The justices said they will review a lower court ruling upholding a provision of the Voting Rights Act that requires all or parts of 16 states with a history of racial discrimination, most in the South, to get approval before implementing any changes in the way elections are held.
In 2006, Congress voted overwhelmingly to extend the measure for another 25 years. The 1965 law was designed to prevent governments from making it harder for minorities to vote.
The high court has upheld earlier extensions of the provision that calls for either the U.S. attorney general or a court to sign off in advance on changes to requirements to hold office, polling places and other issues involving the conduct of elections.
The justices will hear the case in April and probably decide it by June, against the backdrop of a presidential election that was unimaginable when the law was enacted more than 40 years ago.
"The elephant in the room is what to make of the Obama election," said Nathaniel Persily, professor of law and political science at Columbia Law School, referring to the election of Barack Obama. "Does the election of the first African-American president undermine the central justification for parts of the Voting Rights Act?"
Under Chief Justice John Roberts, the court has looked skeptically at government efforts to take race into account in the assignment of students to public schools and the drawing of electoral districts.
A second case accepted for argument Friday looks at whether a decision by New Haven, Conn., to scrap a promotion exam after too few minorities passed it violates the civil rights of white and Hispanic firefighters who did well enough to advance.
The latest voting rights challenge comes from a local Texas government that says it was created in the 1980s, has no history of discrimination and shouldn't be subject to what it calls "the most federally invasive law in existence."
Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One, a government board formed to provide local services to about 3,500 people, sued following the 2006 extension. The board asked the court to exempt it from the law and said Congress had not shown a link between the district's need to get advance approval and past racial discrimination.
A federal court in Washington ruled in May that the prior approval provision is constitutional.
The three-judge panel said that the utility board didn't qualify as a "political subdivision" and could not be exempted from the law. It also ruled that racial discrimination in voting persists and that Congress acted appropriately when it extended the law.
Under the law, appeals go directly to the Supreme Court.
But the court could avoid the constitutional issue if it finds that the board has the right to bail out of the law.
Congress has extended the Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act four times, in 1970, 1975, 1982 and 2006.
An array of rights groups, including the NAACP, American Civil Liberties Union and Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, have intervened in the case in support of the law.
President George W. Bush signed the latest extension into law and his administration asked the high court to affirm the lower-court ruling. The government noted in court papers that more than 2,400 proposed voting changes have been blocked since 1982.
"The record includes evidence of discrimination throughout covered jurisdictions perpetrated at every level of government," the government said.
Eight states are covered in their entirety: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas. In Virginia, all but 15 cities and counties must comply with the measure.
Parts of California, Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina and South Dakota also need permission to make voting changes.
The case is Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Mukasey, 08-322.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Get ready for the in-law in chief.
President-elect Barack Obama's mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, is moving into the White House at least temporarily to join Michelle Obama and the two children, transition officials said Friday.
That's good news not just for late-night comics, but for 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha. During the campaign, Robinson retired from her job as a bank executive secretary to help care for her granddaughters.
"Mrs. Robinson will be coming with the family to help the girls get acclimated, and she will determine in the coming months whether or not she wants to stay in D.C. permanently," said Katie McCormick Lelyveld, spokeswoman for Michelle Obama.
Michelle Obama also made another hotly awaited decision: She's keeping the White House chef. Cristeta Comerford took the job in 2005 and is the first woman and first minority to serve as executive chef.
"Cristeta Comerford brings such incredible talent to the White House operation and came very highly regarded from the Bush family," Michelle Obama said in a statement released by the transition team. "Also the mom of a young daughter, I appreciate our shared perspective on the importance of healthy eating and healthy families."
Plenty of in-laws have taken up residence in the White House before, not to mention cousins, grandchildren and other relatives.
"Throughout history there have been many extended first families in office," said Robert Watson, author of "Life in the White House."
Ulysses S. Grant's father-in-law, Richard Dent, stayed for several years. Harry S. Truman's mother-in-law, Madge Gates Wallace, lived there, too, and was critical of her son-in-law.
"She never liked him. She always felt that Bess had married below her station," said Myra Gutin, a first lady historian and professor at Ryder University in New Jersey.
"For his part, he was gracious. Whatever Mother Wallace wanted, she pretty much got."
