U.S. presidential election.

Republican-Turned-Libertarian Bob Barr on What His Presidential Candidacy Holds

There was a time, not so long ago, when Bob Barr commanded the attention of millions. From his perch on the House Judiciary Committee, the Georgia congressman launched the impeachment of Bill Clinton and presided over its daily march, grilling witnesses, orchestrating events, and doing everything in his considerable power to bring down a sitting president.
There was time when it looked like Barr might succeed, when it looked like he might change American history.

That time has passed.

Today, standing in line at a Manhattan Starbucks in a wrinkled suit, his eyes puffy, the 59-year-old looks older and weary, just another corporate flunky waiting to wake up. He shuffles to the counter, gives the barista a pleading look. "Five shots of espresso," he says. "In a cup. With milk." Then, turning sheepishly: "I only do this three times a day."

Since losing his reelection in 2002, Barr has lost not only his power but also many of his friends. It doesn't help that after alienating nearly every Democrat with impeachment, he spent the next five years alienating his fellow Republicans —railing against the invasion of Iraq, the PATRIOT Act, and the Bush administration in general. If Barr were still in the Congress, it is safe to say he would be one of the few members willing to launch a second impeachment.

Instead, he's taking the outside track—joining the Libertarian Party and, in May, becoming its nominee for president. With just 2 to 3 percent in the polls—mostly coming from disillusioned conservatives—he spends most of his time on the trail answering questions like "Why are you doing this to John McCain?" Yet Barr is more than a wannabe Nader; he's a man of opinions and ideas—even if they do seem to change quite often. It seems only fair to hear him out, especially since, as a third-party candidate, he doesn't give a rat's ass whom he offends.

Highlights from the Interview

You have opposed the Bush administration on a number of issues, including the war, but what is your policy for Iraq going forward?

Bob Barr: To me, it is utterly irresponsible to continue the course that we've embarked upon. If our goal was to get rid of Saddam Hussein, we liberated the people from Saddam Hussein. But now we're five and a half years later, and we're still over there, and it's very costly to us. I don't think the American taxpayers focus on how much the occupation is draining resources.

Four-hundred-plus million dollars every single day. You talk to some Republicans and they say, "The Iraqis love us." Well, maybe so. But who wouldn't? We're propping up their economy, we're protecting their borders, we're providing security. Of course they love us.

Is there any difference between your plan for Iraq and Obama's?

It's hard to say, because I don't know that he's laid out a plan with any great specificity. It's my view that we need an immediate and very significant drawdown of our military and economic presence in Iraq. We are not going to assume responsibility for another country.

Do you think if McCain becomes president, we'll be stuck in the same position for another four years?

Based on the statements he's made, yes. I mean, McCain may think it's fine to spend $400 million a day as far into the future as anyone can see, but that's not his money. This is the problem. These folks in Washington might think it's a great mission we're serving over there, but is this the wisest use of taxpayer money? Is it more important to spend billions of dollars improving Iraq's infrastructure or improving the infrastructure of our own country?

Does it make you question McCain's conservative credentials to see him support such a costly war?

I'm not sure that anybody can legitimately say that McCain is conservative.

* * * * * * *

What's a Libertarian?

There are a lot of different ways to define it. In layman's terms, it's simply saying "leave us alone" to the government. We certainly need a government to protect everybody's individual liberty, but it should be kept to an absolute minimum.

So you don't want the government to help people? Just leave them alone to help themselves?

To keep impediments out of the way.

But some of your positions don't fit that description. For example, you're pro-life, even though the party is pro-choice.

It is. But there are, within the party, a number of pro-life Libertarians. It's a big tent. Very similar to the way it was when the Republican Party cared about substance and you would have free-market Republicans, economic Republicans, those for whom foreign policy was their focus, education, religion, and so forth.

Headed Toward Unity, Democratic Tensions Remain

In the town of Unity during the New Hampshire primary, 107 residents voted for Barack Obama and 107 voted for Hillary Clinton. Today, in their first public step towards reconciliation following a brutal primary season, the former rivals travel to the small town in the Granite State for their first joint campaign rally.
But before the one-time foes were to signal their Democratic unity to voters this afternoon, Obama and Clinton spent Thursday evening at the Mayflower hotel in Washington, D.C. showcasing that unity for a group of top-dollar Clinton fundraisers.

Obama tried to win them over by personally writing a check as his contribution to paying down Clinton's $10 million campaign debt.

Clinton, Obama Urge Focus on November

Inside the room of 300 or so moneymen and women, Obama and Clinton urged the gathered group to move past a divided primary season and to focus energies on the race to November.

Obama rips Nader's 'talking white' remark

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama hit back at third-party presidential candidate Ralph Nader Wednesday, dismissing Nader's claim that Obama is "talking white" as an attempt to get attention for his fringe campaign.

Nader got one quarter of one percent of the presidential vote four years ago.
"There's only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He's half African-American," Nader told the paper. "Whether that will make any difference, I don't know. I haven't heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What's keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white?"

Speaking Wednesday, Obama almost sounded sorry for Nader.

"Ralph Nader hadn't been paying attention to my speeches, because all the issues that he talked about -- whether it be predatory lending, the housing foreclosure crisis . . . I've devoted multiple speeches," Obama said. "Ralph Nader is trying to get attention. I think it's a shame because if you look at his legacy in terms of consumer protections, its an extraordinary one."

But now, Obama said, "He's someone . . . whose campaign hasn't gotten any traction. So what better way to get some traction than to make an inflammatory statement like the one that he made? It is what it is."

Nader's Obama remarks draw fireIndependent presidential hopeful Ralph Nader is pressing the case that presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama

Independent presidential hopeful Ralph Nader is pressing the case that presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama is another corporate candidate who won't really change Washington.
But remarks published yesterday, which tossed race into the critique, are drawing fire.

Nader - the longtime consumer advocate who has been a bane to Democrats - told the Rocky Mountain News that Obama is trying to "talk white" and to appeal to "white guilt."

"There's only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He's half African-American," Nader said in what the Denver newspaper described as a wide-ranging interview. "Whether that will make any difference, I don't know. I haven't heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What's keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white?"

Nader added: "I mean, first of all, the number one thing that a black American politician aspiring to the presidency should be [doing] is to candidly describe the plight of the poor, especially in the inner cities and the rural areas. . . . Haven't heard a thing.

"He wants to show that he is not . . . another politically threatening African-American politician," Nader said. "He wants to appeal to white guilt. You appeal to white guilt not by coming on as, 'black is beautiful, black is powerful.' Basically he's coming on as someone who is not going to threaten the white power structure, whether it's corporate or whether it's simply oligarchic. And they love it. Whites just eat it up."

Obama, whose mother was from Kansas and whose father was from Kenya, has been navigating through his biracial heritage his entire life, going to a predominantly white college and Harvard Law School, then getting deeply involved in Chicago's black community. In March, he gave a widely-praised speech on race and politics in which he faulted whites and blacks alike for letting racial animosity and distrust linger.

Asked at a news conference in Chicago yesterday about Nader's comments, Obama said he has been addressing the issues that Nader raised.

"Ralph Nader's trying to get attention," Obama added. "He's become a perennial political candidate. It's a shame, because if you look at his legacy in terms of consumer protections, it's an extraordinary one."

