Carl Cameron reports on John McCain’s Healthcare plan…..Major Garrett continues to follow Barack Obama’s reaction to Pastor Wright’s appearance at the National Press Club

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Update to the previous post – RNC chairman Duncan writes DNC chairman Dean

Get your mute buttons ready, the attack ads have begun.

Today John McCain provided more details on his healthcare plan in Tampa, Fl….he promised to work with states to find creative ways to cover approximately 7 million Americans with pre-existing conditions who would have difficulty getting insurance. At the same time his campaign released an ad touting the already released cornerstone of his plan…a voluntary alternative to employer paid insurance:

While McCain chose healthcare as the focus of his first issue ad as the presumptive GOP nominee, the SEIU in Ohio launched its first attack ad

The ads are not only on domestic issues, the DNC unveiled an attack ad against McCain for his “100 yrs” remarks at a NH town hall mtg in January.

The ad excerpts McCain’s remarks in context then follows with some tough political hits, but the RNC is screaming foul. They want networks to refuse to air the ad asserting that it is “false and defamatory.”

In addition the RNC is threatening legal action arguing that the DNC unlawfully coordinated the ads’ message with the Clinton and Obama campaigns. They are not showing their hand prematurely by presenting evidence of such illegally coordinated communication, but there are a few people who have worked for both the DNC and the campaigns in recent months.

The RNC complaint appears flimsy on the surface, but they may have more cards to play. In the meantime the RNC has pout out a web ad aimed at shaming Obama for countenancing attacks on McCain.

Jim Angle starts the reporting on the ongoing Rev. Wright saga. Rev. Wright appeared at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. and by all accounts kept the controversy alive. Major and Carl report on how it is playing on the campaign trail for Democrats and John McCain.

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New Orleans, La:
For the second day in a row, John McCain strongly repudiated the negative ad put out by the NC GOP which uses video of Barack Obama’s former Pastor, Jeremiah Wright saying “God**** America.” The ad ends saying, “North Carolina is not ready for Obama”.
When McCain was asked again today by reporters during his tour of the lower ninth ward of New Orleans, he reiterated his dismay and said he wished the N.C. GOP would stop airing it. He did however say there was no way he could force them to cease and desist. When asked if he would censure the NC GOP by not allowing them seats at the Convention he hedged, suggesting that he would wait to see if they would respond to his request to stop running it.

See what he had to say

done

New Orleans, LA:

Though Hillary Clinton’s big win over Barack Obama was THE story out of Pennsylvania, there were candidates on the GOP ballot too.
John McCain has long since clinched the Republican nomination so the Keystone primary results are basically irrelevant as evidenced by the 800 thousand votes that were cast in the Republican race, as compared to the more than 2.2 million Democratic ballots cast BUT….

McCain got 575,000K votes or 73 percent. Ron Paul, who did a little campaigning in Pennsylvania received 125,000 votes or 16 percent. And Mike Huckabee won 90,000 votes for 11 percent.

Huckabee endorsed McCain weeks ago and will campaign publicly for John McCain starting Friday in Little Rock.

Paul raised surprising amounts of money last year, and still has plenty to spend but has given no indication that he intends it.

McCain has used this uncontested time to work on GOP unity, self definition, and expanding his party with gutsy visits to Selma, Alabama to court black voters and Youngstown, Ohio to give unemployed blue-collar manufacturing workers some straight talk about the need to retrain for new jobs that will last and compete in the new economy.

The fact that McCain, without serious competition, only got 3/4ths of the GOP votes in a key general election bellweather swing state may cause some to speculate that he’s still having trouble unifying his party…but from the moment his major rivals dropped out major polls including Gallup have said more than of 80 percent of GOP voters are comfortable with McCain.

There is little doubt that Republicans will rally around McCain (and against Democrats) in the general election…if he is to win however it will require Independents and Reagan Democrats. It is his efforts to court THEM that may matter most…

Youngstown, Iowa:

The latest Gallup poll shows President Bush’s job approval has a hit a new low – 69 percent disapprove, the highest disapproval that Gallup has ever registered for any President, including Richard Nixon.
A tough environment for John McCain who acknowledged in Youngstown Ohio that all the attention to the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania has him just a wee bit overshadowed:

“It’s a big news day in politics, with the Pennsylvania primary and all. And I’ve been left recently in the unfamiliar position of facing no opposition within my own party. As you might recall, it was a different story last year, when I could claim the unqualified support of Cindy and my mother — and Mom was starting to keep her options open. Back then, there were some very impressive frontrunners … there was a very formidable second tier of contenders … and then there was me. As I recall, a few pollsters even declared my campaign a hopeless cause, and there was no margin of error to soften the blow.

But a person learns along the way that if you hold on — if you don’t quit no matter what the odds — sometimes life will surprise you. Sometimes you get a second chance, and opportunity turns back your way. And when it does, we are stronger and readier because of all that we had to overcome.

I bring up all this because the men and women of Youngstown know what it feels like to be counted out. You’ve been written off a few times yourselves, in the competition of the market. You know how it feels to hear that good things are happening in the American economy — they’re just not happening to you.”

Youngstown has been plagued by steel industry job losses and home mortgage foreclosures are the worst in the nation.

McCain called for aggressive job retraining programs & proposed reforming the unemployment system by creating new buffer accounts for each worker using unemployment insurance taxes in case of a sudden job loss.

McCain says tax cuts, less regulation, free trade and investment in new green technologies in the new economy will be a big part of the solution.

Per usual McCain blasted democrats Hillary Clintoin and Barack Obama as out of touch for wanting to raise taxes and curb free trade during a recession, which McCain says proves they don’t understand history or economics.

Major and Carl Report on the major political stories of the day! From Special Report with Brit Hume.

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Selma, Alabama:

John McCain kicked off his ‘Time for Action Tour’ at Selma, Alabama’s Edmund Pettus Bridge where civil rights marchers in ‘65 were tear gassed & clubbed.

Selma’s part of “The Southern Black Belt” so named initially for it’s rich soil but now for the 96 distressed rural counties across the old south – where blacks often outnumber whites.

While democrats pound one another, McCain hopes to court minorities, moderates and independents…but his remarks didn’t impress one of the few African Americans who turned out to hear him.  She said McCain had been invited to the Selma Civil Rights Museum and he declined to visit.

It’s here! If you missed Carl’s and Major’s stories of the day on Special Report with Brit Hume, you can now see it on Cameron’s Corner!

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