The utter and complete desperation of Hillary and Bill Clinton to get back in power was completely evident yesterday as Hillary urged the Democrats to reinstate the Michigan and Florida delegates who are currently banned from seating in the convention because their state broke party rules.
There is only one reason that biatch is doing this. It's because unlike the other democrats, who removed their names from the ballots of Michigan and Florida, Hillary kept hers there even though it would have been proper of her to remove it. So basically Hillary ran unchallenged in Michigan and will run unchallenged in Florida. Hillary claims she broke no rules coz she did not campaign in those states as promised. This statement is the from the voice of an utter power hungry bitch. She will do almost anything, and try to get away with as much as she and Bill could just to win the nomination. Do you really want a bitch like this as your president? I don't think so.
Vote OBAMA 2008!
BARACK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT!
A VOTE FOR MCCAIN IS 4 MORE YEARS OF BUSH!
1/26/2008
Meet the Candidates
Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. (pronounced /bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/[1]) (born August 4, 1961) is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential election.[2][3] He is the fifth African American Senator in U.S. history, the third to have been popularly elected, and the only African American currently serving in the U.S. Senate.[4]
Obama was born in Honolulu to a Kenyan father and an American mother. He lived most of his early life in the Pacific island U.S. state of Hawaii. From ages six to ten, he lived in Jakarta, Indonesia. A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, Obama worked as a community organizer, university lecturer, and civil rights lawyer before running for public office. He served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he launched his campaign for U.S. Senate in 2003.
Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention while still an Illinois state legislator.[5] He was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2004 with a landslide 70% of the vote in an election year marked by Republican gains.[6] As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, Obama co-sponsored the enactment of conventional weapons control and transparency legislation, and made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In the 110th Congress, he has sponsored legislation on lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military personnel.
Since announcing his presidential campaign in February 2007, Obama has emphasized ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and providing universal health care as major priorities.[7] He married in 1992 and has two daughters. He has written two bestselling books: a memoir of his youth titled Dreams from My Father, and The Audacity of Hope, a personal commentary on U.S. politics.[8]
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947) is the junior United States Senator from New York, and a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential election. She is married to Bill Clinton—the 42nd President of the United States—and was the First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001.
A native of Illinois, Hillary Rodham attracted national attention in 1969 when she delivered a controversial address as the first student to speak at commencement exercises for Wellesley College. She began her career as a lawyer after graduating from Yale Law School in 1973, moving to Arkansas and marrying Bill Clinton in 1975, following her career as a Congressional legal counsel; she was named the first female partner at Rose Law Firm in 1979 and was listed as one of the one hundred most influential lawyers in America in 1988 and 1991. She was the First Lady of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992, was active in a number of organizations concerned with the welfare of children, and was on the board of Wal-Mart and several other corporate boards.
As First Lady of the United States, she took a prominent position in policy matters. Her major initiative, the Clinton health care plan, failed to gain approval by the U.S. Congress in 1994, but in 1997 she helped establish the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the Adoption and Safe Families Act. She became the only First Lady to be subpoenaed, testifying before a federal grand jury as a consequence of the Whitewater scandal in 1996. She was never charged with any wrongdoing in this or several other investigations during her husband's administration. The state of her marriage to Bill Clinton was the subject of considerable public discussion following the Lewinsky scandal in 1998.
Moving to New York, Clinton was elected to the United States Senate in 2000, the first time an American first lady ran for public office and the first female senator from that state. There she initially supported the George W. Bush administration on some foreign policy issues, which included voting for the Iraq War Resolution. She has subsequently opposed the administration on its conduct of the Iraq War and has opposed it on most domestic issues. She was re-elected by a wide margin in 2006. Long described as a polarizing figure in American politics, she is the first woman in U.S. history with a strong chance of being elected president. During 2007 she was consistently ranked as the front-runner in national polls for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. As the 2008 primaries begin, she is in a tight race with Senator Barack Obama.
