FEC Records: Watts Donated To McCain Campaign

Despite controversial comments taken by some to be an endorsement of Democrat Barack Obama in last year's presidential race and a harsh criticism of the Republican Party, former Republican Congressman J. C. Watts donated to the campaign of John McCain for president.

Federal Election Commission records show that Watts, a Washington lobbyist, donated $500 to the McCain-Palin Victory 2008 committee on October 13th, 2008. Earlier, on January 8, Watts donated $1,000 to the John McCain 2008 Inc. committee, the records show.

Comments attributed to Watts by The Associated Press created the impression he was endorsing Obama last year. Watts issued a statement following the story by The AP in which he explained he was expressing his disappointment in what he said was the failure to reach out to African-Americans.

Watts said, "It has come to my attention that an Associated Press article on black conservatives indicates many are considering voting for Barack Obama for president in November. The writer refers to me and states, '(Watts) said he's thinking of voting for Obama.' That is the writer's interpretation of my statement.

"If recent polls are accurate, a large percentage of Evangelicals and minority conservatives are leaning to or have committed to Senator Obama. I am not one of them.

"Like many Republicans across the nation, I consider myself a 'free agent' this year, which is what I told the AP. Presidential candidates are going to have to work to earn my vote, and not assume it.

"I'm urging my friends and associates to follow their hearts in November. I'm hopeful, as the course of the campaign plays out, that Senator McCain will work as hard to merit our votes as he is for other voters, that he would give them reason to vote for him in November.

"The article further lists some of my concerns with the Republican Party over its lack of outreach to the black and Evangelical communities. Those concerns are true, and anyone who has spoken to me or read my writings in recent months and years should not be surprised by that position.

"But I regret to conclude that the GOP leadership -- the party I embraced and for whom I have worked diligently across the nation -- has come to place evangelicals and Republicans who are concerned about the black community, in the same boat. It seems the party leadership is taking this loyal group of voters for granted and no longer feels the need to work for our votes."

The FEC records list $21,250 in donations to federal candidates by Watts in the 2007-2008 election cycle.

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Wyman: The Obama-Coburn Connection

By Hastings Wyman/Southern Political Report ~ US Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has the reputation for being one of the Senate’s most conservative members, with an aversion to federal spending, and especially to earmarks, that is consistently vehement. So although Coburn and President-elect Barack Obama have at times cooperated on mutual goals, it still came as a surprise last week to hear Coburn on CNBC speaking favorably of Obama’s pending economic stimulus package.

Most of Coburn’s praise centered on Obama’s tax cut component, which may account for 40% of the stimulus. And Coburn made clear that he’s on good terms with the president-elect, noting that he had spoken with Obama in the past few days about his economic plans. The Oklahoma GOPer used a warm and favorable tone toward Obama that conservatives rarely use for liberals (and vice versa). Coburn, for example, did not echo the starchy coolness that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) exhibited toward Obama’s package when he questioned the amount of money involved -- some $800 billion, or perhaps as much as $1 trillion.

Indeed, Coburn has sounded much more favorable to Obama’s economic policies that some high-placed Democrats.

“I think the things that Coburn said he found good in Obama’s stimulus package are some of the things you’ve heard some Democrats complain about,” says Chad Alexander, a political consultant.

Such high-placed Democrats as Senate Finance Committee members John Kerry (MA) and Kent Conrad (ND), as well as powerful House Financial Services Committee Chair Barney Frank (MA), have been publicly critical of various aspects of Obama’s stimulus package, among them the tax cuts and a tax credit for employers who hire additional employees.

The Obama-Coburn alliance illustrates the flip-side of a polarizing response to Obama’s policies which appears to be developing in Washington. Liberal Democrats fear the president-elect is giving away the store in a futile attempt to court the GOP, and conservative Republicans fear the charming Obama is seducing them into what will eventually become a major federal spending spree, with disastrous consequences for the economy long-term.

Regardless of the national political dynamics at play, however, Coburn is likely to stay on the good side of Sooner State voters, including his conservative backers.

Coburn’s favorable comments about Obama’s economic policies "won’t upset conservatives here,” says Alexander, a former Oklahoma state Republican chairman.

