McCain Says Roe V. Wade Should Be Overturned; Obama Sets Attendance Record; And Other Updates
Here are a few updates on the movements of the Presidential candidates:
* Speaking in South Carolina yesterday, Sen. John McCain explicitly told a crowd that he believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned.
* Sen. Barack Obama's appearance at the Virginia Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on Saturday more than doubled the previous attendance record for the event with a crowd of 3,200 people.
* Responding to more than a month of complaints from the campaign of Sen. John McCain, the National Journal's Hotline blog has cut ties with a South Carolina political website, the Daily Shot, that was run by consultants with links to the campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Ben Smith reports.
* The Obama campaign is actively pushing back (PDF) against claims by some Chicago activists that Obama takes more credit than he is due in his first book, "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance," for his participation in a campaign against asbestos in public housing during his tenure as a community organizer.
* Obama also picked up the endorsement of former South Carolina Democratic Party chairman Dick Harpootlian during his trip through the South this past weekend.
* Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani requires that he fly by private jet when traveling to his $100,000 an appearance speaking engagements, and the jets themselves must be a Gulfstream IV or bigger, according to the tour rider obtained by The Smoking Gun.
* Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney said on ABC's "This Week" yesterday that the Pentagon should maintain its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy towards gays in the military. In the past, Romney has supported allowing gay men and women to serve in the armed forces. Romney will be fundraising in Utah on Tuesday and Wednesday.
* Romney has also recieved the endorsement of Iowa state Representative Doug Struyk, who will join his Iowa leadership team. Struyk is the Assistant Leader of the House Republican Caucus.
* The campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton is moving its headquarters from lobbying-centric K Street in Washington, DC to Arlington, Virgina across the Potomac. Interestingly, the neighborhood they chose -- Ballston -- is the same area the Bush-Cheney campaign used as a home base in 2004. Clinton held a town hall-style meeting today at Allen University, a historically black college in South Carolina, to a crowd of over 3,000.
* Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, Sen. Christopher Dodd, Mitt Romney, and former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson will all be campaigning in Iowa today.
* Former Sen. John Edwards campaigned in Iowa over the weekend, including a stop with fellow '08 hopefuls Sen. Joe Biden and Tom Vilsack, where he discussed his desire for sweeping change in the health care system rather than reform in "incremental baby steps."
* Speaking at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire on Sunday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich called for a 15 percent "across-the-board cut in Pentagon spending" as well as the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Rep. Duncan Hunter is visiting the school today.
* New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is the featured speaker at the Broward County Democratic Jefferson Jackson Dinner on Feb. 24 in Florida. While in New Hampshire over the Weekend, Richardson advocated that Congress vote to revoke the 2002 authorization for military force against Iraq.
* Rep. Tom Tancredo slammed the NFL in a letter last week for refusing to run a Border Patrol recruitment ad during the Super Bowl that said "it'll be your responsibility to prevent the entry of terrorists and their weapons into the United States," language which the league thought did not fit with the light-hearted nature of the game.
Gee, and I remember how the left was in love with John McCain back in 2000, even when he endorsed Bush. How they were too in love with him to even take a full look at the joke that is McCain-Feingold CFR.
February 19, 2007 3:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
I feel really silly for thinking at one point that McCain was someone I could consider thinking about maybe supporting.
February 19, 2007 4:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
So let's see we have one candidate with 14 years of national name recognition and 8 years of national recognition as a US Senator...vs. a candidate with just over 2 years of national name recoginition and that candidate is pulling in capacity crowds that are 25% larger...sounds like a huge difference.
Run Obama Run.
February 19, 2007 9:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history," McCain said to applause.
The comments were in sharp contrast to McCain's statement when Rumsfeld resigned in November, and failed to address the reality that President Bush is the commander in chief.
"While Secretary Rumsfeld and I have had our differences, he deserves Americans' respect and gratitude for his many years of public service," McCain said last year when Rumsfeld stepped down.
February 20, 2007 7:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
An enterprising Dem should consider agreeing with Tancredo on this one. Why shouldn't the NFL have allowed the Border Patrol ad to run during the Super Bowl? It doesn't sound like it was a big deal.
February 20, 2007 7:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
That ad would have been a real downer, during the game.
No way!!!
Nothing but guilt and terror in that message. It is a killjoy, terrorizing ad. Nothing but fearmongering...nobody wants to hear fearmongering when they are trying to enjoy themselves. We get enough of that watching the news and President War Mouth.
I agree with the NFL, they have a product and that product is entertainment, not national security fearmongering propaganda.
February 20, 2007 7:45 PM | Reply | Permalink