Sly Stallone has really hit the mark with this one. I was very nervous after seeing the trailers but am glad to report that the king of action is back. The action scenes are beyond anything ever seen before but still feel very real thanks to no cgi being used. The music is what I'd hoped for - using the same themes as the previous instalments although is a little understated. This is nothing like Die Hard 4.0 (which i also enjoyed) - it's just gone the other direction IE more raw and gritty. Sly has cleverly kept the dialogue to a minimum..but then again I always thought actions speak louder than words - NOW WATCH RAMBO'S ACTIONS!! It is a real shame however that Richard Crenna is no longer with us.Thursday, January 31, 2008
Rambo (2008)
Sly Stallone has really hit the mark with this one. I was very nervous after seeing the trailers but am glad to report that the king of action is back. The action scenes are beyond anything ever seen before but still feel very real thanks to no cgi being used. The music is what I'd hoped for - using the same themes as the previous instalments although is a little understated. This is nothing like Die Hard 4.0 (which i also enjoyed) - it's just gone the other direction IE more raw and gritty. Sly has cleverly kept the dialogue to a minimum..but then again I always thought actions speak louder than words - NOW WATCH RAMBO'S ACTIONS!! It is a real shame however that Richard Crenna is no longer with us.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The Condemned
The Condemned is a movie that kinda come out of the blue to me one day. I had stumbled across it on IMDb and became excited to see it because it seemed like quite an interesting concept. It seemed like a nice action flick - but WWE, the people behind the stupid horror flick "See No Evil", were making it so I was a bit cautious as to what the outcome would be. Surprisingly, this movie has taken me by surprise and I can say that it is a great, fun action movie with great fight scenes, a nice plot and a lot more. The plot revolves around 10 prisoners on death row (including Stone Cold "Steve Austin" himself and Vinnie Jones) who are sent to an island in the middle of nowhere to fight each other to the death as it is broadcast online, leaving one survivor who leaves the island with freedom and a cash prize. The plot is actually the main thing that attracted me to see the movie. It sounds like "Battle Royale", which is a great flick, so it was great to hear a familiar idea bought to the screen again. It's not a stupid plot like it might sound to some people, but it's just a simple one and a fun one which doesn't require much thinking. Most of the fight scenes in the movie are great, and there's plenty of fights, action and explosions going on non-stop throughout the movie. The first few fights I'll admit are the better ones, but the others are good enough too and still entertaining to watch. I feel that certain characters in the movie are killed off rather too quickly though and some seem to disappear for a while, and then sooner or later get killed off the next time we see them again. The character development is good, but I do feel like we could have spent a little bit more time with one or two of them - mainly the women actually. The cast is good too, and provide good performances. Wrestler Steve Austin doesn't give the best performance but he is good enough. I feel some of his lines weren't delivered too great, but he does make a good action hero and delivers some good fight sequences for us to witness. I'm not going to blame the guy though as he isn't a professional actor and could have easily given a horrible performance but he doesn't. Vinnie Jones is, well, Vinnie Jones - the same old Vinnie Jones with the accent, gritting of the teeth and tough face - and yet still gives a good performance. Tory Mussett, who I had only seen in the terrible Boogeyman, also gives a good performance and this time round has a character to work with. The others are good too, and there's not one performance in the movie that I could say was bad acting. While The Condemned could have gotten a higher rating from me if it had had a few better fights and a bit more screen time for some characters, it hardly has anything negative about it. It's a great action movie with lots of explosions, fights and action to keep you entertained. Don't let the fact that it is made by WWE put you off the movie, it's a great action movie and definitely worth checking out if you want a great action movie to watch.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The Bucket List
One of the most fun and uplifting films of the year, Rob Reiner's The Bucket List is also a likely contender for Academy Award nominations. Wonderfully sarcastic dialogue, poignant exchanges between excellently crafted characters, and an overall beautiful tale of mortality and morality, The Bucket List is an excellent opportunity for two of the greatest actors of our time to show off their inimitable techniques. Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman have a chemistry that will have you laughing until you cry and crying at the sight of something truly majestic.Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) is an incredibly wealthy hospital owner who firmly believes that he's running infirmaries instead of health spas, and therefore demands that each room contain two beds and two patients. When a twist of fate lands him in his own hospital, he's stuck sharing a room with Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman). Both men are dying of cancer, and the doctors give each of them only a few months left to live. The two slowly but surely realize how much they enjoy each other's company, so when Carter begins writing a "bucket list", Jack prompts him to see it through. The "bucket list" is a list of all the things both Edward and Carter would like to accomplish in their remaining months (before they kick the bucket) and with Cole's wealth, the two end up touring the world, skydiving and racecar driving. As their list of goals begins to come to an end, they realize how much they've truly lived just in the last few months alone, and how much their short friendship has impacted their lives.Jack Nicholson's performance is excellent as the curmudgeonly Ebenezer character that receives a change of heart and a change of view with Carter's friendship. Little character development is necessary as we have come to recognize Jack's style over the years. We're already familiar with his character and relate to him in much the same way we feel about all of his recent projects. He's attained a level of recognition that allows us to acknowledge him simply as Jack. Regardless of his role, he's still Jack, and he doesn't disappoint.The same can be said for Morgan Freeman who continues to play roles that accentuate his knack for worldly, wise and good-natured characters that can make us laugh and cry from moment to moment. Rarely do we see two actors work so well together – this odd couple appears to have been destined for these roles. The chemistry between these veterans is pleasantly refreshing, and because of it, The Bucket List is one of the most entertaining films of the year.Another aspect, which is a great credit to screenwriter Justin Zackham, is the dialogue, which is continually hilarious even while it borders on heartbreaking. Sarcasm and cynicism are proudly worn by Jack, and the conversations conducted between the two are never dull. Meaningful, affecting and downright funny, the script is amazingly well paced and flows more naturally than anything in recent memory.Nearly everything is likable about The Bucket List, except the tone of the film, which many awards voters and critics may feel is too repetitious of late. The film is uplifting and heartwarming, and while the conclusion strives for unpredictability, comparisons may be drawn to similarly crafted works. "Driving Miss Daisy" and "As Good as it Gets" are immediately brought to mind, especially because these include the same actors, although the morals of "A Christmas Carol" and "It's A Wonderful Life" are clearly beneath the surface of this feel-good comedy. Despite these comparisons, The Bucket List is wholesome entertainment that will certainly bring director Rob Reiner back into the spotlight, especially after his unpropitious previous project, "Rumor Has It…".
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
27 Dresses
On Thursday, December 27, my friends and I went to the sneak preview of "27 Dresses". At first, I wasn't excited to see it because I thought it would be just another cheesy romantic comedy, "chick-flick" if you will. I was wrong. "27 Dresses" was a romantic comedy everyone could enjoy. That's right! I said EVERYONE (including guys).
Katherine Heigl is great in the film as Jane, the optimistic bridesmaid who wants a shot of love for herself someday and feels the the 27 bridesmaid dresses she keeps in her closet is a calling that its time for her to get a dress of a different kind.
Judy Greer, who's always "the best friend" in the movies, is very comical and sassy as Katherine's friend Casey. At least she knows what she wants, but she's very compassionate and supportive to Jane throughout the film.
One person, though, that I think stood out in this film, was James Marsden. I've always seen him in action movies ("X-Men" series and "Superman Returns) as a minor or supporting character, but I think that he made the male lead of Kevin his own. Although he gets on Jane's nerves half the time, he always tends to put on a smile on her face because she knows that he's trying to get her to let go of the past and move on to a possible future where her big day might come. Kevin's the guy you would want to confide in if something's troubling you or if you need to dance to an Elton John song to get your groove back.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Cloverfield
There was so much hype for this movie that you didn't need to know what it was about to see it. I'm sure many viewers this weekend are going to not know anything about the movie, just know that it's called Cloverfield and it was produced by JJ Abrams. I would think the movie wouldn't be as enthralling for someone who doesn't know much about it compared to someone who has been following message board posts for months, but I don't think it should matter.
So, let's begin. Cloverfield. The general plot of the movie is a home-made movie about a mans going away party that turns into a first person action thriller about a "monster" terrorizing the city. Well, I'm intrigued. I have been waiting for this movie for awhile since nothing exciting has come out recently. Everyone talking about the movie only made it more anticipated, so going into it I had high expectations. To be completely honest, I am satisfied. Shocked? Cloverfield is a movie like nothing I've seen before. I am sure this movie is based upon a few other films, but I haven't seen them. First of all, no it is not Godzilla. Second, I didn't get a chance to see Blair Witch Project so the first person thing was new to me. I know, I know. This however is what Made this movie what it is. It made you feel like you were in the action, on the streets running in fear alongside the citizens. It was freakin' sweet.
The action was intense, I expected nothing less from JJ. Once the movie got into motion with the city "earthquake" everything from then on was thrilling. I sat in the seat shaking in anticipation like I was sitting outside in the 20 degree weather; butterflies in my stomach for more than half the film. Awesome. The other part that was great was the sound and sights. It really felt like you were standing next to the soldiers shooting at the monster. And last but not least, the comedy... no seriously. There were many funny parts thanks to the cameraman. "Oh My God, you know Superman too? Geez I'm feeling a connection... have you heard of Garfield?". Classic.
Overall a solid, solid 9. Maybe a little high, but I thought the movie was amazing whether or not the ending was satisfying. No, I'm not telling you how it ends! To me, it was good though because it ended the film on a good note... yet kept the suspense and questions flowing. Also, no monster tips from me... I want you to be awaiting "its" face. Very good work, except on the title... what does Cloverfield have to do with it?
90 minute flick, so why not. Action/Thriller fans will love it; so go see it!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
U.S. Sees Stalling by North Korea on Nuclear Pact
WASHINGTON — A debate is under way within the Bush administration over how long it can exercise patience with North Korea without jeopardizing the fulfillment of a nuclear agreement that President Bush has claimed as a foreign policy victory.
With North Korea sending signals that it may be trying to wait out Mr. Bush’s time in office before making any more concessions, administration officials are grappling with how the United States should react.
The debate has fractured along familiar lines, with a handful of national security hawks in Vice President Dick Cheney’s office and at the State Department arguing for a more confrontational approach with Pyongyang.
On the other side, Mr. Bush’s lead North Korea nuclear negotiator, Christopher R. Hill, has argued that the United States should continue a more restrained approach, one that is widely credited with bringing about an agreement last year that is intended eventually to lead to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
While the restrained stance still appears to have support from Mr. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, it is coming under fire from conservative critics, both in and out of the administration.
In a public departure from administration policy, Jay Lefkowitz, a conservative lawyer who is Mr. Bush’s envoy on North Korean human rights, said this week the North would likely “remain in its present nuclear status” when the next president took over in January 2009.
“North Korea is not serious about disarming in a timely manner,” Mr. Lefkowitz told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. “We should consider a new approach to North Korea.”
At issue is a declaration that North Korea was supposed to make by the end of last year formally stating everything in its nuclear inventory. When the North missed that deadline, administration officials initially sought to minimize the significance of the lapse, but they have expressed increasing concern in the wake of a North Korean statement on Jan. 4, in which the North insisted that it had already disclosed everything that it needed to.
The North has cited a list of nuclear programs that it provided in November, but the United States has rejected the list as incomplete.
“Some people make the argument that we’re just pursuing a policy of talks that go nowhere,” said one administration official with knowledge of the debate within the administration.
John R. Bolton, the former United States ambassador to the United Nations, argued in a Wall Street Journal op-ed article last week that the Bush administration should dump the nuclear pact with North Korea because, he said, Pyongyang was not interested in giving up its nuclear program. “They’re in the classic North Korean role of deception,” Mr. Bolton said in an interview. “It’s like groundhog day; we’ve lived through this before.”
