BUSH CRITICIZES OBAMA, PRAISES McCAIN

Breaking his pledge against opining on the race to succeed him, President Bush yesterday lambasted Senator Obama over his foreign policy positions, saying he would “attack” Pakistan and “embrace” the radical President Ahmadinejad of Iran. “I certainly don’t know what he believes in,” the president said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” “The only foreign policy thing I remember he said was he’s going to attack Pakistan and embrace Ahmadinejad.” Mr. Obama made headlines over the summer by saying he would be willing to launch military strikes in Pakistan if he was presented with evidence of terrorist targets there and if the nation’s president, Pervez Musharraf, refused to act. Mr. Obama also got in a spat with Senator Clinton after he said he would commit to meeting personally with rogue leaders, including Mr. Ahmadinejad, in the first year of his presidency and without preconditions. He did not say he would embrace the Iranian leader. Mr. Obama’s campaign seemed to welcome the attack from an unpopular Republican president, responding that the Illinois senator “doesn’t need any foreign policy advice from the architect of the worst foreign policy decision in a generation.” In the interview, Mr. Bush also defended the likely Republican nominee against criticism from the party’s right wing, saying Senator McCain is a “true conservative.” “I know his convictions,” Mr. Bush said of the Arizona senator, whom he defeated in a bitter Republican primary in 2000. “I know the principles that drive him and no doubt in my mind he is a true conservative.” Mr. Bush did say that Mr. McCain “has got some convincing to do to convince people that he is a solid conservative, and I’ll be glad to help him if he is the nominee.”

HUCKABEE QUESTIONS WASHINGTON CAUCUS RESULTS

Michael Huckabee is questioning the results of the Washington State caucuses on Saturday after Republican party officials called the race for Senator McCain after just 87% of the vote was counted. The former Arkansas governor’s campaign called the results “dubious” and its chairman, Edward Rollins, said he was “deeply disturbed by the obvious irregularities.” The campaign has sent lawyers to the state. With 87% of the votes counted, Mr. McCain was leading Mr. Huckabee, 26% to 24%, but the Huckabee campaign the difference was just 242 votes out of more than 12,000 cast. The state Republican party chairman, Luke Esser, told the Associated Press: “If they can provide me with anything of substance to ask about, we’ll be happy to inquire.”

VIRGINIA CONGRESSMAN MORAN ENDORSES OBAMA

A Virginia congressman who has clashed repeatedly with advocates for Israel, James Moran, announced his support for Senator Obama yesterday. “This is Obama country,” Mr. Moran told a rally at an Alexandria, Va., high school.

In 2003, he told a forum that the war in Iraq was prompted by pressure from American Jews.

“If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this,” he said, according to a Virginia newspaper, the Reston Connection.