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The Situation: Friday, February 17

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 4 p.m. ET to 6 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. ET to 8 p.m. ET weekdays.

Negroponte condemns leaks

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_{Posted 2:03 p.m. ET
From David Ensor, CNN America Bureau}

John Negroponte, Director of National Intelligence, condemned recent leaks about intelligence issues in a speech Friday, saying "if somebody commits those kinds of offenses, they deserve to be punished."

Asked whether he supports legislation to bolster protection for government whistleblowers, Negroponte said, "there's whistleblowing and then there's whistleblowing."

He said if intelligence agency employees take concerns about classified programs to inspectors general at their agencies, that is fine, but if they take them to the media, that is not. "There are some things that are defined as whistleblowing that are tantamount to and are outright unauthorized, improper and possibly illegal leaking of classified national security information to the press", he said.

Last week, CIA Director Porter Goss said he hopes to see reporters brought before a grand jury and obliged to reveal their sources.

The FBI is currently investigating possible leaks to the New York Times concerning warrantless surveillance by the National Security Agency, and about secret CIA prisons overseas to the Washington Post.

Negroponte spoke at Georgetown University in Washington.

The Morning Grind

_{Posted: 9:45 a.m. ET
From Mark Preston, CNN Political Unit}

A record-breaking ad year

Six weeks into this midterm election year, candidates and special interest groups have already spent tens of million of dollars on television advertising, a pace that is likely to shatter the previous record set two years ago.

So far, nearly $53 million has been expended, $10 million less than what was spent at this same time in 2004 when half a dozen Democrats were airing television ads in a handful of states in their quest for the Democratic presidential nomination. When the books are closed at the end of this year, Evan Tracey of TNSMI/Campaign Media Analysis Group estimates the total spent on campaign and issue advocacy television advertising will reach $1.6 billion. Two years ago, the total was $1.4 billion.

"The levels now are indicative of what you would have seen four to six years ago, six weeks before an election day, not six weeks into an election year," said Tracey, chief operating officer of TNSMI/CMAG, CNN's consultant on television advertising spending.

While the battle over Judge Samuel Alito to join the U.S. Supreme Court helped boost television ad spending, it by no means was the sole factor in driving this number up. Campaign ads for federal, state and local candidates as well as issue ads on asbestos, healthcare and telecommunications all contributed to this total. Congress, right now, is dealing with all three of these issues.

And just in the past week, gubernatorial candidates in Illinois, Michigan and New York were on the air; as was Pete Ricketts, who is seeking Nebraska's Senate GOP nomination to challenge Sen. Ben Nelson (D); and Tucker Anderson, a Republican seeking his party's nomination to challenge Texas Rep. Chet Edwards (D). In addition, Progress for America was running an ad in Minnesota featuring parents of soldiers killed in Iraq expressing their support for the war, while the Coalition to Protect America's Healthcare ran an ad in the Washington, DC market urging Congress not to cut Medicare and Medicaid funding. A group seeking to draft Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for president in 2008, ran an ad in the DC market, at the same Republicans from across the country were in town last week for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

Several 2006 candidates actually began running ads in 2005 with Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tennessee), who is running for retiring Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's (R-Tennessee) seat, earning the distinction of being the first person to run a political spot in July. A total of $6.4 million was spent last year on political advertising for 2006 races, Tracey estimates.

"In essence, the calendar is getting longer and the spending is less token and more designed to actually influence voters," Tracey said.

A Democratic media strategist agreed with Tracey's conclusion. "You need to be on longer, you need to be on heavier and increasingly you need to target more," said the strategist, who spoke freely on the subject on the condition of anonymity.

The strategist noted that in 2004, the top two competitive Senate races occurred in Alaska and South Dakota, states with relatively inexpensive media markets. But this year features several high profile contests in large states with multiple, expensive media markets. The strategist pointed to contested Senate seats in Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio as well as competitive gubernatorial contests in California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan and New York that will help drive up television ad spending. Even candidates favored to win re-election in November such as Sen. George Allen (R-Virginia), Sen. Hillary Rodham (D-New York) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Florida) are all expected to spend heavily on television advertising in the months leading up to the midterm elections.

