WASHINGTON - Tired of those seemingly endless U.S. presidential debates?

Well the leaders of one of the nation’s most unpopular institutions, the Democratic-led U.S. Congress (approval rating below 20 percent), plan to begin a series of election-year debates of their own on Monday.

However, don’t expect to see this evening clash of lawmakers on any network or commercial television station like the presidential debates. 

C-Span, the cable station devoted to covering Congress, says it will air the debate. But it was not immediately certain if it would do so live or on a delayed basis.

In a statement, organizers say the debates are aimed at fostering bipartisan discussion of “the most important issues facing the country.”

The first debate will focus on the seesawing economy, which has emerged as a top issue in this November’s congressional and presidential elections. Eight lawmakers will debate, including Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, as well as Rep. Adam Putnam, head of the Republican Conference.

“Carried out in a genuine spirit of bipartisanship, dialogues such as these can help us to fix a broken Washington,” said Putnam of Florida. 

The first of these so-called “Congress Debates,” set to begin at 8 p.m. EST, is being hosted by the House Democratic Caucus and the House Republican Conference in cooperation with the Democratic Leadership Council and Congressional Institute. The event will be held in the nation’s capital at George Washington University. 

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

WASHINGTON - The long-running feud between Republican presidential front-runner John McCain and the Federal Election Commission got longer just as his presidential bid takes off.
 
The agency, which the Arizona senator has not been shy about publicly criticizing, says the White House hopeful may not be able to simply withdraw from the public financing system as he believed he had two weeks ago.
 
The reason? FEC Chairman David Mason said in a letter that the agency wants to know if McCain used the possibility he would receive public financing for his campaign as collateral for an additional $1 million loan he received from a Bethesda bank in December.
 
The loan helped McCain keep his campaign afloat before he caught fire in New Hampshire and began his march to the brink of clinching the Republican nomination.
 
Theoretically, the issue could be a big one for McCain because the public funds come with spending limits that would severely hinder his campaign until he accepts the nomination at the party’s convention in early September.
 
Making the issue even more difficult to resolve is the FEC’s lack of a quorum since the beginning of the year as the Senate has been unable to approve four pending nominations to the panel.
 
But McCain’s campaign said he did not use a promise of public funds as collateral, does not plan to participate in the voluntary system and does not need FEC approval to withdraw.
 
And without a quorum, FEC appears to have few options for further action with McCain.  

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/John Sommers II (McCain at a campaign stop in Ohio)   

AUSTIN, Texas - Talk about getting help from high places.

Chris Ogbonnaya, a student and football player for the University of Texas Longhorns, mentioned his plans to attend law school to Barack Obama during the Democratic presidential candidate’s visit to the team’s locker room on Thursday.

Obama, who often cites his experience teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago, offered the player his support.

“I taught law school for ten years, so if you need any tips, let me know,” Obama said.

Not bad. The Democratic frontrunner did not appear to give the student his phone number, so it’s not clear how Ogbonnaya would get in touch. But if the Illinois senator wins the Democratic nomination, he’s not likely to be hard to find.

Obama shook hands with team members and sought advice from staff on how to treat his cold before leaving the facilities to prepare for Thursday night’s debate with rival and fellow attorney Hillary Clinton.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Richard Carson (Obama speaks in Texas)

It was supposed to be a night to celebrate the work of documentary makers in Hollywood, including the 10 films nominated for Oscars in both the feature and short documentary categories. But the conversations at the International Documentary Association annual gala were pretty dark as many of the filmmakers talked about the tough subjects they broached, including young soldiers killed in Iraq and prisoners tortured in U.S. detention camps.

No one was more down, however, than Michael Moore, even though his film "Sicko" on the failures of U.S. healthcare has brought him his second Oscar nomination and new success at the box office.

"Not much shocks me in this country," said Moore, who famously scolded President George W. Bush for taking the United States into war in Iraq when he won his first Oscar in 2003 for "Bowling for Columbine." "The level of my disappointment is so profound, I don't know how we're going to crawl out of the hole we've dug ourselves in. I'm hoping we can do that -- a lot of good people in this country, and I've got to believe that we'll find our way."

Moore wasn't very generous about the 2008 presidential contenders either, though he did tell Reuters that "the two Democrats have many fine qualities." He has not endorsed either Sen. Hillary Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama.