Mamie Eisenhower's mother also had extended stays, but like her daughter she tended to sleep until noon, said Maria Downs of the White House Historical Association.
Even the presidents' mothers can be tough. Lillian Carter stayed in the White House and got on well with her son Jimmy, but Gutin said that when he first told her, "Mom, I'm going to run for president," she replied, "President of what?"
By all accounts, Obama has a good relationship with his mother-in-law. She had put off retirement for years, but finally retired last summer to take care of the granddaughters while their parents campaigned.
"She didn't want anyone else taking care of the kids but her," McCormick Lelyveld said. "She wanted to be the one there."
Barack Obama has called her one of the unsung heroes of his campaign, and spoke of holding her hand on election night.
But when asked by "60 Minutes" if Robinson would move in, he quipped: "Well, I don't tell my mother-in-law what to do. But I'm not stupid. That's why I got elected president, man."
Powell, an honorary co-chair of the inauguration, announced the Presidential Inaugural Committee's "Renew America Together" volunteering initiative on Friday to take place on Jan. 19, the King holiday.
President-elect Barack Obama, Vice President-elect Joe Biden and their families will volunteer in the Washington area that day, a day before the Jan. 20 inauguration. They're asking Americans to do the same in their own communities.
"I think it will capture the imagination of the American people," Powell said, adding that there was a "fervor" for the new administration that should be tapped.
The goal is to make public service a greater priority throughout American life.
"It's not enough, I think, just to do it one day a year," Powell said.
The inaugural committee launched a Web site, USAService.org, to help Americans find opportunities to volunteer in their own communities. Spokeswoman Linda Douglass said there are already nearly 5,000 online listings, and people are welcome to add their own.
The Corporation for National and Community Service, the agency that oversees AmeriCorps, has been working for 14 years to make King day a national day of service at the request of Congress. They also worked with the inaugural committee on the new project.
Although a troubled economy has meant a drop in charitable giving, Powell said he was confident that Obama and Biden could appeal to the generous American spirit.
"My experience is, in time of need, the American people recognize that they have to do more than they would have otherwise," he said.
Powell founded the America's Promise Alliance, a group that tries to improve children's lives, and has also worked with the Boys and Girls Club and the United Negro College Fund.
He said he has not been asked to work in the Obama Administration and has made it clear he doesn't want to.
"I'm not looking for a job," he said. "I'm very happy in private life, thank you very much."
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Barack Obama (D-IL) today asked the Air Force to establish a new RC-12 flying mission for the National Guard's 183rd Fighter Wing in Springfield, Illinois. The Illinois Senators recently learned that the Air Force is planning to acquire a number of RC-12 aircraft to support intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance efforts, but has not specified where a new RC-12 mission would be located.
"Today, the 183rd could convert to and accept a new RC-12 mission. The Wing's experienced pilots and support personnel could be retrained quickly and the existing hangars could be converted easily to house the RC-12. Unless a new flying mission is soon identified, however, these existing resources may be lost," said the Illinois members. "The timing is right for a new flying mission for the 183rd. We urge you to consider an RC-12 mission for the 183rd."
Today's letters were sent to Acting Secretary of the U.S. Air Force Michael Donley and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, General Norton Schwartz. Durbin and Obama have been reaching out to several National Guard and Air Force leaders over the past year asking for help in their effort to keep the 183rd firefighter unit in Springfield and secure a new flying mission. On August 26, Durbin and Obama announced a one year extension of the firefighter unit through September 2009.
The text of the letter is below:
October 1, 2008
The Honorable Michael B. Donley Acting Secretary of the Air Force 1670 Air Force Pentagon Washington DC 20330-1670
General Norton Schwartz HQ USAF/CC 1670 Air Force Pentagon Washington DC 20330-1670
Dear Secretary Donley / General Schwartz:
We have previously written to you to regarding a new flying mission for the Illinois Air National Guard's 183rd Fighter Wing in Springfield, Illinois. We understand that the Air Force has imminent plans to acquire a number of RC-12 aircraft in support of its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) efforts. As the Wing would be an excellent location for any number of flying missions, we urge you to consider assigning some of these aircraft to a new RC-12 flying mission for the 183rd.
