Archive RSS Feed: Reuters Tales from the Trail 2008

McCain to hit South Carolina as Michigan votes come in

HOWELL, Mich. - Republican presidential candidate John McCain is campaigning hard to win the Michigan primary on Tuesday, but by the time the results roll in he will have already moved on to the next state.McCain, along with the staff and reporters who travel with him, will fly to South Carolina on Tuesday afternoon before the polls close in Michigan. The campaign plans a 'Michigan Election Night Watch Party” that evening in Charleston, S.C.Thus far, presidential candidates have waited until after polls close before leaving the state they are trying to win.A win in Michigan would obviously boost McCain’s candidacy, but it’s not seen as a do-or-die scenario as it is for his top rival here, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Romney has banked on winning early contests to build support for his campaign nationally, but so far came up short in Iowa and New Hampshire.Romney said on CNN Sunday morning that he plans to stay in the race through Feb. 5 (when 22 states hold primaries) even if he doesn’t win Michigan, the state in which his dad served as governor in the 1960s. He will spend the night in Michigan after the results come in.By jetting to South Carolina, McCain hopes to make a move on other Republican rivals, such as southerners Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson who have been concentrating on that state.Of course, there could be another factor as well. It was 75 degrees and sunny when the campaign left Charleston for Michigan on Friday. Now in Michigan, it was 34 degrees and snowing.Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.- Photo credit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

Romney highlights any and all Michigan connections

DETROIT - It’s been nostalgia week for Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney as he campaigns in his native Michigan trying to find some momentum for his bid.The former Massachusetts governor was born in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. and now is counting on the Great Lakes State, which votes on Tuesday, to revive his campaign after he came in second in the first two key early nominating contests Iowa and New Hampshire.Trying to round up votes on the trail, Romney frequently recounts his childhood in the state, his father’s service as its governor, going to the annual auto show with him (and Romney will visit again Monday), as well as reminding voters that his mother and father are buried here.Romney visited the state capitol in Lansing and paid homage by his father’s portrait in the rotunda. At another stop in Livonia, his first grade teacher showed up to say hello. And then at a raucous rally in Southfield, Mich. on Sunday a supporter brought a sign from his father’s 1968 failed presidential campaign.However, it remains to be seen whether Romney’s family history in the state will provide enough coat-tails for the White House hopeful.Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.- Photo credit: Reuters/John Gress

Heckler calls Giuliani ‘baby-killer’ in Miami

MIAMI - A heckler gave Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani a little in-your-face grief on Sunday, calling the former New York mayor 'a baby killer.”Giuliani, who has pinned his presidential hopes on the Jan. 29 Florida primary after largely ignoring Iowa and New Hampshire, was working the crowd at a restaurant in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood when the protester began shouting.'This man is a baby killer! An abortionist!” Joseph Landry, of St. Augustine, Florida, yelled, startling people having brunch at the Green Street Cafe in the affluent area.'It’s not true, it’s not true,” some Giuliani supporters shouted back.Giuliani, who was raised a Roman Catholic, has been deemed unpalatable to many Republicans for views that have put him at odds with the party’s conservative evangelical base.He has been married three times and supports abortion rights, despite expressing his personal distaste for abortion. He opposes gay marriage, but in other respects supports gay rights.Landry identified himself as a member of Society for Truth and Justice, a group that opposes abortion rights.He called Giuliani a Democrat in Republican clothing.'Florida needs to know that Rudy Giuliani is not pro-life,” Landry said. 'He says he’s personally opposed, but that doesn’t save babies.”Landry turned up at two other Giuliani events on Sunday, following the candidate along the street through Miami’s Little Havana, shouting into a megaphone 'Rudy is a baby killer.”Anti-abortion rights groups say they will have campaigners at each of Giuliani’s stops during the next two days. He has 10 events scheduled in Florida Monday and Tuesday, spanning the state from Naples in the southwest to Jacksonville in the northeast.Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.- Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria

