The CBS Evening News reported last night that Sen. John McCain's national finance chairman, former Texas Congressman Thomas Loeffler, resigned yesterday "as the McCain campaign continues to distance itself from lobbyists." The AP notes Loeffler, "one of McCain's key fundraisers, resigned after the campaign last week instructed staff members to disclose all lobbying ties and to make certain they are no longer registered as lobbyists or foreign agents."
The development is being cast as a sign of trouble for McCain, whose campaign is built on the senator's image as an outsider. The Politico says McCain's "appeal to independent voters rests in part on his reformist image." The candidate "recognizes that he will be held to a high standard in the coming campaign and wants to clean house before the general election formally kicks off, sources say." On its front page, the Washington Post notes Loeffler "is the fifth person to sever ties with the campaign amid a growing concern over whether lobbyists have too great an influence over the Republican nominee." McCain "has built his reputation in Congress on fighting special interests and the lobbying culture, but he has been criticized for months about the number of lobbyists serving in key positions in his campaign. Until recently, his top political adviser, Charles R. Black Jr., was the head of a Washington lobbying firm."
The Wall Street Journal notes the new policy "allows unpaid volunteers to continue as registered lobbyists so long as they disclose those interests and do not lobby or advise Sen. McCain on behalf of those interests." Although Loeffler "qualified under the latter terms, his high rank at the campaign forced him to do make a decision, said Charlie Black, a senior aide to Sen. McCain and former lobbyist."
As she did in West Virginia last week, Sen. Hillary Clinton is looking for a massive win in tomorrow's Kentucky primary to bolster her struggling campaign. NBC Nightly News reported Clinton "expects to run up a big victory in Kentucky," especially with Sen. Barack Obama "campaigning in Oregon today and then moving on to fall battleground states like Iowa and Florida this week." A new poll out over the weekend suggests Clinton could be on pace to win in the state by a margin similar to the 41-point win in West Virginia. An American Research Group poll of 600 likely Kentucky Democratic primary voters taken May 14-15 shows Clinton leading Obama 65%-29%, with 4% backing someone else (John Edwards remains on the ballot) and 2% undecided.
However, analysts are already discounting the importance of a Clinton victory. CQ Politics reports that Clinton's "anticipated victory in the Kentucky primary should resemble her victory the previous week in West Virginia - decisive but hollow." CQ Politics "projects that Clinton will win 22-12 [in delegates]. Another 17 pledged delegates will be distributed based on the statewide primary returns, and they would split 11-6 for Clinton if she wins between 59 percent and 68 percent of the vote - a range that is in keeping with what recent polls indicate. But a net gain of 15 delegates for Clinton wouldn't put make a dent in the big lead enjoyed by" Obama. Similarly, the Washington Post reported on its 'The Trail' blog that "even a blowout" in the Bluegrass State "will leave Clinton far from the nomination; winning the bulk of Kentucky's 60 delegates would be largely offset by a strong finish by Obama in Oregon, which has 65 delegates."
Still, Clinton has focused on the state, and is in the midst of a 4-day swing there, which will culminate at a rally in Louisville on Tuesday night, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports.
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While Sen. Hillary Clinton is campaigning in Kentucky, Sen. Barack Obama is focusing his efforts on Oregon, which also holds its primary tomorrow. Yesterday, he held the largest events of the primary in Portland, with NBC Nightly News reporting that the local fire marshal estimated "between 70,000 and 75,000" people "crammed" into a park along the Willamette River. NBC adds, "That would be almost double the size of the biggest rally that Barack Obama has gotten so far. This caps off a two-day swing here in Oregon where he expects to do very well on Tuesday." The New York Times adds that Obama said it "'fair to say this is the most spectacular setting for the most spectacular crowd' of his campaign." The Portland Tribune (5/19, Law) reports the crowd "shattered Obama's previous record on the campaign trail, about 45,000 in Philadelphia, said Nick Shapiro, Obama's Oregon campaign spokesman. Obama delivered his standard stump speech for the umpteenth time, but it didn't matter. The crowd cheered anytime" Obama "tossed in a reference to Portland, to Oregon, or to anything having to do with the environment or ending the war in Iraq."
However, despite the size of the rally, there are signs that Clinton may give him a run for his money in the state. An American Research Group poll of 600 likely Oregon Democratic primary voters taken May 14-16 shows Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. Hillary Clinton 50%-45% with 5% undecided.
While the primary contest continues, there are more signs that Sen. Barack Obama is increasingly turning to general election mode and targeting Sen. John McCain. The Los Angeles Times reports Obama yesterday "continued his efforts to tie" McCain "to President Bush, contending that the Arizona senator's Social Security proposal was simply a continuation of Bush's failed attempt to privatize the government-sponsored retirement plan." Obama said, "Privatizing Social Security was a bad idea when George Bush proposed it. It's a bad idea today." The AP adds Obama's appearance "before about 130 people at an assisted living facility to talk Social Security was a significant attempt to tie the GOP's presidential nominee-in-waiting to an unpopular President Bush on a pocket book issue that motivates seniors - and also concerns younger generations worried about their own future retirement." McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds "accused Obama of making 'misinformed partisan attacks.'"