"I think the American public has been so bruised and battered over these last eight years, they're going to stagger into the voting booth in November, they're going to look for whoever the Democrat is on the ballot, that's who they are going to vote for and the Republican are going to be removed in a huge way."

Asked if he was counting the days to January 2009, when the next president will take office, the burly Moore said: "The only thing I am counting now is calories ... trying to be healthier." With that, he patted his belly and worked his way through a crowd of faithful followers.

LAREDO, Texas - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has come down to President George W. Bush’s home state of Texas to really give him a piece of her mind.

Bush is not here to hear it, he’s on his way back to Washington after a trip to Africa. 

But no matter, Clinton’s stump speech in Texas often sounds like she is running against the Republican Bush, who has 11 months left in office.

“I know our country can do better. after the disastrous years of George W. Bush,” she said here today. The mostly Latino crowd booed at the mere mention of Bush’s name.

She called Bush a divisive global figure whose Iraq war has caused many former allies to split from America’s side. “You cannot be a leader if no one is following,” she said.

And then there was this zinger: “When President Bush and Vice President (Dick) Cheney leave, the world will let out a sigh of relief,” she said. 

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi

DALLAS, Texas - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has a cold. 

Not a “I can’t-talk-right-now, can’t-operate-at-all” cold. Not even an especially scratchy voice.

But bad enough that the silver-tongued orator interrupted a speech in Dallas on Wednesday to grab a tissue.

“I’m going to blow my nose here for a second,” Obama told a crowd of some 17,000 at a packed arena, shortly after promising to raise the minimum wage to keep pace with inflation if he were president.

The crowd seemed to stifle a laugh while he, er, blew.

But the moment passed quickly. “I’m gonna be all right,” he said. Relief all around as he moves into the lead for his party’s presidential nomination.

Keeping healthy on the campaign trail is no easy feat. Candidates and their entourages spend hours in planes and buses, get little sleep, and shake hands with myriads of potentially germ-carrying supporters.

Hillary Clinton, Obama’s rival for the Democratic nomination, has also struggled to stay well on the trail. Her trick: eat lots of hot peppers.

Perhaps that’s one strategy Obama, who is otherwise beating the former first lady in the closely-fought race, might want to adopt.

One can only imagine how much money the company that markets Purell hand sanitizer (Johnson and Johnson) is earning from the campaigns. 

Or maybe the best advice is mom’s: wash your hands.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi (Obama takes a moment to blow his nose during a campaign rally)

With Presidential primary season inching closer to a conclusion and the "Super Bowl" of U.S. politics about ready to kick off, Rev. Jesse Jackson gave his thoughts as to where things stand for Democratic candidates Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Speaking at the Reuters Housing Summit in New York, Democrat Jackson said that both candidates had qualities that he believed would serve them well in the general election. Jackson, an unsuccessful candidate for president in 1988, said he thought Obama, despite having a shorter political career than Clinton, was qualified for the Oval Office.

Jackson is president and founder of Chicago-based civil rights organization Rainbow PUSH Coalition Inc. He was a key player in the U.S. civil rights movement in the 1960s. 

Winning the Presidency is no sure thing for either Clinton or Obama and he warned there would be challenges both candidates would face in the run for the presidency.

Jackson was one of the featured guests at this year's Housing Summit, which continues through Friday in New York City, London and Washington, D.C.

CLEVELAND - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday it was the news media, not her campaign that was driving the controversy over her rival Barack Obama’s uncredited use of speech lines from a friend and political ally.

But the Clinton campaign emailed the Politico.com version of the story to other media, aides discussed it at length in conference calls with reporters and directed them to separate YouTube videos of Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick using nearly identical language.
    
They suggested that Obama’s use of the lines from a 2006 speech by Patrick called into question the premise of the Illinois senator’s campaign, which is based in large part on his inspiring rhetoric. 

“It’s not us making this charge,” Clinton said during an interview with an ABC television affiliate in Honolulu where voters caucus on Tuesday. “It’s the media. The media is finally examining my opponent, which I think is important. I think the media is going to putting forth whatever facts and information it has for voters to assess on their own.” 
        
Obama says the war over words is no big deal.

At a dinner on Saturday night, Obama rejected Clinton’s criticism that he is all talk and no action. “Don’t tell me words don’t matter,” Obama said. “‘I have a dream’ — just words? ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’ — just words?’” 

