Military donors turn to Democrats
As the Iraq war drags on and US casualties mount, members of the military appear to be showing their discontent by donating more to Democrats, a campaign finance watchdog group said yesterday.
Service members have traditionally supported the Republican Party, but, since the war started in 2003, there has been a dramatic shift away from financial backing for GOP candidates for president and Congress, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics reported.
So far this year and in the 2004 election, about 40 percent of contributions from donors identifiable as military members has gone to Democrats, compared with about 25 percent in the 2000 and 2002 cycles, the center's study said. Service members gave about $1.8 million in the 2004 cycle and about $330,000 so far this year, the study stated.
Democrat Barack Obama, who is calling for a troop withdrawal to start immediately, has received the most of any presidential candidate from uniformed service members - about $27,000.
Ron Paul, the only Republican candidate who opposes the war, has brought in at least $19,250 - more than Vietnam War hero John McCain, who supports the war and has raised $18,600 from military personnel.
FOON RHEE
Romney hires ex-CIA aide
Mitt Romney yesterday tapped a former CIA official, who is now a top officer in a private security firm with widespread operations in Iraq, to head his counterterrorism policy advisory group.
Cofer Black, who also served as a top State Department counterterrorism official, is now chairman of Total Intelligence Solutions and vice chairman of Blackwater USA. That firm came to public attention in 2004, when four employees were ambushed, killed, and mutilated in Fallujah.
"The United States faces a new generation of global threats and challenges," Black stated in a release issued by the Romney campaign. "Governor Romney recognizes the threats before us and has already laid out the policies needed to give our men and women the tools they need to protect our country."
Others who will advise Romney include businesspeople, and former FBI and Foreign Service officials.
Representative Pete Hoekstra of Michigan will lead Romney's intelligence policy advisory group, the campaign said. Hoekstra is the senior Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
AMY D. FARNSWORTH
Giuliani criticizes Clinton
ATLANTA - Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani yesterday accused Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of participating in "character assassination" for questioning General David H. Petraeus about his assessment of progress in Iraq.
"We believe, unlike Hillary Clinton, that General Petraeus is telling the truth," Giuliani said while campaigning in Georgia.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Troubled backer
NEW YORK - The saga of the scandal-plagued Democratic fund-raiser with ties to Clinton took another strange twist after he mailed a suicide note last week to a legal organization.
A person who saw the letter said yesterday that the note from Norman Hsu explicitly stated that he "intended to commit suicide."
The letter arrived at the New York offices of the Innocence Project as Hsu was in the midst of a bizarre legal odyssey stemming from a 1991 grand-theft case. He failed to show up for a bail hearing last week in California and was arrested at a Colorado hospital after being taken off a train. His attorney said yesterday Hsu would waive extradition to California.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thompson hazy on Schiavo
THE VILLAGES, Fla. - Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson gave no opinion yesterday when asked about efforts by President Bush and Congress to keep Terri Schiavo alive, saying he does not remember details of the right-to-die case.
Thompson was asked whether he thought Congress's intervention to save the life of the brain-damaged woman two years ago was appropriate.
"I can't pass judgment on it. I know that good people were doing what they thought was best," Thompson said. "I don't remember the details of it."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
