McCain Has Best Fundraising Month, Raises $22 Million in June

WASHINGTON — Campaign officials say Republican John McCain raised more than $22 million in June for his presidential bid.

That’s McCain’s best month yet. He ends the month of June with nearly $27 million cash on hand, according to campaign officials.

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said Thursday that McCain and the national Republican Party together entered the month of July with about $95 million in the bank.

The money has given McCain the ability to outspend Democratic rival Barack Obama on television advertising in key battleground states, Davis says.

Obama has not yet revealed his June fundraising.

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10:26 - 2008-Jul-10 - comments {0} - post comment

Obama Advisers With Ties to Elian Saga Irks Some Cuban-Americans

Two advisers with ties to the Elian Gonzalez controversy of eight years ago are causing problems for Barack Obama among some Cuban-Americans in Florida, The Miami Herald reported Thursday.

Eight Cuban-American exile organizations are urging three lawmakers who backed Hillary Clinton to demand the Obama campaign remove vice presidential search committee member Eric Holder and foreign policy adviser Greg Craig.

The paper’s Web site reports that a letter to Sens. Bill Nelson and Robert Menendez as well as Miami Mayor Manny Diaz says the advisers played “prominent” roles in sending Gonzalez back to Cuba after his mother drowned trying to raft to Miami.

“Had it not been for the actions of these two men, lending themselves as instruments to Fidel Castro, Elian could today be enjoying the freedom his mother died to provide for him,” the letter said.

A six-year-old Gonzalez found himself wrapped in a legal battle upon his arrival to the U.S. after his father requested him returned to Cuba in 2000. Recently Gonzalez, now 14, joined Cuba’s Young Communist Union and pledges support to the Castro government.

Click here to read the full article from The Miami Herald.

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09:55 - 2008-Jul-10 - comments {0} - post comment

McCain Avoids Question About Insurance Covering Viagra, Not Contraceptives

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — Republican John McCain prides himself on being a straight talker. But he resisted being dragged into a discussion Wednesday about insurance companies that cover Viagra but not birth control products.

“I certainly do not want to discuss that issue,” the presidential candidate said when a reporter asked him about it on his campaign bus, the “Straight Talk Express.”

A few seats away was Carly Fiorina, a top McCain supporter who stirred talk about the topic at a recent Washington breakfast with reporters. The former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, discussing consumer-driven health insurance, mentioned something “I’ve been hearing a lot about from women: There are many health insurance plans that will cover Viagra but won’t cover birth-control medication. Those women would like a choice.”

Fiorina is among McCain’s most prominent female advisers, and seen by some as a possible choice to be his running mate.

When asked Wednesday if he had voted in the Senate against a proposal to require insurance companies to cover contraceptive products, McCain replied, “I don’t know enough about it to give you an informed answer because I don’t recall the vote… I don’t usually duck an issue, but I’ll try to get back to you.”

Campaign spokesman Brian Rogers later said Fiorina was describing McCain’s “vision for choice and competition in health insurance.” He said McCain will open insurance markets “for greater variety and competition, allowing women to choose policies that fit their needs. An example is the choice for women to dump a policy that only covers Viagra for a policy that covers their real needs.”

A Republican policy group said the Senate vote in question was a complicated matter that, among other things, would have supported using federal money to promote emergency contraceptives, which many Americans oppose.

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09:39 - 2008-Jul-10 - comments {0} - post comment

No Evidence of Tampering on Obama Campaign Plane, Report Finds

Investigators found no initial evidence of tampering on Barack Obama’s campaign plane, which was forced to make an unscheduled stop earlier this week after an emergency slide deployed in flight.

The National Transportation Safety Board released an update Thursday finding that the evacuation slide in the tail cone of the plane was partially inflated and that it had “marks consistent with rubbing of elevator control cables.”

But the report said an inspection of the hardware “did not reveal any evidence of missing components, nor any evidence of tampering.”

The plane, a Midwest Airlines flight, set down in St. Louis shortly after taking off from Chicago Monday en route to Charlotte, N.C., where the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was supposed to give an address on the economy. The early landing was not classified as an emergency.

The preliminary NTSB report said the slide’s inflation bottle was empty and noted some irregularities with the elevator cables. The report said a catwalk railing was broken and “impinged upon elevator control cables.” The flight crew told investigators that, while they did not hear the slide deploy, they noticed “elevator control stiffness” shortly after departing from Chicago.

The safety board has removed the slide and hardware, as well as flight recorders and maintenance records, for further analysis.

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08:51 - 2008-Jul-10 - comments {0} - post comment

Georgia Rep. Who Endorsed Clinton Faces Rare Primary Challenge

ATLANTA — Rep. John Lewis has not faced a primary election fight in 16 years, but now two younger challengers want to apply Barack Obama’s talk of change and unseat the civil rights icon who initially backed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential race.

Lewis, 68, is on the ballot for Tuesday’s 5th District primary with a 31-year-old minister and a state legislator who unsuccessfully ran against Lewis in 1992 and is 18 years his junior.

The Rev. Markel Hutchins and Rep. “Able” Mable Thomas are betting that Lewis’ early endorsement of Clinton will hurt him among voters who may have seen the alliance as a betrayal in a district that overwhelmingly favored Obama.

Lewis later switched his support to Obama and does not expect his initial decision to hinder his campaign.

“I told my young opponents, I’ve been about change. I am change,” Lewis told The Associated Press. “If it was not for the changes that I, along with many of my colleagues, created, they probably would not have an opportunity to be running for Congress or anything else.”

Still, Lewis, who first took office in 1987, said he welcomes the challenge.

“People have a right to run,” he said. “I believe the people of this district will reward me for my long years of service with the hope and expectation that I will continue to provide them with the best of service.”

The winner of the 5th District primary will claim the seat and head to Washington in January, as there is no Republican candidate running for the post.

Hutchins, who is among the youngest congressional candidates in the country, said his candidacy is meant not as an offense, but as a sign of gratitude.

“We thank Congressman Lewis and the generation that he marched with that brought us across bridges in the 1960s, but there are additional bridges to cross,” Hutchins said.

Hutchins gained national attention as spokesman for the family of Kathryn Johnston, the 92-year-old woman gunned down by Atlanta police officers in a botched 2006 drug raid. In the aftermath, he advocated for changes in police department policy and helped keep attention on the case.

