The Presidency of America's Maverick

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2006 Prediction Contest Winner : АndriуValeriovich

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If Any of you have any other ideas for names just post them here

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McCain Shocks Political World With Decisive Win in New Hampshire setting up critical primary fight in South Carolina




Judy Woodruff: Tonight Arizona Senator John McCain shocked the political world with his decisive 18 point victory over the Republican frontrunner up until this point and the establishment favorite, Texas Governor George W Bush. Now this very much could give Senator McCain the momentum to contest South Carolina and potentially win it

Bill Schneider: It absolutely can Judy as it now the race will be a two man race between Governor Bush and Senator McCain and momentum from this victory will result in increased enthusiasm, more cash and could result in an upset win for Senator McCain in South Carolina which then would in my guess make Senator McCain the frontrunner going into Super Tuesday.

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Hope all of you enjoy this TL

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Breaking News: Bush Admits to DUI Conviction from 1976 just 3 days before South Carolina primary



Shaw: After a revelation that Texas Governor George W Bush was convicted for a DUI in 1976, the Governor admitted to the revelation but talked about how he is a changed man and how he abandoned drinking and talked about how he has been sober since 1986. This though along with a lackluster debate performance by the Texas Governor and the decisive loss could cost him, South Carolina, as a recent poll from yesterday just shows him up 4 points here, 45-41.


Woodruff: This along with the fact that Governor Bush had to disavow any knowledge of racist push polls done in an attempt to smear Senator McCain in the debate really has led many Republican voters to question if the Texas Governor would fare well in a general election or not .


Shaw: Yes that number has dropped already by more than 10 points and might drop even further while Senator John McCain's number just keeps going up which could give him the edge with undecided voters and maybe even lean voters.

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John McCain becomes new Republican Frontrunner after victory in South Carolina:



Greenfield: We can now make a projection in the South Carolina Republican Primaries and that is that Arizona Senator John McCain will defeat Texas Governor Bush by around 5 points in the primary and we estimate will win 31 of the 37 delegates awarded tonight. This will mean he will now have the delegate lead as we can show you on our primary board

Arizona Senator John McCain 42 Delegates
Texas Governor George W Bush 33 Delegates
Others 16 Delegates


Schnider: Yes and with a winner take all contest taking in Arizona Senator McCain , a contest in Michigan which title its delegates to the winner is now led by Senator McCain and another winner take all in Virginia which is tied its conceivable Senator McCain could lead the delegate county by over a 100 before super Tuesday even starts which will be hard to make up. So while this primary is not over its clear Senator McCain is now the new frontrunner in this race

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McCain expands delegate lead to over 100 in contests leading up to Super Tuesday

Shaw: With Super Tuesday quickly approaching us lets look at the results from primaries since South Carolina as we head for Super Tuesday Tommorow

Contests Won By Senator McCain:

Arizona: McCain 67.1% 30 Delegates Bush 29.8%
Michigan: McCain 57.1% 55 Delegates Bush 38.8% 3 Delegates
Virginia: McCain 48.7% 56 Delegates Bush 47.6%
Washington(Primary): McCain 53.2% 7 Delegates Bush 44.1% 5 Delegates

Contests Won By Governor Bush:

Puerto Rico: Bush 80.3% 14 Delegates McCain 19.4%
North Dakota:  Bush 67.5% 13 Delegates McCain 22.3% 5 Delegates

Delegate Map:

Arizona Senator John McCain 195 Delegates
Texas Governor George W Bush 68 Delegates
Others 17 Delegates


Shaw: The reason we haven't colored Washington in is cause Washington used both a primary and caucus and more delegates are allocated through their caucus so we wont color that state in till the results from the caucus are in and we will color in whoever won the greater of combined delegates in the two. Anyway the results do put Senator McCain in the drivers lead and if he continues the momentum he could take an insurmountable lead tommorow


Woodruff: Yes he can currently Senator McCain leads our latest polls in California by 5 points which is a winner take all state , New York by 7 which allocated hybrid, is tied in Ohio so yes if those polls hold he very much could take an insurmountable lead.


