Democrats fret over McCain bailout position
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/23/paulson.9.23.jpg caption="Sec. Paulson testified before the banking committee Tuesday."]
(CNN) - A Democratic congressional leadership source tells CNN that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, after talking Monday to Republican nominee John McCain, assured a member of the Senate Democratic leadership that McCain would be "fine," and vote for the bailout package.
But a senior McCain aide still insisted the Arizona senator hasn't decided how he'll vote, and won't until he sees the full and final package. Like Democrats, he is hoping the legislation will include an oversight board and a CEO compensation cap.
The Democratic leadership source said there is concern that with more and more Republicans raising concerns over the package, if McCain would vote against it, it would give other Republicans cover to oppose it as well. If that happens, Democrats would have to provide most of the votes - the last thing the Democratic leadership wants.
McCain ad says Obama and allies stayed 'mum' in wake of crisis
Watch: The McCain campaign released a new ad Tuesday claiming Obama never put forth a plan to fix the ailing economy.
(CNN)— In the wake of one of the biggest banking failures in American history, the McCain campaign released a new ad Tuesday blasting Obama and his “liberal allies” for staying “mum” on their plans for the economic crisis.
“In crisis, experience matters,” the announcer says. “McCain and his Congressional allies led.”
“Obama and his liberal allies? Mum on the market crisis.”
Watch: McCain's new ad says Obama was 'mum' during the economic crisis
Both presidential nominees have been using the crisis on Wall Street to show strength and leadership on economic policy, but the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows more American’s place the blame for the economic failure on the Republican Party. 47 percent of registered voters questioned said the GOP is more to blame, with 24 percent placing the blame on the Democratic Party.
The 30-second spot, “Mum,” is the latest attempt by the McCain campaign to argue Obama never put for his own plan for the ailing economy.
However, a recent fact check shows Obama has outlined his plans several times since the meltdown on Wall Street.
According the the McCain campaign the ad will air nationally.
Full script after the jump
Daley slams new McCain ad
Watch: The McCain campaigns latest ad takes aim at Obama's hometown political figures.
(CNN) - Former Commerce Secretary Bill Daley, the unwilling co-star of a Monday attack ad from John McCain's campaign, told CNN he was "shocked" by the spot: "I always had a good relationship with [McCain] - or I thought I did."
The McCain spot attacks Barack Obama for his connection to "Chicago politics," pointing to his relationships with convicted developer Tony Rezko, embattled Governor Rod Blagojevich - and Daley.
Daley accused McCain of hypocrisy for attacking Obama on lobbyists: "When I was at [telecom company] SBC, I had to hire [McCain campaign manager] Rick Davis to see John McCain," he said. "He wouldn't see anyone unless you hired one of his lobbyist friends. Telecom was his and Rick Davis was his telecom lobbyist. That was in '02, '03, '04."
He said that McCain voted for his confirmation as Commerce Secretary, and pointed to the Arizona senator's public praise of his work in the Clinton cabinet.
(For instance, during a May 1998 confirmation hearing for another Commerce official, McCain said that since Daley's arrival, "relations for the department have been improving. Mr. Daley's frank, honest style and hard work have been reaping rewards." And in 2000, he pointed to Daley's "valiant effort to clean up the Commerce Department's reputation as a dumping ground for the politically connected.")
Said Daley Monday: "I think [McCain] has totally sold his soul to get elected. The things he found important in 2000 he isn't doing now."
Biden dials back 'terrible' comment
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/23/art.biden.ap.jpg caption="Biden called one of his campaign's own ads terrible."](CNN) – Joe Biden said in an interview Monday that an ad put out by his campaign making fun of John McCain’s computer illiteracy was “terrible.”
In light of several negative ads put out by both campaigns, CBS’s Katie Couric asked Biden if he is disappointed with the tone of campaign, noting the Obama ad that derides McCain for admitting he doesn’t know how to use a computer.
"I thought that was terrible, by the way," Biden replied.
"Why'd you do it then?” responded Couric.
"I didn't know we did it,” Biden answered, “and if I'd had anything to do with it, we would have never done it.”
At the end of the ad a picture of Biden with Obama is displayed as Obama says “…and I approve this message.” Couric pointed out that – as with every campaign ad – Obama did approve it.
“I don't think anything was intentional about that,” said Biden. “They were trying to make another point.”
The McCain camp pounced on the remark, saying, “Barack Obama has brought the sleazy gutter politics of Chicago to our national stage, exposing his call for a ‘new politics’ as a lie and embarrassing even his own running mate with the low road campaign he's running.”
Strikingly different debate prep approaches for McCain, Obama
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/21/art.debateprep.gi.jpg caption="Obama and McCain are starting to prepare for the upcoming debates."]
(CNN) - There may be no greater illustration of John McCain and Barack Obama’s differing styles than the way they're preparing for Friday’s presidential debate.
Barack Obama is reportedly going to Florida for "debate camp" - traditional preparation that includes a sparring partner playing the role of his Republican opponent.
McCain’s prep is more on the fly: He spent several hours Sunday at his campaign headquarters working with aides, and he spent several hours in a Pennsylvania hotel Monday afternoon doing the same.
He will follow this "squeeze it in" prep schedule Tuesday as he campaigns in Ohio, and Wednesday around meetings with world leaders in New York.
Not until Thursday afternoon and Friday in Mississippi are McCain aides planning to hunker down and devote all the candidate’s time to debate prep.
