ABC World News reported that in a "dramatic development," Sen. Barack Obama "slipped off to North Carolina to visit" John Edwards. ABC aired "exclusive images captured by ABC's Raleigh-Durham affiliate, WTVD, as the two former rivals embrace and wave goodbye. Today's meeting between Edwards and Obama was a secret, even from many of their staff members. The two men had been scheduled to sit down Monday, but that meeting was abruptly cancelled after word leaked out." But it's "not yet clear if Edwards will endorse either candidate." The Chicago Tribune adds, "A sizable media contingent typically travels wherever Obama goes, but he left the entourage behind in Chicago without prior notification on a day when his only event in Wisconsin was canceled because of snow and ice there." NBC Nightly News noted Sen. Hillary Clinton "made a similar trip ten days ago."
The AP says people "close to the Edwardses, speaking privately, say they have been torn about whom to support." The couple has "been impressed with Clinton, who has more effectively courted them since the 2004 vice presidential nominee dropped out, people who talk to the Edwardses say. Obama has been less attentive, they say, and some of those close to the Edwardses have been annoyed that Obama has continued to ridicule him for once saying his biggest weakness is that he has a powerful response to seeing pain in others."
The Financial Times reports allies of Sen. Barack Obama "have warned of chaos if unelected 'super-delegates' overturn the will of grassroots Democrats when the party's presidential candidate is chosen at its national convention in August." On Fox News Sunday, Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin said, "It would be a disaster for the Democratic party to thwart what has happened in the caucuses and primaries."
David Axelrod, chief strategist for the Obama campaign, on CBS' Face The Nation said, "We've won nearly twice as many states as Sen. Clinton. We've won 14 of them by 20,000 votes or more. We've done it by bringing not just Democrats but independents in, disaffected Republicans, to the polls, nuilding the kind of coalition we need to win in November. ... The truth is that the math is the math. Right now Sen. Obama has a strong lead." Sen. Dick Durbin, an ally of Obama, on NBC's Meet The Press, said, "The elected delegates should have the last word in Denver. Those are the delegates who have stood before the voters. ... I can perceive what the Clinton strategy is now: to use these superdelegates to try to overcome the vote of elected delegates. And that would be unfortunate. It may divide our party."
Even one Clinton ally questioned the strategy of taking the battle all the way to the convention. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who is backing Clinton, on NBC's Meet The Press, said, "At the end of the day," for the "sake of party unity...Howard Dean and the two candidates will have to get together if neither candidate has 2,025, which is the margin that the rules require to win, and come up with a strategy. Each candidate will have to buy in to that strategy to determine who wins, because if the loser and their supporters stalk away, then we will lose the general election."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
With Wisconsin's primary on Tuesday, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have been campaigning hard for the last few days across the state. However, that changed yesterday. NBC Nightly News reports, "Winter weather in Wisconsin puts Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's campaign events on ice today." NBC added, "The canceled events are a perhaps bigger problem for Hillary Clinton because she has spent much less time in the state campaigning." The AP adds, "A brutal winter storm paralyzed the Wisconsin campaign schedules of" Clinton and Obama "on Sunday, setting up a mad dash in the remaining hours before the state's presidential primary Tuesday."
USA Today reports Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign "hammered rival Barack Obama on Sunday for refusing to reaffirm his commitment to accept public financing in the general election, a development a top aide criticized as 'a pretty big flip-flop' and an opening for Republican attack." The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel adds, "Echoing criticism made by" Sen. John McCain, Clinton said in an interview, "My understanding is that Senator Obama said he would (take public financing) and that now he's saying he won't." Clinton added, "Actions speak louder than words. No matter how beautiful the words are and how well presented, you've got to get beyond the words. And now we're seeing how the words don't even mean what we thought they meant."
Bill Clinton campaigned across Ohio yesterday, a key state that holds its primary on March 4. A "First Read" piece on the MSNBC website reports Sen. Barack Obama supporter Robert Holeman attended one of the events, where he chanted Obama's name and shouted during the former president's speech. As soon as Clinton "finished speaking, the Canton native made a beeline to the ropeline to give Clinton a piece of his mind." Holeman said that after he chided the former president on the rope line, Clinton "Clinton responded by saying Obama came after him first. Holeman also described Clinton's reaction to him as 'irate.'" Holeman said, "I think he even hit me in the face with his hand." The AP adds Holeman "told MSNBC news that Clinton was 'irate' and jabbed his finger at him. 'I think he even hit me in the face with his hand,' he said. 'He did give me a little pop.' Clinton could be seen pointing at Holeman, but it was unclear whether there was any physical contact."
Sen. John McCain, asked in a taped interview shown on ABC's This Week if he has changed his position regarding President Bush's tax cuts, replied, "For a long time I have said that I thought the tax cuts ought to be made permanent. For a long time back, I said, 'Look, we've got to have spending restraint,' the way that Reagan did when he restored our economy when it was in the tank. ... But to impose on the American people what essentially would be a tax increase of thousands of dollars per family in America...I'm sure would be bad for the economy of this country." Asked, "Are you 'read my lips candidate, no new taxes,' no matter what," McCain answered, "No new taxes."