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards[1] (born June 10, 1953), is an American politician, first as a one-term U.S. Senator from North Carolina, then the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and currently a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 Presidential election.
He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in North Carolina's 1998 Senate election and during his six-year term sought the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2004 presidential election.
He eventually became the Democratic candidate for Vice President, the running mate of presidential nominee Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. After Edwards and Kerry lost the election to incumbents George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, Edwards began working full time at the One America Committee, a political action committee he established in 2001, and was appointed director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law. He was also a consultant for Fortress Investment Group LLC.
Early life, education, and family
Edwards was born on June 10, 1953 to Wallace Reid Edwards and Catharine Juanita "Bobbie" Wade in Seneca, South Carolina. The family moved several times during Edwards' childhood, eventually settling in Robbins, North Carolina, where his father worked as a textile mill floor worker, eventually promoted to supervisor; his mother had a roadside antique finishing business and then worked as a postal letter carrier when his father left his job.[2]
A football star in high school,[3] Edwards was the first person in his family to attend college. He attended Clemson University and transferred to North Carolina State University. Edwards graduated with high honors earning a bachelor's degree in textile technology in 1974, and later earned his Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) with honors.
While at UNC, he met Elizabeth Anania, who is four years his senior. They married in the summer of 1977 and had four children. Wade, was born in 1979, Cate in 1982, Emma Claire in 1998, and Jack, born in 2000. Their son Wade was killed in a car accident when strong winds swept his Jeep off a North Carolina highway in 1996. Edwards and his wife began the Wade Edwards Foundation in their son's memory; the purpose of the nonprofit organization is "to reward, encourage, and inspire young people in the pursuit of excellence." The Foundation funded the Wade Edwards Learning Lab at Wade's high school, Broughton High School in Raleigh, along with scholarship competitions and essay awards. Just weeks before Wade died, he had been honored at the White House by First Lady Hillary Clinton for an essay he wrote on entering the voting booth with his father.[4][5]
On November 3, 2004, Elizabeth Edwards revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She was treated via chemotherapy and radiotherapy,[6] and continued to work within the Democratic Party and her husband's One America Committee. On March 22, 2007, Edwards and his wife announced that her cancer had returned; she was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer, with newly discovered metastases to the bone and possibly to her lung.[7][8] They said that the cancer was "no longer curable, but is completely treatable"[9] and that they planned to continue campaigning together with an occasional break when she requires treatment.[10][7]
John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona and a candidate for the Republican Party nomination in the 2008 presidential election.
Both McCain's grandfather and father were Admirals in the United States Navy. McCain also attended the United States Naval Academy and finished near the bottom of his graduating class in 1958. McCain became a naval aviator flying attack aircraft from carriers. Participating in the Vietnam War, he narrowly escaped death during the 1967 Forrestal fire. On his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam later in 1967, he was shot down and badly injured. He endured five and a half years as a prisoner of war, including periods of torture, before he was released following the Paris Peace Accords in 1973.
Retiring from the Navy in 1981 and moving to Arizona, McCain soon entered politics. In 1982 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st congressional district. After serving two terms there, he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Arizona in 1986. He was re-elected Senator in 1992, 1998, and 2004. While generally adhering to American conservatism, McCain established a reputation as a political maverick for his willingness to defy Republican orthodoxy on several issues. Surviving the Keating Five scandal of the 1980s, he made campaign finance reform one of his signature concerns, which eventually led to the passing of the McCain-Feingold Act in 2002.
McCain was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2000 presidential election, but was defeated by George W. Bush after closely contested battles in several early primary states. In the 2008 presidential election, he was the front-runner as the cycle began, but suffered a near collapse of his campaign in mid-2007 due to financial issues and his support for comprehensive immigration reform. In late 2007 he staged a comeback, and as of January 2008 was one of the leaders in the race again.
Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American businessman and politician. Formerly the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Romney is seeking the Republican nomination in the 2008 United States presidential election.[1]
Romney is a former CEO of Bain & Company, a management consulting firm, and the co-founder of Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm. After his business career and serving as the CEO of the 2002 Winter Olympics, Romney was elected as the 70th Massachusetts Governor in 2002. Romney served one term and did not seek re-election in 2006; his term expired January 4, 2007.[2]
Early life and education
Romney is the son of former Michigan Governor and 1968 presidential candidate George W. Romney, and 1970 Michigan U.S. Senatorial candidate Lenore Romney. He was named "Willard" after hotel magnate J. Willard Marriott, his father's best friend.[3] Mitt, his middle name, comes from his father's cousin Milton Romney, who played quarterback for the Chicago Bears from 1925 to 1929.[4] Mitt Romney has three older siblings: Lynn Romney Keenan; Jane Romney Robinson; and G. Scott Romney.[5] He has been involved in politics from an early age, having joined his father in civil rights marches.[6]
Romney graduated from the Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1965.[7] After attending Stanford University for two quarters, Romney served in France for 30 months as a missionary for the LDS Church.[8]
In June 1968, Romney was involved in a serious car accident while driving fellow missionaries in southern France. Another vehicle hit Romney's car head on; the fault for the accident, which left one person dead, has been attributed to the driver of the other vehicle.[9]
After his mission service, Romney attended Brigham Young University, where he graduated as valedictorian, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude in 1971.
In 1975, Romney graduated from a joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration program coordinated between Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. He graduated cum laude from the law school and was named a Baker Scholar for graduating in the top five percent of his business school class.[10]
Michael Dale "Mike" Huckabee (born August 24, 1955) is an American politician, a member of the Republican Party. He was the governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007[2] and is a candidate for the 2008 United States presidential election; he announced his candidacy on January 28, 2007.
Huckabee is the author of several books, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, a public speaker, and a musician, playing bass guitar in his rock band, Capitol Offense. He is well known for having lost 110 pounds (50 kg) in a very short time and then advocating a healthy lifestyle.[3] He and his wife, Janet, have three grown children: John Mark, David, and Sarah.
Early life and education
Huckabee was born in Hope, Arkansas,[4] to Mae Elder (1925-1999) and Dorsey Wiles Huckabee (1923-1996), both natives of Hope. His surname is of English origin.[5] His father worked as a fireman and mechanic, and his mother worked as a clerk in a gas company.[6] His father was a strict disciplinarian, and left a lasting impression on young Huckabee, which he has turned into a well-honed aphorism. Speaking to Charles Gibson of ABC News, he explained with a grin: "My father was the ultimate patriot. You know, he’d lay on the stripes, and I’d see stars."[7]
Huckabee's first job, at 14, was working at a radio station where he would read the news and weather.[8] He was elected Governor of Arkansas Boys State in 1972[9] and is a Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Alumnus. He was president of Hope High School in 1973.[10] He has one sister who is a middle school teacher.[11]
Huckabee married his wife, Janet McCain, on May 25, 1974.[11] He graduated magna cum laude from Ouachita Baptist University, completing his bachelor's degree in Religion in 2½ years before attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where he dropped out after one year.[12][13][14] He has two honorary doctoral degrees: a Doctor of Humane Letters, received from John Brown University in 1991, and a Doctor of Laws from Ouachita Baptist University in 1992.[15][16]
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul (born August 20, 1935) is a Republican United States Congressman from Lake Jackson, Texas, a physician, and a 2008 U.S. presidential candidate. Originally from the Pittsburgh suburb of Green Tree, Pennsylvania, he studied at Duke University School of Medicine, and after his 1961 graduation and a residency in obstetrics and gynecology, he became a U.S. Air Force flight surgeon, serving outside the Vietnam War zone. He later entered politics and has represented Texas districts in the U.S. House of Representatives (1976–1977, 1979–1985, and 1997–present). He entered the 1988 presidential election running as the Libertarian nominee while remaining a registered Republican and placed a distant third.
