McCain
John McCain
From NBC/NJ’s Carrie Dann NBC NEWS has confirmed that another
McCain aide, Doug Davenport, has resigned because of his lobbying ties to the Myanmar government’s military junta.
"Mr. Davenport has tendered his resignation and we have accepted it," McCain spokesman Brian Rogers writes.
The
Atlantic's Ambinder reported: “Doug Davenport, the regional campaign manager for the mid-Atlantic states, founded the DCI Group's lobbying practice and oversaw the contract with Myanmar in 2002. …He joins former DCI Group CEO Doug Goodyear, who resigned yesterday from the post of convention CEO after Newsweek reported that DCI was paid more than $300,000 to represent Myanmar's ruling junta.
“Goodyear and Davenport were recruited by McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, who has been accused by some current and former McCain advisers of take insufficient care of McCain's reformer brand by appointing lobbyists to key positions. Ironically, as Newsweek reported, Goodyear was asked to become convention CEO after Davis's lobbying firm partner, Paul Manafort, was nixed because of his own close ties to foreign governments and controversial companies.”
From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro The
McCain -picked Republican National convention head resigned today after a Newsweek report revealed the man’s lobbying ties on behalf of the military Myanmar government.
AP : “Doug Goodyear resigned as convention coordinator and issued a two sentence statement: ‘Today I offered the convention my resignation so as not to become a distraction in this campaign. I continue to strongly support John McCain for president, and wish him the best of luck in this campaign.’ Goodyear is chief executive of DCI Group, a lobbying firm that Newsweek reported in a story posted online was paid $348,000 in 2002 to represent Myanmar's junta.”
From NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones BEND, Ore. -- This election year has already broken fundraising and voter participation records, but it could also break the mold for how campaigning is done during a general election.
Think of hand-to-hand combat, but with words, something akin to a rhetorical duel on policy that plays out right before voters’ eyes, in state after state, without the interruption of pesky journalists asking questions about issues the candidates believe are not important. This time they would be in control.
It could happen.
Politico reported that Republican strategist Mark McKinnon has suggested the two candidates agree to campaign in some states together, to attend joint town hall meetings and debate each other without a moderator. McKinnon called the town hall meeting
McCain’s “best format” and said joint campaigning would test
Obama’s “claims that he wants a clean fight on the issues.”
McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said, “John McCain has repeatedly encouraged these types of appearances with his opponents in the past, but in order to extend all due respect to Sen.
Clinton , we will look forward to welcoming the arrangements when the Democrats have actually chosen their nominee.”
Obama said Saturday that he was open to the idea, should he become the nominee.
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From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Back on the soil that was once his Waterloo -- and now the site of his seminal political victory -- John
McCain said today that he's ready for the general election.
"I am ready," he told reporters in Columbia, South Carolina, before launching into the canon of his objections to the policy positions of likely opponent Barack
Obama . "I'm ready to take to the American people the challenges and the issues we face."
McCain did not comment directly on the results of Tuesday's Democratic primaries in Indiana and North Carolina, which have spurred predictions that Obama will seal his bid for the Democratic nomination in the coming weeks. But McCain's determination today to take on his general-election opponent centered only on his differences with Obama -- not
Clinton -- especially on matters of foreign policy. Specifically, the Arizona senator continued to slam his probable opponent for proposing to meet with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
McCain mentioned the issue of tensions in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East earlier in his remarks when he acknowledged the "very serious situation" of mounting violence in Beirut at the hands of Hezbollah militants. The senator called Syria "the major motivator" of the aggression and called for increased United Nations involvement in the region.
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From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro Clinton is up with an ad in West Virginia in addition to the one in Oregon we reported on yesterday. It’s entitled “Level” and is an appeal to working-class voters. Clinton is heavily favored to win in West Virginia and Kentucky where the demographics favor her because of the large number of white working-class voters.
McCain is also up with an ad, his second in the battleground state of Iowa...
Script for "Accountable": JOHN MCCAIN: The great goal is to get the American economy running at full strength again -- creating the opportunities Americans expect and the jobs Americans need.
From NBC/NJ’s Carrie Dann McCain said today that questions raised about his age are "fine with me."
And, he added, if age is a legitimate issue, so are a few things about his likely opponent.
"Every issue that the American people want to be an issue, and it's part of their discussions, it's fine with me," he said in response to the question about his age.
Not missing a beat, he added the controversial statements of Jeremiah Wright onto that same list. Obama , McCain noted, "has said that [Wright] is a legitimate topic of discussion.” He added, “If that's what the American people want to discuss, that's fine.”
McCain also told reporters that the recent complimentary remarks of
CONTINUED >>
The Boston Globe : “Obama and John McCain have pledged a civil campaign, but a war of words erupted yesterday over McCain's suggestion that the terrorist group Hamas prefers Obama for president. Obama, taking a tougher line with the presumptive Republican nominee, said McCain was trying to smear him and was ‘losing his bearings.’”
“Losing his bearings” drew the ire of McCain senior adviser Mark Salter, who penned a sharp memo , ripping Obama for what he saw as Obama blatantly invoking McCain’s age. The New York Post called it “Mac age rage.”