On Sunday night, Politico and the New York Times both reported on the striking similarity between the Patrick and Obama lines. Both publications said “a rival campaign” had highlighted the similarities. 
    
“He is running on his powerful oratory and his promises. And so I think, therefore, it is appropriate when the oratory comes from someone else to point that out and for questions to be raised about it,” Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson said later.
    
The New York senator herself told reporters: “If your whole candidacy is about words, they should be your own words.”
 
Obama said Patrick had suggested he use the lines and they frequently traded ideas. He said it would not be a big issue to voters in Wisconsin who vote on Tuesday or those in Ohio who vote on March 4.
    
Weighing in on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Patrick defended Obama and said it was “extravagant charge” that the Illinois senator had lifted his lines.
    
In a tit for tat, Obama accused the Clinton campaign of using some of his catchphrases, including his signature ‘fired up and ready to go.’
    
“That is kind of a silly comparison,” Clinton told a CBS affiliate. “That’s a line that’s been around a long time.”

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi (Clinton and Patrick at a news conference in October.)

WASHINGTON - As the race for the presidential nominations wind down — well at least the Republican one anyway — the speculation game has turned to who might fill the vice presidential nominee slots on the tickets.

Since Republican hopeful John McCain has all but clinched his party’s nod, the question is whether he will make an obvious pick — like rival Mike Huckabee who is seen as a strong conservative who could make up ground where the Arizona senator is considered a bit soft.

Or there’s always ex-rival and former investment banker Mitt Romney who he bitterly fought during the primary campaign but managed to reach detente with in recent weeks.

Both are younger than the 71-year-old McCain and can add to the ticket.

Then there is the possibility of someone like Colin Powell — a man who many probably would really want on that ticket, but he has been harshly criticized for his role as Secretary of State during the Iraq war (Democrats are almost sure to bring up his 2003 report to the U.N. Security Council on alleged mobile chemical weapons labs that turned out to be wrong). And there are still some lingering questions whether he is a dyed-in-the-wool Republican.

Other Republican names floating include a number of governors, Georgia’s Sonny Perdue, Minnesota’s Tim Pawlenty and Louisiana’s newly-minted chief Bobby Jindal.

On the Democratic side, speculation has centered … well not really centered, it’s more disparate and depends on whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama capture the nomination.

Could it be whichever of those two doesn’t get the nomination or what about former hopeful John Edwards who was the 2004 VP nominee? Edwards has said he does not want the job.

Most bets are off on either of those scenarios given the apparent dislike Obama and Clinton have for each other, while Edwards ran before and is not seen as adding much to the ticket. The idea of an Obama-Powell ticket could be intriguing, but the reason outlined above is probably why that won’t happen.

Other names floating include there’s also the former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack who is a big Clinton supporter despite failing to help deliver the state’s caucuses for her last month. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine is another name often mentioned and supported Obama, and some of the darker horses include Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and former White House hopeful and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

The Washington Post recently gave a decent rundown of these and other possible contenders.

So, the question of the day is: Who do you think will make the best ticket to win in November? 

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.  

WAUSAU, Wisc. - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told of a duck-hunting expedition she took in Arkansas years ago, as she sought on Monday to assure rural voters in Wisconsin she would not infringe on their right to own a gun.

“I was with a bunch of my friends — all men. You know the sun’s up. The ducks are flying,” Clinton told an audience in Wausau, Wisconsin.

The New York senator and former first lady said the group decided to play a trick on her.

“They said, ‘We’re not going to shoot, you shoot.’ They wanted to embarrass me. So the pressure was on. So I shot and I shot a banded duck. They were as surprised as I was,” Clinton said.

Clinton is battling with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for Wisconsin, which holds its primary on Tuesday. Clinton also mentioned she knew how to hunt when she held a town hall meeting in Kenosha on Saturday.

“My father taught me to shoot 100 years ago,” Clinton, 60, jokingly said in Kenosha.

At the Wausau event, a man in the audience suggested she might be able to give Vice President Dick Cheney hunting lessons, referring to the 2006 incident in Texas in which Cheney accidentally shot his friend.

Clinton laughed and said that once Cheney leaves office, the Secret Service will not be around “to protect people from him.”

“We better be careful about where he goes hunting,” she said.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Reuters/John Gress (Clinton campaigns in Wisconsin)