Paul has been described as conservative, Constitutionalist, and libertarian.[2] He advocates a non-interventionist foreign policy, having voted against actions such as the Iraq War Resolution, but in favor of force against terrorists in Afghanistan. He favors withdrawal from NATO and the United Nations, citing the dangers of foreign entanglements to national sovereignty. Having pledged never to raise taxes, he has long advocated ending the federal income tax and reducing government spending by abolishing most federal agencies; he favors hard money and opposes the Federal Reserve. He also opposes the Patriot Act, the federal War on Drugs, and gun control. Paul is pro-life, but opposes Federal laws regulating or banning abortion,[disputed] advocating overturning Roe v. Wade to let states determine its legality.[3][4]
Throughout his 2008 presidential campaign, Paul has been a leading candidate in various straw polls, though he has had substantially lower numbers in traditional phone polls. He has strong Internet support, leading in web searches and YouTube subscriptions. On December 16, 2007, Paul had the largest one-day fundraiser in U.S. political history, raising over $6 million in 24 hours through a grassroots effort, organized independently from the official campaign.[5]
Early life and education
Paul was born in Green Tree, Pennsylvania, to Margaret "Peggy" Paul (née Dumont)[6] and Howard Caspar Paul,[7] the second son of a German immigrant.[8] With an eighth-grade education, Howard co-owned Green Tree Dairy with his brothers Lewis and Arthur; the small-town truck farm stood just outside Pittsburgh. Paul was the third of five sons born during seven years in the Great Depression, and he shared one bedroom of their four-room house with his brothers William (the oldest), David, Jerrold, and Wayne. Paul began working at Harold's dairy at age five,[9] and later delivered newspapers, worked in a drugstore, and became a milkman upon reaching driving age.[10] One customer on his milk route was baseball legend Honus Wagner.[11]
Marriage and family
While at Dormont, schoolmate Carol Wells had asked Paul to escort her to a sweet-16 Sadie Hawkins party, which was their first date. They kept in touch while attending colleges in different states. Over a 1956 park picnic before his senior year at Gettysburg, Paul proposed marriage to Wells; the couple were wedded on February 1, 1957, at Dormont Presbyterian Church before 300 guests.[10][19]
They have five children, who were Episcopalian:[11] Ronnie, Lori, Rand, Robert, and Joy. There are eighteen grandchildren.[20] Three children are also doctors:[21] Robert specializes in family practice, Joy in ob/gyn like her father, and Rand in eye surgery, in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Rand is also founder of Kentucky Taxpayers United and often speaks in Paul's behalf.[22][23] Paul supported his children during their undergraduate and medical school years, preventing their participation in federal student loans because the program was taxpayer-subsidized. He has rejected a Congressional pension for the same reason.[24][25]
Carol compiled recipes and photos from the large Paul family into a cookbook, originally for 14th district constituents.[21] The book reached five editions and inspired a family "Recipe of the Week" on Paul's Congressional campaign website.[26][27]
He usually goes home to Lake Jackson on weekends to avoid "Potomac fever."[28]
Excelling in track and field, he graduated from Dormont High School in 1953 with honors. He had a best mark in the 100-yard dash of 9.7 seconds[12] at a time when the national high school record for that event was 9.4 seconds;[13] as a junior, he was the 220-yard dash state champion[14] and placed second in the 440-yard run.[10] He also was on the wrestling team, played football and baseball, and was student council president.[10][11] After surgery on a knee injury, he gave up track and took up swimming as a form of therapy.
