The AJ: John McCain

Showing posts with label John McCain. Show all posts

CA-GOV: Whitman Endorsed By John McCain

Republican Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman made headlines this week when she was endorsed by failed Republican presidential candidate John McCain in her bid to become the next Governor of California.

“The woman standing beside me represents all of the qualities that will attract people to our party,” McCain told a crowd of about 500 supporters at the Marconi Auto Museum. “We will not only tolerate, but accept people whose views are different than our own.”

Whitman, former CEO of eBay, has an early lead in the race for the GOP nomination for governor, leading Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell in the election to be held next year. Her campaign focuses on job creation, state spending cuts, and education reform.

[...]

“I’m pro-choice,” Whitman said, receiving applause for a significant portion – if not the majority – of the audience. “It’s not that I want more abortions. But I don’t want to take that choice away from women and their doctors.”

Whitman talked about other aspects of diversity needed by the party as well. She pointed out that Republicans [re]present just 31 percent of registered voters in the state and noted her campaign’s outreach programs targeting woman, Latinos and 18- to 29-year olds.

“There are people who share our core values who don’t feel welcome in the Republican Party,” she said. “I want to make everyone feel welcome in the Republican Party.”

Really? She wants everyone to feel welcome in the Republican Party? Then why do the leaders in the Republican Party keep denying equal rights for LGBT citizens?And why does she support efforts to divorce me and my husband?

I notice that African Americans were not on the list of people that Republican outreach efforts are targeting. I wonder why? Isn't the Chair of the GOP a Black man?

The Difference Between the 2004 and 2008 Elections

Kevin Drum posts the county-by-county red-blue maps from the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections. As he says, if you squint you can tell the difference between a "center-left" and a "center-right" nation. (It's the one on the right)

What If?

How would Tuesday's results have been different if the races of the combatants had been switched?

Obama Is President-Elect!

Obama Final Polling Lead 51.1 to 44.1

Tremayne at OpenLeft.com summarizes the final national polling the day before the election. Folks, it's not going to be close.

POLL: Obama's National Lead Widens Again

The latest average of nationa tracking polls not only show no "tightening" nationally for the presidential race, but OpenLeft.com and FiveThirtyEight.com show Obama's chances increasing.

Obama Leads In Most Polls of 3 Largest Battleground States

TPM Election Central has an update highlighting the latest polls in the largest states (with the most electoral votes) still at play in the presidential election with 6 days left: Florida (27 votes), Pennsylvania (21) and Ohio (20).

Florida

Oct 29 Quinnipiac: Obama (D) 47%, McCain (R) 45%

Oct 28 LAT/Bloomberg: Obama (D) 50%, McCain (R) 43%

Oct 27 Datamar: Obama (D) 49%, McCain (R) 44%

Oct 27 Rasmussen: Obama (D) 51%, McCain (R) 47%

Oct 27 Suffolk: Obama (D) 49%, McCain (R) 44%

Oct 27 Zogby: Obama (D) 47%, McCain (R) 47%

Oct 24 Str. Vision (R): McCain (R) 48%, Obama (D) 46%

Ohio

Oct 29 Quinnipiac: Obama (D) 51%, McCain (R) 42%

Oct 28 LAT/Bloomberg: Obama (D) 49%, McCain (R) 40%

Oct 28 SurveyUSA: Obama (D) 49%, McCain (R) 45%

Oct 27 Rasmussen: Obama (D) 49%, McCain (R) 45%

Oct 27 Zogby: Obama (D) 50%, McCain (R) 45%

Oct 26 Univ. of Akron: Obama (D) 45%, McCain (R) 41%

Oct 25 Univ. of Cincinnati: Obama (D) 49%, McCain (R) 46%

Oct 24 PPP (D): Obama (D) 51%, McCain (R) 44%

Oct 24 Str. Vision (R): McCain (R) 48%, Obama (D) 45%

Pennsylvania

Oct 29 Quinnipiac: Obama (D) 53%, McCain (R) 41%

Oct 28 Rasmussen: Obama (D) 53%, McCain (R) 46%

Oct 28 Muhlenberg Tracker: Obama (D) 53%, McCain (R) 41%

Oct 27 Temple Univ.: Obama (D) 50%, McCain (R) 41%

Oct 27 Muhlenberg Tracker: Obama (D) 53%, McCain (R) 40%

Oct 26 Muhlenberg Tracker: Obama (D) 53%, McCain (R) 40%

Oct 25 Muhlenberg Tracker: Obama (D) 52%, McCain (R) 41%

Oct 24 Muhlenberg Tracker: Obama (D) 52%, McCain (R) 40%

Oct 24 Str. Vision (R): Obama (D) 50%, McCain (R) 43%

It should be noted that four years ago John Kerry was blown out in Florida (by nearly 400,000 votes out of 8 million), won Pennsylvania (by 145,000 votes out of nearly 6 million) and barely lost Ohio (by 120,000 votes out of 5.5 million).