Mr. Bush said the two countries needed to resolve three sticking points: the number of warheads that North Korea has built; the amount of weapons-grade nuclear material produced by North Korea; and the need for North Korea to disclose that it has passed nuclear material to others.
The proliferation issue has taken on new importance after an Israeli strike in Syria in September, which American and Israeli officials said was conducted against a nuclear facility near the Euphrates River that was supplied with material from North Korea. Administration officials want North Korea to disclose what help it may have given Syria, although they also say that the help came before the North agreed to dismantle its nuclear reactor and disclose its nuclear programs.
Mr. Bolton and other critics of the agreement, including the officials in Mr. Cheney’s office, never liked the pact to begin with, and advocates of the deal with North Korea say their second-guessing is expected.
They argue that the Bush administration’s previous confrontational strategy with North Korea is part of what led to the North’s detonation of a nuclear device in October 2006.
Besides the United States and North Korea, the other parties to the nuclear pact include China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.
“People lambaste the six-party process, and sure, it offers no refuge for those in need of instant gratification,” Mr. Hill, the negotiator, said in an interview. “But when asked for alternatives” to the nuclear pact, Mr. Hill said, “even the noisiest critics fall silent.”
Administration officials say that the North has remained true to one part of the October agreement: It has made great strides in disabling and dismantling its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon. “Bush can say, with credit, that he has achieved more than any other administration as far as dismantlement,” said Gary Samore, a vice president at the Council on Foreign Relations who helped negotiate the Clinton administration’s 1994 agreement with North Korea. “He can say that he managed to freeze further production, and handed the next administration a diplomatic process.”
But Bush administration officials say that they want more than just dismantlement on their record, and insist that they have not written off their chances of getting North Korea to make a complete declaration of its nuclear programs before the end of the administration.
Bush officials say they will not ultimately be able to verify that North Korea has got rid of its nuclear weapons program unless they first know what is in the program.
“The issue of the declaration is important because that which they declare must later be abandoned,” a senior administration official said.
The official, who asked that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue, said that the administration really wanted North Korea to provide an explanation for purchasing aluminum tubes that could be used to convert uranium gas into nuclear fuel.
In its Jan. 4 statement, North Korea accused the United States and the other countries in the six-party talks of reneging on promises made under an October deal, including the shipment of one million tons of fuel and the removal of North Korea from the United States’ list of states that sponsored terrorism.
So far, North Korea has received about 150,000 tons of fuel, and Bush administration officials say the removal of the North from the terrorism list will depend on whether it meets the requirements of the October deal.
North Korea agreed in October to dismantle its nuclear facilities and to disclose all of its past and present nuclear programs by the end of 2007 in return for 950,000 metric tons of fuel oil or its equivalent in economic aid. Last month, Mr. Bush reached out directly for the first time to the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, holding out the prospect of normalized relations with the United States if North Korea fully disclosed all nuclear programs and got rid of its nuclear weapons.
With North Korea sending signals that it may be trying to wait out Mr. Bush’s time in office before making any more concessions, administration officials are grappling with how the United States should react.
The debate has fractured along familiar lines, with a handful of national security hawks in Vice President Dick Cheney’s office and at the State Department arguing for a more confrontational approach with Pyongyang.
On the other side, Mr. Bush’s lead North Korea nuclear negotiator, Christopher R. Hill, has argued that the United States should continue a more restrained approach, one that is widely credited with bringing about an agreement last year that is intended eventually to lead to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
While the restrained stance still appears to have support from Mr. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, it is coming under fire from conservative critics, both in and out of the administration.
In a public departure from administration policy, Jay Lefkowitz, a conservative lawyer who is Mr. Bush’s envoy on North Korean human rights, said this week the North would likely “remain in its present nuclear status” when the next president took over in January 2009.
“North Korea is not serious about disarming in a timely manner,” Mr. Lefkowitz told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. “We should consider a new approach to North Korea.”
At issue is a declaration that North Korea was supposed to make by the end of last year formally stating everything in its nuclear inventory. When the North missed that deadline, administration officials initially sought to minimize the significance of the lapse, but they have expressed increasing concern in the wake of a North Korean statement on Jan. 4, in which the North insisted that it had already disclosed everything that it needed to.
The North has cited a list of nuclear programs that it provided in November, but the United States has rejected the list as incomplete.
“Some people make the argument that we’re just pursuing a policy of talks that go nowhere,” said one administration official with knowledge of the debate within the administration.
John R. Bolton, the former United States ambassador to the United Nations, argued in a Wall Street Journal op-ed article last week that the Bush administration should dump the nuclear pact with North Korea because, he said, Pyongyang was not interested in giving up its nuclear program. “They’re in the classic North Korean role of deception,” Mr. Bolton said in an interview. “It’s like groundhog day; we’ve lived through this before.”
Mr. Bush said the two countries needed to resolve three sticking points: the number of warheads that North Korea has built; the amount of weapons-grade nuclear material produced by North Korea; and the need for North Korea to disclose that it has passed nuclear material to others.
The proliferation issue has taken on new importance after an Israeli strike in Syria in September, which American and Israeli officials said was conducted against a nuclear facility near the Euphrates River that was supplied with material from North Korea. Administration officials want North Korea to disclose what help it may have given Syria, although they also say that the help came before the North agreed to dismantle its nuclear reactor and disclose its nuclear programs.
Mr. Bolton and other critics of the agreement, including the officials in Mr. Cheney’s office, never liked the pact to begin with, and advocates of the deal with North Korea say their second-guessing is expected.
They argue that the Bush administration’s previous confrontational strategy with North Korea is part of what led to the North’s detonation of a nuclear device in October 2006.
Besides the United States and North Korea, the other parties to the nuclear pact include China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.
“People lambaste the six-party process, and sure, it offers no refuge for those in need of instant gratification,” Mr. Hill, the negotiator, said in an interview. “But when asked for alternatives” to the nuclear pact, Mr. Hill said, “even the noisiest critics fall silent.”
Administration officials say that the North has remained true to one part of the October agreement: It has made great strides in disabling and dismantling its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon. “Bush can say, with credit, that he has achieved more than any other administration as far as dismantlement,” said Gary Samore, a vice president at the Council on Foreign Relations who helped negotiate the Clinton administration’s 1994 agreement with North Korea. “He can say that he managed to freeze further production, and handed the next administration a diplomatic process.”
But Bush administration officials say that they want more than just dismantlement on their record, and insist that they have not written off their chances of getting North Korea to make a complete declaration of its nuclear programs before the end of the administration.
Bush officials say they will not ultimately be able to verify that North Korea has got rid of its nuclear weapons program unless they first know what is in the program.
“The issue of the declaration is important because that which they declare must later be abandoned,” a senior administration official said.
The official, who asked that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue, said that the administration really wanted North Korea to provide an explanation for purchasing aluminum tubes that could be used to convert uranium gas into nuclear fuel.
In its Jan. 4 statement, North Korea accused the United States and the other countries in the six-party talks of reneging on promises made under an October deal, including the shipment of one million tons of fuel and the removal of North Korea from the United States’ list of states that sponsored terrorism.
So far, North Korea has received about 150,000 tons of fuel, and Bush administration officials say the removal of the North from the terrorism list will depend on whether it meets the requirements of the October deal.
North Korea agreed in October to dismantle its nuclear facilities and to disclose all of its past and present nuclear programs by the end of 2007 in return for 950,000 metric tons of fuel oil or its equivalent in economic aid. Last month, Mr. Bush reached out directly for the first time to the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, holding out the prospect of normalized relations with the United States if North Korea fully disclosed all nuclear programs and got rid of its nuclear weapons.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Iran president says Bush confrontational
CAIRO, Egypt - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that President Bush sent a "message of confrontation" during his recent Mideast trip. Bush spent much of his visit to the region, which he wrapped up on Wednesday, rallying support among Arab allies for a strong stance against Iran — calling the country the world's top sponsor of terrorism.
"President George Bush sent a message to the Iranian people and all the nations worldwide," said Ahmadinejad during an interview in Farsi with Al-Jazeera television. "This message reflects his own conceptions and it is a message of rift, a message of sowing the seeds of division. It is a message of confrontation demeaning the dignity of mankind."
The Iranian president said Bush's statements were made for domestic political reasons.
"They are in need of these statements for their presidential race," said Ahmadinejad. "However, these statements increase the sentiment of resentment of the Iranian people against the U.S. officials."
Ahmadinejad also lashed out at Israel, a key U.S. ally in the Mideast, saying the country was "rapidly doomed to collapse."
"All these nations believe they (the Israelis) are a murderous group carrying arms and trying through threats to change their image," said Ahmadinejad.
Israel on Thursday successfully tested a new long-range missile, said senior defense officials speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the project. Israeli radio reports indicated the missiles are capable of being armed with nuclear warheads.
Ahmadinejad dismissed the missile test, saying Israel "lacks the courage to launch any attack against the Iranian state."
"They are aware that any attempt or strike will be confronted by a very strong response," added the Iranian president.
Tensions between Iran and both Israel and the U.S. have remained high over Tehran's controversial nuclear activities. The U.S. and Israel claim Iran's program could be a pathway to nuclear weapons development, but Tehran insists its intentions are peaceful.
"They would like to deceive our people alleging that the nuclear capability would amount to a nuclear weapon," said Ahmadinejad on Thursday.
U.S. attempts to keep up international pressure against Iran were complicated by a December intelligence report saying Iran suspended its weapons development program in 2003 and has not restarted it.
Bush used his first major Mideast trip to stress to Arab allies that Iran's continued uranium enrichment — a process that can produce fuel for a nuclear reactor or fissile material for a bomb — still posed a threat to the region.
The U.N. Security Council has passed two sets of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend enrichment. Germany and the five permanent Security Council members plan to meet Tuesday in Berlin for talks that diplomats say will include attempts to finalize a third set of sanctions.
Ahmadinejad said the U.N. Security Council had no legal justification for focusing on Iran's nuclear program, claiming their sanctions were based on false information.
"If we pay close attention today, it is opportune time for the U.N. Security Council to rectify their false statements," he said.
The Iranian president said his country's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency meant that the IAEA should be the only U.N. body with jurisdiction over the nuclear issue.
In November, an IAEA report said Iran had been generally truthful about key aspects of its nuclear history, but warned that its knowledge of Tehran's present nuclear work was shrinking.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Campaign attention shifts to S.C., Nev.
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Republican presidential contenders focused their energies on South Carolina's GOP primary just four days off with still no clear front-runner after a critical Michigan victory for Mitt Romney and with John McCain facing what could be a make-or-break battle.
Democratic candidates vied for support ahead of Nevada's caucuses, also this Saturday, after a toned-down campaign debate in which rivals Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama pledged to try to tamp down arguments between their respective camps over race. The Democratic contest also lacks a clear-cut leader.
McCain, who has perhaps the most at stake in South Carolina, wasted no time getting here. He arrived before the polls closed in Michigan.
The Arizona senator, who had been leading in national polls after winning last week's New Hampshire primary, vowed to fight on and predicted he would prevail here this time in the state that derailed his candidacy eight years ago.
"For a minute there in New Hampshire, I thought this campaign might be getting easier. But you know what? We've gotten pretty good at doing things the hard way, too," McCain told South Carolina supporters. "I think we've shown them we don't mind a fight."
The GOP race is scrambled, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee having won the Iowa caucuses, McCain in New Hampshire and now Romney in Michigan.
In an interview with The Associated Press, as well as in his comments to supporters, McCain emphasized Romney's ties to Michigan. He grew up there and his father, George Romney, was an auto company executive and a popular governor.
