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Former Gov. Mitt Romney, who's increasingly visible on the campaign trail on behalf of the man who beat him for the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. John McCain, is about to forgive the $45 million he loaned himself for the primary struggles.
The legal move of filing papers with the Federal Election Commission re-declaring Romney's loans as contributions is imminent, according to a report by Michael Kranish on the Boston Globe's website, Boston.com. It would clear the legal deck for Romney to become a candidate again as, oh, say, the vice presidential Republican running mate of McCain.
Romney, whose personal fortune is estimated north of $190 million, is already marshalling on McCain's behalf his vast national donor network, which supplied another $65 million to Romney's unsuccessful campaign.
Although there appeared to be some personal frictions between the two men during primary debates, especially over campaign finance reform, which the senator has championed, McCain has more recently been openly appreciative of Romney's vigorous campaign grunt work in the months since the Arizonan clinched the GOP nomination.
"I'm appreciative every time I see Mitt on television on my behalf," McCain said earlier this week. "He does a better job for me than he did for himself, as a matter of fact."
Romney's successful career in business and resuscitating the troubled Salt Lake City Olympics plus his economic expertise and non-Washington executive experience as Massachusetts governor could help a McCain ticket.
The 61-year-old father of five boys has been married to Ann for 38 years. He's also already well-known and heavily vetted, lessening the chance of any embarrassing revelations. And Romney's family connections to Michigan, where he won the GOP primary, and his Mormon links in the West could help in both places on Nov. 4.
The Boston.com article quoted legal experts who said it appears that if McCain, like the Democratic candidate Barack Obama, reversed his position and opted out of federal campaign financing, Romney as a running mate could donate or loan the campaign an unlimited amount of his own fortune.
The Obama campaign this morning announced that it had collected $52 million during the month of June.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: Mary Altaffer / Associated Press
Next month, more than 50,000 politicos, protesters, journalists and security types will invade downtown Denver for the Democratic National Convention.
Good news for local businesses. Bad news for the city’s large homeless population, which has long claimed the Mile High City's downtown as its turf.
So while the delegates are reveling and the protesters are rabble-rousing, what will the nearly 4,000 homeless be doing?
Well, according to the Rocky Mountain News, some will be kicking back in a local movie theater to take in the latest Hollywood blockbuster.
Others will be strolling around the Denver Zoo or the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. And others will be playing bingo.
All the events will be free to them, funded by Denver Road Home, a branch of the mayor’s office dedicated to ending homelessness in the city. The organization got the money for the convention events from the United Way.
So is this a Democratic Party ploy to sanitize the streets during the quadrennial political pep rally and nomination of....
Read more How Denver will hide its homeless during the Democratic convention »
Recently, regular Ticket readers will recall, we celebrated the good news for politics junkies that PBS was going to have gavel-to-gavel television coverage of the upcoming Democratic and Republican national conventions.
The networks and even some print media have cut back their coverage drastically.
Well, here's some even better news. Those politics junkies aware of XM Satellite Radio's all-politics POTUS 08 Channel 130 have for 10 months now been getting round-the-clock expert reporting on the p residential election races, now focusing on Republican nominee-to-be John McCain and the Democrats' choice, Barack Obama.
This weekend XM announced that the channel will cover both parties' national conventions 24 hours a day, commercial-free, with all-day and evening live coverage and overnight reruns of highlights.
This coverage has long been available to millions of XM subscribers in homes, in cars and online. But, XM also announced, during the conventions the satellite radio operation will offer free 14-day trials to online users at www.xmradio.com/potus.
Timed right, those free 14 days will perfectly overlap both the Democrats' convention in Denver at the end of August and the Republicans' meeting in St. Paul, Minn., in early September.
XM will have its broadcast booth overlooking both convention floors, with the usual array of anchors on hand, including Joe Mathieu (pictured), Tim Farley, Rebecca Roberts and Scott Walterman. During each week's session, Adrienne Mitchell will report on the other party from Washington.
The channel is already broadcasting weekly sessions with each convention's organizers. And it plans to interview speakers, reporters, strategists, delegates and -- who knows -- maybe even some convention attendees wearing funny hats, which won't look so bad on radio.
By the way, The Ticket will be blogging both conventions in its usual unpredictable way.
-- Andrew Malcolm
The Ron Paul revolution marches on this weekend, literally, but the latest manifestation of the movement no doubt will be tinged with sadness for the erstwhile presidential candidate due to the death of one of his top aides.
Kent Snyder, 49, who worked for Paul's 1988 White House campaign (when he ran as a Libertarian) and chaired his surprisingly fiesty bid for the 2008 Republican nomination, died in late June of viral pneumonia in a Virginia hospital.
An obituary in today's Washington Post noted that without Snyder, the Paul phenomenon might never have occurred -- the Kansas native and martial arts enthusiast helped presuade the Texas congressman to enter the fray last year.
At a website soliciting donations to pay for Snyder's extensive medical bills (he was not insured), Paul says in a prominently displayed statement: Kent poured every ounce of his being into our fight for Freedom. He will always hold a place in my heart and in the hearts of my family. ... Without Kent Snyder, the fight for liberty would not be where it is today. We all owe him a great debt.