The Wall Street Journal looks at how McCain is preparing for the general.
Big Labor is starting to spend money to go after McCain.
The New York Times reports that Bush's sudden about face on FEC appointments was done at the urging of McCain who needs a functioning FEC in order to get his money for the general election.
The Washington Post has a story about a McCain backer who is benefiting from an Arizona land swap with the federal government. McCain back the legislation to allow the swap to happen. "Initially reluctant to support the swap, the Arizona Republican became a key figure in pushing the deal through Congress after the rancher and his partners hired lobbyists that included McCain's 1992 Senate campaign manager, two of his former Senate staff members (one of whom has returned as his chief of staff), and an Arizona insider who was a major McCain donor and is now bundling campaign checks.”
Noting the GOP’s losses in two special congressional elections for GOP-held seats, NBC political analyst Charlie Cook writes about the troubles the Republican Party is having in his latest National Journal column. “An important thing to remember … is that when a political party is experiencing bad times, it doesn’t catch many breaks. When a party is riding high in the polls and has a popular president, its flawed or inferior candidates can win in favorable or even neutral districts. But when times are bad, a party can field superior, unblemished candidates and still lose in neutral or unfavorable districts. And in hard times, a party may need stellar candidates to win even in favorable districts.”
Nevermind Democratic infighting, how about the Republicans? The Boston Globe front pages: "McCain is sailing toward his coronation as the Republican presidential nominee while the Democratic candidates battle fiercely. But Republicans also are engaged in some tough infighting that could disrupt the national convention and make it more difficult for him to unite the party in the fall.
"Across the country, at state and county GOP conventions, diehard supporters of maverick Ron Paul are staging uprisings in an effort to secure a role for Paul at the national convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul. And in the four primaries since clinching the nomination in early March, McCain has yet to reach 80 percent of the vote, as Paul and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee continue to siphon away votes, even though Huckabee has withdrawn from the race.
"The lingering anti-McCain sentiment among some voters and the continuing Paul insurgency suggest that McCain has not fully quelled hostility from some elements in his party."
McCain did toast the Democrats at the Time 100 gala in New York City. "Sen. Obama is a man of unusual eloquence who has performed the great service of summoning to the political arena Americans who once thought that it was of little benefit to them. Sen. Clinton has demonstrated great tenacity and courage. I count myself among their many admirers."
The DNC has made a "tourist map " for McCain's planned ferry ride today in New York City, which is supposed to take him from Manhattan, down the East River to New Jersey. The DNC’s map points to landmarks that the DNC says McCain opposed funding for or voted against -- like clean-up and sea walls for the East River, the Williamsburg Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and port security.
From NBC's Mark Murray Obama vs. McCain now beginning in earnest? On CNN today, Obama said this about McCain's statement that Hamas wants Obama to be president. “This is offensive, and I think it's disappointing, because John McCain always says ‘I am not going to run that kind of politics.’ And to engage in that kind of smear is unfortunate, particularly because my policy toward Hamas has been no different than his."
Obama added, “I’ve said it’s a terrorist organization and we should not negotiate with them unless they recognize Israel, renounce violence, and unless they are willing to abide by previous accords between the Palestinians and the Israelis. So for him to toss out comments like that I think is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination. We don’t need name calling in this debate.”
The McCain campaign didn't like the "losing his bearings" comment. McCain adviser Mark Salter responded in a memo: "First, let us be clear about the nature of Senator Obama's attack today: He used the words 'losing his bearings' intentionally, a not particularly clever way of raising John McCain's age as an issue. This is typical of the Obama style of campaigning. We have all become familiar with Senator Obama's new brand of politics. First, you demand civility from your opponent, then you attack him, distort his record and send out surrogates to question his integrity. It is called hypocrisy, and it is the oldest kind of politics there is."
Salter goes on say, "Obama is complaining about comments John McCain made about a senior Hamas adviser stating that Hamas would welcome Senator Obama's election as president. Indeed, on April 13th, senior Hamas political adviser Ahmed Yousef said, 'We don't mind -- actually we like Mr. Obama. We hope he will (win) the election and I do believe he is like John Kennedy, great man with great principle, and he has a vision to change America to make it in a position to lead the world community but not with domination and arrogance.'"
"The McCain campaign has never suggested that Senator Obama supports Hamas' agenda, but it is more than fair to raise this quote about Senator Obama because it speaks to the policy implications of his judgment. Just today, the president of Iran, whom Senator Obama wants to meet with unconditionally, called the state of Israel a 'stinking corpse.' Iran is the paymaster and state sponsor of Hamas."
From NBC's Mark Murray interview with TODAY's Ann Curry, Cindy McCain stated that she would not release her tax returns -- even if she becomes first lady.
The Democratic National Committee has decided to jump on this, noting how Cindy McCain's wealth has benefited her husband's political career. For example, John McCain -- when his campaign was struggling with money -- was able to use a corporate jet (at a lower cost) owned by a private company headed by Cindy.
"John McCain may not like it, but the American people have a right to know about the well documented links between his political career and the McCains' business ventures," DNC chairman Howard Dean said in a statement. "John McCain's refusal to meet the standard of every other candidate seeking the office is one more reason he's the wrong choice for America's future."
