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Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Oct 17 2007, 10:15 AM

2008 election: Main contenders In US politics, there is usually an incumbent running for the White House - if not the president himself (and so far it has always been a "himself"), then his vice-president.
Mr Bush will leave the White House after the two-term limit But with George W Bush constitutionally limited to two terms and Vice-President Dick Cheney making clear he will not run, the race for the White House is wide open for the first time since 1928.

Election Day - 4 November 2008 - may feel to outsiders like it is a long way off, but several debates have been held already and campaigning is well under way.

And with experts predicting it will be the first $1bn election, the candidates - in what is an unusually crowded field - are focused on raising money and winning support in key states.

Here are the people presently considered the most capable of making a serious run.

DEMOCRATS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5006788.stm#clinton http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5006788.stm#dodd http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5006788.stm#edwards http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5006788.stm#gore http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5006788.stm#obama http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5006788.stm#richardson REPUBLICANS http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5006788.stm#giuliani http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5006788.stm#huckabee http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5006788.stm#mccain http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5006788.stm#romney http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5006788.stm#thompson



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5006788.stm#others



HILLARY CLINTON Who is she? The first former First Lady to go on to hold elected office, she is now serving as senator for New York. Declared her intention to stand with a video saying "I'm in to win" on her website on 20 January 2007 - two years to the day before the next president is inaugurated.




Hillary Clinton: Leader of the pack Why take her seriously? Unbeatable name recognition and serious fundraising ability make Hillary - no surname necessary - a clear front-runner for the Democrats. She has tried to stake out a position as a centrist in her six years in the Senate. She reported $26m in fundraising from the first quarter of 2007, plus $10m from her 2006 Senate campaign fund, and netted a further $27m in the second quarter. She continues to dominate national and most state polls.

What is going to stand in her way? If Bill Clinton remains a divisive figure in American politics, that goes at least double for Hillary - some estimates say one in three Americans would never vote for her. And the US has never yet elected a woman president. Her fundraising efforts have not been enough to shake off close rivals, notably Barack Obama.

Did you know? Is there anything we do not already know about Hillary Clinton?



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CHRIS DODD Who is he? Senior senator from the north-eastern state of Connecticut. He declared in January 2007 he was running for president.

Chris Dodd: Iraq apology Why take him seriously? Senator Dodd is chairman of the Senate banking committee, which could prove valuable when it comes to fundraising. He is well liked in the party, and has come out as a clear opponent of the Iraq war, apologising for his 2002 vote in favour of it.

What is going to stand in his way? Chris Dodd has been drawing much smaller crowds than his rivals in key early-primary states such as Iowa - and after the defeat of John Kerry in 2004, the Democratic party may be very reluctant to nominate another senator from a small, liberal New England state.

Did you know? Mr Dodd, 62, has two young children, prompting him to joke that he is the only candidate on mailing lists both for pensioners and nappy buyers.



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JOHN EDWARDS Who is he? Former lawyer and one-term North Carolina senator who ran for vice-president with John Kerry in 2004. He now runs an anti-poverty centre, and declared his White House ambition at the end of 2006.

John Edwards: Southern charmer Why take him seriously? Supporters and detractors alike agree that Mr Edwards is an excellent speaker, a man the Washington Post's politics blogger Chris Cillizza dubbed "the most naturally talented politician in the field". He has been campaigning hard on an anti-poverty platform and has won the backing of several labour organisations.

What is going to stand in his way? Audiences - even sympathetic ones - tend to find Mr Edwards too slick. His poor-boy-made-good routine can also come across as patronising. The news that wife Elizabeth's cancer had returned prompted a media row over whether he should still be running. She has in fact become a forceful voice in his campaign. He reported raising $14m in funds in the first quarter of 2007 and $9m in the second - some way short of his chief Democratic rivals.

Did you know? Mr Edwards helped to depose key witnesses during the Senate's impeachment trial of Bill Clinton in 1999.





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AL GORE Who is he? Vice-president for eight years under Bill Clinton and the loser of the most controversial presidential election in more than a century, against George W Bush in 2000.


Al Gore: Back in the limelight Why take him seriously? Gore backers never fail to point out that more Americans voted for Mr Gore than for Mr Bush in 2000. He has kept largely out of politics since then - but with his film about the environment winning an Academy Award for best documentary, he has been back in the spotlight.

What is going to stand in his way? Mr Gore has said repeatedly that he is not going to run for president in 2008.... although many believe he could be persuaded to change his mind. He made a joke about the speculation at the Oscars ceremony, pretending he was about to announce his candidacy, then being drowned out by the orchestra.

Did you know? Al Gore shared a room with the actor Tommy Lee Jones when the two were students at Harvard, and Jones gave one of the speeches officially nominating him for the presidency in 2000.



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BARACK OBAMA Who is he? Mixed-race junior senator from Illinois who shot to prominence at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. He began his official campaign on 10 February 2007 with a call for the Iraq war to end, saying US troops must withdraw by March 2008.


Barack Obama: "Rock-star" reception Why take him seriously? Time magazine dubbed Senator Obama "America's hottest political phenomenon", while television's own phenomenon, Oprah Winfrey, urged him to announce his candidacy on her show. A book tour just a month before the 2006 mid-term elections saw him greeted like a rock star. He impressed observers by raising $25m in funds in the first quarter of 2007 - only $1m short of Hillary Clinton's total - and overtook her in the second quarter with a record $32.8m.

What is going to stand in his way? Barack Obama will have served only four years in the Senate when the 2008 election rolls around - even less than John F Kennedy did before he was elected in 1960. And while his supporters praise him as thoughtful, deliberative and liberal, some experts doubt those are the characteristics that get a politician to the White House.

Did you know? Barack Obama's mother was from Kansas and his father was from Kenya - leading observers to suggest he is an African and an American, but not an African-American.



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BILL RICHARDSON Who is he? Governor of the south-western state of New Mexico who was US ambassador to the United Nations under Bill Clinton before becoming his secretary of energy.

Bill Richardson: Relevant experience Why take him seriously? Gov Richardson hopes his CV will make him the ideal candidate in an age when voters are concerned about high gas prices and possible conflicts with Iran and North Korea. His Latino heritage may also win him votes with the country's largest minority population - one which both Republicans and Democrats need to compete for.

What is going to stand in his way? Gov Richardson is reportedly larger than life in small groups, easily able to connect with many different types of people - but in front of crowds he does not always demonstrate much charisma. And the small, out-of-the-way state of New Mexico is not a natural launching pad for a national campaign.

