WASHINGTON - Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has been widely criticized for citing Alaska’s proximity to Russia as foreign policy experience. But she is not backing down.

The Alaska governor, running mate to Republican presidential nominee John McCain in the Nov. 4 election, defended her position on Thursday in a rare one-on-one session with a reporter. 

In only her third nationally televised interview since she was nominated earlier this month — this one on CBS with anchor Katie Couric — Palin was asked what she meant.

“That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land — boundary that we have with — Canada. It– it’s funny that a comment like that was — kind of made to — I don’t know, you know? Reporters,” Palin said, explaining that she had been mocked.

Asked to explain why living near Russia enhances her foreign policy credentials, Palin responded: “Well, it certainly does because our — our next-door neighbors are foreign countries. They’re in the state that I am the executive of.”

Asked whether she had ever been involved in any negotiations, for example, with the Russians, Palin answered: “We have trade missions back and forth. We — we do– it’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where — where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is — from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to — to our state.”

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Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder - Republican vice-presidential nominee Alaska Governor Sarah Palin at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York on Sept. 25. 

WASHINGTON - John McCain’s campaign insists the Republican presidential candidate’s response to an interviewer’s question about Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was neither a gaffe nor a dodge.
 
McCain knew exactly what he was saying, a campaign spokesman said on Thursday.
 
In the interview this week on Radio Caracol in Miami, McCain was asked about Latin America and South America and then the reporter moved on to Spain and questioned him about meeting with Zapatero.
 
“I would be willing to meet with those leaders who are friends and want to work with us in a cooperative fashion. And, by the way, President Calderon of Mexico is fighting a very very tough fight against the drug cartels. I intend to move forward with relations and invite as many of them as I can, of those leaders, to the White House,” McCain responded.
 
McCain was well aware that the reporter had moved on to another leader in another hemisphere, senior campaign advisor Randy Scheunemann said.
 
“The questioner asked several times about Sen. McCain’s willingness to meet Zapatero, and I-D’d him in the question so there is no doubt Sen. McCain knew exactly to whom the question referred,” Scheunemann said.
 
“Sen. McCain refused to commit to a White House meeting with President Zapatero in this interview,” Scheunemann said.
 
Within weeks of taking office in 2004, Zapatero withdrew Spanish troops serving in Iraq. The move by Spain’s Socialist government put a chill on relations between Washington and Madrid.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Aaron Josefczyk

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Neither Republican John McCain, Democrat Barack Obama or his vice presidential running mate Joe Biden have what it takes to run a major corporation, McCain’s top economic advisor said on Tuesday.

Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina gave her opinion in defense of an earlier comment she made on a radio show that McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, was not qualified to run a major company.

Fiorina had been asked about the Alaska governor’s executive experience.

Later on MSNBC, Fiorina gave her opinion on the executive qualifications of the other three candidates.

“Well, I don’t think John McCain could run a major corporation; I don’t think Barack Obama could run a major corporation; I don’t think Joe Biden could run a major corporation,” Fiorina said.

“But, on the other hand, running a major corporation is not the same as being the president or the vice president of the United States. It is a fallacy to suggest that the country is like a company,” Fiorina explained.

The Obama camp saw an opening and ran with it.

“If John McCain’s top economic advisor doesn’t think he can run a corporation, how on earth can he run the largest economy in the world in the midst of a financial crisis?” Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement.

The statement includes a link to YouTube video that uses only part of Fiorina’s quote, ending with her reference to McCain.

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WASHINGTON - Given the rise of Sarah Palin’s political star, is Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama regretting his decision not to choose Hillary Clinton as his running mate?

Palin, the Republican vice presidential running mate to White House hopeful John McCain, thinks so and even Obama’s running mate wondered whether Clinton would have been a better choice instead of Joe Biden. But what about Clinton herself?

“We have a great Democratic vice-presidential candidate,” Clinton said when asked about Palin’s comment in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that will air on Tuesday.

Clinton praised her “friend” Biden as a strong leader who understands the big issues the United States faces at home and abroad.

“So I’m very happy going out campaigning as hard as I can for both Barack and Joe,” Clinton said.

Palin told ABC’s World News Tonight anchor Charlie Gibson on Friday she believed Obama regretted not picking Clinton, his chief rival for the Democratic nomination, as his No. 2.

“I think he’s regretting not picking her now, I do. What, what determination, and grit, and even grace through some tough shots that were fired her way — she handled those well,” Palin said.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (Biden on stage at the Democratic National Convention with an image of Clinton on the screen behind him.)

WASHINGTON - With campaign observers in a frenzy awaiting the impending results of the 2008 vice presidential sweepstakes, filmmaker Michael Moore has stepped up with a provocative plea to an advisor to Barack Obama: “Caroline, Pull a Cheney!”

That would be Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy, and the head of the group searching to find a running mate for the Democratic nominee.

“I cannot think of a more winning ticket than one that reads: “OBAMA-KENNEDY,” Moore wrote in an open letter to Kennedy posted on his Web site.

Moore, whose documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11” went after President George W. Bush’s administration, apparently is discouraged by the fact that Kennedy’s name has not come up in discussions of vice presidential candidates.

“What Obama needs is a vice presidential candidate who is NOT a professional politician but someone who is well-known and beloved by people across the political spectrum,” Moore wrote.

“This is the moment, Caroline. Seize it!” the writer-director says urging Kennedy to take a cue from the current vice president.

Dick Cheney was heading Bush’s vice presidential search committee in 2000 before he became the candidate’s choice to fill the No. 2 slot on the Republican ticket.

