All Blog Posts from Horserace

Virginia's State Board Of Elections has released a "rumor buster" document telling voters to disregard a flyer claiming that Democrats should vote on November 5th.

"A fake flyer claiming it is from the State Board of Elections has been circulating, stating that Republican Party supporters shall vote on November 4 and Democratic Party supporters shall vote on November 5," the document states. "This information is false."

Election Day, of course, is November 4th for all voters.

Director of Communications Susan S. Pollard told Horserace that the source of the fliers is presently unknown, though the police are looking into it. She said it was distributed in predominantly African American areas, notably "Virginia Beach, Hampton Roads and Norfolk." Below, a copy of the flyer. Click here for the PDF.

At Saddleback Church's Saturday evening "civil forum" with the presidential candidates, it was Barack Obama who sat down first with Pastor Rick Warren. Warren asked Obama the same questions he would later ask Obama rival John McCain – though he noted that McCain was in a "cone of silence" and could not hear the questions in advance.

As the New York Times reports, however, McCain was not in a "cone of silence" during Obama's questioning. Instead, he was in his motorcade on his way to the church. McCain's performance at the forum was considered strong, and some Obama supporters speculated that the Arizona senator heard the questions in advance.

McCain spokeperson Nicolle Wallace, a former CBS News consultant, told the Times last night that "[t]he insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous."

Warren's first question for McCain was a joking reference to his comfort level in the "cone of silence." The presumptive GOP nominee quipped that he "was trying to hear through the wall.”

The McCain campaign, meanwhile, is protesting discussing on NBC News about whether or not McCain had access to the questions. As Politico reports, campaign manager Rick Davis sent a letter requesting a meeting with the news network's president. He suggests the network is "abandoning non-partisan coverage of the presidential race."

In the letter, Davis objects to a statement by NBC's Andrea Mitchell on "Meet The Press." Mitchell said on the program that some in the Obama campaign were suggesting "that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama. He seemed so well prepared."

A McCain aide told Politico that "Senator McCain was in a motorcade led by the United States Secret Service and held in a green room with no broadcast feed."

"Andrea Mitchell is repeating, uncritically, a completely unsubstantiated Obama campaign claim that John McCain somehow cheated in last night's forum at Saddleback Church," Davis wrote in the letter. "Instead of trying to substantiate this blatant falsehood in any way, Andrea Mitchell felt that she needed to repeat it on air to millions of 'Meet the Press' viewers..."

Asked about the criticism, Mitchell said she wasn't expressing an opinion but merely "reporting what they were saying."


UPDATE: Mike Allen writes that "Pastor Rick Warren, in an effort to increase the candidates’ comfort level with his pioneering format, gave each of them a heads-up on several of the hardest questions he asked Saturday night."

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The Rev. Michael Pfleger, who mocked Sen. Hillary Clinton while delivering a guest sermon at Sen. Barack Obama's former church, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that he stands by his message, the Associated Press reports.

Pfleger said he regrets that his delivery may have detracted from the point he was trying to make when he pretended to be Sen. Clinton crying about "a black man stealing my show."

"I was giving a talk about race," Pleger said. "And is entitlement one of the things about race that I believe in? Is an unequal playing field one of the things I believe in? Yes, so I don't apologize for being passionate, I don't apologize for being free."

Obama left Trinity United Church after Pfleger's sermon and other controversial statements given by his former pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

The Texas Republican Party said that it plans to donate to charity the $1,500 rent it collected from a vendor who sold campaign buttons at the state convention that asked, "If Obama is president…will we still call it The White House?"

The Associated Press reports the state Republican Party said the vendor's rent will go to victims of the Midwestern floods.

"This vendor need not apply to another Texas GOP state convention," Texas GOP spokesman Hans Klingler said. "We will neither tolerate nor profit from bigotry."

The Texas Republican Party was also involved in a controversy over diversity issues in 1998, when it denied the Log Cabin Republicans, an organization of gay Republicans, a booth at its state convention.

"We don't allow pedophiles, transvestites or cross-dressers, either," then-GOP spokesman Robert Black said at the time.

*Update: The vendor who sold the racist button has apologized, The Dallas Morning News reports.

“It’s just been crazy,” Jonathan Alcox, who runs republicanmarket.com and had buttons and other items for sale at the GOP gathering, told the newspaper. “The point is we made a mistake. I realize that now. And I apologize.”

The president and first lady may be solidly behind John McCain's candidacy, but one of their daughters isn't backing any candidate at the moment and even hinted at the possibility that she could even defy the family name by considering one of the Democrats.

"I don't know," she told CNN's Larry King when asked if she had a favorite between the Democratic candidates, reports the AP. "I mean, who isn't open to learning about the candidates? But, I mean, and I'm sure everybody is like that. But I really — I honestly have been too busy with books to really pay that much attention."

Jenna Bush was appearing with her mother on "Larry King Live" to promote their new book, "Read All About it."

This isn't the first time the child of a prominent politician has made headlines due to his or her allegiance—or lack there of—during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Last August, then GOP candidate Rudy Giuliani's daughter Caroline made news by posting on her Facebook profile that she was an Obama supporter.

And back in February, while Mitt Romney's son Josh was contemplating his own run for Congress, he said that he could not envision himself campaigning for John McCain.

"It's one thing to campaign for my dad, someone whose principles I line up with almost entirely," he told the Deseret News. "I can't say the same thing for Sen. McCain."

In his briefing today, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack was asked just what kinds of information would be in one's passport file. He responded that it would depend case by case but referred anyone interested in the basics to check the application.

To start with, any applicant must submit proof of citizenship, most commonly a birth certificate. Followed by one's name, date of birth, social security number, place of birth, address, e-mail address and phone number. You're asked to provide any other names you have had, whether by marriage or a legal name change.

You are asked to provide information on your parents, including their names, birth date and place of birth. Other information includes height, hair color, eye color and occupation. Emergency contact information is required as well as the name and date of birth of your spouse. You're asked if you've ever been issued a passport and, if so, what happened to it. And, you're asked about your current travel plans.

Is that all? Not according to this report from, of all places Computer World: "In addition to passport applications and the related material, the system stores investigative reports that might have been compiled in connection with granting or denying a passport, or in connection with any violation of passport criminal statutes. It also stores court documents and administrative determinations related to passports and citizenship, as well as copies of birth and baptismal certificates, medical, personal and financial reports and details on arrest warrants of the person applying for, extending or renewing a passport and a person's Social Security number."