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Viewing Category: 2008 Presidential
Clinton garners endorsements from Arzberger, 13 other Dem officials
Democratic senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton announced today that she's received endorsements from Senate Minority Leader Marsha Arzberger and 10 other Arizona legislators.
"We need a change in Washington, and Hillary Clinton has the experience and knowledge to make it happen," Arzberger, D-Willcox, said in a statement.
Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential]Posted by Editor at 04:04 PM
McCain's new campaign manager learned politics in AlabamaMONTGOMERY, Ala. - The new campaign manager trying to salvage John McCain's Republican presidential bid got his early education in politics in Alabama when it was an overwhelmingly Democratic state.Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections, McCain]Now, three decades later, Rick Davis is known as a very capable campaign manager who's devoted to McCain. But it would be difficult for anyone to remove "the smell of defeat" that is beginning to surround the campaign, said Winton Blount, a McCain supporter and former chairman of the Alabama Republican Party.
"It looks like to me in the South immigration reform has killed him," the Montgomery businessman said.
Posted by Editor at 06:27 PM
Giuliani shops at Phoenix Costco, buys Sandler DVDsRepublican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani used a campaign stop in Phoenix Wednesday to shake hands and pose for pictures with employees and shoppers at a Costco store and do some shopping himself.Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections, Phoenix]Giuliani bought nutrition bars, a collection of Adam Sandler movies and a book and a DVD from a series of Robert Ludlum action-thriller novels featuring Jason Bourne, a former assassin.
"I've read all the other ones. I might as well read this one," Giuliani told reporters and photographers who followed him around the store.
Posted by Editor at 01:37 AM
McCain's campaign loses pair of advisersCONCORD, N.H. - Sen. John McCain's advertising consultants have resigned from his presidential campaign, the latest in a rash of staff shake-ups in recent weeks.McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker on Wednesday described the departure of Russ Schriefer and Stuart Stevens as amicable and said the Arizona Republican "appreciates their service" but accepted their resignations when they were offered Monday night.
Schriefer and Stevens were part of George W. Bush's campaign team in 2000 and 2004 and were part of Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign. The Wall Street Journal first reported the departures Wednesday night.
Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections, McCain]
Posted by Editor at 01:21 AM
McCain brushes off Gingrich criticism of GOP presidential fieldGRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - John McCain on Tuesday brushed aside derogatory comments made by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who called the Republican presidential field a "pathetic" bunch of "pygmies."Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections, McCain]"I see the former member of the House of Representatives as a person who has many, many comments to make and he's made many, many comments critical of me in the past," McCain told reporters Tuesday after attending a fundraiser in Grand Rapids. "We had a fundamental disagreement about the role of money in politics."
Speaking at a Monday breakfast sponsored by The American Spectator, a conservative magazine, the Georgia Republican labeled the nine-man GOP presidential field as a "pathetic" bunch of "pygmies," the San Francisco Examiner reported.
Posted by Editor at 12:54 AM
McCain clears out press office to stem spendingWASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain's top communications aides and several staffers in Iowa and South Carolina quit on Monday, the latest departures to hit the Republican as he struggles to rebound from financial and political woes.Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, McCain]Brian Jones, McCain's communications director, and his two deputies, Matt David and Danny Diaz, stepped down but plan to stay on through the week. Two others in the communications shop at the campaign headquarters also are leaving, as are two staffers apiece in Iowa and South Carolina.
Jill Hazelbaker, McCain's current New Hampshire communications director, is expected to take over for Jones and head up a slimmed-down media operation.
Posted by Editor at 07:43 AM
Infighting takes toll on McCain campaignProfligate spending and battling egos can break up households, wreck businesses and upend leading presidential campaigns.Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican making his second White House run, this week watched two of his most senior aides, including his longtime political guru, walk out the door, the culmination of an internal power struggle stemming from rising resentment tied to overspending and campaign management.
An increasingly dire money situation caused the combustible personality mix of the independent-minded McCain and his campaign heavy-hitters to explode Tuesday.
Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections, McCain]
Posted by Editor at 07:53 AM
Backing the wrong horses took McCain out of race...The no-nonsense, outsider McCain of 2000 who appealed to a broad cross-section gave way to the McCain of 2007, an insider pol who took the wrong positions with the wrong constituencies.Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections, McCain, Opinion]He supports an unpopular war initiated by an unpopular Republican president. Yet he joined with two leading Senate Democrats in support of comprehensive immigration reform and campaign-finance reform.
While McCain positioned himself as a leader of a blue-red country, Republican activists seethed red and turned blue with anger. McCain wasn't about to win his party's nomination without the support of bedrock Republicans. McCain is considered a traitor to some Republicans.