Obama's communications director, Robert Gibbs, on MSNBC yesterday stopped short of calling Nader's comments racist, but said they were "reprehensible" and "downright delusional."

Chris Driscoll, a spokesman for Nader, said that Nader would not retract his remarks.

"Obama's abstract campaign has been illusional and irresponsible when it comes to avoiding concrete policies that truly defend and empower the 100 million Americans living in poverty or near poverty," Nader responded in a statement read by Driscoll.

In a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll released this week, Nader had 4 percent in a four-man race, just ahead of Libertarian Bob Barr, but far behind Obama and Republican John McCain. Nader received nearly 3 percent of the vote as the Green Party candidate in 2000, the race in which many Democrats blame him for Al Gore's narrow loss. Nader didn't reach 0.5 percent in 2004, when he also ran as an Independent.

Bill Clinton Offers To Help Obama Campaign

The AP reports former President Clinton yesterday offered to help Sen. Barack Obama's campaign, "although what work he'll do for his wife's former rival remained uncertain." The Los Angeles Times reports Bill Clinton, "whose comments during his wife's unsuccessful presidential campaign angered the Barack Obama camp," issued a statement saying, "President Clinton is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do, to ensure Senator Obama is the next president of the United States."

Obama Leads McCain By 12 Points In LAT/Bloomberg Poll

The Los Angeles Times reports, "Buoyed by enthusiasm among Democrats and public concern over the economy," Sen. Barack Obama "has captured a sizable lead" over Sen. John McCain nationally, according to a new LA Times/Bloomberg poll. The poll shows Obama leading McCain 49%-37%, and if Libertarian Bob Barr and Green Party candidate Ralph Nader are included, Obama's lead expands to 48%-33%. Bloomberg News reports, "Voters continue to view McCain...as the more experienced candidate and trust him to fight the war on terror," while Obama holds "a 3-to-2 advantage on handling the economy" and on "his health-care and tax plans." The poll was conducted by Interviewing Services of America and surveyed 1,115 registered voters from June 19-23.

Gallup, Rasmussen Tracking Show Much Closer Race The Gallup presidential tracking poll, which surveyed 2,587 registered voters from June 21-23 shows Obama leading McCain 46%-43%. The Rasmussen Reports automated daily presidential tracking poll, which surveyed 3,000 voters from June 21-23, shows Obama leading McCain 46%-40%. Including leaners, Obama leads McCain 49%-44%

Obama Slams McCain Nuke Plant Plans In Nevada

In an appearance in the battleground state of Nevada yesterday, Sen. Barack Obama mocked Sen. John McCain's energy policies, particularly his call for more nuclear plants. The AP reports that Obama said in Las Vegas "that he would not take nuclear power 'off the table' as a possible energy option, but blasted John McCain's proposal to build dozens of new reactors in the U.S." Obama "said he supports increased research into nuclear waste storage and recycling, but could not endorse construction of new reactors until those concerns are resolved." The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that an underlying theme of Obama's attacks on McCain were the status of the federal government's Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility, which is opposed by Obama and most of Nevada's leaders, but backed by McCain.

The New York Times reported on its 'The Caucus' blog that McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers "accused Mr. Obama of being the 'Dr. No' of energy security in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday." Rogers "criticized Mr. Obama for 'saying no' to oil exploration, a summer gas tax holiday, expanded investment in nuclear energy and a $300 million incentive to build a better car battery - all proposals that Mr. McCain has floated recently. 'We think we're seeing a pattern here,' Mr. Rogers said."

Countdown to Unity

As Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton get ready to appear together at a fund-raiser in Washington Thursday night and at a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Friday, the two once-bitter rivals seem to be repairing old wounds.

The Times’s Jeff Zeleny reports that on a conference call on Thursday Mr. Obama asked his top fund-raisers to help pay off Mrs. Clinton’s sizable campaign debt: “A senior Democrat said tonight that Mr. Obama asked, but did not demand, that his leading contributors help pay off debt of more than $11 million for Mrs. Clinton. It will be done, bit by bit, at chunks of $2,300 or less.”

And, in a far cry from the language of the bruising primary season, Mr. Obama said in an interview with CNN on Thursday that Mrs. Clinton will be “one of my key partners” in the White House and had laudatory words for Bill Clinton as well. For his part, former President Clinton signaled yesterday through his spokesman that he is committed “to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next president of the United States.”

Mrs. Clinton returned to her Senate duties yesterday, greeted by applause on the Capitol steps. In his coverage of her homecoming, The Times’s Mark Leibovich notes that the “United States Senate — the well-paid, perk-laden consolation prize of a day job — also doubles as perhaps the world’s pre-eminent support group for also-ran presidential candidates.”

The cover of the June 30 issue of New York magazine notwithstanding, all of this amity does not appear to extend to policy debates between Republicans and and Democrats (unless, of course, you are Oregon Senator Gordon Smith. Check out the Republican’s ad associating himself with Barack Obama).

Campaigning in the Western half of the county (which includes several states to watch closely in the general election) on Thursday, both candidates took swipes at each other over energy policy, The Times’s Michael Powell and Michael Cooper write:

The electoral energy wars have raged from Florida — where Mr. McCain has proposed offshore oil drilling — to California and now Las Vegas. The candidates are trying to define how they would tackle the sharp spiral upward in gasoline prices and its ever more severe impact on the economy, and so far their policy proposals are poles apart.

Mr. McCain emphasizes greatly expanded drilling, offshore and on public lands. And he would revitalize the nearly moribund nuclear power industry, noting that France draws much of its energy from nuclear plants.
…
Mr. Obama illustrated the gap between the candidates by giving a speech at a water plant in Las Vegas that laid heavy emphasis on $150 billion worth of alternative energy, including wind and solar power and hoped-for clean coal technology (Mr. Obama acknowledged, in response to a question, that he was not ruling out nuclear power, but he strongly suggested it was a distinctly lower priority). He asserted that these investments in technology would yield five million new jobs.

Mr. McCain will continue to talk about his own energy proposals at a speech in Las Vegas today.

The issue of terrorism remained on the agenda yesterday as the Obama campaign continued to hammer McCain adviser, Charlie Black, who said in a magazine interview that a terrorist attack would be a “big advantage” for Mr. McCain. In a political memo, The Times’s Michael Cooper takes a look at the liabilities and benefits of raising the issue – for both parties.

And, Time magazine’s Jay Newton Small reports today on another liability, this one for Mr. Obama. She detects a “seasonal shifting of messages” from his presidential campaigns and writes that Mr. Obama is going through a “risky metamorphosis” after coming through a difficult primary fight. Here’s an excerpt of her analysis:

Since becoming the presumptive nominee, nearly every step Obama has taken seems to underline the message that his brand of change is not threatening, or even revolutionary. His first general election ad, “Country I Love,” is a 60-sec. paean to Obama’s Main St. normalcy. In it he extols policies designed to reach across the aisle, such as “cutting taxes” and “moving people from welfare to work.” His initial choice of Washington powerbroker Jim Johnson to run his vice presidential search was also traditional: Johnson had done the same job for John Kerry in 2004 and Walter Mondale in 1984. Unfortunately, Johnson was a little too old-school — his ties to the subprime loan industry forced him to resign. The campaign this month released a new roster of foreign policy advisers that includes many old, comforting names from the Clinton years, such as former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher. But in some ways Obama has boxed himself in: in trying to counter criticisms about his experience, he’s brought in a team full of gray-haired advisers who by dint of their long established positions and Washington relationships represent the furthest thing from change.

