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Subliminal Messaging, or Over-Active Imaginations?

July 18, 2008 5:54 PM

ABC News' Rick Klein Reports: There's a longtime tradition in political advertising to look beyond the message to the subtext -- and even to the subliminal.

In that spirit, a veteran Democratic operative offers an interesting observation of the newly released anti-Obama Web video produced by the McCain campaign. The video is an eight-minute montage of sometimes contradictory statements about the Iraq war made by Sen. Barack Obama. 

At the very beginning, the title -- “The Obama Iraq Documentary” -- flashes into place in a blaze of orange. And for a single frame -- a tiny fraction of a second -- Obama’s face is framed by the following prominent letters: “a l  q D.”

Some caveats: “al qD” is meaningless by itself. The “l” is actually the capital “I” in "Iraq," though in the typeface used in the video, it looks like a lowercase “L.” Other letters -- at either end of the title -- are simultaneously on the screen. And many editing programs do allow randomized letter placement.

But still. . . . For a brief moment, Obama’s face is framed by letters that the brain may want to play with and spell something that does make sense. If you type “al qD” into Google, you get this response: “Did you mean: al qaeda.”

Well -- is that what the McCain campaign meant?

No, said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers, adding that the admakers used a “text randomizer,” where a computer randomly chose the order in which the letters would appear.

“The idea that it’s in any way done by the campaign intentionally is preposterous,” Rogers said when asked by ABC News whether the campaign meant to draw a link between Obama and al Qaeda.

Rogers added that tens of thousands of people have viewed the video since it was released Thursday afternoon, and no one had asked the campaign about the letters in the beginning of the ad before ABC was in touch.

“It’s so subliminal, even when it’s freeze-framed, it’s incomprehensible,” Rogers said. “We didn’t freeze-frame every frame in an eight-minute video to trouble shoot what liberal-bloggers might attack us for.”

The video was produced by McCain’s ad team, FoxHole Productions. A McCain aide told ABC that it was primarily put together by an editor who had about 48 hours to throw it together in advance of Obama’s foreign trip.

Still, in this era of hyper-analysis -- and in the very week that a non-subtle New Yorker cover was blasted as beyond the bounds of satire -- should something like this have slipped by Team McCain?

As the veteran Democrat notes, every frame of anything put out by a campaign is typically reviewed and triple-checked. This could be carelessness, a bad joke by a too-clever staffer, or inevitable given all the letter combinations that emerge from the immense quantity of video content produced by campaigns these days.

Matthew Dowd, a former strategist for President Bush who is now an ABC News consultant, said something like this should have been caught before it was sent out. He noted that campaigns need to be extra sensitive in the wake of the 2000 Republican National campaign ad attacking Al Gore that was revealed to feature a quick shot of the word “RATS.”

“Part of what you have to do in a campaign is prevent the unintentional problem -- and that’s a problem,” Dowd said of the McCain video. “We know what’s happened with this ever since 2000 -- it’s a problem to do that. It’s either a malpractice problem of somebody who did this, or it’s an oversight problem. I’m much more inclined to think it’s oversight.”

What do you think? An oversight? Meaningless? Or “RATS” part two?

July 18, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

VEEPBEAT: Contenders Off Radar as Obama Travels

July 18, 2008 3:59 PM

ABC News' Jan Crawford Greenburg and Howard L. Rosenberg report: If Sen. Barack Obama was prepping for his overseas trips to Iraq and Afghanistan in the past 24 hours, he has not been doing so with any of the current or former US senators mentioned as possible running mates.

In the past 36 hours, Nunn, Bayh, Biden and Dodd have all been engaged in their own pursuits.

Senator Evan Bayh was campaigning with Obama on Wednesday and hosted a foreign policy forum at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.

Since then he has not met with Obama, though he will be appearing on his behalf on Fox News Sunday. Today Bayh is watching one of his twin 12-year-old sons, Nick--a nationally ranked tennis player--compete in a tournament.

Delaware's Senator Joe Biden has not met with Obama in the past 24 hours either, though they may have spoken on the phone, which they do frequently on foreign policy matters. Biden is traveling with his family today.

Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd was very busy yesterday on bipartisan legislation that passed the Banking Committee recommending the imposition of sanctions against Iran. As the Banking Committee chair, he's also been quite involved in the growing financial crisis.

As for former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn, he was also at the Purdue forum and talked foreign policy during the panel discussion.  Aside from that, Obama and Nunn only talked privately for two or three minutes, and it's unknown whether the trip to Iraq or Afghanistan came up. Nunn went to a press conference with Bayh -- where both said they were honored to be considered as a VP candidate--and since then, Nunn has been going to board meetings.

July 18, 2008 in Obama, Barack, Veepstakes, Vote 2008: Democrats | Permalink | User Comments (14) | TrackBack (0)

Team Clinton Gearing Up for 2012?

July 18, 2008 3:58 PM

ABC News' Eloise Harper Reports: Rumors are swirling over whether or not former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is secretly planning a run for the presidency in 2012.

Clinton aides have stressed that Sen. Clinton's, D-N.Y., focus now is doing everything she can to help her party's presumptive presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., emerge victorious in his race for the White House.

However, over the past week several items have piqued the interest of speculators who wonder if Clinton and her team are gearing up for a possible 2012 bid.

This week Clinton sent her donors an email noting that she would welcome contributions of general election funds they donated to her presidential campaign to her 2012 Senate bid. General election funds are traditionally returned to donors if the candidate loses in the primary race. Clinton's campaign is required to return this money to donors by August 28th. With that deadline approaching, Clinton emailed her supporters offering them that option.

The catch? The funds from her Senate account could be transferred into a possible 2012 bid for presidency, if Clinton decides to run.

Today, as first reported by Marc Ambinder, the Markham Group (a firm that directed all of Clinton’s advance work) has purchased the website HRC2012.com. A spokesperson for Senator Clinton denied that this website was at all affiliated with Clinton saying that there were only three websites associated with the former candidate, which include www.HillaryClinton.com, now dedicated to Clinton’s Senate re-election bid;  www.Hilpac.com, Clinton's PAC now run by Capricia Marshall, who has worked for the New York Senator for years; and www.contribute.hillarycampaign2008.com, a site solely dedicated to donors who are interested in helping relieve Clinton's Senate debt.

For those Clinton supporters interested in the possibility of a Clinton run in 2012, there are "Hillary Clinton 2012" t-shirts on sale. The company Skreened is selling the shirts for $23.39.

