Huckabee To Join Fox News

According to inside sources Gov. Huckabee will now be an commentator on Fox News on the Presidential election which means his chances as a VP are not looking good.

Hillary for VP?

What seems to be a dream ticket for the Democrats seems just that to Hillary a dream. Rumors have been surfacing that the Obamas do not like the Clinton's, but just because they do not like one another does not mean that could keep them from working together. JFK did the same thing with LBJ back in the 60s. Now the questions arises will Obama choose Clinton and have a strong ticket or go with someone else in mind. Either way McCain and the Republican party has a lot of work to do before November.

McCain, Obama plunge into 5-month general election

By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Change is coming, that much Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama agree on as they plunge into a five-month campaign for the White House.

The primaries behind them, the presidential rivals were wasting no time drawing the battle line for a fall fight that will make history with the election of either the oldest first-term president in McCain or the first black leader in Obama. In speeches marking the start of the general election, both maneuvered for the advantage with voters sour on the status quo.

McCain, a four-term Arizona senator seeking to succeed a fellow Republican, uttered the word "change" more than 30 times as he tried to distance himself from President Bush and blister his Democratic rival. Obama uttered the phrase 19 times in a speech that claimed the Democratic presidential nomination.

"The wrong change looks not to the future but to the past for solutions that have failed us before and will surely fail us again," McCain, 71, said in suburban New Orleans. "I have a few years on my opponent, so I am surprised that a young man has bought into so many failed ideas."

In St. Paul, Minn., Obama, 46 and a first-term Illinois senator, ceded no ground on the reformer mantle and cast McCain as a continuation of the unpopular Bush's eight-year tenure.

"My differences with him are not personal; they are with the policies he has proposed in this campaign. Because while John McCain can legitimately tout moments of independence from his party in the past, such independence has not been the hallmark of his presidential campaign," Obama said.

The campaign is the first in half a century in which neither a sitting president nor a vice president is running for the highest office, and the first since 1960 in which a senator will assume the White House. A fragile economy and an ongoing Iraq war, as well as matters of age and race serve as a backdrop.

Both McCain and Obama were full of praise for defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton as the two sought to make a play for her loyalist backers — women and working-class voters.

Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady, stopped short of dropping out of the race even though Obama had reached the requisite delegate count for the Democratic Party's nomination. Instead of conceding, Clinton said she would spend the next few days determining "how to move forward with the best interests of our country and our party guiding my way."

Behind the scenes, she maneuvered for the vice presidential spot on Obama's fall ticket, expressing a willingness in a conference call with her state's congressional delegation. "I am open to it" if it would help the party's prospects in November, Clinton replied, according to participants who spoke on condition of anonymity because the call was private. Obama's aides were noncommittal.

In the meantime, the party was swinging behind him.

"We have come to the end of an exciting primary and caucus process — the voters have spoken," four top party leaders said in a joint statement issued early Wednesday.

"Democrats must now turn our full attention to the general election," they continued. "To that end, we are urging all remaining uncommitted super delegates to make their decisions known by Friday of this week so that our party can stand united and begin our march toward reversing the eight years of failed Bush/McCain policies that have weakened our country."

The statement was issued by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, head of the Democratic Governors Association, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

Officials said Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland was ready to endorse Obama on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, both Obama and Clinton were addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group.

On the final night of the primary season, Clinton won South Dakota while Obama took Montana — and a slew of party superdelegates who declared their support to help him clinch the party nod. He did it, according to The Associated Press tally, based on primary elections, state Democratic caucuses and support from superdelegates. It took 2,118 delegates to clinch the nomination at the convention in Denver this summer, and Obama had 2,144 by the AP count.

In contrast to the 17-month Democratic primary, Republicans gave McCain the status of likely GOP nominee in March. Since then, McCain has laid the groundwork for the general election campaign by portraying Obama as lacking the experience and judgment needed to be commander in chief.

McCain spoke first and he accused his younger rival of voting "to deny funds to the soldiers who have done a brilliant and brave job" in Iraq. It was a reference to 2007 legislation to pay for the Iraq war, a measure Obama opposed, citing the lack of a timetable for withdrawing troops.

The Republican was taking his message — that he has a record of reform while his opponent simply has rhetoric — directly to the voters in morning appearances on network news programs from Louisiana, where he will campaign later Wednesday.

Obama addressed thousands of cheering backers in the same Minnesota arena where Republicans will hold their nominating convention in early September. He promised an aboveboard debate and seemed to suggest that the GOP simply engages in divisive politics.

Said Obama: "What you don't deserve is another election that's governed by fear, and innuendo, and division. What you won't hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge and patriotism as a bludgeon — that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize."

Bush Doing Better then Congress

According to Real Clear Politics George Bush has an approval rating of 30 % while congress has an approval ratting of 19%. It seems that people are beginning to realize that a Democrat controlled congress was not as good as it sounded.

Huckabee's Respons to CA ruling

Yesterday’s stunning and outrageous ruling of the California Supreme Court adds to the demand for a national Constitutional amendment that affirms that marriage is the relationship of one man/one woman. Traditional marriage is not only being attacked by runaway divorce rates from within the institution, but the California ruling, the Massachusetts same sex marriage law, and the polygamist camp in Texas remind us that not everyone seems to have gotten the memo on marriage.

