The LA Times

A new government report predicts when each will go into the red, but the candidates appear reluctant to touch the subject matter.

The Washington Post

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton pushed back hard yesterday against calls for her to withdraw from the presidential race, with aides saying she remains more determined than ever to remain in the contest until the end of the primary season.

Allies of Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) have sought to increase pressure on Clinton (N.Y.) to drop out of the race in recent days, arguing that, because of his lead in pledged delegates, her only path to the Democratic nomination lies in a divisive campaign that drags to the party's convention Aug. 25-28 in Denver. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) yesterday offered what may have been the starkest challenge to Clinton from a prominent Obama supporter, saying in an interview with Vermont Public Radio that she should avert a potentially bloody and ultimately futile battle by stepping aside.

The New York Times (register)

Last Tuesday, millions of viewers were riveted by the wrestling match in Ohio and gunfight in Texas between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, not to mention by the unlikely coronation of the conservative bugbear John McCain as the Republican nominee.

Among those watching? Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric.

Instead of election coverage, NBC ran two hours of “The Biggest Loser” while CBS showed an episode of “Big Brother” and ABC did an hour of “Just for Laughs” along with some other can-miss TV.

It was an “Idol” night on Fox — at least people were voting — so you have to wonder why the other networks didn’t turn their news divisions loose on a huge primary night in the name of civic interest and perhaps a little brand building.

The New York Times (register)

COLUMBUS, Miss. — At first, the suggestion was a quiet one, raised by their supporters. Soon, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, lent credence to the idea, telling voters in Mississippi and beyond that Senator Barack Obama would make a fine partner — most likely as No. 2 — on the Democratic ticket.

But when Mr. Obama arrived here Monday, he brusquely discounted the chatter. He suggested that the Clintons were being duplicitous in their offer, implying on one hand that he was not ready to be president, but that on the other, he could solve the party’s political impasse by joining together.

“I don’t know how somebody who’s in second place can offer the vice presidency to someone who’s in first place,” Mr. Obama told a town meeting at the Mississippi University for Women here, alluding to his lead in delegates. As the crowd cheered, he said: “If I’m not ready, how is it that you think I should be such a great vice president? Do you understand that?”

The New York Times (register)

Mitt Romney has emerged from hibernation to do his first televised interview since he suspended his presidential campaign last month, saying he would be “honored” to serve as Senator John McCain’s vice-presidential nominee.

“I think any Republican leader in this country would be honored to be asked to serve as the vice-presidential nominee, myself included,” said Mr. Romney, who is scheduled to appear on Fox News Channel’s Hannity & Colmes tonight, according to advance excerpts. “Of course this is a nation which needs strong leadership. And if the nominee of our party asked you to serve with him, anybody would be honored to receive that call.”

The pair engaged in some of the most bitter feuding of the campaign cycle as they tangled in New Hampshire, Michigan, Florida and heading into the crush of states that voted on Feb. 5.

ABC News

Some of Sen. John McCain's strongest supporters are spending much of their time raising money for their pal, giving speeches for him, even accompanying the candidate on the campaign trail.

After all, the volunteers — many of them McCain classmates from the U.S. Naval Academy — have plenty of time on their hands. Almost all of them have been retired for years. At an age when most Americans have taken up hobbies or mall walking, the 71-year-old presumptive GOP presidential nominee is hoping to become the nation's oldest newly elected president. If elected, McCain would be 76 at the end of his first term.

If there is any doubt that McCain's age is going to be an issue, just listen to the late night monologues. "John McCain seems reinvigorated. He has a new campaign slogan: 'He'll lead you into the 21st century.' I like it better than the old slogan, which was 'He'll lead you into assisted living,'" riffed David Letterman, who likes to refer to McCain as the candidate who looks like "the old guy at the barber shop," "a Wal-Mart greeter" or "the guy at the supermarket who is confused by the automatic doors."

ABC News

In another twist to the bitter battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, former vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, a member of Sen. Hillary Clinton's finance committee, vented her frustration with Sen. Barack Obama's campaign success in racially charged remarks.

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," Ferraro told a local California newspaper last week.

"And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept," Ferraro said.

The Washington Post

Sen. Barack Obama won the Mississippi Democratic presidential primary decisively last night, adding to his overall lead in delegates as he and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton plunged into a six-week battle ahead of a showdown in Pennsylvania.

While voters were casting ballots in Mississippi, the campaigns clashed over comments from Geraldine A. Ferraro, a Clinton supporter and the only woman to be a major party vice presidential nominee, who suggested that Obama has taken the lead in delegates only because he is black. Obama, she said, "would not be in this position" if he were white or a woman.

