US 2008 Presidential Campaign Thread - Part 2

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WASHINGTON (CNN) — Democratic White House hopeful Hillary Clinton told ABC's “The View” Monday that it's different running for president as a woman, noting people focus more attention on her appearances and mannerisms than on those of her male counterparts.

"Oh, yes, yes. Oh, yes," Clinton said when asked about the difficulties she encounters as a woman candidate. "The hair. The hair. The clothes. The laugh," the New York Democrat added, referencing the scrutiny she has faced on her evolving hairstyles, clothes, and most recently on what some have dubbed her 'cackle.'

"I do think that there still is, you know, probably a tougher standard for women, especially running for president," she added. "I mean, we've all been through it in some way or another. Where you go and you try to break a barrier, you try to do the best you can, and people are saying, ‘Well, I don't like her clothes,’ or, ‘I don't like her hair,’ or whatever."

During her appearance on The View, Clinton also brushed aside the suggestion that leaders from countries unsympathetic to women's rights would refuse to meet with her if she was elected president.

"You know, I have been to 82 countries," the Democratic frontrunner said. "And I have met with the leaders of a lot of countries that are not exactly in the forefront of giving women their rights. And I've never found that to be a problem."

“I actually think, assuming I'm so fortunate as to be elected, that sends a very strong message to those countries and to those leaders,” she added.

Clinton's appearance on the daytime talk show kicked off a week in which she is aiming to play up her connection to female voters. Appearing at a women's luncheon honoring Eleanor Roosevelt later on Monday, Clinton said she often draws inspiration from the former first lady.

"She said, 'You know, if you're going to be involved in politics you have to grow skin as thick as a rhinoceros,"' Clinton noted. "So occasionally, I'll be sitting somewhere and I'll be listening to someone perhaps not saying the kindest things about me. And I'll look down at my hand and I'll sort of pinch my skin to make sure it still has the requisite thickness I know Eleanor Roosevelt expects me to have."
 
MrsSpringsteen said:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Democratic White House hopeful Hillary Clinton told ABC's “The View” Monday that it's different running for president as a woman, noting people focus more attention on her appearances and mannerisms than on those of her male counterparts.


That "faggy' Edwards might disagree.
 
hillary :madspit:

are there actually any decent candidates?
Although I was leaning towards Edwards before [:shh: Republican] I'm not sure if hes a better choice than McCain.

It'll be my first time voting :hyper:
 
This is an interesting article and lays pretty well why this race is anything but already wrapped up by Hillary...

How Hillary could tank
From hubby Bill's uncharted role to the Karl Rove factor to her hawkish voting record, the top 10 reasons why Clinton could take a fatal dive in the '08 race.

By Walter Shapiro

Oct. 16, 2007 | It is a paradox of the presidential primary season: Democratic voters -- and, yes, reporters -- claim to crave a wide-open, spirited fight for the nomination, yet simultaneously are eager to pronounce the race over before a single vote has been cast. From Ed Muskie in 1972 to Howard Dean four years ago, history should have taught handicappers that betting the mortgage money on the odds-on favorite is a mug's game.

Hillary Clinton is the latest beneficiary of this premature rush to certainty. Clinton's meet-her-again-for-the-first-time rollout has softened her image, repositioned her as the Democrats' most experienced candidate, airbrushed away her years of ambivalence on the Iraq war and turned her 1994 healthcare reform debacle into a scars-to-prove-it asset. At the same time, her campaign has shown uncharacteristic flashes of boldness from small matters (putting together a "Sopranos" parody video in a week, featuring Bill and Hillary) to large (matching John Edwards with a full-coverage-for-everyone healthcare plan).

All this has led to the latest episode of I-is-for-Inevitability. Despite the growing (and, in some cases, the grudging) sense that the former first lady's nomination is preordained and the primaries mere formalities, Clinton still must avoid a dirt-road-in-rainy-season ration of potholes on the way to the Denver Convention. Here are 10 factors that could permanently postpone the Hillary-for-president balloon drop:

1) When bad things happen to good candidates
Since James Monroe's "Era of Good Feeling" romp to reelection in 1820, front-runners have all endured a week, a month or an eternity when the media mood shifts and the polls plummet. Despite a few notes of skepticism in the spring when Barack Obama first displayed his fundraising prowess, Clinton has yet to go through even a single bad-hair day.

Something will inevitably arise to remind voters of her vulnerabilities. It could be, say, a maladroit response to a voter's question, a new fundraising scandal or an effective attack ad targeting her. The best justification for the endless campaign season is that it replicates (as much as anything possibly can) the stresses of actually serving in the White House. Some candidates -- Dean, for example -- never recover from their first crisis, while others -- like Bill Clinton in 1992 -- thrive on them.

