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| Monday October 20th 2014 |
Islamic State: Turkey to let Iraq Kurds join Kobane fight
Turkey is to allow Iraqi
Kurdish fighters to cross the Syrian border to fight Islamic State (IS)
militants in Kobane, in what is being seen as a policy reversal.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said talks on the subject were continuing. Tens of thousands of people have fled months of fighting in Kobane between IS forces and Syrian Kurd defenders.
The announcement came shortly after the US carried out air drops of weapons to the town's Kurdish fighters.
Meanwhile the US-led coalition has carried out its first air strike of the day, against IS positions in the south-west of the town, says the BBC's Kasra Naji on the Turkish border.
US Central Command later confirmed six strikes near Kobane over Sunday and Monday, as well as six in Iraq near Falluja and Baiji involving French and UK aircraft.
Our correspondent says Kobane has been largely quiet for the second day running, with Kurdish fighters apparently having driven IS militants from most of the town.
But the Turkish government decision is nevertheless a major boost for the defenders' morale, he adds, and soon for their fighting capability.
U.S. Air Drops Arms To Kurdish Forces Fighting ISIS In Kobani
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Sunday it had airdropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to Kurdish forces defending the Syrian city of Kobani against Islamic State militants.The airdrops Sunday were the first of their kind and followed weeks of U.S. and coalition airstrikes in and near Kobani, near the Turkish border. The U.S. said earlier Sunday that it had launched 11 airstrikes overnight in the Kobani area.
In a statement Sunday night, U.S. Central Command said U.S. C-130 cargo planes made multiple drops of arms and supplies provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq. It said they were intended to enable continued resistance to Islamic State efforts to take full control of Kobani.
President Barack Obama called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday to discuss the situation in Syria and notify him of the plan to make airdrops Sunday, one administration official told reporters. He would not describe Erdogan's reaction but said U.S. officials are clear about Turkey's opposition to any moves that help Kurdish forces that Turkey views as an enemy.
3 car bombs explode south of Baghdad, at least 16 dead
BAGHDAD – Iraqi officials say three car bombings in the revered Shiite shrine city of Karbala have killed at least 16 people.A police officer said Monday that the explosives-laden cars were parked in commercial areas and parking lots near government offices. He says 41 others were wounded in the explosions.
Karbala is home to two revered Shiite saints and is located about 55 miles south of Baghdad.
The attacks came hours after a suicide bomber blew himself up among Shiite worshippers as they were leaving a mosque in a commercial area in central Baghdad, killing at least 17 people.
Related: Iraq crisis: Baghdad Shia mosque hit by suicide attack
ADF to deploy 200 special forces troops into Iraq after Julie Bishop signs deal
Legal
framework agreed with Iraqi government for Australian military
personnel to ‘advise and assist’ in fight against Islamic State
Australian military commanders are preparing to send 200 special forces members into Iraq after the foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, finalised a legal deal allowing the deployment.
Bishop said she had settled the legal framework during meetings with Iraqi government leaders in Baghdad on Saturday and Sunday, about a month after the special forces members were sent to the Middle East.
They would “advise and assist” the Iraqi security forces to build up their capacity to fight Islamic State (Isis) militants, rather than becoming directly involved in combat operations.
In mid-September, the government sent 200 special forces members and 400 air force personnel to the United Arab Emirates in anticipation of further decisions to formally approve Australia’s commitment to the US-led coalition against Isis.
Australian F/A-18 Super Hornets began missions over Iraq in early October, but arrangements to allow the special forces into the country took longer to complete.
Bishop said in Baghdad on Sunday: “I have finalised agreement for a legal framework to enable our special forces to be deployed here to advise and assist the Iraqi government in building up the capacity of the Iraqi security forces.
“We have reached agreement for a legal framework and now it will be a matter for our military to determine when our special forces will be deployed, so it will be an operational matter from now on.”
Bishop told the ABC on Monday that officials still needed to work on administrative and logistical matters “but the way is now clear for our special forces to be deployed to Iraq for the purposes of training, advising and assisting the Iraqi security forces”.
Asked about the situation on the ground in Iraq, Bishop said the Iraqi government was “confident of holding Baghdad” but the situation was tense.
He did not speak during the hearing in Washington but his lawyer entered the plea on his behalf.
US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others were killed in the attack, which became a political lightning rod.
