Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) has launched a new political action committee (PAC) to support candidates nationwide, potentially laying the groundwork for an eventual White House run.
SarahPAC will support "Gov. Sarah Palin's plans to build a better, stronger, and safer America in the 21st century," the organization's website says. "SarahPac will support local and national candidates who share Gov. Palin's ideas and goals for our country."
Candidates interested in pursuing higher office will often establish a PAC to curry favor with fellow politicians and build support for a later run.
A search of Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings did not immediately yield any documentation for the organization. The organization's website lists an Arlington, Va. mailing address and a Washington, D.C.-area phone number.
Palin serves as the official Chairwoman of the PAC, according to the website.
A call to the phone number on the website went straight to voicemail.
The tens of thousands of dollars worth of outfits bought for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) during the presidential campaign have yet to be donated to president as promised, according to a report.
Nearly $180,000 in clothing bought for the governor remains "stuffed in trash bags" at the Republican National Committee's (RNC) headquarters in Washington, according to a report by the conservative website NewMajority.com.
The clothes had become a campaign issue during Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) presidential bid, prompting Palin, his vice presidential nominee, to promise to donate the clothes to charity, and not keep for personal use.
"The story is completely inaccurate, and does not merit further response," said an RNC official, who refused to elaborate or say whether or not the RNC still had possession of the clothes.
Citing anonymous sources, NewMajority said the RNC is "in the process" of donating the clothing -- bought from pricey retailers and designers -- and that the clothing currently sits in trash bags.
There was no indication as to when or to where the clothes would be donated.
Democrats' advantage in party identification has reached its highest point since 1983, according to Gallup's 2008 data.
According to Gallup, 36 percent of Americans identify themselves as Democrats, while 28 percent self-identify as Republicans.
Democrats have enjoyed an advantage in party identification in almost every year since 1988, Gallup's data shows. Today's study did not show data before that year, but, according to the polling agency, 1983 was the last year in which Democrats enjoyed a "significantly better" advantage (Democrats bested the GOP by 19 percent in that year).
Democrats have steadily performed better and better as compared to the GOP since hitting a low point between 2002 and 2004, when Republicans grasped a one percentage point advantage. The last time Republicans had led in party identification was 1991, according to Gallup.
Gallup's results are based on 30,000 interviews conducted in 2008; the margin of error for today's finding is +/- one percentage point, according to the polling firm.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) suggested on Thursday that he would support Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) over Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) for president.
In an interview on Larry King Live, McCain sidestepped a question on whether he would back his former running mate in four years.
"I don't know who is running, for one thing, because for example, my friend Jon Kyl, my colleague from Arizona..."
King interjected, "He might run."
McCain said, "Jon would be astonished to hear that I said that... Let me just say I don't know who's running."
McCain praised Palin and downplayed her criticism of McCain's presidential campaign, saying he talks to her regularly and will meet with her this month.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) may be shopping for a book deal, and has retained a Washington attorney with experience in negotiating such contracts to represent her.
Palin has hired attorney Robert Barnett, possibly to negotiate a book deal, though the attorney has experience in TV deals as well, The Hollywood Reporter reported Thursday.
The D.C. attorney's profile at law firm Williams & Connolly bills him as "one of the premier authors' representatives in the world" whose clients have included President Obama, former President Clinton, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, and a host of other politicians.
Barnett, who has been involved in a number of Democratic campaigns, has also represented a number of television personalities, such as NBC Nightly News Anchor Brian Williams and CNN chief medical correspondent (and rumored Surgeon General pick) Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
The Reporter story also said that Palin, who is eligible to run for a second term as governor of Alaska in 2010, may be a candidate for a TV show.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) said that the Republican Party is becoming ideologically and geographically narrower, and said that social issues have driven away many former GOP voters.
Giuliani said the Republicans must learn how to again become competitive in states like California, New York, and Illinois -- particularly in those states' suburban communities -- during an interview with the conservative website The New Majority.
"We have to deliberately have a policy of running candidates that can win in the New Yorks, the Californias, the Illinois, and in the satellite states," Giuliani said. "We have to be able to emphasize the issues that are of concern to the voters, and not alienate them on issues that just don't work in certain parts of the country."
