U.S. President - Electoral College
|
 |
Obama (D) - 349 |
|
|
McCain (R) - 162 |
270 votes needed for presidency |
| Popular vote - 49 states reporting |
|
| McCain (R) |
46% |
56,477,644 |
| Obama (D) |
52% |
63,987,562 |
| Barr (I) |
0% |
490,363 |
| Nader (I) |
1% |
660,094 |
 View results on a map » |
|
U.S. Senate - 35 seats contested
|
|
Democrats - 17 |
|
|
Republicans - 14 |
|
 Seats not up for election |
Net change: +6 Democrats |
|
U.S. House of Rep. - 435 seats contested
|
|
Democrats - 254 |
|
|
|
Republicans - 173 |
Net change: +21 Democrats President-elect Barack Obama has begun an effort to tamp down what his aides fear are unusually high expectations among his supporters, and will remind Americans regularly throughout the transition that the nation's challenges are substantial and will take time to address.
Mr. Obama's advisers said they were startled, if gratified, by the jubilation that greeted the news of Mr. Obama's victory in much of the United States and abroad. But while the energy of his supporters could be a tremendous political asset as Mr. Obama works to enact his agenda after taking office in January, his aides said they were looking to temper hopes that he would be able to solve the nation's problems or fully reverse Bush administration policies quickly and easily, especially given the prospect of a deep and long-lasting recession.
We have talked about this, said Robert Gibbs, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama. It's important that everybody understands that this is not going to happen overnight. There has to be a realistic expectation of what can happen and how quickly.
Joel Benenson, Mr. Obama's campaign pollster, said he thought that the public appreciated the problems that the president-elect was facing and would judge him against that backdrop.
I don't think they view him as a miracle worker who in two months is going to solve an economic crisis, Mr. Benenson said. It is a matter of being straightforward with people about what we are going to achieve and how fast it's going to take.
Mr. Obama will hit that theme at a news conference he is expected to hold over the coming days, and in most of his public appearances from here on out, aides said. They said they would discourage the traditional yardstick for measuring the accomplishments of a new president the first 100 days. Mr. Obama told an interviewer toward the end of his campaign that it was more appropriate to talk about the first 1,000 days.
Mr. Obama's advisers said that the tone of his victory speech on Tuesday night sober and devoid of the arm-pumping that would typically be in an address of that sort reflected his awareness of these circumstances. Mr. Obama warned that the promises that led Americans to embrace his candidacy be they as specific as expanding health care or as broad as changing the tone of Washington might take as long a term to carry out.
The caution reflected the inevitable perils of taking control of the White House at such a difficult time, particularly after a campaign that stirred so much hope among voters. The economic crisis will certainly complicate Mr. Obama's more ambitious domestic efforts like broadening health care coverage and cutting taxes for most Americans. His call for a change in the tone in Washington would require a sharp shift in history. Even with substantial Democratic majorities in the Senate and the House, passing major legislation could still be time-consuming for Mr. Obama and require compromises.
Mr. Gibbs said one of the main challenges for Mr. Obama was tamping down expectations a bit without making anyone think he was moving away from the promises of his campaign.
The flip side of this and I want to make sure this is also clear we also believe that it is paramount to begin doing everything we said we would do in the campaign, Mr. Gibbs said. We know expectations are high. But disappointment if we didn't try to do the things that we said we were going to do would be far, far greater than anything else. People went to the polls and elected Barack Obama because they believed the fact not only that he could do what he said, but that he would try to do what he said.
The challenge facing Mr. Obama today is similar to one that faced Bill Clinton in 1992, the last time a president arrived in Washington with anything approaching the level of excitement Mr. Obama's election set off around the country.
As Election Day approached in 1992, it was apparent from the crowds that Mr. Clinton drew, in their size and their faces, that his supporters expected big things after a campaign in which Mr. Clinton had promised a dramatic revamping in health care coverage and programs for the poor. At the time, a senior adviser who was traveling with him, Paul Begala , warned Mr. Clinton to add some caveats to his speeches, to avoid voter letdown should it take time to accomplish things as president. http://news.yahoo.com/election/2008/dashboard |
McCain: Obama link to ex-radical is honesty issue
Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Thursday that questions about Democratic rival Barack Obama's association with a former war protester linked to Vietnam-era bombings are part of a broader issue of honesty.
In his strongest personal criticism since his faltering campaign began casting Obama as an unknown and unacceptable candidate, McCain told supporters that Obama had not been truthful in describing his relationship with former radical William Ayers. The Arizona senator also said Obama himself has "a clear radical, far-left pro-abortion record."
McCain and the Republican National Committee also launched new Web and TV ads about Obama and Ayers.
Loud cheers from 4,000 people gathered at a sports complex near Milwaukee greeted McCain's attacks over Ayers, who helped found the Weather Underground, a Vietnam protest group that bombed government buildings 40 years ago. Obama has noted that he was a child at the time and first met Ayers and his wife, ex-radical Bernadine Dohrn, a quarter-century later.
"Look, we don't care about an old, washed-up terrorist and his wife," McCain said. "That's not the point here."
"He's a terrorist!" a man in the audience screamed without making clear to whom he was referring.
"We need to know the full extent of the relationship," McCain replied. Later, McCain told ABC News: "It's a factor about Sen. Obama's candor and truthfulness with the American people."
Obama has denounced Ayers and his violent actions and views. He dismisses McCain's criticism as an effort to "score cheap political points."
The Associated Press and other news organizations have reported that Obama and Ayers, now a college professor who lives in Obama's Chicago neighborhood, are not close but that they worked together on two nonprofit organizations from the mid-1990s to 2002. In addition, Ayers hosted a small meet-the-candidate event for Obama in 1995 as he first ran for the state Senate.