As you know, the 183rd has lost its F-16 mission as part of the 2005 BRAC. Although the fifteen F-16 aircraft have been reassigned, the Wing retains the trained personnel and infrastructure that a new RC-12 mission would require. Today, the 183rd could convert to and accept a new RC-12 mission. The Wing's experienced pilots and support personnel could be retrained quickly and the existing hangars could be converted easily to house the RC-12. Unless a new flying mission is soon identified, however, these existing resources may be lost.
There is no doubt that the RC-12 aircraft will be deployed regularly while American forces are engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan. Upon return of the aircraft to domestic use, the Illinois Air National Guard will be able to use the RC-12's ISR capabilities to further its homeland defense and disaster relief efforts. These capabilities already have been used successfully in other National Guard domestic missions.
The last F-16 aircraft left Springfield last week. The timing is right for a new flying mission for the 183rd. We urge you to consider an RC-12 mission for the 183rd and we look forward to your timely reply.
Sincerely,
Richard DurbinUnited States Senator
Barack ObamaUnited States Senator
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama today sent the following letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, calling to renew our country's commitment to NASA and to provide a budget with sufficient resources for success in its critical missions - space exploration and human spaceflight, science and aeronautics research.
Dear Majority Leader Reid and Madam Speaker Pelosi:
This Administration's lack of leadership for our nation's space program has left Americans without access to space or the ability to support its astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) without paying Russia for transportation. The ISS is a world-class research facility, built with approximately $100 billion of U.S. taxpayers' money. With the planned retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2010, the U.S. will be paying Russia for rides to and from the ISS, and for emergency lifeboat services, using their Soyuz spacecraft. Furthermore, at the end of 2011, NASA will no longer even have the legal authority to continue paying Russia for Soyuz flights, so unless we act immediately, the U.S. will abandon its role in supporting, and benefiting from, missions to this amazing facility, leaving it to our international partners.
The Bush administration's plan to have astronauts explore beyond low-earth orbit, returning to the Moon and then on to Mars, has never been funded adequately. In order to pay for this program, all other NASA programs have been short-changed ─ from our important earth and space science missions to investment in critical aeronautics programs. The very engine of innovation for our nation, investment in research and technology, has been all but eliminated at NASA. America needs to renew its commitment to NASA and to provide sustained, stable direction with an honest budget and sufficient resources for success across all of its critical missions: Human Spaceflight, Science, and Aeronautics Research.
As Dr. Michael Griffin, the NASA administrator, said recently, "In a rational world, (NASA) would have been allowed to pick a Shuttle retirement date to be consistent with Ares/Orion availability, (NASA) would have been asked to deploy Ares/Orion as early as possible (rather than "not later than 2014") and we would have been provided the necessary budget to make it so" [NASA e-mail, 8/18/08]. Regrettably, the current administration has not behaved rationally and, with the Russian invasion of Georgia, NASA is now left with more limited options, all of them much worse than if the administration and their Republican allies in Congress had thought through the strategic consequences of these decisions five years ago.
Because of this failure of leadership, America is now faced with three less-than-optimal options:
• Ask Congress to renew the existing waiver for the Iran-North Korea-Syria Non-proliferation Act (INKSNA) and rely on Russia to launch and retrieve our own astronauts on the Space Station between the imminent retirement of the Space Shuttle and the first launch of an operational replacement for the Shuttle.
• Do nothing and abandon American commitments to the International Space Station between 2012 and 2015, relinquishing our $100 billion dollar investment to the Russians and our other international partners.
• Increase NASA's funding significantly to extend our use of the Space Shuttle beyond 2010 as partial mitigation for the gap in American access to low-earth orbit and for our dependence on Soyuz, while also providing a smoother transition of NASA's Shuttle workforce, infrastructure, and capabilities to new systems.Administrator Griffin has initiated an analysis of the third option to determine its feasibility, cost, and schedule implications. The results should be available in the November timeframe so that the President-elect's transition team can prepare appropriate action along with appropriate FY2010 budgeting. NASA's appropriators, however, should be prepared to consider increasing NASA's budget to extend safe Shuttle operations beyond 2010 and to accelerate government and private-sector efforts to provide human access to low-earth orbit. Any effort to extend the Shuttle program must receive adequate funding, ensuring that progress on developing new vehicles is not further delayed by diverting funds to the Shuttle. In the meantime, while we await the results of NASA's Shuttle study, there are three concrete steps that Congress should take immediately. I urge you to:
• Extend NASA's waiver of INKSNA so we keep that option open for allowing U.S. astronauts to utilize the ISS beyond 2011.