Hutchins said he used to believe activism was more productive than politics, but was inspired by Obama’s candidacy to challenge a man he considers “the most visible representation of the tradition out of which I come.”

In making his decision, Hutchins said he recalled words often quoted by Lewis: “The time is always right to do right.”

“I think it makes the political season even more historic,” Hutchins said. “It’s a signal for the American people and especially African Americans that it’s time to transition from the civil rights generation to a younger generation of leadership that is able to identify with the pressing problems of the time in which we live.”

Thomas, 50, also forged her political roots at a young age. She was chosen as a presidential delegate to the 1984 Democratic National Convention and won her first term in the state legislature at 28 as Georgia’s youngest state representative.

Thomas’ first stretch in the state legislature ended in 1993, after she first challenged Lewis for the 5th District seat. She won less than a quarter of the vote, losing by more than 30,000 votes.

She returned to the Georgia House in 2004 and said her experience as a local lawmaker has made her more familiar with the district’s issues.

“You’ve spent so much time being a national leader and forgotten the pain and suffering of the 5th District,” Thomas said during a recent debate, in which Lewis declined to participate.

For all the attention around Lewis’ endorsement controversy, observers say it is unlikely that voters in his majority black district — which spans Atlanta and the metro area in Fulton, Clayton and DeKalb counties — will abandon him next week.

If Lewis’ war chest is any indication, he is in no danger. He has raised more than $870,000 and still has more than $560,000 in cash on hand, compared to $4,682 raised by Hutchins, of which he has only $35 available, according to both candidates’ most recent filings with the Federal Election Commission.

Candidates are not required to file if they raise and spend less than $5,000, and Thomas did not file a report with the FEC.

Still, Lewis may not always be in a politically safe district as a new generation of black leaders continues to emerge, said David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington.

“He’s getting up there in years, and one of these days, if he doesn’t decide to leave himself, he will find a serious opponent who will potentially unseat him,” Bositis said. “That’s not this year, but that will come, and sooner rather than later.”

For now, Lewis said he is determined to stay in office.

“There’s not any reason to put me on the shelf, to place me in some corner not to be heard from,” he said. “I think the people in this district have been very, very good to me, and over the years, I’ve tried to be good to them.”

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08:39 - 2008-Jul-10 - comments {0} - post comment

Gramm Comment on ???Nation of Whiners??™ Draws Condemnation

Barack Obama ridiculed a John McCain economic adviser Thursday who said the United States has become a “nation of whiners” suffering from a “mental recession,” as McCain distanced himself from the remarks.

Phil Gramm, who now is the No. 2 at the Swiss bank UBS, told The Washington Times the U.S. has benefited from globalization but most Americans are misguided by constant reports that the economy is at its worst in 30 years.

“You’ve heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession,” Gramm, a former Texas senator, told the newspaper, adding that the presumptive Republican nominee will face an uphill battle fighting those perceptions.

“We have sort of become a nation of whiners,” he said. “You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in ‘decline’ despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy.”

Gramm later told a cable network that he was calling the country’s leaders whiners, not the American people as a whole, but stood by his “mental recession” remark.

Obama, speaking about economic security to a women’s group in Fairfax, Va., said Gramm’s comments show the McCain campaign has no remedy for the nation’s economic woes.

“This comes after Senator McCain recently admitted that his energy proposals … will have mainly ‘psychological’ benefits. I want all of you to know that America already has one Dr. Phil. We don’t need another one when it comes to the economy,” he said.

“Let’s be clear, when people are struggling with the rising costs of everything from gas to groceries, when we’ve lost 438,000 jobs over the past six months, when the typical family has lost $1,000 in income … since George Bush took office … this economic downturn is not in your heads.

“It isn’t whining to ask government to step in and give families some relief.”

Minutes later McCain disavowed the Gramm comments, saying, “We are experiencing enormous economic challenges as well as others. Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me. So I strongly disagree.”

Asked if Gramm might be in line for a job as treasury secretary, McCain joked: “I think Senator Gramm would be in serious consideration for ambassador to Belarus, although I am not sure that the citizens of Minsk would welcome that.”

But he used the “Dr. Phil” jab to repeat his criticism that Obama indiscriminately shoots down all his energy proposals.

“You’re talking about Dr. Phil — he’s Dr. No,” McCain said. “He’s against offshore drilling, he’s against offering a reward for the development of the electric car, he’s against everything we need to do to make this nation energy independent.”

Gramm said earlier that all the reporting on trade deficits, illegal immigration, housing and credit problems and record oil prices have not stopped the economy from growing. Still, McCain will face a difficult public relations job.

Gramm also said that President Bush and Republicans in Congress are to blame for the damaged Republican image. He told the newspaper that he believes voter’s opinions on issues remain the same but that they have lost faith that lawmakers in Washington, D.C., care about them. He blamed the blurring differences between Republicans and Democrats on government expansion and spending over the past eight years as a major cause of the problem, the paper reports.

A McCain campaign official said the Republican presidential candidate does not share Gramm’s view.

“Phil Gramm??™s comments are not representative of John McCain??™s views. John McCain travels the country every day talking to Americans who are hurting, feeling pain at the pump and worrying about how they??™ll pay their mortgage. That??™s why he has a realistic plan to deliver immediate relief at the gas pump, grow our economy and put Americans back to work,” the official said.

A spokesman for Obama said Gramm’s analysis ignores facts on the ground.

???One of Senator McCain??™s top economic advisers may think that when people are struggling with lost jobs, stagnant wages, and the rising costs of everything from gas to groceries, it??™s merely a ???mental recession??™. … But the American people know that our economic problems aren??™t just in their heads. They don??™t need psychological relief -??“ they need real relief ??“ and that??™s what Barack Obama will provide as President,??? said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

Click here to read the full article in The Washington Times

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08:31 - 2008-Jul-10 - comments {0} - post comment

McCain Attempts to Stay on Message, Block Out Campaign Distractions

John McCain, a week after handing day-to-day campaign operations to a key adviser, is making a fresh attempt to stick to the script.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee embarked this week on a tour stressing “Jobs for America,” and so far he has taken every chance to hammer home that theme and block out distractions.

