Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain released his tax returns for 2006 and 2007 yesterday, but most attention is on his wife Cindy's wealth. The Arizona Senator made $405,409 (including $23,157 in Social Security!) last year and $358,414 in 2006, but returns for Cindy McCain, chairman of Hensley & Company, a Phoenix-based Anheuser-Busch distributor, weren't released. The McCains have donated a cumulative $340,000 to charity in 2006 and 2007. Cindy McCain has apparently made......

Photographs of Senator McCain at Verrazano Pizzeria by Mary Altaffer/AP Senator John McCain headed visited New York today. He stopped off to appear on The View in Manhattan and discussed a homeowner aid plan in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. And while in Bay Ridge, he went to Verrazano Pizza on 4th Avenue and 91st Street and bought a $3 slice of pepperoni pizza. He told the counter worker to keep the change from a $20,......

As Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continue to battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, Republican nominee John McCain has released his first general election commercial. The 60-second commercial emphasizes McCain's military service and also features him saying, "Stay strong. Do not yield. Stand up. We're Americans. And we'll never surrender," as well as giving his military rank and serial number. The ad's final words are "John McCain: The American president Americans have been waiting......

Photograph of John McCain and President George Bush at the White House by Ron Edmonds/AP Yesterday, Senator John McCain was welcomed and endorsed by President Bush. Bush referenced McCain's doubters and past history, "John showed incredible courage and strength of character and perseverance in order to get to this moment. And that's exactly what we need in a President: somebody that can handle the tough decisions; somebody who won't flinch in the face of......

Senator John McCain at a campaign stop in San Antonio, TX by Eric Gay/AP CNN, NBC, and the AP are projecting Senator John McCain will clinch the Republican presidential campaign, after winning the primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island and clinching the 1,191 delegates needed. A source tells NBC that President Bush has invited McCain to the White House tomorrow and will endorse him. McCain will be having a victory party in......

Today's big Texas primary, the Post has delivered a cover with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as old West gunslingers. And since Obama's hand in on his gun, it makes sense the headline for the story is, "Barack Goes For Hill Kill." (Obama believes in gun control, though he backed a law allowing retired cops to carry concealed weapons). At any rate, in spite of Obama leading and her campaign desperate for wins in Texas......

Photograph of Clinton and Obama before the Ohio debate earlier this week by Rick Bowmer/AP Hillary Clinton's campaign happily announced that the Senator from New York had raised $35 million during February, her best month ever. Adviser Harold Ickes used the news to accentuate the positive, "We have been through a dry period in the last eleven contests but we are about to start our upswing." Clinton is thrilled with the fundraising efforts, saying,......

Mayor Bloomberg weighed in on two big Election 2008 developments: The NY Times story about John McCain's relationship with a lobbyist and Ralph Nader's third party presidential bid. Bloomberg was unimpressed with the Times story, saying, "I think that the story alleged things either explicitly or implicitly that they had no evidence for. That's not, 'All the news that's fit to print." The media mogul also said, "If there is evidence on the record of......

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama march into tonight's Ohio debate with their arms swinging over a 2006 photograph of Obama visiting Kenya. The Obama campaign blamed the Clinton campaign for "shameful" tactics, while the Clinton campaign denied responsibility and said the Obama campaign should be "ashamed" of thinking the photo would be controversial. Yesterday, the Drudge Report claimed the photograph of Obama, wearing Somali dress while on a visit to Kenya, was allegedly circulated by......

Doug Schoen, the pollster who has worked with Bill Clinton on his 1996 reelection and Mayor Bloomberg, is stirring the Bloomberg for President pot again. He tells the Sun that Ralph Nader's decision to enter the 2008 presidential race could help Bloomberg. Schoen explained, "The Democratic candidate, whoever it may be, will have to tack to the left to protect their left flank, and that leaves more room on the center-left." And what with John......

In an echo of its 2006 article about her Senate re-election campaign spending, the NY Times finds Hillary Clinton donors are concerned over her campaign's spending. Some of the line items that emerged after her campaign finance report was published: $100,000 in party platters and shovels for Iowa caucus parties (where Clinton placed third - and where it did not snow), $25,000 in hotel rooms at Las Vegas' Bellagio, $275,000 to a South Carolina firm......

The NY Times' article about presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain's superclose relationship with a young, attractive female lobbyist (more about her here) has drawn a lot of criticism, especially from McCain himself. His campaign seized the moment to raise money for his campaign. Campaign manager Rick Davis' fundraising letter read, "With John McCain leading a number of general-election polls against Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, The New York Times knew the time to attack......

The headline for the above-the-fold NY Times story about presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk, doesn't quite prepare readers for the juicy insinuations waiting for them in the second paragraph. The first sentence notes that during McCain's 2000 presidential campaign advisers were worried because... A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate......

The Wisconsin, Washington and Hawaii primaries have been going on today, and while John McCain is expected to further solidify his presumptive nomination, the Democratic race is tight as ever, with a Gallup pole now showing Clinton closing the gap on Obama after his string of eight straight victories. What’s passing for campaign news at the moment is a teapot tempest stirred up by the Clinton team, accusing Obama of plagiarizing Governor Deval Patrick......

After Hillary Clinton's started airing a commercial in Wisconsin questioning why Barack Obama declined to appear in another debate, Obama came back with his own ad. The voiceover says:After eighteen debates, with two more coming, Hillary says Barack Obama is ducking debates? It's the same old politics, the phony charges, and false attacks. On health care, even Bill Clinton's own labor secretary [Robert Reich] even says Obama covers "more people" than Hillary and does......

