Thursday, September 21, 2006
The Morning Grind
 (A first look at today's political news) The President heads to the Sunshine State today where he'll campaign and fundraise for two Republican candidates and the FL GOP. At 1:10 pm ET, Bush will attend a Gus Bilirakis for Congress reception at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. At 5:35 pm ET, POTUS appears at a Charlie Crist for Governor and Republican Party of Florida Reception at the Ritz Carlton in Orlando.
The GOP may face some "awkward choreography" when Florida Senate candidate Katherine Harris, who "has been shunned by the state's Republican leaders," shows up at the Orlando event, reports the Orlando Sentinel.
For more details, check out local media coverage of the events in Political Hot Topics below!
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld goes to Capitol Hill today with JCS Chairman Peter Pace and General John Abizaid for closed door, members-only briefings on Iraq. The trio will brief members of the House at 2pm ET and the Senate at 4pm ET.
The Senate Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook
The House Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook
Just 25 percent approve of the way Congress is doing its job, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. Bush's job approval stands at 37 percent, "virtually unchanged" since the last NYT/CBS News poll in August.
A new Bloomberg/LA Times poll shows President Bush's approval rating at 45 percent, "a jump of 5 percentage points since July." Dems lead 49-39 among RVs asked which party they'll support for Congress in November.
And call it "the peril of wading into 'festive' environments"... what is the Kerry press shop saying about this photo?
Find out in Hot Topics below!
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Political Hot Topics
(Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country)
BUSH: EVEN IF IT MEANS ENTERING PAKISTAN, "WE WOULD TAKE THE ACTION NECESSARY" TO CATCH OBL: President Bush said Wednesday he would order U.S. forces to go after Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan if he received good intelligence on the fugitive al Qaeda leader's location. "Absolutely," Bush said. The president made the comments Wednesday in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Although Pakistan has said it won't allow U.S. troops to operate within its territory, "we would take the action necessary to bring him to justice." CNN: Bush would send troops inside Pakistan to catch bin Laden
AHMADINEJAD "SQUARES OFF" WITH CFR: Over the objections of the administration and Jewish groups that boycotted the event, [President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, the man who has become the defiant face of Iran, squared off with the nation's foreign policy establishment, parrying questions for an hour and three-quarters with two dozen members of the Council on Foreign Relations, then ending the evening by asking whether they were simply shills for the Bush administration. Never raising his voice and thanking each questioner with a tone that oozed polite hostility, he spent 40 minutes questioning the evidence that the Holocaust ever happened... The decision by the council's president, Richard N. Haass, to invite Mr. Ahmadinejad to the session touched off a rare outcry protest in an organization whose meetings are usually as staid as the portraits of long-forgotten diplomats on its walls. New York Times: Iran's Leader Relishes 2nd Chance to Make Waves
"CLASS CLOWN" HUGO CHAVEZ: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez drew laughs and gasps at the UN yesterday by mocking President Bush as "the Devil himself" who acts like "he owned the world." Chavez's taunts came a day after Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad railed against Bush - but the Iranian was downright diplomatic compared with Chavez. "Yesterday, the Devil came here. Right here. Right here. And it smells of sulfur still today," Chavez said, blessing himself with the sign of the cross, and folding his hands as if in prayer and glancing heavenward. The gesture drew laughter from the assembled heads of state... Chavez's attempt at being the class clown was one of the most outrageous UN performances since Yasser Arafat, the late head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, wore a pistol into the General Assembly and Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev banged his shoe on a desk. New York Daily News: 'Devil' of a tirade at Bush
NYT/CBS NEWS POLL: JUST 25% APPROVE OF CONGRESS: With barely seven weeks until the midterm elections, Americans have an overwhelmingly negative view of the Republican-controlled Congress, with substantial majorities saying that they disapprove of the job it is doing and that its members do not deserve re-election, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll... Two-thirds said Congress had accomplished less than it typically did in a two-year session; most said they could not name a single major piece of legislation that cleared this Congress. Just 25 percent said they approved of the way Congress was doing its job. But for all the clear dissatisfaction with the 109th Congress, 39 percent of respondents said their own representative deserved re-election, compared with 48 percent who said it was time for someone new. New York Times: Only 25% in Poll Approve of the Congress
COMPLETE POLL RESULTS (pdf via NYT)
BLOOMBERG/LAT POLL: BUSH APPROVAL JUMPS TO 45 AFTER SECURITY BLITZ: President George W. Bush's latest political offensive, centered on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has given him and fellow Republicans a measurable boost in public support a month and a half before congressional elections. The president's job approval rating rose to 45 percent in a new Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll, a jump of 5 percentage points since July. The gains follow a string of high-visibility presidential speeches, visits to terrorist targets and a congressional debate designed to cast anti-war Democrats as wobbly on national security... Republicans widened their lead among registered voters, to 17 points from 9 points, over Democrats on handling the war on terror and national security. They now hold a 41 percent to 39 percent lead, within the poll's margin of error, on the question of which party can best handle the situation in Iraq -- a reversal from June, when Democrats narrowly led. Bloomberg: Bush, Republicans Gain in Poll From September Push on Terrorism
