WASHINGTON — Intensified attacks by Republican Sen. John McCain on the character of his Democratic opponent have coincided with Sen. Barack Obama’s losing a nine-percentage-point advantage in a national poll, which showed the candidates running dead even over the weekend.
McCain began attacking Obama during the Illinois senator’s trip to Iraq and Afghanistan.
In the course of the McCain offensive, Obama’s lead in a Gallup Poll tracking survey slid from nine percentage points on July 26, when he returned from overseas, to nothing by Saturday, when the poll showed the candidates tied at 44 percent.
The four-term Arizona senator, who backed the war, charged that Obama’s promise to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq within 16 months of taking office amounted to his having chosen to lose a war to promote his run for the presidency.
He subsequently ran a television ad that accused Obama of deciding not to visit wounded U.S. troops because he could not take television cameras. Next he issued a commercial that interposed images of Obama with pop culture figures Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, trying to paint Obama as a celebrity without the experience to lead the country.
Most recently, in an Internet advertisement, the voice-over calls Obama “The One” and features Obama appearing to describe himself and his presidential quest in grandiose terms. It ends with Charlton Heston as Moses parting the Red Sea in the movie, “The Ten Commandments.”
Montana: Progress made on Red Lodge blaze
Fire crews mopped up hotspots Sunday and secured firelines around the 10,165-acre Cascade fire six miles west of Red Lodge. Almost 750 people are battling the 16-square-mile fire, which is 44 percent contained. Crews fought the fire on three fronts Sunday with a goal of keeping it from coming any closer to town or ski resort.
Maryland: Dubai ruler visits Bush
President Bush welcomed Dubai’s ruler to his Camp David presidential retreat Sunday, returning the favor for the opulent hospitality he received in the United Arab Emirates this year. Economic matters were among the expected topics for discussions Sunday, along with Iran’s destabilizing influence in the region, counterterrorism efforts and high oil prices.
Colorado: Rumors of his death …
A man believed to have died in a Colorado flood in 1976 has been found living in Oklahoma. Sixty-three-year-old Darrell Johnson, who now lives in Oklahoma City, said he didn’t know he had been counted among the 144 victims of the Big Thompson Canyon flood until a resident called him. Johnson and his family had decided to leave their shabby cabin the morning of the flood after staying just one night. A few hours later, the resort was washed away.
Iraq: No deal on election bill
Despite intense U.S. pressure, Iraqi leaders failed Sunday to resolve differences over how to govern the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, a dispute that is blocking elections for all provinces and stoking tension in the volatile north. Kurds consider Kirkuk their traditional capital and want to incorporate it into their self-ruled region of the north. Arabs and Turkomen want the city to remain under central government control.
China: Border attack kills 16 police officers
An attack on a border patrol station in Kashi killed 16 police officers, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said. The report says the assailants used a dump truck to ram their way into the paramilitary police station in Kashi and then tossed two hand grenades. The area is home to a Muslim Turkic people, the Uighurs (WEE’-gurs). The Uighurs have waged a simmering rebellion against Chinese rule.
Israel: Asylum grantedto fighters from Gaza
Israel said today that it is sending dozens of Fatah fighters to the West Bank after they fled the Gaza Strip, because the Palestinian fighters face danger if they go back. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had ordered the nearly 200 fighters who fled a Hamas raid to return to Gaza from Israel, insisting that his forces must retain a presence in Gaza. Hamas confirmed it detained the first group of 32 of the 200 fighters who were sent back to Gaza on Sunday, but said it released all but five in that group.
From Herald news services
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