The new charges include four counts of killing a person in the course of an attack on a federal facility.
Other new charges levelled against Mr Khattala include one count of murder of an internationally protected person and one count of providing material support and resources to terrorists resulting in death.
Previous charges denied by Mr Khattala include providing material support and resources to terrorists including himself; killing a person on a federal facility; and damaging property of the US by fire and explosives resulting in death.
The Russian Defense Ministry denied there were any emergency situations involving Russian warships Sunday and suggested a Dutch submarine might have triggered Sweden's alert, after carrying out exercises in the area.
The theory, however, was dismissed by the Dutch defense ministry Monday, French news agency AFP reported.
Countries around the Baltic Sea remained on edge as the submarine hunt continued for a fourth day, seeking signs of a foreign submarine or smaller underwater craft that officials suspect entered Swedish waters illegally.
The armed forces published a photograph taken on Sunday by a passerby showing a partially submerged object in the water from a distance, but it was unclear what kind of vessel was in question.
The military said the intelligence operation in the Baltic Sea -- less than 30 miles from Stockholm -- involved a few hundred people.
The military showed one picture of what appeared to be a craft surrounded by white ripples, Reuters reported. The photograph was taken by a witness who said the vessel then submerged -- one of three sightings that the military said were credible reports.
Sweden hasn't said what foreign country it suspects -- and Moscow denies involvement. Swedish Rear Adm. Anders Grenstad told reporters he wouldn't speculate on the photograph or sightings except to say the region is "of interest to a foreign power."
"It could be a submarine, or a smaller submarine," Grenstad told reporters. "It could be divers using some form of moped-like underwater vehicle and it could be divers that don't have any business on our territory."
"This does not belong to us. It is a foreign vessel and we have no indications that there would be any civilians involved in underwater activity,” Grenstad added.
Grenstad said it had no information about any emergency messages suggesting a Russian mini-submarine had run into trouble in Swedish waters and could be damaged, as reported by the Svenska Dagbladet daily over the weekend.
Shockwaves from the explosion Monday damaged buildings and were felt over a radius of several kilometers.
It wasn't immediately clear what caused the blast, which occurred at or near a rubber processing factory, or whether there are any casualties. The plant is in a rebel-controlled area.
Ukraine and pro-Russian separatist rebels agreed to a truce early last month and although fighting diminished, exchanges of artillery fire take place daily.
The U.N. estimates more than 300 people have been killed since the cease-fire was announced. At least 3,660 people have been killed over six months of fighting, according to UN estimates.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's statement in a televised interview Sunday was the first time he has alleged foreign involvement in the unrest, echoing accusations by China's central government, which also has not backed them with any evidence. Leung's statement comes just before his government is scheduled to hold talks with student leaders on Tuesday.
When asked on the "Newsline" program about a Chinese official's comments on outside involvement, Leung said, "There is obviously participation by people, organizations from outside of Hong Kong." Leung added that the foreign actors came from "different countries in different parts of the world," but didn't specify which countries.
On Monday, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei repeated the charges without specifying who was inciting the protesters.
"Everybody has seen the fact that some people and some forces from the outside are indeed making attempts at interfering in Hong Kong's affairs in order to affect Hong Kong's development, and the fact that they have gone so far as to encourage, instigate and support illegal activities such as Occupy Central," Hong said.
The Hong Kong Federation of Students immediately rejected the accusations, with Secretary General Alex Chow saying Leung was "just making it up."
"He's the chief executive, he's an accountable official," Chow told reporters. "If he's putting forward these accusations, then we hope he also puts forward the evidence. But he shouldn't just say that foreign powers are meddling without evidence."
WASHINGTON — No one knows if the Obama administration will manage in the next five weeks to strike what many in the White House consider the most important foreign policy deal of his presidency: an accord with Iran that would forestall its ability to make a nuclear weapon. But the White House has made one significant decision: If agreement is reached, President Obama will do everything in his power to avoid letting Congress vote on it.
Even while negotiators argue over the number of centrifuges Iran would be allowed to spin and where inspectors could roam, the Iranians have signaled that they would accept, at least temporarily, a “suspension” of the stringent sanctions that have drastically cut their oil revenues and terminated their banking relationships with the West, according to American and Iranian officials. The Treasury Department, in a detailed study it declined to make public, has concluded Mr. Obama has the authority to suspend the vast majority of those sanctions without seeking a vote by Congress, officials say.
