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"– Voting against making anti-choice violence a federal crime. As the Jed Report notes, McCain voted in 1993 and 1994 against making “bombings, arson and blockades at abortion clinics, and shootings and threats of violence against doctors and nurses who perform abortions” federal crimes."

"– Opposing Colorado’s “Bubble Law.” McCain said he opposed Colorado’s “Bubble Law,” which prohibited abortion protesters from getting within 8 feet of women entering clinics [Denver Post, 2/27/00]. The law was later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court."

"– Voting to allow those fined for violence at clinics to avoid penalties by declaring bankruptcy. NARAL Pro-Chioce America notes that McCain “voted to allow perpetrators of violence or harassment at reproductive-health clinics to avoid paying the fines assessed against them for their illegal acts by declaring bankruptcy.””

-HuffingtonPost.com

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John McCain - Corporate - Oil - Politics - Foreign - US - Iraq - Military - 2008 Election - Denver - Colorado - "McCain Suggests Iraq War Is About Oil." ... "At the conclusion of a town hall held this morning outside in Devner [sic, correction: Denver, Colorado], [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain decided to toss in a plug for his upcoming energy policy rollout. But as McCain decried the dangers of Americans reliance on foreign oil, he also seemed to suggest that this reliance caused the current struggle in Iraq." ... ""My friends, I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will - that will then prevent us - that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East," McCain said." ... "This comment was initially prompted by a compliment from a military veteran who stated that he hoped a group called "Swift Boats for McCain come out and help" the GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] nominee. " ... "Of note -- McCain didn't object to the audience member's suggestion that a so-called 'swift boat' group help him win the presidency. Instead, he thanked the man for his good wishes and his military service." -By Adam Aigner-Treworgy -NationalJournal

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WATCH: "McCain Implies Iraq War Is For Oil."

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Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - Accounting - Indiana - North Carolina - Illinois - New York - Colorado - 2008 Election - "Obama Heads for Superdelegate Edge." ... "The 795 superdelegates, who can vote for any nominee, fall into one of two groups -- the elected and the unelected." ... "The elected are the party's 28 governors, 234 House members, 49 senators and assorted big-city mayors and state officeholders." ... "The nonelected superdelegates are the more than 400 national and state party officers of the Democratic National Committee." ... "Among elected officials, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator Barack] Sen. Obama leads in endorsements from governors and senators. He is behind among House members by one, but both camps expect him to pull ahead unless he does badly in next Tuesday's Indiana and North Carolina primaries. If he doesn't stumble, enough elected Democrats are expected to back Sen. Obama after the last primaries June 3 to give him the delegate majority needed for nomination." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and New York Senator Hillary] Sen. Clinton still leads in endorsements from nonelected officials. Many have known her and former [Democratic] President Clinton since the couple's White House years, or worked for them then." ... "About 300 of the 795 superdelegates remain uncommitted; they don't have to endorse anyone until [August] Aug. 27 at the Democrats' Denver [Colorado] convention." -By Jackie Calmes -WSJ.com 

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Don Young - Abramoff - Bob Schaffer - Money - Politics - Mariana Islands - Chinese - Garment - Factory - Industry - Labor - Women - Abortion - Human Rights - Investigations - Government - Immigration - Law- History - US - Colorado - Alaska - "Records expose Young-Abramoff ties: MARIANA ISLANDS." ... "[Alaska Republican Represenative] Rep. Don Young has said he never allowed convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff to be an influential force over him in Congress." ... "But now a trove of old billing records from two of Abramoff's firms show that his team of lobbyists had more than 120 contacts with Young's personal and committee staffs over 25 months, including at least 10 with Young himself." ... "The available records cover a single Abramoff client, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. [United States] territory in the Pacific that Young oversaw when he chaired the House Resources Committee from 1995 to 2001." ... "The records show that one of the looming concerns of Abramoff and his fellow lobbyists at the time was a bill introduced by Young's fellow Alaskan, [Republican Senator] Sen. Frank Murkowski, to reform labor and immigration practices feeding the island's notorious Chinese-owned sweatshops. In 2000, Murkowski's bill passed the Senate unanimously, but Young stopped it cold in his committee, refusing to hold even a hearing." ... "Investigations by the government, media and human rights groups uncovered widespread abuses in the garment industry and among sex workers there starting in the mid-1990s, but Young asserted those investigations were bogus." ... "As a member of Young's Resources Committee, [Colorado Republican Representative and 2008 Election Colorado Senator Candidate Bob] Schaffer took a free trip to the Mariana Islands arranged by Abramoff's law firm, then played a central role in a 1989 committee hearing investigating Interior department officials in the [Democratic President Bill] Clinton administration who were trying to rein in the Saipan government [Saipan is the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands' capital]." ... "A growing number of reports spoke of near slave-labor conditions, with workers kept in sealed compounds, required to work seven days a week without overtime, and sometimes getting no paycheck at all. There were widespread reports of women coerced into getting abortions to keep their jobs. Some women hired abroad found themselves working not in garment factories at all, but sex clubs." -By Richard Mauer -ADN.com