“Coburn has a reputation for being such a maverick on spending issues that folks give him the benefit of any doubt,” agrees Mike McCarville, a long-time right-leaning Oklahoma radio talk show host and journalist.

Moreover, Oklahomans are used to Coburn’s reaching across the aisle on some issues.

“Coburn has demonstrated in the House and Senate that he’ll work with anybody with whom he agrees on an issue, whether liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican,” says McCarville.

Kyle Loveless, a Republican consultant whose wife once worked on Coburn's US House staff, says of Coburn, “He’s principled and holds to his principles, but he does not let party get in his way.”

Loveless notes that Coburn and Obama struck up a good relationship on several past issues, most notably the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, successfully sponsored by Coburn and Obama in 2006, which requires full disclosure to the public of all recipients of federal funds. Obama mentioned this legislation several times in his campaign as evidence he could work across party lines. “Eighty- to ninety percent of stuff they disagree on, but in some areas they agree,” concludes Loveless.

Moreover, folks in Oklahoma are familiar with and trust Coburn’s maverick’s approach to politics. Many of them know that when you call his office in the US Capitol, his receptionist answers the phone, “Dr. Coburn’s office,” not “Senator Coburn’s office,” a symbol of his long-running feud with the Senate over his continuing to deliver babies while he serves in Congress’s stuffy upper chamber.

Coburn comes up for re-election next year and has not decided whether he will run again. Since John McCain carried every single county Oklahoma, Coburn’s warm relationship with Obama does not appear designed to help Coburn win votes in 2010. However, Coburn does have the luxury of operating in a political environment that is favorable to him personally; his approval rating generally hovers around 60%.

So what will this odd-couple cooperation mean in the long term, for the Obama Administration or for Oklahoma? “On several issues … [Coburn] has found common ground with Obama,” concludes McCarville, but “how far this will go, nobody knows.” Stay tuned.

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Oklahoma's Presidential Vote Draws Attention

Oklahoma's vote in the presidential election continues to draw national interest.

All 77 of the state's counties went for John McCain over Barack Obama, the only state in which Obama lost every county, and the state gave Obama his third-lowest vote percentage.

Those facts, in light of Obama's national victory, have not been lost on others. The New York Times, Southern Political Report and others have reported on it.

Here's an excerpt from The Times' story: “Oklahoma Democrats, with very few exceptions, are the old-line white Southern Democrats,” said David Ray, another political scientist at the university (of Oklahoma). “They don’t like liberals or liberalism.”

Indeed, the state has a political landscape closely resembling that of the old solidly Democratic South, especially in its southeastern corner, known as Little Dixie, where many Southerners settled after the Civil War. When conservatives of the Old South began abandoning the party decades ago, Oklahoma’s Democrats lagged behind the historical trend. Further, the state has relatively small black and Hispanic populations, and so the Democrats did not absorb as many new voters from those groups as in the states of the old Confederacy.

These days Oklahoma Democrats dread running for local office in presidential election years, for fear of being associated with liberal nominees at the top of the ticket.

“Being liberal in Oklahoma, with the exception of a few legislative districts, will not get you elected,” said State Representative Joe Dorman, a conservative Democrat.

Ivan Holmes, chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, said there had been no ballot initiative or outcry on any state or local issue that would explain why conservatives of both parties rejected many Democratic candidates this week.

But, Mr. Holmes said, Mr. Obama was badly hurt in the state by rumors that he was not a Christian, that he sympathized with terrorists and that he would take away people’s firearms, a buzz that could not have helped Democrats down the ticket.

In addition, Senator James M. Inhofe, the Republican incumbent, whipped up anti-liberal sentiment in his successful race against a Democratic challenger, State Senator Andrew Rice, accusing him of being “too liberal for Oklahoma” in opposing a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and voting against tax cuts.

Another Republican, State Representative Sally Kern, who recently declared that homosexuality was a greater threat to the nation than terrorism, easily won re-election.

But Mr. (Keith) Gaddie said that perhaps the most important factor in Mr. McCain’s strong showing here was religion. An Edison/Mitofsky exit poll found that more than half of Oklahoma voters identified themselves as evangelical Christians and that a heavy majority of them had voted for Mr. McCain.