A major university offered Paul a full scholarship in track, chancing he could regain his prior speed; he declined, as he felt taking the scholarship would bee seen as endorsing the risk the University was taking.[15] Rather, he paid for his first year at Gettysburg College with saved newspaper-delivery, lemonade-sale, and lawn-mowing money; he later received a small academic scholarship.[10] He delivered mail and laundry in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; managed the college coffee shop ("The Bullet Hole") for one year; and joined the swim team. Inducted into the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity,[16] he served as pledge class president, house manager, and kitchen steward, planning and supervising cooks for all meals.[10][17] By his senior year, he was running track again; he set the then-third-best marks in college history in the 100-yard dash (9.9 seconds) and 220-yard dash (21.8 seconds).[18] He received his baccalaureate in 1957, majoring in biology.[14]
Obama was born in Honolulu to a Kenyan father and an American mother. He lived most of his early life in the Pacific island U.S. state of Hawaii. From ages six to ten, he lived in Jakarta, Indonesia. A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, Obama worked as a community organizer, university lecturer, and civil rights lawyer before running for public office. He served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he launched his campaign for U.S. Senate in 2003.
Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention while still an Illinois state legislator.[5] He was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2004 with a landslide 70% of the vote in an election year marked by Republican gains.[6] As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, Obama co-sponsored the enactment of conventional weapons control and transparency legislation, and made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In the 110th Congress, he has sponsored legislation on lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military personnel.
Since announcing his presidential campaign in February 2007, Obama has emphasized ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and providing universal health care as major priorities.[7] He married in 1992 and has two daughters. He has written two bestselling books: a memoir of his youth titled Dreams from My Father, and The Audacity of Hope, a personal commentary on U.S. politics.[8]
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947) is the junior United States Senator from New York, and a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential election. She is married to Bill Clinton—the 42nd President of the United States—and was the First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001.
A native of Illinois, Hillary Rodham attracted national attention in 1969 when she delivered a controversial address as the first student to speak at commencement exercises for Wellesley College. She began her career as a lawyer after graduating from Yale Law School in 1973, moving to Arkansas and marrying Bill Clinton in 1975, following her career as a Congressional legal counsel; she was named the first female partner at Rose Law Firm in 1979 and was listed as one of the one hundred most influential lawyers in America in 1988 and 1991. She was the First Lady of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992, was active in a number of organizations concerned with the welfare of children, and was on the board of Wal-Mart and several other corporate boards.
As First Lady of the United States, she took a prominent position in policy matters. Her major initiative, the Clinton health care plan, failed to gain approval by the U.S. Congress in 1994, but in 1997 she helped establish the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the Adoption and Safe Families Act. She became the only First Lady to be subpoenaed, testifying before a federal grand jury as a consequence of the Whitewater scandal in 1996. She was never charged with any wrongdoing in this or several other investigations during her husband's administration. The state of her marriage to Bill Clinton was the subject of considerable public discussion following the Lewinsky scandal in 1998.
Moving to New York, Clinton was elected to the United States Senate in 2000, the first time an American first lady ran for public office and the first female senator from that state. There she initially supported the George W. Bush administration on some foreign policy issues, which included voting for the Iraq War Resolution. She has subsequently opposed the administration on its conduct of the Iraq War and has opposed it on most domestic issues. She was re-elected by a wide margin in 2006. Long described as a polarizing figure in American politics, she is the first woman in U.S. history with a strong chance of being elected president. During 2007 she was consistently ranked as the front-runner in national polls for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. As the 2008 primaries begin, she is in a tight race with Senator Barack Obama.
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards[1] (born June 10, 1953), is an American politician, first as a one-term U.S. Senator from North Carolina, then the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and currently a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 Presidential election.
He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in North Carolina's 1998 Senate election and during his six-year term sought the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2004 presidential election.
He eventually became the Democratic candidate for Vice President, the running mate of presidential nominee Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. After Edwards and Kerry lost the election to incumbents George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, Edwards began working full time at the One America Committee, a political action committee he established in 2001, and was appointed director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law. He was also a consultant for Fortress Investment Group LLC.