"I congratulate him on that Michigan welcomed their native son with their support," the Arizona senator said in the interview.
For his part, Romney got off what appeared to be a gentle dig at McCain, calling his Michigan win "a victory of optimism over Washington-style pessimism." McCain said he didn't know what the former Massachusetts governor had in mind.
In Michigan, Romney had 39 percent of the vote, McCain had 30 percent and Huckabee 16 percent. No other Republican fared better than single digits.
All the major Republican candidates were campaigning on Wednesday in South Carolina.
McCain is hopeful for a strong showing in South Carolina, where his military background should provide a big help, and he needs to show that he's competitive in the South.
But South Carolina has been a disappointment for him in the past. In 2000, he won the New Hampshire primary only to see his campaign run into a wall in South Carolina, where George W. Bush emerged victorious and went on to wrap up the GOP nomination.
Also, among his rivals this time are two Southerners — Huckabee and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson. For Thompson's lagging campaign, the South Carolina race may be a last stand.
Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, is counting on support among South Carolina's evangelicals.
"It looks like I won Iowa, John McCain won New Hampshire, Mitt Romney won Michigan. But ladies and gentlemen, we're going to win South Carolina," Huckabee said. Like McCain, Huckabee was already campaigning in the next primary state and predicted in Lexington, S.C., that he would "put a flag in the ground here Saturday."
The three top Democratic candidates — Clinton, Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards — were locked in a tight battle in Nevada. All three were beginning their day with campaign events in the state.
In their televised debate on Tuesday night, Clinton and Obama sought to defuse recent controversies over race, including comments by the former first lady on President Lyndon Johnson's role in winning approval of civil rights legislation in the 1960s, comments that some of Obama's backers suggested belittled the role of Martin Luther King Jr.
They jointly pledged on the slain civil rights leader's birthday to put the matter behind them. Obama is seeking to become the nation's first black president.
There were some limits to cordiality at the Democratic debate, however.
Asked whether Edwards and Obama were prepared to sit in the White House, Clinton said "that's what the voters have to decide."
Clinton won the Democratic primary in Michigan, but her victory was essentially meaningless since the contest was held in violation of party rules and major Democratic candidates did not campaign there.
On the Democratic side, Obama won the kickoff Iowa caucuses but Clinton came back with a narrow victory in the New Hampshire primary, defying polls.
After the Saturday caucuses for both parties in Nevada and the GOP primary in South Carolina, attention turns to the Democratic primary in South Carolina on Jan. 26 and then the Florida primary on Jan. 29, where Rudy Giuliani hopes to spring into the race as a top contender.
The former New York mayor got only 3 percent of the Michigan vote, trailing Thompson and Texas Rep. Ron Paul as well as the top three, and he hasn't fared better than fourth in any of the states so far.
After that, come the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests in 22 states.
Democratic candidates vied for support ahead of Nevada's caucuses, also this Saturday, after a toned-down campaign debate in which rivals Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama pledged to try to tamp down arguments between their respective camps over race. The Democratic contest also lacks a clear-cut leader.
McCain, who has perhaps the most at stake in South Carolina, wasted no time getting here. He arrived before the polls closed in Michigan.
The Arizona senator, who had been leading in national polls after winning last week's New Hampshire primary, vowed to fight on and predicted he would prevail here this time in the state that derailed his candidacy eight years ago.
"For a minute there in New Hampshire, I thought this campaign might be getting easier. But you know what? We've gotten pretty good at doing things the hard way, too," McCain told South Carolina supporters. "I think we've shown them we don't mind a fight."
The GOP race is scrambled, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee having won the Iowa caucuses, McCain in New Hampshire and now Romney in Michigan.
In an interview with The Associated Press, as well as in his comments to supporters, McCain emphasized Romney's ties to Michigan. He grew up there and his father, George Romney, was an auto company executive and a popular governor.
"I congratulate him on that Michigan welcomed their native son with their support," the Arizona senator said in the interview.
For his part, Romney got off what appeared to be a gentle dig at McCain, calling his Michigan win "a victory of optimism over Washington-style pessimism." McCain said he didn't know what the former Massachusetts governor had in mind.
In Michigan, Romney had 39 percent of the vote, McCain had 30 percent and Huckabee 16 percent. No other Republican fared better than single digits.
All the major Republican candidates were campaigning on Wednesday in South Carolina.
McCain is hopeful for a strong showing in South Carolina, where his military background should provide a big help, and he needs to show that he's competitive in the South.
But South Carolina has been a disappointment for him in the past. In 2000, he won the New Hampshire primary only to see his campaign run into a wall in South Carolina, where George W. Bush emerged victorious and went on to wrap up the GOP nomination.
Also, among his rivals this time are two Southerners — Huckabee and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson. For Thompson's lagging campaign, the South Carolina race may be a last stand.
Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, is counting on support among South Carolina's evangelicals.
"It looks like I won Iowa, John McCain won New Hampshire, Mitt Romney won Michigan. But ladies and gentlemen, we're going to win South Carolina," Huckabee said. Like McCain, Huckabee was already campaigning in the next primary state and predicted in Lexington, S.C., that he would "put a flag in the ground here Saturday."
The three top Democratic candidates — Clinton, Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards — were locked in a tight battle in Nevada. All three were beginning their day with campaign events in the state.
In their televised debate on Tuesday night, Clinton and Obama sought to defuse recent controversies over race, including comments by the former first lady on President Lyndon Johnson's role in winning approval of civil rights legislation in the 1960s, comments that some of Obama's backers suggested belittled the role of Martin Luther King Jr.
They jointly pledged on the slain civil rights leader's birthday to put the matter behind them. Obama is seeking to become the nation's first black president.
There were some limits to cordiality at the Democratic debate, however.
Asked whether Edwards and Obama were prepared to sit in the White House, Clinton said "that's what the voters have to decide."
Clinton won the Democratic primary in Michigan, but her victory was essentially meaningless since the contest was held in violation of party rules and major Democratic candidates did not campaign there.
On the Democratic side, Obama won the kickoff Iowa caucuses but Clinton came back with a narrow victory in the New Hampshire primary, defying polls.
After the Saturday caucuses for both parties in Nevada and the GOP primary in South Carolina, attention turns to the Democratic primary in South Carolina on Jan. 26 and then the Florida primary on Jan. 29, where Rudy Giuliani hopes to spring into the race as a top contender.
The former New York mayor got only 3 percent of the Michigan vote, trailing Thompson and Texas Rep. Ron Paul as well as the top three, and he hasn't fared better than fourth in any of the states so far.
After that, come the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests in 22 states.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Bush insists Iran biggest terror sponsor
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - President Bush gently nudged authoritarian Arab allies Sunday to satisfy frustrated desires for democracy in the Mideast and saved his harshest criticism for Iran, branding it "the world's leading state-sponsor of terror."
Speaking in this Persian Gulf country, about 150 miles from the shores of Iran, Bush said Tehran threatens nations everywhere and that the United States was "rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it is too late."
The warning about Iran was much tougher than Bush's admonition about spreading democracy in the Middle East, which had been billed as the central theme of his speech.
In a region of autocratic rulers, Bush did not single out any country for criticism. He spoke about democracy in a deeply undemocratic country, the United Arab Emirates, where an elite of royal rulers makes virtually all the decisions. Large numbers of foreign resident workers have few legal or human rights, including no right to protest working conditions.
"To the people of the Middle East: We hear your cries for justice," Bush said. "We share your desire for a free and prosperous future. And as you struggle to find your voice and make your way in this world, the United States will stand with you."
Usually averse to sightseeing, Bush rode out into the sand dunes to the desert encampment of Abu Dhabi's crown prince, Sheik Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He let Bush hold one of his prize falcons. Later, Bush returned to his suite in the opulent Emirates Palace Hotel, constructed at a cost of more than $3 billion and reputed to be the most expensive hotel ever built.
The next stop scheduled on Bush's eight-day Mideast journey was Saudi Arabia. Its ruler, King Abdullah, has tried to push some reforms on education and women's rights, and there have been limited municipal council elections. But he has been cautious and limited in his efforts, apparently hampered by others in the royal family worried that fast changes could upset the country's conservative clerics and citizens.
In Egypt, the last country Bush planned to visit, the democracy effort has stalled badly. The opposition candidate, Ayman Nour, who ran against longtime President Hosni Mubarak in the first multiparty elections, remains jailed on what many critics view as trumped-up criminal fraud charges.
Apparently referring to Egypt, Bush said, "Unfortunately, amid some steps forward in this region we've also seen some setbacks. You cannot build trust when you hold an election where opposition candidates find themselves harassed or in prison."
Bush cast the broader campaign for democracy in terms of the battle against terrorism, saying there was a desire for freedom from terrorism, oppression and injustice. "We see this desire in the ordinary people across the Middle East, who are sick of violence, who are sick of corruption, sick of empty promises — and who choose a free future whenever they are given a chance."
Bush praised some democratic reforms in Arab countries. He urged leaders to show support for the fragile Iraqi government, open their societies and provide backing, and possible money, to help make an Israeli-Palestinian agreement stick.
"Leaders on both sides still have many tough decisions ahead, and they will need to back these decisions with real commitments," Bush said. "But the time has come for a holy land where Palestinians and Israelis live together in peace."
Bush's blistering words about Iran appeared intended to reassure Arab allies about U.S. readiness to confront Tehran. There have been doubts about Washington's intentions because of a new U.S. intelligence report that said Iran had stopped pursuing nuclear weapons in 2003.
Bush appeared to put the danger posed by Iran on par with that from al-Qaida, which the U.S. national intelligence director, Mike McConnell has said is America's greatest threat.
"One cause of instability is the extremists supported and embodied by the regime that sits in Tehran," Bush said. "Iran is today the world's leading state sponsor of terror.
Bush said Iran funds militant groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad and sends arms to the Taliban in Afghanistan and Shiite extremists in Iraq. "The other major cause of instability is the extremists embodied by al-Qaida and its affiliates," he said.
His words brought a stern response from Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, to end what he called U.S. meddling.
"Mr. Bush has tried unsuccessfully to undermine our relations with the countries of the region. We believe his mission has totally failed. We have making strides in building ties with the region, politically, economically and even in security," Mottaki told the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television. "It is much better if the Americans had stopped intervening in the region's affair."
Also Sunday, the U.S. focused new attention on the Jan. 6 confrontation between American and Iranian naval vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, commander of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which patrols the Gulf, briefed Bush on the incident before the president left Bahrain on Sunday morning.
Cosgriff told Bush that he took it "deadly seriously" when an Iranian fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up a three-ship U.S. Navy convoy passing near Iranian waters. The Iranian naval forces vanished as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said that "all the military people remember what happened in the past, such as the USS Cole." Seventeen American sailors were killed in a terrorist attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000.
Speaking in this Persian Gulf country, about 150 miles from the shores of Iran, Bush said Tehran threatens nations everywhere and that the United States was "rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it is too late."
The warning about Iran was much tougher than Bush's admonition about spreading democracy in the Middle East, which had been billed as the central theme of his speech.
In a region of autocratic rulers, Bush did not single out any country for criticism. He spoke about democracy in a deeply undemocratic country, the United Arab Emirates, where an elite of royal rulers makes virtually all the decisions. Large numbers of foreign resident workers have few legal or human rights, including no right to protest working conditions.
"To the people of the Middle East: We hear your cries for justice," Bush said. "We share your desire for a free and prosperous future. And as you struggle to find your voice and make your way in this world, the United States will stand with you."
Usually averse to sightseeing, Bush rode out into the sand dunes to the desert encampment of Abu Dhabi's crown prince, Sheik Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He let Bush hold one of his prize falcons. Later, Bush returned to his suite in the opulent Emirates Palace Hotel, constructed at a cost of more than $3 billion and reputed to be the most expensive hotel ever built.
