'McCain'에 해당되는 글 36건

  1. 2008.12.15 McCain: I can't promise to support Palin for president by CEOinIRVINE
  2. 2008.11.17 Obama and McCain set to meet in Chicago by CEOinIRVINE
  3. 2008.11.07 Obama, McCain campaigns' computers hacked for policy data by CEOinIRVINE
  4. 2008.11.06 Hard Choices And Challenges Follow Triumph by CEOinIRVINE
  5. 2008.11.05 Obama Leads by CEOinIRVINE
  6. 2008.11.02 Obama razz's McCain over endorsement by CEOinIRVINE
  7. 2008.10.31 God, Country and McCain by CEOinIRVINE
  8. 2008.10.30 McCain Links Economy, Security by CEOinIRVINE
  9. 2008.10.29 Obama's ahead, polls say, but will the lead last? by CEOinIRVINE
  10. 2008.10.29 Polls show McCain not making up ground in Ohio by CEOinIRVINE

(CNN) -- Sen. John McCain said Sunday he would not necessarily support his former running mate if she chose to run for president.

Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin embrace after election results were in November 4.

Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin embrace after election results were in November 4.

Speaking to ABC's "This Week," McCain was asked whether Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin could count on his support.

"I can't say something like that. We've got some great other young governors. I think you're going to see the governors assume a greater leadership role in our Republican Party," he said.

He then mentioned governors Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Jon Huntsman of Utah.

McCain said he has "the greatest appreciation for Gov. Palin and her family, and it was a great joy to know them."

"She invigorated our campaign" against Barack Obama for the presidency, he said.

McCain was pressed on why he can't promise support for the woman who, just months ago, he named as the second best person to lead the nation.

"Have no doubt of my admiration and respect for her and my view of her viability, but at this stage, again ... my corpse is still warm, you know?" he replied.

In his first Sunday political TV appearance since November 4, McCain also promised to work to build consensus in tackling America's challenges, and criticized his own party for its latest attack on Obama.

McCain rejected complaints from the Republican National Committee that Obama has not been transparent about his contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

"I think that the Obama campaign should and will give all information necessary," McCain told ABC's "This Week."

"You know, in all due respect to the Republican National Committee and anybody -- right now, I think we should try to be working constructively together, not only on an issue such as this, but on the economy, stimulus package, reforms that are necessary."

McCain's answer came in response to a question about comments from RNC Chairman Mike Duncan. The RNC also released an Internet ad last week, titled "Questions Remain," suggesting Obama is failing to provide important information about potential links between his associates and Blagojevich.

Blagojevich was arrested Tuesday and charged with trying to trade Obama's Senate seat for campaign contributions and other favors.

"I don't know all the details of the relationship between President-elect Obama's campaign or his people and the governor of Illinois," McCain told ABC. "But I have some confidence that all the information will come out. It always does, it seems to me."

McCain said he, like Obama and many other lawmakers, believes Blagojevich should resign.

Despite the heated nature of the race and attacks both former candidates lobbed at each other, McCain emphasized that he plans to focus on pushing lawmakers past partisan politics.

"I think my job is, of course, to be a part of, and hopefully exert some leadership, in the loyal opposition. But I emphasize the word loyal," McCain said.

"We haven't seen economic times like this in my lifetime. We haven't seen challenges abroad at the level that we are experiencing, certainly since the end of the Cold War, and you could argue in some respects that they're certainly more complex, many of these challenges. So let's have our first priority where we can work together...

"Will there be areas of disagreement? Of course. We are different parties and different philosophy. But the nation wants us to unite and work together."

McCain said he wouldn't comment on whether he thought he had a good chance of winning the presidency, given the Bush administration and the GOP were perceived to be responsible for the economy's problems. McCain said he would "leave that question" for others "to make that kind of judgment."

He pointed out that his poll numbers dropped along with the Dow.

"That would sound like I am detracting from President-elect Obama's campaign. I don't want to do that... Nobody likes a sore loser."