Up to now, the Democratic debates have been as decorous as a student-council election in a 1950s sitcom. That will change as the time grows short -- and Clinton's challengers grow desperate. Until the New York senator stares down a roomful of rivals on the attack, or glares her way through a media feeding frenzy, she is not ready to be crowned as the 2008 nominee.

2) Political calendar choler
The order of the early caucuses and primaries can set Clinton up for a string of stinging setbacks. Her weakest state, at the moment, is Iowa where the opening-gun caucuses play a disproportionate role in shaping the contours of the contest. Clinton is locked in a three-way battle with Edwards and Obama in this state of notorious late-deciders who can stampede away from the favorite in, well, a New York minute.

A memo put out by the Obama campaign last week argues that the race is close in Iowa "not because it's the one state in the union immune to Senator Clinton appeal. It is because voters are playing close attention ... As other early states get more engaged, we will see a much closer race."

Handicapping Iowa at this stage is nearly impossible. Polls have the accuracy of a blunderbuss, in part because there is no certainty how many Iowa Democrats will actually attend the caucuses. Private estimates from campaign officials range from 125,000 (roughly the 2004 turnout) to a historic high of 200,000. Pollster Mark Blumenthal on his blog points out, "Since late July, we have seen 13 different Democratic polls in Iowa taken by 11 difference pollsters. Each pollster does things differently, so we have 11 different conceptions of 'likely caucus-goers.'"

What this means, in reality, is that Hillary Clinton could easily finish second and conceivably even third in Iowa. Potentially dragging her down is a quirk in Iowa Democratic rules that encourages backers of candidates with less than 15 percent support at a caucus site to switch to another contender. The best guess is that these second-choice voters are more likely to go to, say, Edwards or Obama than Clinton.

If that happens, "Hillary in Trouble" becomes a major headline coming out of Iowa. Virtually all current polls give Clinton a 2-to-1 lead in New Hampshire, but it is too soon to pronounce these numbers definitive. Most Granite State voters remain up for grabs -- a CNN-WMUR poll in late September found that 55 percent of New Hampshire Democrats are still trying to decide on a candidate.

In theory -- though it has not been demonstrated by his campaign so far -- Obama should be the ideal New Hampshire candidate. The state has a long history of opting for soft-spoken reformers running against the anointed favorite: Gary Hart (1984), Paul Tsongas (1992) and even Bill Bradley (2000), who came within less than 7,000 votes of pulling off a major upset against Al Gore.

After New Hampshire, the Democratic race may be quickly redefined as Clinton vs. the anti-Hillary. Especially if the alternative is Obama, he will have the money and the momentum to battle the former first lady in the next primary state, South Carolina, with its heavy concentration of African-American voters. All this sets up a scenario under which Clinton loses the nomination in the simplest fashion possible -- by failing to win an early state.

3) The Bill comes due
The wild-card factor in 2008 is the most important political spouse in American history. Bill Clinton has bequeathed his wife experience by association and has revived talk of the "Buy One, Get One Free" deal originally offered the voters in 1992.

But the ex-president in the past has also (how can we put this delicately?) displayed a predilection for creating soap-opera moments unrelated to his policy-wonk side. The unprecedented financial questions raised by his frenetic speechmaking and his fundraising for his foundation and library also could become an issue in the closing weeks of the campaign. In short, even if the nation is freed from any more fervid discussions of "the Clinton marriage," the 42nd president's role in the 44th president's White House may give Democrats pause when it is time to actually vote.

4) Some other candidate gets his act together
"Barack Obama, please call your office. Your charisma has been located."

In truth, the first-term Illinois senator has more than enough time to relaunch "Obama-mania." At this point four years ago, John Kerry was broke, had just shaken up his campaign staff and was attracting smaller crowds than an itinerant Bulgarian poet. Obama, with more than enough money to compete with Clinton all the way to the Democratic convention, is her most formidable rival. All of the adoring crowds that flock to his appearances in Iowa and New Hampshire want him to be president some day. Obama's challenge in the months ahead is to convince these erstwhile supporters that he is ready to be president in 2009.

Edwards may be running a one-state strategy, but because that state is Iowa, which he almost carried in 2004, he remains the candidate best positioned to break out with a dramatic victory. For Bill Richardson, in particular, and perhaps Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, there remains the possibility of gaining instant credibility by beating expectations in Iowa.

5) A cautionary tale
Perhaps the emblematic moment for Hillary Clinton came at the end of the Dartmouth debate late last month when she could not even offer a straight answer about whom she would root for in the wildly improbable situation that her beloved Chicago Cubs played her adopted New York Yankees in the World Series. The higher Clinton rises in the polls, the more she avoids uttering anything besides perfectly constructed paragraphs of poll-tested mush. On her recent swing through New Hampshire, she offered a stirring portrait in amiable inaccessibility.

