Former Senator Mike Gravel (D-Alaska) has decided to leave the Democratic Party and join the Libertarians. Gravel says he is joining the Libertarian Party because of its "commitment to freedom and peace."
Gravel's departure gives us at The Briefing Room an excuse to bring you Gravel's Greatest Hits including "Rock" and "Power to the People." Both videos are after the jump.
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DNC Chairman Howard Dean's response to McCain's speech:
John McCain's empty rhetoric today can't change the fact that he has steadfastly stood with President Bush from day one and is now talking about keeping our troops in Iraq for 100 years. His new appreciation for diplomacy has no credibility after he mimicked President Bush's misleading case for a unilateral war of choice when it mattered most. Why should the American people now trust John McCain to offer anything more than four more years of President Bush's reckless economic policies and failed foreign policy?
Dean has attacked John McCain almost daily while he waits for his party to settle on a nominee.
John McCain said he is a "realistic idealist" who "detest[s] war" in a foreign policy speech today in the Los Angeles. McCain also said he would "build new foundations for a stable and enduring peace." Read the full text of the speech after the jump.
This is the second major speech McCain has delivered this week after addressing the economy yesterday. Today's speech follows the pitch McCain made to European leaders last week where he stressed popular points that break from the Bush Administration while maintaining his support for the Iraq war.
"Those who argue that our goals in Iraq are unachievable are wrong, just as they were wrong a year ago when they declared the war in Iraq already lost," McCain said.
Barack Obama will deliver a "major economic address" tomorrow at 9:15 am Eastern according to his presidential campaign.
Obama will be the third presidential candidate to deliver a major economic speech this week, as Hillary Clinton and John McCain delivered speeches on the housing market Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
Clinton called for, among other things, a 90-day freeze on foreclosures and at least $30 billion to be given to state, local, and community groups to purchase foreclosed houses, hire more police and firemen in extensively foreclosed neighborhoods, and help homeowners restructure their mortgages.
McCain called for a meeting of accounting executives to examine valuation methods, and for another of mortgage lenders, to brainstorm a solution. McCain did not rule out the possibility of government assistance to homeowners, saying he would "consider any and all proposals based on their cost and benefits," but offered the caveat that no assistance should be given to speculative buyers.
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Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) has campaigned with Hillary Clinton in his home state, and the Clinton campaign today released a web video of Murtha speaking at one of her events.
Murtha is currently serving his 18th term in the House of Representatives, and he is the second-highest ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. Murtha was defeated in a caucus election for House Majority Leader by Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) in 2006, despite being backed by newly crowned Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The fiercely anti-war Murtha cited fiscal policy and the opportunity to curtail spending on Iraq as reasons he supports Clinton. See the video below.
Hillary Clinton's campaign sent a memo to reporters today outlining ten instances of Barack Obama embellishing his past. The memo focuses on direct mailings describing Obama as a law professor, Obama's claims that his mother and father fell in love because of the civil rights marches in Selma, Ala., TV ads' questionable use of newspaper quotes in promoting Obama's healthcare plan, and specific exaggerations of legislative achievements in the U.S. Senate.
Clinton has come under criticism in the media for an inaccurate portrayal of her 1996 visit to Bosnia. Clinton claimed March 17 that she had arrived in Bosnia under sniper fire, and that she had been forced to run, head covered, from the tarmac. CBS News debunked this claim yesterday.
See the text of the memo after the jump.
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The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter today urging Attorney General Michael Mukasey to take "immediate action" toward investigating the breach of passport information of all 3 leading presidential candidates.
Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) want the Justice Department to examine any possible violations of federal privacy law involved in the breach. Mukasey had said he would wait for a State Deparment investigation to conclude, but Leahy and Specter want him to push ahead.
The passport information of presidential contenders Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) were all viewed by State Department contractors without permission. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has apologized for the breech.
The letter coincides with a push from both Senators to get floor time for their privacy bill, as reported by J. Taylor Rushing.
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has posted his tax returns online. The move answers a direct charge from the Clinton camp that Obama is not as transparent as he claims. On a Clinton campaign conference call only an hour before the Obama camp posted the link Clinton deputy communications director Phil Singer said, "before the Obama campaign stands up on a soap box" the campaign "should be held accountable for the standard it holds up to everybody but itself." Singer pointed to Obama's previous undisclosed tax returns as evidence.
The Clinton camp has repeatedly stated it will release post-White House tax returns "on or around" April 15. Sam Youngman's got a story on the tax returns.
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