Spin Cycle

It’s the kind of rumor that sets conservatives buzzing — is Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice actively campaigning to be Sen. John McCain’s vice-presidential pick?

So said a Republican insider on a Sunday morning talk show. And so the rumor that just won’t die — that Rice has big-time political ambitions — got another jolt. By yesterday the denials and partial denials began. Again.

This go round, a few things got the rumor started. Rice dropped by a weekly meeting of conservative leaders last week headed by Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. She also gave a lengthy interview to the Washington Times, a favorite newspaper of conservatives. Add to that her name recognition, and voila, McCain’s got his vice president, the rumor goes.

Never mind that all of this came as news to McCain. Traveling....

Wayne Barrett argues in this piece posted on the Huff that "the fact that it was Republicans who fomented the move-up of primaries in both these states to dates out-of-line with the DNC calendar is at the heart of the matter." He delves into the local histories of the push and how it steers the Clinton-Obama race, and dissects Obama supporters' arguments that the nomination should depend on a popular vote that excludes big states. He warns that for Democrats the boondoggle could become the 2008 equivalent of what the Ralph Nader candidacy was in 2000.

On the flip side, Salon features the "Tom Tomorrow" cartoon that lampoons the Clinton delegate-count arguments -- with such rationales as "it was Backwards Day when they voted".....here.

And Glenn Greenwald does his best to dissect McCain's purported Giuliani-like "centrism," here.

Dan Janison

In Albany tonight, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem), a supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton, issued a passionate call for Democratic Party unity, saying "the people’s will is what’s going to prevail at the convention and not people who decide what the people’s will is."

Speaking at the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators' annual conference, Rangel said the party’s superdelegates shouldn’t decide whether Clinton or Barack Obama’s name will appear on the November ballot for president. Rangel also warned against party bickering, which could hand the White House to Republican John McCain.

"That’s going to be our job to make certain that this great opportunity is not taken away from us because of differences," the congressman told more than 1,000 people packed into the Albany convention center. "Not to allow them [Republicans] to snatch this away from us."

Rangel didn’t mention Clinton or Obama by name but made his opposition to superdelegates clear. "It’s the people [who are] going to govern who selects our next candidate and not superdelegates."

Speaking to reporters later, Rangel said it wasn’t clear which candidate would get a majority of the superdelegate votes so "it’s time that they get their act together now." He suggested a meeting of the Democratic National Committee and Clinton and Obama. "We should make certain that they [the candidates] don’t hurt each other and decide how they are going to resolve it," Rangel added.

Earlier, Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Clinton superdelegate, downplayed the delegates’ role, saying the nomination likely would be decided in future primaries. "The likelihood is there will be a nominee," he told reporters after speaking to the conference.

James T. Madore

The biggest New York primary contest of its kind in decades has sent party operatives scouring results district by district for hints at what’s to come in next fall’s general election.

Numbers remain rough and unofficial, but it appears that more than 1.7 million Democrats voted in New York State’s presidential primary last week. Republican voters totalled just over 600,000, or 35 percent of Democratic turnout.

The major parties are already at war this year for control of the state Senate, where Majority Leader Joseph Bruno’s Republican conference holds a slim margin. In two weeks, there’s a special election for a vacant upstate seat, and the spin from both camps is well under way.

“The contrast between the two parties heading into November couldn't be more stark,” declared state Democratic committee spokesman Jonathan Rosen. “There is palpable excitement at the grassroots level among Democrats all over the state...The Republican party is depressed, divided and on the defensive.” State and Nassau GOP Chairman Joseph Mondello, in photo at right, who earlier pinned hopes on a Rudy Giuliani nomination, said: “With Senator McCain at the head of our ticket, Republicans in New York and across the nation can look forward to a bright future.”

By Friday, the Democratic vote was 998,749 for Hillary Clinton and 694,493 for Barack Obama. Adding in the totals for dropouts still on the ballot, turnout hit 1,715,006 or 32 percent of the official number of registered Democrats. John McCain won New York on Tuesday with more than half of the reported 607,011 GOP votes, marking an official 20 percent Republican turnout. (Turnout percentages are a bit blurry; for one thing, so-called motor-voter programs in the 1990’s signed up some who failed to vote).

Dan Janison

At a sparsely attended rally in honor of John McCain, prominent New York State Republicans threw their support behind the Arizona senator, including former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Sens. Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset) and Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre).

Introduced as "the Pothole Senator," D’Amato told the crowd of a few hundred that he has heard some say that McCain is not conservative enough. "You don’t want John McCain? You want Hillary Clinton?" he asked, to an immediate response of boos.

D’Amato encouraged the crowd to vote Tuesday, and said, "Let’s carry it with record breaking numbers. John McCain will remember that."

The 70-year-old also informed the audience that tomorrow his wife, Katuria, will be giving birth to their son, to be named Alfonse.

