TERROR PLOT EXPOSES "DRAMATICALLY FLAWED" TSA SCREENING SYSTEM: The fact that screening systems at U.S. airports cannot quickly detect liquid explosives has prompted some lawmakers and critics to ask why such technology is still not available when the threat was identified more than 10 years ago. Other legislators are questioning the Department of Homeland Security's plans to shift resources toward hiring more personnel and the current limit of 45,000 federal transportation security screeners. "Our first mistake was when we opted for an army of personnel and not for technology," said Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on aviation, who is surveying the use of new technologies at 14 U.S. airports during the recess. "We unfortunately have a highly labor-intensive passenger-screening system that is dramatically flawed."
Los Angeles Times: Critics Say TSA Must Catch Up With Technology "KINDLER, GENTLER APPROACH" TO ATTACKING DEMS ON THE WAR: President Bush on Wednesday picked up his party's attack against Democrats for having what the Republicans have called the wrong approach to the fight against terrorism. But his was a kinder, gentler approach than the one used by Vice President Dick Cheney and others in recent days. Referring to the war in Iraq, Mr. Bush said: "There's some good people in our country who believe we should cut and run. They're not bad people when they say that, they're decent people." But he added, "I just happen to believe they're wrong, and they're wrong for this reason: this would be a defeat for the United States in a key battleground in the global war on terror."
New York Times: President Joins in G.O.P. Attacks on Democrats About Terrorism SWANN GETS A $700K BOOST FROM BUSH: Bush's appearance on behalf of Swann -- the former wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers making his first run at public office -- raised $700,000 for the GOP nominee, Swann spokesman Leonard Alcivar said. The influx of cash comes at a welcome time for Swann as the Republican trails Rendell by 20 percentage points, according to a poll released by Quinnipiac University. The Connecticut school this month polled about 1,400 voters, who favored Rendell over Swann by a margin of 54 percent to 34 percent. Swann supporters at the Host said the numbers will turn more favorably toward the Republican when television and radio advertisements appear after Labor Day.
Lancaster Intelligencer Journal: Bush signs Swann's song -- President says U.S. must stay in Iraq THAT "D" SUDDENLY LOOKS GOOD ON YOUR RESUME! Washington lobbying firms, trade associations and corporate offices are moving to hire more well-connected Democrats in response to rising prospects that the opposition party will wrest control of at least one chamber of Congress from Republicans in the November elections. In what lobbyists are calling a harbinger of possible upheaval on Capitol Hill, many who make a living influencing government have gone from mostly shunning Democrats to aggressively recruiting them as lobbyists over the past six months or so. "We've seen a noticeable shift," said Beth Solomon, director of the Washington office of Christian & Timbers, an executive search firm that helps to place senior lobbyists and trade association heads.
Washington Post: Democrats' Stock Is Rising on K Street DEMS GROUPS/'08 CANDIDATES "POURING RESOURCES" INTO SEC OF STATE RACES: The political battle for control of the federal government has opened up a new front: the obscure but vital state offices that determine who votes and how those votes are counted. The state post of secretary of State was a backwater until 2000, when Florida's Katherine Harris became a central figure in the presidential recount controversy. Now national Democratic groups and White House prospects, unhappy about Harris' decisions and those of Republican Kenneth Blackwell in Ohio two years ago, are pouring resources into contests for the job. At least three Democratic political action committees are spotlighting secretary of State candidates, most of them in states where they expect the presidential vote to be close. Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada and Ohio top their lists. Secretaries of State control most voting regulations and influence state purchases of voting machines. Looking ahead to 2008, Democrats say they want people they trust in those offices.
USA Today: Top vote counter becomes prize job GOP TRYING TO AVOID STATEHOUSE "TSUNAMI": Republicans will play defense in this fall's state legislative races to avoid a "tsunami" that could alter the political landscape in statehouses around the country, the head of the GOP's legislative campaign committee said Wednesday. Democrats, who currently hold a 21-seat advantage among the country's 7,382 state legislative seats, are hoping the national mood and historical trends contribute to legislative gains. "Some years you play offense, and some years you play defense," said Alex Johnson, executive director of the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee. "And this is a year when we play a bit of defense and hope to steal a few."
AP via Yahoo! News: GOP plays defense in statehouse races DSCC/NRSC WANT RECOUNT RULES FOR NOVEMBER: In a rare show of bipartisan unity, and with an eye on what may be a very close race in Pennsylvania this November, the Senate Democratic and Republican campaign committees are asking the Federal Election Commission to clarify the rules covering recounts. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee filed an Aug. 7 request for an advisory opinion from the FEC, in which they asked the commission to determine from whom they can raise money, and how much, to pay for any recounts that may occur this year. The two committees also want the FEC to determine whether they can use soft money from wealthy individuals, corporations and labor unions to cover litigation costs or any other expenditures arising from a recount. Soft-money donations are banned in federal elections, although they are permitted in a number of states.
Roll Call: NRSC, DSCC File Joint FEC Inquiry on Recounts HISPANICS SAY DSCC AD UNFAIRLY EQUATES ILLEGAL ALIENS TO TERRORISTS: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) yesterday pulled an ad from its Web site after Hispanic groups accused Democrats of unfairly equating illegal aliens to terrorists. "To liken Latino immigrants to bazooka-toting terrorists not only undermines the positive relationship our party has with this community, but it also lowers us to a despicable level as breeders of unfounded fear and hatred," Houston City Council member Carol Alvarado, a Democrat, said in a letter to Sen. Charles E. Schumer, the New York Democrat who heads the DSCC. The 35-second ad, released on its Web site earlier this week, criticizes the Bush administration as leaving America unsecured by showing illegal aliens scaling a border fence. That scene is mixed with images of Osama bin Laden and North Korean President Kim Jong-il. While the DSCC did not publicly apologize for the ad, it had been removed from the site by last night and replaced with another. All links to the ad that had worked throughout the day also went dead.
