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Friday, April 06, 2007
CNN Political Ticker AM
For the latest, breaking political news, check for updates throughout the day on the CNN Political Ticker. All politics, all the time.

Compiled by Stephen Bach
CNN Washington Bureau

Making news today...


"I've been around a long time. I'm obviously disappointed. I think it is, in fact, bad behavior on her part. I wish she hadn't done it."

- Vice President Cheney on Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria, "The Rush Limbaugh Show" 4/5.

Full transcript at whitehouse.gov

  • Fred Thompson "has not yet decided to seek" the GOP nod, but he "has moved beyond pondering a bid for the White House and begun assembling the nucleus of a campaign should he decide to run." (The Politico)

    "When Fred Thompson walks in a room, people want to salute... But beyond that, he's a remarkable consensus builder. He can see both sides of an issue." - Law & Order producer Dick Wolf, pushing a D.A. Branch bid. (Los Angeles Times)

  • "I've always been a rodent and rabbit hunter. Small varmints, if you will. I began when I was 15 or so and I have hunted those kinds of varmints since then. More than two times." - Mitt Romney, Indianapolis 4/5. (AP)

  • And after the initial Q1 reports, "the two happiest candidates may be" New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), according to the Washington Times. Why? Find out in Hot Topics below!

    President's Schedule:

  • President Bush is in Crawford, TX, for the Easter weekend. No public events.

    Also on the Political Radar:

  • The House and Senate are not in session this week.

  • Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) attends a Good Friday Prayer Breakfast, 8 am ET at the Crowne Plaza Downtown Hotel in Cedar Rapids, IA.

  • Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) visits an Iowa Veterans Home this morning in Marshalltown, IA (closed press). Obama will make remarks to the media after touring the veterans' hospital. Obama will also attend a 1:45 pm ET Meet the Candidate event at Marshalltown Community College.

  • Elizabeth Edwards appears on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

    =================================================================
    Political Hot Topics

    (Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country)

    PELOSI MAKES LAST STOP ON MIDEAST TOUR: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Saudi Arabia's unelected advisory council Thursday, the closest thing in the kingdom to a legislature, where she tried out her counterpart's chair - a privilege no Saudi woman can have because women cannot become legislators. Pelosi, the first woman speaker of the House, said she raised the issue of Saudi Arabia's lack of female politicians with Saudi government officials on the last stop of her Mideast tour, but she refrained from criticizing the kingdom over it. "It's a nice view from here," Pelosi said as she sat in the chair, facing the ornate chamber with its deep blue and yellow chairs and gilded ironwork. "This chair is very comfortable." AP via Yahoo! News: Pelosi visits Saudi Arabia's council

    CHENEY BLASTS PELOSI'S "BAD BEHAVIOR": Vice President Dick Cheney weighed in on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) trip to Syria Thursday, calling her statement about peace talks with Israel "nonsensical," and the visit an example of "bad behavior." On Wednesday Pelosi conveyed to Syrian President Bashar Assad that Israel was open to peace talks with Syria. Israel quickly clarified that its policy on Syria had not changed. "It was a non-statement, nonsensical statement and didn't make any sense at all that she would suggest that those talks could go forward as long as the Syrians conducted themselves as a prime state sponsor of terror," Cheney said in an interview Thursday with talk radio host Rush Limbaugh. The Hill: Cheney: Pelosi's Syria visit constitutes 'bad behavior'

    JK'S GOT HER BACK: Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry came to the strong defense of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday for her trip to the Mideast, saying in San Francisco that a high-profile critic of the trip, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has little credibility on the issue. Romney's "knowledge of foreign affairs extends to briefing papers -- not experience," Kerry said of the former Massachusetts governor. "I'd rather have Nancy Pelosi's input than his."... "It's terrific that she went to Syria. We are a separate branch in the United States Congress, and the administration needs to remember that. "She's not there to make policy," he said of the San Francisco lawmaker. "She's there to fact-find and explore policies, to have a better sense of what our choices and options are," Kerry said, noting that he was among the members of the House and Senate who visited Assad in the past few months. San Francisco Chronicle: In S.F., Kerry blasts critics of Pelosi's Mideast trip

    GONZALES 4/12 APPEARANCE POSTPONED; NEW FIGHT OVER DOJ DOCS: The Justice Department is refusing to release hundreds of pages of additional documents related to the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, setting up a fresh clash with Capitol Hill in a controversy that continues to threaten Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's hold on his position. The Senate Judiciary Committee, whose investigators have been allowed to view, but not obtain copies of, the records in question, is preparing subpoenas for those papers as well as for all e-mails or documents from the Justice Department and the White House connected to the dismissals of the prosecutors. The new sparring comes as Senate Democrats postponed a long-planned budgetary appearance by Gonzales that had been scheduled for next week. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (Md.), chairman of the Appropriations Committee panel overseeing the Justice Department budget, blamed Gonzales's "leadership failures" yesterday for the postponement and demanded that the prosecutor controversy be settled before he makes his plea for a budget increase. Washington Post: Justice Department In New Fight Over Papers on Firings