Obama only needs to win every state John Kerry won plus 18 more electoral votes in order to win the Presidential election. This could happen by winning either OH or FL or any combination of Iowa (7), New Mexico (5), Virginia (13), North Carolina (15), Colorado (9) in which he currently leads.

MadProfessah Endorsements For Nov 4 Election

Finally, the moment you have been waiting for! Here are MadProfessah's endorsements for the November 4, 2008 election. Below are my positions on California's state ballot measures but I also have specific endorsements on City, County and Local Judges available on the web.

Proposition Number (Topic)                            MadProfessah
1A (High Speed Train Bond)                             YES
2  (Humane Farming)                                    YES
3  (Children's Hospital Bond)                          NO
4  (Teen Safety Initiative)                            NO
5  (Non-Violent Drug Offenses)                         YES
6  (Prison Expansion)                                  NO
7  (Renewable Energy Expansion)                        YES
8  (Eliminates Marriage Rights)                        HELL NO
9  (Victim Rights Amendment)                           NO
10 (Billionaire Renewable Energy Scam)                 NO
11 (Republican-Favored Re-districting)                 NO
12 (Veterans' Housing Bond)                            YES

Have you voted yet? I have!

Obama Raised $36m Oct 1-15, McCain has $24m COH

Late Thursday night the presidential campaigns released their financial statements on activity for the first two weeks of October.

After raising a ridiculously large $153 million in September, Barack Obama fundraising rate slowed down by half as he only raised about a quarter of that amount in half the time ($36 million in 2 weeks), ending with $64 million of cash on hand for the final 3 weeks of the campaign.

John McCain had $24 million of his federal election financing check of $84 million left on October 15, but the Republican National Committee had $60 million dollars in cash on hand for a combined total of $84 million, to spend on electing McCain and other Republicans around the country.

The Democratic National Committee had $31 million of cash on hand for a total of $95 million dollars for the Democrats to spend.

This is the first time in over a decade that Democrats have had more cash on hand to spend at the end of a Presidential election.

Democrats have large cash advantage over Republicans

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire is reporting that John Mcain's campaign spent $37 million in September, and thus had $47 million to spend starting Oct 1 for the final 5 weeks of the presidential campaign.

Barack Obama had $133.6 million on hand as of October 1. The DNC had $27.4 million for a Democratic total of $161 million. The RNC had $77.6 million for a Republican total of $124.6 million.

That's a cash advantage of $36.4 million for the Democrats.

Democrats have never had a cash advantage over Republicans going into a national election before.

Seems to me that the Democrats could make a significant contribution to help defeat conservative ballot measures in the states, like Proposition 8.

Obama Polling Lead Relatively Constant

The average in the daily national tracking polls now shows a 6.3 point lead for Obama over McCain.

Obama Outspending McCain BY Record Amounts

The New York Times carried an article on Barack Obama's huge financial advantage over John McCain when it comes to spending on advertising. There are also rumors that Obama's fundraising numbers from September will be in the NINE DIGIT range when they are filed with the FEC later today.

Obama's National Polling Lead Starting To Shrink

Multiple websites are starting to notice a shrinkage in Obama's lead over McCain in the national polls.

Obama Wins 3rd and Final Debate Decisively

The fat lady is clearing her mouth and preparing to sing...

McCain Well Under 40% Support In NYT Poll

The CBS/New York Times poll released yesterday has Barack Obama leading 53%-36%! This is the first poll that I have seen with John McCain under 40%.

The current Gallup poll has Obama at a lead of 9 points (51%-42%):

The third and final presidential debate is being held at Hofstra University in New York City. It starts at 6pm PDT (9pm EDT) and in the audience will be Hillary Clinton.

Obama, Biden, McCain and Palin as Simpsons Characters

McCain Refuses To Shake Hands With "That One"

Josh Marshall has put up the video of John McCain refusing to shake hands with Barack Obama after the second Presidential debate in Nashville, TN on Tuesday night. Earlier in the event, he referred to his Democratic presidential rival as "that one" which this viewer including numerous others saw as a racially insensitive remark considering the long history of African Americans have had with being referred to as objects instead of as people with titles and qualifications.


                 Obama    McCain MoE +/- RV/LV

Research 2000:  50 (49)   43 (43)   3     LV

Rasmussen:      50 (50)   44 (44)   2    LV

Diageo/Hotline: 47 (48)   42 (43)   3.2    RV

Gallup:         50 (49)   42 (44)   2      RV

The AJ