Elizabeth Edwards: Clinton 'hatred' will energize GOP
Elizabeth Edwards told TIME 'hatred' of Clinton will energize the GOP.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Elizabeth Edwards, the outspoken wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, says her husband is more electable than rival Hillary Clinton because "hatred" of the New York Democrat will energize Republicans.
“I don't know where it comes from. I don't begin to understand it. But you can't pretend it doesn't exist, and it will energize the Republican base," Mrs. Edwards said in an interview with Time Magazine.
"Their nominee won't energize them, Bush won't, but Hillary as the nominee will. It's hard for John to talk about, but it's the reality," she added.
Mrs. Edwards has increasingly assumed a visible role in her husband's campaign and has made several sharp statements, including a strong critique of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's record on women's issues, a biting characterization of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama as "holier than thou," and a confrontation with conservative commentator Ann Coulter on MSNBC.
She also came under fire last month for telling an interviewer, "we can't make John black, we can't make him a woman" and argued her husband receives less media attention because he lacks the interesting stories of his chief rivals.
Addressing those controversial comments, Edwards told Time, "The media goes to this very engaging story about a legitimate woman candidate and a legitimate candidate with an African-American heritage, and that drives up their fund-raising numbers. Then the media folks say, 'See, that proves we were right to focus on these two candidates.'"
“It's enough to make you tear your hair out," she added.
The Clinton campaign has yet to respond to CNN's request for comment on Mrs. Edwards' remarks.
TIME.com: John Edwards Bets the Farm
- CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
Michigan moves closer to January 15 primary
(CNN) – Michigan’s House of Representatives approved legislation Thursday that sets the state’s presidential primary on January 15. The Michigan Senate approved similar legislation last week. Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, is expected to sign the bill, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The wide-open nature of the 2008 presidential race has set off a scramble between many states to exert influence early on the primary calendar and undermine the traditional role played by Iowa and New Hampshire.
Florida, a battleground state in recent presidential contests, has moved its primary up to January 29 in violation of Democratic National Committee rules that prohibit any states other than Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina from holding contests before February 5. The DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee recently decided to strip Florida Democrats of all of their delegates to the national convention unless they hold a caucus or party-run primary after February 5. Michigan Democrats may face a similar penalty from the DNC.
–CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart
Lawmaker seeks $64,500 for his portrait
Rep. Rangel is seeking to use his campaign cash to pay for a portrait.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – It’s one of the perks of being the top lawmaker on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee: an official portrait to hang in the committee's hearing room.
And Chairman Charles Rangel, D-New York, wants to make sure his portrait is the cream of the crop.
In a letter dated August 20, Rangel's attorney asks the Federal Election Commission if the New York Democrat can use $64,500 from his campaign funds to commission the portrait in question - a price, the attorney says, that "is commensurate with the usual and normal charge for works by artists of similar renown." (Read Letter [PDF])
"Portrait artists determine fees based largely upon reputation, but the size of the subject and detail required also factor heavily in the pricing," writes Rangel's attorney, Phu Huynh.
Huynh, who consulted an "art broker for eight museum-quality portrait artists," said the chosen artist's base price is normally between $30,000 to $50,000, but the cost of a custom frame, "three-quarter body length size" and "important details" jack up the price.
- CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
Frist weighs in on Craig scandal
Columbia, South Carolina (CNN) - Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Republican, said Thursday that if the charges against Idaho Senator Larry Craig are true, they are "despicable."
"Clearly such actions, if they are true or as they have been painted, are despicable, the sorts of issues that ultimately will impact whether someone like Larry Craig or others will be re-elected," Frist said. "I think the people of Idaho, the people of the individual state, will have to look at the facts, as the facts really are, and make that decision."
Frist is in South Carolina promoting "ONE Vote '08," the ONE Campaign's effort to get presidential candidates involved in the fight against global poverty.
He also predicted when his friend and fellow Tennessean Fred Thompson would finally jump into the Presidential race.
"I do expect that he'll announce sometime in the next month," Frist said.
"His announcement is likely to be a little bit different than the announcement of any other candidate to date, and with that he will be one of the major contenders to represent the Republican party as the next President."
Frist hinted that Thompson's announcement would involve some kind of new media, saying the former Law & Order actor understands how to use the Internet to speak to voters "in innovative and creative ways."
Thompson has made blogging and web outreach a staple of his presidential "testing the waters" phase.
- CNN South Carolina Producer Peter Hamby
Clinton gets another big union endorsement
Clinton got another big endorsement Thursday.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is moving ahead in the endorsement wars as another major union announced Thursday that it is officially supporting her presidential bid.
“Hillary Clinton earned the IAM’s endorsement by focusing on jobs, health care, education and trade – the bread and butter issues of the American middle class,” said International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers President Tom Buffenbarger. “She is the only candidate of either party to come forward with a comprehensive manufacturing policy and the only candidate to connect with millions of Americans who feel invisible to the current administration.”
The union, comprised of over 750,000 active and retired members, said it will launch a massive education campaign aimed at swaying other union members to choose Clinton. The IAM also boasts that 450,000 of its members will vote in twenty-five early primary states.
When will Thompson jump in?
Sources say Thompson will get in the race sometime next week.
(CNN) - When will Fred Thompson officially jump into the race for the White House? That's the question all of us would like to know. Well, here's what we're learning.
A handful of sources working on Thompson's formal entry into the race for the GOP presidential nomination tell CNN to expect the former Tennessee senator and actor to make his announcement on the web, some time as early as the middle of next week. They say Thompson will travel and campaign in key primary states following the Internet announcement.