Spokesperson Mo Elleithee attempting to debunk the rumors that Clinton is preparing for a 2012 run said to ABC News, "The only 2012 race she is interested in is her Senate reelection bid."

July 18, 2008 in Clinton, Hillary, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats | Permalink | User Comments (96) | TrackBack (0)

The Note: Obama Poised for High-Profile Trip

July 18, 2008 8:11 AM

ABC News' Rick Klein Reports in Friday's Note: As we await the start of the most-watched road trip by a Chicagoan this side of the Griswolds, five things we might learn from Sen. Barack Obama’s foreign trip:

1. How good is this vaunted foreign-policy team really?

2. How’s the new McCain message machine handling its first big test? (Having one message from the campaign per hour would be a start.)

3. How does an anti-incumbent candidate deliver a foreign-policy address that doesn’t criticize the president while on foreign soil? (And how big a crowd of adoring Europeans is too big a crowd of adoring Europeans?)

4. Can the Clintons stay out of the news the whole time that the presumptive Democratic nominee is out of the country?

5. Can the presumptive Democratic nominee survive with as few as one workout a day?

For Obama, the trip’s stakes are huge, and will make themselves known daily with every handshake, photo-op, and whispered aside. It’s “a campaign-season audition of sorts for a presidential hopeful pledging a new era in diplomacy and an end to the U.S. combat role in Iraq,” per AP’s David Espo.

Every detail counts: “The trip is planned to put Obama into settings often occupied by presidents, including formal meetings with foreign leaders, public speeches and visits to historical sites,” he writes.

Read the rest of The Note -- and get all the latest on the 2008 election, Congress, the White House and the wide world of politics every day -- from Rick Klein by bookmarking this link.

For the highest-profile speech of his trip, he’s not getting Brandenburg Gate itself next Thursday, but German media reports that he’ll get it as a backdrop, with the speech itself at the famous Victory Column.

“If it comes off as the campaign hopes, with a steady flow of images of Obama looking thoughtful, diplomatic, and commanding on the world stage, the trip helps Obama address his key weakness, perhaps permanently,” Slate’s John Dickerson writes. “At the same time, the trip poses big risks.”

“Obama knows that many Americans still have a tough time picturing him as commander in chief, and this trip could be make or break,” ABC’s Jake Tapper reported on “Good Morning America” Friday. “The trip has real risks.”

“He’s got to show he can do the job, and above all . . . not make any mistakes on this trip -- a gaffe could be a killer for Barack Obama,” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos added.

Obama’s 300-strong foreign-policy team “is on the spot this week as Mr. Obama is planning to make his first overseas foray as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, with voters at home and leaders abroad watching closely to see how he handles himself on the global stage,” Elisabeth Bumiller writes in The New York Times.

Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.

ABC News' John Santucci and Alexa Ainsworth contributed to this report.

July 18, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (36) | TrackBack (0)

Hearing-Gate Exposed! McCain Has Worse Afghanistan Hearing Record Than Obama

July 17, 2008 6:13 PM

ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports from Capitol Hill: The McCain campaign criticism of Sen. Barack Obama's hearing record on Capitol Hill led us to put the shoe on the other foot.

It turns out that presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain has attended even fewer Afghanistan-related Senate hearings over the past two years than Obama's one. Which is a nice way of saying, McCain, R-Ariz., the top Republican on the Senate Armed Service Committee, has attended zero of his committee's six hearings on Afghanistan over the last two years.

Meanwhile, Obama attended the full Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Afghanistan in March 2007, although he used the opportunity to ask Gen. James L. Jones, then the commander of NATO, about Pakistan.

Jones also came before the Senate Armed Services Committee that week. But McCain was a no-show.

The findings are surprising given the fact that the McCain campaign loudly criticized Obama this week for failing to schedule any hearings on Afghanistan in the last year and a half.  Obama chairs the European Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which has oversight of military operations in Afghanistan.

“As the situation in Afghanistan grows more tense, it is time for us to hold a hearing on the mission there,” Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., a McCain surrogate and ranking member of Obama's subcommittee wrote in a letter to the Illinois senator. “The success of Afghanistan is critical to the future of NATO and vital to our efforts to defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban.”

Of the three Afghanistan-related hearings that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has had over the past 22 months, Obama, the presumptive Democratic candidate, has only attended one.

Meanwhile, DeMint, who most recently attacked Obama over Afghanistan, didn't attend any. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, the Democratic chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, missed one of the Afghanistan hearings too -- while he was in the midst of his own presidential campaign.

A review of the Senate Armed Services Committee hearings as listed on the committee Web site for the past two years reveals that McCain's committee has held six hearings that included the word "Afghanistan" in the title or Central Command -- which overseas U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

McCain missed them all.

He missed the hearings with Adm. William Fallon, then the CentCom commander, with authority over Afghanistan, on March 4, 2008, and May 3, 2007.

There was also hearing on June 7, 2007, on the nomination of Gen. Douglas Lute to be the White House war czar with oversight over Afghanistan.

Gen. Jones testified before the Armed Services Committee on Sept. 6, 2007, but that hearing was on Iraq and while McCain showed up late for his opening statement, he was there.

But he missed the hearing on Afghanistan strategy Feb. 14 with representatives from the State Department and Marine Lt. Gen. John Sattler.

He also missed the hearing April, 10, 2008 on the war in Iraq and the "situation in Afghanistan" where Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Michael Mullen both testified.

McCain also missed the Feb. 6, 2008 hearing where the committee considered the fiscal year request for authorizations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But McCain gets a pass for the most egregious Afghanistan-related hearing we could find. In February, 2006 when Republicans were in charge of Congress, Gen. Jones testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and only two senators -- both Republicans -- showed up.

Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., were the only senators who spoke at the hearing. No Biden. No Dodd. No Obama. No DeMint, although to be fair he was not on the committee at that time.

The finger pointing about who attended what hearing when seems besides the point anyways.

Both men have been AWOL from their day jobs for most of the past two years while they are running for president.

Update: McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers, in a statement to ABC News, argued that McCain's years of previous foreign policy experience make up for his recent lack of attendance at hearings.

"The point is that Obama claims to be a leader on Afghanistan, but had the power to hold hearings on our NATO operations there and failed to do so," wrote Rogers in an e-mail, although he did not say why McCain missed his own Armed Services Committee hearings over the past two years.

"John McCain has visited Afghanistan four times, spent 22 years in the military, served for years on the Armed Services Committee, and is a recognized international leader on national security policy," he said. "Obama has never visited Afghanistan once before this week and has no other foreign policy or national security experience to speak of. It isn’t even close."