The next stop scheduled on Bush's eight-day Mideast journey was Saudi Arabia. Its ruler, King Abdullah, has tried to push some reforms on education and women's rights, and there have been limited municipal council elections. But he has been cautious and limited in his efforts, apparently hampered by others in the royal family worried that fast changes could upset the country's conservative clerics and citizens.
In Egypt, the last country Bush planned to visit, the democracy effort has stalled badly. The opposition candidate, Ayman Nour, who ran against longtime President Hosni Mubarak in the first multiparty elections, remains jailed on what many critics view as trumped-up criminal fraud charges.
Apparently referring to Egypt, Bush said, "Unfortunately, amid some steps forward in this region we've also seen some setbacks. You cannot build trust when you hold an election where opposition candidates find themselves harassed or in prison."
Bush cast the broader campaign for democracy in terms of the battle against terrorism, saying there was a desire for freedom from terrorism, oppression and injustice. "We see this desire in the ordinary people across the Middle East, who are sick of violence, who are sick of corruption, sick of empty promises — and who choose a free future whenever they are given a chance."
Bush praised some democratic reforms in Arab countries. He urged leaders to show support for the fragile Iraqi government, open their societies and provide backing, and possible money, to help make an Israeli-Palestinian agreement stick.
"Leaders on both sides still have many tough decisions ahead, and they will need to back these decisions with real commitments," Bush said. "But the time has come for a holy land where Palestinians and Israelis live together in peace."
Bush's blistering words about Iran appeared intended to reassure Arab allies about U.S. readiness to confront Tehran. There have been doubts about Washington's intentions because of a new U.S. intelligence report that said Iran had stopped pursuing nuclear weapons in 2003.
Bush appeared to put the danger posed by Iran on par with that from al-Qaida, which the U.S. national intelligence director, Mike McConnell has said is America's greatest threat.
"One cause of instability is the extremists supported and embodied by the regime that sits in Tehran," Bush said. "Iran is today the world's leading state sponsor of terror.
Bush said Iran funds militant groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad and sends arms to the Taliban in Afghanistan and Shiite extremists in Iraq. "The other major cause of instability is the extremists embodied by al-Qaida and its affiliates," he said.
His words brought a stern response from Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, to end what he called U.S. meddling.
"Mr. Bush has tried unsuccessfully to undermine our relations with the countries of the region. We believe his mission has totally failed. We have making strides in building ties with the region, politically, economically and even in security," Mottaki told the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television. "It is much better if the Americans had stopped intervening in the region's affair."
Also Sunday, the U.S. focused new attention on the Jan. 6 confrontation between American and Iranian naval vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, commander of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which patrols the Gulf, briefed Bush on the incident before the president left Bahrain on Sunday morning.
Cosgriff told Bush that he took it "deadly seriously" when an Iranian fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up a three-ship U.S. Navy convoy passing near Iranian waters. The Iranian naval forces vanished as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said that "all the military people remember what happened in the past, such as the USS Cole." Seventeen American sailors were killed in a terrorist attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Odd but awesome gadgets from CES
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- It probably goes without saying that no one actually needs a dancing MP3 player or a music-playing Taser holster or a drink cooler that can be ridden like a scooter.But some vendors at the International Consumer Electronics Show are betting that people will actually want these things.
Alongside gadgets representing the highest of high technology, CES this week showcased a great collection of offbeat items.
Some might even turn out to be blockbusters. Others, if they're lucky, will nestle into an ignored corner of the SkyMall catalog.
Sony Corp.'s Rolly is something that could only come out of Japan, where cuteness is a cult.
The Rolly is an MP3 player the size and shape of a turkey egg. It rolls and spins around on the floor and blasts music out of two built-in stereo speakers, while flapping two speaker lids like it's a cancan dancer with folding fans. Pulsing multicolored diodes complete the sensory experience.
The Rolly was released in Japan in September, and Sony announced at CES that it would sell it in the U.S. It didn't reveal the price -- it costs about $350 in Japan.
The Rolly will improvise moves based on the music, but users can override that and choreograph their own steps on a PC, then transfer them to the device. The Japanese have Rolly dance-offs, according to Sony's Paul Digiovanna.
The Rolly has 2 gigabytes of flash memory and the rechargeable battery will keep it jamming for five hours straight.
Recommended listening: Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven," Beastie Boys' "Egg Man."
At Taser International Inc.'s booth, it was easy to forget that the company sells a weapon.
The company featured an abundance of femininity. Four Playboy Playmates signed autographs. Then there were new stun gun models in "Fashion Pink" and a leopard print scheme. The leopard one costs $379, while regular Tasers cost $349.
A fitting accessory for the leopard-print Taser is the music player holster, which clips a Taser to a belt and plays digital music.
Recommended listening: Aerosmith's "Lightning Strikes" and, of course, any number of "Don't Tase Me, Bro!" remixes.
Gibson Guitar Corp.'s Robot Guitar is not a guitar for robots. Nor is it a guitar that plays itself. Why let robots have all the fun?
Like a good robot, the Robot Guitar takes care of the boring part of being a guitarist: the tuning. Tiny motors are connected to a guitar's tuning screws. Pull out a master control knob, strum the strings, and the screws start turning themselves. In seconds, the guitar is in tune. It's also easy to switch between tunings.
A rechargeable battery in the body is good for 250 tunings, according to Gibson's Aljon Go. The guitar, "manufactured by human hands in Nashville, Tennessee," lists for $2,499. Retrofit kits will be available for older Gibson guitars.
Recommended listening: Daft Punk's "Robot Rock" and The Beatles' "While My (Non-robotic) Guitar Gently Weeps."
CES exhibitors love combinations, which is why there are MP3 players in everything. Liquid Image LLC found a new place to stash a camera: a swimming mask.
It can take video or still images; it's $99 for the 5-megapixel version and $79 for 3.1 megapixels.
Underwater cameras have existed before, but swimmers have had to hold them. Liquid Image squeezed its camera into the mask by skipping the viewfinder. The two buttons for operating the camera are just above the eyepiece on the right.
It's not yet rugged enough to go deep with scuba divers, though: Liquid Image recommends going no more than 16 feet under water.
Filip Ivanovski believes people shooting hoops in the driveway or playing football in the park have two main needs: to listen to music and to keep score.
So the Canadian developed the $199 Versus Scoreboard, which looks like a small stadium scoreboard, showing points, period and time remaining, on top of a MP3-playing boombox.
Big buttons make it easy for players to run over and quickly adjust the score.
What's the point of relaxing at the lake or campground if you get sore lugging a packed cooler of drinks? That's where the $499 Cruzin Cooler comes in.
"It's the world's first motorized, rideable ice chest," said Charles Pennington, director of national retail accounts for Cruzin Cooler LLC.
The Cruzin Cooler comes with a padded seat for the rider and an electric or gas motor. It can hold 27 12-ounce cans, but you can pack more in a $149 trailer cooler that hooks onto the motorized lead cooler. You supply your own ice.
An ice chest/scooter looked totally out of place at the electronics show. But Pennington noted that the product actually is ridiculous in any setting -- which is why people want it. The company has sold 40,000, he said.
Two of the coolers' specs caught our attention. One is that the driver can weigh up to 300 pounds. The other is how fast the Cruzin Cooler can cruise.
Marion Jones Sentenced to Six Months in Prison
WHITE PLAINS — Marion Jones, the track and field star who pleaded guilty in October to lying to federal agents about her use of performance-enhancing drugs and her connection to a check-fraud case, was sentenced to six months in prison at the United States District Court here on Friday.
The federal sentencing guidelines recommended Jones face anywhere from zero to six months in prison for her offenses. The maximum she could have faced was five years.
In court filings leading up to the sentencing, prosecutors asked United States District Judge Kenneth M. Karras to give Jones six months in prison; Jones’s lawyers said probation was enough.
At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Jones won three gold and two bronze medals, and until her admission about her drug use in Oct., had publicly insisted she never used performance-enhancing drugs.
It was not Jones lying about drug use that forced her to accept plea deals from the government.
Jones’s pleas were triggered by her involvement in the bank-fraud scheme. Prosecutors for the United States attorneys office in the Southern District of New York have said they had ample evidence, including Jones’s signature on the $25,000 check and the testimony of other defendants in the case, many of whom have already pleaded guilty.
The strength of the government’s evidence in that case was used to persuade Jones to plead guilty to the false statements to federal prosecutors in the Northern District of California, which has been leading the investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative for the past five years.
Jones admitted in court that from September 2000 until July 2001, her former trainer Trevor Graham gave her a substance he told her was flaxseed oil.
When she stopped training with him in 2001, she said she realized it had been a performance-enhancing drug. By the time she was interviewed in the Balco investigation in November 2003, Jones said, she knew it was the designer steroid THG, known as the clear. But she had denied recognizing the substance and denied taking it in that Balco interview.
After admitting to lying about her use of steroids, Jones relinquished the three gold and two bronze medals to the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
The International Olympic Committee is examining how to adjust the medal standings for more than 40 athletes who competed with and against Marion Jones at the 2000 Games.
The reallocation of medals is likely to be one of the largest that the I.O.C. has conducted because of the breadth of Jones’s accomplishments. She became the first woman to win five medals in track and field at the same Olympics.
Perhaps the biggest consequence of Jones’s pleas was the damage it did for Graham, who has repeatedly denied providing his athletes with performance-enhancing drugs.
If Jones is called to testify at Graham’s trial, she can no longer invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination because she waived that with her guilty plea.
When Jones plead in Oct., she stood on the steps of the courthouse here weeping while apologizing for lying and said she was retiring from track and field.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Housing Woes, AT&T News Sinks Stocks
Wall Street Plunges -- This Time, on Worries About Countrywide, AT&T, Pending Home Sales Drop
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street skidded lower in another fitful session Tuesday, with investors worried that the tumbling economy may not only cripple mortgage lenders like Countrywide Financial Corp. but also create problems for other companies like AT&T Inc. The Dow Jones industrials fell nearly 240 points.
Investors tried to take the market higher at many points during the day, but eventually succumbed to another stream of bad news. The Dow and the Standard & Poor's 500 index are down more than 5 percent so far this year and the Nasdaq composite index is down nearly 8 percent, having been pummeled since Jan. 1 due to worse-than-anticipated readings on the economy.
The day's events raised fears that fourth-quarter earnings reports, which start pouring in later this week, may not meet already lowered expectations.
In the morning, the National Association of Realtors said its index tracking pending U.S. home sales fell 2.6 percent in November, a larger decline than the market expected. Jitters about the profitability of Countrywide and KB Home kept Wall Street on edge throughout the day, and President Bush reiterating the problems facing the economy likely added to the market's uneasiness.
Many traders have bet recently that Countrywide might need to file for bankruptcy. Countrywide denied that rumor Tuesday, but its stock plunged 17 percent. Lehman Brothers said in a note that Countrywide's earnings power has declined severely, and The New York Times reported the company fabricated documents related to the bankruptcy case of a Pennsylvania homeowner.
Late in the day, the chief executive of AT&T said at a conference that the phone company was seeing some slowdown in its consumer businesses, though not in wireless. That was the last straw for the market, and sent stocks tumbling.
"Anything that talks of contagion spreading to the general economy ... will definitely spook the market," said Joseph V. Battipaglia, chief investment officer at Ryan Beck & Co., referring to the softness AT&T is seeing. "The Fed still has more work to do. They're clearly cutting rates into economic weakness, which to many means that they're somewhat behind the curve. And that's a concern for investors."
