WASHINGTON (CNN) - Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter and member of the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee, will endorse John McCain for president on Wednesday, her spokesman tells CNN.
The announcement will take place at a news conference on Capitol Hill, just blocks away from the DNC headquarters. Forester will “campaign and help him through the election,” the spokesman said of her plans to help the Republican presidential nominee.
Forester was a major donor for Clinton earning her the title as a Hillraiser for helping to raise at least $100,000 for the New York Democratic senator’s failed presidential bid.
In an interview with CNN this summer, Forester did not hide her distaste for eventual Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
“This is a hard decision for me personally because frankly I don't like him,” she said of Obama in an interview with CNN’s Joe Johns. “I feel like he is an elitist. I feel like he has not given me reason to trust him.”
Forester is the CEO of EL Rothschild, a holding company with businesses around the world. She is married to international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. Forester is a member of the DNC’s Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York.
(CNN) - Top McCain-Palin official Carly Fiorina is facing criticism from some within the campaign for a day of what they call "very Biden-like" comments, after the former Hewlett-Packard CEO told two separate interviewers that neither member of the Republican ticket would be capable of running a company.
Democratic VP nominee Joe Biden is noted for his off-the-cuff gaffes.
Asked by a St. Louis radio station whether she thought Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin could run a company like Hewlett-Packard, Fiorina responded: "No, I don't.
“But that's not what she's running for. Running a corporation is a different set of things."
Asked about that remark on MSNBC, she made the same unprompted assessment of the GOP presidential nominee. "I don't think John McCain could run a major corporation."
She also said she did not believe Democrats Barack Obama or Joe Biden had the right business background either.
But with the economy center stage in the campaign, the words that gave Democrats easy fodder to attack the Republican ticket.
A top McCain official contacted by CNN said, on condition on anonymity, "No big deal, but not how you get on the surrogate all-star team. Very Biden-like."
“This campaign source said Fiorina would be discouraged from additional media interviews.
VIENNA, Ohio (CNN) – With a strong anti-NAFTA sentiment and a heavy union presence, the Mahoning Valley in northeast Ohio isn’t exactly prime Republican territory.
But that’s exactly where John McCain and Sarah Palin took their road show on Tuesday, hoping to steal some votes from Barack Obama in a region of the state where Hillary Clinton reigned supreme during the Ohio Democratic primary.
“We’re making that foray,” said one campaign adviser. “It’s good to play offense.”
Introducing McCain for the first time since she traveled to Alaska last week, Palin kept the focus on jobs and the economy as Wall Street woes dominated the headlines for the second straight day. She laid into the Democratic ticket, accusing Obama of wanting to raise payroll taxes, business taxes, investment income taxes and the estate tax.
“Here’s a little straight talk for our opponent,” Palin said, using her running mate’s signature phrase.
“His tax plans really would kill jobs and hurt small businesses and make even today’s bad economy look like the good old days.”
Palin's claims aren't exactly accurate: Obama would maintain the Bush tax cuts and offer tax breaks to individuals making under $250,000 a year. According to the non-partisan Center for Tax Policy, Obama’s tax plan would offer greater tax relief than McCain's for low and middle-income earners, but McCain's plan would lower the tax burden more across the board.
(CNN)—Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain continued their argument Tuesday over whose economic policy can rescue the nation from the current economic crisis. In the latest installment of CNN=Politics Daily, Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley reports on Obama’s tough criticism of McCain’s policy, while CNN’s Ed Henry reports on the Arizona senator’s stance on economic reform.
Meanwhile: With seven weeks left to campaign, both candidates are actively courting voters in states still up for grabs that will prove crucial this fall. Chief National Correspondent John King gives you an inside look at the presidential race from one unlikely battleground: Indiana.
Finally: Supporters of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin are arguing the investigation into whether she improperly fired the chief of state police for refusing to dismiss a state trooper is ‘unlawful.’ CNN’s Jessica Yellin reports from Alaska, where Palin’s supporters filed a lawsuit in an attempt to halt the investigation.
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(CNN) - Hours after top McCain aide Carly Fiorina said Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin isn't qualified to run a major corporation, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO said she doesn't think John McCain is either.
