Joshua Hursa, Vice Chairman

Kyle Battaglia, Public Relations and Recruitment Coordinator

Kevin Van Loan, Treasurer

But when I ask these people about the policies Sen. Obama supports or the votes he has made as a U.S. Senator, they simply do not know.  This is a scary thought: blind devotion.  While Obama and the following kinds of men are worlds apart, people followed dictators in Germany and Italy for the same reasons.  People are simply attracted to a “rock star” allure that emanates from him.  People must remember that we are voting for a president, the leader of the free world - not a homecoming king.

Kyle J. Battaglia,

Hamilton

(Letter to the Editor, Trenton Times, 1/20/08)

Source: Breitbart.com

Forty-eight percent of Independent voters also said that they would choose another candidate over Clinton, the poll, which surveyed 2,223 potential voters, states.

Fifty-six percent of men said that they would not vote for Clinton, while 45 percent of women said that she would not be their pick. In addition, 69 percent of those 62 and older said that they would not vote for Clinton.

Nearly half of the respondents said that they dislike Clinton’s political opinions and Clinton as a person. Fifty-two percent of people also said that “she does not appear to connect with people on a personal level.”

Source: TheHill.com

The right-wing president, a free-market champion, wrote to the U.S. Congress that adopting tough environmental policies to fight climate change would have destructive impact on national economies.

‘Communism has been replaced by the threat of an ambitious environmentalism,’ Klaus wrote in response to questions from the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy and Commerce.

The U.S. House Subcommittee for Energy and Air Quality was due to hold a hearing on climate on Wednesday with former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore, who sees global warming as a key challenge, and Danish sceptic Bjorn Lomborg, who says governments should focus on fight disease and hunger instead.

Gore, who won an Oscar for ‘best documentary’ for his ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ movie on climate change, has led a global warming awareness drive in the United States, the world’s largest source of gases believed to cause it.

Klaus, who does not hold many executive powers but is by far the most popular politician in the ex-communist Czech Republic, has taken a decisively opposite stance on the issue.

Klaus said poor nations would also be hurt by efforts to impose limits and standards on emissions of gases believed to cause global warming.

‘They will not be able to absorb new technological standards required by the anti-greenhouse religion, their products will have difficulty accessing the developed markets, and as a result the gap between them and the developed world will widen,’ he wrote.

‘This ideology preaches earth and nature and under the slogans of their protection – similarly to the old Marxists – wants to replace the free and spontaneous evolution of mankind by a sort of central, now global, planning of the whole world,’ he added.

U.S. President George W. Bush opposes mandatory caps on heat-trapping gases. He pulled the United States out in 2001 of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Klaus wrote that it was futile to fight against phenomena like higher solar activity or the change of ocean currents, and called for avoiding wasting taxpayers money on what he called doubtful projects.

‘No government action can stop the world and nature from changing. Therefore, I disagree with plans such as the Kyoto Protocol or similar initiatives, which set arbitrary targets requiring enormous costs without realistic prospects for the success of these measures,’ he said.

Source: Signonsandiego.com

Kerry won’t run for president in ‘08
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | January 24, 2007

WASHINGTON –Senator John F. Kerry announced today that he will not run in the 2008 presidential race, and will instead remain in Congress and seek reelection to his Senate seat next year.

Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, said he will remain in the Senate to recommit himself to efforts to extricate the United States from the war in Iraq. His decision to stay out of the presidential race reflects a realization that he would have had an uphill climb in capturing the Democratic nomination, given the other party heavyweights who are already in the race, according to the officials, who spoke to the Globe on condition of anonymity.

Kerry made his plans known with a speech on the Senate floor this afternoon, and taped a message to e-mail his supporters to explain his decision.

Kerry, the party’s 2004 presidential nominee, had been acting like a 2008 candidate virtually since he lost to President Bush — traveling the country, spreading money to other Democratic candidates, and keeping in place a campaign infrastructure that was ready for another presidential bid.

But according to Kerry associates, the senator’s plans changed dramatically in the fallout of his election-eve “botched joke” about the education levels of US troops. The harsh reaction to that incident — from many Democrats as well as Republicans — displayed to Kerry the extreme skepticism within his own party about whether he should mount another run.

And, with polls giving front-runner status to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, Kerry realized that he would face formidable adversaries in the quest for the Democratic nomination. Clinton, Obama, and a host of other candidates have been busily hiring campaign operatives and signing up key fund-raisers in recent weeks.

On Iraq, Kerry has emerged as a fierce war critic after initially supporting the invasion of Iraq. He has spoken of his war opposition in a similar vein to his efforts to bring the Vietnam War to a conclusion in the early 1970s.