Obama called the statement "patently absurd," while Clinton dismissed it as "regrettable," saying she thoroughly disagrees with Ferraro's sentiment. Despite their comments, the controversy continued as Obama's advisers demanded a more dramatic renunciation and as Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams accused the Obama team of fanning the race issue.

The New York Times (register)

NEW ORLEANS — Senator John McCain fielded a question at a public forum on Friday morning in Atlanta that he said he had never been asked before. Because Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, had approached him about being his running mate for the White House in 2004, would Mr. McCain now return the favor?

Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, who has long been distrusted by conservatives as a Democratic sympathizer, quickly said no he would not — and just as quickly said he had never considered sharing the ticket with Mr. Kerry, a friend.

“He is, as he describes himself, a liberal Democrat,” Mr. McCain said of Mr. Kerry, adding that he meant no offense by the term. “I am a conservative Republican. So when I was approached, when we had that conversation back in 2004, that’s why I never even considered such a thing.”

The New York Times (register)

Along with his signature bright white hair, the most striking aspects of Senator John McCain’s physical appearance are his puffy left cheek and the scar that runs down the back of his neck.

Mr. McCain with his wife after having a melanoma removed from his nose in 2002. It was one of four he has had.
The marks are cosmetic reminders of the melanoma surgery he underwent in August 2000. Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, sometimes tells audiences that he has “more scars than Frankenstein.”

The operation was performed mainly to determine whether the melanoma, a potentially fatal form of skin cancer, had spread from his left temple to a key lymph node in his neck; a preliminary pathology test at the time showed that it had not.

ABC News

Barack Obama won the Democratic caucuses today in Wyoming, a state the party's presidential candidates often overlook, but that in this nail-biter of a race saw heavy campaigning by both Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Obama came away with 61 percent of the vote to Clinton's 38 percent. Democrats in Wyoming get little respect. The sparsely populated red state is home to just 218,000 thousand voters, most of them Republicans, like Wyoming's own Dick Cheney.

But this year, Clinton and Obama eagerly glad-handed voters across the state because even Wyoming -- with its 12 delegates -- counts.

ABC News

Samantha Power, a senior foreign policy adviser to Sen. Barack Obama, resigned Friday morning after calling Sen. Hillary Clinton a "monster" in an interview with a European newspaper.

Ex-Obama Aide Sorry for 'Monster' Remark"With deep regret, I am resigning from my role as an adviser the Obama campaign effective today," said Power in a statement issued by the Obama campaign. "Last Monday, I made inexcusable remarks that are at marked variance from my oft-stated admiration for Senator Clinton and from the spirit, tenor and purpose of the Obama campaign. And I extend my deepest apologies to Senator Clinton, Senator Obama and the remarkable team I have worked with over these long 14 months."

Power's statement came scarcely an hour after congressional supporters of Clinton demanded that Obama fire Power for the remarks.

The Washington Times

Sen. John McCain, having survived the Republican primaries, now needs to bind a fractured Republican Party as he looks to the presidential election this fall.

But the manner of his victory — he clinched his party's nomination by outlasting flawed opponents rather than storming to victory over them — has left him with the tasks of repairing fissures among Republicans and overcoming the headwind of an unpopular president from his party.

And he will have to do that while facing the historic candidacy of either a woman or a black man as his Democratic opponent.

ABC News

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has conceded the Republican nomination to rival Senator John McCain, R-Ariz.

But there is no doubt the longshot-turned-contender left his mark on the GOP race.

Calling his White House bid the "journey of a lifetime", Huckabee spoke Tuesday night from Irving, TX commending McCain on an "honorable campaign" and emphasizing his commitment to the Republican party in the fight to the November election.

The New York Times (register)

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton defeated Senator Barack Obama in the Ohio and Texas primaries on Tuesday, ending a string of defeats and allowing her to soldier on in a Democratic presidential nomination race that now seems unlikely to end any time soon.

Mrs. Clinton also won Rhode Island, while Mr. Obama won in Vermont. But the results mean that Mrs. Clinton won the two states she most needed to keep her candidacy alive.

In an interview on CNN Wednesday morning, Mrs. Clinton said she was not deterred by Mr. Obama’s continued lead in elected delegate support, and argued that she would be the stronger candidate in a general election against the now-assured Republican candidate, Senator John McCain. “What’s important is that this campaign has turned a corner,” she said.

The New York Times (register)

Senator John McCain, a one-time insurgent whose campaign was all but dead seven months ago, locked up the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday night after he defeated former Gov. Mike Huckabee in the Texas and Ohio Republican primary and Mr. Huckabee conceded the race to Mr. McCain.