But Mr. Obama cannot permanently terminate those sanctions. Only Congress can take that step. And even if Democrats held on to the Senate next month, Mr. Obama’s advisers have concluded they would probably lose such a vote.
“We wouldn’t seek congressional legislation in any comprehensive agreement for years,” one senior official said.
White House officials say Congress should not be surprised by this plan. They point to testimony earlier this year when top negotiators argued that the best way to assure that Iran complies with its obligations is a step-by-step suspension of sanctions — with the implicit understanding that the president could turn them back on as fast as he turned them off.
“We have been clear that initially there would be suspension of any of the U.S. and international sanctions regime, and that the lifting of sanctions will only come when the I.A.E.A. verifies that Iran has met serious and substantive benchmarks,” Bernadette Meehan, the spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said Friday, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency. “We must be confident that Iran’s compliance is real and sustainable over a period of time.”
But many members of Congress see the plan as an effort by the administration to freeze them out, a view shared by some Israeli officials who see a congressional vote as the best way to constrain the kind of deal that Mr. Obama might strike.
Speaking at campaign rally in Maryland for Democratic candidate for governor Anthony Brown, Obama either ignored or didn't notice the movement of attendees out of the event.
The White House pool report described the departure as "unusual" and one reporter present tweeted it was "weird."
Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason tweeted that the steam of rally attendees leaving early was "noticeable and noisy."
Click for more from The Washington Free Beacon.
His plastics company in the Rust Belt town of Akron, Ohio, thrived. By the late 1980s, he had acquired the trappings of success: a Cadillac DeVille and a Lincoln Town Car, a lakefront home, investments in oil and real estate.
Then the Nazi hunters showed up.
In 1989, as the U.S. government prepared to strip him of his
citizenship, Denzinger packed a pair of suitcases and fled to Germany.
Denzinger later settled in this pleasant town on the Drava River, where
he lives comfortably, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers. He collects a Social
Security payment of about $1,500 each month, nearly twice the take-home
pay of an average Croatian worker.
Denzinger, 90, is among dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals and SS guards who collected millions of dollars in Social Security payments after being forced out of the United States, an Associated Press investigation found.
The payments flowed through a legal loophole that has given the U.S. Justice Department leverage to persuade Nazi suspects to leave. If they agreed to go, or simply fled before deportation, they could keep their Social Security, according to interviews and internal government records.
Like Denzinger, many lied about their Nazi pasts to get into the U.S. following World War II, and eventually became American citizens.
Australian military commanders are preparing to send 200 special forces members into Iraq after the foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, finalised a legal deal allowing the deployment.
Bishop said she had settled the legal framework during meetings with Iraqi government leaders in Baghdad on Saturday and Sunday, about a month after the special forces members were sent to the Middle East.
They would “advise and assist” the Iraqi security forces to build up their capacity to fight Islamic State (Isis) militants, rather than becoming directly involved in combat operations.
In mid-September, the government sent 200 special forces members and 400 air force personnel to the United Arab Emirates in anticipation of further decisions to formally approve Australia’s commitment to the US-led coalition against Isis.
Australian F/A-18 Super Hornets began missions over Iraq in early October, but arrangements to allow the special forces into the country took longer to complete.
Bishop said in Baghdad on Sunday: “I have finalised agreement for a legal framework to enable our special forces to be deployed here to advise and assist the Iraqi government in building up the capacity of the Iraqi security forces.
“We have reached agreement for a legal framework and now it will be a matter for our military to determine when our special forces will be deployed, so it will be an operational matter from now on.”
Bishop told the ABC on Monday that officials still needed to work on administrative and logistical matters “but the way is now clear for our special forces to be deployed to Iraq for the purposes of training, advising and assisting the Iraqi security forces”.
Asked about the situation on the ground in Iraq, Bishop said the Iraqi government was “confident of holding Baghdad” but the situation was tense.
Benghazi raid 'ringleader' pleads not guilty
The suspected ringleader of the September 2012 raid on a US diplomatic post in the Libyan city of Benghazi has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Ahmed Abu Khattala, 43, appeared in court on 17 new charges, some of which may be punishable by death.He did not speak during the hearing in Washington but his lawyer entered the plea on his behalf.
US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others were killed in the attack, which became a political lightning rod.
The new charges include four counts of killing a person in the course of an attack on a federal facility.