This level of mind-numbing caution sadly may be what is required to run a successful campaign against the Republicans in the fall 2008 election. But it is not what voters in Iowa and New Hampshire expect during the early going. The last presidential candidate to smugly bank on his last name -- Bush, in this case -- lost the 2000 New Hampshire primary by 20 points to John McCain.

Presidential primaries are also a way for Democratic voters in particular to demonstrate their taste, discernment and individuality. Voters this year know they are not choosing a president, but rather a nominee in a race in which all the mainstream Democratic contenders would be credible candidates in November 2008. When the risks of a mistake are this small, primary voters can easily balk at voting for the favorite. After all, where is the fun in trailing along at the tail end of an imperial procession?

6) Hillary the hawk or "I ran straight to the center"
As the only Democratic presidential candidate to vote for the Senate resolution declaring Iran's Revolutionary Guard to be a "terrorist organization," Clinton revived suspicions that she may be the most hawkish, er, centrist Democrat in the race. The New York senator had successfully joined the Democratic consensus against the Iraqi misadventure, but her cover-her-right-flank vote on Iran may yet prove a problem with antiwar voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. There is a window of vulnerability for any presidential candidate in embarking on a general-election strategy before winning the primaries.

7) The anti-royalist rebellion
Although Clinton has deflected this question in several debates, there is a lingering uneasiness about the White House being reserved for just the Bush and Clinton families for 24 years. Voters could have banana-republic problems (not the clothing store) with living in a country where the Oval Office is reserved solely for the spouses and children of presidents.

8) The Karl Rove factor
Democratic voters may wonder why Rove and Rudy Giuliani have been boosting Clinton as the all-but-certain Democratic nominee. Maybe Karl and Rudy just possess a shrewd understanding of the inner workings of the rival political party. Or maybe they are secretly salivating at the thought of running against a Democratic nominee whose negatives invite an armada of Swift-boat attacks. More than 40 percent of the electorate have held an unfavorable view of Hillary in every Gallup Poll in the last two years. (In contrast, Obama's unfavorable rating is 27 percent and Edwards' is 31 percent in the latest Gallup Poll released earlier this month.)

Among Democrats, however, Clinton is currently regarded as the most electable candidate against the Republicans. But that image of invincibility might not survive a few rough weeks of campaign news or a setback in, say, Iowa. In that case, win-back-the-White-House-or-else Democratic voters may worry about spending a month of the fall campaign arguing, yet again, over Hillary's miraculous track record as a commodities trader.

9) If she hasn't closed the deal by now
Hillary Rodham Clinton has been in the public eye for nearly 16 years. Yet despite her strong overall lead, more than half the Democratic voters (in almost every poll) prefer other presidential candidates. For all her success at rebranding herself this year, it is worth asking what more can she do to win over the still skeptical wing of the Democratic Party?

10) The iron law of politics
Surprising things happen. The future is not an unchanging extrapolation from today. "Expect the unexpected" is an expression that anyone over the age of 17 finds a cloying cliché. But when it comes to a presidential campaign -- more than two months before the Iowa caucuses -- it is also a perfect description of reality.

Hillary Clinton is unquestionably the most likely person to be both the Democratic nominee and the next president. But there are hardly any guarantees, despite a media consensus prematurely handing her the nomination. She once boasted that "she's in it to win it." Now it is up to the New York senator to prove it.
 
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Fred Thompson got into the Republican race with great expectations. And sure enough, just after he got in last month, polling showed Thompson and Rudy Giuliani were just about tied for front-runner.

But since then, Thompson's taken a lot of flak for alackluster campaign from party activists in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Support for his campaign has also wavered. The new CNN poll by the Opinion Research Corporation released Tuesday shows Thompson's support dropping -- now at 19 percent, down from 27 percent in September.

He's now running second, slightly ahead of Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, who has 17 percent. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, still leads with 27 percent.

Of the remaining Republican presidential candidates, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney received support from13 percent of the Republicans polled, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee received 5 percent, Rep. Duncan Hunter of California received 3 percent, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas received 2 percent, Sen. Brownback of Kansas received 1 percent and Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado received 1 percent.

The poll's margin of error for the Republican race is plus or minus 5 percentage points.

On the Democratic side, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York continues to gain support and build on her lead. She led Sen. Barack Obama by 23 points last month -- 46 percent to 23 percent. She now leads the Illinois senator by 30 points -- 51 percent to 21 percent.

Of the remaining Democratic presidential candidates former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards received support from 15 percent of the Democrats polled, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson received 4 percent, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware received 1 percent, Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut received 1 percent, former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel received 1 percent and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio received 1 percent. On this question former Vice President Al Gore was not included as a candidate.

The margin of error for the Democratic poll was plus or minus 4.5 percent percentage points.

