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By Terrance Dean $10.20
By Ellen Goodman, Patricia O'Brien $18.85
$19
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Barack Obama’s decision to forgo a visit with wounded U.S. troops in Germany during the European leg of his recent international sojourn gave John McCain’s camp the idea for a new advertisement criticizing the Illinois senator, although Obama’s team and Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel beg to differ with its premise.
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 AP photo / Mary Altaffer
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While it might be true that speculation about who’ll become John McCain’s (or Barack Obama’s) vice presidential pick is overblown at times, The Wall Street Journal’s Ken Khachigian might be overlooking certain realities of McCain’s particular case when he says: “Voters don’t select the main course based on the side dish.”
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 AP photo / Ziv Koren, Pool
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By Robert Scheer — Barack Obama is betraying his promise of change and is in danger of becoming just another political hack. Yes, just like former maverick John McCain, who has refashioned himself as a mindless rubber stamp for the most inane policies of the miserably failed Bush administration.
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 video.aol.com
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Dr. Marty Klein, author of “America’s War on Sex: The Attack on Law, Lust and Liberty,” has some additional questions for John McCain—who flailed in the face of a perfectly reasonable query about Viagra versus birth control last week—as well as his rivals for the presidency.
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 nationalexpositor.com
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It would have made for quite a political smackdown, but former Minnesota governor and one-time WWF wrestler Jesse Ventura has nixed rumors that he will take on Al Franken and Norm Coleman as a senatorial candidate. Of course, if God intervenes, “The Body” might change his mind.
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 huffingtonpost.com
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A defiant new group of Democrats calling itself the Denver Group has started a campaign to make sure the Democratic presidential nomination remains open until August’s convention in Denver, leaving the game open to certain contenders (read: HRC) instead of following the “presumptive nominee Barack Obama” plan.
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What are we to make of this new John McCain campaign ad, in which colorful countercultural degenerates prance through the opening frames, and, near the end, a still of Noble Older McCain is superimposed over footage of Hunky Younger Ex-POW McCain?
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After months of strife and bloodshed, the presidential runoff in Zimbabwe finally became a reality Friday; however, it hardly seems like an election, considering there’s only one candidate: long-time President Robert Mugabe.
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 patdollard.com
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Barack Obama is reaching out to Hillary Clinton’s pocketbook, asking his finance team to help pay off at least $10 million of the debt Clinton accrued during her primary bid. The move comes after an announcement that Camp Obama had raised $287 million by the end of May and declined public funding of his campaign.
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Jon Stewart compares and contrasts Barack Obama’s version of the presidential seal to the real deal in this “Daily Show” clip and takes aim at the presumptive Democratic candidate for his declaration that he won’t be drawing on public financing for the home stretch of his bid for office after previously suggesting otherwise.
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 AP photo / Hans Deryk
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Presidential candidate Barack Obama is currently enjoying a 15-point lead over Republican rival John McCain, according to a new poll conducted by Newsweek, which found that 51 percent of registered voters around the country favored Obama for president, while 36 percent picked McCain.
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 AP photo / Rick Bowmer,file
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Hillary Clinton will be joining her erstwhile rival, Barack Obama, for a week of campaign support as he ramps up his efforts to defeat John McCain in November’s presidential elections. Clinton will kick off her tandem tour with Obama June 27 in a bid to repair lingering rifts within Democratic circles.
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Among the various tidbits of personal information we learn about John McCain from this appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” is that the Arizona senator’s favorite movie is “Dude, Where’s My Car?” Is it just us, or is that a slightly troubling factoid about a man hoping to be our nation’s next president?
Posted on Jun 18, 2008
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 trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com
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Some challenges to Sen. Barack Obama’s potential presidential authority might be considered covertly racist, but here’s one that baldly revels in its ignorance: At last weekend’s Republican state convention in Texas, a vendor booth hosted by Republicanmarket pushed a pin that brought racial politics to the fore in the most blatant and unproductive possible way.
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 AP photo / Mel Evans, File
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During the final stages of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, a common refrain emerged among some of her more ardent supporters: If Barack Obama wins the nomination, we’re backing John McCain. Now that the dust has settled somewhat after Clinton’s concession, Obama is working to clarify the differences between his positions and McCain’s when it comes to issues that impact the lives of female voters.
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Here’s a lengthy (run time: 23:49) video clip from Barack Obama’s Father’s Day speech at Chicago’s Apostolic Church of God on Sunday, beginning with his riff about too many fathers from the African-American community being “MIA.”
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 AP photo / Dennis Cook
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By Stanley Kutler — For two centuries, selecting vice presidential candidates was at best a mere afterthought. Hardly anyone knew of the process, if indeed one existed aside from a brief huddle by the presidential candidate with a few advisers and friends. The presidential nominees usually settled on lesser-known figures, deserved obscurities in American history.