• Demand that NASA take no further action that would make it more difficult or expensive to fly the Shuttle beyond 2010.
• Provide additional funding in FY2009 above that contemplated in the pending appropriations bills to support the single extra Shuttle flight already approved overwhelmingly by both House and Senate authorizers earlier this year.NASA should be funded appropriately to carry out its important goals. In 1961, President Kennedy inspired America to explore the heavens. He set difficult goals for NASA but, importantly, he and a Democratic Congress provided NASA with the resources necessary for success. And succeed they did. NASA helped America win the Cold War without firing a single shot by dazzling the world with our technological and moral leadership. It is time to dazzle them again.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Barack Obama's presidential campaign, which has inspired a multitude of songs by stars and amateurs alike, is now getting an official soundtrack.
"Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement," which takes its title from an Obama campaign slogan, features Kanye West, John Legend, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Wonder and others. It will be available for sale exclusively through Obama's campaign starting Friday.
Proceeds from the CD ($24.99 for a digital download, $30 for a physical product) will help fund Obama's campaign until Nov. 4, Election Day, according Hidden Beach Recordings, which created the CD.
Steve McKeever, CEO and founder of Hidden Beach, a longtime Obama supporter, said he had been talking to people within the Obama campaign about a project like "Yes We Can" for a while.
"We had conversations quite some time ago about how to harness what was happening really organically and naturally with so many artists," he said. "The whole concept (was) how do we translate that to inspire and invigorate and also give people a keepsake that they can own while at the same time providing some important capital needed for this campaign."
While most of the songs on the disc have been previously released - such as John Mayer's "Waiting On the World to Change" and Stevie Wonder's classic "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" - a few of the songs are new, including Legend's "Pride in the Name of Love" and "Promised Land," a song by Malik Yusef featuring Kanye West and Adam Levine of Maroon 5.
McKeever said he had more than 150 submissions for the CD.
The "Yes We Can" CD is only the latest musical project inspired by Obama. Earlier this year, an all-star music video featuring Legend, Scarlet Johansson, Kate Walsh, Common, and others, led by the Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am and titled "Yes We Can," became a viral sensation, garnering millions of views on the Internet. Will.i.am followed that up with another celebrity-filled video, "We Are The Ones."
There also have been songs by amateurs posted regularly on YouTube.com, while other celebrities - including Jay Jay French of Twisted Sister - have sung Obama-inspired songs. Recently, Dave Stewart debuted his own all-star video, "American Prayer," which featured Whoopi Goldberg, Barry Manilow, Forest Whitaker and Cyndi Lauper.
While Republican presidential candidate John McCain has had songs penned for him, such as "Lead the Way" by a lawyer named Judd Kessler, he has not inspired the same groundswell of musical support.
To make sure the CD project met federal campaign standards, McKeever said it went through a rigorous vetting process. The Obama campaign purchased the rights to the CD, he said, declining to name the price. The artists on the CD "are all being compensated as fair market value for their services," he added.
After the election, the CD is due to be released through other outlets and Hidden Beach will reap the profits.
The McCain camp said it had no plans to release a CD of its own and greeted news of Obama's with a dig. "It's ironic that on a day when the economy is in turmoil, Barack Obama fails to release an economic plan, but instead chooses a celebrity rock album," said spokesman Tucker Bounds.
Obama said Friday he was holding off on detailing his plans for the nation's credit crisis because he did not want to risk roiling the markets at such a sensitive time.
Though the CD is to benefit Obama, McKeever said the music on it is not geared specifically toward Democrats.
"I don't think that there's anything on it that's a real partisan message," he said. "The messages I think are quite universal."
WASHINGTON (AP) -- If this election were about which candidate people wanted as their child's schoolteacher, Barack Obama would be moving to the head of the class. They'd also rather watch a football game with him, but only by inches.