Early life, education, and family
Edwards was born on June 10, 1953 to Wallace Reid Edwards and Catharine Juanita "Bobbie" Wade in Seneca, South Carolina. The family moved several times during Edwards' childhood, eventually settling in Robbins, North Carolina, where his father worked as a textile mill floor worker, eventually promoted to supervisor; his mother had a roadside antique finishing business and then worked as a postal letter carrier when his father left his job.[2]
A football star in high school,[3] Edwards was the first person in his family to attend college. He attended Clemson University and transferred to North Carolina State University. Edwards graduated with high honors earning a bachelor's degree in textile technology in 1974, and later earned his Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) with honors.
While at UNC, he met Elizabeth Anania, who is four years his senior. They married in the summer of 1977 and had four children. Wade, was born in 1979, Cate in 1982, Emma Claire in 1998, and Jack, born in 2000. Their son Wade was killed in a car accident when strong winds swept his Jeep off a North Carolina highway in 1996. Edwards and his wife began the Wade Edwards Foundation in their son's memory; the purpose of the nonprofit organization is "to reward, encourage, and inspire young people in the pursuit of excellence." The Foundation funded the Wade Edwards Learning Lab at Wade's high school, Broughton High School in Raleigh, along with scholarship competitions and essay awards. Just weeks before Wade died, he had been honored at the White House by First Lady Hillary Clinton for an essay he wrote on entering the voting booth with his father.[4][5]
On November 3, 2004, Elizabeth Edwards revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She was treated via chemotherapy and radiotherapy,[6] and continued to work within the Democratic Party and her husband's One America Committee. On March 22, 2007, Edwards and his wife announced that her cancer had returned; she was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer, with newly discovered metastases to the bone and possibly to her lung.[7][8] They said that the cancer was "no longer curable, but is completely treatable"[9] and that they planned to continue campaigning together with an occasional break when she requires treatment.[10][7]
John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona and a candidate for the Republican Party nomination in the 2008 presidential election.
Both McCain's grandfather and father were Admirals in the United States Navy. McCain also attended the United States Naval Academy and finished near the bottom of his graduating class in 1958. McCain became a naval aviator flying attack aircraft from carriers. Participating in the Vietnam War, he narrowly escaped death during the 1967 Forrestal fire. On his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam later in 1967, he was shot down and badly injured. He endured five and a half years as a prisoner of war, including periods of torture, before he was released following the Paris Peace Accords in 1973.
Retiring from the Navy in 1981 and moving to Arizona, McCain soon entered politics. In 1982 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st congressional district. After serving two terms there, he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Arizona in 1986. He was re-elected Senator in 1992, 1998, and 2004. While generally adhering to American conservatism, McCain established a reputation as a political maverick for his willingness to defy Republican orthodoxy on several issues. Surviving the Keating Five scandal of the 1980s, he made campaign finance reform one of his signature concerns, which eventually led to the passing of the McCain-Feingold Act in 2002.
McCain was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2000 presidential election, but was defeated by George W. Bush after closely contested battles in several early primary states. In the 2008 presidential election, he was the front-runner as the cycle began, but suffered a near collapse of his campaign in mid-2007 due to financial issues and his support for comprehensive immigration reform. In late 2007 he staged a comeback, and as of January 2008 was one of the leaders in the race again.
Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American businessman and politician. Formerly the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Romney is seeking the Republican nomination in the 2008 United States presidential election.[1]
Romney is a former CEO of Bain & Company, a management consulting firm, and the co-founder of Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm. After his business career and serving as the CEO of the 2002 Winter Olympics, Romney was elected as the 70th Massachusetts Governor in 2002. Romney served one term and did not seek re-election in 2006; his term expired January 4, 2007.[2]
Early life and education
Romney is the son of former Michigan Governor and 1968 presidential candidate George W. Romney, and 1970 Michigan U.S. Senatorial candidate Lenore Romney. He was named "Willard" after hotel magnate J. Willard Marriott, his father's best friend.[3] Mitt, his middle name, comes from his father's cousin Milton Romney, who played quarterback for the Chicago Bears from 1925 to 1929.[4] Mitt Romney has three older siblings: Lynn Romney Keenan; Jane Romney Robinson; and G. Scott Romney.[5] He has been involved in politics from an early age, having joined his father in civil rights marches.[6]
Romney graduated from the Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1965.[7] After attending Stanford University for two quarters, Romney served in France for 30 months as a missionary for the LDS Church.[8]
In June 1968, Romney was involved in a serious car accident while driving fellow missionaries in southern France. Another vehicle hit Romney's car head on; the fault for the accident, which left one person dead, has been attributed to the driver of the other vehicle.[9]
After his mission service, Romney attended Brigham Young University, where he graduated as valedictorian, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude in 1971.
In 1975, Romney graduated from a joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration program coordinated between Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. He graduated cum laude from the law school and was named a Baker Scholar for graduating in the top five percent of his business school class.[10]
Michael Dale "Mike" Huckabee (born August 24, 1955) is an American politician, a member of the Republican Party. He was the governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007[2] and is a candidate for the 2008 United States presidential election; he announced his candidacy on January 28, 2007.
Huckabee is the author of several books, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, a public speaker, and a musician, playing bass guitar in his rock band, Capitol Offense. He is well known for having lost 110 pounds (50 kg) in a very short time and then advocating a healthy lifestyle.[3] He and his wife, Janet, have three grown children: John Mark, David, and Sarah.
Early life and education
Huckabee was born in Hope, Arkansas,[4] to Mae Elder (1925-1999) and Dorsey Wiles Huckabee (1923-1996), both natives of Hope. His surname is of English origin.[5] His father worked as a fireman and mechanic, and his mother worked as a clerk in a gas company.[6] His father was a strict disciplinarian, and left a lasting impression on young Huckabee, which he has turned into a well-honed aphorism. Speaking to Charles Gibson of ABC News, he explained with a grin: "My father was the ultimate patriot. You know, he’d lay on the stripes, and I’d see stars."[7]
Huckabee's first job, at 14, was working at a radio station where he would read the news and weather.[8] He was elected Governor of Arkansas Boys State in 1972[9] and is a Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Alumnus. He was president of Hope High School in 1973.[10] He has one sister who is a middle school teacher.[11]
Huckabee married his wife, Janet McCain, on May 25, 1974.[11] He graduated magna cum laude from Ouachita Baptist University, completing his bachelor's degree in Religion in 2½ years before attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where he dropped out after one year.[12][13][14] He has two honorary doctoral degrees: a Doctor of Humane Letters, received from John Brown University in 1991, and a Doctor of Laws from Ouachita Baptist University in 1992.[15][16]
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul (born August 20, 1935) is a Republican United States Congressman from Lake Jackson, Texas, a physician, and a 2008 U.S. presidential candidate. Originally from the Pittsburgh suburb of Green Tree, Pennsylvania, he studied at Duke University School of Medicine, and after his 1961 graduation and a residency in obstetrics and gynecology, he became a U.S. Air Force flight surgeon, serving outside the Vietnam War zone. He later entered politics and has represented Texas districts in the U.S. House of Representatives (1976–1977, 1979–1985, and 1997–present). He entered the 1988 presidential election running as the Libertarian nominee while remaining a registered Republican and placed a distant third.
