Wed, October 29, 2008 - 10:22 AM

Tito Munoz, or “Tito the Builder” as he dubbed himself, may have made his national political debut in Virginia with Sarah Palin Monday, but the McCain campaign declined to make him available for interviews that day, saying he did not like the media.

Today the Prince William County construction company owner, Tito Munoz, was back out in front of the cameras – of Fox News.

“I believe this country is about opportunity, not … government hand outs,” he said on an interview with Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly this morning.

“All these interviews are kind of scary,” he said.

But Kelly reassured him, “Nobody better do anything to you Tito, or they’re going to have answer to me.”

Munoz is the director of DeBorn Construction out of Dale City, according to the Virginia State Corporation Commission. He has expressed disgust for how the media investigated Joe “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher of Toledo, Ohio and found he did not have a plumbing license.

Check out this article to see how Munoz prepared himself for similar attention.

--Neil Simon

Tue, October 28, 2008 - 1:01 PM

The issue of how much Republicans have spent on Sarah Palin’s wardrobe won’t go away.

It even came up during Michelle Obama’s visit to “The Tonight Show.” (It’s about a minute in to this clip.)



Obama told host Jay Leno she got her sunshine-yellow ensemble at J.Crew. And, she added, the couple buys their own clothes but she can empathize with the sudden spotlight the Palins have found themselves under.

-- Amy Dominello

Mon, October 27, 2008 - 10:26 PM

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla., -- Joe Biden has just ended his speech to a rally in New Port Richey, giving the estimated 3,200 attendees enough time to get home and watch The Rays in the World Series, as was promised by an earlier speaker.

But many of the people in the crowd are choosing to stick around, shaking his hand and taking photographs.

“Yes we can! Yes we can!” they are chanting around him.

-- Billy House, Media General News Service

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla., -- Sen. Bill Nelson has accompanied Joe Biden to the rally tonight in New Port Richey.

Warming up the crowd, Nelson said, “It is true that Barack doesn’t have to win Florida under the conventional wisdom” to win the presidency.

But if Obama and Biden do win Florida, Nelson said, so goes the rest of the nation.

-- Billy House, Media General News Service

Comparing Sarah Palin’s Leesburg rally today to Barack Obama’s there last week, one thing stands out: how the campaigns are calling their supporters to action in the homestretch of the race.

At Obama events, organizers ask attendants to text the letters “VA” to a campaign phone number as a way for the campaign to call them back or text them on Election Day to remind people to vote. At the Palin rally, there were signs and stickers to grab on the way out, but nobody giving such a direct appeal for action that has become a hallmark of Obama’s field organizers.

Some Palin event participants said they thought it was odd they weren’t asked to do more than vote in the campaign’s final push, but others, walking out with an armful of McCain-Palin yard signs, shrugged off the difference in how the two camps are mobilizing their masses.

“I’m sure people’s minds are made up,” said Andrea Stock of Leesburg, a McCain supporter who said she talks to Obama-backers, but figures there’s no convincing them now.

-Neil H. Simon

Yes, America. There is an end to the 2008 campaign.

Election Day will be here in barely more than a week. In rallies today, the candidates appear to be focused on the issues they hope will resonate with voters when they cast their ballot Nov. 4.

Republican John McCain is talking about Democrat Barack Obama’s tax plan, repeatedly saying Obama will “redistribute” wealth and that Obama’s tax plans would take money out of the hands of Americans who’ve worked hard.

For his part, Obama is focused on hammering home a connection between McCain and what he says are the failed policies of President Bush. Obama, who has a slight lead in polls, is also seeking to remind supporters that they should not grow overconfident and that he needs their votes.

No matter which side of the aisle you’re on there is some good news: It’s almost over.

-- Amy Dominello

There are advantages and disadvantages to living in battleground states.

Advantage: battleground state voters get an actual say in choosing the next president. No matter how I vote in Maryland next week, Barack Obama will win my home state handily.

Disadvantage: battleground state voters get an actual say in choosing the next president. Which means they are subjected to an unending barrage of television ads, junk mail and -- worst of all -- the flood of dinnertime robo-calls.

An anti-robo call group has been cataloging the robo-calls the presidential campaigns and political parties have unleashed in key swing states.

They're worth a listen. And before you say you'd be willing to trade a real say in the presidential election for relative peace in this final week of campaigning, try playing some of these calls at random while eating dinner.

--Sean Mussenden

CNN reports on alleged in-fighting between the staffs of John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin.

According to the story, the tension stems from Palin's tendency to "go rogue," breaking from campaign positions like competing in Michigan, and the use of automated phone calls, or "robocalls."