The day's abortive advance was due in part to rising hopes that the Federal Reserve, seeing the same bleak economic numbers as Wall Street, will continue its campaign of rate cuts to prevent a recession. The Fed meets Jan. 29-30.
The Dow fell 238.42, or 1.86 percent, to 12,589.07, after ratcheting up and down through the day.
Broader stock indicators also sank. The S&P 500 index dropped 25.99, or 1.84 percent, to 1,390.19, and the Nasdaq, reflecting uneasiness about tech stocks after AT&T's news, declined 58.95, or 2.36 percent, to 2,440.51.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.78 percent from 3.84 percent late Monday.
Recession fears have been thwarting stock rally attempts so far this year, said Richard Sparks, senior equities analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "It's difficult to balance the ability to cut rates to stave off a recession with the stated goal that the Fed has to not spur inflation. There's a question out there: Can the Fed do enough?"
Last week's Labor Department report showing a rise in unemployment to 5 percent and meager jobs growth suggested to Wall Street that it had been too confident last year in the economy's ability to shake off a sinking housing market. A disappointing uptick in the International Council for Shopping Centers' year-over-year chain store sales -- 1.9 percent, the smallest gain since June -- added to the downbeat mood.
Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said in a speech the central bank remains open to further rate reductions given the state of the economy, but that inflation remains a concern. Gold prices surpassed their 1980 levels and reached a record above $880 an ounce Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while crude prices resumed their climb, rising $1.24 to $96.33 a barrel.
The dollar fell against most rival currencies, except the yen.
Alcoa Inc. on Wednesday officially kicks off the fourth-quarter earnings season, which investors are pessimistic about.
"The picture doesn't look good right now and the fear is that what we saw through the economic data points last week will be carried through to corporate earnings," said Ryan Larson, senior equity trader with Voyageur Asset Management.
Countrywide fell $1.32, or 17.2 percent, to $6.32, while KB Home fell $1.70, or 9.2 percent, to $16.78.
AT&T fell $1.87, or 4.6 percent, to $39.16.
The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday that Bear Stearns Cos. chief executive James Cayne was planning to step down and remain chairman. The investment bank made no comment on the report Tuesday. Bear Stearns fell $5.08, or 6.7 percent, to $71.17.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by nearly 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 4.62 billion shares, up from 4.10 billion shares Monday.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 19.09, or 2.64 percent, to 704.86.
Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.19 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.25 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.33 percent, Germany's DAX index added 0.42 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.79 percent.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street skidded lower in another fitful session Tuesday, with investors worried that the tumbling economy may not only cripple mortgage lenders like Countrywide Financial Corp. but also create problems for other companies like AT&T Inc. The Dow Jones industrials fell nearly 240 points.
Investors tried to take the market higher at many points during the day, but eventually succumbed to another stream of bad news. The Dow and the Standard & Poor's 500 index are down more than 5 percent so far this year and the Nasdaq composite index is down nearly 8 percent, having been pummeled since Jan. 1 due to worse-than-anticipated readings on the economy.
The day's events raised fears that fourth-quarter earnings reports, which start pouring in later this week, may not meet already lowered expectations.
In the morning, the National Association of Realtors said its index tracking pending U.S. home sales fell 2.6 percent in November, a larger decline than the market expected. Jitters about the profitability of Countrywide and KB Home kept Wall Street on edge throughout the day, and President Bush reiterating the problems facing the economy likely added to the market's uneasiness.
Many traders have bet recently that Countrywide might need to file for bankruptcy. Countrywide denied that rumor Tuesday, but its stock plunged 17 percent. Lehman Brothers said in a note that Countrywide's earnings power has declined severely, and The New York Times reported the company fabricated documents related to the bankruptcy case of a Pennsylvania homeowner.
Late in the day, the chief executive of AT&T said at a conference that the phone company was seeing some slowdown in its consumer businesses, though not in wireless. That was the last straw for the market, and sent stocks tumbling.
"Anything that talks of contagion spreading to the general economy ... will definitely spook the market," said Joseph V. Battipaglia, chief investment officer at Ryan Beck & Co., referring to the softness AT&T is seeing. "The Fed still has more work to do. They're clearly cutting rates into economic weakness, which to many means that they're somewhat behind the curve. And that's a concern for investors."
The day's abortive advance was due in part to rising hopes that the Federal Reserve, seeing the same bleak economic numbers as Wall Street, will continue its campaign of rate cuts to prevent a recession. The Fed meets Jan. 29-30.
The Dow fell 238.42, or 1.86 percent, to 12,589.07, after ratcheting up and down through the day.
Broader stock indicators also sank. The S&P 500 index dropped 25.99, or 1.84 percent, to 1,390.19, and the Nasdaq, reflecting uneasiness about tech stocks after AT&T's news, declined 58.95, or 2.36 percent, to 2,440.51.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.78 percent from 3.84 percent late Monday.
Recession fears have been thwarting stock rally attempts so far this year, said Richard Sparks, senior equities analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "It's difficult to balance the ability to cut rates to stave off a recession with the stated goal that the Fed has to not spur inflation. There's a question out there: Can the Fed do enough?"
Last week's Labor Department report showing a rise in unemployment to 5 percent and meager jobs growth suggested to Wall Street that it had been too confident last year in the economy's ability to shake off a sinking housing market. A disappointing uptick in the International Council for Shopping Centers' year-over-year chain store sales -- 1.9 percent, the smallest gain since June -- added to the downbeat mood.
Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said in a speech the central bank remains open to further rate reductions given the state of the economy, but that inflation remains a concern. Gold prices surpassed their 1980 levels and reached a record above $880 an ounce Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while crude prices resumed their climb, rising $1.24 to $96.33 a barrel.
The dollar fell against most rival currencies, except the yen.
Alcoa Inc. on Wednesday officially kicks off the fourth-quarter earnings season, which investors are pessimistic about.
"The picture doesn't look good right now and the fear is that what we saw through the economic data points last week will be carried through to corporate earnings," said Ryan Larson, senior equity trader with Voyageur Asset Management.
Countrywide fell $1.32, or 17.2 percent, to $6.32, while KB Home fell $1.70, or 9.2 percent, to $16.78.
AT&T fell $1.87, or 4.6 percent, to $39.16.
The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday that Bear Stearns Cos. chief executive James Cayne was planning to step down and remain chairman. The investment bank made no comment on the report Tuesday. Bear Stearns fell $5.08, or 6.7 percent, to $71.17.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by nearly 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 4.62 billion shares, up from 4.10 billion shares Monday.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 19.09, or 2.64 percent, to 704.86.
Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.19 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.25 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.33 percent, Germany's DAX index added 0.42 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.79 percent.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Yahoo Makes a New Play for Ads on Mobile Phones
SAN FRANCISCO — There may not be a Yahoo phone in the works, but the struggling Internet company is betting that a new mobile-phone strategy will help it better compete with the likes of Google, Microsoft and others for a share of the growing cellphone advertising business.
On Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Yahoo is planning to announce that it has opened up some of its key mobile software and services to outside publishers and programmers in an effort to make Yahoo’s own mobile offerings more useful to more people.
The strategy falls in line with the chief executive Jerry Yang’s plans to turn around Yahoo by making it the “starting point for the most consumers” on the Internet. To achieve that, he told investors last fall, Yahoo would have to develop platforms that are open to outside publishers and developers.
MySpace, eBay and MTV Networks have already created mobile services that are accessible via a new Yahoo home page tailored for mobile phones and through Yahoo Go, a cellphone software package that Yahoo introduced two years ago. The Yahoo mobile home page and Yahoo Go both give users easy access to e-mail, search, news, weather and other services provided by Yahoo.
Now users of Yahoo’s mobile offerings will also have easy access to applications from other companies. As more of them create useful programs that run on top of Yahoo’s mobile services, the company hopes that more users will choose its services over those of rivals.
“If Yahoo really wants to become the starting point for everyone, it cannot be only about Yahoo,” said Marco Boerries, executive vice president of Yahoo’s connected life division, which operates its mobile division.
Mr. Boerries said that developers, who often find it frustrating to have to rewrite their software for multiple mobile platforms, would be able to create programs on top of Yahoo’s services, which themselves run across a broad range of devices.
But wireless industry veterans say that Yahoo’s attempt to become a platform faces hurdles and competition. Other companies, including cellphone makers like Nokia and Apple, and mobile software providers, like Google and Microsoft, are trying to lure third-party publishers and programmers to create services for their mobile platforms.
“It’s a standard pitch — build on our platform because we have the most ubiquity,” said Sam Jadallah, a partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, a venture capital firm that has invested in several wireless companies. “It is a smart and ambitious strategy, but one that is very difficult to pull off.”
Mr. Jadallah said that becoming a software platform could prove especially difficult for a company like Yahoo, as it doesn’t control any phone’s operating system.
To achieve ubiquity, Yahoo may also need closer ties with some wireless carriers, which continue to play a major role in deciding what services are easily accessible to users.
Although Yahoo Go runs on about 250 mobile devices, and comes preloaded on some phones made by Motorola, LG, Samsung and Nokia, carriers in the United States strip the software from the phones. Currently, no American carrier offers phones with the Yahoo software installed, forcing American consumers who want to use Yahoo Go to download it themselves, a requirement that limits its distribution.
Mr. Boerries said that developers who write services to run on Yahoo’s mobile offerings could choose to have Yahoo deliver ads on those services.
On Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Yahoo is planning to announce that it has opened up some of its key mobile software and services to outside publishers and programmers in an effort to make Yahoo’s own mobile offerings more useful to more people.
The strategy falls in line with the chief executive Jerry Yang’s plans to turn around Yahoo by making it the “starting point for the most consumers” on the Internet. To achieve that, he told investors last fall, Yahoo would have to develop platforms that are open to outside publishers and developers.
MySpace, eBay and MTV Networks have already created mobile services that are accessible via a new Yahoo home page tailored for mobile phones and through Yahoo Go, a cellphone software package that Yahoo introduced two years ago. The Yahoo mobile home page and Yahoo Go both give users easy access to e-mail, search, news, weather and other services provided by Yahoo.
Now users of Yahoo’s mobile offerings will also have easy access to applications from other companies. As more of them create useful programs that run on top of Yahoo’s mobile services, the company hopes that more users will choose its services over those of rivals.
“If Yahoo really wants to become the starting point for everyone, it cannot be only about Yahoo,” said Marco Boerries, executive vice president of Yahoo’s connected life division, which operates its mobile division.
Mr. Boerries said that developers, who often find it frustrating to have to rewrite their software for multiple mobile platforms, would be able to create programs on top of Yahoo’s services, which themselves run across a broad range of devices.
But wireless industry veterans say that Yahoo’s attempt to become a platform faces hurdles and competition. Other companies, including cellphone makers like Nokia and Apple, and mobile software providers, like Google and Microsoft, are trying to lure third-party publishers and programmers to create services for their mobile platforms.
“It’s a standard pitch — build on our platform because we have the most ubiquity,” said Sam Jadallah, a partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, a venture capital firm that has invested in several wireless companies. “It is a smart and ambitious strategy, but one that is very difficult to pull off.”
Mr. Jadallah said that becoming a software platform could prove especially difficult for a company like Yahoo, as it doesn’t control any phone’s operating system.
To achieve ubiquity, Yahoo may also need closer ties with some wireless carriers, which continue to play a major role in deciding what services are easily accessible to users.
Although Yahoo Go runs on about 250 mobile devices, and comes preloaded on some phones made by Motorola, LG, Samsung and Nokia, carriers in the United States strip the software from the phones. Currently, no American carrier offers phones with the Yahoo software installed, forcing American consumers who want to use Yahoo Go to download it themselves, a requirement that limits its distribution.