The key to moving past the stinging defeat, he said, is to, "Get busy and move on. That's the best cure for it. I spent a period of time feeling sorry for myself. It's wonderful. It's one of the most enjoyable experiences that you can have.

"But the point is: You've got to move on... I'm still a senator from the state of Arizona. I still have the privilege and honor of serving this country, which I've done all my life, and it's a great honor to do so."



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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Call it a meeting of the bipartisan minds.

Barack Obama and John McCain attended the 9/11 memorial service together in New York City this year.

Barack Obama and John McCain attended the 9/11 memorial service together in New York City this year.

President-elect Barack Obama will meet with former GOP presidential candidate John McCain Monday in Chicago, Illinois.

The meeting will take place at the Obama transition headquarters.

"It's well known that they share an important belief that Americans want and deserve a more effective and efficient government, and will discuss ways to work together to make that a reality," Obama transition spokesman Nick Shapiro said in a statement Sunday.

Obama and McCain will be joined in the meeting by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, and Obama's new chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

Meanwhile, the man who steered Obama's Senate office will now move over to the White House with the incoming president.

The Obama Transition Office announced Sunday that Peter Rouse, currently Obama's chief of staff in his Senate office, will serve as a senior adviser to the President.

Before joining Obama in December 2004, Rouse was chief of staff for 19 years to former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota. Prior to that he was chief of staff to then-Rep. Dick Durbin of Illinois.

The Obama transition team also announced that Mona Sutphen will serve as a deputy chief of staff.

Sutphen is a member of the transition team staff and has been managing director of Stonebridge International LLC, an international strategic consulting firm based in Washington.

From 1991 to 2000 she was a U.S. foreign service officer, and among other assignments she served in the White House at the National Security Council from 1998 to 2000, under President Bill Clinton.


Jim Messina was also named a deputy chief of staff. Messina is currently the director of personnel for the president-elect's transition team. He served as a national chief of staff for Obama's presidential campaign. Video Watch more on the Obama transition picks »

Prior to that, Messina served as a chief of staff for Senators Max Baucus (D-Montana) and Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota) and for Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-New York).

President-elect Obama, in a statement released by the transition team, said, "These individuals are important additions to a team with the experience and ability to help our nation overcome pressing challenges at home and around the world."

Also, a longtime friend of the Obamas was officially named Saturday as a senior adviser to the incoming president.

Obama, in a statement released Saturday morning by his transition staff, announced that Valerie Jarrett will serve as senior adviser and assistant to the president for intergovernmental relations and public liaison. CNN Contributor Roland Martin reported the offer to Jarrett on Friday evening.

Jarrett is currently co-chair of Obama's transition team and was senior adviser for his presidential campaign. She became the president and CEO of The Habitat Company in 2007 and was also the company's vice president. The Habitat Company develops and manages residential apartments and condominiums.

Before joining The Habitat Company, Jarrett served for eight years in government for the city of Chicago, first as deputy corporation counsel for finance and development, then as deputy chief of staff for Mayor Richard M. Daley, and finally as commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development.

Also Saturday, a Democratic source told CNN that prominent Washington lawyer Greg Craig will be named White House counsel for the Obama administration. The source added that it is unclear when the appointment will be made public.

Craig first gained prominence representing President Clinton in his Senate impeachment trial, but he endorsed Obama over Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries and later played a key role in Obama's vice-presidential vetting process.

CNN reported Friday that three officials close to the presidential transition said Craig was under strong consideration to be named as the incoming president's top lawyer.

One of those officials said Craig was "highly regarded" and trusted for his discretion by Obama.

The transition team also made official Saturday the hiring of Ron Klain as chief of staff to the vice president.

Klain was also chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore, but he's no stranger to Vice President-elect Joe Biden, having served as chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee when Biden was the committee chairman.

Klain also served as general counsel of Gore's 2000 Florida recount effort and was portrayed by actor Kevin Spacey in an HBO movie about the event.