The Politico’s Ben Smith interviews Obama deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand, who talks about general election strategy, saying that Mr. Obama will “focus his resources largely in 14 states George W. Bush won in 2004.”

And Michelle Obama continues to be active on the campaign trail. On Thursday she will headline the Democratic National Committee’s Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council fund-raiser in New York. Earlier in the day, she travels to New Hampshire to campaign with the state’s former governor and current Senate candidate, Jeanne Shaheen.

Downballot: The Salt Lake Tribune reports that a newcomer, Jason Chaffetz, won Utah’s third congressional district Republican primary against six-term incumbent Representative Chris Cannon: “Chaffetz hammered away at Cannon, running a relentless campaign targeting Congress’ failure to control government spending, fix immigration and energy policies, and vowing to eliminate the federal government’s role in public education.”


Campaign Trail Roundup:

* Senator John McCain delivers an energy speech in Las Vegas, and later, opens his campaign’s Nevada headquarters there and holds a fund-raiser.

* Senator Barack Obama hosts a private meeting in Chicago with business leaders followed by a media availability.

McCain's prize for car battery earns applause

Multimillion-dollar prizes have been offered to send a rover to the moon, speed up human genome sequencing, cure childhood diseases. Now, John McCain wants to offer $300 million in taxpayer money to the inventor of a more efficient car battery to power hybrid and electric vehicles.

And the likely Republican candidate for president would offer consumers up to $5,000 in tax credits if they buy the cars.

Energy experts and Silicon Valley companies investing in car-battery technology mostly applauded the news.

"McCain's idea is to motivate the car companies to do something more. It's all about the plug-in hybrids now, which are trickling into the test market," said Andy Frank, a University of California-Davis professor and pioneer in developing electric-car technology. "They want to stick their toe in before jumping in. McCain is saying, 'Here's some money, jump in now.' "

However, many agree that the marketplace's expected rewards are already driving technological advances toward more affordable low- or zero-carbon-emission vehicles.

Democrats criticized Monday's proposal by the presumptive GOP nominee as a "gimmick."

Energy economists suggested that McCain's proposal to offer tax credits to those who drive "gas sippers" is a more politically palatable solution - if maybe not the best one - than environmentalists' suggestions to tax "gas guzzlers."

"What we're trying to do with the electric car is find a battery which is
durable enough and holds the charge for a long enough period of time," said Stanford University professor Hillard Huntington, director of the Energy Modeling Forum. But even with McCain's financial incentive, he said, "It's going to take a while to get there."

The prize

Funded by tax dollars, the prize would equate to $1 for every man, woman and child in the country, "a small price to pay for helping to break the back of our oil dependency," McCain said in a speech at Fresno State University. His campaign staff did not say how McCain, who has called for lowering the U.S. budget deficit, would pay for his new initiatives.

McCain said the winner of the prize would be the first to produce a battery package that delivers power at 30 percent of current costs and has "the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars."

Critics pointed out that the maximum $5,000 tax credit would be offered only to purchasers of zero-emission vehicles. Only cars with hydrogen fuel-cell batteries would qualify for the maximum credit under California rules, and the high cost has made production of those commercially unfeasible.

With gas prices at a record high, both McCain and Democratic rival Barack Obama have been talking about their policies to end the nation's dependence on foreign oil, citing both national security and environmental reasons.

Obama, who arrives in Los Angeles tonight for a fundraiser, has pushed for more research and development of alternative energy sources and vehicles. He has proposed a windfall-profit tax on oil companies to help fund his $150 billion plan that, among other things, calls for the U.S. auto industry to meet 50-miles-per-gallon standards within two decades.

McCain made the announcement about the prize at the start of a two-day tour of the state, where gas prices are among the nation's highest. The trip, which includes several fundraisers, comes on the heels of McCain's calls last week for less popular initiatives in California, including more nuclear power plants and oil-drilling off the nation's coasts, if the state where the drilling could occur agrees.

This morning, McCain and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who opposes drilling off the California coast, will discuss energy efficiency and conservation in Santa Barbara, the site of a 1969 oil spill that so spoiled the coast, it ignited the modern environmental movement.

The Sierra Club and some state Democratic leaders pounced on the McCain plan Monday.

"The battery prize is another gimmick," Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-San Francisco, said. "It doesn't wash. We already know what we have to do right now: support renewable resources and support clean-car tax credits," which McCain has voted against, she said.

Bringing down the cost of the battery pack used in electric and hybrid vehicles is the key, said UC-Davis' Frank.

He estimated that the costs of the plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles being developed are about double that of comparably sized gas-fueled vehicles, approximately $40,000 compared to $25,000. One of the issues, he said, is the lack of high-volume production of the costly batteries, a problem which would be solved if major automakers produced more hybrid cars.

'A great start'

The philanthropic arm of Google also expects to award as much as $10 million to inventors of cutting-edge, plug-in hybrids.

"It's great news," Jacquelline Fuller, a spokeswoman for Google.org, said. "The $300 million is a great start. We need an even bigger infusion of dollars to get the dramatic progress that we want to see."

Some environmentalists on Monday pointed out that battery-powered vehicles still must be charged with electricity, and the source of that electricity may prompt even bigger environmental concerns.

McCain adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin suggested cars could be plugged in at night when demand for energy is at its lowest. He added that the energy could come from clean-coal plants and more nuclear power plants.

But that, too, is problematic, said professor James Sweeney, director of Stanford University's Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency. In California, "it's not likely to be a major part of our solution," citing the high capital costs and the problem of what to do with the radioactive waste.

Whites Open to a Black President

The Washington Post reports "an overwhelming public openness to the idea of electing an African American to the presidency."

In a Post-ABC News poll last month, nearly nine in 10 whites said they would be comfortable with a black president. While fewer whites, about two-thirds, said they would be "entirely comfortable" with it, that was more than double the percentage of all adults who said they would be so at ease with someone entering office for the first time at age 72, which McCain (R-Ariz.) would do should he prevail in November.

But the good news may stop there. "As Sen. Barack Obama opens his campaign as the first African American on a major party presidential ticket, nearly half of all Americans say race relations in the country are in bad shape and three in 10 acknowledge feelings of racial prejudice," according to the same poll.

Overall, 51 percent call the current state of race relations "excellent" or "good," about the same as said so five years ago. That is a relative thaw from more negative ratings in the 1990s, but the gap between whites and blacks on the issue is now the widest it has been in polls dating to early 1992.


More than six in 10 African Americans now rate race relations as "not so good" or "poor," while 53 percent of whites hold more positive views. Opinions are also divided along racial lines, though less so, on whether blacks face discrimination. There is more similarity on feelings of personal racial prejudice: Thirty percent of whites and 34 percent of blacks admit such sentiments.

Many Hollywood celebrities rally behind Obama

Many Hollywood heavyweights who had supported Hillary Clinton are rallying behind Barack Obama, pledging money and star power to his U.S. presidential bid before a big fundraiser next week.

Experts say that since Clinton conceded defeat this month after a grueling Democratic nominating contest, celebrities have quickly united behind Obama.

The result, they said, could be a campaign cash windfall for the senator from Illinois, but star support doesn't necessarily translate directly to votes.

Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a senior scholar at the University of Southern California, said that once a politician becomes known, voters look for candidates with positions they like and with whom they can identify, regardless of celebrity backing.

In fact, stars can cause harm if a performer's public image rubs voters the wrong way. That happened when Jane Fonda and Barbra Streisand campaigned for former Texas Gov. Ann Richards in her conservative state, and Richards lost the bid.

"Sometimes they can come back to bite the candidate," Jeffe said.

But Los Angeles is a town where stars wield a great deal of power and have money to spend, and numerous celebrities are expected to turn out at a Tuesday fundraiser featuring the singer Seal -- at a cost of $2,300 per ticket.

Director Steven Spielberg and his partner in the Dreamworks movie studio, David Geffen, and Dreamworks Animation Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Katzenberg are organizing another Obama fundraiser later this year, said Andy Spahn, a consultant to the Hollywood power trio."If a Hollywood celebrity puts his or her mind to it, they're good money raisers," Jeffe said.

ALIGNING THE STARS

Mitchell Schwartz, who was Obama's California campaign manager through the primary election season, said Obama's appeal in Hollywood had been limited, until now.

"I don't think we were the Hollywood candidate -- ever," Schwartz said. "I think Hillary might have been more ... she might have had more support."

Other Obama celebrity endorsers include actors talk show host Oprah Winfrey and actors Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson and Halle Berry.

Billionaire Geffen upset many Hollywood power players last year when the longtime Clinton supporter broke for Obama.

Oscar winner Hanks, the star of "The Da Vinci Code," gave money to Bill Clinton's legal defense fund when he was president, but endorsed Obama with an online video in early May, when Hillary Clinton was still campaigning.

During the primaries, Obama had trouble attracting Hispanic voters in some states because, analysts said, some Hispanics were reluctant to vote for a black candidate.

But a pro-Obama video in Spanish with Hispanic actors Jessica Alba of "The Love Guru," John Leguizamo of "The Happening" and comedian George Lopez, has attracted more than 250,000 viewers on the video sharing site YouTube.com. It helps build a broader sense of a candidate's support," said professor Chon Noriega, director of the University of California, Los Angeles, Chicano Studies Research Center. "But I don't think that because George Lopez said support (a candidate) somebody's going to say, 'Well that's who I'm going to vote for.'"

Presumptive Republican candidate Sen. John McCain also has his celebrity endorsers, including actors Robert Duvall and Sylvester Stallone.

US House of Representatives Criticizes Mugabe Government

In two resolutions, the U.S. House of Representatives criticizes Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe for ongoing political violence. VOA's Dan Robison has more in this report from Capitol Hill.One of the resolutions condemns post-election violence in Zimbabwe earlier this year and calls for an immediate and peaceful resolution of the current political crisis and an end to violence.

The other commends dock workers and union members in South Africa and elsewhere who moved to block an arms shipment that was destined for Zimbabwe.New Jersey Democrat Donald Payne, who chairs the House Africa Subcommittee sponsores the first measure:

"While many African countries move to embrace democracy and rule of law, the dictatorship in Zimbabwe has taken the once-promising country to a state of anarchy and haplessness," said Congressman Payne.

Payne's resolution urges a cessation of attacks on and abuse of civilians, and condemns what it calls an orchestrated campaign of violence, torture and harassment against the opposition by the ruling party and supporters and sympathizers in Zimbabwe's police and military.

The measure also encourages the government and opposition to begin a dialogue aimed at establishing a government of national unity and eventual peaceful transition of power through free and fair elections, along with creation of a South Africa-style truth and reconciliation commission.

Republican Chris Smith:

"With a runoff election scheduled for June 27th, we need to send a message, a good strong bipartisan message, that we in the U.S. and the world expect fair, peaceful, balloting," said Congressman Smith. "The will of the people must be heard."

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday expressed profound alarm over the situation in Zimbabwe, ahead of the presidential election runoff vote.
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice urged the U.N. Security Council and African leaders to put pressure on President Mugabe to ensure that voting is free and fair. The Security Council has scheduled a formal meeting next week on Zimbabwe.

In a separate resolution, House lawmakers commend South Africa's Transport and Allied Workers Union and its members for their refusal to unload a shipment of arms that arrived on a Chinese vessel in the South African port of Durban this past March.

This resolution states that the arms were likely to be used by the Mugabe government against the political opposition and other civilians, and praises the Congress of Southern African Trade Unions which joined a call by the International Transport Federation for an international boycott of the vessel.

California Republican Ed Royce says the actions of dock workers and union leaders likely prevented a new outbreak of bloodshed in Zimbabwe.

"The ship of shame, as South Africans began to call it, as African civil society dubbed it, went on to Mozambique where it was turned away, when on to other ports in other countries where it was turned away, and it steamed back to China," said Congressman Royce. "Africans stood up for other Africans, an inspiring event indeed."

House lawmakers also urge U.S. support at the United Nations for an international moratorium on all arms, weapons and related shipments to Zimbabwe until the country's political crisis is resolved and democracy, human rights and the rule of law are respected by the Zimbabwe government.

In April, the U.S. Senate approved a resolution containing a call for a peaceful resolution of Zimbabwe's political crisis, and urging a United Nations arms embargo.

In two resolutions, the U.S. House of Representatives criticizes Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe for ongoing political violence. VOA's Dan Robison has more in this report from Capitol Hill.

One of the resolutions condemns post-election violence in Zimbabwe earlier this year and calls for an immediate and peaceful resolution of the current political crisis and an end to violence.

The other commends dock workers and union members in South Africa and elsewhere who moved to block an arms shipment that was destined for Zimbabwe.

Both measures were sponsored by New Jersey Democrat Donald Payne, who chairs the House Africa Subcommittee.

"While many African countries move to embrace democracy and rule of law, the dictatorship in Zimbabwe has taken the once-promising country to a state of anarchy and haplessness," said Congressman Payne.

Payne's resolution urges a cessation of attacks on and abuse of civilians, and condemns what it calls an orchestrated campaign of violence, torture and harassment against the opposition by the ruling party and supporters and sympathizers in Zimbabwe's police.

The measure also encourages the government and opposition to begin a dialogue aimed at establishing a government of national unity and eventual peaceful transition of power through free and fair elections, along with creation of a South Africa-style truth and reconciliation commission.

Republican Chris Smith:

"With a runoff election scheduled for June 27th, we need to send a message, a good strong bipartisan message, that we in the U.S. and the world expect fair, peaceful, balloting," said Congressman Smith. "The will of the people must be heard."

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday expressed profound alarm over the situation in Zimbabwe, ahead of the presidential election runoff vote.
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice urged the U.N. Security Council and African leaders to put pressure on President Mugabe to ensure that voting is free and fair. The Security Council has scheduled a formal meeting next week on Zimbabwe.

In a separate resolution, House lawmakers commend South Africa's Transport and Allied Workers Union and its members for their refusal to unload a shipment of arms that arrived on a Chinese vessel in the South African port of Durban this past March.

This resolution states that the arms were likely to be used by the Mugabe government against the political opposition and other civilians, and praises the Congress of Southern African Trade Unions which joined a call by the International Transport Federation for an international boycott of the vessel.

California Republican Ed Royce says the actions of dock workers and union leaders likely prevented a new outbreak of bloodshed in Zimbabwe.

