John McCain is a solid favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination. Barack Obama is an ever-so-slight underdog on the Democratic side.
Obama-McCain, however, would be a dream general-election matchup, the most defining American presidential race since at least 1980. Just think of the contrasts.
The age gap between the 46-year-old Obama and the 71-year-old McCain would be the widest in the history of presidential elections. (The current record: 1996, with Bob Dole 23 years older than Bill Clinton.) Before Obama was even born, McCain was shocking his uptight naval colleagues by bringing a stripper dubbed the "Flame of Florida" to the Officers' Club.
More than any other Republican or Democrat, they appeal to independent-minded voters while still parting ways on crucial issues. On Iraq, taxes, health care and the Supreme Court, the differences between these two men are profound. McCain would want to focus a race on national security and terrorism, Obama on domestic concerns and economic insecurity.
"This would be an extraordinary contest, an opportunity to see striking contrasts, from age to public philosophy," says Tom Mann, a political scientist at the Brookings Institution, based in Washington.
Today in Americas 2 top leaders of U.S. Air Force pushed out Excitement in France over Obama victoryCase of Canadian sent to Syria under reviewIt would be change versus experience, the audacity of hope versus the faith of our fathers.
A small though instructive moment of discord marked their first real engagement. It was in early 2006, and they were the leading point men for their parties in trying to fashion an ethics bill for the Senate.
The Senate Democratic leadership, which had put the freshman Illinoisan in a visible role for public relations reasons, pressed him to back off on dealing with McCain. Obama acquiesced, sending a letter to McCain, yet releasing it to the media first.
A vintage McCain explosion followed. He issued a response to Obama - giving it to the media first - blasting his Democratic colleague for "self-interested partisan posturing" and then sarcastically apologizing for "assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobby-reform legislation were sincere." He concluded by expressing "no hard feelings over your earlier disingenuousness."
The letter was actually written by his chief of staff, Mark Salter; he is McCain's alter ego, and it reflected McCain's feelings and instructions.
This was the talk of the town for days, a diatribe-laden rift between two media darlings of the capital. It was a look into Obama's naïveté and McCain's temper, both of which are targets for their opponents in this campaign.
Hillary Rodham Clinton and allies repeatedly suggest that Obama is too green to be president. Succumbing to pressure from other Democrats and sending a careless letter to McCain provided a small illustration of that point.
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If the World Could Vote For The Next U.S. President......Obama vs. McCain(Vote Below)
Obama vs. McCain
A bit about the candidates:
John McCain is a solid favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination. Barack Obama is an ever-so-slight underdog on the Democratic side.
Obama-McCain, however, would be a dream general-election matchup, the most defining American presidential race since at least 1980. Just think of the contrasts.
The age gap between the 46-year-old Obama and the 71-year-old McCain would be the widest in the history of presidential elections. (The current record: 1996, with Bob Dole 23 years older than Bill Clinton.) Before Obama was even born, McCain was shocking his uptight naval colleagues by bringing a stripper dubbed the "Flame of Florida" to the Officers' Club.
More than any other Republican or Democrat, they appeal to independent-minded voters while still parting ways on crucial issues. On Iraq, taxes, health care and the Supreme Court, the differences between these two men are profound. McCain would want to focus a race on national security and terrorism, Obama on domestic concerns and economic insecurity.
"This would be an extraordinary contest, an opportunity to see striking contrasts, from age to public philosophy," says Tom Mann, a political scientist at the Brookings Institution, based in Washington.
Today in Americas
2 top leaders of U.S. Air Force pushed out Excitement in France over Obama victoryCase of Canadian sent to Syria under reviewIt would be change versus experience, the audacity of hope versus the faith of our fathers.
A small though instructive moment of discord marked their first real engagement. It was in early 2006, and they were the leading point men for their parties in trying to fashion an ethics bill for the Senate.
The Senate Democratic leadership, which had put the freshman Illinoisan in a visible role for public relations reasons, pressed him to back off on dealing with McCain. Obama acquiesced, sending a letter to McCain, yet releasing it to the media first.
A vintage McCain explosion followed. He issued a response to Obama - giving it to the media first - blasting his Democratic colleague for "self-interested partisan posturing" and then sarcastically apologizing for "assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobby-reform legislation were sincere." He concluded by expressing "no hard feelings over your earlier disingenuousness."
The letter was actually written by his chief of staff, Mark Salter; he is McCain's alter ego, and it reflected McCain's feelings and instructions.
This was the talk of the town for days, a diatribe-laden rift between two media darlings of the capital. It was a look into Obama's naïveté and McCain's temper, both of which are targets for their opponents in this campaign.
Hillary Rodham Clinton and allies repeatedly suggest that Obama is too green to be president. Succumbing to pressure from other Democrats and sending a careless letter to McCain provided a small illustration of that point.
(Cont'd)....