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The Daily Telegraph, 10 December 2007 The crowd of almost 10,000 erupted in ecstasy as the talk show queen hailed the new "O factor" in American life. "It's the question this whole nation is asking," she shouted. "Is he the one? Cedar Rapids, I know he's the one." A beaming Senator Barack Obama bounded onto the stage to hug Oprah Winfrey, the only female in the United States more famous than Hillary Clinton - and possibly the one woman with the power to stop the former First Lady reclaim the White House. Mr Obama, in his trademark dark suit and open-neck white shirt, hugged Oprah, resplendent in a mauve jacket of shimmering velvet. The two became one and Oprahbama - the perfect melding of popular culture and politics - was born. It was the second appearance of the day that the two had made together and people had queued in snow and freezing rain for up to three hours on a Saturday night to be there. Earlier, some 18,000 had turned up in Des Moines to witness the first foray into politics by Oprah - a philanthropic and literary phenomenon for whom no surname is necessary - in the 22-year history of her eponymous show. Yesterday nearly 50,000 were expected to pour into a stadium in Columbia, South Carolina for the culmination of what was dubbed the "Oprahpalooza" weekend. Quite possibly, it marked a turning point in the increasingly bitter tussle for the Democratic presidential nomination. Less than 45 miles and three hours separated the "Double O" rally in Cedar Rapids and Mrs Clinton's appearance in the village of Williamsburg, Iowa. While Mrs Clinton still has a clear lead in national polls, it is narrowing by the day. Mr Obama has recently overtaken her in Iowa, which becomes the first state in the country to vote when its caucuses convene on Jan 3. Suddenly, Mrs Clinton, who two months ago appeared to be cruising towards a victory her aides portrayed as inevitable, appears to be in trouble. Barely 250 had gathered to see the New York senator, who was accompanied by her mother Dorothy Rodham, 88, and daughter Chelsea, 27, on the campaign trail for the first time. A straight-faced Mrs Clinton said that the wheeling out of three generations of Rodham Clinton females on the same day as Oprah was a total coincidence. "We knew it would never happen before December because of all the conflicting scheduling needs, everything everybody had, and it worked out it was going to be today and I'm thrilled to have them with me." In any event, what seemed like a transparent move to counter Oprah fell flat as Mrs Rodham and Chelsea Clinton played the role of awkward props, standing silently on the stage in the tiny school hall as Mrs Clinton launched into her familiar stump speech. "We need better schools, better healthcare and stronger families for our children and we need more jobs and more economic opportunities for all of us," she said. After a few minutes, her daughter guided her mother away to sit down as the former First Lady labouriously detailed her "broad range of experience" and "eight years of being in the White House as part of a presidential team". Afterwards, several attendees explained that they had come out of curiosity but had serious doubts about Mrs Clinton. "I don't trust her because the Clintons lied, didn't they?" stated Marsha Jones, 55. "For me, it's all about honesty." Leo Rudolphi, a farmer in his 50s, said he was an undecided voter. "Obama brings a whole new perspective. With Hillary, maybe it's a bit more of a monarchy kind of thing than the typical American might want." Over at the US Cellular arena in Cedar Rapids, Oprah whipped up the audience with superlative praise of Mr Obama as a man with "an ear for eloquence and a tongue dipped in unvarnished truth". She also unleashed a series of barbs clearly aimed at Mrs Clinton. "We the people can see through all the rhetoric," she said. "We recognise that the amount of time you have spent in Washington means nothing unless you are accountable for what you did with the time you had. "Life gives you a lot of experience if you're paying attention. So I challenge you to see through those people who try to tell you that experience with politics as usual is more important than years of serving the people outside the walls of Washington." Mr Obama was a man who "stood with clarity and conviction against the war in Iraq", she said, drawing an unspoken contrast with Mrs Clinton, who voted to authorise the 2003 invasion. He was, moreover, someone "who consults his own conscience - who has a conscience". Many in the crowd said that Oprah, whose Book Club recommendations have lifted even Leo Tolstoy to the top of the bestseller lists, could make the difference in the caucuses. A win in Iowa can give a candidate powerful and potentially unstoppable momentum in the other early states, whose contests come thick and fast. "She's 100 per cent real and he's real," said Lois Wehrhan, 91. "She was a poor black girl who came up from the very bottom and has led a good life and helped so many people. She helps people trust him." Amy Boyle, 45, was trying to persuade her mother Gene, 81 - who said that people "follow Oprah like ducklings follow a duck" - to back Mr Obama instead of Mrs Clinton. "I'm beginning to feel he really has the best chance. Her husband Tim, sporting an Obama badge, said: "The biggest reservation I have is the baggage that comes with Hillary. The Clintons have polarised a lot of people and she brings that with her. "There are people that love her but people who absolutely hate her. She's like George Bush in that regard." Carly Marquardt, 19, a University of Iowa student, said she has been swayed towards Mr Obama by Oprah. "She has a presence about her that's indescribable. When she came out, you could feel so much about her that was upbeat. She spreads his power."