"The ship of shame, as South Africans began to call it, as African civil society dubbed it, went on to Mozambique where it was turned away, when on to other ports in other countries where it was turned away, and it steamed back to China," said Congressman Royce. Africans stood up for fellow Africans, an inspiring event indeed."

House lawmakers also urge U.S. support at the United Nations for an international moratorium on all arms, weapons and related shipments to Zimbabwe until the country's political crisis is resolved and democracy, human rights and the rule of law are respected by the Zimbabwe government.

In April, the U.S. Senate approved a resolution containing a call for a peaceful resolution of Zimbabwe's political crisis, and urging a United Nations arms embargo.

Michelle Obama Shows Her Warmer Side on ‘The View’

Michelle Obama’s opening move as a guest co-host of “The View” on Wednesday was to joke about the famous bump that she had given her husband the night he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, and that was described by the Fox News anchor E.D. Hill as a “terrorist fist jab.” Mrs. Obama said she was not really “that hip” and credited her husband’s campaign workers for the gesture. “I got that from the young staff,” she said. “It’s the new high five.”

And in that way, and perhaps only that way, Mrs. Obama looked a little like the wife of her husband’s Republican opponent, Cindy McCain, who also used a co-hosting appearance on “The View” last April to smooth over her campaign kerfuffle.

Recipes posted on the McCain campaign Web site as Mrs. McCain’s family’s favorites turned out to be copied word-for-word from ones by Rachael Ray and others. Mrs. McCain told the show’s hosts that an intern had posted the recipes without permission and been duly punished. “That intern is now, I’m happy to say, at the Betty Crocker boot camp,” she joked.

The amount of scrutiny the two spouses face is not commensurate — Mrs. Obama has endured far more virulent attacks by her critics — but it is somehow symmetrical. Mrs. Obama went on a popular television talk show to combat the notion that she is a little too authentic to be a first lady, while Mrs. McCain did it to undercut the image that she is too fake.

It is a familiar pattern. Democratic candidates’ wives — from Rosalynn Carter and Kitty Dukakis to Hillary Rodham Clinton and Teresa Heinz Kerry — are almost invariably characterized by opponents as too feisty and too outspoken, a little too radical for mainstream America. Betty Ford was an early exception to the Republican rule of bland, self-effacing homemakers; as the Equal Rights Amendment faded as a cause and conservatism made a comeback, Republican spouses became ever more careful to stay three steps behind their men and the times. And some have become so intent that they are accused of playacting.

In this election, the two candidates’ wives could not be more different, but each is haunted by the legacy of a famous predecessor. Mrs. McCain, who is very rich, very thin and exquisitely dressed and carries herself with Bergdorf Goodman hauteur, is not at all like Laura Bush or Barbara Bush; she is a blond version of Nancy Reagan circa 1980.

Early on, Mrs. Obama was likened to Jackie Kennedy for her youth and fashion style, but lately, the strong and assertive African-American career woman is experiencing the kind of antifeminist hazing that Mrs. Clinton endured in the 1992 campaign when she made her “baking cookies” faux pas.

Mrs. Obama distanced herself from that model on “The View,” describing herself as a mother and not mentioning her law career or her views on policy. But she also made a point of framing Mrs. Clinton as a pioneer, asserting that sexism had been an issue in her bid for the presidential nomination and praising her gumption.

“It’s only when women like her take the hits and it’s painful, it’s hurtful, but she’ s taking them so that my girls, when they come along, won’t have to feel it as badly,” Mrs. Obama said.

Her performance on Wednesday was polished and all but flawless — although she did almost slip when she tried to describe her husband’s easygoing personality and said what some in the audience heard as “sweet and pathetic.” As her co-hosts giggled, Mrs. Obama demurred that she had meant “sweet, empathetic.”

And she dealt — once again — with the issue of patriotism, explaining that when she had said during the primary that this was the first time she felt “really proud” of her country, she was referring to the political process, not the nation.

“Of course I am proud of my country,” she said. “Nowhere but in America could my story be possible.”

Mrs. Obama made a point of showing her warmer, more personable side, talking about her working-class parents and the joys of being the mother of two young girls, and even admitting that she serves bacon for breakfast and does not wear pantyhose, but she did not disguise her confident manner or her natural authority. Nor did she ever truly relax. When asked whether the reaction to some of her comments had led her to be more inhibited, Mrs. Obama replied somewhat stiffly, “I think in this media age I have to be cognizant.”

And Mrs. Obama seems very aware of how the news media work. As if to send a veiled message to Mrs. McCain, Mrs. Obama mentioned how grateful she was to Laura Bush, noting that the first lady had sent her a note after her “first time” remarks backfired, sympathizing with her predicament.

Mrs. McCain, at the time, had been uncharacteristically outspoken and combative, telling Republican audiences: “ I’m proud of my country. I don’t know about you — if you heard those words earlier — I’m very proud of my country.”

Mrs. Obama said she was taking some cues from Mrs. Bush. “There’s a reason people like her,” Mrs. Obama said. “It’s because she doesn’t, sort of, you know, add fuel to the fire.”

With Run-Off Looming, Zimbabwe's Mugabe Hardens Stance Against Opposition

United Nations envoy dispatched to Zimbabwe to examine the political situation and offer assistance in ensuring the country's upcoming June 27 presidential run-off election is free and fair met Tuesday with President Robert Mugabe, who has hardened his stance amid international criticism.


A U.N. spokeswoman told reporters in New York that Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Haile Menkerios met with Mr. Mugabe and the two men "discussed the political climate" ahead of the run-off.

She said Menkerios also met with Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and was expected to meet with leaders of political parties and other stakeholders.

Though under intense international pressure to halt the wave of political violence sweeping Zimbabwe in the approach to the second round ballot, Mr. Mugabe this week threatened to arrest the leaders of the opposition Movement for Democratic change who he accused of condoning arson and violence.


Addressing supporters Monday in Kadoma, Mashonaland West province, Mr. Mugabe said the violence is systematic and well-organized, repeating he won't step down if he loses the run-off election.

Mr. Mugabe trailed Tsvangirai in the first-round presidential ballot on March 29 with an official 43.2% of the ballot compared with the opposition leader's 47.9%. His ruling ZANU-PF party by the compilations of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission lost its majority in the lower house of parliament to the MDC.

The MDC says more than 70 activists have died in political violence which most observers say has been organized by ZANU-PF and carried out by youth militia and war veterans loyal to Mr. Mugabe. But Mr. Mugabe and other ZANU-PF officials have blamed the opposition for the violence.

Some MDC supporters have fought back, and a handful of ZANU-PF militants have died.

In Washington Tuesday, Kenyan Prime minister Raila Odinga stepped up his criticism of fellow African leaders for failing to denounce the violence in Zimbabwe, saying disaster is looming there.

The level of violence has increased sharply in recent weeks, moving from beatings and torture to mutilation and indiscriminate murders. Some victims reportedly have been burned alive.

As many mid-level party officials and activists have gone underground the perpetrators of violence have started directing attacks at their spouses.

Spokesman Nelson Chamisa of Tsvangirai's MDC formation told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that Mr. Mugabe, who once boasted he has a degree in violence, wants to justify a crackdown on the opposition before the run-off ballot late this month.

Al Gore backs Obama for president

Former Vice President Al Gore endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Monday, urging Americans to reject what he called the Bush administration's legacy of "incompetence, negligence and failure."
"Americans simply cannot afford to continue the policies of the last eight years for another four," Gore, the party's 2000 presidential nominee, told Obama supporters at a rally in Detroit, Michigan.

