Amid steadily worsening economic news, and with Sen. Barack Obama opening a lead in national polls, the presidential campaign has taken a markedly negative turn as Sen. John McCain increases his attacks on Obama. The New York Times reports in a front page story that McCain "made clear on Monday that he wanted to make the final month of the race a referendum on Mr. Obama's character, background and leadership - a polite way of saying he intends to attack him on all fronts and create or reinforce doubts about him among as many voters as possible." ABC World News says, "It was by far McCain's fiercest, most sustained, harshest attack on Barack Obama of the entire campaign." Sen. John McCain: "You need to know who you're putting in the White House, and where the candidate came from, and what he or she believes. Why has Senator Obama refused to disclose the people who are funding his campaign?" The CBS Evening News reported, "McCain suggested Barack Obama is a mystery man." McCain: "And where other candidates have to explain themselves in their records, Senator Obama seems to think he's above all that. Whatever the question, whatever the issue, there's always a back story with Senator Obama." The AP reports McCain yesterday called Obama "a liar as he leveled his harshest criticism yet, and said the campaign boils down to one basic question: Who is Obama really?"
However, there are questions in the media about whether the attack will be successful. NBC Nightly News reported, "The economy is the top concern for nearly 60% of those polled, and those voters favor Obama by 15 points. To try to turn that around, today McCain fired up his attack on Obama's character and record." NBC added, "Could McCain's attacks backfire?" Mike Murphy, former McCain advisor: "In this kind of election, with a lot of mad voters and a lot of economic fear, going too far in a character attack I think is going to turn people off." In his Wall Street Journal column, Gerald Seib says John McCain's campaign "obviously believes that the path to revival lies in playing up doubts about Sen. Obama's character," but it is "doubtful" that "those kinds of efforts alone" are "enough to reverse the flow of the race."
Palin Expands Attack On Obama To Include Wright The AP reports that in Florida yesterday, Gov. Sarah Palin "expanded her attack" on Obama's "character Monday to include his relationship with an incendiary former pastor as well as his ties to 1960s-era radical Bill Ayers." Palin "toned down her description of the Obama-Ayers relationship after her weekend remarks were criticized as exaggerated, but at the same time she embarked on a discussion of Obama's relationship with his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., which" McCain "had signaled he did not want to be a part of his campaign." In a front-page report, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune relates that Palin "was in full attack mode" at several rallies, and "proclaiming 'the heels are on, the gloves off,' Palin went straight for Obama's character, citing his ties to" '60s radical Ayers, and "promised more bare-knuckled politicking in the 28 days before the election."
Sen. Barack Obama and his allies are not taking McCain's attacks lying down. The New York Times reviews the Obama Internet video posted at Keatingeconomics.com, which highlights John McCain's role in the Keating Five scandal of the 1980s. While the video "is a useful primer for those not familiar with this aspect of Mr. McCain's career, it is also unnecessarily long and padded with atmospherics, including the requisite ominous music. By highlighting perhaps the most embarrassing episode of that career, it could resonate in a time of plunging financial markets and a souring economy. But it poses a risk for Mr. Obama, because it is a sharply negative critique of his opponent and he promised to rise above such attacks." Fox News' Special Report reported, "The Senate cleared McCain of all charges concluding he exercised nothing worse than poor judgment. The Senate's chief investigator...has long maintained that McCain should never have been caught up in the Keating dragnet." The AP adds that the McCain's "lawyer in the case, John Dowd, told reporters in a conference call Monday that McCain had been the victim of 'a political smear job' by Senate Democrats."
