Sen. Barack Obama speaks to reporters in Bend, Oregon, Saturday.

BEND, Oregon (CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama said Saturday that if he were to become the Democratic nominee, holding joint town hall-style campaign events with Republican Sen. John McCain would be a "great idea."

"Obviously, we would have to think through the logistics on that," Obama continued. "But … if I have the opportunity to debate substantive issues before the voters with John McCain, that's something that I am going to welcome."

Recently, advisors to the all-but-certain GOP nominee have said the Arizona senator is open to the idea, and his campaign has touted the fact that he and Democrat Bill Bradley held joint campaign events when the two ran for the presidential nomination in 1999.

“John McCain has repeatedly encouraged these types of appearances with his opponents in the past," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement.

"But in order to extend all due respect to Sen. Clinton, we will look forward to welcoming the arrangements when the Democrats have actually chosen their nominee," Bounds added.

(CNN)— Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman echoed presumptive nominee John McCain's increasing criticism of Barack Obama’s willingness to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer Friday, the Democrat turned independent said he didn’t question Obama’s commitment when it comes to the Middle East, but said the Illinois senator's failure to set pre-conditions on the meeting shows inexperience, and “not only gives prestige [to Ahmedinajad], but threatens our allies in the region.”

“One of John’s strengths is that our allies and friends will trust him and our enemies will fear him," said Lieberman, who has backed the Arizona senator's presidential bid. "McCain knows when to be tough and when to be soft.”

Lieberman said the Democratic race wasn't over yet — but he said it was pretty clear to him that Obama will be the nominee, adding “it will be a tough [general election] campaign.”

Barack Obama targeted McCain Friday.

BEAVERTON, Oregon (CNN) – What just a week ago was a joint attack on Hillary Clinton and John McCain over the proposed gas tax holiday is now just an attack on McCain — in fact, nowhere in his opening words did Barack Obama utter the word "Clinton."

"McCain," on the other hand, was tossed out nine times in the prepared comments.

The Illinois senator called the presumptive Republican nominee "dead wrong" when it comes to comments he made about the economy under the Bush administration, and he even took a swipe at McCain's healthcare plan — an issue that has not traditionally been used as a means to contrast himself from the Arizona senator.

"John McCain wants to continue a George Bush approach that only takes care of the healthy and the wealthy," Obama said.

During a question-and-answer session, however, Obama was asked what he thought about the idea of picking Clinton as his running mate. The White House hopeful repeated his standard response: that he has "not won this nomination yet" and that the two Democrats are still "actively running."

"She is very smart, and so I think she would be on anyone's…short list of vice presidential candidates," Obama said. "But beyond that I don't want to offer an opinion."

Watch portions Sens. McCain and Lieberman's remarks Friday.

NEWARK, New Jersey (CNN) – John McCain on Friday defended his charge that the terrorist organization Hamas is rooting for Barack Obama to win the presidency — and said voters were welcome to discuss whether his age should be a factor in the fall campaign.

A Hamas official told an interviewer last month that the group approved of Obama's candidacy. Friday, McCain said the group's opinion is relevant — despite Obama's characterization of that opinion as a “smear.”

“It's very obvious to everyone that Senator Obama shares nothing of the values or goals of Hamas, which is a terrorist organization,” McCain said. “But it's also fact that a spokesperson from Hamas said that he approves of Obama's candidacy. I think that's of interest to the American people.”

McCain's campaign reacted with outrage Thursday to Obama's remark that the senator was “losing his bearings” over the course of the campaign — a phrase they said was a dig at the Arizona senator's age. But McCain himself said Friday the language didn't bother him.

“I ignore it,” McCain said. “I don’t take offense to it.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Sanford poses for a picture with President Bush.

(CNN) – Mark Sanford might be considered a vice presidential prospect by some, but the South Carolina governor won’t be appearing with John McCain when the presumptive Republican nominee arrives in the Palmetto State on Friday.

Sanford, a member of the Air Force Reserves, has reserve duty on Friday, a commitment that will keep him far away from McCain’s press conference in Columbia this afternoon.

Joel Sawyer, a spokesman for the governor, said Sanford’s wife Jenny will attend the McCain press conference as well as a big-ticket fundraiser in Columbia later in the day.

