Ed Koch, New York City's former mayor, endorsed Barack Obama Tuesday and voiced concern over Republican veep nominee Sarah Palin's social views, reports the Associated Press.
"It's Palin primarily," he said in an interview about his endorsement. "She scares the hell out of me."
Koch backed President Bush when he ran for re-election in 2004, saying that he was better equipped to handle terrorism than his opponent, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
But Koch, Gotham's mayor during the 1980s, said Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), would do a better job of keeping the country safe.
"Protecting and defending the U.S. means more than defending us from foreign attacks," Koch told the wire service. He noted that he also takes into account civil liberties, abortion rights, gay rights and healthcare coverage.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) will appear on Montana's presidential ballot as the Constitution Party's candidate, according to FiveThirtyEight.com.
The libertarian-minded Paul, who campaigned the GOP nomination, said that he wouldn't play an active role in Montana but also wouldn't object to the Constitution Party of Montana tapping him as its nominee.
Paul received more than a fifth of the support of Republicans in Montana's June primary, which was won by John McCain.
The state Republican Party also held a caucus in February. Paul came in second place, behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R). McCain placed third.
McCain was tied with Democrat Barack Obama in the latest Rasmussen poll of the state, which was conducted in late July.
John McCain's daughter Meghan said Tuesday that her family has a special understanding of the military, claiming that "no one knows what war is like other than my family."
McCain, appearing on NBC's "Today Show" to promote her recently released children's book on her father, said the experience of having the country at war is "just different when you have someone in the military," adding that "obviously, I think my father gets it more than anyone."
"I mean, my family -- I have two brothers serving in the military. One is about to redeploy to Iraq," McCain said. "My father is obviously a famous war hero. No one knows what war is like other than my family, period."
McCain added that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) has a similar understanding because her son Track is slated to deploy to Iraq on September 11.
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) on Tuesday wrote federal officials to urge against any generous financial package for the outgoing chief executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, calling any bonus pay "out of line" in light of the taxpayer costs for the U.S. government's takeover of the companies.
Schumer and Reed sent the letter to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart to call attention to a combined $24 million in severance pay due to be paid to the two CEOs, according to the senators. Fannie Mae is led by Daniel Mudd and Freddie Mac is led by Richard Syron.
Schumer announced the letters at a noon news conference in the Senate.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced a plan Sunday to place both companies into conservatorship. Paulson also plans to replace both executives, which Schumer and Reed say would trigger the severance awards under their contracts.
Schumer and Reed said Lockhart could adjust the executives' severance packages under a provision in the housing legislation passed by Congress earlier this year.
"We find it way out of line that these two executives will be rewarded with millions of dollars in bonus compensation at a time when taxpayer dollars may have to be deployed to cover any financial losses caused by errors in management," Schumer and Reed wrote Lockhart. "It has been reported that Mr. Mudd and Mr. Syron stand to make more than $24 million in severance payments as a result of your actions over the weekend to place the companies in conservatorship."
Barack Obama downplayed the recent uptick in the polls for his opponent, John McCain, when asked about them in a news conference Tuesday.
"I think that what we're going to have to do is to see how things settle out over the next few weeks when people start examining who's actually going to deliver on the issues that people care about," he said in Riverside, Ohio. "You know, who's got an education plan that is going to improve the prospects for our children? Who's got a health care plan that is going to help a whole bunch of women out there who don't have health insurance? Who is better equipped to change the economy so that the average person who is working hard feels like they can get ahead and see their incomes rise?"
He added: "I mean, ultimately, those are the issues that I think are going to make the biggest difference in this race."
McCain is ahead of Obama in Gallup's tracking poll, which Obama had led throughout the summer. McCain's poll standing has improved ever since he announced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) as his running mate.
Obama acknowledged the excitement over her veep candidacy during the conference. He suggested that the buzz over Palin, the GOP's first female veep nominee, is due not to her gender but to her conservative ideology.
"But you know, there's no doubt that, you know, the Republicans are excited, particularly the right wing of the Republican Party is excited by Senator -- or Gov. Palin's choice," he said. "I think that has less to do with gender than it has to do with her ideological predispositions which are closely aligned to theirs."
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) will return to her home state tomorrow after a post-convention tour through swing states with John McCain.
Palin will attend a rally in Fairbanks, Alaska tomorrow, the McCain campaign announced this morning. Palin has campaigned with McCain inMissouri and Ohio this week and is scheduled to make another appearance in Pennsylvania this afternoon. Critics had suggested she would return to Alaska even sooner after the GOP convention concluded last week.
Palin's eldest son, Track, will deploy to Iraq on Thursday, according to the governor's convention speech.
Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) says that if Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) becomes the first female vice president it will be a "backward step for women."
Asked by a local television reporter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin if electing Palin would be a step forward for women, Biden said, "well look, I think the issue is what does Sarah Palin think? What does she believe?"
"I assume she thinks and agrees with the same policies that George Bush and John McCain think," Biden added. "And that's obviously a backward step for women."
Here is the video:
UPDATE: Republican National Committee spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson has a response:
"The only person taking a step backward is Joe Biden, whose appalling and arrogant statements are better suited for the back rooms of his old boys club. Sarah Palin
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) is standing firm on her line on the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere" despite repeated assertions from the Barack Obama campaign that she is "lying."
"I told Congress thanks but no thanks for that Bridge to Nowhere," Palin said during a campaign stop in Lebanon, Ohio.
Palin then returned fire against Obama, saying the Illinois senator is the one guilty of using earmarks to fund state projects.
"So as we reformed the abuses of earmarks in our state, our opponent was requesting nearly a billion dollars in earmarks as a senatorial privilege, as I was vetoing half a billion as an executive responsibility," Palin said.
Responding to and ABC/Washington Post poll showing a 20 percent swing among white women voters for John McCain after picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) as his running mate, Barack Obama campaign manager David Plouffe flatly told a reporter from the Post, "well, you're poll is wrong."
"I don't think you'll find many others that back up a 20-point reversal," Plouffe said during a briefing with reporters.
"We certainly are not seeing any movement like that. Polls, time to time, particularly on the demographic stuff, can have some pretty wild swings."
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