Other new charges levelled against Mr Khattala include one count of murder of an internationally protected person and one count of providing material support and resources to terrorists resulting in death.
Previous charges denied by Mr Khattala include providing material support and resources to terrorists including himself; killing a person on a federal facility; and damaging property of the US by fire and explosives resulting in death.
Yemen says al-Qaida takes town south of Sanaa as fighting with Shiite rebels resumes elsewhere
SANAA, Yemen – Yemeni security
officials say al-Qaida militants have captured a town south of the
capital Sanaa as they fought fierce battles elsewhere against Shiite
rebels known as Houthis.
The officials say al-Qaida's Sunni militants on Monday seized al-Adeen town 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of from Sanaa in Ibb province. They did not give details on the capture of al-Adeen, where al-Qaida militants last week stormed the local security headquarters and held it for hours before fleeing to the mountains.
The
officials also said fighting between the Houthis and al-Qaida militants
resumed Monday in the Raad area in Baydah province south of Sanaa. The
battles left 13 Houthis and 15 militants killed.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The officials say al-Qaida's Sunni militants on Monday seized al-Adeen town 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of from Sanaa in Ibb province. They did not give details on the capture of al-Adeen, where al-Qaida militants last week stormed the local security headquarters and held it for hours before fleeing to the mountains.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Russia denies involvement after reports of mystery vessel launch Swedish sub hunt
Swedish naval ships, helicopters and ground troops combed waters near Stockholm Monday after credible reports of foreign undersea activity and a suspected Russian intrusion sparked a submarine hunt not seen since the Cold War era.The Russian Defense Ministry denied there were any emergency situations involving Russian warships Sunday and suggested a Dutch submarine might have triggered Sweden's alert, after carrying out exercises in the area.
Countries around the Baltic Sea remained on edge as the submarine hunt continued for a fourth day, seeking signs of a foreign submarine or smaller underwater craft that officials suspect entered Swedish waters illegally.
The armed forces published a photograph taken on Sunday by a passerby showing a partially submerged object in the water from a distance, but it was unclear what kind of vessel was in question.
The military said the intelligence operation in the Baltic Sea -- less than 30 miles from Stockholm -- involved a few hundred people.
The military showed one picture of what appeared to be a craft surrounded by white ripples, Reuters reported. The photograph was taken by a witness who said the vessel then submerged -- one of three sightings that the military said were credible reports.
Sweden hasn't said what foreign country it suspects -- and Moscow denies involvement. Swedish Rear Adm. Anders Grenstad told reporters he wouldn't speculate on the photograph or sightings except to say the region is "of interest to a foreign power."
"It could be a submarine, or a smaller submarine," Grenstad told reporters. "It could be divers using some form of moped-like underwater vehicle and it could be divers that don't have any business on our territory."
"This does not belong to us. It is a foreign vessel and we have no indications that there would be any civilians involved in underwater activity,” Grenstad added.
Grenstad said it had no information about any emergency messages suggesting a Russian mini-submarine had run into trouble in Swedish waters and could be damaged, as reported by the Svenska Dagbladet daily over the weekend.
Donetsk Explosion Rocks Rebel-Held Ukrainian City
DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — A powerful explosion has shaken the largest rebel-controlled city in eastern Ukraine as daily battles continue in the region despite a nominal cease-fire being in place.Shockwaves from the explosion Monday damaged buildings and were felt over a radius of several kilometers.
It wasn't immediately clear what caused the blast, which occurred at or near a rubber processing factory, or whether there are any casualties. The plant is in a rebel-controlled area.
Ukraine and pro-Russian separatist rebels agreed to a truce early last month and although fighting diminished, exchanges of artillery fire take place daily.
The U.N. estimates more than 300 people have been killed since the cease-fire was announced. At least 3,660 people have been killed over six months of fighting, according to UN estimates.
Beijing’s smog clouds city’s marathon
Runners wear face masks to project against “hazardous” levels of air pollution during Beijing marathon
Athletes donning face masks, running though clouds of smog became the latest image of China’s air pollution crisis as thousands took part in the Beijing marathon amid “hazardous” levels of smog.
Around 30,000 runners were registered to take part in Beijing’s marathon, although the state-controlled China Daily newspaper reported that many runners quit due to health concerns. One participant, Chen Xiaohui, told the newspaper that he dropped out of the marathon because of fears for his health. “A marathon represents a healthy way of living life, not the opposite,” he was quoted as saying.
