Charles Hurt, New York Post

First it was Bill Clinton dismissing Barack Obama as just another black candidate winning South Carolina. Now comes Hillary Rodham Clinton, splashing moonshine onto those smoldering embers by telling West Virginia voters that “hardworking Americans, white Americans” support her, not Obama.

This, she argues, is why superdelegates should strip the nomination from Obama and give it to her, even though she trails him by every legitimate measure.

Is this really how Democratic Party bosses talk in smoky back rooms? (more…)

Jay Gallagher, Gannett News Service in the Elmira Star Gazette

The Senate Wednesday voted to suspend the 32-cents-per-gallon state tax on gasoline from Memorial Day to Labor Day. But the plan has almost no chance of becoming law because it is opposed by the Speaker of the Assembly.

“We don’t have the power to control most aspects of the price of gasoline,” said state Sen. George H. Winner Jr., R-Elmira. “But we do control the tax.’”

“Everyone understands the need for a fundamental, long-term, nationally directed effort to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil,” Winner said in a news release. “But we can’t ignore the hardship of today’s gas prices on many families, and we can’t ignore the threat to local summer tourism.” (more…)

Associated Press Article in the New York Times

Republican John McCain on Monday dismissed Democratic rival Barack Obama as having zero national security experience.Arriving in North Carolina on the eve of the presidential primary, McCain said there are stark differences between him and the two Democratic candidates, Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. But he concentrated on Obama in particular. (more…)

New York Post Editorial

There was a significant political devel opment out of Albany late last month: A county Democratic Committee screening panel declined to endorse District Attorney David Soares for re-election to a second four-year term. For a county committee to reject its own party’s incumbent is quite unusual.

Which means that even if his financial patron, hard-left hedge-fund gazillionaire George Soros, injects his influence into the race as he did in 2004, Soares should have a real fight on his hands. (more…)

New York Sun Editorial

If Senator Obama’s presidential campaign collapses, it will be not only because of his shifting explanations in respect of his former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, whom he first said he couldn’t disown and then did. It will be not only because of his determination to run to the left of Senator Clinton on the tax issue, promising to raise the payroll tax and at the same time dismissing the idea of a summer suspension of the 18.4 cent a gallon federal gas tax. No, a large part of the explanation will be his decision to run to the left of Senator Clinton on the matter of an American response to Iran. (more…)

Mondello Statement

Today’s Siena Research Institute poll, which found that seventy percent of people identify gas prices as one of their top concerns and nearly three-quarters of New Yorkers support gas tax relief, underscores the magnitude of the problem and need for immediate action.Republicans from Senator McCain at the federal level to Senate Majority Leader Bruno, Assembly Republican Leader Tedisco and their Republican conferences at the state level have advanced commonsense proposals to provide relief from soaring gas prices for hard working, overburdened New York families and businesses. Additionally, the State Republican Party has created an online petition at www.nygop.org to give people an opportunity to voice their opposition to gas taxes. (more…)

Statement by Chairman Joseph N. Mondello, New York Republican State Committee

Republicans in New York State today took another positive step forward in our efforts to deliver real tax relief and allow more people to keep more of their hard-earned money instead of turning it back over to the government in taxes at the pump. Both the Senate and Assembly Republicans announced solid plans, and the State Party has created an online petition at www.nygop.org to give people an opportunity to voice their opposition against gas taxes. (more…)

Mondello Statement

Last month, political candidate Al Franken was required to pay over $25,000 in penalties to New York State for failing to make workers compensation insurance and disability insurance payments for his employees in Al Franken Incorporated.Recent reports that Al Franken Incorporated, the company Al Franken founded in New York in 1991, has not filed corporate income returns in the State of California from 2003-2007 raises new questions about his business dealings. (more…)

Associated Press article in the New York Times

Democratic Party members increasingly dislike the contender they are not supporting in the bruising nomination fight, an Associated Press-Yahoo News survey and exit polls of voters show. That is raising questions about how faithful some will be by the November general election.In the AP-Yahoo poll — which has tracked the same 2,000 people since November — Barack Obama supporters with negative views of the New York senator have grown from 35 percent in November to 44 percent this month, including one-quarter with very unfavorable feelings. (more…)

Statement by Chairman Joseph N. Mondello, New York Republican State Committee

As thousands of truck drivers from across the country travel to Washington D.C. asking for relief from soaring fuel prices, Senator Obama refuses to support a plan to help hard working American families and business.

With the average price of gas in New York State creeping even closer to four dollars per gallon heading into the busy summer driving season, families and businesses in New York and across America need relief right now. (more…)