Mr. Gaddie, himself a pollster as well as a college professor, said: “A question we always ask in our polls is ‘How often do you attend church services?’ If a Democrat is not going to vote for a Democrat, they are a frequent church attender.”

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Limbaugh: McCain Will Upset Obama

Talk radio giant Rush Limbaugh says that John McCain will score a stunning upset over Barack Obama and win the presidency on Tuesday.

In an interview with London Telegraph correspondent Nigel Farndale, Limbaugh said the mainstream media has been pushing Obama’s candidacy because “They want to be able to say they did it if Obama wins.”

To which Farndale countered, “Well, he is going to win, isn’t he?”

Limbaugh’s response: “No, I don’t see it Nigel. I think [Obama has] been dead in the water since the primaries. He is going to need to be up 10 to 12 points to win by 3 or 4.”

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Panicky Obama Campaign Sends Urgent Memo

Barack Obama's campaign has sent a panic-stricken memo to supporters urging them to redouble their efforts to ensure massive voter turnouts among blacks and Hispanics.

The memo was sent by Deputy Campaign Manager Steve Hilderbrand, who told Fox News, “John McCain is right. Things are tightening in the battleground states.”

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Media Bias: McCain News Negative

From Politico ~ The good news for John McCain? He's now receiving as much attention from the national media as his Democratic rival. The bad news? It’s overwhelmingly negative.

Just 14 percent of the stories about John McCain from the conventions through the final presidential debate were positive in tone, according to a study released today, while nearly 60 percent were negative—the least favorable coverage of any of the 4 candidates on the ticket.

The study, by The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, a non-partisan journalism watchdog organization, examined 2,412 stories from 43 newspapers and cable news shows in the six-week period beginning just after the conventions and ending with the final presidential debate.

Read the entire analysis at http://www.politico.com/.

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FEC: McCain Tops Oklahoma Fundraising

Federal Election Commission records show that Oklahomans had contributed more than $5.9 million to presidential campaigns through the end of September, a total more than 2-1/2 times the previous record set in 2004.

Contributions to John McCain and Barack Obama top the previous highs for their respective parties.

The records show that McCain's total grew by $279,171 in September to just under $2 million.

They also show that Obama took in $330,804 during the same period and has raised just under $1.4 million.

All Republican presidential candidates combined raised $3.2 million here, while Democrats raised $2.7 million.

Both figures surpass the total for both parties combined during the 2004 campaign.

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McCain Campaign Decries Media Bias

John McCain's campaign seems to be playing a little hardball with the media in the final two weeks of the presidential race.

The campaign on Tuesday issued a statement decrying NBC News for its "apparent refusal" to air Joe Biden's controversial remarks that Barack Obama would face a "generated crisis" early on if he is elected.

"Biden's remarks capture perfectly the message of this campaign: Barack Obama is too risky, too inexperienced, to serve as commander in chief -- that his election by itself will provoke our enemies, and that his brief record raises serious questions as to how an Obama administration would respond to such a challenge," McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb said in the written statement.

"This campaign highlighted Biden's remarks throughout the day yesterday," he continued. "Yet on NBC Nightly News last night, when Andrea Mitchell reported on Biden's remarks, she failed to play the relevant portion -- the portion that this campaign and a variety of news outlets had found controversial, or revealing as the case may be."

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Military Shows Overwhelming Support For McCain

A poll by the Military Times newspaper group suggests that there is overwhelming support for John McCain among U.S. troops in every branch of the armed forces by a nearly 3-1 margin.

According to the poll, 68 percent of active-duty and retired servicemen and women support McCain, while 23 percent support Barack Obama. The numbers are nearly identical among officers and enlisted troops.

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McCain: Obama's Economic Plan Is Socialism

From YAHOO! News/CHARLOTTE, N.C. ~ Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Saturday accused Democratic rival Barack Obama of favoring a socialistic economic approach by supporting tax cuts and tax credits McCain says would merely shuffle wealth rather than creating it.

"At least in Europe, the Socialist leaders who so admire my opponent are upfront about their objectives," McCain said in a radio address. "They use real numbers and honest language. And we should demand equal candor from Sen. Obama. Raising taxes on some in order to give checks to others is not a tax cut; it's just another government giveaway."

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Has John McCain Finally Found His Voice?