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 From ThinkProgress.com
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President Bush says he is now reconsidering the swaggering cowboy image that he adopted early on in his presidency. “I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric,” he tells the U.K.‘s Times Online as his time in office ticks out.
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 AP photo / Jim Mone
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Al Franken’s career arc has taken an unconventional turn: The comedian has nailed down the Minnesota Democrats’ endorsement for the U.S. Senate, following in former Gov. Jesse Ventura’s footsteps as a performer-turned-politician in the Midwestern state. Starting out in comedy may serve Franken well in Congress, where knowing how to work a tough crowd just might come in handy.
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 AP photo / LM Otero
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The Brits are in on the American election speculation game, judging by this Daily Mail article about John McCain’s first wife, Carol, which, despite reporter Sharon Churcher’s “tsk-tsk” tone about McCain’s possible philandering and his eventual wife-swap (enter Cindy, beer heiress, pictured), also allows that Carol McCain still cares about her ex-husband and supports him in his political ventures.
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Hillary Clinton formally stepped off the long road to the White House on Saturday, at least in terms of seeking the presidency herself, by standing before a throng of supporters in Washington, D.C., and announcing she was suspending her campaign. She congratulated former rival Barack Obama and asked the gathered well-wishers “to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me.”
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Presumptive Republican presidential nominee (still waiting for the handy acronym here, people) John McCain has a new advertisement that makes a play for the anti-war crowd with his bold pronouncement: “I hate war.” All right, but how does his latest incarnation explain the liberties he once took with a certain Beach Boys surf classic?
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 AP photo / Jose Luis Magana
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Regardless of the end result of her efforts, Hillary Clinton has endured a grueling trial by fire in recent months in her historic bid for the presidency. The Nation’s Katha Pollitt points out the gains she believes Clinton made for women in and beyond the strictly political realm, arguing that ” ... Women and men of every party and candidate preference, and every ethnicity too, owe Hillary Clinton a standing ovation, even if they can’t stand her.”
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Say what you will about Libertarian Bob Barr, but one thing’s for sure: We haven’t seen a mustachioed presidential contender like this since ... Teddy Roosevelt? During a “Colbert Report” appearance on Wednesday, Barr seemed pleased with Stephen Colbert’s assessment of his tea strainer, but gave his host the wary eye throughout the rest of his visit. A very serious man, that Bob Barr. No sudden moves, Stephen.
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 Richard Phibbs / HillaryClinton.com
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Inching closer to concession, Hillary Clinton shifted gears on Thursday, taking a different tone in an e-mail to her allies and readying them to back her rival for the top spot on the Democratic presidential ticket, Barack Obama. However, she will still wait until Saturday to make any kind of formal announcement about her status in the race.
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 AP photo / Jeff Chiu
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By Robert Scheer — Will the real John McCain stand up? Actually, I don’t expect him to, now that he is the Republican presidential candidate, pandering to the irrationalities that drive his party. Nor is it likely that the fawning mass media will pressure him to the point of clarity. But I remain genuinely confused as to what makes him tick.
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 AP photo / Charlie Niebergall
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Once again, the topic of the vice presidency has come up for Hillary Clinton and, this time, she’s apparently responded receptively to the idea—if it would help the Democrats win the White House in November. Clinton reportedly said she was “open” to the idea during a conference call Tuesday.
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 AP photo / Chris Carlson
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Having endured at least three rounds of controversy stemming from his 20-year association with Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ, Democratic candidate Barack Obama has decided to end his membership, telling reporters Saturday that he is sorry for the intense media attention his affiliation has attracted to the church and its members.
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Author and columnist David Sirota braves the Colbert treatment to talk about his (Sirota’s) latest book, “The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington,” and to brazenly assert that, “People are angry with the status quo—they think the establishment isn’t working for them, and frankly, it’s not.”
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After some seriously suspenseful primaries earlier in the year, the general feeling about Sunday’s Democratic presidential primary in Puerto Rico is far less ... energized, let’s say. In fact, local officials are predicting that a substantial percentage of Puerto Rican voters won’t even show up at the polls.
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Those reporters who were given just three Internet-free hours to curl up with John McCain’s huge stack of medical records (right before Memorial Day!) were privy to some mighty intimate details about the presumptive Republican nominee—and pundits were subsequently saddled with the task of making talk of polyps, chin herpes (ew!) and freckled buttocks somehow sound like good news for the GOP.
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 AP photo / Brennan Linsley
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Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama observed Memorial Day in Puerto Rico and New Mexico, respectively, paying tribute to U.S. military men and women from the past and the present and making their cases for becoming commander in chief.