People picked the Democrat over Republican John McCain to catch a game with by 50 percent to 47 percent, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released Friday. Asked which they'd choose to be their child's teacher, Obama was the choice by a more decisive 55 percent to 44 percent, including a markedly stronger performance by the Illinois senator among whites.
Win or lose the November presidential election, neither man is likely to be teaching schoolchildren anytime soon, let alone plopping down on your couch for a game. Nonetheless, the responses provide some insight into how the two candidates are viewed as people - an important consideration for many when it comes to voting.
Those questioned generally said that for viewing a football game, they were looking for someone they would feel comfortable spending time with. For a teacher, they often described a more complex process measuring a candidate's life experience, communications skills and tolerance of different viewpoints.
"I think Obama has a little more of an open mind, maybe because he's a black man and has that history behind him, the prejudices of life," said Chris Porter, 45, an Obama supporter from Kenosha, Wis. "I think that's something very important for children to understand."
Obama has been a teacher, having worked as a law professor at the University of Chicago.
Larry Killen, 54, a McCain backer from Sugar Hill, Ga., cited how the Republican bounced back from his captivity during the Vietnam War.
"I see him as a more grounded person with a much deeper range of experience," said Killen, a software designer. "It's fascinating what he's endured," he said, adding that influencing others comes "more from the person you are than the things you do."
Whites - who have favored McCain throughout the campaign season - would rather watch football with the Arizona senator by 55 percent to 43 percent. He was also the choice to be their child's teacher, but by a narrower 51 percent to 47 percent.
The 16-percentage-point preference white men had for McCain as a football companion was about halved when it came to choosing a teacher. White women moved from picking McCain for football by 7 points to favoring Obama as teacher by 2 points - in effect a tie.
Just as strikingly, white college graduates had an 8-point preference for watching football with McCain but preferred Obama as a teacher by 7 points. Whites without college degrees chose McCain for football by 12 points, and by a slightly smaller margin to be a teacher.
Independents preferred McCain for football by 10 points but were evenly divided over which would be the better teacher. For both categories, fewer than one in 10 Obama voters chose McCain, while nearly one in five McCain supporters opted for Obama.
"He seems intensely focused," McCain supporter Lanita Linch, 41, of Harrison, Ark., said of the Republican. "I'm not sure he does sit down and relax." She said she'd rather watch football with Obama because he seemed like "someone you could be comfortable and at ease with."
In promising news for Obama, he was the choice of undecided voters and those who say they might switch candidates, narrowly as a football companion but by 18 points as a teacher.
McCain was picked for both activities by about a third of those who earlier this year supported vanquished Democratic contender Hillary Rodham Clinton, a group Obama has struggled to win over. That's better than McCain did with Democrats overall, less than a quarter of whom opted for him for either teaching or football.
Married people in the survey who have children were about evenly divided between the two rivals on both questions.
The poll of 1,740 adults was conducted Sept. 5-15 and has an overall margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. It was conducted over the Internet by Knowledge Networks, which initially contacted people using traditional telephone polling methods and followed with online interviews.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Hillary Rodham Clinton stepped up her efforts Friday to swing her supporters behind Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, her former rival for the nomination.
In an outreach dubbed "Hillary Sent Me," the New York senator invited her primary-season partisans to get involved directly in Obama's campaign and to donate to it. As part of that, she urged them to travel to a specific battleground state each weekend, beginning with New Hampshire on Sept. 27, when she will be campaigning for Obama in Michigan.
"Today I am asking all of you to stand up with me, to hit the road and spread the word that we must elect Barack Obama president and send a Democratic, filibuster-proof majority to Congress," Clinton told supporters in a conference call Friday. "This is a call to action, a must-do. We all have a role. And there is not a moment to lose."
Starting Saturday, Clinton's political Web site will offer backers information about Democratic campaign events and grassroots efforts.
Clinton said the outreach "continues the historic journey that you have made with me."
"I like to tell people this is a twofer," said former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, who is challenging Republican John Sununu for his Senate seat in that state and also took part in the call. "You can come up. You work in the presidential race, you can work in the Senate race."
The effort was organized with the Obama campaign and state Democratic parties nationwide. Its goal: to engage the former first lady's donors and voters - many of whom are still sore over her loss to Obama in the epic primary contest - to put that firmly behind them and help in battleground states.