Did you know? Gov Richardson has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four times.



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RUDOLPH GIULIANI Who is he? Former mayor of New York City who shot to international prominence for his firm leadership on 11 September 2001. He set up a committee to explore a White House bid shortly after the mid-terms in Nov 2006.


Rudolph Giuliani: "America's mayor" Why take him seriously? Mr Giuliani emerged as a hero of 9/11, prompting Time magazine to name him Man of the Year for 2001. Even before then, he was credited with bringing down New York's crime rate - and since leaving office he has been an active fundraiser and campaigner for other Republican candidates, keeping his stock high. He consistently leads national polls of likely Republican voters. He pulled in $15m in the first quarter of 2007, despite making a late start on fundraising, and $17.5m in the second.

What is going to stand in his way? "America's mayor" may be a law-and-order conservative, but his positions on gay rights, abortion and gun control are comparatively liberal, which does not endear him to the party's right wing. He has tried to make allies among the Christian right, but has not reversed his stance on the issues.

Did you know? Mr Giuliani was preparing to run against Hillary Clinton for a Senate seat in 2000 when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and quit the race.



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MIKE HUCKABEE Who is he? Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2006, best known nationally for his dramatic weight loss in response to a diagnosis of diabetes. Also named to Time magazine's 2006 list of the nation's best governors.

Mike Huckabee: Dramatic change Why take him seriously? Gov Huckabee has carved out a place for himself as a health advocate following his own turnaround from fat to fit. As an ordained Baptist minister who says his faith is inseparable from his politics, he may be a magnet for conservative Christian votes - especially if competing against a social liberal such as Rudolph Giuliani.

What is going to stand in his way? His Evangelical faith has led him to take positions that do not appeal to all Republicans, such as an increase in the state's minimum wage - which drew fire from fiscal conservatives. He is also lagging far behind better-known names when it comes to fundraising.

Did you know? Gov Huckabee plays bass guitar in a band called Capitol Offense.



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JOHN McCAIN Who is he? Maverick senator from Arizona who ran against George W Bush for the Republican nomination in 2000 and has had complex relations with the president ever since. In Nov 2006, he took the first step towards declaring his intention to run in 2008, and officially launched his candidacy in April 2007.


John McCain: Straight talker Why take him seriously? John McCain is one of the highest-profile figures in Washington, known for sponsoring key measures against torture and in favour of campaign finance reform. He continues to command respect despite falling behind the front-runners in many polls.

What is going to stand in his way? Although Sen McCain says unequivocally that he is a social conservative, his frequent skirmishes with the Bush administration have made him more popular with liberals than with conservatives. He has also doggedly backed America's keeping troops in Iraq, an increasingly unpopular position. He overhauled his fundraising operation after a disappointing first quarter of 2007 but this was not enough to turn the tide, prompting a major shake-up of his operation over the summer.

Did you know? Shot down as a Navy pilot over Vietnam in 1967, Mr McCain refused to be released ahead of other prisoners of war - earning himself five years of captivity, two in solitary confinement.



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MITT ROMNEY Who is he? Republican governor of Massachusetts from 2002 to 2006 who made headlines for a state law making health insurance mandatory. He declared his White House intentions in February 2007, saying America needed "innovation and transformation" from outside of Washington.

Mitt Romney: Olympics saviour Why take him seriously? Gov Romney may have cracked one of the most intractable issues facing America - the millions of people with no health insurance in a country that does not have a national health system. He won acclaim for taking over the organisation of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics when planning looked on the verge of collapse, delivering a successful and profitable event. He reported an impressive $23m in fundraising for the first three months of 2007 but slipped back a little in the second quarter. After pouring significant effort into Iowa, he won its non-binding straw poll. (His chief rivals skipped it.) He has been polling well.

What is going to stand in his way? It is not clear that Gov Romney's health-insurance model can be applied nationally, as Massachusetts is a small and wealthy state. Some voters may be put off by the fact that Gov Romney is a Mormon - a religion that some consider outside the mainstream. A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll in July 2006 found that just over one in three Americans say they would not vote for a Mormon for president.

Did you know? Gov Romney's father, former Michigan Governor George Romney, ran for president in 1968, but failed to secure his party's nomination.



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FRED THOMPSON Who is he? Former two-term senator for Tennessee who left politics in 2002 to return to acting, but has now announced a White House run.

Fred Thompson: Actor's charm Why take him seriously? Mr Thompson is well known to many voters through his role as district attorney Arthur Branch in TV crime series Law & Order. Unlike some of his rivals, he has good conservative credentials on such issues as abortion and gun rights.

Polls consistently put him among the front-runners - and analysts predict his down-to-earth charm may help him pick up support from voters uninspired by the other choices.

What is going to stand in his way? Mr Thompson is later than most in entering the race, putting him at a big disadvantage when it comes to fundraising. The long delay in his official declaration has prompted speculation he may have missed his window of opportunity. He will have to overcome a perception in some circles that he is not 100% committed to politics.

Did you know? Mr Thompson has played both himself and a US president. His turn in the top job came with a cameo in the 2007 film Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, as President Ulysses S Grant. He played himself as a senator in the movie Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World.



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OTHER OFFICIAL CANDIDATES
Joe Biden
Democrat
Senator from Delaware

Mike Gravel
Democrat
Former senator from Alaska




Dennis Kucinich
Democrat
Representative from Ohio




Sam Brownback
Republican
Senator from Kansas

Duncan Hunter
Republican
Representative from California

Ron Paul
Republican
Representative from Texas


Tom Tancredo
Republican
Representative from Colorado







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Posted by: southsider2k7 Oct 17 2007, 10:42 AM

Ugh. Even after all of this time, I am so completely unimpressed by the slate of candidates we have on tap for this election. Everyone of them has a major flaw in my eyes. In all honesty if I had to vote today, I would be picking between a few guys at the last minute, and holding my breath while I pulled the lever.

Also FWIW, Al Gore said yesterday he is not going to run for President.

Posted by: RedDevilMC Oct 17 2007, 11:31 AM

Thanks for the information.

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Oct 17 2007, 11:36 AM

This article is from my favorite online news source, the BBC. By the way, Administrator, I had to delete pictures so the post was allowed. I tried to remove the ones we all know too well, plus the little ones at the end of the article.

Posted by: southsider2k7 Oct 17 2007, 11:46 AM

Was the size of the post too big, because some of the pictures did come through?

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Oct 18 2007, 11:43 AM

Too many images, it said. I just deleted them one by one until it went through.