McCain struggled to focus earlier in the season — but the renewed emphasis on message discipline is seen as a way to guide the campaign storyline, and prevent the news of the day from interfering with his intended talking points.

Though he strayed Wednesday to address reports about an Iranian missile test and a vote by Barack Obama on a controversial surveillance bill, McCain advisers told FOX News they are pleased with McCain’s effort so far to stay on track.

“I think what we’ll see for the next 100 and something days, I think you’re going to see an incredibly disciplined campaign, and they’re going to be driving the message,” said Chip Saltsman, former campaign manager for GOP candidate Mike Huckabee. “The McCain campaign’s setting the table right now … and they’re forcing Obama to talk about what they want to talk about.”

The Arizona senator has been accused of wavering on his campaign message, toggling through various labels for Obama while struggling to focus on a single theme on the stump.

By contrast, Obama consistently has pressed his message of change since the primary and portrayed McCain as the third term of President Bush.

McCain advisers acknowledge that they had trouble getting their message out despite a three-month head start over Obama. Through the spring months, McCain launched themed weeks devoted to his biography and issues like poverty and health care, but they were undercut as the campaign pushed multiple messages in the same week.

McCain often held press conferences on the same day as big speeches, in turn allowing the media to ignore the substance of his address and cover his fresh comments. For instance, in early April he revealed he had a list of about 20 possible vice presidential candidates during a week when he was supposed to focus on his military service.

Adviser Steve Schmidt, though, was given full control of day-to-day operations last week. He essentially has been in charge of message-shaping for months, only now has significantly more power. And the campaign has limited the once-daily, hours-long sessions with the press, as well as press conferences after he gives a major policy speech.

Rather, the campaign is giving national reporters time to ask questions after evening news deadlines, or on days when the campaign does not have a message. As of this week, face time with the candidate will mostly be limited to a small pool of reporters who will then feed the interviews out to the rest of the national media.

The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that the primary reason for the staff restructuring had to do with a desire to sharpen the campaign’s message.

McCain’s campaign recently has stuck with the accusation that Obama is a flip-flopper who will say or do anything for political gain, and this week it made pains to stress economic themes at every turn.

“To achieve full economic recovery, we need to think as well about the leading job creators in America. … Small businesses are the job engine of America, and I will make it easier for them to grow and create more jobs,” he said at a town hall meeting Wednesday in Ohio. “The choice in this election is stark and simple. Senator Obama will raise your taxes. I won’t, because jobs are the most important thing our economy creates. And when you raise taxes in a bad economy you eliminate jobs.”

McCain, in an interview Tuesday morning with FOX News, also stressed his theme of the week. And when he addressed the League of United Latin American Citizens on Tuesday, he tied his appeals to Latino voters to his weeklong economic chorus.

“All of us know what’s happening to the economy. And it’s slowing,” he said at the top of his address. He attempted to link all topics, from energy to immigration to tax policy, back to the economic downturn and job creation.

Earlier at a town hall meeting in Georgia, Obama said McCain is asking for trouble with his focus on taxes.

“If Senator McCain wants to debate about taxes in this campaign, that’s a debate I cannot wait to have, because John McCain doesn’t have an answer to the housing crisis, he doesn’t have and answer to the education crisis, he doesn’t have a plan to rebuild our infrastructure,” he said. “The only plan that he has is to not only continue the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy corporations, he wants to increase them. … A McCain administration would mean a fiscal Groundhog Day in Washington.”

Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan also told FOXNews.com that McCain’s latest strategy won’t alter what he called the outdated set of policies he’s offering.

“What I think is clear no matter how John McCain wants to package it, is that he’s offering more of the same, and that’s not going to change the direction of the country or help American families,” he said.

McCain is stressing the economy as national polls consistently show him trailing Obama on domestic issues.

McCain’s strong suit is national security and foreign affairs, and he has a tendency to rely on those issues to carry him through town hall meetings and similar campaign stops.

But Monday in Colorado, McCain hammered the economic message on all fronts.

He re-proposed a plan to balance the federal budget by 2013 in Denver, flanked by new “Jobs for America” signs.

In addition, his campaign announced that 300 economists endorsed his economic plan. It held two conference calls for reporters pushing the jobs message. It rolled out a national “jobs coalition” of small business owners in 19 states. And it released a comprehensive briefing paper on their plan to balance the budget in four years.

The campaign also did not hold a press conference where other issues would likely come up.

The Arizona senator says he wants to run a “respectful” campaign and recently has shown restraint in personally responding to Obama’s comments on his Iraq policy. Obama took heat last week when he said he’s willing to “refine” his policy on the war, which includes a pledge to withdraw all U.S. brigades within 16 months of taking office.

Asked Monday by one town hall participant what was the biggest difference was between him and Obama, McCain kept his criticism mostly to the economy.

But his campaign surrogates and staffers freely attack Obama, and McCain has been unable to stay on message entirely.

McCain criticized Obama’s Iraq position as “all over the map” in an interview with a Denver-area radio show, and on FOX News Tuesday morning said “there’s been definitely shifts in position (for Obama), and one of them is Iraq.”

One Democratic source also noted that McCain jumped off the economy track on Wednesday to respond to reports of Iranian missile tests, and reprise criticism of Obama for not voting to call Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization last year.

(The Obama campaign points out that the Illinois senator co-sponsored an earlier bill that would have done the same thing.)

As McCain focuses on message-tightening, his campaign is centralizing.

Mike Duhaime, former campaign manager for Rudy Giuliani, was announced Sunday as the McCain campaign’s new political director.

Schmidt announced in a memo to staff last week that he would also hire a field director, all part of an effort to “increase our capacity to reach out to voters, build coalitions, identify supporters and ultimately turn them out to the polls on November 4.”

Schmidt wrote that “hundreds more field staff” would be deployed in the coming weeks.

McCain says he performs best as the underdog, and told FOX News last week that Schmidt’s reassignment was part of a “very great expansion” in the campaign.

He’ll have a ways to catch up.

McCain’s campaign is roughly 300-strong compared with Obama’s 1,000-person plus operation.

And Obama has a daunting fundraising lead over McCain — that lead could easily expand since the Illinois senator announced he would not be accepting more than $84 million in public financing for the general election. He’ll be raising money privately.

