COURIC PRESSES CANDIDATE ON CONFLICTING, CLUELESS IRAQ POSITIONS

CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric catches a lot of flak from media watchers and other news organizations for giving cupcake interviews with softball questions, but last night she proved she has what it takes when she challenged Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama over his shifting position on the Iraq troop surge.

In an interview shot in Amman, Jordan, Couric showed that she is one of the few members of the mainstream media who isn’t going to give Obama a free pass. When the Illinois senator tried to duck a question about his plan for a 16 month timed troop withdrawal, Couric fired back.

“You talk about a residual force remaining in Iraq, but you’ve been hesitant to really give a number… to people,” Couric asked. “You haven’t been specific, though some of your advisors have said it could be tens of thousands of troops. Why can’t you be more specific as to what you envision?”

Obama proceeded to do the one thing he learned during his two-and-a-half years in the Senate: filibuster. Couric asked again, and again, and again until — after the sixth question — Obama finally admitted that, while he opposes the troop surge, “there is no doubt that our troops helped to reduce violence. There’s no doubt.”

Couric tried to clarify, “given what you know now, you still wouldn’t support [the surge]… so I’m just trying to understand this.”

And Obama, realizing he screwed up, stalled again and then reaffirmed that he wouldn’t have voted for the surge.

The result is that speaking in hypotheticals and prancing around through the Middle East is great, but when it comes to our national security during a time of war, Obama is absolutely clueless.

AS THIS VIDEO SHOWS, SCGOP SHOULD BE AFRAID… VERY AFRAID

My former blogging colleague Grayson Daughters posted the above video today on the Huffington Post of the exponential voter registration taking place in the Lowcountry by volunteers for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Now, as she is prone to do, Grayson may very well come on here and cuss me out for this, but I don’t exactly see a whole lot of voter registration going on.

Unless of course by “voter registration” she means staring at parked cars and by “building support” she means hoping someone will walk by and acknowledge their presence, then yes, Obama’s volunteers are building major support in this state through voter registration.

Basically, there’s a six foot folding table under a tree on what looks like a dirt road in North Charleston with three or four people standing around doing absolutely nothing. Actually, “absolutely nothing” isn’t really a fair assessment; there was a part where I think the wind blew and someone probably had to go pick up the blank sheet of paper.

Regardless, this video is proof that the Obama campaign is really going to give Republican John McCain a run for his money in South Carolina. Especially if they are able to turn out the phantom registrants from such efforts.

MCCAIN, GRAHAM UP BIG, 2010 GUBERNATORIAL RACE CLOSE

Public Policy Polling, a Raleigh, NC based firm, has released a new survey of South Carolina voters that deals not only with the presidential election, but also two major statewide races.

In the poll of 542 likely voters taken between July 9 and 11, Republican John McCain held a 45 to 39 lead over Democrat Barack Obama, with Libertarian Bob Barr picking up 5 percent of the vote.

PPP noted in its results that Obama leads 77-10 with black voters, and 54-32 with voters between the ages of 18 and 29. McCain leads almost every other demographic group.

“It would take an exceptional turnout from young voters and black voters, as well as a lot of disaffected conservatives voting for Bob Barr, to make a win in South Carolina possible for Barack Obama,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “He does seem likely to outperform John Kerry, but a victory in the Palmetto State is still a long shot.”

In the race for U.S. Senate, Sen. Lindsey Graham is well on his way to re-election. With former Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride now out of the race, Graham has a 54-32 advantage over Democrat Bob Conley.

And Public Policy Polling even took a very early look at the 2010 race to replace Gov. Mark Sanford. Henry McMaster tied Democrats Jim Rex and Inez Tenenbaum in possible matches, while Rep. Gresham Barrett trailed Rex but had a small lead over Tenenbaum. But roughly one-quarter of of those polled in all contests were undecided.

The firm didn’t poll the primary matchups directly, but among those who called themselves Republicans, McMaster had a double-digit lead over Barrett — suggesting the attorney general is by far the strongest candidate in the likely GOP primary field.

LOBBYIST/CONSULTANT GIVES TO DEMOCRATS WHILE ON RETAINER WITH REPUBLICANS

During the 1998 gubernatorial campaign, Columbia political consultant Warren Tompkins was leading former Gov. David Beasley’s re-election bid while lobbying for the video poker industry, which spent millions to defeat him. Beasley would lose that election with 45 percent of the vote.

Supporters and clients of Tompkins looked the other way on that unethical action, hoping he would reform his ways and not inflict upon them a similar fate.

But once again, Tompkins is playing both sides — only this time, the victim is the entire state Senate.

The Palmetto Scoop has learned that Tompkins, who has been on retainer with the Senate Republican Caucus for direct mail, web design, and general consulting for more than a year now, gave $5,000, the maximum allowed by law, to the Senate Democratic Caucus on June 27 of this year.

While the contract with Republicans is with his consulting firm First Tuesday Strategies and the money given to Democrats came from his lobbying firm, those actions still conflict with each other; His political arm being paid to increase Republicans in the Senate while handing money to Democrats with his lobbying arm.

Since the Republican Caucus pays Tompkins from its operating account and those disclosures are not published under state ethics law, it is difficult to know for certain how much he has made.

But the caucus did transfer $275,000 from its campaign account — which is public record — to its operating account in the last quarter, suggesting Tompkins took in between $27,000 and $42,000 since April for the industry standard 10 to 15 percent commission.

So if you happen to be wondering the halls of the Statehouse this January and hear a fiddle, you’ll know who’s playing it. The only question is, which song will he be playing?

HUMOROUS TAKE ON ‘NUTS’ COMMENT CHOPPED FROM PAPER

I’ve written countless times that The State’s editorial cartoonist Robert Ariail is one of the best in the country. His work is funny, to the point and very well drawn.

