By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer Tue Aug 5, 6:21 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Will he or won't he? Vice President Dick Cheney is one of the nation's most prominent Republicans, but there are doubts about whether he will attend the GOP convention.
Cheney press secretary Megan Mitchell left the question open on Tuesday, saying Cheney's schedule has not been set for September. Delegates are scheduled to meet in St. Paul, Minn., on Sept. 1-4., to nominate Arizona Sen. John McCain for president.
Separately, six Republican senators have decided to skip the GOP convention.
Sens. Ted Stevens of Alaska, Gordon Smith of Oregon, Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine all face tough re-election campaigns. Two others, Wayne Allard of Colorado and Larry Craig of Idaho, are retiring.
Stevens was indicted last month on felony charges of concealing more than a quarter-million dollars in gifts and services from an oil company that helped renovate his home. His spokesman Charles Abernathy said Stevens normally campaigns instead of attending the convention in years he's up for re-election.
Smith, a two-term Republican, aired an ad in June touting his work with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on fuel efficiency standards. Last month another Smith ad cited his work with John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic nominee for president, on legislation to protect homeowners against foreclosure.
Matt Canter, a spokesman for Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley, Smith's Democratic opponent, called Smith's decision to skip the convention "a political maneuver to distract from his record of supporting George Bush 90 percent of the time."
Smith's spokeswoman, Lindsay Gilbride, said Tuesday that Smith will campaign in Oregon during the convention and that his absence doesn't indicate a lack of support for McCain.
Collins' spokeswoman Jen Burita said she will be campaigning in Maine.
It would be highly unusual for a sitting vice president to skip his party's nominating convention. For the last 32 years the vice president has been either renominated for that job or nominated for president.
Cheney has low approval ratings and is widely regarded as a secretive, behind-the-scenes power broker. But his approach plays well to conservatives. The White House has to calculate whether Cheney would help or hurt McCain's campaign for the presidency.
President Bush will deliver a speech on the first night of the convention and then leave, turning over the spotlight to McCain.
Democrats are working hard to link McCain to Cheney, mindful of his unpopularity with the general public and his villain-like status among their party's rank and file. On Tuesday, Obama linked the nation's energy problems to Cheney and contended that McCain was following "the Cheney playbook."
The DNC rolled out a new Web site on Tuesday called "The Next Cheney." It assails McCain's potential vice presidential picks and links each to Cheney.
McCain is quoted on the page as saying to Cheney in 2001, "With a little more luck, I might have been able to ask you to be my vice president."
Even vice presidents not receiving a nomination have attended their party conventions in recent political history.
In 1976 President Gerald Ford chose Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, not Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, as his running mate. Rockefeller, who had been appointed to a position he no longer wanted, still appeared at the convention, nominating Dole.
Nearly 24 years earlier, in 1952, Vice President Alben W. Barkley abandoned a bid to succeed President Harry Truman but still addressed delegates, who gave Barkley a wild ovation.
_________________ Unfortunately, at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Flower Children jerked off and went back to sleep.
_________________ "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." -- John Steinbeck
Post subject: Re: GOP Convention September 1-4, 2008, St. Paul, MN
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 8:56 pm
Of Counsel
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:14 am Posts: 37778 Location: OmaGOD!!! Gender: Male
So nice of the NFL to move the Season Opener featuring THE WORLD CHAMPION NEW YORKGIANTS up from 8:30 pm EDT to 7:00 pm EDT to attempt to not interfere much with McCain's acceptance speech on Thursday, September 4.
If people aren't already asleep by 10:30, McCain should be able to help them with that.
_________________ Unfortunately, at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Flower Children jerked off and went back to sleep.
Post subject: Re: GOP Convention September 1-4, 2008, St. Paul, MN
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 12:32 am
too drunk to moderate properly
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
Dole isn't facing a tough campaign. She leads Hagan by 10 points. She's just a shitty Senator.
She hasn't shown up in North Carolina for six years. I'm not surprised that she isn't bothering to show up for the GOP.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Post subject: Re: GOP Convention September 1-4, 2008, St. Paul, MN
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:23 am
too drunk to moderate properly
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
Quote:
Republican National Committee Chair Robert “Mike” Duncan is in state today, hosting a roundtable discussion with GOP leaders as part of their “Victory 2008 Tour.” Interestingly, it doesn’t look like Elizabeth Dole will be there, but that’s no surprise.
Dole has been running as fast as she can from her national party, and her 92% voting record with President Bush, choosing to skip the GOP Convention in St. Paul, citing her busy schedule in North Carolina during Congressional recess. Really?
When she came home from the U.S. Senate in March and May her events were mostly just private fundraisers to pad her campaign coffers, and in March, the Charlotte Observer noted, “Elizabeth Dole hasn't scheduled a single public stump speech in the past week - even though she has been on break from her work in Congress … Dole spent the past week of the Easter congressional recess raising money.”
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
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