No wrecks, but candidates nearly collide at Detroit auto show

DETROIT - No presidential candidate could resist touring the Detroit Auto Show on the eve of Michigan’s Republican presidential primary on Tuesday, and there were at least two near-crashes between their entourages.While former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney answered reporters’ questions in front of Chevrolet’s (GM) concept hydrogen fuel cell car, rival Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansasgovernor, got briefed a few feet away on the merits of a Chevrolet hybrid SUV.A Romney aide pleaded with Huckabee’s camp for some space, but apparently didn’t get much cooperation. Still, many in Romney’s bulging press corps failed to notice the intrusion.Meanwhile, Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent backing his Senate colleague from Arizona, John McCain, passed a few feet away as Romney inspected Ford Motor Co.’s latest models.McCain was due to arrive a little later on Monday at the auto show, a premier event for the industry that was born in Michigan.Romney, surrounded by cameras and gawking car company executives, also peeked into new models from Chrysler LLC, General Motors, and Ford - while avoiding any foreign-owned carmakers.Romney, who grew up in Michigan, peeked into Chrysler’s Jeep line of new concept cars that are not yet in mass production. Jeeps were once made by American Motors, a company which his father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, ran before entering politics. The company was later absorbed by Chrysler.Romney repeated his call for the federal government to 'throw life savers, not anvils” at Detroit’s domestic automakers so they can compete on a level playing field.Asked what cars he owns, Romney hedged initially, then said he had a Ford Mustang, a Cadillac model from GM, a Chevrolet Silverado, and a 1962 American Motors Rambler given to him by his children. He also said he hoped to win the primary, and pledged to fight on, whether he crashes and burns in Michigan or not.Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.- Photo credit: Reuters/John Gress (Romney meets with Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli)

Voters focus on water in Great Lakes state

TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan - The troubled economy isn’t the only issue on the mind of Michigan voters. Republican White House hopeful Sen. John McCain has been fielding questions about water rights at many stops on his campaign.Unlike the parched states in the west, where the battle over water can make or break cities, Michigan is surrounded by the largest source of fresh water in the world.Michigan and other Great Lakes states from New York to Minnesota want to keep it that way with a deal that would prevent that water from being piped outside the region.When asked what he thinks about this proposal at townhall meetings, McCain starts off with a joke about his home in the desert state of Arizona.'As much as I would like to see a great pipeline emptying into Cindy’s and my backyard, it will not happen,” he said Monday in Kalamazoo, referring to his wife.He then assures voters that he would not override any decision reached by states on water rights. But he usually can’t resist squeezing in one more joke.'In Arizona we have so little water the trees chase the dogs,” he said in Kalamazoo.Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.- Photo credit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton (McCain at a rally in Kalamazoo.)

Detroit auto show: McCain in the driver’s seat (of a car)

Presidential candidate John McCain joined his rivals, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, at the Detroit auto show, gawking at the latest hybrid powered cars ahead of the hotly-contested Republican primary on Tuesday.The Arizona senator and former fighter pilot seemed at ease sitting in Chrysler's Dodge Zeo concept car (pictured right with Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli) with its batwing door and glass roof.In what may or may not be foreshadowing of Tuesday's vote, McCain sat in the driver's seat. Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who has stumped for votes for McCain in several states, sat next to him and joked about wanting to own a version of the orange concept car.McCain, like Romney and Huckabee, met withNardelli and Chrysler co-President Jim Press, who later said McCain was very interested in alternative fuels and helping the automakers with legislation in Washington. Nardelli was the only CEO to meet with all three presidential candidates as Ford sent Mark Fields, head of the Americas, and General Motors sent a top Chevrolet executive.Romney, whose father was governor of Michigan and led a company that Chrysler eventually absorbed, spent the most time of the three at the show. When asked what kind of cars he prefers, he responded, "I love sporty cars."Romney said he owned a Ford Mustang, a Cadillac model from GM, a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck and a 1962 American Motors Rambler given to him by his children.Huckabee (pictured left with wife in a Ford concept) said at the GM stand: "I drive a 1995 Silverado with 200,000 miles on it. It may be time to trade it in." He added he would consider a hybrid.Despite urging from some in the crowd to visit foreign automakers, all three candidates stuck to the stands of the Big 3 US automakers, whose heavily unionized workers will be going to the polls on Tuesday.(Photos: Reuters)

McCain hopes Lieberman will draw independents

YPSILANTI, Michigan - Republican presidential candidate John McCain had a special guest to help him appeal to independents voting here on Tuesday - Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a former Democrat who is now an independent.Lieberman, the party’s vice presidential nominee in 2000, urged moderate and conservative Democrats in Michigan to vote for McCain rather than participate in their party’s all-but-meaningless contest.'We are electing a commander in chief at a time of war, and there’s no candidate in either party better prepared to be the commander in chief we need,” Lieberman told voters at a campaign event here.Lieberman won re-election to the Senate as an independent in 2006 after losing the Democratic primary to a candidate who criticized his support for the Iraq war. In the Senate he continues to vote with Democrats on most issues.Independent and Democratic voters could prove crucial in Michigan’s closely contested Republican primary. Democratic candidates have not been campaigning here because their national party ruled that the contest does not count. State rules allow voters to cast ballots in either contest.Independent voters helped McCain beat former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in New Hampshire last week, and the Arizona senator is hoping for a repeat.'We’re depending on Republicans, Democrats, libertarians, vegetarians, Trotskyites ... we’re hoping to get a big turnout from everybody,” McCain said earlier in the day outside a polling place in Traverse City, in the state’s northwest corner.Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.- Photo credit: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton (McCain greets Lieberman at a rally in Ypsilanti.)