Paul is scheduled to speak at a rally of his adherents that follows a Saturday morning march in downtown Washington. As spelled out on the revolutionmarch.com website, the aim of the event is to express support for "restoring constitutional government as the founding fathers set forth."
For some in attendance, the gathering will be a prelude to the much-publicized get-together Paul plans at the University of Minnesota on Sept. 2 -- not too far away from where the GOP will be convening the second day of its national convention.
That rally -- and other efforts by Paul and his crew during the convention week -- will be tracked by the media for clues about the potential long-range influence of his backers within his party. But evidence of such clout already has surfaced in some states -- perhaps most vividly in Idaho.
When the state GOP met last month, its head did his best to hang onto his job. As reported by the Idaho Statesman, Kirk Sullivan handed out Rice Krispies treats as part of his wooing of party activists. But he got bounced anyway. Replacing him was Norm Semanko who, the paper wrote, "was pushed to victory largely by an eclectic group consisting of supporters of [Paul] and social conservatives who want to shift the party to the right."
Paul and his forces also grabbed attention recently when they teamed with liberal groups to raise money to express their opposition to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that cleared Congress this week.
-- Don Frederick
Photo credit: Nick Wass / AP
The surprises in the list of locales where Barack Obama's campaign broadcast its first general election ad included Alaska, which in the 12 presidential elections its participated in since joining the union in 1959 has gone Democratic exactly once -- in Lyndon Johnson's 1964 rout of Barry Goldwater.
But does Obama's decision to at least give the appearance of competing for Alaska's three electoral votes  portend a visit by the candidate?
His organizers there, bouyed by a Rasmussen poll in June indicating that race might be close, are hopeful. Kat Pustay, the campaign's Alaska director recently told the Anchorage Daily News, "That is the plan -- we are pretty sure he's going to come at the end of the summer."
But Obama has thrown some cold water on that prospect.
At the end of Jeff Zeleny's nicely done New York Times piece today on how Obama's White House quest has given him his first opportunity to travel throughout the nation, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee says that "I’ve had a chance now to campaign in 49 states. The only place that I have not been yet is Alaska."
Obama added: "I will make it to Alaska at some point, but maybe after I’m president. I can’t wait."
Perhaps its an awareness of political history that led Obama to decline making a commitment to stump in the Land of the Midnight Sun. Richard Nixon, in general terms, did just that in his speech accepting the 1960 Republican presidential nomination, telling his listeners: "I announce to you tonight, and I pledge to you, that I, personally, will carry this campaign into every one of the 50 states of this nation between now and November the 8th."
 That was in late July. As his hard-fought battle with John Kennedy proceeded into its final days, Nixon had made it to every state ... save Alaska. In a tactical move that has come to be second-guessed whenever that famed campaign is revisited, Nixon lived up to his pledge. And, as historian Richard Norton Smith recounted on a PBS program four years ago, "that meant on the Saturday before the election, when he should have been in Illinois or Texas, he was on a plane headed for Alaska, which in those days, that was a lot more remote a destination than it is today."
As Smith put it, Nixon "paid a high price on Election Day" -- he lost both Illinois and Texas by small margins and, with those defeats, lost the White House. (He did, however, squeak out a victory in Alaska.)
-- Don Frederick
Photo: Lyndon Johnson / LBJ Library / Frank Wolfe; Richard Nixon / Associated Press
Perhaps Barack Obama and his logistical crew would be well advised to go to Plan B as they plot a possible speech by him in Berlin later this month.
That's because no less a personage than German Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken umbrage at the idea of Obama's using the city's famed Brandenburg Gate as a telegenic backdrop for an Obama appearance during his upcoming overseas jaunt.
Merkel has expressed "great skepticism as to whether it is appropriate to bring an election campaign being fought not in Germany but in the United States to the Brandenburg Gate," Thomas Steg, a spokesman for the chancellor, told reporters.
An Associated Press story on Merkel's concern notes that the edifice "was once a symbol of Germany's Cold War division and now stands for its reunification."
Merkel, according to Steg, expressed doubt that a German candidate for political office "would think of using [Washington's] National Mall or Red Square in Moscow for rallies, because it would be considered inappropriate."
Countdown to Crawford, a new Times blog focused on the waning days on the Bush presidency, has more on the story.
As for a venue for Obama in Berlin, perhaps he could borrow a page from the revised script for the Democratic National Convention and rent a large soccer stadium.
The prospect of a freewheeling approach to cobbling together the Republican Party platform this summer looms as a possible headache for John McCain, given a plan by conservatives, reported this week by the Washington Post, "to prevent his views on global warming, immigration, stem cell research and campaign finance from becoming enshrined" in the document.
Barack Obama, for his part, apparently is unworried that some liberals, restive in thinking that he is tacking toward the political middle a bit too much these days (a concern detailed most vividly in this New York Times column by Bob Herbert), will make for a chaotic platform-making process.
Indeed, today his campaign unveiled a plan that envisions "everyday people all across America" holding mini-platform meetings later this month.
 How better to deal with summer doldrums?
A release on Obama's website asserts: "Traditionally, the platform is written by paid professionals and then presented to the American people. This year, that’s going to change."
Maybe, maybe not. But we'd like to offer a tweak to the name the Obama folks have attached to the initiative.
