Some Democrats Call on John Edwards to Come Clean About Alleged Mistress and Love Child

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Tipping Point?

Some Democrats are saying John Edwards needs to publicly address stories in the National Enquirer that he had an affair with a campaign worker and fathered her child. The Charlotte Observer reports that if the former Democratic presidential candidate fails to provide a sufficient response, party officials may not ask him to speak at the Democratic convention in Denver later this month.

Former North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Don Fowler says, "If there is not an explanation that's satisfactory, acceptable and meets high moral standards, the answer is 'no,' he would not be a prime candidate to make a major address to the convention."

And Gary Pearce, who ran Edwards' 1998 Senate campaign says, "It's clearly getting ready to bust out. If it's not true, he's got to stand up and say, 'This is not true.'"

The Democratic Party has not yet released its schedule of convention speakers.

Adding Up

That series of campaign ads that John McCain released over the past two weeks appears to be working — at least on the Internet.

The Washington Times reports the ads focusing on the celebrity of Democratic rival Barack Obama have pushed McCain's YouTube channel to the sixth most-watched on the Web site this week. McCain's YouTube Web page has beaten Obama's for seven straight days and 11 of the last 14.

This is a huge turnaround. The tracking service TubeMogul says Obama had been quadrupling McCain's YouTube views, and had beaten him every day since February.

Mac Attack

Liberal activist group MoveOn.Org has circulated an online video attacking Senator McCain. It shows McCain calling for Congress to come back to Washington and work on an energy bill, pointing out that McCain has missed more votes than any other senator this year.

Column Archive

Full-page Political Grapevine Archive

Video

Show Info

Airs Weekdays at 6 p.m. ET

To drive home that point, the video shows an arrow pointing at an empty seat. The problem is, the seat highlighted in the video is in the House chamber. John McCain is a senator, and therefore would sit in the Senate chamber.

While McCain has missed the most votes in the 110th Congress, Obama is the third biggest offender. Only Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota separates the two. But he suffered a brain hemorrhage in December of 2006 and spent several months recovering.

Olympic-Sized Inequality

Saudi Arabia will field an Olympic team that includes equestrians, swimmers, shooters and weightlifters. But Cybercast News reports the Saudi team does not include a single woman. In the eight summer Olympics in which the kingdom has participated since 1972, it has sent a total of 166 men and no women.

The International Olympic Committee forbids discrimination with regard to sex. But a member of the Saudi royal family sits on the IOC's 110-member committee.

Director of the Washington-based Institute for Gulf Affairs Ali al-Ahmed says the kingdom's stance against female participation is worse than South Africa's sports policies under apartheid. "Saudi women are not allowed to run, to play soccer, to do anything," al-Ahmed said.

FOX News Channel's Zachary Kenworthy contributed to this report.


See Political Grapevine Archive

ADVERTISEMENT

FOX NEWS VIDEOS



uASK|uREPORT

VIEWER VOTE

Which topic do you want debated on Friday's Lightning Round?

SUBMIT VOTE VIEW RESULTS

Blog Postings


  • Behind the Scenes with Bret 11/12/09
    Tonight on the Panel-- Mort Kondracke, Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer. Be sure to tune in tonight at 6pm EST to Special Report and vote in the "Your Choice Online" topic for tomorrow's Lightning Round on our website!

    read post
  • Behind the Scenes with Bret 11/11/09
    Happy Veterans Day-- and don't forget no online show tonight...thanks for watching and voteon the websitefor the 'Your Choice Online' Lightning Round Topic!

    read post
  • Behind the Scenes with Bret 11/10/09
    Today President and Mrs. Obamahailed the victims of the Fort Hood shooting as heroes saying, "nowords can fill the void that has been left." Tonight on the panel-- Steve Hayes, Mara Liasson and Charles Krauthammer--we will be discussing political correctness surrounding the Fort Hood shooting case and the health care bill.

    read post
twitter
ADVERTISEMENT