Breaking Story
John Edwards Quitting Presidential Race
01.30.08 -- 7:05 AM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who focused his bid for the Democratic nomination on helping the middle class, will withdraw from the presidential race in a speech later on Wednesday.
A campaign official said Edwards would announce his decision to pull out during a speech in New Orleans at 1 p.m. EST.
Edwards has not one a single contest in the Democratic race for president, and lags behind front-runners Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in public opinion polls.
The South Carolina native, a millionaire lawyer, was returning to New Orleans, where he began his campaign keyed to a theme of combating poverty in America.
The decision came shortly after Edwards lost in South Carolina to Obama and Clinton in the only state he won during his failed 2004 presidential bid.
He has lagged all year behind the two in the race for the Democratic party nomination.
(Reporting by Deborah Charles, editing by Lori Santos)
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Giuliani Seeks to Prove Experts Wrong
01.29.08 -- 6:27 AM
Rudy Giuliani, having bet almost his entire presidential campaign on Florida, hinted for the first time that he may drop out if he doesn't win the state's primary but insisted anew as the polls opened Tuesday that he intends to win.
"I expect to win it," he said. "You don't contemplate losing it. That isn't something you do on the day of a primary."
Polls show the former New York mayor, last year's national front-runner, trailing badly in the state where he has poured most of his time and energy in his pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination. If he wins Florida, he will have earned the biggest, brashest "I told you so" of his political career.
Lose, and Giuliani may be uttering his final words of the campaign.
"Wednesday morning, we'll make a decision," he told reporters between campaign appearances Monday. "The winner of Florida will win the nomination; we're going to win Florida."
Pressed to elaborate on that remark during morning TV appearances Tuesday, Giuliani declined to go further.
"We are going to win," he insisted. "Of course if you don't win you figure out another strategy"
Just last week, he insisted that no matter what the outcome in Florida he would continue running.
"In the past, I've done the impossible - things that people thought were impossible," he told supporters at a rally Monday. He was talking about immigration policy at the time, but he might as well have been discussing how to resuscitate his presidential campaign.
In an unconventional move, Giuliani largely bypassed the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan and South Carolina, pinning his hopes on a fractured field and the prospect that his moderate GOP record would attract support in the delegate-rich states of Florida, New York, California and Illinois.
Florida has been less than hospitable. Surveys show rivals Mitt Romney and John McCain fighting for the lead, and the state's top two Republicans - Sen. Mel Martinez and Gov. Charlie Crist - endorsed McCain.
Inside an airport hangar, as a crowd of Giuliani supporters dispersed, some grumbled about Crist's decision to endorse McCain, a major slight to the ex-mayor.
"That was a rotten trick. I'm disappointed," said John Fischer, a self-described "geezer from New Jersey" sporting bright red suspenders and a Giuliani sticker plastered to his cap.
Giuliani was the early favorite among Republicans last year, due to his larger-than-life role leading New York after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It earned the cover of national magazines and drove a multimillion-dollar consulting business. Even years after the attacks, complete strangers would sometimes burst into tears when they met him.
But as the last year's primary positioning grew more intense and the grunt work of ground campaigning wore on, Giuliani's lead evaporated, resulting in weak showings in early states. He finished sixth in Iowa, fourth in New Hampshire.
He has settled on an all-or-nothing Florida strategy, and if he cannot pull off the upset, he will have scant support or resources left to compete with McCain or Romney in next week's 20-plus primaries and caucuses. He has spent $1 million a week on advertising in Florida.
His poll-opening remarks Tuesday came on NBC's "Today" and ABC's "Good Morning America."
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Obama Says South Carolina Win Turns a Page
01.28.08 -- 6:24 AM
Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday that his landslide win in South Carolina's presidential primary marks a turn in political history, showing that a black candidate can appeal to voters of all colors and in all regions.
The Illinois senator told a raucous crowd of more than 9,000 here that his big victory Saturday disproved the old notion "that if you get black votes, you can't get white votes," and vice versa.