The poll, conducted by telephone on October 12-14, involved interviews with 1,212 adults, including 485 registered voters who describe themselves as Democrats or as Independents who lean Democratic, and 374 registered voters who describe themselves as Republicans or as Independents who lean Republican.

A majority of Democrats favor Clinton, whereas fewer than a third of Republicans favor their front-runner, Giuliani.

Now that Gore has won the Nobel Peace Prize, there doesn't appear to be a surge of support for him to make a run. Gore came in third among Democrats, at 14 percent -- about the same as last month -- when included in the poll as a potential candidate.

Expectations are building fast. Nearly two-thirds, or 64 percent, of those polled expect Clinton to be the Democratic nomination. That's four times more than those who expect Obama to be the nominee.

Of those polled, who do they expect to win the Republican nomination? Half chose Giuliani. That's nearly four to one over John McCain.

And who do voters expect to win the election? Clinton was chosen by 45 percent. Only 16 percent expect Giuliani to get elected. Nobody else gets more than 10 percent.

Now it's Clinton who faces great expectations. Here's one reason: Asked if they would vote for the Democratic candidate or the Republican candidate for president, voters prefer the Democrat by 13 points.

But when the two front-runners are pitted against each other, Clinton leads Guiliani by just two percentage points, 49 percent to 47 percent, a statistical tie.

The poll's margin of error for general election questions is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Why would a Clinton-Giuliani matchup be so close? Mainly because Giuliani does eight points better than a generic Republican.

The race between Clinton and Giuliani is close, not because Clinton is weak, but because Giuliani gets a lot more support from moderate and independent voters than a generic Republican candidate. That's the irony, Giuliani is trying to sound more and more like a typical Republican to get the nomination. But voters don't see him as a typical Republican
 
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/16/lynne-cheney-dick-and-barack-obama-are-eighth-cousins/

Lynne Cheney: ‘Dick and Barack Obama are eighth cousins.’

In an MSNBC interview today, host Norah O’Donnell asked Lynne Cheney her views on Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) presidential campaign and whether “America is ready for a woman president.” Cheney replied that she actually has a “certain bias”:

One of the things I discovered was that Dick and Barack Obama are eighth cousins. Is that an amazing thing? If you go back eight generations, we have a common ancestor.


When asked if that means she’s “for Barack Obama,” Cheney replied, “No.”
 
MrsSpringsteen said:

One of the things I discovered was that Dick and Barack Obama are eighth cousins. Is that an amazing thing? If you go back eight generations, we have a common ancestor.

I really do think that if you go back far enough, we are all related, and I don't mean through Adam and Eve.
 
This was linked in another article I read about that Lynne Cheney interview

Chicago Sun Times

So far, no sign he's related to Hillary

September 9, 2007
BY SCOTT FORNEK Political Editor

It sure would be an awkward family reunion. But, believe it or not, Barack Obama is related to both President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

OK, distantly related: Obama and Bush are 11th cousins.

That's because they share the same great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents -- Samuel Hinckley and Sarah Soole Hinckley of 17th century Massachusetts.

That means Obama and former President George Herbert Walker Bush are 10th cousins once removed.

Obama is related to Cheney through Mareen Duvall, a 17th century immigrant from France.

Mareen and Susannah Duvall were Obama's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents and Cheney's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents.

That makes Obama and Cheney ninth cousins once removed.

Cheney and Bush are related to one another by a completely different common ancestor.

We leave it to you to figure out their relationship.
 
martha said:


I really do think that if you go back far enough, we are all related, and I don't mean through Adam and Eve.

It's weird.

If you go 10 generations back to probably sometime in the early 1700's, then we all have 512 great-grandparents (of varying degrees of great-great-great etc.) but DIRECTLY paternal and maternal links.

Although, if one were to go back 5 generations, it's only 16.

That would be around 1840-1860'ish for someone who was 15-50 years old, give or take.

15 generations ago, in the early/mid 1600's the number of direct 'great-great etc.' grandparents you have is 16,184

5 generations=16
10 generations=512
15 generations=16,184
 
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NEW YORK (AP) — Stephen Colbert announced his candidacy for president on The Colbert Report, tossing his satirical hat into the ring of an already crowded race.

"I shall seek the office of the President of the United States," announced Colbert on his Comedy Central show Tuesday, as red, white and blue balloons fell around him.

Colbert had recently satirized the coyness of would-be presidential candidates by refusing to disclose whether he would seek the country's highest office — a refusal that often came without any prompting.

Shortly before making the announcement, Colbert appeared on The Daily Show (the show which spawned Colbert's spinoff) and played cagy, claiming he was only ready to consider a White House bid. He entered the studio set pulled by a bicycle pedaled by Uncle Sam and quickly pulled out a bale of hay and a bottle of beer to show that he was "an Average Joe."

Colbert said his final decision would be announced on a "more prestigious show," which turned out to be his own.

