McCain and Obama Statements on DC v. Heller

McCain:
Today’s decision is a landmark victory for Second Amendment freedom in the United States. For this first time in the history of our Republic, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms was and is an individual right as intended by our Founding Fathers. I applaud this decision as well as the overturning of the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns and limitations on the ability to use firearms for self-defense.

Unlike Senator Obama, who refused to join me in signing a bipartisan amicus brief, I was pleased to express my support and call for the ruling issued today. Today’s ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller makes clear that other municipalities like Chicago that have banned handguns have infringed on the constitutional rights of Americans. Unlike the elitist view that believes Americans cling to guns out of bitterness, today’s ruling recognizes that gun ownership is a fundamental right — sacred, just as the right to free speech and assembly.

This ruling does not mark the end of our struggle against those who seek to limit the rights of law-abiding citizens. We must always remain vigilant in defense of our freedoms. But today, the Supreme Court ended forever the specious argument that the Second Amendment did not confer an individual right to keep and bear arms.

Obama:
“I have always believed that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms, but I also identify with the need for crime-ravaged communities to save their children from the violence that plagues our streets through common-sense, effective safety measures. The Supreme Court has now endorsed that view, and while it ruled that the D.C. gun ban went too far, Justice Scalia himself acknowledged that this right is not absolute and subject to reasonable regulations enacted by local communities to keep their streets safe. Today’s ruling, the first clear statement on this issue in 127 years, will provide much-needed guidance to local jurisdictions across the country.

“As President, I will uphold the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun-owners, hunters, and sportsmen. I know that what works in Chicago may not work in Cheyenne. We can work together to enact common-sense laws, like closing the gun show loophole and improving our background check system, so that guns do not fall into the hands of terrorists or criminals. Today’s decision reinforces that if we act responsibly, we can both protect the constitutional right to bear arms and keep our communities and our children safe.”

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McCain and Obama Statements on North Korea Agreement

McCain:

U.S. Senator John McCain today issued the following statement regarding today’s North Korea announcement:

“The announcement today that North Korea has provided information concerning elements of its nuclear program is a modest step forward, as will be the destruction of the disabled cooling tower of Yongbyon. But it is only a step covering one part of North Korea’s nuclear activities. It is important to remember our goal has been the full, permanent and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. That must remain our goal. The Six Party agreement called for North Korea to make a full declaration of all its nuclear weapons and nuclear programs. Many questions remain about North Korea’s programs, including the disposition of plutonium at Yongbyon, the number and status of nuclear weapons, the nature of the highly-enriched uranium program, and the extent of proliferation activities in countries like Syria. I also want to make sure we fully account for the legitimate concerns of our South Korean and Japanes e allies as we move forward. I understand certain sanctions were lifted today, some may be lifted in 45 days, and others remain in place.

“As we review this declaration and attempt to verify North Korean claims, we must keep diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea to meet all of its obligations under the Six Party agreement, including denuclearization. If we are unable to fully verify the declaration submitted today and if I am not satisfied with the verification mechanisms developed, I would not support the easing of sanctions on North Korea.”

Obama:
“This is a step forward, and there will be many more steps to take in the days ahead. Critical questions remain unanswered. We still have not verified the accuracy of the North Korean declaration. We must confirm the full extent of North Korea’s past plutonium production. We must also confirm its uranium enrichment activities, and get answers to disturbing questions about its proliferation activities with other countries, including Syria.

“The declaration has not yet been made available, so Congress has not had a chance to review it. Before weighing in on North Korea’s removal from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, Congress must take the next 45 days to examine the adequacy of the North Korean declaration and verification procedures. Sanctions are a critical part of our leverage to pressure North Korea to act. They should only be lifted based on North Korean performance. If the North Koreans do not meet their obligations, we should move quickly to re-impose sanctions that have been waived, and consider new restrictions going forward.