Meanwhile, there are other signs that the Democrats are moving past the primary and on to the general election. ABC News reported on its website "that fundraisers for" Clinton and Obama "are discussing how to merge their war chests into a single campaign focused on taking on" McCain "in November. Each party eventually unifies its donor base, but what makes this move unusual is that the campaign is still hard-fought and relations are strained. The Clinton campaign confirmed the move, saying, 'We believe Hillary Clinton will be that nominee.'"
In addition, the New York Daily News reports that Clinton's "top donors are starting to jump ship, and increasingly they're paddling -- checkbooks in hand -- toward rival Barack Obama, a Daily News analysis has found. The review of campaign finance data found that in March alone, some 113 top Clinton funders -- namely those who had already given her the maximum $2,300 allowed by law -- switched sides and gave to Obama for the first time."
The Politico reports, "Concerned about appearing presumptuous or antagonistic towards" Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama "will not declare victory in the Democratic nomination fight Tuesday in the event he wins enough pledged delegates to claim a majority. Rather, he'll tiptoe right up to the line, without explicitly asserting the race is over." The Politico adds "the conscious decision not to declare victory is a revealing measure of the sensitivity surrounding overtures that appear to disrespect Clinton and her supporters. It's also a reflection of the Obama campaign's supreme confidence in the delegate math at this juncture - the campaign now appears secure enough in its commanding position that it no longer feels compelled to declare victory in an attempt to marginalize Clinton."
The Washington Post reports in a front page story that a Democratic race "threatens to leave lingering bitterness, especially among Clinton supporters, whose candidate is running out of ways to win." Some women "complain that Clinton has been disrespected and mistreated by the media and the political establishment. Many see Obama as equally condescending, dismissing Clinton's foreign policy role as first lady, pulling out her chair for her at debates and suggesting offhand during one debate that she was 'likable enough.'" With "equal ire, many African Americans complain about Clinton's negativity and have accused her camp of using Obama's race against him."
The New York Times reports in a front page story that Clinton's "all-but-certain defeat brings with it a reckoning about what her run represents for women: a historic if incomplete triumph or a depressing reminder of why few pursue high political office in the first place." The answers "have immediate political implications. If many of Mrs. Clinton's legions of female supporters believe she was undone even in part by gender discrimination, how eagerly will they embrace Senator Barack Obama, the man who beat her?"
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President Bush's speech to the Knesset last week (in which he castigated those calling for "appeasement") ignited a political firestorm at home, with Democratic officials and commentators casting Bush's words as a swipe at Sen. Barack Obama. As Bush comes back to Washington, the firestorm shows no signs of subsiding. Last night, the President defended his remarks to the Israeli Knesset in an interview with NBC Nightly News, where he was asked about the impact of his comments on the US presidential campaign. Bush said, "You know, my policies haven't changed, but evidently the political calendar has. And when a leader of Iran says that they want to destroy Israel, you've got to take those words seriously."
Obama's defenders, meanwhile, took exception to Bush's remarks. Sen. Joseph Biden, on ABC's This Week called Bush's remarks "outrageous. ... What this is is raw, raw politics, demeaning to the presidency of the United States of America." Sen. James Webb, on NBC's Meet the Press, said that if President Bush "were to use the right historical example, he probably should be looking at China in the 1970s, rather than the situation in Germany in 1930s, where we had a rogue regime with nukes, with an American war on its border that was spouting all of this hostile rhetoric and was not a part of the international community; and by aggressive diplomacy at the same time that we kept all of our other options on the table and maintained all of our other alliances, we were able to arguably bring China into the world community."
Sen. Christopher Dodd, on Fox News Sunday, noted that "Mao Tse-Tung and the Soviet leadership were supporting serious opponents of ours all over the world and groups that would have done us great, great harm. John Kennedy I think said it very well in 1961 in his inaugural address. You never negotiate out of fear, but you never fear to negotiate."
In an interview with U.S. News and World Report, Sen. Joseph Lieberman said he thought the passage on appeasement was "appropriate" and "moving." Lieberman added, "I was not thinking that it was an attack on Sen. Obama. I thought the president was speaking in the context of the 60th anniversary of modern Israel, which, after all, grew up after the Holocaust. I thought his main audience was Israel, which is living in fear that Iran is controlled by a regime that is building nuclear weapons and is committed to not just fighting Israel but extinguishing Israel."
Karl Rove, appearing on Fox News Sunday, said he thinks Sen. Obama's response to Bush's remarks was "very smart politics" in the short term "meaning next Tuesday. ... Broader frame, going up to November, I'm not certain it's a smart move. If the argument is who's a better commander in chief, who's going to be tougher on foreign policy, then the answer is going to be John McCain."