"After nearly 15 minutes of soul-searching, I have heard the call," said Colbert.

His recent best-seller, I Am America (And So Can You!) allowed him to mock the now-standard approach to a White House run, complete with a high-profile book tour.

Colbert said he planned to run in South Carolina, "and South Carolina alone." The state, one of the key early primaries, is also Colbert's native state. Earlier this week, South Carolina public television station ETV invited Colbert to announce his candidacy on its air.

Exactly how far the mock conservative pundit planned to stretch his impression of a presidential candidate wasn't clear. Colbert rarely breaks character on camera, including at his memorable speech at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner last year.

The Comedy Central host has often mobilized his fans ("Colbert Nation"), encouraging them to vote to have a Hungarian bridge named after him, for example, or to vandalize Wikipedia.com with his version of "truthiness" and "wikiality."

The comedian said he would run as both a Democrat and Republican. He earlier explained the strategy: "I can lose twice." He claimed three running mate possibilities: Colbert-Huckabee, Colbert-Putin or Colbert-Colbert.

Minutes after announcing his presidential pursuit, Colbert welcomed CBS political analyst Jeff Greenfield to ask how he had changed the race.

"This is going to be one for the books," said Greenfield.

A spokesman for Colbert said he would be unavailable for further comment Tuesday evening.

In a guest column for Maureen Dowd in Sunday's New York Times, Colbert wrote: "I am not ready to announce yet — even though it's clear that the voters are desperate for a white, male, middle-aged, Jesus-trumpeting alternative."
 
boston.com

MA Governor Deval Patrick will endorse Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, according to senior administration officials. Patrick called Obama today to confirm his plans to support his presidential candidacy. The two talked briefly and aides began working out details for a large public rally in Boston next week, the officials said.

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick is throwing his support to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, an endorsement that will give the Illinois senator a much needed boost in New Hampshire and help blunt Hillary Clinton's courting of African-American leaders.

Senior administration officials confirmed that Patrick called Obama today to confirm his plans to endorse his presidential candidacy. The two talked briefly and aides began working out details for a large public rally in Boston next week.

The Patrick political organization today sent out e-mails to its list of 40,000 workers and supporters, telling them of his decision to back Obama.

Patrick, the nation's only black governor, who is considered a rising star in a new generation of African-American leaders, also called Clinton today to inform her of his decision. He has strong ties to her and former President Bill Clinton, in whose administration he held a top justice department post. Both Clintons lobbied him for his endorsement.

Patrick chose Obama because he believes the country is hungry for his new style of leadership that cuts across both racial and party lines and stirs up strong voter enthusiasm, according to the senior administration officials. The governor is expected to argue that Obama can lead what he terms a ''generational call'' -- a rally to rebuild the country and restore its standing around the world.

Tufts University political science professor Jeffrey Berry said Patrick's endorsement will be most significant because it will reinforce Obama's most potent skills as a candidate, his broad based appeal to voters. ''For Obama, a Patrick endorsement is another sign there is a new young generation of dynamic black leaders who can appeal across racial and partisan lines,'' Berry said.

With the exception of opening a Democratic presidential debate last June in Washington, Patrick has spent his first year in office keeping a low national profile. His aides said Patrick expects to make appearances for Obama in New Hampshire and Iowa after the Massachusetts Legislature wraps up its session in mid November.
 
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this just in...

Lynne Cheney: Uncomfortable with Hillary

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 4 minutes ago

Lynne Cheney says she would be uncomfortable with Hillary Rodham Clinton as president — and wishes the Democratic front-runner were more like her own husband.

"It makes me uncomfortable," she said. "I kind of like politicians that are more in the Dick Cheney mold."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071017/ap_po/lynne_cheney;_ylt=AjavEfIcd5VE2wKaj0sr5CGWwvIE
 
Breaking news flash: wife prefers her husband to another woman.

In other news, cats and mice don't like each other, men prefer drinking beer to shopping and kids like candy.
 
She's so cute

McCain_2008.sff_SCMC104_20071017150615.jpg




COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Dogged by suggestions he's too old to be president, John McCain often says he should bring his mother to campaign stops to demonstrate his good genes. On Wednesday he did.

"I am so happy to be here. I think I'm going to cry," 95-year-old Roberta McCain said as she introduced her son to about 200 seniors at a retirement community. She said three generations of McCain women are supporting his campaign.

The 71-year-old Arizona senator told the crowd Medicare was set to go broke in 2019.

"I would also remind you that Social Security is going to go broke as well," he said, pointing to a chart. He said older voters owe it to their children and grandchildren to fix the problems.

McCain is trying to raise his profile on a two-day swing through the state. Despite his loss of momentum in the summer amid a financial meltdown, people are no longer quick to write him off - especially here, where he remains popular among older Republicans and those with military ties.
 
