Friday, November 03, 2006
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Compiled by Stephen Bach CNN Washington Bureau Making news today... "But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq's secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb." "[W]e believe that state and national dynamics favor Democrats netting six seats and winning control of the United States Senate." President's Schedule: Bush then travels to Iowa for a 6:50 pm ET rally in Le Mars. Also on the Political Radar: At 8 pm ET, Cheney speaks at a Colorado Victory Rally at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. ================================================================= Political Hot Topics (Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country) NUCLEAR SECRETS POSTED ON THE NET? Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they hoped to "leverage the Internet" to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein. But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq's secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb. Last night, the government shut down the Web site after The New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control officials. New York Times: U.S. Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Primer ROTHENBERG'S 2006 SENATE RATINGS: LIKELY TAKEOVER (2 R, 0 D) DeWine (R-OH) Santorum (R-PA) LEAN TAKEOVER (4 R, 0 D) Allen (R-VA) Burns, (R-MT) Chafee, (R-RI) Talent (R-MO) TOSS-UP (1 R, 1 D) TN Open (Frist, R) Menendez (D-NJ) 2006 House Ratings Current Rothenberg Political Report projection: Democratic gain of 34-40 seats. The Rothenberg Political Report 600+ NEW ADS FOR THE WEEKEND: The Republican and Democratic parties dumped tens of millions of dollars this week on dozens of congressional races, locking up broadcast time yesterday for a blizzard of new advertising that will saturate the airwaves over the final weekend of the midterm campaign season. Candidates rushed out more than 600 new television ads ahead of network deadlines for the weekend, with many Republicans trying to shift attention from Iraq and President Bush to local issues such as the environment, taxes and immigration. This final thrust will boost spending on political and issue advertising past $2 billion in this campaign, or $400 million more than in the 2004 presidential campaign, according to Evan Tracey of the Campaign Media Analysis Group. Washington Post: Campaigns Set For TV Finale AF1 FUMES NO LONGER "POLITICAL MAGIC DUST": During the last two elections, the fumes of Air Force One worked like political magic dust for the candidates lucky enough to score visits from Mr. Bush. Candidates flew to Washington just to be seen arriving back home on his 747. Local newspapers doubled as welcome mats, and television reporters and radio hosts excitedly echoed his verbal jabs at Democrats long after he had left. But 2006 is not 2004 or, for that matter, 2002, when Mr. Bush's last minute, 17-city tour won credit for helping his party buck history by gaining seats in a midterm election cycle in which it also held the presidency. This time around, Mr. Bush is a less popular president and is on a more modest tour. New York Times: This Election, Modest Tour for President GOP OPTIMISTS "REFUSING TO WAVE WHITE FLAG": Though there is pervasive fear that the party will lose control of Congress, a cadre of die-hard optimists is refusing to wave the white flag. They point, like parched travelers spying water in the desert, to a few recent developments that could help the GOP in the waning days of the campaign. They delight in this week's gaffe by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), who made a joke that seemed to insult U.S. troops in Iraq. The GOP Senate candidate in Maryland is running a surprisingly strong campaign. Some of the party's most endangered incumbents, such as Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds in New York and Sen. Conrad Burns in Montana, are battling back in the polls. Los Angeles Times: We think we can, say GOP optimists EVANGELICAL LEADER STEPS ASIDE AFTER ALLEGATIONS OF GAY AFFAIR: Facing shocking allegations that he paid a gay prostitute for sex, prominent Colorado Springs pastor Ted Haggard placed himself on administrative leave Thursday from his church position and resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, a platform that made him a rising star in conservative politics. Haggard, 50, said in a statement released by his 14,000- member New Life Church that he could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations made on Denver talk radio this morning." In interviews over the past two days with KHOW talk radio, 9News and The Denver Post, Michael Forest Jones, 49, of Denver alleges he had sex on a monthly basis with Haggard over three years. Jones claimed Haggard used the name "Art," admitted