This is not a time to be angry, but broken hearted. We should not hurl insults, but get on our knees and pray that we will have moral courage to stand for truth and what’s right, but the Master’s compassion to do so without rancor. It should be another wake up call as we as a culture keep hitting the snooze alarm.

Huckabee says he would like to be McCain's No. 2

WASHINGTON - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Sunday he'd like to be John McCain's running mate.

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"There's no one I would rather be on a ticket with than John McCain," said Huckabee, who was a stronger than expected challenger against McCain for the Republican presidential nomination. "All during the campaign when I was his rival, not a running mate, there was no one who was more complimentary of him publicly and privately. ... I still wanted to win, but if I couldn't, John McCain was always the guy I would have supported and have now supported.

"But whether or not I do the best for him, that's something that only he can decide," Huckabee said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister who had strong support from religious conservatives, won the leadoff Iowa caucuses and seven other states. He left the race in March after Arizona Sen. McCain clinched the nomination following a series of big victories.

Huckabee also apologized again for remarks he made Friday to the National Rifle Association. Responding to an offstage noise during a speech, Huckabee said it was Democrat Barack Obama diving to the floor after someone had aimed a gun at him. Huckabee issued an apology Friday evening.

"It was a dumb, off-the-cuff remark," he said. "I apologized for it immediately. Anybody that knows me knows that I would never, ever try to inject something like that to create any dangerous moment for any candidate."

Huckabee added: "It wasn't the first dumb thing I've ever said. And ... it won't be the last dumb thing I've ever said."

Gay Marrage Legal in CA

By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - A California Supreme Court decision clearing the way for gay marriages in the state injects an element of uncertainty into a presidential race in which the Iraq war and the sputtering economy have largely overshadowed social issues.

John McCain, the GOP nominee-in-waiting whose position on the issue rankles the Republican Party's conservative base, sought to strike a delicate balance to the Thursday ruling.

He "supports the right of the people of California to recognize marriage as a unique institution sanctioning the union between a man and a woman, just as he did in his home state of Arizona," his campaign said in response. "John McCain doesn't believe judges should be making these decisions."

McCain rejected the will of the state's high court even as he tried to maintain his long-held stance that the issue should be left to the states. He suggested that he backs an effort by California's religious conservatives to put a constitutional amendment defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman on the November ballot.

The Arizona senator opposes gay marriage but, in a break with the GOP's right flank, he also opposes a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex unions on grounds that states traditionally have decided the issue. McCain did work to ban gay marriage in Arizona, campaigning for a ballot measure there in 2006. The measure failed.

This year, there are indications that the GOP's conservative base is not nearly as energized as the Democrats' liberal base. If true, a California ballot initiative — and others in Arizona and Florida — could help mobilize dispirited conservatives to turn out in the fall there and elsewhere, and, perhaps, boost McCain's prospects.

Complicating McCain's position, his top ally in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said in a statement that he respected the court's decision and would uphold the ruling. But he also said: "I will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling."

Like McCain, Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton say the marriage issue should be left to the states, and they, too, seemed to tread carefully.

"Barack Obama has always believed that same-sex couples should enjoy equal rights under the law, and he will continue to fight for civil unions as president. He respects the decision of the California Supreme Court, and continues to believe that states should make their own decisions when it comes to the issue of marriage," the Illinois senator's campaign said.

Clinton's campaign said she "believes that gay and lesbian couples in committed relationships should have the same rights and responsibilities as all Americans and believes that civil unions are the best way to achieve this goal. As president, Hillary Clinton will work to ensure same-sex couples have access to these rights and responsibilities at the federal level. She has said and continues to believe that the issue of marriage should be left to the states."

In a victory for gay-rights advocates, the California court narrowly overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage and said domestic partnerships are not a substitute for marriage.

Some Democrats and gay-rights advocates rejoiced. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the ruling "a significant milestone."

In turn, some Republicans and gay-marriage opponents vowed to press forward with their ballot initiative effort. Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council, said, "It's outrageous that the court has overturned not only the historic definition of marriage, but the clear will of the people of California."

California's secretary of state is expected to rule by the end of June whether the sponsors have gathered enough signatures to put the anti-gay-marriage question on the ballot. If approved, it would trump the court's decision.

In 2004 and 2006, voters in more than 20 states approved similar measures, and conservative groups were extraordinarily active in mobilizing their rank-and-file to go to the polls to support the initiatives. Some analysts have suggested that such turnout activity helped lift President Bush to re-election over Democrat John Kerry four years ago. Others dispute the notion.

Given the Iraq war and the economy, social issues such as gay marriage have seemed to matter little so far in the 2008 presidential race.

Until midwinter, the war was the dominant concern among voters. Since then, the economy has become their top concern.

Gay marriage aside, five proposals related to other conservative issues — abortion and race-based affirmative action — have failed to even make state ballots. And, besides California, Arizona and Florida are the only other states likely to vote on a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Now, however, conservative activists will have a talking point as they work to rally their supporters.