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Barack Obama is a gifted politician who has led an exemplary life. His run for Presidency for many offers redemption that America has finally moved beyond race. But that laudable proposition is beginning to foster surreal rules of campaigning from both the media and Obama himself that do no one any good. 1. The 2008 campaign must stick to concrete issues and detailed policies. That said, Barack Obama can continue to speak only in vague terms of “hope and change.” 2. Rev. Wright’s racist tirades must be contextualized and only understood in their proper historic milieu of white racism—that is,...

The Pundit Analyzing Obama? Some TV Upstart Named Rove By JIM RUTENBERG and JACQUES STEINBERG WASHINGTON — Late Thursday night, Karl Rove, “the architect” of the last two Republican presidential victories, was on his new television perch at Fox News, offering free advice to Senator Barack Obama as he closed in on the Democratic nomination. Any move by Mr. Obama to declare victory before the last of the Democratic primaries in June, Mr. Rove said, would alienate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s wing of the party. “That’s a mistake,” he said. “That just is rubbing the loser’s nose in it. And...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- John McCain, who has spent the last two months trying to consolidate right-wing support as the Republican candidate for president, has a problem of disputed dimensions with a vital component of the conservative coalition: the evangelicals. The biggest question is whether Mike Huckabee is part of the problem or the solution for McCain. An element of the Christian community is not reconciled to McCain's candidacy but instead regards the prospective presidency of Barack Obama in the nature of a Biblical plague visited upon a sinful people. These militants look at former Baptist preacher Huckabee as "God's candidate"...

It appears that Barack Obama has survived a tough couple of weeks. In the words of some, he's shown that "he can take a punch." But, frankly, I think Senator Obama is still getting kid gloves treatment from a press corps that tilts left. Despite the hounding about his "bitterness" remarks, and the ongoing story of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, there's been hardly 10 seconds of attention about his incredible statement that he wouldn't want his daughters "punished with a baby" if they "make a mistake." This in a discussion about HIV/AIDS in which he said that contraception should be...

WASHINGTON - A new Gallup survey found that 61% of Jewish voters prefer Obama to McCain, who got 32% of the Jewish support. That number is far greater than the rate found for the general population, who only preferred Obama to McCain 45-43, according to the poll. Obama also still trails Clinton in Jewish support, according to the survey, with Clinton winning against Obama in the Jewish community 50%-43%. Though the results showed Obama is favored by the Jewish community, the Republican Jewish Coalition pounced on them to attack Obama.

WASHINGTON – Sen. Barack Obama's victory in North Carolina and near-miss in Indiana last week remove much of the doubt about whether he will win the Democratic nomination for president. With Obama the likely Democratic nominee and Sen. John McCain long his party's presumptive nominee, the search for their vice presidential picks can now begin. Below, you'll find the five most logical veeps, assuming McCain and Obama are the candidates, ranked in the order of the likelihood of being chosen. No. 1 on each side is currently the likeliest to be named. REPUBLICANS 5. Mitt Romney: A few months ago,...

We are part of the many Democrats that will definitely vote for John McCain if Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination to run for president. We would love to have our economy and national image restored to at least what it was during the Clinton years of presidency, but Barack Obama is not the answer. Obama speaks politics and not what he believes. He only says what he must to win. Actions speak louder than words. He does not respect America -- won't wear a flag on his lapel, won't put his hand over his heart during the pledge of...

America's Independent Party has as its goal the return of our nation to a set of foundational principles. We call them "the American Principles." The word "principle" comes from a Latin root which means "first things." The American Principles are the "first things" that our country should consider – in domestic policy, foreign policy, the internal functioning of government, and in using the "bully pulpit" of public office and the political arena to promote certain societal virtues and behaviors. America's Independent Party recognizes that these "first things" are clearly defined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the...