Unnamed McCain sources in the story accuse the Alaska governor of looking out for her own future, while unnamed Palin sources said she's simply trying to take control of her own message.

The article goes on to note that friction between the staffs of presidential and vice presidential candidates is normal, especially when the ticket is behind in the polls.

-- Mark Young

How bad is the traffic in Leesburg for this morning's Sarah Palin rally?

So bad that I saw Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., walk past my vehicle. It was less than a mile from the event site at J.R.'S Festival Lakes, and traffic was so backed up on River Creek Parkway that within five minutes Wolf was out of sight. Guess he'll make it to the stage on time. Not sure about the rest whoever was driving him.

-- Neil Simon

Sat, October 25, 2008 - 4:27 PM

Former President Bill Clinton will appear at an event in Orlando with Barack Obama on Wednesday, his campaign said today -- the first time the two will link up on the campaign trail.

Details of exactly when and where the event will be held were not yet set.

But word of the event comes after Obama paid a visit to Tampa on Monday, and he continues to carpetbomb Florida’s crucial I-4 corridor with television advertising. It also comes as both Bill and Hillary Clinton have been paying visits to the state for Obama.

-- Billy House, Media General News Service

Fri, October 24, 2008 - 4:41 PM

The Washington Post political blog, The Fix, has added House races featuring Virginia Republican Reps. Virgil Goode and Thelma Drake to a list of the 50 seats most likely to change parties after Election Day.

Goode’s race with Democratic challenger Tom Perriello is labeled No. 50 on the list. The Fix points to this article in The (Charlottesville) Daily Progress as another potential headache for Goode, whose press secretary played a small role as a college dean in a gay art house film.

“I’m a lifelong actor,” press secretary Linwood Duncan told the paper. “I’ve been acting ever since I was in elementary school.”

The Fix puts the Drake-Glenn Nye race at No. 42 on its list. See our story on the race here. The Fix says “if there is a major Obama surge, this is the kind of district that could feel the effect.”

--Neil H. Simon

The race for Senate in Georgia is becoming tight for incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss.

Polling data is showing former state Rep. Jim Martin, the Democratic challenger, has consistently closed the gap between the two. The most recent polls show just a two-point spread between the two candidates.

It’s clear the seat is becoming close by the attention both parties are now placing on the race.

Just today, a fundraising e-mail from former President Bill Clinton is urging Democrats to donate to Martin’s campaign as well as those of Al Franken of Minnesota and Bruce Lunsford of Kentucky.

Their election, Clinton said, could create “a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate majority working” that could be a big help to a Democratic agenda if Barack Obama is elected president.

-- Amy Dominello

A feud within the late Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater Sr.’s family over whether any of them should publicly be backing Democrat Barack Obama over Goldwater protégé John McCain is spilling out into postings on the Huffington Post Web site.

First, CC Goldwater, a granddaughter of the 1964 presidential nominee from Arizona, praised Obama and blasted McCain in a posting Thursday. Here’s some of what she wrote:

"After the last eight years, there's a lot of clean up do. Roll up your sleeves, Senators Obama and Biden, and we Goldwaters will roll ours up with you." The entire post is here.

But that apparently didn’t sit well with all the members of the Goldwater family. Barry Goldwater Jr., responded with his own blog that “dad would have opposed Obama. Here some of what he wrote:

"My father would never endorse a candidate or a party that wanted to grow government, raise taxes or in any way step on our freedoms." The entire post is here.

-- Billy House, Media General News Service

Things aren't looking good for House Republicans this cycle. The esteemed political prognosticator Charlie Cook has the party on target to lose between 23 and 28 seats this cycle. And in one sign of trouble, even normally solidly Republican seats, like the one held by Rep. Virginia Foxx in Winston-Salem, N.C., suddenly seem in a small amount of danger.

Cook bumped Foxx's seat this week from "Solid Republican" to "Likely Republican" this week. That suggests she'll probably pull it out, but it's far from a 100 percent guarantee. In the district next door, Rep. Patrick McHenry's seat has a similar "Likely Republican" rating.

--Sean Mussenden

A new poll shows that about 8 percent of registered voters nationally are undecided in the presidential race, with women representing a majority of the group.

The Center for American Women and Politics, analyzing numbers from a poll done by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, reports that women are 60 percent of all undecided registered voters.

There are fewer non-white than white registered voters having not yet chosen a candidate – 6 percent of non-white voters overall and 4 percent of African-American voters are undecided, the study shows.

-- Billy House, Media General News Service