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Oct 31 2007, 04:18 PM

Here's a little history lesson for you. If you don't know the answer, make your best guess.

Answer all the questions before looking at the answers.

Who said it? 1) "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."
A. Karl Marx
B. Adolph Hitler
C. Joseph Stalin
D. None of the above

2) "It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few, and for the few...... And to replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity."
A. Lenin
B. Mussolini
C. Idi Amin
D. None of the Above

3) "(We) ...can't just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some
people"
A. Nikita Khrushev
B. Josef Goebbels
C. Boris Yeltsin
D. None of the above

4) "We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own ... in order to create this common ground."
A. Mao Tse Tung
B. Hugo Chavez
C. Kim Jong Il
D. None of the above

5) "I certainly think the free-market has failed."
A. Karl Marx
B. Lenin
C. Molotov
D. None of the above

6) "I think it's time to send a clear message to what has become the most profitable sector in (the) entire economy that they are being watched."
A. Pinochet
B. Milosevic
C. Saddam Hussein
D. None of the above

Scroll down for answers










Keep scrolling


















Answers
(1) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/29/2004
(2) D. None of the above. Statement was m ade by Hillary Clinton 5/29/2007
(3) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007
(4) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007
(5) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007
(6) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 9/2/2005

Posted by: Ang Oct 31 2007, 09:57 PM

I knew that!

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Nov 1 2007, 07:58 AM

This, of course, is a plant via email purporting to cast Mrs Clinton as some kind of wacko. It is easy to imagine this being done to each candidate by taking one sentence and putting in the appropriate choices. I hope that stuff like this is not how people decide whom to vote for, but I have my doubts.

Posted by: Ang Nov 1 2007, 09:02 AM

There is a big story about those remarks on Snopes. They put the statements in the actual context in which they were said and the remarks don't seem so bad.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/clintons/marxist.asp

It is amazing though, how one can remove a small portion of a sentence and make it seem absolutely horrible when it's by itself.

Depsite the fact that the above remarks are not as bad as they seem when in the context of which they were originally said, I'm still not voting for Hillary. I haven't decided yet who I want to vote for, but I do know that Hillary isn't a contender.

Posted by: Mr. Mark S. Lindborg Nov 2 2007, 04:44 AM

I like Ron Paul. www.RonPaul2008.com

Posted by: southsider2k7 Nov 2 2007, 09:03 AM

Ron Paul is a really interesting guy. The longer he hangs on, the more daylight he seems to get. To me he seems like the Ross Perot of this election.

Posted by: Max Main Nov 6 2007, 10:42 PM

Two things:

a. I wonder how many people who have the kneejerk anti-Hillary reaction could tell us ANYTHIN G about the choices given in the quiz

b. I kind of like Ron Paul, MD, until I heard him in the Michigan debate. Too far out, but I do like some of his views.

Posted by: Dave Jun 3 2008, 04:10 PM

And now we know what it's going to be in November -- Obama vs. McCain.

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Jun 5 2008, 12:28 PM

US election primaries quiz



Go to this web site and take the quiz. My score is at the bottom of this post.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7430209.stm













I got 5 right.

Posted by: JHeath Jun 5 2008, 01:16 PM

QUOTE(Roger Kaputnik @ Jun 5 2008, 01:28 PM)

Posted by: kharris Jun 5 2008, 01:22 PM

QUOTE(JHeath @ Jun 5 2008, 02:16 PM)

Posted by: Ang Jun 5 2008, 01:23 PM

Damn! I suck. I only got 3

Posted by: Dave Jun 5 2008, 02:07 PM

Six here.

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Jun 5 2008, 02:41 PM

bump

Posted by: Michelle Jun 11 2008, 11:31 AM

Late to this, but I got seven.

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Jul 10 2008, 11:57 AM

It is interesting to follow the elections from a different perspective. This is from the BBC (the only reliable news source besides NPR):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7474558.stm





US candidates practise their U-turns


By Max Deveson
BBC News, Washington
In order to pass their political driving test, successful politicians need to be masters of one tricky manoeuvre in particular - the U-turn.



The candidates have shifted their positions on a number of policies The contenders in this year's US presidential election are no exceptions - both John McCain and Barack Obama have engaged in some nifty repositioning.

Mr McCain's U-turns have mostly increased his appeal to the Republican Party's base, placing him on a rightward trajectory.

Barack Obama has been performing a more traditional manoeuvre: running to the left during the primaries, when party activists need to be wooed, then shifting to the centre once the nomination is clinched.

Flip-flopping politicians will always attract charges of hypocrisy and opportunism: it may be worth it if it helps them win over undecided voters in the middle, but when the goal is to shore up their political base, the benefits are much less clear.

Here are some examples.



JOHN MCCAIN

Having long been a member of his party's more moderate wing on a number of issues, Mr McCain began adopting more right-wing positions during the primary campaign.

Immigration

Last year, Mr McCain was one of the key backers of President Bush's plan for "comprehensive immigration reform", which would have created "paths to citizenship" for illegal immigrants, while investing more money in border security.

The plan was very unpopular with the Republican rank-and-file, and Senate Republicans succeeded in blocking the scheme.

During the primaries, Mr McCain announced that his immigration focus would be on securing America's borders, rather than on giving illegal immigrants the chance to become US citizens.

"I understand why you would call it a, quote, shift," McCain told reporters in November 2007.

"I say it is a lesson learned about what the American people's priorities are. And their priority is to secure the borders."

Christian right

Another McCain, quote, shift was in his relationship with the religious right of his party.

During his 2000 bid for the Republican nomination, relations between Mr McCain and Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell were notoriously fractious.

The Arizona senator memorably described Mr Falwell and fellow members of the religious right as "agents of intolerance".

But in 2006, ahead of his second presidential run, Mr McCain delivered the commencement address at Mr Falwell's Liberty University, after which he attended a small private party hosted by his former political adversary.

Interrogation rules

More recently, Mr McCain angered his former allies in the political centre by supporting a bill exempting the CIA from following the same rules on interrogation as the US Army.

Guantanamo

Mr McCain was one of the most prominent Republican voices opposed to the Bush administration's detention policy in Guantanamo Bay.

But when the Supreme Court recently ruled that Guantanamo detainees should have access to US courts, Mr McCain described it as "one of the worst decisions in the history of the country".

Oil drilling

Since sewing up the Republican nomination in March, Mr McCain - one of only a few prominent Republicans to accept the argument that human activity is causing climate change - has dropped his previous objection to lifting the ban on oil exploration off the coast of the US.






