US Election 2008 Blog

Fox News

Barack Obama, shown here speaking at a volunteer event in Philadelphia Wednesday, seems to be at odds with an adviser who reportedly recommends keeping up to 80,000 troops in Iraq by the end of 2010. (AP Photo)

As Barack Obama continues to criticize John McCain for saying he’s willing to keep a 100-year troop presence in Iraq, another Obama adviser has suggested U.S. forces could stay in Iraq longer than the Democratic candidate initially thought.

Adviser Colin Kahl wrote in a policy paper for the Center for a New American Security that the United States should transition to an “over-watch” force of between 60,000 and 80,000 troops by the end of 2010, according to an article Friday in the New York Sun.

That appears to be at odds with Obama’s public position of removing all combat brigades from the country within 16 months of taking office.

Kahl told the Sun his plan would still keep the U.S. “out of the lead” and mainly in a “support role.” He said the plan had nothing to do with the campaign.

The Obama campaign said in a statement: “The writing of Mr. Kahl, one of hundreds of outside advisers to the campaign, is not representative of Barack Obama’s consistent policy position on the Iraq war.”

But Kahl’s plan seems to jibe with other advisers’ statements that Obama’s withdrawal timetables are more a goal than a firm policy commitment.

Foreign policy adviser Susan Rice, for instance, told reporters in February that Obama’s plan to end the war in 2009 is not absolute, and that he reserves the right to revisit troop levels in Iraq upon taking the oath of office.

Former foreign policy adviser Samantha Power told the BBC that Obama’s 16-month plan is a “best-scenario” and that the reality is he will try to withdraw troops “as quickly and responsibly as possible.”

CNN.com

While Sen. John McCain’s campaign is remarkably happy with the way his “Service to America” biography tour has gone this week, some Republicans say they are not so sure he’s using his time wisely.

Sen. John McCain speaks Wednesday at the U.S. Naval Academy Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.

On Thursday, McCain stopped at a hangar in Jacksonville, Florida — the place he arrived when released after 5½ years in a Vietnamese prison.

Thirty-five years later, the GOP candidate came back to promote his campaign by talking about lessons he learned.

“I once thought I was man enough for almost any confrontation. In prison, I discovered I was not. I tried to use every personal resource I had to confound my captors, and it wasn’t enough in the end,” he said. Watch more of McCain’s speech »

Joining him were family members rarely on the trail — three children who, along with McCain’s ex-wife, waited there while he was a POW.

“My daughter, Sidney, was an infant when I first left for Vietnam,” McCain said.

Washington Post Staff Writers 

In the past eight years, Bill and Hillary Clinton earned a combined $109 million, with the former president collecting nearly half of that money as a speaker hired at times by companies that have been among his wife’s most generous political supporters.

After leaving the White House, the Clintons earned $30 million from their best-selling books and brought in as much as $15 million more through an investment partnership with one of her top presidential campaign fundraisers, California billionaire Ronald Burkle. The disclosures came with yesterday’s long-awaited release of the Clintons’ joint tax returns, a move made in the thick of Sen. Clinton’s fight with Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) for the Democratic nomination.

Sen. Clinton (N.Y.) initially resisted making her family’s finances public, but pressure on her to match Obama’s disclosure grew in February when she disclosed that she had dipped into her personal account to lend her campaign $5 million.

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But Candidates Have Taken Positions Exceeding Mainstream of a Few Years Ago

Perry Bacon Jr., Washington Post

After Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, publicly declared in March that homosexuality was immoral, gay supporters of Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York were furious when neither presidential candidate was very critical of Pace.

They let both campaigns know it, and the next day Clinton and Obama said they do not consider homosexuality immoral.

The tentative reactions suggest the caution with which the two leading Democratic contenders approach gay rights issues when they are publicly debated. “The antenna goes up,” acknowledges Ethan Geto, an informal adviser to Clinton on gay rights issues. “It’s a measure of how volatile gay rights issues are in national politics.”

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Presidential hopeful Fred Thompson is labelled by former flames as a charmer who could bring home the female vote

Sarah Baxter, Times Online

IN the battle for the women’s vote, Fred Thompson has a secret weapon against Hillary Clinton - the legions of former girlfriends who still adore him and who want him to be president.

The Hollywood actor and former Tennessee senator racked up an impressive list of conquests during his swinging bachelor days in the 1990s, but he appears to have achieved the impossible and kept their friendship and respect.