“We need to keep doing what we’re doing, only do it a lot harder,” McCain told FOX News, declining to fret about his standing in the polls.

“I’m happy with where we’ve come, I’m happy with where we are. We have been declared dead many times … but somehow we seem to stay in the race and we will stay in.”

FOX News’ Mosheh Oinounou and Judson Berger and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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07:07 - 2008-Jul-10 - comments {0} - post comment

AFL-CIO to Use Veterans to Attack McCain

WASHINGTON — The AFL-CIO is mobilizing union members who are military veterans to work against Republican presidential candidate John McCain and other office seekers it opposes, officials said Thursday.

John Sweeney, the president of the labor federation, planned to announce the creation of a Union Veterans Council in a teleconference Thursday. The union, which endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president last month, plans to form state councils of union veterans in key election battlegrounds, including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, Ohio and West Virginia. Later, it plans to organize in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Virginia.

“We’re forming this Union Veterans Council to bring together union members who are veterans to speak out on the issues that matter the most to them — in this year’s election and beyond,” Sweeney said in a statement. “With the formation of the Union Veterans Council, veterans will be front and center in the effort to put our country back on track.”

Sweeney said key issues will include money for the Veterans Affairs Department, health and education benefits for veterans, and job growth.

The union also launched an ad that will air Thursday that features a Vietnam combat veteran criticizing McCain’s stance on the war in Iraq and on veterans issues. The ad will air for three weeks on national cable and in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin, union officials said.

The outreach effort will include door-to-door canvassing and visits to worksites by veterans to talk to union members about issues in the election. The union also plans to identify and track union veterans.

The AFL-CIO estimates it has 2.1 million members who are either veterans or are serving in active duty in the military.

Sweeney was expected to make the announcement with Mark Ayers, the president of the Building & Construction Trades Council and a former Navy pilot.

“Not only has McCain voted the wrong way on veterans issues — such as opposing increased funding for veterans’ health care the last four years in a row — but he also doesn’t support middle-class people’s issues,” Ayers said in a statement. “He wants to tax people’s health care benefits and supports unfair trade deals, including NAFTA.”

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06:27 - 2008-Jul-10 - comments {0} - post comment

Obama Campaigns With Clinton to Appeal to Women Voters

NEW YORK — Going after the women’s vote, Democrat Barack Obama chastised Republican John McCain on Thursday over his opposition to an equal-pay Senate bill, his support for conservative-leaning Supreme Court justices and his abortion-rights objections.

“I will never back down in defending a woman’s right to choose,” the likely Democratic nominee said, drawing a sharp contrast with his GOP rival.

“That’s what’s at stake,” Obama added as he campaigned with his half-sister and Hillary Rodham Clinton, the pioneering former first lady he toppled during the Democratic presidential primary, at a “Women for Obama” breakfast fundraiser.

Obama packed his day with female-focused events in New York and Virginia, a reminder of his need to win over women who include some still smarting from Clinton’s loss. She had tried to become the first woman to win the White House, and women were her base voters. They took her defeat hard, so much so that even a few are promising to vote for McCain.

Thus, to underscore his differences with McCain on women’s issues, Obama cited Senate legislation from the spring that sought to counteract a Supreme Court decision limiting how long workers can wait before suing for pay discrimination.

Obama said McCain “thinks the Supreme Court got it right.”

“He suggested that the reason women don’t have equal pay isn’t discrimination on the job — it’s because they need more education and training,” Obama said, eliciting groans from the audience. Obama said the problem is some employers aren’t paying women enough and many women aren’t able to challenge that. “The solution is to finally close that gap and pay women what they’ve earned, nothing less.”

Obama backed the Senate legislation that would have made it easier for women to sue their employers for pay discrimination. McCain opposed it, saying at the time: “I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation … opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems.”

Seeking an edge, the Democrat also raised the issue of abortion rights, which is shaping up to be a major point of difference between the candidates. Obama supports keeping the landmark decision that legalized abortion, Roe v. Wade, intact, while McCain opposes abortion rights and wants to appoint Supreme Court justices akin to Chief Justice John Roberts and Samuel Alito.

“Senator McCain has made it abundantly clear that he wants to appoint justices like Roberts and Alito — and that he hopes to see Roe overturned,” Obama said. “I stand by my votes against confirming Justices Roberts and Alito.”

The Democrat said voters will decide in the fall election “whether we’ll have judges who demonstrate sound judgment and empathy, who understand how law operates in our daily lives, who are committed to upholding the values at the core of our Constitution — or judges who put ideology before justice, with our fundamental rights as the first casualty.”

The Republican National Committee argued that although Obama opposed the confirmation of Roberts and Alito, he backed the court’s recent decision on gun rights and sided with the minority on the death penalty in child rape cases. Said RNC spokesman Alex Conant: “Considering his recent reversals and partisan record, rather than attack Justices Roberts and Alito, Obama owes the American people more than just political expedience.”

Obama started his day at the 2,300-person fundraiser with Clinton — their second joint fundraising appearance in as many days — and with his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng.

“I’m grateful for all of you who have come together,” Clinton said as she introduced Obama. “I know you’ll be there in November.”

She noted that Obama had mentioned that she looked rested after being off the rigorous campaign trail, said she’s trying to exercise now and compared her habits with Obama’s during the primary season. “Barack would get up faithfully every morning and go to the gym. I would get up and have my hair done,” she quipped.

Later, Obama was scheduled to hold a town-hall event in Fairfax, Va., on his economic plan and how it would help women and all parents balance work and family demands. Virginia first lady Anne Holton planned to introduce Obama.

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05:49 - 2008-Jul-10 - comments {0} - post comment

Ohio Reconsiders ???Sleepovers??™ for Voting Machine Safety

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s elections chief is reconsidering a plan to prohibit poll workers from taking voting machines home for safekeeping in the days before the November presidential election.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced plans in February to scrap the practice known as “sleepovers” because of security concerns. But her proposal is being attacked by county elections officials who argue that the custom makes it easier to transport machines to polling sites.

“She has listened to the concerns of election officials and ultimately wants to do what is best for their process but also make sure that all safety precautions are considered,” Brunner spokesman Patrick Gallaway said Wednesday.