July 17, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (95 ) | TrackBack (0)

Bill Clinton Says He's Ready to Campaign for Obama

July 17, 2008 4:08 PM

ABC News' Kate McCarthy and Nitya Venkataraman Report: Former President Bill Clinton says he's ready to hit the campaign trail for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama "whenever he asks".

"I just told him that whenever he wanted to do it, I was ready," Clinton told a room full of reporters, following a news conference at his foundation's Manhattan headquarters about new agreements that will lower the price of malaria medication.  "It's basically on their timetable. He's got a lot of things to do between now and the convention of which this is simply one. So, I'll do whatever I'm asked to do, whenever I can do it."

And speaking of the Democratic convention in Denver, Clinton says he's given "no thought" to whether or not he'd like to headline as one of the speakers.  The relationship between the Obama campaign and the presidential campaign of the former president's wife New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has only recently begun to heal itself following a hotly-contested battle for the Democratic nomination that ended on June 7 when Sen. Clinton conceded the nomination to Obama.

Clinton also said he hasn't spoken to Rev. Jesse Jackson since his "hot mic" incident but expressed sympathy for an off-air moment caught on tape and commended Jackson for his quick apology.

"If all of us lived on live mics then 100 percent of us in this room would be embarrassed from time to time.  He's a good man and he did what he could to make it right," Clinton said, adding "I think Senator Obama accepted his apology.  I think it's over."

Continue reading "Bill Clinton Says He's Ready to Campaign for Obama"

July 17, 2008 in Clinton, Hillary, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats | Permalink | User Comments (126) | TrackBack (0)

Obama Blasts Conservative Attacks Against Wife: 'Debate Me Not Her'

July 17, 2008 2:34 PM

ABC News' Jennifer Parker reports: Presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said conservative criticism of his wife, Michelle, infuriates him.

"I don't have a thick skin when it comes to criticism of my wife," Obama told the women's magazine Glamour in an interview to run in the magazine's October issue. "And you know, the problem is that rarely do these folks have the guts to say it to your face."

Obama, who is vying for the support of women voters who flocked to Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign during the primaries, argued his wife and Clinton have been the target of similar conservative attacks.

"Hillary Clinton was subject to this, others have been subject to this in the past," Obama told Glamour editor -in-chief Cindi Leive Wednesday, "It is part of our political environment that I'd like to change."

Asked whether he blamed Sen. John McCain's campaign for the attacks, Obama said, "I wouldn't say the McCain campaign itself, but I would say that the apparatus of conservative columnists, blogs and the like. Talk shows, talk radio....When you see in the span of two or three or four weeks essentially the same talking points being used on a whole variety of shows or a whole variety of columns, over and over again."

Michelle Obama sparked conservative outrage when she said during the primaries it was "the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country."

She later clarified her remarks, but conservative media outlets repeatedly replayed the tape and the Tennessee Republican Party launched an online video criticizing her. Conservative columnist Michelle Malkin called her Obama's "bitter half," and the conservative National Review magazine called her "Mrs. Grievance."

Obama said a barrage of conservative attacks against his wife has taken "a toll." Michelle Obama is viewed more favorably than Cindy McCain, 48 percent to 39 percent, according to a June ABC News/Washington Post poll, however her negative ratings are also higher.

"It's infuriating, but it's not surprising," Obama said, "because let's face it: what happened was that the conservative press -- Fox News and the National Review and columnists of every ilk -- went fairly deliberately at her in a pretty systematic way, and treated her as the candidate in a way that you just rarely see the Democrats try to do against Republicans."

"I've said this before: I would never have my campaign engage in a concerted effort to make Cindy McCain an issue, and I would not expect the Democratic National Committee or people who were allied with me to do it. Because essentially, spouses are civilians. They didn't sign up for this. They're supporting their spouse," Obama said, "So it took a toll. If you start being subjected to rants by Sean Hannity and the like, day in day out, that'll drive up your negatives."

Michelle Obama has attempted to soften her image, appearing on women's television programs and developing a new campaign speech highlighting her working-class, Chicago roots.

The Obamas have also recently granted interviews to Access Hollywood, US Weekly, and Glamour, entertainment media with a high female fan base.

Defending his wife in the Glamour interview, Obama said, "Everybody who knows Michelle knows how extraordinary she is. She's ironically the most quintessentially American woman I know. She grew up in a 'Leave it to Beaver' family. She is the best mother I know. And our kids are a testimony to that, because she's really had to raise them, oftentimes without me being there.

"She's the most honest person I know, she's smart, she's funny, so yeah, it infuriates me. And I think that it is an example of the erosion of civility in our political culture that she's been subjected to these attacks," he said. "If they've got a difference with me on policy, they should debate me. Not her."

July 17, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (563) | TrackBack (0)

Obama Hits the Gym, With Multiple Repetitions

July 17, 2008 10:38 AM

ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: While Obama spent 91 minutes at a campaign event yesterday, the Illinois Senator spent a total of 188 minutes in the gym yesterday – making three separate stops to Chicago gyms over the course of one day.

The presumptive nominee started his Tuesday with a short morning work out at the gym of his friend and longtime aide Mike Signator’s apartment building.

After flying to Indiana for a campaign event, and doing a round of local TV interviews, the Senator returned to his home in Illinois where he spent the afternoon hitting two more local area gyms for the duration of the day. Obama first visited Signator’s gym again, returning home briefly and then going to East Bank Club, a downtown gym which Obama regularly plays basketball.

Senator Obama has been known for his strict work out regimen – rarely missing a day in the gym even with a busy campaign schedule.  But for reporters following Senator Obama as he strolled in and out of gyms six times over the course of one day - his multiple visits raised a few eyebrows – with even a campaign aide cracking a smile as the third gym stop of the day was announced.

Obama left the East Bank Club at 9 pm last night. A mere 11 hours later he was back in the gym again on Thursday morning.

The campaign later explained the multiple gym visits and said that during his first morning workout the Senator received a phone call interrupting his workout, which prompted his second complete workout.

The nighttime gym visit? Obama apparently had a "sore hip" according to the campaign, and met with a therapist at the East Bank Club to have it checked out.

July 17, 2008 in Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats | Permalink | User Comments (592) | TrackBack (0)

Gore To Issue Clean Energy Challenge

July 17, 2008 9:40 AM

ABC News' Nitya Venkataraman Reports: In a speech on global warming Thursday, former Vice President Al Gore will challenge the nation to make a complete shift to Earth-friendly energy sources within the next ten years.

In an interview with the Associated Press previewing the speech, Gore says his power goal is "an investment that will pay itself back over time".

