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The Situation: Monday, October 3

Editor's Note: The Situation Report is a running log of dispatches, quotes, links and behind-the-scenes notes filed by the correspondents and producers of CNN's Washington Bureau. Watch "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer on CNN 3 p.m. ET to 6 p.m. ET weekdays.

Byrd's toughest 2006 foe bows out

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_{Posted 5:55 p.m. ET
From Robert Yoon, CNN Political Unit}

West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd's prospects to win a 9th term in next year's congressional elections got a lot brighter Monday when his toughest Republican opponent opted not to challenge the 87-year-old Democratic legislator.

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito announced that she would seek a 4th term in the U.S. House rather than wage what was expected to be one of the more bruising Senate campaigns of 2006.

Capito, the daughter of the state's former Republican Gov. Arch Moore, Jr., left open the possibility of entering the Senate race at a later date.

"Right now I feel I can best serve West Virginia as a member of the U.S. House," she said in a written statement. "If circumstances were to change and the environment was to change, then people might say they want to see me in a different role."

R.C. Hammond, a Capito spokesman, said that the congresswoman could change her mind and get in the race if "current leadership" in West Virginia "shows that it's not up to the job."

Byrd was once considered unbeatable in the state, but recent voting trends have favored Republicans.

"Representative Capito has made a decision in the best interests of West Virginia. I look forward to continuing to work with our Congressional Delegation to build West Virginia's future," the senator said in news release.

By June 2006, Byrd will have served over 47 years and 5 months, making him the longest-serving U.S. Senator in history. The current record-holder is the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-South Carolina.

Katrina Internet fraud

_{Posted 3:28 p.m. ET
From Terry Frieden, CNN America Bureau}

A south Florida man has been arrested and charged in the first federal indictment stemming from a wave of suspected phony Internet solicitations for hurricane relief, federal law enforcement sources said Monday.

The indictment was expected to be announced at an afternoon news conference this hour in Miami.

Law enforcement sources said the individual, Gary Kraser, is charged in a four-count indictment that alleges he had collected about $20,000 from 48 victims in two days of fraudulently soliciting hurricane relief funds through an Web site, www.airkatrina.com.

Kraser allegedly falsely claimed on the Web site and elsewhere on the Internet that he was piloting flights to Louisiana to provide medical supplies to the areas affected by hurricane Katrina and to evacuate children and others in critical medical condition.

He allegedly said he had organized a group of Florida pilots to help him in these relief efforts.

The government said that in one Internet communication, posted on August 30, Kraser pretended he had just returned from Louisiana, writing that he had seen people on their rooftops crying for help: "I will hear those screams for the rest of my life." According to the indictment, this was all fictitious.

The Morning Grind

_{Posted: 10:00 a.m. ET
From Robert Yoon, CNN Political Unit}

Pulling a "Cheney"

President Bush has named his White House counsel and long-time aide Harriet Miers to be the 110th Justice and third woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States.

A senior official tells CNN's Dana Bash that the president offered Miers the job Sunday night over dinner in the private residence of the White House, and that Democrats had privately suggested that Miers be considered for the post throughout the process. Once he had named John Roberts as his first SCOTUS nominee, the president began seriously considering Miers and started a separate and even more private vetting process.

Miers oversaw the president's search for Supreme Court nominees, drawing obvious comparisons to Bush's selection of Dick Cheney as his running-mate in 2000. Cheney, as we all remember, ran the vice presidential search process for the Bush campaign before being tapped for the position himself. The choice also harkens back to Nixon's selections of Warren Burger in 1969 and William H. Rehnquist in 1971. Both Burger and Rehnquist had been advising Nixon on possible Supreme Court nominees when tapped to fill the vacancies themselves.

The Miers choice is also the latest example of the president reaching into his inner circle to fill a key government post. Other such appointments include Alberto Gonzales, the former White House Counsel and current Attorney General, Condoleezza Rice who served as Bush's National Security Advisor before being named Secretary of State, and Margaret Spellings, the Education Secretary who previously had been the president's education policy adviser.

Miers is said to have a "thin paper trail," but the same was said of John Roberts, whose paper trail ended up being 80,000 pages thin. Whether Miers' notes and memos from the White House Counsel's office will be released to the public remains to be seen. Democrats will surely demand to examine them, as they examined those of Roberts, but Roberts was not the serving in the Counsel's office when named to the Court.

Reaction to the Miers selection has been mixed.

The conservative group Progress for America was quick to endorse Miers, calling her "a superb choice," and already has launched the website "justicemiers.com."

Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society called Miers "an intelligent laywer who shares the president's judicial philosophy."

But some conservatives are withholding their judgement. The Concerned Women for America has expressed, for lack of a better word, concern over the choice. CWA's Jan LaRue said in a statement "Whether we can support her will depend on what we learn from her record and the hearing process."

A senior Democratic Senate aide told the Grind: "At this point its a little early. There's very little to know besides she's very close to this president. Beyond that we have to wait and see."

Though the guidance from the White House has long been that the president would wait to announce his pick until shortly after John Roberts was confirmed and sworn-in for the chief justice post, conspiracy theorists and liberal bloggers may notice an interesting similarity between the timing of this announcement and the timing of the president's unveiling of Roberts in July.

