(CNN) - Jon Stewart will take on four political heavyweights over the next month, Comedy Central announced Thursday.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Former President Jimmy Carter, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich are all scheduled to make appearances on "The Daily Show."
The appearances will be Reid's first, Carter's second, Gingrich's third, and Dean's fourth.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - What key constituency group are the presidential candidates fighting over? Soccer moms? NASCAR dads? Perhaps, but if television ad spending habits are any indication, the keys to the White House may be held by Pat Sajak and Vanna White.
Over the course of the campaign, presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain together have spent over $2 million to air televised campaign ads on “Wheel of Fortune,” the long-running syndicated game show hosted by Sajak and White. This is more than the three have spent on any other individual television program, according to data from TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG), CNN’s consultant on political ad spending.
Obama has spent the most on “Wheel,” with over $1 million spent so far, followed by Clinton with $815,000 and McCain with $168,000.
“’Wheel of Fortune’ is a great way to talk to typical American voters in an efficient way,” says Evan Tracey, CMAG’s chief operating officer. “It’s a program that typically follows the news and leads into prime-time, so it’s inexpensive but also efficient.”
Running a close second to “Wheel” is “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Obama, who received Winfrey’s endorsement last year, has bought an estimated $974,000 in ads on the Chicago-based talk show, compared to $596,000 for Clinton and $185,000 for McCain.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton hit the road in Ohio, relying on campaign surrogates to stump for them on the Sunday morning talk-shows.
The television appearances come at a critical time for both candidates as next Tuesday's key primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island loom on the horizon. On CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer," Clinton supporter Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, explained why he is supporting the senator from New York.
"I'm supporting Hillary Clinton because I know she knows, understands and cares about issues that affect border communities like the one I represent."
Obama surrogate Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, also spoke to Blitzer, and defended his candidate's foreign policy experience.
"The fact is that Barack Obama comes to this race with more experience than George Bush, Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton had in foreign policy at the national level. And the fact is that he has proven that it's his judgment that is correct," Kerry said.
(CNN) – As the all-important delegate chase continues, the campaigns of presidential frontrunners Barack Obama and John McCain argued Wednesday that it was now just about mathematically impossible, or already so, for rivals Hillary Clinton and Mike Huckabee to capture their parties’ presidential nominations.
On a Wednesday morning conference call with reporters, Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, said that the Illinois senator’s own sweep of Tuesday’s Potomac primaries had made it “next to impossible” for Clinton to capture the Democratic nomination.
The most recent CNN count of Democratic delegates puts Obama ahead of the New York senator, 1,215 to 1,190, a gap of just 25 delegates. That includes both pledged delegates who are distributed proportionately according to election results in their state, and unpledged superdelegates who have made their presidential preference known. Superdelegates are free to cast their vote without regard for the primary or caucus results in their home states.
This cycle, the party’s nominee will need to capture 2,025 delegates. The campaigns of both Clinton and Obama have said that, whatever the upcoming results, both are planning to stay in the race through the national convention, when delegates cast their votes.
But the upcoming primary calendar, said Plouffe, offers Clinton little chance to recover the lead. “The only way she could do it is by winning every contest by 25 to 30 points. You amass delegates by winning by big margins,” he said.
He said that scenario was unlikely, since Obama had won 14 states and the District of Columbia by more than 20 points, while Clinton had won just two states by similar margins. And polling in the upcoming, delegate-rich contests of Ohio and Texas – which the Clinton campaign has said are “critical” – show a far narrower race in both states.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - While Sen. John McCain was inching toward the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama staked a claim as the Democratic front-runner.
Obama's wins in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia primaries propelled him past Sen. Hillary Clinton in the race for delegates.
According to CNN calculations, Obama has 1,215 delegates to Clinton's 1,190.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Louisiana, a state physically and economically damaged by Hurricane Katrina, could be a key political state this year - something not lost on both Democratic campaigns as they drum up last-minute votes.
"If you look at Louisiana the last two elections, if we'd gone the other way in either election, George Bush wouldn't be president," said Clancy Dubos, a columnist with the Gambit Weekly - an alternative newspaper in the state.
For residents in Louisiana, their choice in a candidate will be largely based not only on national issues such as the economy and health care, but also rebuilding efforts in the hurricane-stricken area.
(CNN) The Super Tuesday presidential nominating contests seem to have solidified John McCain's frontrunner status - but failed to give either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama grounds for an exclusive claim to that title on the Democrattic side.
In the latest installment of America Votes 2008, watch the candidates and their campaigns reflect on how they fared in Tuesday's primaries and caucuses, and reveal their plans as the campaign continues.
Related: Listen to post-Super Tuesday analysis from CNN Political Editor Mark Preston and CNN's John Lisk.
(CNN) - With Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton almost even in delegate counts, the two Democratic presidential candidates will focus on several weekend contests and then a trio of primaries in the Washington area next Tuesday.
Super Tuesday delivered a split decision for the Democrats. CNN estimates showed Clinton earned a handful more delegates than Obama, who surprised observers by taking states where the senator from New York had large polling leads until recently.
The latest estimate gave Clinton 582 of the 1,681 delegates at stake Tuesday, compared with 562 for Obama. It will take time to determine the final distribution because of complicated formulas.
(CNN) - Super Tuesday positioned Sen. John McCain as the clear Republican front-runner, while a split decision in the Democratic race may eventually help Sen. Barack Obama, according to CNN's political analysts.
McCain extended his lead in the GOP race with impressive coast-to-coast wins from New York to California, while former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee carried states in the South. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won seven races, including his home state of Massachusetts.
"I think we did achieve clarity. John McCain will be the Republican nominee," CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin said. "Mike Huckabee did better than a lot expected. If you look at the delegates, there is no way either Huckabee or Romney can catch up. I think we did learn that much."
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Senate Democratic leaders have summoned presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., to the Senate Wednesday for a 5:45 p.m. vote on a Democratic-backed economic stimulus bill.
The measure needs 60 votes to pass and right now the outcome is too close too call, according to senators and aides on both sides of the aisle.
However, heavy lobbying from the AARP and other interest groups has raised Democratic hopes. One Republican senator who opposes the Democrats' bill - John Thune of South Dakota - told CNN the lobbying had forced Republicans to change their strategy on the issue, although most still oppose the bill.
Until Tuesday, Republican leaders pushed for an up-or-down vote on the House-passed bill, which is centered on rebate checks for low- and moderate-income taxpayers. But after the lobbying intensified, GOP leaders
said they would support providing rebate checks to more people - agreeing with Senate Democrats that low-income Social Security recipients and disabled veterans should get rebates.
But most Republicans still adamantly disagree with other parts of the Democratic bill, such as the inclusion of new unemployment benefits and assistance for energy costs for low-income households.
Republicans want to offer their own amendment but so far have been blocked by Democrats.
From CNN Politics
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