Stories related to: John McCain

At a Florida climate summit today, Arnold Schwarzenegger broke from prepared remarks to lay into offshore oil drilling, criticizing its supporters—who include President Bush, John McCain, and his host, fellow Republican governor Charlie Crist—as "blowing smoke."  "To look for new ways to feed our addiction is not the answer," Schwarzenegger said, reports the Sarasota Herald-Tribune . More »

John McCain has held only one public weekend event since becoming the presumptive nominee in February, Politico reports. The downtime—used to rest, meet privately with donors, and bone up on policy—is frustrating to those who think the Republican hasn't done enough to take advantage of his early victory. Advisers rebut that during most of that stretch, the Democratic primary was robbing all the headlines anyway. More »

Barack Obama and John McCain were firing away even before the Supreme Court's Second Amendment salvo today, Talking Points Memo notes. The Democrat backed away from a year-old comment (by an aide) that he thought Washington’s handgun ban was constitutional; the Republican smacked his opponent for flip-flopping—even using a reference to Obama's much-publicized remarks about "bitter" Americans and guns. More »

Louisiana governor and GOP VP wannabe Bobby Jindal signed a bill yesterday that will allow sex offenders to be punished with chemical castration. Said Jindal, “I am glad we have taken such strong measures...to put a stop to these monsters’ brutal acts,” said Jindal, taking the opportunity to slam as "atrocious" the Supreme Court's ruling that his state could not execute offenders who rape children. More »

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is walking an environmental tightrope between encouraging conservation and alternative energy, and promoting oil exploration off the state’s coast, the Wall Street Journal reports.  Recent moves include the purchase of 300 square miles in the Everglades—a deal that shuts down the nation’s largest sugar-grower. But the governor also says he’ll support drilling off the coast as long as the state’s people and beaches are protected. More »

Barack Obama joined rival John McCain yesterday in supporting the death penalty for child rapists, the AP reports. The Democratic candidate spoke after the Supreme Court ruled against a Louisiana law allowing capital punishment for child rape, saying it violates the constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The verdict negates similar laws in five other states. More »

How would a McCain Pentagon differ from Obama's? NPR sits own with two potential defense chiefs and finds common ground in their praise of Robert Gates' reforms but big differences in their approach to Iraq and in their own styles. Richard Armitage is an earthy McCain adviser and Vietnam vet who appreciates the value of "an infantryman with a bayonet." Obama adviser Richard Danzig is a Rhodes Scholar who wants soldiers to learn foreign languages. More »

A blue-state Republican senator up for re-election this fall is showing a serious case of candidate envy in a new ad, Talking Points Memo notes. Oregonian Gordon Smith's spot goes as follows: “Who says Gordon Smith helped lead the fight for better gas mileage and a cleaner environment? Barack Obama! He joined with Gordon and broke through a 20-year deadlock.” More »

An elite group of Republican senators met yesterday to craft an energy policy which the GOP claims is greener than the Democrats' plan, and more likely to control gas prices. Republicans will emphasize conservation—along with more nuclear plants and oil drilling—and have dubbed Barack Obama's opposition to increased drilling "Obamanomics," reports the Hill. More »

Barack Obama may be taking flak for opting out of public financing, but he would have been foolish to do otherwise, writes Charlie Cook in the National Journal . Cook is "relieved" that a potential president is savvy enough to hang on to a huge spending advantage. And in this race—in which "most voters are being asked, for the first time, to vote for someone who is very different from themselves"—Obama's going to need that money to make his case. More »

Barack Obama has a 12-point lead (49%-37%) over John McCain in a new Los Angeles Times/ Bloomberg poll. With Bob Barr and Ralph Nader in the mix, the margin grows to 15 points (48% to 33%). The poll suggests that both Democrats and independents think Obama will do the best job of fixing the economy, the top issue among voters. The candidates are tied among white voters with 39% each. More »

Forget the old swing-state conventional wisdom. Salon rounds up some experts and asks where the electoral map might flip in November: The eastern Rust belt (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan) is John McCain’s best hope. Ohio is traditionally weakest for Democrats, but the Michigan primary remains a problem, and aging Pennsylvanians are GOP-friendly. More »

Despite Barack Obama’s remarkable policy consistency, he "remains a puzzle to many voters," writes Dorothy Wickenden in the New Yorker . It's time to articulate a governing philosophy, she argues: “He has proved his steadiness of purpose without clearly defining his priorities.What, above all, does he intend to accomplish if he is elected President?" More »

Negative Californian reaction to John McCain’s offshore drilling flip-flop makes it appear the Republican has lost his strategic marbles, the Los Angeles Times notes—but McCain is gambling that efforts to lower gas prices will trump environmental concerns for voters in states like Michigan and Ohio. He’s “essentially conceding” California, said one consultant, in order to boost his standing elsewhere. More »

If everything goes right, the trial of the five Guantanamo Bay detainees charged in connection with the 9/11 attacks could begin within days of their seventh anniversary—and just as the presidential campaign begins its most heated stretch, Politico reports. Such a development would usually be a gift to Republicans, but this year it could help—or devastate—either candidate. More »

Barack Obama’s campaign, welcomed by Muslim Americans as a harbinger of religious tolerance and a more diplomatic foreign policy, has been reluctant to return their enthusiasm, the New York Times reports, leaving some leaders disappointed and angry. The candidate has appeared at churches and synagogues, but no mosques; aides asked the country's first Muslim congressman not to campaign for him; and campaign volunteers barred Muslim women wearing headscarves from standing behind Obama at a rally. More »

John McCain has denounced comments from one of his most senior political advisers that a terrorist attack would be "a big advantage" to the Republican candidate politically, the Washington Post reports. Aide Charlie Black also said in an interview in Fortune that Benazir Bhutto's assassination, while "unfortunate," helped McCain win primaries because it helped focus national attention on security. More »

John McCain's press corps boasted but a single woman today among its two dozen men: Elizabeth Holmes, who blogs about it in the Wall Street Journal . More women were in evidence  when Hillary Clinton was stumping, because she employed several herself, Holmes writes, but now few females are left to either report on hopefuls or advise them. This year's contest "seems to be the old-style male-dominated game." More »

In a post-Hillary age, a female candidate comes as less of a surprise on the national stage. Here are three women who could stand for John McCain’s vice-presidential slot, per Politico: Carly Fiorina: The former Hewlett-Packard exec is already a trusted adviser and constant McCain surrogate, but she’s no social conservative and has no foreign-policy expertise. CEOs aren’t too popular during recessions, either. More »

John McCain today offered a $300 million reward to the American who builds “a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.” He said government had wasted energy money on special interests and failed to punish manufacturers who ignore or abuse fuel efficiency standards, the Hill reports. More »