If he's chosen as the Democratic nominee, his race might be an issue, but experience and social issues loom much larger. By Doyle Mcmanus and Peter Wallsten, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers May 11, 2008 WASHINGTON -- For the first time, a major political party is on the brink of choosing an African American as its candidate for president, but when Democratic strategists and other analysts look ahead, they don't see race as Barack Obama's biggest challenge. They worry more, they say, about other issues: Will swing voters view him as too young? Too inexperienced? Or too liberal? "I am...

The head of U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign refused to concede Sunday that she has no chance to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Terry McCauliffe said it is still possible for Clinton to win the nomination, even though most pundits have concluded that she cannot overtake her rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, to become the Democratic Party nominee. "Look, tomorrow -- something new could happen," said McCauliffe. "Nothing's impossible. You are talking to Terry McAuliffe. I don't believe anything in life is impossible." McAuliffe argued that Clinton would be a stronger candidate than...

LINCOLN, Neb. — Former Colorado senator and two-time presidential candidate Gary Hart told Nebraska Democrats that Barack Obama will heal the national party, while John McCain's nomination may cause a rift among Republicans. "There's a real struggle for the soul of the Republican Party under way," Hart said Saturday before the state Democratic Party's annual Morrison-Exon Day Dinner. About 450 people attended the party's largest fundraising event. Hart, 71, sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, and was a U.S. senator from 1975 to 1987. Hart said the Republican Party is going to find its ties to religious...

John Edwards said it's over and sent a signal to the Clinton campaign: John Edwards, a former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, cautioned Sunday that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton “has to be really careful that she’s not damaging our prospects” by staying in the contest That's really wise advice. But, Clinton's spokesman, Howard Wolfson, is still in a fighting mood, apparently. Puffing his chest out on FOX today, Wolfson delivered some classic fifth grade school yard taunts: But Howard Wolfson, a senior Clinton adviser, struck a feisty note on Fox, saying that if Mr. Obama wanted Mrs. Clinton out...

The latest Rasmussen Reports poll in Michigan shows McCain attracting 45% of the vote while Barack Obama earns 44%. Six percent (6%) say they would vote for a third-party candidate and 5% remain undecided. Those results are similar to a late-March survey that also showed McCain with a statistically insignificant one-point advantage. In February, McCain had a three-point lead.

Politics produces a gap between words and deeds. Obama exaggerates the credit he deserves for a limited piece of ethics-reform legislation. He embellishes when he presents himslf as having a consistent record on the Iraq war when in fact he's done done a fair amount of zigzagging. He says it was the 1965 bloody attacks on civil rights protesters in Selma, Alabama, that inspired his parents to marry. They had been married for years already. He engages in doubletalk when, on free trade and Iraq, he tells the yokels one thing and the policy people another. He overstates when he...

Forty years ago this month, Paris exploded in left-wing student riots that led to a nationwide general strike. The revolutionary fervor of France's soixante-huitards ('68ers) spread widely, including to American campuses. If you're wondering when the Good '60s of peace, love and civil rights gave way to the Bad '60s of anarchy and violence, May 1968 is as good a historical pivot point as any.John McCain was in the Hanoi Hilton at the time. Barack Obama was 6 years old. Yet the restless spirit of '68 haunts this year's presidential campaign, especially the White House bid of Mr. Obama, who,...

Peggy Noonan May 11,2008-- THIS is an amazing story. The Democratic Party has a winner. It has a nominee. You know this because he has the most votes and the most elected delegates, and there's no way, mathematically, his opponent can get past him. He's got this thing. And the Democratic Party, after this long and brutal slog, should be dancing in the streets. Party elders should be coming out on the balcony in full array, in full regalia, and telling the crowd, "Habemus nominatum": "We have a nominee." And the crowd below should be cheering, "Viva Obamus! Viva nominatum!"...

