ELECTION '08

ELECTION '08   by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ali Frick, and Ryan Powers A Country Calling For Change Across the country today, a record number of Americans are expected to cast ballots to elect the next president of the United States, ending what has been called "one of the most extraordinary presidential elections in this nation's 232-year history." As the nation waits to see who will succeed President Bush, Americans are yearning for a dramatic change in direction. A recent New York Times/CBS News poll found that "a record 89 percent of Americans now say the country has pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track." In a Gallup poll out today, 92 percent of of registered voters agreed with the statement that "the stakes in this presidential election are higher than in previous years." Though they offer two very different visions of where America should go in the next four years, both of the major presidential candidates, Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ), argue that they represent the change that America needs. "Change is coming," declares McCain, while Obama talks about "the change we need." As is to be expected, Americans disagree on the exact nature of the change they believe would most benefit the country, but overwhelmingly they are looking for a dramatic departure from President Bush's America. In December 2007, Democratic pollster Peter Hart and Republican pollster Bill McInturff surveyed whether Americans were looking for "small adjustments," "to turn the page," or to start "a brand new book." Respondents preferred "a brand new book" by a margin of 17 percentage points over "turn the page," and 22 percentage points over "small adjustments." Now, that book will begin to be written. POLITICS -- ROMNEY REFUSES TO SAY THAT McCAIN HAS CONDUCTED A 'DIGNIFIED AND HONEST' CAMPAIGN: Yesterday on NBC's Today Show, host Meredith Vieira asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) campaign surrogate Mitt Romney about a new University of Wisconsin analysis that found that more of McCain's ads have been negative than Obama's in the past week. Romney attempted to defend the McCain campaign, but when Vieira asked him -- three times -- whether he thought McCain was running a "dignified" campaign, Romney couldn't agree. "Was it dignified? It was presidential," Romney finally concluded. Last week, Romney wouldn't say whether Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) is ready to be president and also yesterday, Romney said McCain's cap and trade plan would "kill jobs" in America and that he would "endeavor to convince" McCain to change his plans. MEDIA -- CNN HIRES SADDAM-AL QAEDA 'CONNECTION' FABRICATOR: Yesterday, TimeWarner announced that "frequent CNN guest, Stephen F. Hayes, has made it official by signing on with the network as a political contributor." Sam Feist, CNN's political director, said, "As part of the 'Best Political Team on Television,' Steve will help CNN in its commitment to go beyond political spin and present viewers with the most in-depth and bipartisan insights." However, for the last eight years Hayes has done little more than spin for the Bush administration's "war on terror." Hayes was one of the foremost peddlers of the false claim that Saddam Hussein was in league with al Qaeda. Blogger Spencer Ackerman wrote in the Huffington Post that Hayes "has made a career out of pretending Saddam and al Qaeda were in league to attack the United States." Vice President Dick Cheney praised Hayes's work, telling Fox News, "I think Steve Hayes has done an effective job in his article of laying out a lot of those connections." Hayes also penned a biography of Cheney that columnist Michael Corcoran called "a wet kiss…filled with glowing praise from cover to cover."