Dem Campaign Chatter 8-14-2008

George Wenschhof

Today, Obama and family continue their vacation in Honolulu, Hawaii - Surprisingly, he has been able to travel freely with his family as he plays a round of golf or takes his children for shaved ice! - the Honolulu Star Bulletin has more here.

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Russia maintains presence in parts of Georgia for peacekeeping purposes - Georgian President Mikheil Sankashvili will forever question his move to send his forces into South Ossetia and the move may ultimately lead to his dismissal as President by the Georgian people. Russia now has peacekeepers in both break away regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia which is allowed under a previous agreement dating back to the 1990s. Russia is also said to be withdrawing troops from the city of Gori. CNN.com has more here.

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Labor groups to file complaint against Wal-Mart - A.F.L -C.I.O. and several other labor groups to file complaint with the Federal Elections Commission. This surrounds what they claim to be Wal-Mart informing their managers that a Democratic victory in November would lead to the unionization of employees. Read more here.

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More bad news on the economic front - consumer prices were up 5.6% from a year ago which is the highest increase since 1991. The monthly increase of 0.8% was also twice as high as expected. You may recall the Savings and Loan debacle that led to the last economic slowdown. This will keep the Fed from lowering interest rates any further as it would only exacerbate the situation for the consumer. The New York Times has more here.

In addition, Home Foreclosures were up 55% from a year ago. Read more here.

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Senator John Kerry starts up http://www.truthfightsback.com/ - As the Democratic Party nominee for President in 2004, he knows a little about being attacked by malicious lies. Jerome Corsi is at it again with his book entitled "The Obama Nation". Interestingly, Senator Kerry's name has come up recently as a possible VP running mate with Obama. Read more here.

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Obama to receive backing of firefighters union - Today, at their annual convention in Las Vegas, the 3,500 member International Association of Fire Fighters will announce their support of Obama. Obama taped a message which will be played today at the convention. Read more here.

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73 year anniversary of Social Security today - The Democratic National Committee has a good video you can watch here. It highlights why McCain and privatization would not be good for this program. Today, Retirees will rally at the national headquarters of the Social Security Administration located in Woodlawn, Maryland.