Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have vowed the Democratic Party will heal its wounds, whoever wins their toxic White House race, and unite to thwart Republican John McCain. The bitter rivals spoke up amid mounting concern among party leaders that the fiercely contested battle could scupper a golden chance to grab back the White House.
Democratic hopeful Barack Obama on Wednesday dismissed Republican White House candidate John McCain’s economic plan as an insult, which left homeowners to face a mortgage crunch alone. In his first campaign appearance since a short vacation, Obama fired a new volley at the Arizona senator in a battle that is sure to intensify.
Barack Obama’s camp has accused Hillary Clinton of trying to divert attention from her exaggerated account of a 1996 trip to Bosnia after she revived a row over her rival’s fiery pastor. With Obama set to return to the campaign trail on Wednesday after a short Easter holiday, the Democratic White House foes were braced for more bitterness.
One may wind up as the first woman to lead the United States Senate. Another is relatively young and could run again for president. The third may simply resume his role as a congressional maverick and retire in two years. These are among the options that await the losers in the three-way race for the White House.
Hillary Clinton on Monday pitched a plan to stop a mortgage crisis degenerating into a full-blown recession as new vitriol spilled over in her Democratic White House struggle with Barack Obama. Obama’s camp said Clinton would do anything to win, while her aides accused him of stooping to gutter politics.
The number of United States soldiers to die in Iraq has reached 4Â 000, the US military said on Monday, just days after the fifth anniversary of a war that President George Bush says the US is on track to win. The US military said in a statement four soldiers were killed late on Sunday by a roadside bomb.
Some pundits are calling them the HillPublicans. They are hardcore Republicans who are going against their previous political beliefs and voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton. The emergence of the HillPublicans now has many political observers poring over poll data and wondering what is going on.
China said 19 people were killed in riots in the Tibetan capital last week and official media warned against the unrest spreading to the north-west region of Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims bridle under Chinese control. Eighteen were burnt or hacked to death in the Lhasa violence, Xinhua news agency said.
Senator Barack Obama won a coveted endorsement from fellow Democrat Bill Richardson on Friday as the State Department apologized for snooping into his passport files and those of his two main White House rivals. The decision by the Hispanic governor of New Mexico is a victory for Obama and could improve the Illinois Democrat’s chances of winning over Latino voters.
The sprawling prison complex at Guantánamo Bay looks from a distance like many of the hastily built resorts round the Caribbean, the camps occupying a narrow strip of sand by the palm-lined sea-shore, with fencing to keep the locals out. But through the military checkpoint, the grimness of the world’s most infamous prison becomes apparent.
Contract workers for the United States State Department improperly viewed Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama’s passport records three times this year in what his campaign called ”an outrageous breach” of his privacy. The incidents, which occurred on January 9, February 21 and March 14, were quickly reported to lower-level State Department officials.
Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on Wednesday admitted to being ”shaken” by a controversy over racial politics ignited by his pastor’s incendiary sermons. Obama, who gave a landmark speech about race in America on Tuesday, admitted in an interview with CNN that the matter had affected him personally.
United States President George Bush said on Wednesday he had no regrets about the unpopular war in Iraq despite the ”high cost in lives and treasure” and declared that the US was on track for victory. With less than 11 months left in office and his approval ratings near the lows of his presidency, Bush is trying to shore up support for the Iraq campaign.
Democratic front-runner Barack Obama battled to defuse the most serious threat yet to his presidential hopes after incendiary, racially tinged sermons by his former pastor triggered an uproar. The Illinois Senator on Tuesday condemned the sermons while standing by his black spiritual mentor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
United States Vice-President Dick Cheney, an architect of the US-led invasion of Iraq, made an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Monday to assess the success of a troop build-up five years after the war began. Cheney arrived as Republican candidate John McCain, who will be the Republican choice in November’s presidential election, was meeting Iraqi leaders.
The highest and oldest wall is that which separates ”us” from ”them”. This is described today as a great divide of religions or ”a clash of civilisations”, which are false concepts, propagated to provide ”the other” — a target for fear and hatred that justifies invasion and plunder, writes John Pilger.
