Campaign avoids state's Hillary-loving, white Democrats
New York Times Aug 15, 08 6:32 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Barack Obama has a novel strategy in Arkansas, a Southern state that likes Democrats: He's not there. The presumptive nominee has no Arkansas office and hasn't even visited in 2 years. Yet analysts aren't surprised, noting that conservative Democrats heavily favor Hillary Clinton and backed President Bush the past two elections. Arkansas also skews whiter than other Southern states, with only a 16% black population.
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GOP candidate raising far more than Obama from team honchos
Politico Aug 15, 08 5:24 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Hollywood money may be filling Barack Obama’s coffers, but sports-owners’ cash is overwhelmingly going to John McCain. The presumptive GOP nominee has raked in $3.2 million raised or donated by sports owners, while Obama has drummed up only $615,000, Politico reports. Even in Chicago, Obama’s hometown, McCain took in six times more than Obama from local team owners.
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OPINION
Candidate bets America's celebrity resentment outweighs admiration
Time Aug 15, 08 5:09 PM CDT
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John McCain's attack ads on the "biggest celebrity in the world" depend on Americans loving to hate stars more than they admire them, writes James Poniewozik in Time . If the tactic works, it will shift Barack Obama’s best asset into a Republican secret weapon—but "snark aside, Americans still like celebrities." Obama’s job is now to define what kind of celebrity he is going to be.
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Christian Science Monitor Aug 15, 08 4:36 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The presidential candidates will put their spiritual views on display tomorrow night, appearing with Rick Warren, the country's most popular pastor, at his megachurch in California. The back-to-back 1-hour interviews are clear signs of both the importance of religion in the campaign and the emergence of a new type of evangelical preacher, the Christian Science Monitor reports.
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Generally quiet on religion, candidate open about Vietnam
Chicago Tribune Aug 15, 08 3:26 PM CDT
(Newser)
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John McCain has kept relatively quiet about his religious beliefs and practices, but he speaks freely on the spiritual significance of his captivity in North Vietnam from 1967 to 1973. Ahead of tomorrow's sit-down with Rick Warren, the candidate tells the Chicago Tribune about his harrowing experience in the Hanoi Hilton, where he took part in an uprising over the denial of what he calls "a fundamental human right."
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Potential McCain VP pick is 'completely without moral scruple'
Boston Herald Aug 15, 08 1:59 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Barney Frank ripped into Mitt Romney yesterday as part of a DNC effort to discredit the possible Republican VP choices, the Boston Herald reports. Citing flip-flops on abortion and gay rights, the Massachusetts Congressman called the ex-Massachusetts governor ‘the most intellectually inconsistent politician I’ve ever known.” Romney, he charged, will "say whatever he thinks will win the next election."
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OPINION
Neither McCain or Obama has strong ties to any one location
Wall Street Journal Aug 15, 08 1:17 PM CDT
(Newser)
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This year's presidential campaign gives no sense of the candidates' roots, writes Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal . Clinton was clearly a Southerner, and JFK unmistakably an Irish Catholic from Massachusetts, but “Obama and McCain are not from a place, but from an experience”--Obama from “the town of Smooth in the state of Well-Educated” and McCain from the military.
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They no longer automatically claim Republican mantle
Washington Post Aug 15, 08 12:29 PM CDT
(Newser)
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When Barack Obama and John McCain meet with pastor Rick Warren tomorrow, they’ll be fighting for the future of an increasingly split evangelical voting block, the Washington Post reports. Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, is at the forefront of a movement rippling through young evangelicals and prompting them to focus on issues outside the normal Republican purview, like AIDS, poverty, and climate change.
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Biggest one-month total for Senator since primaries
Associated Press Aug 15, 08 11:48 AM CDT
(AP)
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John McCain raised $27 million in July, his largest one-month fundraising haul since clinching the nomination, while the Republican National Committee brought in nearly $26 million. "Our fundraising continues to be very healthy," Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, said in a conference call with reporters, noting that July was the fifth straight month in which McCain has improved his cash flow.
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Candidate said issue wouldn't 'rule out' possible running mate
Politico Aug 15, 08 9:06 AM CDT
(Newser)
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John McCain’s comment that he wouldn’t rule out Tom Ridge as a possible VP for being pro-choice sparked a flurry of panic among the conservative base—a vital group already lukewarm about McCain's party-maverick status. “That choice will end his bid for the presidency,” an activist tells Politico.
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ANALYSIS
GOP candidate flexes muscles, Dem hits the beach
New York Times Aug 15, 08 8:15 AM CDT
(Newser)
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As the conflict in Georgia wears on, John McCain has seized every opportunity this week to showcase his foreign policy chops, notes Michael Falcone in the New York Times , all but positioning himself as a putative commander in chief. McCain boasted of his multiple visits to the region and even dispatched allies Joe Lieberman and Lindsay Graham to Georgia—a far cry from Barack Obama's holiday in Hawaii.
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Huffington Post Aug 14, 08 6:00 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Jackson Browne is suing John McCain for using his song “Running on Empty” in a campaign ad without permission, the Huffington Post reports. The Ohio GOP used the tune in a spot mocking Obama's suggestion that Americans inflate their tires. McCain's not getting much love from celebrities. Earlier this week, Mike Myers demanded that the campaign remove a web ad that had a "We're not worthy" clip from Wayne's World .
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