Today on the Presidential Campaign Trail

Images (showing 1 of 11 photos)

IN THE HEADLINES

Huckabee bags a pheasant in Iowa ... Obama promises to watch over veterans' health care ... Giuliani's doctor says he's in good health ... Edwards shores up NH support ... Poll says George W. Bush, Hillary Rodham Clinton are the man and woman most admired by Americans

___

Huckabee bags a bird in Iowa

OSCEOLA, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee bagged a pheasant Wednesday, offering Iowa voters the image of an experienced outdoorsman on the hunt, shotgun blasting and dogs braying.

Just a campaign gambit? "Maybe it will show that I certainly understand the culture of being outdoors," Huckabee said. "It's not something we had to go out and get a primer in. It's very much ordinary to me."

The former Arkansas governor said back home he would be duck hunting on the day after Christmas, but pheasant hunting in Iowa — eight days before the state's leadoff nominating caucuses — was a good substitute. He also offered a lecture declaring that hunting is good for wildlife.

"The truth is hunters are the ones who preserve the species," he said, since hunters have an interest in preserving wildlife and their license fees pay for conservation efforts. "In many cases extinction comes from not having some level of hunting. It's the hunters who actually keep the wildlife alive. A lot of people think that when you hunt you're destroying the wildlife."

Huckabee led a motorcade of photographers along gravel roads in hilly rural Iowa, hopping out of a pickup truck to take to a snow-covered field wearing his bright orange vest along with Dude, an energetic hunting dog. Huckabee and three hunting companions tramped slowly across the field and their shotguns were blasting within minutes.

___

Obama promises health care benefits to tearful veteran

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa veteran and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama shared a tearful embrace Wednesday after the veteran expressed concern about health benefits for troops injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Retired Air Force veteran Andrew Hampton grew emotional as he spoke about the difficulty he had in gaining health benefits after more than 30 years in the Air Force.

"But there are other veterans who have been denied health care," Hampton said, adding that he was especially worried about today's injured veterans and how they were left to the whims of a Congress that "plays hollow politics" by deciding how much health care they receive.

"We can't desert them," a weepy Hampton told Obama. The crowd responded with a standing ovation, and Obama walked over and hugged him.

Obama said that if elected president, he would take care of veterans as a way of encouraging future generations to enter the military, as well as provide mental health screening and adopt a "zero tolerance" policy for homeless veterans.

"We have to fund all the services that have been promised to our veterans," Obama said. "We can't play politics with it."

___

Giuliani gets clean bill of health from doctor

WASHINGTON (AP) — One week after a severe headache forced Rudy Giuliani to spend a night in the hospital, his doctor declared the Republican presidential candidate to be "in very good health."

Minutes into a flight from St. Louis on Dec. 19, Giuliani had his pilot turn the plane back so that he could spend the night at Barnes-Jewish Hospital for tests. The former New York mayor had been campaigning in Missouri, which holds primary elections on Feb. 5.

The statement Wednesday from Dr. Valentin Fuster of New York's Mount Sinai Medical Center, Giuliani's personal physician of more than seven years, said he was informed Dec. 19 that Giuliani was suffering from "a significant headache and fatigue," symptoms that he said could be described as possibly flu-like, which is how Giuliani's campaign had described them.

"Mr. Giuliani underwent the following tests at Barnes-Jewish Hospital: CT-MRI of the brain, ultrasound of the carotid arteries, and spinal fluid evaluation," Fuster said. "These tests all came back normal."

Fuster said a PSA screening, a test done for prostate cancer, which Giuliani has had, "was negligible or undetectable." Routine lab tests were normal, he said.

"Mr. Giuliani was not prescribed any medication and I recommended that he lighten his schedule only for a few days," Fuster said. "It is my medical opinion that Rudy Giuliani is in very good health."

___

Edwards says he sounds like a president

CONWAY, N.H. (AP) — John Edwards tried to shore up his New Hampshire support Wednesday with promises of fighting the establishment, changing Washington — and even speaking with a Southern accent.

The former North Carolina senator, on a 300-mile, one-day campaign tour through New Hampshire, stuck to populist themes for what he hopes will be an Edwards presidency.

"You'd better choose someone as your candidate who's ready for this battle. Nice words will not change anything," Edwards said in this northern New England town.