They're calling it "Listening to America: the Democratic Platform for Change."
We much prefer the moniker coined by our Times colleague Bill Loving: Wiki-platform.
Perhaps "paid professionals" won't be writing the platform, but a party pro will be in charge of the committee that drafts it -- Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (pictured above), the Obama campaign announced. (She gets mentions as a potential vice presidential nominee, though that isn't a particularly exclusive club at the moment.)
With the convention due to start in less than seven weeks, the real challenge for Obama doesn't involve a manifesto that virtually no one will read. Rather, as the Wall Street Journal reminded today (in a piece requiring a signup to read fully online), it is "whether and how" Hillary Clinton's name is placed in nomination at the gathering in Denver.
--Don Frederick
Photo credit: Associated Press
While the Barack Obama Democratic presidential campaign keeps the dates of its upcoming international trip a tightly-guarded secret from American voters, details are leaking out elsewhere in the world.
The Obama campaign announced late last month that the candidate would travel to Israel and Jordan in the Middle East and Britain, France and Germany in Europe.
The campaign had already disclosed plans to travel to Iraq and Afghanistan, though it has left unclear whether the trip to the war zones will be included in the same international trip.
It's all kind of a required element of any American presidential campaign for the two parties' nominees to be seen in foreign locales with foreign leaders. Such trips, of course, prove nothing about their qualifications to run anything other than a travel agency but look great on TV during a slow summer of reruns.
Sen. John McCain has visited Iraq numerous times during his efforts to change strategy there and this year has already toured the Middle East, Europe, and visited Canada, Colombia and Mexico.
(UPDATE: Cindy McCain, who last month traveled to Vietnam as part of an international relief effort, said Monday she will travel to Rwanda for four days next week as part of a USAID hospital-orphanage group. The Obama campaign says it is sending former senator Tom Daschle instead of Michelle Obama.)
Obama is somewhat behind the travel curve, having been preoccupied much of the spring with denying the Clintons their White House inheritance by visiting such exotic locales as Bloomington, Ind., Butte, Mont. and Sioux City, er, no, wait, Sioux Rapids, no, it was Sioux Falls but he called it Sioux City.
Obama's never been to Afghanistan, where he wants more U.S. troops, and in 2005 last saw Iraq, where he wants less U.S. troops, though the timing of the withdrawals seems to have gotten a little fuzzy recently.
So the former state senator has got some frequent flyer miles to rack up and lots of photos to take before his party's convention in late August. Reports in foreign media now suggest the Obama trip is scheduled for late July.
The French news agency Agence France-Press reports French President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet with Obama at the Elysee Palace on Friday July 25. In Israel, Obama is expected to arrive on Tuesday July 22 or Wednesday July 23 for a two- or three-day visit to include a meeting with embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The German magazine Der Spiegel says the Obama campaign is considering a major speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the site of a famous 1987 Ronald Reagan speech.
Our Swamp colleague Mike Dorning has more details here.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: AP
It's official -- Barack Obama is taking it outdoors on Aug. 28 to formally accept the Democratic presidential nomination that will be bestowed on him the previous night.
As The Times' Doyle McManus anticipated in this item last week and as The Swamp writes about here, Democratic Party officials announced today that Obama will deliver his speech at Denver's Invesco Field at Mile High, presumably packing the stadium's 76,000-plus seats and praying that the thunderclouds that often roll across the Rockies in the summer won't rain on his spiel.
So much for the traditional balloon drop at the end of acceptance speeches; we'll be eagerly anticipating what sort of pyrotechnic displays the Democrats come up with in its stead.
As has long been noted, Obama's big rhetorical moment coincides with the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famed "I have a dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Monument in Washington.
And as McManus noted, the venue for Obama's remarks forges another link for him with John F. Kennedy, who after receiving the 1960 Democratic nomination at a nearby convention hall gave his acceptance speech at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (little reason to worry about rain intruding in the City of Angels).
Over the weekend, the prospect surfaced of another Obama/Kennedy comparison (as well as a nod to Ronald Reagan). The German magazine "Der Spiegel" reported that Obama's "planned European tour might make a major whistlestop in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The candidate's schedule isn't set, but a Berlin appearance before the end of July looks likely."
As the story recalls, the Brandenburg Gate is where Reagan gave his powerful 1987 speech urging then-Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down" the Berlin Wall (and, within a few years, what was perhaps the most obvious symbol of the Cold War was gone).
But Kennedy also made history in 1963 in what was then known as West Berlin, famously establishing his solidarity with its residents during a trip there by declaring, "Ich bin ein Berliner."
-- Don Frederick
Well, now he'll have a date for the inaugural ball -- though there are still a few hurdles left to getting an invitation. But Charlie Crist, Florida governor and a high entry on most lists of potential Republican veep contenders, is getting married.
Our cousins at The Swamp and the Central Florida Political Pulse have the details. The
bride-to-be and
Crist's flame of the past nine months is Carole Rome, 38, president of her family's century-old costume business, where some of the costumes are of the variety not likely to go over well with the Christian right (may we direct you to Devilicious and Marie Antoinette). Rome and ex-husband, Todd Rome, CEO of Blue Star Jets, have two children, ages 11 and 9. Crist, 51, was married briefly in his early 20s and has no children.