“We should continue to pursue the kind of direct and aggressive diplomacy with North Korea that can yield results. The objective must be clear: the complete and verifiable elimination of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs, which only expanded while we refused to talk. As we move forward, we must not cede our leverage in these negotiations unless it is clear that North Korea is living up to its obligations.

“As President, I will work from the very beginning of my term in office to secure the American people and our interests in this vital region. We must work with diligence and determination with our friends and allies to end this dangerous threat, and to secure a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula.”

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Suggestions?

As we make the changeover to general election mode.  Are there any suggestions that you have for the site? Features? Story ideas? Topics you’d like us to discuss? Perhaps a forum for viewers to interact a bit more? Or, something else…? Please feel free to leave a comment or email us.

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Why No Posts Lately?

Apologies all around for the lack of posts lately.  Rest assured it’s unpleasant for us as well.  We will be back soon.

Both of us are law students and we are both tied up with final exams.  Exams will be over soon though, so hang in there and please accept our apologies.

In the meantime, feel free to contact us with questions, site suggestions, comments or complaints.  Also, if you would like to write for the site or if you’re a blogger and would like your content to be cross posted, please get in touch with us as well.

Best,

Angelo & John

[Photo Credit: AllPosters.com]

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UPDATED: General Election And Democratic Primary Polls

Our polls section has been updated to include the latest national Democratic Primary polls and we’ve also added polls for general election match-ups (McCain vs. Obama and McCain vs. Clinton).

Polling data will expanded in the coming weeks.

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2008Central.net On The Radio This Morning…

I (and possibly JW) will be guests on WLPO’s John Small show this morning at 11:35 am CST.  It’s an Illinois based station and the channel is 1220 AM Radio.  If you’re in the area, be sure to tune in.  If you’re not in the area, you may be able to listen to the internet stream here.

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Happy Birthday George Washington

Today is George Washington’s birthday.  I’m not going to say much about it, but if you have a moment it’s worth at least checking over his bio.  If you don’t though, at least take a look at my favorite Washington quotes (and feel free to add yours to the comments)…

• “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”
• “The name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.”
• “Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.”

And my very favorite…

• “They [political parties] serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels, and modified by mutual interests.”

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Some Housecleaning Notes

First, any comment that espouses a slur or something patently untrue about a candidate will be marked as spam. That’s pretty much the extent of our moderation policy, aside from our automatic spam filter.

Second, watch out -over the next 24 hours or so, you’ll see some pretty dramatic aesthetic changes around here.

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The Unfortunate Return Of Yellow Journalism

In this video, I discuss the content and tone of 2008 election coverage.  In my opinion, yellow journalism has returned and voters must be cautious, wary and skeptical.  Most importantly, they must demand more…

Part 1 

Part 2 

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Poll Vaulting: Hillary Clinton Solidifies Support

A recently published Washington Post/ABC News poll presents an interesting perspective to the oft concluded notion that Hillary Clinton’s high negatives will hurt her in the general election.

The question was: “If [NAME] wins the [Democratic/Republican] nomination for president would you definitely vote for [him/her] in the general election for president in 2008, would you consider voting for [him/her] or would you definitely not vote for [him/her]?”  The date of the poll was September 30, 2007.

Again, our usual caveat regarding the significance of polls applies to this one. However, there are a few things worth noting about it. First and foremost, Hillary’s ‘Definitely would vote for’ would numbers are pretty high for someone that consistently has such high negatives in just about any general election poll. Could it be that despite not liking Hillary people are still willing to vote for her? Moreover, I think it’s also worth noting that Hillary Clinton’s ‘Definitely would not vote for’ numbers are lower than all of the leading Republican contenders and John Edwards’ - only Obama has a lower score than Hillary in this field. The numbers themselves are likely more telling about the overall political climate than anything else. The fact that the Republicans scored such high ‘would not’ numbers only underscores the already well known fact that its going to be a challenging campaign for the GOP nominee because of the Iraq War (specifically) and the Bush Administration (generally).