The sources tell CNN that the web announcement will not take place before next Wednesday's GOP presidential debate in New Hampshire. They say they don't expect Thompson to attend that debate. (Related: New Hampshire paper: Thompson better go to debate)
On June 1st, Thompson created a fundraising committee that allowed him to begin raising money for his probable presidential campaign.
An accounting of the McCain campaign
Watch CNN's John King interview McCain Wednesday.
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) – Money matters in politics, and Sen. John McCain insists his campaign is refilling its coffers after spending itself almost broke in the first half of this year.
“The money is coming in fine,” the Arizona senator told CNN in an interview Wednesday.
Insiders, however, say September is a key month after modest progress in July and August.
The McCain campaign raised about $2 million in July and spent about $1.4 million, according to sources familiar with the fund-raising operation who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity. In August, the campaign raised about $1.1 million and spent about $1.4 million, these sources said, leaving a little wiggle room for the final few days of the month.
Bottom line: raising about $3.1 million and spending $2.8 million in the two months since a major campaign re-organization. McCain’s September is packed with fund-raising events. The campaign also recently brought on former Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher, a prodigious fund-raiser, years ago, for George H. W. Bush, and hopes his Rolodex provides some new prospects for the McCain fund-raising machine.
McCain could get a much-needed cash infusion if he decides to accept federal matching funds. But opting into that system – and its spending limits – could hurt big-time in the long term because his major rivals are not accepting the federal funds and therefore not subject to spending restrictions.
“If we make that decision, and I guess we’ll have to fairly soon,” McCain told CNN.
“I’ve never won a campaign on the basis of money,” he said. “I won campaigns because I can out-campaign everyone else, and I can do that in the nomination [contest]…. So it’s not going to be money that wins or loses any campaign of mine.”
Related: McCain says his White House campaign 'going to be just fine'
- CNN Chief National Correspondent John King
In rare moment, Cindy McCain broaches her sons' service
Cindy McCain talks about her sons in a new McCain video.
LOS ANGELES (CNN) – In a new campaign video, Cindy McCain ventures into territory her husband, John, takes pains to avoid on the trail: citing the wartime military service of two McCain sons as a reason she believes her husband should be the next commander-in-chief.
“Our sons are serving and will serve, and I just think we need a commander in chief that understands that,” Cindy McCain says in the video, which the McCain campaign provided to CNN. “I just couldn’t really see my sons serving for someone else who didn’t get it.”
The candidate himself seemed surprised when CNN raised the issue in Wednesday’s interview in Los Angeles.
“We don’t talk about our sons,” Senator McCain said. “We’re proud that they’re in the military, but we don’t talk about it any more than that. My wife, like any mother, is proud of her children and all our children. But the fact is I am the most experienced and the most prepared and my family has long generations of service to this country and I am proud of that.”
With regard to the other candidates running for president, he added, “I don’t say they are unqualified or unprepared. I’m saying I am the most prepared.”
- Chief National Correspondent John King
Clinton to donate contributions from fugitive fundraiser
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton out on the campaign trail.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - New York Sen. Hillary Clinton will return $23,000 in donations from a fundraiser who has an outstanding arrest warrant in California.
Norman Hsu, a well-connected Democratic fundraiser, has come under scrutiny in recent days after news reports called into question some of his fundraising and also revealed a criminal record.
The Wall Street Journal reported recently that six members of the family of a San Francisco mail carrier have donated a total of $45,000 to Clinton since 2005. The Journal also reported that those donations closely track donations made by Hsu. Then, the Los Angeles Times reported that Hsu is wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant because he failed to appear for sentencing in a criminal case in which he had pleaded no contest to a single felony count of grand theft in 1991.
Several Democratic candidates across the country have decided to purge their campaigns of Hsu's contributions in light of these revelations. Comedian Al Franken, a U.S. Senate candidate in Minnesota; Rep. Michael Honda of California; and Rep. Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania have all said they would return contributions from Hsu.
"In light of the new information regarding Mr. Hsu's outstanding warrant in California, we will be giving his contributions to charity," said Clinton spokesman Phil Singer.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Hsu said he was "surprised to learn that there appears to be an outstanding warrant - as demonstrated by the fact that I have and do live a public life." In the statement, Hsu added, "I have not sought to evade any obligations and certainly not the law."
On Tuesday, Hsu's attorney disputed any suggestion that his client had improperly directed contributions.
–CNN's Paul Steinhauser and Martina Stewart
Snow says his health is improving
Snow told CNN Thursday his health is improving.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - While remaining coy about exactly when he plans to leave his post, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow told CNN Thursday his health is improving, citing two new medical tests this month which found the cancer has not spread beyond his colon.
"The tumors are stable - they are not growing," Snow said of the results from an MRI and a Cat Scan. "And there are no new growths. The health is good."
The press secretary, whose hair has turned gray during chemotherapy treatment, said his black hair is expected to grow back in about a month. "I'm also putting on weight again," he said after returning from a 10-day vacation. "I actually feel very good about" the health situation.
Snow added he has an appointment Friday with his oncologist where they will decide on some minor forms of chemotherapy to start as maintenance treatment.
Snow, who has previously said he will leave his post before the end of President Bush's second term, repeated that the decision is based on finances and not health. He took a major pay cut after leaving the world of cable television and talk radio to come to the White House in the spring of 2006.
The press secretary again refused to be precise about his departure date. "When I have something to announce, I'll announce it," he said.
- CNN White House Correspondent Ed Henry
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