste stored at current reactor sites is
contained using the most advance dry-cask storage available and that he
believes that Yucca Mountain is not an option. (Yucca Mountain is within
80 miles of Las Vegas metro.)
In the last few days, Obama has again laid out these important criteria
in his speeches on energy policy, and McCain has simply repeated his
claim that Obama is "against" nuclear energy.
It's pretty difficult for someone to ...<< MORE >>