Clinton-Obama clash could play into Republican hands, former president says

NEW YORK - The truce in a racially-tinged clash between Sen. Hillary Clinton andSen. Barack Obama was 'the right thing” for the Democratic presidential rivalsto do because the close contest between the two candidates is not about race or gender, former President Bill Clinton said.The two White House hopefuls, vying for black voters,toned down their rhetoric over race on Monday, seeking to smooth over a clash that was dividing their party thathas prided itself on standing up for minority rights.'First of all, it looks like the nominee of the Democratic Party is going to be an African-Americanman or a woman,” Clinton said during a radio call-in show hosted by activist Rev. Al Sharpton. 'Both are historic and, as far as I can tell, neither one of them are losing votes because of their race or gender. They may be getting some votes because of their race or gender, but they’re not losing any, and that’s a good thing for America.'Theyhave differences in background, approach and record and positions in this election and those ought to be debated,” he said. 'Americaought to pick the person they think to be the best president, but I think that we don’t want to play into the Republicans’ hands by crippling either one of them by making this race about something it’s not, and I think they did the right thing for the country.”The war of words erupted when Clintonmadecomments that some interpreted as downgrading Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’srole in passing the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act while giving the bulk of the credit to then-President Lyndon Johnson. Clinton accused Obama of distorting her remarks.'I’ve been a little concerned about the tenor of the campaign over the last few days,” Obama saidin Reno, Nevada. 'We share the same goals, we are all Democrats, we all believe in civil rights, we all believe in equal rights.”The same day, theformer first lady took a similartone in an address to union and churchmembers in New York at an event surrounding King’sbirthday.'Each of us, no matter who we are or where we started from, is a beneficiary of Dr. King,” she said. 'Both Sen. Obama and I know that we are where we are today because of leaders like Dr. King and generations of men and women like all of you.”Both candidates are courting black voters ahead of the nominating contest in South Carolina, where a high proportion of those expected to vote in the Democratic primary are black.Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.â€“ Photo credit: Reuters/Rick Wilking (Clinton during a campaign event in Nevada.)

Call for religious respect on campaign trail

DALLAS - A group of Catholic, evangelical and mainline Protestant leaders have asked that religion not be used to advancepartisan political agendas on the presidential campaign trail.Thestatement, signed by over two dozen priests, pastors and theologians, says that religion has intruded into the primary season in what the signatories see as troubling ways.'In this year’s presidential campaign, we are troubled to see candidates pressed to pronounce the nature of their religious beliefs, asked if they believe every word of the Bible... and faced with prejudicial analyses of their denominational doctrines,” it says.The statement was issued by Faith in Public Life and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, two organizations dedicated in different ways to bridging gaps between faiths and focusing on issues of social justice.The statementlines out three basic principles it would like candidates and their supporters from both parties to follow:1. That religious differences should not be used to marginalize or disparage candidates.2. That candidates should acknowledge 'that no faith can lay exclusive cliam to the moral values that enrich our public life.”3. 'While it is appropriate for candidates to connect their faith to their policy positions, their positions on policy must respect all citizens regardless of religious belief.”Religion has popped up frequently on the trail, which is unsurprisingin America, where levels of belief and church attendance are far higher than those in Europe.Republican candidate Mitt Romney felt compelled last month to give a speech in which he pledged that his Mormon faith would not run the White House; rival Mike Huckabee is an ordained Baptist preacher who sprinkles his speeches with Biblical allusions; and the leading Democrats have also spoken openly about their religious beliefs.Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.â€“ Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria (Obama at a church in Iowa in December.)

Forget the White House, Clinton eyes America’s Next Top Model

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton would love to be on the popular reality television show 'America’s Next Top Model” but sees her dancing skills as the best of her talents.Model Tyra Banks, who hosts the show as well as her own talk show, asked Clinton which reality show she would like to be on, 'Dancing with the Stars,” 'American Idol” or 'America’s Next Top Model.” 'In my dreams I would be on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ but in reality I would have to choose my limited talents and of them dancing is better than singing. You do not want me to sing,” she said, maybe a reference to her poor rendition of the national anthem caught by the microphones last year.But Clinton suggested a different contest, one to decide what moniker for her ex-president husband should they occupy the White House again.'Here are some of the things that have been suggested like First Mate. His Scottish friends say ‘First Laddie,’ but we need ideas. I’ll just keep calling him Bill,” Clinton said, according to the transcript released by her campaign.Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.â€“ Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Clinton during a roundtable in Columbia, S.C.)