^ Yeah, I just now saw that. I heard he was going to quit if he didn't come in at least 4th in Iowa, but apparently money was a big problem for him.
 
Huckabee: campaign finance system will lead to plutocracy


By HOLLY RAMER
Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:41 AM CDT

RINDGE, N.H. - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Thursday that a "prohibit nothing, disclose everything" approach to campaign financing may be the best way to prevent wealth alone from determining who becomes president.



The Republican presidential hopeful spoke at a Rotary Club meeting, where he was asked bluntly by an audience member whether he has enough money to compete for his party's nomination.

Huckabee conceded the obvious _ he doesn't have as much as his rivals _ and turned the answer into an attack on the current system, which he said works to keep candidates like him behind in the money race.

He said the campaign finance law co-authored by one of his rivals _ Arizona Sen. John McCain _ has deformed rather than reformed the system and is moving the nation toward a plutocracy.

"We will end up with a ruling class and servant class and we will ruin the middle class," he said. "We will make it so politics will become the domain of the extraordinarily wealthy."
 
While I can agree with him on this part, I'm not really unhappy that he is prevented from becoming president partly due to this system.
 
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Religious and cultural conservatives, a political force skeptical of the leading Republican presidential candidates, are caught in a tug of war between pragmatism and ideology.

"My head and my heart are fighting with each other," said Phil Burress, an Ohioan who has lobbied hard for federal and state bans on gay marriage.

The vexing choices facing these voters:

• Rudy Giuliani, a thrice-married New Yorker who differs with them on abortion, gays and guns but who polls show offers a strong chance to beat a Democrat next fall.

• Mitt Romney, a Mormon from Massachusetts who didn't entirely share their views in the past but who insists he now does.

• Fred Thompson, a Tennessean who hasn't been a vocal champion of their core issues but who had a right-leaning Senate voting record.

• John McCain, an Arizona senator who has a clear socially conservative resume but who dismissed their leaders "agents of intolerance" in 2000.

• Mike Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister and true believer who has an extraordinary hill to climb for the nomination.

For now, social-issue conservatives are scattered across the field of candidates.

It's a splintering that is, perhaps, more severe than in previous presidential elections and that raises questions about the power of a long-influential part of the GOP base. The restiveness has prompted talk of a possible third-party bid, a certain political death knell for the GOP nominee.

Reflecting the quandary these voters face, Focus on the Family's James Dobson has rejected Giuliani and has panned both McCain and Thompson. Romney is the only leading candidate Dobson hasn't denounced -- but he hasn't publicly backed Romney either.

"There's no one Republican presidential candidate that inspires them, and the movement leaders can find fault in one way or another with all the candidates," said John Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. "It's hard to tell if it means that their influence is waning. But they're likely to have more influence if they stay united. The longer they stay behind several candidates, the less influence they'll have."

While the ultimate impact of these religious and cultural conservatives on the GOP nomination race is anyone's guess, there's no question that they are a force in numbers. VideoWatch religious leader's take on '08 candidates »

A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 43 percent of Republicans say social issues will be very important in deciding how to vote in 2008, and another 31 percent call issues like abortion and marriage somewhat important.

Associated Press-Ipsos polls show that nearly two-thirds of Republicans consider themselves conservative, with Thompson and Giuliani getting about equal support from that group while McCain and Romney trail.

Roughly one in five conservatives, churchgoers and Christian evangelicals are undecided.

Thompson has a slight edge over Giuliani among the half of all Republicans who attend weekly religious services as well as among those who call themselves born-again Christians. McCain and Romney lag in both categories.

The White House hopefuls will make their pitches this weekend to a few thousand "values voters" gathering in Washington for a summit sponsored by the Family Research Council, a conservative advocacy group.

Uncertainty about a consensus candidate -- and anxiety over the possibility of nominating Giuliani -- serves as a backdrop.

"Our heads are telling us that we've got to settle for someone that can win even if he's not the closest to our values. I've decided that I can't do that. I've got to go with my heart," said Burress, who says he's leaning toward Huckabee but has not committed.

Some fear that if they stay divided as a group, their power will be diluted and they will, in effect, be handing the nomination to the antithesis of what they believe -- Giuliani.

"We have to reconcile the tension between pure principle and pure pragmatism," said John Stemberger, an Orlando lawyer and a leading social conservative in Florida who says he has not chosen a candidate. "If we vote on pure principle, we forfeit the opportunity to influence policy through politics. If we vote on pure pragmatism, then we sell our souls to the man."

Some are trying to see a silver lining in the lack of a favored candidate.

"It's important to have our people in as many different campaigns as possible so our issues aren't lost," said Kelly Shackelford, president of the Free Market Foundation in Texas who isn't backing any one person yet.