In addition, The Politico reports since the "mid-1980s, there's been almost no attention paid to John McCain's long-ago association with a controversial group implicated in a secretive plot to supply arms to Nicaraguan militia groups during the Iran-Contra affair." But some Democrats "are hoping that the group the U.S. Council for World Freedom, and its founder, John Singlaub will become for McCain what Bill Ayers has become for Obama: a fleeting past association used as ammunition for political broadsides."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
ABC World News reported, "The McCain campaign sees this new line of attack and tomorrow night's debate in a McCain-friendly town hall format, with which he is experienced and comfortable, as perhaps his best bet to turn around his recent slide in the polls." The Washington Times reports McCain and Obama "slug it out again tonight at a showdown debate in the Arizona senator's favored town-hall setting, which gives him his best chance to jump-start his sputtering campaign at a critical moment in the presidential election." The AP adds McCain "has the most riding on the second presidential debate, though Barack Obama will be out of his scripted comfort zone in the town hall-style confrontation. It could be ugly if Monday's tussling is any indication." The debate, "at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., is supposed to be divided equally between the economy and foreign policy, but given the global financial turmoil, economic questions may well dominate." The Chicago Tribune notes, however, that the setting "may not be conducive to the hard-hitting volleys dished out by their spokesmen and surrogates multiple times a day. Rhetoric that is too harsh could very well turn off the audience, or even prompt them to publicly chastise the candidates."
National polls of the presidential race continue to show Sen. Barack Obama in the lead. A CNN /Opinion Research Corporation poll of 694 likely voters conducted between 10/3 and 10/5 shows Obama leading Sen. John McCain 53%-45%. Also showing an eight-point Obama lead are the Gallup daily presidential tracking poll of 2,744 registered voters taken October 3-5 which shows Obama leading McCain 50%-42%., and the Rasmussen Reports automated daily presidential tracking poll for October 6 which shows Obama leading McCain 52%-44%. The Battleground tracking poll of 800 likely voters taken September 30-October 2 and October 5 shows Obama leading McCain 50%-43%, and the Diageo/Hotline tracking poll of 909 likely voters taken October 3-5 shows Obama leading McCain 47%-41%.
A new NBC/WSJournal survey of 658 registered voters taken October 4-5 shows the Democratic ticket ahead 49%-43%. In a story on the poll, the Wall Street Journal says "independent voters are starting to swing behind...Obama and Joe Biden, who continue to benefit from economic turmoil and the public response to their debate performances, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll." The survey "was full of good news for the Democratic presidential ticket."
Some polls show a closer contest, however. A CBS News poll of 616 "likely voters" taken October 3-5, meanwhile, shows a tighter contest, with Obama leading 48%-45%. A Democracy Corps (D) survey of 1000 likely voters taken October 1-5 also shows a three-point margin for Obama, 49%-46%. Finally, the C-Span/Zogby daily presidential tracking poll of 1,237 likely voters taken October 4-6 shows Obama leading McCain by 48%-45%.
Ohio Polls Split A Fox News/Rasmussen Reports automated poll of 1,000 likely Ohio voters taken October 5 shows McCain leading Obama 48%-47%. An ABC News /Washington Post poll of 891 registered Ohio voters, including 772 likely voters, taken October 3-5 shows Obama leading McCain 51%-43% among registered voters and 51%-45% among likely voters.
Obama Up 7 In Florida A Fox News/Rasmussen Reports automated poll of 1,000 likely Florida voters taken October 5 shows Obama leading McCain 52%-45%.
Obama Up 3 In Missouri A Fox News/Rasmussen Reports automated poll of 1,000 likely Missouri voters taken October 5 shows Obama leading McCain 50%-47%.
Obama Up 6 In Colorado A Fox News/Rasmussen Reports automated poll of 1,000 likely Colorado voters taken October 5 shows Obama leading McCain 51%-45%.
Obama Up In 2 Virginia Polls A SurveyUSA automated poll of 666 likely Virginia voters taken October 4-5 for a group of regional TV stations shows Obama leading McCain 53%-43%. A Fox News/Rasmussen Reports automated poll of 1,000 likely Virginia voters taken October 5 shows Obama leading McCain 50%-48%.
Obama Up 13 In New Hampshire A SurveyUSA automated poll 647 likely New Hampshire voters taken October 4-5 for WBZ-TV Boston shows Obama leading McCain 53%-40%.
Obama Up 6 In North Carolina A Public Policy Polling (D) survey of 1,202 likely North Carolina voters taken October 4-5 shows Obama leading McCain 50%-44%.
