NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST February 5, 2008

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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_top12feb05,0,2163146,print.story

Super Tuesday Weather Could Snarl Vote

By JAMES A. CARLSON
Associated Press Writer
9:36 AM EST, February 5, 2008

MILWAUKEE, Wis.

Another punch of snow loomed for the upper Midwest while thunderstormsstretched from the southern Plains to the Northeast on Tuesday,inconveniencing voters in many of the states holding primaries and caucuses.

Snow spread out of Colorado on a path across the upper Midwest, likely toreach the Great Lakes by nightfall.

In warmer air, a narrow line of rain and thunderstorms extended fromOklahoma up the Ohio Valley to New York state.

Tuesday's forecast for Wisconsin ran the gamut from dense fog to a winterstorm warning in effect for parts of the state through Wednesday afternoon.

"We're expecting for the Milwaukee area anywhere between 9 and 11 inches,"said J.J. Wood, a National Weather Service meteorologist. He said up to 10inches was expected in a swath from southwest Wisconsin through the Madisonarea up toward Port Washington.

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Inside Higher Education

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/02/05/edbudget

The Feds Giveth, and Taketh Away

Feb. 5

As President Bush released his budget plan Monday for the 2009 fiscal year,his administration managed to perturb most of the college and universityofficials who have grown accustomed to being disappointed by his budgets forhigher education: community college officials frustrated by theadministration's continued assault on funds for career and technicaleducation, research advocates disappointed by his flat-line budget for theNational Institutes of Health (see related article for a full look at theadministration's plans for science and technology programs), and supportersof the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant and Perkins Loan Programs,which the administration once again recommends exterminating.

But the president managed to add one newly aggrieved group to the list ofthose feeling wronged by his budget proposal this year: backers ofhistorically black universities and colleges that serve large numbers ofHispanic, American Indian, Asian and other minority students. That's becausethe budget proposal for the Education Department calls for cutting back onbudgeted appropriations for programs for minority-serving institutions thatreceived funds in last fall's budget reconciliation bill. For instance, theBush budget plan would cut annual spending for the StrengtheningHistorically Black Colleges and Universities Program by $85 million becausethe reconciliation bill directed that amount of money to the institutionseach year between 2008 and 2012.

Similarly, the administration's 2009 budget plan would cut discretionarysupport by $23 million for tribally controlled colleges, which received a$30 million boost for 2008 and 2009 from the budget reconciliation act, andcut $11.6 million from the Strengthening Alaska Native and Native Hawaiianserving Institutions Program, which received $15 million from the budgetbill last year. In addition, the White House would reduce discretionarysupport for Hispanic serving institutions under Title V of the HigherEducation Act by about $18 million, citing $100 million in non-appropriatedmandatory funds that Congress directed toward Hispanic institutions forscience curriculums and to facilitate the transfer of students into and outof their institutions.

"It makes absolutely no sense to be cutting funds for the most underfundedof institutions at a time the economy is suffering and we need more thanever to educate a fast-growing segment of our society," said Antonio Flores,president of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. "I justhope that the Congress, in its wisdom, does not allow this surprising andcounterproductive action to happen."

"The funds allocated to 'Strengthening Historically Black Colleges andUniversities' in the FY '09 budget request released by the Department ofEducation today - $85 million less than last year - are woefully inadequateto ensure that minority students stay in and graduate from college," saidSelena Singleton, director of policy, advocacy, and government relations forthe National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, whichrepresents 120 historically and predominantly black colleges. "With the costof a college education increasing, a looming recession, and an increasinglyglobal economy, supporting our nation's HBCUs is the only way to ensure thata college degree is an attainable goal for more students. The president'sbudget makes it more difficult for HBCUs to do this important work."

