"DISTRACTED" WH PLAYS "MINOR ROLE" AS ISRAEL GOES TO WAR: President George W. Bush and U.S. diplomats, distracted by threats from North Korea to Iraq, are playing a minor role as an escalating confrontation between Israelis and Arabs risks wider Middle East violence. David Welch, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, and Elliott Abrams, deputy assistant to the president, only arrived in the region yesterday, 17 days after the abduction of an Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip set off the crisis. Bush hasn't spoken to any Middle Eastern leaders in the past couple of weeks, according to National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones.
Bloomberg: Bush Middle East Role Limited as Israel, Arabs Fight WH WANTS CONGRESS TO LIMIT DETAINEE RIGHTS...: A day after saying that terror suspects had a right to protections under the Geneva Conventions, the Bush administration said Wednesday that it wanted Congress to pass legislation that would limit the rights granted to detainees. The earlier statement had been widely interpreted as a retreat, but testimony to Congress by administration lawyers on Wednesday made clear that the picture was more complicated.
New York Times: Administration Prods Congress to Curb the Rights of Detainees ...BUT CAN THE HOUSE AND SENATE FIND COMMON GROUND? House Republicans signaled a coming clash with the Senate over the future of military tribunals yesterday when Armed Service Committee members indicated they were inclined to give the Bush administration largely what it wants in the conduct of terrorism trials. The tone at the first House hearing since the Supreme Court tossed out President Bush's tribunals last month was markedly different from Tuesday's Senate hearing, where lawmakers from both parties said they wanted to make significant changes to the White House's plans.
Washington Post: Battle Looms In Congress Over Military Tribunals GANG GET-TOGETHER: The bipartisan "Gang of 14" will meet for the first time in two months this afternoon in a gathering intended to determine group members' attitudes on a series of outstanding judicial nominations, according to sources. The seven Democratic and seven Republican Senators will meet at 1:15 p.m. in the office of Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.). While organizers said there was no firm agenda outlined for the meeting, Senators and aides speculated the session largely would focus on the pending nomination of William Haynes to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Pryor said there was no specific agenda, but that he anticipated a general discussion among the 14 Senators who last year brokered a deal to avert a procedural showdown that could have put an end to judicial filibusters.
Roll Call: 'Gang' Returns As Fight Looms THE FIGHT FOR $7.15/HR: Democrats, seeking to energize voters over economic issues in much the way that Republicans have rallied conservatives with efforts to ban same-sex marriage, have begun a broad campaign to raise the minimum wage and focus attention on income inequality. The Democratic argument is straightforward: it has been more than eight years since Congress last raised the minimum wage, to $5.15 an hour, and inflation has reduced its real value to the lowest level in more than 20 years. At the same time, Democrats say, executive pay has risen to ever-higher levels and Congress has regularly approved pay raises for itself.
New York Times: Democrats Link Fortunes to Rise in Minimum Wage PAPER: SENATE BILL WOULD PAY GUEST WORKERS MORE THAN AMERICANS: The Senate immigration bill would require that foreign construction laborers here under the guest-worker program be paid well above the minimum wage, even as American workers at the same work site could earn less. The bill "would guarantee wages to some foreign workers that could be higher than those paid to American workers at the same work site," says a policy paper released this week by the Senate's Republican Policy Committee. "This is unfair to U.S. workers, inappropriate, and unnecessary." The 11-page, harshly critical analysis of the Senate immigration bill on this one point reveals how torn Senate Republicans are over the larger issue of immigration.
Washington Times: Senate bill seeks more pay for aliens ALABAMA-COUSHATTA TRIBE SUES REED, ABRAMOFF: An East Texas tribe sued disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed on Wednesday, claiming they illegally lobbied Texas officials to shutter the tribe's casino operations. The federal lawsuit, filed in Austin on behalf of the Alabama-Coushatta tribe of Texas, tells a tale of deceit and double-dealing. The tribe says the Washington figures conspired in 2001 to hide millions of dollars spent by a competing Louisiana tribe against a bill legalizing casino gambling for Texas tribes, including the Alabama-Coushattas.
Austin American-Statesman: Texas tribe sues Abramoff, former Christian Coalition leader THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT HILLARY: Anna Shelley, a mother of three from Utah, says she is ready for a female president, and she is sure that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has what it takes. But Shelley, a Democrat, is not sure she could ever pull a lever for Clinton. Her reservations are vague but unmistakable: Something about Clinton leaves her cold... "I think she's a little hard," she said. "She may be strong, but at the same time, if you're driven sometimes you're perceived as not having sympathy. And perception is reality for most of us." It is a reality that Clinton's advisers are confronting as they seek to position the former first lady for a possible 2008 presidential run.... Never has a politician stepped onto a presidential stage before an audience of voters who already have so many strong and personal opinions about her, or amid arguments that revolve around the intangibles of personality and the ways people react to it.
