Election 2008: November 2007 Archives

Democratic officials announced Wednesday cancellation of the planned presidential debate in Los Angeles set for Dec. 10 because of the ongong writer strike.

The debate, scheduled to be held at the CBS studios, was called off because writers plan to picket the location and the three leading candidates, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards said they would not cross picket lines.

There was no indication if an effort will be made to reschedule the forum before the state's Feb. 5 election.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa steps back on to the national stage this weekend, when he joins a group of big city mayors to serve as commentators on two presidential debates in Iowa.

Villaraigosa, who has endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, will be part of a group of mayors from the U.S. Conference of Mayors who will talk about the presidential election and the candidates following the Heartland Presidential Candidate Forum and the Black and Brown Presidential Forum.

“With over 85 percent of people in the United States living in our nation's cities and metro areas, mayors clearly understand how urban issues impact every day Americans and are calling on candidates to focus on these issues,” the U.S. Conference of Mayors said in a statement.

“For the first time in our history, The United States Conference of Mayors is bringing a bipartisan group of mayors to the Iowa Caucuses. We believe that the issues of Iowa and the city of Des Moines are the same issues that face mayors around the country each and every day. We support Mayor Cownie and the other Iowa mayors as we present to the next President of the United States the challenges and opportunities before us,” said U.S. Conference of Mayors Executive Director Tom Cochran.

Other mayors include Douglas Palmer of Trenton, N.J.; Franklin Cownie of Des Moines, Ia.; Manny Diaz of Miami, Fla., and Mike Cornett of Oklahoma Citiy.

Former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Sunday picked up the endorsement of the California Republican Assembly, the most conservative wing of the party, for the Feb. 5 GOP presidential primary election..

At its annual convention in Sacramento, Romney _ nominated by conservative favorite former Assemblyman Tony Strickland _ received a two-thirds vote to win the group's backing.

“Mitt Romney has been steadily gaining support from conservatives throughout California,” said CRA President Mike Spence following the endorsement vote.

Strickland urged CRA members to vote for Romney as “the best candidate to fight for critical conservative issues and to defeat Hillary Clinton in November,.” the organization said in a release.

The CRA said Romney won 139 of 230 votes cast. Fred Thompson was second with 30 votes. Rudy Guiliani received 6 votes, with the other candidates rounding out the votes.

Romney won the outright endorsement on a second ballot, with a 148-73 vote over Thompson.

Presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards have pledged to appear at a Nov. 17 forum in Los Angeles dealing with the issues of global warming and America's energy future.

The event, at the Wadsworth Theater, is sponsored by GRIST, is designed to discuss the two issues as part of a program developed with the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, California League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, Center of American Progress Action Fund, National Resource Defense Council Action Fund and the Presidential Forum on Renewable Energy.

Sponsors said invitations were sent to all the candidates from both the Republican and Democratic parties.

Stephen Colbert, the faux conservative host of Comedy Central's late-night "Colbert Report," has had the political rug yanked out from under him in South Carolina. His fledgling presidential bid to win the nomination -- as either a Republican or a Democrat -- in his home state is being undermined by some Democrats who apparently lack a sense of humor. His campaign posted the $2,500 filing fee to get him on the Democratic ballot shortly before the noon Thursday deadline, but within hours the party's executive council voted 13-3 to erase him. He has until tonight to cough up $35,000 to get on the Republican ballot if he chooses (and that decision could be heavily influenced by the high likelihood that his show will be shut down very soon because of the expected Writers Guild strike).
So what's the big deal here? He's a comedian, right? He's in no way qualified for the presidency, nor would he know what to do with it if he actually got the nomination, beyond playing it for laughs.
But he's a force to be reckoned with anyway. The guy got a bridge named after him in Europe just by having his viewers vote online. He's raised oodles for the Yellow Ribbon charity supporting families of slain and wounded soldiers through such outrageous measures as auctioning his wrist cast autographed by news anchors. And his first book, "I Am America, and So Can You," led the New York Times' nonfiction best-sellers list in its first week on shelves.
The Democrats were afraid he'd actually have an impact on the outcome of the South Carolina primary. And they could be right. A recent Public Opinion Strategies poll there had Colbert ahead of Bill Richardson and breathing down Joe Biden's neck.
It will be interesting to see what the Republicans do if Colbert turns in his paperwork and fee in time for that race. I mean, he sure sounds like one of them...
Personally, I'd like to see his campaign continue. He has a fairly young audience, and I'm all for anything that would bring the 18- to 24-year-olds to the primary election and compel them to read all those other names on the ballot while looking for Colbert's.