Here are the results to the same question looked at over a period of time…

Worth noting: Of these candidates, the only one whose ‘definitely would not vote for’ numbers that decreased over time were Hillary Clinton’s.  At the very least, this polls demonstrates that Clinton’s early general election strategy is working with at least some folks.

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Saturday Afternoon Catch Up (9/29/07)

Before getting into some serious blogging, here’s a crib sheet on what’s been happening in the ‘08 field:

• Following news that Newt Gingrich would enter the race if he could get $30 million in pledges by October 21, 2007, Gingrich officially stated today that he would not be entering the race after all.  Why? Because the 3 week pledge drive would present legal problems for his non-profit group, American Solutions for Winning the Future.  We’ll try to connect with Steven Parkhurst over at DraftNewt.org this week to get their reaction.
• Democratic candidate, John Edwards, has decided to opt in to the public financing system.  We’ll take a closer look at this decision in a later post, but for your information now…(1) Entering the public finance system places significant spending restrictions on a candidate…(2) Ambinder looks at the pros and cons of this decision.
• Transcript of MSNBC’s Democratic Debate in New Hampshire hosted by Tim Russert.  We’ll have more on this later, since it was certainly a noteworthy debate.
• Michelle Obama stirs things up when she says that if Barack Obama doesn’t win Iowa, then “it’s just a dream.” Was I the only person who thought of Ralph Cramden upon hearing this? ‘One of these days, Michelle…bang…ZOOM…to the moon!’
• Mike Huckabee tackled the Bush Administration’s foreign policy in an attempt to substantially distinguish himself from his primary rivals.  Huckabee concluded that “this administration’s bunker mentality has been counterproductive both at home and abroad.”
• Bill Richardson launched a new website that details his plan to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq and promises not to leave any residual forces.  Chris Dodd takes issue with the details.
• If Iowa was your answer to the question “What state will decide who gets their Republican convention delegates first?” then you would be wrong.  It’s Wyoming (for now) and they will make the decision on January 5, 2008.

Anymore links you’d like to see?  Send them along (tips).

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2008Central.net Goes Back Online Tomorrow…

And everyone is talking about it.  See…

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Return From Hiatus

Readers of 2008Central.net,

Let us first begin by apologizing for our absence over the past couple of weeks. Both of us have moved from New York to completely new locations in the Midwest (Minnesota and Wisconsin). Accordingly, between moving out to our new locations, getting set up and starting law school, we unfortunately did not have the time to prepare high quality analysis for publication. As such, we decided it was better to publish nothing than to publish information that was sub par. Although we have not been writing, we have have indeed continued to closely follow the election.

Now that we’re set up and becoming acclimated to the grind of school, we will begin actively posting on 2008Central.net again. On Friday, September 14, your 08 Gurus will return in full force. In the meantime, we will use this opportunity to bring our calendar sections up to date and address our backlog of email.

We’d like to thank all of you for the success that 2008Central.net enjoyed in such a short period of time. We promise to continue to provide nonpartisan news and analysis related to the 2008 election.

Best Regards,

John Whitehouse and Angelo Carusone
Co-Managing Editors, 2008Central.net

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Petition: Equitable Time For All Candidates Participating In CNN/YouTube Debates

We’ve covered all the presidential debates so far and something that has always frustrated us is the fact that there is such a huge disparity between in the amount of time that the individual candidates receive.  In some debates some candidates have received 3 times as much speaking time their opponents in the same debate!

Accordingly, we’ve decided to take action and have created a petition that we plan on delivering to CNN and YouTube prior to the first debate (which is being held on July 23, 2007).  The petition simply calls for them to reduce the time disparity by pledging to provide equitable time to all participating candidates.

Enough is enough.  Together we can maximize the utility of these debates by demanding that all candidates be allowed to express their viewpoints in a somewhat comparable way. 

Read the petition here.
Don’t want to read it and just want to sign? Go here.

Please spread the word about this effort to ehance presidential debates. 

