JOHN MCCAIN 2008 LAUNCHES WEB AD: "TRUST HUCKABEE"

For Immediate Release
Contact: Press Office
Friday, January 18, 2008

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today launched a new web ad, entitled "Trust Huckabee." The ad addresses attacks by Huckabee supporters by highlighting Governor Huckabee's statements on John McCain's strong conservative record.
"Trust Huckabee" is scheduled to appear on news and information websites in South Carolina.

JOHN MCCAIN UNVEILS ECONOMIC STIMULUS PLAN

For Immediate Release
Contact: Press Office
Thursday, January 17, 2008

ARLINGTON, VA -- Today in Columbia, South Carolina, John McCain unveiled his plan to stimulate the American economy. McCain's plan will lower the corporate tax rate, allow expensing of equipment and technology investments and establish a permanent research and development tax credit.

"Now is the time to act to stimulate
our economy," said John McCain. "I
offer a genuinely conservative, pro-growth plan to provide much-needed stimulus
to our economy, creating more prosperity and opportunity for American families.
Unlike the Democrats' tired ideas of tax and spend, my plan will cut taxes, spur
investment and innovation and make American business more competitive in the
global marketplace."

Jack Kemp applauded John McCain's economic stimulus initiative, stating, "John McCain's pro-growth stimulus plan is exactly what our economy needs today. As president, John McCain will provide principled leadership to ensure our economy remains the envy of the free world."

JOHN MCCAIN: BOLD SOLUTIONS TO STIMULATE THE AMERICAN ECONOMY

· Cut The Corporate Tax Rate From 35 To 25 Percent.
A lower corporate tax rate is essential to U.S. competitiveness. America was once a low-tax business environment, but as our trade partners lowered their rates, America failed to keep pace, leaving us with the second-highest rate among the world's advanced economies.[1]
Cutting the corporate tax will expand the U.S. economy, creating jobs and opportunities for prosperity. A recent analysis of tax policy options estimated that a cut less than half this size could increase long-term growth by 0.5 percent, or $100 billion in a single year.[2]
Lower corporate taxes leads to higher wages. Recent studies have shown that corporate taxes are in large part passed on to labor through lower wages. One study noted that a one percent hike in the corporate tax results in a 0.8 percent decrease in manufacturing wages.[3] Accordingly, cutting corporate taxes can increase wages for American workers.

· Allow First-Year Deduction, Or "Expensing", Of Equipment And Technology Investments.
Expensing of equipment and technology will provide an immediate boost to capital expenditures and reward investments in cutting-edge technologies.
The additional investment stimulated by a change to expensing of equipment and technology will drive to economic growth. A recent estimate of a modest expensing provision predicted a gain of 1.5 percent in long term economic growth.[4]
The complexity of our tax code needlessly burdens American businesses and families with $140 billion in compliance costs.[5] Allowing expensing will eliminate the need for complicated accounting for depreciation.

· Establish Permanent Tax Credit Equal To 10 Percent Of Wages Spent On R&D.
The R&D tax credit will simplify the tax code, reward activity in the United States, and make us more competitive with other countries.
A permanent credit will provide an incentive to innovate and remove uncertainty. At a time when our companies need to be more competitive, we need to provide a permanent incentive to innovate, and remove the uncertainty now hanging over businesses as they make R&D investment decisions.

· These Are Essential First Steps On The Path To Fundamental Tax Reform, Which Could Increase U.S. GDP By As Much As 10 Percent Over The Long Term.[6]

[1] Robert Carroll, "Fiscal Stimulus: Missing The Big Picture?" The Tax Foundation, January 11, 2008
[2] U.S. Department of the Treasury, "Approaches to Reform the U.S. Business Tax System for the 21st Century," December 20, 2007
[3] Kevin Hassett and Aparna Mathur, "Taxes and Wages," American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Working Paper Number 128, June 2006.; The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform (2005)
[4] U.S. Department of the Treasury, "Approaches to Reform the U.S. Business Tax System for the 21st Century," December 20, 2007
[5] The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform (2005)
[6] Alan J. Auerbach, Kevin A. Hassett, et al., "Toward Fundamental Tax Reform," AEI Press, May 2005

McCain camp goes on offense in S.C

By Maeve Reston, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

January 17, 2008

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- John McCain's Republican presidential run collapsed in South Carolina eight years ago after what his campaign later acknowledged was a critical mistake: hesitating before responding to false accusations that the candidate's wife was a drug addict and that he fathered an illegitimate child.With South Carolina again emerging as a pivotal battleground in McCain's campaign for the presidency, his campaign is moving aggressively -- too aggressively, critics say -- to make sure the Arizona senator doesn't fall victim to personal smears again.

The centerpiece of its strategy is a group that calls itself the "truth squad." It was established this month to preempt or blunt any new political dirty tricks, such as a recent mailing sent to several dozen South Carolina newspapers accusing McCain of betraying fellow prisoners during the Vietnam War.

McCain's truth squad is headed by South Carolina Atty. Gen. Henry McMaster, state Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell and state Adjutant General Stan Spears. Even as the McCain campaign was preparing a mailer last week critical of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's record on abortion and taxes, McCain promised that his group would swing back hard if it saw anything reminiscent of the 2000 attacks against him.

The squad's role was evident Wednesday when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a state co-chairman for the McCain campaign, appeared at a McCain rally in Greenville, S.C., and told the crowd to watch for "some garbage in the mail out there and the phone." He asked the veterans in the audience to "watch John's back."

