UPI Political Roundup

Candidates trot out big guns in Massachusetts

High-profile endorsements highlight the Massachusetts governor's race.

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani stumped in Boston's North End Tuesday for Republican Mitt Romney. President Bush appeared with Romney on a recent visit.

Giuliani said the Italian-American North End "feels like home" and called Romney a "superb executive" as demonstrated by his management of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

The Democratic candidate, state Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, is bringing in her own big-name supporter Thursday. Former President Bill Clinton will host a fund-raiser for O'Brien and lead a rally.

While most recent polls show Romney and O'Brien in a statistical dead heat, O'Brien late Monday touted a WHDH-TV/Suffolk University poll that showed her with 42 percent of likely general election voters, compared to 30 percent for Romney. The poll showed 21 percent still undecided.

Outgoing governor criticizes candidates

How often does a lame duck governor ask candidates seeking his office to stop the political sniping and talk about the issues?

Illinois Gov. George Ryan said he wants Illinois Democrat Rep. Rod Blagojevich and Republican Attorney General Jim Ryan to drop the personal attacks and debate what to do about the state budget deficit.

"We had some dramatic cuts in the state to the tune of $1 billion and the budget, which is now balanced, will have to be cut another $2 billion," Ryan told reporters. He said spending cuts and taxes are the real issues.

In their first debate Monday night in Rockford, Blagojevich attacked Jim Ryan over his prosecution of a 1983 rape-murder case in DuPage County in which the defendant was sent to death row twice before he was exonerated.

Jim Ryan, who is not related to the governor, accused Blagojevich of having "political ties to convicted felons."

"These are the kinds of people he hangs around with," Ryan said. "Anyone who believes a Chicago-machine politician is going to clean up anything must have inhaled."

He was referring to Blagojevich's admission earlier in the campaign that he had tried marijuana twice, but didn't know if he actually inhaled.

N.H. Senate candidates battle for seniors

The rivals in the New Hampshire Senate race are bickering over proposals to change the Social Security system.

Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen accuses Rep. John E. Sununu of supporting plans to privatize Social Security, and warned of the risks involved in investing part of the Social Security Trust Fund in the shaky stock market.

In a new campaign ad, Shaheen claims Sununu backs plans to force people to invest their Social Security in the stock market, benefiting the Republican's "Wall Street campaign contributors." Sununu aide Julie Teer labeled the ad as "false scare tactics to divert attention from Jeanne Shaheen's deplorable, abysmal record."

Teer said it is simply not true that Sununu backed efforts to "divert" money from the Social Security Trust Fund and "risk it on the stock market."

According to the Union Leader of Manchester, the ad was prompted by material sent to voters by the Republican State Committee. The mailer says Sununu "will fight any privatization scheme that puts your benefits at risk." Teer said Sununu believes "we have to look at ways to strengthen and modify the system by providing a voluntary option -- and 'voluntary' is the key word -- for future retirees to take a small portion of their benefits and investing (it) into private personal accounts."

Seniors would not be forced to invest money in the stock market, she said. "They can put it into any type of retirement account. They can buy a U.S. Treasury bond or put it into a savings account. That is not privatization and he has never called it privatization," she said.

Democrats note Sununu and other Republicans avoid using the word "privatization" to describe their plans because it is viewed negatively by many voters.

"Whether they call it private accounts, individual accounts, or personal accounts -- make no mistake about it," Shaheen said, "it's the same bad idea."

Traficant: Still running after all these years

Former Ohio Rep. James Traficant Jr. may be getting his mail at a federal facility in Pennsylvania following his corruption conviction but he's still running for Congress in his home district.

The Youngstown Vindicator said the 61-year-old Traficant hired five congressional staffers after his April 11 conviction. Among those added to the payroll was his subpoena server.

Traficant is running as an independent for the 17th Congressional District seat he lost when he was convicted of 10 counts of racketeering, bribery, tax fraud and corruption. He began serving an eight-year federal sentence July 30.

Robert Saffold, a campaign consultant who appeared as a character witness during the trial, was paid a $500 consultant fee and reimbursed $375 for cell phone calls.

He claims the campaign owes him another $500 because he had to pay people to circulate Traficant's nominating petitions.

Where's my sign?

A Jeb Bush campaign official in Florida has filed a police report over disappearing campaign signs.

Rufus Lazzell, chairman of the Charlotte County GOP executive committee, said re-elect Gov. Bush signs have been replaced by signs for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride at several sites where business owners had given permission for Republicans to place Bush signs.

"One was broken in two and stomped on, and the rest of them just disappeared," he told the Miami Herald Tribune.

In Sandpoint, Idaho, vandals destroyed signs for Democrat Gary Pietsch in the yard of former state Rep. Jerry Stoicheff. Pietsch, a candidate for state senate, suspects "misguided kids" trashed the lawn. State Rep. George Eskridge discovered teenagers were taking his signs because they liked the design.

The problems caused by campaign signs come up every election season. Some signs are put in improper places, such as a roadside median where grass is mowed. Others pasted on light posts and stop signs are just illegal.

A sea of campaign posters is plastered all over Rockford, Ill. Alderman Frank Beach told WTVO-TV too many candidates are not complying with a city ordinance requiring permits to post signs in commercial areas. He said the ordinance is ignored and recommended the Codes and Regulations committee take it off the books if the city is not going to enforce it.

Printer Dave Otto, owner of Otto Printing and Entertainment Graphics in Dayton, Ohio, said studies show a candidate's name has to be seen at least 15 times on a sign to be remembered.

"Signs don't vote," he told the Cincinnati Enquirer.