April 25, 2008
Amid Negative Ads, McCain Claims High Road
CBSNews.com Reports: Candidates Want To Be Seen As Running Positive Campaigns, But They Have Little Control Over Outsiders
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Play CBS Video Video Obama Feels GOP Heat John McCain has denounced GOP ads questioning Barack Obama's patriotism. And as Dean Reynolds reports, the scandal is giving Obama a bitter taste of what a Democratic nomination could mean.
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Video Obama Attacked On All Sides As Sen. Hillary Clinton continues to hammer at Sen. Barack Obama, North Carolina Republicans have gone on the attack before the state's upcoming primary. Chip Reid reports.
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A still from the Republican Party of North Carolina's ad, "Extreme." (ncgop.org)
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In The Spotlight Campaign Watch '08 Check out the latest campaign ads in the race for the White House.
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Photo Essay John McCain Some call him a hero, some a maverick. Will Americans call him Mr. President?
A controversial ad out this week is raising questions about how much control presidential candidates have over their broad array of campaign supporters - and how much they might ultimately want.
The ad, from the Republican Party of North Carolina, is aimed at raising questions statewide about two of the state's Democratic gubernatorial candidates. Normally, such an ad wouldn't get much national attention, but this isn't you're run-of-the-mill local politics spot: It focuses on the support both candidates, Bev Perdue and Richard Moore, have given Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama - who, the ad claims, is "too extreme" for the state.
"For 20 years, Barack Obama sat in his pew, listening to his pastor," an announcer says as the ad opens. That controversial pastor, Jeremiah Wright, then appears onscreen, saying, "No, no, no. Not God Bless America. God Damn America!" (The ad, which you can watch here, has been called "misleading," since, according to Obama, he was not sitting in his pew when this particular sermon was delivered.)
Presumptive GOP nominee John McCain, who has pledged to run a "respectful campaign," quickly condemned the ad. He suggested in a letter to the state party chair, which was released to the media, that the spot "degrades our civics and distracts us from the very real differences we have with the Democrats." The Republican National Committee also condemned the ad.
The state party, however, didn't back down.
"We make the decisions how to run state campaigns here," state party spokesman Brent Woodcox said on Thursday. "We think it's a legitimate question to ask and we intend to run it."
After McCain's letter went out, skeptical bloggers questioned whether the Arizona senator was trying to have it both ways, suggesting that he was publicly taking the high road while allowing the anti-Obama ad to remain on track to air. Charlie Black, a chief strategist to McCain, called that notion "crazy."
"We wish we had influence on state parties, but we cannot legally tell them what to do," Black told CBSNews.com. He acknowledged that in so-called "targeted states," the general election battlegrounds to which the national parties often funnel money, the national party and nominee could potentially use "financial persuasion" to try to exert control over the state party. But Black said the McCain campaign wasn't doing so, and additionally noted that North Carolina isn't a targeted state.
"I could give you my 35 year history of watching the RNC try to control state parties, and it's not a very good batting average," Black added.
The North Carolina spot wasn't the only ad to surface this week over which a presidential campaign has no control. Floyd Brown, the producer of the famous "Willie Horton" ad that helped defeat Michael Dukakis, unveiled a 60-second anti-Obama spot called "Victims." The spot opens with an announcer detailing the gang-related murders of three Chicago residents in 2001.
"That same year, a Chicago state senator named Barack Obama voted against expanding the death penalty for gang-related murders," says the ad's female narrator, as ominous music plays in the background. "When the time came to be tough, Obama chose to be weak. So the question is, can a man so weak in the war on gangs be trusted in the war on terror?"
Brown's ad, which he says will air in North Carolina and elsewhere, has thus far has not attracted much attention. But with outside groups on both sides gearing up for massive spending to influence the 2008 campaign - in the 2004 election cycle, according to the Campaign Finance Institute, the outside groups known as 527s raised more than $400 million - "Victims" looks like a harbinger of things to come.
The 527 groups, named for their tax designation, can raise money to run issue ads but cannot legally coordinate with the campaigns. (Among the major 527s planning major pushes this year are the conservative Freedom's Watch and liberal Campaign for America's Future.) Asked if he would stop running the "Victims" ad if McCain asked him to, Brown, who fronts his own 527, replied, "I think that you should get a primer on election law."
"What they think or don't think is none of my business, because I'm not a part of their campaign," Brown said. He added: "I am bound by federal law. I can't take direction from them, can't work with them, can't really listen to them."
By Brian Montopoli
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The secrets of tennis legend 
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See all 337 CommentsToo bad, eh?