Perceived as a senior statesman in the Democratic party, Gore brings a certain force to Obama's campaign, political analysts have said.

Monday marked Gore's debut in the 2008 election; he had not weighed in while Obama was still battling Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Amid thousands of cheering supporters, Gore began by addressing head-on the criticism that Obama doesn't have enough experience to lead the nation.

The former Vice President turned Nobel Prize winner playfully said he recalled one Republican nominee wondering out loud whether his Democratic rival for president was "naive and inexperienced."

"And yet another said the United States cannot afford to risk the future of the free world with inexperience and immaturity in the White House," said Gore. "Who were they talking about? Every single one of those quotes came from the campaign of 1960, when the the Republicans attacked John Fitzgerald Kennedy for allegedly lacking the age and experience necessary to be president."
Richard Nixon was the Republican nominee in 1960.

Joining Obama in the midst of the candidate's two week swing through the nation to talk about his plans to revitalize the economy, Gore praised Obama as someone who could mobilize people, young and old, who had never before taken part in politics. Gore went on to praise the nominee's vision on the environment, domestic and international issues.

Saying he will do whatever he can to support Obama's bid for the White House, Gore said Obama has "inspired" him. "I feel that same spirit in this auditorium tonight, building all over this country this year," he said.

"Take it from me, elections matter," Gore said.

"If you think the next appointments to our Supreme Court are important, you know that elections matter. If you live in the city of New Orleans, you know that elections matter. If you or a member of your family are serving in the active military, the National Guard or Reserves, you know that elections matter.

"If you are a wounded veteran, you know that elections matter. If you've lost your job; if you're struggling with a mortgage, you know that elections matter." Watch Gore say Americans must let Washington know that they want a change »

Gore cited concerns about the environment, lead-painted toys and food safety -- even pet foods -- as other reasons to vote for the Democrat.

"After the last eight years, even our dogs and cats have learned that elections matter," Gore said, adding, "After eight years of lost jobs and lower wages, we need change. After eight years of incompetence, negligence and failure, we need change."

Gore said the Bush administration has "dishonored and disrespected" the Constitution and led the nation through "eight years of the most serious foreign policy mistakes in the entire history of our nation."

The Tennessean newspaper noted Obama was among the few senators in either party who argued against the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq prior to the invasion Gore called a "blunder."

He called for Americans to move beyond partisanship and select in Obama a leader who can "solve the climate crisis and create a bright future."
GOP spokesman Alex Conant reacted to Gore's criticism of President Bush. "This election isn't about changing the past, it's about changing the future," he told The Associated Press on Monday evening.

Calling attention to the fact that Gore's 2000 running mate, Sen. Joe Lieberman, has since left the Democratic Party to become an independent and is backing Sen. John McCain, he said, "It's telling that half of the 2000 Democratic ticket endorsed John McCain early in the campaign, while the other half waited until Barack Obama had been the presumptive nominee for weeks."

Obama Hits at McCain's Appeal to Women

Sen. Barack Obama hit back at Sen. John McCain's recent attempts to court women voters who flocked to Sen. Hillary Clinton's failed presidential bid in droves.
On almost every single issue that's important to women, he's been on the wrong side," the presumptive Democratic nominee told ABC News in an interview in Flint, Mich. Monday.

"You know, he is in favor of judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade. He has opposed equal pay. He has opposed the CHIP [Children's Health Insurance] program, that would make children insured," Obama said.

Watch part of Jake Tapper's interview with Sen. Barack Obama tonight on ABC World News at 6:30pmET

Over the weekend McCain pledged to increase the numbers of women in government if he is elected president.

"I assure you, with confidence, at the end of my first term you will see a dramatic increase of women in every part of the government, in my administration," McCain said Saturday. "I look you in the eye and I promise."

Women voters, who are estimated to represent about 54 percent of the electorate in November, have emerged as a key demographic. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., won them in 2004 by 3 percentage points and former vice president Al Gore won them in 2000 by 11 percentage points.

McCain has turned on the charm in a bid to win over women disgruntled by Clinton's defeat, despite polls showing Obama is winning over women.

McCain Calls Arizona a Swing State

Sen. John McCain’s big struggle to energize a suspicious conservative Republican base and attract crucial independent voters is a national fight that encompasses his home state of Arizona. Despite representing the state in Congress for 26 years, McCain is now confronting a resurgent state Democratic Party and a burgeoning number of unpredictable independent voters.

While Arizona Republicans are bogged down with nasty infighting and a slumping number of registered voters, Arizona Democrats are gaining voters daily. Powered by Sen. Barack Obama’s voter registration drive, Democratic voter registration is up 2.8 percent in the last year and Democrats are poised to gain control of a majority of the state’s House congressional delegation for the first time in decades.

The biggest shift in the Arizona political landscape has been in the number of voters registering as independents -- up 7.6 percent in the last year. Arizona is now essentially a tri-party state -- Republicans make up 38 percent of registered voters; Democrats, 34 percent, and independents, 27 percent. Securing a plurality of independents will be crucial to the presidential race here and Obama has the early edge. Without the enthusiastic support of rank-and-file Republicans, McCain could face a desert dogfight that could wind up costing him the White House in a close contest.
In a clear signal that Arizona’s 10 electoral votes are up for grabs, the McCain campaign has added Arizona to its list of 24 “battleground states” with their 242 electoral votes.

In a “strategy briefing” video posted Saturday on the McCain campaign website, Rick Davis, the campaign manager, did not include Arizona as one of the 17 “historically Republican states” -- though Arizona has voted Republican in every presidential election but one since 1952. In that one election, of 1996, Bill Clinton carried Arizona by a 2.2 percent margin over Sen. Robert Dole.

In the briefing, Davis avoided mentioning Arizona in his breakdown of McCain’s electoral strategy. But he did include Arizona among swing states. "In the Southwest," Davis says in the video, "McCain’s history in the region with over 25 years representing the state in Washington combined with his strength with Latinos and his record on immigration, makes him a natural Western state candidate.”

A call to McCain campaign headquarters seeking comment on Arizona being placed as a contested state was not returned.

Arizona polls taken in April and May showed McCain defeating Obama by 11 points – a smaller margin than many expected for Arizona’s favorite son. Pollsters are split on whether the narrow lead signals the possibility that Arizona could slip away from McCain, just as Democratic nominee Al Gore was unable to secure his home state of Tennessee in the 2000 election.

McCain had a 50-39 percent lead over Obama in a Phoenix-based Behavior Research Center poll taken late last month – two weeks before Obama clinched enough delegates to secure the Democratic presidential nomination. McCain’s relatively narrow lead over Obama surprised Behavior Research Center director Earl de Berg. “Why isn’t he getting 63 or 64 percent of the vote?” de Berg asked. “We are going to watch this number with great intensity.”

Arizona, de Berg said, is shaping up to be a “battleground state in a significant way, particularly because independents are expected to play such a key role.” De Berg made his comments about Arizona being in play the day before the McCain campaign moved the state into battleground territory.

The Tucson Republican pollster Margaret Kenski also asserts that McCain will carry his home state with at least 55 percent of the vote. But, she said, McCain must contend with deep dissatisfaction among Arizona’s Republicans.