BARACK OBAMA

Since clinching the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama has also been making headlines for his policy shifts.

Campaign finance

Last month he announced that he would be rejecting public financing for his campaign, and would instead rely on private donations.

The McCain camp accused Mr Obama of "going back on his word", although Mr Obama insisted that he had never made a promise to stay in the public finance system.

Surveillance programme

Mr Obama also raised eyebrows when he announced that he would not be opposing a bill going through Congress giving immunity to telephone companies involved in the Bush administration's controversial warrantless wiretap programme.

His decision angered many of his supporters on the left, who accused him of going back on his 2007 pledge "to support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies".

Gun control

When the Supreme Court decided to overturn Washington DC's handgun ban, Mr Obama declared that the ruling "provide[d] much-needed guidance", despite having previously argued (in a written answer that he says was drafted by an aide and which he had not approved) that the ban was constitutional.

Iraq

Withdrawing troops from Iraq has long been one of the central planks of Mr Obama's campaign, and was something that set him apart from other Democratic candidates running for the party's presidential nomination.

Since his campaign began, however, conditions in Iraq have changed, violence has reduced, and some commentators have suggested that Mr Obama's position is out of date.

Mr Obama himself has announced that he plans to visit Iraq, where he will make "a thorough assessment" which could lead him to "refine" his policy.

Some critics have seized on this as an indication that Mr Obama is laying the groundwork for a change in position.

Free trade

Mr Obama recently hinted to Fortune magazine that his strong anti-free trade rhetoric during the primaries may not be reflected in his actual trade policy should he become president.

His remarks are a neat summation of the pressures and temptations that lead politicians to shift their positions during the process of running for office.

"Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified," he said.

"Politicians are always guilty of that, and I don't exempt myself."




















My own feeling is that nitpicking on each sentence of every speech is keeping attention from where it ought to be, viz., on issues. I do not expect a candidate to have an answer for every little thing. I want to see that they have intelligence to bear on a subject, and they must not be bound by ideology.

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Aug 23 2008, 06:13 AM

It is JOE BIDEN for Veep (Dem.).

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Aug 23 2008, 06:27 AM

Barack Obama Chooses Sen. Joseph Biden For VP
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Charles Rex ArbogastSen. Barack Obama, left, laughs with Sen. Joseph Biden before the start of a presidential forum in Chicago in August 2007. AP

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93902534#93903313


http://www.npr.org/, August 23, 2008 · Democrat Barack Obama has selected Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware to be his vice presidential running mate.

After much speculation, the Obama campaign confirmed reports on its Web site early Saturday morning.

"Joe Biden brings extensive foreign policy experience, an impressive record of collaborating across party lines, and a direct approach to getting the job done," the site says. "We have our team, but we also have our work cut out for us. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the leaders who will bring the change our country needs."

Biden, 65, has run for president twice and has experience with foreign and defense issues. The veteran congressman is Catholic, has blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator.

During his more than 30 years in the Senate, Biden has served at various times as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, a role he currently holds, and as head of the Judiciary Committee, with its jurisdiction over anti-crime legislation and constitutional issues.

News reports said Biden emerged as the likely choice after three other contenders, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton reportedly were told they had not been chosen.

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, says Obama's pick would have made it through an extensive vetting process.

The Illinois senator and his running mate are scheduled to appear together at a noontime event Saturday in Springfield, Ill.

From staff and wire reports.

<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/topics/topic.php?topicId=1102">Election 2008
Biden Strong On Foreign Policy, National Security
by http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2100815

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Mark WilsonSen. Joseph Biden (D-DE) speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on July 9. Biden has served several terms as chairman of the committee. Getty Images



Cynthia JohnsonBiden talks to a supporter on a train after announcing his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1987. Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

During more than three decades in the U.S. Senate, Joseph Biden, 65, has honed a reputation as a heavyweight on foreign policy and national security, and as a strong debater, if one sometimes prone to verbal gaffes.

Biden was born in Scranton, Pa., to a working-class family — his father was a car salesman — and was raised in the suburbs of Wilmington, Del. He attended Syracuse Law School.

In 1972, at age 29, he became one of the youngest people elected to the Senate. A month later, he http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14999603 when an automobile accident with a drunk driver killed his wife and daughter, leaving him a single father of two young sons. Biden remarried five years later.

Biden is unarguably a Washington insider, yet he's never actually moved to the city, instead commuting home to Delaware by train every night. He is Roman Catholic, yet favors abortion rights.

Biden has twice run for president himself, first in 1988, when he dropped out after being accused of plagiarizing British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock. Soon after he suffered an aneurysm, but fully recovered.

Early in his 2007 bid for the presidency, Biden found himself apologizing to rival Barack Obama after a remark some found racially insensitive. He had called Obama "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." During the primaries, Biden also claimed Obama was "not yet ready" to serve as president, a line that will no doubt be rehashed now by Republican rivals. Biden never went far with his candidacy, coming in fifth in Iowa.

Biden's legislative career is long and varied. He helped write landmark legislation that set up shelters and a national hotline for abused women, and another law that put 100,000 police on the streets in the mid-1990s. He served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1987 to 1995, leading opposition to the controversial Supreme Court nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.

Biden has served several terms as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which he heads now, and has substantial contacts with world leaders. Just last weekend, he accepted an invitation from Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili to visit the former Soviet republic during its tense standoff with Russia. Biden originally voted for the Iraq war, but has since come to be a fierce critic of President Bush's policies in Iraq.

Biden complements a Democratic ticket in areas that polls show Obama is weak — he has gravitas, foreign policy experience, knowledge of the inner workings of Washington, and an appeal to working-class voters. While he's clearly harbored presidential ambitions, Biden would presumably be too old to run again if Obama were elected and served two terms.

Where Obama is nuanced, Biden may also have a greater ability to talk tough against rivals in public debate. But the senator is also known to get carried away with the sound of his own voice, digressing into irrelevant personal anecdotes. Referring to this during the recent series of Democratic debates, moderator Brian Williams asked Biden if he had the "discipline" to be president, to which Biden delivered perhaps the best-received line of his candidacy: "Yes."

Biden is up for re-election to his Senate seat this year, but could run for this spot while also campaigning on the Democratic ticket.


Related NPR Stories

• Oct. 8, 2007http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14999603
• Aug. 1, 2007http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12389154
• Aug. 2, 2007http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7086666

Posted by: southsider2k7 Aug 27 2008, 12:43 PM

OK so maybe Barack Obama isn't that bad after all...

