Sunday, March 23, 2008 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
E-mail article
Print view Share:
Digg
Newsvine
Campaign Notebook
Former president's remarks criticized
MEDFORD, Ore. — Former President Clinton is trying to question Sen. Barack Obama's patriotism, a retired general who has a prominent role in the Democrat's campaign said Saturday.
Merrill "Tony" McPeak, a retired Air Force chief of staff, said he was disappointed by comments Bill Clinton made Friday while speculating about a general election between Obama's Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Sen. John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee.
The former president said in Charlotte, N.C.: "I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country."
McPeak, a co-chairman of Obama's campaign, told an Oregon audience: "As one who for 37 years proudly wore the uniform of our country, I'm saddened to see a [former] president employ these tactics."
Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton's campaign, said Saturday that McPeak's comments were a "deliberately pathetic misreading of what the president said."
Wolfson said the remarks merely meant to highlight the need to keep the presidential race focused on issues.
On Friday, McPeak compared the former president's comments with the actions of Joseph McCarthy, the 1950s communist-hunting senator. Wolfson called that comparison outrageous and called for a retraction.
Delegate lawsuit not dead yet
An appeals court Friday rejected on technical grounds a Florida case challenging the Democratic Party's decision to strip the state of its presidential nominating delegates.
But the three-judge panel said the case "raises a number of interesting and potentially significant questions" and sent it back to a district court for further action.
Victor DiMaio, of Tampa, Fla., plans to amend his suit and ask the district court for a swift ruling, hoping to force the party to seat Florida's delegates at the national convention in August.
Seattle Times news services
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
UPDATE - 05:40 PM

Enjoy 3 courses for $30, May 1-29
Dine at 23 new Seattle-area restaurants.
New Urban Eats, a dining event from NWsource.
View participating restaurants
Enter to win dinner for two
- Slide in existing-home sales in state steepest in Central Puget Sound area
- Mirror, mirror on Mariners' wall: Time for a hard look | Larry Stone
- Forgotten toddler found wandering Vancouver airport after family boards flight
- Injured cyclist waits 2 days off I-90 near Moses Lake
- Museum director in antiquities probe dies in federal custody
- Coinstar thefts were inside job, court documents show
- Seahawks' Tatupu apologizes after arrest
- Starbucks struggles with reducing environmental impacts
- Drew Barrymore struck in hit-and-run accident | Odds and Ends
- Suspects sought in shooting of woman, 10-year-old son in West Seattle
- Forgotten toddler found wandering Vancouver airport after family boards flight
- Slide in existing-home sales in state steepest in Central Puget Sound area
- Microsoft's free WorldWide Telescope brings Windows users up close to the universe
- Starbucks struggles with reducing environmental impacts
- Paying landowners to protect Puget Sound
- How to increase your odds for ripe tomatoes | Plant Talk
- Young, evangelical ... for Obama?
- Greening of Juneau | Close-up
- Obama supporters unwise to attack Hillary Clinton | Froma Harrop / Syndicated columnist
- Beyond the Bush formula | Danny Westneat