The question remains how much support can he muster at the grass-roots level, which is vital in turning out the vote. “They have very mixed feelings about him at best,” she said.

Those mixed feelings of many Arizona Republicans turn to outright contempt when they consider McCain’s immigration policy. They are furious over his bipartisan effort -- with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the man who GOP conservatives have long despised -- to pass a reform bill that included an opportunity for amnesty-in-all-but-name for millions of illegal immigrants. The legislation died June 28, last year.

McCain’s support of the bill split the Arizona GOP. Last year, the state party chairman, Randy Pullen, denounced McCain for backing the legislation. In a rebuke to President George W. Bush, who had campaigned across the country in support of the bill, and also to McCain, the Republican National Committee last August passed a Pullen-sponsored resolution that called for Congress to pass immigration legislation that secures the border without any form of amnesty.

McCain has since dropped his strong support for the immigration bill -- he declared in January that he would not vote for the bill he once co-sponsored -- and now says he supports first securing the border. At the same time, McCain has not called for massive deportations of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants currently in the United States, and his statements suggest he will support legislation to allow "guest workers" to remain in the country.
The ugly split within the GOP is clearly not something McCain has forgotten. In fact, he has launched a campaign to silence his conservative critics who live, literally, in his back yard. So, rather than marshalling party support for the general election, McCain's backers now have to spend time and money in his home state putting out a brush fire of discontent before it flames up into a conflagration.

The Arizona GOP’s open rebellion against McCain is rooted in the wealthy neighborhoods of Legislative District 11 -- which includes McCain’s home precinct. The district's GOP chairman, Rob Haney, has led a strident attack on McCain over immigration, as well as his support of campaign finance reform and original refusal to back Bush’s tax cuts. In 2005, Haney helped pass a resolution censuring McCain for abandoning conservative principles in both District 11 and the Maricopa County GOP.

Haney says McCain continues to ignore conservative Republicans in his presidential campaign, instead focusing on independents and disaffected Democrats. “He’s thrown conservative Republicans under the bus,” Haney said.

McCain’s Arizona supporters are now seeking to remove critics like Pullen, Haney and other opponents from District 11 leadership posts. They are running a slate of 200 candidates for the 463 precinct committeeman posts up for election in September. Rarely do precinct committeeman positions attract any opposition -- let alone a coordinated, well-financed campaign that McCain’s supporters initiated.

The seriousness of McCain’s effort is demonstrated by the list of candidates vying for what are normally considered low-level party positions. There are two former Arizona governors -- J. Fife Symington III and Jane Hull – as well as some of the state’s wealthiest and most powerful business leaders.

Silencing McCain’s ideological critics in Arizona, Haney said, will make it easier for McCain to appeal to independents and disaffected Democrats.

Davis, the McCain campaign manager, acknowledged Saturday that the campaign is targeting these voters. “We need to reach out to independents and disaffected Democrats because they now represent the largest proportion of swing voters and greatest electoral block up for grabs,” Davis states.

McCain’s maverick image and home state advantage has not yet translated into decisive support from Arizona independents. Instead, McCain trailed Obama by a 43 percent to 41 percent margin in the Center for Behavior Research poll conducted between May 12-20, with a 4 percent margin of error.

This battle for Arizona’s independent voters may come down to what is considered more important: Ending the war in Iraq or turning around the struggling economy.

Independents leaned heavily towards the then two Democratic contenders when asked in late May which of the three candidates would do the best job of getting the U.S. out of the war. Only 25 percent of the independents supported McCain, while 53 percent thought that the two Democratic contenders would do a better job.

McCain, however, has more support from those independents that think he would do a better job managing the economy than did either Democratic contender, de Berg said.

If it comes down to pocket-book issues, McCain will need more support from independent power brokers like the Arizona grocery-store magnate Eddie Basha. A former Democratic gubernatorial nominee, who lost to Symington 1994, Basha announced in January that he was supporting McCain and joined McCain’s finance committee.

Basha said he endorsed McCain because of concern about the Democratic Party’s economic policies, which, the grocery-store owner described as “too socialistically oriented.” Basha, whose family operates Arizona’s largest independent grocery chain, also said that Arizona would benefit financially from a McCain presidency.

Basha, however, is quick to point out that his support for McCain “is based purely on a business perspective.” “This isn’t an enduring loyalty,” Basha said.

Basha’s narrow and causal relationship with McCain is the type of independent voter the McCain campaign hopes to attract. “If he can win over people like Eddie Basha, then he will win the race,” said former Arizona Atty. Gen. Grant Woods, a moderate Republican.

Woods, who served as McCain’s first chief of staff in 1982, said McCain’s ability to attract independent voters depends on how well he distances himself from Bush. "If you are linked in peoples’ minds as another George Bush," Woods said, "you are going to lose. He has to break out of that mold.”

McCain’s unwavering support of the war in Iraq will make severing all ties to Bush virtually impossible. Combined with malaise among the GOP grass-roots, it may make it challenging for McCain to rally the troops to jawbone Arizona independents into his camp.

"We are going to vote for McCain,” Haney said, talking about the state's disgruntled conservative Republicans. “But you are not going to energize the party with a McCain candidacy.”

Obama Surges Ahead!

The video that should sink McCain

John Cusack Takes On John McCain In Political Ad

Why has John Cusack jumped into the political arena with a pair of videos saying John McCain is a war-profiteering clone of President George W. Bush?

"I know my opinion doesn't matter more than anyone else's and I just make films," he told The Associated Press in a phone interview Wednesday. "But I do feel you have to speak out, and that's what I'm doing."

The 30-second videos, which went out to members of the liberal political activist group MoveOn.org on Wednesday, will begin airing as television ads Thursday. In one, Cusack offers a "pop quiz" to voters, asking them among other things: "Who supports keeping our troops in harm's way in Iraq but not the bipartisan G.I. bill of rights to support them when they return home?"

McCain and Bush both do, Cusack says, adding, "Bet you can't tell them apart."

In the other, he points out that Charlie Black, a key campaign adviser to presumptive Republican presidential nominee McCain, has been a lobbyist for Blackwater Worldwide, the largest private security contractor in Iraq.

In his latest film, the war satire "War Inc.," Cusack makes no secret that he believes the Iraq war was created to profit private businesses like Blackwater and Bechtel Corp., which hold war-related contracts.

"I'm not going to pretend this thing in Iraq was some kind of free market utopia to spread the gospel of democracy through the Middle East," he told the AP from London, where he's at work on another project.

Cusack says he supports Democrat Barack Obama.

Although he has made such films as "War Inc." and last year's "Grace is Gone," in which he plays the husband of a soldier killed in Iraq, Cusack notes this has been his first high-profile foray into partisan politics.

Joe Lieberman supports John McCain, and causes friction

For now, Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democrats' 2000 vice presidential nominee, is still welcome at Senate Democrats' weekly lunches -- even if he is actively campaigning for Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
If Democrats expand their Senate majority in November, the Connecticut senator could find himself in a political no man's land. But at least until then, he holds a coveted committee chairmanship and has attracted no hint of retribution. After all, Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, is crucial to their maintaining their tenuous 51-49 Senate majority.

"If it weren't for Joe Lieberman, we'd be in the minority," said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

Lieberman acknowledged in an interview that his support for McCain has created friction with Democrats.

"Sure, it's somewhat awkward," he said. "What I did was unconventional. I understand that. I'm a Democrat -- an independent Democrat, but still a registered Democrat -- supporting a Republican."

