All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Republican Rep. Peter King announced today that he will not challenge Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand for her seat in 2010.

The Long Island representative said in a prepared statement, the New York Daily News reports, that he could not raise the money to effectively compete against Gillibrand.

"Senator Gillibrand generates neither strong support nor opposition," his statement reportedly said. "This makes it virtually impossible for me to raise the campaign funds I would need to overcome the built-in Democratic registration advantage and the countless millions of dollars which the Democrats will make available to Senator Gillibrand."

King said that a well-financed candidate could beat Gillibrand, who was appointed this year by Gov. David Paterson to fill Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's vacant Senate seat.

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Representative Peter King (R-N.Y.) said that by opposing military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay and by advocating for the release of photographs of torture committed upon detainees, the American Civil Liberties Union is "tearing down the United States," during a heated debate with the ACLU's executive director, on Face the Nation Sunday.

King admitted that "in every war there are going to be abuses," but added that he is not sure "what purpose the ACLU serves in constantly tearing down the United States, constantly attacking our government."

In response, ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said that he thinks President Obama is "being ill-informed" when making the decision not to release pictures depicting detainee abuse — photos a court had declared must be released, and which Mr. Obama had previously said he would allow.

Romero said despite the White House's attempt to revamp the tribunal system created under President Bush, that "there is no way to resurrect" the trial system at Guantanamo, which he called a "debacle of justice."

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