2008 and counting: Times change on the trail

After Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) fell short in a bid to set mandatory troop-readiness standards this week, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) questioned the argument that Webb and Hagel, both combat veterans, are best equipped to help craft military strategy.

{mosads}“I will never tout my background as a reason for anybody to support me on any issue,” McCain told reporters Tuesday. “I respect those who have not served in the military on an equal basis with those who have served.”

Yet back in 1999, during McCain’s first presidential campaign, he could not help but draw a negative comparison between his medal-winning Navy service and the state National Guard duty of his GOP rival, then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
Media reports from that campaign quote McCain quipping that he felt safer as a prisoner of war in Hanoi knowing that
Bush was keeping the “shores of Texas” safe from invasion.

McCain’s campaign press office did not return a request for comment by press time on the context of his statement this week.

—Elana Schor

Clinton, Obama speak out on gun issue

The Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) coalition has put out nine press releases this year on gun-control issues, several of which have focused on urging Congress to repeal an amendment that restricts the use of data that can be used by authorities to track the sale and purchase of guns.

This week, White House hopefuls Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) joined over 225 mayors — including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — in urging Congress to scrap the so-called Tiahrt amendment, which was signed into law in 2003.

Bloomberg, who has triggered widespread speculation that he may launch a 2008 White House run as an independent, has been quoted in all of MAIG’s releases this year on gun-control matters. The July 10 release marked the first time Clinton and Obama were quoted by MAIG this year.

Clinton “commend[ed]” Bloomberg, who co-chairs the coalition, and the other mayors for “their leadership on this issue.” Obama calls the Tiahrt amendment “dangerous legislation” that “ties the hands of police in [its] effort to halt illegal gun trafficking and sales.”

A Democratic-led effort to change the Tiahrt language fell short yesterday during a markup in the House Appropriations Committee, 26-40.

A Bloomberg spokesman did not respond to requests for comment on MAIG.

— Brittney Moraski

When surrogates go bad

One of Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) Florida campaign chairmen was arrested Wednesday night for allegedly trying to solicit oral sex from an undercover officer.

The McCain campaign, which has already had a pretty rough couple of weeks, declined to comment on the arrest of Florida state Rep. Bob Allen (R), who serves as one of six chairmen for McCain’s campaign in Florida.

The news comes just two days after campaign manager Terry Nelson and senior adviser John Weaver resigned from the campaign and just more than a week after it was revealed the campaign is on financial life support.

But McCain’s surrogate wasn’t alone this week in ending up in the “yikes” category.

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who this week seemed to apologize for his involvement with a Washington prostitution service, was one of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s (R) most prominent Southern supporters and a regional chairman of his campaign.

Vitter joined former South Carolina Republican Party Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, Giuliani’s campaign chairman in the Palmetto State, as a fallen ally. Ravenel was replaced by his father in the campaign after he was indicted for cocaine distribution.

— Sam Youngman

Clinton’s Iraq battle begins

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), accused by Republicans of tacking leftward on the war to court her party’s liberal base, yesterday formally began her bid to seek fellow Democrats’ support for revoking President Bush’s authorization for the use of force in Iraq.

Clinton’s amendment to the defense authorization bill, co-written by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), poses some risk to her presidential bid, as the de-authorization reminds liberal voters that she has yet to repudiate her 2002 vote in favor of war.
In a letter to senators, Clinton and Byrd suggested passing their plan as a complement to the troop withdrawal timetable that Democratic leaders are promoting most heavily.

— Elana Schor