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Secret - Jack Abramoff - Bob Schaffer - Money - Politician - Travel - Garment - Factories - Lawmaker - History - Colo - California - American - Northern Mariana Islands - Labor - Investigations - "Schaffer, lobbyist strategies meshed: The Coloradan's acts align with an Abramoff plot; he denies any link." ... "In early 1998, now-jailed [Republican] lobbyist Jack Abramoff sent a secret memo to a textile tycoon on the Northern Mariana Islands, an American protectorate whose garment factories had been heavily criticized for squalid working conditions and abusive labor practices." ... "The lobbying plan focused on using congressional oversight hearings to change the subject from factory conditions to political shenanigans by the [Democratic President] Clinton administration. Abramoff's lobbying team would prepare questions and "factual backup" for friendly lawmakers. Trips to the island for congressmen and staff would be a key tool to "build permanent friends," the memo said." ... "The linchpin would be an attack on the Interior Department's Office of Insular Affairs (OIA), which was the lead agency pushing for reform." ... "Twenty months later, Republicans on the House Resources Committee, including [Colorado Republican Representative] Rep. Bob Schaffer, R-Colo., turned what was supposed to be an oversight hearing into an attack on OIA officials, suggesting that federal employees were paying workers to protest and providing them signs, cars and other resources." ... "Schaffer was one of the key players in the hearing, grilling a young worker who had been called before the committee to talk about the desperate conditions faced by some laborers, suggesting instead that he was agitating in exchange for money and came to Washington to seek political asylum." ... "The hearing provides a key context for a trip to the islands that Schaffer had taken a month before, partly arranged by Abramoff's lobbying firm and now an issue in Schaffer's campaign for the U.S. [United States] Senate." ... "By the time Schaffer had flown to the islands with his wife the month before, the protectorate's textile industry had been the subject of dozens of government and journalistic investigations, which documented abuses including debt servitude, coerced abortions and squalid living conditions." ... "Preston-Gates, Abramoff's firm, made the travel arrangements for Schaffer's August 1999 trip, according to a memo to Schaffer from his staff. The $13,000 trip was paid for by the Orange County[California]-based Traditional Values Coalition, which later investigations showed was often used by Abramoff in his lobbying operations." -By Michael Riley -DenverPost.com

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Jack Abramoff - Bob Schaffer - Criminal - Money - Politician - Vacation - Colorado - US - Mariana Islands - Textile - Factory - Immigration - Human Rights - Law- 2008 Election - "Abramoff ties cloud [Bob] Schaffer's '99 fact-finding trip." ... "Just before boarding a plane to the [Northern] Mariana Islands in 1999, [Colorado Republican Representative] then-Congressman Bob Schaffer announced he was embarking on a fact-finding mission to get to the bottom of repeated allegations of labor abuse in the American protectorate." ... "What he didn't say was that the trip was partly arranged by the firm of now-jailed [Republican] lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who represented textile factory owners fighting congressional efforts to reform labor and immigration laws on the islands and who was being handsomely paid to keep the islands' cherished exemptions." ... "Schaffer and his wife stayed for free at a palm-studded beach resort and, besides factories, also toured historical sites and met with clients of Preston-Gates, Abramoff's firm, according to a copy of the trip's agenda archived in Schaffer's congressional papers." ... "In a recent interview with The Denver Post, the Republican candidate for Colorado's open Senate seat described the protectorate's guest-worker program as a "model" lawmakers could use as they overhaul the U.S. [United States] immigration system." ... "It has left Schaffer defending a guest-worker program criticized in more than a decade of government reports and journalistic exposés; and it links him to what Abramoff later boasted was an incredibly successful lobbying effort to quash reform by cashing in on ties to key House Republicans, including those on the House Resources Committee, on which Schaffer sat." ... ""Given that many Republican members, including Tom DeLay, Bob Ney and Conrad Burns, have lost their seat or gone to prison based on their association with this criminal, it's pretty remarkable that Schaffer seems to be proud of his association with these sleazy Abramoff-sponsored junkets," said Taylor West, a spokeswoman for Schaffer's [2008 Election] Democratic opponent, Mark Udall." ... "At heart of the issue is the islands' massive textile industry, which is exempted from the U.S. minimum wage as well as most American immigration laws. The Northern Marianas economy is built on thousands of workers from China, the Philippines and Bangladesh, some of whom pay labor recruiters as much as $7,000 to land a job on U.S. soil." ... "A class-action lawsuit filed the year Schaffer toured the islands alleged that many of those workers lived in slum conditions, housed seven to a room in barracks surrounded by barbed wire designed to keep the workers in. Workers in some factories labored 12 hours a day, seven days a week, the suit alleged — without pay if they fell behind set quotas." ... "A U.S. Interior Department investigation found that pregnant workers were forced to get illegal abortions or lose their jobs. Some were recruited for factories but forced into the sex trade instead." ... "Said Matthew Miller, spokesman for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee: "The fact that (Schaffer) sided against the human rights of those workers, not just then, but still today, shows he was more interested in doing the bidding of the people who set up the trip than in actually investigating abuses."" -By Michael Riley -DenverPost.com

