There's less horserace and more policy in today's news after two candidates delivered major policy addresses yesterday.
In Chicago, Barack Obama accused President Bush of weakening America's global leadership and repeated the call for total withdrawal from Iraq by next March, reports the Chicago Tribune's Mike Dorning. Obama also called for the addition of 60,000 Army soldiers and 27,000 Marines and for doubling foreign aid to total $50 billion by 2012. The full speech can be read here.
The Wall Street Journal's Deborah Soloman looks at Obama's economic policy where he's open to using government intervention in markets to "further core Democratic goals, though careful to avoid hard-edged liberal rhetoric," such as his "Health Care For Hybrids" bill in the Senate that assists car companies with their health-care costs in return for hybrid production. In the Senate Obama has "voted against a trade agreement and backs policies that redistribute income by taking revenue from the wealthiest to fund programs" for lower-level households.
However, health care remains the big issue among Democrats and Obama hasn't settled on specifics, though he is looking for ways to drive down costs, "possibly by creating state or national health-care pools" and incentivizing electronic record-keeping.
Obama's rise as a candidate has made a number of black elected officials in New York undecided about whether to back him or Hillary Clinton, writes the New York Times' Raymond Hernandez. The officials are impressed with Obama's campaign so far and the Clinton team is trying to secure black support by dispatching Bill Clinton to speak to minority lawmakers and activists, as well as getting heavyweights Bill Lynch and Rep. Charlie Rangel to court black leaders.
Elsewhere, Obama said he didn't know tenements owned by Chicago landlord and Obama contributor Tony Rezko were in disrepair during his time as a state senator and attorney, the Chicago Sun-Times' Tim Novak reports, after he investigated the two's relationship. "Should I have known these buildings were in a state of disrepair? My answer would be that it wasn't brought to my attention," Obama said. "As far as I can tell, we were never contacted by Rezko tenants."
On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain detailed his energy policy that would support energy-conserving technology, lift the tariff on ethanol imports and build more nuclear power plants. McCain also targeted Venezuela, Iran and al Qaeda as profiting from oil purchases.
The Hill's Alexander Bolton reports that the McCain team is "restructuring his fundraising schedule to woo mid-level political donors," who contribute less than $100, and give fundraising and organizational roles to supporters under 45 to rejuvenate the campaign.
As McCain and Rudy Giuliani engage in a popularity contest, Mitt Romney is making himself the race's "prime message/issue candidate," writes Marc Ambinder at Hotline On Call. The tactic also allows him to not say why he used to believe in more liberal ideas because now he can "respond by pulling out a sheaf of new proposals." The Politico's Kenneth Vogel reports that the GOP's main issue's man, Newt Gingrich, isn't running yet, but he's hired a fundraiser and pollster.
Get these and today's other elections stories at RCP's Politics and Elections page.
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