He also cited his small-town, Southern roots as an asset.

"The last two Democratic presidents, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter," he said in his Carolina twang, "both talk like me."

While Edwards said he was talking about fighting "big business" and "corporate greed," he's in a tight race with rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama in Iowa — where he was heading next.

___

Poll: Bush, Hillary Clinton most admired

WASHINGTON (AP) — They're the odd couple again: George Bush and Hillary Clinton, the most admired man and woman in America.

Though they stand on opposite sides of a political divide, the Republican president and the Democratic senator from New York are sharing the honor for a sixth straight year, according to a USA Today-Gallup poll.

They didn't win by much. Oprah Winfrey and Clinton's husband, former President Bill, were right behind.

When people were asked to name the man they most admire, 10 percent picked Bush, his lowest figure in the seven years he has been president. Bill Clinton got 8 percent — within the poll's margin of sampling error — while Nobel Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore had 6 percent and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, a presidential hopeful, was chosen by 5 percent.

Whoever is president has won the most-admired title every year since 1981.

Hillary Clinton, hoping to be president-elect by the time of the next poll, was named by 18 percent as the most-admired woman, the 12th time she's been in the top spot. Talk show host Winfrey came in a close second with 16 percent. First lady Laura Bush and actress Angelina Jolie were each selected by 3 percent.

___

Clinton's take on why she's running

NEW YORK (AP) — Hillary Clinton's candidacy is fueled in part by the drive and passion of young female supporters and by the sexist slights she faced early in her life, the former first lady said.

In a posting on Glamour Magazine's Web site, Clinton said she is amazed at how much life has changed for young women since she was coming of age in the late 1960s.

"I was reminded daily of what I couldn't do — the schools I couldn't attend, the sports I couldn't play, the jobs I could never have," she said. "Young women today have a much different fortune and it is their plight, their determination, their resolve that guide me."

The New York senator said she wasn't running for president because she is a woman but vowed to bring a decidedly female sensibility to the White House.

"I am running because I want to be the president who will prioritize the policies that matter most to women, who will stand up and fight, who knows the power of a woman's voice," Clinton said.

Glamour, a fashion and beauty magazine that targets young women, has launched "Glamocracy," a new political blog. Other presidential candidates, including Republican John McCain, are expected to post messages to the blog between now and early February.

___

Thompson says no woman for president next year

CRESTON, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson teased Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, saying "there is no woman on the horizon that ought to be president next year."

The former Tennessee senator on Wednesday was challenging potential caucus-goers to choose the best man to help fend off what he described as an assault by a Democratic Party that is "just salivating" to lead the country into a welfare state.

"Who are we going to set on the road — what man are we going to set on the road — to lead us and to stand against this assault?" he asked, emphasizing the word "man." He couched his comments by saying: "I say the word man advisedly. Now I've got a daughter that's going to be president some day, I know it, and I am all for a woman president, just not this year, not next year."

Without saying Clinton's name, he added: "There is no woman on the horizon that ought to be president next year, let's all agree on that."

___

THE DEMOCRATS

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is joined by her husband, former President Clinton, at events in Iowa. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden also campaign in Iowa. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards canvasses voters in New Hampshire

___

THE REPUBLICANS

Three candidates campaign in Iowa: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee hunts pheasants in Osceola, Arizona Sen. John McCain holds a town hall in Council Bluffs, and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson meets with voters in Creston. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani holds a roundtable with veterans in Largo, Fla. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns in New Hampshire.

___

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"Hopefully we'll just shoot pheasants and not each other. We'll name the pheasant for the other candidates. It gives us a real incentive." — former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, pheasant hunting in Iowa

___

STAT OF THE DAY:

Evangelicals represent about four in 10 GOP voters nationally, according to an AP-Ipsos survey.

___

Compiled by Joan Lowy and Ann Sanner.

Back To Top

	Huckabee Bags a Bird in Iowa	Associated Press	Wed Dec 26	0
	Candidates Fine-Tune Campaign Pitches	Associated Press	Fri Dec 28	0
	Many Democratic, GOP Voters Undecided	Associated Press	Fri Dec 28	0
	Jabs Sharpen in Final Week Before Voting	Associated Press	Wed Dec 26	0
	Polls: Obama, Clinton Close in Iowa, NH	Associated Press	Thu Dec 27	0