The Daily Telegraph, 6 December 2007 Seeking to overcome deep suspicion of his Mormon faith among many evangelical Christians and reignite his stalling presidential campaign, Mitt Romney declared yesterday that he would "serve no one religion" in the White House. His 20-minute speech at the George Bush Snr presidential library took place 90 miles away from Houston, where in 1960 the then Senator John F Kennedy told sceptical Protestant ministers that he would not take orders from the Pope. Speaking to an invited and heavily-supportive audience of nearly 400, and self-consciously echoing Mr Kennedy, the former Massachusetts governor said: "Like him, I am an American running for president. I do not define my candidacy by my religion." With Mr Romney suddenly lagging in polls behind Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, in what has become for him the must-win state of Iowa, which kicks off the 2008 voting on Jan 3, his campaign decided they had to seize back the initiative. Christian conservatives vote in large numbers in Iowa and his Mormonism, which some evangelicals regard as a sinister cult, is seen as a major obstacle to his strategy of winning there and building enough early momentum to sweep him to the Republican nomination. Mr Romney still trails the national Republican frontrunner Rudy Giuliani by a clear margin but the former New York mayor, a thrice-married lapsed Roman Catholic, has his own difficulties with the Religious Right and is weak in Iowa. A former Mormon bishop, Mr Romney avoided discussing the tenets of his faith, which include the notion that the Garden of Eden was in Missouri and the Second Coming of Jesus will take place there and in Jerusalem. Instead, he made an impassioned plea for religion to be at the centre of American political life. "Any believer in religious freedom, any person who has knelt in prayer to the Almighty, has a friend and ally in me," he said. "And so it is for hundreds of millions of our countrymen. We do not insist on a single strain of religion. Rather, we welcome our nation's symphony of faith." Mr Romney was introduced warmly by Mr Bush Snr, who described him as a member of "a great American family" but said he was not endorsing any Republican candidate. Stating that no White House contender should become "the spokesman for his faith", Mr Romney instead sought to court the so-called "values voters" who formed the bedrock of George W Bush's election victories in 2000 and 2004. Some people, he said, had asked him to disavow Mormonism. "That I will not do," he said. "I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavour to live by it. My faith is the faith of my fathers - I will be true to them and to my beliefs." Mr Romney has repeatedly tried to draw a contrast with Mr Giuliani, who is estranged from his two children, by surrounding himself with his wholesome family, including his wife of 38 years, Ann, and their five sons. Yesterday was no exception as numerous Romneys thronged the stage and the candidate said that his faith was grounded in the same truths as those of mainstream Christian churches. "You can witness them in Ann and my marriage and in our family." Outside the library, a vigorous discussion raged between Dan Baker, a Texas engineer and Mormon, and Rob Sivulka, a Christian missionary who plans to go to Utah to convert Mormons from what he sees as a "a polytheistic cult" and "inoculate others from becoming Mormons". Mr Baker, who said he had converted 50 Brazilians to Mormonism in his youth, interjected: "We hope to be doing the opposite." He added: " Zion, we believe, is in Missouri and that's unusual but that's what the Prophet says." The Prophet he referred to was Joseph Smith, who founded the Church of Latter Day Saints in Missouri in 1860, some 30 years after publishing the Book of Mormon, regarded by Mormons as a sacred text. Some prominent evangelicals lauded the speech as a potential turning point in