AP News, May 16th, 2007
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards got the catbird seat Wednesday in talking to union activists rallying in Washington, a position they say he earned by working for greater organizing rights for unions.
Edwards was the featured speaker at the legislative conference of the International Association of Machinists, which boasts more than 700,000 active and retired members in transportation, aerospace, manufacturing, shipbuilding and electronic industries.
The IAMAE will hear from other Democratic candidates _ Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Dennis Kucinich _ at a rally on the National Mall on Thursday. Edwards was treated like a favorite son, however, getting standing ovations every few minutes during his speech.
Edwards has been actively cultivating union support for his second bid for the White House, traveling around the country helping labor organize.
"He's been there with us, shoulder to shoulder," said Richard Michalski, the union's general vice president. Michalski said Edwards had just finished a letter-writing campaign urging workers at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to choose the IAMAE as their union.
Edwards told the crowd that as president he would ban permanent hiring of replacement workers, end tax breaks that encourage foreign outsourcing and tighten labor standards in trade agreements.
He also prodded Congress to push through the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier to form unions by requiring just a majority of workers to sign union cards instead of having to go through a now-required private ballot.
"I think if somebody can join the Republican Party by signing their names to a card, any worker in America ought to be able to join a union by doing exactly the same thing," Edwards said.
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CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) _ Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday the greatest threat facing the world is terrorism spawned by Islamic fundamentalists and that Republicans are best equipped to combat it.
The former New York mayor, who rose to national prominence in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, said last week's arrests of terror suspects accused of plotting against a New Jersey military base show that more extremists may be living in the U.S.
"It's the most fundamental problem in the United States as we saw in this attempt to attack Fort Dix, which was homegrown," he said following a town hall meeting with about 200 people at the College of Charleston. "As the U.S. attorney told me, it may not have been directed by Islamic terrorists, but it was inspired by them. Who knows how much of that homegrown stuff is going on?"
Most Muslims "are good people," he said. "But, having said that, you cannot give the impression this is an insignificant movement. It is a significant movement and it is the most dangerous thing that faces us right now."
Giuliani reiterated his point at a campaign stop in Atlanta later in the day.
"If you show them weakness, you get repeated attacks," he told students and supporters at Oglethorpe University. "I believe Republicans are much likelier to be on the offensive than Democrats."
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NEW YORK (AP) _ Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton is asking supporters to help her choose a new campaign song, poking fun at her own lack of singing skills in the process.
In a video posted Wednesday on her campaign Web site, the New York senator asks for help with "one of the most important questions" she faces: what to choose for her campaign song.
"It's something we've been struggling with, debating and agonizing over for months," she insists, sporting a twinkle in her eye.
The video includes a few seconds of a popular YouTube clip from Clinton's first campaign trip to Iowa, where she is seen _ and heard _ attempting an off-key rendition of the National Anthem.
"Whatever song you choose, I make you this solemn and sacred promise _ I won't sing it in public. Unless I win!" Clinton says.
The Web site offers nine choices, ranging from "Get Ready," a 1960s-era Motown hit by the Temptations, to the recent U2 hit "City of Blinding Lights." It includes "Right Here, Right Now" by Jesus Jones, which has served as Clinton's theme song since the beginning of the campaign.
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) _ Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Wednesday he would have to think long and hard before he would consider joining a ticket with a candidate who supports abortion rights.
"This is an issue to me that is very critical. It's one of the reasons that I got into politics because I believe the manner in which we treat innocent life and the matter in which we respect human life, at whatever stage ... is an incredibly powerful statement about who we are as a people," Huckabee told reporters in a conference call.
The Republican presidential candidate and Southern Baptist minister did not specifically name GOP front-runner Rudy Giuliani. The former New York mayor has said he is personally opposed to abortion but supports a woman's right to choose. Huckabee has questioned that position.
"The sanctity of life is not just some peripheral political position," Huckabee said. "It comes to the very heart of who we are as a culture, and I think that's shared by many people here in South Carolina."
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WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Democratic National Committee on Wednesday announced dates and locations for six sanctioned presidential debates.
The debate schedule:
_July 23, Charleston, S.C., televised by CNN.
_Aug. 19, Des Moines, Iowa, televised by ABC.
_Sept. 26, Hanover, N.H., televised by MSNBC/NBC.
_Oct. 30, Philadelphia, televised by MSNBC/NBC.
_Nov. 15, Las Vegas, televised by CNN.
_Dec. 10, Los Angeles, televised by CBS.
With the candidates each fielding dozens of debate requests, the DNC agreed earlier this year to sanction one per month beginning in July.
The Democratic contenders met in their first debate last month at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, S.C. They will meet again June 3 at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H.
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WASHINGTON (AP) _ New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who has been campaigning for weeks for the nation's highest office, plans to announce officially Monday in Los Angeles that he is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.
Richardson, who was born in California and spent his first 13 years in Mexico, will make his announcement at the Los Angeles Press Club. The choice of a West Coast primary underscores the growing importance of California and its Feb. 5 primary on the nomination process.
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) _ Sen. Barack Obama is now the only Democratic presidential hopeful not planning to attend an Iowa Democratic Party fundraiser next month.
Party officials said Wednesday that Sen. Joe Biden has rearranged his schedule and now plans to attend the party's Hall of Fame Dinner on June 2 in Cedar Rapids.
The event is one of two major fundraisers held by the party each year to help cover the costs of the state's leadoff caucuses. The events also offer candidates a chance to meet with donors and activists.
"We have had many conversations with the Biden campaign and understood that travel and time constraints were issues, but the senator wants to be in Iowa for this important event," Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Scott Brennan said in a statement.
Obama's campaign cited a scheduling conflict.
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Associated Press writers Bruce Smith in Charleston, S.C., Greg Bluestein in Atlanta, Beth Fouhy in New York and Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.