"We're going to write a new chapter in the South, we're going to write a new chapter in American history," he said during his 64-minute speech to a capacity crowd at the University of Alabama at Birmingham basketball arena. The crowd was roughly two-thirds black and one-third white.
Earlier Sunday he made a similar argument, responding to comments by former President Clinton that some interpreted as an effort to diminish Obama's win Saturday over Hillary Rodham Clinton. Bill Clinton noted that Jesse Jackson won the South Carolina primary in 1984 and 1988. Jackson never became the party's presidential nominee.
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Analysis: Romney, McCain Turn Up Rancor
01.27.08 -- 11:54 AM
Mitt Romney and John McCain are in an increasingly bitter and personal struggle to control the campaign conversation before Florida's primary on Tuesday - and the Republican presidential nomination itself may go to the one who succeeds.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and venture capitalist, casts himself as a business-savvy economic turnaround artist amid recession anxiety, while McCain, the Arizona senator and former Vietnam veteran, portrays himself as a courageous wartime commander in chief in a dangerous world.
"He has an enormous disadvantage when it comes to the topics of changing Washington or fixing our economy," Romney said Sunday, arguing that he is far stronger than McCain on both issues.
Countered McCain: "Even if the economy is the, quote, No. 1 issue, the real issue will remain America's security" - and, unlike him, Romney is deficient in that area.
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Obama leads South Carolina; McCain up in Florida
01.26.08 -- 6:57 AM
Democrat Barack Obama expanded his lead on rival Hillary Clinton to 15 points heading into South Carolina's bitterly contested presidential primary, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Saturday.
Obama, an Illinois senator, gained two points on Clinton overnight to lead 41 percent to 26 percent just hours before voting began in Saturday's primary. John Edwards was in third place after slipping two points to 19 percent.
In Florida, where Republican presidential contenders meet in a critical primary on Tuesday, John McCain had a narrow 3-point advantage on rival Mitt Romney, 31 percent to 28 percent, in the state's initial rolling poll.
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Bill Clinton: Wife's 'Defender-In-Chief'
01.24.08 -- 12:54 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) - It started with dismissive talk of a fairy tale and deteriorated into more of a nightmare.
As he campaigns for his wife's presidential run, Bill Clinton has been taking aim at her rival Barack Obama and the media with increasing rancor, trading the roles of elder statesman and supportive spouse for that of attack dog.
Obama has joined in, going after the former president with increasingly heated criticism.
Bill Clinton, campaigning in South Carolina, complained Wednesday that Obama had put out a "hit job" on him. He didn't explain what that meant.
"Shame on you!" he scolded a reporter who asked about the racial dynamics of the campaign in South Carolina. Clinton himself has repeatedly discussed the racial issue.
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Obama Continues Attack on Hillary Clinton, Questions Her Candor
01.23.08 -- 4:51 PM
Democrat Barack Obama questioned Hillary Rodham Clinton's candor and trustworthiness Wednesday, saying she has indulged in double-talk on bankruptcy laws, trade and other issues. Politicians "don't always say what they mean, or mean what they say," the Illinois senator told about 900 people at Winthrop University. "That is what this debate in this party is all about."
The atmosphere grew more charged throughout the day after Clinton's campaign aired an ad in the state suggesting Obama approved of Republican ideas.
Extending a theme he has stressed in recent days, Obama mocked the New York senator for saying she voted for a 2001 bankruptcy bill but was happy it did not become law.
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Romney Battle of Attrition in White House Race
01.21.08 -- 8:04 AM
JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Reuters) - Voters had a glimpse into Mitt Romney's strategy for winning the Republican nomination and the White House when he leapt onto the back of a flatbed truck shortly before his victory in Nevada.
After handing out doughnuts, Romney told supporters in a Las Vegas suburb his eyes were on California -- a delegate-rich state with big sway on February 5 "Super Tuesday," when more than 20 states will hold contests for the nominees in the November presidential election.