Crist says they're planning a fall wedding in St. Petersburg, where he lives, though that calendar could get awfully crowded if John McCain taps him. And if the Republicans believe Crist on the ticket can land them Florida, you can bet they'll be lobbying hard, though the last word was that Mitt Romney was topping the contender list.
Crist, you'll remember on this day set aside for barbecuing, was one of the trio that McCain invited to his Arizona spread on Memorial Day weekend, the launch of barbecue season, for a little R&R and presumed political talk. Romney and Bobby Jindal were the other two touted guests, all considered to be under consideration by McCain as possible running mates.
-- Scott Martelle
Photo: Carole Rome with Charlie Crist; credit: Associated Press
Gridiron fans, move over.
The Barack Obama campaign hopes to turn the last evening of the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Aug. 28 into a giant rally of voters in a football stadium.
The unusual move, confirmed by two sources, would be an echo of John F. Kennedy’s acceptance speech in 1960. Kennedy delivered his address before thousands of supporters at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Obama’s big moment also would fall on the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.
The first three days of this year’s convention are still scheduled to be held at downtown Denver’s Pepsi Center, a basketball and hockey arena. But the Pepsi Center holds no more than about 19,000 people, and the Obama campaign thinks it can assemble a much bigger crowd for the acceptance speech — making a more compelling television picture.
Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos pro football team, can seat more than 76,000.
Officials involved in planning the event said the challenge of filling the stadium didn’t seem to be much of a worry for the Obamians, who attracted huge crowds during their primary campaign this spring. More worrisome, they said, were issues of logistics and security for all the Democratic dignitaries at the convention — plus the possibility of afternoon thunderstorms in the open-air stadium.
The football stadium plan appears to be what was in the works when word surfaced earlier this week that the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee were kicking around the idea of shortening the party convention to three days instead of four.
Obama campaign officials didn’t respond to requests for confirmation. Shannon Gilson, a spokeswoman for the campaign, simply told the Denver Post via e-mail: “We think Thursday night in Denver will be very special.”
-- Doyle McManus
Barack Obama's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee are toying with a convention scheduling change that has been broached before in theory but never really seriously considered -- cutting the party's conclave in Denver short by one day to try to give Obama an extra day of post-nomination "bounce" in the crowded August calendar.
For the last several decades, since conventions became forums that merely rubber-stamp a presumptive nominee rather than dicker over who it should be, they have traditionally run from Monday through Thursday. Increasingly, both parties have struggled to offer anything of interest during the first couple of convention nights, and the television networks have responded by dramatically reducing live coverage of the affairs. The only truly significant event has become the nominee's acceptance speech, delivered during prime time on Thursday evening.
But this year, The Times' Doyle McManus has learned, Obama aides have floated the idea of ending the Denver convention on Wednesday, Aug. 27, instead of Thursday, Aug. 28, as is currently planned.
The reason is the calendar. This year -- unlike in the past, when there was some separation between the two gatherings -- the Republican convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul is scheduled to begin only four days later, on Monday, Sept. 1. The result, many Democrats believe, could be that Obama would not get the "bounce" in poll numbers that nominees usually can count on immediately after they have been officially anointed.
Quitting early, some Democrats argue, would give Obama an extra day to capitalize on the convention.
Adding to the Democrats' calculation is the growing speculation that McCain will announce his running mate in the brief intermission between the two conventions -- a good way to grab the spotlight back from the just-nominated Democrat.
"I'd expect McCain to name his choice on the Friday after the Democratic convention," said Scott Reed, who managed Bob Dole's presidential bid in 1996. "It would be a good way to quash Obama's bounce."
The shortened-convention idea may have surfaced a bit late for it to happen this year. And one can anticipate that Denver officials and the city's business community will voice strong displeasure to it. Still, it sounds like a plan whose time eventually will come.
-- Don Frederick
So Mike Huckabee told the world the other day that if John McCain calls, he'd be happy to be his running mate, but that he doesn't expect McCain to call. Good thing Huckabee's not waiting by the phone. The folks over at Politico have a piece this morning saying the call could well go to Mitt Romney. But, of course, at this stage no one knows, as our colleague Doyle McManus points out with his own list of bandied-about names.
McCain doesn't need to rush. He doesn't need a r unning mate until the Republican National Convention, scheduled for Sept. 1-4, which comes after the Democratic National Convention, set for Aug. 25-28. Advantage goes to McCain, since he gets to see what the Democratic slate will look like before he makes his call. And yes, he can pick a running mate earlier to make himself look decisive and unconcerned about political ramifications (which ties into his Straight Talk theme) but, chances are, he'll keep his cards hidden until he has to play.
So why Romney? As Politico points out, he's gone through the media vetting process, has access to cash fountains through his business connections and fellow Mormons, and plays well in his birth state of Michigan, which could be crucial in picking the winner.
The downside? The chemistry between McCain and Romney isn't exactly "Let's spend the next eight years together, shall we?" It's more like: "Does he have to come to this meeting? Can't we just send him to a state funeral somewhere?"
The other top names on McCain's list, per Politico, are former Ohio congressman and White House budget director Rob Portman -- not exactly a household name -- and John Thune of South Dakota, who knocked minority leader Tom Daschle out of the Senate in 2004.