Mr Romney's candidacy. "I told him that I don't think that your religious belief is a deal breaker for most evangelical Christians," said the Rev Richard Land, a Southern Baptist leader and one of America's most influential evangelicals, who was in the audience. "But only you can close that deal. Only Kennedy could persuade millions of Protestants to vote for a Catholic. Only Mitt Romney can convince evangelicals to vote for Mitt Romney. And I think he certainly helped himself today." The Rev Lou Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition and a Romney adviser, said: "I've taken an enormous amount of criticism and hate from my fellow evangelicals for supporting Mitt Romney. "There'll be a few who will pick the speech apart but most of America likes civil and religious rights. Ninety-something per cent of us believe in God. He is speaking to that broad spectrum. "In my experience, it is Mormons that support family values and give money and time and put their shoulders to the plough. The root of the issue is religious liberty. Kennedy passed the test and Romney passed the test today."
The Daily Telegraph, 30 November 2007 A Baptist minister with a shoestring budget emerged yesterday as a surprise leader in the race for the Republican presidential nomination after displaying folksy humour while his rivals squabbled in a television debate. Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, has edged ahead of Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani in Iowa, the first state to vote in the nominating process, according to a Rasmussen poll. "The surge is on," he told supporters in an email yesterday. Mr Huckabee, 52, bolstered his position with a disarming performance in the debate in Florida on Wednesday night, charming the audience with his nimble quips as Mr Romney, the previous frontrunner in Iowa, and Rudy Giuliani, the national favourite, went for each other's jugulars. Facing some oddball questions, which had been posted by users of the YouTube video-sharing website ahead of the debate broadcast by CNN, Mr Huckabee proved the most adept. When asked about space exploration, he prompted guffaws by suggesting that Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, "could be on the first rocket to Mars". He niftily dodged a tricky question about whether the Son of God would support the death penalty by quipping: "Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office." In the meantime his rivals clashed angrily after Mr Romney claimed that New York, where Mr Giuliani was Mayor, had been a "sanctuary city" for illegal immigrants. Mr Giuliani in turn claimed that Mr Romney's Massachusetts home had been a "sanctuary mansion", where illegal Guatemalan immigrants had once tended his lawn. Mr Romney said the charge was "offensive" while Mr Giuliani responded that his rival was "holier than thou" before being booed by some members of the audience. When the candidates turned their fire on Mr Huckabee for raising taxes in Arkansas and allowing the children of illegal immigrants to apply for university scholarships, the former pastor just smiled. "It's like my old pastor used to tell me - when they're kicking you in the rear, it's just proving you're still out front," he said. Mr Huckabee, who was yesterday reporting a spike in his funding, even offered a hand to Mr Giuliani, who appeared shell-shocked after his exchange with Mr Romney. When Mr Giuliani was confronted by a video of a youth holding up a bible and demanding: "Do you believe every word of this book?", Mr Huckabee said: "Do I need to help you out, Mayor, on this one?" Mr Huckabee later said he had deliberately avoided becoming embroiled in the spats between the others. "You never jump in the middle of two dogs fighting until the dogs are worn out," he added. Alex Castellanos, Mr Romney's chief media consultant, said: "We saw unfortunately a nasty side to Rudy Giuliani tonight and that's not presidential."
