Monday, April 09, 2007
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Compiled by Stephen Bach CNN Washington Bureau Making news today... "[W]hile dismal," the 38% figure "represents an improvement - his strongest standing this year." (USA Today) "Of course I'm going to misspeak and I've done it on numerous occasions and I probably will in the future... that's just life, and I'm happy frankly with the way I operate, otherwise it would be a lot less fun." "I think it was a major mistake to try to portray himself, 'I've been a lifelong hunter,' when he's been twice. It would be like me saying 'I've been a lifelong golfer' because I played putt-putt when I was 9 years old and I rode in a golf cart a couple of times." "At a recent 'prep' for a prospective Sunday talk-show interview, Gonzales's performance was so poor that top aides scrapped any live appearances." (Newsweek) President's Schedule: Also on the Political Radar: ================================================================= Political Hot Topics (Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country) STUCK UNDER 40%: President Bush is reaching levels of consistency that no White House would want. Bush's job-approval rating in a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Monday through Thursday is 38%. His standing has stayed below 40% for seven consecutive months. Since the advent of modern polling, only two presidents have suffered longer strings of such low ratings. One was Harry Truman, whose popularity sank during the final 26 months of his tenure as the Korean War stalemated. The other was Richard Nixon during the 13 months leading up to his resignation amid the Watergate scandal. "It's pretty hard for a president to get ratings this low in general, and then to be in the position where you basically don't budge - that's been reserved for some of the least popular presidents during the worst times of the last 60 years," says Jeffrey Jones of the Gallup Poll, who analyzed the historic data. USA Today: Bush's approval rating sits below 40% "FRESH SPEECH," RENEWED PUSH ON IMMIGRATION: President Bush will relaunch his push for an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws today in Arizona, with a fresh speech on the border and a new congressional leadership that is friendlier to his views, but with the same dynamics that scuttled his last attempt: a cooperative Senate but bipartisan opposition in the House. In contrast to her approach to other controversial issues, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has told the White House that she cannot pass a bill with Democratic votes alone, nor will she seek to enforce party discipline on the issue. Bush will have to produce at least 70 Republican votes before she considers a vote on comprehensive immigration legislation, a task that may be very difficult for a president saddled with low approval ratings. Washington Post: President Renewing Efforts on Immigration DEMS WON'T "CUT FUNDING, PERIOD," SAYS LEVIN: Two leading Senate Democrats said their party will not cut off funding for U.S. troops in Iraq, distancing themselves from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, who now says he supports doing so. "We're not going to vote to cut funding, period," said Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat and Armed Services Committee chairman. Mr. Levin said he and other Democrats would continue to pressure President Bush on enforcing benchmarks for progress in Iraq, but ultimately most of his colleagues will support funding because they do not have the votes to override Mr. Bush's veto... Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, echoed Mr. Levin's comments on troop funding, telling "Fox News Sunday" that "We are not going to leave the troops high and dry, plain and simple. Senator Reid has said that. I've said that. Every leader of the Democratic Party has said that." Washington Times: Senate Democrats say they won't halt funding for troops DEMS SEEK TO "UPSTAGE" GOP WITH ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX CHANGE: House Democratic leaders, in an effort to upstage Republicans on the issue of tax cuts, are preparing legislation that would permanently shield all but the very richest taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax, which is likely to affect tens of millions of families as early as next year if it is left unchanged. The effort, which lawmakers emphasize is still in its early stages, would exempt millions of people from the tax but would have to come up with a way to offset an enormous loss of revenue in the next decade. Measured in dollars, it would be far bigger than Democratic initiatives to provide money for children's health care, education or any other spending program. New York Times: Democrats Seek to Lead the Way in Tax Overhaul GINGRICH CALLS FOR "NEW TEAM" AT DOJ: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Sunday became the latest Republican to criticize Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales for the dismissals of eight United States attorneys, and he said Mr. Gonzales should consider stepping down. "This is the most mishandled, artificial, self-created mess that I can remember in the years, in the years I've been active in public life," Mr. Gingrich said on "Fox News Sunday." "You know, the buck has to stop somewhere, and I'm assuming it's the attorney general and his immediate team," he said. Asked whether Mr. Gonzales should resign, Mr. Gingrich replied, "I cannot imagine how he is going to be effective for the rest of this administration." New York Times: Gingrich Faults Gonzales for Attorneys 'Mess' "HE'S NOT READY": Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has virtually wiped his public schedule clean to bone up for his long-awaited April 17 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee - a session widely seen as a crucial test as to whether he will survive the U.S. attorney mess. But even his own closest advisers are nervous about whether he is up to the task. At a recent "prep" for a prospective Sunday talk-show interview, Gonzales's performance was so poor that top aides scrapped any live appearances. During the March 23 session in the A.G.'s conference room, Gonzales was grilled by a team of top aides and advisers—including former Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie and former White House lawyer Tim Flanigan- about what he