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Now he's a legitimate GOP candidate and I could vote for him based on the debates. I would say Obama's my horse, no doubt, but Hagel would probably be my 2nd....
Hagel acts like he's already running
BY JAKE THOMPSON
AND ROBYNN TYSVER
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
WASHINGTON - For a guy who hasn't announced a presidential bid, Sen. Chuck Hagel's schedule next week looks a lot like that of a candidate.
He's slated to appear with nine declared presidential hopefuls - including John McCain, Rudolph Giuliani, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama - before a national firefighters' group.
He's meeting with his political action committee's steering committee. He's scheduled to attend a Nebraska GOP fund-raiser in Washington.
And speculation was running high among key Nebraska Republicans that Hagel might announce something Monday.
Among his options, Hagel could form a presidential exploratory committee, delay a decision about the race until the fall, combine the two, announce a White House bid or take a pass. He also could clarify whether he might seek re-election to the Senate in 2008.
In recent weeks, he has said that a decision could some soon. That could play into his appearance next Wednesday before the International Association of Fire Fighters.
After speaking to the organization's annual meeting a year ago, Hagel asked to return if it held a presidential event this spring, the association's spokesman, Jeff Zack, said Tuesday.
"We have major candidates who have made some sort of declaration, and we also have an asterisk - that's Chuck Hagel," Zack said.
Although Hagel hasn't disclosed his plans, Zack was hopeful: "Maybe he'll announce it at our event."
The Nebraska Republican is scheduled to address the marquee event of the firefighters' three-day legislative conference. Leading Capitol Hill lawmakers are slated to speak in other time slots, but Hagel didn't choose those.
Instead, he's to speak to 1,000 top firefighters from every congressional district in what is shaping up as the first bipartisan presidential forum of the 2008 presidential contest.
Each of the 10 speakers gets 30 minutes to make a pitch for why they should be the next commander-in-chief, Zack said. Others on that program are Democrats John Edwards, Christopher Dodd, Bill Richardson and Joseph Biden, and Republican Duncan Hunter.
"He (Hagel) accepted that invitation for a presidential forum of major presidential candidates. He knew exactly what he was getting into," Zack said.
Unlike many other labor unions that are close to Democrats, the firefighters donate to candidates in both parties. Their endorsement is sought after by presidential contenders.
"Candidates want firefighters standing next to them when they're campaigning," Zack said.
The day before that speech, Hagel is expected to attend a Nebraska Republican Party fund-raiser in Washington. Then, on Thursday, he's to sit down with the steering committee of his Sandhills PAC.
For months, Hagel's fundraising had been all but dormant. But he held two fundraisers in the last week, including one Friday in New York City, raising $80,000 for his Senate and PAC campaign funds.
Other fundraisers are planned for both through the year, and some of that money could be transferred to a presidential campaign.
About two weeks ago, Hagel discussed the possibility of a presidential campaign with the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire, a state that looms large because of its first-in-the nation primary.
Hagel told the Monitor that he was undecided and a few weeks away from a decision.
"But I'm going to have to make some decision. . . . A legitimate candidate for president gives you a forum, gives you a platform . . . to reach more people, express more views," he told the newspaper.
The Monitor quoted several New Hampshire Republicans who suggested that the state might be open to a Hagel bid.
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Senator: Some See Impeachment As Option
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - With his go-it-alone approach on Iraq, President Bush is flouting Congress and the public, so angering lawmakers that some consider impeachment an option over his war policy, a senator from Bush's own party said Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Senate's No. 2 Republican leader harshly criticized House Democrats for setting an "artificial date" for withdrawing troops from Iraq and said he believes Republicans have enough votes to prevent passage of a similar bill in the Senate.
"We need to put that kind of decision in the hands of our commanders who are there on the ground with the men and women," said Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. "For Congress to impose an artificial date of any kind is totally irresponsible."
GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a frequent critic of the war, stopped short of calling for Bush's impeachment. But he made clear that some lawmakers viewed that as an option should Bush choose to push ahead despite public sentiment against the war.
"Any president who says, I don't care, or I will not respond to what the people of this country are saying about Iraq or anything else, or I don't care what the Congress does, I am going to proceed _ if a president really believes that, then there are _ what I was pointing out, there are ways to deal with that," said Hagel, who is considering a 2008 presidential run.
