Bush finds a date in Australia
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Going stag in Australia, President Bush still managed to find a date to dinner with President John Howard and his wife Wednesday.
During a photo-op right before walking into dinner, Bush made a suggestion to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"You can be my date," Bush said, to laughs.
- CNN Associate Producer Lauren Kornreich
Prominent Democratic fundraiser a fugitive once again
Norman Hsu failed to appear at a bail hearing Wednesday.
(CNN) – Norman Hsu, a well-connected Democratic fundraiser who had contributed to Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, failed to appear at a bail reduction hearing in Redwood City, California on Wednesday.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported on questionable donations obtained by Hsu from a family in San Francisco, and the Los Angeles Times reported that Hsu was wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant because he had failed to appear for sentencing in a criminal case in 1991. On Friday, Hsu surrendered to authorities in San Mateo Country, California and posted $2 million in cash as bail. This time around, a “no bail” warrant has been issued for Hsu’s arrest by a judge in San Mateo County.
After Hsu’s criminal history came to light, Clinton, Obama, and several Democratic congressional candidates all said they would not keep Hsu’s contributions. Hsu’s situation also has cast scrutiny on “bundlers” - individuals who prevail upon their network of friends, family, and business associates to donate to a particular candidate’s campaign - in order to raise the large sums of money now necessary to finance a run for president or for Congress.
Citing Hsu and two other Democratic fundraisers who have been the subject of media coverage recently, the Republican National Committee issued a statement Wednesday attacking Democrats. Headlined “Dems Dirty Donors,” the statement says, “Democrats say they will clean up Washington, but when it comes to raising money, Hillary [Clinton] and [Barack] Obama get their hands dirty.”
- CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart
McConnell: Craig won't resign if case is overturned
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that embattled Sen. Larry Craig will not resign if he's able to get the disorderly conduct case against him dismissed in the next 25 days.
"He said that he is going to try to get the case in Minneapolis dismissed. That if he is unable to have that disposed of, prior to Sept. 30, it is his intention to resign from the Senate as he expressed last Saturday," McConnell told reporters.
"If he is able to get the case favorably disposed of in Minneapolis, it would be his intention to come back to the Senate to deal with the Ethics Committee case that he knows that he will have and to try to finish his term," he added.
Craig's seat will be up for re-election in 2008
McCain: 'Little jerk' comment made in jest
Watch John McCain tell CNN he was trying be funny when he called a questioner a "little jerk."
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Republican White House hopeful John McCain told CNN Tuesday night he was merely trying to be funny when he called a New Hampshire town-hall questioner a "little jerk."
"He was a little jerk," McCain said with a smile, referring to a student questioner on Tuesday who cited McCain's age (71) and asked if the Arizona Republican worried he "might die in office or get Alzheimer’s or some other disease that might affect [his] judgment?” (Related video: Another teen questioner talks with CNN's Kiran Chetry on his pointed questions)
McCain told the questioner that he was not worried about his age and ended the exchange in his quintessential straight talk tongue in cheek style: “Thanks for the question, you little jerk … you’re drafted.”
Speaking with CNN about the remarks, McCain added that "especially with young people, but with everybody, you got have a sense of humor and exchange."
McCain added, "He's entitled to his views and I respect them and that's why I made sure he was able to respond three or four times. I think that's what young people expect."
Related: High schoolers pitch hardballs at McCain
- CNN's Sareena Dalla and Alexander Mooney
Blast from the past: Tsongas wins
WASHINGTON (CNN) - It’s been almost three decades since the name “Tsongas” has appeared on a general election ballot in Massachusetts. That streak is about to end.
Niki Tsongas, widow of the late Paul Tsongas – the former Bay State senator and 1992 presidential candidate – won a hotly contested Democratic primary fight Tuesday in the Commonwealth’s Fifth Congressional District. Tsongas, currently a dean at Middlesex Community College, finished first in a five-candidate field with 36 percent of the vote. She edged out Lowell City Councilor Eileen Donoghue, who captured 31 percent.
Tsongas has now won the right to face off against the GOP nominee, Jim Ogonowski, who trounced his sole opponent, Marine Corps veteran/consumer activist Tom Tierney, by a 78 percent margin in the Republican primary. Ogonowski’s brother, John, was the pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, which was hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11.
Clinton v. Obama: Who's the candidate of change?
Clinton says she's the candidate of change in a new campaign ad.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - In the Democratic race for the White House, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is often labeled the candidate of "experience," while Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is described as "the candidate of change."
But in a new ad launching Wednesday, the Clinton campaign argues the New York senator's experience and knowledge of Beltway politics best equips her to shake up the system.
In the ad, to air in the crucial early states of Iowa and New Hampshire, a narrator says Clinton has "spent her life fighting" and adds "change is just a word without the strength and experience to make it happen.”
The comment is a seemingly indirect swipe at rival Barack Obama, who often cites his short stint as a U.S. senator as proof he is an outsider who can best bring about change in the nation's capital.
