WASHINGTON - The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s former pastor, pinned the blame on the media for the controversy over his fiery sermons, saying they misinterpreted his remarks and the ensuing criticism was an attack on the black church.
 
Obama has tried to distance himself from Wright, criticizing him for remarks that have included charges that the Sept. 11 attacks were an act of retaliation for U.S. policy and that the government may have created the AIDS virus to kill black people.
 
On Monday, Wright argued during a National Press Club speech that reporters did not listen to his entire sermons so they did not understand the context of his remarks and that people who question his patriotism are off the mark.
 
“I feel that those citizens who say that have never heard my sermons, nor do they know me.  They are unfair accusations taken from sound bites and that which is looped over and over again on certain channels,” he said. “I served six years in the military.  Does that make me patriotic?”

“How many years did Cheney serve?” he said, referring to Vice President Dick Cheney’s deferrals from the military draft. For his full remarks, click here. 
 
Does Wright’s remarks clear the air, does it help or hurt Obama, or has the issue run its course? 

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Larry Downing (Wright speaks to the National Press Club).

GRAHAM, N.C. - Offering Americans a summer tax holiday from soaring gasoline prices as another example of why she is the best candidate for president, Sen. Hillary Clinton took aim on Monday at her Democratic Party rival Sen. Barack Obama.

“This is one of the big differences in this race. My opponent Senator Obama opposes giving consumers a break on the gas tax at the federal level. I support it. I understand the American people need some relief,” she told supporters gathered in a fire station here.

“Meanwhile Sen. (John) McCain says he’s all for a gas tax holiday, but he won’t pay for it. Well, that is a mistake because we can’t give up on building and repairing our roads. My plan is 100 percent paid for with the windfall profits tax on Big Oil,” she said.

U.S. drivers are reeling from soaring costs at the pump that have seen gasoline reach $4 a gallon in some parts of the country, with an average price around the country of $3.60, after oil scaled a record near $120 a barrel.

Clinton’s plan would use the windfall profits on oil to subsidize the federal gas tax holiday over the summer to make sure the country’s Highway Trust Fund — used to build and repair roads and bridges — doesn’t suffer.

Major oil companies report first quarter earnings this week and are expected to chalk up bumper profits thanks to record crude prices, with Exxon Mobil forecast to see net income rise around 22 percent to over $11 billion.

“Last year, Exxon Mobile made $40 billion in profits. So you paid through the roof and they made out like bandits. I don’t think those profits were the result of a free and fair market,” she said, blaming energy market manipulation.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Reuters/Frank Polich (Clinton campaigns in Indiana).

WILMINGTON, N.C. - Hillary Clinton, invoking the drama of a lusty street fight, repeated her challenge to Barack Obama for a debate free of moderators or a set agenda.

“We could even do it on the back of a flatbed truck. It doesn’t even need to be in some fancy studio somewhere,” she told a campaign rally on the banks of the Cape Fear River.

Her rival for the Democratic Party presidential nomination has deflected the request and said he would debate her after primary votes in Indiana and North Carolina on May 6.

“We need a president on day one ready to be our commander in chief, ready to turn our economy around. That is why I have to say I am very, very regretful that my opponent will not agree to a debate in North Carolina, because I think these issues are worth debating,” she said, goading her opponent for not being ‘tough’ enough.

“Tough questions in a debate is nothing like the tough decisions you’ve got to make in the White House…no moderators, just the 2 of us on a stage for 90 minutes.”

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- Photo credit: Reuters/John Gress (Hillary Clinton campaigns in Indianapolis).

SOUTH BEND, INDIANA - Sports are a natural metaphor for political campaigns — both have winners and losers, competing teams, and a final score.

In basketball-mad Indiana, Democrat Hillary Clinton held a rally on Indiana University’s basketball court in Bloomington on Friday, while rival Barack Obama played a three-on-three game with supporters later that night.

On Saturday, Clinton headed to South Bend, best known as home to Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish football team. Former president Ronald Reagan, a Republican, laid claim to that franchise long ago, thanks to his portrayal of Irish football player George “the Gipper” Gipp in the 1940 film “Knute Rockne: All American.”

Clinton opted to hold a rally at the city’s minor-league baseball park, where she received a jersey of the home Silver Hawks, a Single A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“We know you’re going to knock it out of the park,” former Gov. Joe Kernan told Clinton in his opening remarks.

When Clinton came to bat, here’s what she said:

“We’re going to hit some of those balls out this stadium and out of our country stadium because we’re going to go to bat and fix America together.”

“We are going to go fight for America, we’re going to round the bases, we’re going to score a lot of runs and we’re going to feel really good about the home team, the American team, the team we’re all a part of,” she continued.

A rocky first inning. But Clinton handled the next eight innings of her stump speech smoothly, promising to spur economic development, end the Iraq war and implement a universal health care system, and challenging Obama to an unmoderated debate.

So how should the New York senator’s box score read? 4 for 5 with one strikeout? Or should that be marked an error?

Unfortunately, the final score in this game won’t be known until May 6, when Hoosiers head to the polls.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.  

Photo: Frank Polich - Hillary Clinton campaigns in South Bend, Indiana.

Journalists and staffers “bowl” tennis balls down the aisle of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign plane as it takes off from Gary, Indiana, on Friday night.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton stopped in a sports bar in Gary, Indiana, on Friday, but these two customers who shook her hand said that wasn’t necessarily enough to win their votes.

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. - Democratic presidential candidates have held more than 20 debates. Evidently that’s not enough for Hillary Clinton.

Clinton is pressing her final rival, Barack Obama, to debate her in Indiana and North Carolina, which hold their primary contests on May 6.

Either state would be fine, but both would be better, Clinton said on Friday.