The Washington Post adds that McCain's pledge not to implement new taxes is an effort to "shore up support among conservatives," noting, "he still faces wariness among many fiscal conservatives because he voted twice against President Bush's tax-cut proposals. Democrats have been using the tax issue, too, to take aim at McCain's reputation for straight talk, noting that he originally opposed the tax cuts but later supported them and now wants to make them permanent."
McCain Seen As Previewing General Election Themes The Washington Times reports McCain "previewed the strategy he will use against his Democratic foe in the fall: No new taxes, spending restraint, success in Iraq, and private but affordable health care, not socialized medicine." McCain also said he was "making inroads with conservative leaders who object to his occasional breaks from the party line, and that he planned to 'compete all over America ... including the state of California,' which has gone heavily Democratic in the past two decades." The Politico reports McCain "began drawing battle lines with" the Democrats, "highlighting 'profound and significant philosophical differences' on a range of policy and process issues."
The Hill reports McCain said "winning the White House would be an uphill battle for him" because he is "faced with two Democratic candidates who both have raised significantly more money than any of the Republicans in the race and an electorate that has shown up in much greater numbers to the Democratic nominating contests than the GOP ones." Said McCain, "This is going to be an uphill battle all the way. I can out-campaign them, and I can out-debate them, and I can out-perform them in what I think my vision for America is more in keeping with the majority of Americans."
The New York Times reports in a front-page story that Sen. John McCain's campaign advisers "will ask the White House to deploy President Bush for major Republican fund-raising, but they do not want the president to appear too often at his side, top aides to Mr. McCain said Sunday." After a "weekend of strategy meetings at Mr. McCain's Arizona ranch," the advisers "said that much remains undecided about coordinating the campaign with the White House and the party apparatus until Mr. McCain wins enough delegates to be the official nominee."
Bush Reportedly Eager To Raise Funds For McCain US News and World Report says President Bush "is increasingly confident that John McCain...will be an effective defender of the major Bush policies such as cutting taxes, fighting terrorism, and winning the Iraq war, according to White House aides." White House officials "say Bush is eager to get into the fray. He sees his role as raising money for the Republican Party, uniting the GOP behind the nominee, and framing the debate by arguing that the Democrats are weak on national security and eager to raise taxes."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
ABC World News reported that while President Bush "may be struggling at home," he "remains surprisingly popular here in Africa, where his face adorns everything from billboards to women's dresses. And this is why: A fund to combat AIDS, created by the President, has spent more than $15 billion on the continent over the past five years." NBC Nightly News said "thousands" in Tanzania "turned out to cheer" Bush "for supporting the continent, especially in the fight against AIDS." The program "has provided medicine for more than a million Africans."
The Washington Post reports Bush "used a ceremony with Tanzania's leader, a visit to a hospital and a roundtable session with AIDS patients to pressure lawmakers back home, confident that pictures of babies saved by US funding will carry an emotional punch that mere speechifying in the Rose Garden does not." The Los Angeles Times says "the Bush visit turned a presidential spotlight on what is widely seen as one of Africa's success stories: the increase in testing for HIV/AIDS and the increasing availability of drugs, even as the demands on such programs continue to grow." But Bush "has been criticized for not putting a similar effort into tackling the postelection political turmoil in Kenya and violent conflicts in Sudan and Chad, three nations not on his tour." The New York Times says Bush "has been smothered with affection here, never more so than on Sunday."
Bush "Showered With Praise" On its Sunday front page, the Washington Times said "Africans showered President Bush with praise" for the "billions of U.S. dollars spent to help fight disease and poverty, while administration officials threatened sanctions against Kenya if its president does not compromise in that nation's political crisis." The New York Times reported Sunday that Bush "defended his decision not to visit strife-torn nations like Kenya and Sudan, saying he wanted to focus instead on successes like his programs to fight AIDS and malaria."
US Steps Up Pressure On Kenya The AP reports Washington "intensified pressure on Kenya's rival politicians to end a bloody political crisis." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is scheduled to arrive today, "is pressing Kenya's rivals to strike a power-sharing deal to end the turmoil that has engulfed much of the country since a flawed Dec. 27 presidential vote."
The AP reports the US Department of Agriculture "ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from a California slaughterhouse, the subject of an animal-abuse investigation, that provided meat to school lunch programs." The Los Angeles Times reports USDA spokesman Keith Williams "noted that today's beef recall, while the largest in history, was not based on the same levels of concern for public health as in some prior recalls. 'There is a remote probability of any serious health concern...but we are taking this action because of our regulations' and in abundance of caution, Williams said of the recall." On its front page, the New York Times also notes "agriculture officials said there was little health risk from the recalled meat because the animals had already passed pre-slaughter inspection." ABC World News, NBC Nightly News, USA Today, and the Washington Post are among the other media outlets also reporting the story.