Gore's bipartisan group, the Alliance for Climate Protection, estimates the cost of transferring the country to clean electricity sources could cost between $1.5 - $3 trillion over the next thirty years. Gore said in the interview it would cost as much to build the more environmentally hazardous coal plants to address the needs of the current demand.

Gore, who won the Nobel Prize in 2007 for his international work as a crusader for climate change, said "I have never seen an opportunity for the country like the one that's emerging now." Gore also offered praise to both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, calling both Barack Obama and John McCain "way ahead" of other politicians on the issue.

The Alliance for Climate Change, the bipartisan group Gore chairs, says on its website that in his speech Gore aims to "press the "reset" button on how we think about energy and climate."

July 17, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans, Washington | Permalink | User Comments (65) | TrackBack (0)

The Note: Foreign Trip Taking Shape for Obama

July 17, 2008 8:26 AM

ABC News' Rick Klein Reports in Thursday's Note: You know it’s summer when . . . 

The most interesting thing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has done lately is get a haircut (yes, we know, she’s moving from left to right) . . .

While the most interesting part of an Obama event is that he shared it with two people on the long short list.

Team McCain casts Sen. Barack Obama as President Bush on foreign policy (no, really) . . .

While Sen. John McCain himself praises Obama (seriously).

McCain aides are tussling with reporters over camera shots . . . 

But somehow not acting to can another rogue surrogate (when will Team McCain learn the technological wonder that is Google?).

And the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s mouth . . .

Is causing as much trouble as Sen. Elizabeth Dole’s brain.

Read the rest of The Note -- and get all the latest on the 2008 election, Congress, the White House and the wide world of politics every day -- from Rick Klein by bookmarking this link.

A great day, all in all, to put out some pretty good fundraising news: Obama raised $52 million in June, his campaign announced Thursday morning -- a number that should quiet questions about whether rejecting public financing was a good idea, at least for the time being. (It was announced, naturally, as part of a fundraising appeal.)

For the scorekeepers among us -- per ABC’s Jake Tapper, this far exceeds Obama’s $22 million May -- as well as McCain’s personal record of $22 million in June, not to mention previous reporting that put Obama’s June in the $30 million range.

It also approaches the $55 million Obama raised in February -- but doesn’t come close to the $100 million at least one Obama fundraiser was predicting. Given that this was the first (almost) full month that he had the nomination, was a record month impossible?

(And we’ll need the actual report to see the burn rate, and to count the big Clinton names. . . .)

Money aside, what’s happening in this slow summer stretch really does matter in a big way. By controlling the direction of the race’s discussion, every day that goes by allows Obama, D-Ill., to answer some of the questions that surround his candidacy for himself.

Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.

ABC News' John Santucci and Alexa Ainsworth contributed to this report.

July 17, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)

Obama Raises $52 Million in June

July 17, 2008 7:26 AM

ABC News' Rick Klein Reports: In an email to supporters this morning, Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign announced the presumptive Democratic nominee raised $52 million in the month of June.

The $52 milllion the Obama raised in June -- the month the primary campaign ended -- is a far bigger haul than the "only" $22 million he raised in May, his worst fundraising month of the year. It approaches but not does exceed his record $55 million in February.

Earlier this month, Republican presidential nominee John McCain announced his June fundraising numbers: $22 million, McCain's best fundraising month of the year.

July 17, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (67) | TrackBack (0)

Did Romney Predict McCain Defeat to Obama?

July 16, 2008 3:49 PM

ABC News' Matt Stuart Reports:  Since dropping out of the presidential race in February, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has made a nearly seamless transition from party rival to prolific supporter of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.

But will the attacks of a contentious primary season come back to haunt Romney, whose star is rising the Republican veepstakes after aggressive fundraising and surrogate appearances on McCain's behalf? After all, Romney and McCain battled repeatedly through the primary season, most notably leading up to the critical New Hampshire and Florida contests in January of this year. 

Campaigning in New Hampshire in January, Romney painted a bleak picture of McCain's chances in the general election against Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., when Romney was asked if Republicans should fear the Illinois senator's ability to resonate with voters.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.

"I think Barack Obama would be able to do to John McCain exactly what he was able to do to the other senators who are running on the Democratic side," Romney said at the time, describing McCain as "not the best match-up" against Obama.

"I frankly don't think that Senator McCain, despite his service and his length of experience, that that's going to be able to stand up to the message that Barack Obama has brought forward," Romney argued.

When asked for clarification of his comments, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom stated, "Every candidate is entitled to the conceit that he or she is the most qualified person for the office they seek and to vigorously make that case to the voters. Mitt Romney is no different in that regard. Now that the primary is over, Mitt Romney is doing everything he can to help elect John McCain."

Now a surrogate for McCain on cable television and on the stump, Romney has touted the Arizona senator as an experienced contender who is best prepared to lead the nation.  McCain has been similarly cordial, saying that Romney "has earned a great place in our Republican Party," and that he's "very grateful" for his support. McCain even joked recently that Romney "does a better job for me than he did for himself".

Appearing on the FOX News' "Hannity & Colmes" earlier this month, Romney stated that he often acknowledged during the primary campaign that McCain was "a person of great capability who's been tested and proven and someone who I respect enormously."  And, in fact, Romney often went out of his way to preface his comments on Sen. McCain, calling him "a good man," and "a national hero."

While Romney has gone to great lengths to bridge the divide that once separated the campaigns -- throwing his support behind McCain a week after he left the presidential race -- these comments, and others like it, could prove most damaging to his chances at becoming McCain's second-in-command on the November ticket.

July 16, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Romney, Mitt, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (46) | TrackBack (0)

McCain Talks Education Reform at NAACP

July 16, 2008 2:00 PM

ABC News' Jennifer Duck Reports: Presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain tried to woo black voters Wednesday by speaking and later taking questions from a group that openly throws more support toward his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama.

Speaking to the NAACP conference in Cincinnati, McCain tried to charm the audience by praising his opponent, who is the nation's first African American major party presidential candidate.

“Let me begin, if I may, with a few words about my opponent. Don't tell him I said this, but he is an impressive fellow in many ways,” McCain said. “Senator Obama talks about making history, and he's made quite a bit of it already. And the way was prepared by this venerable organization and others like it.”

WATCH VIDEO FROM THE EVENT HERE.

McCain told a personal story of how he learned of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s death while he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

"I remember first learning what had happened in Memphis on the fourth of April, 1968, feeling just as everyone else did back home, only perhaps even more uncertain and alarmed for my country in the darkness that was then enclosed around me and my fellow prisoners of war," McCain said.