Posted by Editor at 07:49 AM
McCain Call Raises an Ethics QuestionWASHINGTON, July 11 — About 3 p.m. Tuesday, Senator John McCain ducked off the Senate floor, entered the Republican cloakroom and took out his mobile phone. Just hours after accepting the resignation of his two top campaign aides, he was making a conference call to his top fund-raisers to urge them to keep up the fight.Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections, McCain]The call, however, may only have exacerbated an already tough week for Mr. McCain. Senate ethics rules expressly forbid lawmakers to engage in campaign activities inside Senate facilities. If Mr. McCain solicited campaign contributions on a call from government property, that would be a violation of federal criminal law as well.
There is no evidence that Mr. McCain has made a habit of making such calls or otherwise exploiting his office for political gain, and he is hardly the first lawmaker to call a donor from under the Capitol dome. But he made the call as he was in the spotlight because of the staff shake-up, sagging poll numbers and disappointing fund-raising of his Republican presidential primary campaign.
Posted by Editor at 10:28 AM
Analysis: McCain's best option is return to rebel roots..."Running as an establishment candidate robbed him of the most compelling and unique aspects of his political persona _ the reformer, the insurgent, the maverick," said Dan Schnur, an adviser to McCain in his first presidential run. "He's still the same guy but wrapped into the establishment. Maybe they can still strip that away."Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, McCain]Once the GOP front-runner, McCain finds his second presidential candidacy in peril six months before the primary voting begins. Over the past week, he accepted the resignations of two top aides and elevated a third to run the campaign, laid off more than half his staff, narrowed his strategy to three states and disclosed he had only $2 million to spend.
Posted by Editor at 09:36 AM
PR duo, real estate developer bring Giuliani to townRepublican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani will hold a fundraiser in Phoenix July 25 at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa. Tickets range between $2,300 and $1,000.Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential]Event hosts include public relations consultants Gordon and Lisa James as well as real estate developer Marty DeRito.
Lisa James was the Arizona director for the 2004 Bush/Cheney campaign.
Posted by Editor at 06:01 AM
McCain's campaign manager, strategist quitWASHINGTON - John McCain jettisoned two top aides Tuesday, the one-time Republican front-runner struggling to right a presidential bid in deep financial and political trouble.Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections, McCain]Campaign manager Terry Nelson and chief strategist John Weaver offered McCain their resignations, which the Arizona senator accepted with "regret and deep gratitude for their dedication, hard work and friendship."
Other senior aides followed the two out the door, and the campaign announced that Rick Davis, who managed McCain's 2000 bid and the current campaign's chief executive officer, will take over.
Posted by Editor at 05:58 AM
Campaign buzz trumps real issuesThe 2008 general election feeding frenzy is already well under way. Television shows, Web sites and print media buzz with coverage of candidates' campaign stops, their fancy haircuts, their religious beliefs, their marriages, their divorces, their political pasts, their fundraising ability and perceived weaknesses. At this stage of any campaign, there are a lot of "what if" scenarios and prognostication.The first caucuses begin in January and Super Tuesday is Feb. 5, the date when at least 14 and possibly up to 25 states will hold their primaries. It's easy to forget that the actual general election is about 16 months — more than 480 days — away. The horse race has begun.
The early presidential campaigning is also overshadowing the 2008 congressional elections. And does anyone even remember that there are local elections this fall? Tucsonans will elect a mayor and three City Council members to posts that will shape the course of our metro area.
Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections, Opinion]
Posted by Editor at 05:51 AM
McCain leaves the country and nobody noticesBy Peter Bakke, Editor, AZPoliticalNews.com
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections, McCain]Sen. John McCain performed his patriotic duty and visited the troops in Iraq on Independence Day. The problem for the once-presumed Republican presidential nominee is that no one noticed.
If Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani had visited Baghdad Wednesday, the media hordes surely would have swarmed over the story like bees to honey (or lobbyists to Capitol Hill). McCain's visit to the war front, however patriotic it may have been, was apparently judged by the media mavens to be ho-hum. There was no noticable coverage of his trip (was there?).
The Arizona Senator just can't seem to generate any buzz - in Baltimore, Bufffalo, or Baghdad.
Posted by Editor at 05:51 PM
Don't count McCain out yet, loyal aides say..."Looking back, it now appears that McCain and Giuliani were holding their own preliminary competition for the right to face off against a more conservative challenger for the nomination.Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections, McCain]"Giuliani won that round, and the most likely scenario now is for GOP voters to end up with a choice between Giuliani and either (Mitt) Romney or Thompson."
But McCain isn't folding. His core staff has been loyal despite the cuts, and it was a slim campaign that took him to the national spotlight in 2000.
Posted by Editor at 03:40 PM
McCain cuts staff as funding woes buildWASHINGTON — Republican John McCain struggled to keep his deeply troubled campaign afloat Monday, laying off dozens of staffers after lackluster fundraising and excessive spending left him with just $2 million for his second presidential bid.Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections, McCain]Considered the GOP front-runner just six months ago, the Arizona senator trails his top rivals in money and polls. McCain's fortunes soured this year as he embraced President Bush's troop increase for the Iraq war, an unpopular conflict with the public but one supported by most Republicans, and a bipartisan immigration bill that has divided the GOP. He also has fought to win over skeptical conservatives who make up the core of the party.