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
As the global financial crisis continues, the Financial Times reports that yesterday the Federal Reserve "announced a series of steps to bolster liquidity in the credit and commercial paper markets." The Fed "said it would increase the size of its key TAF lending facility to commercial banks, pay interest on excess reserves to smooth liquidity operations, and allow money market funds to borrow via banks to fund their holdings of commercial paper."
The New York Times adds, "Under a proposal being discussed with the Treasury Department, the Fed could buy vast amounts of the unsecured short-term debt that companies rely on to finance their day-to-day activities, according to officials familiar with the discussions. If this were to happen, the central bank would come closer than ever to lending directly to businesses." The Wall Street Journal says Treasury "is expected to begin buying assets within a few weeks through the use of auctions" and "if market conditions continue to deteriorate, it could make use of another tool at its disposal: investing directly in troubled companies." Another Wall Street Journal article notes that "the best efforts of US and European officials haven't solved the central problem: Nobody knows which firms will go under, making almost everybody afraid to lend."
The Wall Street Journal also runs a story on the EU, where "leaders came under rising pressure to deliver a more coordinated response to the crisis threatening the Continent's financial system." The European Union "produced a joint statement pledging to support the region's banking system after a series of bank rescues and Germany's guarantee of bank deposits failed to reassure the public or investors that the EU can temper a crisis that began in the US but has taken hold in Europe." The AP reports "individual European governments issued a flurry of deposit guarantees to shore up their banks but fell short of any coordinated action." Germany's Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck "made clear his government's opposition to the idea that the euro zone's single largest economy should put up money to prop up institutions outside his country."
35-Year-Old Goldman Vet To Oversee OFS The CBS Evening News reported Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson "named 35-year-old Neil Kashkari to oversee the new program, known as the Office of Financial Stability. Like Paulson, Kashkari is a former Goldman Sachs executive." NBC Nightly News noted "the OFS...will be in charge of using all that money Congress approved to bail out the financial mess."
Congress Mulls "Emergency Measures" The Hill reports, "Collapsing confidence and buckling financial markets sparked talk Monday that Congress may need to resume work soon on emergency measures to shore up the economy." Congress "is due to return for a brief lame-duck session on Nov. 17, but market turmoil and economic gloom could change the agenda of that brief post-election workweek, some say." Roll Call adds that Speaker Pelosi "has been bashing Bush and Republicans almost daily over their opposition to a second stimulus package and has made clear that she would bring the House back if there was a deal to be had."
Bush: Economy Will Be "Just Fine" Speaking in Texas and Ohio yesterday, President Bush tried to reassure the nation about the long-term prospects of the US economy, though he cautioned "it's going to take awhile to restore confidence in the financial system." The San Antonio Express-News says Bush "warned...that the controversial $700 billion bailout bill he signed Friday wouldn't ease the credit crisis immediately." In San Antonio, the President "made a three-minute statement after meeting with local owners of an auto dealership, an auto repair shop and two restaurants." Said Bush, "A lot of people here in Texas and around the country are not pleased with the government having to take the steps they took. ... Their question is, I pay my bills, I pay my mortgage, why -- why are you helping Wall Street. And the answer is because had we not done anything, people like the folks behind me would be a lot worse off." The President later traveled to Cincinnati, where according to the AP, he "said the US economy is going to be 'just fine' in the long run."
US & World Markets Plunge Plummeting stock prices worldwide dominated the network newscasts and the front pages of this morning's major newspapers. The tone of the coverage tends to be ominous, and to cast doubt on the effectiveness of the financial bailout plan recently approved by Congress and signed into law by President Bush particularly when it comes to helping foreign economies. Under the headline "Global Fears Of A Recession Grow Stronger," for example, the New York Times reports that "three days after the" rescue plan "was approved, it looks like a pebble tossed into a churning sea. ... Far from being the cure for the world's ills, economists said, the rescue plan might end up being a stopgap for the United States alone." USA Today says, "Stocks worldwide plunged Monday on growing signs that the credit crisis is spreading to banks and economies outside the USA, sparking a sharp selling spree on Wall Street that drove the Dow Jones industrials below 10,000 for the first time in four years." The AP notes that at its worst point, the Dow "was down more than 800 points, an intraday record. The stock market rallied during the final 90 minutes of the trading day, and the Dow finished down about 370 points at 9,955.50" a 3.6 percent loss."