“I’ll go anywhere and anytime. And we’ll have that debate as long as Senator Obama will agree to actually meet me,” Clinton said Friday morning in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

“I think the people of Indiana deserve a debate,” she told WFIE TV in Evansville, Indiana, several hours later. “We should be up there answering questions that are important to Hoosiers.”

This is a classic page from the underdog’s political playbook, last deployed by Republican Mike Huckabee before he conceded to John McCain in March.

If Obama accepts the challenge, he shares a stage with a rival that most political observers believe has little chance of winning the Democratic nomination. If he declines, he risks looking cowardly or disengaged.

The Obama campaign said it was not interested in more debates.

“While Senator Clinton is focused on debating debates … Senator Obama is focused on finding real solutions for our families,” spokesman Hari Sevugan said in an e-mail. “The difference in this election couldn’t be more clear.”

The two last met in Philadelphia last week, before that state gave Clinton a much-needed victory.

An April 27 debate in North Carolina was canceled by state party officials who cited logistical reasons.

Obama had agreed to participate in that debate while Clinton had not, Sevugan said.

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

INDIANAPOLIS - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama refuted controversial comments by his Chicago pastor again on Friday and sought to play up his own origins in an effort to combat perceptions that he is an “elitist”.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who is semi-retired from Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago which Obama joined 20 years ago, has called the Sept. 11 attacks retribution for U.S. policies and condemned America’s failings on race.

Wright said in an interview this week that Obama’s criticism of those comments was “what he has to say as a politician.”

That led Obama to repeat his criticism on Friday.

“I have commented extensively … on my profound disagreements with some of Rev. Wright’s comments and, you know, I understand that he might not agree with me on my assessment of his comments. That’s to be expected,” the Illinois senator told reporters during a day of campaigning in Indiana which holds its primary May 6.

“He is obviously free to express his opinions on these issues. You know, I’ve expressed mine very clearly. I think that what he said in several instances were objectionable and I understand why the American people took offense. And, as I indicated before, I took offense.”

The controversy over his pastor and, later, remarks that small-town Pennsylvanians were “bitter” about their economic situation, have taken a toll on the Illinois senator’s image.

Obama, who was raised by a single mother and her parents, told reporters he came from more humble origins than rivals Hillary Clinton, a Democratic senator from New York, and John McCain, the Arizona senator and presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Asked about his image by a local reporter in Indiana, Obama offered the example of his wardrobe as proof with a reference to his wife, Michelle:

“I haven’t changed my approach to dressing too much. Michelle has asked me to clean up because when she first met me I had one suit. Michelle always finds this funny because I basically buy five of the same suit and then I patch them up and wear them repeatedly. I have four pairs of shoes. Recently, I’ve taken to getting a haircut more frequently than I used to because my mother-in-law makes fun of me. So, you know, I don’t think people are too worried about what I’m wearing.”

On his bowling abilities, he said: “I know there was concern about my bowling score, and, you know, I have committed to practicing bowling so that I’m better.” 
     
Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Frank Polich (Obama campaigns in Indiana.)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Republican presidential candidate John McCain was not content to just eat the prized barbecue at Little Rock’s Whole Hog Cafe — he wanted to know how it is cooked.

The Arizona senator disappeared into the kitchen of the eatery soon after riding his “Straight Talk Express” bus to the restaurant on Friday with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and their wives, Cindy McCain and Janet Huckabee.

In the back of the place, the cooks were smoking half chickens and slabs of pork ribs in large barbecue smokers, as a succulent smoky smell wafted throughout.

“All right, Cindy, we’re going to have to get one,” McCain said of the smokers.

“Load it on the bus,” Cindy replied.

McCain considers himself quite the barbecue artist, grilling ribs at his Sedona, Ariz., ranch, and was interested in the mix of spices used to rub into the meat before it is cooked.

“Is that a trade secret, your dry rub?” McCain asked the owners. One of the owners cautioned him against using too much salt. “I’m going to have to change my ways,” McCain said.

The McCain and Huckabees decided to take away some ribs, and then came the matter of who would pay. Janet Huckabee insisted the food was already paid for and Gov. Huckabee — mentioned as a possible vice presidential running-mate – told McCain his money was no good in Arkansas.

But McCain put down two $20 bills and a staffer said McCain ultimately paid.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Say goodbye to the FAFSA form if Hillary Clinton is elected president.

Reducing student loan paperwork may not qualify as a marquee issue like ending the Iraq war and establishing a universal health-care system. But it’s one way Clinton can portray herself as a detail-oriented policy wonk who will make voters’ lives easier.

While her rival Barack Obama delivers a broad message of hope and change, Clinton’s speeches are so laden with specifics you can almost see the bullet points.

For voters who deal with the federal bureaucracy on a regular basis, that can be an appealing proposition.

“The day I retired from the military, I became a third-class citizen,” one man told her during a question-and-answer session here. “I just wanted to thank you for what you’re doing for the veterans.”

Fayetteville is located next to the U.S. Army’s Fort Bragg, and Clinton spent much of her time discussing the difficulties faced by veterans. Surrounded by several retired military officials, Clinton promised to bolster a broad range of veterans programs from health care and tuition assistance to home loans.

She was cheered when she mentioned the shortcomings of Tricare, the military health plan.

And she promised to mothball FASFA, short for Free Application for Federal Student Aid, a form evidently much hated by the students forced to fill it out.

Clinton’s willingness to talk specifics was an important asset for Keith Zeigler, a Navy veteran who said Obama’s affluent, youthful supporters don’t have to worry about navigating the United States’ paltry safety net.

“They go to college to party. They have the money to pay their way out of trouble,” said Zeigler, who said he couldn’t afford to go to college and now drives a truck.

“They’re not educated in the ways of the real world,” he said.