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Zogby: Obama has electoral college majority; Barr has 6% support

Nick Juliano
Published: Monday July 7, 2008

A new nationwide poll shows Barack Obama securing a majority of electoral college votes over Republican opponent John McCain in a new state-by-state poll.

The Zogby Interactive online survey also shows Libertarian Candidate Bob Barr shaping up as a substantial factor in this year's election, pulling 6 percent of the vote. (He was substantially outperforming then-Green Party candidate Ralph Nader at a similar point in the 2000 campaign)

The poll was conducted June 11-30 among more than 46,000 likely voters.

If the election were held today, Obama would win 273 electoral votes, enough to hand him the presidency, according to Zogby's tally. McCain would receive 160 electoral votes, leaving 105 up for grabs. Obama is the choice of 44 percent of voters surveyed, compared to 38 percent who prefer McCain. Other projections, like the one being maintained at FiveThirtyEight.com, have Obama winning with as many as 308 electoral votes.

Pollster John Zogby said Barr "could really hurt McCain's chances," pointing to the former Georgia Republican's 7 percent support among conservative or very conservative voters, 43 percent support from libertarians and 11 percent showing with independents.

Liberal gadfly Nader, now running as an Independent, is polling at less than 2 percent in the latest survey.

Obama's campaign has been paying attention to Barr, saying he could help them in states like Alaska and Georgia...

Complete article here: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Zogby_Obama_has_electoral_college_majority_0707.html

Cindy McCain Scolds Husband for Iran Wisecrack

Associated Press
July 8, 2008

PITTSBURGH — Cindy McCain’s jab to her husband’s back came a second too late Tuesday to keep him from making a wisecrack about the health impact of Iran’s main import from the United States: cigarettes.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain was asked about an Associated Press report that $158 million in cigarettes have been shipped to Iran during George W. Bush’s presidency despite restrictions on U.S. exports to that country.

“Maybe that’s a way of killing them,” McCain told reporters, smiling as he waited for a cheesesteak sandwich at the Primanti Brothers restaurant. His wife, sitting next to him at the counter, poked his back without looking up.

“I meant that as a joke,” McCain quickly explained. “As a person who hasn’t had a cigarette in 28 years,” he began to say, when his wife corrected him: 29 years.

Taking a more serious tone, McCain said, “I’d like to look into” details of exports to Iran. “This is the first that I’ve heard about it,” he said...

Complete article here: http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/08/cindy-mccain-scolds-husband-for-iran-wisecrack/

McCain tells Hispanic group of his commitment to immigration reform

By Michael Cooper
International Herald Tribune
July 8, 2008

WASHINGTON: Senator John McCain told a major Hispanic group here Tuesday that he remained committed to passing the kind of immigration legislation that angered many Republican voters last year, but he underscored that he intended to first secure U.S. borders.

By Michael Cooper International Herald July 8, 2008 Senator John McCain told a major Hispanic group here Tuesday that he remained committed to passing the kind of immigration legislation that angered many Republican voters last year, but he underscored that he intended to first secure U.S. borders.

Speaking to the convention of the League of United Latin American Citizens, McCain noted his efforts to pass comprehensive immigration legislation, which was supported by President George W. Bush and such Democrats as Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts but which fell apart last year after an angry grass-roots movement that viewed it as tantamount to amnesty rose up to oppose its passage.

"I and many other colleagues twice attempted to pass comprehensive immigration legislation to fix our broken borders, ensure respect for the laws of this country, recognize the important economic necessity of immigrant laborers, apprehend those who came here illegally to commit crimes and deal practically and humanely with those who came here, as my distant ancestors did, to build a better, safer life for their families," McCain said, "without excusing the fact they came here illegally or granting them privileges before those who have been waiting their turn outside the country."

He added: "Many Americans, with good cause, didn't believe us when we said we would secure our borders, and so we failed in our efforts. We must prove to them that we can and will secure our borders first, while respecting the dignity and rights of citizens and legal residents of the United States of America. But we must not make the mistake of thinking that our responsibility to meet this challenge will end with that accomplishment. We have economic and humanitarian responsibilities as well, and they require no less dedication from us in meeting them."

McCain's support of the failed immigration bill, which many Republican primary voters vigorously opposed, threatened to doom his candidacy last year. He was regularly attacked on the issue by Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and Republican contender, who spoke of it as the McCain-Kennedy bill. Voters opposed to the bill often brought it up to him in town hall-style meetings in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina...

Complete article here: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/08/america/09immig.php

McCain plan: Let taxpayers, not employers, subsidize health insurance premiums

Associated Press
Sunday July 6, 2008

WASHINGTON -- There's a great unknown about Sen. John McCain's health plan: How many employers would drop insurance coverage for their workers because of his tax policies?

The Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting has proposed that everyone buying health insurance get a refundable tax credit, $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families. At the same time, he would treat employer contributions toward health insurance like income, meaning workers would have to pay income, but not payroll, taxes on it.

McCain's Democratic rival, Barack Obama, says the plan would "shred" the employer-based system that provides health insurance to about 158 million workers...

Complete article here: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/McCain_health_plan_Let_taxpayers_not_0706.html

Kerry: McCain Unfit to Be President

by Associated Press
Sunday, July 6, 2008

WASHINGTON — John Kerry said Sunday Republican John McCain doesn’t have the judgment to be president.

If that’s the case, then it’s probably a good thing McCain rejected overtures from Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, to form a bipartisan ticket and run with Kerry as his candidate for vice president.

Kerry had no kind words for his Senate colleague, accusing McCain of poor decision-making on everything from backing tax cuts for the wealthy to making support for continuing the U.S. military presence in Iraq the centerpiece of his presidential campaign.