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Aug 27 2008, 04:40 PM

It is funny that both Sox fans and Cub fans feel that there is a core of True Baseball Fans and a bunch of bandwagon/beautiful ppl there to be seen. Seems to be true all over baseball, all pro sports.

True story: The first time my wife saw Spike Lee at the Knicks game, she thought he was the mascot!

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Aug 29 2008, 09:47 AM

McCain Picks Alaska's Palin for VP Spot, Reports Say
http://www.npr.org/, August 29, 2008 · Republican Sen. John McCain is set to announce that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be his vice presidential running mate, a move that brings youth and a staunch anti-abortion advocate to the GOP ticket, his campaign announced Friday.

McCain and Palin are expected to appear together for the announcement at a noon rally in Dayton, Ohio.

"This is a bold choice of a strong conservative who is a reformer and will be greeted by the delegates in St. Paul with enthusiasm," said Republican strategist Scott Reed.

Palin, 44, was elected Alaska's first woman governor in 2006 on a platform of ethics reform. She has extensive influence in Alaska politics, having served as mayor of Wasilla and ethics commissioner on the state's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

In announcing that she was McCain's choice, the campaign's statement said she has challenged the influence of big oil and used her veto power to cut budgetary spending.

"Governor Palin has the record of reform and bipartisanship that others can only speak of. Her experience in shaking up the status quo is exactly what is needed in Washington today," the campaign's news release said.

Palin has steadfastly opposed abortion and earlier this year gave birth to a child who she knew would have Down syndrome. She and her husband, Todd, have five children, who range in age from 18 years to 4 months. Todd Palin is of native Alaskan Yup'ik ancestry. Her addition to the ticket could bolster McCain support among the Republican Party's Christian base.

McCain's announcement comes a day after Illinois Sen. Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. McCain and Palin will face Obama and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden in the Nov. 4 election.

From NPR and wire reports

<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93739362">The Republican Convention
Sarah Palin, A Fresh Face For The GOP
by http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2100470

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Al GrilloSarah Palin, 44, is the governor of Alaska. AP


In Focus

• Aug. 29, 2008http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94100211
• http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93739553

• http://web.archive.org/web/20061028035208/www.palinforgovernor.com/issues.html
• http://gov.state.ak.us/

• Aug. 8, 2008http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93433183
• Dec. 27, 2006http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6685837

Posted by: JHeath Aug 29 2008, 10:23 AM

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Aug 29 2008, 11:55 AM

function removeDebate(obj){ document.getElementById(obj).value = ''; } http://english.aljazeera.net/Americas
Palin picked as McCain running-mate
Sarah Palin has been described as a reformer [AP] John McCain, the US Republican presidential candidate, has introduced Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, as his running-mate to take on Barack Obama in November's poll.

Palin, a mother of five, is the first woman to lead Alaska and is best known for pushing for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a key part of McCain's energy policy.

McCain introduced Palin to cheering crowds at a rally in Denver, Ohio on Friday.

The Arizona senator said he made his pick after looking for a political partner "who can best help me shake up Washington and make it start working again for the people who are counting on us".

The move could appeal to women voters who might have been disillusioned by Barack Obama's decision to pick Joe Biden as his Democratic running-mate instead of Hillary Clinton, who won 18 million votes in her Democratic primary battle with Obama.

At 44, Palin is three years younger than Obama and, like McCain, she calls herself a "maverick".

In focus http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/uselections2008/default.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/uselections2008/default.html

Lucia Newman, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Dayton, Ohio, said Palin was an interesting choice for McCain.

"One of the perceived weaknesses of John McCain is that he is too old and he is also seen as being too close to the Republican establishment.

"Palin balances out the ticket - she is young and a maverick and brings across some voters who would have supported Hillary Cinton [as the Democratic presidential candidate] and who are not yet convinced by [Barack] Obama." 'Risky choice'



Sean Aday, a political scientist at George Washington University, told Al Jazeera McCain had made a risky choice.

"She's actually pro-life, which helps McCain with his base. She has not been on the national stage. She comes from a very small state. She has never been in this situation."

Barack Obama's campaign issued a statement condemning Palin as too inexperienced for the vice-presidency. "Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency," said Bill Burton, Obama's campaign spokesman.

Historic nomination McCain is preparing to accept his party's nomination for president at the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, next week.

Mitt Romney, McCain's former rival for the Republican nomination, and independent senator Joe Lieberman, had been top contenders for the vice-presidential candidate position. Tom Ridge, the former governor of Pennsylvania, had also been linked to the post.

Early on Friday, Tim Pawlenty, the conservative Minnesota governor, said it was "a fair assumption" he would not be joining McCain on the Republican ticket.

Barack Obama, the Illinois senator, accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday, becoming the first African-American of a major US party to win it.

By announcing his vice-presidential pick on Friday, observers say McCain was hoping to to divert attention from Obama, who attacked McCain in Thursday's acceptance speech, accusing him of following the policies of George Bush, the incumbent president.

Posted by: southsider2k7 Aug 29 2008, 11:57 AM

You are getting your reports on the US election from Al Jazeera? Interesting.

Posted by: southsider2k7 Sep 8 2008, 11:57 AM

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=17220&TM=50119.41

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Sep 8 2008, 03:31 PM

http://www.electoral-vote.com

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Sep 23 2008, 12:18 PM

Palin press may boycott UN conference
Kenneth P. Vogel1 hour, 15 minutes ago

NEW YORK – Journalists, displeased with Sarah Palin’s efforts to restrict their access to her, are threatening not to cover her events surrounding the United Nations conference here unless they're allowed more access.

The unfolding boycott is the latest development in a rocky relationship between Palin’s handlers and the press, in which the campaign has sought to tightly control her interactions with the media.

The campaign had originally indicated that the print reporters following her campaign would be among the small group of journalists allowed to attend the so-called “pool sprays” before Palin’s meetings with dignitaries on the sidelines of the U.N. meetings.

The sprays are basically glorified photo opportunities during which journalists can snap photos and film footage and – if they’re lucky – shout a question or two at Palin and her company before she adjourns for private meetings. On Tuesday, those meetings were to include Afghan President Karzai and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

But the imbroglio began developing Tuesday morning when Palin’s handlers informed the small print press contingent covering her campaign that the print reporter designated to cover the events, Elizabeth Holmes of the Wall Street Journal, would not be allowed to cover the sprays.

The campaign’s reasoning was that there were not going to be questions or statements at the sprays, so they were only appropriate for photographers and cameramen.

