McCain Story and Cartoon of Day

Political Cartoon of the Day:
With the great belief of the current administration, that creatopm is science, this cartoon seemed appropriate. That and this "magical" Global Warming, This Cartoon is great.

The Times reported that early in McCain's first run for the White House eight years ago, one of his top advisers -- concerned about the propriety of the relationship -- intervened by privately warning Iseman to stay away from the Arizona senator. When news organizations reported that McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist's client, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement.

McCain this morning delivered an unequivocal denial of the charges leveled against him in the story. He flatly denied that he and Iseman had had any sort of romantic relationship, or any relationship beyond what he would normally have with someone lobbying him as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. He also said he was entirely unaware of a meeting between John Weaver, at the time a senior McCain political strategist, and Iseman at Union Station. Weaver has acknowledged that he asked Iseman at that meeting to steer clear of McCain.

McCain's account is not entirely inconsistent with what Weaver has said publicly, although it does strain credulity a bit. "I did not inform Senator McCain that I asked for a meeting with Ms. Iseman," Weaver told The Fix today. "Her comments, which had gotten back to some of us, that she had strong ties to the Commerce Committee [chairman] and his staff were wrong and harmful and I so informed her and asked her to stop with these comments and to not be involved in the campaign. Nothing more and nothing less."

So Weaver, one of McCain's closest advisers at the time, met with Iseman, but says now that he never talked to McCain about his meeting with the lobbyist, either before or after the meeting. And McCain says he had no knowledge of the meeting.

McCain was emphatic in saying he was totally in the dark about Weaver's meeting with Iseman, an essential assertion in attempting to knock down the Times story. But his unqualified denial leaves him no wiggle room if more information surfaces in the coming weeks about what McCain knew and when he first knew it.

There is much that the public doesn't know about McCain's dealings with the telecommunications lobbyist and her clients years back, including considerable potentially exculpatory information that McClain complained was ignored by the Times in its lengthy article. So, at the moment, it's tough to draw hard and fast conclusions.

But one immediate political impact of the story has been the rallying of prominent conservatives behind McCain, as detailed by Mike Allen and Jonathan Martin of the Politico. Rush Limbaugh, the talk radio show host, derided the story as "Page Six gossip" on his program today.

Ironically, Limbaugh and many other conservative talk radio hosts have attacked McCain for weeks for being an unacceptable choice to head the GOP ticket this fall. It didn't help matters that the Times editorial page endorsed McCain for the Republican nomination. One Republican observer put it this way to The Fix: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." That is, conservatives may not like or trust McCain but they like and trust the New York Times a lot less.

McCain sought to play up that line of attack during his press conference this morning. "I was not trying to dissuade [New York Times executive editor Bill Keller] from -- in any way from doing the story," he said. "I know the New York Times."

And, in a fundraising email just sent from McCain campaign manager Rick Davis, the anti-Times argument is made even more explicit. "We could expect attacks were coming; as soon as John McCain appeared to be locking up the Republican nomination, the liberal establishment and their allies at the New York Times have gone on the attack," wrote Davis.

It's no secret to anyone watching this Republican race closely that McCain is still struggling to bring conservatives into the fold. Time after time he lost the conservative vote in early primary and caucus states; of the 24 states that have voted to date, McCain received the most support from self-identified conservatives in just five (Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Wisconsin).

Could this be the galvanizing force that unites this key voting bloc behind McCain?

Perhaps.

We've long believed that conservatives would eventually come home to McCain when faced with a choice between someone they largely agree with and someone they don't -- meaning either Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton . While it is fashionable at the moment among conservatives to cast a vote against McCain, when November comes it is hard to see these rock-ribbed conservatives choosing a Democrat.

What this incident may do -- again assuming that nothing more damaging emerges over the coming days -- is to energize conservatives behind McCain in a way that they might not have been otherwise. Most conservatives would likely have come home to McCain in the end but there was a segment of voters who would have stayed home. They may not now -- especially if McCain and his camp can cast this controversy as an example of the liberal media trying to destroy a conservative Republican. The story has the potential in the short term to turn McCain into a conservative cause celebre.

Election 2008: Romney Resigns

Officially, the Democrats, who polled 15 million votes this week compared with 11 million for Republican candidates, say their continuing contest is not an issue.

"I think it would be a problem if Senator Clinton's voters disliked me or my voters disliked Senator Clinton," Mr Obama said. "But I don't think that's the case."

