(CNN) - Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura has decided not to run for U.S. Senate in that state, he told CNN's "Larry King Live" Monday night.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/07/14/art.mccainlaraza.gi.jpg caption="McCain had a few media gripes on Monday."] SAN DIEGO (CNN) - The man who once jokingly described the political press corps as “my base” has a few complaints about the state of American media.
In a New York Times interview Sunday, John McCain lamented the non-stop news cycle spawned by cable news and the Internet.
“We are in a situation today where all words are parsed, all comments are diagnosed and looked at for whatever effect they might have,” he told the newspaper. “We have to feed the beast, the hourly cable shows, the instant news in the blogs and all that. That is just the situation that we’re in, and I’m not complaining about it, because that would be both foolish and a waste of time.”
But on Monday, addressing the National Council of La Raza, McCain did air a few complaints. He once again challenged Barack Obama to a series of town hall-style campaign events, calling it the only way to have an uncluttered dialogue with voters.
“A lot of Americans have a expressed their frustration with the sound bites, the charges back and forth, the cable monster that has to have a news story every hour,” McCain said, calling it a “disappointment” Obama has yet to agree to a town hall.
Despite the fact that both McCain and Obama organize daily conference calls featuring campaign surrogates, the senator said voters are “tired” of surrogates and their gaffes.
Americans “don’t want hear the misstatement,” McCain said. “They don’t want to hear the surrogate who may have made a mistake.”
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/07/14/art.mccain0712.ap.jpg caption="McCain will defend his immigration record, attack Obama’s later Monday."] PHOENIX (CNN) – John McCain told the National Council of La Raza on Monday that he is and always has been committed to comprehensive immigration reform.
McCain is defending his record amidst criticism from Barack Obama, who has asserted in recent speeches to Hispanic groups that the presumptive Republican nominee backed away from his support for immigration reform when it became a political liability in the Republican primaries.
Election Center: Where the candidates stand on immigration
Obama told the NCLR on Sunday that McCain “abandoned his courageous stance” on immigration during his presidential run, a charge McCain plans to push back against today in San Diego.
“I feel I must, as they say, correct the record,” said McCain. “At a moment of great difficulty in my campaign, when my critics said it would be political suicide for me to do so, I helped author with Senator Kennedy comprehensive immigration reform, and fought for its passage.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/07/14/art.clinton.polarized.ap.jpg caption=" Former President Bill Clinton addresses the National Governors Association."]
Former President Bill Clinton has a warning for all of us: he says this country is becoming more and more divided.
Speaking to the National Governors Association, Clinton said that even though the Democratic primary produced historic results with the final candidates being a woman, his wife, and an African-American man, he still sees a larger problem.
Clinton believes Americans are becoming more polarized as a nation. He says we're growing farther apart from each other and are "hunkering down in communities of like-mindedness, and it affects our ability to manage difference." Clinton says Americans are separating themselves by choosing to live with people they agree with.
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