WASHINGTON
Obama had doubts about extra security
Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday that he was reluctant to ask for Secret Service protection this early in the 2008 presidential race.
“I’m not an entourage guy. You know, up until recently, I was still taking my wife Michelle’s grocery list and going to the grocery store once in a while,” the Illinois senator said.
He was placed under Secret Service protection May 3, the earliest ever for a U.S. presidential candidate. Obama, who is black, acknowledged that some of the threats against him were racially motivated.
“You know, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it or considering the details of this, but just to broaden the issue, are there people who would be troubled with an African-American president? Yes,” he said. “Are there folks who might not vote for me because I’m African- American? No doubt.”
But Obama said that if he doesn’t win, it will not be because of the color of his skin.
“It’s going to be because I didn’t project a vision of leadership that gave people confidence,” he said.
His comments came in an interview broadcast Sunday on “This Week” on ABC.
WASHINGTON
Hagel has sights on independent ticket
Sen. Chuck Hagel says that the Republican Party has been led astray by “isolationist insulationists” and that it may be time for an independent presidential ticket – perhaps with the names Bloomberg and Hagel on it.
Hagel, a lifelong Republican who has been a frequent critic of the Iraq war, said Sunday that he will decide about running by late summer after determining where he can best play a role to “make a better world.” After dining recently with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is also considering a run for president as an independent, Hagel said people might want to consider the two on a ticket.
“We didn’t make any deals, but I think Mayor Bloomberg is the kind of individual who should seriously think about this,” said Hagel, of Nebraska.
Hagel spoke on “Face the Nation” on CBS.
WASHINGTON
Giuliani opposes Roe vs. Wade “test”
Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani says he feels “very, very passionate” about abortion and opposes picking Supreme Court nominees based on their view of the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion.
“My view is that there shouldn’t be a litmus test on Roe against Wade,” the former New York mayor said. “I’m going to select strict-constructionist judges. They’re free to take a look at Roe against Wade, take a look at the limitations, but I believe I should leave it to them to decide that.”
Giuliani repeatedly has defended his positions, which have been criticized as contradictory, on late-term abortion, public funding for abortion and the Roe vs. Wade decision.
Giuliani was interviewed on “Fox News Sunday.”
RALEIGH, N.C.
Elizabeth Edwards tells grads to live fully
Elizabeth Edwards urged Meredith College graduates on Sunday to live deliberately, saying that they will never know when they might, like her, have to face their own mortality.
Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, learned about two months ago that her cancer had returned in an incurable form.
The medical diagnosis gave Edwards the chance to think about “the story” she wanted to leave behind, she told the graduates.
