Today on the Presidential Campaign Trail
Politics, Government, Business, Current Events, General
Democrat John Edwards ends bid for the White House … Giuliani, a contradiction within GOP, to bow out of presidential race … Obama attacks Clinton as calculating and divisive figure who votes with the GOP … Romney jokes about spending all his money in 2008 race … Nader launches 2008 exploratory presidential bid with appeal to fight big corporations … Clinton calls for new limits on credit card interest rates … Huckabee says Giuliani’s exit has no effect on his standing … No Clinton-Giuliani `rematch’ in NY
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Edwards exits presidential race
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Democrat John Edwards bowed out of the race for the White House on Wednesday, saying it was time to step aside “so that history can blaze its path” in a campaign now left to Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
“With our convictions and a little backbone we will take back the White House in November,” said Edwards, ending his second campaign in the hurricane-ravaged city where he began it more than a year ago.
Edwards said Clinton and Obama had both pledged to “make ending poverty central to their campaign for the presidency.”
“This is the cause of my life and I now have their commitment to engage in this cause,” he told a small group of supporters. He was joined by his wife, Elizabeth, and their three children, Cate, Emma Claire and Jack.
It was the second time Edwards had sought the Democratic presidential nomination. Four years ago, he was the vice presidential running mate on a ticket headed by John Kerry.
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Giuliani set to exit presidential race
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Rudy Giuliani was always a long-shot for the Republican presidential nomination, a brash New Yorker who backed gun control, abortion and gay rights in a party dominated by Southern conservatives.
The only surprise was that he lasted as long as he did as the national front-runner.
The former New York mayor planned to exit the GOP race Wednesday and endorse rival and friend John McCain. Giuliani’s unconventional strategy of largely bypassing the early voting states and focusing on more populous, delegate-rich states produced just one delegate, a bunch of sixth-place finishes and made him the odd man out.
His best showing was Florida, where he had staked his candidacy. He finished a distant third.
It was a remarkable defeat for the ex-mayor who entered the race more than a year ago with an aura of invincibility, leading national polls and earning a reputation for toughness after his stewardship of New York as terrorists struck on Sept. 11, 2001.
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Obama calls Clinton divisive figure
DENVER (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama on Wednesday said rival Hillary Rodham Clinton is too polarizing to win the presidency and she has taken positions shared by President Bush and Republican candidate John McCain for political expediency.
Obama depicted Clinton as a calculating, poll-tested figure who will only inspire greater partisan divisions as she sides with Republicans on issues like trade, the role of lobbyists in politics and national security. At the same time, he elevated McCain, fresh off victory in Florida’s crucial primary, as the likely Republican nominee.
“Democrats will win in November and build a majority in Congress not by nominating a candidate who will unite the other party against us, but by choosing one who can unite this country around a movement for change,” Obama told more than 10,000 people gathered at the University of Denver
The Clinton campaign said Obama was abandoning his pledge to run a positive campaign by making misleading attacks on her record.
“Senator Obama laments this kind of politics in his book, ‘Audacity of Hope,’” her campaign responded in a Web posting that contained a quote from page 133 of the book: “That is how most of my colleagues, Republican and Democrat, enter the Senate their words distorted, and their motives questioned.”
Meanwhile, the New York Post endorsed Obama for the Democratic nomination Wednesday, calling him an “untried candidate” but a preferable alternative to Clinton, the newspaper’s home state senator.
Clinton and her husband, the former president, “stand for deja vu all over again — a return to the opportunistic, scandal-scarred, morally muddled years of the almost infinitely self-indulgent Clinton co-presidency,” the paper wrote.
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Romney kids about going broke after race
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Republican Mitt Romney says he might have empty pockets after spending millions of his own money on his presidential bid.
He joked about the situation while addressing supporters Tuesday night.
“All you guys are family,” he told them. “Don’t expect to be part of the inheritance; I’m not sure there’s going to be much left after this.”