Text of the petition: Read more

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2008Central.net: Faster Than The Drudge Report

While bouncing around this evening, I noticed something on the Drudge Report that we discussed a few days ago…

Four days ahead of Reuters and the Drudge Report, we discussed the possibility that Lieberman might support a Republican in 2008.  Not only did we discuss it, but in my opinion, covered it a bit better given that we also noted how Lieberman had kind words to say about Giuliani and McCain and discussed some of his more critical comments of Democrats in greater detail.

This isn’t the first time that we’ve been ahead of the curve on covering topics.  Given that the Drudge Report decided to finally make note of it today, I figured it was worth mentioning that visiting us often will likely lead you to be better informed than others, but also informed first.

[Sometimes it's fun to toot your own horn. *Toot Toot*]

Many thanks to all our readers.

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2008Central.net’s Presidential Election Podcast (06/24/07)

This week’s podcast covers…

• Mike Bloomberg departing the GOP
• Fred Thompson to announce soon?
• John McCain and Mitt Romney’s political scuffle
• Hillary Clinton booed at the Take Back America Conference: What’s it mean?
• 2008Central.net’s John Whitehouse attended the “Generation Barack Obama” event in New York City on June 22, 2007. What were his impressions?
• Despite a rough couple of weeks, Rudy Giuliani remains the leader of the pack
• Notes on the second tier
• A look ahead to the close of the second fundraising quarter of 2007 and the significance of primary date movement in Floria and New Jersey
• And more…

Feel free to email us questions/suggestions for next week’s podcast (you can also email an audio file of your question and we’ll include it in the podcast).

Subscribe to 2008Central.net’s Presidential Election Podcast

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CNN New Hampshire Democratic Primary Debate Scorecard (6/3/07)

Debate Performance Ranking…

This is a ranking of the candidates using the criteria of whom based only on the debate, improved their chances for winning the nomination the most. In other words, if all the candidates were completely tied this evening then the debate alone would tip the scales in the following way.

1. Joe Biden
2. Barack Obama
3. Hillary Clinton
4. John Edwards
5. Dennis Kucinich
6. Bill Richardson
7. Chris Dodd
8. Mike Gravel

This was a very good debate and there were certainly some tough calls. We spent quite a bit of time (a few hours actually) deliberating on these rankings. If you’re interested in our explanations, be sure to tune into to our next podcast, which will be published sometime this evening. Congratulations to Sen. Biden on winning both Democratic primary debates to date.

You May Have Missed…

• Live Blog Of CNN Democratic Debate In New Hampshire (6/3/07)
• CNN Democratic Primary Debate Preview (6/3/07)
• MSNBC Democratic Primary Debate Scorecard (4/26/07)

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Giuliani, Huckabee And Kucinich Advertise On Searches For Sam Brownback

SamBrownback.com is currently owned by a squatter (someone who owns the domain in hopes of selling it). The address doesn’t contain a web page; rather, it just has a list of sponsored links, which it collects from an internet advertising service (most likely Google’s “Adwords”). Yesterday evening, I accidentally went to SamBrownback.com instead of Brownback.com and noticed that Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee and Dennis Kucinich had advertisements that appeared on the site (advertisements are pictured left, screen shot of site can be found here). Please note that this does not necessarily mean to advertise on this particular site, but rather that they chose to advertise in searches for Sam Brownback.

I can understand why Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee would want to cross advertise on searches for Sam Brownback, since they are competing in the same primary and thus competing amongst the same group of supporters. The big question is: Why is Dennis Kucinich advertising on searches for Sam Brownback?

He’s not likely to gain any supporters directly from this; however, by drawing people who would be interested in Sam Brownback to his site, he’s likely to raise awareness about himself amongst a group of people that a) probably doesn’t know him and b) would probably be very happy to criticize him if they did know him. Thus, it seems to that Kucinich is painting himself as a target for conservatives. I imagine his campaign hopes that by fostering/feeding criticism about Kucinich on the right, buzz will be generated on the left as they response. Regardless of what you think about this political strategy, it wreaks of desperation.

You May Have Missed…

• Republicans Fight Google Adwords War (2/4/07)

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