Sen. Hillary Clinton is a smart, strong, tenacious woman. Those qualities are ones that many of us have admired in her for years. They also are traits that cause a lot of other people -- including many women -- to despise her. Some folk just can't stand a forceful female, an intelligent woman who is willing to stand her ground with any man and one who has the audacity to believe that she can be president of the United States. Despite my longtime admiration for her, I must admit that in recent months I've lost some of the respect for...

Republicans in the U.S. Congress are petrified about a November debacle, a fear stoked on May 3, when they lost their second straight special election in a district held by Republicans. The party's fundamental situation is terrible: Republicans are saddled with an enormously unpopular president, a war, a troubled economy and a Democratic opposition that's being energized by important constituent groups. "The generics are as bad as anytime since I have been here," said Representative Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican and one of the most politically astute members of Congress in either party. Davis, a 14-year veteran, is retiring this...

Barack Obama called himself an "imperfect messenger" in his victory speech in North Carolina last Tuesday. That was a refreshing touch of humility, but it was also a fact. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is far from perfect. But he has demonstrated the most mysterious and precious gift in politics, which is grace under pressure. Obama has remained "Mr. Cool," even when his campaign seemed to be blowing up around him. He didn't do the politically expedient things: He didn't wear his patriotism on his lapel with an American flag pin; he didn't promptly disown his race-baiting former pastor, Jeremiah...

A hilarious must-see You Tube video: Hillary's Downfall quesney posted the video yesterday, but it's worth repeating for those who haven't seen it yet. Lots of cursing (be warned), but one of the funniest things I've seen. Play with the sound up and full screen. Enjoy!

The media have become an interesting institution over the past 10 years. Journalists more often let their feelings or their editorial comments infiltrate news reports, not just op-eds or editorials. There are exceptions, but the media in general are great at building people up and then tearing them down. Interesting thing is, so many people are intrigued by it. Some actually love it. It would be wise for all elected officials, pro athletes and Hollywood types to remember what one of my football coaches once said: "When people put you on a pedestal, that's their fault. If you believe it,...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - While John McCain is practically assured the Republican presidential nomination, many party members are having a hard time accepting him -- and showing it with symbolic votes against him in primary contests. The Republican nomination battle has been all but decided for over two months. Still, some Republicans used the April 22 Pennsylvania primary and last week's votes in Indiana and North Carolina to register their unhappiness with the de facto victor. Some vote for libertarian Texan Ron Paul, who has refused to quit the race and has racked up more than one million votes, according to...

Michael Dudley is the son of a preacher man. He's a born-again Christian with two family members in the military. He grew up in the Bible Belt, where almost everyone he knew was Republican. But this fall, he's breaking a handful of stereotypes: He plans to vote for Democrat Barack Obama. "I think a lot of Christians are having trouble getting behind everything the Republicans stand for," said Dudley, 20, a sophomore at Seattle Pacific University. Dudley's disenchantment with the GOP isn't unique among young, devoutly Christian voters. According to a September 2007 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion...

Washington - If you ranked all of the TV markets in "blue-state" America according to how much advertising they saw from the 2004 Bush campaign and its allies, the list would begin like this: Milwaukee. Green Bay. Wausau. Pittsburgh, Pa. Scranton-Wilkes Barre, Pa. Madison. La Crosse-Eau Claire. That pretty much says it all about Wisconsin's place on the electoral map. Few blue states are fatter targets for Republicans.That was true for George W. Bush, who lost the state twice by an average of three-tenths of a percentage point. And it will be true again for John McCain, now busy crafting...

She once described herself as "the most famous person you know very little about." But as she careens across the country in a desperate attempt to rescue her campaign, America is coming to know Hillary Clinton all too well. The tenacity that even critics praised suddenly looks tawdry. The persistence against impossible odds appears anything but noble. Long after the party is over, Clinton's refusal to go home is taking on the trappings of a sad spectacle. Her inability to accept defeat is not, it seems clear, about public service or even politics. It is merely personal. With Barack Obama...