Mr. Boerries said that developers who write services to run on Yahoo’s mobile offerings could choose to have Yahoo deliver ads on those services.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
After Iowa, Challenges Lie Ahead for Obama
DES MOINES — As he accepted his victory in the Iowa caucuses Thursday night, Senator Barack Obama presented his presidential candidacy as a vessel to wipe away partisan divisions, transcend the boundaries of race and “build a coalition for change that stretches through red states and blue states.”
The implication was clear: If he could win in Iowa, could he win anywhere?
There is no question that Mr. Obama’s hopeful call for change inspired thousands of Iowans to attend the presidential caucuses for the first time. There is no question that his decisive victory was fueled by a fierce feeling of discontent over the nation’s direction and America’s place in the world.
But a closer inspection of the results in Iowa’s 99 counties also underscores some of the challenges that lie ahead for Mr. Obama as the presidential campaign continues beyond the early-voting states. A detailed map of the caucus results suggests that Mr. Obama’s argument was not convincing to Democrats in many rural stretches of the state.
In 30 counties — from Adams to Appanooose and Wapello to Worth — Mr. Obama fell short of John Edwards of North Carolina and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. In some precincts, Mr. Obama was separated by only a small share of delegates, yet in several other places he finished well behind his two rivals.
Iowa counties are not, necessarily, akin to a collection of red states and blue states that Mr. Obama so often talks about while he campaigns around the country. But had he not won in Iowa’s largest three counties, in addition to a strong showing along the Mississippi River in the east, the outcome would almost certainly have been different.
Over the last year, Mr. Obama’s reception in rural Iowa counties seemed to steadily improve, judging by listening to more enthusiastic applause from his audiences. At many stops, though, he would face questions from conservative Democrats about gun control and immigration and his answers did not always meet the approval of voters.
Mr. Obama’s strategists knew that some of these regions were not his strongest.
Again and again, he would turn a less-than-friendly question into an example of how he is willing to “say what people need to hear, not what they want to hear.” (This is one of the reasons his campaign sought to expand his universe of supporters beyond the traditional Iowa caucus attendees.)
Still, the record-setting turnout of 239,000 Democrats, which nearly doubled the attendance of the 2004 Iowa caucuses, is indicative of something. And winning by 8 percentage points puts Mr. Obama in a position that would be envied by his remaining rivals.
“We are choosing hope over fear,” Mr. Obama said in his remarks last night, speaking to a diverse crowd of more than 3,000 supporters. “We’re choosing unity over division, and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America.”
So as the road to the White House moved to New Hampshire early Friday, here is a lone anecdote that helps tell the story of what happened at the conclusion of the most competitive, sophisticated contest in the three-decade history of the Iowa caucuses.
Nell Boyd lives in the tiny northern Iowa town of Belmond. From the moment she saw Mr. Obama speak in October in nearby Waterloo, she said, she was sold on his candidacy and made a small contribution to his campaign, the first time she had ever given money to a politician.
At her precinct last night, 214 people signed in, compared to 72 four years ago.
The crowd, she said, was a mix of old and young, with a sprinkling of college students home on break and high school students who will be 18 by Election Day. In the end, the tally concluded in this order: Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Edwards.
The Boyd household, perhaps, is atypical. She supported Mr. Obama, while her husband, Rex, walked into the caucus as a Clinton supporter. Before the final headcount was conducted, she said, he changed his mind and moved over to the Obama corner of the room.
In an overnight e-mail, she offered an explanation.
“Rex went to Clinton and I wore a Obama sticker. As people milled and talked, he changed before the count as he heard people stating they could not vote for someone with a last name like Obama. One said, ‘He needs to stay in Chicago and take care of his family.’
“Rex came over to Obama, where he heard not one negative bit of talk. He felt they both stand for pretty much the same ideas, but our leader needs to be positive and Obama puts that feeling out there. That is important in this world.”
With that, Ms. Boyd’s civic duties are complete, at least until November. It remains an open question which Democrat will be on the ballot when the race returns to Iowa.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Obama, Huckabee sweep to Iowa victories
DES MOINES, Iowa - Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses last night as the candidates move on to New Hampshire.
On the Democratic side, Obama scored 38 percent of the vote with John Edwards second with 30 and Hillary Clinton third with 29. Obama won 16 delgates with Clinton getting 15 and Edwards 14. Overall, Clinton leads with 175 delegates, including superdelegates, followed by Obama with 75 and Edwards with 46.
For the Republicans, Huckabee won with 34 percent, with 25 percent for Mitt Romney, 13 percent each for Fred Thompson and John McCain, 10 percent for Ron Paul and 3 percent for Rudy Giuliani. Huckabee scored 30 delegates and Romney got 7.
After the caucuses, Democrats Joe Biden and Chris Dodd dropped out of the race.
Obama, 46 and a first-term senator from Illinois, told a raucous victory rally his triumph showed that in "big cities and small towns, you came together to say, 'We are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come.'"
Huckabee celebrated his own victory over Mitt Romney and a crowded Republican field. "A new day is needed in American politics, just like a new day is needed in American government," the former Arkansas governor told cheering supporters. "It starts here, but it doesn't end here. It goes all the way through the other states and ends at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."
Huckabee, a preacher turned politician, handily defeated Romney despite being outspent by millions of dollars and deciding in the campaign's final days to scrap television commercials that would have assailed the former Massachusetts governor. He stressed his religion to the extent of airing a commercial that described himself as a "Christian leader" in his race against a man seeking to become the first Mormon president.
For the Republicans, former Sen. Fred Thompson and Sen. John McCain battled for third place, while Texas Rep. Ron Paul wound up fifth and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani sixth.
With the New Hampshire primary only five days distant, Clinton and Edwards vowed to fight on in the race for the Democratic nomination.
"We have always planned to run a national campaign," the former first lady told supporters at a noisy rally attended by her husband and their daughter, Chelsea. "I am so ready for the rest of this campaign, and I am so ready to lead."
Edwards, the Democrats' 2004 vice presidential nominee, told The Associated Press in an interview he would distinguish himself from Obama in New Hampshire by arguing that he is the candidate who can deliver the change that voters have shown they want. "I"m going to fight for that change," he said by telephone from his hotel room in Iowa. "I've fought for it my entire life. I have a long history of fighting powerful interests and winning."
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said he would campaign in New Hampshire despite finishing in fourth place with a minuscule 2 percent support.
Romney sought to frame his defeat as something other than that, saying he had trailed Huckabee by more than 20 points a few weeks ago. "I've been pleased that I've been able to make up ground and I intend to keep making up ground, not just here but across the country," he said.
The words were brave, but already, his strategy of bankrolling a methodical campaign in hopes of winning the first two states was in tatters — and a rejuvenated McCain was tied with him in the polls in next-up New Hampshire.
Iowans rendered their judgments in meetings at 1,781 precincts from Adel to Zwingle, in schools, firehouses and community centers. Turnout was heavy, far more so for Democrats than Republicans in what could be an early indication of the country's mood after eight years of a Republican administration.
With President Bush constitutionally unable to seek re-election, a wide-open race developed in both parties that resulted in campaign organizations that dwarfed anything in previous campaigns. Romney alone spent $7 million on television commercials. The result was a record turnout.
Projections estimated that 220,588 Democrats showed up on a cold midwinter's night, shattering the previous mark of 124,000.
Turnout was also up on the Republican side, where projections showed about 114,000 people taking part. The last previous contested Republican caucuses in 2000 drew 87,666 participants.
In interviews as they entered the caucuses, more than half of all the Republicans said they were either born-again or evangelical Christians, and they liked Huckabee more than any of his rivals. Romney led handily among the balance of the Iowa Republican voters, according to the survey.
About half the Democratic caucus-goers said a candidate's ability to bring about needed change was the most important factor as they made up their minds, according to the entrance interviews by the AP and the television networks. Change was Obama's calling card in the arduous campaign for Iowa's backing.
Obama also outpolled Clinton among women, and benefited from a surge in first-time caucus-goers. More than half of those who participated said they had never been to a caucus before, and Obama won the backing of roughly 40 percent of them. Edwards did best among veteran caucus-goers, garnering 30 percent of their vote. Obama and Clinton each got about a quarter of their support.
While Republicans and Democrats both looked to Iowa to pass the first judgment of the election year, there was a key difference in the way they ran their caucuses. Republicans took a straw vote, then tallied the results. Democrats had a more complicated process in which one candidate's supporters might eventually wind up backing another contender.
Clinton, Obama and Edwards had all urged voters to consider them if their own candidate fell short. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio publicly urged his backers to line up with Obama on a second round, and two Democrats said aides to Richardson did likewise as the caucuses unfolded in hopes of blocking the former first lady. Those two spoke on condition of anonymity, citing private discussions.
In the campaign's final days, Obama, a first-term senator, stressed a need for change. Clinton boasted of her experience as she worked to follow her husband into the White House. Edwards cast himself as the implacable enemy of special interests as he aimed to improve on last time's second-place showing in the state. Strikingly, none of the Democrats ran television commercials attacking one another, and the result was a remarkably civilized race despite the stakes.
Romney stressed his background as a businessman and organizer of the 2002 Olympics, and he worked to persuade conservatives to ignore his earlier positions on abortion and gay rights. He ran the only commercials of the campaign critical of a rival, hitting Huckabee for his positions on immigration and the pardons he issued while governor of Arkansas.
For three decades, Iowa's caucuses have drawn presidential hopefuls eager to make a strong first impression, and this year was no different.
Obama, Clinton and Edwards spent at least $19 million on television advertising among them. Romney told supporters in a final daylong swing around the state he had been in 68 of 99 counties since he began his quest for the White House, had spent 55 days in Iowa and spoken before 248 separate audiences.
On the Democratic side, Obama scored 38 percent of the vote with John Edwards second with 30 and Hillary Clinton third with 29. Obama won 16 delgates with Clinton getting 15 and Edwards 14. Overall, Clinton leads with 175 delegates, including superdelegates, followed by Obama with 75 and Edwards with 46.
For the Republicans, Huckabee won with 34 percent, with 25 percent for Mitt Romney, 13 percent each for Fred Thompson and John McCain, 10 percent for Ron Paul and 3 percent for Rudy Giuliani. Huckabee scored 30 delegates and Romney got 7.
After the caucuses, Democrats Joe Biden and Chris Dodd dropped out of the race.
Obama, 46 and a first-term senator from Illinois, told a raucous victory rally his triumph showed that in "big cities and small towns, you came together to say, 'We are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come.'"
Huckabee celebrated his own victory over Mitt Romney and a crowded Republican field. "A new day is needed in American politics, just like a new day is needed in American government," the former Arkansas governor told cheering supporters. "It starts here, but it doesn't end here. It goes all the way through the other states and ends at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."
Huckabee, a preacher turned politician, handily defeated Romney despite being outspent by millions of dollars and deciding in the campaign's final days to scrap television commercials that would have assailed the former Massachusetts governor. He stressed his religion to the extent of airing a commercial that described himself as a "Christian leader" in his race against a man seeking to become the first Mormon president.
For the Republicans, former Sen. Fred Thompson and Sen. John McCain battled for third place, while Texas Rep. Ron Paul wound up fifth and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani sixth.
With the New Hampshire primary only five days distant, Clinton and Edwards vowed to fight on in the race for the Democratic nomination.
"We have always planned to run a national campaign," the former first lady told supporters at a noisy rally attended by her husband and their daughter, Chelsea. "I am so ready for the rest of this campaign, and I am so ready to lead."
Edwards, the Democrats' 2004 vice presidential nominee, told The Associated Press in an interview he would distinguish himself from Obama in New Hampshire by arguing that he is the candidate who can deliver the change that voters have shown they want. "I"m going to fight for that change," he said by telephone from his hotel room in Iowa. "I've fought for it my entire life. I have a long history of fighting powerful interests and winning."