“John McCain … has proven that he has been wrong about every judgment he’s made about the war. Wrong about the Iraqis paying for the reconstruction, wrong about whether or not the oil would pay for it, wrong about Sunni and Shia violence through the years, wrong about the willingness of the Iraqis to stand up for themselves,” Kerry, who supports Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”...

Complete article here: http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/06/kerry-mccain-unfit-to-be-president/

McCain Hires Former Giuliani Campaign Manager as New Political Director

by FOXNews.com

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Former Rudy Giuliani campaign manager Mike Duhaime will be the new political director for John McCain’s campaign, officials announced Sunday.

Duhaime is the first hire by Steve Schmidt since he took over operational control of the campaign last week.

Before working on the former New York City mayor’s unsuccessful campaign bid, Duhaime was political director of the Republican National Committee. He also served as a regional political director for the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2004.

Duhaime is a protege of former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman, who developed an elaborate national get-out-the-vote effort for the Bush campaign in 2004.

FOX News’ Carl Cameron contributed to this report.

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/06/mccain-hires-giuliani-campaign-manager-as-new-political-director/

McCain's Vietnam obsession

The former POW's Senate career has been marked by his outspoken determination never to repeat Vietnam mistakes. So why does he support the Iraq war?

By Mark Benjamin

Reuters photo

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

April 1, 2008 | WASHINGTON -- In a major national security speech delivered last week, John McCain invoked his experience in Vietnam to explain his support for a significant U.S. troop presence in Iraq for as long as it takes to prevent a wider catastrophe in the region. "I hold my position because I hate war, and I know very well and very personally how grievous its wages are," the former POW said in an address to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. "But I know, too, that we must pay those wages to avoid paying even higher ones later."

But the truth is that it's always about Vietnam for John McCain. He has invoked avoiding the mistakes of Vietnam with a sort of religious fervor in every important debate about dispatching U.S. troops since he first entered Congress in 1983. As he put it in an Aug. 18, 1999, speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, he studies "every prospective conflict for the shadow of Vietnam." In fact, a look at his record shows that he subjects every major foreign-policy decision to a Vietnam-derived test similar to the famed Powell doctrine, a test summed up by the McCain quote, "We're in it, now we must win it."

So entrenched are those lessons that McCain sounds, at times, like he wishes they could be applied retroactively. "We lost in Vietnam because we lost the will to fight, because we did not understand the nature of the war we were fighting, and because we limited the tools at our disposal," McCain said at a speech on Iraq at the Council on Foreign Relations on Nov. 5, 2003. And for that reason, it might be advisable to take him at his word when he says he'll stay in Iraq for 100 years. Whether Vietnam is the prism through which he judges national security decisions, or the rationale he uses to explain whatever position he decides to take -- and even if the lessons he says he's learned from Vietnam often seem contradictory -- he has applied his Vietnam test to Iraq and come up with the decision to stay...

Complete article here: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/04/01/mccain/

McCain camp puts Rove man in charge

New chief Steve Schmidt, right, a veteran of the Bush campaign, will focus on honing McCain's message. Republicans have complained the campaign lacked clear themes.

Last update: July 2, 2008 - 10:55 PM

Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign has gone through its second shake-up in a year. Responding to Republican concern that his candidacy was faltering, McCain put a veteran of President Bush's 2004 campaign in charge of day-to-day operations, and stepped away from a plan to have the campaign run by 11 regional managers, McCain's aides said Wednesday.

The elevation of Steve Schmidt -- who worked closely with Karl Rove -- at McCain's headquarters represented a sharp diminishment of the responsibilities of Rick Davis, who has been McCain's campaign manager since the last shake-up nearly a year ago.

The move is the latest sign of increasing influence of veterans of Rove's shop in the McCain operation. Nicolle Wallace, who was communications director for Bush in the 2004 campaign (and in his White House) has joined the campaign as a senior adviser, and will travel with McCain every other week. Greg Jenkins, another veteran of Rove's operation who is a former Fox News producer and director of presidential advance in the Bush White House, was hired by Schmidt last week after a series of what McCain's advisers acknowledged were poorly executed campaign events...

Complete article here: http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/president/22845884.html?location_refer=Most%20Viewed:President

McCain Battles a Nemesis, the Teleprompter

Mary Altaffer/Associated Press

Senator John McCain is ill-suited to lecterns, which often dwarf his small stature.

By MARK LEIBOVICH, New York Times

Last update: July 5, 2008 - 6:18 PM

LAS VEGAS - While unveiling his energy plan here recently, Sen. John McCain was performing relatively smoothly.

He managed to limit the mechanical hand chops and weirdly timed smiles that can often punctuate his speeches. He delivered his lines with an ease that suggested a momentary peace with his longtime nemesis, the teleprompter. (He relied on a belt-and-suspenders approach, with text scrolling down screens to his left and right, and on a big TV set in front of him.)

But when McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, came to the intended sound bite of his speech -- the part about reducing America's dependence on foreign oil -- he hit a slick.

"I have set before the American people an energy plan, the Lex-eegton Project," McCain said, drawing a quick breath and correcting himself. "The Lex-ing-ton Proj-ect," he said slowly. "The Lexington Project," he repeated. "Remember that name."

In a town meeting in Cincinnati the next day, McCain would again slip up on the name of the Massachusetts town, where, he noted, "Americans asserted their independence once before." He called it "the Lexiggdon Project," and twice tried to fix his error, before flipping the name ("Project Lexington") in subsequent references...

Complete article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/us/politics/06mccain.html?_r=2&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1215338561-jDvjTGA0sWz88iNCczU0BQ