Brunner has frequently referred to a Licking County poll worker who took a machine home for safekeeping and improperly voted on it, fearing there wouldn’t be enough time on Election Day.

Election officials say safeguards prevent such a tampered machine from being used at the polls because it would not have the required vote tally of “zero” before voting began.

Sleepovers are prevalent in Ohio counties that use touch-screen voting machines and are sometimes used in counties with machines that scan paper ballots. The practice enables poll workers to pick up voting machines and other equipment such as memory cards in the days before the election, keep them at home and then take them to polling locations on Election Day.

Without sleepovers, counties would likely have to hire a company to distribute the voting machines, said Keith Cunningham, director of the Allen County Board of Elections and past president of the Ohio Association of Election Officials. That would cost several thousand dollars, and some counties can’t afford it, he said.

Counties also would have to test the machines as much as a week earlier so the movers could transport them in time for the election, Cunningham said.

“It would be logistically impossible for the counties having large numbers of machines to deliver, set up and test all their machines on election morning,” Ashland County Board of Elections Director Shannon Leininger wrote in a May 7 e-mail to Brunner.

Brunner has invited local officials to suggest potential alternatives to banning sleepovers. A decision will be made in the next few weeks, Gallaway said.

One alternative would be to lock voting machines inside polling places for a few days, Cunningham said.

“You got two choices — you’re either going to have a machine unattended at a polling location for a few days or you are going to have a machine in the hands of a poll worker,” he said. “Pick your poison.”

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05:18 - 2008-Jul-10 - comments {0} - post comment

Jesse Jackson Apologizes for Crude Obama Remarks

Rev. Jesse Jackson apologized Wednesday for saying Barack Obama is “talking down to black people” during what Jackson thought was a private conversation before a FOX News interview Sunday.

Jackson was speaking to a fellow guest at the time about Obama’s speeches in black churches and his support for faith-based charities. Jackson added before going live, “I want to cut his nuts off.”

His microphone picked up the remarks.

VIDEO: Click here to watch Jesse Jackson’s comments

At a hastily arranged news conference Wednesday evening in Chicago, Jackson said he supports Obama “unequivocally” and that he hopes to “get this behind me.”

“I have great passion for this campaign and traveled across the country … arguing the case for the campaign,” Jackson said. “And this thing I said in a hot-mic statement that’s interpreted as a distraction, I offer apology for that. I don’t want harm or hurt to come to this campaign.”

He said, “They were hurtful and wrong … but we have a relationship that can survive this.”

Jackson said in a written statement he was trying to emphasize that Obama’s moral message should “not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy.”

Jackson said the conversation “does not reflect any disparagement on my part for the historic event in which we are involved or my pride in Senator Barack Obama, who is leading it, whom I have supported by crisscrossing this nation in every level of media and audience from the beginning in absolute terms.”

The Obama campaign took a measured response to the incident, contending in a statement that Obama has spoken for many years about parental responsibility as well as “jobs, justice and opportunity for all.”

“He will continue to speak out about our responsibilities to ourselves and each other, and he of course accepts Rev. Jackson’s apology,” Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said.

Jackson told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he doesn’t remember exactly what he said Sunday but that he was “very sorry” for his comments about Obama. He called his comments “a side light in a broader conversation about urban disparities.”

Jackson said he has called Obama’s campaign to apologize.

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton noted that the Illinois senator grew up without his father and has spoken and written at length about the issues of parental responsibility and fathers participating in their children’s lives, and of society’s obligation to provide “jobs, justice and opportunity for all.

“He will continue to speak out about our responsibilities to ourselves and each other, and he of course accepts Reverend Jackson’s apology,” Burton said.

After Obama’s camp responded, Jackson told FOX News he was grateful the candidate saw through the incident.

“Let me say how happy I am that Obama was quick to respond and to accept my apology, which is relieving to me. My support for him has been long standing and unequivocal because I believe he represents the fulfillment of our civil rights dream,” Jackson said, adding that Obama has “the biggest moral platform any presidential candidate has had ever.”

Jackson’s comments sparked something of a family feud. His son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., said he was disappointed by his father’s “reckless statements.”

“His divisive and demeaning comments about the presumptive Democratic nominee — and I believe the next president of the United States — contradict his inspiring and courageous career,” the younger Jackson said.

The comments are not the first the elder Jackson has had to explain after believing he was off the record.

In 1984, he called New York City “Hymietown,” referring to the city’s large Jewish population. He later acknowledged it was wrong to use the term, but said he did so in private to a reporter.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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16:50 - 2008-Jul-9 - comments {0} - post comment

Jesse Jackson Apologizes for Crude Obama Remarks

The Rev. Jesse Jackson apologized Wednesday for saying Barack Obama is “talking down to black people” during what Jackson thought was a private conversation before a FOX News interview Sunday.

Jackson was speaking to a guest at the time about Obama’s speeches in black churches and his support for faith-based charities. Jackson added before going live, “I want to cut his nuts off.”

His microphone picked up the remarks.

VIDEO: Click here to watch Jesse Jackson’s comments

At a hastily arranged news conference Wednesday evening in Chicago, Jackson said he supports Obama “unequivocally” and that he hopes to “get this behind me.”

“I have great passion for this campaign and traveled across the country … arguing the case for the campaign,” Jackson said. “And this thing I said in a hot-mic statement that’s interpreted as a distraction, I offer apology for that. I don’t want harm or hurt to come to this campaign.”

He said, “They were hurtful and wrong … but we have a relationship that can survive this.”

Jackson said in a written statement he was trying to emphasize that Obama’s moral message should “not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy.”

Jackson said the conversation “does not reflect any disparagement on my part for the historic event in which we are involved or my pride in Senator Barack Obama, who is leading it, whom I have supported by crisscrossing this nation in every level of media and audience from the beginning in absolute terms.”

Jackson told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he doesn’t remember exactly what he said Sunday but that he was “very sorry” for his comments about Obama. He called his comments “a side light in a broader conversation about urban disparities.”

Jackson said he has called Obama’s campaign to apologize.

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton noted that the Illinois senator grew up without his father and has spoken and written at length about the issues of parental responsibility and fathers participating in their children’s lives, and of society’s obligation to provide “jobs, justice and opportunity for all.

“He will continue to speak out about our responsibilities to ourselves and each other, and he of course accepts Reverend Jackson’s apology,” Burton said.

