Huckabee: Stop demonizing Obama!

As the presidential race picks up steam, there’s an increasing amount of sludge being heaped on Sen. Barack Obama, and it’s made from all kinds of stuff. There’s the thick, sticky kind consisting of rumors about Obama’s alleged lack of patriotism; some of it is made of banter about the senator’s so-called secret ties to al-Qaeda and other Muslim extremist groups; and who could forget about the muck composed of Obama and his wife Michelle’s purported disdain for “Whitey.” And aside from all of the unsubstantiated reports that “disqualify” Obama from sitting in the White House, there are all the slurs depicting him as everything from a snob to a monkey. In fact, the rumors and innuendos have gotten so out of hand that the Obama campaign has launched a Web site specifically aimed at dealing with false rumors head-on. But former Republican presidential candidate and ex-governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee has a stern warning for any of his party-mates who think slinging slime at Obama is the way to whip him in November: “Stop demonizing him!” Speaking to reporters in Tokyo , Huckabee said that what Obama has accomplished by winning the Democratic nomination is a “landmark achievement” and should be respected by all Americans. “Republicans will make a fundamental if not fatal mistake if they seek to win the election by demonizing Barack Obama,” Huckabee said, according to Agence France-Presse. Such a tactic distracts from the reality that America has gotten “to a point where we did not see his color but we truly saw his charisma, his message and what he brought to the campaign trail,” he said. “When people are really hurting — and they are right now — they’re not looking at a person’s race.” Huckabee said, however, his comments should not be construed to mean that he is an Obama supporter. He said he wants Sen. John McCain to be the next president, and he has hinted that he wouldn’t mind sharing the ticket with the Arizona senator.

Baltimore leaders are outraged by raid on Mayor Dixon’s home ”

Leave the mayor alone!” That’s what Baltimore leaders are screaming after a raid of Mayor Sheila Dixon’s home Tuesday morning. At around 6:30 a.m. Maryland State prosecutors and police made their presence known on the mayor’s Southwest Baltimore property, serving a search warrant; within hours, they were carrying out boxes and folders. When Dixon was asked about the raid, she told reporters to ask those conducting the raid. Prosecutors refused to say what they were looking for or what they removed from Dixon ’s home. Investigators have been probing spending irregularities at City Hall since a March 2006 series of articles in The Baltimore Sun questioned the role of Dixon , then council president, in approving contracts that benefited her sister’s employer. Councilman Robert Curran told The Baltimore Examiner, “This investigation has gone on for two years with no outcome, and it will end with no outcome.” Councilman Bernard “Jack” Young, who also has the mayor’s back, said Dixon is a “straight-up person” who operates “aboveboard.” Dixon previously called the investigation “a witch hunt.” She said, “All I can say is that this has been a long investigation, and I have cooperated with the prosecutors. I am really staying focused on running the city and doing the best we can to move forward.” Dixon is the first Black female mayor of Baltimore.