Obama wins 4th in a row; Clinton shakes up campaign staff
P-I NEWS SERVICES

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee cried foul Sunday after John McCain's apparent victory in the Washington state caucuses Saturday.

Huckabee's campaign released a statement saying that it will be exploring all available legal options regarding the "dubious final results." Arizona Sen. McCain was announced as the victor in the caucuses. Sunday, he had 25 percent of the vote; Huckabee had 23.8 percent.

Meanwhile, Democrat Barack Obama defeated Hillary Clinton in Maine's presidential caucuses Sunday, as that state's Democrats overlooked snowy weather and turned out in heavy numbers for municipal gatherings.

Obama won 15 of Maine's delegates to the national convention, and Clinton won nine. In the overall race for the nomination, Clinton leads with 1,136, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Obama has 1,108.

In a fast-paced day of developments, and with the candidates facing another big round of contests Tuesday, Clinton replaced her campaign manager and longtime aide in the biggest shake-up of her campaign to date. Clinton replaced Patti Solis Doyle, who has led her campaign since it began last year, with another longtime aide, Maggie Williams. The switch was seen as a way for the campaign to send a signal to donors and other supporters that it was regrouping and was poised to right itself.

By STEVE KRASKE and JIM SULLINGER
The Kansas City Star

A large crowd of Republican voters streamed Saturday morning through registration in preparation for caucusing at the Matt Ross Community Center in Overland Park.

In swamping presumptive GOP nominee John McCain 11,627 to 4,587 votes, or 60 percent to 24 percent, Huckabee swept 104 of the state’s 105 counties. In that final county, Trego in western Kansas, Huckabee and McCain tied at 15 votes each.

The win gave Huckabee all 36 delegates that were on the line for the GOP National Convention in Minneapolis this summer.

“It’s a big win for Huckabee,” said Bob Beatty, a political science professor at Washburn University in Topeka.

Rep. Ron Paul of Texas wound up with 2,182 votes, or 11 percent. Other candidates trailed far behind.

About 500 provisional ballots were cast that won’t be counted for about a week. The qualifications of those voters were questioned Saturday at polling sites.

Kansans clearly sent McCain a message, said state GOP Chairman Kris Kobach.

“John McCain has a lot of work to do to get the Republican Party solidly behind him,” Kobach said.

The first results of the day have come in, from West Virginia -- where the Republican Party is holding a convention of party officials and 18 of the state's national convention delegates will be determined.

According to The Charleston Gazette, "former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer conceded defeat for Sen. John McCain" and then asked McCain's supporters to throw their votes to Mike Huckabee

That blocked Mitt Romney, who had won nearly 41% of the votes from convention attendees on the first ballot, from getting a majority -- leading to this alert from the Associated Press: "Mike Huckabee has won" the contest in West Virginia.

Update at 3 p.m. ET: According to the AP, the final vote tally gave Huckabee 51.5% of the convention attendees' support, vs. 47.4% for Romney and about 1% for McCain. With the win, Huckabee gets all 18 national convention delegates.

Update at 3:25 p.m. ET. The Romney campaign complains about "backroom deal."

This e-mail just arrived in our inbox from Romney campaign manager Beth Myers:

"Unfortunately, this is what Sen. McCain's inside Washington ways look like: he cut a backroom deal with the tax-and-spend candidate he thought could best stop governor Romney's campaign of conservative change.

"Governor Romney had enough respect for the Republican voters of West Virginia to make an appeal to them about the future of the party based on issues. This is why he led on today's first ballot. Sadly, Sen. McCain cut a Washington backroom deal in a way that once again underscores his legacy of working against Republicans who are interested in championing conservative policies and rebuilding the party."

We also just updated the headline on this post. Originally, it read -- "Reports: McCain camp concedes W. Va.; Huckabee wins."

By Mike Huckabee

Five Principles of a Mike Huckabee Stimulus Package:
Family, Fed, Fight, Fuel, Fair.