Now it's your turn. Who do you figure? And no, not Dick Cheney -- he's not in charge of the search committee. The comment section is open below.
-- Scott Martelle
Photo credit: Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times
The Democratic National Convention is making a show of trying to be environmentally friendly, and as longtime polar bear fans we can't object. And as fans of a certain beverage that has been part of the human experience since, well, forever, we can't object to the way they plan to fuel their ethanol cars.
With beer. Coors beer, to be precise.
Turns out Coors has been converting some of its bad beer -- yes, there is such as thing -- into ethanol at a plant in Golden, a Denver suburb. They make about 3 million gallons of it a year to blend with gasoline for E85 ethanol (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline).
And come August, some of it will be poured into part of the Democrats' convention fleet of 450 vehicles, 20% of which will run on E85, DNC transportation director Al Timothy Andrew Ballard told KUSA-TV in Denver.
Coors is the official ethanol sponsor for the convention, and you have to wonder if someone in Coors marketing pondered the sagacity of being known as the firm that gave gas to politicians. But it all makes us wonder which will consume more alcohol August 25-28 -- the cars, or the delegates?
Our money's on the delegates.
-- Scott Martelle
You kind of remember the long Democratic primary campaign as, first of all, long. Even at times bitter.
Hillary Clinton, speaking today with the Democratic winner, Barack Obama, in New Hampshire, said, "It was spirited because we both care so much." Watching this video no one would doubt the caring, but it sure wasn't about each other.
"Spirited" would not quite describe some of the exchanges by Democratic candidates discussing Obama, which in the interests of the opposite of unity, the Republican National Committee has generously assembled and is suppressing widely around the country today as an antidote to the Democrats' "Kumbaya" spirit.
No doubt it's deeply appreciated.
--Andrew Malcolm
Well, they did it, though it would have been quite the surprise if they hadn't after all the build up. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton shared the stage in Unity, New Hampshire, a few minutes ago and sought to put their often contentious pasts behind them and focus their supporters on the general election. (See video below.)
Given the goal of the day -- unity -- it wasn't a time to break out new policy, and Obama didn't. They essentially made nice, smiled a lot, sang each other's praises and then tried to rally the troops (The Swamp has a take on this, too).
And the coziness of the day began before they even left Washington, reports our colleague Noam Levey, who traveled with them. Obama and Clinton shared a half-embrace on the tarmac at Washingto n Reagan National airport then boarded the plane that Clinton used in her campaign. They settled in next to each other in the second row on the left side of the plane, Obama taking the window.
The chumminess continued once they arrived at Unity, with Clinton telling the crowd of more than 4,000 people, "Unity is not only a beautiful place, as we can see it's a wonderful feeling isn't it?" Obama joined the audience in applauding the sentiment, "And I know what we start here in this field in Unity will end in the steps of the Capitol when Barack Obama takes the oath of office as our next president."
Later, Clinton addressed the sometimes edgy tone of the campaign, saying "It was spirited because we both care so much." But we are one party, we are one America,” she said. We "are not going to rest until we take back out country and put it on the path to peace, prosperity and progress."
Then it was Obama's turn (his prepared comments are after the jump). He sang Clinton's praises as a rival, then made a direct play for unity citing her and Bill Clinton's lengthy presence in national politics. "We need them," Obama said.
"We need them badly... That's how we're going to bring about unity in the Democrat Party and how we're going to bring about unity in America."
After making some odd comments about Clinton campaigning in heels -- that won't do much to dispel anger among some of Clinton's female supporters -- Obama talked about the historic nature of both their campaigns. "Hillary and I may have started with separate goals in this campaign, but we have made history together.
"Together, we inspired tens of millions of Americans to participate, some to cast ballot for the very first time, others who voted for the first time in a very long time. And together, in this campaign, in 2008, we shattered barriers that have stood firm since the founding of this nation."
(UPDATE: Susan Pinkus of the L.A. Times Poll provides the following information:: In our latest Times/Bloomberg national poll, two-thirds of Clinton's supporters said they would vote for Obama, 11% said they would vote for John McCain, the Republican nominee, 12% said they were undecided and the rest went to third party candidates.)
--Scott Martelle and Michael Muskal
Photo credit: Mario Tama / Getty Images
Read more Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton tie the political knot in Unity »
Mike Huckabee says that while he'd love to be asked -- and would accept -- he doubts John McCain will pick him for his running mate. And on the other side, he figures Barack Obama isn't likely to ask Hillary Clinton, either.
Huckabee gave his predictions to Reuters during a trip to Japan (the video is below), and it could be he's just warming up, spring training-style, for his new gig as a political commentator for Fox News. But a voice from the trenches is always worth a listen.
On McCain, Huckabee sounded like a true loyal party figure. "I want him to define how he's going to win, and I want to help him win," Huckabee said. "That may not involve me [as a running mate]. And I'm not sure that I'm the right fit for him. That's something only he can know."
Huckabee, you'll recall, was the last speed bump McCain hit on his way to sealing the Republican nomination-- well, except for Ron Paul. And Huckabee was the favorite, for a time, of the party's once-powerful social-conservative wing, despite some misgivings over his tax-and-spending policies as governor of Arkansas.
