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Independents Drawn to McCain & Obama

February 29th, 2008

The Hill’s Andy Barr talks with Douglas Schoen Democratic pollster and founding partner of Penn, Schoen & Berland about Independent voters in the Presidential race.

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 5:12 pm and is filed under Politics, Presidential Campaign .

This section is a Q&A slot featuring interviews with members of Congress and sometimes with senior aides, selected lobbyists and policy experts. The Hill will ask the questions, but we welcome your input; to help us shape the discussion please send your comment.
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The Hill : In the latest installment of HillTube's "Mills on the Hill," The Hill's Jim Mills caught up with Senate reporter Man Raju outside Sen. Ted Stevens's (R-Alaska) corruption trial, being held at the U.S. district court in Washington, DC.

The Hill : The two discussed Stevens's courtroom body language, other senators as potential witnesses, and the possibility of a pre-Election-Day verdict. See a partial transcript below.

Jim Mills : Do you think we’ll get an outcome in this trial before Election Day?

Manu Raju : It seems that way, it’s going much quicker than anticipated. At first we thought it was going to go until the eve of Election Day, but the prosecution is making its case right now, and they expect to rest by Thursday. The Defense then will make its case. That will take about a week, and then jury deliberations will begin.

Jim Mills : Does he make himself available to the reporters covering this?

Manu Raju : No, no. He and his defense team dart in and out of court. They don’t talk to the press. Brenden Sullivan, who’s his attorney, who is a nationally well-known defense attorney, helped defend Oliver North during the Iran Contra Scandal. He is representing Stevens and does not talk to the press when the case is going on.

Jim Mills : What’s the body language like? Does Ted Stevens look nervous, is he fidgety, calm, what’s going on?

Manu Raju : He’s expressionless. He just sits there and doesn’t really smile, but he is definitely attentive. He’s paying attention to what is going on, he’s consulting with his attorneys. Right now on the stand is Bill Allen who’s Stevens’s friend for about 25 years. He’s the former executive of the Veco Oil Association.

Manu Raju : He arranged all these gifts for Stevens, and he is testifying about things he arranged, all these gifts, home renovations that included these brand new floors, that was added to his house in Alaska. Stevens is sitting there listening to it, barely making eye contact with him, but he’s expressionless as he’s been through the course of this case.

Jim Mills : Any other interesting names on his of potential witnesses?

Manu Raju : Yeah, they’re talking about bringing in at least three senators including Orin Hatch, a very seniors, and Daniel Inoue, one of the oldest serving Democrats in the Senate, and he’s one of Stevens’ closest friends, and he even dropped Ted Kennedy’s name as someone who could testify, but given his health issues I don’t know how likely that is.
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Independents Drawn to McCain & Obama

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