I know that the American people are hurting. Traveling this country, I hear their stories; I know that Main Street, as well as Wall Street, is threatened by a weakening economy. But we are all in this together.

We are coming off the weakest holiday shopping season in five years, with consumer spending slowing, housing starts fell in December to their lowest annualized rate since 1993, and foreclosures on subprime mortgages might reach two million by the end of next year. Washington needs to do more to help American families as they struggle to stay in their homes and put food on the table.

Two factors affect Americans' spending. First, they have to have money in their pockets to spend. Consumer spending is expected to grow only 1.6% this quarter, compared to 2.6% in the last quarter of 2007. Second, they have to have the confidence to spend it. When people feel good about their prospects, our economy expands; when people feel anxious, our economy contracts. Washington needs to immediately address both concerns. That's why I am putting forward a long-term plan, as well as a short-term plan, so that we can boost confidence RIGHT NOW, while adding to our national strength for the 21st century. Americans want to work, and they want to work hard. They want to compete, and to compete hard. They want to win.
Now is the time to unleash the economic power of the United States of America. We need a new generation of leadership to take us forward into the 21st century.
There are many ideas under discussion in Washington right now, and I hope that our incumbent officials will take responsible action. But as I travel through the Heartland, I just have one urgent message to Washington: Hurry Up!

Here are the five principles that would guide my economic policymaking on behalf of all Americans.

#1 Family: Focus on Middle Class Families: More Income, Better Jobs, More Secure Homeownership.

- Our economy is weakening and families are hurting; Jobs are being lost, many to offshore companies.

- In Arkansas, I cut taxes on working families; I eliminated the marriage penalty, and cut taxes on savings.

- Too many American families face the real prospect of losing their homes as a result of the ongoing subprime mortgage situation. The federal government needs to immediately begin a second round of negotiations with subprime lenders with an eye toward expansion of the "Hope Now" program. We should strive to find ways to preserve American home ownership.

- I will cut burdensome red tape that drives up the cost of products and keeps employers from hiring more workers or raising wages. We want bosses signing pay checks, not filling out government forms.

- In Arkansas, I signed a bill that would reduce frivolous lawsuits which drive up costs of products and medical care. We need more doctors not fewer; we need more new products, not fewer.

- I believe in free trade, but I also believe in fair trade. We will expect our trading partners to live up to their obligations-everyone must play by fair rules. If you want access to the world's largest economy, don't send us your lead toys or your poisoned pet food. We will not outsource our safety.

- We will also open new markets for American products.

- And there is more: I will preserve and expand President Bush's tax cuts, which are set to expire in 2010; I will ensure higher-education becomes attainable for more American families by making all tuition deductible.

#2 Fed: Work with the Federal Reserve for a Pro-Growth, Low Inflation Economy

- The greatest source of short-term stimulus is the Federal Reserve. I believe that it's time for the Federal Reserve to adopt a pro-growth, low-inflation policy.

- But at the same time, we must always be fiscally prudent. I will make sure that unnecessary spending is under control in Washington. Republicans have lost their reputation for fiscal discipline. As Governor, I had to balance the budget by law every year. I will have my veto pen out in Washington.

- Monetary policy must be aggressive enough to stave off recession, but always mindful of inflation and its tax on our economy.

#3 Fight: Create Jobs as We Build Up Our Defenses and Build Up Our Infrastructure

- I have pledged to increase defense spending to six percent of GDP as President. That's roughly a $200 billion increase. That's a lot of money, but we need it because the security threats to America today are enormous. We need this increase so that we can be safe and secure. However, this spending will also create jobs for vital strategic industries and, in addition, provide spinoffs to the civilian sector.

- America must always be the Arsenal of Democracy. We will build new planes, new armed vehicles, new robotic land and air vehicles, and new ships all RIGHT HERE IN AMERICA.

- After years of war, our heroic warriors are strained to the limit and our equipment is worn out by repeated deployments. I will recruit and train thousands of new troops and bring our National Guard and Reserves back home. We must quickly expand our Army and Marine Corps to help continue our fight against the agents of terror.