Giuliani said that means running candidates who are more centrist on social issues like gay rights and abortion, while maintaining a stronger focus on fiscal, military, and foreign policy stances.
"Those are issues on which we can get a majority of the American people, if we don't drive them away with the social issues," the onetime Republican presidential nominee said. He added that electoral math does not support the idea that Republicans would have won the 2008 election had they been more conservative.
"Our base is our base, and is not getting bigger. If anything, it's getting smaller," Giuliani stated. "[Democrats] focused on their broadest organizing principles, and left room for disagreement, whereas we focused on our narrowest organizing principles and didn't leave room for disagreement."
Watch videos of both parts of Giuliani's interview below.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) said he was "thrilled" by President Barack Obama's nomination, despite having campaigned for his opponent, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), last year.
"It is amazing to remember that in my lifetime people of color could not vote in large parts of this country. And, now we see an African-American elected to be our president because of his personal character, abilities and the hopes he elicited in American voters," Lieberman said, according to the Connecticut Post. "It's quite thrilling and it makes me proud of our country."
Lieberman had campaign aggressively for McCain, drawing the ire from his Democratic colleagues in the Senate, with whom he has caucused. Those Democrats had threatened to expel Lieberman from the chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee until Obama intervened.
"I was deeply moved and inspired by President Obama's eloquent and stirring address," Lieberman added after yesterday's inauguration. "Now is the time to unite as a nation behind our new president's leadership and address the challenges facing our country at home and abroad."
The Obama-Biden transition team clarified her remarks earlier today made by Dr. Jill Biden, the incoming Second Lady, during a taping of the "Oprah" show that indicated her husband, Vice President-elect Joe Biden, had a choice between becoming either vice president or secretary of state during the Obama administration.
"Dr. Jill Biden knew there was a chance that President-elect Obama might ask her husband to serve in some capacity and that, given his background, the positions of Vice President and Secretary of State were possibilities," said Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander. "Dr. Biden's point to Oprah today was that being Vice President would be a better fit for their family because they would get to see him more and get to participate in serving more."
"Joe had the choice of being secretary of State or vice president," Dr. Biden said during the show, before being shushed by her husband. Dr. Biden added: "I said, 'Joe if you are secretary of State you will be away, I'll never see you. We will see you at a state dinner once in a while. But I said if you are vice president, the entire family, because they worked so hard for the election, they can be involved
"To be clear, President-elect Obama offered Vice President-elect Biden one job only -- to be his running mate. And the Vice President-elect was thrilled to accept the offer," Alexander said.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) praised Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska), saying that he was proud of having her as his running mate and that he thought she could one day become president.
McCain, on Fox News on Monday, said that he was "very proud" of Palin, whom he picked to be the GOP vice presidential nominee. Asked by Fox's Sean Hannity if he spoke with Palin often, McCain said he did.
Hannity later asked McCain if he thought she could be president one day.
"Sure, sure," McCain replied. "But I'd also like to point out that it's very early in this whole season."
The Palin and McCain camps have been trading barbs since the latter stages of the campaign. McCain aides were reportedly frustrated that she veered off-message, that she spent more than $150,000 on clothes during the GOP convention and that she took a prank call on the radio.
Palin said last week that she would have been more independent from advisers if she could do the campaign over.
"If I were giving advice to myself back on the day my candidacy was announced, I'd say, Tell the campaign that you'll be callin' some of the shots," she said in Esquire. "Don't just assume that they know you well enough to make all your decisions for ya."
McCain said he wouldn't run again for president. He added that the party will have a "spirited" competition to decide its next presidential nominee, and that many governors aside from Palin could be in the running. He mentioned Govs. Bobby Jindal (La.), Jon Huntsman (Utah), Tim Pawlenty (Minn.) and Mark Sanford (S.C.) as leaders who will play an enhanced role in deciding the GOP's direction.
"One reason is because their talent, and another reason is because they govern," he said.
Would-have-been first lady Cindy McCain said that the media had a "specific agenda" against her husband, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), during the 2008 presidential campaign, and castigated the New York Times for their profile of her last fall.
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