Jackson’s comments sparked something of a family feud. His son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., said he was disappointed by his father’s “reckless statements.”

“His divisive and demeaning comments about the presumptive Democratic nominee — and I believe the next president of the United States — contradict his inspiring and courageous career,” the younger Jackson said.

The comments are not the first the elder Jackson has had to explain after believing he was off the record.

In 1984, he called New York City “Hymietown,” referring to the city’s large Jewish population. He later acknowledged it was wrong to use the term, but said he did so in private to a reporter.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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16:50 - 2008-Jul-9 - comments {0} - post comment

Mukasey: Passport Snoopers Could Be Prosecuted

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors are investigating whether State Department employees broke the law by snooping into celebrities’ passport records, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Wednesday.

“And if somebody committed a crime, we are going to do our level best to make sure that somebody goes to jail,” Mukasey told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

He added: “We’re going to follow and prosecute that case, a prosecutable case.”

Last week, a report by the State Department’s inspector general found that 85 percent of the passport files for a sampling of 150 notable politicians, athletes and entertainers had been accessed 4,148 times between September 2002 and March 2008. Many had been viewed more than once, leading State officials to conclude the breaches were highly suspicious.

On Tuesday, the State Department referred its findings to Justice Department criminal prosecutors. Mukasey, appearing at a Senate oversight hearing, said Wednesday that the “case is going to be followed up on.”

“Good,” responded Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

The State Department report did not conclude that any files had been improperly viewed or any laws broken. But it said investigators found numerous problems in the system that is supposed to protect the confidentiality of passport records.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the inspector general’s referral generally would come “if they uncovered anything that might potentially be criminal, criminal activity.”

“That’s absolutely what the secretary would want,” McCormack said, referring to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

“And on this issue, in general, she’s been very aggressive in dealing with it,” McCormack told reporters. “Certainly, the protection of personal information that we receive here in the State Department is something that the secretary takes very seriously.”

Five contract passport workers have already been fired for their role in snooping at the passports of presidential candidates John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Breaches of their records became public in March and prompted the investigation.

Shortly afterward, officials told The Associated Press that a preliminary review had found that State Department workers viewed passport records for high-profile Americans, including the late Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith, at least 20 times since January 2007.

The State Department maintains passport records for about 127 million Americans.

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13:52 - 2008-Jul-9 - comments {0} - post comment

Florida Officials Test New Technology to Ensure Smooth Election

Florida voting officials are relying on new technology this Election Day, in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the problems that marred the 2000 presidential election and made the term “hanging chad” part of the national vocabulary.

The Sunshine State already has moved to a system using optical scan voting machines, which every county was required to do as of July 1.

The machines allow voters to mark their preference on a paper ballot, which is then scanned and registered through the system.

The method is more high-tech than the paper balloting that caused confusion in 2000, but also may be more user-friendly, and hopefully trust-inspiring, than touch screen voting, which doesn’t use paper ballots.

Sarasota elections supervisor Kathy Dent said voters still don’t completely trust that every vote will count, but officials are working hard to ensure a smooth run come Election Day — when the public will not just be judging the candidates, but the method of voting itself.

About 1,200 voters participated in a dry run Tuesday in Sarasota, and no major problems were reported.

“What we want to do is test every element of the equipment in election mode so that we will be able to make sure that everything is working as it’s supposed to,” Dent said.

Florida has four months to get it right.

The optical scan machines will replace the touch screen machines, which have been criticized for their lack of a paper trail.

Christine Jennings, who ran for Congress two years ago, still blames the touch-screen machines for her loss, but she said the new technology is a clear improvement.

“The optical scan is a much better system because there is a paper trail now, so there can be a check and a balance system that the Americans believe in so much,” said Jennings, who is running again this year.

The last time she ran, her campaign claimed the touch screen machines did not register nearly 18,000 votes.

“When people tried to push the screen the X would not appear,” she said.

A Government Accountability Office study discounted her campaign’s claim.

But some election officials and voter rights advocates are worried about the new system and say there isn’t enough time before November to properly test the technology.

“We’ve got new machines with new software that is not proven in the marketplace, and so I’m concerned that we’re once again guinea pigs for new equipment,” said Kindra Muntz, of the Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections.

There already have been problems. Two weeks ago in Palm Beach County, 700 votes initially were not counted in an election for a city commissioner. Officials said election workers were not aware of some new computer software on the optical scan machines.

Send your stories of alleged voter fraud to voterfraud@foxnews.com.

FOX News’ Eric Shawn contributed to this report.

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13:43 - 2008-Jul-9 - comments {0} - post comment

Obama, Clinton Head to New York With Running Mate Scout

WASHINGTON — Democrat Barack Obama and his former rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, headed to New York on Wednesday along with his vice presidential searcher Caroline Kennedy.

Clinton, mentioned as a possible running mate, and Obama were to appear together at two fundraisers there Wednesday night.

Aides are tight lipped about why the three were traveling together other than to cite the fundraisers. Kennedy is to introduce Obama at the first; Clinton will introduce him at the second.

Obama was already onboard his campaign plane when Clinton arrived. They greeted each other, and stood in the aisle chatting for several minutes. Clinton then took her seat in the first row on the right side of the plane while Obama sat in the second row on the left. Neither spoke with reporters also aboard the campaign plane.

Earlier Wednesday, Clinton deflected a reporter’s inquiry about whether she has turned over documents for her former rival’s campaign to review as part of the vice presidential search.

Obama made an unannounced stop Wednesday morning at a downtown building that houses the law firm of another member of his vice presidential search team, Eric Holder, but he wouldn’t say why afterward.

“I’m not going to tell you,” the smiling likely Democratic nominee told reporters when asked who he met with and what they discussed as he exited the office building through the back door some two hours and 20 minutes after entering. He had two top aides — campaign manager David Plouffe and chief strategist David Axelrod — at his side.

The stop was not on his public schedule, and aides would say only that Obama had private meetings planned while in Washington.

They wouldn’t provide additional details, including whether Obama had met with Holder, a partner at Covington and Burling. The firm is located just blocks from the White House that Obama hopes to occupy come January.