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 blog.ecr.co.za
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Sen. John Kerry (remember him?) has penned an Op-Ed for The Washington Post, taking issue with President Bush’s—and by extension, John McCain’s—argument that engaging in talks with Iran would constitute a dangerous gesture of “appeasement.” The No. 1 reason Kerry thinks the GOP leaders’ stance is wrong? Well, “In short, not talking to Iran has failed. Miserably.” Above, Iranian President Ahmadinejad.
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 AP photo / Rich Pedroncelli
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Internal shake-ups among Sen. John McCain’s campaign aides, unusual structuring choices within his camp and the worry among some Republicans that their presumptive nominee isn’t capitalizing sufficiently on the Democrats’ current chaos are all spelling trouble for Team McCain.
Posted on May 24, 2008
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This wasn’t the best week for Sen. John McCain’s (former) religious advisers, the Revs. John Hagee and Rod Parsley—primarily because the Republican front-runner has effectively given them both the political heave-ho following the public re-airing of their takes on Israel and Islam, respectively.
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 AP photo / Elise Amendola
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Addressing the issue of whether she should drop out of the presidential race—and, if so, when—Sen. Hillary Clinton pointed to the assassination of Robert Kennedy in June 1968 in defending her refusal to quit. Updated
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 flickr.com / Brian Wozniak
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It might be hard to imagine, given the tensions and free-flying barbs between them in recent months, but Sen. Hillary Clinton may be angling to become Barack Obama’s running mate should he clinch the Democratic presidential nomination this summer.
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 AP photo
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Although this report characterizes Sen. Barack Obama’s search for a vice presidential running mate as “top-secret,” it can’t be all that hush-hush if it’s out on the news wires. That said, who might he be eyeing?
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By Ellen Goodman — Is there anyone who still remembers the folksy winter tableau? Eight Democratic candidates against the picturesque backdrop of Iowa and New Hampshire. It was a feel-good photo op of diversity.
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Good thing Mike Huckabee isn’t in the running for the presidency anymore—he’d be hard-pressed to spin his way out of the truly horrific crack he made Friday at an NRA event in Louisville, Ky. That’s hardly important, considering the troubling implications of his failed joke, which called up the image of Democratic candidate Barack Obama being targeted by a gun-wielding assailant.
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Well, as you’ve probably noticed by now, John Edwards has publicly backed Barack Obama as his candidate of choice. There’s just one problem, as Stephen Colbert reminds us: Edwards previously said on Colbert’s show that he’d support the candidate who pledged to do the most for the nation’s poor—and the one who supplied him with a jet ski. But he hasn’t gotten that jet ski yet, has he now, Mr. Obama?
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Hey, Chris Matthews, what’s the French word for shower? Jon Stewart takes stock of the media coverage from last week’s West Virginia Democratic primary, wherein it was established that Barack Obama may not be the Mountain State’s “kind of guy,” and pits Matthews against Clinton campaign chair Terry McAuliffe in a good ol’ fashioned “Douche Off.”
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 AP photo / Lionel Cironneau
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Actor Sean Penn has already made waves at the Cannes Film Festival, where he’s leading this year’s jury, by weighing in about the presidential race back home—and by pointedly bucking the local smoking ban. Suffice it to say that Penn won’t be joining Oprah on one of her pep rallies for Barack Obama anytime soon.
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 commons.wikimedia.org
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This isn’t the first time someone has accused Sen. John McCain of not being conservative enough, but now former Republican congressman-turned-Libertarian Bob Barr is upping the ante on his critique of McCain’s conservatism by running against him in this year’s presidential election.
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You just can’t catch a break as a politician these days. Right when you think you look all “hip” and “endearingly self-deprecating” by allowing yourself to be skewered by certain late-night comedians (bonus points if you’re actually on the show while this gentle, aide-approved ribbing is happening), those same wise asses up and turn on you.
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 AP photo / Bob Bird
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Despite the doomsday tones that some in the blogosphere and in more traditional media circles took in their assessment of Hillary Clinton’s chances of nabbing the Democratic nomination after last Tuesday’s primaries, supporters have flocked to West Virginia. They are working hard there to keep their favorite candidate in the running, even if it means dealing with heckling from some locals who don’t share their mission.
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Looks like Sen. John McCain is being endorsed by more than one controversial preacher—the apparent “must-have” of leading presidential hopefuls this election cycle. Meet the Rev. Rod Parsley, whose support McCain sought and won, according to Brave New Films and Mother Jones, which have launched a collaborative effort to expose Parsley’s alarming beliefs about Islam and America’s role on the world stage.
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 AP photo / Elise Amendola
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Judging by exit polls, two groups made the difference for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton Tuesday night. A strong showing from African-American voters and gains elsewhere helped Obama to a big win in North Carolina. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, could thank older voters for what turned out to be a nail-biter of a victory in Indiana.
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