    LEAHY ASSIGNS HOMEWORK: The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee asked Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales on Thursday to provide the panel with a written account of his role in last year's dismissals of eight United States attorneys at least two days before his scheduled April 17 testimony. In a letter to Mr. Gonzales, the chairman, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, requested "a full and complete account of the development of the plan to replace United States attorneys, and all the specifics of your role in connection with that matter." New York Times: Panel Seeks Written Account From Gonzales

    BUSH 4TH ON THE RECESS APPOINTMENTS LIST: When President Bush decided this week that the Democratic-led Senate was playing politics with his nominees, he once again used powers as old as the U.S. Constitution to make recess appointments. Bush ranks fourth among modern presidents in granting such appointments, bypassing the Senate 165 times to get his nominees in place, according to the Senate historian's office. Ronald Reagan holds the record with 243 appointments. The Constitution authorized recess appointments so presidents could fill key vacancies during long periods of congressional inactivity, which was the norm in early U.S. history. USA Today: Many presidents have used the recess option

    SENATE MULLS MANEUVERS TO BLOCK FUTURE RECESS PICKS: In the wake of President Bush's decision Wednesday to make recess appointments for three controversial federal nominees, Senate Democrats have begun studying their options for either reversing the appointments or depriving Bush of the chance to make similar moves in the future. While no decision on how to proceed has been made by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Democratic aides are discussing a number of possible moves, including using a rarely invoked legal requirement that the nominations of the recess appointees be resubmitted within 40 days, subjecting them to a potential Senate vote. Democrats also are mulling keeping the chamber in session "pro forma" during future recesses to avoid further appointments. Roll Call: Democrats Study Ways to Block Recess Nominees

    CONFLICT OF INTEREST AT DEPT. OF EDUCATION? A senior official at the federal Education Department sold more than $100,000 in shares in a student loan company even as he was helping oversee lenders in the federal student loan program. The official, Matteo Fontana, now general manager in a unit of the Office of Federal Student Aid, was identified yesterday from government documents as a stakeholder in the parent company of Student Loan Xpress who sold shares in 2003. His involvement with the company emerged a day after a widening investigation into the student loan industry revealed that three senior financial aid officials at Columbia University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Southern California had also sold shares at the same time. The stock sales raise questions of conflicts of interest on the part of university officials charged with giving students advice on financial aid and loans and a government official who helped oversee the industry. New York Times: Federal Official in Student Loans Held Loan Stock

    ONE YEAR ON THE JOB, AND "AS POLITICALLY BESIEGED AS EVER": In just under a year as White House chief of staff, Joshua B. Bolten has engineered a thorough overhaul of top administration personnel, pushed to end "happy talk" about conditions in Iraq, and tried to reposition the president on issues such as the environment, the budget, detainee treatment and health care. Yet as Bolten approaches his first anniversary on the job, he and the president he serves find themselves as politically besieged as ever. President Bush's approval ratings -- 36 percent, according to the most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll -- are lower than when Bolten took over last April. And the president is embroiled in new controversies involving his attorney general and the handling of military health care, while trying to fend off an unexpectedly strong challenge to his Iraq policy from congressional Democrats. Washington Post: For Bush's Staff Chief, A Thorny First Year

    HOW TO RAISE LIKE ROMNEY: Mitt Romney, the multimillionaire founder of a giant private equity firm, knew he did not need other people's money to mount a presidential campaign. But as they began planning a campaign more than two years ago, Mr. Romney and his advisers wanted to avoid the fate of two other millionaires, Steve Forbes and Ross Perot, whose self-financed campaigns went down as quixotic indulgences... Instead of tapping his own money directly, Mr. Romney embarked on an effort to leverage his personal fortune into donations to his Republican primary campaign. He spent $6 million of his own on the campaign that made him governor of Massachusetts in 2002. Then he almost immediately began parlaying his own wealth, a network of his fellow Mormons and financiers, and his fund-raising role for the Republican Governors Association, into a national operation that quietly has signed up some of the biggest supporters of President Bush. Thus, although he remains the least known of the Republican front-runners, he has already locked up some of the most important donors. New York Times: Romney Used His Wealth to Enlist Richest Donors