In fact, he's become a key Republican Party asset.

Lieberman was in that role Wednesday, defending McCain against Democratic charges that he undervalued the importance of bringing U.S. troops home. And Lieberman took a swipe at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama for being "consistently wrong" on Iraq.

Lieberman is heading up a new group to woo Democrats and independents to McCain. He's even offered to speak at the GOP convention.

"It hurts," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said of Lieberman's support of McCain. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) added, "Clearly, we wish he was with Sen. Obama."

Obama last week took Lieberman to a corner of the Senate chamber to talk on the same day that Lieberman joined Republicans in criticizing the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's foreign policy positions.

In the interview, Lieberman said he was backing McCain because they agree "almost totally" on national security issues such as the war in Iraq, and he sees the Arizona senator as more able to work across party lines to get things done.

But Lieberman also said the Democratic Party had changed since he was Al Gore's running mate in 2000, becoming more partisan and left-leaning. Still, he said he had no interest in becoming a Republican.

Lieberman won reelection to the Senate in 2006 as an independent after losing the Connecticut Democratic primary because of his support for the war. A number of his Senate Democratic colleagues abandoned him to support the Democratic nominee, Ned Lamont.

That election, in some measure, "liberated me to be totally independent," Lieberman said.

He knows his actions have upset many Democrats.

"A lot of them are not happy, I understand that," he said.

The Connecticut Democratic Party has already stopped inviting Lieberman to its events. The state's Democratic Party chairwoman, Nancy DiNardo, said many members were upset about Lieberman's support for McCain. But she has no desire for retribution.

"If we start going after our people because they aren't agreeing with us on various issues, then we become the Republican Party," she said.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said last week that he had talked with Lieberman about his stance.
But I'm not about to threaten anybody at this stage," he added.

Lieberman said that on most issues, he's been a good ally of Senate Democrats. Democratic leaders tend to agree.
"Joe Lieberman is a dutiful member of our caucus and provides critical votes on a regular basis," said Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, noting that the main sources of disagreement are Lieberman's support for the war and McCain.

Still, Democratic disappointment is obvious.

"At some level, there is some understanding," said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), apparently a reference to Lieberman's longtime friendship with McCain and Lieberman's and McCain's support for the war. "At another level, it's awkward. And on another level, it's frustrating."

Lieberman said he initially planned to delay any presidential endorsement until the parties chose their nominees. But McCain called him after Thanksgiving and asked for his help.

Lieberman said his wife, Hadassah, kidded him at the time about getting himself into hot water.

"She said at least this won't last long, because McCain's obviously not doing well," he said.

Republicans relish Lieberman's support of McCain. As the first Jewish vice presidential nominee on a major party ticket, Lieberman could help McCain among Jewish voters, who could be pivotal in some swing states, including Florida.

In a political body like the Senate, fraternal tensions are par for the course. Although Lieberman's actions are unusual, Zell Miller, a conservative Democratic senator from Georgia, infuriated his party by endorsing President Bush for reelection and delivering a fiery keynote speech at the 2004 Republican convention.

Miller declined to comment for this article.

On the GOP side, former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, a moderate Republican from Rhode Island, irritated GOP leaders by breaking with the party on a number of issues, then voting in 2004 against Bush.

But two years later, the Senate GOP campaign committee tried -- unsuccessfully -- to help him win reelection in a year of Democratic gains.

Chafee suggested Lieberman's actions might be testing the Democrats' patience.

"How far can you take this independence and still break bread with the Democrats?" he asked.

Despite the history, retaliation has been rare.

"Senators have been reluctant to punish colleagues for straying from the party line," said John J. Pitney Jr., a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College.

On the other hand, Pitney said, "suppose Obama loses narrowly while Senate Democrats gain seats. At that point, Lieberman's critics will have both the motive and the means to punish him."

Obama defends choice for VP search team

Barack Obama yesterday defended his choice of Jim Johnson to run his vice presidential search team, despite reports that Johnson got reduced rates for millions in loans from a subprime mortgage lender Obama has blasted during the campaign.

Obama said he shouldn't be expected to "vet the vetters" and that Johnson, who received $7 million in loans from Countrywide Financial, was doing a discrete task, not setting policy or getting a job in his administration.

"I am not vetting my vice presidential search committee for their mortgages. This is a game that can be played. Everybody who is tangentially related to our campaign is going to have a whole host of relationships," Obama said, adding that Johnson, a former head of Fannie Mae, is a voluntary adviser.

But Republicans are trying to score political points on the issue, hoping to tarnish Obama by linking Johnson to the subprime mortgage crisis - an early indication of how aggressively they plan to confront Obama.

Over the last two days, the Republican National Committee circulated several e-mails on the issue, using the flap to attack Obama on several fronts.

"Barack Obama's assertion that he won't vet his own senior aides is totally inconsistent with his rhetoric, but wholly consistent with his own record. This is how Obama ended up in a sweetheart real-estate deal with [convicted Chicago real-estate developer] Tony Rezko," said Alex Conant, a Republican National Committee spokesman. Obama denies any wrongdoing in relation to Rezko.

During the campaign, Obama has criticized Countrywide for giving top executives $20 million payouts, and his campaign had also criticized Hillary Clinton for having a top adviser with ties to the company. Johnson's lawyer defended the loans, first reported in The Wall Street Journal, as within industry standards.

Despite the controversy, Johnson was on the job yesterday, talking to senators about what Obama is looking for in a running mate. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who was thought to be on Obama's veep short list, took himself out of the running.

Obama backs oil profits tax, attacks McCain

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama sought to tap into Americans' anxiety over high gasoline prices on Monday by pledging to seek a windfall profits tax on U.S. oil companies if elected.

more stories like thisLaunching a two-week focus on the ailing U.S. economy, Obama drew a sharp contrast with Republican John McCain, his rival in the November election, accusing him of a "full-throated endorsement" of President George W. Bush's fiscal policies, including tax breaks for oil companies.

"I'll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we'll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills," the Illinois senator said.

With Americans struggling to pay for record high $4-a-gallon gasoline, the jobless rate up and consumer confidence battered, Obama is attempting to focus the general election campaign on the U.S. economy.

A Gallup poll gave Obama a mild bump in support following rival Hillary Clinton's departure from the Democratic race. It said he leads McCain 48 percent to 42 percent among registered voters.

Obama renewed his call for a $50 billion stimulus package as a way to try to spur consumer spending and jolt new life into the economy, and a $10 billion fund for homeowners caught up in the housing crisis.

McCain, at a fundraising luncheon in Richmond, Virginia, said "Americans are hurting."

"We need lower taxes, we need to stimulate our economy, we need to keep people in their homes," he said, accusing Obama of wanting to raise the capital gains tax on stock profits.

The economy is more familiar turf for Obama. In contrast, McCain has used national security and foreign policy as the centerpiece for his campaign and has repeatedly accused Obama of being too inexperienced to lead the country.

Obama, 46, who would be America's first black president, charged that McCain's support for extending Bush's tax cuts would allow $2 trillion in corporate tax breaks, including $1.2 billion for Exxon Mobil Corp, which had earnings last year of $40.61 billion.

"If John McCain's policies were implemented, they would add $5.7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. That isn't fiscal conservatism, that's what George Bush has done over the last eight ye