This year, Klain helped with debate preparation for both Obama and Biden.

"Ron Klain has been a trusted adviser of mine for over 20 years," a statement from Biden said Saturday. "He brings extraordinary judgment, a deep understanding of the important policy issues facing our nation, a wide range of experience in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, as well as a unique understanding of how the vice president's office works."

The transition team also announced Saturday that Phil Schiliro will serve as assistant to the president for legislative affairs. Schiliro is director of congressional relations for the Obama transition team. Before that, he was a senior adviser to Obama's presidential campaign.

Schiliro has worked in Congress for more than 25 years, in positions including chief of staff to Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, policy director for then-Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, and staff director for the Senate Democratic Leadership Committee




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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Computers at the headquarters of the Barack Obama and John McCain campaigns were hacked during the campaign by a foreign entity looking for future policy information, a source with knowledge of the incidents confirms to CNN.

Workers at Barack Obama's headquarters first thought there was a computer virus.

Workers at Barack Obama's headquarters first thought there was a computer virus.

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The source said the computers were hacked mid-summer by either a foreign government or organization.

Another source, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation, says federal investigators approached both campaigns with information the U.S. government had about the hacking, and the campaigns then hired private companies to mitigate the problem.

U.S. authorities, according to one of the sources, believe they know who the foreign entity responsible for the hacking is, but refused to identify it in any way, including what country.

The source, confirming the attacks that were first reported by Newsweek, said the sophisticated intrusions appeared aimed at gaining information about the evolution of policy positions in order to gain leverage in future dealings with whomever was elected.

The FBI is investigating, one of the sources confirmed to CNN. The FBI and Secret Service refused comment on the incidents. Video Watch Brian Todd's report on the investigation. »

The sources refused to speak on the record due to the ongoing investigation and also because it is a sensitive matter involving presidential politics.

As described by a Newsweek reporter with special access while working on a post-campaign special, workers in Obama's headquarters first detected what they thought was a computer virus that was trying to obtain users' personal information.

The next day, agents from the FBI and Secret Service came to the office and said, "You have a problem way bigger than what you understand ... you have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system."

One of the sources told CNN the hacking into the McCain campaign computers occurred around the same time as the breach into those of Obama's campaign.

Representatives of the campaigns could not be reached for comment on the matter.


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Barack Obama welcomes Joseph R. Biden Jr. to the rally at Grant Park. Obama must move strategically to balance his pledges to govern inclusively while promoting a progressive agenda.
Barack Obama welcomes Joseph R. Biden Jr. to the rally at Grant Park. Obama must move strategically to balance his pledges to govern inclusively while promoting a progressive agenda. (By Linda Davidson -- The Washington Post)


After a victory of historic significance, Barack Obama will inherit problems of historic proportions. Not since Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated at the depths of the Great Depression in 1933 has a new president been confronted with the challenges Obama will face as he starts his presidency.

At home, Obama must revive an economy experiencing some of the worst shocks in more than half a century. Abroad, he has pledged to end the war in Iraq and defeat al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. He ran on a platform to change the country and its politics. Now he must begin to spell out exactly how.

Obama's winning percentage appears likely to be the largest of any Democrat since Lyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide and makes him the first since Jimmy Carter in 1976 to garner more than 50.1 percent. Like Johnson, he will govern with sizable congressional majorities. Democrats gained at least five seats in the Senate and looked to add significantly to their strength in the House.

But with those advantages come hard choices. Among them will be deciding how much he owes his victory to a popular rejection of President Bush and the Republicans and how much it represents an embrace of Democratic governance. Interpreting his mandate will be only one of several critical decisions Obama must make as he prepares to assume the presidency. Others include transforming his campaign promises on taxes, health care, energy and education into a set of legislative priorities for his first two years in office.

Obama's victory speech before 125,000 people at Chicago's Grant Park touched the themes of unity, reconciliation and hope that were at the heart of his candidacy. Asking for the help of all Americans to tackle the country's most serious challenges, he prepared supporters and opponents alike for setbacks, disappointments and the need for patience before they succeed.