Bush Seen As Biased Toward Israel Bush concluded his trip to the Middle East Sunday with an address at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt where, says the AP, he "lectured the Arab world Sunday about everything from political repression to the denial of women's rights." The "heart of Bush's speech," the AP adds, "was a warning that Mideast nations lag behind the developing world and cannot count on their oil wealth forever." Media coverage notes the President's remarks were poorly received by Arab leaders, who thought Bush had shown a clear bias toward Israel. The AP, for example, says Bush was seen taking "a strikingly tougher tone with Arab nations than he did with Israel in a speech Thursday to the Knesset." On its front page, the Los Angeles Times says Bush's speech stands in "vivid contrast to his effusive stopover in Israel," and "crystallized an approach that in Arab eyes stubbornly favors Israel over their own concerns and interests." While "Bush's language was in many ways supportive...his characterization of the region was a pointed challenge to US allies, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia." The Wall Street Journal also reports that Bush's address Sunday "contrasted with his message in Israel to the Knesset Thursday."
After "basking in a showy celebration of America's close ties with Israel," the New York Times reports, Bush's speech "drew sharp criticism in the Arab world, where he was accused of being insensitive to Palestinian concerns."
Abbas Doesn't Want US To Mediate Peace Talks. The Washington Times notes "Bush's three-nation trip to the Middle East ended on a sour note in Egypt yesterday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas saying that Mr. Bush's remarks to the Israeli parliament last week 'angered' Palestinians and that he no longer wants the United States to mediate peace talks with Israel." Moreover, "news organizations reported that Mr. Abbas told Israeli left-wing lawmaker Yossi Beilin that he would resign if negotiators made no progress in peace talks by the end of the year. An Abbas spokesman denied the comment."
Bush Said To Have Accomplished Little Media reports overwhelmingly portray the President's trip in a negative light, suggesting that he accomplished little. The AP, for example, reports, "Bush arrived back in Washington late Sunday with little to show for the trip. Saudi Arabia rebuffed his plea for help with soaring oil prices, Egypt's leader questioned his seriousness about peacemaking and there was not enough progress in the peace talks to warrant a three-way meeting of Bush with Israeli and Palestinian leaders." USA Today reports "Bush wrapped up his five-day Middle East tour Sunday with little visible progress on either of the main issues he highlighted: rising oil prices and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process," and McClatchy says Bush "heads home to Washington with few, if any, concrete gains."
U.S. News and World Report reports this week, "Technically, the $300 billion farm bill is now finished: Members of the Senate and the House polished off a compromise version earlier this week. ... And now a showdown looms. President Bush is still threatening a veto, even though the House and Senate appear likely to overturn it. He didn't like the bill several months ago, and he says he doesn't like it now, either. A major point of dispute has been subsidies: billions of dollars paid out annually by the government to farmers, either directly for growing crops like corn and wheat or as a form of insurance if crop prices fall." Bush, "along with a number of farm lobby critics, has criticized subsidies as an unfair practice, as handouts to rich people who don't need them. And they have criticized the bill for other reasons: for spending too much money on pet projects and for spending too much money in general."
The CBS Evening News reported last night that "Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy remains hospitalized tonight after suffering two seizures yesterday on Cape Cod. But the news this evening from his doctors is good. ... We're told Kennedy is speaking to family members and once again was watching a Red Sox game this afternoon. It will be at least another night before he's released. A team of doctors is busy trying to figure out what caused Kennedy's seizures, but they may never know." NBC Nightly News noted Kennedy spent this day being visited by family members. USA Today, New York Times and Washington Post run similar reports.
Newsweek says this week "many immigrants are leaving the United States -- willingly and unwillingly -- and countless others are deciding not to come. The reasons: tougher enforcement and border control, a slowing US economy and impressive growth in developing countries, where many immigrants hail from. ... Nationwide, deportations of illegal immigrants rose from 178,657 in fiscal 2005 to 282,548 in fiscal 2007 -- up 58 percent. At the same time, apprehensions are down sharply along the 2,000-mile US-Mexico border -- in fiscal 2007, 859,000 illegal immigrants were stopped, compared with 1.07 million in 2006 -- an indication that fewer people are attempting to cross." Border Patrol spokesman Ramon Rivera "chalks it up partly to an effort started in 2005 to prosecute immigrants for illegal entry -- 'word got around real quick' -- and partly to Operation Jump Start, under which thousands of National Guard members were sent to the border region in support roles, freeing more of the expanded roster of 16,000 Border Patrol agents to get into the field."
Meanwhile, U.S. News and World Report, in an article titled, "Mexican Immigrants Prove Slow To Fit In," reports "a new study lays bare what sociologists and others have long argued: Mexican immigrants are assimilating to life in the United States less successfully than other immigrants."
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Jay Leno: "To give you an idea of how low President Bush's approval rating is, during the flight of Air Force One to the Middle East, they made him sit in the bathroom the entire way."
Jay Leno: "And while he was in Israel, President Bush launched a political attack on Barack Obama. I guess he attacked him over there, so he doesn't have to attack him over here."
Jay Leno: "Anyway, today, Barack Obama responded to that attack, and then McCain attacked Obama, and then Obama fired back at McCain, and then Hillary Clinton said, 'Hello! Will somebody attack me? I'm still in the race! 'Hello, I'm still here! Anybody, attack me!'"
Conan O'Brien: "Earlier today, Barack Obama gave a speech in South Dakota. At the end of the speech, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Yeah, very cool, yeah. Obama got the standing ovation not for his speech, but for being the first black person in South Dakota."
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