The campaign also at first moved to bar CNN, the television network designated for pool duty, from sending its editorial producer – basically a hybrid print/video journalist – though the campaign budged when the network threatened to withhold its cameras as well.

With Palin’s first meeting set to begin at noon, that leaves the print reporters on the outs.

UPDATE: After shutting the print pooler, Holmes, out of the spray before Palin’s meeting with Afghan President Karzai—“rudely,” according to Holmes—the campaign relented and agreed to let her cover the sprays before Palin’s next two meetings, with Colombian President Uribe and Kissinger. Updated story forthcoming.

Copyright © 2008 http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/partner/politico/SIG=113abgr7a/**http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com%2F.


var ADFadids = "-1,1030392"; function ADFlaunch() {var w; var l="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=14u1kcr0d/M=224039.1983420.3465435.1919853/D=news/S=2023015362:FOOT/_ylt=AvnT5nYmy6P5cjdpfLYb7.7Cw5R4/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1222201161/L=yaHIYkwNc1jta4RHSNjteQTfRTA8M0jZMykAAMWZ/B=iGsLDEPDoHI-/J=1222193961067407/A=1030392/R=0/id=adfeedback/SIG=12imsr8su/*http://surveys.yahoo.com/user_ad_feedback?source=2023015362:FOOT&.q28=news&.q26="+ADFadids; w=window.open(l,"AdFeedbackWin","toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable,location=no,height=400,width=640"); }Copyright © 2008 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

Posted by: Dave Sep 23 2008, 01:37 PM

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ijGq94pVTj9FGiR-c5EdA3iSm2owD93CHQP82

Posted by: southsider2k7 Sep 23 2008, 01:43 PM

You have this, and on the other side you have Biden contradicting his own campaign and saying GWB-esque dumb stuff. Its pretty disheartening.

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Sep 24 2008, 07:36 AM

"Photo spray" makes me think of "cat spray" somehow.

Posted by: krk Sep 24 2008, 09:04 AM

You know they were afraid she would try to "lay hands" on the man.

"So, Hamid, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior? Let's speak in tongues."

Posted by: JHeath Sep 24 2008, 09:09 AM

QUOTE(Roger Kaputnik @ Sep 24 2008, 08:36 AM)

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Sep 24 2008, 09:34 AM

If you have ever had to deal with cat spray, you are not far off the mark. Let's just say it is best to just throw out the carpet or sofa.

Posted by: Dave Sep 24 2008, 01:16 PM

QUOTE(Roger Kaputnik @ Sep 24 2008, 10:34 AM)

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Sep 24 2008, 03:32 PM

We had a cat who had kittens by 5 females that we know of. His name? The Rifleman!

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Sep 25 2008, 02:11 PM

• http://freelevi.org/Real_Time_with_Bill_Maher.html

Posted by: mcstumper Sep 25 2008, 08:56 PM

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Sep 26 2008, 07:58 AM

I thought it was a humorous idea, and original. Here is something I do really like about Gov. Palin: She is not afraid to be herself; the way the media is kept away from her has more to do with, I suspect, the fear her party handlers have of this. She meets some of the key criteria I identified earlier. And, yes, I do trust intelligence over experience.

Posted by: mcstumper Sep 26 2008, 05:25 PM

QUOTE(Roger Kaputnik @ Sep 26 2008, 08:58 AM)

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Sep 29 2008, 10:24 AM

I just hope that we never have to rely on that 'expertise.'

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Oct 8 2008, 08:35 AM

FactChecking Debate No. 2October 8, 2008Nonsense in NashvilleSummaryMcCain and Obama debated for the second time, in Nashville. We noted some misleading statements and mangled facts:

• McCain proposed to write down the amount owed by over-mortgaged homeowners and claimed the idea as his own: “It’s my proposal, it's not Sen. Obama's proposal, it's not President Bush's proposal.” But the idea isn’t new. Obama had endorsed something similar two weeks earlier, and authority for the treasury secretary to grant such relief was included in the recently passed $700 billion financial rescue package.

• Both candidates oversimplified the causes of the financial crisis. McCain blamed it on Democrats who resisted tighter regulation of federal mortgage agencies. Obama blamed it on financial deregulation backed by Republicans. We find both are right, with plenty of blame left over for others, from home buyers to the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

• Obama said his health care plan would lower insurance premiums by up to $2,500 a year. Experts we’ve consulted see little evidence such savings would materialize.

• McCain misstated his own health care plan, saying he’d give a $5,000 tax credit to “every American” His plan actually would provide only $2,500 per individual, or $5,000 for couples and families. He also misstated Obama’s health care plan, claiming it would levy fines on “small businesses” that fail to provide health insurance. Actually, Obama’s plan exempts “small businesses.”

• McCain lamented that the U.S. was forced to “withdraw in humiliation” from Somalia in 1994, but he failed to note that he once proposed to cut off funding for troops to force a faster withdrawal.

• Obama said, “I favor nuclear power.” That’s a stronger statement than we've heard him make before. As recently as last December, he said, “I am not a nuclear energy proponent.”

• McCain claimed “1.3 million people in America make their living off eBay.” Actually, only 724,000 persons in the U.S. have income from eBay, and only some of them rely on it as their primary source.

McCain: But you know, one of the real catalysts, really the match that lit this fire was Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. [T]hey're the ones that, with the encouragement of Sen. Obama and his cronies and his friends in Washington, that went out and made all these risky loans, gave them to people that could never afford to pay back.

Obama: Now, I've got to correct a little bit of Sen. McCain's history, not surprisingly. Let's, first of all, understand that the biggest problem in this whole process was the deregulation of the financial system.

We’ve been here http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/who_caused_the_economic_crisis.html. McCain has in fact been in favor of financial deregulation, but President Bill Clinton signed, and a lot of other Democrats supported, much of that same deregulation. And while Democrats really did fight McCain-cosponsored regulations of the FMs, McCain himself signed on to the bill just two months before the housing bubble popped.

In fact, there’s plenty of blame to go around. Experts have blamed everyone from home buyers to mortgage lenders to Alan Greenspan to both the Bush and Clinton administrations.

Furthermore,

Obama: We're going to work with your employer to lower the cost of your premiums by up to $2,500 a year.

McCain: I am in favor of . . . giving every American a $5,000 refundable tax credit and go out and get the health insurance you want rather than mandates and fines for small businesses, as Sen. Obama's plan calls for.