Washington Post: Beyond the Poll Numbers, Voter Doubts About Clinton CRISIS IN BEANTOWN AND MITT GOES ON VACATION: Gov. Mitt Romney rushed back to his bucolic New Hampshire vacation home yesterday as fast as he had hurried here Tuesday to demand the head of the Big Dig chieftain Matt Amorello. Meanwhile, state and federal officials hunkered down to do the hard work of finding out why a tunnel ceiling collapsed and killed a Jamaica Plain woman. "Unbelievable," state Sen. Marc Pacheco said when told Romney had quickly resumed his vacation, saying he was sending the governor a formal request to suspend Big Dig manager Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff from doing any more state work until all criminal investigations of the I-90 Seaport connector tunnel catastrophe are complete. "Maybe we'll have to send it by Pony Express," Pacheco added.
Boston Herald: Mitt's MIA as bigs dig into tunnel tragedy SPOKESMAN LEAVES HARRIS CAMPAIGN: U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' troubled campaign for U.S. Senate lost yet another top-level staffer Wednesday: Her office issued a statement confirming the departure of spokesman Chris Ingram. Neither Ingram nor other staffers could be reached late Wednesday to explain why. Harris, said by many to be feeling the pressure as her poll numbers sink while Republican leaders turn their backs on her, has weathered the departure of a number of high level staff members -- including Ed Rollins, a Reagan Revolution architect, former campaign manager Jim Dornan and seasoned Florida political consultant Adam Goodman.
Miami Herald: Another staff member leaves Harris campaign SCHLESINGER "NUDGED" TO QUIT OVER "WAMPUM CARD": Gov. M. Jodi Rell and GOP State Chairman George Gallo publicly urged fellow Republican Alan Schlesinger to reconsider his candidacy for U.S. Senate after learning Wednesday that he gambled at the Foxwoods Resorts Casino under an assumed name while an elected official in the 1990s. Schlesinger said Rell and Gallo were overreacting to an innocent act: giving a fake name to obtain a Foxwoods "wampum card" that rewards casino patrons with meals, rooms and merchandise based on how much they gamble. "I am not going to let this bother me," said Schlesinger, who described himself as a recreational blackjack player. "I am going to continue in the race."
Hartford Courant: Senate Hopeful Nudged To Quit VT DEMS MAKING WAY FOR AN INDEPENDENT? Vermont's Democratic Party is maneuvering to keep the Democratic candidates for the state's open US Senate seat off the November ballot, as party leaders seek to clear the way for independent Representative Bernard Sanders in his bid for the Senate. State Democratic leaders are spearheading efforts to gather signatures to put Sanders on the ballot as a Democrat, even though Sanders has repeatedly said he would turn down the party's nomination if he wins the primary. At least three other candidates have announced their intention to run for the Democratic nomination in the Sept. 12 primary, but party leaders prefer Sanders to any of them. Ian Carleton, the chairman of the Vermont Democratic Party, said the party's efforts to secure the nomination for Sanders is a concession to political reality: Polls indicate that Sanders is so popular in Vermont that no Democrat has a real chance of beating him.
Boston Globe: Party shuns Vermont Democrats in race "GRANDMA" SUES TX SEC OF STATE: Independent gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn sued the Texas secretary of state Wednesday in her attempt to have the nickname "Grandma" listed with her name on the Nov. 7 ballot. Strayhorn had promised to sue earlier this week after Secretary of State Roger Williams ruled that "Grandma" is a slogan, not a nickname permitted on the ballot. At the same time, Williams allowed independent candidate Kinky Friedman to be listed as Richard "Kinky" Friedman on the ballot. Friedman has used the nickname for years. Strayhorn's suit says that the Texas Election Code guarantees her the right to use her nickname. Her attorney, Roy Minton, has said that Strayhorn began using the name when she became a grandmother in 1994.
AP via Yahoo! News: Texas gov. candidate sues over nickname NEW YORKERS NOT THRILLED ABOUT A BLOOMY '08 BID: City voters don't believe Mayor Bloomberg will launch a bid for the White House - and even if he did, they wouldn't rush to support him, a new poll found. Amid all the buzz about Hizzoner contemplating a run for President, 62% of registered city voters say it is "not too likely" or "not likely at all," according to a Quinnipiac University Polling Institute poll released yesterday. Bloomberg, 64, has denied any interest in a White House bid, but if he changed his mind, 48% said they "probably" or "definitely" won't vote for him, and 40% say they "definitely" or "probably" would vote for him.
New York Daily News: N.Y.ers aren't bustin' to see Mike as Prez HARSH WORDS FOR SIS: The brother of GOP Senate candidate Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland accused his sister yesterday of being "evil" and he vehemently denied her charges that their father was abusive. Tom Troia, of Janesville, Wis., accused his sister of conjuring up the allegations in a spiteful letter she gave to her parents in 1992 in hopes of killing her father with a heart attack while also rubbing in another brother's face that he was dying of AIDS. "It's a complete fabrication," Troia, 52, told The Post of his sister's charges. "If I had one word to describe my sister, it would be 'evil.'" Asked why his sister, who is in the middle of a Republican primary battle with former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer to take on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, would make up horrendous charges about their father, Troia said, "Evil needs no reason."
New York Post: KT Brother: Evil Sis Lied on 'Dad Abuse'
