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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (752341)	10/24/2006 12:52:14 PM
From: pompsander	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Anger at Washington boosts Democrat in swing state By Carey Gillam 1 hour, 41 minutes ago KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - In Missouri's Senate race, like many other U.S. congressional contests, a vote for the Democrat on November 7 is often likely to be a vote against Republican President George W. Bush. ADVERTISEMENT Kansas City commercial artist David Whitehead does not follow politics closely and has not spent much time analyzing the candidates in the neck-and-neck race in this Midwestern swing state. But he does intend to vote and he already knows it will not be for incumbent Republican Sen. Jim Talent (news, bio, voting record). Whitehead, who considers himself neither a Democrat nor a Republican, said the upcoming election is more about registering discontent with Washington and Bush's administration than it is about individual candidates. "I vote the opposite of Bush, period," Whitehead said. "Bush supports Talent, therefore I vote for Claire McCaskill." That level of voter anger with Washington has become a key theme in Missouri's Senate race as it has in races across the country as Democrats try to regain control of Congress after years of Republican leadership. The Democrats need a gain of six seats to take over the Senate and Missouri is one of their most important targets. Concerns about the economy, the war, health care and the environment, coupled with outrage over alleged wrongdoing by former Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record) and other congressmen override Talent's reputation as a generally respected and hard-working voice for the farm state, some voters say. The concerns have left the 50-year-old Talent, who served eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives before his election to the U.S. Senate in 2002, fighting for his political life against McCaskill, 53, Missouri's state auditor and failed gubernatorial candidate. Polls throughout the past few months have consistently shown the two locked in a virtual tie, but in recent days McCaskill has edged out a lead. An MSNBC/McClatchy poll conducted by Mason-Dixon October 17-19 had McCaskill up 46 percent to 43 percent. An average of four separate early October polls gives McCaskill an advantage of 45 percent to Talent's 43.3 percent of the vote. Pollsters say independents and dissatisfied Republicans are leaning McCaskill's way, with unhappiness over the war in Iraq a key factor. "This country is going in the wrong direction," said John Gingerich, a Kansas City area business owner who said he is weary of the Iraq war and congressional corruption. "I'm not a big supporter of Claire McCaskill but I'll probably vote for her anyway." Missouri Democratic Party spokesman Jack Cardetti said campaign office phones "have been ringing off the hook" with offers of money and volunteers since Foley resigned in late September after revelations he sent sexually explicit messages to young male congressional aides. "It's clear people have just had enough and want change," Cardetti said. Talent has sought to turn aside criticism of Washington politics, including the repeated charge from McCaskill supporters that he has "voted with Bush 94 percent of the time." He touts a record of supporting Missouri jobs and small businesses while strengthening national security and protecting the interests of military men and women. Republicans have also started hammering McCaskill in television ads for what they allege are questionable business activities by her husband. Missouri Republican Party spokesman Paul Sloka said Republicans would additionally stress McCaskill's support of gay marriage and partial birth abortion among other key issues in the late run to Election Day. Sloka said the Republicans' get-out-the-vote machine would be in full operation, having already made more than 1 million contacts with Missouri voters. "We're just going to keep going," he said. "When people walk into the ballot box, they may say they're upset about this issue or that but at the end of the day, they'll vote for the best candidate."

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (752341)	10/24/2006 12:55:28 PM
From: pompsander	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Hey, Fox is fair and balanced. I am sure Murdoch would have no problem with the airing of the Simpsons episode.

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (752341)	10/24/2006 12:58:16 PM
From: pompsander	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

What a circus...."at odds"...gee, one is not telling the truth... _______________________________ House GOP officials likely to be at odds By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer 46 minutes ago WASHINGTON - The House Republican campaign chairman and the speaker of the House are likely to be at odds this week as they testify about the handling of ex-Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record)'s come-ons to male pages. ADVERTISEMENT Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., who entered the House ethics committee chambers Tuesday morning, has said he warned Speaker Dennis Hastert about Foley last spring. Hastert has returned to Washington for testimony sometime later this week and has said he doesn't remember that conversation. Hastert's office took the unusual step of closing down the hallways near his office in an apparent attempt to keep him away from reporters. A four-member ethics investigating panel is keeping key witnesses behind closed doors for hours as it tries to unravel conflicts over when and what Hastert and his staff learned about Foley's conduct and what they did about it. Hastert's chief of staff, Scott Palmer, spent more than six hours before the committee Monday. Palmer has disputed one account that he was warned about Foley in 2002 or 2003. Reynolds, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, has said he spoke with Hastert last spring after learning of Foley's overly friendly e-mails to a former Louisiana page, who was 16 at the time. Those e-mails were not sexually explicit. The speaker has said he can't recall the Reynolds warning, and has contended he doesn't remember having a separate conversation about Foley earlier this year with Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. Boehner not only recalls speaking with Hastert, but said the speaker told him the page's complaint "had been taken care of." Boehner said after his recent testimony in the case that he didn't change the account of his actions. Campaigning for a Republican candidate in Tennessee, Hastert said Monday he plans to testify before the committee this week. "What Mark Foley did was wrong. It was ethically wrong. It's a shame. It's actually disgusting," Hastert told reporters after a campaign rally in Johnson City, Tenn. In Washington, Palmer's lawyer, Scott Fredericksen, said his client hasn't changed his version of events. Former Foley chief of staff Kirk Fordham has said he warned the Hastert aide about Foley at least three years ago. "What Kirk Fordham said did not happen," Palmer said weeks ago in his lone public statement on the matter. Fredericksen said the testimony was "consistent with the position he's taken all along." Palmer spent more time in the committee offices than any other witness in three weeks of testimony, entering at 1:57 p.m. and leaving at 8:18 p.m. Foley, R-Fla., resigned his seat Sept. 29 after he was confronted with sexually explicit instant messages he sent to former pages other than the Louisiana youngster. Hastert has a lot riding on the outcome of the ethics investigation. He has fended off calls for his resignation with statements that his staff members acted properly after they learned a year ago about Foley's friendly messages to the Louisiana page. Hastert said his staff notified the chief clerk, who confronted Foley along with Rep. John Shimkus (news, bio, voting record), R-Ill., the chairman of the House board overseeing the page program. Foley was told to stop contacting the youngster. Hastert said he didn't learn about Foley until late this September, when the scandal became public and Foley left Congress. The speaker has vowed to fire any of his aides if they covered up knowledge of Foley's behavior.