"The enemy had correctly calculated that the news of Dr. King's death would deeply wound morale, and leave us worried and afraid for our country. Doubtless it boosted our captors' morale, confirming their belief that America was a lost cause, and that the future belonged to them.Yet how differently it all turned out. And if they had been the more reflective kind, our enemies would have understood that the cause of Dr. King was bigger than any one man, and could not be stopped by force of violence," he said. 

After the pleasantries, McCain spoke at length about education reforms, arguing his plan to give school vouchers to attend private school would help low-income children. Obama has opposed McCain's school voucher proposal, arguing it would further decimate the public school system.

“Democrats in Congress, including my opponent, oppose the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. In remarks to the American Federation of Teachers last weekend, Senator Obama dismissed public support for private school vouchers for low-income Americans as, 'tired rhetoric about vouchers and school choice.' All of that went over well with the teachers union, but where does it leave families and their children who are stuck in failing schools?” McCain said.

McCain said he plans to spend $500-billion in federal money to build virtual schools and pledged to support the development of online courses for students.

The Obama campaign reacted to McCain's speech Wednesday, stressing Obama would "fix and fund No Child Left Behind, expand access to early childhood education, and make an affordable college education a reality for every student."

“We applaud Senator McCain for addressing education in his speech today, as it is a central challenge for our long-term economic future and the future of all of our children," Obama spokesperson Bill Burton said.

"But making education the national priority will require more than campaign speeches, or recycled bromides. It will require a genuine and sustained commitment to policies that will strengthen and not undermine our public schools."

Republicans aren’t known to be regulars at the annual conference of the NAACP, a group that usually endorses Democrats.

President George W. Bush addressed the NAACP convention for the first time six years into his presidency.  And last year Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a GOP presidential candidate, was surrounded by nine empty podiums on stage because he was the only Republican candidate running for president to show up at the annual convention.

McCain made light of his absence last year by joking about the state of his campaign at the time of the conference. 

“This is your second invitation to me during my presidential campaign, and I hope you'll excuse me for passing on the opportunity at your convention last year and not being here. As you might recall, I was a bit distracted at the time dealing with what reporters uncharitably described as an 'implosion' in my campaign.  But I'm very glad you invited me again,” McCain said as the crowd applauded.

July 16, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (90 ) | TrackBack (0)

McCain Proposes Additional Troops for Afghanistan

July 16, 2008 12:16 PM

ABC News' Ron Claiborne Reports: Senator Barack Obama's campaign attacked Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) for "flip-flopping" when he called for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan to deal with increasing violence and instability.

On Tuesday, McCain proposed sending at least three brigades of troops to Afghanistan. His advisers said later they should be an unspecified combination of U.S. and NATO forces.

"Thanks to the success of the surge, these forces are becoming available, and our commanders in Afghanistan must get them," McCain said in Albuquerque, N.M.

The Obama campaign attacked McCain for changing his position from opposing additional U.S. forces to agreeing with Obama's proposal to send more forces to Afghanistan. Obama said last year he would send two combat brigades -- about 10,000 troops -- to Afghanistan. McCain had said for months that no additional U.S. troops were needed in there. But he had long been open to the possibility that conditions on the ground might require additional forces, both from NATO and the U.S.

In December 2006, during a visit to Afghanistan, the Associated Press reported that McCain said he would favor sending more American troops there "if it's necessary."

"I'm sure we would be agreeable, but the focus here is more on training the Afghan National Army and the police, as opposed to the increased U.S. troop presence," McCain said at the time.

In February 2007, in a speech to the Munich Conference on Security Policy, McCain spoke of a need for NATO to beef up its military presence in Afghanistan.

"It has been a long five and a half years since the crumbling of Taliban rule," McCain said. "In the United States, at least, Afghanistan has moved off the front pages of newspapers and magazines, replaced by the dire situation in Iraq, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and North Korea’s weapons tests. But Afghanistan is anything but yesterday’s news. In fact, the stakes there have never been higher... NATO members can help ensure that we keep the Taliban on their heels by at least matching the U.S. troop increase of 3,000."

One of McCain's chief foreign affairs advisers, Randy Scheunemann, said Tuesday  that a greater U.S.-NATO military presence is now necessary because of the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

July 16, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack | Permalink | User Comments (100) | TrackBack (0)

McCain Praises Obama at NAACP

July 16, 2008 12:05 PM

ABC News' Ron Claiborne Reports: In his speech to the NAACP convention in Cincinnati today, Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) praised Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) and made a rare mention of the historic nature of his candidacy as the first African-American to be nominated for president by a major political party.

"Don't tell him I said this," McCain said, "but he is an impressive fellow in many ways. He has inspired a great many Americans, some of whom had wrongly believed that a political campaign could hold no purpose or meaning for them. His success should make Americans, all Americans, proud."

Watch the VIDEO HERE.

McCain noted that when President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House, many Americans were outraged.

"America today is a world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time," he said. "There is no better evidence of this than nomination of an African-American to be the presidential nominee of his part. Whatever the outcome in November, Senator Obama has achieved a great thing."

In his speech on June 3rd, the night Obama effectively wrapped up the Democratic nomination, McCain did not mention the history that was made by his nomination. In an interview broadcast the next morning on Good Morning America, he was asked why he had not cited it. McCain said, "I congratulate him and I congratulated Senator Obama not because of any reason except that he (ran) a very effective campaign. And he's done a very admirable job. And, as I said, he's motivated a lots of Americans to be involved in the political process."

The following day, Charles Gibson asked McCain if he ever thought he'd see a day when there was a black person nominated for president by the Republican or Democratic parties.

"I did because -- as I felt there will be a woman who is president of the United, because I have a great faith in the American people. And I have a great faith in their sense of justice and their judgment of people on their qualities, as Dr. King said … by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin."

July 16, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (33) | TrackBack (0)

Obama: New Yorker Cover Probably Fuels Misconceptions

July 16, 2008 9:19 AM

ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: Senator Obama calls the controversial New Yorker cover an "attempt at satire" that “probably fuels some misconceptions" about him.

The cover illustration of the 'New Yorker' depicts Senator Obama in a turban, giving a fist bump to his wife, Michelle Obama who has an afro and is holding an AK-47. The American flag burns in the fireplace behind the couple, and a picture of Osama bin Laden hangs on the wall.

"I know it was the New Yorker's attempt at satire.  I don't think they were entirely successful with it.  But you know what?  It's a cartoon," Obama told CNN's Larry King, "and that's why we've got the First Amendment."