By Toby Harnden in De Witt, Iowa He was introduced as appearing on behalf of his wife Hillary but there was no stopping Bill Clinton talking about his favourite subject: himself. In a stump performance of characteristic virtuosity, the 42nd president of the United States had a packed community hall in eastern Iowa hanging on his every word for nearly two hours as he made the case for Mrs Clinton to become the 44th. Even his soaring rhetoric couldn't quite reconcile the central contradiction of his pitch. America should be in "the tomorrow business", he declared, before arguing in the next breath that the way to do this was to go "back to the future" by putting the Clintons in the White House once more. An integral part of Mr Obama's appeal is that he represents a generational shift away from what his supporters call the "Bush-Clinton years" - the nearly two decades that a member of one or other family has been president. If Mr Clinton is worried about this, he was not showing it on Tuesday evening. For him, it was just like the old days. He even referred to Americans "thinking about tomorrow", a line from the Fleetwood Mac number that became his 1992 campaign theme song. "I don't believe in dynasties," he insisted. "But I don't believe she should be eliminated because she has spent the last 32 years married to me." He dutifully described the former First Lady as "the strongest, most well prepared, most reliable, steadiest, best problem solver" in the 2008 race, though it was notable that these were more prosaic qualities than those often - rightly - attributed to him. But he could not help returning again and again to the subject of William Jefferson Clinton. For those in the crowd of more than 400 in De Witt who had not been paying attention since he left office, Mr Clinton provided a comprehensive rundown of what he is up to. "The work I do now in America involves helping 28 million people who get a pay cheque every two weeks but don't have a bank account get into the banking system so they can be part of mainstream America. "I'm helping to fight the epidemic of childhood obesity and diabetes among young people. I work in the Katrina area in New Orleans. I also sell the world's least expensive high-quality AIDS drug in 71 countries. "I work in healthcare in 25 countries. I have climate change projects in 40 cities on six continents. I've been to 90 countries since I left office. "I raise money from the richest Americans for my foundation but my offices are in Harlem in New York City. I walk the streets among my neighbours and talk to them about their lives. He added: "It's a great honour to campaign for Hillary because she worked for me from 1974 through 2000. I've just been working for her since she ran for the Senate in 2000 so the way I figure it, I'm still about 19 years behind." He made clear he viewed his wife's candidacy as a chance to erase the legacy of President George W Bush who had "tried to undo everything I did". Fran Spain, 64, who runs a petrol station in De Witt, said the former president was "never happier" than on the campaign trail. "You'd have to go far and wide to beat Bill Clinton," she said. "He's just it. She does a nice job too but everybody knows Bill Clinton - he's the best."
The Daily Telegraph, 27 November 2007 They call it flyover country. These are the parts of the United States that the pundits and prognosticators of American politics see just occasionally - and usually from several thousand feet. It is a land where people shop at Wal-Mart, eat at Dairy Queen, work two jobs to make ends meet and have a Bible at home. They can decide on their vote with the help of talk radio, cable television and the internet - or from a combination of rumour, scraps of hard information and gut feeling. Iowa and New Hampshire are the early-voting states into which the east-coast campaign "bubble" bounces every four years. They provide the stage for the opening acts. But it is in flyover country where the 2008 presidential election will be won and lost. "There's less hustle and bustle here than on the coasts and a different outlook on life," said Marla Russ, a secretary and part-time policewoman at a football game in Weatherford, Oklahoma. "There's pride in the land and trust for each other. Things are still done on a handshake." So is Hillary Clinton the "polarising" figure we hear so much of in the media? Can only a Democrat win in 2008? Is America ready to elect its first female or black president? Has the letdown of the Bush years left the average Joe Schmoe yearning for the Clintons? With a year to go before the country votes for its 44th president, The Daily Telegraph embarked on its "Crossing America" project to find out. The answers that Julian Simmonds, photographer and videographer, and I got were often surprising. They provide little comfort for Mrs Clinton but not much more for any other politician. Although few people have no opinion about the 2008 candidates, the election has yet to grip the American imagination. And for most, their final decision remains a long way away. Travelling principally by road in between hops by air, we reported as we went along, posting video, text and photographs on the Telegraph website each