Monday Morning Must-Reads
Huckabee Tries for #2 Spot [AP] Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Sunday he'd like to be John McCain's running mate. "There's no one I would rather be on a ticket with than John McCain," said Huckabee, who was a stronger than expected challenger against McCain for the Republican presidential nomination. "All during the campaign when I was his rival, not a running mate, there was no one who was more complimentary of him publicly and privately. ... I still wanted to win, but if I couldn't, John McCain was always the guy I would have supported and have now supported. "But whether or not I do the best for him, that's something that only he can decide," Huckabee said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Immigration Raid Jars a Small Town [WaPo] Antonio Escobedo ran to get his wife Monday when he saw a helicopter circling overhead and immigration agents approaching the meatpacking plant where they both work. The couple hid for hours inside the plant before obtaining refuge in the pews and hall at St. Bridget's Catholic Church, where hundreds of other Guatemalan and Mexican families gathered, hoping to avoid arrest. "I like my job. I like my work. I like it here in Iowa," said Escobedo, 38, an illegal immigrant from Yescas, Mexico, who has raised his three children for 11 years in Postville. "Are they mad because I'm working?"
Texas Group Sues to Stop Border Fence [UPI] The Texas Border Coalition, which includes a number of cities along the U.S.-Mexico border has filed a lawsuit against the border fence. In court papers filed Friday in Washington, the group asked a court to block the construction of the fence in the Rio Grande Valley. The coalition, which also includes business groups, charges that the Department of Homeland Security did not consult landowners in the area. DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff denied that in a news conference Friday. Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster, who chairs the coalition, called the fence "an antiquated solution for a 21st century problem."
Endgame in Oregon [Taylor Marsh] After spending Friday and Saturday doing "visibility" for the Clinton campaign here Portland, Oregon, yesterday I began to switch gears. Still in Portland, but now focused on voter protection efforts. Yesterday, I attended a meeting at Senator Clinton's campaign office. Representatives from the Oregon Democratic Lawyers Council briefed us on Oregon voting laws and regulations, specifically those most relevant to yesterday and today and on Tuesday, Oregon's actual primary day. In Oregon, there is a huge spike in voting starting on the Saturday before election day and going to its highest on election day itself. Even though many Oregonians mail in their ballots long before election day, the real action is starting now and running through Tuesday as people drop off their ballots.
With McCain on Hand, Knives Won't Cut it at NRA Gunfest [Daily News] A small but startling sign welcomed the gun lovers who arrived at the National Rifle Association's annual gathering Friday. "Firearms WILL NOT be allowed in Hall A during the Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum." Beyond this sign at the Kentucky Exposition Center was a row of 10 metal detectors. They were manned by uniformed Secret Service officers deployed because the scheduled speakers included presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. The Secret Service sets the rules in such circumstances, and even NRA big shots had to go through the screening. Thousands found themselves standing in a long, slow, feeder line before they even reached one of the lines that stretched in front of each metal detector.
Obama Draws Largest Crowd of Campaign at Portland Rally [KGW] In this famously liberal city, under skies that obligingly turned from habitual gray to clear blue, Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama on Sunday drew the largest crowd of his 15-month marathon campaign for the presidency. Sixty-thousand people packed into a park alongside the banks of the Willamette River to listen to Obama, with another 15,000 left standing outside the gates, according to city fire officials. Hundreds more anchored their motorboats, or floated in kayaks and canoes. That's far more than the 35,000 people who showed up to hear Obama in Philadelphia last month, at his previous biggest rally. Even after months on the trail, Obama seemed slightly stunned by the size of the crowd. "Wow, wow, wow," he said as he surveyed the audience.
Soldier Shot at Qaran for Practice [AP] An American soldier used a Quran, the Islamic holy book, for target practice in a predominantly Sunni area west of Baghdad, prompting an apology from the U.S. military, a spokesman said Sunday. Separately, mortar shells slammed into a residential area north of the Iraqi capital, killing at least four people and wounding 30, most children playing outside, officials said Sunday. The shelling occurred as clashes broke out in Shiite areas late Saturday despite a truce reached last week by Shiite politicians and followers of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Iraqi police found the bullet-riddled Quran with graffiti inside the cover on a small-arms range near a police station in Radwaniyah, a former insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, U.S. military spokesman Col. Bill Buckner said in an e-mailed response to a query.
