Out of the campaign trail limelight, Romney still on the political hunt
Mitt Romney is still running - perhaps for vice president this fall or the White House in 2012 or 2016.
Two months after bowing out of the Republican race, the former Massachusetts governor has become one of Senator John McCain's biggest boosters, pledging to raise $15 million for his former rival and praising him on talk shows and the campaign trail.
Since suspending his campaign Feb. 7, Romney has maintained contact with his supporters and financial backers. He is looking at creating a political action committee that would help like-minded Republican candidates. And Romney is considering starting a foundation that would promote conservative ideals.
"We've talked about the creation of a new entity that would allow the governor to remain politically active past this election year," said Eric Fehrnstrom, a Romney aide.
In his first run for national office, Romney emerged as a tough challenger to McCain, outraising him while spending $47 million of his own money.
At an event yesterday challenging McCain, Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean offered a backhanded compliment of Romney. "You know, frankly, Mitt Romney was the candidate I feared the most," Dean said. "Because he's got money, he's wealthy. He's very articulate and willing to say practically anything."
Romney even traveled to Lancaster, Pa., yesterday to campaign for McCain, who has wrapped up the nomination and faces no serious threat in the state's April 22 primary.
In his first keynote speech to a GOP group on McCain's behalf, Romney touched on issues ranging from healthcare to gay marriage and the threat from "radical violent jihad." He got some of his strongest applause when he defended President Bush.
"He has kept us safe these last years," Romney said, and told the group that McCain would do the same.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Troop levels abroad are unsustainable, Powell says
WASHINGTON - Colin Powell said yesterday that President Bush's successor will have to come to grips with the reality that the United States cannot continue to keep such large numbers of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While he didn't take sides in the race for the White House, the former secretary of state's comments on ABC's "Good Morning America" seemed to undercut John McCain's position that the United States should stay the course in Iraq. But Powell also said that the next president will face limitations on bringing troops home, as Democratic contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have promised to do.
"None of them are going to have the flexibility of just saying we're out of here, turn off the switch, turn off the lights, we're leaving," he said.
Powell, former chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he considers each of the presidential candidates a friend. "I have not decided who I will vote for yet," said Powell, who donated $2,300 to McCain's campaign last year.
Powell did praise Obama's handling of controversial remarks by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. "He didn't abandon the minister that brought him closer to his faith, but at the same time he deplored the kinds of statements that the Rev. Wright had made," Powell said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Obama pledges support for gay rights issues
Barack Obama pledges that if he wins the presidency, he would pass an employment nondiscrimination law covering gay Americans, guarantee federal benefits to gay couples in civil unions, and would end the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prevents gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.
"We're spending large sums of money to kick highly qualified gays or lesbians out of our military, some of whom possess specialties like Arab-language capabilities that we desperately need. That doesn't make us more safe," he said in an interview with The Advocate, a gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender-related newsmagazine.
But Obama says he would not make opposition to that policy a "litmus test" for his appointees to the Joint Chiefs of Staff because they have so many issues before them.
The Illinois senator, responding to criticism that he hasn't talked to the gay press or directly tackled gay issues, contends that he is addressing them in a broader context. "I actually have been much more vocal on gay issues to general audiences than any other presidential candidate probably in history," he said.
FOON RHEE
Without change, McCain would take pass on Games
NEW YORK - John McCain said yesterday that if he were president, he would go to the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Beijing only if China improves its record on human rights.
But the presumptive Republican presidential nominee stopped short of joining Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in calling on President Bush to boycott the ceremonies because of its handling of unrest in Tibet and the Darfur genocide.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nader's campaign funding lagging far behind rivals'
Ralph Nader's independent presidential bid is off to a slow start filling its campaign coffers.
The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics reported yesterday that he had raised $321,700 by the end of February, including $40,200 from his own pocket and a quarter of his total take from California residents.
FOON RHEE
rising
falling 