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
The AP reports President Bush "said Saturday that lawmakers' failure to renew an eavesdropping law will make it more difficult to track terrorists and 'we may lose a vital lead that could prevent an attack on America.'" In his weekly radio address, Bush said, "Some congressional leaders claim that this will not affect our security. They are wrong." Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, delivering the Democrats' radio address, said, "We know this president dislikes compromise, but this time he has taken his stubborn approach too far. He is whipping up false fears, and creating artificial confrontation." Bloomberg News said Bush "chastised Congress for refusing to pass wiretapping legislation," while Whitehouse "accused him of 'political gamesmanship.'"
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, appearing on Fox News Sunday, said of the expiration, "It introduces a level of uncertainty that is going to be very difficult for us. ... And our situation now, when the terrorist threat is increasing because they've achieved -- Al Qaeda's achieved de facto safe haven in the border area of Pakistan and Afghanistan -- the threat is going up."
The Washington Post reports, "Two US intelligence officials, in public appearances last week, outlined plans to join the ideological fight against radical Islam, much as the CIA worked behind the scenes during the Cold War in the battle against the creed of world communism." National Counterterrorism Center Acting Director Michael Leiter said the goal is "to prevent the next generation of terrorists from emerging," in part by showing "that it is al-Qaeda, not the West, that is truly at war with Islam." CIA Deputy Director John Kringen argued that while the US and allies "have succeeded in 'disrupting and dismantling terrorist organizations...the supply of people wanting to join those organizations continues and in some areas continues to grow.'"
NBC Nightly News reported, "In Afghanistan, at least 80 people were killed by a suicide bomber in the southern province of Kandahar. Officials believe a prominent militia commander fiercely opposed to the Taliban may have been the target of the attack." ABC World News noted "a Taliban spokesman denied responsibility for the bombing." The Los Angeles Times reports, "The bombing at a dogfighting match just outside Kandahar was thought to have been the deadliest single suicide attack since the Taliban movement was driven from power more than six years ago." The New York Times reports, "Kandahar, a former stronghold of the Taliban, has been the scene of some of the country's worst suicide attacks over the past two years." The Washington Post and Washington Times run similar reports.
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
ABC World News reported that Pakistan, "the key US ally in the war on terror, holds its national elections tomorrow," and "violence and unrest there are increasing as the vote gets closer." The Financial Times reports, "The results, which are expected to start trickling in around 10pm local time," will "determine a new balance of power in a country itching to rid itself of a leader held responsible for a long list of popular grievances, including surging food and electricity prices, growing lawlessness and fast-spreading militant extremism." The New York Times also says the elections are "expected to diminish" President Pervez Musharraf. The Washington Post also reports on the election.
ABC World News reported there is "a new nation in Europe today" as "the government of Kosovo declared independence from Serbia. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority celebrated, while Serbia and its ally Russia condemned the split." NBC Nightly News said Kosovo's "claim of independence tonight that has left two very big world powers, the US and Russia, at sharp odds." The Financial Times notes UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "resisted an appeal by Russia and Serbia to declare the move illegal," while the New York Times reports on its front page that Britain, France and Germany "were expected to be the first recognize the new nation as early as Monday." The Washington Post reports on its front page that President Bush "avoided a direct answer when asked whether the United States would recognize Kosovo." The Los Angeles Times and Washington Times also report the news.
George Will devotes his Newsweek column to a recent conversation with 1972 Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern. Will says McGovern "thinks he could have won with a running mate then called 'the most trusted man in America' -- Walter Cronkite." McGovern "considered asking Cronkite, who recently indicated he would have accepted."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Jay Leno: "Mitt Romney endorsed John McCain. ... I don't think there's been a more uncomfortable embrace between two politicians since the last time Bill hugged Hillary."
Jay Leno: "The US military is going to shoot down that satellite that's falling to Earth. I knew it was just a matter of time before President Bush did a preemptive strike on ourselves." Bush said he "wants to try and bring democracy to outer space."
Jay Leno: "Did you see Roger Clemens testifying this week before Congress?" Rep. Elijah Cummings "called Clemens 'one of my heroes,' and then called him a liar. So, I guess that's what makes you a hero to a congressman."
David Letterman: "President Bush says if John McCain is the Republican nominee, he will campaign for him. Well, you can't do better than that."
Conan O'Brien: "President Bush is scheduled to take a trip to Africa. When asked about it, President Bush said, 'I'm looking forward to meeting the leader of the African-Americans.'"
Jimmy Kimmel: Ex-President George H.W. Bush "will endorse Sen. John McCain for president. ... The former president says that John McCain is the only candidate who has the strength, the leadership, and the vision to dig America out of this giant hole his son has put us in."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Click image for larger view.
Smart analysis, insightful reporting, in-depth perspective—in a new, digital format.
Log in | Buy Now | See sample
View sample page 2View sample page 3View sample page 4View sample page 5advertisement
Get your POLITICALBULLETIN
Click image for larger view.
Smart analysis, insightful reporting, in-depth perspective—in a new, digital format.
Log in | Buy Now | See sample
View sample page 2View sample page 3View sample page 4View sample page 5Embed exclusive U.S. News headlines, rankings, columns, and blog postings to your Web site, blog, or social network.
advertisement
Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our Terms and Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy.