- Much of our country's roads, bridges, water systems, sewer systems were built generations ago. Our country is now over 300 million people strong and still growing.

- We need a national mission to return our critical infrastructure to readiness for the 21st century. We don't need earmarks and bridges to nowhere when we have critical needs.

- We can't have our interstate highway bridges falling down, our levees breaking, or our water systems collapsing under our streets.

- As Arkansas Governor, I took our state highways from the worst to the most improved in five years. As your president, I will work with the Congress and we will rebuild our great nation.

- We will build a homeland security fence along the US-Mexico border, and we will build it with American Labor and American Materials.

#4 Fuel: Invest in Energy Independence -- A Great Nation Must Be Able to Fuel Itself, and Defend Itself

- Every Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Coast Guardsman and Marine will earn a Veteran's Bill of Rights. They, along with their families, have sacrificed so much in defense of our Nation. We will not turn our backs on them or their families. One way we can support our servicemen and women in their overseas missions is with implementation of a sound energy policy back here at home.

- With oil prices touching near $100 a barrel and prices at the pump pushing past $3.00 per gallon across the nation, we must remember that these rapidly rising fuel prices put a great strain on the budgets of American families.

- Every time we fill our cars up, we fill up the pockets of Middle Eastern countries. That is going to end. We will have national energy security policy and we will end our dependence on Middle Eastern oil within ten years of my inauguration.

- We are going to unleash the American ingenuity and we are going to conserve, explore and invent our way to independence in energy. Right in Little Rock, Arkansas is the North American headquarters for the largest manufacturer of windmill blades in the world. We will do that all over America and right here in Michigan.

#5 FAIR: Move Toward FAIR TAXation

- My short-term economic policies will move us toward our long-term economic goal: Simply put, America's federal tax system is broken. What we have now is a system that is failing American families and businesses. Our tax system burdens low and middle-income families, robbing them of the chance for upward mobility.

- Our tax system encourages outsourcing of American production overseas and the dismantling of our industrial base. It wastes hundreds of billions in useless tax preparation, paperwork and confrontation. It pits industry against industry, class against class.

- My FairTax proposal allows American workers to keep their entire paycheck, allows American businesses to compete on a level-playing field with their foreign competitors, and brings jobs and investment that are currently parked off-shore back to the United States.

- However, I recognize that passage of the FairTax will not happen overnight. In the meantime, I will eliminate the Death Tax, and seek to reduce counterproductively high personal and corporate marginal tax rates.

