Edwards rules out possibility of vice presidential run with Obama
When John Edwards and Barack Obama appeared on stage together Wednesday night in Michigan for the former North Carolina senator's official blessing of the Democratic front-runner, some pundits and Democrats wondered aloud whether they were seeing the Democratic ticket.
But yesterday Edwards seemed to rule out a sequel of his 2004 vice presidential run.
"No, no, no, won't happen," he said on NBC's "Today" show.
Pressed further, he replied, "It is not something I'm interested in."
Asked about whether he has talked to Obama about a job in his administration, Edwards said "only in the abstract way," and refused to say whether he was interested in being attorney general.
FOON RHEE
Obama, Clinton put rights at risk, McCain warns NRA
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Courting his sometime critics within the gun lobby, John McCain told the National Rifle Association yesterday that Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would undermine the rights of gun owners.
"If either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama is elected president, the rights of law-abiding gun owners will be at risk, my friends - and have no doubt about it," the presumptive Republican nominee told a crowd of several thousand.
McCain acknowledged he has been no darling of gun-rights advocates, having pushed through signature campaign finance legislation gun supporters say has muzzled free speech. The Arizona senator has also favored tighter restrictions for buying guns at gun shows.
Nonetheless, McCain said he expected the votes of gun owners in his general election campaign. "Those disagreements do not detract from my long record of support for the Second Amendment and the work we have done together to protect the rights of gun owners," he said.
Earlier yesterday, he visited a gun store in St. Albans, W.Va., where he bought a rod, bobbers, and other fishing equipment. McCain said the only gun controls he favors are limits to keep guns from people with criminal backgrounds or indications of mental problems.
He added that, as president, he would sign a law that prohibited individuals from buying guns at a gun show without going through the same checks as those buying guns at regular stores.
Obama told reporters yesterday that he supports "common-sense" gun laws and that lawful gun owners have "nothing to worry about from me."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Huckabee apologizes for quip about Obama
Mike Huckabee raised eyebrows with a wisecrack yesterday at the National Rifle Association conference in Kentucky.
There was an unexpected slam offstage while Huckabee was speaking, and he said: "That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he's getting ready to speak. Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor."
Huckabee last night issued a statement of apology: "I made an off-hand remark that was in no way intended to offend or disparage Senator Obama. I apologize that my comments were offensive. That was never my intention."
The former Arkansas governor was quick with quips before dropping out of the Republican race.
FOON RHEE
Mich. and Fla. alone won't win Clinton the nomination
WASHINGTON - Michigan and Florida alone can't save Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Interviews with those considering how to handle the two states' banished convention delegates found little interest in Clinton's best-case scenario. Clinton has been arguing for reinstating all the delegates from both states, whose primaries she won.
Even if they were reinstated, it wouldn't erase Barack Obama's growing lead in delegates. Yesterday, he picked up endorsements from a California congressman and two former John Edwards delegates from South Carolina, increasing his total to 1,904, within 122 of clinching the nomination.
The Democratic Party's Rules and Bylaws Committee is scheduled to meet May 31 to consider how to handle Michigan's and Florida's 368 delegates.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