"By touting Hillary’s experiences as a change agent, the Clinton campaign is making clear that to make change happen, you need the kind of strength and experience Hillary has accrued during her more than 35 years of advocacy," Clinton campaign spokesman Phil Singer said in a memo to reporters announcing the ad's release.
Meanwhile, the Illinois senator is out with a new ad himself Wednesday in Iowa, highlighting his distance from "political insiders."
"When he passed Illinois' most sweeping ethics reforms in a generation, it wasn't to win favors from political insiders," the ad states. "When he passed laws to reveal federal spending online and force lobbyists to disclose campaign fundraising, it wasn't to score points with the powers in Washington."
"We are going to take back our government; we are going to make a change," Obama himself says in the ad.
Meanwhile, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is also claiming to be the candidate of change.
Responding to Clinton's and Obama's ads, Edwards spokesman Eric Schultz told CNN, "the truth is the only candidate who can win and change America is one who will not triangulate or compromise their way to fake change, but one who will fight the entrenched interests and lobbyists everyday and win – that candidate is John Edwards."
- CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
Ohio Congressman found dead
Ohio Rep. Paul Gillmor was found dead in his apartment Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Ohio Rep. Paul Gillmor was found dead in his Washington apartment Wednesday, leadership aides tell CNN.
Thompson hires more staff in Iowa
Fred Thompson expands staff in Iowa.
DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) - Soon-to-be Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson has ramped up his operation in the Hawkeye State.
What used to be a staff of one in mid-July is now closer to "half a dozen," a source close to Thompson's Iowa organization tells CNN. There are also plans to bring on more staff in a "matter of weeks" and a communications director "soon."
The former Tennessee senator plans to announce his bid for the presidency at midnight Wednesday, just hours after a Republican debate in New Hampshire.
- CNN Iowa Producer Chris Welch
McCain's ex supporter to be his rival
McCain speaks with voters in New Hampshire over the weekend.
BOW, New Hampshire (CNN) - When Arizona Sen. John McCain sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson was one of only a handful of supporters who backed his bid.
Several years removed from Congress, Thompson is now about to become McCain's rival for the right to be the GOP nominee in the 2008 race for the White House.
“I think he’s a good and close friend of mine and I’m sure he’ll do well," McCain told CNN in an interview Tuesday after a town hall meeting in this important primary state. "All of us have to be in campaigns and so it’s unclear how exactly he’ll do, but I think it’s a process unlike any other and I want to say come on in Fred, the water is fine.” (Related video: McCain on Thompson's entrance)
McCain is hoping history repeats itself in the Granite State primary, which he won in his unsuccessful bid for the nomination seven years ago. He used this town hall meeting, held in a fire station off of I-89, to restate his belief that the state's unique role in helping vet presidential candidates needs to be preserved.
“This is what it’s all about," McCain said. "This is what democracy in America should be all about. The people of the state of New Hampshire understand their responsibilities and the impact that they have on the selection of the next President of the United States."
He later added, “The people in NH understand their responsibilities, they examine the candidates.”
McCain, who only months ago was a front runner for the nomination, is trying to rebuild his campaign after it was learned his operation was nearly broke and his senior staff turned over. McCain is hoping a win in New Hampshire will propel him on the road to winning the nomination.
McCain said it was important to take the necessary steps to preserve New Hampshire's role in the selection process, a statement that played well with this audience.
“I’m a little worried now my friends about this collapse of the primary season," McCain said . "I know you’ve read about it as state after state is moving their primary up closer and closer. Look, I respect all those states…but the fact is that we have to do everything in our power to preserve the first in the nation status for the state of New Hampshire for good reason. Money doesn’t buy elections in the state of New Hampshire my friends.”
TIME.com: Thompson Enters, Stage Right
- CNN New Hampshire Producer Sareena K. Dalla
Scandal reverberates in D.C.
The last pages of the sign-in book at Sen. Larry Craig's Washington, D.C. office were empty as Congress reconvened on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (CNN) - As Congress returned from its summer recess Tuesday, journalists captured the last lingering moments of embattled former Sen. Larry Craig's term in office: the final page of his constituent sign-in book.
Constituents signed and dated the book during their numerous visits to the Republican senator’s D.C. office. The last entry is from August 31, the day before Craig announced his resignation. A staffer who declined to give his name then brought the book and table into the lawmaker's office area.
The fall-out from Craig’s sex scandal continued to reverberate in the Capitol as Senate leaders answered questions about their colleague's sudden downfall.
In his first comments about the situation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid strongly suggested Republican leaders judged the Idaho senator, who was arrested in a homosexual sex sting, more harshly than Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, whose phone number was recently linked to a heterosexual prostitution service.
"Everyone can see what they did with Vitter and what they did with Craig and draw their own conclusion," Reid told CNN when asked if GOP leaders had employed a "double standard."
But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell disputed that notion, telling reporters there is a "substantial difference" between the Vitter matter which took place before Vitter was in the Senate and the Craig matter in which, "the legal case was, in effect, over. And the only question was what was the attitude going to be of the Senate with regard to the admission that had been made."
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