So why doesn't Huckabee think Obama will pick Clinton? "There's some real tension, not just between the two principals, but between their inner circles and down in the ranks of their supporters that would be very hard to overcome in a short period of time," Huckabee said. "People who voted for Hillary will end up voting for Obama generally, but I'm not sure that they're ready to just have the wedding and, you know, cut the cake."
-- Scott Martelle
Photo credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times
Our cousins over at The Swamp have an item this morning spotlighting just how nagging a problem Barack Obama faces i n trying to woo some disappointed Hillary Clinton supporters in facing off against John McCain. It seems a couple of notable New Hampshire Democrats -- James McConaha, a former Clinton administration farm official in New Hampshire, and his Democratic activist wife, Valery Mitchell -- have no intention of hopping aboard the Unity bus.
Picking up a story in the Nashua Telegraph, the couple has agreed to lead Democrats for John McCain. And that's not the only anti-Obama group out there composed of Clinton supporters. In fact, though polls show most of her backers moving to Obama, there is a large and vociferous crowd out there that refuses to go along.
Whether this is enough of a counter tide to have an effect in November is the big question, of course. And it will matter most in the battleground states -- a few thousand Clinton supporters voting for McCain here in California, for instance, isn't likely to turn the state red. But it could be an issue in states where the red-blue divide is narrower.
Regardless, campaigns are an amalgamation of a lot of moving parts, and it can't be a good distraction for the Obamans to have to go out and try to run down strays from the Democratic herd.
-- Scott Martelle
ABC's "This Week": John McCain supporter Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas); Barack Obama supporter Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.); Red Cavaney, American Petroleum Institute; and Jeffrey Sachs, the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Panel: Donna Brazile, Matthew Dowd, Cokie Roberts, Sam Donaldson.
CBS' "Face the Nation": McCain advisor Carly Fiorina; Obama supporter Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.); John Harris, Politico.
CNN's "Late Edition": The economy: Obama supporter Gov. Richardson and McCain supporter Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.). Offshore oil, the economy: Obama supporter Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) and McCain supporter Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.). The economy: Obama advisor former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and McCain advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin. The hunt for Osama Bin Laden; Iraq: Pakistani journalist-author Ahmed Rashid ("Descent Into Chaos") and Peter Bergen. Panel: Gloria Borger, Amy Walter, Ed Henry.
"Fox News Sunday": Obama advisor former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and McCain supporter former Gov. Tom Ridge (R-Pa.). Kathleen Rogers, Earth Day Foundation. Panel: Brit Hume, Nina Easton, Bill Kristol, Juan Williams.
"Meet the Press": Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.). Panel: John Harwood, Andrea Mitchell. Moderator: Brian Williams.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: Babson College
Already wallowing in money, and thus having decided he can afford to break his promise to take public funds for this fall's presidential campaign, Sen. Barack Obama's aides were huddled in Chicago today with some of the top fundraisers for what's-her-name, the New York senator who came oh-so-close to winning the Democratic nod herself.
Obama made the announcement this morning in a video sent to supporters. It makes him the first major party candidate in some 30 years to forgo public funds for the campaig n period between his convention (in late August) and the November election (Nov. 4).
A half-dozen of Hillary Clinton's major contributors, each of them a convert to Obama's cause at her urging, met in the Palmer House in Chicago's Loop today, carefully tracked by The Times' campaign finance guru, Dan Morain. As a bonus gift, the candidate himself showed up for some brief remarks.
Some of those in attendance were John B. Emerson of Capital Guardian Trust Company in Los Angeles, Thomas F. Steyer of Farallon Capital Management in San Francisco and Gary Gensler, who was Treasury undersecretary under President Clinton.
Also attendance were Maureen White, formerly the top fund-raiser for the Democratic National Committee, and Michael Coles, who ran for the U.S. Senate from Georgia and is chief executive officer of Caribou Coffee.
Sen. Clinton, meanwhile, has called on 100 of her top bundlers of campaign contributions to meet with her and Obama on June 26 next week at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.
It’s part of a precise political minuet, in which Clinton seeks to demonstrate to Obama and the party faithful that she is working on behalf of the Illinois senator's campaign to help Democrats, and Obama is simultaneously trying to woo Clinton’s core backers, some of whom still hold hard feelings about the loss by the first serious female candidate for the White House.
In fact, as Morain found out, not all of her supporters are going along with the Obama campaign.
"I have talked to Hillary three times since the Montana election," said Texas attorney Garry Mauro, a long-time friend of the Clintons, who will be attending the capital gathering. "She is totally upbeat. She says our No. 1 objective is to beat John McCain. There is no feeling sorry. There is no second-guessing."
But Morain has discovered not all Clinton donors have found it so easy to change political allegiances this quickly or easily. And they intend to skip the event, the first time the new Democratic champion and the woman he vanquished will appear together in public since Clinton surrendered in a speech to her supporters nearly two weeks ago.
In an e-mail exchange, Hollywood billionaire investor Haim Saban, who heads the Spanish language Univision network and has been a long-time, big-time supporter of Clinton's (see photo), was asked if he would be traveling to Washington for the event next week.
His terse reply: "No."
-- Andrew Malcolm
Photo Credit: Newsday
Much attention, understandably, is being paid to the notes Barack Obama sounds in his first general election television ad, which starts running Friday and can be viewed here.