Despite the vice presidential speculation surrounding Sanford nationally, several McCain insiders in the state have privately downplayed the likelihood that he will tap Sanford, a staunch fiscal conservative, as a running mate.

McCain was asked about his vice presidential search process at a campaign event in New Jersey on Friday morning.

“There is a period where you just start looking at a large number of people,” McCain responded, “and we are still at that stage.”

(CNN) — In the latest installment of CNN=Politics Daily, Wolf Blitzer sits down for an exclusive one-on-one with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama — the Illinois senator's first interview since the Indiana and North Carolina primaries. You'll hear Obama's plans for the upcoming contests in West Virginia and Kentucky, his plans to overhaul the nation's tax system, and end the war in Iraq — and some tough criticism of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.

Hillary Clinton is telling her supporters to ignore calls for her to drop out as she heads full force into the upcoming primaries. Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley has the details.

Plus: What would a general election campaign look like between Barack Obama and John McCain? Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider explains why it might be no typical race: Obama and McCain are not your typical Democrat or Republican.

Click here to subscribe to CNN=Politics Daily.

Watch McCain on the Daily Show Wednesday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Of the Democratic presidential candidates, would Republican John McCain rather take on Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton?

"You know, Ron Paul is still in the race," McCain joked Wednesday during a taping of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

McCain deadpanned about the marathon race between the Democrats: "I hate to watch it. It's terrible. My heart goes out to them."

During the taping, McCain pretended to walk off the set when Stewart pressed him on whether President Bush is more of a liability for him than the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is for Obama. Then
McCain fiddled with his microphone and mouthed "technical difficulties" into the camera.

The all-but-certain Republican nominee did reveal a few tidbits. His Secret Service code name, he thinks, "is 'jerk,"' and his choice for a vice presidential running mate is Dwight Schrute, a character on the NBC sitcom, "The Office," played by Rainn Wilson.

Read the rest of this entry »

(CNN)—The Democratic race goes on following the split outcome of the primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.

In the latest installment of CNN=Politics Daily, Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley reports on what’s next for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as one high profile supporter pushes for the New York Democrat to quit. Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider looks at whether or not there is a red-blue division among the Democratic Party, while Chief National Correspondent John King breaks down the delegate numbers.

Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain seems to be focusing more on Barack Obama as a fall opponent than Hillary Clinton. McCain’s aides weigh in as speculation swirls that some of Clinton’s supporters will vote for McCain if she isn’t the Democratic nominee. CNN’s Dana Bash has the details.

Click here to subscribe to CNN=Politics Daily.

Sen. Feinstein joined Sen. Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail ahead of Super Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The drawn out race for the Democratic presidential nomination producing “negative dividends in terms of strife within the party,” says a key Capitol Hill supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s White House bid.

A day after the Indiana and North Carolina primaries bolstered Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, said she wants to talk to Clinton to “see what her view is on the rest of the race. What the strategy is.”

Feinstein, who described herself as “very loyal” to Clinton, said “the question comes whether she can get the delegates that she needs and I’d like to know what the strategy is to do that.”

Feinstein predicted her party will unify in order to defeat presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. But she said there is “an emotional component in all of this. Just as I feel loyal to Sen. Clinton others feel loyal to Sen. Obama and we’re in the same party and it makes it very difficult. So I think we want to minimize that as much as we can.”

Feinstein said she called Clinton two days ago, but said she hasn’t heard back from the New York senator yet.

Watch Mitt Romney's interview with John Roberts

(CNN)— Former presidential contender Mitt Romney increased his criticism of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Wednesday taking direct aim at Obama’s experience, telling CNN’s John Roberts that “the presidency of the United States is not an internship.”

“He can read a prompter very well and energize a crowd,” said Romney. “But he has not accomplished anything during his life in terms of legislation, or leading an enterprise, or making a business work, or a city work, or a state work. He really has very little experience.”

The former Massachusetts governor, who has been mentioned as a possible running mate for presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, said voters will ultimately choose a candidate who has “been tested and proven” — a central theme of McCain’s primary and general election campaigns.

McCain stumps in Michigan on Wednesday.