The New York senator has already campaigned for Obama in Ohio, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico and raised more than $5 million for his campaign. "Hillary Sent Me" is her first explicit pitch to her grass roots supporters to get involved, Clinton aides said.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama today released the following statement on the passing of Anna Langford, the first African American woman to serve on Chicago's City Council:
"Michelle and I are saddened today to learn about the death of Anna Langford - a historic figure and unwavering champion for civil rights in Chicago. Her strong principles led her to always fight for the underdog and she never lost sight of the "least of these" in our society. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family."
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama today released the following statement after the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced tough new standards for lead contaminated products, which would go into effect in February 2009:
"Keeping our children safe from lead-tainted products must be a top priority, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission took an important step forward by announcing tough new standards for products containing lead. However, I remain concerned that these standards will not be implemented until after this year's holiday season, a time when so many American children are exposed to new toys. We must give parents every tool available to protect their children, and I call on the Commission to implement these standards as soon as possible."
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama today released the following statement after Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake visited the Marion VA Medical Center in Marion, Illinois earlier today:
"After last year's unacceptable tragedies at the Marion VA, it's long past time that Secretary Peake and senior agency personnel visited the facility, reviewed its standards, and met with victims' families, staff, and current patients. And it's long past time that the VA and the Administration guarantee that these types of tragedies, breakdowns and failures are not occurring at other facilities across the country.
"This year's investigations and reports have provided new information about failures in leadership, quality control, and safeguards at Marion. While it is clear Secretary Peake recognizes these systemic problems, our veterans have waited far too long for the VA to make the necessary improvements to ensure that Marion has qualified personnel and operations. The VA must now make critical leadership changes, add the essential safeguards and thoroughly examine its standards at Marion. We must ensure this facility can provide patients with quality care as soon as possible.
"Veterans in Illinois and across the United States should expect nothing less than the best health care and treatment at our nation's veterans' facilities. These brave men and woman served honorably in Iraq and Afghanistan, and conflicts throughout the world. We owe them care that is worthy of their extraordinary sacrifice, and they should not be put in danger here at home.
"I commend Senator Durbin and Congressmen Costello and Shimkus for their continued leadership on behalf of America's veterans."
We need to find ways to help Barack Obama, not simply in the real world, but in the virtual world. We need to create our own echo chamber where we can answer the lies, answer the distortions head on.
We also need to find ways to test messages and understand just how tough a job organizing is and find more effective ways to organize.
To that end, I believe that blogging here and elsewhere, joining political simulations and boards are central to fighting back for Barack.
This month's simulation recommendation to join is the American Government Simulation at http://americangovernmentsimulation.com/.
Sign up and join the Obama bandwagon and send the message to Republicans, we won't go quietly into the night anymore, we won't give in, we will stand up and fight to make a difference and change the world everywhere we can. Yes we can.
I was watching "Hardball with Chris Mathews" and he brought up an interesting point. He said that it seems like McCain is trying to shift the race to be about culture rather than be about issues. And if you examine the events of the last week, you can see that may be a valid point. McCain is packaging himself and Puppet as the couple that America can identify with. They are trying without actual words to say in a subtle way "Who do you want to see in the Whitehouse?".
As I said in my previous blog, I hope voters won't squander their precious vote by picking someone based on race, gender or culture. I hope everyone will take a hard look at the candidates policies and vote for who is going to be best for our country.
The McCain campaign is lying about their candidates' records. Today, they're out with a new ad that pushes blatant lies to dress up these party-line politicians as agents of change. Let's set the record straight: Palin was a supporter of the infamous Bridge to Nowhere -- the symbol of the Republican culture of corruption -- only turning her back on it after the project's bloated pork-barrel waste was exposed. In just six years, John McCain has voted for nearly $150 billion in earmarks -- just like the Bridge to Nowhere.
The McCain campaign will say or do anything to sound like "mavericks" or reformers -- but the record shows that their ticket is in lockstep with George Bush and his dead-end policies. But a little straight talk cuts easily through these lies. While the ad trumps up the pair's reformer credentials, McCain and Palin are defending the very things they claim to fight against. How can they be trusted to change the same system they've exploited? Barack Obama and Joe Biden understand the change we need in Washington. Watch the ad and spread the truth to stop the McCain campaign's lies right now:
