Who's a better candidate for the stock market?

Hillary Clinton is talking about garnishing wages to pay for her national healthcare plan; Obama wants to address the issue of income inequality; John McCain is pledging to veto a Democrat tax increase; Mitt Romney is talking about running the government like a business.

Do we believe them?

President Dwight Eisenhower kept taxes high in order to keep military spending high. Do we want somebody to raise taxes to fund the war against terrorism and keep the budget balanced? Kennedy and Reagan said lower taxes would produce growth and higher tax revenues that would fund national security. What do we want?

Obama-Romney top Minnesota

Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton battled to a draw on "Super Tuesday," and John McCain took charge of the Republican race, according to Reuters.

In Minnesota, former Massachusetss Governor Mitt Romney came out on top of the Republican field. With 72 percent of the state's 4,122 precincts reporting, the former Massachusetts governor had 42 percent of the vote. John McCain and Mike Huckabee were battling for second place, with the Arizona senator polling 22 percent of the ballots to 20 percent for the former Arkansas governor.

Obama scored victories in Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Utah and his home state of Illinois. He reportedly maintained his strong showing among black voters but also expanded support among whites, winning 40 percent in Georgia, exit polls said. Obama outpolled Clinton in Minnesota more than two to one, according to reports.

The Pioneer Press reports that amid record turnout of approaching 200,000, which caused long waits, long lines and frenzy in the caucuses, with 78 percent of precincts reporting, Obama had 67 percent to Clinton's 32 percent. His strong support came from all over the state, the Twin Cities, the Iron Range, southeastern and central Minnesota.

Clinton won heavy support from women and Hispanics nationwide, exit polls showed. Clinton won Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Tennessee and her home state of New York.

It appears the southern whites voted for Obama and the northeast liberals stuck with Clinton. Just an observation.

McCain won contests in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and Oklahoma.

He lost the south, or did he? Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a Baptist preacher, won in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and West Virginia. Some say if Huckabee wins, McCain wins because votes for Huckabee take away votes for Romeny.

Huckabee's wins were fueled by strong support from evangelical Christians, and he split votes with Romney among conservatives unhappy with McCain.

Romney, a former businessman, won in Alaska, Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Massachusetts and Utah.

What do you read in the results?

Romney is out!

Today before a crowd of more than 6,000 conservative political activists, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney announced he'd be suspending his candidacy for president.

Wait a minute... He won in Minnesota. He won in Carver County precincts. What does this say about Minnesota Republicans? What does it say about what Senator McCain, who is now likely to get the party's nomination, and what he needs to do to earn conservative Republican support?

McCain denies affair

The New York Times published a story alleging that Republican presidential nominee hopeful Sen. John McCain had an affair with a telecommunications lobbyist.

John McCain emphatically denied the romantic relationship and said the report was "not true."

"I'm very disappointed in the article. It's not true," the New York Post quoted him saying during a news conference as his wife, Cindy, stood beside him.

Illegal alien debate back open

The bus vs. automobile crash in Marshall, Minnesota that resulted in the deaths of four elementary-school students this week has brought back the debate over illegal immigrants in the U.S. and specifically in Minnesota.

It turns out the 23-year-old woman driver of the vehicle that ran the red light and caused the accident was an illegal alien without a driver's license, and she was using an alias. She is under custody. Fox 9 News broke this story shortly before 6 p.m.

How will this affect presidential politics? State politics?

Michael Bloomberg writes in an op-ed in Thursday's New York Times: "I listened carefully to those who encouraged me to run, but I am not -- and will not be -- a candidate for president."

John McCain said he'll let his opponents argue about increasing restrictions and raising corporate income taxes on businesses in America; he'll let his opponents argue about the virtues of going into Iraq; we're there now; and we need to take down restrictions and barriers in the U.S. if we want to stop businesses from moving overseas, he said. Last night Gov. Huckabee withdrew from the Republican race for president. McCain surpassed the number of delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination.