Barack Obama faced potential damage to his campaign on Thursday after television networks aired footage of sermons by the former pastor of Obama’s church likening the Democratic frontrunner to Jesus and declaring: ”God damn America.”
Freer trade could bring benefits worth up to -billion a year to the world economy, according to a study on Thursday that dismisses growing unease about globalisation. The report, by two economists in Australia and Britain, also suggested greater immigration to rich nations from developing countries would raise economic growth.
Democrat Barack Obama easily beat rival Hillary Clinton in Mississippi on Tuesday, giving him new momentum in their heated presidential fight as they head to the next showdown in Pennsylvania in six weeks. Obama, who would be the first black United States president, rode a wave of heavy black support to victory and extended his lead over Clinton.
Barack Obama on Monday ridiculed rival Hillary Clinton’s repeated hints she would take him for the number two spot on her presidential ticket, accusing her of playing political games in their hard-fought Democratic nominating race. Obama, campaigning in Mississippi ahead of the state’s contest on Tuesday, said he has won more states than Clinton.
The prospect of recession is looming over the American presidential election campaign, amid a wave of job losses and collapsing home prices that could see the political battle being fought in the middle of an economy in crisis. Last week was marked by rising oil prices, tens of thousands of lost jobs and plummeting share prices.
United States Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton questioned each other’s sincerity and leadership on national security and the economy on Friday as they geared up for the next tests in a gruelling struggle for the White House. Clinton told audiences in Wyoming it was time to end the Iraq war that she backed in 2002.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are preparing for a long and potentially brutal struggle for the Democratic presidential nomination, with both campaign teams hinting darkly about resorting to even more negative tactics as the race progresses.
Villagers in Barack Obama’s ancestral Kenyan home expressed disappointment on Wednesday as his rival, Hillary Clinton, won key votes to revive her campaign for the White House. Victories for Clinton in Ohio and Texas snapped Obama’s winning streak and kept alive the New York senator’s campaign to win the Democratic Party nomination.
Now that he is the Republican presidential nominee, John McCain has a big decision ahead of him — who to choose as his vice-presidential running mate. A top priority for him is to pick a running mate whose presence on the ticket would reassure Americans concerned about McCain’s age.
Hillary Clinton won a critical showdown with Barack Obama in Ohio on Tuesday to breathe new life into her campaign and extend the Democratic presidential race, while John McCain clinched the Republican nomination and looked ahead to the November election.
Barack Obama bids on Tuesday to knock Hillary Clinton out of the White House race after a mud-slinging campaign that Democratic grandees fear is helping nobody but Republican heir John McCain. But heading into crunch battles in Ohio and Texas, the former first lady is full of fire and has been eviscerating her charismatic rival’s qualifications.
Barack Obama intensified his bid to end Hillary Clinton’s White House quest in Tuesday’s momentous nominating contests in Texas and Ohio, as both rivals geared up massive voter-turnout drives. Clinton, meanwhile, in a wistful moment, said she would examine her options when the results were in.
It did not look like a political wake. Senator Hillary Clinton emerged into a basketball stadium in Houston wearing a bright red jacket, beaming broadly and waving at thousands of screaming supporters. Gene Green, a Texan congressman, introduced her with confident words predicting her return to the White House.
Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are deadlocked in Texas and Ohio heading into potentially decisive presidential showdowns, according to a Reuters/C-Span/Houston Chronicle poll released on Saturday. Clinton is fighting to save her White House candidacy in the two primaries on Tuesday.
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/ 28 February 2008
Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama faced off on Wednesday in a possible prelude to a United States presidential election battle, tangling over whether Iraq would be prey for al-Qaeda if US troops are withdrawn. McCain, who has linked his candidacy to a successful outcome in Iraq, attacked Obama’s stance on the war.
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/ 27 February 2008
Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton clashed sharply in a high-stakes one-on-one debate on Tuesday, accusing each other of falsely portraying their stances on healthcare, trade and other issues. Clinton, who needs to win next week in Ohio and Texas, went on the attack early in the debate at the Cleveland State University.