knew about the plan to fire seven U.S. attorneys last fall. But Gonzales kept contradicting himself and "getting his timeline confused," said one participant who asked not to be identified talking about a private meeting. Newsweek: Gonzales Crams for a Senate Grilling GOP MAY HAVE A LAPTOP PROBLEM: When Karl Rove and his top deputies arrived at the White House in 2001, the Republican National Committee provided them with laptop computers and other communication devices to be used alongside their government-issued equipment. The back-channel e-mail and paging system, paid for and maintained by the RNC, was designed to avoid charges that had vexed the Clinton White House - that federal resources were being used inappropriately for political campaign purposes. Now, that dual computer system is creating new embarrassment and legal headaches for the White House, the Republican Party and Rove's once-vaunted White House operation. Democrats say evidence suggests the RNC e-mail system was used for political and government policy matters in violation of federal record preservation and disclosure rules. Los Angeles Times: GOP-issued laptops now a White House headache McCAIN ONLY TOP-TIER '08-ER WHO'S SERVED IN UNIFORM: The 2008 presidential campaign is long on war rhetoric and short on warriors. Despite the high-profile roles of the battle against terrorism and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the presidential campaign, few of the candidates can claim military experience on their resumes. Of the top tier of 2008 candidates, only Republican John McCain has been to war and served in uniform. Yet, while the demand for a president with a military background might be expected to run high in the post-Sept. 11 era, few see that as a determining factor in the 2008 race. AP via Yahoo! News: Most '08 candidates lack military record RICHARDSON IN NORTH KOREA: Bill Richardson, the New Mexico governor who has undertaken diplomatic missions to countries at odds with the United States, began a rare visit to isolated North Korea Sunday to recover remains of American servicemen killed in the Korean War. The four-day trip, which has been endorsed by the Bush administration, comes days before a crucial deadline in a recent nuclear disarmament accord. Earlier, Richardson, a Democratic candidate for president, had said he had no intention of negotiating nuclear matters. On Monday, Richardson met with North Korea's top nuclear negotiator, who said his government would immediately invite U.N. nuclear inspectors into the country if $25 million in disputed North Korean funds are released to Pyongyang. AP via Yahoo! News: Richardson on rare visit to North Korea EDWARDS COURTS UNIONS: For John Edwards, the road to the presidency runs through Alan Young, a teachers' union official in Des Moines, Iowa. The former North Carolina senator's strategy for winning the Democratic nomination is to knock off one of the two front- runners, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, in the early primaries and make the next round a head-to-head contest. To do that, he is focusing his campaign efforts on labor. "One thing union members know how to do is organize," Edwards, 53, who sought the presidential nomination in 2004 and then became the Democratic vice presidential choice, said in an interview last week. Bloomberg: Edwards Bets on Union Support to Grab Momentum in Early Races OBAMA GETS A BOOST FROM CLINTON "DEFECTORS": Hundreds of New Yorkers are reaching into their wallets to bankroll Democrat Barack Obama's 2008 presidential bid - including many longtime boosters of arch rival Hillary Rodham Clinton. In fact, Obama's biggest campaign bundlers in the Big Apple - credited with rounding up Democratic ducats in mammoth chunks - are former big-time Clinton backers who have shifted their allegiance from the hometown senator to the soaring newcomer. The support of ex-Clintonites has helped the Illinois upstart nearly tie her in the so-called first primary - the three-month fund-raising quarter that ended March 31. New York Post: N.Y.'S BARACK $TARS "TENNESSEE MAFIA" WOULD JUMP BEHIND THOMPSON BID: If Fred Thompson decides to run for president, he will have some powerful supporters: The self-described "Tennessee Mafia," a group of Republican politicians from his home state well-versed in the craft of national campaigns. What the actor and former senator may lack is the financial juice that fired the group for more than a quarter century, driving local and national campaigns with astonishing amounts of cash. "Mafia" members include Howard Baker, a former Republican senator, ambassador and White House chief of staff, who himself ran for president in 1980; Sen. Lamar Alexander, a former two-term Tennessee governor who ran for president in 1996 and 2000; and Bill Frist, the former Senate Republican majority leader, who considered, then rejected his own run for the White House for 2008. Wall Street Journal: For Thompson, Delay Is Costly HUNTER'S SON WILL RUN IN CA-52: Duncan Duane Hunter's goal of winning the San Diego-area congressional seat that his father will vacate after 14 terms has one new, major obstacle: He probably won't be able to campaign personally. Mr. Hunter, a 30-year-old Marine who has served two tours in Iraq, last week was recalled to active duty and expects to be in Iraq or Afghanistan when the election to replace his father, Republican presidential aspirant Rep. Duncan Hunter, occurs. But regardless of where his April 15 deployment orders send the artilleryman, he's still committed to running and representing his father's longtime constituents. Washington Times: Hunter's son to run for dad's seat TANCREDO BACKS "DOG": Call it the "Dog" plank in the presidential platform of Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. The conservative congressman has been at the forefront of the effort to prevent the extradition of bounty hunter and reality TV star Duane "Dog" Chapman and his brother and son to Mexico on a deprivation of liberty charge. Now, Tancredo has made it a part of his presidential campaign. Tancredo recently sent a letter to the Mexican government protesting the action, and his campaign site now sports a form that allows users to add their name to the letter and "let my congressman know how I feel." DC Examiner: 'Bounty Hunter' becomes part of Tancredo's White House bid |
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