night. Our odyssey was enhanced by the emails and blog comments we received from Americans suggesting routes, berating us for skipping over their town or promising to show us a slice of true American life if we stopped down their way. "Try small-town restaurants, country stores, truck stops and outside houses of worship after services," advised MyTelegraph's racefan. "You will be intrigued to discover that people can think for themselves." Saulflieder urged: "Follow Highway 61 along the Minnesota-Wisconsin border and experience this wonderful drive that Dylan devoted one of his best albums to. Duluth, Minnesota, is a must-stop if you want to meet." Sadly, we could not get everywhere, but we were able to pursue several readers' tips. We set out from Portland, Maine, on the north-east coast of New England on a diagonal route to the California port of San Diego in the south-west. The return leg started in the Seattle suburbs of the Pacific north-west and ended at the Atlantic on a beach in Florida, America's most south-eastern state. In between, we stopped at places such as Wooster, an Ohio town hit by the wave of house foreclosures, Hannibal on the Missouri banks of the Mississippi and El Dorado (pronounced with a "ray" rather than a "rah" in the middle), an oil-boom town in the Kansas flatlands of Middle America. We spoke to a megachurch minister in Washington state, new citizens in California, a cowboy doctor in Wyoming, a Kentucky country singer in Nashville and believers in UFOs in a dusty New Mexico town. Some interviews were arranged, but most discussions flowed from impromptu encounters in diners, parking lots, bars and shopping malls. Mrs Clinton might be the frontrunner in the polls, but almost everywhere we went people questioned her candidacy. Many stated bluntly that they did not want a woman in charge. "It's a man's world," said Hugh Laflin, 62, a Kansas truck driver. "Would a Middle East sheikh talk to a lady president?" A Vietnam veteran in Arizona and a Florida gun-shop owner were among those who made crude jokes about America "going to war every 30 days" under a female president. We never brought up Bill Clinton's sexual dalliances, but many ordinary Americans did. "She couldn't keep her own home together, so how can we trust her to manage America?" asked Micki Martinson, a housewife in Somerset, Pennsylvania. While we found many people who hated Mrs Clinton, those who loved her were few and far between. Certainly, many said they would vote for her, but the reasons cited tended to be her status as the top Democrat, the fact that she was battle-tested against Republicans and - for some women - the fact that she would be the first female president.
The Daily Telegraph, 8 November 2007 Even Fred Thompson doesn't think he will become president. Chatting off-air to a television reporter, a stunningly candid off-the-cuff quip from the Hollywood actor cemented the impression that his heart is not in the 2008 race. Trying to encourage his studio to hurry up so an interview could start, Carl Cameron of Fox News said into his microphone: "The next president of the United States has a schedule to keep." Standing beside him, a deadpan Mr Thompson interjected: "And so do I." As some Thompson aides looked bemused and others cringed, a taken-aback Mr Cameron, Fox's chief political correspondent, exclaimed: "You can't do that kind of stuff!" The self-deprecating quip said much about the former Tennessee senator's candidacy. Having entered the 2008 contest in September, more than six months after all his rivals, Mr Thompson, 65, has kept a light schedule, delivered rambling speeches and shown little fondness for the glad-handing and back-slapping that is the very stuff of US politics. He was visiting New Hampshire yesterday for just the third time despite having said two months before that he would appear there "early and often". In the meantime, his chief opponents for the Republican nomination Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney have virtually taken up residence in the New England state, which holds its crucial early primary on January 8th, five days after the first votes of the election are cast in the Iowa caucuses. Mr Thompson is running at about 17 per cent in the national Republican polls, second behind Mr Giuliani. But he is languishing in fifth place in New Hampshire and fourth in Iowa. Just before his Fox interview, Mr Thompson had given a long, meandering speech to a group of New Hampshire businessmen and state politicians. When he entered the room there was barely a stir as people continued their conversations while he took his seat. Once sitting down, Mr Thompson signalled to an aide for his glasses and then proceeded to write notes on a piece of paper, initially ignoring the hosts at his table for the "Politics and Eggs" forum in Bedford, New Hampshire – a must-do event for every candidate. During a 20-minute, meandering speech, Mr Thompson – who has long been accused of being lazy - joked about rearranging his campaign schedule the previous evening so he could watch the New England Patriots play the Indianapolis Colts football game on television. "I also want you to know that I've got my priorities in order. When I saw