The Democratic National Committee today launched a new website, www.TheNextCheney.com that illustrates the most important thing the voters need to know about each of John McCain's potential vice presidential picks: no matter who he chooses, any ticket with John McCain on it means more of the same. As McCain himself said in 2001, "with a little more luck" he'd have asked Dick Cheney to be his vice president. The new site, www.thenextcheney.com, features an initial list of seven contenders poised to be the next Cheney.

Whoever Wins, They All Offer a Third Bush Term

Today the American people take their first, long-awaited step toward electing a new President. While none of the Republican candidates have generated much excitement on the campaign trail, one thing has become crystal clear: whoever wins the Republican caucuses, a vote for any one of them is a vote for a third Bush term. 

As smooth-talking Mitt Romney dashes into North Carolina today for a fundraiser, he has a new ad in Iowa and New Hampshire that stumbles on the perfect metaphor for his campaign: Romney running.

His latest dash is away from embattled U.S. Senator Larry E. Craig.

While other Republicans, including GOP presidential rival John McCain, are calling for Craig to resign, Romney has yet to give the same advice to the man who served as his campaign’s co-chairman in the Senate.

But that’s not the only thing Romney is running from.

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG, New York Times

Scott Reed, a Republican strategist, was at a dinner in Philadelphia on Monday night when his cellphone and Internet pager began beeping like crazy. Only later did he learn why. His party was buzzing with news of a sex scandal involving a Republican United States senator — again.

Just when Republicans thought things could not get any worse, Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho confirmed that he had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct after an undercover police officer accused him of soliciting sex in June in a Minneapolis airport restroom. On Tuesday, Mr. Craig, 62, held a news conference to defend himself, calling the guilty plea “a mistake” and declaring, “I am not gay” — even as the Senate Republican leadership asked for an Ethics Committee review.

By Alexander Bolton, The Hill

Seven vulnerable Republicans face difficult decisions about whether to return contributions from a major Republican donor who was charged last week on 23 counts of bankruptcy fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice and perjury.

The donor, Alan Fabian, is the CEO of the Centre for Management and Technology, a Baltimore-based company. Until last week, he was also a co-chairman of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s national finance committee. Fabian has since resigned his position with the Romney campaign.

A federal grand jury has indicted Fabian for allegedly making $32 million in false purchases of computer equipment to pay for his lavish spending habits. Prosecutors are seeking $32 million worth of Fabian’s assets, including beach real estate in North Carolina, property in Maryland and a yacht.

Fabian has given generously to Republican candidates in recent years. During the first six months of 2007 he gave $25,000 to the Republican National Committee and $4,600 to Sen. Elizabeth Dole (N.C.), according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks fundraising.

Fabian also gave $25,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee during the 2004 election cycle.

Romney and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, both GOP presidential candidates, have decided to refund contributions Fabian made to them this year. Fabian gave $2,300 to Romney in February and $1,000 to Giuliani in June. Giuliani’s campaign wasted little time in distancing itself from Fabian.

Another week, another missed opportunity for Republican presidential candidates to address diverse audiences. This week the major Republican presidential candidates cited 'scheduling conflicts' to avoid standing before the National Urban League's Annual Conference in St. Louis and to avoid the National Council of La Raza's Annual Conference in Miami Beach. Only "long shot" candidate Mike Huckabee, the former Governor of Arkansas, and Rep. Duncan Hunter will represent the Republican Party in St. Louis, while as a group in recent weeks the GOP candidates have ignored major organizations that represent important communities, including America's teachers, young people, African Americans and Hispanics. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7/25/07; AFP, 7/23/07; BET.com, 7/26/07; Bloomberg, 7/26/07]

Almost every Republican running for President has ducked major conferences of the NAACP, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), the National Education Association (NEA), the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the Young Republicans National Convention, and even the College Republican Convention. In each of these cases, just one or two of the 10 Republican candidates accepted invitations to address these organizations and their members.

By contrast, not only is the field of Democratic presidential candidates the strongest and most diverse in history, as a group they have accepted the opportunity to address Americans of all backgrounds. All eight Democratic candidates accepted invitations to address the NAACP convention, seven addressed the NALEO convention, seven addressed the NEA, five are addressing the College Democrats of America convention this weekend, and four are addressing the National Urban League.

"It's hard to blame Republican presidential candidates for shying away from defending their President's and their Party's abysmal record with young people and minorities," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Luis Miranda. "But the Republicans' snubs say as much about the future as they do about the past of the Republican Party. If the Republicans' top candidates believe they can say 'no' to entire groups of Americans, then they'll find those Americans saying 'no' to them too."