Another illustration of how McCain’s preparation for Friday’s faceoff has been somewhat untraditional: right now aides say they don't have anyone playing the role of Obama in mock debates. Right now advisers like Mark Salter and Charlie Black and others are throwing questions at McCain they think the moderator could ask, without an "Obama" figure in the mix — although aides say that scenario may change by week’s end.
Clinton shies away from VP talk
Watch: Hillary Clinton talks about her perscription for healing the economy.
(CNN) — Hillary Clinton refused to speculate Tuesday whether the Democratic ticket would be doing better if she were the vice presidential candidate.
“I’m not going to hypothesize about something that didn’t happen,” Clinton told CNN’s John Roberts. “What I want to do is make sure voters understand the stark differences between our candidates and the Republican candidates.”
On Monday, former President Bill Clinton said his wife would have been “the best choice politically” for Barack Obama.
But his wife praised the Democratic nominee’s choice of Sen. Biden, emphasizing the Democrats are “much better prepared” than John McCain and Sarah Palin to take on the challenges facing the next administration.
Sharpening her criticism of the Bush administration Tuesday, Hillary Clinton said the current economic crisis could have been avoided had Wall Street been managed in a “more sensible way.”
“The great bulk of the responsibility rests with this administration, and with the ideology that the Republicans have been promoting since they took over the Congress in 1995,” said the New York senator.
Fact Check: Does McCain really want to deregulate health care?
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/19/art.mccain.gi.jpg caption="Does McCain really want to deregulate health care?"]The statement:
"Now this 'Great Deregulator' wants to turn his attention to health care. ...John McCain says he wants to do to the health care system what Washington's done to the banking system. ... The radical idea that government has no role to play in protecting ordinary Americans has wreaked havoc on our economy."
–Sen. Barack Obama, at a campaign stop in Charlotte, N.C., Sept. 21, 2008
Does McCain really want to deregulate health care like banking, as Obama suggests?
Bill Clinton says Dems shouldn't attack Palin
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/22/art.billclinton.gi.jpg caption="Bill Clinton said Dems shouldn't attack Palin."]
(CNN) - Bill Clinton said Monday the Democratic ticket should steer clear of launching personal attacks on Sarah Palin over her relatively thin resume, and instead acknowledge she was a "good choice" for the No. 2 spot on the GOP ticket.
"Why say, ever, anything bad about a person? Why don't we like them and celebrate them and be happy for her elevation to the ticket? And just say that she was a good choice for him and we disagree with them?" said Clinton, who faced repeated charges during the primary season he was overly negative toward Obama on the campaign trail.
Clinton's comments appear to echo advice Karl Rove gave to Barack Obama in his regular Wall Street Journal column last week, when the former Bush strategist noted attacking the VP candidate has rarely proven to be an effective strategy.
In one of the former president's few extended comments to date on Palin's surprise VP candidacy, Clinton also told reporters in New York Monday he knows why the Alaska governor is attracting massive crowds on the campaign trail.
"I come from Arkansas, I get why she's hot out there," Clinton told reporters in New York, according to the Associated Press. "Why she's doing well."
"People look at her, and they say, 'All those kids. Something that happens in everybody's family I'm glad she loves her daughter and she's not ashamed of her. Glad that girl's going around with her boyfriend. Glad they're going to get married,'" he said.
Referencing Palin's 5-month old child who has Down Syndrome, Clinton also said voters will think, "I like that little Down syndrome kid - one of them lives down the street, they're wonderful children.”
Earlier Monday, Clinton suggested his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, would have been a better political choice for the Democratic VP spot than Joe Biden.
“She would have been the best politically, at least in the short run, because of her enormous support of the country,“ he said on the daytime talk show The View.
POLITICAL HOT TOPICS: Tuesday Sept. 23rd 2008
Washington Post: A New Landscape, the Same Proposals
As the scale of the government's intervention transforms the nation's fiscal landscape, neither presidential candidate seemed ready yesterday to readjust his campaign promises to match a changing reality that could push the federal budget deficit next year toward $1 trillion.
CNN: Palin's lawyer meets with independent counsel in probe
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's lawyer met Monday with the independent counsel hired by the state to discuss the investigation into Palin's firing of Alaska's public safety commissioner, campaign officials said.
CNN: Florida voting issues raise fears of 2000-like debacle
To pick up the morning paper and see the word "recount" in a headline stirs an ominous case of déjà vu.
CNN RADIO: Palin debuts at UN and did Clinton want VP stripes?
Sarah Palin travels to foreign soil - sort of - and Bill Clinton gives a yes or no answer on whether his wife wanted to be vice president. Lisa Desjardins has today's CNN Political Ticker.
Alaskans angered that Palin is off-limits
Jerry McCutcheon went to Sarah Palin's office here last week to request information about the firing of former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, the scandal that for weeks has threatened to overshadow the governor's role as Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate. McCutcheon was given a phone number in Virginia to call: the national headquarters of the McCain-Palin campaign.
Politico: Candidates likely to skip bailout vote
Congress is poised to vote on the biggest government intervention in the financial markets since the Great Depression, but it’s unlikely that any of the three senators vying for the White House will be there – even though all three have talked of little else for over a week.
ON THE TRAIL: Sept. 23rd 2008
* Sen. John McCain goes on a factory tour in Middleburg Heights, Ohio
* Gov. Sarah Palin meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai
* Sen. Barack Obama campaigns in Tampa, Florida
* Sen. Joe Biden campaigns in Virginia
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