The campaign's fundamental leadership will not change. Terry Nelson, a veteran of President Bush's winning 2004 campaign, will remain campaign manager, but he said he would volunteer his time instead of drawing a salary for the next few months. A few senior aides are doing the same.
Posted by Editor at 09:04 AM
McCain slips to single digits in Nevada presidential pollLAS VEGAS - Arizona Sen. John McCain slipped to single digits in a Nevada presidential poll in which voters chose "Law & Order" actor Fred Thompson as their favorite to become the Republican presidential nominee.Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections, McCain]Thompson, also a former Tennessee senator, had the support of 25 percent of the 400 likely Republican caucus goers in the poll Mason-Dixon Polling & Research poll, published Sunday.
Posted by Editor at 05:37 PM
New Mexico's Richardson to visit ArizonaAdd Democrat Bill Richardson to the list of past and potential future presidents campaigning in the Valley this week.
Republican candidate Mitt Romney is speaking in Gilbert today and former President Bill Clinton is set to appear in Scottsdale on Monday. He is set to speak in support of his wife, Democrat Hillary Clinton, a senator from New York.
Richardson, the Democrat governor of New Mexico, is scheduled to speak in Phoenix at a town hall-style meeting sponsored by the AFL-CIO on Wednesday.
Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential]Posted by Editor at 07:49 AM
Romney funding tops $1M in ArizonaGILBERT — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has topped $1 million in contributions in Arizona, the home state of presidential rival Sen. John McCain, Romney campaign officials said Wednesday.
McCain's campaign spokesman, Danny Diaz, dismissed the announcement by the Romney campaign, saying McCain has raised more than twice that amount in Arizona.
"We've also done well raising money in Massachusetts," Diaz said. "Senator McCain has been elected and re-elected in Arizona time and time again."
Posted by Editor at 07:32 AM
Romney, Bill Clinton stops signal Arizona cloutArizona appearances by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney today and former President Bill Clinton on Monday signal the state’s emerging status as a battleground for 2008 presidential candidates.Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections]“Candidates are looking anywhere and everywhere for any support they can get,” said Nathan Gonzales, political editor of the Rothenberg Political Report, a nonpartisan newsletter based in Washington, D.C.
“Candidates not only are looking for support, they are looking for dollars to fund their campaigns in this long primary season.”
Posted by Editor at 07:15 AM
Napolitano considering moving up Ariz. primaryThe presidential primary landscape is crowded, especially early in the campaign season, presenting Gov. Janet Napolitano with a tough political puzzle to solve in her desire to give Arizona a say in the process.Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Governor]State law puts the state's 2008 presidential primary on Feb. 26, but the governor can pick a different date.
The starting point in Napolitano's calculus is that the nominating process could be all but over Feb. 5, if not earlier.
Early states such as Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina hold caucuses or primaries in January, and Feb. 5 will see votes cast in a slew of states, including such delegate-rich states as California, New York and New Jersey. And Florida is bucking parties' rules by jumping ahead to Jan. 29.
Posted by Editor at 10:06 PM
Ron Paul slated for two Valley appearancesRepublican presidential candidate Ron Paul is slated to make two public appearances in the Valley today.Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections]The U.S. representative from Texas is scheduled for a rally at Terminal 4 at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport after his US Airways plane lands about 9:15 a.m. His plane is expected to arrive at either the A or B concourses.
More information is available at www.ronpaul2008.com.
Posted by Editor at 10:38 PM
Primary lineup is quandary for Gov.'s bid to boost AZ's profilePHOENIX - The presidential primary landscape is crowded, especially early in the campaign season, presenting Gov. Janet Napolitano with a tough political puzzle to solve in her desire to give Arizona a say in the process.State law puts the state's 2008 presidential primary on Feb. 26 but the governor can pick a different date.
The starting point in Napolitano's calculus is that the nominating process could be all but over by Feb. 5, if not earlier.
Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections, Governor]
Posted by Editor at 10:34 PM
AFL-CIO bringing Gov. Richardson to PhoenixThe AFL-CIO labor union in Arizona is bringing New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democratic presidential candidate, to Phoenix June 21.Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential]Richardson will talk about economic issues, health care and the Iraq War during the town hall event.
Posted by Editor at 06:59 AM
Migrant bill volatile for McCainWASHINGTON - John McCain's immigration problem is not going anywhere.Permalink [Filed under: 2008 Presidential, Elections, Immigration, McCain]For months, McCain and other Republicans who want to overhaul immigration laws have pushed back against grass-roots conservatives outraged over the legislation, which stalled in the Senate on Thursday night but is not dead.
As the bill evolved, the issue emerged as one of the most volatile for the Republican senator from Arizona as he seeks his party's nomination for president. Rivals and voters alike have accused him of seeking amnesty for immigrants who broke the law to live here.
Supporters of the bill, including President Bush, Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, Democrats in Congress and immigrant advocacy groups, have promised to try to bring it back. That means the intense pressure from conservative voters isn't likely to let up.
Posted by Editor at 08:11 PM
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