"The road ahead will be long," he said. "Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America -- I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you -- we as a people will get there."

Obama's ability to manage relationships with Democratic congressional leaders, with Republicans and with impatient liberal constituencies with agendas of their own will have a lasting impact on his presidency. Can he, for example, fulfill his promise to govern in a unifying and inclusive way yet also push an ambitious progressive agenda?

The first African American elected to the presidency, Obama built his victory with a new Democratic coalition. To the party's base of African Americans, Latinos and women, Obama added younger voters and wealthier, better-educated ones. That helped him raise his support among white voters -- a traditional weakness of recent Democratic presidential candidates.

This new coalition helped redraw the electoral map, adding normally Republican states in the South, Midwest and Rocky Mountains to the states won by Al Gore in 2000 and John F. Kerry in 2004. How he retains their support and enthusiasm as he begins to govern will also influence how successful he may be.

William Galston of the Brookings Institution, who served as domestic policy adviser during President Bill Clinton's first term, predicted a battle over analogies among Democrats seeking to influence Obama.

Some, he said, will argue that conditions require a major infusion of government activism and intervention, as in 1933. Others will point to the start of Johnson's first full term in 1965, which ushered in the Great Society and an era of liberal governance. Still others may point to 1993, the start of Clinton's first term, when Democrats pushed another liberal agenda, only to find that the country was resistant. Within two years, Democrats lost their congressional majorities.

Galston argued that 1993 may be closest to the mark, although he noted that the economic problems are far worse than those Clinton faced. But he said there was little evidence heading into yesterday's balloting that the country had taken a sharp left turn. "It's hard to say substantively what mandate Obama and the Democrats have gotten," he said. "They've gotten a chance to make their case."





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Obama Leads

Politics 2008. 11. 5. 10:45

Obama Seeks Moments of Normalcy

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Surrounded by excited staffers and supporters, candidate remains his characteristicly calm self.

Eli Saslow | 8:37 p.m. ET

Parties Vie for Seats, Control

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Race for Congress | Republicans appear resigned to some losses but hoped to win enough close races to deny the Democrats a 60-seat majority in the Senate.

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Former Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner soundly defeats Republican rival James S. Gilmore III in race for U.S. Senate.

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Obama razz's McCain over endorsement

updated 13 minutes ago

Obama razz's McCain over endorsement


(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama hit key swing states Saturday, taking a jab at his GOP counterpart's endorsement by the nation's vice president.

Sen. Barack Obama campaigns Saturday in Nevada.

Sen. Barack Obama campaigns Saturday in Nevada.

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At an event in Laramie, Wyoming, on Saturday, Vice President Dick Cheney said he will cast his ballot for the McCain-Palin ticket.

"This year, of course, I'm not on the ballot, so I am here ... not to vote for me, but I want to join daughter Liz, who is with me today, join us in casting ... our ballots for John McCain and Sarah Palin."

Obama started his day with a morning rally in Henderson, Nevada, and later moves on to Pueblo, Colorado, and Springfield, Missouri.

In prepared remarks for the rally in Pueblo, Obama lashed out at the Cheney endorsement.

"I'd like to congratulate Sen. McCain on this endorsement because, he really earned it. That endorsement didn't come easy," according to the remarks. "George Bush may be in an undisclosed location, but Dick Cheney's out there on the campaign trail because he'd be delighted to pass the baton to John McCain."

Obama continues, "He knows that with John McCain, you get a twofer: George Bush's economic policy and Dick Cheney's foreign policy. But that's a risk we cannot afford to take."

Earlier at a rally in Henderson, Nevada, Obama continued to defend his tax plan for the middle class -- and defended against "socialist" claims.

"The choice in this election isn't between tax cuts and no tax cuts, it's about whether you believe we should only reward wealth or we should also reward the work and the workers who give it," he said. "John McCain calls this socialistic. I call it opportunity."