At the next event, in Spartanburg, McMaster, another campaign co-chairman, said the political season was beginning to look like "Halloween with a full moon" where "people will do most anything.""Don't pay attention to that stuff," he said.

McCain told reporters on his campaign bus that "scurrilous stuff" had started again, referring to the mailing about his prisoner-of-war experience, among other things. "We will not let it go this time," he said.

Romney Runs On His Record? from MV08.com

Mitt Romney likes to tout his economic record when campaigning. It seemed to work in Michigan. "Michigan's weak economy, dragged down by the struggling auto industry, weighed on the minds of GOP voters...half of Michigan Republican primary voters picked the economy as the most important issue facing the nation compared with just 26 percent in the Iowa GOP caucuses and 31 percent in the New Hampshire Republican primary.

It is too bad that the Michigan Republicans hadn't read this from the Boston Globe Editorial page.Romney's Economic Record By Andrew Sum and Joseph McLaughlin July 29, 2007

'AS MITT ROMNEY pursues his bid for the
presidency, his record asMassachusetts governor will come under scrutiny,
including how the state's economy performed during his administration. Our
analysis reveals a weak comparative economic performance of the state over the
Romney years, one of the worst in the country.'(emphasis added)

Read the rest of the story here.

Here are some "Low-lights" of Mitt Romney's economic record:

Under Romney, "On All Key Labor Market
Measures, The State Not Only Lagged Behind The Country As A Whole, But Often
Ranked At Or Near The Bottom Of The State Distribution."Under Romney,
Massachusetts' Manufacturing Jobs Declined At Double The National Rate --
Third-Worst In The CountryUnder Romney, Massachusetts Manufacturing Jobs
Declined By More Than 14 Percent -- Double The National
Rate.

As a Republican, I usually don't have much use for the Boston Globe but it is nice to have them set the record straight.

Shared with the MV08 Bloggers atAli Akbar,AzaMatterofact,AzaMatteroPrinciple, Blogs4McCain, BroadSideoftheBarn, ElectionNightHQ, Hoosiers4McCain, Iowa4McCain, McCain Blogettes, McCain States, McCain Talk, McCainVictory08, McCain Campaign Blog, Metaxupolis, My McCain Blog, NH4McCain, NJ4McCain, Pardon My French, Partisan American, PoliticoMafioso, Purple People Vote, Reality Bytes, Respectfully Republican, Stand Up For McCain>The Mad Irishman, The McCain Times, Vote McCain, With Both Hands, Porter County Politics, But I am a Liberal.Blue and New, Brainster, California Thoughts and Dreams, College Kid for McCain, McCain Monitor, Empty Rhetoric, Andrew Jones for America, JohnnyMillerBlog, Keystone for Victory, Michigan4McCain, Why McCain, and Wisconsin4McCain.

Senator Is GOP's Best Hope Of Keeping The Presidency - The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC

Posted on Wed, Jan. 16, 2008

S.C. voters who want the president who replaces George W. Bush next January to be a Republican have little option but to support Sen. John McCain in Saturday's S.C. GOP primary.

The gentleman has broad appeal to the independent voters who decide every presidential election. For that reason, he well may be the only Republican candidate who could win in November, bucking the national pro-Democratic tide wrought by the failures of the Bush administration and the previous Republican Congresses.

More important, McCain, R-Ariz., would be a competent president. He understands that America must root its foreign policy in robust diplomacy and vigorous, well-trained, well-deployed military forces. He understands that federal spending restraint is the key to relieving the economic misery of the American middle class, that massive new open-ended entitlement programs would be a mistake. And he knows how to work across party lines to forge compromises that work well for the American people. He could be successful from Day 1 in office.

The other Republican candidates would have difficulty prevailing in a general election and, presidentially speaking, are unknown quantities.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has strong values credentials and experience as a government chief executive. But vigorous pursuit of his economic policy - scrapping the income tax for a national sales tax - would divert political energy away from the more pressing need: reining in spending to fend off recession, reduce the deficit and ease pressure for tax increases. And why gamble that Huckabee could overcome his lack of foreign-policy knowledge?

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney grounds his case for the presidency in business acumen. But his shift in position on values issues such as gay marriage and abortion could haunt him - and the GOP - in the general election campaign. And as with Huckabee, his lack of foreign policy experience invites dangerous missteps.

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani advocates the same neoconservative foreign policy positions that made such a hash of the Iraq war. And while his executive experience as mayor could translate into a talent for federal administration, he seems, at times, politically inept. He has, in effect, made himself a nonstarter.

Former Tennessee Sen. and TV actor Fred Thompson says the things conservatives love to hear. But it's hard to see how he could connect with enough voters to win the presidency - and hard to imagine how he would comport himself as president.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, is so far outside the modern Republican mainstream that he's virtually unelectable. And an unlikely Paul presidency could be disastrous if the gentleman is really serious about returning to the pre-World War II isolationist conservative foreign policy of old. In a globalist world, America has no choice but be globally engaged - though not in wars of uncertain outcome.

S.C. voters were unkind to McCain in his 2000 presidential run. This time, they can - and should - anoint him the Republican establishment candidate, in hope that GOP voters in the big states holding primaries Jan. 29 and Feb. 5 will cement the deal. McCain represents their best hope of retaining the presidency and retaining a sane political balance in Washington.

He earns The Sun News
recommendation.