John McCain appeared in the “No-Spin Zone” tonight–and spun, spun, spun his way through a few, scant, superficial questions about immigration. Asked whether he would do anything about illegal alien sanctuary cities, he shrugged off the question by muttering that “of course” he didn’t approve of them (but was silent on taking any proactive measures to cut off their funding). Having dispensed with that, McCain then quickly gave his new slippery, flip-flop formulation about how we need to “secure the borders” AND have “comprehensive immigration enforcement/” “temporary guest work plan” (translation: amnesty) and “deal with the 12 million people already...

Clinton: 'It's Not Over Until the Lady in the Pantsuit Says It Is' May 11, 2008 4:11 PM ABC News' Eloise Harper reports: Sen. Hillary Clinton spoke in Grafton, W.Va., on Mother’s Day with her daughter by her side. Clinton read a few messages from supporters who urged her to continue her bid for the presidency. "'Keep strong,' she said. 'It's not over until the lady in the pantsuit says it is,'" Clinton said, reading what she said was her favorite message. Another one she read said: "Keep fighting. No matter what the outcome may be, the fact that you...

How do you know if Barack Obama is unhappy with what you're saying—or not saying? At meetings of his closest advisers, he likes to lean back, put his feet on the table and close his eyes. If he doesn't like how the conversation is going, he will lean forward, put his feet on the floor and "adjust his socks, kind of start tugging at them," says Michael Strautmanis, a counselor to the campaign. Obama wants people to talk, but he doesn't want to intimidate them. "If you haven't said anything, he'll call on you," says Strautmanis. "He's never said it,...

The last couple of months have been springtime in paradise for Republicans: the loveliest of all possible seasons. They have been watching two Democratic presidential candidates in an endless battle to destroy each other -- a process that does not appear to enhance the chance that the eventual nominee will win in November. A recent Gallup poll shows John McCain leading both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head matchup. All this before Republicans even begin publicizing the worst that can be said about either of two candidates whose alleged defects provide a supremely target-rich environment. But it's easy...

Hillary Rodham Clinton began her presidential quest armed with talent, tenacity, fame, money, connections and a team that knew how to win. Many people believed her victory in the Democratic nomination battle was a sure thing. Her ultimate failing may have been in believing it, too. Clinton had one big problem out of the gate: 40 percent or more of Americans said they'd never vote for her. She was too polarizing. It's love her or hate her. Clinton powered through that hurdle in state after state, showing grit that earned her the valuable political currency of being merely admired. White...

By CARL CAMPANILE May 11, 2008 -- Defying disgusted constituents and angry Republican leaders, disgraced Rep. Vito Fossella has told pals he plans to seek re-election. And, shockingly, the Staten Island pol is feeling "pretty good," he confided to friends. "I got every indication that he's planning to run again," said Guy Molinari, Fossella's mentor, who's been in close contact with the embattled, 43-year-old politician. Fossella, a 10-year incumbent, is up for re-election in November. "He's not just inclined to run. He plans on running," said Molinari, a former congressman and Staten Island borough president who was succeeded by Fossella...

If I had any doubts about whether to vote for John McCain in this year's presidential election, those doubts were laid to rest this past week when McCain sat down for an interview with Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. McCain solidified for me the fact that he is not a true conservative and not worthy of my support. McCain proved that on some of the most crucial issues, he will let down a base of constituents that are looking for answers. O'Reilly addressed the question of rising gasoline prices. Anyone with a brain in their head knows that only two...

One of the thing I keep reading here on Free Republic is that a lot of conservatives are under the belief that if we get fours of Senator Obama or Senator Clinton that the American public would become so shocked and disgusted that they will be tripping over themselves in 2012 to elect a "true conservative" candidate. I have some issues with Senator McCain, however that's not the point here. Lets look at the last 40 years. Only two presidential incumbents have lost their bid for re-election excluding President Ford. Ford was a special case, serving out the remainder of...