yesterday that I was scheduled to catch a plane to leave at about four o'clock I did a little scrambling around and to make a long story short I saw to it that I got here at 11 o'clock." Many at the breakfast were dismayed by Mr Thompson's performance. "The American people like folks that have a positive, hopeful message," said one prominent Republican. "This felt very pessimistic. He doesn't have the kind of fire and brimstone that excites people or gives them a reason to vote for him." Fergus Cullen, New Hampshire's state Republican chairman, said Mr Thompson had made a big mistake in September when he opted to declare his candidacy on the "Jay Leno" talk show rather than attend a New Hampshire debate. "He got off on the wrong foot here and he has been struggling to get onto the right foot ever since. He is still at the introducing himself stage of the campaign whereas most of the other candidates went through that six or 12 months ago."
The Daily Telegraph, 7 November 2007 Yellow ribbons, traditional symbols of yearning for the safe return of a soldier fighting overseas, have been banned from public places in a New England town after they were denounced as “political” by anti-war activists. The controversy has bitterly divided South Portland, which was peppered with ribbons on signs and telegraph poles in honour of two young men when they were killed in Iraq within two weeks of each other in March. One of the dead was Sergeant Jason Swiger, 24, who mother Valorie was among the first to put up ribbons in 2003 during the Iraq invasion. But Calvin Muse, 46, a local artist and writer who has “never supported the war from day one”, takes an opposite view. “When you have them hung up around your town it becomes a blanket statement of support [for the war],” he said. “If you’re going to allow them on public property you’re also going to have to allow me, or anyone that might want to, to put their anti-war statements up as well.” The ribbon, he argued, is laden with extra meaning “because now the caveat is that supporting the troops should also mean you want them to fulfil their mission” in Iraq. “There is a fear of talking about this, a fear of being labelled as unpatriotic for not supporting the troops. But supporting the troops may mean ending the war and bringing the troops home. What purer form of support could there be?” The yellow ribbon tradition is at least a century old and was first recorded in a 1917 song about a girl missing her army sweetheart that included the words: “Around her neck she wore a yellow ribbon…And if you ask me why the heck she wore it, She wore it for her soldier who was far, far away.” Yellow ribbons were banned from public property by the South Portland council in 2003. But this was relaxed for 30 days after Sgt Swiger was killed along with three other soldiers when a suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up as they were handing out sweets to children in near the town of Baquba. That month, Lance Corporal Angel Rosa, 21, who, like Sgt Swiger, had been a South Portland High School pupil, had died from wounds sustained in a firefight near Taquaddum in Anbar province. “When the 30 days were up the lines began to blur and it was no longer a memorial,” said Mr Muse. “Citizens who were against this war began to ask questions as the ribbons started spreading.” The local electricity company said they wanted the ribbons down because their workers might get caught up in them and their presence encouraged fliers to be posted with staples that could puncture rubber gloves that might lead to a risk of electrocution. In return for a promised monument to soldiers who have served in Iraq, Mrs Swiger and her supporters reluctantly agreed not to put up any more ribbons except on their own property. The two main protagonists in the four-year dispute have never met despite living less than five miles from each other. “I wouldn’t know Calvin Muse if I ran over him,” said Mrs Swiger. “I don’t know what motivates him. He’s just angry and anti everything.” Mr Muse said carefully: “If I met her, I would say that I am so sorry for the loss of your son and there’s a lot of unnecessary losses that have happened. I don’t know what her response would be but I don’t have any anger towards her. “I just want there to be a freedom for people in this town to think how they want and challenge their government.” He sees highlighting the issue as a way of trying to force broader change. “As citizens under this administration, we really don’t have many opportunities to influence the political conversation. You have to choose these small things that happen in your own community and act locally.” Mrs Swiger fears that South Portland’s actions could undermine the war effort and even lead to soldiers being vilified as they were during Vietnam. “The number one thing for every soldier is support – Jason and I think other soldiers would tell you that,” she said. “If the support isn’t there the morale goes down. When the morale goes down, soldiers die.” The thousands of yellow ribbons in Portland have dwindled to perhaps just over 100 but Mrs Swiger is vowing not to give up. “My feeling, truthfully, is that the ribbons are just resting. They’ll be back.”