McClatchy says, "Monday's drop on all three major US indices to levels first reached a decade ago was a sobering reminder that Wall Street and the retirement plans of ordinary Americans are spiraling downward together." The AP describes "a darkening recessionary cloud" that is "spreading over a nation where two-thirds of the economy is derived from consumer spending and where there have been nine consecutive months of job losses." The Christian Science Monitor notes that "sixty-nine percent of economists say the US will fall into recession this year, according to a just-released survey from the National Association for Business Economists. That's up from 56 percent in a similar poll taken in May." The Wall Street Journal reports that European stocks "charted some of their biggest declines in 20 years."
ABC World News reported, "Congress opened hearings today into the financial crisis, and the first to face questions was" Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld, who "was grilled about the investment bank's collapse just days after he assured investors that the company was in good shape. And Fuld was on the hot seat about Lehman paying millions to executives as the company asked for a federal bailout." The CBS Evening News showed Fuld saying, "I feel horrible about what has happened to the company." Rep. Henry Waxman, Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman: "Is that fair for the CEO of a company that's now bankrupt to have made that kind of money [$480 million over several years]? It's just unimaginable to so many people."
According to the CBS Evening News, Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld "was confronted with" an internal Lehman memo at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing. Some employees of a Lehman subsidiary, "citing worsening market conditions, wrote, 'Top management should forego bonuses this year.' Lehman executive George H. Walker, President Bush's cousin, responded with ridicule, reassuring top colleagues they'd be paid." The Hill says that the presidential campaign "played a key role at the hearing, with...Democrats highlighting an embarrassing e-mail from President Bush's cousin, a Lehman board member, that mocked attempts to rein in executive compensation. The e-mails showed" Fuld and Walker "mocking a recommendation from a Lehman subsidiary that executives give up their bonuses. 'Sorry team,' Walker wrote in the e-mail. 'I'm not sure what's in the water at 605 Third Avenue [the address of the subsidiary] today. I'm embarrassed and I apologize.'"
Feds Probe Lehman Exec's Statements NBC Nightly News reported that the FBI "is now investigating whether Lehman executives misled the public about the health of the company." The Wall Street Journal adds that "at least three U.S. attorney offices are probing whether Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. misled investors before its bankruptcy filing. ... Criminal prosecutors from two New York City boroughs and from New Jersey are drilling into issues that relate to a central question: Was Lehman saying publicly that its financial condition was sound while acknowledging behind the scenes that its situation was dire?"
In a move widely cast as an attempt to rally conservatives in the presidential campaign, President Bush yesterday traveled to the battleground state of Ohio to urge Senate confirmation of his judicial nominees. The Washington Post describes the President as stepping "gingerly into the presidential campaign," and "offering an implicit endorsement of Sen. John McCain's judicial philosophy" while "accusing Democrats of contributing to a 'broken confirmation process' for federal judges." Bush was "welcomed...by an enthusiastic crowd of conservative lawyers" at an event co-sponsored by the Federalist Society. The AP says that "with his historically low poll ratings, Bush isn't exactly welcome at campaign rallies, appearing at the side of candidates. So indirect help like his speech here, and his fundraising efforts that landed the GOP $2.5 million over the last four days, are his strongest campaign tools."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Jay Leno: "During the debate the other night, the moderator asked Sarah Palin to describe her Achilles heel, but instead of talking about her biggest weakness, she talked about her greatest strength, which apparently is not answering questions."
Jay Leno: "Well, this is not good. This week, the Labor Department announced that 159,000 people lost their jobs last month. Worst job loss in five years. But here's the ironic part," all "435 members of Congress still have their jobs."
Jay Leno: "Richard Fuld," the "former CEO of Lehman Brothers, grilled by Congress today. And they...made him explain why he took $480 million in compensation when he knew some shareholders would lose their life savings. Yeah. Turns out, he had a good reason. Apparently, he is a greedy bastard."
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.