Although Mr. McCain had been far ahead in the delegate count and been bestowed with the unofficial title of “likely Republican nominee” since his string of victories on Feb. 5, Tuesday’s results put him within reach of the 1,191 delegates he needs for the nomination. Mr. McCain also won the Vermont and Rhode Island primaries.

“I am very grateful and pleased to note that tonight, my friends, we have won enough delegates to claim with confidence, humility and a great sense of responsibility that I will be the Republican nominee for president of the United States,” Mr. McCain said. He said this was “an accomplishment that once seemed to more than a few doubters unlikely.”

The New York Times (register)

This week, more than any other of the 2008 Democratic campaign, has acquired an air of decisiveness.

That is because four primary contests on Tuesday could extinguish Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s hope of overtaking Senator Barack Obama. After 11 consecutive losses, she trails badly in Vermont, runs even or slightly behind in Texas, and leads in Ohio and Rhode Island.

Yet the hinge could still swing either way. If Mrs. Clinton carries the behemoths of Ohio and Texas — despite her opponent’s momentum and financial advantage — Mr. Obama may rue this week as both an end and a beginning.

The New York Times (register)

WASHINGTON — Top supporters of Senator Barack Obama, joined by at least one prominent Democrat yet to endorse a candidate, put pressure on Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday to bow out of the presidential race unless she scores clear victories in the crucial big-state primary contests on Tuesday.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton held a rally at Westerville North High School in Westerville, Ohio, on Sunday.
“I just think that D-Day is Tuesday,” said Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, a former Democratic presidential candidate who has yet to throw his support behind either candidate. And two Obama supporters, Senators John Kerry and Dick Durbin, pushed for Mrs. Clinton to withdraw if she does poorly at the polls on Tuesday.

Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont hold primary contests that day, and the Clinton campaign, trailing in the delegates needed for nomination and having lost the last 11 straight contests, has acknowledged that the New York senator needs to win at least Ohio or Texas. Both candidates were campaigning Sunday in Ohio.

The LA Times

The Democratic presidential candidates campaign across Ohio in advance of Tuesday's primary.

The LA Times

WASHINGTON -- Setting aside his stated reluctance to enter the presidential campaign, President Bush on Thursday strongly criticized Barack Obama's expressed readiness to meet with foreign leaders cast as tyrants, warning that such discussions "can be extremely counterproductive" and "send the wrong signal."

He also challenged Democrats' skepticism about the North American Free Trade Agreement, and reminded Obama that Al Qaeda has been seeking to establish a base in Iraq "for the past four years."

At the same time, he said at a White House news conference that he was not yet willing to join the political fray, but his comments suggested otherwise. He worked beyond the edges of the debate, challenging for the first time -- and across a broad spectrum of issues -- some of the tenets of Obama's and Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaigns and the direction in which the Democrats would take the nation.

The New York Times (register)

Move beyond the tactical skirmishes in this campaign, and one of the most intriguing issues remains the influence of gender on Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s candidacy.

The questions are fundamental and — even with modern polling technology — almost impossible to answer. For example: How much of Mrs. Clinton’s political vulnerability is linked to being a woman, and how much to her own, very specific political identity and past? Why do so many Democratic men and women, at this particular moment, see the race so differently?

The latest round of polls provided fresh data, although few explanations. In a New York Times/CBS News poll, Senator Barack Obama had the support of more than two-thirds of the male Democratic primary voters, while dividing women fairly evenly with Mrs. Clinton. The latest Pew Research Center poll, a few days later, showed a similar pattern — Mr. Obama outdrawing Mrs. Clinton by two to one among Democratic men.

The New York Times (register)

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Taking advantage of his financial edge, Senator Barack Obama is buying large amounts of advertising and building extensive get-out-the-vote operations in an effort to end Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s candidacy with twin defeats Tuesday in Ohio and Texas.

The intensity of Mr. Obama’s drive is especially apparent on television, where he has outspent Mrs. Clinton by nearly two to one in the two states. That is helping him eat deeply into double-digit leads she held in polls just weeks ago.

But after a month in which she raised $32 million — a remarkable amount, but still less than the $50 million or more brought in by Mr. Obama — Mrs. Clinton is fighting back.

The New York Times (register)

On the bus ferrying a group of reporters to an appearance by Senator Barack Obama at Ohio State University on Wednesday, Lee Cowan, the NBC reporter assigned to the campaign, was asked the media question of the week: Had journalists like himself been going easier on Mr. Obama than his opponent for the Democratic nomination, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton?

“I don’t think that it’s kind treatment versus unkind treatment,” Mr. Cowan began, taking issue with the depiction of journalists fawning over Mr. Obama in a “Saturday Night Live” skit last Saturday, a characterization stoked nearly every day since by Mrs. Clinton and her aides.

