INSIDE POLITICS WITH DON WILLIAMS!

THE LATEST IN THE RUN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE!




By: Don 'NT' Williams - As we get closer to the increasingly important Democratic Pennsylvania Primary, recent polls show Barack Obama within 4 points of Hillary Clinton in the state. This may be due, in part to the controversy surrounding her former top strategist, Mark Penn, who in the last week has resigned due to conflicts of interest about him being engaged in business activities and lobbying for the Columbian Trade Agreement that Hillary Clinton is opposed to. However, she did receive some good news this week as she picked up 3 more super delagates. While the tone of both campaigns has been considerably calm recently, the attack ads from both camps were in full swing in Pennsylvania as the polls have tightened and we move closer to the April 22 primary.
The candidates will be participating in a "Compassion Forum" on Sunday night at 7pm on CNN.

On the Republican side, John McCain unveiled a HOME plan on Thursday to help Americans deal with the mortgage crisis. Here is a key excerpt from his speech.

"My plan follows the sound economic principle that when markets decline dramatically, debts must be restructured. It is built on the reality that homeowners should have an equity capital stake in their home. Homeowners would end up with a 30-year mortgage and an equity stake in their home. The new lender would receive a federal guarantee of the mortgage. And the taxpayer gets a benefit if the sale value ever recovers."

Also, in Camp McCain there is an intense search being done for his running mate. Rumored leading candidates are former rivals Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, but the most interesting name being floated is Condoleezza Rice, the current Secretary of State. In a poll conducted by Marist College and WNBC, a McCain/Rice ticket would beat both a Obama/Clinton ticket and a Clinton/Obama ticket in the state of New York. If that were to happen, I think it's safe to say John McCain would stand a great chance of being the next president. What do you think? Would placing Condoleeza Rice on the ticket be enough to carry John McCain into the White House?

Also, outside of the campaign trail, General David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq testified at both the Senate and the House hearings on Iraq this week. The jist of the hearings were Petraeus and Crocker arguing the point that while some security gains have been made in Iraq, they are not significant enough to think about a significant troop withdrawal, and they recommended halting further troop withdrawals due to recent increased security concerns. The disposition was mostly split by party, with Democrats pressing for a timetable or some plan for withdrawal and Republicans advocating we stay in Iraq and maintain a military presence to protect the security of the Iraqi people and our interests in the region. So, what do you think? Is it time to pack it up and bring it home, or should we "stay the course?"

Until next week.....