Across the country, former President Clinton hit the campaign trail for Obama in Beckley, West Virginia.


original :

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/01/campaign.wrap/index.html




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God, Country and McCain

Politics 2008. 10. 31. 22:50
An evangelical youth movement at Liberty University -- a fundamentalist Baptist institution founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell -- has mobilized to support John McCain's presidential candidacy. Given McCain's clashes with religious conservatives during his 2000 campaign for president, the support he's receiving from conservative-minded students is significant.


LYNCHBURG, Va. Claire Ayendi is dealing with the fading kick of two double shots of espresso. It's the eve of homecoming weekend at Liberty University, and Ayendi, the president of the college Republican club, is trying to rig up a parade float in support of Sen. John McCain. She whips around Lynchburg in her Infiniti SUV, a pink iPod shuffling a mix of indie tunes as she mobilizes her fellow soldiers via cellphone: "If you happen to see a big 'Virginia is McCain Country' sign, could you, perchance, ask to, like, borrow it a few hours?"

Ayendi spots the perfect sign in front of an office building at a busy intersection half a mile from campus and turns into the parking lot. Wearing a faux-alligator headband and pouring on the charm, the pre-law senior talks her way past two secretaries and gains permission from a third to borrow the sign before calling a friend who has a pickup truck. Inside of 12 minutes, the job is done.

To be a college Republican in the face of Obama Nation takes a measure of fortitude. For Ayendi, it also requires tons of prayer and caffeine. McCain's poll numbers are sliding. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign is a bottomless pit of money and energy. Even the hay bales on the rolling hills of once solidly GOP Lynchburg are painted red, white and blue with the name "Obama." And at Liberty University, founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell in 1971, the first student Democratic club has sprung up.

For eight years, Liberty students have had one of their own in the White House with George W. Bush: a conservative Christian who has spoken about his conversion experience and funded abstinence-only sex education, appointed two antiabortion Supreme Court justices and supported a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. A pipeline of jobs stretched from evangelical colleges such as Liberty to the executive branch.

Now a new dawn threatens, and young activists such as Ayendi are fighting hard to the final hour, in part to prepare for the new phase of activism they foresee in the event of an Obama victory.

"It's the same impulse that Democrats have, the same passion," Ayendi says. "Aside from moral issues -- homosexuality and abortion -- I advocate small government."

Her friend Meghan Allen is more direct. "If Obama wins, I'm gonna want someone to get in there and reverse it ASAP," she says.

Obama has energized the youth vote, but he also has provoked a counter-movement. An astonishing 80 percent of Liberty's 11,400 residential students are registered, and most are Republicans. With polls showing Virginia on the verge of going Democratic, Liberty has canceled classes on Election Day and will provide buses to the polls. The school has also encouraged out-of-state students to switch their registration to Virginia.

Besides taking a full load of classes, Ayendi has been putting in 40-hour weeks on behalf of McCain. She makes phone calls, canvasses, operates a database of student volunteers, uses Facebook as her bully pulpit and will talk to anyone about how she thinks that Obama's promise to redistribute wealth is an affront to the Constitution. The campaign has galvanized her friends and served as an excellent primer on what lies ahead in their adult lives.

Ayendi and Allen playfully dog one of their Liberty friends for wanting to go into the seminary.

"If you want to get anything changed around here, you have to go through the courts," Ayendi says. "You gotta be a lawyer."

Totally, Allen agrees. "My goal is not to make laws Christian but to make government as small as possible so you can be as biblically Christian as you so choose," she says.





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Republican presidential candidate John McCain swung into his final full week of campaigning with a surprise economic speech in Ohio, as running mate Sarah Palin rallied voters in Virginia.
» LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY
Sen. John McCain yesterday sharpened his critique of Sen. Barack Obama's ability to serve as commander in chief, arguing that the Democratic nominee's economic policies would "undermine our national security."



