News

John McCain has picked up the support of a group of Democrats in New Hampshire who say he's more experienced to lead the country than Barack Obama.

The leaders of New Hampshire Democrats for McCain outlined the reasons for their support in an op-ed published in today's Concord Monitor.

"Granite State voters put a premium on judgment, character, courage and principle over politics and partisanship. These are precisely the areas in which McCain stands head and shoulders above

A new Zogby poll shows Barack Obama building momentum against John McCain and starting to open an electoral college lead.

Obama leads McCain nationally, 44 percent to 38 percent, with Libertarian candidate Bob Barr polling at 6 percent.

Carried out to the fifty states, the poll shows Obama holding a 273 to 158 electoral college lead over McCain with 105 electoral college votes undecided. The number needed to win is 270.

"Obama is in the driver

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she loves her new hobby, golf, during an interview with the Golf Channel at last weekend's PGA Tour event.

"I really like the fact that that one little ball, you should be able to hit it the same way every time, and you never can. So it's a challenge," she said on the Golf Channel. "Golf is a constant challenge. Every shot is a challenge, mentally, physically, but also I like being out in these beautiful places and beautiful surroundings."

Rice, who gave the interview during the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., said she has been playing for three years and that her best round was an 89.

"It was just one of those days when I couldn't do anything wrong," Rice said. "I maybe didn't know what I was doing. But I just got my handicap and I'm told I'm about a 21 -- 21, 24, and I'm looking to bringing that down over the next several years."

The John McCain campaign has hired Mike DuHaime, Rudy Giuliani's former campaign manager, to be its new political director.

Until Steve Schmidt took over day-to-day operations of the campaign last week, the McCain camp had operated without a central political director, instead leaning on 11 relatively autonomous regional campaign managers. Bringing on DuHaime is part of a restructuring being orchestrated by Schmidt to centralize campaign operations.

DuHaime will oversee state and regional operations. He has been working as an adviser to the McCain camp since shortly after Giuliani dropped out of the GOP primary and endorsed McCain.

Barack Obama will accept the Democratic presidential nomination in August at INVESCO Field in Denver instead of at the Pepsi Center, the original, smaller convention site.

The stadium, which is home to the NFL's Denver Broncos, has a capacity of more than 75,000. The Pepsi Center, which holds about 19,000 during professional basketball games, will serve as the convention site for the first three days of the convention, August 25 through August 27.

The Democratic convention committee announced the move Monday.

"The Democratic Party is nominating a true change candidate this August, and it is only fitting that we make some big changes in how we put on the Convention," said Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Obama's nomination speech will be given on the convention's final day, August 28

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) would lose in a rematch to Democrat Ned Lamont if the election were held today, according to a new Research 2000 poll.

Lamont would get 51 percent of the support of likely voters while Lieberman would receive 36 percent. Alan Schlesinger, the 2006 Republican nominee for Senate, would get 7 percent. Lamont led Lieberman by 14 percentage points in a Research 2000 poll released in April.

The poll was commissioned by Daily Kos, whose founder, Markos Moulitsas, was a vocal supporter of Lamont in 2006.

Karl Rove and John Edwards will debate each other at least once this election year.

Rove, a former strategist to President Bush, and Edwards, the former Democratic presidential candidate, are scheduled to appear on stage together Sept. 26 at the University at Buffalo. The event is part of the school's "Distinguished Speakers" series.

The event's director, Bill Regan, told the Buffalo News that Edwards and Rove are likely to appear together at another event before coming to Western New York. No format has been set for the Sept. 26 event, Regan said.

Former Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), a champion of conservative causes, died early Friday at the age of 86, according to the Jesse Helms Center.

He was an advocate of hard-line stances toward communist countries and a staunch opponent of U.S. funding for the United Nations. He served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Ed Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation, praised Helms's role in furthering the conservative movement.

"Jesse Helms was one of the most consequential figures of the 20th century," Feulner said in post on the foundation's blog. "Along with Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, he helped establish the conservative movement and became a powerful voice for free markets and free people. The defeat of Soviet communism and the rise of Ronald Reagan would not have happened without his intrepid leadership at decisive times."

Barack Obama says he is willing to "refine" his policies on withdrawing from Iraq after meeting with military commanders during his planned trip to Iraq later this month, The Caucus is reporting.

Obama has pledged to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office, the plan outlined on his website.

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Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) wants the president to classify a television station run by Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Bilirakis introduced a House resolution last week that condemns the incitement of violence by the station Al-Aqsa, which is broadcast out of the Gaza Strip and aired a puppet show in March that depicted the stabbing of the President of the United States. The bill calls on the president to list Al-Aqsa as a "specially designated global terrorist."

The resolution also mentioned instances of incitement of violence by the Lebanese Al-Manar, Iranian Al-Alam, Iraqi Al-Zawra and Iraqi Al-Rafidayn.

If it passes, the resolution would call on the president to designate as global terrorists satellite providers that carried stations with the the terror group status. The bill's text notes that an Egyptian state-run provider, NileSat, carries Al-Aqsa.

Bilirakis's bill has 23 co-sponsors, only one of which -- Rep. Russ Carnahan (Mo.) -- is a Democrat.