Ariail simply “gets it” and the newspaper is incredibly fortunate to have him on staff.

But despite that, even some of his best worked gets left on the cutting room floor. Like the above cartoon taking a swipe at the recent comment by Rev. Jesse Jackson that he wants to “cut [Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama's] nuts off.”

The comment obviously caused a huge stir and Ariail did a great job of effectively tying the gaffe with comments made by Obama’s pastor Jeremiah Wright. Most notably, he portrays the result of both situations.

But unfortunately Ariail decided against running it because he believed it was “too salacious,” among other things. I think it’s pretty damn good and deserves to be seen, so that’s why I’m sharing it with y’all.

FORMER ED SUPERINTENDENT JOINS MCNAIR LAW FIRM

Nine times out of ten, a serious candidate for governor comes from a position of elected office. The Republican slate of candidates features the attorney general, a sitting Congressman, the Lt. Gov., and others.

But Democrat Inez Tenenbaum will now be running as a former office holder turned lobbyist. That’s because Tuesday the McNair Law Firm in Columbia hired her to be “of counsel” including handling financial matters and, of course, education.

“Once you’re in public education, it becomes your life’s mission,” Tenenbaum, 57, told The State newspaper. “I miss the children since I’ve been out of office. I miss the schools; I miss the teachers; I miss the school boards and administrators.”

Bill Youngblood, McNair’s managing partner, said his firm has plenty of work for Tenenbaum, noting the firm has represented about 60 of the state’s 85 school districts on financial issues in the past five years. That includes Lexington-Richland 5, which has a referendum on the November ballot proposing a $243.7 million bond issue to build new schools and renovate others. [RICK BRUNDRETT - The State]

So, not only will she be lobbying, but she’ll be doing it on behalf of our state’s failing school systems. Which is basically a continuation of her term as education superintendent.

This move only adds to the speculation surrounding Tenenbaum’s likely 2010 gubernatorial run. Becoming a lobbyist is an odd choice prior to running for governor, and not likely one that will help her — especially after all the damage she does promoting the antiquated policies of a lot of these public schools.

After all, finding ways to increase red tape and further inadequacies and inefficiencies in an already minimally adequate system of education is not exactly the best idea.

NOMINEE EMBARRASSED THAT AMERICANS NO HABLA ESPAÑOL

With Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama attempting to make a play in South Carolina and other conservative states where immigration is a hot-button issues, saying that he’s embarrassed that Americans don’t speak Spanish es idea realmente mala (is a really bad idea). The comment came up while addressing proposals to make English the official language in the U.S.

Ed Morrissey at the Hot Air blog has also picked up on this clip and notes that Obama’s argument that Eurpoean tourists speak English in America, so we should do the same, “makes no sense.”

He’s complaining that Americans don’t speak the native language when we visit Europe, but that we don’t speak the immigrant language when people move to the United States. With that argument, shouldn’t we expect Europeans to speak English when we travel there?

Thousands of supporters have already taken to Obama’s Website to thrash their candidate for flip-flopping on a number of issues. It will be interesting to see what will result from this gaffe.

CORPORATION ENDS POLITICKING, CUTS PRESS CREDENTIALS AT ‘TRACK TOO TOUGH TO TAME,’ OTHERS

Political candidates looking to pick up support and major media attention by campaigning at the annual NASCAR race held in Darlington every May — which draws upwards of 100,000 fans and international coverage — will have to look elsewhere.

Officials from the International Speedway Corporation, which owns Darlington and nearly a dozen other race tracks across the country, have revoked press credentials for political reporters and banned candidates from politicking at their facilities, according to Campaign’s and Elections.

Politics was informed of the policy after a credentialing request had been denied to cover an unofficial appearance in Daytona by Libertarian Party presidential nominee, Bob Barr. ISC officials explained that credentialing a political reporter would, in their view, constitute the facilitation of a campaign event, in sharp violation of their policy.

The officials declined to provide details of the policy, and offered only a vague explanation of when the policy had gone into effect. But they expressed a belief that fans attending events at their speedways are sensitive to what might be construed as intrusive political activity.

“The policy has been more formalized recently, but it’s been a standing policy for some time,” said Cheryl Coxwell, a lobbyist in ISC’s Government Affairs department. “If you’re familiar with our events, we don’t typically have signs, or folks handing out campaign buttons. That type of thing is not done on our property.”

But as recently as this past January, just prior to the Florida Republican presidential primary, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani campaigned at the Daytona Speedway, waving from the passenger seat of his bus, which was emblazoned with the proclamation “Florida is Rudy country” as it sped around the track to the uplifting theme music from the film “Rudy.” [DOUG DANIELS - Campaigns and Elections]

This appears to be not so much a ban on campaigning in NASCAR, but more likely an ad hoch speed limit designed to put the brakes on Bob Barr and every Tom, Dick, and Harry who runs as a third party candidate.

The marriage between NASCAR and politicians at Darlington is not a recent one. Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and candidates Bob Dole and Mike Huckabee have all campaigned at the Track Too Tough To Tame.

“The purpose of a politician going to [a NASCAR race] is to say ‘yes, I am a red blooded, gun toting, God fearing, pickup truck driving American’ with a simple yell of ‘gentlemen start your engines,’” a source close to both the raceway and numerous SC politicos said. “It’s almost become a part of the campaign cycle.”

For South Carolina candidates this year alone, NASCAR has played a major role in campaigns. Just last month, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer held a fundraiser at Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte. And in State Senate District 13, Shane Martin knocked off incumbent Sen. Jim Ritchie due in no small part to NASCAR money.