The Daily Telegraph, 2 November 2007 So who are the most influential figures on the Left and Right of the American political spectrum? With just over a year to go before the United States elects its 44th President, the Telegraph's Washington bureau undertook the important exercise of assessing the major players – 100 on each side – in America today. They will be shaping the future of not only the sole global superpower, but of the world. On the conservative side, we plumped for Rudy Giuliani, the hero of September 11 and the man who has defied all the odds, and the conventional wisdom, to emerge as the clear front-runner in the quest for the Republican nomination. If he wins his party's nod despite his centrist social views, he will redefine the US conservative movement. After intense discussion, we decided that the most influential liberal in America today was Bill Clinton. The longer Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign goes on, the clearer it becomes that her White House bid is really an audacious attempt at a Bill restoration. Mrs Clinton is unquestionably a major figure on the Left and is number four on our liberal list. But she lacks not only the political skills of her husband but also his intuitive connection with voters and free-wheeling intellect that, when properly directed, are without parallel. While the 42nd president's popularity is higher than at any time since he left office, the notion of a restoration is perhaps the Achilles Heel of the Hillary campaign. Americans tend to like to feel that their president is the person in charge. While the "two for one" deal – on offer in 1992 – may seem superficially attractive, once voters focus on what it means they may well balk. If Hillary Clinton is elected president, that would mean Americans opting to have a Clinton or a Bush as president or vice president continuously from 1981 to 2013. At a time of deep discontent with Washington politics – congressional approval ratings are even more anaemic than Mr Bush's – this is a tough sell. The man in charge of the sell is Mark Penn, Mrs Clinton's top strategist. A masterful pollster, he is number three on our liberal list because he may turn out to be the figure on whom the 2008 election result rests. His presence above Mrs Clinton – hotly debated within the Telegraph's Washington bureau and among our political contacts – is revealing about her candidacy. It was already apparent that she was unwilling to commit herself on even the most straightforward issues. In last month's New Hampshire debate, when asked if she would support the New York Yankees or the Chicago Cubs in a baseball World Series, her answer was effectively: "Both." On Tuesday, her calculation, caution and pre-programmed responses entered the mainstream campaign narrative when she was openly mocked by her challengers Barack Obama – our number six – and John Edwards. Although liberalism appears to be in the ascendant and polls show the Democrats ahead by a wide margin in party preference, it is far from guaranteed that this will translate into a presidential election victory. The significance of Mr Giuliani's candidacy is that he has seized a moment of crisis in Republican self-confidence to test the proposition that in post-9/11 America the most fundamental conservative principle is to take the war against Islamo-fascism to the enemy. Mr Giuliani is the September 11th candidate, not because, as Senator Joe Biden jibed, every Rudy sentence seems to include "a noun and a verb and 9/11". Rather, the centrepiece of his appeal is his determination to take on those who struck at the heart of his beloved New York and the soul of America in 2001. President George W. Bush failed to make the Top 20 of our list because he is an unpopular leader, increasingly isolated from the conservative movement, who failed to seize the opportunity he had after the Republican mid-term election victory in 2002. Iraq will be his legacy and while the next president will adopt important elements of the "Bush Doctrine" in their foreign policy, Republicans are distancing themselves so rapidly from their president that by next year some will be asking: "George W who?" Over the next two weeks, The Daily Telegraph will be undertaking a "crossing America" journey, from coast to coast and north to south. We will listen to the hopes and fears of those who are the most influential people in this vast and diverse country – the voters. The Daily Telegraph, 31 October 2007 The United States is in danger of becoming a "second-tier" nation like Britain and other European countries if Hillary Clinton wins the White House, according to Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential contender. Although