Fox News Channel - You Decide 2008

CAMERON'S CORNER

October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007

Matching Funds for Edwards

The reality of accepting matching funds is that the match comes with a cap. The simple truth is that Edwards is now handcuffed. His rivals will be able to bury him in ads, limited only by the amounts they can raise or take from personal accounts.

Edwards' move is less the altruistic ethical epiphany followed by life giving infusion of federal matching funds that he makes it out to be, and more like life support for a cash strapped candidate who's campaign still has -- by most accounts -- the shortest life expectancy of his party's top tier.

Created: 9/27/2007 7:31:40 PM; Modified: 9/27/2007 7:31:40 PM

Obama's Soundtrack

Barack Obama, who would be the nation's first black president, held a rally in Peterborogh, NH today. His waiting crowd was warmed up by a Zydeco band -- but before they took the stage in advance of the candidate's arrival, aides pumped out the standard rally music heard at Obama campaign events.

Then came a song with a decidedly Southern tinge that to some might have been a bit of an anachronism in NH, a quintissentially Yankee state: Alabama's "Song of the South," with lyrics as follows:

   Song, song of the south
   Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth
   Gone, gone with the wind
   There ain't nobody looking back again

   Cotton on the roadside, cotton in the ditch
   We all picked the cotton but we never got rich
   Daddy was a veteran, a southern Democrat...

Just seconds after the line about picking cotton -- and after heads in the audience noticibly turned -- staffers hurriedly yanked the CD. It's not music that's been heard at previous Obama events, and anxious Obama staffers appeared eager to end it.

Created: 9/26/2007 1:51:24 PM; Modified: 9/26/2007 1:51:24 PM

Nader!

The spoiler is back...

The "Ralph Nader Democratic Caucus Campaign Draft Committee" is seeking campaign workers in Iowa and New Hampshire according to advertisements placed on Craigslist.

Created: 9/26/2007 12:07:44 PM; Modified: 9/26/2007 12:07:44 PM

Newt!

... is doing private meetings and reporter gatherings later this week. The bottom line: time to BREAK WITH BUSH!

He will launch the "American Solutions for Winning the Future" movement and the inaugural "Solutions Day" on September 27 and 29.

After the 29th he will discern if a Gingrich candidacy is necessary based upon the political dialogue and if any of the GOP candidates will make a clean BREAK from Bush and set a new course for "confronting America’s serious challenges of national security, healthcare, education, competing in the global economy, the retiring Baby Boomers, immigration, and protecting American civilization."

He will make a decision anywhere from October 14 to November 1.

Created: 9/19/2007 12:12:53 PM; Modified: 9/19/2007 12:12:53 PM

Romney's Unusual Backdrop

It wasn't just the New York sidewalk backdrop for Mitt Romney's morning press conference that raised eyebrows among political reporters. It turns out that the hospital Romney's team chose for the location in order to emphasize Romney's remarks bashing Hillary Clinton's health care plan was none other than the "Rudolph W. Giuliani Trauma Center."

So why pick a location named after your chief rival for the Republican nomination? A top aide to the Governor says their chief concern was finding a hospital in New York City that does not perform abortions. Taking their lumps over holding the presser at Giuliani's trauma center is nothing in comparison.

Created: 9/17/2007 3:24:03 PM; Modified: 9/17/2007 3:24:03 PM

More McCain Losses

He may be surging in the polls following a deliberate embrace of the surge in Iraq, but John McCain lost more staffers on Tuesday, this time from the political shop. Neva Foley was assistant to the political director. Samantha Dravis handled McCain surrogates, while Mike Leavitt handled some of the Northeast states under the larger political operation. While the campaign may spin their loss as no big deal... Au contraire!

These staffers leave the political shop vacant with the exception of Mike Dennehy -- the former National Political Director who is now based in NH and distracted by family. They were not heavyweights, but they were all that was left.

It is another sign of McCain's dogged commitment to Iraq and the race, but it says a lot about what McCainiacs think the outcome will be. Rick Davis, Mark Salter, and John McCain do not a national campaign make.

Created: 9/12/2007 3:04:55 PM; Modified: 9/12/2007 3:04:55 PM

My Take: Fred in NH

My first chance to see Fred Thompson in person, as I attended his events in Portsmouth and Manchester this weekend. Not very impressive.

Civilians sought out campaign staff before our eyes to complain:

"He's not crisp enough."

"He needs to put more zip into it."

The insiders coming to check him out were almost universally unimpressed.

His senior NH advisers are deliberately and vocally hedging their bets...they call it a 4 month gig.

If he doesn't break out soon, Thompson may be cursed by such faint praise as "he could still make a good running mate for Rudy."

Created: 9/10/2007 2:05:17 PM; Modified: 9/10/2007 2:05:17 PM

Fred's Federalism Clashes with Potential Allies

The influential Arlington Group, a coalition of prominent leaders of the so-called "religious right, has decided to withhold their planned support for the fledgling campaign of former Senator Fred Thompson.

Although the members of the group do not directly endorse candidates as they would risk their tax exempt status as religious organizations, many are affiliated with or control political action committees and so-called 527 groups which do endorse and support candidates

Many of the candidates have met with the group recently and there had been a plan in place for the 527s and PACs to begin working on behalf of Thompson starting tomorrow. That has now been put on hold in light of a posting on the National Review Online by Campaign Manager Bill Lacy in which he said that Thompson would oppose an amendment to the US Constitution banning gay marriage.

Thompson adamantly opposes gay marriage but thinks that it should be left to the states to decide whether or not to amend their constitutions to ban the practice. This tracks with his generally Federalist positions on issues like tort reform.

The Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) is a key issue to the group and while opposing gay marriage is all well and good to gain the group's blessing a candidate must publicly endorse the FMA.

Members of the Arlington Group including former head of the Family Research Council
Gary Bauer are willing to hear Thompson out on this and are especially reticent to give up on him altogether since the article in question was not written by the candidate himself.
But all plans for a rollout of support are on hold until he explains himself on this key issue.

Created: 9/5/2007 5:17:15 PM; Modified: 9/5/2007 5:17:33 PM

Jim Mills out at Team Fred

A Fred Thompson committee source confirms that Jim Mills is no longer with campaign.

For two days now, Thompson staffers would only say "we can't answer questions about Jim Mills, we have agreed not to talk about it."

This afternoon, numerous political reporters nationwide received a contact list for Thompsons communications team, it did not include Mills.

Mills, a former FOX News producer on Capitol Hill, had held the title of spokesman.

Created: 9/5/2007 10:29:08 AM; Modified: 9/5/2007 10:29:08 AM

Return to Front Page

Terms of use. Privacy Statement. For FOXNews.com comments write to foxnewsonline@foxnews.com; For FOX News Channel comments write to yourcomments@foxnews.com