CHICAGO, May 12, 2008
McCain Hopes To Attract Young Voters
Despite Challenges, GOP Candidate Vows To Reach Out To 18- To 29-Year-Olds
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Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., points to supporters before speaking at a town hall meeting at Oakland University on Wednesday, May 7, 2008, in Rochester, Mich. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
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Play CBS Video Video Eye To Eye: The McCains Katie Couric speaks with the presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his 96-year-old mother, Roberta Wright McCain, about his campaign journey towards the White House.
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Timeline McCain's Quest Mileposts in the Arizona senator's race for the GOP nomination and the presidency.
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Photo Essay John McCain Some call him a hero, some a maverick. Will Americans call him Mr. President?
Doesn't sound like a recipe for winning the hearts of young voters. And yet John McCain has vowed to make a serious play for the 18- to 29-year-old crowd that's often identified with "Obama-mania."
Could the 71-year-old grandfather possibly have a shot?
Several polls, including a recent AP-Ipsos survey, show Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton faring far better with that age bracket when pitted individually against McCain.
But in the last month or so, there've been blips in McCain's favor. One recent AP-Yahoo News poll found that 38 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds supported McCain, while 37 percent were for Obama. When pitted against Clinton, it was McCain 43 percent, Clinton 28 percent. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
The varying outcomes may indicate the difficulty pollsters have in getting a good sample of youth, particularly when many have cell phones and no land lines. Some political scientists also note that young voters have historically been among the most "fickle" or "soft" - more willing than some to change their minds right up to the election.
Either way, McCain is seizing the opportunity to challenge the Democrats for a group that hasn't gone strongly Republican since the Ronald Reagan era.
McCain appeared on MSNBC's "Hardball" college tour with commentator Chris Matthews. He has launched his own YouTube channel and various social networking pages - though, so far, his numbers of "friends" and supporters on Facebook and MySpace are far fewer than Obama's. (Clinton is somewhere between the two.)
So far, one political analyst says, McCain has managed to avoid looking like he's trying too hard to be hip.
"He's not going to blow the saxophone on MTV or talk about boxers or briefs," says Christopher Malone, an associate professor of political science at Pace University in New York. "But that's part of the allure. There's a real dignity about him in terms of his patriotism and war record."
It means that McCain has unapologetically stuck to his support for the Iraq war, even if it's unpopular, says Joe Pounder, a McCain campaign spokesman. But he's also been willing to take on issues not necessarily associated with Republicans. Those include global warming, a top concern for many young voters.
That reputation for standing tough has resonated with some young people.
Zach Bennett, a freshman at Davidson College in North Carolina, says he admires McCain for being "honest and rebellious."
So does Matt Woods, a 26-year-old financial analyst from Tampa, Fla.
"I like to consider him a fiery little fellow," says Woods, a former chairman of the student Republican group at the University of Tampa who now considers himself "more conservative than Republican."
Though he doesn't agree with McCain's stance on the war, he says he trusts him enough to vote for him. "He seems to be a thorn in people's side, but in a good way," Woods says.
The tough-guy war hero image might not appeal to everyone, though. And some election watchers wonder if McCain's reputation for having a temper might turn off some young voters.
Chelsea Dodd, a 23-year-old Republican in Hoboken, N.J., recently met McCain.
She concedes that he lacks the charisma of Obama, or even Clinton. But, she says, he still "holds a certain appearance of wisdom." So in that sense, she thinks his age works for him.
"While I dislike how he reminds everyone he's a veteran in every speech and that he's not as personable as his rivals, he definitely has involved himself in enough international affairs to be better equipped to deal with them," says Dodd, who has family in the military, including a cousin who died in Iraq.
Pounder, McCain's spokesman, says the campaign will grow its ranks of young Republican volunteers as the campaign heats up.
The Obama campaign, too, is continuing its own outreach with a summer "fellows" program, enlisting thousands of students to work for the campaign.
"No one should assume that young voters, older voters - voters of all backgrounds - are going to side with any one candidate," says Steve Hildebrand, Obama's deputy national campaign manager. "So we certainly don't feel any ownership over young voters."
It also means they will take nothing for granted, even if Obama has already drawn young primary voters in large, sometimes unprecedented numbers.
Such outcomes have some political pundits wondering if McCain has any real chance of winning over young voters.
"He should not concede these voters, but he can't count on making big headway with them," says Steven Schier, a political scientist at Carleton College in Minnesota. He says McCain's age and the overall "unpopularity of the GOP" with young voters will be difficult to overcome.
And even some young Republicans are doubtful.
"Frankly, I don't have much faith in the majority of this country's young voters," says Laura Loffredo, who's 19 and a member of the Republican Campaign Committee at Babson College in Massachusetts. "As much as I support McCain for president, unfortunately, I don't believe its very realistic that a significant amount of young voters - particularly college students - will be persuaded into rethinking their choice of candidate."
Time will tell, says Malone at Pace University. But he gives McCain credit for trying.
"You got to hand it to him - at least at the initial part of his campaign, he has certainly not gone to his base to shore that up," Malone says, noting the Arizona senator's recent trips to New Orleans and other struggling regions of the country.
"My sense is that he's going to use the next month or so continuing to appeal to the groups Republicans have written off."
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 168 CommentsZach is being very Dishonest. LOL - Cheers!
Posted by Smirk5 at 09:07 PM : May 12, 2008"
You''ll like this one, to add to the list.