The Arizona Republican had once planned to make defense issues the central theme of his presidential bid, but global economic turmoil has become a relentless focus of his campaign in recent weeks. McCain sought to link the two issues yesterday, arguing that, in a "Democratic-dominated Washington," national security and the economy would both suffer.

"Raising taxes and unilaterally renegotiating trade agreements as they have promised would make a bad economy even worse, and undermine our national security, even as they slash defense spending," McCain said in a speech in Tampa after meeting with his national security advisers. "At least when European nations chose the path of higher taxes and cutting defense, they knew that their security would still be guaranteed by America. But if America takes the same path, who will guarantee our security?"

The Illinois Democrat has not proposed cuts in defense spending and says he wants to continue President Bush's plan to expand the military by 92,000 soldiers and Marines. But McCain seized on a recent call for a 25 percent cut in Pentagon spending by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to stoke fears about what would happen if Democrats controlled both Congress and the White House.

"Even with our troops engaged in two wars, and with a force in need of rebuilding, we're getting a glimpse of what one-party rule would look like under Obama, [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid," McCain said, according to prepared remarks.

The Obama campaign hit back. Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration, one of Obama's military advisers, released a statement accusing McCain of wanting to continue Bush's foreign policy while distorting Obama's defense plans.


"John McCain's desperate and dishonest attack on defense spending only makes the point that Barack Obama has been willing to stand up to some in his own party from the first day of this campaign through his commitment to increase the size of our ground forces and our investments in 21st century capabilities," Gration said.

Like McCain, Obama in recent weeks has emphasized the connection between national security and the economy, using it to sow doubts about McCain's judgment on economic issues. "We can't afford another president who ignores the fundamentals of our economy while running up record deficits to fight a war without end in Iraq," Obama told reporters last week in Richmond.

Both candidates have also made it clear that economic issues loom large on the international agenda for the next four years. Both pledge to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. And although neither has sketched out a detailed plan for dealing with the international economic crisis, one of the early challenges facing a new administration will be how to restructure international economic institutions.

White House officials confirmed this week that neither McCain nor Obama plans to participate directly in a Nov. 15 global summit focused on the global financial crisis. But press secretary Dana Perino said yesterday that whoever wins will be "providing input" to the negotiations.

"None of this ties the next president's hand," Perino said. "But I think that what we are trying to do is do what the president asked us to do, which is do everything we can right now, in this downturn, in this cycle of our economy, to get it back to a period of growth so that the next president has the best possible starting point on January 20th."

David Rothkopf, a former trade official in the Clinton administration, said yesterday that restoring America's economic strength is critical to rebuilding U.S. influence in the world. Without such strength, the United States "doesn't have the ability to exercise soft power by writing checks for development," he said. "And it does not have the ability to underwrite hard power by funding the kind of military we're accustomed to."

Rothkopf said McCain was "disingenuous" in going after Obama for wanting to cut defense spending, saying the current level of growth at the Pentagon is unsustainable. But he also said Obama could run into trouble if he tries to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, as the Democrat has said he would consider, or if he does not cut taxes on business, as McCain has promised. "Its going to be very hard to compete for jobs if we keep high corporate tax rates," Rothkopf said.



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(CNN) -- With a week to go before Election Day, most recent national polls show Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama with an advantage. But how much are they to be believed?

As Election Day gets closer, will the race tighten in the polls?

As Election Day gets closer, will the race tighten in the polls?

The most recent national CNN poll of polls showed Obama with an 8-point lead over Republican presidential nominee John McCain, 51 percent to 43 percent. The polls were conducted October 21 through October 26.

Most other national polls show Obama with a lead ranging between 5 points and double digits.

A look at CNN polling during the same period before Election Day in 2000 and 2004 suggests that political observers and campaign supporters ought to be cautious in declaring the race over because of current polling numbers. See the latest state and national polls

When a presidential race has a non-incumbent in the lead, like this year, the poll numbers tend to tighten as Election Day gets closer, CNN senior researcher Alan Silverleib said.

