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<h1>McCain to win Wisconsin</h1>- Story Highlights
- Obama, Clinton make campaign stops in states holding contests in two weeks
- Wisconsin voters face single-digit temperatures
- McCain says he can appeal to independents as well as Republicans
- Voters in Wisconsin, Hawaii and Washington state head to the polls Tuesday
(CNN) -- Sen. John McCain will win Wisconsin's Republican primary, CNN projects.
As polls closed, it was too early to call the Democratic race between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Exit polls show Obama ahead.
McCain is the presumptive nominee for his party, but he must pick up 1,191 delegates to seal the nomination.
While the Arizona senator leads by a wide margin in the delegate count, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has said he intends to stay in the race.
"We see the last stand only when somebody has 1,191 delegates," Huckabee said Tuesday.
"Other than that, we may go all the way to Minneapolis-St. Paul, to the convention.
"People are for the most part spoiled by the last three election cycles when it's sort of a done deal before we ever got to the convention," he said.
"It might boost enthusiasm for the party if we got to the convention, then decided who the nominee was going to be."
McCain was looking for big wins Tuesday to demonstrate he is starting to unify the Republican party behind his nomination, including conservatives upset by his positions on immigration, campaign finance and other issues.
The Democratic contenders, speaking in states that hold critical primaries March 4, were already looking ahead of the Democratic primary in Wisconsin -- the biggest of the three states up for grabs Tuesday.
Clinton told an audience in the Cleveland suburb of Parma, Ohio, that more needs to be done to aid cities. "I think we have to think more creatively. We can't just do the same things over and over again," the New York senator said.
In San Antonio, Texas, Obama said predatory lenders who are now in financial trouble spent millions lobbying Congress, and some contributed heavily to Bush's campaign. He called the situation "an outrage."
"It didn't have to be this way. For some time we'd been warned that the problems in the housing market could spill into other corners of the economy," Obama said in his opening remarks.
"And yet rather than stop it from happening, George Bush's Washington was an enabler, caving in to lobbyists and letting our economy go down a dangerous road."
Early voting began in Texas on Tuesday.
Clinton and Obama were running a tight race for the Democratic nomination, while on the Republican side, presumptive nominee McCain was hoping voters could help him finally knock his last major rival out of the race.
View pictures from the polls and campaign trail »In addition to Wisconsin, Washington state and Hawaii were holding contests Tuesday.
McCain and Obama have been targeting each other in campaign speeches recently, but Tuesday morning, their wives got into the fray.
As Cindy McCain introduced her husband at a campaign event, she told the crowd "I am proud of my country. I don't know about you, if you heard those words earlier -- I am very proud of my country."
The comment seemed to be a response to a remark from Michelle Obama the day before. On Monday, she told a Wisconsin audience that "For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country, because it feels like hope is making a comeback.... not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change."
After Tuesday's event, the McCains were asked if the Arizona senator's wife had been responding to that comment. Cindy McCain did not directly answer the question, responding: "I just wanted to make the statement that I have and always will be proud of my country."
Meanwhile, as voters headed to the polls in Wisconsin Tuesday, they faced some fierce conditions.
I-Reporter Michael Stouffer of Wausau, Wisconsin, said the weather would not stop him from getting to the polls, though he did fear the snowfall could prevent the elderly from voting.
Stouffer said he was prepared to vote for Obama in the Democratic primary after voting Republican in the last election.
"I think Hillary has the experience, but it's time to take the tablecloth off and give it a shake," he said.
Whether Obama can convince more voters like Stouffer -- independents and Republicans -- to vote for him may be key to an Obama victory in Wisconsin.
Obama also was looking for a win in the Hawaii Democratic caucuses, the state where the Illinois senator was born and still has family.
Obama leads Clinton in the overall delegate count -- 1,263 to 1,212, according to CNN estimates. The estimate includes the support of superdelegates, the party officials and elected officials who are free to vote for any candidate at the party's national convention.
Ninety-four Democratic delegates are at stake Tuesday.
Both candidates are short of the 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination, and it is very likely the roughly 800 superdelegates will ultimately decide who will be chosen as the Democratic presidential nominee.
Recent polls show Clinton has a chance in Wisconsin at ending Obama's winning streak. According to an American Research Group poll conducted February 15 and 16, the two candidates are in a statistical tie, with Clinton at 49 percent and Obama at 43 percent. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Watch the candidate stump in snowy Wisconsin »Another poll of Wisconsin Democratic primary voters conducted by Research 2000 for Madison television station WISC also indicates the race is too close to call. The WISC poll had Obama at 47 percent and Clinton at 42 percent. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.
In Wisconsin, Clinton is expected to do well in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and the the industrialized Fox River valley, which includes Appleton and Green Bay, in the northeastern portion of the state. Both areas have a high percentage of blue collar voters, a group Clinton has done well with in previous primaries.
Obama is expected to do well in the state's capital, Madison, which is known for its progressive politics. Obama, who has outperformed Clinton among younger voters, should also do well in the Madison area because of the large student body at the University of Wisconsin.
No polling is available for the Hawaii Democratic caucus. The Clinton campaign dispatched Chelsea Clinton, the candidate's daughter, to rally support. Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, has stumped for her brother.
Watch the Democrats battle for Hawaii »Democrats in Washington state were voting Tuesday, and election officials were opening ballots in the largely vote-by-mail state. The results will have no impact on how the state's delegates will be distributed because the delegate allocation was determined February 9 when Washington Democrats held caucuses. Obama beat Clinton, 68 percent to 31 percent.
The Republican candidates were competing for 19 delegates in Washington. Eighteen delegates were awarded earlier in the state's caucuses.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/19/feb19.contests/index.htmlPosted 19 Feb 08
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Which Democratic match up would be the hardest the defeat by the Rebublicans?
It does not matter that Edwards dropped out. Anyone can be selected to be a vice presidential candidate. I do agree with "swing vote" about Hillary choosing Obama as a running mate. Hillary would not be a wise choice for Obama to make as a running mate.
Posted 19 Feb 08
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Ex-President Bush to formally endorse McCain
<h1>Former President Bush endorses McCain</h1>- Story Highlights
- NEW: George H.W. Bush says McCain's character forged 'in crucible of war'
- McCain says he won't raise taxes under any circumstances as president
- Arizona senator set to go to Wisconsin, where rival Huckabee's been stumping
- McCain defends prediction on U.S. military presence in Iraq
HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- Former President George H.W. Bush endorsed John McCain on Monday, another sign that the Republican Party is coalescing around the Arizona senator's presumptive nomination.
"At this critical time in history... the United States cannot be allowed to falter," the 41st president said in Houston, Texas. "No one is better to lead our nation in these trying times than Senator John McCain.
"His character was forged in the crucible of war," Bush said, referring to McCain's experience as a Navy pilot and prisoner of war in Vietnam.
"Few men walking among us has sacrificed so much for the cause of freedom," Bush said.
After Bush spoke, McCain said Bush's endorsement would help in "uniting our party and moving forward."
In addition to boosting McCain's fundraising apparatus, the formal announcement in Houston, Texas, by Ronald Reagan's vice president, scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Central Time, probably will provide McCain with new political ammunition against critics who question his conservative credentials.
On Sunday, McCain brought memories of Bush's infamous broken promise not to raise taxes after the 2008 candidate was asked whether he would make a similar pledge.
Speaking on ABC's "This Week," McCain said he would not increase taxes under any circumstances and mentioned several alternatives, including lowering interest rates and lowering corporate tax rates "if our economy continues to deteriorate."
"There's a lot of things that I would think we should do to relieve that burden, including, obviously, as we all know, simplification of the tax code," he said.
Despite Bush's strong ties to the party's revered Reagan legacy, those links haven't endeared him to the GOP's conservative wing. The Bush endorsement won't necessarily help McCain with "values voters," who have always suspected that Bush the elder was not wholly committed to the anti-abortion cause.
Regarding his Supreme Court choices, "Bush 41's" tenure gave rise to a phrase that has become part of the conservative lexicon: "No more Souters," a reference to Bush Supreme Court nominee David Souter, a then-relative unknown who proved to be a high court liberal.
After Monday's endorsement, McCain, who has 830 of the 1,191 delegates needed to win the nomination, heads to Wisconsin, where his rival Mike Huckabee, who has 217 delegates, is already campaigning.
McCain strategists see the Bush endorsement as a way to send another message to the former Arkansas governor to exit the race. The Bush nod also may bolster McCain in Texas, where a strong bloc of politically active social conservatives could embarrass him in the state's March 4 primary.
On Thursday, former GOP rival Mitt Romney threw his support behind McCain, calling him a true American hero "capable of leading our country in this dangerous hour."
Watch the two former rivals shake hands »A source involved in the internal deliberations with Romney said the former Massachusetts governor concluded that it's time for the party to unite and focus on a difficult fall election environment.
Romney will "release" his delegates to McCain, meaning he will encourage them to get behind McCain's candidacy, the source said.
Romney had collected 286 delegates before he suspended his campaign two weeks ago.
Those delegates would put McCain less than 100 delegates away from securing the nomination.
McCain appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Thursday and defended his statement that U.S. troops could spend "maybe 100" years in Iraq. The senator said he was referring to a military presence similar to what the nation has in places like Japan, Germany and South Korea.
"It's not a matter of how long we're in Iraq; it's if we succeed or not," McCain said, adding that Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton "want to set a date for withdrawal -- that means chaos; that means genocide; that means undoing all the success we've achieved and al Qaeda tells the world they defeated the United States of America."
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/18/mccain.bush.endorsement/index.htmlPosted 18 Feb 08
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