Two candidates for mayor of New Orleans went on the air this week in the Crescent City, and each takes a swipe at current Mayor Ray Nagin. New Orleans businessman Mike Hammer offers a not so veiled shot at Nagin for his Martin Luther King Day declaration that the city would continue to be a majority black "chocolate city."

"Racism is not about black or white, or chocolate of vanilla," Hammer says in his commercial. "It is about giving economic opportunities to all of our citizens."

In his television ad, New Orleans lawyer Rob Couhig infers Nagin is crazy by placing his picture next to a cuckoo clock and describes all of the other candidates running for the post as a carnivalesque cast of characters. He singles out Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu (D) as "uncertain and indecisive" and shows an armored knight clunking down the street, and calls Audubon Nature Institute CEO Ron Forman a party switcher. Couhig claims in his ad that he has the experience and record needed to help rebuild New Orleans. The election is scheduled for April 22.

Back here in Washington, CNN's Ted Barrett reports that Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) has asked the Senate Ethics Committee to review allegations that a staffer helped her lobbyist husband secure $49 million in federal contracts for his clients.

USA Today reported yesterday that Specter used the earmarking process in the Senate to insert $48.7 million in spending into the military budget benefiting six clients represented by Michael Herson, who is married to Vicki Siegel, a Specter aide. Specter said Herson never lobbied his office and the money was directed to Pennsylvania interests.

"I'm prepared to answer whatever questions arise," he said. "I've been in public (service) a long time and nobody has every questioned my integrity. I am meticulous about the way my office operates and I operate."

Meanwhile, President Bush is on the road today, making 1:20 p.m. ET speech on the "Global War on Terror" in Tampa, and then he delivers remarks at dinner for the Republican Party of Florida at 5:35 p.m. ET in Lake Buena Vista. At 1 p.m. ET, Vice President Cheney will make his first public appearance since accidentally shooting a friend when he delivers a speech before the Wyoming State Legislature.

Political Hot Topics

_{Posted: 9:45 a.m. ET
From Stephen Bach, CNN Washington Bureau}

CASE CLOSED: The sheriff's department responsible for investigating Vice President Cheney's shooting of a Texas lawyer has closed its investigation and decided no criminal charges are warranted, according to a report released Thursday. The Kenedy County Sheriff's Department report largely corroborates the accounts of the shooting given by Cheney and Katharine Armstrong, whose family owns the 50,000-acre ranch where the incident occurred. Cheney shot Harry Whittington, 78, a prominent Austin lawyer, while hunting quail last Saturday afternoon. The report, written by Chief Deputy Gilbert San Miguel Jr., quotes Cheney and Whittington as saying the shooting was an accident. They said no one was drinking alcohol during the hunt, according to the report. Interviewed in his hospital room in Corpus Christi, Whittington expressed concern only that the incident would hurt hunting's image in Texas. Washington Post: Cheney Shooting Case Is Closed in Texas

THE SHERIFF WHO WAITED TIL SUNDAY: Sheriff Ramon Salinas III said no one in the federal government has told him or his deputies how to do their job. He was the one who decided not to go to the ranch to investigate until Sunday, the day after Cheney shot and wounded Austin lawyer Harry Whittington on a quail hunt. Salinas based the decision on witness accounts and advice from people on the ranch he knows and trusts, including a former sheriff. "Everybody's been saying there's a cover-up from the time they heard about this," he said. "That is not true." Salinas said he was barbecuing with his family at 5:30 p.m. Saturday when he received a call from sheriff's Capt. Charles Kirk. Corpus Christi Caller-Times: Decisions on inquiry are his own, official says

BUSH'S FIRST REMARKS ON INCIDENT: President Bush said Thursday that Vice President Dick Cheney had handled the disclosure of an accidental shooting of a hunting partner "just fine" and that the incident had been a "traumatic moment" for Mr. Cheney as well as a tragic one for the victim... "I thought his explanation yesterday was a powerful explanation," Mr. Bush told reporters in the Oval Office, speaking of Mr. Cheney's interview on Fox. "This is a man who likes the outdoors, and he likes to hunt. And he heard a bird flush and he turned and pulled the trigger and saw his friend get wounded. And it was a deeply traumatic moment for him, and obviously it was a tragic moment for Mr. Whittington."... "I'm satisfied with the explanation he gave," Mr. Bush said twice. New York Times: Bush 'Satisfied' With Cheney Response