he was married and used meth before the two had sex. Denver Post: Pastor takes leave amid allegations of gay sex AFTER "EMBARRASSING" INVESTIGATIONS, IRAQ INSPECTOR GENERAL GETS THE AX: Investigations led by a Republican lawyer named Stuart W. Bowen Jr. in Iraq have sent American occupation officials to jail on bribery and conspiracy charges, exposed disastrously poor construction work by well-connected companies like Halliburton and Parsons, and discovered that the military did not properly track hundreds of thousands of weapons it shipped to Iraqi security forces. And tucked away in a huge military authorization bill that President Bush signed two weeks ago is what some of Mr. Bowen's supporters believe is his reward for repeatedly embarrassing the administration: a pink slip. The order comes in the form of an obscure provision that terminates his federal oversight agency, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, on Oct. 1, 2007. New York Times: Congress Tells Auditor in Iraq to Close Office SOME DEMS EXPECT "TURMOIL" OVER VOTER ID PROBLEMS: Indiana will have the country's strictest voter identification law in effect on Election Day. The 2005 picture ID law, however, puts it among a dozen states that have tightened requirements lately that voters display some form of identification at the polls. The laws have spawned partisan warring, lawsuits and confusion that election experts predict could influence the outcome of some close elections... [N]ew voter ID laws nationally are the most widespread, and most bitterly disputed, of several types of voting procedures that states have adopted after the chaotic 2000 presidential election. Washington Post: Democrats Predict Voter ID Problems REUTERS/ZOGBY POLL KEY RESULTS: Democrats must gain six seats in Tuesday's election to win U.S. Senate control, and they lead in six of the seven most vulnerable Republican-held states, according to Reuters/Zogby polls released on Thursday... The polls of at least 600 likely voters in each state, taken Oct. 24 to Oct. 30, have a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Connecticut Senate Lieberman (I) 49% Lamont (D) 37% Maryland Senate Cardin (D) 49% Steele (R) 44% Missouri Senate McCaskill (D) 46% Talent (R) 43% Montana Senate Tester (D) 47% Burns (R) 46% New Jersey Senate Menendez (D) 49% Kean (R) 37% Ohio Senate Brown (D) 49% DeWine (R) 42% Pennsylvania Senate Casey (D) 48% Santorum 40% Rhode Island Senate Whitehouse (D) 53% Chafee (R) 39% Tennessee Senate Corker (R) 53% Ford (D) 43% Virginia Senate Webb (D) 45% Allen (R) 44% Reuters: Results in key Senate races "LIEBERMAN HAS PLENTY TO SMILE ABOUT": A wry grin on his face, Sen. Joe Lieberman stepped into the brilliant fall sunshine after a Baptist church service and declared his plans for the campaign's final days. "Actually, I'm planning to go into hibernation," he joked to reporters. "I'm going to be in prayer for the next nine days." Lieberman has plenty to smile about these days. Less than a week before Tuesday's elections, Lieberman, 64, appears to be on-track for a fourth term as statewide polls show him with a double-digit lead. Just three months ago, the Connecticut lawmaker's 18-year Senate career was on the rocks. AP via Yahoo! News: Lieberman looks like a November winner BLOGGERS BLAME DEM LEADERS FOR LAMONT "ABANDONMENT": National Democrats have abandoned their anti-war Senate candidate in Connecticut, say liberal bloggers who earlier this year were heavily courted by top Democrats in their quest to take over Congress. Democratic nominee Ned Lamont -- darling of the left-wing blogosphere -- now trails Sen. Joe Lieberman by 10 points or more, and the highly energized bloggers who helped win him the nomination in August blame the national party. Matt Stoller, a District-based blogger, wondered this week why Mr. Lamont is getting trounced. "Well there are a number of reasons, but among the most prominent is the total abandonment of Lamont by the party establishment," he wrote in a blog posting at Direct Democracy (www.mydd.com). "Let's be very clear -- this is not Lamont that they are abandoning, it's the party primary voters that they are abandoning." Washington Times: Liberal bloggers rip party over Lamont GIBBONS, MAZZEO NOT SEEN IN AP REVIEW OF GARAGE TAPES: partial review Thursday of surveillance video from a parking garage where a woman said the Republican candidate for governor assaulted her did not reveal the presence of either person, nor of an attack. A judge had ordered police to release 16 hours of surveillance video to lawyers for Rep. Jim Gibbons and Chrissy Mazzeo, who accused the candidate of pushing her against a wall inside the garage Oct. 13 and propositioning her after the two had drinks together at a nearby restaurant... The Associated Press reviewed sequences of tapes provided by Gibbons' lawyer during the