And Canada Free Press are a joke. Not World Nut Daily funny, but pretty close.
Posted by RowdyTexan2 at 12:55 PM : Apr 27, 2008
Completely 100% 180 degrees backwards.
If anyone needed a reason to not vote for Obama, and also wonder why HAMAS is supporting Obama. Please be brave, patient, this is a long article but worth the read.
canadafreepress.com/index.php/ article/2462
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Posted by SgtRDS at 02:01 AM : Apr 27, 2008
It''s not a wet dream at all if Obama becomes the DNC nomination!
Core democrats and cross=over republicans will never cast an Obama vote! It''s that simple!
When you have a choice of an old guard republican or an anti=American freakoid...the choice is clear!
Well said!
Because that exemption remains, Mr. McCain%u2019s campaign was able to use his wife%u2019s corporate plane like a charter jet while paying first-class rates, several campaign finance experts said. Several of those experts, however, added that his campaign%u2019s actions, while keeping with the letter of law, did not reflect its spirit.
%u201CThis amounts to a subsidy for his campaign, which is notable given how badly they were struggling last year,%u201D said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that collects and analyzes campaign data.
Mr. McCain was not available to be interviewed, a campaign spokeswoman said. In response to written questions, the spokeswoman, Jill Hazelbaker, said his campaign had acted legally and ethically in paying first-class airfares for Mrs. McCain%u2019s corporate aircraft.
%u201C
Given Senator John McCain%u2019s signature stance on campaign finance reform, it was not surprising that he backed legislation last year requiring presidential candidates to pay the actual cost of flying on corporate jets. The law, which requires campaigns to pay charter rates when using such jets rather than cheaper first-class fares, was intended to reduce the influence of lobbyists and create a level financial playing field.
But over a seven-month period beginning last summer, Mr. McCain%u2019s cash-short campaign gave itself an advantage by using a corporate jet owned by a company headed by his wife, Cindy McCain, according to public records. For five of those months, the plane was used almost exclusively for campaign-related purposes, those records show.
Mr. McCain%u2019s campaign paid a total of $241,149 for the use of that plane from last August through February, records show. That amount is approximately the cost of chartering a similar jet for a month or two, according to industry estimates.
When there is a 92% of black population voting for a half brother, you must be aware that it is not a matter of issue but race; Bill Clinton is no fool.
When you hear OBAMA denigrating the very good economic record of the only Democratic administration most Americans remember; the Clintons'' 90s. There is no problem with folks like James Clyburn. But when Bill was resented about the 92% of Black community voting against him, they were upset over Bill''s remarks.The black community is entitled to the presidency while the typical white people clings on guns and church because of bitterness. Double standard I call it. Racial discrimination, isn''t it? Now you got to be very racial biased to swallow that.
While guys like OBAMA behind a podium may promise you the moon, you have no right to question about his past history with dangerous villains and extremists. Negativity means that you have no right to say anything about a politician who claims to change WASHINGTON while he has never been a factor in Congress or Senate, not of any leadership in bipartisan drive and major causes. If that is being positive, I find negativity is acceptable and safe for the country.
Glaring Racism Appears and nobody should comment because the black community would vote against any typical white person. It is a terror in nightmares that OBAMA brings us into.
Just made a quick check of Scaife - reads like it''s going down the SAME rabbit hole as when I checked out Rupert Murdoch.
The results of Some of the actions of that league on certain sectors of the human race make porno/slasher films seem saintly.
All I can hope for is the new generation of voters will be more astute than the Baby Boomers were as to political trickery. I''ve been hearing some good things are brewing on some of the college campuses although the NCLB and the encouragement of fear-mongering has apparently made a travesty of the Public Schools.
Makes me glad that I chose Home-Schooling for my youngest after all attempts at correcting some of the local problems fell on deaf ears. The poor kids she was in that school with seem to have all had underage pregnancies, drug problems and legal problems and this is a fairly quiet rural area..
Been hearing that some of the nations that would get American ex-pats if the feces gets much worse are "closing THEIR borders" to us and wondering if I''ve waited too long to get my "vacation home" elsewhere.
It''s beginning to smell of Germany in the mid-late 30''s.
OK, back on track.
Just worried - read in an EARLIER post that the GOP BLOCKED and quietly BACK-DOORED an effort to insure a trackable vote AFTER making PUBLIC noise that they SUPPORTED it.
Typical ROVE-STYLE dirty trickery that I''m SOOO sick of.
Topping it off with hearing a clip of that blowhard trying to INCITE trouble (like this nation doesn''t have enough) is NOT the way to star the morning.
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