Greenfield: That is correct say the polls are correct and Senator McCain is able to take an over 300 delegate lead tomorrow, than that means that Texas and Florida two states Governor Bush is expected to win big still wouldnt be able to pull within a 100 delegates. So really if Senator McCain takes a 300 delegate lead tomorrow this primary could be realistically over

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What about Missouri? It was also one of the big price states on Super Tuesday that year, I guess, with its 35 delegates.

It is pretty big but California, New York and Ohio are considered the Big 3 in Super Tuesday due to how many delegates they have   but  Missouri is classified as advantage to Bush .

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McCain the big winner on Super Tuesday with wins in the Big 3 and 6 other contests. Bush will not drop out of race saying things arent over until they are over:



Schneider: Well we are now able to project that Senator McCain will be the winner in California and due to its winner of all status will take all of its 162 Delegates. Now lets go over to Jeff Greenfield at the delegate math zone and first see how things went tonight

Greenfield: Yes first lets look at the contests won by Senator John McCain and the states will be in the order they closed their polls

Contests won By Senator John McCain:


Vermont: McCain 68.2% 12 Delegates Bush 29.1%
Ohio: McCain 53.4% 48 Delegates Bush 44.3% 21 Delegates  
Connecticut: McCain 59.5% 25 Delegates Bush 38.1%
Maine: McCain 57.9% 14 Delegates Bush 40.2%
Maryland: McCain 47.1% 31 Delegates Bush 45.9%
Massachusetts: McCain 71.1% 37 Delegates Bush 27.3%
New York: McCain 54.6% 71 Delegates Bush 44.8% 22 Delegates
Rhode Island: McCain 65.2% 14 Delegates Bush 32.7%
California: McCain 51.3% 162 Delegates  Bush 46.6%

Greenfield: Now lets go over the states won by Governor Bush:

Contests won by Governor Bush:

Georgia: Bush 53.4% 67 Delegates McCain 45.1%
Missouri: Bush 50.1% 35 Delegates  McCain 46.7%
Minnesota: Bush 56% 34 Delegates McCain 27%
Washinngton Caucus: Bush 62.1% 16 Delegates McCain 33.1% 9 Delegates

Arizona Senator John McCain 618 Delegates
Texas Governor George W Bush 263 Delegates
Others 17 Delegates

Greenfield: So Senator McCain thanks to narrow wins in places like California and even a surprise win in a place like Maryland now has a 355 Delegate lead over Governor Bush but despite that we are told Governor Bush wont drop out saying he will fight on

Schinder: Well yes but in my opinion it will be very difficult to do that as McCain as rode as like what he calls the Big MO to win in state after state and remember states like Marlyand before South Carolina were considered almost Safe Bush but his upset win in South Carolina along with questions being raised about Governor Bush's electability has resulted in the tables being turned almost completely so can Governor Bush do anything to turn them back

Greenfield: Well its very hard for me to see that and while Texas is a huge state its not a winner take all state and only 34 of the 124 delegates are winner take all while the other 90 or done district by district but even if Governor Bush sweeps every district and takes all 124 delegates , Texas and Florida will only net him 204 delegates meaning he still is down 151 Delegates and with almost no big state really left on the map really favoring Governor Bush its hard to see how he can make that up especially with the fact that Pennsylvania a state which we can now say favors Senator McCain with his wins in less favorable New York and Ohio tonight and with Governor Ridge endorsing him tonight meaning the gap really is 229 Delegates. So really in my opinion this is all but over

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Before Pennsylvania, there is also Illinois primary on March 21 that should likely favor McCain, especially in the Collar counties, including Chicago. After he won NY and CA, he surely proved his strength in states with big urban population, including Illinois with Chicago. In that state, I would see McCain being endorsed by Senator Peter Fitzgerald and Governor George Ryan.

https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/timeline.php?year=2000&f=0&off=0&elect=2

You are correct in that Illionis favors McCain and that he likely will get the endorsements of Senator Fitzgerald but he unlike Governor Ridge hasnt formally declared his endorsement yet but is expected to so soon.