David Axelrod, a senior campaign adviser, says Obama, who was a child living in Indonesia and Hawaii in the late 1960s and early 1970s, was not aware of Ayers' radical past at the time of that campaign event. Some McCain supporters have expressed skepticism about that.
Some of those at the rally questioned why McCain was trailing Obama and why no one was talking about Obama's past associations.
Obama's history with Ayers was explored during the primaries in news reports and in a campaign debate. The GOP campaign has resurrected it as the economic crisis deepened in recent days.
Responding to McCain's criticism, Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor said: "It's now clear that John McCain would rather launch angry, personal attacks than talk about the economy or defend his risky bailout scheme that hands over billions in taxpayer dollars to the same irresponsible Wall Street banks and lenders that got us into this mess, a scheme that guarantees taxpayers will lose money."
One person at the rally here suggested McCain get tougher in his final debate with Obama next Wednesday: "I am begging you, sir."
"Yes, I'll do that," McCain said.
To press its argument, the McCain campaign also released a 90-second Web ad about Obama and Ayers.
"Barack Obama and domestic terrorist Bill Ayers. Friends. They've worked together for years," the ad says. The ad also claims that one of the nonprofits on which Obama and Ayers worked was a radical education foundation.
That educational foundation was The Annenberg Challenge. It was funded by the Annenberg Foundation, a charity set up by longtime Republican backer and newspaper publisher Walter Annenberg. Annenberg has died, but his wife has endorsed McCain this year. For his work on this educational project, Chicago gave Ayers its "Citizen of the Year" award in 1997.
On Friday, the Republican National Committee will start running a TV ad in Indiana and Wisconsin that links Obama to Ayers and other Chicago figures. "The Chicago Way. Shady politics. That's Barack Obama's training," the ad says.
McCain and his campaign have sought to raise doubts about Obama, who could become the nation's first black president. Supporters have used Obama's middle name, Hussein, during introductions of McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin this week trying to remind voters that he shares a name with deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
The Obama campaign denounced the move, which also plays to Internet rumors that Obama is a Muslim, even though he grew up in a secular household and is a Christian. After the fact, the McCain campaign said in an e-mailed statement that it did not condone using the middle name.
Palin joined McCain at the town hall the first of two events in this swing state with 10 electoral votes and blamed "mainstream media" for not asking Obama tough questions about his proposals.
"Are Americans having an opportunity to ask all the questions and are we receiving straight answers from our opponent?" Palin asked. The crowd shouted, "No!"
In a response for the Obama campaign, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle said it was preposterous to suggest Obama hadn't been scrutinized during one of the toughest primaries and general elections in modern history.
McCain also repeated the false claim that Palin opposed the so-called Bridge to Nowhere, for which she campaigned in her race for governor and accepted federal money to build. When the project drew national scorn as an example of wasteful spending, Congress withdrew its support for the bridge but Alaska kept the money for other projects.
A poll released Wednesday by WISC-TV in Madison showed McCain trailing Obama by 10 points, the Arizona senator's largest deficit in Wisconsin since July when polls also showed Obama with a double-digit lead.
"Do you know how many times the political pundits in the last two years have written off my campaign?" McCain asked.
He later repeated the line at an airport rally in Mosinee. Palin had flown to Cincinnati. Source:
ap.google
Asian stocks hit after Dow plunge Asian markets have opened heavily down in the wake of a plunge by US stocks to their lowest level for five years.
Tokyo's Nikkei-225 index has dropped 11.3%, while South Korea, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong all crashed 7% in early trading.
Despite concerted government action, investors are fearful the financial crisis will prompt a global recession.
Finance ministers from the G7 leading industrial countries are set to meet in Washington to discuss the crisis.
US President George W Bush is due to make an address to the American people later in the day.
As markets opened across Asia on Friday, swift falls were seen.
In Indonesia, stock market trading has been suspended indefinitely, in order "to prevent deeper panic", as the president of the exchange put it.
Jakarta had been due to re-open, after being suspended on Wednesday.
But Erry Firmansyah, the exchange's president, said: "It will be closed indefinitely while we will continue to monitor."
'Beyond fundamentals'
As well as the G7 meeting, talks will also be held at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington.
The organisation's chief, Dominique Strauss-Khan, said on Thursday the lending procedure would allow the IMF to react quickly to support countries facing funding problems.
Mr Strauss-Kahn said the world was "on the cusp of recession", but could still recover.
After a gloomy day's trading in Europe on Thursday, the Dow Jones - the US benchmark index - ended down 7.3% - tumbled below 9,000 points for the first time since August 2003.
"We're way beyond fundamentals. This is just pure panic, that's all it is," said Chris Orndorff, head of equity strategy at Payden & Rygel, in Los Angeles.
Iceland mission
The IMF scheme, which was used during the Asian financial crisis in 1997, would help speed up approval of loans.
The body has already sent a mission to Iceland, where the government has taken control of its three biggest banks.
Speaking ahead of meetings of the IMF and World Bank, Mr Strauss-Khan urged countries to act "quickly, forcefully, and co-operatively" to solve the global economic problems.
A day after seven central banks around the world cut interest rates in an effort to calm financial markets, the IMF chief said further co-ordinated action was necessary.
"All kinds of policy co-operation are to be commended," he said.
But he issued a stark warning against countries acting unilaterally to fight the crisis, referring to recent isolated moves by certain European Union member countries.
"There is no domestic solution to a crisis like this one."
Finance ministers from the G7 group of wealthy nations are to meet in Washington this weekend. Source: BBC News
Braking news US & world: - Click Here
|
