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John Lewis: McCain, Palin Are "Sowing Seeds of Hatred"
By John Nichols
After a week of sowing the seeds of hatred and division, Republican presidential candidate John McCain got called on the carpet by Georgia Congressman John Lewis.
This was more than just the usual campaign-season criticism from a a civil rights movement hero turned Democratic congressman. After all, McCain described Lewis at Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church forum earlier this year as a man whose advice he would always seek.
McCain did not take the scolding well.
(7) CommentsOctober 11, 2008
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McCain: "I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments."
By John Nichols
Poor John McCain.
He let the Bush-Cheney operatives who took over his Republican presidential campaign late in the summer talk him into running a scorched-earth campaign attacking Barack Obama.
But, now that the campaign is fully operational, McCain is shocked and unsettled by what he is hearing from his own supporters.
(142) CommentsOctober 10, 2008
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"Troopergate" Report Review Rattled By GOP Protests
By John Nichols
Alaska's Legislative Council has been meeting behind closed doors since 9 a.m. Alaska time (1 p.m. EST) to review a 263-page report on Governor Sarah Palin's "Troopergate" abuses.
Outside the chamber where they are meeting, Republicans organized by veterans of the Bush-v-Gore Florida fight -- which saw official recounts disrupted by outside operatives -- have been protesting through the day.
Members of the 14-member council, on which Republicans hold a majority, have been briefed by veteran prosecutor Steve Branchflower regarding his inquiry into allegations that the Republican nominee for vice president fired the state's top law enforcement officer because he would not carry out her personal agenda.
(32) CommentsOctober 10, 2008
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SENATE: Dems Leading/Tied in Races for 10 GOP Seats
By John Nichols
As Democratic voter registration numbers skyrocket -- with particularly significant boosts in African-American numbers in southern states -- it is not just the presidential competition that is shifting.
Democratic nominee Barack Obama's rapidly widening poll lead in his race with Republican John McCain, both at the national level and in battleground states nationwide, is being paralleled in Senate races across the country.
Consider the contest in Georgia, which had been seen as an easy one for Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss. A new poll, released today, had Chambliss tied with Democrat Jim Martin at 45-45.
(11) CommentsOctober 10, 2008
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McCain Camp Fails to Block "Troopergate" Probe
By John Nichols
No matter what the conclusion of the "Troopergate" investigation into Sarah Palin's abuses of power as governor of Alaska, the fact that the report will be released today marks a major victory for those Republicans and Democrats who remained committed to ethics in government.
Palin's firing of Alaska's public service commissioner -- allegedly for refusing to fire the governor's former brother-in-law as a state trooper -- has since she was selected as the Republican nominee for vice president been a primary concern of John McCain's presidential campaign and operatives within the Bush-Cheney political machine that continues to run the party.
Palin's ability to energize the Republican base and draw media attention is essential to the GOP's campaign strategy for the presidential race. If she is discredited -- for instance, if she is proven to have been not a reformer but an abusive old-school politician who used a position of power for personal aggrandizement -- a Republican campaign that is already in severe trouble will be finished.
(36) CommentsOctober 10, 2008
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If Tina Fey Can Be the GOP VP, Franken Can Be a Senator
By John Nichols
When the Minneapolis Star-Tribune published a poll over the weekend that suggested former Saturday Night Live writer and Air America host Al Franken had opened up a lead in his race for a Minnesota U.S. Senate seat, the conservatives who despise Franken rushed to ridicule the methodology.
The Star-Tribune's pollster must have gotten something wrong, went the criticism from Republicans who might be able to stomach SNL's Tina Fey's spot-on parodies of GOP veep prospect Sarah Palin but are not about to accept the notion that Franken might be a senator.
Now, however, two new polls have confirmed Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidate Franken's status as a narrow-but-consistent leader in the race with Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and Independence Party candidate Dean Barkley, who briefly held the seat as an appointee after the death of U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone in 2002.
(22) CommentsOctober 9, 2008
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Bush 2004 States Are Tipping to Obama
By John Nichols
The national polls are instructive early in the fall presidential campaign season. They tell us whether a candidate has strength, momentum, a chance.
But as the campaign enters its final stage -- with election day less than a month away -- the numbers from the states start to matter. That's where the electoral votes start to pile up.
So what of the battleground states?
(71) CommentsOctober 8, 2008
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Not "The Senator," But "That One"
By John Nichols
The proper, respectful and appropriate description for an foe in a debate between two senators is "the senator" or -- if there is a desire to get flowery -- "my distinguished colleague."
But Arizona Senator John McCain, who after a quarter century on Capitol Hill surely knows the political etiquette, could not bring himself to refer to Illinois Senator Barack Obama as he would any other colleague.
Discussing a 2005 Senate vote, McCain said, "There was an energy bill on the floor of the Senate loaded down with goodies, billions for the oil companies, and it was sponsored by Bush and Cheney. You know who voted for it? You might never know. That one," he said, motioning toward Obama. "You know who voted against it? Me."
(299) CommentsOctober 8, 2008
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54 Percent Say Obama Prevailed in Debate
By John Nichols
Republican John McCain went into Tuesday night's second presidential debate with every major national poll -- and most battleground state polls -- putting him behind Democrat Barack Obama.
McCain needed this debate to be a gamechanger.
It wasn't.
(37) CommentsOctober 7, 2008
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Debate Prep: Put Poverty on the Agenda Tonight
By John Nichols
The anti-poverty group Bread for the World is pressing the two candidates to make a clear commitment to fighting domestic and global poverty in Tuesday night's second presidential debate.
"In the first debate, no one even mentioned poor people," said the Rev. David Beckmann, a former World Bank economist who now serves as president of Bread for the World. "Our current economic problems have hit poor people very hard, and the presidential candidates have two different responses in mind. But children who are not getting enough to eat are also not getting enough attention in this election."
In Nashville, where the debate was scheduled to be held, Beckmann and other anti-poverty leaders expressed concern that a tight focus on the crisis in financial markets will cause candidates – and the media – to neglect life-and-death issues of poverty, hunger and homelessness.
(61) CommentsOctober 7, 2008
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