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Bush cuts into delegate lead with wins in Mid March primaries due to sweeping the delegates in Texas and Florida but still faces an uphill battle in Must-win State of Illionis


Woodruff: With Super Tuesday II now have concluded lets look back at the results of tonight and also at last Friday's primaries as well first with states won by Senator John McCain

Contests won By Senator McCain:

Colorado: McCain 58.3% 24 Delegates Bush 39.5% 16 Delegates
Utah: McCain 47.8% 19 Delegates Bush 42.5% 10 Delegates
Tennessee: McCain 53.3% 21 Delegates Bush 43.6% 16 Delegates


Woodruff: Now lets look at the contests won by Governor Bush and see how much of the delegate lead he has cut into


Contests won by Governor Bush:

Wyoming: Bush 57.3% 14 Delegates McCain 38.1% 8 Delegates
Florida: Bush 53.3% 80 Delegates McCain 45.1%
Texas: Bush 68.3% 124 Delegates McCain 28.8%
Mississippi: Bush 58.4% 20 Delegates McCain 38.8% 13 Delegates
Oklahoma: Bush 63.1% 27 Delegates McCain 30.2% 11 Delegates
Lousiana: Bush 51.1% 15 Delegates McCain 47.2% 14 Delegates

Woodruff: Now lets look at the map and the overall count

Arizona Senator John McCain 728 Delegates
Texas Governor George W Bush 585 Delegates
Others 17 Delegates

Shaw: So Governor Bush did manage to reduce his deficit to 143 delegates tonight but Senator McCain did perform surprisingly well in the South and the reason our exit polls tell that he did is many voters who decided in the past week believe at this moment this primary is already over and those voters went to McCain in overwhelming margins. The question though is does Governor Bush have a path

Greenfield: Well its hard to see one as remember Illinois allocated 60 out of its 64 delegates by district with the other 4 going to the state wide winner and right now its hard to see Governor Bush winning anything more than a bare majority with maybe 12 districts at most which would net him 40 of 64 delegates there which would only reduce his deficit to 117. Then he must win Pennsylvania which used a hybrid model which then at best would take him down to the 50s or 60s and then and then only will he have a path. But currently Governor Bush is down in both states , Illionis by more than 5, and Pennslyvania by double digitis

Woodruff: And with Senator Fitzgerald going to hold a rally with McCain in the Chicago Suburbs tomorrow that should be a boost for McCain.

Greenfield: Yes that only makes it harder for Governor Bush to win the primary and really if he loses Illionis the primary is over

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Bush Drops out after double-digit defeat in Illinois, making Senator John McCain the presumptive Republican Nominee



Woodruff: After being defeated in the Illinois Primary yesterday

Results of Illinois Primary:
Arizona Senator John McCain 54.7% 49 Delegates
Texas Governor Bush 42.5% 15 Delegates

Woodruff:  Governor George W Bush flew back to Texas yesterday to make a decision on whether or not he should stay in the race or not and after talking to top campaign staff he held a press conference at the Gubernatorial Mansion earlier today declaring he will be dropping out of the race and endorsing Senator John McCain for President. Due to that news, CNN Can now project that Senator John McCain will be the presumptive Republican Nominee


John McCain Wins Republican Nomination:



Shaw: Yup this will go down as arguably as one of the most stunning primary results given that nobody thought a year ago anybody but Texas Governor George W Bush would be the nominee. Now some may ask why did Governor Bush drop out today and that is we are told he also talked to many top GOP insiders who had backed him in the campaign but now too wanted him to drop out of the race. Anyway going back at history where does this rank in best run primary camapaigns

Schneider: It was arguably the greatest primary campaign in history as while Carter's win in 1976 and Clinton's win in 1992 were unexpected too there was no candidate in that race that had the same frontrunner status as George W Bush did or support from both the Establishment and Ideolgocial wings as well. Also While Reagan's near win in 1976 win was extremely impressive he did lose in the end to a candidate who while an incumbent was arguably in a worse position a year out then Governor Bush was. So this was an extremely well-run campaign by Senator McCain and if he is able to run a similarly well run campaign in the general, he will be hard to beat although we are still a long way out from the election and running a well run campaign in the primaries and in the general are two different things.

