U.S. Edition
Watch protesters interrupt the president's speech.
(CNN) - It's The Fourth of July, but not everyone was in a festive mood when President Bush delivered a speech Thursday at Thomas Jefferson's famous home, Monticello.
The President, who was talking part in Monticello's annual naturalization ceremony, was interrupted several times by protesters.
"War criminal!" one protester repeatedly yelled as she was escorted out by Secret Service members.
"He has brought fascism to this shore," another man yelled.
The president did not appear to acknowledge the protesters.
(CNN) - One week after Hillary Clinton made a public show of unity with Barack Obama, a new survey suggests supporters of the New York senator are increasingly less likely to follow her lead.
A growing number of Clinton supporters say they may stay home in November instead of casting their ballot for Obama, a clear sign the party has yet to coalesce around the Illinois senator four weeks after the most prolonged and at times divisive primary race in modern American history came to a close.
According to a new survey from CNN and the Opinion Research Corporation, the number of Clinton supporters who plan to defect to John McCain's camp is down from one month ago, but in what could be an ominous sign for Obama as he seeks to unify the party, a growing number of them say they may not vote at all.
In a CNN/ORC survey conducted in early June, entirely before the New York senator officially ended her White House bid, 22 percent of Clinton supporters said they would not vote at all if Obama was the party's nominee. Now close to a third say they will stay home. In all, only 54 percent of Clinton backers say they plan on voting for Obama.
View full poll results [PDF]
In another sign the wounds of the heated primary race have yet to heal, more than 4 in 10 registered Democrats - 43 percent - still say they would prefer Clinton to be the party's presidential nominee. That number is significantly higher than it was in early June, when only 35 percent of Democrats said they preferred the New York senator to lead the party's presidential ticket Then, Obama won 59 percent of support from registered Democrats, now he garners 5 points less.
By nearly any measure then, it's clear Clinton supporters remain wary of supporting the man who beat her.
FULL POST
(CNN) - Barack Obama plans to spend the week ahead focused on the nation's economic woes while making stops in several states President Bush carried in 2004.
The Illinois senator begins the week in North Carolina, a state Bush won by 12 points four years ago but one the Illinois senator is hoping to make completive. Obama will also make stops in Georgia, Ohio, and Virginia next week as part of the campaign’s effort to expand the party's electoral battleground beyond the traditionally blue states.
At each stop he'll discuss his plans to strengthen the economy, the campaign announced.
On Thursday, John McCain's campaign announced the Arizona senator will also focus on the economy next week as he travels to several battleground states, including Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.
(CNN) - Call it location, location, location.
Barack Obama's campaign is thinking of having the Democratic presidential candidate give his presidential nomination acceptance speech at a football stadium rather than in the arena in Denver, Colorado, where the Democratic National Convention is being held.
CNN has confirmed that discussions are underway between the campaign and Denver's convention organizing committee to move the senator from Illinois' acceptance speech from the Pepsi Center, a basketball and hockey arena which seats around 20,000 people, to Invesco Field at Mile High. The football stadium where the Denver Broncos play can seat around 75,000 people.
A bigger crowd could make for a more compelling picture and image.
One problem could be the weather. The stadium is open aired, and susceptible to afternoon and evening summer thunderstorms, while the arena is closed to the elements.
The story was first reported in the Los Angeles Times and by the Associated Press.
Obama campaign spokeswoman Shannon Gilson told the AP that no decisions have been made.
The Democrats' presidential nominating convention is scheduled to open on Monday August 25 and close with Obama's acceptance speech on Thursday, August 28.
(CNN) – John McCain has come out with the first “contrast” ad of the general election cycle.
The Spanish radio ad is voiced by McCain’s U.S Naval Academy roommate Frank Gamboa.
“It seems to me that the other candidate has just discovered the importance of the Hispanic vote,” Gamboa says in the ad while playing up McCain’s history with the Hispanic community.
The ad is airing in Nevada and New Mexico. Asked if any other contrast ads are in the works, a McCain spokesman says it’s “likely.”
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, a North Carolina Republican who became an icon to conservatives, died Friday at the age of 86, a senior congressional source told CNN.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, announced on its Web site that he died at 1:18 a.m. Friday after having been ill in recent years.
The center's president, Ed Feulner, hailed Helms as "one of the most consequential figures of the 20th century."
"Along with Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, he helped establish the conservative movement and became a powerful voice for free markets and free people," Feulner wrote.
"The defeat of Soviet communism and the rise of Ronald Reagan would not have happened without his intrepid leadership at decisive times." Full story
(CNN) - As Americans celebrate the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, an overwhelming majority say the 56 signers of that document would be displeased at how the country has turned out.