ROCHESTER HILLS, Michigan (CNN) – What temper? John McCain parried away a question Wednesday about his supposedly hot-headed demeanor by talking up his long bipartisan record in the United States Senate.

“If I had some problem as such has been described, my friends, I would not have been able to work with Joe Lieberman and Russ Feingold and Ted Kennedy and all the other members on the other side of the aisle,” McCain said, responding to a Republican voter who described McCain’s temper as “something of concern.”

The voter read McCain a quote from Republican Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, who said in January that “the thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine.”

“He is erratic,” Cochran told the Boston Globe. “He is hotheaded. He loses his temper."

“I am familiar with the quote,” McCain cracked, as the questioner recounted Cochran’s comments.

Read the rest of this entry »

McCain is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

(CNN) — The action is clearly on the Democratic side, but Republicans also held primaries in Indiana and North Carolina Tuesday.

Despite being his party's presumptive nominee for nearly three months, roughly a quarter of Republicans in North Carolina and Indiana showed up to vote against the Arizona senator.

With nearly all precincts reporting, McCain won 74 percent of the vote in North Carolina. Mike Huckabee, who dropped out of the race two months ago, scored 12 percent. Ron Paul, who never quite officially ended his White House bid, registered 7 percent, and Mitt Romney got 5 percents.

The story was only slightly better for McCain in Indiana. There he scored 77 percent of the vote, while Huckabee registered 12 percent, and Paul garnered 7 percent. Nearly 5 percent of North Carolina voters said they did not have a preference.

McCain faced similar results in the Pennsylvania primary two weeks ago — the first contest after Huckabee officially dropped out of the race. There the party's presumptive presidential nominee won only 73 percent of the vote.

Is this a troubling sign for McCain, who has long faced resistance from the conservative wing of his party?

Not likely.

Then-Gov. George W. Bush faced similar results, though slightly better, in these three states long after he was the clear nominee in 2000. In North Carolina, he won 78 percent of the vote, in Indiana he got 81 percent, and in Pennsylvania he won 73 percent of the vote.

Watch Bill Schneider on Tuesday night's exit polling data.

(CNN) — Watch CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider break down exit polling data about whether supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton would support Sen. Barack Obama if he wins the Democratic nomination and vice versa.

Watch Dean's interview with CNN's Don Lemon.

(CNN) – Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, set forth three principles that he thinks should govern any effort to reach a compromise regarding seating the Michigan and Florida delegations to his party’s nominating convention.

First, “we want to respect the voters who went to the polls,” Dean said. “It was politicians that made a mess of this — not the voters,” he told CNN’s Don Lemon Tuesday.
“Secondly, you have got to respect these two candidates,” Dean said of Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. “You cannot change the rules at the end of the game and change the outcome.”

“Thirdly, you’ve got to respect the 48 states that followed the rules they way they were supposed to,” the former presidential candidate said.

“So there will be some sort of compromise in the Rules Committee on the 31 of May, I hope,” the DNC chair said. “But we don’t know what that compromise is going to look like right now.”

While Clinton and Obama have continued to battle for the Democratic nod, the DNC has run ads targeting Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee, and Dean took the opportunity to take a shot or two at McCain Tuesday.

“He’s wrong on the courts. He’s wrong on Iraq. He’s wrong on the economy. He’s wrong on healthcare,” said Dean.

Watch clips from John McCain's speech Tuesday.

(CNN) – Sen. John McCain moved to shore up his support among conservatives by pledging Tuesday to nominate strict-constructionist judges to the federal bench.

"It will fall to the next president to nominate hundreds of qualified men and women to the federal courts, and the choices we make will reach far into the future," the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said during a speech at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

"My two prospective opponents and I have very different ideas about the nature and proper exercise of judicial power," he said, referring to Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. "We would nominate judges of a different kind, a different caliber, a different understanding of judicial authority and its limits."

Many conservative members are suspect of McCain on the issue of judges because of his involvement in 2006 in the so-called Senate "gang of 14." That bipartisan group of senators sought to reach a consensus on President Bush's judicial appointees, blocking some of the president's most conservative nominations while promising to confirm others.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fred Thompson joined John McCain on the campaign trail Tuesday.