However, many Democrats fear a drawn-out race will harm the party. Mr Obama is expected to win in the Washington area next week, with Mrs Clinton then making gains in Ohio and Texas in March.

For the Republicans, all now depends on Mr Huckabee, the last conservative left in the race.

MITT Romney dramatically suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination yesterday, placing John McCain in prime position.

The surprise move by the former Massachusetts governor puts pressure on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to wrap up their struggle for the Democratic nomination early.

Mr Romney said he had taken the decision because continuing his battle with Mr McCain would weaken his party, increasing the chances of a Democrat victory which would mean a "surrender to terror".

In what was the most passionate speech of Mr Romney's campaign, he said he was making the sacrifice for the common good. "If I fight on all the way to convention, I forestall the launch of a national campaign and, frankly, I would be making it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win," he said. "Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."

The Super Tuesday primaries had left him with 270 delegates to Mr McCain's 680. The multi-millionaire had said he needed a minimum of 400 to stay in the race. He keeps his delegates, but he can't order them to vote for someone else at the convention.

Money was not his problem: he had already pumped an estimated £15 million into his campaign from his own funds. Rather, Tuesday left him facing an impossible task – trying to win liberal voters from Mr McCain while appealing to the hardline conservative support of third-placed Mike Huckabee.

Mr Romney told a conservative conference in Washington yesterday: "Conservative principles are needed now more than ever. Soon, the face of liberalism in America will have a new name. Whether it is Barack or Hillary, the result will be the same.

"The opponents of American culture will push the throttle."

Mr Romney, a Mormon, addressed what he saw as Europe's problems as he called on the US to approve a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages. "Europe is facing a demographic disaster," he said. "That's the inevitable product of weakened faith in the Creator, failed families, disrespect for the sanctity of human life and eroded morality."

Can McCain pull New York in 2008

In a sign that Mr. McCain was now willing to battle Mr. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, in the city and state that gave rise to Mr. Giuliani’s political fortunes, Mr. McCain released a list of his New York supporters, among them Kissinger, the former secretary of state, and Peter Peterson, A co-founder of the Blackstone Group and a former secretary of commerce.

Also on the list was Michael Finnegan who was counsel to former Gov. George Pataki of New York. Mr. Pataki has not endorsed a candidate for president, and it is not clear that he will. Edward F. Cox, a son-in-law of President Richard Nixon and a senior partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, Mr. Giuliani’s former law firm, is the chairman of Mr. McCain’s campaign in New York.

Mr. D’Amato had earlier endorsed Fred Thompson, but he switched to Mr. McCain, who is leading nationally in polls and gaining in New York, shortly before Mr. Thompson withdrew from the presidential race on Tuesday.

Mr. D’Amato stood in the St. Regis Library Room with former Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, another McCain supporter, and praised Mr. McCain before the start of the fund-raiser. “He will be, in my opinion, the strongest Republican candidate,” Mr. D’Amato said. “And for those of you who say, ‘Well, I disagree with him on one issue or another,’ if you want to win in November, John McCain, he’s the man.”

Mr. McCain said he was heartened by his frequent mentions on Monday night by the Democratic presidential candidates at a debate in South Carolina. “It’s pretty clear that they view me as their most formidable opponent,” he said, “and I agree with them.”

Mr. D’Amato has not had a close relationship with Mr. McCain. When Mr. D’Amato was in the Senate, people close to him said he was not fond of Mr. McCain’s signature causes, reining in campaign spending and pork barrel projects, two areas in which Mr. D’Amato excelled. But Mr. D’Amato has long had a difficult relationship with Mr. Giuliani, who angered him in 1994 when Mr. Giuliani endorsed Mario Cuomo a Democrat, for governor. Mr. D’Amato supported Mr. Pataki that year.

Any impact from Mr. McCain’s announcement that Mr. D’Amato was supporting him was somewhat undercut because the news had been reported Tuesday morning in The New York Post. On his campaign bus in Florida earlier Tuesday, Mr. McCain cast a suspicious eye on his benefactor, who has never been known to scurry out of the limelight.

“Thanks, Al,” Mr. McCain told reporters sardonically on the way to Fort Walton Beach from Pensacola. “That’s Al the Pal.”

Charles Black, Mr. McCain’s senior adviser, chimed in, “Can’t imagine who leaked that.” .