Paul has been described as conservative, Constitutionalist, and libertarian.[2] He advocates a non-interventionist foreign policy, having voted against actions such as the Iraq War Resolution, but in favor of force against terrorists in Afghanistan. He favors withdrawal from NATO and the United Nations, citing the dangers of foreign entanglements to national sovereignty. Having pledged never to raise taxes, he has long advocated ending the federal income tax and reducing government spending by abolishing most federal agencies; he favors hard money and opposes the Federal Reserve. He also opposes the Patriot Act, the federal War on Drugs, and gun control. Paul is pro-life, but opposes Federal laws regulating or banning abortion,[disputed] advocating overturning Roe v. Wade to let states determine its legality.[3][4]
Throughout his 2008 presidential campaign, Paul has been a leading candidate in various straw polls, though he has had substantially lower numbers in traditional phone polls. He has strong Internet support, leading in web searches and YouTube subscriptions. On December 16, 2007, Paul had the largest one-day fundraiser in U.S. political history, raising over $6 million in 24 hours through a grassroots effort, organized independently from the official campaign.[5]
Early life and education
Paul was born in Green Tree, Pennsylvania, to Margaret "Peggy" Paul (née Dumont)[6] and Howard Caspar Paul,[7] the second son of a German immigrant.[8] With an eighth-grade education, Howard co-owned Green Tree Dairy with his brothers Lewis and Arthur; the small-town truck farm stood just outside Pittsburgh. Paul was the third of five sons born during seven years in the Great Depression, and he shared one bedroom of their four-room house with his brothers William (the oldest), David, Jerrold, and Wayne. Paul began working at Harold's dairy at age five,[9] and later delivered newspapers, worked in a drugstore, and became a milkman upon reaching driving age.[10] One customer on his milk route was baseball legend Honus Wagner.[11]
Marriage and family
While at Dormont, schoolmate Carol Wells had asked Paul to escort her to a sweet-16 Sadie Hawkins party, which was their first date. They kept in touch while attending colleges in different states. Over a 1956 park picnic before his senior year at Gettysburg, Paul proposed marriage to Wells; the couple were wedded on February 1, 1957, at Dormont Presbyterian Church before 300 guests.[10][19]
They have five children, who were Episcopalian:[11] Ronnie, Lori, Rand, Robert, and Joy. There are eighteen grandchildren.[20] Three children are also doctors:[21] Robert specializes in family practice, Joy in ob/gyn like her father, and Rand in eye surgery, in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Rand is also founder of Kentucky Taxpayers United and often speaks in Paul's behalf.[22][23] Paul supported his children during their undergraduate and medical school years, preventing their participation in federal student loans because the program was taxpayer-subsidized. He has rejected a Congressional pension for the same reason.[24][25]
Carol compiled recipes and photos from the large Paul family into a cookbook, originally for 14th district constituents.[21] The book reached five editions and inspired a family "Recipe of the Week" on Paul's Congressional campaign website.[26][27]
He usually goes home to Lake Jackson on weekends to avoid "Potomac fever."[28]
Excelling in track and field, he graduated from Dormont High School in 1953 with honors. He had a best mark in the 100-yard dash of 9.7 seconds[12] at a time when the national high school record for that event was 9.4 seconds;[13] as a junior, he was the 220-yard dash state champion[14] and placed second in the 440-yard run.[10] He also was on the wrestling team, played football and baseball, and was student council president.[10][11] After surgery on a knee injury, he gave up track and took up swimming as a form of therapy.
A major university offered Paul a full scholarship in track, chancing he could regain his prior speed; he declined, as he felt taking the scholarship would bee seen as endorsing the risk the University was taking.[15] Rather, he paid for his first year at Gettysburg College with saved newspaper-delivery, lemonade-sale, and lawn-mowing money; he later received a small academic scholarship.[10] He delivered mail and laundry in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; managed the college coffee shop ("The Bullet Hole") for one year; and joined the swim team. Inducted into the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity,[16] he served as pledge class president, house manager, and kitchen steward, planning and supervising cooks for all meals.[10][17] By his senior year, he was running track again; he set the then-third-best marks in college history in the 100-yard dash (9.9 seconds) and 220-yard dash (21.8 seconds).[18] He received his baccalaureate in 1957, majoring in biology.[14]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