SENATE WILL PASS PATRIOT ACT RENEWAL MARCH 1: The Senate yesterday steamrolled opposition to the renewal of the USA Patriot Act, legislation originally passed in 2001 to combat terrorism. The 96-3 vote broke a filibuster of procedural floor action after last week's compromise that won over several key opponents of the bill... Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist hailed the wide margin of victory and said the Senate will approve the measure March 1, nine days before the current law is now scheduled to expire. Washington Times: Senate ends filibuster of Patriot Act

HOUSE WANTS TO INVESTIGATE WIRETAPS...: Leaders of the House Intelligence Committee said Thursday that they had agreed to open a Congressional inquiry prompted by the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program. But a dispute immediately broke out among committee Republicans over the scope of the inquiry. Representative Heather A. Wilson, the New Mexico Republican and committee member who called last week for the investigation, said the review "will have multiple avenues, because we want to completely understand the program and move forward." But an aide to Representative Peter Hoekstra, the Michigan Republican who leads the committee, said the inquiry would be much more limited in scope, focusing on whether federal surveillance laws needed to be changed and not on the eavesdropping program itself. New York Times: Accord in House to Hold Inquiry on Surveillance

...BUT SENATORS DON'T: The Bush administration helped derail a Senate bid to investigate a warrantless eavesdropping program yesterday after signaling it would reject Congress's request to have former attorney general John D. Ashcroft and other officials testify about the program's legality. The actions underscored a dramatic and possibly permanent drop in momentum for a congressional inquiry, which had seemed likely two months ago. Washington Post: Senate Rejects Wiretapping Probe

SPECTER DENIES WRONGDOING: Sen. Arlen Specter on Thursday asked the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate whether a top aide improperly helped direct nearly $50 million in Pentagon spending to clients represented by her husband. The Pennsylvania Republican asked for the review of legislative assistant Vicki Siegel Herson's actions after USA TODAY reported Thursday that his office inserted 13 provisions into spending bills benefiting clients of her husband, Michael Herson, a registered lobbyist. Specter, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he believes he and Siegel did nothing wrong. He said neither Herson nor anyone from the firm he heads, American Defense International, had lobbied his office. USA Today: Specter asks ethics panel to look at aide's role in funding

DeLAY LOSES HOMETOWN "PET PROJECT": When Tom DeLay was the most powerful man in the House of Representatives, Congress and the president devoted $500 million over 10 years for an oil and gas project lawmakers expected to go to a firm in DeLay's hometown. But just a month after the embattled former House majority leader announced he would not try to keep his leadership job, the Bush administration cut funding for the project from its 2007 budget, and announced in the fine print of its 1,220-page fiscal blueprint that it would seek legislation to kill the program outright. A Department of Energy spokesman said the decision this month merely reflects President Bush's desire to weed out ineffective programs. But in political circles, lawmakers and analysts saw the cut as a slap against a man who no longer has the political muscle to hit back. Boston Globe: His star fallen, DeLay sees his pet project fade

SWANN "VERY PROUD" OF VOTING RECORD: Despite having missed 20 of his last 36 chances to vote in an election, Lynn Swann said yesterday he was "very proud" of his voting record - and would take no more questions about it. "I'm not worried about my voting record; I think the issues that face the state of Pennsylvania go well beyond anyone's voting record," the Republican candidate for governor said after an appearance at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell. The Inquirer reported yesterday that since 1988 Swann failed to vote in 13 of 18 party primary elections and in seven of 18 general elections - this despite once criticizing people who do not exercise their right to vote. "If you don't take part in the process and you don't vote, then I am not willing to listen to your complaints," Swann said in the October 2004 interview with the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Philadelphia Inquirer: Swann asserts pride in voting record

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