In comments that are strikingly off message as the Arizona senator attempts to position himself as the candidate best positioned to fix the country's economic woes, Fiorina said in an interview on MSNBC Tuesday running a Fortune 500 corporation is not the same as running the country.
“Well, I don't think John McCain could run a major corporation, I don't think Barack Obama could run a major corporation, I don't think Joe Biden could run a major corporation," Fiorina, a top McCain advisor, said.
"But, on the other hand, a major corporation is not the same as being the president or the vice president of the United States," she continued. "It is a fallacy to suggest that the country is like a company. So, of course, to run a business, you have to have a lifetime of experience in business, but that's not what Sarah Palin, John McCain, Joe Biden, or Barack Obama are doing."
Fiorina was president of Hewlett-Packard until her high-profile ousting in 2006 after the company's uneven performance. Her comments Tuesday were immediately circulated by the Obama campaign as part of its continued effort to paint McCain as a candidate who lacks understanding of economic issues.
“If John McCain’s top economic advisor doesn’t think he can run a corporation, how on Earth can he run the largest economy in the world in the midst of a financial crisis?" said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor. "Apparently even the people who run his campaign agree that the economy is an issue John McCain doesn’t understand as well as he should."
(CNN) - Barack Obama's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee went to court on Tuesday to block what they said were efforts by Republicans in the battleground state of Michigan to use foreclosure lists to challenge voters at the polls in November.
The Michigan Republican party has threatened its own legal action over the matter, accusing a liberal blog of fabricating the quote from a party official that prompted the Democratic suit.
The Michigan Messenger, a liberal blog, reported that Macomb County Republican chairman James Carabelli had told a contributor to their site that the party had a list of homes in foreclosure and would “make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses” – a comment he denies ever making.
The blog and its sponsor, the nonprofit Center for Independent Media, are standing by the story.
Obama general counsel Bob Bauer told reporters Tuesday that the campaign, the Democratic National Committee and three Michigan residents whose homes were in foreclosure had filed suit in federal court in the state, charging that the alleged comment, and other similar remarks by Republican officials in other states, indicated the GOP planned to practice a form of “voter caging” to prevent legal voters from casting ballots.
(CNN) - Joe Biden is hitting the campaign trail in Pennsylvania.
Watch the event on CNN.com/live
(CNN) – As he heads off to a high-dollar fundraiser featuring Barbra Streisand, Barack Obama is hoping the politically-active singer can help him capture the White House.
So is John McCain.
Speaking at a campaign event in the working-class Democratic stronghold of Youngstown, Ohio, the Republican presidential nominee said Obama “talks a tough game on the financial crisis, but the facts tell a different story.
“...He put Fannie Mae’s [former] CEO, who helped create this problem in charge, of finding his vice president. That’s not change - that’s what’s broken in Washington,” said McCain.
“Talk about siding with the people, siding with the people just before he flew off to Hollywood for a fundraiser with Barbra Streisand and his celebrity friends,” he said. “Let me tell you my friends, theres no place I’d rather be than here with the working men and women of Ohio.”
Streisand, a staunch Democrat, is scheduled to perform at a $28,500 a head Obama fundraiser Tuesday night in Beverly Hills, California.
WILMINGTON, Delaware (CNN) – Joe Biden returned to his regular commute Tuesday afternoon, surrounded by reminders he was no longer a regular commuter.
As he has done nearly every working day for the last 35 years, Joe Biden took the Amtrak train home to Delaware — his first rail commute since being named Barack Obama’s running mate.
Biden rode in the last car, half of which was blocked off for him by Secret Service. But the talkative Delaware senator didn’t stay seated long, wandering up to the dining car to get some refreshments and chat with his fellow travelers.
“Hey, I’m the nuisance,” Biden announced to the car as the press jostled for position in the cramped aisle. “I used to ride this thing every day and nobody paid any attention.”
(CNN) - John McCain and Sarah Palin are back together on the campaign trail in Ohio.
Palin and McCain were both highly critical of Barack Obama's tax plan
“His tax plans really would kill jobs and hurt small businesses, and make today’s bad economy look like the good old days," Palin said.
Watch the event on CNN.com/live
UPDATE: This event has now ended by stay with CNN.com/live for all the day's campaign events.
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