Back then, embattled Time Magazine reporter Matt Cooper had just been released from his confidentiality agreement with Karl Rove, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Cooper's source in the Valerie Plame/CIA leak saga. Cooper was then able to testify before the grand jury investigating the leak and avoid the contempt-of-court jail sentence that befell New York Times reporter Judith Miller. Cooper testified on Wednesday, July 13, and went public with what he told the grand jury on Sunday, July 17, in a Time Magazine article and an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." The story dominated news coverage the following Monday, but evaporated quickly when the White House announced Tuesday morning, July 19, that President Bush would reveal his Supreme Court pick that evening.

These days, instead of Matt Cooper, it's the recently un-jailed Judith Miller who has brought the CIA leak story back to the forefront after two and a half months of near-dormancy. Miller, of course, was freed from a confidentiality agreement with the Vice President's chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby, which subsequently led to her release from jail and testimony before the grand jury. Today's announcement will surely keep Miller and the CIA leak off the headlines for at least a few more days.

Again, the White House has suggested for some time the president would wait until after the Roberts confirmation was settled before naming a new nominee, and this was before anyone could have known that the CIA story would flare up again at this particular moment. But the parallel is noteworthy nonetheless.

Meanwhile, the actual business of the Supreme Court resumes today in full force. After the formal investiture of John Roberts as Chief Justice this morning at 9:15 a.m. and a photo-op in front of the Supreme Court building at 9:30 a.m., the justices will get back to work and begin hearing oral arguments at 10:30 a.m. To paraphrase the late justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, or maybe it was the Bangles, "It's just another manic First Monday."

GRIND EXTRA: The Supreme Court Also-Rans

_{Posted: 10:00 a.m. ET
From Robert Yoon, CNN Political Unit}

The field of possible Supreme Court nominees that ultimately lead the president to Harriet Miers included many of the same names that surfaced during Round 1 of the 2005 SCOTUS Draft Pick (federal judges Luttig, McConnell, and Alito, among others). The Grind offers the following thoughts and observations on some of those who were passed over:

* Federal judge J. Michael Luttig was the best man in Chief Justice John Roberts' 1996 wedding. The last time a Chief Justice served on the Supreme Court with the best man from his wedding was from June 1970 to September 1986 when Warren Burger and Harry Blackmun served together for 16 years. Burger and Blackmun were best friends from Minnesota, but sadly, their service on the Court took a toll on their friendship, and the two had not been on speaking terms for years when Burger died in 1995.

* Federal judge Edith Jones has been on GOP short-lists going all the way back to the William Brennan seat that eventually went to David Souter in 1990, making her the Susan Lucci of Supreme Court nominations. Lucci is the soap opera actress who was nominated for and ultimately lost 18 Daytime Emmy Awards. The good news for Jones is that Lucci eventually won an Emmy in 1999 on her 19th try. The bad news is that there are only nine seats on the Supreme Court.

Political Hot Topics

_{Posted: 9:10 a.m. ET
From Stephen Bach, CNN Washington Bureau}

BUSH TAPS MIERS: President Bush on Monday nominated White House counsel Harriet Miers to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, reaching into his loyal inner circle for a pick that could reshape the nation's judiciary for years to come. "She has devoted her life to the rule of law and the cause of justice," Bush said, announcing his choice from the Oval Office with Miers at his side. "She will be an outstanding addition to the Supreme Court of the United States." If confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate, Miers, 60, would join Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the second woman on the nation's highest court and the third to serve there. AP via Yahoo! News: Bush Chooses Miers for Supreme Court

LEADING SANS TITLE: A defiant Rep. Tom DeLay said Sunday that the criminal indictment in Texas that forced him to resign as majority leader last week would not prevent him from continuing to lead Republicans in the House of Representatives. "I can do my job with or without the title," DeLay told "Fox News Sunday." He said his strong personal and professional relationship with House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) meant that he would continue to exert power and influence. Los Angeles Times: DeLay Says He'll Still Hold Power

NOW HE'S GOTTA WALK TO CANNON: The day after he was indicted by a Texas grand jury, Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) stood by himself at an intersection outside the Cannon office building. Gone were the security detail, the staff and the gaggle of reporters. The former majority leader stood alone waiting for the light to change on his way to an afternoon vote. When approached and asked what he thought of his new Cannon office, DeLay smiled and said, "It's got a great view of the Capitol." The Hill: DeLay struggles in new role

LOTT MAY SEEK WHIP JOB: If he decides to run for re-election, Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said last week it's very likely he will seek to re-enter the ranks of GOP leadership posts opening up after the 2006 elections. Lott, who has said he expects to make a decision to run for re-election by the end of the year, said he will decide about making a leadership bid at roughly the same time. "If I do come back, I probably would try to get back into a leadership position of some kind," the former Majority Leader said late last week. For now, however, Lott is holding back on revealing what post he might shoot for, and five of the six leadership spots are still up in the air after Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) retires at the end of 2006. Roll Call: Lott Eyes Return As Whip

UNEXPECTEDLY TIGHT: The New Jersey governor's race, which was expected to be a slam-dunk for the Democrats, suddenly has turned into a competitive contest, with Republican businessman Doug Forrester running closely behind Sen. Jon Corzine. Earlier this year, few, if any, analysts thought the Republicans had a chance of winning back the governorship in a state where about two-thirds of the voters are Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents and one-third are Republicans. But a Quinnipiac University poll last week found that the liberal senator's seemingly insurmountable lead had shrunk to four percentage points, with Mr. Corzine leading his Republican rival 48 percent to 44 percent. Washington Times: N.J. governor's race tightens

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