Wednesday, May 24, 2006
The Morning Grind

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove
Rove urges House to back Bush's immigration plan

If there is any question about how serious the White House views the split in the Republican Party over immigration reform, look no further than the Capitol Hill Club this morning.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove met with House Republicans for the second time in a week to discuss the issue and urge his fellow Republicans to embrace Bush's immigration goals. House Republicans disagree with the President over his guest worker proposal as well as his plan to put in place a process for illegal immigrants to gain citizenship. Opponents describe the latter as amnesty.

"We are on the brink of Senate passage of the immigration bill and this is part of their efforts to see an immigration bill passed," a House GOP Leadership aide, who spoke about Rove's visit on the condition of anonymity, told the Grind. Republicans will hold their weekly meeting today at the club, which is located next door to the Cannon House Office Building.

A senior GOP House aide described Rove's visit this morning as a follow-up to field any unanswered questions on the issue.

"This can be a huge victory for our party, but it means we have to work through this as a family to ensure we get the correct result," the aide, who also spoke freely on the issue under the cloak of anonymity, told the Grind.

The House passed an immigration reform bill in Dec. 2005 and now waits to see what the Senate will approve. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) told CNN's Soledad O'Brien this morning that he expected the chamber to vote on the bill "later tonight or tomorrow" and said the citizenship and guest worker provisions would be part of it.

Appearing on CNN's American Morning, Frist claimed that the debate has helped to bring understanding to the issue, but he acknowledged that reconciling the differences with the House will be "tough" and it will require "presidential leadership" to help produce a final bill.

Even though Rep. William Jefferson has pledged to continue serving in the House as he fights allegations of accepting bribes, there is now a behind the scenes effort to pressure the Louisiana Democrat to give up his seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, CNN's Dana Bash reports.

Democratic sources said they want to make clear to Jefferson that they don't stand behind him, and would prefer that he resign his seat from this prestigious committee. When offered the chance yesterday to defend Jefferson, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said it was not her place.

"Mr. Jefferson's service in Congress is a matter between him and his constituents," Pelosi said. "Every member of Congress, no one is appointed here, everyone is elected by their constituents. It's between him and his constituents."

Asked about whether Jefferson should give up his committee posting, Pelosi responded, "I'm not going to make any statement about that right now."

On Capitol Hill today, the House and Senate will convene a Joint Session of Congress at 11 a.m. ET to hear from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Prior to the joint meeting, House Republicans hold a media availability at 10 a.m. ET outside the Capitol Hill Club; Pelosi and other Democratic leaders hold a news conference at 10 a.m. ET in the Cannon Rotunda; the House Armed Services Committee hears testimony on the use of the National Guard along the Southern border at 10 a.m. ET; and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee holds a 10 a.m. hearing on R. David Paulison's nomination to head Federal Emergency Management in the Department of Homeland Security.

Off the Hill, the Democratic National Committee holds a 1 p.m. press conference with Democratic mayors on the GOP's priorities at its headquarters; and the centrist leading Democratic Groups Third Way and Democratic Leadership Council hold a 2 p.m. ET event at the Mayflower Hotel on "The political challenges and opportunities of fast-growing areas."

Meanwhile, Bush's day is a mixture of politics and policy as he takes the show to the Keystone State this afternoon. But first Bush participates in an 11:35 a.m. ET event on the Council on Physical Fitness and Sports at the White House. At 2:55 p.m. ET, Bush will tour the Limerick Generating Station in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. At 3:20 p.m. ET Bush makes remarks on energy and at 5:40 p.m. ET he attends a Pennsylvania Congressional Victory Committee reception. This year, Pennsylvania has two high profile statewide races with Republicans hoping former football star turned GOP candidate Lynn Swann can defeat incumbent Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, while Senate Democrats are hoping Democratic state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr. can knock off Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania). Polls show that Rendell is beating Swann, while Casey is leading Santorum.

For Santorum to win he will need a strong turnout of conservative voters and CNN's Sasha Johnson reports that he has some fences to mend with the GOP base. At last month's kick-off of the Pennsylvania Republican Assembly (PARA), several activists warned that Santorum's decision not to support former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania) in his 2004 primary challenge to moderate Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) cost Santorum dearly among hard core conservatives.

Ray Horvath, a self-described issues voting conservative, predicted Santorum would have walked to an easy victory in November had he backed Toomey's bid.

"There's a lot of resentment towards Rick," said Horvath. "He's got enough of the base that's gone. I've been predicting for two years he's not going to win."

Many of the conservatives, who assembled at the Holiday Inn outside Pittsburgh last month, said they'd grudgingly vote this fall but given the Keystone State's blue tint noted that Santorum needs an enthusiastic base of worker bees to overcome the Democrat's get-out-the-vote efforts.

"When they pull the curtain, sure they might vote for him, but the real question is whether or not they're going to lift a finger and they're going to work for him," said Republican activist James Gartner.

Others warned Santorum could become the unlucky recipient of their general anger towards a party which they say is addicted to overspending and drifting away from core conservative principles.

"I would certainly prefer not to have the Democrats in charge of the House or the Senate," said Henry Jackson, another GOP activist. "But I think it might be more important to send the Republicans a message in voting out Rick Santorum or having someone else come in."

Another Senate incumbent is taking a hit, this one from the left. Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Connecticut) is being opposed in his reelection bid by Democracy for America, the political action committee founded by Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, CNN's Robert Yoon reports. DFA is now run by Dean's brother Jim, and it has endorsed Lieberman's primary opponent, Ned Lamont.

"Even President Bush loves Lieberman -- there are rumors he has been considered for a post in Bush's cabinet," Jim Dean said in announcing the DFA's endorsement of Lamont. "Is that the kind of Democrat that we want in Washington?"

Last week, Lamont won enough votes at the state Democratic Party convention to secure a spot on the August primary ballot. DNC spokeswoman Stacie Paxton assured the Grind that Dean had nothing to do with the DFA's decision to endorse Lamont over Lieberman.

"The DNC does not get involved in Democratic primaries, and the governor plays no role in decisions made by Democracy for America," Paxton said.

Though Democracy for America was founded by Howard Dean, he turned over the reigns to his brother after being elected in February 2005 to head the DNC. Right before he cut ties to the DFA, he predicted great things for the organization in a February 8, 2005 e-mail to supporters.

"DFA will continue to fight for fiscally responsible, socially progressive candidates everywhere," Dean wrote. "And it will continue to be a place where ordinary people can be part of our political process and fight for real change. I am committed to DFA's future."

And we close with this bit of good news. While much has been made about how Americans are more likely to vote for the next American Idol rather than cast a ballot for the elected officials, a new CNN poll shows that this is not the case. When asked on a scale of 1 to 10 to rate their chances of voting in the American Idol competition or in the midterm elections, only 5 percent of Americans answered they would definitely cast a vote in the show, while 43 percent said they definitely planned to vote in November.

"The number of people who say they are going to definitely vote in November is eight times higher than the number of people who said they would definitely vote in the American Idol competition," said Keating Holland, CNN's polling director. "It turns out Americans do take political elections more seriously than they do America Idol."
Posted By Mark Preston, CNN Political Unit: 5/24/2006 10:52:00 AM ET | Permalink
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