Sen. John McCain yesterday hammered Sen. Barack Obama's economic policies, particularly those related to taxation, during a speech to a gathering of small business leaders yesterday. The AP notes McCain, addressing the National Federation of Independent Business, "said small businesses make the economy run and that his Democratic rival would slow the creation of new jobs." McCain "said small businesses would bear the brunt of the tax increases proposed by Obama." The Washington Post reports on its front page that McCain says that under Obama's plan, "Americans of every background would see their taxes rise -- seniors, parents, small-business owners."
Rather than focusing on McCain's speech, most press accounts reflect the give-and-take between the campaigns on economic issues. For example, the Wall Street Journal headlines its story "Obama Fires Back On Taxes," and notes the Illinois senator said McCain "wants to privatize Social Security. The Arizona senator denies that; Sen. McCain does favor letting workers divert some payroll taxes to private retirement accounts, as...Bush unsuccessfully proposed." Defending his tax plans, Obama said that "raising taxes on the richest Americans but cutting them for others...would also help arrest the nation's trend toward greater income inequality. 'What we're trying to do is restore some balance,' he said."
In contrast to Obama's Monday speech, which was covered by all three networks and received a total of 4 minutes and 15 seconds in the evening newscasts, McCain remarks received only limited coverage on ABC World News and the CBS Evening News, and then only as part of their digests of the day's political news. NBC didn't cover the story.
McCain Says Economy Bigger Issue Than National Security Asked on Bloomberg's "Money and Politics" whether the economy has become a more important issue than national security, McCain said, "I think it has become the transcendent issue. We know how badly Americans are hurting and they are hurting very badly."
The Washington Post this morning looks into the background of Sen. Barack Obama's aide James Johnson, a former Fannie Mae chief and a "Washington insider since the Carter administration." The Post reports that four years ago, "as Johnson was angling for a job" if Sen. John Kerry won the presidency, Fannie Mae "did some vetting of its own. Company executives had grown so worried about the lucrative consulting deal they had cut with their former CEO they considered enlisting an outside investigator to comb through the deal 'in light of issues that could come up during Senate confirmation...or White House review of the consulting contract,' according to company documents unearthed by federal regulators." The New York Times reports that Johnson, who had previously been criticized for a series of mortgage deals he got from troubled lender Countrywide, "was also involved in some of the more controversial executive compensation decisions in recent years, serving on the board of five companies that granted lavish pay packages to their executives - and often playing a key role in approving them."
USA Today reports Obama, questioned about Johnson, "protested" that "I would have to hire the vetter to vet the vetters," and added that the members of his VP search team are unpaid advisers that "aren't folks who are working for me." McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds "called Obama's response 'preposterous' and hypocritical," as during the Democratic primary, Obama "blasted" Sen. Hillary Clinton "for business ties to Countrywide by strategist Mark Penn."
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The AP reports Sen. Barack Obama is "considering former top Pentagon leaders among his possible running mates, which would address his lack of foreign policy experience and balance the military bonafides of a GOP ticket led by a war hero." Two senators "who consulted Tuesday with the Democratic presidential candidate's vice presidential vetting team said retired military generals were among the names they discussed." One name reportedly being discussed is retired Gen. James Jones, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander.
The UK's Times reports that in an exclusive interview, President Bush "delivered a thinly veiled warning" to Sen. Barack Obama "that his promises to renegotiate or block international trade deals were already causing alarm in Europe and beyond." Bush said, "There is concern about protectionism and economic nationalism. Leaders recognise now is the time to get ahead of this issue before it becomes engrained in the political systems of our respective countries."
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "Once again, Pennsylvania finds itself in the crosshairs of presidential politics, marked as a target on Republican and Democratic maps." Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama "are visiting the state this week, in what amount to the opening days of the general-election campaign." McCain "plans a town-hall meeting this morning at the National Constitution Center," while Obama "is scheduled to hold a fund-raiser Friday evening at Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel." Democrats are seen as having an edge by a local pollster, but McCain "is taking an early run at Pennsylvania. His strategists believe he can win the state by attracting the white working-class and rural voters who overwhelmingly supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the state's primary."
The Politico reports Sen. Barack Obama's "go-to Hollywood hottie is Scarlett Johansson, a starlet who trades frequent e-mails with the presumptive Democratic nominee, campaigns tirelessly on his behalf, hosts lucrative fundraisers and even appeared in that 'Yes We Can' viral video that got 10 million views in its first week online." Johansson is "not alone. Jessica Alba is for Obama. So are Ryan Phillippe, John Legend, Anthony Kiedis, Taye Diggs, Kate Walsh and countless others." Meanwhile, The Hill reports this morning that Jennifer Lopez "slipped into the Hart Senate Office Building on Wednesday afternoon for a mysterious meeting inside" Obama's office. Lopez "surprised staffers when she was spotted walking through the Hart atrium and taking the elevator to Obama's seventh-floor office." Rumors "circulated that Lopez may be writing Obama a song."
Obama Planning Star Studded Hollywood Fundraisers In her "Cause Célèbre" column in the Los Angeles Times, Tina Daunt writes that Obama is expected to engage in a great deal of fundraising in Hollywood this summer, noting that he is scheduled to "make a quick trip to Los Angeles on June 24 for a star-studded event at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Then he'll be back for more events (perhaps another large soiree in Santa Barbara, this time at producer Jon Peters' ranch?)."
Obama Up Big In New York A new Quinnipiac University poll of 1,388 likely New York State voters taken June 3-8 shows Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. John McCain 50%-36%. A similar poll taken in mid-April showed Obama leading McCain 47%-39%.