McCain: We went in to Somalia as a peacemaking organization, we ended up trying to be – excuse me, as a peacekeeping organization, we ended up trying to be peacemakers and we ended up having to withdraw in humiliation.

Obama: Contrary to what Sen. McCain keeps on saying, I favor nuclear power as one component of our overall energy mix.

Obama (Dec. 30, 2007 I start off with the premise that nuclear energy is not optimal. ... I am not a nuclear energy proponent.

McCain: Sen. Obama has voted 94 times to either increase your taxes or against tax cuts. That's his record.

Obama: And during that time, he voted 23 times against alternative fuels, 23 times.

McCain: Do you know that Sen. Obama has voted for – is proposing $860
billion of new spending now? New spending.

Obama repeated a stale talking point when he said, "We're spending $10 billion a month in Iraq at a time when the Iraqis have a $79 billion surplus, $79 billion."

As we’ve http://wire.factcheck.org/2008/09/09/obama-make-an-iraqi-accounting-oversight/ when Obama said it on the campaign trail, when he http://wire.factcheck.org/2008/10/02/the-iraqi-surplus/ it at the last debate, and even when Biden http://wire.factcheck.org/2008/10/02/the-iraqi-surplus/ the figure in the vice presidential debate, that number is wrong. The Iraqis actually “have” $29.4 billion in the bank. The Government Accountability Office http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d081031.pdf in August that Iraq’s 2008 budget surplus could range anywhere from $38.2 billion to $50.3 billion, depending on oil revenue, price and volume. Then, in early August, the Iraqi legislature passed a $21 billion supplemental spending bill. The supplemental will be completely funded by this year’s surplus, and that means that the Iraqi’s will not have $79 billion in the bank. They could have about $59 billion.

McCain: By the way, my friends, I know you grow a little weary with this back-and-forth. It was an energy bill on the floor of the Senate loaded down with goodies, billions for the oil companies, and it was sponsored by Bush and Cheney. You know who voted for it? You might never know. That one. You know who voted against it? Me.

Congressional Research Service: The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT05, P.L. 109-58) included several oil and gas tax incentives, providing about $2.6 billion of tax cuts for the oil and gas industry. In addition, EPACT05 provided for $2.9 billion of tax increases on the oil and gas industry, for a net tax increase on the industry of nearly $300 million over 11 years.

Obama: The same way the computer was originally invented by a bunch of government scientists who were trying to figure out, for defense purposes, how to communicate, we've got to understand that this is a national security issue, as well.

It’s true that the first electronic computer, ENIAC, or the Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/v42/n18/eniac.html at the University of Pennsylvania with funding from the War Department.

But ENIAC was not actually the first computer. That distinction belongs to the difference engine, a mechanical computer invented in 1822 by the British mathematician http://www.maxmon.com/1822ad.htm. And even Babbage was drawing on earlier work, such as the calculating machine built in 1671 by the German philosopher http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/attic3/attic3_037.html.

• Obama said: "When George Bush came into office, our debt – national debt
  was around $5 trillion. It's now over $10 trillion." Actually, it was closer to $6 trillion when Bush took office. On Jan. 22, 2001 (two days after Bush was sworn in) the http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/NPGateway. On Sept. 30, 2008, it was $10.025 trillion.
  
  
• McCain said it again: "We've got to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't want us very – like us very much" (He actually used the figure three times in the debate.) He's talking about what we spend importing oil, and he's said the same thing http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/factchecking_debate_no_1.html and numerous other times. At http://%20http//tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_spt_s1_d.htm, the correct figure is about $493 billion. About a third of that goes to Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom, which were still on the friendly side of the ledger last time we looked.
  
  
• Obama was right about the amount of earmarks, when he said they "account for about $18 billion of our budget." According to the budget watchdog group, Taxpayers for Common Sense, earmarks totaled just $18.3 billion in 2008. Citizens Against Government Waste came in with a slightly smaller number of $17.2 billion, and the Office of Management and Budget smaller still at $16.9 billion.
  
  
• McCain repeated an error he made in the last debate when he said, "In Lebanon, I stood up to President Reagan, my hero, and said, if we send Marines in there, how can we possibly beneficially affect this situation? And said we shouldn't. Unfortunately, almost 300 brave young Marines were killed." In fact, as http://%20www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/factchecking_debate_no_1.html, McCain wasn't elected until three months after the Marines had been deployed. He did vote against the post-hoc War Powers Act authorization of the deployment; Reagan signed it into law in October 1983, 11 days before a suicide bomber set off a blast that killed 241 servicemembers in their barracks.
  
  –by Brooks Jackson, Viveca Novak, Lori Robertson, Joe Miller, Jessica Henig and Justin Bank
  
  
  

Posted by: southsider2k7 Oct 14 2008, 10:50 AM

Read between the lines here. Under Barack Obama's tax plans 56% of the country will be fully supporting 44% of the country. Stop and think about that. That means almost half of the country, including many who are close to median income in this country will be paying ZERO taxes. A large chunk of that 44% will actually PROFIT from the tax code. That and the old welfare style disincentive to work are by far the two biggest problems I have had with his fiscal policies from day one. I'll be damned if I should support middle class families simply because I am a little more middle class than they are.

The end of the article is 100% right when it wonders why this hasn't been hammered by the McCain campaign, instead of all of the stupid stuff like flag pins and Pastors. This is what I care about, not the rest of the fluff.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122385651698727257.html

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Oct 14 2008, 11:44 AM

Is the Tax Foundation nonpartisan? The WSJ isn't.


This is exactly what I am talking about in another thread. The issues are real, and the media coverage is insulting. One problem with all the tax policy enacted and proposed is that there are so very many permutations on the effects that one is inundated to the point of numbness, if not numbed-skull-ness, and discussion rapidly becomes meaningless.

What I advocate is a flat tax, a true flat tax--no exceptions, no deductions. Let's say it is determined that income (we can leave that definition to later) tax should be 18%, then the new 1040 post card return would have these instructions:

Line 1 Enter total income
Line 2 Multiply by .18 and enter
Send the Line 2 amount to the US Treasury.

Posted by: Roger Kaputnik Oct 16 2008, 09:24 AM

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/factchecking_debate_no_3.html


FactChecking Debate No. 3

October 16, 2008Sorting out fact and fiction in the presidential candidates' final debate.SummarySpin and hype were apparent, once again, at the third and final debate between McCain and Obama:

• McCain claimed the liberal group ACORN “is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history ... maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.” In fact, a Republican prosecutor said of the first and biggest ACORN fraud case: “[T]his scheme was not intended to permit illegal voting.” He said $8-an-hour workers turned in made-up voter registration forms rather than doing what ACORN paid them to do.