John McCain barnstormed across Florida on Friday, attacking "socialist" Barack Obama and drawing contrasts between his philosophy and that of Obama before huge crowds in Republican areas. McCain drew 6,000 at one event, 7,000 at a second.

Some analysts say McCain's description of Obama's wealth redistribution economic plan as "socialist" seems to resonate with voters and has, finally, seemed to give McCain a theme he can hammer in the remaining days of the campaign.

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Jesse Jackson Drives Jews To McCain

Prepare for a new America: That's the message that the Rev. Jesse Jackson conveyed to participants in the first World Policy Forum, held at a French lakeside resort last week and analysts today say Jackson is driving Jewish voters to John McCain.

Jackson promised "fundamental changes" in US foreign policy - saying America must "heal wounds" it has caused to other nations, revive its alliances and apologize for the "arrogance of the Bush administration."

The most important change would occur in the Middle East, where "decades of putting Israel's interests first" would end.

Jackson believes that, although "Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades" remain strong, they'll lose a great deal of their clout when Barack Obama enters the White House.

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Boston Herald Endorses McCain

The Boston Herald is one of the first newspapers out of the gate with an endorsement in the presidential race, and their money's on John McCain.

The newspaper's endorsement described the Republican presidential nominee as an experienced leader "who is steady in the face of crisis, mature in judgment and able to reach across the aisle to break the gridlock that has for too long gripped Washington."

As the economy takes center stage in the presidential campaign, McCain has lost ground in recent national and battleground polls. But the Herald said McCain has the "courage" to make necessary spending cuts in the coming period of "economic uncertainty."

The newspaper had harsh words for Barack Obama, saying, "There is no room for a naif in the Oval Office."

The editorial criticized Obama for saying he'd meet with leaders of rogue nations and for not specifying how he would cut the federal budget during the presidential debate last Friday.

"McCain won a lot of hearts and minds around here in 2000, and we can't help but wonder how history might have been different had he won his party's nomination and the White House back then," the editorial said.

"But there is no going back. There is only the future and it is impossible to envision the future of this great nation being put in the hands of an articulate but inexperienced first-term senator from Illinois.

"Being commander in chief isn't the place for on-the-job training."

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Is Ifill Out As Veep Debate Moderator?

There's word today that PBS anchor Gwen Ifill may be removed as moderator of Thursday's vice presidential debate between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Sarah Palin because of Ifill's new book, out on Inauguration Day, that praises Barack Obama.

Ifill's impartiality and credibility have been under attack this week, as word of the book's existence became known.

The McCain-Palin campaign was not aware of it when they agreed to Ifill as the moderator, a spokesman told Fox News' Greta Van Sustern.

Whether the Republicans have lodged a formal request is speculated, but not known.

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Bouncing Polls: McCain Cuts Obama Lead

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain by 50 percent to 46 percent among likely voters in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, down from a 9-point edge a week earlier.

The new poll released on Tuesday was conducted Saturday through Monday, after the candidates met in their first debate on Friday.

Obama had led McCain by 52 percent to 43 percent in the poll's previous survey released last week.

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Obama, Aides See Landslide Election Win

Barack Obama's senior aides believe he is on course for a landslide election victory over John McCain and will comfortably exceed most current predictions in the race for the White House.

Read the entire story at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics.

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Morris: McCain's Brilliant Bailout Strategy

By Dick Morris & Eileen McGann ~ (John) McCain has transformed a minority in both houses of Congress and a losing position in the polls into the key role in the bailout package, the main man around whom the final package will take shape.

Pundit Argues That McCain's 'Bold Move' Is About To Pay Off

He arrived in Washington to find the Democrats working with the Bush administration to pass an unpopular $700 billion bailout. The Democrats had already cut their deal with Bush. They agreed to the price tag while Bush agreed to special aid to families facing foreclosure, equity for the taxpayers, and limits on executive compensation. But no sooner had McCain arrived than he derailed the deal.

Knowing how unpopular the bailout is with the American people, the Democrats are not about to pass anything without broad Republican support even though their majorities permit them to act alone. Instead of signing on with the Democratic/Bush package, the House Republicans are insisting on replacing the purchase of corporate debt with loans to companies and insurance paid for by the companies, not by the taxpayers.