As the summit opens, attendees will watch for the fallout from several recent developments:

• Influential social conservative leaders met privately in Salt Lake City to weigh their options if Giuliani wins the nomination. They overwhelmingly approved a resolution pledging to support a minor-party candidate if the Democratic and Republican nominees back abortion rights, and discussed possibly creating a third party. The group meets again Saturday in Washington.

• Giuliani, the former New York mayor who backs abortion and gay rights, won the support of two anti-abortion Republicans, including Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Romney, who once backed abortion rights but has reversed himself, earned the endorsement of Bob Jones III, the chancellor of a Christian fundamentalist school in South Carolina.

• Thompson entered the race late and, thus far, has failed to emerge as the conservative white knight his backers had promised. He posted an advertisement on conservative Web sites this week criticizing Romney and Giuliani on values issues. "Fred Thompson. The REAL Conservative," it declares.

• Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, a darling of the religious right, decided to drop out of the race after his campaign failed to catch on. That leaves his supporters searching for a candidate, and at least two competitors -- Huckabee and McCain -- hoping for Brownback's endorsement.
 
MrsSpringsteen said:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Religious and cultural conservatives, a political force skeptical of the leading Republican presidential candidates, are caught in a tug of war between pragmatism and ideology.

"My head and my heart are fighting with each other," said Phil Burress, an Ohioan who has lobbied hard for federal and state bans on gay marriage.

The vexing choices facing these voters:

• Rudy Giuliani, a thrice-married New Yorker who differs with them on abortion, gays and guns but who polls show offers a strong chance to beat a Democrat next fall.

• Mitt Romney, a Mormon from Massachusetts who didn't entirely share their views in the past but who insists he now does.

• Fred Thompson, a Tennessean who hasn't been a vocal champion of their core issues but who had a right-leaning Senate voting record.

• John McCain, an Arizona senator who has a clear socially conservative resume but who dismissed their leaders "agents of intolerance" in 2000.

• Mike Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister and true believer who has an extraordinary hill to climb for the nomination.

For now, social-issue conservatives are scattered across the field of candidates.

It's a splintering that is, perhaps, more severe than in previous presidential elections and that raises questions about the power of a long-influential part of the GOP base. The restiveness has prompted talk of a possible third-party bid, a certain political death knell for the GOP nominee.

Reflecting the quandary these voters face, Focus on the Family's James Dobson has rejected Giuliani and has panned both McCain and Thompson. Romney is the only leading candidate Dobson hasn't denounced -- but he hasn't publicly backed Romney either.

"There's no one Republican presidential candidate that inspires them, and the movement leaders can find fault in one way or another with all the candidates," said John Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. "It's hard to tell if it means that their influence is waning. But they're likely to have more influence if they stay united. The longer they stay behind several candidates, the less influence they'll have."

While the ultimate impact of these religious and cultural conservatives on the GOP nomination race is anyone's guess, there's no question that they are a force in numbers. VideoWatch religious leader's take on '08 candidates »

A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 43 percent of Republicans say social issues will be very important in deciding how to vote in 2008, and another 31 percent call issues like abortion and marriage somewhat important.

Associated Press-Ipsos polls show that nearly two-thirds of Republicans consider themselves conservative, with Thompson and Giuliani getting about equal support from that group while McCain and Romney trail.

Roughly one in five conservatives, churchgoers and Christian evangelicals are undecided.

Thompson has a slight edge over Giuliani among the half of all Republicans who attend weekly religious services as well as among those who call themselves born-again Christians. McCain and Romney lag in both categories.

The White House hopefuls will make their pitches this weekend to a few thousand "values voters" gathering in Washington for a summit sponsored by the Family Research Council, a conservative advocacy group.

Uncertainty about a consensus candidate -- and anxiety over the possibility of nominating Giuliani -- serves as a backdrop.

"Our heads are telling us that we've got to settle for someone that can win even if he's not the closest to our values. I've decided that I can't do that. I've got to go with my heart," said Burress, who says he's leaning toward Huckabee but has not committed.

Some fear that if they stay divided as a group, their power will be diluted and they will, in effect, be handing the nomination to the antithesis of what they believe -- Giuliani.

"We have to reconcile the tension between pure principle and pure pragmatism," said John Stemberger, an Orlando lawyer and a leading social conservative in Florida who says he has not chosen a candidate. "If we vote on pure principle, we forfeit the opportunity to influence policy through politics. If we vote on pure pragmatism, then we sell our souls to the man."

Some are trying to see a silver lining in the lack of a favored candidate.

"It's important to have our people in as many different campaigns as possible so our issues aren't lost," said Kelly Shackelford, president of the Free Market Foundation in Texas who isn't backing any one person yet.

As the summit opens, attendees will watch for the fallout from several recent developments:

• Influential social conservative leaders met privately in Salt Lake City to weigh their options if Giuliani wins the nomination. They overwhelmingly approved a resolution pledging to support a minor-party candidate if the Democratic and Republican nominees back abortion rights, and discussed possibly creating a third party. The group meets again Saturday in Washington.