In honor of the New York Giants’ win last night, Bruno concluded the rally, with, "Tomorrow will be a giant victory, with John McCain as the quarterback."

Melissa Mansfield in Albany

Just to take the edge off the sober analyses of the "Mac is Back" phenom, here is a spoof the Arizona Senator performed some time back that you can watch without recoiling as you would with the Rudy-in-a-dress performance....

Speculation, for the moment, centers on whether Fred Thompson cut into the numbers of the former Arkansas governor on the right. Stay tuned, but we just wanted to get that headline out...

Sen. John McCain has named Long Island real-estate developer Mark Broxmeyer to chair his campaign's Jewish Advisory Committee.

Broxmeyer, the co-founder and partner of the rental-housing company Fairfield Properties, has been a prolific McCain fundraiser and currently serves on the candidate's National Finance Committee. In June, for example, Broxmeyer hosted a fundraiser at his home in Upper Brookville home that brought more than $340,000 to McCain.

"John McCain is the only candidate with the foreign policy experience to lead as commander in chief from the first day he takes office. He has long been a friend of the Jewish community and a defender of the State of Israel," Broxmeyer said in a statement.

Broxmeyer serves as National Chair of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, as well as Advisory Board Chair of Secure Community Network, a non-profit organization that addresses security concerns in the American Jewish community. He was appointed by President Bush to the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, and former Gov. George Pataki named him to serve on the board of the United Nations Development Corporation.

Katie Thomas

A news conference is expected this afternoon, where former NJ Gov. Thomas Kean, the man who headed the Sept. 11 Commission along with Lee Hamilton, is expected to endorse John McCain.

The premise of Giuliani's political existence sometimes seems to be 9/11. So, faced with this discordant note, what does he do? His campaign mails out supportive statements from Tom Kean Jr., who is a New Jersey state senator:

“Rudy Giuliani is the proven leader New Jerseyans want as our next President,'’ the younger Kean wrote. “We have witnessed his leadership firsthand and know he will win New Jersey in both the primary and general elections.”

But, with all due respect, is that supposed to mean something? One of the most knowledgable guys on 9/11 is for McCain, but his son -- a minor politico -- doesn't agree with him? So what?

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the only presidential candidate who actually experienced torture as a POW in Vietnam, continues his criticism today of Rudy Giuliani's defense last week of aggressive or intensive interrogations that critics say border on, or even become, torture.

Last week, McCain upbraided Giuliani for defending the legalistic dodge on whether waterboarding is illegal torture offered by the former New York mayor's friend, Michael Mukasey, in his confirmation hearings on his nomination as attorney general.

Today, through a surrogate, McCain chides Giuliani for joking last week about "sleep deprivation" not being torture, since he is suffering from lack of sleep because of his presidential campaign.

In a statement issued by the McCain campaign, Sergeant Major Paul Chevalier, USMC (Ret.), called on Giuliani to apologize for his flippant remark, noting that McCain's close friend Orson Swindle was subjected to sleep deprivation while the two of them were POWs in Vietnam. Swindle, Chevalier said, "can personally assure Mayor Giuliani that the experience was far more severe than the loss of sleep he experiences as a candidate."

(Read the entire news release below.)

Tom Brune

It turns out that Hillary's 60th birthday/fundraising opportunity falls on the 40th anniversary of John McCain getting shot down over North Vietnam. This, combined with McCain's latest ad that ties Hillary to Woodstock, provides a rich opportunity for journalistic musing, such as this.

The profile here on Cindy McCain serves as a reminder of just how vicious the GOP:primary became in 2000 as the man who would become president defeated the underdog challenger from Arizona. Especially in light of their history, it seems remarkable how stoically McCain has been willing to take flak for the demonstrably unpopular Iraq war, though criticizing its conduct, and for the widely denounced immigration bill, which seems to have run its course.

Sen. John McCain will be raising money here tomorrow night. He's scheduled to attend a fundraiser hosted by Mark and Tracy Broxmeyer in Upper Brookville. Three levels: $1000 a person, $2300, and $4600.

Also: His sked lists a Saturday night reception and fundraiser in Southampton at the home of Lynette and Howard Gittis, at amounts from $1150 to $9200 a person.

Sen. John McCain whacks the "naivete" of rival Mitt Romney on the matter of Osama bin Laden.

At Room 8, Yoda parses the latest positional adjustment by a former mayor now running for the GOP nomination.

In Albany, at the Somos El Futuro conference, Gov. Eliot Sptzer said the tragic circumstances of a state trooper's death last week would not alter the governor's view of when the death penalty should be applied.

The upcoming biography on Sen. Hillary Clinton by Carl Bernstein promises to generate a storm of new questions about her accounts of past events.

Question for Obama fans and Clinton fans: Does the Illinois senator's proven fundraising ability offset the advantage the New York senator was pressumed to gain from the advent of the super-squared-Tuesday primary on Feb. 5?

Dan Janison