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John McCain releases a list of Top priorities for the adminstration


Campaign Finance Reform/Corruption:

- Ban on unregulated soft money to political parties

- requires all contributors to a PAC to be publically disclosed

- crackdown on issue advocacy ads especially

- increase "revolving door restrictions" to ban elected members of congress , their senior staff and other high ranking buercrats from being lobbyists for 5 years and having a lifetime ban on lobbying behalf of foreign governments for life

Healthcare:

- Cover prescription drugs under medicare

- provide tax breaks and subsidies to providers who move into counties with only 1 provider

- Do Tort Reform

- Give Individuals a $2000 refundable tax credit for purchasing health insurance

- Expand CHIP

- Expand Tax Free Medical Savings Accounts


Taxes:

- Expand the Standard Deduction and Child Tax Credit

- A permanent ban on Internet sales taxes

- Members of the armed forces deployed overseas would pay no income taxes

- Raise the threshold for paying the lowest tax rate to $70,000 per couple and drop the lowest tax rate from 15% to 10% and a cut of 5% for couples making between $70,000 and $400,000 and 2.5% for couples above $400,000

- Allow Taxpayers to invest up to 20 percent of their Social Security payroll taxes into private accounts

- Created Family Security Account

- Eliminate tax havens and other corporate loopholes

Environment:

- Have scientists work with economists to study cap and trade solutions and if it is deemed both effective at helping the environment without hurting the economy , to adopt the plan

- Do the same on other plans as well

- Protect Western Wilderness protections and natural parks

National Security

- Increase Funding of the military by 75 billion

- Disregard AMB treaty

- Have Military Political Leaders have Military Backgrounds

- Increase sanctions on Iraq and make WMD inspections more strict

Shaw : The McCain camp we are told agreed to add the lowering tax breaks as a plank in his tax plan as part of his conversation with people in the Bush camp in order to reach out to his supporters and his team

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Vice President Gore launches first barbs against Senator McCain, hitting the Presumptive Nominee   on many votes during 103rd congress and for voting against Kyoto



Greenfield: Vice President Gore today launched his first attacks against Senator John McCain in a rally in a rally in Philadelphia today hitting the Presumptive nominee on his votes against the 1993 tax bill that the Vice President credits for the economic recovery , his opposition to healthcare reform and his vote against the Kyoto protocol calling them clear signs that his voting record does not show a shift away from the Gingrich Republicans in congress .

He said if Senator McCain was committed to tackling climate change he would have voted for Kyoto, and if he was committed for healthcare reform he would have worked with us then


Schnider: Senator McCain though responded by saying that 95 senators voted against Kyoto as it was a bad treaty and the Clinton admin should take responsibility for that and called the healthcare reform one of the worst designed proposals ever and it showed when Democrats couldn't even get it passed in the house where they need a simple majority when they had it and it was swiftly rejected by the people in 1994 as well.

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McCain's Potential Vice Presidential Picks:

Schnieder: Today we will be going over who we think are some potential vice presidential picks for both Senator McCain and Vice President Al Gore. Since the RNC will be held we will start with Senator McCain's list. Just to let you know General Colin Powell will be not on this list as he has publically ruled out running for Vice President as he said he is currently not interested in electoral politics.


The Favorites:

Tom Ridge:



John Danforth:



Richard Lugar:



George Voinovich:



Tommy Thompson:



John Warner:



Wildcards:

George W Bush:



Fred Thompson:



Susan Collins:



Peter Fitzgerald:




Schnider: The reason we have George W Bush as a wildcard despite being the runnor up is  while insiders have floated the other 9 names , Governor Bush has not been floated yet but he could potentially in our opinion be considered to fully bring more of the conservative base on board and really help in the South as well.  So Senator McCain like Reagan could decide to name his primary opponent as his running mate but that seems pretty unlikely.

As for the rest its pretty clear that Senator McCain is focused on a Midwestern and Rust Belt strategy but the problem with many of them is that it would not help Senator McCain in the southern states Clinton won last time

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Gore's Potential Vice Presidential Picks:

Schnider: Now lets go over some possible Vice Presidential picks for Vice President Al Gore. Just to let you know despite much speculation , Senator Joe Lieberman has taken himself out of the running to be vice president saying he is not interested in the position. Ok so now lets go over the list


The Favorites:

Dick Gephardt:



Evan Bayh:



John Kerry:



Bob Graham:



Tom Harkin:



Bob Kerrey:



Wildcards:

Jeanne Shaheen:



Barbara Boxer:



Max Cleland:



Russ Feingold:



Schnider: The real question Vice President Gore will have to ask himself is does he want a pick which will fit more of the Geographic needs of the ticket or ideological needs .