• Giuliani, the former New York mayor who backs abortion and gay rights, won the support of two anti-abortion Republicans, including Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Romney, who once backed abortion rights but has reversed himself, earned the endorsement of Bob Jones III, the chancellor of a Christian fundamentalist school in South Carolina.

• Thompson entered the race late and, thus far, has failed to emerge as the conservative white knight his backers had promised. He posted an advertisement on conservative Web sites this week criticizing Romney and Giuliani on values issues. "Fred Thompson. The REAL Conservative," it declares.

• Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, a darling of the religious right, decided to drop out of the race after his campaign failed to catch on. That leaves his supporters searching for a candidate, and at least two competitors -- Huckabee and McCain -- hoping for Brownback's endorsement.


I think this could really shake up the Religious Right, and I love that. I have no problem with them having their particular opinions on issues, no matter how strongly I disagree, but I've just been repulsed as a Christian (who's about as far from the Christian Right as possible) by what I've seen from them lately. The absolute arrogance and lust for power that comes from so many Christian Right leaders makes me sick. There are obviously leaders on the Left that act in similar fashion, but I've never noticed it anywhere near as much as I have with the Right. The way they're acting with the Republican nominees is almost pathetic. It reminds me of parents witholding approval from their rebellious teenager. "If you don't comply with my rules, you can't have the car keys." Obviously, every group, from every political spectrum will not endorse a candidate who doesn't share their values, but to blackball an entire party is absolutely ridiculous. I can only hope that this will lead to the Democratic nominee having an easier path to the presidency. I've just been more and more disillusioned with what I've seen from the Christian Right. This election HAS to show them that they can't make their morals law. This attitude of "If we can't get you to adopt our morality by screaming at you from church pulpits, we'll make it illegal for you to take any other moral action" needs to stop. They're destroying their own credibility, that of their political party, and most importantly, that of Jesus. I don't even know what to say anymore.:sad:
 
Nicely said, U2isthebest :up:. I think it's an absolute shame that these are the Christians who get the media attention. They think they speak for everyone, but they clearly don't. Thankfully, though, there are quite a few other people out there who I know are just as fed up with the religious right as you and I. So here's hoping that the religious right get that message loud and clear in this next election.

Angela
 
Moonlit_Angel said:
Nicely said, U2isthebest :up:. I think it's an absolute shame that these are the Christians who get the media attention. They think they speak for everyone, but they clearly don't. Thankfully, though, there are quite a few other people out there who I know are just as fed up with the religious right as you and I. So here's hoping that the religious right get that message loud and clear in this next election.

Angela

Thank you! And spot on with all you said too!:applaud:
 
thehill.com

Perkins: Giuliani supports marriage amendment
By Sam Youngman
October 20, 2007

Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, told The Hill Saturday that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) would support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Perkins said Giuliani told him in a private meeting that if the Defense of Marriage Act appeared to be failing or if multiple states began to legalize same-sex marriages, then he would support the constitutional amendment.

Giuliani did not mention the amendment or the issue of gay marriage during his address to the Values Voters Summit, but that position could win him favor with some social conservatives who view the former mayor warily.

Perkins said that was not enough to assuage his concerns about Giuliani, but “it was nice to hear.”

From the New York Times, 8/4/01:

For the past two months Rudolph Giuliani has been coming home at night to one of the happiest marriages in New York.

That's how long the mayor, in flight from his own marital wreckage at Gracie Mansion, has been a frequent sleepover guest at the home of Howard Koeppel and his partner, Mark Hsiao. Mr. Koeppel, who is 64, is a Queens car dealer who has been both a close friend and prodigious fund-raiser of Mr. Giuliani's since 1989. The 41-year-old Mr. Hsiao is a Juilliard-trained pianist who works at the city's Department of Cultural Affairs. They've been together almost 10 years -- are registered with the city as domestic partners -- and in happier times for the Giuliani marriage, double-dated with the mayor and Donna Hanover on New Year's Eve. Now they are doting hosts to Mr. Giuliani as he juggles his raucous divorce, his recovery from prostate cancer treatments, his waning months in office, his romance with Judith Nathan, his post-public-life future and, last but hardly least, his search for an affordable Manhattan apartment rental of his own.

The mayor's progressive record on gay civil rights notwithstanding, he has not endorsed same-sex marriage. But, says Mr. Koeppel, ''He did tell us that if they ever legalized gay marriages, we would be the first one he would do.'' Mr. Koeppel and Mr. Hsiao are in favor of the right to marry -- which, among other things, would give gay couples the same protections as heterosexual couples in legal and fiscal matters ranging from immigration and adoption rights to veterans' and Social Security benefits.
 
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