Powell is favorite in online VP poll
Ever wonder what it would be like if the vice presidential sweepstakes was conducted like "Survivor"? Now we know, because of Affinnova, a Massachusetts-based company that used "evolutionary optimization" to trim down a list of 100 possible vice presidents to the strongest candidate for each party.
Participants in the Internet sample, taken from June 12 to 17, were presented with three president-vice president combinations and asked to pick the one that most appealed to them. Over time, those tickets not picked dropped off, and the more commonly selected moved up the list.
There was just one winner: retired general Colin Powell. Powell, who has said countless times that he has no interest in running for office, wound up atop both the Democratic and Republican lists.
Rounding out the top five picks for Democrats, in order, were former vice president Al Gore, former representative Dick Gephardt of Missouri, Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, and former senator John Edwards of North Carolina. On the GOP side, the results for second through fourth place were: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, and former governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, in a virtual dead heat. Former mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York City took fifth.
The Republican presidential candidate is actively courting religious voters and trying to reassure skeptical conservatives. It was McCain's first sit-down with Billy Graham, 89, and with Franklin Graham, although McCain and the elder Graham are acquainted.
The world-renowned evangelist is in poor health but apparently felt well enough to visit with McCain, who flew to North Carolina with the expectation of meeting only with Franklin Graham, the head of the evangelistic association his father founded in 1950.
Franklin Graham issued a statement praising McCain and expressing gratitude for his military and political service. "The senator and I both have sons currently serving in the military, and also have a common interest in aviation," he said. "I was impressed by his personal faith and his moral clarity on important social issues facing America today."
Franklin Graham said he was not endorsing anyone for president, but was urging "men and women of faith everywhere" to vote and be involved in the political process.
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Clark said that while he honored McCain's service as a prisoner during the Vietnam war and on the Senate Armed Services Committee, McCain has no executive experience and the Navy squadron McCain commanded was not a wartime squadron.
"He hasn't been there and ordered the bombs to fall," Clark said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
When moderator Bob Schieffer noted that Obama hadn't had those experiences nor had he ridden in a fighter plane and been shot down, Clark replied: "Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president."
Brian Rogers, a McCain campaign spokesman, said the Republican candidate is proud of his military record and his history of "putting the country first."
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