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CNN releases first battleground map for election:

Greenfield: Even though polls right now show Senator McCain with a solid lead over Vice President Gore of around 8 points if you go state by state where the election is really decided you really see that the election is very much for grabs with both candidates having good chances of getting to the magic 270 required to win the White House. We at CNN created our first battleground maps and keep in mind we put in green for tossup any state that we believe will be heavily contested in the fall regardless of what the polls say at the moment. Second the lightly colored states are states we  believe in certain circumstances could become battleground states but at the moment dont look to be while the dark colored states are states where there is very little evidence that it could be contested this fall.

Gore 173
McCain 171
Battleground 194


As you can see both candidates are still around 100 votes away from the White House there are many path ways to get to 270 and the candidates must win states from other parts of the region in order to win.


For example the very important Rust Belt states of Pennsylvania Ohio and Michigan add up to 62 electoral votes meaning ever if either candidate sweeps those 3 states, Senator McCain will still need another 37 electoral votes to get to 270 and Vice President Gore 35. Same with the South because if you assign the southern battlegrounds to each candidate is still well short of 270. So really getting to 270 wont be easy for either candidate.


Just to let you know this battleground state will change as the election goes on with more and more of these battlegrounds becoming light colored states and some maybe even dark color when more evidence starts to come in

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CA, IL, WV, and VT were still swing states in 2000.

CA was around likely, IL was lean and VT was likely. But I agree with Gore's environmental policies WV was either a toss-up or lean McCain

CA and IL maybe were swing states at the gubernatorial level but by the presidential level they were already gone .

As for WV McCain is a worse fit for the state than W Bush was and remember this is still very early on in the campaign so there hasn’t been much polling done in WV yet and due to that the assumption of WV being a safely democratic state holds . Once the campaign starts and gets into full gear , the rating of WV will change .

VT yah your right so I’ll change it

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Bush was making campaign stops in Chicagoland and SoCal in 2000.

That’s true but it was obviously a mistake as those states had no chance of going to Bush and I don’t think even then they were considered battlegrounds .


Maybe I could move CA or IL into the potential battleground category but it’s hard to see them in any circumstances being within 5 points

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Senator McCain Interviewed by Larry King:



King: Senator McCain lets get right into it , you have made campaign finance reform your number one issue of this campaign , but many question how will you get 60 votes to pass such piece of legislation

McCain: Larry if you remember in 1998 the bill got 51 senators to support the piece of legislation and that was before we had an entire presidential campaign devoted to this issue. If I win the White House in November it will send a clear message to congress that the people want campaign finance reform passed and I will use the power of the bully pulpit to make sure that bill passes.

King: Any executive orders you will pass

McCain: Absolutely on day 1 of my administration I will sign executive orders that will ban anyone in my administration from taking a lobbying job after they leave the position they had in my adminstration for 5 years and have a permanent ban on them for ever having power to lobby for foreign governments. Second the executive and judicial appointments I make will be of people who will strictly enforce current campaign finance and anti-corruption laws and regulations, and third the appointment I make to head our party will be of someone who makes grassroots efforts a higher priority than dealing with lobbyists. So I can guarantee the people if you elect me in November , that there will be significant change on this issue from day 1.

King: You have stayed in the past that the President you want to emulate is Teddy Roosevelt can you elaborate on that more

McCain: Sure, President Teddy Roosevelt was one of the most maverick presidents we ever have taking on the establishment of both parties , being a crusader against corruption, helped protect our environment , and he helped turn our nation into a world power with his military buildup and in many ways the problems we face today are similar, we need to take on corruption against lobbyists power, rebuild our military and face the environmental problems of this century.

King: Many though consider though Teddy and Reagan two separate types of Republican and it seems like you claim both . Isnt that contradictory

McCain: Not at all cause if you remember Reagan also took on corruption problems which plagues us for the decades preceding his presidency which was the power of the  bureaucratic and regulatory state and his 1986 tax reform did that when he made the tax code far less complex, then Reagan helped rebuild our military and our morale after the Carter years which helped us win the cold war, and on the environment his actions helped save the ozone layer. So I dont think those statements are contradictory at all

King: Now I know Colin Powell is not interested in Vice President but do you intend to put him in your cabinet

McCain: Absolutely and I can tell you right now that if we win we will give him any national security or foreign policy position he is interested in.