Hillary Clinton, down to her last straw, is making the case that she is the better candidate to run against the Republicans because, unlike Barack Obama, she can win white Democrats. She is right. But because she is daring to touch the hot button of racial politics, she is being told to shut up or risk being charged with exploiting racial tensions for political advantage. The facts are stubborn, however. Since his phenomenal win with 33% of the white vote in nearly all-white Iowa, Obama has been unable to get a firm grip on white Democrats. He has won a...

NOT so long ago, the race for the Democratic presidential nomination was dominated by talk of Hillary Clinton's mental toughness and fighting qualities. One critic even referred to the former first lady's "testicular fortitude". But at a Mother's Day function in New York yesterday, Senator Clinton's hardball approach was suddenly missing, raising speculation she is ready to abandon her campaign and cede Barack Obama the victory that everyone else knows he's won. The shift in Senator Clinton's demeanour came on a day when Senator Obama finally took the lead in the super delegate count, leaving his rival without a single...

Here we go again. After being subjected to eight years of the collegial presidency of Bill and Hillary, when we were told that when we got Bill we got Hillary as a bonus, it looks as if we are facing another twofer: Barack and Michelle. Effete liberal Democrats are all but canonizing Barack Obama, who they see as one of their own — cool, detached, impressively intellectual — all in all what Pat Buchanan described as something fresh out of the faculty lounge, where lofty thoughts abound and contempt for the great unwashed is hardly concealed. That may be an...

Apparently it mentions Donald Young, the murdered gay choir director of Obama’s Trinity Church of Christ. This is all getting incredibly interesting, considering the fact that Reverend Wright recently retired and the church is building him a mansion within a stone’s throw of Louis Farrakhan’s in Tinley Park. I haven’t read the globe article yet, but I know that people are circulating the flyers that I posted earlier. This is a grassroots movement - someone called Hannity and Colms and Colms said he was aware of the story, and the caller was so surprised he got through, he was rendered...

After exhaustive meetings between the Republicans and Democrats, the debate schedule for the upcoming general election between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama has been set. "In determining these debates, we had to take into account the schedules of each candidate and their positions on several important domestic and international issues. Regrettably, we weren’t able to schedule both candidates on any one given night, so each debate will have the candidate questioned separately, on different nights, in front of a live studio audience comprised purely of randomly selected independent voters. For John McCain, who will be interviewed behind a...

This year’s long and contentious Democratic presidential battle will end with Barack Obama and a healed party, former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart said Saturday night. In fact, he suggested, it actually may be the Republican Party that splinters before the November election. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain “seems to have a free ride” for now, Hart said in a Lincoln interview. “But there’s a real struggle for the soul of the Republican Party under way.” That clash pits a party tied to the religious right, personal social issues, neoconservative foreign policy and libertarian taxpayers against a traditional GOP that...

May 10, 2008 -- Barack Obama has dumped one of his advisers for meeting with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, according to published reports. Robert Malley, who acted as an informal adviser to Obama on Mideast policy, told the Times of London that he was in regular contact with the militant group as part of his work for the International Crisis Group think tank.

Here’s an interesting thing that John McCain wrote about judges: “In the shorthand of constitutional discourse, these abuses by the courts fall under the heading of ‘judicial activism.’ But real activism in our country is democratic. Real activists seek to make their case democratically — to win hearts, minds and majorities to their cause. Such people throughout our history have often shown great idealism and done great good. By contrast, activist lawyers and activist judges follow a different method. They want to be spared the inconvenience of campaigns, elections, legislative votes and all of that. They don’t seek to win...

UNTIL a few months ago Bill Clinton was the golden boy of American politics. As the most successful Democratic president of recent times, he opened doors across the world. His Clinton Foundation and its Clinton Initiative offshoot led the way in global philanthropy, bringing industrialists, rock stars and world leaders together to promise action on poverty, Aids and global warming. He had every expectation of followingADVERTISEMENThis former vice president, Al Gore, by collecting a Nobel Peace prize. Hillary's expected coronation as the next president seemed assured, anchoring the couple's place as Washington's supreme power couple and also as a multi-billion-dollar...

