US Election 2008 Blog

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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.”

Barack Obama was recently accused by FOX News and other right wing organizations of being raised a muslim and attended a madrassa

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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By Laura Smith-Spark, BBC News
Manchester, New Hampshire

Want to meet the next president of the United States? Move to New Hampshire and you stand a good chance.

In a country of some 300 million people, the state’s 1.3 million residents are perhaps the most heavily-canvassed and targeted voters of any in the nation, bar Iowa.

Last week each party’s candidates flocked to New Hampshire for the latest televised debates, as they seek the all-important nomination to run for president in 2008.

And over the coming months, the contenders will court the state like no other, descending on it for house parties, 4 July parades and rallies - each time seeking vital “face time” with potential voters, in a strategy known as “retail politics”.

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DesMoinesRegister.com

Dubuque, Ia. - U.S. Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday launched what he touted as one of the largest and earliest nationwide door-to-door efforts in presidential campaign history.

“It is a testimony to the degree to which people, as I travel all across the country, are so invested in change,” the Illinois Democrat said. “They want to turn the page and create a new kind of politics.”

More than 200 people in Dubuque volunteered to go door to door for Obama. At least 38 groups - more than 1,500 volunteers overall - took part in Iowa. The event, “Walk for Change,” attracted more than 10,000 volunteers, located in all 50 states, aides said.

Obama raised $25 million in the first quarter of his campaign, nearly the same amount as Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, who leads Obama in many early polls and is considered the party’s presidential front-runner.

Obama’s campaign staff has not yet turned to television advertising and has instead concentrated on dozens of smaller, more personal stops. Staffers declined to speculate Saturday when or whether TV ads will be part of the strategy.

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