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Ralph Z. Hallow

Ralph Z. Hallow was the chief political correspondent of commentary, served on the Chicago Tribune, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Washington Times editorial boards, was Ford Foundation Fellow in Urban Journalism at Northwestern University, resident at Columbia University Editorial-Page Editors Seminar and has filed from Berlin, Bonn, London, Paris, Geneva, Vienna, Amman, Beirut, Cairo, Damascus, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Belgrade, Bucharest, Panama and Guatemala.

Articles by Ralph Z. Hallow

Key evangelical ‘flip-flops’ for McCain

A key evangelical leader and foe of John McCain's presidential bid says the Republicans running mate choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has made him a believer.

August 29, 2008

McCain picks Palin as VP choice

UPDATED — John McCain on Friday picked little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, reassuring anxious social and fiscal conservatives but muting his own attacks on Barack Obama's inexperience.

August 29, 2008

Ohio GOP head feuding with McCain

In an unprecedented move, a Republican state party chairman has publicly threatened retaliation against the party's certain nominee and the chairman of the national party.

August 29, 2008

Dems weigh in on McCain’s VP options

DENVER -- Speculation about Sen. John McCain's vice presidential pick is at a fever pitch, even reaching to the Democratic National Convention here, as top advisers to nominee Barack Obama Thursday spent time trying to dent the armor of some of the leading candidates.

August 28, 2008

Giuliani warns of union vote

Republicans are aggressively courting blue-collar votes by adding a plank to their policy platform that demands workers retain the right to unionize through secret-ballot elections. One of the party's iconic law-and-order figures warned on Wednesday that Democratic efforts to change the labor voting system would leave workers vulnerable to corruption and intimidation.

August 28, 2008

GOP panel won’t spread out 2012 primaries

MINNEAPOLIS | A plan to head off in 2012 the same kind of presidential-primary bunching that happened this year has crashed, with the national Republican Party's rules panel turning the proposal down Wednesday by a 39-12 vote.

August 28, 2008

Poll: Obama leads by 5 points in Colorado

EXCLUSIVE -- Barack Obama leads John McCain by five percentage points in Colorado, where Democrats are poised to formally make the Illinois senator their presidential nominee, a just-released Suffolk University poll shows.

August 26, 2008

GOP platform retains abortion-ban plank

The Republican Party will maintain its call for a constitutional ban on abortion and opposition to same-sex marriage if its platform-writing committee approves a staff-written draft during its formal meetings here on Tuesday and Wednesday.

August 25, 2008

GOP panel urged to reject call for debt forgiveness

A Republican National Committee member from North Dakota will introduce a resolution at the GOP national platform committee meeting on Tuesday urging GOP lawmakers in Congress to ignore lobbyists for the "ONE Campaign."

August 25, 2008

Hollywood conservatives to rally for McCain

As Democrats celebrate in Denver next week, Republican presumptive presidential nominee Sen. John McCain will be trying to fire up some star power of his own by collecting checks and support from conservatives in Hollywood.

August 22, 2008

McCain offices evacuated over suspicious letters

A government official said a letter sent to the office of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee near Denver contained powder, but was being treated as a hoax and was believed to have been sent by an inmate at a nearby jail in Arapahoe County.

August 21, 2008

GOP officials try to head off Lieberman pick

Officials with John McCain's campaign made a series of conference calls the past two days with supporters nationwide to say that Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman may be named as the Arizona senator's vice presidential running mate.

August 20, 2008

McCain’s hints at Ridge inspire theories

Explanations were abounding Thursday on why Sen. John McCain mentioned Tom Ridge as a possible running mate - including a serious pick, a trial balloon for the right and an ecumenical gesture for the left.

August 15, 2008

McCain hints at pro-choice running mate

Sen. John McCain said Wednesday that he would not rule out naming a pro-choice vice-presidential nominee, saying the abortion issue amounts to "a disagreement" and that he thinks conservatives would accept former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, who is pro-choice, as a potential running mate.

August 14, 2008

Centrist voters are tilting from Obama

Sen. Barack Obama is doing what Republicans once thought only a presidential candidacy by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton could do - uniting the right and center.

August 11, 2008

GOPAC searches for answers at 30

Republicans became America's majority party for 12 years beginning in the mid-1990s with aid from the intellectual firepower of GOPAC and the candidates it helped the party field.

August 5, 2008

Poll: Obama’s lead plunges in Mass.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's lead in Massachusetts has plummeted 14 percentage points since June, a new Suffolk University-7 news poll shows.

August 4, 2008

McCain VP talk turns to 2 female conservatives

Sen. John McCain's growing popularity among women is fueling speculation that he will select a female running mate, ripening talk about conservative favorite Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, and former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina, one of his top economic advisers.

July 31, 2008

Evangelicals warn against Romney on ticket

Prominent evangelical leaders are warning Sen. John McCain against picking former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as his running mate, saying their troops will abandon the Republican ticket on Election Day if that happens.

July 29, 2008