• McCain said “Joe the plumber” faced “much higher taxes” under Obama’s tax plan and would pay a fine under Obama’s health care plan if he failed to provide coverage for his workers. But Ohio plumber Joe Wurzelbacher would pay higher taxes only if the business he says he wants to buy puts his income over $200,000 a year, and his small business would be exempt from Obama’s requirement to provide coverage for workers.

• Obama repeated a dubious claim that his health care plan will cut the average family’s premiums by $2,500 a year. Experts have found that figure to be overly optimistic.

• McCain claimed that Obama’s real “object” is a government-run, single-payer health insurance system like those in Canada or England. The McCain campaign points to a quote from five years ago, when Obama told a labor gathering that he was “a proponent of a single-payer health care program.” But Obama has since qualified his enthusiasm for Canadian-style health care, and his current proposal is nothing like that.

• Obama incorrectly claimed all of McCain’s ads had been “negative.” That was true for one recent week, but not over the entire campaign. And at times Obama has run a higher percentage of attack ads than McCain.
  
  
• McCain described Colombia as the "largest agricultural importer of our products." Actually, Canada imports the most U.S. farm products, and Colombia is far down the list.
  

• Obama strained to portray himself as willing to break ranks with fellow Democrats. His prime example was his vote for a bill that was supported by 18 Democrats and opposed by 26. Congressional Quarterly rates him as voting with his party 97 percent of the time since becoming a U.S. senator.

McCain: We need to know the full extent of Sen. Obama's relationship with ACORN, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.

Satterberg: [A] joint federal and state investigation has determined that this
scheme was not intended to permit illegal voting.

Instead, the defendants cheated their employer. ... It was hardly a sophisticated plan: The defendants simply realized that making up names was easier than actually canvassing the streets looking for unregistered voters. ...

[It] appears that the employees of ACORN were not performing the work that they were being paid for, and to some extent, ACORN is a victim of employee theft.

Obama: The only involvement I've had with ACORN is, I represented them alongside the U.S. Justice Department in making Illinois implement a motor voter law that helped people get registered at DMVs.

He http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/02/20/obama_got_start_in_civil_rights_practice/, but that wasn't his only involvement. He also worked closely with ACORN's Chicago office when he ran a Project Vote registration drive after law school, and Obama did some leadership training for Chicago ACORN. The http://www.woodsfund.org/, where Obama served as a board member, gave http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990s/990search/ffindershow.cgi?id=WOOD146 to ACORN's Chicago branch; both organizations are concerned with disadvantaged populations in that city. And during the primaries of this election, Obama's campaign paid upwards of $800,000 to the ACORN-affiliated Campaign Services Inc. for get-out-the-vote efforts (not voter registration). Those services were initially http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/s_584284.html on the campaign's Federal Election Commission reports, an error that some find suspicious and others say is par for the course. ACORN's Chicago office and CSI have not been under investigation.

For more on investigations of ACORN and registration fraud, and Obama's involvement with the group, keep an eye on our home page. A longer article on ACORN is in the works.

McCain: Joe wants to buy the business that he has been in for all of these years, worked 10, 12 hours a day. And he wanted to buy the business but he looked at your tax plan and he saw that he was going to pay much higher taxes.

McCain: Now, my old buddy, Joe, Joe the plumber, is out there. Now, Joe, Sen. Obama's plan, if you're a small business and . . . you've got employees, and you've got kids, if you don't get – adopt the health care plan that Sen. Obama mandates, he's going to fine you . . . I don't think that Joe right now wants to pay a fine when he is seeing such difficult times in America's economy.

Obama and McCain traded boasts and accusations on each other’s health care plan. They ran afoul of the facts a few times.

Obama: And we estimate we can cut the average family's premium by about $2,500 per year.

McCain: Sen. Obama wants to set up health care bureaucracies, take over the health care of America through — as he said, his object is a single payer system. If you like that, you'll love Canada and England.

Obama (as quoted by the Wall Street Journal, Aug. 19): If I were designing a system from scratch, I would probably go ahead with a single-payer system. ... [M]y attitude is let’s build up the system we got, let’s make it more efficient, we may be over time — as we make the system more efficient and everybody’s covered — decide that there are other ways for us to provide care more effectively.

Obama: Now, under Sen. McCain's plan there is a strong risk that people would lose their employer-based health care.

Obama: First of all, in terms of standing up to the leaders of my party, the first major bill that I voted on in the Senate was in support of tort reform, which wasn't very popular with trial lawyers, a major constituency in the Democratic Party.

Obama: Now, what I've done throughout this campaign is to propose a net spending cut. ... Every dollar that I've proposed, I've proposed an additional cut so that it matches.

Schieffer: Do either of you think you can balance the budget in four years? You have said previously you thought you could, Sen. McCain.
McCain: Sure I do. And let me tell you...
Schieffer: You can still do that?
McCain: Yes.

McCain: Sen. Obama talks about voting for budgets. He voted twice for a budget resolution that increases the taxes on individuals making $42,000 a year. . . .

Obama: [T]he notion that I voted for a tax increase for people making $42,000 a year has been disputed by everybody who has looked at this claim.

McCain: Senator Obama voted against Justice Breyer and Justice Roberts on the grounds that they didn't meet his ideological standards.

Obama: Charter schools, I doubled the number of charter schools in Illinois despite some reservations from teachers unions.

• McCain said once again, "We have to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't like us very much." As we've noted several times in the past, $700 billion would have been the cost of all annual U.S. oil imports when the price was $140 per barrel. But it's http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/price-oil-sinks-half-its-july-peak-36580.

• Obama said oil companies have "68 million acres that they currently have leased that they're not drilling." We've previously http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/factchecking_debate_no_2.html him for similar statements, and it's still not true. As we've http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/are_the_democrats_correct_in_stating_that.html, there is exploratory drilling being done on much of these lands, which are not yet producing oil. In 2007 http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wo/Business_and_Fiscal_Resources/2006_pls.Par.75530.File.dat/Part_3.pdf more than 15,000 holes that were being proposed, started or finished that do not count as "productive" holes.
  
  
• Listing some of his running mate's achievements, McCain credited Gov. Sarah Palin with “a $40 billion pipeline of natural gas that's going to relieve the energy needs" of the lower 48 states. We'll just note, http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/gop_convention_spin_part_ii.html, that the pipeline is still in pre-development and is actually projected to cost $26.5 billion.