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (CNN) — Fred Thompson made his first public appearance since dropping out of the presidential race Tuesday, using his conservative credentials to backstop a major speech Tuesday from presumptive Republican nominee John McCain on judicial appointments.

Thompson, seated behind McCain on stage and rocking back in his arm chair, grinned as McCain called him “an old and very dear friend” and made a few light-hearted references to Thompson’s acting resume.

“I know exam week involves some tough moments,” McCain told students in the audience at Wake Forest University. “Like when you're up at 3:00 a.m. and have to choose between studying or watching one of Fred's old movies.”

Read the rest of this entry »

(CNN)—On the eve of the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama sharpen attacks and put in overtime to court the last-minute undecided voters.

In the latest installment of CNN=Politics Daily, Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley highlights the Democrats’ push before Tuesday’s primaries, while Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider breaks down the latest poll numbers and what they could mean for Obama and Clinton.

John McCain used Cinco de Mayo to court Hispanic voters, a group which is increasingly becoming more important this election cycle. CNN’s Dana Bash traveled with the presumptive nominee to Phoenix, Arizona.

Finally: the threat from Iranian leaders and their nuclear program has prompted responses from all the presidential candidates. CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux reports on McCain, Clinton and Obama’s efforts to appear strong against Iran.

Click here to subscribe to CNN=Politics daily.

Sen. John McCain said he has no opinion on the Democratic battle for a nominee.

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (CNN) – John McCain, who consistently avoids commenting on the Democratic horserace, was forced to discuss the ongoing fight between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on Monday when a voter asked him: “What scenario is best for you?”

McCain admitted he watches cable news coverage of the Demoratic race “like everybody else.”

“I observe with interest,” McCain answered. “I have heard one argument that says this that the competition between Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama allows me a chance to establish roots, unite the party, et cetera.”

“And then I have heard the other argument on the other side, and I channel surf like every body else, that this is a chance for the Democrats to sign up new voters and invigorate their party,” he said. “I really have no opinion because I really have no influence on it.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Sen. Hillary Clinton defended her proposed legislation to have a gas tax holiday Monday.

MERRILLVILLE, Indiana (CNN) – Hillary Clinton returned to Indiana Monday afternoon, delivering her closing arguments before Tuesday’s primary contests and passionately defending the legislation she has proposed to make oil companies pay the gas tax this summer.

“I think you should have some immediate relief. In fact I think it’s a false choice - as my opponent and others have been trying to say, ‘Oh we can’t do anything in the short run to help people, we can only worry about what we do in the long run.’ People live in the short run,” Clinton told a packed firehouse in the northwestern corner of the state.

Clinton has been steadfastly outlining which issues she and Obama diverge on, namely, home foreclosures, health care and – primarily – the gas tax holiday.

“My opponent Sen. Obama disagrees with me, he wants you to pay [the gas tax], not the oil companies. And he’s always going on TV, and he’s always saying ‘oh you know, that’s just [saving] like $20’. Well you know, for a lot of people $20 is something,” said Clinton, adding that the Department of Energy figures the number is closer to $70 for the average household.

Read the rest of this entry »

John McCain touted his stance on immigration Monday

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (CNN) — John McCain the presidential candidate suddenly sounded like the John McCain of 2005 on Monday, touting two pet issues that have generated considerable heartache among grassroots conservatives: the “Gang of 14” compromise and comprehensive immigration reform.

McCain brought up the “Gang of 14” saga unprompted at a town hall here, in advance of a major speech on judicial appointments he is set to deliver tomorrow in Winston-Salem.

“I know what bipartisanship is,” McCain said. “I am going to talk tomorrow again about our Gang of 14: seven Republicans, seven Democrats that got together rather than blow up the Senate, and we confirmed so many federal judges.”

In the spring of 2005, McCain and 13 other senators from both parties agreed on a compromise to avoid the so-called “nuclear option,” which would have curtailed the right of the minority to filibuster. Democrats had been filibustering to prevent the confirmation of three conservative judicial nominees named by President Bush.

McCain said he took pride in his votes to confirm Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito, a line that drew applause from assembled members of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.

Read the rest of this entry »