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Pew Research center

http://pewresearch.org/

Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
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Super Tuesday - McCain's Support Soars, Democratic Race Tightens
As much of the country prepares to vote in tomorrow's primaries andcaucuses, both Barack Obama and John McCain have gained considerablepopularity in recent weeks with Obama's gains concentrated among white,middle-income and moderate Democrats. Read more
--
Primary Watching Media Annoint McCain
By generating more coverage than any other candidate last week, and easilyoutdistancing his GOP rivals, Sen. John McCain rode a media narrative ofnear inevitability last week. Plus, Sen. Ted Kennedy becomes a majornewsmaker. Read more
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Primary Preview - Independent Voters Vexed at Polls?
Some 4.5 million independent voters in six states (Arizona, Connecticut,Delaware, New York, Oklahoma and Utah) will be completely locked out oftheir states' presidential primaries tomorrow. Read more
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Religion and The Faith Factor at the Polls
Virtually every religious community is important in at least one of thestates with a Super Tuesday election. Two experts from the Pew Forum onReligion & Public Life discuss the history of faith in presidentialpolitics, campaign efforts to define candidates in religious terms and howthe faith factor might impact tomorrow's voting. Read more
--
The Daily Number
64% - Independents on Super Tuesday
Independent voters, who will be voting in many of the more than 20presidential primaries and caucuses being held tomorrow, hold substantiallymore favorable views of John McCain (64%) and Barack Obama (62%). Check backevery weekday for another number in the news. Read more



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Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/519/story/406500.html

Latest polls show how close race is

Posted on Tue, Feb. 05, 2008

Voters in 24 states will express their presidential preferences Tuesday.Here's a guide to some of the key Super Tuesday states, moving from East toWest to match the times the polls will close:

EAST. Six states with 23.6 million voters

. Massachusetts: Clinton leads most polls by an average of 14 points, butone recent survey found Obama up by 2. Romney leads by an average of 22points in his home state.

. New Jersey: Clinton has an average lead of 7 points in recent polls. Butone poll found a tie, and all suggested that Obama has gained. McCain has abig lead, an average of 24 points.

. New York: Clinton led by 14 points in the most recent QuinnipiacUniversity poll. That's a solid lead, but she led by 26 in late January.McCain leads by about 30 points, a margin that's grown since former New YorkMayor Rudy Giuliani endorsed him.

Also voting: Connecticut, Delaware, West Virginia.

SOUTH.Five states with 13.7 million voters

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Nerw York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/us/politics/05hispanic.html?ex=1202792400&en=7e3a33ae1d64d851&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVERNEWS

Issues Start Rush to Citizenship by Hispanics

By JULIA PRESTON
February 5, 2008

Spurred by the widespread crackdown on illegal immigration and by thecontentious tone of the national immigration debate, Latinos are gearing upfor Tuesday's voting with an eye toward making Hispanics a decisive votingbloc nationwide in November.

After decades of relatively low Hispanic electoral participation, last yearmore than a million legal Latino immigrants applied to become citizens, withmany saying they had done so to be able to vote. Since then, newlynaturalized Hispanic-Americans and citizens since birth have turned out atvoter registration fairs and political discussion groups, and pressedrelatives to register.

Last week's primary in Florida, the first state with a big Hispanicpopulation to vote, gave a demonstration of their potential clout. Hispanicvoters, who were 12 percent of those voting - a strong turnout for aprimary - handed the decisive edge in the Republican contest to Senator JohnMcCain of Arizona over Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts,according to exit polls by Edison/Mitofsky.

The two candidates were essentially even among white voters, with 33 percentfor Mr. McCain and 34 percent for Mr. Romney. But Latino voters, includingCuban-Americans and others, favored Mr. McCain by 54 percent to 14 percentfor Mr. Romney. (Mr. McCain is known among Latinos for backing animmigration bill offering legal status to illegal immigrants that wasdefeated last year by conservatives from his party.)

On the Democratic side, Hispanics also contributed to the 16-point victoryin Florida of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York over Senator BarackObama of Illinois, with 59 percent of Latinos voting for her and 30 percentvoting for him.

