Election 2008

McCain’s Canal Zone birth prompts queries about whether that disqualifies him!

WASHINGTON - February 28, 2008 - 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.

Election 2008

Ron Paul up big in congressional race!

February 28, 2008 - Facing a challenge on the right from Friendswood City Councilman Chris Peden in the Republican primary, Paul still looks safe for reelection. He leads Peden 63-30.

“Ron Paul basically suspended his active candidacy for President earlier this month to go home and focus on getting reelected,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “If he had continued to spend most of his time campaigning out of state he might have been in trouble, but it doesn’t appear he’s facing too much damage on the home front for his national candidacy.”

Peden has particularly tried to attack Paul on issues like the war and moral and family values, but the poll shows he’s not getting much traction. Paul leads 64-27 among voters who said Iraq was their biggest concern, and has a 65-28 advantage with people who listed moral and family values as their top issue. The poll also shows Paul popular with young people, a trend that has held across the country. He gets 29% of their votes.

Election 2008

Ron Paul reaffirms GOP candidacy and vows to continue his fight for freedom!

February 25, 2008 - The 72-year-old, 10-term Republican congressman has just vowed to continue his current campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. There's been some confusion in recent days since Paul sounded like he was, in effect, withdrawing to refocus his political efforts on a well-funded House primary challenger in his home Texas district near Houston on March 4.

His vocal online supporters have been less evident, effusive and at times abusive in the last couple of weeks. But now they have reason to refocus themselves too.

But Wednesday he struck a different note. "I will stay in as long as my supporters want me to," the Texas congressman promised CNN. "And I say as long as the number of volunteers continues to grow, and the money comes in, and there are primaries out there, and they want me to be involved, I am going to stay involved."

And if, say, there's a scandal or illness among the two remaining Republican candidates ahead of Paul in delegates, he'll be in a pretty good political position for the convention in St. Paul.

Also, guess what The Times' campaign finance guru Dan Morain just discovered....

tonight in records of the Federal Election Commission? Of all the Republican candidates left in the field at the end of January none other than Ron Paul had the most cash in hand -- some $6 million. And, like a true conservative, Paul reported not a penny in debt.

So he's got the money to keep his campaign going, despite being at loggerheads on many issues with fellow GOP candidates. And more funds flowing in each day from his loyal followers, despite being largely ignored by the major media, being barred by unfair and unbalanced Fox News from a candidates debate, and receiving short shrift in speaking time there.

Paul, a former OB-GYN who recently drew a crowd of 1,400 at North Texas University, said he was overwhelmed by possible congressional candidates who could form a bloc of strict constitutionalists in Congress and carry the movement on beyond the unsuccessful 2008 nomination struggle. But although he refuses to endorse McCain, Paul also continues to reject the possibility of a third-party run.

Paul said students he talked with "hear other candidates talking change and they know it's the same old stuff over and over again. There's no difference with the other candidates. They know it's going to take time. But as I travel, I find something very significant going on around the country. They know we need to turn this country around."

"I couldn't stop this movement if I tried," he added.

Election 2008

For McCain, self-confidence on ethics poses its own risk!

WASHINGTON - February 21, 2008 - Early in Senator John McCain’s first run for the White House eight years ago, waves of anxiety swept through his small circle of advisers.

A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself - instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.

When news organizations reported that Mr. McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist’s client, the former campaign associates said, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement.

Mr. McCain, 71, and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, 40, both say they never had a romantic relationship.

Furthermore…

McCain was one of the so-called "Keating Five" senators. He was investigated by the Senate Select Committee on Ethics in 1991 regarding the acceptance of favors from Lincoln Savings & Loan Association (Lincoln) and its owner, Charles H. Keating, Jr. Simply put, the issue was whether McCain and the other senators used their official positions to attempt to pressure Federal Home Loan Bank Board officials to go easy on the troubled institution. Eventually Lincoln went bust, costing depositors and taxpayers millions.

Mr. Keating, his associates, and his friends contributed $56,000 for Senator McCain's two House races in 1982 and 1984, and $54,000 for his 1986 Senate race. Mr. Keating also provided his corporate plane and/or arranged for payment for the use of commercial or private aircraft on several occasions for travel by Senator McCain and his family, for which Senator McCain ultimately provided reimbursement when called upon to do so. Mr. Keating also allowed Senator McCain and his family to vacation with Mr. Keating and his family, at a home provided by Mr. Keating in the Bahamas, in each of the calendar years 1983 through 1986.

Election 2008

Clintons to face fraud trial!

February 19, 2008 - While Hillary Clinton battles Barack Obama on the campaign trail, a judge in Los Angeles is quietly preparing to set a trial date in a $17 million fraud suit that aims to expose an alleged culture of widespread corruption by the Clintons and the Democratic Party.

At the conclusion of a hearing tomorrow morning before California Superior Court Judge Aurelio N. Munoz, lawyers for Hollywood mogul Peter F. Paul will begin seeking sworn testimony from all three Clintons - Bill, Hillary and Chelsea - along with top Democratic Party leaders and A-list celebrities, including Barbra Streisand, John Travolta, Brad Pitt and Cher.

Paul's team hopes for a trial in October. The Clintons' longtime lawyer David Kendall, who will attend the hearing, has declined comment on the suit.

The Clintons have tried to dismiss the case, but the California Supreme Court, in 2004, upheld a lower-court decision to deny the motion.

Election 2008

Obama mentor identified as communist!

Frank Marshall Davis 'discussed American imperialism, colonialism, exploitation'

February 19, 2008 - The mysterious "Frank" cited as a friend and adviser by Democratic president contender Barack Obama while he was growing up in Hawaii has been identified as Frank Marshall Davis, a member of the old Moscow-controlled Communist Party USA.

The identification comes from Cliff Kincaid in his column, "Obama's Communist Mentor," which was made available on the Accuracy in Media website.

"Let's challenge the liberal media to report on this," he wrote in his column. "Will they have the honesty and integrity to do so?"

Kincaid, who earlier reported on Obama’s pending plan to ship $845 billion overseas to battle "global poverty" as evidence of his socialist leanings, said the newly revealed connection is even more worrisome.

"Obama's communist connection adds to mounting public concern about a candidate who has come out of virtually nowhere, with a brief U.S. Senate legislative record, to become the Democratic Party frontrunner for the U.S. presidency," he wrote.

Election 2008

Ron Paul turns in signatures to appear on Pennsylvania Republican primary ballot!

ARLINGTON, Virginia - February 18, 2008 - Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul’s campaign has collected the necessary number of signatures to appear on the April 22, 2008 Pennsylvania Republican primary ballot.

“I am extremely pleased to announce that Ron Paul will be on the Commonwealth's April 22nd GOP primary election ballot,” said Ron Paul 2008 national field director Debbie Hopper. “Just 2,000 valid nomination signatures were required to secure a ballot position, but well-organized petition teams and extraordinary determination by scores of petition circulators resulted in a total of almost 10,000 signatures to get Congressman Paul on the ballot.”

Congressman Ron Paul is one of three Republicans still in the race for the Republican nomination for President.

Ron Paul was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.