COMPLETE POLL RESULTS (pdf via LAT)
AFTER "PARLIAMENTARY GYMNASTICS," TRIBUNAL PLAN PASSED IN THE HOUSE: President Bush's supporters in the House narrowly defeated yesterday efforts to sidetrack his proposal for questioning and prosecuting terrorism suspects, but the issue continues to divide Congress in its final workdays before the November elections. In an afternoon animated by switched votes, parliamentary gymnastics and protest cries from Democrats, the House Judiciary Committee barely managed to reject a rival proposal and endorse the administration's version of the legislation. Even if the chamber takes up the bill next week -- its last scheduled period of action before the elections -- the matter remains mired in the Senate, where a majority opposes the White House approach. Washington Post: House Panel Supports Tribunal Plan, 20 to 19
700-MILE FENCE WILL BE THE FOCUS BEFORE NOVEMBER: Senate Republicans formally put aside a broad immigration overhaul sought by President Bush on Wednesday and decided instead to press ahead with narrower bills to require building 700 miles of fence on the southwestern border. Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, said the fate of millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States had become a "fundamental sticking point" in trying to reach agreement with the House on a broad bill. Mr. Frist said the fence proposal, which the House has passed, was the best alternative if lawmakers wanted to salvage some immigration changes before the Nov. 7 elections. New York Times: G.O.P. in Senate Narrows Immigration Focus to 700-Mile Fence
HOUSE PASSES "VOTER ID" BILL: The House yesterday passed legislation that would require voters to show a valid photo identification in federal elections over the overwhelming objections of Democrats who compared the bill to segregation-era measures aimed at disenfranchising Southern blacks. The Federal Election Integrity Act was approved on a nearly party-line 228-196 vote... The so-called "Voter ID" bill, aimed at stamping out voter fraud, would require voters in federal elections to provide picture identification by 2008 and provide proof of U.S. citizenship by 2010. It was among the recommendations made last year by the bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform, headed by former President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, a Republican. Washington Times: House bill to require voter ID
DREIER, PRYCE CALL FOR NEY'S RESIGNATION: With three weeks still left before Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) officially pleads guilty to a pair of federal charges, House Republican leaders on Wednesday stepped up their public calls for the embattled lawmaker to resign from the chamber immediately. While House Majority Leader John Boehner (R) remained reluctant to pressure his fellow Ohioan to step down from his post - and Democrats so far have stopped short of pushing an expulsion resolution on the House floor - Boehner's fellow leaders were far more definitive in their statements. "I do, as a member from Ohio, believe very strongly that Bob Ney should resign," House Republican Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce told reporters Wednesday. "It's a tragedy that's happened to his family but he has betrayed the trust of his constituents and his colleagues here in the House." When asked if Pryce's view was the position of leadership, House Rules Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) responded, "Yep, absolutely." Roll Call: Leaders Boost Pressure on Ney
FLAG-SHOP EMPLOYEE BEAT CAPITOL POLICE TO THE PUNCH, SAYS COCHRAN: A flag-shop worker, not the U.S. Capitol Police, first subdued an armed intruder in the Capitol this week, according to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). "A guy who worked in the flag shop grabbed him," Cochran said yesterday. "[The worker is] a big guy." Cochran said his staff told him the intruder was near the flag shop and "looked suspicious." The still-unidentified flag-shop worker "just assumed [the intruder] didn't belong in the Capitol," seized him and held him until Capitol Police arrived on the scene. It was "an act of courage," Cochran said. The Hill: Flag-shop hero nabbed armed Hill intruder
SPECTER PUSHING FOR MEDIA SHIELD LAW: An influential Republican senator said Wednesday that it's time for Congress to approve a law that would protect journalists from having to choose between jail time and revealing their confidential sources in court cases. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chastised a top Justice Department official who testified that a proposed bill to shield journalists from revealing their sources was a "solution in search of a problem." "I disagree with you," Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a former prosecutor, told Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty. "My view is that it's something that must be addressed legislatively." Despite opposition by the Bush administration, Specter said he has asked Republican leaders for a vote in the Senate this year on the proposed federal shield law he is co-sponsoring, most likely during a planned lame-duck session after the Nov. 7 elections. The House is moving more slowly on its version of a media shield law. San Francisco Chronicle: Senator leads drive for federal media shield law