King: I know you haven't chosen your Vice President yet but who are you leaning towards

McCain: I will release my shortlist later this week so you will know who my top 3 is

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VP Shortlist for both Senator McCain and Vice President Gore released

McCain's Shortlist:

Tom Ridge:



Strengths: Would nearly guarantee the critical state of Pennslyvania to McCain and help ticket further with moderates

Weaknesses: Could hurt ticket in  the South and other battlegrounds such as Missouri and Ohio due to depressing turnout of socially conservative voters

John Danforth:



Strengths: Would satisfy both conservative and moderate voters, would nearly guarantee the Missouri Bellweather to McCain and help a lot in states like Ohio and Arkansas as well

Weakness: Would not bring additional  enthusiasm to ticket

Fred Thompson:



Strengths: Would help ticket in important battleground states in the South especially Tennesse, would help energize conservative wing of party

Weakness: Could be too much of wildcard and could hurt ticket among moderates

Gore's Shortlist:

Dick Gephardt:



Strengths: Would help ticket in crucial battlegrounds in the Midwest especially in Missouri due to blue collar appeal

Weaknesses: Never won a state wide election before, and wouldnt bring much enthusiasm to ticket

John Kerry:



Strengths: Would help bring potential Nader voters into the fold which could help in many battlegrounds

Weaknesses: Would hurt ticket greatly in the South, and could turnoff moderates

Bob Graham:



Strengths: Would almost guarantee the crucial state of Florida for Gore and would help ticket greatly in the South and Border states

Weaknesses: Could cause liberal voters on fence to vote for Nader and would not help much in some Midwestern states either

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Honestly if the ticket was McCain/Ridge v Gore/Gephardt, I would probably vote McCain

Wasn’t Bob Graham even more conservative than Gephardt so why would you dislike a Gore/Gephardt ticket more than an Gore/Graham one

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John Kerry:



Strengths: Would help bring potential Nader voters into the fold which could help in many battlegrounds

Weaknesses: Would hurt ticket greatly in the South, and could turnoff moderates

Since when was Kerry that far to the left?

Hes not ,but he is considered to be more appealing to potential nader voters than Gephardt or Graham would be

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Breaking News: McCain Selects Former Missouri Senator John Danforth as his running mate:



Source: https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/25/politics/danforth-trump-gop-corruption/index.html

Woodruff: Now we will head to St Louis County where , Senator John McCain will officially name former Missouri senator John Danforth to be his running mate

McCain: Thank You. One of the most important decisions a presidential candidate can make is naming who their running mate will be as they could potentially be the next Vice President of this great nation. It is my great honor to name my good friend and distuinghed senator John Danforth to by my running mate and if everything goes well in November I am sure he will be an excellent Vice President. Now lets here from our next Vice President John Danforth

Danforth: I want to thank my good friend , Senator McCain for giving me the honor of being able to join him on the Repubican ticket this year and I look forward to working with him on this campaign and hopefully with him in the White House to make our nation a better place. Senator McCain is one of the most honest and decent men I know and will above all else put the people of this great nation first overall all other special interest groups when he governs this great nation which is why it is crucial that we must elect him as our 43rd President. Thank You again, may God Bless You and May God Bless America

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2000 RNC: Republicans unite behind McCain as odds of retaking the White House increase

Notable Speakers:



Former President George HW Bush - Speaks about need to rebuild our military and the need for the US to take on a more assertive role in the world

Texas Governor George W Bush - Talks about education and tax reform

General Colin Powell- Talked about McCain's military record, and about McCain's leadership skills in general

Pennslyvania Governor Tom Ridge- Talked about friendship with John McCain and need to to elect him

Former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson- Talked about need to pass campaign finance reform and about McCain long time crusade against corruption

Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson- Energized crowd with talking about need to restore federalist constitutional values and how McCain will help achieve that goal

Mississippi Speaker Trent Lott- Talked about need for Republicans to retain control of the senate

Speaker Dennis Hastart- Talke about need for Republicans to retain control of house

Larry King Interviews Former President George HW Bush at RNC:




King: President Bush, many people are surprised at the enthusiastic speech you gave for Senator McCain given the bitter primary between the Republican nominee and your son

Bush: Well both my son and I understand that nobody is entitled to the Presidency and the fact is Senator McCain ran an excellent campaign and was a deserving nominee. Also if you remember the primary between President Reagan and I in 1980 was even more heated than this and the fact is even if I wasnt chosen as his running mate I would have enthusiastically supported him for President just like I am doing for Senator McCain now

King: There are arguably bigger disagreements between Governor Bush and Senator McCain than there were between President Reagan and you though

Bush: Well the fact is Senator McCain is one of the most honorable men I know and will make an excellent President which is why I am supporting him.