Washington Times: Hispanics scold Democrats for ad mixing illegals, terrorists BIG-NAME DEMS TAKING ON WAL-MART: Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, a likely Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, delivered a 15-minute, blistering attack to warm applause from Democrats and union organizers [in Des Moines, Iowa] on Wednesday. But Mr. Biden's main target was not Republicans in Washington, or even his prospective presidential rivals. It was Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private employer. Among Democrats, Mr. Biden is not alone. Across Iowa this week and across much of the country this month, Democratic leaders have found a new rallying cry that many of them say could prove powerful in the midterm elections and into 2008: denouncing Wal-Mart for what they say are substandard wages and health care benefits. Six Democratic presidential contenders have appeared at rallies like the one Mr. Biden headlined, along with some Democratic candidates for Congress in some of the toughest-fought races in the country.
New York Times: Eye on Election, Democrats Run as Wal-Mart Foe LAMONT MAKES GAINS, BUT LIEBERMAN LEADS 49-38 IN NEW CT SEN POLL: Ned Lamont, whose anti-war campaign rattled the political landscape by toppling Sen. Joe Lieberman last week in Connecticut's Democratic primary, is gaining support in November's three-way Senate race, according to a poll released Thursday. But the Quinnipiac University poll shows that Lamont still has an uphill battle against Lieberman, the 2000 nominee for vice president who is now running an independent campaign. Lieberman leads Lamont among registered voters 49 percent to 38 percent. Republican Alan Schlesinger gets support from 4 percent. That's an improvement for Lamont, who trailed Lieberman 51 percent to 27 percent in a three-way race in a July 20 Quinnipiac poll.
AP/Hartford Courant: Lamont Trails Lieberman In New Poll GIULIANI TALKS PORT SECURITY IN SC: Seaports in the United States, including the Port of Charleston, are not as safe from terrorism as they should be, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said [in Charleston] Wednesday. Giuliani, a potential 2008 Republican presidential candidate, was in South Carolina's major port city for a $2,500-per-person fundraiser for the state Republican Party at the Hibernian Hall on Meeting Street. Standing less than a mile from the headquarters of the busiest container port in the Southeast or Gulf Coast, Giuliani told reporters at a pre-event news conference that nearly five years after the 9/11 attacks, the country's "ports are not as safe as the airports. We have not emphasized port security the same way as airport security."
Columbia State: Beef up ports security, Giuliani says HILLARY CAMP RELEASES FIRST AD: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's re-election campaign began airing its first television ad Wednesday, a 60-second series of testimonials from New Yorkers lauding her for everything from preserving a military base to securing a boy's bone marrow transplant. The ad, produced by Clinton's longtime media adviser Mandy Grunwald, will air on broadcast and cable stations upstate and on cable stations in Westchester and Long Island, campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said. Wolfson would not disclose how much the campaign had spent to air the spot but called the ad buy "substantial." It was scheduled to begin airing Wednesday afternoon.
AP via NY Newsday: New York Sen. Clinton's campaign launches 1st TV ad SPENCER AD "BEYOND OUTRAGEOUS," SAYS HIL: Sen. Hillary Clinton lashed out yesterday at Republican John Spencer's campaign ad linking her and Osama Bin Laden, calling it "beyond outrageous." "He'll have to answer for it, but I think it's a terrible injustice," Clinton said. "People in public life do a great disservice to our country accusing patriotic Americans of [being in league with] Osama Bin Laden." The Spencer camp noted that Clinton began airing a polished campaign commercial -- her first this year across the state -- and gleefully, though improbably, claimed credit. "They are very very nervous about John Spencer," said his spokesman Rob Ryan. "He's hit a nerve with this ad and now they have to respond."
New York Daily News: Ad tying me to Osama 'outrageous,' says Hil POTENTIAL '08 PRIMARY OPPONENT McCAIN STUMPS FOR ALLEN: Sen. George Allen, his re-election campaign under fire amid charges he made racially insensitive remarks, received a boost yesterday from a would-be rival. Sen. John McCain of Arizona bolstered Allen's defense credentials at a Veterans for Allen rally in downtown Norfolk. About 125 people attended the event at the Norfolk Marriott hotel. McCain and Allen may face each other in 2008 for the Republican presidential nomination. Yesterday, each complimented the other. McCain said of Allen, "He works hard, he believes in what he does, he understands the issues and he studies hard every day."
Richmond Times-Dispatch: McCain boosts Allen at rally ALLEN TRIES TO MEND FENCES WITH INDIAN COMMUNITY: Sen. George Allen met Wednesday with Indian-American political leaders concerned that he referred to a rival's campaign staffer as "Macaca" and told the Virginia native of Indian descent, "Welcome to America." Members of the US Indian Political Action Committee said they have received hundreds of e-mails about the comments Allen made Friday at a speech that S.R. Sidarth was videotaping for his Democratic challenger, Jim Webb. "Obviously, we'll be looking at his actions in terms of working with us and hopefully trying to mend some of the fences that have been broken," said Sonjay Puri, a businessman and director of the PAC, which claims 30,000 members.
AP via Yahoo! News: Allen meets with Indian PAC over remarks