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Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/02/05/issue_of_war_may_tip_mass_voters_in_favor_of_obama/

Issue of war may tip Mass. voters in favor of Obama: In interviews, manyweighing Clinton's stance

By Charles M. Sennott, Globe Staff | February 5, 2008

WORCESTER - Elsa Scheie was rushing across campus in blue Chuck Taylorhightops and a red Clark University sweatshirt yesterday to hear HillaryClinton's speech.

When asked if she was a Hillary supporter, she gave a quick and breathlessnod. And then a quick clarification.

The 19-year-old psychology and sociology major said she "supports" Clinton -as polls suggest a young woman and registered Democrat probably would - butshe is planning to vote for Barack Obama.

"It's the war in Iraq. That is what has me pretty much decided on voting forObama," she said, walking toward the packed Clark University gymnasium whereClinton delivered a campaign address on the eve of today's Super Tuesdayprimary vote.

"I like her [Clinton] on healthcare. I will support her if she wins [thenomination] . . . But the war is a major piece of my decision and Obama hasbeen much clearer in his opposition," she said.

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Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-firstvote5feb05,1,3461103.story

The return of the youth vote
Obama and Clinton attract young voters who see a chance to help makehistory.

By Jason Song
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 5, 2008

Matt Murphy knows it is hard to be a Republican at any college, much lessUCLA.

"I can't walk down the quad without someone trying to talk to me about Obamaor give me a flier. . . . They want me to drink the Democratic Kool-Aid,"said the 19-year-old freshman who probably will vote for formerMassachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

In any other election, Murphy's claim could be dismissed as a youthfulexaggeration or an interesting, but ultimately insignificant, factoid. Afterall, did the youth vote help catapult Sen. John Kerry into the White Housein 2004?

But this year may be different. Hillary Rodham Clinton and especially BarackObama have captured the imaginations of young voters who recognize theirunique chance to put a woman or African American into the White House andare expected to come to the polls today in record numbers.

The youth vote already has played a key role in earlier primaries. In SouthCarolina, 18- to 29-year-olds accounted for 14% of voters, up from 9% in2004. And in Iowa, young voter turnout rose 135% from the previouspresidential primary.

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Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/5512777.html

Obama's surging because he's preaching liberation

By E.J. DIONNE JR.
Washington Post
Feb. 4, 2008, 7:29PM

WILMINGTON, Del. - Democrats are divided this year not by the issues but bya feeling and a theory.

This helps explain why the preferences of voters in the Democraticpresidential primaries so far have gyrated so wildly. In the absence of deepdivisions on policy, Democrats have been cut loose from their ideologicalmoorings. Philosophical unity has bred new forms of conflict.

Barack Obama has surged to rough parity with Hillary Clinton in the nationalpolls not because Democrats reject her carefully thought-out solutions tothe central public problems but because he has created in the party's rankand file a feeling of liberation - from intimidation by Republicans, fromold divisions, from history itself.

At a packed rally in a downtown square here on Sunday, emblematic of thoseObama has staged across the country, the candidate drew the usual applausefor the usual Democratic applause lines on the infamy of the Bushadministration, the urgency of universal health care and the unfairness ofRepublican economic policies.

But he connected most when he spoke of his willingness to oppose the IraqWar when many, including Clinton, didn't. This marked his liberation fromRepublican bullying on national security. He spoke of the surge of youngpeople into politics and the extraordinary levels of participation in theDemocratic primaries. This spoke to his party's desire to be liberated fromthe old math of the Reagan era.

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USA Today

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/02/our-view-on-the.html

Our view on the budget: Emphasis on earmarks overshadows big picture

By Karl Gelles

Sure, trim the pork. But don't suggest it would solve fiscal woes.Earmarks - those often wasteful pet projects stuck into spending bills - arebecoming the favorite target of politicians seeking to demonstrate theircommitment to responsible budgeting.

In last week's State of the Union message, President Bush vowed to vetobills that fail to cut earmarks in half. The same day, House Speaker NancyPelosi bragged that Congress' Democratic majority already cut earmarks inhalf in the past two years. And on Sunday, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, thefront-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, chimed in, "We needto stop the pork barrel spending. ... This is big money."