April 19, 2000
Web posted at: 6:10 p.m. EDT (2210 GMT)
COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) -- Former GOP presidential candidate John McCain called for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from atop the South Carolina Statehouse on Wednesday, acknowledging that his refusal to take such a stance during his primary battle for the Palmetto State was a "sacrifice of principle for personal ambition."
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/04/19/mccain.sc/
Oh Yeah...John McCain is a ''True Patriot'' US Veterans can Depend On...Huh
WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has suggested he would OPPOSE a Bi-Partisan measure by Virginia Sen. Jim Webb to expand college Tuition Benefits for (Military Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan).
McCains new move comes as a blow to Webb, a freshman Democrat and former Navy Secretary who had been Quietly building Bi-Partisan support for months.
Note: Webbs GI Bill, a centerpiece of his 2006 campaign, would pay the college tuition of many Military Veterans who have served since the (Sept. 11, 2001, Terrorist Attacks). The amount of tuition paid would not exceed the cost of the most expensive state school in a Veterans Home State, in most cases.
The Current Montgomery GI Bill pays only a SMALL FRACTION of the COST of COLLEGE TODAY.
In that context, I find his ''vow to reach out'' to younger voters kind of arrogant given that all he''s doing is just kind of showing up where we all hang (YouTube, Mtv, myspace, college campuses, etc) and think he''s just going to tell people he''s a veteran and that''s going to be it.
I don''t know . . . just looks like more of McCain going against the grain, which tends to rub a lot of people the wrong way over time . . .
Blast from the past: Video: Bill O%u2019Reilly Gone Wild: Drops F-Bombs on the set.
Scroll 2/3 of the way down.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/
By Tabassum Zakaria - Analysis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush will likely receive little more than a smile and handshake when he asks Saudi Arabia to help lower oil prices during a visit to Riyadh this week to commemorate 75 years of a relationship that has developed fissures in the last decade.
Oil prices keep climbing to record highs, threatening to push the U.S. economy into recession, and economic issues are a top concern for American voters during this presidential election year when they will choose a successor to Bush.
Bush is scheduled to meet Saudi King Abdullah at his private farm on Friday to mark the 75th anniversary of the formal establishment of U.S.-Saudi relations.
His visit to Riyadh will follow a stop in Israel to mark the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state''s creation, and precedes a stop in Egypt for talks with Palestinian leaders.
Oil, Iraq, Iran and Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking are high on the agenda as Bush and King Abdullah try to smooth U.S.-Saudi relations that deteriorated in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Saudi Arabia and the United States both view al Qaeda as a threat. But 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers were of Saudi origin, as is al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, which tarnished Saudi Arabia''s image in the eyes of the American public.
Bush and McCain offer the same things to America.
More people are worried about McCain''s association with Bush than they are with Obama''s association with Rev. Wright.
More Americans are concerned with McCain''s age than they are with Obama''s race.
Obama offers a withdrawal from Iraq and new economic policy.
McCain guarantees we will stay in Iraq in a big way and continued borrow and spend Bush economic policy.
McCain also wants to privatize Social Security.
Against torture before he was for it.
Flip-flop
No position is sacred with John McCain. He''ll flip on a dime .
The U.S. House of Representatives opened debate on Wednesday on a bill (HR 5830) that would create a $300 billion fund to save homeowners from foreclosure, but President George W. Bush threatened to VETO the legislation which he said would "reward speculators and lenders."
The plan looks certain to pass the Democrat-controlled House and the bill''''s sponsors expect many Republicans will defy the president and back their measure in the face of the current housing crisis.
Declining home values and rising foreclosures over the past 12 months have darkened the mood of U.S. consumers and pushed the economy toward recession. Recent reports show consumer confidence hit a five-year low in April, while home prices booked a record drop in February.
The Democratic plan combines a variety of new measures as well as some already-passed legislation in a bulky bill largely crafted by Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services committee.
Significantly, nearly a third of Republicans on Frank''''s committee voted for his portions of the housing bill.
Late on Tuesday, the White House threatened to veto the housing plan and took particular aim at a provision that would deliver $15 billion of federal grants to cities and towns so that they could buy foreclosed homes that are in disrepair.
Flip-flop.
McCain was against the Bush tax cuts and called them greedy and irresponsible before he was for them.
Flip-flop.
McCain said that Iraq would be relatively quick before he said it would long and tough.
Flip-flop.
McCain was against the agents of intolerance on the right before he was for them.
Flip-flop.
He can''t be trusted to remember any stance he takes.
He''s not a maverick. He''s a tool.
Oh Yeah...John McCain is a ''''True Patriot'''' US Veterans can Depend On...Huh
WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has suggested he would OPPOSE a Bi-Partisan measure by Virginia Sen. Jim Webb to expand college Tuition Benefits for (Military Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan).
McCains new move comes as a blow to Webb, a freshman Democrat and former Navy Secretary who had been Quietly building Bi-Partisan support for months.
Note: Webbs GI Bill, a centerpiece of his 2006 campaign, would pay the college tuition of many Military Veterans who have served since the (Sept. 11, 2001, Terrorist Attacks). The amount of tuition paid would not exceed the cost of the most expensive state school in a Veterans Home State, in most cases.
The Current Montgomery GI Bill pays only a SMALL FRACTION of the COST of COLLEGE TODAY.
He''s swell!
Maybe if he shows em his mini-me...........or he could get some gnarly piercings!
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