· I support the FairTax.
· As Governor of Arkansas, I cut taxes and fees almost 100 times, saving the taxpayers almost $380 million. I left a surplus of nearly $850 million, which I urged should go back to the people.
· Our massive deficit is not due to Americans' being under-taxed, but to the government's over-spending.
· To control spending, I believe the President should have the line-item veto.
· I believe in free trade, but it has to be fair trade.
· Globalization, done right, done fairly, can be the equivalent of a big pay raise by allowing us to buy things more cheaply.
I'd like you to join me at the best "Going Out of Business" sale I can imagine - one held by the Internal Revenue Service. Am I running for president to shut down the federal government? Not exactly. But I am running to completely eliminate all federal income and payroll taxes. And I do mean all - personal federal, corporate federal, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, self-employment. All our hours filling out forms, all our payments for help with those forms, all our shopping bags filled with disorganized receipts, all our headaches and heartburn from tax stress will vanish. Instead we will have the FairTax, a simple tax based on wealth. When the FairTax becomes law, it will be like waving a magic wand releasing us from pain and unfairness.
The FairTax will replace the Internal Revenue Code with a consumption tax, like the taxes on retail sales forty-five states and the District of Columbia have now. All of us will get a monthly rebate that will reimburse us for taxes on purchases up to the poverty line, so that we're not taxed on necessities. That means people below the poverty line won't be taxed at all. We'll be taxed on what we decide to buy, not what we happen to earn. We won't be taxed on what we choose to save or the interest those savings earn. The tax will apply only to new goods, so we can reduce our taxes further by buying a used car or computer.
Our current progressive tax system penalizes us for working harder and becoming more successful. As we climb the ladder, the government lurks on each rung, hungry for a bigger bite out of our earnings. The FairTax is also progressive, but it doesn't punish the American dream of success, or the old-fashioned virtues of hard work and thrift, it rewards and encourages them. The FairTax isn't intended to raise any more or less money for the federal government to spend - it is revenue neutral.
Expert analyses have shown that the FairTax lowers the lifetime tax burden of all of us: single or married; working or retired; rich, poor or middle class.
The FairTax will instantly make American products 12 to 25% more competitive because the cost of those goods will no longer be inflated by corporate taxes, costs of tax compliance, and Social Security matching payments. When we buy products now, those taxes are built into the cost, so all of us pay corporate taxes indirectly on top of the personal taxes we pay directly. Compliance costs are just make-work with no real added value, yet they consume as much as 3% of our gross domestic product annually. These costs are an especially heavy burden on small businesses, which generate most of our jobs.
If you buy a bottle of domestic wine, you're paying the taxes/compliance/matching payments of all the folks who produced the grapes, the wine, the bottle, the cork, the label. If you buy a bottle of French wine, the producers had their Value Added Tax rebated to them when the wine was exported. So French consumers pay those taxes, but you don't. Our current tax system puts our goods at a disadvantage both here and overseas. Other governments give their goods an advantage on the world market, an advantage estimated at 18% compared to American goods.
So no matter how hard Americans work, no matter how innovative and creative we are, no matter how superior our products are, we suffer from a built-in competitive disadvantage simply because of our tax system. A recent study by MIT found that our tax system deprives us of about $1 billion in exports annually. When you export over-priced goods as we have, you inevitably end up exporting jobs and industries as we now are. We are the square peg trying to fit into the round hole of international trade. The rest of the world isn't going to change, it's time that we do.
Under the FairTax, American companies are far less likely to move overseas and foreign companies are far more likely to come here, hiring Americans to build and work in their new plants. The FairTax encourages growth by promoting investment and capital formation.
We have to scrap a 20th century tax system that is holding us back and keeping us down in the 21st century. The FairTax is the path to greater prosperity and job security for us and for our children.
As Governor of Arkansas, I pushed through the Arkansas Legislature the first major, broad-based tax cuts in state history - a $90 million tax relief package for Arkansas families. I also doubled the standard deduction to $2,000 for single taxpayers and $4,000 for those who are married. Some taxes I eliminated entirely: the marriage penalty, bracket creep caused by inflation, income tax on poor families, and capital gains on home sales. To encourage investment, I cut capital gains for both individuals and businesses. To help people better themselves, I provided tax credits for employee training and education. In total, I cut taxes and fees nearly 100 times during my ten-and-a-half years as Governor, saving the people of Arkansas almost $380 million.
When I left office in early 2007, Arkansas had nearly $850 million in state surplus, which I urged should go back to the people in the form of either a tax rebate or tax cut.
I believe that our massive deficit is not due to Americans' being under-taxed, but due to the federal government's over-spending. Achieving and maintaining a balanced federal budget is an important and worthy goal necessary to our long-term economic well-being. To achieve a balanced federal budget, I believe the President should have the line-item veto.
I believe in free trade, but it has to be fair trade. We are losing jobs because of an unlevel, unfair trading arena that has to be fixed. Behind the statistics, there are real families and real lives and real pain. I'm running for President because I don't want people who have worked loyally for a company for twenty or thirty years to walk in one morning and be handed a pink slip and be told, "I'm sorry, but everything you spent your life working for is no longer here."
I believe that globalization, done right, done fairly, can be a blessing for our society. As the Industrial Revolution raised living standards by allowing ordinary people to buy mass-produced goods that previously only the rich could afford, so globalization gives all of us the equivalent of a big pay raise by letting us buy all kinds of things from clothing to computers to TVs much more inexpensively.