And yet, Mr. Cowan then described several advantages that he saw Mr. Obama as having over his rival. “He hasn’t been around as long, so there isn’t as much to pick at,” Mr. Cowan said. “He plays everything very cool. He’s not as much of a lightning rod. His personality just doesn’t seem to draw that kind of coverage.”

The Washington Times

William F. Buckley Jr., a scion of elegant reason and muscular wit who marshaled public awareness of conservative thought, died yesterday at his home in Connecticut. He was 82 and had suffered the effects of diabetes and emphysema for about a year.

A longtime syndicated columnist, author of 50 books and founder of the National Review, Mr. Buckley was knee-deep in intellectual pursuits to the end of his days. He was discovered dead at his desk by son Christopher in the early morning hours.

"Unquestionably, he was the principal founder of the modern American conservative movement, who had a major influence on the country, the party and the world. He was a wonderfully vivacious, effervescent friend, full of fun, a great sense of humor. He just changed the entire image of American conservatism," said William Rusher, publisher of National Review for 31 years and Mr. Buckley's closest business associate.

The Washington Post

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is engaged in a concerted effort to reassure Jewish leaders in the face of an increasingly aggressive Republican campaign to question his tolerance and his commitment to supporting Israel.

In a typical attack, the Tennessee Republican Party, under the headline "Anti-Semites for Obama," said Monday that it was joining "a growing chorus of Americans concerned about the future of the nation of Israel, the only stable democracy in the Middle East, if Sen. Barack Hussein Obama is elected president of the United States."

The New York Times (register)

BELPRE, Ohio — She didn’t say yes, but she didn’t say no, either.

Senator Hillary Clinton was asked last night by a voter in St. Clairsville if she would consider Senator Barack Obama as her running mate. “I think you’d make a great team,” the voter said, while adding that Mr. Obama might need a little more experience — and he could learn it from her.

Mrs. Clinton replied that a lot of people often ask that question of both her and “Barack.”

The New York Times (register)

WASHINGTON — The question has nagged at the parents of Americans born outside the continental United States for generations: Dare their children aspire to grow up and become president? In the case of Senator John McCain of Arizona, the issue is becoming more than a matter of parental daydreaming.

Mr. McCain’s likely nomination as the Republican candidate for president and the happenstance of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 are reviving a musty debate that has surfaced periodically since the founders first set quill to parchment and declared that only a “natural-born citizen” can hold the nation’s highest office.

Almost since those words were written in 1787 with scant explanation, their precise meaning has been the stuff of confusion, law school review articles, whisper campaigns and civics class debates over whether only those delivered on American soil can be truly natural born. To date, no American to take the presidential oath has had an official birthplace outside the 50 states.

The New York Times (register)

Bringing an end to a long flirtation with a bid for the White House, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has officially closed the door on a presidential candidacy this year.

Bloomberg Says He Will Not Endorse Anyone for Mayor in the 2009 Democratic Primary (February 28, 2008) In an Op-Ed article published in Thursday’s New York Times, Mr. Bloomberg wrote that he still believed that a nonpartisan approach was needed to solve the country’s problems and that an independent candidate could win. But he will not run, he said.

“I listened carefully to those who encouraged me to run, but I am not — and will not be — a candidate for president,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “I have watched this campaign unfold, and I am hopeful that the current campaigns can rise to the challenge by offering truly independent leadership. The most productive role that I can serve is to push them forward, by using the means at my disposal to promote a real and honest debate.”

The Nation

Liberal smarties and sophisticates are having fun mocking John McCain , but assuming he gets the nomination, he will a formidable candidate. He may look like a grumpy old man -- specifically, as my friend Kathleen Geier joked, the grumpy old man who yells at kids to get off his lawn -- or the nutty old uncle who rags on everyone at Thanksgiving before passing out in front of the football game. But that's another way of saying McCain is a familiar, indeed family, character. It does not require an imaginative stretch to get John McCain. How many voters know someone like Barack Obama?

McCain is white, male, patriarchal, a war hero with decades in the Senate. So what if he's old? In politics old can be good ( for men), especially to the older voters -- older white voters -- who dominate the polls. Besides, McCain's not so old that he couldn't get himself a much younger trophy wife, and even if Cindy McCain looks brittle and unhappy and like she hasn't eaten in a decade, she is always there by his side, a visual reminder of his manly prowess. McCain is brash and sly and seemingly unguarded, unlike the famously self-protective Hillary Clinton, and he loves to schmooze with reporters, who adore him and like most of the rest of America, refuse to see how conservative he is. It's like they're saying, Oh go on, Uncle John! you're just saying you love Sam Alito to get me riled up!