Obama Holds Wide Lead In Washington State A SurveyUSA automated poll of 637 likely Washington State voters taken June 7-9 shows Obama leading McCain 56%-39%. The survey was conducted for KING-TV in Seattle and KATU-TV in Portland, Oregon.
McCain Up 10 In Georgia A Rasmussen Reports automated poll of 500 likely Georgia voters taken June 4 shows McCain leading Obama 51%-41%.
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NBC Nightly News reported last night that Senate Republicans "blocked a Democratic plan to impose a windfall profit tax on big oil companies." The AP reports the Democratic measure "would have imposed a 25 percent tax on any 'unreasonable' profits of the five largest US oil companies, which together made $36 billion during the first three months of the year." The Washington Post quotes Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said, "This bill is not a serious approach to oil and gas prices. ... Raising taxes on those who produce something leads to higher prices on the product they sell." The Christian Science Monitor notes that yesterday President Bush "threatened to veto the bill: An increase in taxes on energy will likely reduce supply and increase energy costs, he said."
The New York Times reports, "The oil-tax proposal was one of two energy-related bills that failed to advance. The other was a proposal to amend the Internal Revenue Code by providing 'incentives for energy production and conservation.'" The Wall Street Journal notes the latter bill is "largely similar to legislation passed by the House of Representatives in May." Sen. Max Baucus, the bill's sponsor, "predicted he would be able to compromise with Republicans and secure their support."
ABC World News said "instead of addressing the nation's concerns about high gas prices, the Senate killed a new energy bill. And the partisan divisions were evident and were deep." ABC added, "Consumers looking to Congress to do something today about this energy crisis should probably look elsewhere." In a similar report, CNN's Campbell Brown said, "So for now, after a lot of lofty indignation, nothing. No changes from Washington and gas prices will keep going up. ... As for our would-be presidents...they were too busy campaigning to take part in today's vote." According to the Christian Science Monitor, since President Bush came into office "gasoline prices have more than doubled and oil companies have made more than half a trillion dollars in profits."
House May Ease Drilling Restrictions USA Today reports, "Supporters of a proposal to allow drilling for oil and gas off the US coastline are expected to make their case to a House panel Wednesday." USA Today adds "offshore oil and gas production has been banned off most of the US coastline since Congress approved the Outer Continental Shelf moratorium in 1981, which prevented the leasing of coastal waters for fossil fuel development," but Democratic Rep. John Peterson "wants to change that." The Hill, meanwhile, reports House Republicans "filed a discharge petition Tuesday that would force a floor vote on legislation on oil drilling in Alaska." The Hill notes that the discharge petition, the No More Excuses Energy Act, has only 60 of the 218 signatures needed to force a vote.
Sen. John McCain indicated yesterday that he will join with Democrats to pass an expansion of unemployment benefits -- even as the House Republican leaderships rolls out an economic agenda that stresses a return to fiscal discipline. According to the AP, Sen. McCain "is just one of dozens of Republicans abandoning President Bush to join Democrats who want to extend unemployment payments for people whose benefits have run out." The AP adds that "dozens of House Republicans are likely to abandon Bush on a vote this week to award 13 additional weeks of unemployment compensation to people who've used up their benefits. Republican leaders and staff aides conceded that they were unlikely to be able to prevent Democrats from getting enough votes to override a likely veto." The Hill reports House Minority Leader John Boehner "will vote against what could be a stand-alone bill on the issue, but a Republican aide said, 'I expect members would vote for it.'" The Hill says the bill "does face at least one possible glitch in the House. The plan violates the House's pay-as-you-go, or pay-go, budgetary rules. Members of the [Democratic] Blue Dog Coalition, which advocates for strict adherence to those rules, are debating whether they should try to block the legislation."
The Washington Times reports that today House Republican leaders "will release details of a broad economic agenda that calls for streamlining the tax code, a spending limit proposal to curb federal spending and a plan to lower gas prices." The plan also "calls for a two-tier flat tax system that can be filed on one page and an elimination of the Alternative Minimum Tax." According to Roll Call, Rep. Boehner, "led the yearlong effort to develop an election-year message and strategy." Boehner said, "Over the past 18 months, the American people have seen what the Democrats who run Congress have to offer: higher taxes, broken promises and skyrocketing gas prices."
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The UK's Times reports that in an exclusive interview, President Bush "admitted...that his gun-slinging rhetoric made the world believe that he was a 'guy really anxious for war' in Iraq." President Bush "expressed regret at the bitter divisions over the war and said that he was troubled about how his country had been misunderstood. 'I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric.' Phrases such as 'bring them on' or 'dead or alive', he said, 'indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace.'"
Monday's edition incorrectly attributed poll numbers on American's confidence in the economy to the Pew Research Center. In fact, the polling was conducted by and for USA Today, not by Pew.
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Jay Leno: "You know, I'll tell you, things are not good. The price of oil doubled in less than a year. Home foreclosures are at a record high. Unemployment is surging. But yesterday...we saw a ray of hope. President Bush left the country. So maybe things will get better."
Jay Leno: "Well, Barack Obama took the weekend off from campaigning. He said on Saturday night he went on a date with his wife, Michelle. ... The nice thing is they can stay out late on Saturday nights without having to worry about getting up to go to church anymore."
Jay Leno: "And John McCain has a new slogan: 'A leader we can believe in." That's a good slogan. Don't confuse that with President Bush's slogan: 'We can't believe he's our leader.'"
Conan O'Brien: "Barack Obama said his differences with Hillary Clinton are 'infinitesimal, tiny, minute, trivial and inconsequential.' ... When he heard this, President Bush said, 'That guy knows way too many words to be president.'"
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