Somebody out there still likes John Edwards.
The New York Times, on its Web site, has an interactive feature to let readers cast their votes about Barack Obama's options for some of his cabinet posts.
Edwards is currently the seventh most popular choice for attorney general. He trails the likes of Chris Dodd and Ron Paul, but is ahead of folks like Hillary Clinton, Ralph Nader and Eliot Spitzer.
Did U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole vote against providing body armor?
A new TV ad from Vote Vets, a veterans advocacy group opposed to the Iraq war, claims that Dole voted against paying for armor for soldiers on Oct. 2, 2003.
The vote was on an amendment to a supplemental military appropriations bill for Iraq and Afghanistan proposed by Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut. It would have redirected $322 million for reconstruction in Iraq to additional "safety equipment."
In proposing the amendment, Dodd described the equipment as "high-tech body armor, bullet-proof helmets, special water packs to keep soldiers hydrated, and other survival gear."
The water packs, called CamelBaks, are attached to soldiers' backpacks and allow them to drink water without stopping. Body armor — such as the bulletproof vests shown in the ad — was also mentioned, but the debate focused on hydration systems.
Senate Republicans argued that the military budget already included enough money to purchase the equipment. A spokesman for Dole said the amendment was a "political stunt."
A motion to table the amendment passed on party lines, with Dole voting for it.
John McCain is buying air time in North Carolina.
The Republican presidential candidate had not previously aired TV ads specifically here, although North Carolinians had seen other ads on national cable shows.
Following earlier attacks on the Democratic candidate as a "celebrity," the ad shows footage of Barack Obama's Berlin speech.
"Take away the crowds, the chants — all that's left are costly words," a female narrator says. "Barack Obama and out-of-touch Congressional leaders have expensive plans, billions in new government spending, years of deficits, no balanced budgets and painful tax increases on working American families."
The ad then shows pictures of Obama and U.S. Sens. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Harry Reid of Nevada, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Chuck Schumer of New York.
The choice of "Congressional leaders" is interesting. Dodd is a former Democratic presidential candidate, Reid is the Senate Majority Leader, Leahy an antagonist of Vice President Dick Cheney and Schumer is heading the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Still, these are faces better known to Washington insiders — Dome and his colleagues had to play the ad three times to name them all — and Reid is shown twice. None are running for re-election this year and the ad is not running in any of their states.
In days gone by, Republicans would have linked Obama to Ted Kennedy, though his cancer may have made him too sympathetic to serve that purpose. Still, the absence of Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi is worth pondering.
The main part of the chapel where Jesse Helms' funeral will be held is already full.
The Hayes Barton Baptist Church has opened an overflow room to accommodate the hundreds who have already shown up or are expected at the funeral this afternoon.
Among those who have arrived: U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole and her husband, Bob; Sen. Richard Burr and Sen. Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat.
There are also a number of former Helms' employees, including Bill Berryhill, the first executive director of the Congressional Club and a onetime aide. Also spotted: state Rep. Leo Daughtry and Republican consultant Jack Hawke.
And there are people with other connections to Helms, such as Bill Eller, a Durham resident whose dad worked as Helms' 1972 Iredell County campaign manager.
The services begin at 2 p.m.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole was fairly bipartisan in the 2003-04 session.
With the candidates for Senate touting their records of bipartisanship, Dome has been taking a closer look at the number of Democrats who signed on to legislation Dole sponsored.
In the 2003-04 session, the Salisbury Republican was the primary sponsor of 16 bills. Of them, eight had no cosponsors and eight had Democratic cosponsors.
A bill to award the Congressional Medal of Honor to British Prime Minister Tony Blair had 48 Republican cosponsors and 30 Democrats, including Sens. Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, Joe Lieberman and Chuck Schumer.
Overall, that boosted her Democratic cosponsors to 48, compared to 66 Republican cosponsors, or about a three-to-two ratio.
Her most frequent Democratic cosponsor was fellow North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who signed on to the Blair honors, a bill to recognize the Lumbee tribe, an amendment on a Medicare bill and another amendment.
Two U.S. senators may have received preferential treatment on mortgage loans.
As the Senate Ethics Committee continues an investigation into the loans received by Democratic Sens. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Kent Conrad of North Dakota, D.C.-based Web site The Politico has been asking other senators about their mortgages.
In particular, reporters Eamon Javers and Martin Kady II asked who the senator's home mortgage lender was, who they contacted to arrange it and whether they received any special terms.
"The early line: A substantial number of senators — being on average older and wealthier than the U.S. population — don't have mortgages at all," they note.
That would be the case for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, who told the Politico that she did not have any mortgages. Sen. Richard Burr had not responded as of Thursday afternoon.
Has John Edwards waited too long to endorse?
Two political reporters say that the former Democratic presidential candidate may have missed his chance to significantly shape the nomination.
On Campaign Tracker, Charlotte Observer reporter Jim Morrill notes that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama face crucial primaries on Tuesday, one reason former candidate Chris Dodd endorsed.
"If you want an endorsement to make a difference, time is running out," he writes.
Meantime, Time reporter Jay Newton-Small writes that progressive groups Edwards endorsed have already moved on and made their own endorsements.
"That said, there hasn't been any hint that Edwards is gearing up for an endorsement this week," she writes. "And, after March 4th, if Obama wins either Ohio or Texas, does Edwards' support mean anything at all?"
Richard Reeves thinks John Edwards' response to the Iowa results was out of touch.
The syndicated columnist writes that he doesn't understand Edwards' line after coming in second place: "The status quo lost and change won. We saw two candidates who thought their money made them inevitable."
Writing from Paris, Reeves says that Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd were the "status quo," but he wonders how Barack Obama fits in the equation:
If Edwards thinks Obama, the half-Kenyan guy who just got to Washington three years ago and spoke out passionately against the toy soldier senators marching as to war, is part of the status quo, then the very rich former senator from North Carolina is totally out of touch with Iowa and North Carolina, too.
Reeves writes that Obama is "not your father’s America, unless your father came from Kenya."
DES MOINES, Iowa—Silver-haired Bill Smith, in his brown Bill Richardson T-shirt, is standing by the bleachers when his son T.D. walks over to introduce Beau Biden.
T.D. is a Biden supporter. Beau Biden, son of the Delaware senator, does a little flirtation with with Smith.
If you folks don't have enough support, he suggests, come to us. Under the arcane math of the caucuses, candidates have to have enough support to be "viable." If they fall short, their supporters go elsewhere. That's when the serious wooing starts. Beau Biden's visit was like a first date, Jim Morrill reports.
Smith, 63, is keeping his options open. He's not sure what the Richardson group will do, if they do anything. Heck, he can't even keep his family together.
While T.D. is a Biden guy, son Tyson is caucusing for Chris Dodd. And Smith's wife Jeanie is going for John Edwards. Politics is the family sport.
"It's what we do here," he says. "When we don't have the Winter Olympics in Iowa, this is what we do."
John Edwards is not the only presidential candidate with young kids.
U.S. Sens. Barack Obama and Chris Dodd and former Sen. Fred Thompson are also raising chidlren younger than 10, an unprecedented number according to historians.
Although the kids add a warm family feeling for candidates' images, they can also lead to concerns they are being used as props.
On Halloween, Edwards took his two youngest children, Jack and Emma Claire, trick-or-treating in New Hampshire as TV crews followed them.
He and his wife, Elizabeth, have brought their kids with them on the campaign trail often. (Char-O)
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