The Illinois Senator said that the depiction did not personally offend him, and that he’s seen worse in his run for president which has made him get "a pretty thick skin."

Obama has been plagued by smear campaigns over the course of his campaign saying he was a Muslim and spreading rumors that he does not pledge allegiance to the flag.  Obama spoke to the larger implications of the illustration.

"In attempting to satirize something, they probably fueled some misconceptions about me instead.  But, you know, that was their editorial judgment," Obama said but adding that it is the New Yorker's right under the first amendment.

Obama said that the way he fights the rumors is by getting on TV and, "Telling everybody I'm a Christian and I wasn't raised in a Muslim home.  And pledge allegiance to the flag.  And, you know, all the things that have been reported in these e-mails are completely untrue and have been debunked again and again and again.  So, all you can do is just tell the truth and trust in the American people that over time, they're going to know what the truth is."

July 16, 2008 in Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats | Permalink | User Comments (45) | TrackBack (0)

The Note: Race, Foreign-Policy Plant Doubts for Obama

July 16, 2008 8:21 AM

ABC News' Rick Klein Reports in Wednesday's Note: So Barack Obama's on his pink-tailed unicorn, and John McCain has ripped out his IV and is on board his tank (thank you, JibJabbers, for another memorable entry).

But remind us again -- how is this still a race?

How, that is -- given the national dynamics,  McCain's flaws and flubs,  and Obama’s continued domination of the campaign discussion -- is this not a snoozer?

Two new polls suggest two different answers, but come up with similar spreads in a race that looks mired in the mid-to-high single digits. (Hint: Both answers have to do with Obama, and one he wears on his skin, the other on his sleeve -- at least when he’s not on board that unicorn. And if you think a narrow lead is a comfortable lead, ask the National League all-stars.)

The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll has Obama up eight among registered voters -- but only three among likely voters.

With Bush setting a new record-low -- a 28 percent approval rating -- why is the race to succeed him even close? "Holes in Barack Obama's foreign affairs resume are spurring doubt about his readiness for a crisis -- raising the stakes on his upcoming trip overseas and posing potential opportunity for his otherwise weaker Republican opponent," ABC polling director Gary Langer writes.

Read the rest of The Note -- and get all the latest on the 2008 election, Congress, the White House and the wide world of politics every day -- from Rick Klein by bookmarking this link.

"Americans by a wide margin, 63-26 percent, pick McCain as more knowledgeable on world affairs, rate him much more highly in terms of readiness for the world stage and military leadership alike, and put him ahead of Obama by 50-41 percent in trust to handle ‘an unexpected major crisis.' "

Obama has a 19-point edge on the No. 1 issue -- the economy -- and yet: "Sen. Barack Obama holds his biggest advantage of the presidential campaign as the candidate best prepared to fix the nation's ailing economy, but lingering concerns about his readiness to handle international crises are keeping the race competitive," Dan Balz and Jonathan Cohen write in The Washington Post.

"Questions about Obama's experience remain, particularly his ability to deal with national security and international issues," they write. "Forty-nine percent of those surveyed said that his level of experience would hamper his ability to serve effectively as president, while 40 percent said it would help. And asked whether he would make a good commander in chief, 48 percent said yes."

"This [foreign] trip is a big deal for Barack Obama, because there are some questions among voters about his ability to handle foreign affairs, especially when he stacks up against John McCain," ABC's George Stephanopoulos reported Wednesday on "Good Morning America."

"He's going to have to show himself -- get people comfortable with the idea of him as commander-in-chief, handling the job of president."

Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.

ABC News' John Santucci and Alexa Ainsworth contributed to this report.

July 16, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (18) | TrackBack (0)

New JibJab Video Enters 2008 Campaign

July 16, 2008 12:30 AM

ABC News' Sara Just reports: Just as the campaign between Barack Obama and John McCain settled into serious disputes about Iraq policy and economic recovery plans, this year's 2008 JibJab campaign video is HERE.

Jib Jab is the video satire website best known for its 2004 presidential campaign video sung to the tune of "This Land is Your Land" (John Kerry and George Bush singing: "You're a pinko commie…You’re right awing nut job…").

The 2008 campaign video "Time for Some Campaignin" (to the tune of Bob Dylan’s "The Times They Are a Changin") pokes fun at Obama as a unicorn-rider living in a fantasy land and McCain as a cranky senior citizen obsessed with war.

But perhaps this year’s presumptive party nominees just aren’t funny enough to sustain a full two-minutes of satire. The video spends almost as much time having fun with a few of JibJab’s favorite targets: President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and both Hillary and Bill Clinton.

The JibJabbers, founders and brothers Evan and Gregg Spiridellis, may have launched the trend of highly produced, online campaign video spoofs, but they no longer have the monopoly. This campaign season has already seen a variety of viral online videos mocking the candidates, from the Obama girl video and its many imitators, to the Star Wars themed "The Empire Strikes Back."

And to think, it’s only July.

July 16, 2008 in Clinton, Hillary, McCain, John, Obama, Barack, White House | Permalink | User Comments (24) | TrackBack (0)

Top Surrogates Square Off on Foreign Policies

July 15, 2008 6:29 PM

ABC News' James Gerber Reports: Two senators who double as top surrogates for Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama presented vastly different assessments of U.S. foreign policy Tuesday, attacking their Senate colleagues and often each other during back-to-back speeches in Washington, D.C.

Speaking to a foreign policy think tank shortly after Obama issued what his campaign billed as a major foreign policy speech leading up to his trip later this month to Iraq and Afghanistan, McCain surrogate Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., sharply criticized the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, arguing the nation faces an enemy who "can not be placated by sweet reason or appeals to the better angels of our nature."

McCain's friend and surrogate attacked Obama's pledge to withdraw troops from Iraq within 16 months after taking office, arguing that Obama needs to understand his policy would have consequences beyond the region.

"What Sen. Obama seems to not be recognizing is that in an interdependent world, what happens in Baghdad affects our interests and the interests of people" across the world, Lieberman told a crowd of less than 200 at the Mayflower Hotel for a U.S. Center for Global Engagement talk.

Lieberman, who ran for vice-president in 2000 on the Democratic ticket, has faced criticism for supporting the presumptive Republican presidential nominee while caucusing with the Democrats in the Senate.

The former Democrat described McCain as "a devoted and principled internationalist" who will be "trusted and respected by our allies and respected and feared by our enemies." Upon entering office, argued Lieberman, McCain will "sound a certain and clear trumpet of American leadership and global engagement."