time frame when Mazzeo, a 32-year-old Las Vegas Strip casino waitress, said she was assaulted. But the AP was not able to view the tapes in their entirety and was unable to review every camera running during the hour before Mazzeo's 911 calls to police. AP via Yahoo! News: Accused Nev. candidate not seen in video ARNOLD: "WE SHOULD GIVE A DEADLINE OF WHEN WE PULL THE TROOPS OUT": Governor Schwarzenegger is calling for a deadline to withdraw American troops from Iraq, despite President Bush's protests that a rigid timetable would embolden terrorists. "I think that we should get out of there as quickly as we can. We should give a deadline of when we pull the troops out and figure that out and work together with the government in Iraq, which I think they're doing now," Mr. Schwarzenegger said in an interview yesterday with KPIX-TV. Reminded of Mr. Bush's opposition, the governor replied, "Well, I think that eventually you will have to put a deadline on there. I think the American people will demand it," he said. New York Sun: Schwarzenegger Urges Iraq Pullout Deadline VIDEO OF SCHWARZENEGGER INTERVIEW (via cbs5.com) WEBB GETS A BOOST FROM OBAMA, CLARKE, AND FOX: Democrat Jim Webb drew high-profile political, Hollywood and military names at boisterous rallies yesterday in an effort to stoke turnout for Tuesday's too-close-to-call Senate race. He appeared at a lunchtime rally at Virginia Union University in Richmond with U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat who's considered a rising star in the national party. Later in the day, Webb was joined at an event in Arlington County by actor Michael J. Fox, a stem-cell research advocate, and retired four-star Gen. Wesley Clark, a former Democratic candidate for president. Obama received a rock star's welcome at VUU as he urged Virginians to send Webb to Congress. Richmond Times-Dispatch: Big names stump for Webb SHERWOOD AGREED TO PAY EX-MISTRESS ABOUT $500K, SAYS AP: A Republican congressman accused of abusing his ex-mistress agreed to pay her about $500,000 in a settlement last year that contained a powerful incentive for her to keep quiet until after Election Day, a person familiar with the terms of the deal told The Associated Press. Rep. Don Sherwood is locked in a tight re-election race against a Democratic opponent who has seized on the four-term congressman's relationship with the woman. While Sherwood acknowledged the woman was his mistress, he denied abusing her and said that he had settled her $5.5 million lawsuit on confidential terms. The settlement, reached in November 2005, called for Cynthia Ore to be paid in installments, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal is confidential. She has received less than half the money so far, and will not get the rest until after the Nov. 7 election, the person said Thursday. AP via Yahoo! News: Rep. paying ex-mistress about $500K BUSTAMANTE'S STRATEGY? SHOW OFF HIS WEIGHT LOSS: Give Bustamante a little credit -- his latest distract-the-voter-with-irrelevant-information strategy has at least been innovative. While competitor Steve Poizner's supporters rolled out a sleazy TV spot, which included a Cruz actor holding a paper bag and dastardly insurance executives dropping wads of cash into it, Bustamante responded with what looks like a Jenny Craig advertisement. "I was really fat," says Bustamante, a bit slimmer now, but still looking too much like George Costanza to be bragging about it. "I promised my family I would lose 70 pounds. I kept that promise. I'll keep this promise: I'll lower your insurance rates." I'm not sure if this is better or worse than an attack ad, but I'm leaning toward worse. If you follow Bustamante's logic, Kirstie Alley should be a lock for governor, Al Roker is our new controller and Jared from the Subway commercials becomes this nation's Supreme Ruler for Life. San Francisco Chronicle: Hey, vote for me -- my opponent kicks babies VIDEO OF BUSTAMANTE'S ADS (via YouTube.com) |
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The CNN Political Ticker provides the latest political news.To sign up for our twice daily Ticker emails, visit CNN.com member services page. If you do not have a CNN.com account, you can register here. If you have any feedback, suggestions or news tips, drop us a line here. NEW IN THE TICKER
• Senator won't scold backers for tackling heckler• Evangelical leader quits, denies male escort's all... • On the campaign trail with potential 08er's • Democrats eyeing Arizona senate seat • Reynolds has no regrets over handling of Foley • Talent: Michael J. Fox distorted my stem-cell stan... • AP: Rep. paying ex-mistress about half-million • Rell leads DeStefano in Connecticut • Donnelly and Chocola neck-and-neck in IN-02 • Culver has the advantage over Nussle in Iowa SUBSCRIBE
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