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said he would campaign in New Hampshire despite finishing in fourth place with a minuscule 2 percent support.
Romney sought to frame his defeat as something other than that, saying he had trailed Huckabee by more than 20 points a few weeks ago. "I've been pleased that I've been able to make up ground and I intend to keep making up ground, not just here but across the country," he said.
The words were brave, but already, his strategy of bankrolling a methodical campaign in hopes of winning the first two states was in tatters — and a rejuvenated McCain was tied with him in the polls in next-up New Hampshire.
Iowans rendered their judgments in meetings at 1,781 precincts from Adel to Zwingle, in schools, firehouses and community centers. Turnout was heavy, far more so for Democrats than Republicans in what could be an early indication of the country's mood after eight years of a Republican administration.
With President Bush constitutionally unable to seek re-election, a wide-open race developed in both parties that resulted in campaign organizations that dwarfed anything in previous campaigns. Romney alone spent $7 million on television commercials. The result was a record turnout.
Projections estimated that 220,588 Democrats showed up on a cold midwinter's night, shattering the previous mark of 124,000.
Turnout was also up on the Republican side, where projections showed about 114,000 people taking part. The last previous contested Republican caucuses in 2000 drew 87,666 participants.
In interviews as they entered the caucuses, more than half of all the Republicans said they were either born-again or evangelical Christians, and they liked Huckabee more than any of his rivals. Romney led handily among the balance of the Iowa Republican voters, according to the survey.
About half the Democratic caucus-goers said a candidate's ability to bring about needed change was the most important factor as they made up their minds, according to the entrance interviews by the AP and the television networks. Change was Obama's calling card in the arduous campaign for Iowa's backing.
Obama also outpolled Clinton among women, and benefited from a surge in first-time caucus-goers. More than half of those who participated said they had never been to a caucus before, and Obama won the backing of roughly 40 percent of them. Edwards did best among veteran caucus-goers, garnering 30 percent of their vote. Obama and Clinton each got about a quarter of their support.
While Republicans and Democrats both looked to Iowa to pass the first judgment of the election year, there was a key difference in the way they ran their caucuses. Republicans took a straw vote, then tallied the results. Democrats had a more complicated process in which one candidate's supporters might eventually wind up backing another contender.
Clinton, Obama and Edwards had all urged voters to consider them if their own candidate fell short. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio publicly urged his backers to line up with Obama on a second round, and two Democrats said aides to Richardson did likewise as the caucuses unfolded in hopes of blocking the former first lady. Those two spoke on condition of anonymity, citing private discussions.
In the campaign's final days, Obama, a first-term senator, stressed a need for change. Clinton boasted of her experience as she worked to follow her husband into the White House. Edwards cast himself as the implacable enemy of special interests as he aimed to improve on last time's second-place showing in the state. Strikingly, none of the Democrats ran television commercials attacking one another, and the result was a remarkably civilized race despite the stakes.
Romney stressed his background as a businessman and organizer of the 2002 Olympics, and he worked to persuade conservatives to ignore his earlier positions on abortion and gay rights. He ran the only commercials of the campaign critical of a rival, hitting Huckabee for his positions on immigration and the pardons he issued while governor of Arkansas.
For three decades, Iowa's caucuses have drawn presidential hopefuls eager to make a strong first impression, and this year was no different.
Obama, Clinton and Edwards spent at least $19 million on television advertising among them. Romney told supporters in a final daylong swing around the state he had been in 68 of 99 counties since he began his quest for the White House, had spent 55 days in Iowa and spoken before 248 separate audiences.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Candidates Offer Final Messages to Iowa Voters
DES MOINES — With an eye on the weather forecast and faith in their organizations, the presidential candidates wound down their Iowa caucus campaigns on Thursday and sought to manage their expectations as they nervously awaited a verdict from voters in the first contest of the presidential nominating season.
“I feel good,” said Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York. “But it depends on who comes out, who decides to actually put on their coats, warm up their cars and go to the caucuses.”
The field of Republican and Democratic hopefuls called into talk radio stations across the state and dropped by television studios here, offering last-minute messages to their supporters. Party officials predicted a record turnout in precinct caucuses that begin in Iowa at 7 p.m.
“I’d like to win them, but if I don’t win, coming in second in these states is a strong statement,” former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said in a television interview today. “I think at this stage it’s too close to call.”
Mr. Romney’s Iowa campaign chairman, Doug Gross, characterized the likely outcome as depending on how many people show up for the caucuses. Mr. Gross said that if Republican turnout today is 80,000 or more, Mr. Romney’s campaign could be in trouble.
That number would mean that evangelical turnout is higher than expected, with the vast majority of those votes likely to go to Mr. Romney’s rival, Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister who has clearly benefited from evangelical unease about Mr. Romney’s Mormon faith, as well as the fact that until several years ago he was a supporter of abortion rights.
In the end, after a year of political speeches and nearly $25 million in Iowa television advertising, the most important work in the hours before the caucuses was taking place far away from the candidates. Campaigns established telephone hotlines designed to direct voters to their specific precincts at 1,781 locations across the state.
“Anything is possible at this point,” said Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois. “We’ve put a lot into Iowa and our efforts here. We feel good about what we’ve done, but this is the beginning and not the end.”
After a month in which dozens of campaign events were canceled because of dangerous winter conditions, no snow or ice was in the caucus forecast and the National Weather Service said temperatures on Thursday evening would be in the teens to low 20s.
While Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama suspended their formal campaigning today, so their volunteers could help turn out voters rather than attend rallies, other rivals remained on the campaign trail. John Edwards of North Carolina thanked volunteers in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Davenport, while Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, dashed from Waterloo to Dubuque to Davenport.
On the Republican side, Mr. Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, returned from a quick trip to California to appear on The Tonight Show and attended campaign stops in Burlington and Grinnell. On Thursday, Mr. Huckabee sharpened his pitch to Iowa voters that his humble roots gave him a better understanding of the problems of working people than his rival, Mr. Romney, a former private equity fund manager.
“People would rather elect a president who reminds them of the guy they work with, not that guy who laid them off,” Mr. Huckabee told about 150 people at a hotel in Burlington, Iowa, in the morning, without ever naming Mr. Romney.
Seizing on the news that oil prices had hit $100 a barrel, Mr. Huckabee said, “For some people, that may not effect their lifestyles. It affects yours.” He added, “If your salaries aren’t going up to meet it, that is a problem.”
Senator John McCain of Arizona flew through four Iowa cities before traveling to New Hampshire in advance of next Tuesday’s primary there.
On Wednesday, Mrs. Clinton asked voters at rallies and in a two-minute television commercial broadcast statewide, “Who is ready to be president?” Mr. Obama implored supporters to believe in his candidacy, asking, “Who can take us in a fundamentally new direction?” And Mr. Edwards pledged to represent struggling Americans, saying, “Who’s going to fight for you?”
Only part of the Republican field spent Wednesday courting voters in Iowa. When Mr. Huckabee flew to California to appear on “The Tonight Show,” he drew strong criticism from Mr. Romney. Seeing a potential opening, Mr. McCain hastily flew to Iowa for a last-minute plea for support as he sought to capitalize on the turmoil of the unsettled field.
As the costliest campaign in the three-decade history of the Iowa caucuses headed to an unpredictable finish, thousands of volunteers and campaign aides from across the country descended on neighborhoods and towns to coax voters to 1,781 precinct sites in the state. Politics dominated the radio and television airwaves, with advertisements back to back from morning until night.
The most sophisticated presidential campaigns that have ever been waged in Iowa — fully engaged for much of the year — ended in a flurry of old-fashioned get-out-the-vote efforts. The Clinton campaign, for example, has enlisted 5,000 drivers to ferry voters to the caucuses, particularly elderly women, who form a critical well of support.
The disparity in intensity between the Republican and Democratic contests was palpable in the final round of campaigning, with Mr. Romney, Mr. McCain and Fred D. Thompson, a former Tennessee senator, holding a series of small sessions with voters, while six Democratic candidates drew hundreds of people to boisterous rallies across the state.
Still, the outcome for both parties depended on many variables, particularly in the Democratic contest, where Mr. Biden and Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico staged vigorous campaigns. Candidates that do not reach a threshold of 15 percent in a given precinct are deemed unviable there, freeing their supporters to align with a more popular candidate.
The Republican contest has no such rules, but, for Democrats, the realignment of supporters could tip the balance of the contest, so the leading campaigns intensified efforts on Wednesday to identify voters’ alternative selections. Those decisions also often hinge on local politics, adding a fresh dose of uncertainty to a volatile caucus night.
Reporting was contributed by Julie Bosman in Fort Madison, Cate Doty in Waterloo, Patrick Healy in Cedar Rapids, David D. Kirkpatrick in Fort Dodge, Michael Luo in Bettendorf, and Marc Santora in Derry, N.H.
The field of Republican and Democratic hopefuls called into talk radio stations across the state and dropped by television studios here, offering last-minute messages to their supporters. Party officials predicted a record turnout in precinct caucuses that begin in Iowa at 7 p.m.
“I’d like to win them, but if I don’t win, coming in second in these states is a strong statement,” former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said in a television interview today. “I think at this stage it’s too close to call.”
Mr. Romney’s Iowa campaign chairman, Doug Gross, characterized the likely outcome as depending on how many people show up for the caucuses. Mr. Gross said that if Republican turnout today is 80,000 or more, Mr. Romney’s campaign could be in trouble.
That number would mean that evangelical turnout is higher than expected, with the vast majority of those votes likely to go to Mr. Romney’s rival, Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister who has clearly benefited from evangelical unease about Mr. Romney’s Mormon faith, as well as the fact that until several years ago he was a supporter of abortion rights.
In the end, after a year of political speeches and nearly $25 million in Iowa television advertising, the most important work in the hours before the caucuses was taking place far away from the candidates. Campaigns established telephone hotlines designed to direct voters to their specific precincts at 1,781 locations across the state.
“Anything is possible at this point,” said Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois. “We’ve put a lot into Iowa and our efforts here. We feel good about what we’ve done, but this is the beginning and not the end.”
After a month in which dozens of campaign events were canceled because of dangerous winter conditions, no snow or ice was in the caucus forecast and the National Weather Service said temperatures on Thursday evening would be in the teens to low 20s.
While Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama suspended their formal campaigning today, so their volunteers could help turn out voters rather than attend rallies, other rivals remained on the campaign trail. John Edwards of North Carolina thanked volunteers in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Davenport, while Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, dashed from Waterloo to Dubuque to Davenport.
On the Republican side, Mr. Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, returned from a quick trip to California to appear on The Tonight Show and attended campaign stops in Burlington and Grinnell. On Thursday, Mr. Huckabee sharpened his pitch to Iowa voters that his humble roots gave him a better understanding of the problems of working people than his rival, Mr. Romney, a former private equity fund manager.
“People would rather elect a president who reminds them of the guy they work with, not that guy who laid them off,” Mr. Huckabee told about 150 people at a hotel in Burlington, Iowa, in the morning, without ever naming Mr. Romney.
Seizing on the news that oil prices had hit $100 a barrel, Mr. Huckabee said, “For some people, that may not effect their lifestyles. It affects yours.” He added, “If your salaries aren’t going up to meet it, that is a problem.”
Senator John McCain of Arizona flew through four Iowa cities before traveling to New Hampshire in advance of next Tuesday’s primary there.
On Wednesday, Mrs. Clinton asked voters at rallies and in a two-minute television commercial broadcast statewide, “Who is ready to be president?” Mr. Obama implored supporters to believe in his candidacy, asking, “Who can take us in a fundamentally new direction?” And Mr. Edwards pledged to represent struggling Americans, saying, “Who’s going to fight for you?”