After losing by considerable margins in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia primaries to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton unveiled an ad attacking her rival yesterday. The voiceover says:Both Democratic candidates were invited to a televised debate here in Wisconsin. Hillary Clinton has said yes. Barack Obama hasn’t. Maybe he’d prefer to give speeches than have to answer questions. Like why Hillary Clinton has the only health care plan that covers every American, and the only economic......

Hillary Clinton's February flop continued today as voters in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. turned out for Barack Obama by nearly two-to-one margins (in D.C. he won by 75% to 24%). According to exit polls, Obama not only did well with young voters, blacks and independents but, surprisingly, with certain demographics Clinton's been counting on: senior citizens, women and blue collar voters. Polls suggest 49% of those who voted for Obama were white and voters over......

Photograph of Barack Obama at a rally in Bangor, Maine by Robert F. Bukaty/AP After a competitive Super Tuesday matchup, Barack Obama has swept three states having Democratic contests. So far, it looks like Obama has won the Nebraska primary over Hillary Clinton 68% to 32%, the Washington primary 68% to 31% and the Louisiana caucus 55% to 38% (with 82% of the precincts reporting). CNN is projecting that Obama will get 74 delegates......

Mayor Bloomberg's un-campaign for President is losing momentum even before it could officially get started. Bloomberg's position on a run has always been that he is not running at any particular point at that time, even as his Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey aggressively pursues advance work for the campaign that is not happening. Political consultant Doug Schoen confirmed that Sheekey has a formal plan in place already that merely needs the Mayor's go-ahead to begin.......

The specter of a Mormon multimillionaire as president has been lifted; Mitt Romney announced his withdrawal from the Republican primary race this afternoon. Romney used his speech to the Conservative Political Action Committee to declare: “If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win.” Wonkette liveblogged the speech to great......

Graphic from CNN It was an exciting night of Super Tuesday primary returns. In the Democratic contest, Hillary Clinton won eight states, including New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and California, but Obama won twelve - Illinois, Connecticut, Alabama, and Missouri - among them (New Mexico is still undecided as the two candidates are in a tie). The NY Times notes that since there were no decisive victories, "an electoral fight...will unfold for weeks to......

The Politicker has this hilarious photograph outside the East 60th Street location of strip club Scores touting a Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama ticket, as well as John McCain-Michael Bloomberg one. Nice to know that even though manager Harvey Osher and owner Richard Goldring failed to pay $3.1 million in taxes, they still believe in the democratic process. (Osher is serving weekend stints in prison; Goldring is getting probation.) And after Perez Hilton endorsed Clinton, her......

As of 11:45 p.m., Hillary Clinton and John McCain are projected to win their New York primaries. The Democratic primary distributes NY delegates proportionally, so the final total will be important in determining how many will go to Clinton and how many to Barack Obama. McCain also did well in the Northeast, winning the whole tri-state area, while Mike Huckabee has been strong in the South. Mitt Romney has won Massachusetts, plus some in the......

Super Tuesday is supposed to be a decisive catalyst in the presidential campaigns. It may wind up raising more questions than ever, especially with Mayor Bloomberg (not officially) entertaining a run towards 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Today, the New York Sun reports a data analysis firm's claim that it's "empirically possible" for Mayor Bloomberg to become President, even if moderately-positioned John McCain wins the Republican nomination. Symposia Group has been crunching electoral data and thinks Bloomberg......

The presidential race has been a goldmine for talk shows (well, when the Writers' Guild strike isn't happening) and nowhere is that more apparent than on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. On last night's Colbert Report, on a riff about John McCain's Super Tuesday chances and taking credit for Mike Huckabee'e campaign, Stephen Colbert was joined by Jon Stewart, his Comedy Central crony, and then Conan O'Brien! This comes after O'Brien discussed......

Photograph John McCain surrounded by New York Republicans by Kathy Willens/AP John McCain's Straight Talk Express headed into Manhattan today, taking him to Grand Central Terminal where he got the endorsement of former governor George Pataki. McCain, along with wife Cindy, appeared with Pataki, Alphonse D'Amato, Joseph Lieberman and Rudy Giuliani as the Republican candidate appears to be leading in many Super Tuesday polls over rivals Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul. Pataki,......

Photograph of the Vote/Love stencil by dietrich on Flickr Tomorrow is the Presidential Primary, where registered Democrats and Republicans can select a presidential candidate. Polling places are open between 6AM and 9PM - you can find out where to go by checking with the Board of Elections. If you're still undecided about a candidate, we direct you to Gotham Gazette's excellent guides - Democratic Candidates on the Issues and Republican Candidate on the Issues......

Photograph of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at their Democratic debate in Los Angeles last week by Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Yesterday, the Daily News and Newsday offered editorials endorsing Hillary Clinton for Tuesday's NY State Democratic Primary. While the News calls both Clinton and Barack Obama are "compelling choices," disagrees with both candidates' strategies for ending the war in Iraq and finds Obama inspirational, the News ultimately finds Clinton to be the "stronger" of......

Rudy Giuliani may have exited the presidential campaign, but that doesn't mean he's disappeared. For starters, we hope those Rudy Giuliani campaign staffers who gave up their paychecks feel good about this: According to the Washington Post, Giuliani's campaign paid his firm Giuliani Partners $60,000 in rent and paid Giuliani Security & Safety $300,000 for security. We don't understand why he stopped running - it's a perfect way to convert donations into revenue! Well,......

Photograph of the Puck Building, where at least one 7th floor business supports Obama, by Tien Mao It's pretty safe to say many New Yorkers are aligned with the Democratic party, but it's unclear who NYC's registered Democrats will vote for on primary day - Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Though in the highly unscientific survey of sights around the city over the past week (and year), it seems the senator representing Illinois has......