Athletes donning face masks, running though clouds of smog became the latest image of China’s air pollution crisis as thousands took part in the Beijing marathon amid “hazardous” levels of smog.
Around 30,000 runners were registered to take part in Beijing’s marathon, although the state-controlled China Daily newspaper reported that many runners quit due to health concerns. One participant, Chen Xiaohui, told the newspaper that he dropped out of the marathon because of fears for his health. “A marathon represents a healthy way of living life, not the opposite,” he was quoted as saying.
The marathon is one of the largest sporting events in China.
There was criticism of the orgainisers for not cancelling the race. One
of the event’s organising committee, Wang Dawei, was quoted as saying
they didn’t foresee the high levels of pollution and added that the date
may be changed in the coming years to a time of year where there is
less likely to be bad smog.
Last year there there similar scenes at the Shanghai marathon which was held in December. This year the race has been moved to the start of November which is thought to be an effort to avoid the high levels of pollution usual in the city in December.
Last year there there similar scenes at the Shanghai marathon which was held in December. This year the race has been moved to the start of November which is thought to be an effort to avoid the high levels of pollution usual in the city in December.
Hong Kong Leader Accuses 'External Forces' Of Fueling Protests
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong's leader has claimed that "external forces" are participating in student-led pro-democracy protests that have occupied parts of this financial capital for more than three weeks, but provided no evidence to back his accusation.Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's statement in a televised interview Sunday was the first time he has alleged foreign involvement in the unrest, echoing accusations by China's central government, which also has not backed them with any evidence. Leung's statement comes just before his government is scheduled to hold talks with student leaders on Tuesday.
When asked on the "Newsline" program about a Chinese official's comments on outside involvement, Leung said, "There is obviously participation by people, organizations from outside of Hong Kong." Leung added that the foreign actors came from "different countries in different parts of the world," but didn't specify which countries.
"Everybody has seen the fact that some people and some forces from the outside are indeed making attempts at interfering in Hong Kong's affairs in order to affect Hong Kong's development, and the fact that they have gone so far as to encourage, instigate and support illegal activities such as Occupy Central," Hong said.
The Hong Kong Federation of Students immediately rejected the accusations, with Secretary General Alex Chow saying Leung was "just making it up."
"He's the chief executive, he's an accountable official," Chow told reporters. "If he's putting forward these accusations, then we hope he also puts forward the evidence. But he shouldn't just say that foreign powers are meddling without evidence."
Obama Sees an Iran Deal That Could Avoid Congress
WASHINGTON — No one knows if the Obama administration will manage in the next five weeks to strike what many in the White House consider the most important foreign policy deal of his presidency: an accord with Iran that would forestall its ability to make a nuclear weapon. But the White House has made one significant decision: If agreement is reached, President Obama will do everything in his power to avoid letting Congress vote on it.
Even while negotiators argue over the number of centrifuges Iran would be allowed to spin and where inspectors could roam, the Iranians have signaled that they would accept, at least temporarily, a “suspension” of the stringent sanctions that have drastically cut their oil revenues and terminated their banking relationships with the West, according to American and Iranian officials. The Treasury Department, in a detailed study it declined to make public, has concluded Mr. Obama has the authority to suspend the vast majority of those sanctions without seeking a vote by Congress, officials say.
But Mr. Obama cannot permanently terminate those sanctions. Only Congress can take that step. And even if Democrats held on to the Senate next month, Mr. Obama’s advisers have concluded they would probably lose such a vote.
“We wouldn’t seek congressional legislation in any comprehensive agreement for years,” one senior official said.
White House officials say Congress should not be surprised by this plan. They point to testimony earlier this year when top negotiators argued that the best way to assure that Iran complies with its obligations is a step-by-step suspension of sanctions — with the implicit understanding that the president could turn them back on as fast as he turned them off.
“We have been clear that initially there would be suspension of any of the U.S. and international sanctions regime, and that the lifting of sanctions will only come when the I.A.E.A. verifies that Iran has met serious and substantive benchmarks,” Bernadette Meehan, the spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said Friday, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency. “We must be confident that Iran’s compliance is real and sustainable over a period of time.”
But many members of Congress see the plan as an effort by the administration to freeze them out, a view shared by some Israeli officials who see a congressional vote as the best way to constrain the kind of deal that Mr. Obama might strike.
