NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST October 12, 2007

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.

=

NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Caricature-Campaign.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

Candidates Seek to Define Themselves

October 12, 2007
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:14 a.m. ET

BOSTON (AP) -- John Edwards once lived in the heart of Washington'sGeorgetown district, was squired around the Capitol by Sen. Edward M.Kennedy and led the presidential field in fundraising thanks to donationsfrom trial lawyers.

Today the Democrat is running for president as an anti-Washington candidatewho will take public financing to avoid the influence of special interestgroups.

Mitt Romney used to greet illegal immigrants who worked on his yard with afriendly ''Buenos dias'' and expressed moderate positions on abortion rightsand gay rights. Today the Republican is running for the presidency as astrict opponent of illegal immigration and a conservative on social issues.

Those are just two of the campaign caricatures to emerge in the 2008election cycle, a White House race overflowing with simplified depictionsthat belie some of the candidates' life histories or define the rest oftheir records in shorthand.

Political consultants and marketing experts often strive for bumper-stickerlabeling, but the current White House campaign has gone even further,devolving into a battle of philosophical code words and a relentless focuson issues buttressing those themes.

more . . . . .



=

WashingtonPost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/11/AR2007101102407_pf.html

Va. Poll Gives Mark Warner Wide Lead in Senate Race

By Tim Craig and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 12, 2007; A01

Former Virginia governor Mark R. Warner holds a 30-point lead over his twopotential Republican rivals in next year's U.S. Senate race, boostingDemocrats' chances of expanding their congressional majority andhighlighting the party's ascendancy in the state, according to a newWashington Post poll.

Warner, a Democrat who announced his candidacy last month, would get morethan 60 percent of the vote in a hypothetical matchup against Rep. Thomas M.Davis III or former governor James S. Gilmore III, the two Republicans whohave indicated they are considering running against him.

The Senate race will unfold against the backdrop of next year's presidential campaign, and the poll suggests that the state's 13 electoral votes could beup for grabs. By a margin of 11 percentage points, Virginians would preferthat the next president be a Democrat, indicating that even a reliably redstate could flip in 2008.

The election is 13 months away, and other Senate candidates could emerge.But the new numbers could dampen the GOP's hopes for keeping the seat, heldsince 1979 by Sen. John W. Warner, who is retiring, along with three otherSenate Republicans.

Virginia's GOP leaders will meet tomorrow to decide whether to select theirnominee in a primary or convention. If a primary were held today, the pollshows, Gilmore would beat Davis by 19 percentage points.

more . . . . .



=

Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.freepress.net/news/26819

Survey Finds Huge Gap Between How Republicans and Democrats View Media

From Editor & Publisher, October 8, 2007

A new Gallup poll released today show a wide gap between how Republicans andDemocrats view the mass media. Nearly 3 in 4 Republicans say the media is"too liberal." But overall, Gallup's director Frank Newport reports, "lessthan half of Americans, regardless of partisanship, have a great deal or afair amount of trust in the mass media."

Newport explains: "Republicans in America today remain deeply distrustful ofthe national news media - in sharp contrast to Democrats, who have a greatdeal more trust in the media's accuracy." Exactly twice as many Democrats(66%) express some faith in the media compared with Republicans (33%).

More than twice as many Americans say the news media are too liberal (45%)rather than too conservative (18%). But Newport adds: "Americans' views ofthe bias in news media are highly related - as would be expected - tounderlying political orientation."

Some 22% of Democrats find the media "too conservative," but this is a muchlower number than the Republican assertion (77%).

The survey of 1,010 adult Americans, taken in mid-September, revealed thatonly 9% of Americans say they have a great deal of trust and confidence inthe mass media to report the news "fully, accurately, and fairly," whileanother 38% say they have a "fair amount" of trust in the media to do this.This total of 47% trust stands in contrast to the Gallup finding in 1976which pegged it at 72%.

But Gallup adds: "Americans are less likely to perceive bias in their localnews media than in the national news media."

This article is from Editor & Publisher. If you found it informative andvaluable, we strongly encourage you to visit their Web site and register anaccount, if necessary, to view all their articles on the Web. Supportquality journalism.



=

You are cordially invited to join President William Jefferson Clinton
For a reception in honor of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
In support of her Presidential Campaign

Sunday, October 21, 2007
Vice-Chair VIP Reception: 6:00 PM
General Reception: 6:30 PM
James L. Knight Center
400 SE 2nd Ave
Miami, FL

Vice Chair: $1,000 (VIP Seating and pre-event reception with President BillClinton)
Host: $500 (Priority Seating and Recognition)
Friend: $250 (Priority Seating)
General Admission: $50
Student, Teacher, DEC Member, Union Member Ticket: $25

Please make personal checks payable to"Hillary Clinton for President"

For information about becoming a Vice-Chair, Host, Friend or individualticket sales, please contact
Jon Adrabi at (305) 569-2888 or email jadrabi@hillaryclinton.com

To RSVP online, please visit: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/miami



=

Local10.com

http://www.local10.com/news/14324170/detail.html?treets=mia&tid=2655619429813&tml=mia_7am&tmi=mia_7am_1_06000310122007&ts=H

Gore, U.N. Panel Share Nobel Peace Prize
U.N. Panel Shares Prize With Ex-VP

POSTED: 5:34 am EDT October 12, 2007
UPDATED: 10:59 am EDT October 12, 2007

OSLO, Norway -- Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Friday for their efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change and lay the foundations for counteracting it.

"I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize," Gore said. "We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity."

Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth," a documentary on global warming, won an Academy Award this year and he had been widely expected to win the Nobel prize.

He said he would donate his share of the $1.5 million that accompanies the prize to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan, nonprofit organization devoted to conveying the urgency of solving the climate crisis.

"His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change," the Nobel citation said. "He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted."

It cited Gore's awareness at an early stage "of the climatic challenges the world is facing.

Gore, 59, has said he does not plan to run for president next year, despite a national movement to draft him, and Peace Prize committee Chairman Ole Danbolt Mjoes said a possible run was not his concern.

"I want this prize to have everyone ... every human being, asking what they should do," Mjoes said. "What he (Gore) decides to do from here is his personal decision."


=


[Send your comments about articles to rays.list@comcast.net]
#####