Its emphasis on family values, self reliance and patriotism would have made Ronald Reagan's media shop proud. And in case anyone misses the point, the spot's title -- "Country I Love" -- says it all.
What really grabs us, however, is where the ad will appear (and, in one case, where it won't).
For the most part, the 18-state list is predictable. It includes the battlegrounds, large and small, that political analysts expect to watch through election day: Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, New Hampshire and New Mexico among them.
But the list also includes a handful of reliably Republican places where Obama aides have been saying they believe he can compete, based on strength he showed among certain voting blocs during the primary season.
The states in this category are Georgia, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina and Virginia.
And then there are two states -- Alaska and North Dakota -- where the airing of the Obama ad demonstrates that:
A) His campaign knows something about these GOP redoubts that the rest of us doesn't;
B) When you're riding herd over an organization that raises massive amounts of cash seemingly without breaking a sweat -- and just today announced it was breaking free of the restraints imposed by the campaign finance system, as our friends at The Swamp write about here -- you can afford to take a flier on a couple of longshots, especially when the media markets are inexpensive;
C) It's always fun, when the November election still seems a long way off, to play in a few of your rival's backyards, if for no other reason than to cause some headaches on the other side.
Probably some combination of A, B and C explains the decision to advertise in Alaska (which President Bush carried with 61% of the vote in 2004) and North Dakota (which Bush won with 63% of the vote four years ago).
Looking at all seven states where the Obama ad buy raises eyebrows, here are some of the daunting historical facts ...
Read more Barack Obama ad targets include some shockers »
According to TMZ.com, the now-deceased Hillary Clinton presidential campaign had optimistically made hundreds of hotel room reservations for the Mile High City for the Democratic National Convention at the end of August.
This was to be the coronation, remember?
Alas, there won't be hundreds of Clinton campaign workers needing rooms because there's no longer a Clinton campaign and they're all fired. And, anyway, her campaign is more than $20 million in debt.
So, the report says, she's sent out tons of e-mails to supporters, other campaigns (gee, which one is left?) and organizations trying to find takers for their guaranteed room reservations.
Too bad the rodeo's not in town.
(UPDATE: A Clinton campaign spokesman, Jin Chon, now says this report is incorrect and the rooms are not available. So don't bother calling for any.)
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: City of Denver
Douglas Kmiec, a Justice Department honcho under two previous Republican administrations and an abortion foe who once headed Catholic University's law school, raised eyebrows within some conservative circles earlier this year when, in a Slate.com posting, he endorsed Barack Obama for president.
Today, Kmiec delivers another valentine Obama's way, writing glowingly in the Chicago Tribune about a "private conversation" the candidate had recently with him, the Rev. Franklin Graham (the son of the Rev. Billy Graham) "and a diverse group of 30 or so religious leaders from Protestant, Catholic, Evangelical and other traditions."
Kmiec, who for several years has taught law at Pepperdine University in Malibu, terms the gathering as "an unprecedented sit-down for any political figure, let alone a much-in-demand presidential candidate."
He continues: "Why would the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party devote so much time talking faith rather than politics? Quite simply, because it is the senator's deep personal faith that explains his audaciously positive hope for his country."
The meeting, Kmiec relates, "dwelt at some length on abortion." It remains a subject on which he and his favored candidate disagree. But Kmiec prefers to stress what he views as Obama's "appreciation for both the significance of faith and faith differences and an open mind sensitive to the need to protect religious freedom."
It's hard not to imagine that if he hasn't gotten it already, Kmiec will be receiving a standing invitation for a prominent speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
-- Don Frederick
Father's Day may have come early for John McCain, but in the Boren family of Oklahoma, they may just want to let it pass without notice.
Rep. Dan Boren, a two-term Democrat, made a splash earlier this week with his announcement that although he would be voting for his party's presumptive presidential nominee, he was not endorsing Barack Obama.
The Boren formulation struck many as odd ... including, it turns out, his father, a legendary political figure in the Sooner State who is president of the University of Oklahoma.
David Boren, a former governor and U.S. senator who chatted Friday with Chicago-based talk radio host Roland Martin, had this to say about his 34-year-old son: "I have to say I’m puzzled about how much thinking he put into that before he said it. I think he’ll probably be saying some other things."
The elder Boren, 67, continued: “He did say he was going to vote for Barack Obama. He just made the puzzling statement he wasn’t gong to endorse him. Well, when you say publicly you’re voting for somebody I think that means you’re supporting them."
A classic case of father knowing best.
The full interview can be heard here.
The younger Boren is not alone on Capitol Hill feeling a bit betwixt and between about the general election presidential matchup. Following the burst of attention David Boren got for his pronouncement, The Hill reported that at least 14 Republican members of Congress "have refused to endorse or publicly support" McCain.
That includes at least one whom the presumptive GOP nominee would want to steer clear of anyway -- Rep. John Doolittle, the House member from Northern California who is giving up his seat under an ethical cloud.
Then there's Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, McCain's erstwhile presidential rival, who's adopted Boren's stance -- he's disinclined ...
Read more David Boren on his son: a 'puzzling' Barack Obama stance* »
John McCain got an early Father's Day gift from daughter Meghan McCain -- she changed her voter registration from independent to Republican.