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Bob Schaffer - Colorado - Virginia- Video - Ad - Money - Politics - 2008 Election - "Schaffer ad maker slapped: Watchdog group says law violated." ... "A national group behind a political ad showing schoolchildren repeatedly thanking U.S. [Colorado Republican] Senate candidate Bob Schaffer for his commitment to charter schools has run afoul of federal election laws." ... "U.S. Term Limits, a Virginia- based group, paid for the ad, which includes a written disclaimer: "U.S. Term Limits does not endorse candidates for public office."" ... "But when the ad was posted to YouTube .com, it was labeled "Bob Schaffer for Senate video." That's considered election advocacy, according to a national ethics watchdog group." ... "Anyone who pays for an ad advocating the election or defeat of a candidate must file a report with the Federal Election Commission within 48 hours after the ad appears. No report was filed." ... "Schaffer, a Fort Collins Republican, faces Democrat Mark Udall, of Eldorado Springs [Colorado], in November [2008 Election]." -By Lynn Bartels -RockyMountainNews.com

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Bob Schaffer - Jack Abramoff - Criminal - Money - Politician - Abortion - Child - Labor - Female - Textile - Factory - Immigration - Human Rights - Law - History - US - Mariana Islands - 2008 Election - Colorado - Vacation - "Fashhhionating." ... "Earlier today we noted that the [2008 Election] Republican Senate candidate from Colorado, Bob Schaffer, told the Denver Post that America should adopt an immigration and guest labor policy modeled on that of the Mariana Islands (aka the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) -- whose guest worker program is notorious around the world for forced abortion, slavery, child prostitution, sex trafficking, beatings, female workers kept in shacks with no plumbing surrounded by barbed wire and other fun stuff [sarcasm]." ... "TPM Reader AK points out that the folks at ProgressNowAction have done a little digging. And it seems that that back in 1999, when Schaffer was serving in Congress, he went on one of those junkets to the Islands put together by none other than disgraced lobbyist and now-federal inmate Jack Abramoff." ... "Those of you with a clear recollection of the details of the Abramoff scandal will remember that one of Jack's biggest clients was the group of sharks who ran the Marianas sweat shops." ... "They had a great thing going because they were able to slap Made In The USA labels on clothes and other items made in Saipan [Northern Mariana Islands capital] by female guest workers imported from other parts of East Asia to work in sub-Third World labor conditions. That is, when the guest workers weren't busy getting beaten, raped or coerced into having abortions. Jack's job was to find politicians willing to travel with him on junkets to the Marianas, hang out at the casinos and come back to the states and say how well the labor conditions actually there seemed to be." ... "In any case, it was just one of these junkets with Abramoff that then US Rep. Bob Schaffer took back in 1999, which, as it happens, was a year after the release of the Department of Labor report that confirmed the 15 year old sex slave's account." -By Josh Marshall -TalkingPointsMemo.com

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Watch TPMtv Video update: "... Colorado senate candidate Bob Schaffer (R) says we should remodel our national immigration policy on that of the Mariana Islands -- a program notorious for child prostitution, forced abortions, beatings, slavery, twelve hour days and sex trafficking. Now it turns out he went on a Jack Abramoff junket to the islands and came back saying it was A-OK!" -By Josh Marshall -Veracifier