he gave a Hallowe'en warning of a "house of horrors" if Mrs Clinton is elected, the main bogeyman for the former Massachusetts governor's stump has become Europe, with Britain's national health service being singled out for special mention. Speaking, ironically, to employees of BAE Systems Inc, the US subsidiary of the British defence company, in the elegant New England town of Nashua on Monday, Mr Romney said that America was at a crossroads in history. America 's health system should remain privately rather than government run, he insisted. "I do not want to go the way of England and Canada when it comes to healthcare," he said. He added: "For me what America should do is strengthen our military, strengthen our economy and strengthen our family structure so that we always remain the most powerful nation on earth. A world without America as the leader is a very frightening place." Although he praised BAE workers for keeping "our men and women safe" in Iraq and Afghanistan, he made no mention of the role of British troops in either country or of BAE's work with UK forces. Mr Romney leads polls in the crucial first-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, leading many Republican strategists to conclude that he is better placed to win his party's White House nomination than Rudy Giuliani, the clear national front runner. At an earlier campaign event in Manchester, New Hampshire, some 20 miles north of Nashua, Mr Romney spoke proudly of how Americans "threw off the reins of Great Britain" during the Revolutionary War of 1775-83. "We also changed the relationship between the citizen and the state," he said. "Prior to the declaration, the state was the sovereign, the Divine Right of kings and so forth, and the citizens were the servants and the declaration flipped that ... the individual became the sovereign and the state became the servant . "And that, as they say, has made all the difference. America became a land of freedom and opportunity and liberties and we become the most powerful nation in the history of the earth." Democrats, he argued, wanted to make the United States like Europe. "Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or John Edwards will take America in a sharp left turn towards Europe with big government, big taxes, Big Brother running your lives," he said. "The other course, if you will, is the house that Ronald Reagan built, which is based upon personal responsibilities, individual liberties, strong families, love of country, strong economy, keeping government small and standing up to our challenges around the world. That is the course that has the most promise for America's future." Mr Romney was a Mormon missionary in France in the 1960s and a campaign strategy document leaked in February revealed that criticising Europe in general and France in particular would be a central theme of his campaign. The document stated that the European Union wants to "drag America down to Europe's standards" and added: "That's where Hillary and Dems would take us. Hillary = France." There was even a plan at one time for "First, not France" bumper stickers to be produced by the Romney campaign. But the election of Nicolas Sarkozy as French president appears to have given a reprieve. In Manchester, he suggested that Europe might not be a lost cause. "Many of their leaders are now turning towards our approach," he said. Mr Romney's anti-Europe stump speech went down well with most of his audience in Manchester, though one woman called out "good" when he described how the state ran most health services in Europe. Norma Champagne, 74, a former state congresswoman, said: "I just decided today to vote for him. He's calm and very natural. He right about Europe - we're an independent country and we should stay that way. Giuliani? I'm tired of 9/11. John McCain's too old." Her friend Clare Roy said: "I don't want socialised medicine. We're free to go to the doctors we want and not be told by the government." Mr Giuliani has been the most scathing in his criticism of Britain's health service, citing statistics during his recent visit to London of significantly better cure rates in the United States. But he is an ardent admirer of Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher and recently told the "Des Moines Register" in Iowa that the UK was "a country I could live in", along with Israel and Italy, if he had to leave the US. Mr McCain and Mr Obama also told the newspaper that Britain was a place where they would like to settle if they had to live in another country, while Mrs Clinton said she was "too obsessed" with America to live anywhere else. Mr Romney was not asked the question.
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