"Any time it looks like they are on the verge of voting somebody new into office, there is buyer's remorse," he said. "Based on that, and the fact that the country has been so polarized in recent elections, there's pretty good reason to think that the polls might tighten up a little bit."

Four years ago, a national CNN poll of polls released about a week before Election Day showed President Bush leading Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry by 3 points, 49 percent to 46 percent.

The poll was released October 25 and reflected likely voters' choice for president. Election Day was November 2 in 2004.

A national CNN poll of polls released November 1 showed Bush leading Kerry by 2 points, 48 percent to 46 percent.

President Bush won by 3 percentage points, 51 percent to 48 percent.

In 2000, it was a bit of a different story. Election Day arrived November 7 that year.

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup tracking poll conducted October 29 through October 31 showed Bush, then the Texas governor, leading Democratic Sen. Al Gore, 48 percent to 43 percent. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

A subsequent poll conducted November 2 through November 4, released two days before the voters cast their ballots, showed the same results.

Gore, however, ended up winning the popular vote by about 540,000 votes. When broken down by percentage, both candidates had about 48 percent of the popular vote. Bush won the Electoral College, and thereby the presidency, by 5 electoral votes.

There have been a few examples of such "buyer's remorse" in recent history, Silverleib said.

"We saw that with [Arkansas Gov. Bill] Clinton in 1992, when the polls suddenly tightened up during the last week," he said. "It was almost like people saying, 'Do we really want this guy?' "

They did. Clinton soundly defeated President George H. W. Bush, 43 percent to 37 percent.

In another example, polls tightened during the 1968 presidential race between Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat Hubert Humphrey. Nixon led by double digits among registered voters in late September, according to a Gallup analysis published Monday.

The lead dwindled to 8 points in a poll conducted October 17 through October 22. By early November, Nixon was clinging to a 1-point lead. The poll was conducted October 29 through November 1 and surveyed likely voters, according to Gallup.

Nixon won by less than 1 percentage point.

"Humphrey had all the momentum at the end, and there's an open question there that had that election gone on for another week, Humphrey might very well had won," Silverleib said.

There is then the oft-cited example of Thomas Dewey and Harry Truman in 1948. Polls predicted that Dewey would win, but Truman pulled off the upset.

Silverleib, however, is reluctant to cite that race as illustrative of the accuracy of contemporary polls.

"People talk about Dewey and Truman, but they stopped polling a couple of weeks before the election," he said, adding, "polling then wasn't nearly as refined a science as it is now."


However, in what might be a bit of sobering news for the McCain campaign, since 1956, front-runners in late October lost the popular vote only twice after being ahead in the Gallup poll a week before Election Day, according to that polling organization's analysis.

Obama held a lead in both of Gallup's likely voter tracking polls released Tuesday.






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McCain is still trailing in Ohio.
McCain is still trailing in Ohio.

(CNN) — John McCain does not appear to be making up ground in Ohio, the key battleground state that is crucial to keeping his White House hopes alive.

According to CNN's latest poll of polls of the state, the Arizona senator now trails Obama by 6 points there, 50 percent to 44 percent. That gap is two points wider than it was Monday and double what it was one week ago.

Election Center: Check out recent Ohio polls

No Republican has won the presidency without carrying Ohio, and barring a major upset in another big state, the state's 20 electoral votes are a must win for McCain. The Republican presidential candidate is expected to spend two full days there later this week.

The latest Ohio poll of polls consists of recent surveys from LA Times/Bloomberg (October 25-27), Reuters/Zogby (October 23-26), and CNN/Time/ORC (October 19-21). CNN Poll of Polls do not have a margin of error.

Meanwhile, a new poll of polls in Florida shows a similar story. The Arizona senator trails Obama by 4 points there, 49 percent to 45 percent. That gap is 3 points higher than it was earlier today and is largely due to a newly released survey from LA Times/Bloomberg showing McCain down 7 points in the state. The Florida poll of polls also includes surveys from Suffolk University and Reuters/Zogby.

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