Speaking on behalf of Obama, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., who is rumored to be a strong candidate for vice-president or a potential Secretary of State in any Obama administration, followed Lieberman with an extensive rebuke of McCain, including a scathing assessment of the Bush administration’s foreign policy, which, he argued, is largely replicated by the presumptive Republican nominee.

"In recent years, Iran and not freedom has been on the march in the Middle East," Biden said, adding that "radical recruitment is on the rise, not demise."

Biden said the nation is less safe due to "the President and John McCain’s obsession on the war on terror" and criticized President Bush and Sen. McCain for "lumping together" the disparate factions in the region, evidence, he says, of their "profound confusion."

"George Bush and John McCain have fixated on a small number of radical groups that hate America, turning them into ten-foot tall giants, existential monsters that dictate every foreign policy decision," said Biden, who has taken on a more high-profile role in Obama's campaign this week.

"If they can't identify the enemy or describe the war we’re fighting, it’s very difficult to define whether we've won or lost," Biden said.

Biden, the chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, also criticized McCain for putting too much emphasis on Iraq.

"If John wants to know where the bad guys live, come back with me to Afghanistan," Biden said. "We know where they reside. And it’s not in Iraq."

Biden also echoed Obama’s arguments for leaving Iraq and redeploying American forces to Afghanistan, which he said "will enhance, not diminish, our prospects for leaving behind a stable situation in Iraq."

"This election in November is a vital opportunity for America to start anew," Biden said. "It will require more than a good soldier; it will require a wise leader."

July 15, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (27) | TrackBack (0)

Flip Flop? Obama Acknowledges 'Shift in Emphasis'

July 15, 2008 3:45 PM

ABC News' Jennifer Parker Reports: Sen. Barack Obama acknowledged Tuesday that he has made a "shift in emphasis" on some issues during his campaign but argues Sen. John McCain's reversals are much more severe.

In an attempt to broaden his appeal before the general election, Obama raised reversed an earlier pledge and voting in the Senate to give legal immunity to phone companies that took part in warrantless wiretapping after the Sept. 11 attacks -- a move that raised the ire of his liberal allies. 

It was the latest in a series of perceived shifts in policy Obama has taken on issues that range from gun control, the death penalty, and his newly voiced support for President Bush's faith-based programs giving taxpayer money to religious groups.

Asked during an interview with PBS's Gwen Ifill about his position on wiretapping legislation and his support for the Supreme Court decision striking down the District of Columbia's handgun ban, Obama initially argued there hasn't been any "wild shifts" in his public policy positions.

"I do think that this notion that somehow we’ve had wild shifts in my positions is simply inaccurate," Obama told Ifill in an interview that will air tonight on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer. "You mentioned the gun position.  I’ve been talking about the Second Amendment being an individual right for the last year and a half.  So there wasn’t a shift there." 

But when Ifill pressed Obama on his refusal to accept public financing that would limit spending during the presidential campaign, despite his earlier promise to take public financing, the presumptive Democratic nominee said, "Well, campaign finance, there’s no doubt that that was a shift in recognizing that we could not broker a deal with the Republicans that would prevent the Republican National Committee or the Republican Governors Association or all these other organizations, that are already spending millions of dollars against us, that we could not contain them within a public financing system."

"So the broader point, Gwen, is if you compare sort of my shift in emphasis on issues that I’ve been proposing for years, like say, faith-based initiatives, which have raised questions in the press, if you compare that to John McCain ... if you compare that to John McCain’s complete reversal on oil drilling, complete reversal on George Bush’s tax cuts, complete reversal on immigration where he said he wouldn’t even vote for his own bill, that I think is a pretty hard case to make that somehow I’ve been shifting substantially relative to John McCain," Obama said.

The Republican Party reacted Tuesday, blasting Obama in an emailed statement sent to reporters.

“Who is Barack Obama kidding? Obama’s excuses for breaking his promise on public financing defy honesty and reality. Obama should drop the pretenses and admit what everyone knows: He abandoned his principles in order to gain a political advantage,” said Republican National Committee Alex Conant.

ABC News' George Sanchez contributed to this report.

July 15, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (32) | TrackBack (0)

McCain Slams Obama on Iraq Surge

July 15, 2008 2:23 PM

ABC News' Jennifer Duck Reports: Campaigning in Albuquerque, New Mexico Tuesday, Sen. John McCain focused his remarks on Iraq and Afghanistan following a speech given on the same topic by his Democratic opponent Sen. Barack Obama.

Before McCain began speaking at a town hall event, the campaign seemed to focus on the economy.  Large signs declaring “Jobs for America" and "Reform Prosperity Peace” encompassed the room flanked by American flags.

However McCain dedicated nearly 20 minutes addressing his new strategies for Afghanistan -- including sending at least an additional three brigades into Afghanistan and doubling the size of the Afghan army. 

“Our commanders on the ground in Afghanistan say that they need at least three additional brigades. Thanks to the success of the surge, these forces are becoming available, and our commanders in Afghanistan must get them,” McCain said. 

If elected McCain said he would appoint an Afghanistan war czar “whose sole mission will be to ensure we bring the war in Afghanistan to a successful end.”  He also proposed appointing a special envoy to Afghanistan to “address disputes between Afghanistan and its neighbors.”

McCain attacked the presumptive democratic presidential nominee for laying out plans for Iraq and Afghanistan before he sets foot in the region.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.

“Senator Obama is departing soon on a trip abroad that will include a fact-finding mission to Iraq and Afghanistan. And I note that he is speaking today about his plans for Iraq and Afghanistan before he has even left, before he has talked to General Petraeus, before he has seen the progress in Iraq, and before he has set foot in Afghanistan for the first time,” McCain told the crowd of 200 in Albuquerque.

“In my experience, fact-finding missions usually work best the other way around: first you assess the facts on the ground, then you present a new strategy. So this is certainly a departure to what I have usually done.”

McCain told the crowd that Obama had opposed the surge and then quoted Obama’s Afghanistan speech today. “He goes on to say today, ‘I had no doubt we would see a reduction in violence with the surge.’  My friends, flip floppers all over the world are enraged.   It gives new meaning.  It gives new meaning,” McCain said.  “So my friends this is a very significant difference of opinion that we had.  And it’s pretty clear that Sen. Obama is contradicting the statements he made on the surge and war in Iraq that he made for a long time.”