Excerpts of John Danforth Speech accepting the Vice Presidential Nomination:



Source: https://www.c-span.org/person/?johndanforth

Danforth: Thank You, Thank You. It is a great honor to be nominated by this great party as its Vice Presidential Nominee and I accept your nomination(Applause). Many great Vice President such as Hannibal Hamlin , Charles Fairbanks and George HW Bush were members of this great party and it will be my hope that I can one day be as successful as they were in being vice president(Applause). It will be an honor to work with my great friend and our next President John McCain in making our nation a better place for our kids by fix our politics, reform our broken healthcare system,  and rebuilding our military(Applause).

8 years ago President Clinton and Vice President Gore ran on the promise to reform our broken healthcare system and 8 years later the Democrats are still campaigning on that issue. The same is true for when it comes to changing American politics for the better, and instead it is more broken today than it was 8 years ago while at the same time Senator McCain has worked with members of both parties throughout his career to address real important issues(Applauses) and he will do so as President(Applause). Senator McCain will restore the morale of our military by appointing people who have actually served in uniform to lead civilian national security post because the fact is nobody who knows the struggles of our men and women in uniform should be appointed to departments that would send our men and women to war(Applause). There is nobody I know who is more dedicated to serving our people than Senator McCain and that is why I am confident he will win this election and will be one of the best presidents we have ever had(Applause). Thank You May Go Bless You and May God Bless America.


Excerpts of John McCain's Speech accepting the Republican Nomination:



McCain: Thank You Thank You. It is a great honor to be nominated by this great part of Abraham Lincoln, Tedd Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan and I accept your nomination(Applause).  44 years ago another Arizona Senator stood before you to give his acceptance speech and while Senator Goldwater lost he helped planted the seeds that led to the Reagan Revolution of 1980, the Republican Revolution of 1994 and this November will lead to a full restoration of Unified Republican government in Washington(Standing Ovation) and with it we will finally be able to take power away from the lobbyists, the bloated bureaucracies and give it back to the people(Applause).

8 years ago Democrats promised to fix what they called our broken political system but the fact is politics is more broken today than it was then(Boos) and it was under President Clinton's watch we have seen this explosion in soft money ruining our politics and it will be my first priority as President to change that system and I intend to use the bully pulpit to get it done so we once again can have politicians from both sides of the isle listen to their voters instead of listen to their lobbyists(Boos). Once we do that we can finally also pass reforms to fix our broken healthcare system as the reason reform has not been able to happen is due to pro big government interest group as well as pro insurance companies and pro pharmaceuticals interest groups who oppose any type of reforms(Applause). We will also be able to pass tax reform which isnt filled of loopholes that lobbyists exploit while the middle class is left paying the bill(Applause). In the beginning of the 20th century Teddy Roosevelt took on all the powerful special interest groups of his day and won and we will win again(Applause).

Like Teddy Roosevelt, we also must rebuild our military forces and the first way we do that is by hiring people to lead the departments of state , defense and our national security council be people who served in uniform(Applause) as nobody knows better than them what our men and women uniform go through on a daily basis.  It is clear that the world is a better place when our nation stands for freedom all across the world and is a strong opposer of totalitarian regimes and our nation must once again stand up to tyrannical dictators all across the world as the fact is our nation has been the greatest beacon of liberty the world has ever known and must remain that(Standing ovation)

Thank You , May God Bless You and May God Bless America


McCain takes 13 point lead after successful RNC

Greenfield: While Polls in individual states may now show states like California and Illinois to be dead heats  and with Senator McCain ahead in many battlegrounds remember the DNC has not happened yet so the polls haven't taken into account the DNC convention bounce either. So the map right now while does factor in these state polls, we are still factoring in our own team's analysis about the race right now

Senator John McCain(R-AZ)/Former Senator John Danforth 282 50%
Vice President Al Gore(D-TN)/? 165 37%