In a city that revels in the intrigue surrounding a vice presidential pick, Obama’s midmorning stop was certain to fuel speculation about who he would choose for the No. 2 spot on the Democratic ticket — and whether he met with any of them at Holder’s office or, perhaps, elsewhere at another time.

Over the past few weeks, several officials thought to be on Obama’s list have indicated they lack interest in the job. The latest was Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, who issued a statement this week that said he had told Obama that he intended to remain in the Senate and “under no circumstances will I be a candidate for vice president.”

Both Obama and GOP rival John McCain are trying to keep a tight lid on their searches, including only a small handful of top aides in the discussions to make sure the vetting process is as discrete as possible.

Nonetheless, each candidate is believed to be deep into process of picking a vice presidential candidate. They may even be to the point of asking potentials for records, such as tax returns, financial holdings, medical documents and military files, or secretly interviewing candidates face-to-face.

So-called “short lists” of prospects probably exist, given how long both campaigns have been weighing their options. Obama’s search committee, made up of Holder and Kennedy, has been working since early June, while McCain’s helper, attorney Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr., has been involved in the Republican’s efforts for a couple months.

Time is a consideration for both candidates as they narrow their choices, announce their selections — and hope their choices produce an uptick in polls.

Typically, careful planning goes into the elaborate staged “roll out” of a vice presidential pick to get maximum media coverage of what is perhaps the most eagerly anticipated decision a presidential hopeful makes between clinching the party’s nomination and formally accepting it at the party’s national convention.

Obama is making an oversees trip later this month to Europe and the Middle East, which could make a July announcement difficult. It’s also summertime and voters tend to pay little attention to politics, and McCain aides are mindful of that.

The window tightens more on Aug. 8 when the Beijing Olympics open for a several-week stretch. Democrats hold their national convention in Denver on Aug. 25-28, and Republicans follow in Minneapolis-St. Paul Sept. 1-4.

Wednesday’s hint that Obama likely is fully engaged in the process began around 9:30 a.m., when his entourage, including a small contingent of reporters, left the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, presumably to head to his Senate office on Capitol Hill so the Illinois senator could vote on a couple of bills later in the day.

A few minutes later and surprising even some of his staff, the motorcade pulled over and Obama entered the building from a back door with a sign that said “Tenant Entrance Only.”

Obama spent the majority of the day in his Senate office and on Capitol Hill for a series of votes, including on a bill overhauling rules on secret government eavesdropping. He did leave for one private meeting in a local hotel.

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13:00 - 2008-Jul-9 - comments {0} - post comment

Report: Obama Triples Staff for Missouri Campaign Battle

Zeroing in on what could be a key battleground, Barack Obama is planning to triple his campaign team in Missouri, hiring an unprecedented 150 paid staffers as compared with John McCain’s expected staff of 14, The Kansas City Star reports.

The paper reported that the Obama campaign plans to set up the workers in 30 field offices across the state. McCain is expected to set up 10 offices — he currently has four full-time workers in the state.

The Obama campaign is mounting an aggressive 50-state strategy, running ads and campaigning not only in traditional battlegrounds but also states that vote Republican in almost every presidential election.

Polls show Obama trailing McCain in Missouri, but the race is close. An average of Missouri polls on RealClearPolitics.com showed McCain with a 5-point lead over Obama.

The state, with 11 electoral votes, has voted Republican in the last two presidential elections. But a majority of Missouri voters also picked Bill Clinton in the 1992 and 1996 elections.

Obama won the state by a hair in the Democratic primary this year against Hillary Clinton.

Click here to read the full article in The Kansas City Star.

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12:34 - 2008-Jul-9 - comments {0} - post comment

Obama Takes Heat From McCain Camp for Surveillance Vote

Barack Obama voted Wednesday afternoon for a surveillance bill that includes a provision he once opposed, giving Republicans ammunition in their argument that he is shifting positions to appeal to political moderates.

The bill, which passed the Senate and is expected to be signed by President Bush, would set new rules for government eavesdropping, and includes a measure giving immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on Americans without court permission after Sept. 11.

Obama voted for an amendment earlier Wednesday that would have stripped the bill of such immunity — but after it failed to pass, he still supported the overall bill.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, a senator from Illinois, angered liberals when he first voiced support for the compromise last month.

He said at the time that it was a “close call,” but that the legislation made sure that the president “can’t make up rationales” for wiretapping without warrants.

He said the legislation “met my basic concerns.”

Obama fought against such immunity last year. He released a statement in December saying he “unequivocally opposes giving retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies. … Granting such immunity undermines the constitutional protections Americans trust the Congress to protect. Senator Obama supports a filibuster of this bill, and strongly urges others to do the same.”

He reaffirmed his opposition in a February statement that said, “There is no reason why telephone companies should be given blanket immunity to cover violations of the rights of the American people.”

Liberal bloggers swarmed Obama’s own campaign Web site to criticize him for the surveillance vote.

Before Obama even arrived at Capitol Hill on Tuesday, McCain’s campaign needled him for supporting the compromise.

“A few short months ago, Barack Obama outwardly opposed terrorist surveillance legislation, saying that he would filibuster any bill that includes immunity for American telecommunications companies,” spokesman Tucker Bounds said. “Today, the U.S. Senate will approve legislation providing the immunity Barack Obama supposedly opposed, and despite his promise, he will not support a filibuster.

“What Barack Obama will do is show that he’s willing to change positions, break campaign commitments and undermine his own words in his quest for higher office.”

McCain later told reporters in South Park, Pa., that he and Obama “are still in strong disagreement on the issue of immunity for the telecommunications” companies, since Obama still technically opposes the immunity provision and he supports it.

But he said that on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act overall, Obama did flip. He said that’s “not the first change in position.”

McCain missed the vote on the surveillance bill, as he campaigned in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Obama has caught flak for several positions he’s taken in recent weeks.

He supported a Supreme Court decision that invalidated the Washington, D.C., handgun, even though his campaign last year said that ban was “constitutional.”

He said last week he might “refine” his Iraq policies after traveling to the Middle East this summer, though he later insisted he was not talking about changing his stated plan to remove all U.S. brigades from Iraq within 16 months of taking office.

The McCain campaign on Tuesday released a list of 17 alleged flip-flops.

But Obama battled the accusations at a town hall meeting Tuesday in Georgia.