According to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, close to 70 percent say that if the signers of the Declaration of Independence could see America today they would be disappointed, while just under 30 percent say the founding founders would be happy with the country 232 years later.
Americans didn't always feel that way - in 2001, 54 percent thought that the signers would be pleased with the state of the country today; now that figure is down to just 29 percent.
But the poll shows a majority of Americans are still proud of their country - 61 percent say they are extremely proud to be an American, and another 28 percent say they are very proud. Those figures are virtually unchanged from 2005, although they are down a bit from 2002 and 2003.
Should a presidential candidate always wear a flag pin on his lapel? Forty-one percent say yes, and another 13 percent say a candidate should frequently wear one. Only about one in ten say a candidate should never wear a flag pin on his lapel.
Full story
(CNN) – Florida governor and possible Republican vice presidential candidate Charlie Crist announced Thursday that he is engaged to Carole Rome, his girlfriend of nine months.
"She's special in every way. She's brilliant, beautiful and sweet. I'm very, very lucky," Crist told the St. Petersburg Times.
Crist was married once before for less than a year but got divorced in 1980. Rome is recently divorced and has two children, 9 and 11.
The pair met when Crist was visiting New York last September according to the Associated Press, and don’t have a firm date for the nuptials.
Crist is rumored to be on John McCain’s shortlist for the vice presidential nomination and has been one of the Arizona senator’s most fervent surrogates. He recently reversed his position against domestic offshore drilling to line up with McCain’s proposal to allow the states to decide.
Obama holds a small lead over McCain, 4 months before the election, but previous summer polls don't always predict the outcome in November. (AP Photo)
(CNN) - The race for the White House remains tight as American heads into the July 4 weekend, a new CNN poll of polls shows.
In the latest CNN survey of four recent national polls, Barack Obama holds a 6 point lead over John McCain, 48 percent to 42 percent. That represents a slight increase for the Illinois senator over the last week: in a CNN Poll of polls released last Friday, Obama topped the Arizona senator by 5 points.
“As we hit the July 4 holiday weekend, the presidential polls seem to have settled into a stable pattern,” said CNN Senior Political Researcher Alan Silverleib. “Obama’s lead in our polling average has been holding relatively steady around the five percent mark for almost a month. The question now is whether that lead will hold — or possibly even expand — as we turn our attention to the conventions and the campaigns start advertising more.”
The presumptive presidential nominee has clearly increased his lead from one month ago: in a CNN poll of polls conducted June 2, when Hillary Clinton was still in the race, Obama led McCain by only one point, 46 percent to 45 percent.
But how predictive are presidential polls four months before the election? Not very.
Consider where the presidential race stood in 2004 heading into the July 4 weekend: then, John Kerry held a 4 point lead over Bush in a CNN poll of polls, 49 percent to 45 percent, a lead that evaporated by November. And in 2000, Bush was up 6 points over Gore at this point in the summer — and the outcome that year, of course, was one of the narrowest electoral victories in the nation's history.
Related: Election Center
Compiled by Mary Grace Lucas
CNN Washington Bureau
NY Times: Looking for Liberty ACCORDING to the film “National Treasure,” the Declaration of Independence is a document of such far-seeing sagacity that it has secret codes and treasure maps hidden in the parchment. You just have to know how to look for them. But that poses the question: which document, precisely, is the Declaration of Independence?
CNN: How the Democrats survived until Unity There was no way you could miss the point - they wouldn't let you. Last week Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama held their first joint campaign rally, in a town called Unity, in a field outside the Unity Elementary School.
Washington Post: Where Will Fredo Pop Up Next? First he popped up at Friday night's baseball game between the Nats and the O's. Next thing you know, he's in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday as an op-ed columnist. So, is this the beginning of an Alberto R. Gonzales re-emergence in public, 10 months after he resigned from a somewhat-less-than-successful 2 1/2 -year tenure as attorney general?
The Guardian: McCain backers roll out new ads as campaign team reshuffled Republicans moved yesterday to boost John McCain's prospects of winning the White House, with a reshuffle of his campaign staff and a hardhitting new television advertising campaign in midwestern industrial states.
Dallas Morning News: During visit to Mexico, McCain pledges to aid U.S. neighbor in drug fight Appearing before Mexico's drug-fighting Federal Police, John McCain promised Thursday that as president, he would quickly implement a U.S. aid package to give the officers more helicopters, technology and training.
LA Times: Team Obama's convention game plan calls for stadium rally Gridiron fans, move over. The Obama campaign hopes to turn the last evening of the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Aug. 28 into a giant rally of voters in a football stadium.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-traildenver4-2008jul04,0,2964317.story