That, of course, is a popular position. McCain would be comfortable to debate this issue division all day. And, if the Democrats don't cave in to the Republican position, that's probably exactly what he'll do on Friday night's scheduled debate in Mississippi.

But the Democrats are not about to be stubborn. They know their package is a lemon and need the political cover of Republican support. So the Republicans can write their own ticket — and they will. John McCain will be at the center of the emerging compromise while Obama is out on the campaign trail kissing babies.

If the deal is cut before Friday's debate, my bet is that McCain shows up in triumph. If it isn't, he shows up anyway and flagellates Obama over the differences between the Democratic package and McCain's.

By Monday, at the latest, the Democrats have to cave in and pass the Republican version. They don't dare pass their own without GOP support, so they will have to acquiesce to the Republican version.

Then McCain comes out of the process as the hero who made it happen when the president couldn't and Obama wouldn't. He becomes the bailout expert. And, of course, the bailout will work.

With the feds standing behind the bad debt, whether by purchase or loans and insurance, Wall Street will breathe a sigh of relief. Bears won't dare bet against the economy with the entire weight of the federal government on the other side. They may be bears but they are not rabid.

Finally, McCain, as the reigning expert on bailouts, then can take the tax issue to Obama, saying that a tax increase, such as the Democrat is pushing, would destroy the bailout, ruin the economy, and trigger a collapse.

This bold move by McCain is about to work. Big time.

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Obama Struggles To Win Clinton Voters

WASHINGTON (AP) - Barack Obama's support from backers of Hillary Rodham Clinton is stuck smack where it was in June, a poll showed Tuesday, a stunning lack of progress that is weakening him with members of the Democratic Party in the close presidential race.

An Associated Press-Yahoo News poll shows that among adults who backed his rival during their bitter primary campaign, 58 percent now support Obama. That is the same percentage who said so in June, when Clinton ended her bid and urged her backers to line up behind the Democratic senator from Illinois.

The poll shows that while Obama has gained ground among Clinton's supporters - 69 percent view him favorably now, up 9 percentage points from June - this has yet to translate into more of their support.

In part, this is because their positive views of Republican presidential nominee John McCain have also improved during this period.

Those supporting McCain have also edged up from 21 percent to 28 percent, with the number of undecided staying constant, the survey showed.

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McCain Leads (Barely) In Three Key States

From AOLNews.com ~ John McCain holds a razor-thin one-point lead in Florida, ahead of Barack Obama's 47-46 percent, according to CNN's poll of polls.

The Republican presidential nominee held a healthier margin there for most of the summer, but Obama has aggressively targeted Sunshine State voters on the airwaves, topping McCain by a margin of more than eight to one when it comes to ad spending.

Florida has 27 electoral votes at stake.

McCain also leads by a one-point margin in Ohio, up 47-46 percent. No Republican has won the White House without winning Ohio, which has 20 electoral votes at stake.

The Ohio poll of polls consists of three surveys: Big Ten Battleground (Sept. 14-17), CNN/Time/ORC (Sept. 14-16), and Ohio Newspaper Poll/University of Cincinnati (Sept. 12-16).

The Florida poll of polls consists of four surveys: ARG (September 14-17), CNN/Time/ORC (September 14-16), Research 2000 (September 15-18), and Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times/Bay News 9 (September 14-17).

In Missouri, a battleground with 11 electoral votes up for grabs, McCain leads Obama by four points, 49-45 percent, according to a Research 2000 poll released Sunday.

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California Is Obama's, But...

From Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle ~ Post-convention swing state polls are tipping toward Sen. John McCain, the TV pundits are waxing about "The Palin Factor," and Sen. Barack Obama's California supporters are freaking out about a race Democrats were uncommonly confident about only a month ago.

Conversely, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's addition to the GOP ticket jolted Northern California Republicans out of what one described as their "Underground Railroad" existence in one of the nation's most liberal regions.

Ever since her speech to the Republican National Convention on Sept. 3, party officials say volunteers have been contacting California GOP offices in numbers unseen since Ronald Reagan was on the ballot for the White House.

Despite generating all this fear and enthusiasm, the Palin Factor hasn't changed the race in California. Obama beats McCain 52 percent to 36 percent in a Field Poll released last week....

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