(CNN) - Former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole said Wednesday night that current White House hopeful John McCain has a temper - but added the Arizona senator “can control it.”
Dole told CNN’s Larry King that his former Senate colleague “does have a… I guess you could say temper. But I always sort of rationalized that because the poor guy had been locked up” in a tiny cell for six years. But McCain, he said, “can control it. It's not a problem anymore.”
Dole, a former Senate Majority Leader, told King that the 2008 presidential campaign was historic because it featured “two very unusual candidates - the first serious black candidate for president and the first serious woman candidate” and because, for the first time since John Kennedy was elected, a senator will become commander-in-chief.
Dole, a long-time Kansas senator, ran for president in 1988 and in 1996, when he was the GOP nominee.
He said Wednesday that one of McCain’s potential fall opponents, Barack Obama, had “sort of become the pied piper of American politics - a great speaker. He draws huge crowds.” Dole also said that if Obama is the nominee, age could become an issue in the campaign.
If his White House bid is successful, McCain would be the oldest candidate elected to his first term.
Dole told King that Hillary Clinton can “play the experience card, but on the other hand I think Obama would say it’s not so much somebody’s experience, it’s your judgment that counts. It’s not who picks up the phone, it’s what you do say when you pick it up.’’
He also predicted that the Democratic race “is going to get pretty rough and tumble in the next 30, 40, 50 days."
- CNN Associate Political Editor Rebecca Sinderbrand
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/03/06/art.clintonbill.ap.jpg caption="Bill Clinton is heading to Wyoming."] (CNN) - Wyoming – the home state of Vice President Dick Cheney – is not usually a pit stop on the Democratic presidential campaign trail. But late this week, the state finds itself the Democratic destination of choice, with visits from former President Bill Clinton and the two remaining White House hopefuls, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
The former president, campaigning for his wife, is making several stops in the state Thursday. And Hillary Clinton and Obama head to the state Friday – with both planning a stop in Casper (population: roughly 50,000).
“Seriously, I never imagined when I took this job that we would see the day when the two front-runners for the Democratic presidential nomination would hold events in Wyoming on the eve of our county caucuses,” Wyoming Democratic Party spokesman Bill Luckett wrote on the state party’s Web site Thursday. “I think there’s a reasonable chance we’ll get our 15 minutes in the national spotlight when the deal goes down on Saturday.”
With just over 600 delegates left at stake in the Democratic presidential race, every remaining contest is seen as crucial to both Clinton and Obama. No polling has been conducted in the state, though the Illinois senator has held the advantage in most caucus contests to date.
(Post updated 1 p.m. ET to add travel details for both candidates)
(CNN) - At last report, with 40 percent of precincts counted, Barack Obama led Hillary Clinton 56 percent to 44 percent in the Texas Democratic caucuses. Counting continues today.
Clinton beat Obama to win the Texas Democratic primary 51 to 48 percent.
Related video: CNN's Ed Lavandera examines the chaos of the Texas caucuses
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/POLITICS/03/06/florida.michigan/art.granholm.2006.gi.jpg caption=" Michigan's Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, shown in 2006, called for her state's delegates to be seated."]MIAMI, Florida (CNN) - Will the recount state become the re-primary state? And will voters in Michigan have their say in picking a Democratic candidate for president?
Political leaders from Florida and Michigan were busy Wednesday talking about plans to make sure that voters in their states are heard in picking a Democratic nominee.
The discussions unfolded amid a grueling, delegate-by-delegate fight between Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.
Compiled by Jonathan Helman
CNN Washington Bureau
Washington Post: Both Obama And Clinton Hold Edge Over McCain
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) kicks off his general-election campaign trailing both potential Democratic nominees in hypothetical matchups, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
WSJ: Bush's Embrace Poses Dilemma as Help Poses Both Boon and Bane to Campaign
President Bush embraced one-time rival Sen. John McCain yesterday with a White House lunch and Rose Garden endorsement, but Mr. McCain now must weigh both the benefits and risks of his support.
USA Today: It's Now A Marathon, With Pa. The Big Prize
Pennsylvania is the new New Hampshire. Forget the frenzied cross-country campaign blitzes before Super Tuesday, or even the Ohio-Texas shuttle of the past month. For the next seven weeks, with brief breaks to visit Wyoming and Mississippi, Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton will be focusing on one state: Pennsylvania.
LA Times: Democrats Fear An Ugly End To Race
Leading Democrats scrambled Wednesday to prevent the closest, most riveting presidential contest in decades from tearing the party apart, as the odds rose that neither Hillary Rodham Clinton nor Barack Obama could clinch the nomination without angering large blocs of voters.
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