2008 US Presidential Election.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - Former Sen. John Edwards jabbed gently at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday in the first all-candidates forum of the 2008 Democratic presidential campaign, saying her refusal to disavow a 2002 vote on Iraq was “between her and her conscience.”

“It’s not for me to judge,” said Edwards, who — like Clinton — voted in 2002 to authorize the invasion of Iraq, but unlike her, has since apologized for his vote.

The event format did not permit Clinton to respond to Edwards’ swipe, which stood out on an afternoon in which Democrats launched serial attacks on President Bush’s war policies.

Yahoo! News

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has formally announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, ending an “exploratory” phase that he began Jan. 3.

Romney, in picking the place to make his announcement, chose his birth state — Democratic-leaning but politically competitive Michigan — over his home state, Massachusetts, where he overcame normally overwhelming Democratic voting tendencies in 2002 to win a term as governor.

Romney, after touring the country to test the waters for a possible presidential bid, retired as governor rather than seek re-election in 2006.

Yahoo! News

For those among us who were witness to the goings-on in the White House in the 1990’s and asked ourselves, “Why doesn’t she dump that guy?” Here’s why.

It’s been said and written on numerous occasions over the years that Hillary Clinton, champion “feminist,” wouldn’t be anywhere near where she is today without a man — specifically Bill Clinton. Like Jane Fonda, who billed herself as a “feminist” but yet had the audacity to get breast implants, Hillary Clinton is one of those “both ends against the middle” political hacks. In other words, if Hillary Clinton were black, she’d join the KKK to get the peckerwood vote and later spend some of the money she raised from the group on ads calling for stiffer penalties for hate crimes.

mensnewsdaily

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Attorney Mike Ciresi confirmed Sunday night that he is forming an exploratory committee to test the waters for a campaign to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman.

If he decides to seek the DFL endorsement, it would be his second attempt to represent Minnesota in the Senate. Ciresi, 60, of Mendota Heights, lost a primary bid in 2000 to U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton.

This time, Ciresi said he will abide by the party’s endorsement.

West Central Tribune

Last Saturday, in the not new news event of the weekend, Senator Barack Obama made it official. He is running for President. He is a strong candidate and a welcome addition to the race. During his remarks, he said this:

“…I came to believe that through this decency, we can build a more hopeful America.”
Senator Obama sincerely believes in his vision of a better country, a more hopeful and decent place.

But as we checked through the reviews of his announcement, we were filled not with hope, but with concern.

Huffington Post

Months after the governor called for cutting property taxes, in part by trimming bureaucracy and boosting rebates, lawmakers delivered increased tax breaks for homeowners.

They tied the rebates to caps on government spending and used a separate tax increase to help pay for it. Democrats declared victory for the people. Republicans howled that it was all an election-geared gimmick.

That was in 2004, and the governor was James E. McGreevey.

Two and a half years later, increased relief and 4 percent caps on property tax increases are the most tangible products Gov. Jon S. Corzine has to show so far after his call for “historic reforms” more than six months ago. Last year’s sales tax hike will pay for much of the latest rebate plan.

Courierpostonline

Just about a year-and-a-half ago, Sen. John McCain went to court to try to curtail the influence of a group to which A. Jerrold Perenchio gave $9 million, saying it was trying to “evade and violate” new campaign laws with voter ads ahead of the midterm elections.

As McCain launches his own presidential campaign, however, he is counting on Perenchio, the founder of the Univision Spanish-language media empire, to raise millions of dollars as co-chairman of the Arizona Republican’s national finance committee.

In his early efforts to secure the support of the Republican establishment he has frequently bucked, McCain has embraced some of the same political-money figures, forces and tactics he pilloried during a 15-year crusade to reduce the influence of big donors, fundraisers and lobbyists in elections. That includes enlisting the support of Washington lobbyists as well as key players in the fundraising machine that helped President Bush defeat McCain in the 2000 Republican primaries.

freeinternetpress

Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee swooped into Myrtle Beach on Saturday to woo the area’s top Republicans.

Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas and a conservative Republican, said he wanted to tell the people gathered at the annual Horry County Republican Ball in Myrtle Beach to “remember that being a Republican is a good thing.”

Huckabee is among the presidential hopefuls making the rounds in South Carolina, which, because of its early 2008 Democratic and Republican primaries, is poised to play a larger role in choosing the next president.

Speaking to reporters before the event, he said the Republicans deserved to lose control of Congress and that the country needs a leader who can efficiently run the government.

myrtlebeachonline

WASHINGTON - It can be hard to keep track of everyone running for president, let alone those who are merely “exploring” it, “unofficially running,” “testing the waters” or “starting a conversation with the American people.”
This is the stutter-step season of the 2008 presidential campaign.

Candidates keep announcing that they are running or almost certainly running, then, a few days or weeks later, saying so again while the news media dutifully record each step.

Last week, for instance, former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, a Republican who last month announced formation of an “exploratory committee,” made more headlines by saying he would announce that he was going to run for president this week in Michigan. And former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York declared last week that “I’m in this to win” after filing something called a “statement of candidacy.”

The New York Times

This is what it’s come to. The local newspaper in my town in Virginia today ran an op-ed by rightwinger Cal Thomas attacking Hillary Clinton for her past support for the war. Thomas began by criticizing Clinton for pretending she had never supported the war, but the bulk of his column blamed her simply for supporting it and for falling for the lies that Bush had used to sell it:

“One wonders what took such a smart woman until January 2007 in Iowa to conclude that she had been duped. And, one wonders: If she can be misled by so many people in whom she has confidence, how will she be able to see clearly as president?”

Along with this column, the paper printed a cartoon from the San Antonio Express News that shows Hillary with a “Hillary 08″ button thinking “He’s not the only one I wish would go away.” She’s reading an article about Obama, and walking up behind her is another Hillary labeled “Pro-War Hillary.”

afterdowningstreet

Senator Barack Obama announced his bid to be America’s first black president by urging an end to the Iraq war and portraying himself as a fresh face capable of leading a new generation.

Obama, 45, the youngest contender among his fellow Democrats, told thousands shivering in the cold at the campaign’s launch in Springfield, Illinois: “Let us transform this nation.”

Although relatively new to national politics, Obama is already considered one of the top challengers in his party to front-runner Senator Hillary Clinton in the 2008 election.

IOL