“Obama will tell you we can't win in Afghanistan without losing in Iraq. In fact, he has it exactly backwards. It is precisely the success of the surge in Iraq that shows us the way to succeed in Afghanistan,” McCain continued to the crowds’ applause.  "I know how to win wars. And if I'm elected President, I will turn around the war in Afghanistan, just as we have turned around the war in Iraq, with a comprehensive strategy for victory. I know how to do that.”

McCain accused Obama of sounding “tough” on Pakistan and losing support in the region.  “Senator Obama has spoken in public about taking unilateral military action in Pakistan. In trying to sound tough, he has made it harder for the people whose support we most need to provide it. I won’t bluster, and I will not make idle threats. But understand this: when I am commander -in-chief, there will be nowhere the terrorists can run, and nowhere they can hide.”

He received a standing ovation for saying, "I want to assure you I have complete confidence I will get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice.”

He ended, touting his experience: “Let me conclude by reminding you in wartime, judgment and experience matter. In a time of war, the commander-in-chief doesn't get a learning curve. If I have that privilege, I will bring to the job many years of military and political experience; experience that gave me the judgment necessary to make the right call in Iraq a year and half ago. “

July 15, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (17) | TrackBack (0)

The Note: Obama Seeks Fresh Start on Iraq

July 15, 2008 8:13 AM

ABC News' Rick Klein Reports in Tuesday's Note: Is good news out of Iraq good news for Sen. Barack Obama? (Yes, and no.)

Is bad news out of Iraq good news for Barack Obama? (No, and yes.)

Can any news he picks up in Iraq change his position? (Yes, but not really.)

Is there anything Obama can do about any of this? (No, and probably still no.)

As Obama, D-Ill., attempts to hit restart on the Iraq debate with a speech in Washington Tuesday, it’s useful to remember how tough this is to get right -- not just for him, but for any politician who’s come into contact with the chaotic politics of the conflict.

The broad strokes may be painted in his direction, and he may yet turn his trip to Iraq and Afghanistan into a pure plus. But the early signs aren’t encouraging -- drawing him criticism from the left and the right -- and thus the need for a new start.

As unpopular as the war is -- and as much as the Democrats have portrayed Sen. John McCain as a continuation of Bush-era policies -- voters say they are as likely to support McCain’s plans Iraq plans as they do Obama’s.

Read the rest of The Note -- and get all the latest on the 2008 election, Congress, the White House and the wide world of politics every day -- from Rick Klein by bookmarking this link.

"Americans divide evenly between Barack Obama and John McCain's approaches to the war in Iraq, and rate McCain much more highly on his abilities as commander-in-chief -- key reasons the unpopular war isn't working more to Obama's advantage," ABC polling director Gary Langer writes.

Obama’s troop withdrawal plan is preferred by a bare 50-49 edge -- and here’s one possible reason why: "Seventy-two percent of Americans -- even most Democrats -- say [McCain would] be a good commander-in-chief of the military," Langer writes. "By contrast, fewer than half, 48 percent, say Obama would be a good commander-in-chief, a significant weakness on this measure."

Check out the partisan split: "Sixty-nine percent of Democrats say he'd do well in this role; just 44 percent of independents and a mere 19 percent of Republicans agree," Langer writes.

"The poll results suggest that months of Democratic attacks on McCain's Iraq position have not dented voters' basic trust in his ability to lead the country's armed forces," Jonathan Weisman and Jon Cohen write in The Washington Post.

Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.

ABC News' John Santucci and Alexa Ainsworth contributed to this report.

July 15, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (29) | TrackBack (0)

Democrats Launch First '08 Congressional Attack Ad

July 14, 2008 6:46 PM

ABC News’ Karen Travers Reports: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has purchased ad time in Pennsylvania’s 11th Congressional District targeting Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, the Republican challenger who is looking to unseat Democratic Rep. Paul Kanjorski.

This is the first ad of the general election cycle from the DCCC, which has already reserved advertising time in 31 congressional districts at the cost of about $35-million. Those ad buys are scheduled to begin airing on television between early September and early October and run through Election Day.

The DCCC ad in Pennsylvania ties Barletta to President George W. Bush, stating that Bush has a friend in Pennsylvania in the Republican challenger. It begins running on Scranton-area television stations on Tuesday and is scheduled to stay up for several weeks.

A DCCC official confirms the ad was shipped to stations in Pennsylvania today and will begin airing tomorrow.

Kanjorski could be in for a tough battle against the Hazleton mayor The 12-term congressman is the second-longest serving Member from Pennsylvania (after Rep. John Murtha) and has never won a race by fewer than 13 percentage points. The two are familiar opponents – Kanjorski beat Barletta in the 2002 election.

Kanjorski was the first House Democrat to go on the air with ads, purchasing time on local affiliates in the Scranton PA area last month. 

“I think we’re not taking anything for granted and I presume neither is the DCCC and we’re going to fight a hard campaign here,” Kanjorski spokesman Mitchell told ABC News. “The Democrats have a tremendous financial advantage, so why do you want to get to October and say, ‘Holy mackerel, we’ve got a race!?’ You want to put it to bed as soon as you can and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Democrats expect this race will be competitive but note that Kanjorski is well known, having served 12 terms in Congress, and has a significant financial advantage over Barletta (more than 5-1).

“We have been aggressive all cycle, acting early and often. This is no different,” DCCC spokesman Doug Thornell said. “Lou Barletta is trying to mislead voters and we will not allow him to undergo an extreme makeover about his strong support of President Bush’s failed economic policies, tax cuts for the rich, and privatizing Social Security.”

Republicans see in this race a real (and rare) opportunity to pick up a Democratic seat. The race could boil down to a referendum on Kanjorski’s 24 years in Washington, which Republicans feel will only help their candidate.

“Democrats in Washington are clearly worried about having to defend Paul Kanjorski’s multitude of gaffes and unethical transgressions,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Ken Spain said. “After all, this is the same Congressman who admitted to using the war in Iraq for political gain, has opposed securing our borders, and whose seemingly corrupt behavior has come under heavy public scrutiny. Representing everything that is wrong with Washington tends to make a politician vulnerable.”

The $35 million the DCCC has reserved for advertising in the fall is divided evenly among Democratic incumbent seats, Republican incumbent seats and open seats, according to figures obtained by ABC News. The DCCC will buy ad time in 11 districts with Democratic incumbents (totaling $10.8 million), nine districts with Republican incumbents (totaling $9 million ) and 11 districts where there are open seats (totaling $13.5 million). On the high end, House Democrats have set aside $1.7 million in two districts in Arizona – Republican Rick Renzi’s open seat (AZ-01) and incumbent Democrat Harry Mitchell’s seat.

July 14, 2008 in Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats | Permalink | User Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)