Actually, in the grand scheme of federal spending, it isn't. That was nevermore clear than on Monday, when the president unveiled his $3.1 trillionbudget for fiscal 2009. The deficit alone is projected to be $407 billionnext year.

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Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/04/AR2008020402423.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Salvation Show: The Emotion Behind Obama's Appeal

By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008; A19

WILMINGTON, Del. -- Democrats are divided this year not by the issues but bya feeling and a theory.

This helps explain why the preferences of voters in the Democraticpresidential primaries so far have gyrated so wildly. In the absence of deepdivisions on policy, Democrats have been cut loose from their ideologicalmoorings. Philosophical unity has bred new forms of conflict.

Barack Obama has surged to rough parity with Hillary Clinton in the nationalpolls not because Democrats reject her carefully thought-out solutions tothe central public problems but because he has created in the party's rankand file a feeling of liberation -- from intimidation by Republicans, fromold divisions, from history itself.

At a packed rally in a downtown square here on Sunday, emblematic of Obama'sappearances around the country, the candidate drew the usual applause forthe usual Democratic applause lines on the infamy of the Bushadministration, the urgency of universal health care and the unfairness ofRepublican economic policies.

But he connected most when he spoke of his willingness to oppose the Iraqwar when many, including Clinton, didn't. This marked his liberation fromRepublican bullying on national security. He spoke of the surge of youngpeople into politics and the extraordinary levels of participation in theDemocratic primaries. This spoke to his party's desire to be liberated fromthe old math of the Reagan era.

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USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-02-04-democrats_N.htm?csp=34

Contrasting styles serve both Obama and Clinton

By Kathy Kiely and Martha T. Moore, USA TODAY

One is a former first lady with a name known globally and a Secret Serviceentourage that goes back two decades. The other is a political phenomenonwho until four years ago was an obscure state legislator.

Yet as the candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination wrap up afrenetic week of campaigning, it is Barack Obama speaking to overflow crowdsin packed sports arenas and Hillary Rodham Clinton chatting in high schoolgyms and hosting intimate question-and-answer sessions.

On policy, the candidates struggle to differentiate themselves. In style,their current campaigning is a stark contrast - one that serves both theirneeds:

.Clinton, who has high negative poll ratings, wants to seem approachable,caring and in touch.

.Obama, no matter how many times he refers to himself as the underdog, wantsto show he's riding a surge of support that will sweep him to victory.

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Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/02/04/mccain_ad_casts_romney_as_anti_reagan/

McCain ad casts Romney as anti-Reagan

February 4, 2008

TITLE: "Trust"

LENGTH: 30 seconds.

AIRING: National cable.

SCRIPT: McCain: "I'm John McCain and I approve this message."

Announcer: "Mitt Romney on Ronald Reagan."

Romney (from video clip): "Look, I was an independent during the time ofReagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush."

Announcer: "Mitt Romney was against Ronald Reagan, before he was for him."

Romney (from video clip): "Yeah, I voted in the Democratic Primary...When Iwas running in '94, I wasn't trying to return to Reagan-Bush."

Announcer: "If we can't trust Mitt Romney on Ronald Reagan, how can we trusthim to lead America?"

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Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-global-aids,1,6158466.story

Fight Looms Over Global AIDS Program

By JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press Writer
5:49 PM CST, February 4, 2008

WASHINGTON

A five-year, $15 billion effort to combat AIDS in Africa and other areas --arguably the most important and popular international program of the Bushpresidency -- may become a political battleground as it comes up forrenewal.

President Bush wants to double and House Democrats want to triple spendingon a program that is now treating 1.4 million people, most of them insub-Saharan Africa, where he will visit in two weeks.

Democrats also want to slash spending on a multimillion-dollar componentthat emphasizes sexual abstinence. And that has conservative groups furious.

The president used his State of the Union address this week to repeat arequest he first made last May that Congress double global AIDS money to $30billion over the next five years.

"We can bring healing and hope to many more," he said.

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