Only part of the Republican field spent Wednesday courting voters in Iowa. When Mr. Huckabee flew to California to appear on “The Tonight Show,” he drew strong criticism from Mr. Romney. Seeing a potential opening, Mr. McCain hastily flew to Iowa for a last-minute plea for support as he sought to capitalize on the turmoil of the unsettled field.
As the costliest campaign in the three-decade history of the Iowa caucuses headed to an unpredictable finish, thousands of volunteers and campaign aides from across the country descended on neighborhoods and towns to coax voters to 1,781 precinct sites in the state. Politics dominated the radio and television airwaves, with advertisements back to back from morning until night.
The most sophisticated presidential campaigns that have ever been waged in Iowa — fully engaged for much of the year — ended in a flurry of old-fashioned get-out-the-vote efforts. The Clinton campaign, for example, has enlisted 5,000 drivers to ferry voters to the caucuses, particularly elderly women, who form a critical well of support.
The disparity in intensity between the Republican and Democratic contests was palpable in the final round of campaigning, with Mr. Romney, Mr. McCain and Fred D. Thompson, a former Tennessee senator, holding a series of small sessions with voters, while six Democratic candidates drew hundreds of people to boisterous rallies across the state.
Still, the outcome for both parties depended on many variables, particularly in the Democratic contest, where Mr. Biden and Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico staged vigorous campaigns. Candidates that do not reach a threshold of 15 percent in a given precinct are deemed unviable there, freeing their supporters to align with a more popular candidate.
The Republican contest has no such rules, but, for Democrats, the realignment of supporters could tip the balance of the contest, so the leading campaigns intensified efforts on Wednesday to identify voters’ alternative selections. Those decisions also often hinge on local politics, adding a fresh dose of uncertainty to a volatile caucus night.
Reporting was contributed by Julie Bosman in Fort Madison, Cate Doty in Waterloo, Patrick Healy in Cedar Rapids, David D. Kirkpatrick in Fort Dodge, Michael Luo in Bettendorf, and Marc Santora in Derry, N.H.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Oil Hits $100 a Barrel for the First Time
HOUSTON — Oil prices briefly reached $100 a barrel on Wednesday, a long-awaited milestone in an era of rapidly escalating energy demand and tightening supplies.
Crude oil futures for February delivery hit $100 on the New York Mercantile Exchange shortly after noon when a single trader bid up the price by buying a modest lot and then sold it immediately at a small loss. Prices eased somewhat in later trading, settling at $99.62.
But while the trader was apparently looking for vanity bragging rights, the spike in crude prices of $3.64 for the day reflected deeper worldwide trends, including the surge in energy demand from China, India and the oil-producing countries themselves.
“We’re starting the year with a bang,” said Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst for Oppenheimer & Company. “It’s the same usual suspects: the bad, bad world out there, a cold winter and declining oil inventories.”
The immediate impetus for the price rise appeared to come from an attack by rebels in the Nigerian oil center of Port Harcourt and rough weather in the Gulf of Mexico that slowed Mexican oil exports.
The price of oil has been flirting with the $100 mark for months, and in recent weeks there has been added price pressure because of turbulence in Pakistan following the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, which may threaten further unrest in the Middle East.
There is no shortage of explanations for the escalation of oil prices by about 60 percent over the last year. The price of a barrel was below $25 as recently as 2003 and, almost unimaginably, below $11 in 1998, a time when there was a glut in the world oil markets.
Booming economies in recent years have led to more consumption of oil-derived products like gasoline, jet fuel and diesel. Political tensions in countries like Nigeria, Venezuela and Iran have threatened world supplies, while important fields in Mexico, the United States and other countries are aging and producing less.
Big oil companies, though flush with cash from record profits, are having trouble finding promising new fields to increase supplies. Newly found fields in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Brazil will take years to develop.
The Bush administration has further tightened supplies by announcing that it would add to the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the coming weeks, a move that some leading Democrats have urged President Bush to call off to ease the tight oil market.
Investors and hedge funds have contributed to the run-up in prices. Oil, like other commodities, has become a perceived safe haven for traders who are skittish about the weakening dollar and fallout from the American credit crisis.
“There is a momentum for higher prices because of the lack of cushions and because surprises are everyday events,” said Larry Goldstein, a director of the Energy Policy Research Foundation. “When anything goes wrong now, it gets immediately priced in not by pennies, nickels or dimes but by dollars.”
Oil is now within reach of its inflation-adjusted high, reached in April 1980 in the aftermath of the Iranian revolution when oil prices jumped to the equivalent of $102.81 in today’s money. The brief stab at $100 on Wednesday broke the previous intraday trading record of $99.29, reached on Nov. 21. The price at the end of the day, $99.62, surpassed the record close of $98.18, set on Nov. 23.
Other commodities also rose, spurring more speculation that inflation could be a problem this year. Spot gold climbed over $860 an ounce, and soybeans, wheat, platinum, heating oil and natural gas soared.
Unlike the oil shocks of the 1970s and 1980s, the current spike in oil prices has not caused a recession or contracted consumer spending in a major way so far. But it has widened the trade deficit and raised concerns about inflation at a time when a growing number of economists fear a recession may be coming.
Energy experts are divided about how high oil prices can go, with some predicting that an economic slowdown will ultimately ease demand pressures.
“We’re going to see sharply higher gasoline prices this spring, we’re going to see sharply higher heating oil and diesel prices immediately,” said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service. But he added, “If I had to bet what we would see first, $115 oil or $85 oil, I’d bet $85.”
Gasoline prices have so far lagged behind the rise in the price of oil, currently at a nationwide average of $3.05 a gallon for regular grade, according to AAA, the automobile club. That is below the all-time peak in May of $3.23 a gallon, but 73 cents higher than at this time a year ago.
Mr. Gheit said if there is a recession “oil prices will definitely go down because demand will go down and the speculators will take a dip as a leading indicator and they will jump first and that will cause a meltdown.”
Of the trader who sent oil to $100 in New York on Wednesday, Mr. Gheit added, “He’s probably going to frame the ticket and sell it on eBay for $100,000.”
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Stocks Slip, Ending Year of Turmoil
Stocks fell on Monday, ending a tumultuous year that battered financial firms but left other pockets of the market and the world with stunning gains.
Even a report that showed sales of existing homes had been nudged up in November failed to lift the market as traders closed their books on a year marred by the running crisis in the mortgage market. A small rally in the afternoon helped cut early losses but was not enough to push the market into positive territory.
The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index ended the year up 3.5 percent, slightly less than the inflation rate. For the day, the index fell 10.13 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,468.36 in relatively light trading. The Dow Jones industrial average, which closed up 6.4 percent for the year, ended the day down 101.05 points, or 0.8 percent, at 13,264.82.
“It has been a disappointing year,” concluded Tobias Levkovich, chief United States equity strategist at Citigroup. “The debt bubble burst and its ramifications were far wider than most people anticipated.”
It was also a year of stark contrasts. While the broad market struggled under the weight of the credit crisis, which hurt financial firms, home builders and retailers, sectors like technology, energy and materials posted remarkable gains. The Nasdaq composite index, which includes many technology stocks, ended the year up 9.8 percent, its best showing since 2003. Foreign markets, particularly in developing countries, did even better.
Ultra-safe Treasuries and risky emerging markets both rewarded investors. For the first time since 2002, when the last bear market ended, Treasuries outperformed the S.& P. 500 as investors sought a haven in government debt. Including dividends and interest payments, the S.& P. returned 6.2 percent while a Merrill Lynch index that tracks government-backed debt returned 8.5 percent.
“There was a flight to quality,” said Douglas M. Peta, chief market strategist at J.& W. Seligman, an investment firm based in New York.
Investments that had even a slight taint of risky subprime mortgages were battered. A Merrill Lynch index that tracks floating-rate securities backed by home loans fell 10.9 percent through November, after including interest payments. MBIA, a company that guarantees those debts, fell 74.5 percent for the year.
Financial stocks tumbled 20.8 percent for the year and shares in the consumer discretionary sector, which includes home builders and retailers, sank 14.3 percent. Other areas of the market rose, but the decline in these two big sectors hurt benchmark indexes. Together the sectors accounted for about one-third of the stock market’s valuation at the start of 2007; they account for about one-fourth now.
As investors bailed out of investments perceived as risky at home, they sought out growth elsewhere. Billions of dollars flowed from the developed world into fast-developing economies in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe.
Shares in Shanghai and Shenzhen, China, were up 179 percent; the Nifty 50 index in India was up 74 percent and the Bovespa index in Brazil was close behind at 73 percent. By contrast, the Nikkei 225 index in Japan ended the year down 5.3 percent.
“Typically, you would expect in a flight to safety that investors would flee emerging markets,” Mr. Peta said. “That they haven’t shows that there is a strong desire to invest in growth.”
The growth in developing economies also has helped propel the prices of commodities like oil (up 58 percent), wheat (68 percent) and gold (31 percent). And the United States dollar has fallen against many currencies, including the Chinese yuan, Indian rupee, the euro, the British pound and the Canadian dollar.
Many investors believe that the slower growth of the American economy will not hobble its trading partners in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Their view also reflects a belief that the dollar will continue to sink, making stocks elsewhere more attractive. From the start of 2007 through Dec. 26, investors had put $141 billion into foreign equity funds, compared with just $49 billion in domestic stock funds, according to AMG Data Services, a research firm.
But some specialists are unsure that developing economies, many of which rely heavily on exports to developed countries, will continue to thrive. Bernard Connolly, the global strategist for Banque A.I.G. in London, said that European countries were also starting to contend with housing and credit problems.
“World demand, which has been extremely buoyant for a couple of years, is visibly melting away,” Mr. Connolly said. “Sitting here in London, it’s very easy to see.”
Mr. Levkovich of Citigroup said he was also concerned that foreign stock markets might be overvalued. But unlike Mr. Connolly he is more upbeat about the American stock market, at least through the first six months of the new year. In the second half of the year, he worries, corporate profit margins could come under pressure.
Mr. Levkovich also asserts that most American stocks are not overvalued as they were in 2000 at the height of the tech boom. The price-to-earnings ratio of the S.& P. 500 index, for instance, stands at 18.6, down from 30 in early 2000 but still higher than the long-run average of about 16. The stock market, he said, has punished companies that were most closely tied to the mortgage mess but has been kind to others, a pattern he thinks will continue.
“If you were very credit sensitive, you got hammered, and if you were not, you did not,” Mr. Levkovich said. “Equity markets didn’t have the same kind of bubble conditions that the credit markets had.”
Still, the stock market’s fate will be closely tied to the housing and credit markets, specialists say. The economy will be most vulnerable if banks are not willing to lend to businesses and consumers with good credit histories. Without access to capital, businesses will not be able to expand or invest in new products. It would also be hard for consumers to move for new jobs and pay for education and training.
“The linchpin for the U.S. is how quickly do the credit markets behave normally,” said Robert C. Doll, vice chairman at BlackRock, the asset management company.
In an indication that at least some parts of the market are beginning to unlock, the interest rates banks charge one another to borrow have been falling since the Federal Reserve started lending to banks through a new auction system in mid-December.
The three-month interbanking lending rate fell to 4.7 percent Monday, from 5.1 percent on Dec. 11. The difference between that rate and the cost at which the federal government borrows also fell over the same period, to 1.5 percentage points on Monday from 2.2 percentage points, though it remains very high relative to historical norms.
“It’s going to be a challenge getting back to a normalized level,” Mr. Peta said. But the recent drop “does say to me that things are improving.”
Following are the results of Monday’s auction of three-month and six-month Treasury bills.
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