Meanwhile, Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama are still neck and neck. Clinton won Ohio and Texas primaries, sounding anti-free trade themes in both state. Obama went into the night with a slim lead in the number of delegates over Clinton. Many saw the Clinton victories as evidence that when voters stopped to think twice about overall experience, they chose Clinton over Obama.

One more for Obama: Ill. Sen. wins Miss. primary

The media is attributing the Sen. Barack Obama wins in primaries in Southern states to large black voting blocs.

What about the Obama wins in North Dakota and Minnesota. Could it be that maybe he's just more appealing to voters, regardless of race, than Sen. Hillary Clinton?

The empirical evidance points to a divide along racial lines among Democrat voters. Obama won roughly 90 percent of the black vote in Mississippi on Tuesday, but only about one-quarter of the white vote. That was similar to the breakdown that helped him win South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana before losing to Clinton in Texas and Ohio, states with demographics that Clinton feels are more favorable to her.

Bump in Obama's road

Senator Barack Obama has been caught in the light that's being shined on his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Wright has made many controversial statements in the past. Recently, recordings surfaced of him preaching on July 22 that “white arrogance” of America’s Caucasian majority for the world’s suffering, especially the oppression of blacks. This stuff might be well accepted in his church, but not on Mainstreet. Could guilt-by-association bring down Obama?

Would Democrat voters defect to the Rep. nominee, Sen. McCain, if their candidate of choice does is not the Democrat nominee for president? A new poll suggests they would.

According to CNSNews, "among Obama supporters, 20 percent said they would vote for Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican nominee, if Clinton beats their candidate for the nomination. Among Clinton supporters, 19 percent said they would support McCain in November if Obama is the Democratic nominee."

See the poll at http://edisk.fandm.edu/FLI/keystone/pdf/keymar08_1.pdf.

Democrat Barack Obama told a woman in a town hall meeting that as president he would consider putting Al Gore in a Cabinet-level position - or higher- to address the issue of climate change.

"Not only will I, but I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and play a central part in us figuring out how we solve this problem," he said, according to a report.

Paul delegates elected to
spots at national convention

Ron Paul remains the longest of long shots to win the Republican presidential nomination, but over the weekend his supporters captured six of a dozen GOP national convention delegates elected at congressional district meetings.

Andrew Malcolm from the Los Angeles Times writes that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has now moved past Hillary Clinton in terms of announced support from elected superdelegates (governors, senators and representatives). That being the case, he still trails Clinton slightly in overall superdelegates, 257-234, according to Malcolm.

But in overall delegates he leads 1,650-1,509.

Interestingly enough, when things in the U.S. seem to be moving to the left, in the UK they are doing just the opposite.

According to the Irish Times, "The Labour Party slumped to its worst local election defeat in 40 years today, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Gordon Brown in his first test at the polls since taking over from Tony Blair..."

"With 114 councils having reported results, Labour had lost 189 seats while the Conservatives had gained 173. The Liberal Democrats gained 17 seats."

"Projections suggest the Conservatives' share of the vote was 44 per cent with Labour on just 24 per cent, one point behind the Liberal Democrats."

The United States Senate may vote any day on the Global Poverty Act (S.2433), sponsored by Senator Barack Obama.

It would commit U.S. taxpayers to spend 0.7 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product on foreign aid. The Global Poverty Act relies on the United Nations Millennium Development Goal.

WorldNetDaily.com quotes Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media as saying: "In addition to seeking to eradicate poverty, that declaration commits nations to banning 'small arms and light weapons' and ratifying a series of treaties, including the International Criminal Court Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol (global warming treaty), the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child."

And, how would the United States pay for this $845 billion commitment? According to Kincaid, who published a report on the legislation; "A global tax will clearly be necessary to force American taxpayers to provide the money."
And that $845 billion global tax is in addition to our nation's current Foreign Aid programs, which, in 2006, cost American taxpayers about $300 billion.