Stream of people seen leaving Dem rally after Obama starts speaking
Many attendees at a Democratic campaign rally headed for the exits shortly after President Obama began speaking Sunday evening.Speaking at campaign rally in Maryland for Democratic candidate for governor Anthony Brown, Obama either ignored or didn't notice the movement of attendees out of the event.
Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason tweeted that the steam of rally attendees leaving early was "noticeable and noisy."
Click for more from The Washington Free Beacon.
Expelled Nazis Paid Millions In Social Security
OSIJEK, Croatia (AP) — Former Auschwitz guard Jakob Denzinger lived the American dream.His plastics company in the Rust Belt town of Akron, Ohio, thrived. By the late 1980s, he had acquired the trappings of success: a Cadillac DeVille and a Lincoln Town Car, a lakefront home, investments in oil and real estate.
Then the Nazi hunters showed up.
Denzinger, 90, is among dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals and SS guards who collected millions of dollars in Social Security payments after being forced out of the United States, an Associated Press investigation found.
The payments flowed through a legal loophole that has given the U.S. Justice Department leverage to persuade Nazi suspects to leave. If they agreed to go, or simply fled before deportation, they could keep their Social Security, according to interviews and internal government records.
Like Denzinger, many lied about their Nazi pasts to get into the U.S. following World War II, and eventually became American citizens.
US midterms: Republicans looking zippy as candidates sprint to the finish
Obama returned to the campaign trail in Maryland with the Democrats facing a difficult battle to keep hold of the Senate
The candidates are ready to sprint to the finish. And with just 15 days to go until America’s midterm elections, featuring a high-stakes battle for control of the US Senate, the Republicans are looking zippy.
Here’s the state of the race:
President Obama returned to the campaign trail Sunday, popping up in Maryland to make a big speech on behalf of gubernatorial nominee Anthony Brown. Unfortunately, a good number of audience members walked out early. Undeterred, the president continued to Illinois to stump for Governor Pat Quinn, who is up for re-election.
At rallies, Obama casts 2014 as key for his legacy – AP. “Don’t give up now,” the president said. “Not after we’ve made this much progress.”
A new ABC News/Washington Post poll showed Hillary Clinton out in front of the Democratic field in the 2016 presidential race. Leading on the Republican side was… Mitt Romney. Romney “is supported for the GOP nomination by 21% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents,” researcher Gary Langer writes. “That’s double the support of his closest potential rival.”
Among registered voters, former Secretary of State Clinton leads the potential 2016 Democratic field, with 64 percent of the vote. She has a sizable lead on Vice President Joe Biden (13 percent) and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (11 percent), according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.
Notably, Clinton would take 70 percent of the women's vote and 72 percent of the over-50 vote.
The GOP field, however, is way less clear.
-
The candidates are ready to sprint to the finish. And with just 15 days to go until America’s midterm elections, featuring a high-stakes battle for control of the US Senate, the Republicans are looking zippy.
Here’s the state of the race:
President Obama returned to the campaign trail Sunday, popping up in Maryland to make a big speech on behalf of gubernatorial nominee Anthony Brown. Unfortunately, a good number of audience members walked out early. Undeterred, the president continued to Illinois to stump for Governor Pat Quinn, who is up for re-election.
At rallies, Obama casts 2014 as key for his legacy – AP. “Don’t give up now,” the president said. “Not after we’ve made this much progress.”
A new ABC News/Washington Post poll showed Hillary Clinton out in front of the Democratic field in the 2016 presidential race. Leading on the Republican side was… Mitt Romney. Romney “is supported for the GOP nomination by 21% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents,” researcher Gary Langer writes. “That’s double the support of his closest potential rival.”
- RNC head: GOP will ‘absolutely’ win Senate– The Hill
- DNC chief: We’re going to hold the Senate – The Hill
- How Republicans could blow it – Real Clear Politics
- Poll: Democrats in danger over Ebola – Politico
Mitt Romney,Hillary Clinton leading the 2016 field
Hillary Clinton remains the clear frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in 2016, while Mitt Romney barely leads against a scattered group of Republicans.Among registered voters, former Secretary of State Clinton leads the potential 2016 Democratic field, with 64 percent of the vote. She has a sizable lead on Vice President Joe Biden (13 percent) and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (11 percent), according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.
The GOP field, however, is way less clear.
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