Lorrie Morgan, a country singer who dated Thompson and considered marrying him in the mid1990s, told The Sunday Times: “I couldn’t think of a bad word to say about Fred if somebody put a gun to my head.

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Associated Press

WILMINGTON, Del. - Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, in an indirect swipe at President Bush, said Thursday the overwhelming attitude that the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction reflects a lack of leadership.

The nation’s bleak mood was evident in the most recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll in which only 21 percent said they believe things in the U.S. are heading in the right direction, the worst mark since the AP-Ipsos poll began in December 2003.

Speaking at a Flag Day rally in Wilmington, Del., Giuliani told more than 200 supporters: “What we’re lacking is strong, aggressive, bold leadership like we had with Ronald Reagan.”

The same AP-Ipsos poll found public approval with the job Bush is doing at 32 percent, matching an all-time low.

The former New York mayor said he’s running for president to keep the United States on offensive against terrorist and to challenge big government.

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By David M. Halbfinger - New York Times Blog

LOS ANGELES — Steven Spielberg’s exploratory phase is over: He’s a Hillary Clinton man.

After a flirtation with Senator Barack Obama in February, and maxing out his contributions to both Mr. Obama and former Senator John Edwards, the famous filmmaker today threw his support formally behind Senator Clinton.

It’s the most significant indication yet that Hollywood luminaries are returning to what was expected to be their default position at the start of the campaign, before Mr. Obama suddenly grew white-hot.

In a statement that her campaign splashed across its home page, Mr. Spielberg cited Mrs. Clinton’s “experience and strength.”

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Associated Press

NEW YORK - Presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has won the endorsement of New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez , a prominent Hispanic Democrat and leading political voice in the vote-rich state.

The endorsement was scheduled to be announced Tuesday in Washington, two Democrats familiar with the situation said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the planned formal announcement.

Menendez, a Cuban-American and former member of the House leadership, was appointed in December 2005 to fill the Senate seat of Gov.-elect Jon Corzine. Menendez was re-elected in 2006, defeating Thomas Kean Jr., the son of the former Republican governor, in a hard-fought and expensive race.

Clinton raised money and campaigned for Menendez during his re-election bid.

Menendez is one of just three Hispanics in the Senate, along with Republican Mel Martinez (news, bio, voting record) of Florida and Democrat Ken Salazar (news, bio, voting record) of Colorado.

The Menendez endorsement follows that of another prominent Hispanic Democrat, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Both California and New Jersey are among several large states hosting primaries Feb. 5.

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 News.bg

Rangers from Bulgarian mission in Iraq and honorary guard were at the square of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral for the official receiving of the American president George Bush.

Around 8.25 AM the American delegation retinue arrived in front of the cathedral.

The US president and the first lady were received by the Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov and his wife Zorka Parvanova.

The guard orchestra performed the American and the Bulgarian anthems, after which Bush greeted the Bulgarian guard in Bulgarian language.

George and Lora Bush greeted the officials among whom were the Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin, Bulgarian ambassador to the USA Elena Poptodorova, Minister of Defense Georgi Bliznakov, Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov, US ambassador in Bulgaria John Beyrle, representatives of the American embassy and the administration of president Parvanov.

Bush laid a wreath to the Monument of the Unknown hero and paid tribute to the memory of the heroes who have died for Bulgaria.

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 Sofia Echo 

Controversy between the United States and Russia about the planned US anti-missile defence shield over Central and Eastern Europe will be one of the dominant themes during US president George Bush’s visit to Bulgaria.

Nato member Bulgaria, which will not be covered by the shield, wants the same level of security as nearby states that will be involved in the scheme, which the US says is intended as protection against a potential threat from Iran.

Bush’s June 10 and 11 visit will include meetings with his host, President Georgi Parvanov, and Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev, among others.

Other security issues on the agenda include Bulgaria’s military modernisation.

Bush will reiterate US support for the Bulgarian medics facing the death penalty in Libya.

Bulgaria will continue to press for the US to scrap the requirement for Bulgarians to have visas to enter the US. In an interview broadcast on Bulgarian National Television (BNT) on June 1, Bush described this as a “tough issue” but said that he was working to come up with a solution.

Asked by BNT what Bulgaria would get in return for its military bases deal with the US, Bush said: “I don’t think friends really kind of measure decision-making on a quid pro quo basis”. On Iraq, Bush expressed his condolences to the families of Bulgarian military personnel who had died there, but defended his decisions.

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