“This whole notion that I am, you know, shifting to the center or that I am flip-flopping or this and that and the other. The people who say this apparently haven’t been listening to me,” he said.

Obama said he is “no doubt progressive,” and that “the notion that somehow that’s me trying to look like I’m more centered — more centrist — is just not true.”

FOX News’ Trish Turner and Bonney Kapp and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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11:23 - 2008-Jul-9 - comments {0} - post comment

New AFL-CIO Ad to Criticize McCain in Battleground States

WASHINGTON — The AFL-CIO labor organziation plans to begin airing an ad in six presidential battleground states on Thursday that features a Vietnam combat veteran criticizing John McCain’s stance on the war in Iraq and on veterans issues.

The ad is part of a new union political effort to reach the 2.1 million military veterans or active-duty personnel who are members of the AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labor organization, with 15 million members in more than 50 unions

“Every vet respects John McCain’s war record,” Navy veteran Jim Wasser says in the ad. “It’s his record in the Senate that I have a problem with.”

Wasser, an electrician from Illinois, served with Sen. John Kerry aboard Navy Swift Boats in Vietnam and helped the Massachusetts senator rebut attacks on his war record when Kerry ran for president in 2004. Kerry lost to George W. Bush.

In the ad, Wasser says McCain “wants us to keep spending $10 billion a month in Iraq. Just like Bush.”

“That’s money we could use to build schools and roads and create needed jobs here at home,” Wasser says. “He even took sides with Bush against increasing health care benefits for veterans. People should let John McCain know. His agenda is not what we need. Not now.”

While McCain has supported increases in spending for veterans’ health, the union’s criticism is based on McCain’s opposition over the past four years to Democratic amendments that would have added more money to veteran’s health programs.

The ad will air in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin for three weeks. Union officials would not disclose the amount spent on the ad, but they described it as a “significant targeted buy” in “places where the current economic slowdown is particularly acute.”

The ad represents the entry of yet another outside group seeking to influence the presidential election.

On Wednesday, a group of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans that has been critical of Obama began airing an ad that asserts that the troop escalation in Iraq that McCain supported has reduced casualties and “decimated” al-Qaida in Iraq, and that the Iraqi Army “controls most of the country.”

The ad, a $1.5 million buy airing on national cable stations and in Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Virginia, does not mention the presidential candidates, but its views certainly coincide with McCain’s.

“The surge worked,” one of the veterans in the ad says.

In a swipe at Obama’s campaign slogan, another veteran ads, “That’s change we can believe in.”

The ad concludes, “We need to finish the job no matter who is president.”

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10:13 - 2008-Jul-9 - comments {0} - post comment

Obama Campaign Changes Web Solicitation to Avoid Illegal Raffle Accusation

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has modified a request for money after a Minnesota official questioned whether it constituted an illegal raffle.

In a letter on the campaign’s Web site, campaign manager David Plouffe tied the solicitation to the announcement that Obama will deliver his nomination acceptance speech at Denver’s 76,000-seat Invesco Field at Mile High.

The Web site had previously offered supporters who donated at least $5 to the campaign a chance to win a free trip for two to the Democratic National Convention.

But Nick Kimball, an Obama campaign spokesman in Minnesota, says the request was modified so that a campaign donation was not required to win the trip.

Tom Barrett, the director of Minnesota’s Gambling Control Board, says he had asked the state Department of Public Safety to look into whether the solicitation violated Minnesota gambling laws. Only nonprofit charities may conduct raffles in Minnesota.

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09:50 - 2008-Jul-9 - comments {0} - post comment

German Chancellor Uneasy Over Possible Obama Speech at Berlin Landmark

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has signaled unease over the prospect of a possible speech by Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama at Berlin’s historic Brandenburg Gate, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Merkel has “only limited understanding for using the Brandenburg Gate as an election campaign backdrop, as it were, and has expressed skepticism about pursuing such plans,” Thomas Steg, a spokesman for the chancellor, told reporters.

However, Steg stressed that the chancellor is “very happy” for Obama to visit Germany and meet her and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Berlin city officials said this week that members of the Democratic candidate’s campaign had contacted them about what permission and security issues would need to be resolved before Obama could speak in front of the monument.

The Obama campaign has refused to provide specifics on his plans during an upcoming visit to Europe and the Middle East, including the candidate’s interest in a possible event at the Brandenburg Gate.

“Senator Obama looks forward to his visit to Germany and his opportunity to meet with the chancellor,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton said. “He has considered several sites for a possible speech, and he will choose one that makes most sense for him and his German hosts.”

The gate stood for 28 years behind the Berlin Wall in communist East in Germany’s heavily fortified border zone. Probably the capital’s best-known monument, it was once a symbol of Germany’s Cold War division and now stands for its reunification.

Steg noted that the Brandenburg Gate has become “a place with a particular exclusivity, intensity and symbolism” in view of past speeches by sitting U.S. presidents and events such as a large rally in solidarity with the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

As a result, he said Merkel has voiced “great skepticism as to whether it is appropriate to bring an election campaign being fought not in Germany but in the United States to the Brandenburg Gate.”

Steg said that “no German (chancellor) candidate would think of using (Washington’s) National Mall or Red Square in Moscow for rallies, because it would be considered inappropriate.”

He stressed that giving permission to use the venue is a matter not for Merkel’s government, but for Berlin city authorities. Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit said Tuesday that he would be “delighted” for Obama to appear at the Brandenburg Gate or elsewhere.

In a famous 1987 speech that used the gate as a backdrop, President Reagan urged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “open this gate” and “tear down this wall.”

In 1994, four years after German reunification, President Clinton spoke on the other, formerly eastern, side of the gate — declaring that “Berlin is free.”

Organizers of Obama’s campaign have said he is planning two foreign trips this summer, including stops in the Middle East and major European capitals, in an effort to boost his foreign policy credentials as he prepares for the November election against Republican John McCain.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Jens Ploetner said there had been contacts with the German Embassy in Washington regarding Obama’s trip. He said that, while German officials suggested that he could visit landmarks such as Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial, the Cold War-era Checkpoint Charlie border crossing and the Brandenburg Gate, they had made no recommendations on any venue for a possible Obama speech.

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09:22 - 2008-Jul-9 - comments {0} - post comment