Kerry’s announcement freezes in place the various Democratic aspirants to his Senate seat. Massachusetts hasn’t had a vacant Senate seat since 1984 — when Kerry himself won his first six-year-term — and several members of the state’s all-Democratic congressional delegation have expressed interest in running for the Senate if Kerry retired.

Source: Boston.com

Rudy aiming at White House

Forms exploratory panel in 1st big step toward run

BY DAVID SALTONSTALL and HELEN KENNEDY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Hillary Clinton may just end up competing against each other once again – in the 2008 presidential election.

America’s mayor is taking the first step toward an official run for America’s President.
Rudy Giuliani, who is idolized by Republicans as the hero of 9/11 and the man who cleaned up New York, set up an exploratory committee - the traditional first step in the long slog towards the White House.

On Sunday in Pennsylvania, Giuliani said he was giving a run for the presidency “a lot of thought” and would make a decision “sometime next year.”

Three of Giuliani’s most trusted lieutenants filed papers with the state on Friday forming the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Exploratory Committee, allowing him to raise money to “test the waters” without officially declaring himself a candidate.

“We have taken the necessary legal steps so an organization can be put in place and money can be raised to explore a possible presidential run in 2008,” said John Gross, a director of the new committee with Peter Powers and Dennison Young - all alums of Giuliani’s 1993 mayoral campaign.

“It is not a declaration, it is not an announcement - it is none of that,” said a Giuliani aide. “It is the legal, back-room stuff that you have to do.”

The move potentially sets up a dramatic New York rematch of his aborted 2000 Senate race against Sen. Hillary Clinton, who is expected to set up her own presidential committee soon. Her office had no comment yesterday.

Giuliani dropped out of the 2000 Senate race in a whirl of drama: He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and had decided to leave his second wife for his mistress.

On Sunday, GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona said he may set up his own exploratory committee as soon as next week.

While pundits usually hail McCain as the front-runner in the GOP nomination, Republicans consistently tell pollsters their top pick is Giuliani.

Though mired in unpopularity in the summer of 2001, Giuliani’s fortitude in the hours and days after the attack on the World Trade Center earned him worldwide admiration and made him a political rock star.

He has spent months traveling the country for GOP candidates, all the while burnishing his image among the party faithful as an anti-tax, crimefighting conservative who successfully ruled New York City - the dark blue heart of blue America.

Giuliani’s leadership political action committee, Solutions America, raised $2.3 million and doled out $1.2 million to 55 GOP candidates. He has about $1 million left.

As a candidate, his biggest selling point may be the ability to project no-nonsense competence - a valuable asset when many voters view the current administration as hopelessly bumbling in a crisis.

But most Beltway political analysts think Giuliani’s moderate positions on guns, abortion and gays will kill him among the right-wing conservatives who vote in primaries.

In particular, Giuliani’s support for gay rights will likely play badly in a party that has been revving up its base by demonizing gays. There are enough snapshots of Hizzoner marching in gay pride parades and goofing around in drag to illustrate a hundred attack ads.

A preview of what Giuliani, a 62-year-old thrice-married Catholic, could face in the heartland came in a 2002 debate, when Democrat Alex Sanders famously attacked Senate candidate Lindsey Graham for being buddies with Giuliani.

“Giuliani is an ultraliberal,” Sanders said. “He supports gay rights. He supports banning all handguns. He supports abortion. His wife kicked him out, and he moved in with two gay men and a Shih Tzu. Is that South Carolina values? I don’t think so.”

It was actually a Chihuahua named Bonnie, but the point was made.

HARTFORD, Conn. –Sen. Joe Lieberman on Sunday repeated his pledge to caucus with Senate Democrats when the 110th Congress convenes in January, but refused to slam the door on possibly moving to the Republican side of the aisle.

Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if he might follow the example of Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont, who left the Republicans in 2001 and became an independent, ending Republican control of the U.S. Senate, Lieberman refused to discount the possibility.

“I’m not ruling it out but I hope I don’t get to that point,” he said. “And I must say — and with all respect to the Republicans who supported me in Connecticut — nobody ever said, ‘We’re doing this because we want you to switch over. We want you to do what you think is right and good for our state and country,’ and I appreciate that.”

A spokeswoman for Lieberman would not elaborate when contacted by The Associated Press.

Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont defeated Lieberman in the Democratic primary in August. Lieberman was elected to a fourth term last Tuesday as an independent, and said Sunday his political affiliation will be as an “Independent Democrat.”

The Democrats won control of the Senate with 51 seats. Lieberman and newly elected Bernie Sanders of Vermont are the Senate’s only Independents.

A switch to the Republicans would bring the Senate to a 50-50 division, giving Republican Vice President Dick Cheney opportunities to break tie votes.

Jeffords’ decision to quit the GOP and become an independent tipped the balance of an evenly divided Senate, handing control to the Democrats with a one-vote margin.

Source: Boston.com