To drive home the point on Friday, Romney was with a Californian niece, Kristen Hubbs. "It's going to be a long, fun campaign," said the former Massachusetts governor. "I had no idea how long it was going to be."
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Clinton Holds Narrow Nevada Lead on Obama
01.18.08 -- 7:26 AM
Democrat Hillary Clinton holds a narrow 5-point lead on rival Barack Obama in Nevada on the eve of the state's presidential nominating contest, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Friday.
Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, led Obama, an Illinois senator, by 42 percent to 37 percent in the rolling tracking poll. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was a distant third with 12 percent.
In South Carolina, where Republicans vote on Saturday, Arizona Sen. John McCain maintained a steady 7-point edge on former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, 29 percent to 22 percent, although rival and Mitt Romney gained three points overnight to climb into third place at 15 percent.
Both polls had a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
Nevada and South Carolina are the next battlegrounds in the race to choose candidates for November's election to succeed President George W. Bush, with the winners in each state hoping to pick up some momentum as the calendar accelerates to February 5 contests in 22 states.
So far, no candidate in either party has been able to build up any real steam in a chaotic race that has seen five winners in the first five major state contests.
Obama and Clinton split the first two Democratic battles and have been running close in polls in Nevada, where turnout is uncertain. Nevada's Democratic nominating contest in 2004 drew just 9,000 participants, and no one is sure how many will turn out this time.
"This is a very competitive race, but it will depend on organization," pollster John Zogby said. "This is a caucus without much history to go on, so we have to see who can do the best job of turning out their vote."
The poll showed Clinton, who would be the first woman U.S. president, led Obama among women, whites, Hispanics, conservatives, older voters and among voters in union households. Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, led easily among blacks and younger voters.
CASINO VOTING
The two Democrats have clashed in the past week over a plan to allow voting in casino hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, approved by a federal judge on Thursday, and over Clinton's comments on race that were seen by some as a slight on civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
Republicans also hold a contest in Nevada on Saturday in a race that has drawn less attention from the media and candidates. The Republican race in Nevada was not polled by Zogby.
The Republican presidential contenders have focused on South Carolina, the first primary in the South. McCain, an Arizona senator who won New Hampshire, hopes to rebound from his loss in Michigan on Tuesday.
McCain finished second there to Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who promised to revive the state's ailing manufacturing base. Romney's overnight rise was the first sign of a bounce from his Michigan win, Zogby said.
"There is some movement afoot," he said. In the most recent day of polling, Romney had reached 19 percent, he said.
Huckabee, a Baptist minister who won Iowa and is hoping to make inroads with the state's big bloc of evangelical voters, still led among "born-again" voters and those who say they are "very" conservative.
But McCain held a clear edge among independents, Republicans, Democrats, liberals, moderates and older voters.
Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson was fourth with 13 percent, Texas Rep. Ron Paul was at 4 percent and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, still waiting to make his first foray into the race on January 29 in Florida, was at 2 percent.
About 9 percent of Republican voters were unsure who they would support, with about 5 percent of Democrats uncertain.
The rolling tracking polls of 815 likely Republican voters in South Carolina and 814 likely Democratic voters in Nevada were taken Tuesday through Thursday and will continue one more day.
In a rolling poll, the most recent day's results are added while the oldest day's results are dropped in order to track changing momentum.
(Editing by Todd Eastham)
(For more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)
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Obama, Clinton Tied in Democratic Race
01.16.08 -- 6:46 AM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama has erased a once substantial deficit to climb into a virtual tie with Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential race, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
Among Republicans, John McCain charged to the front of a shifting presidential field, shooting past Mike Huckabee and a fading Rudy Giuliani as the opening contests of the 2008 White House campaign dramatically reshaped the races in both parties.
Heading into potentially crucial contests in Nevada, South Carolina and Florida, the campaign to choose candidates for the November election to succeed President George W. Bush has shown deep volatility.
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