The former venture capitalist has already contributed an estimated $35 million to his campaign, and he has stated publicly that he and his wife have agreed on a personal spending cap — although they refuse to divulge the figure.
The question confronting the couple is whether additional spending can push Romney over the top, or end up being wasteful.
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Nader eyes 2008 presidential bid
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ralph Nader is considering seeking the presidency — again.
The consumer activist and political gadfly kicked off an exploratory presidential campaign Wednesday with the launch of a new Web site that promises he’ll fight “corporate greed, corporate power, corporate control” and asks people to donate $300 each.
Nader sought the White House in each of the last three presidential elections: He ran on the Green Party ticket in 1996 and 2000, and as an independent in 2004.
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Clinton calls for credit card changes
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed new limits on credit card interest rates and protections for consumers who use them.
“We need more disclosure, more transparency,” Clinton said. “We’ve got to go after this predatory lending.”
Clinton spelled out details of her proposal in a speech before about 3,000 people at a high school here, taking time from her stump speech to talk about the time she spent in Arkansas as first lady when her husband was governor.
The New York senator called for 30 percent cap on credit card interest rates, but then moving quickly to begin lowering that cap as part of a package of new regulations on credit card issuers.
She also said she wanted to put in place new regulations to clarify the often confusing fine print in credit card applications.
Earlier Wednesday, Clinton was endorsed by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.
“Hillary and I both came to Washington together in 1993, and since that time she hasn’t stopped working on the priorities that matter most to America’s families,” Murray said.
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Huckabee raps Romney’s record
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Republican Mike Huckabee said rival Rudy Giuliani’s plan to exit the race doesn’t affect his standing in the field — it will take two more candidates to make an impact.
“What would be a bigger factor is if (Mitt) Romney and (John) McCain dropped out today. One can dream. I believe in miracles,” the former Arkansas governor told reporters before a fundraiser.
Huckabee, who came in fourth in Florida’s primary, said he’s not dropping his bid for the White House soon. He criticized Romney’s record, saying the two would not split the conservative vote.
“If the true conservatives are looking for a true conservative, they’ll pick me. Romney’s record is not a conservative record, his rhetoric is not conservative, even with what he’s said and done,” he said.
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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — So much for a subway series.
On the national primary calendar, New York was supposed to be a cinch for Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rudy Giuliani, a sibling rivalry of sorts featuring a favorite son and favorite adopted daughter in a preview of a potential November showdown for the White House.
Now, Giuliani’s out, and Clinton is in a real scrap with Barack Obama and must work harder than expected at home. Democrats in New York will divvy up 232 delegates in the Feb. 5 primary, while John McCain and Mitt Romney will tangle for 101 delegates in the GOP’s winner-take-all contest. New York is the second biggest prize on Super Tuesday, after California.
Obama probably can’t win the popular vote on Clinton’s turf but could still snag coveted delegates here. McCain and Romney expected to cede the state to Giuliani, dubbed America’s Mayor for his leadership in New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But Giuliani staked his whole campaign on Tuesday’s Florida primary, finished a weak third and dropped out Wednesday.
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THE DEMOCRATS
Hillary Rodham Clinton stops in Arkansas and Georgia. Barack Obama campaigns in Denver and Phoenix. John Edwards holds a news conference in New Orleans to announce he is leaving the race.
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THE REPUBLICANS
Candidates meet for a debate in California.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Poll-tested positions, calculated answers might be how Washington confronts challenges, but it’s not how you overcome those challenges; it’s not how you inspire our nation to come together behind a common purpose, and it’s not what America needs right now. You need a candidate who will tell you the truth.” — Democrat Barack Obama, in a speech at the University of Denver.
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STAT OF THE DAY:
George H.W. Bush was the last Republican to win California in a presidential election. In 1988, he garnered 5,054,917 votes while Michael Dukakis grabbed 4,702,233 votes.
Bill Jefferson @ January 31, 2008