"I did this as a symbol of my commitment to my dad and to represent the faith I have in his ability to be an effective leader for our country and to grow and strengthen the Republican Party when he is elected president of the United States," she wrote on her blog. "Happy Father's Day, Dad!"
But the bigger present from daughter to dad might be the book she's working on -- a children's story about her father due out in September. The press release says it's untitled but Simon & Schuster's website says it's called "My Dad, John McCain." The book is geared toward kids ages 5 to 10. Not many voters in that demographic, so you can't accuse the McCains of pandering to the youth vote. But those kids have parents.
"I am truly excited about the opportunity to write a children’s book about my father, who is not only a fantastic dad, but also a great American," the daughter said in the Simon & Schuster release. "This book will offer children the unique opportunity to see the character-building events that happened over his lifetime, experiences that led up to his current bid to become the future president of the United States."
All that in 32 pages. With illustrations (by Dan Andreasen).
-- Scott Martelle
(UPDATE: Though Ron Paul stopped short of telling supporters in Texas Thursday night that he was quitting, his campaign website posted a statement overnight that he is indeed packing it in. "It is time now to take the energy this campaign has awakened and channel it into long-term efforts to take back our country," Paul said.)
Throughout yesterday afternoon and evening news reports flashed all over the Internet that Republican Rep. Ron Paul was going to officially end his hopeless presidential campaign.
ABC News said the campaign, "a pugnacious, ideological crusade against big government and interventionist leani ngs in the Republican party, will officially end Thursday at a rally outside the Texas GOP's convention."
A European wire service that we won't identify (we'll call it AFP) said: "Maverick Republican White House candidate Ron Paul, a rival to his party's presumptive nominee John McCain, announced late Thursday he is dropping out of the U.S. presidential race."
A certain Washington blog about the campaign Trail reported last night: "Texas Rep. Ron Paul is officially ending his presidential campaign." Even keen observer and enthusiastic Ron Paul supporter Lew Rockwell appeared to give up hope.
But just you wait one Texas minute! We know better than that here at The Ticket.
Once before, three months ago, Paul put out a video message to his hundreds of thousands of supporters saying he was "winding down" his campaign. And we fell for that one, hook, line and libertarian sinker. We wrote that the 72-year-old, 10-term congressman "appears to be....
Read more UPDATE: Hold on! Ron Paul did NOT quit the GOP presidential race »
Great news for political junkies! PBS is gonna broadcast gavel-to-gavel television coverage of both parties' national conventions this summer.
Years ago the commercial broadcast networks stopped their blanket coverage. The inner, internecine workings of democracy  are not boffo broadcast. Scenes of people in funny hats and long-winded politicians just can't compete against episodes of "Lost" and correspondent and technician overtime at such affairs can cut into profits.
But PBS says it will carry live coverage of all the proceedings:
This summer's national political conventions take place (Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO; August 25 to 28; Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN; September 1 to 4), The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer will produce 24+ hours of live.
Prime time coverage to be broadcast in high-definition nationwide on PBS. These eight nights of convention coverage will be the only complete broadcast coverage made available by a U.S. broadcast television network.
The PBS coverage will be anchored by Jim Lehrer, anchor and executive editor of "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," from sky boxes overlooking the podiums in both convention halls. Lehrer will be joined by, among others, NewsHour senior correspondents Gwen Ifill, Ray Suarez, Judy Woodruff and Margaret Warner.
Political analysis will be provided by New York Times columnist David Brooks; syndicated columnist Mark Shields. Presidential historians Michael Beschloss and Richard Norton Smith will add historical perspective and Andy Kohut, President of the Pew Research Center, will update viewers with the latest polling information.
In a recent story, Politico.com noted even though the commercial networks don't plan on doing much coverage, what they do will look good since, like PBS, they'll all be broadcasting in high definition.
And like PBS, the other networks will be using the Internet to carry coverage not provided over the air.
Even though the commercial networks have cut way back, you get the sense they still want some props for what they're doing, based on a quote from ABC News Vice President Bob Murphy in the Politico.com story:
"If we covered conventions for ratings, we would have gotten out of the business a long time ago," Murphy said.
Good thing there are round-the-clock blogs like this one.
--Frank James
Frank James writes for the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau. Photo Credit: PBS
On this, the first anniversary of our Top of the Ticket blog, we are reminded of the mercurial, unpredictable nature of U.S. politics -- part of what makes what we do so fascinating.
Our goal -- one of us on the East Coast and the other on the far more important or at least less humid West Coast -- was to write about Campaign '08 virtually around the clock.
Our second-ever posting, 12 months ago today, previewed an upcoming L.A. Times/Bloomberg Poll; later in the day, we detailed the results of the nationwide survey. The findings were in line with other polls of the time.
In the Republican presidential race, which then seemed the most likely to last deep into the primary season, Rudy Giuliani was perched in first place. His lead wasn't overwhelming, but it was strong enough that he appeared certain to remain a major contender.
His liberal record on social issues loomed as an obvious liability within his party, but his tough-on-terrorism message was attracting substantial support from moderates and GOP-leaning independents.
His major headache among rivals last June was an as-yet-undeclared candidate who was riding a wave as the gr | |