The Senate planned to begin debate Monday on a war spending bill that would set a nonbinding goal of March 31, 2008, for the removal of combat troops.
That comes after the House narrowly passed a bill Friday that would pay for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year but would require that combat troops come home from Iraq before September 2008 _ or earlier if the Iraqi government did not meet certain requirements.
On Sunday, Hagel said he was bothered by Bush's apparent disregard of congressional sentiment on Iraq, such as his decision to send additional troops. He said lawmakers now stood ready to stand up to the president when necessary.
In the April edition of Esquire magazine, Hagel described Bush as someone who doesn't believe he's accountable to anyone. "He's not accountable anymore, which isn't totally true. You can impeach him, and before this is over, you might see calls for his impeachment. I don't know. It depends on how this goes," Hagel told the magazine.
In his weekly address Saturday, Bush accused Democrats of partisanship in the House vote and said it would cut the number of troops below a level that U.S. military commanders say they need. Vice President Dick Cheney also accused Democrats of undermining U.S. troops in Iraq and of sending a message to terrorists that America will retreat in the face danger.
"We have clearly a situation where the president has lost the confidence of the American people in his war effort," Hagel said. "It is now time, going into the fifth year of that effort, for the Congress to step forward and be part of setting some boundaries and some conditions as to our involvement."
"This is not a monarchy," he added, referring to the possibility that some lawmakers may seek impeachment. "There are ways to deal with it. And I would hope the president understands that."
Lott said setting withdrawal dates is a futile and potentially dangerous exercise because Bush has made clear he will veto any such legislation.
"There are members in the Senate in both parties that are not comfortable with how things have gone in Iraq," Lott said. "But they understand that artificial timetables, even as goals, are a problem. ...We will try to take out the arbitrary dates."
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said the Senate bill seeks to heed the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group by setting a goal of withdrawing some troops while leaving others behind to train the Iraqi army for border patrol and other missions.
"That, combined with a very aggressive, diplomatic effort in the region is what we're going to need to have," he said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she believed that setting a timetable was appropriate but declined to predict whether it would garner enough Senate votes to pass.
"People of this country have spoken overwhelmingly. It's been constant now," Feinstein said. "They want us out. It is time for the Senate to weigh in. I hope we will have the votes."
Hagel spoke on ABC's "This Week," Feinstein and Lott appeared on "Fox News Sunday," and Nelson was on CNN's "Late Edition."
He's very passive in his delivery right now, but you can see where this can goa nd exactly what he is alluding to....
Hagel hints at independent White House bid
By Klaus Marre
May 13, 2007
Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel on Sunday hinted at the possibility of running for the White House as an independent, saying a credible third party ticket would be beneficial to the country.
“I am not happy with the Republican Party today,” Hagel said, adding that the party is not what it was when he joined. “It’s been hijacked by a group of single-minded, almost isolationist insulationists, power-projectors...”
The senator, who has most notably strayed from his party and President Bush on the Iraq war, said he would make up his mind about whether to run by the end of the summer.
Hagel met recently with New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who some say is also weighing an independent bid for the presidency. The senator said no deals were made at the meeting but, in an interview Sunday with CBS’s “Face the Nation,” he expressed admiration for Bloomberg.
“It’s a great country to think about a New York boy and a Nebraska boy to be teamed up leading this nation,” Hagel responded when asked about joining a ticket with Bloomberg, who has the resources to fund a presidential run.
The senator also said a third party bid would be good for a system in which both parties “have been hijacked by the extremes.”
“The system needs to be shaken up,” he said, adding that the 2008 election will not be about party affiliation. Instead, he argued, what voters will “be looking at and wanting and demanding is honest, competent, accountable leadership.”
Hagel also discussed the war in Iraq with CBS and said that more Republicans are beginning to move away from the White House on the issue.
“The president may find himself standing alone some time this fall, where Republicans will start to move away,” Hagel said, pointing to a meeting Bush had last week with centrist Republicans who expressed their concerns over the war. “And you’re starting to see trap doors and exit signs already with a number of Republicans.”
Hagel said the 11 Republicans who went to the White House with a message that there must be progress in Iraq or things would get much worse for the GOP are “just the tip of the iceberg.”
The senator criticized the administration for continuing to say that Iraq is the central front of the war on terror. “This is a civil sectarian war,” Hagel said. “Yes, al Qaeda is there. Yes, terrorists are there, but they are not the predominant aspect of this.”
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