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USA Election Polls is reporting, based on results from several polls, that Hillary Clinton is exected to beat Barack Obama and Mike Gravel in the Super Tuesday elections among Oklahoma voters, and John McCain is expected to lead by a wide margin over Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Alan Keyes, and Ron Paul.
Because Oklahoma’s primary is held on what is often called “Super Tuesday,” Oklahomans will not (effectively) have as many options for presidential candidates as the states which held their primaries earlier in the year. Of the Democrats, Bill Richardson, Dennis Kucinich, John Edwards, and Joe Biden, have dropped out. On the Republican side, Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, and Rudy Giuliani have dropped out.
Unlike in some states, Oklahomans also do not currently have the option to write-in candidates.
(Updated 2/4/08)
ARLINGTON, VA — U.S. Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign today announced new additions to its Oklahoma Leadership Team. Chad Alexander and State Representative Trebor Worthen will lead the growing grassroots organization on behalf of John McCain’s candidacy leading up to Oklahoma’s February 5th Primary. Alexander and Worthen join State Chairman, Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn and Honorary State Chairman, Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating.
“There is no greater champion of fiscal responsibility and government reform than John McCain,” said Alexander. “John McCain’s conservative convictions and principled leadership are what our nation needs right now, and that’s why I am proud to back him for the Republican nomination.”
“I am honored to work for a man like Senator McCain whose integrity and character is unmatched. Oklahomans, like all Americans, will choose a President who has the experience to lead on day one, and John McCain is that man,” said Representative Worthen. Read more…
Former Governor Frank Keating (R-OK), also National Co-Chair of Catholics for McCain said, “John McCain can uniquely appeal to Catholics with his strong, 24-year pro-life record, his stand for traditional values and school choice, his proven leadership in defending America, and his demonstrated ability to appeal to independent-minded voters. These are exactly the type of qualities that Catholic voters will be looking for in 2008.”
In a joint statement, Governor Keating and Senator Brownback added: “In this election, with so much at stake, we need a leader who will help transform history to extend and uphold the rights and dignity of each and every child of God. John McCain is that leader.”
John McCain expressed his appreciation and stated: “I am very pleased to have the support of this distinguished coalition of Catholic leaders. I am proud to stand side-by-side with Catholics on many of the most critical issues of our day: defending the sanctity of human life, upholding traditional marriage, expanding educational choice, and defending America from the threats that we face around the globe. I have fought my entire life to protect religious freedom and human rights around the world. I look forward to working with these Catholic leaders in the weeks and months ahead as we take our shared values to the White House.”
Catholics for McCain will play an active role in educating and communicating with fellow Catholics about why John McCain is the best candidate to successfully promote Catholic values in the upcoming election.
Senator John McCain has picked up the endorsement of former governor Frank Keating, despite McCain’s “nuance” of his abortion position since his last presidential run in 2000. McCain is now claiming he is pro-life, and to prove that claim to social conservatives, he will speak at a teenage abstinence rally in South Carolina later today.
Keating, who is Catholic, signed a bill in June 2001 to prevent teenagers from having an abortion unless they first received the consent of their parents.
The measure also held abortion practitioners liable for “physical and emotional injuries” suffered by a minor if they do not notify or receive consent from a parent prior to performing an abortion on a girl under 18 years of age.
Keating also signed a bill in May 2002 authorizing the state’s “Choose Life” license plates
As we wrote above, McCain’s position seems to have changed decidedly since 2000:
By Tina Cassidy, Globe Staff, 2/25/2000
“At one point in the campaign, McCain said he would not support the repeal of Roe v. Wade because it would force women to have ”illegal and dangerous operations.” And during a swing through New Hampshire, he told reporters that if his teenage daughter got pregnant ”the final decision” about whether to terminate ”would be made by [her].”
In both instances, McCain later said he misspoke.”
This commentary appeared in a slightly different form on nationalreview.com, February 7, 2001:
“John McCain is hawking a book of pro-abortion propaganda to his colleagues. Surprised? Don’t be. He’s the hero of the story.
Richard North Patterson’s novel Protect and Defend tells a familiar story: Mean-spirited conservatives, Republicans, and Christian Right anti-abortion fanatics in Washington, D.C., vs. the pro-choice, anti-gun, pro-campaign-reform forces of light.
Senator Chad Palmer is twice a hero: once for enduring being kidnapped and held hostage by Islamic extremists, and now for supporting campaign-finance reform even though he’s a Republican. Palmer used to be pro-life, until his teenage daughter was able to start turning her life around by getting a legal abortion. And now he has to vote on a controversial nominee to be chief justice of the Supreme Court. The previous one, a hateful old conservative, died of a stroke while giving the oath of office to the new Democratic president. The president names a feminist judge.
During her confirmation hearings, this judge writes a decision letting a 15-year-old girl abort her hydrocephalic fetus at seven and a half months over the objections of her parents, who are tyrannical religious zealots. She is bitterly opposed by anti-abortionists with names like Mace and Harshman, as well as by a group called the “Christian Commitment.” Eventually a sleazy Washington lobbyist exposes the abortion in Senator Palmer’s family. His daughter, distraught, drinks a bottle of wine, gets behind the wheel on an icy night, and dies. So guess who casts the deciding vote in the Senate? And guess which way he votes?
Last month, real-life Senators John McCain and Barbara Boxer jointly sent a copy of this book with a letter to every member of the Senate. This evening, McCain and Boxer are hosting a reception and book-signing party for Patterson in the United States Capitol. “