Mr. McCain said he was raising money on Mr. Giuliani’s home base for a simple reason. “It’s the Willie Sutton syndrome,” Mr. McCain said at a news conference in Pensacola, referring to the bank robber of the 1930s. “They asked him why he robbed banks, and he said it’s because that’s where the money is.”

Giuliani Off to Florida in 2008

“For us, it’s Florida,” said Mr. Giuliani in an impromptu press conference made difficult to hear because of the whine of various electric drills. “We’ll think about New York, California, Missouri”–he listed a few more states where his poll numbers are listing to starboard–”we’ll think about everything on the morning of Jan. 30.”

“We fully expect it to be awfully competitive,” he said. “So it’s playing out the way we thought it would play out. Now, the important thing is that it’s supposed to play out with us winning Florida.”

As to Florida, where a poll this morning shows him trailing McCain and Romney? Mr. Giuliani long ago declared this state his fortress, declining to compete in earlier primaries.

And, as this campaign has featured the Candidate Giuliani who no longer rips at his opponents’ jugulars for sport, he declined to attack any of his rivals, even those who now have taken the lead in the Florida polls. He gave another of those vaguely disconcerting benign grins. “I am having a great time,” he said. “I hope the other candidates are too.”

Not only have recent polls show him in a tight race with John McCain and Mitt Romney in Florida, but now a poll shows him trailing Mr. McCain in his home state of New York.

Republicans prepare for Florida in 08

Speaking at a news conference at the Bank of America Midtown Plaza, Huckabee said Saturday's results in South Carolina were close. He finished second to U.S. Sen. John McCain, just 3 percentage points behind.

Huckabee was then in Atlanta to attend the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative service and to pick up the endorsement of nearly three dozen black ministers and religious leaders from around the country.

When told that Georgia Republicans have voted the same as South Carolinians in every Republican presidential primary since 1980, Huckabee was undeterred.

"They may have voted that way since 1980, but there have been a lot of firsts this campaign season and there's going to be another one. A big one. We plan on carrying Georgia," he said.

Huckabee said things would have been different Saturday had it not been for the presence of former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson on the ballot. Thompson seemed to pull voters away from Huckabee, given both men's appeal to evangelical voters.

"We were this close," Huckabee said. "Some of it, we think, was the Fred Thompson factor. We would have won handily if it weren't for that."

Huckabee took off from the news conference Monday for Florida, where Republicans hold a primary next week. But Huckabee returns to Atlanta Tuesday morning for a pair of receptions and to speak at the Georgia Right to Life memorial service at the Capitol.

Dean Nelson, executive director of the Network of Politically Active Christians, was among those at the news conference endorsing Huckabee.

"Mike Huckabee is the person who encapsulates and carries the values the African-American community holds," Nelson said.

He said he made that decision after Huckabee was the only Republican candidate to show up for a debate sponsored by PBS at historically black Morgan State University.

On the other side of the Republican Party, boosted by strong support from independents and South Carolina's active and retired military voters, Mr. McCain edged out Mr. Huckabee, 33% to 30%.

The results mark a dramatic reversal of fortune for Mr. McCain in the Palmetto State. He was defeated here in 2000 in his unsuccessful presidential bid against George W. Bush -- a campaign marked by negative attacks on the senator's personal life and professional record. "It took us a while, but what's eight years among friends," said a laughing Mr. McCain Saturday night.

On Sunday, Mr. McCain called the GOP contest "still very competitive" but said his South Carolina win gives him momentum heading into the next big battle in Florida. Mr. McCain took a swipe at Rudy Giuliani, who avoided the early primary states to make his first big stand in Florida, which votes Jan. 29. Mr. McCain said he expected to come under heavy criticism from the former New York mayor.

"If someone hasn't run a primary, I can understand why they would attack the front-runner," Mr. McCain told reporters at a news conference.

"I think we're obviously doing very well," Mr. McCain said. Still, he added, "This is still very competitive."

Despite favor from the state's evangelical voting bloc and efforts from outside groups on his behalf, Mr. Huckabee couldn't pull out a win. He heads into Florida in a weakened position, unable to show he can win Republican votes outside of his evangelical base. But Mr. Huckabee struck an optimistic tone in his defeat, noting that he'd rather lose "with honor" than have resorted to negative attacks. "The process is far, far from over," he vowed in his concession speech. "The path to the White House is not ending here tonight."