Washington – Democratic presidential candidates Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd will not participate in a Democratic debate co-sponsored by Fox News Channel this fall, joining their three top rivals in bypassing the event.
Their decisions, acknowledged by campaign aides Wednesday, are sure to disappoint the Congressional Black Caucus, whose political education and leadership institute is Fox’s partner in the debate.
But Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, and Dodd, a senator from Connecticut, have been under pressure to shun the debate from liberal groups that say Fox is biased against Democrats.
Additional political news briefs:
DES MOINES, Iowa
Romney calls for 100,000 more troops
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Wednesday repeated his call to add more troops to the nation’s armed forces, saying the Iraq war has left the military seriously stressed.
The former governor of Massachusetts said he supported President Bush’s decision to intervene in Iraq but conceded that the effort has had plenty of missteps.
“I think we’ve made a number of mistakes,” said Romney, opening a two-day campaign trip to Iowa by speaking to a business group. “We were underprepared for what developed. I don’t think we had anywhere near enough troops.”
Romney said he supports adding at least 100,000 troops to the military.
BURLINGAME, Calif.
Giuliani assails Clinton tax policies
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, staking a claim Wednesday to the political riches and entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon Valley, declared himself “the one Republican candidate with a legitimate chance to win California” and assailed the tax policies of Democratic contender Hillary Rodham Clinton as a threat to the Golden State’s tech economy.
Giuliani mingled with voters at a Burlingame restaurant Wednesday before being feted by 200 donors at a fundraiser led by prominent venture capitalist Floyd Kwamme.
Giuliani lit into Clinton for proposing increases in capital- gains taxes and a rollback of President Bush’s tax cuts on the wealthy. He charged that her plan would harm business growth in the nation’s heart of technology innovation.
“It would hurt our economy. It would hurt this area traumatically,” Giuliani said. “That kind of tax increase would see a decline in your venture capital. It would see a decline in your ability to focus on new technologies and new development. These are massive tax increases that Mrs. Clinton is proposing.”
