Stephen Dinan

McCain takes lead on YouTube hits

Paris Hilton may think John McCain is just a “wrinkly white-haired guy,” but the Republican presidential candidate apparently has figured out the younger generation just fine.

August 7, 2008

Obama now backs tapping into oil reserve

Sen. Barack Obama put his pursuit of energy voters into overdrive on Monday, flipping positions to call for releasing oil from the government's strategic reserve just days after he said he was open to expanded offshore drilling.

August 5, 2008

McCain, Obama agree on big issues

On some policy issues, the presidential election just won't matter - both Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain are prepared to overturn President Bush's policy and expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, one of a series of contentious issues pushed out of the presidential debate because those at the top of the tickets agree.

August 5, 2008

‘Sam’s Club’ voters called key to modern GOP

The man who's helping host the Republican nominating convention and is seen as a shortlist candidate for the vice-presidential nomination has a message for his party: Care about the Sam's Club voter.

August 4, 2008

Race turns into insult contest

A day after the release of a McCain ad comparing Mr. Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, both campaigns veered away from the issues and into a squabble over who said what, who intended what and who insinuated the rest.

August 1, 2008

Illegals figure drops by 11%

The Department of Homeland Security is claiming success after an independent study released Wednesday argued that stepped-up enforcement efforts have reduced the illegal immigrant population by 11 percent since August.

July 31, 2008

Ad rips celebrity Obama

John McCain on Wednesday charged that rival Barack Obama is more Cosmo than he is commander in chief, running a stark, harsh and groundbreaking ad that matches him with clips of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.

July 31, 2008

Illegal population shrinking

Crackdowns on illegal immigrants are showing results.

July 30, 2008

Bush successor faces massive debt

President Bush will bequeath the largest-ever budget deficit to his successor, and the men vying for that honor struggled Monday to explain how they will dig out from the inherited red ink.

July 29, 2008

McCain: Obama aims to win vote, not war

Sen. John McCain said Sen. Barack Obama has played politics with the Iraq war, choosing his positions in order to win a political campaign rather than do what is needed to win the war.

July 28, 2008

Obama launches Spanish ad

Sen. Barack Obama touts that "he grew up without a father" and was "raised by his mother with the support of his grandparents" in his first Spanish-language radio ad of the general election campaign, released Wednesday and designed to portray him as sharing the same experiences as Hispanic voters.

July 24, 2008

Consensus builds for Iraq exit

Sen. John McCain drew closer to his Sen. Barack Obama's timetable on Iraq, saying that U.S. troops could be "largely withdrawn" in two years, even as Obama met with Iraqi leaders who now embrace his withdrawal time frame.

July 22, 2008

Obama ups ante on Afghans, Pakistanis

Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday prodded Afghanistan and Pakistan to combat al Qaeda and Taliban forces by basing operations in those nations, using a campaign-season trip to Afghanistan to bolster his leadership credentials.

July 21, 2008

‘Whiners’ get to Gramm; he exits McCain camp

Former Sen. Phil Gramm stepped down as a co-chairman of Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, saying he had become a distraction after drawing criticism for calling America a "nation of whiners" last week.

July 19, 2008

McCain ad targets Obama inaction on NATO panel

Sen. John McCain's campaign on Friday announced its first negative campaign ad of the general election that accuses Sen. Barack Obama of failing to do his duty on a subcommittee overseeing NATO, which leads war operations in Afghanistan.

July 19, 2008

McCain’s Straight Talk spins wheels

From signature issues such as immigration and climate change to tax cuts, Sen. John McCain sometimes just seems lost as to his own record and his stance on hot-button social issues.

July 18, 2008

Hispanic leaders eager to ‘referee debate’

The president of the nation's largest Hispanic rights organization says the group will serve as referee for the immigration debate and back it up with what members expect will be record Hispanic voter turnout in November.

July 16, 2008

McCain asks for trust from Hispanics

Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Monday denounced those in his party he said have injected "insults" into the immigration debate but refused to back away from his new enforcement-first approach to the issue.

July 15, 2008

Obama: Hispanics are critical to election

Sen. Barack Obama received a rock-star welcome Sunday from the nation's largest Hispanic rights group, telling them they are the critical swing group in November's presidential election and promising a renewed effort to pass an immigration bill during his first year in office.

July 14, 2008

Hispanics seek voter bloc too big to ignore

After decades of punching beneath their political weight, National Council of La Raza and its allies vow to boost Hispanic voter participation by reducing the gap between those eligible versus number who turn out on Election Day.

July 13, 2008