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Bob Schaffer - Oil - Money - Politics - Video - Colorado - 2008 Election - "'Thanks, Bob' ad spawns spoof: 'Big oil' replaces 'charter schools' in Schaffer spot." ... "An ad that features school children thanking [2008 Election Colorado] Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer for his commitment to charter schools has inspired a parody." ... "The spoof ad shows "oil executives" bragging about record profits and thanking Schaffer for supporting tax breaks for their industry." ... "Schaffer now works for Aspect Energy LLC." ... "[About the parody, President of ProgressNow Michael Huttner said:] "We did it with volunteers because we think Schaffer has done a lot more for big oil than he has for kids."" ... "Huttner said congressional records show Schaffer in 2001 voted for [Republican] President Bush's energy plan. Democrats called it $33 billion giveaway to the energy industry." -By Lynn Bartels -RockyMountainNews.com

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Watch Parody Video: "Thanks Bob - Bob Schaffer"

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Bob Schaffer - Corporate - Colorado - US - Foreign - Textile - Worker - Immigration - Mariana Islands - 2008 Election - "Tricky issue of immigration played down." ... "Calling America a country perfectly "capable of multitasking," [2008 Election] Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer said the U.S. [United States] ought to be pursuing a guest- worker program at the same time it fortifies its borders." ... "He pointed to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. protectorate that imports tens of thousands of foreign textile workers, as a successful model for a guest-worker program that could be adapted nationally." ... ""The concept of prequalifying foreign workers in their home country under private- sector management is a system that works very well in one place in America," he said of the islands' program. "I think members of Congress ought to be looking at that model and be considering it as a possible basis for a nationwide program."" -By Michael Riley -DenverPost.com

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2008 Election - Florida - Michigan - Colorado - "Choice of Democratic nominee may rest with panel: Convention's Credentials Commitee could have to decide on Fla., Mich. delegates." ... "There are 186 people in this country who ultimately could select the Democratic presidential nominee." ... "Most of them do not know they'll soon wield such power. They will be picked by their state parties or by the party's national chairman to be on the Credentials Committee to the Democratic National Convention. It's normally a political reward, but this year the job could seem more like punishment." ... "If the dispute over what to do about Florida and Michigan — whose Democratic primary results have not been recognized by the party — is not settled by the time Democrats gather in August in Denver [Colorado], the Credentials Committee will probably make the call on what to do about delegates from the rogue states, which defied the party by moving up their primary dates." ... "The committee could decide whether those delegates are seated at the convention, and to which candidate they are pledged." ... "The ultimate winner of the nomination could ride on the outcome." ... "The 186 Democrats that will form the committee will be chosen during the next several months. DNC Chairman Howard Dean appoints 25 of them, which he has already done." ... "The others are elected by the state parties, based on population." -By Aaron Gould Sheinin -AJC

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Dick Cheney - Videos - Privacy - Politics - Colorado - US - Iraq - Military - "Cheney fights release of videos: The VP's [Vice President's] office worries depositions of two aides in a Golden [Colorado] man's civil lawsuit may show up on YouTube." ... "The office of [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney is seeking to block the release of videotaped depositions given by two aides who witnessed a physical encounter between an Iraq war opponent and Cheney." ... "In a motion filed Saturday, Cheney's office contended that the videotapes could be used to invade the privacy and embarrass two aides called to testify about the encounter in a civil lawsuit. " -By David Olinger -DenverPost.com

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Jack Abramoff - John A Boehner - John T Doolittle - Legal - Politics - Ohio - California - Georgia - Utah - Colorado - Indiana - California - Texas - "Fellow Republicans Help Doolittle Pay Legal Bills Stemming From Abramoff Ties." ... "A House Republican under Justice Department investigation because of ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff has garnered help with his legal bills from a handful of colleagues, including [Ohio Republican Representative] Minority Leader John A. Boehner." ... "[California Republican Representative] Rep. John T. Doolittle, R-Calif., reported in a filing made available Thursday that his legal expense fund had received $5,000 from Boehner’s leadership PAC. The money was part of $36,500 kicked in by GOP colleagues to Doolittle’s legal defense between June 27, when he opened the fund, and year’s end." ... "Other Republican lawmakers who contributed money from their campaign funds or leadership committees included [Republican Senator] Sens. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, [Republican Senator] Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and [Republican Senator] Wayne Allard of Colorado, and Reps. [Republican Representative] Dan Burton of Indiana, [Republican Representative] Wally Herger of California, [Republican Representative] Jack Kingston of Georgia, [Republican Representative] Sam Johnson of Texas, and [California Republican Representative] Howard P. “Buck” McKeon and [Republican Representative] Dana Rohrabacher of California." -By Kathleen Hunter -CQPolitics.com 

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