ABRAMOFF AND ASSOCIATES' WH VISITS SHOWN IN USSS LOGS: Anti-tax advocate and lobbyist Grover Norquist visited the White House at least 74 times over the last five years, according to Secret Service logs released yesterday that illustrate the access that he and other Bush administration allies enjoyed. Norquist was one of nine people with links to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff who were listed in the 1,646 pages of documents showing dates and times of appointments registered with the Secret Service. Lobbyists who worked with Abramoff, including Tony Rudy, Neil Volz, Kevin Ring and Shawn Vasell, had among them at least 70 appointments at the White House from 2001 to 2005, according an administration official who briefed reporters on the documents. Records released earlier this year show Abramoff had at least seven White House appointments from 2001 to 2004. Bloomberg: Lobbyist Access to White House Revealed in Secret Service Logs
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT "TARGETING" THE WEALTHY: Warning to the wealthy: The cash-strapped federal government is targeting you. Having already gone after people with higher incomes through the federal tax code and the Social Security system, the government next year will begin charging wealthier seniors more for doctors' care under Medicare. The Bush administration, members of Congress and outside experts are all looking at other ways to raise new revenue from the rich... The answer, according to many Democrats and Republicans, is those with greater ability to pay. Democrats generally are in favor of higher taxes, such as eliminating President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest taxpayers. Republicans are more likely to favor raising the price for government benefits, such as Medicare and Social Security. USA Today: Uncle Sam leaning more heavily on the better-off
ALLEN LEARNED IN AUGUST OF JEWISH ROOTS: Henrietta "Etty" Allen said Wednesday that she concealed her upbringing as a Jew in North Africa from her children, including Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), until a conversation across the dining room table in late August. She said Allen asked her directly about his Jewish heritage when he was in Los Angeles for a fundraiser. "We sat across the table and he said, 'Mom, there's a rumor that Pop-pop and Mom-mom were Jewish and so were you,'" she recalled, a day after Allen issued a statement acknowledging and embracing his Jewish roots as he campaigns for a second term in the U.S. Senate. At the table in Palos Verdes, Calif., Allen's mother, who is 83, said she told her son the truth: That she had been raised as a Jew in Tunisia before moving to the United States. Washington Post: Allen's Mother Revealed Jewish Heritage to Him Last Month
EHRLICH WANTS TO SCRAP $106 MILLION CHANGEOVER TO E-BALLOTS: A week after the primary election was plagued by human error and technical glitches, Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) called yesterday for the state to scrap its $106 million electronic voting apparatus and revert to a paper ballot system for the November election. "When in doubt, go paper, go low-tech," he said. Linda H. Lamone, the administrator of the Maryland State Board of Elections, quickly denounced the plan to swap voting systems just seven weeks before the general election as "crazy." And Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) said it "cannot happen. It will not happen." Ehrlich said that, if necessary, he would call a special session of the Maryland General Assembly to change the law to allow paper ballots. Washington Post: Ehrlich Wants Paper Ballots For Nov. Vote
BILIRAKIS GETTING $450K BOOST FROM BUSH: President Bush will be swinging through Tampa on Thursday to campaign for Gus Bilirakis, the Republican congressional candidate hoping to take over the reins from his father, Rep. Mike Bilirakis. Bush is scheduled to attend a midday reception at Raymond James Stadium with about 300 people who pay $1,000 a ticket, or $2,100 for a one-on-one photo opportunity. Bilirakis' staff expects the event will add $450,000 to campaign coffers that currently exceed $1.1-million. Bilirakis already has a considerable cash advantage over Phyllis Busansky, his Democratic opponent for the District 9 seat. The president's trip will mark the second recent White House visit on behalf of the candidate. Vice President Dick Cheney visited in July. St. Petersburg Times: President due in Tampa to tout Bilirakis
"AWKWARD CHOREOGRAPHY" IN ORLANDO: President Bush will sweep through Orlando today in the powerful role of fundraiser-in-chief for Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist and the state GOP, kick-starting the party on its drive to raise a record $30 million for the November election... Crist, whose moderate politics separate him from the president on key social issues, says he's happy to share the Ritz-Carlton stage with Bush at a $500-per-person event expected to raise $3 million. Crist said he is not looking to take the money and duck out of camera range when standing by the president... The Republicans might face more awkward choreography with controversial U.S. Senate nominee Katherine Harris expected at the presidential event, which begins at 5:30 p.m. Harris has been shunned by the state's Republican leaders, who actively sought to push her out of the race against Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson. Orlando Sentinel: State GOP is counting on Bush
KERRY DID NOT TRY THE BEER BONG: U.S. Sen. John Kerry's tailgating adventures at the Iowa-Iowa State football game have caused quite a buzz since this photo of the 2004 presidential nominee was first published on DesMoinesRegister.com. U of I student Kasie Ver Schuure, left, said she was celebrating her 21st birthday with her friend Erika Tahmasebi, right, at the tailgate when she spotted the Massachusetts Democrat and posed for the shot holding up the "beer bong" - basically a funnel designed for speedy alcohol consumption. Kerry didn't partake, but the photo was referred to in a New York Times article this week, as well as hitting political blogs galore. "I think it's hilarious," Ver Schuure said, although she acknowledged her dad, in Oskaloosa, wasn't too thrilled about the beer bong... The Times said Kerry's spokesman, David Wade, stressed that Kerry did not try the beer bong and joked, "Actually, since we were in Iowa, it was probably filled with ethanol." Des Moines Register: Iowa Ear: Kerry 'beer bong' picture sparks media buzz
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