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 - Photo credit, right: Reuters/ Brian Snyder (Kennedy speaks at the 2008 Profile in Courage Award ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston in May 2008..)

WASHINGTON - Republican White House hopeful John McCain may unwrap a surprise of his own when he celebrates his birthday next week in the battleground state of Ohio.

The Arizona senator turns 72 on Aug. 29 and plans to celebrate by naming his vice presidential pick at a rally in Dayton with 10,000 supporters, Politico.com reported .

McCain spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan would not comment on the report when reporters asked about it after his campaign plane landed in New Orleans on Monday evening.

“Stay tuned,” she said.

There is still no word on who McCain might be leaning toward as his running mate. In recent days, speculation has centered on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

Whoever he picks, McCain will unveil his choice on Friday Aug 29, Politico.com reported — a day after Illinois Sen. Barack Obama accepts the Democratic presidential nomination in a prime-time speech at Denver’s football stadium before an expected crowd of more than 75,000 people.

McCain’s timing could allow him to steal some of Obama’s limelight — or at least force him to share it as Republicans head into their nominating convention on the following Monday.

“You’re going to own the weekend,” a McCain official told Politico.com, explaining the announcement strategy.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Scott Audette (McCain speaks at the Veterans convention in Orlando on August 18)

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama doesn’t like sweets, prefers minty gum to bubblegum and leaves his luggage in everybody’s way when he arrives home on a break from the campaign.
That’s the scoop from the Democratic presidential candidate’s daughters from a family interview for television’s “Access Hollywood.”

  
Malia and Sasha Obama have joined their parents on the campaign trail a number of times in recent weeks. They spoke for the first time in the interview which began airing on Tuesday. 
“When he comes home and leaves his big gigantic bag in the mudroom, sometimes I trip over it,” said Malia, who celebrated her 10th birthday while the family campaigned in Butte, Montana, on Independence Day. 

“You always put your bag on my shoes,” seven-year-old Sasha scolded her father. 
The girls joined their mother in showing that the Illinois senator does not live up to his public imagine as a fashion plate. 

“I think it’s funny that he’s involved in this fashion icon stuff, because these pants he’s had for probably about 10 years,” Michelle Obama said.  

“And that belt,” Malia chimed in. 

Obama said he was “baffled” by the whole fashion thing himself, “because I hate to shop.”                                                                                                        

Asked about the possibility of living in the White House, Sasha said: “It would be very cool.”                                                                                                   

“I think my most excitement about it is that I’d get to redecorate my room,” Malia said. “I enjoy decorating.”

Photo credit: Reuters/John Gress (Barack Obama with his family)

(Corrects 8th paragraph from Hanoi to Nha Trang.)

The spouses of U.S. presidential candidates should be allowed to have some privacy as their husbands slog it out in the battle for the White House, Cindy McCain told CNN on Thursday.

“I do not think that spouses and family members … are fair game,” said McCain, wife of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. “There has to be some decorum left in politics and in American journalism as well. Our husbands are the candidates.”

She also defended as “an emotional outpouring” comments she made that were seen by some as a dig at Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

In a campaign appearance, McCain said: “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.”

Critics questioned Michelle Obama’s patriotism after she said at an event in February: “For the first time in my adult life, I’m really proud of my country.”

McCain told CNN her response to what Obama said was not planned.

“I’m an emotional woman when it comes to service to our country. I watched many people’s children leave and go serve. This is something that is the fiber of the McCain family. It was nothing more than me just saying I believe in this country so strongly,” McCain told CNN.

In Nha Trang on a humanitarian mission, McCain praised Michelle Obama as a fine woman and a good mother. She added: “We both are in an interesting line of work right now.”

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- Photo credit: Reuters photo by Nguyen Huy Kham (Cindy McCain chats with facial deformity patient in Vietnam’s Nha Trang)

ROME - Age does matter, at least to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in the U.S. presidential race between 46-year-old Democrat Barack Obama and 71-year-old Republican John McCain.
 
Asked about the U.S. election as he stood with Republican President George W. Bush at a news conference in Rome, the  Italian leader said he could not express any preference about an election campaign going on in another country.
 
But Berlusconi could not resist expressing a personal preference for the Republican candidate.
 
“This is for a very selfish reason, and that is that I would no longer be the oldest person at the upcoming G8 (summit), because McCain is a month older than me,” Berlusconi said.

The Arizona senator, who turns 72 in August, would be the oldest elected first-term president if he wins the November election.

The G8 summit takes place next month in Japan.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Berlusconi gestures during a news conference in Rome, June 12, 2008)

Campaigning for her mother, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton answers lots of questions from potential voters at campaign events but never from reporters.

But in Indianapolis on Tuesday, Clinton brushed aside a question from an individual in the crowd who asked for her take on her mother’s handling of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, WISH-TV reported.

“Wow, you’re the first person actually that’s ever asked me that question in the, I don’t know, 70 college campuses that I’ve now been to and I do not think that’s any of your business,” Clinton responded according to the station.

The crowd at the student union at Butler University applauded, WISH said. That was supposed to be the last question, but Clinton insisted on taking one more question, the report said.

When it was revealed in 1998 that President Bill Clinton had had an affair with Lewinsky, the news set off a protracted drama that led to his impeachment and a failed attempt to remove him from office.   

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- Photo Credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi (Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton applauds as her daughter Chelsea takes the stage at a rally in Austin, Texas on March 3)