    OBAMA HAUL ALSO MAKES THEM CONTENDERS: Sen. Barack Obama scored big in fundraising this week but the two happiest candidates may be New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, two second-tier Democratic presidential hopefuls who now see an opening since Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has not run away with the nomination. As the two candidates with arguably the longest official resumes, Mr. Richardson, in his second term as New Mexico's governor, and Mr. Dodd, in his fifth term as senator from Connecticut, say they can compete for the long haul. This week both spent time in New Hampshire, trying to persuade voters in the first-in-the-nation primary to choose deep experience over deep pockets. Washington Times: Obama showing boosts Dodd, Richardson

    OBAMA CAMPAIGN MOVES INTO ROOMY NEW CHICAGO HQ: Moving from cramped, temporary space a few days ago, Barack Obama's national presidential campaign headquarters on Thursday was settling in to its new home on the 11th floor at 233 N. Michigan. The campaign took over a turn-key sublease from Accenture, 33,000 square feet complete with sleek blond custom workstations, meeting rooms and space for the various departments of the Obama campaign: political, policy, new media, press, research, scheduling, finance, youth vote, advance, Michelle Obama, field, operations and management. Campaign Manager David Ploufe presides from one glass-enclosed offices. About 100 people are based in the Chicago headquarters and "the staff will grow over time," Ploufe said. Most of the staff moved to Chicago for the campaign and they are renting places to live close to work. Chicago Sun-Times: Obama's new HQ has room to move

    BACK TO NY FOR MORE $$$: Sen. Barack Obama has raised a ton of campaign money in Sen. Hillary Clinton's backyard, and as the next round of fund-raising begins, he's coming right back to Manhattan for more. On Monday, Obama hits New York to fatten his treasury with the help of former AOL President Robert Pittman and Huffington Post founder Kenneth Lerer. The Illinois Democrat got a jump on Clinton in the renewed dash for cash: As she headed for an Easter break in the Dominican Republic, Obama's camp announced he raised an additional $500,000 from 4,300 new donors since unveiling earlier this week his jaw-dropping haul of $25 million. Disheartening for Clinton, Obama's list of New York donors - and more importantly, New York-area bundlers who hit up their rich friends for money - includes former Clinton loyalists like financier Orin Kramer and Jeh Johnson, a top-ranking Air Force official during the Clinton administration. New York Daily News: Obama returning to N.Y. gold mine

    THOMPSON "GETTING MORE SERIOUS EVERY DAY": Fred Thompson, the "Law & Order" actor and former senator from Tennessee, has moved beyond pondering a bid for the White House and begun assembling the nucleus of a campaign should he decide to run, according to people involved in the effort. Thompson has not yet decided to seek the Republican presidential nomination. But "he is getting more serious every day," said an adviser familiar with Thompson's plans. Thompson's coming-out as a candidate-in-waiting will be a May 4 appearance at the 45th annual dinner of the Lincoln Club of Orange County in the heart of Ronald Reagan country in Southern California. The invitation was widely sought by aspiring Republicans, and his advisers expect considerable media attention around the visit. But there are no plans now for an announcement then. The Politico: Fred Thompson Gears Up

    VOTERS CARE MORE ABOUT SECURITY STANCE THAN ABORTION VIEWS, SAYS GIULIANI: Republican for president Rudy Giuliani is betting S.C. primary voters are more interested in his national security credentials than his moderate views on abortion. The former New York City mayor was in South Carolina Thursday, a day after he announced on national television he supports limited federal funding for abortion, a concept that is anathema to many Republican voters. Giuliani, who is leading the 2008 GOP pack in most national polls and is second in South Carolina surveys, told The State he realizes his views on abortion will be an issue here. "On social issues, there are some differences, but the differences aren't as great as some of the people who oppose me exaggerated," he said before heading to the State House, where he picked up the endorsement of State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel and two influential Republican activists. The State: Giuliani downplays abortion issue in S.C.

    RUDY TO LEAVE GIULIANI PARTNERS LLP: White House hopeful Rudy Giuliani yesterday confirmed he'll leave his consulting business "pretty soon" to devote his time solely to his presidential bid. "I'm largely out of it, and I'm pretty much going to be out of it at some point pretty soon," Giuliani told reporters in Columbia during a swing through right-leaning South Carolina. The Post first reported yesterday that the former mayor is working on the details of leaving Giuliani Partners, the consulting firm he formed after he left office and which thrived on global clientele largely because of his name. Giuliani said he couldn't give a precise time frame for leaving "because that has to be done consistent with my responsibilities to my partners and business." New York Post: RUDY CONFIRMS HE'LL SNIP BIZ TIE
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