We have a double feature today. Hillary Clinton Racist?Jackie and Dunlap on Hillary's racism, Obama's payoff, and McCain's lost bearings. Plus nun jokes! Click the pic to watch the video! "Dunlap the Man comin' at ya, friends. And boy this presidential race is gettin' uglier than a Paul Begala/Donna Brazile wrestling match. Ugly!" Our second feature:Summer Movie Preview Jackie and Dunlap preview all the deafening, incomprehensible hogwash that liberal Hollywood will vomit up for you this summer. Click the pic to watch the video! "Hello and welcome to the annual RedState Update Summer Movie Preview starring Jackie Broyles and Dunlap!...

Barely mentioning Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama said he was open to campaigning with McCain in "town hall" events. But he also warned that controversial issues such as McCain's ties to the Keating Five savings and loan scandal are fair game, and he called McCain's proposal for a temporary halt in the federal gasoline tax a pander and a gimmick... Obama was asked Saturday if the fall campaign might touch on the 1987 Keating Five scandal, in which the Senate Ethics Committee said McCain used "poor judgment" for allegedly pressing regulators to go easy on the owner of a...

So if Bill Clinton was our first black president based on various things, considering all McCain has done so far to bolster the amnesty fight, I think that would make him our first mexican president.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., faces enormous pressure from social conservatives to ignore his repeated commitment to change the GOP's platform on abortion. "If he were to change the party platform," to account for exceptions such as rape, incest or risk to the mother's life, "I think that would be political suicide," said Tony Perkins, the president of the conservative Family Research Council, to ABC News. "I think he would be aborting his own campaign because that is such a critical issue to so many Republican voters and the Republican brand is already in trouble." A senior Republican close to McCain...

Bill Clinton stands on a small stage in this tiny town, torrential rain beating on the rooftop, his all-white crowd of coalminers, schoolteachers and union members cheering him on. “Don’t let them tell you she can’t win this thing,” he hollers, his voice hoarse after another day of campaigning. “I’m telling you, she can win this thing, because of people like you, and places like this.” There is huge affection for Mr Clinton in West Virginia, where his wife faces her next primary contest with Barack Obama on Tuesday. The former First Lady holds an overwhelming 25-point lead among one...

Do leaders of the Democrat National Committee (DNC) actually expect the American people to believe that their party has the wherewithal to manage the most powerful nation of earth, when that same party is apparently unable to manage a simple system of pre-election primaries? After nearly two years of plotting and scheming to recapture the White House, just months before election day the Democrat Party remains bitterly divided and may have to spend an additional $30 million dollars just to rerun primary elections in Florida and Michigan. Is that any way to run a party, Howard Dean? And yet despite...

You know, one of the funny things about watching the Democrats is their alternation between fear and bravado about whether Republicans will "Swift Boat" their candidate this time around. Orwell once said that "The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable.'" This is roughly the way the Democrats use the term "Swiftboating" to suggest a political attack of thoroughgoing fraudulence and impropriety concocted out of whole cloth. Never mind that each and every one of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was a combat veteran, including a number of highly decorated...

To the question of the moment--What did Barack Obama know and when did he know it?--I answer, Obama knew everything, and he's known it for ages. Far from succumbing to surprise and shock after Jeremiah Wright's disastrous performance at the National Press Club, Barack Obama must have long been aware of his pastor's political radicalism. A careful reading of nearly a year's worth of Trumpet Newsmagazine, Wright's glossy national "lifestyle magazine for the socially conscious," makes it next to impossible to conclude otherwise. Wright founded Trumpet Newsmagazine in 1982 as a "church newspaper"--primarily for his own congregation, one gathers--to "preach...