Thursday, April 26, 2007
CNN Political Ticker AM
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Making news today... Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson will participate in the 7 pm ET debate, hosted by South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, SC. CNN's Political Ticker will provide constant real-time updates, campaign spin and reaction, and expert analysis beginning at 7pm ET. "The issues likely to come up" tonight "are familiar ones - the war in Iraq, healthcare, the economy, education. The big difference in South Carolina is race, which overlays just about every policy discussion in the state, as it has since Emancipation and reconstruction." (Los Angeles Times) "For the few apparent front-runners, this and the debates that follow are fraught with the potential 'minefields' of missteps and confrontations testing one against the other." (Chicago Tribune) "Candidates will be trying to avoid an embarrassing episode that could damage or even sink their chances. In the first presidential campaign of the online video era, a major debate gaffe can be magnified with devastating swiftness." (Baltimore Sun) AP asks, will Hillary Clinton "use her occasional Dixie drawl?" Meanwhile, "the GOP will launch a major media offensive to counter the Democratic message coming from Orangeburg." (The State) The final vote on the $124 billion funding bill was 218-208, with two members voting present. The tally was largely along party lines, with just two Republicans voting for it and 13 Democrats voting against. (CNN.com) Dems "hope to send the measure to the White House on Monday, almost exactly four years after President Bush declared an end to major combat in a speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. That would be a particularly pungent political anniversary for Bush to deliver only the second veto of his presidency." (Washington Post) Deputy White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said in a statement: "Tonight, the House of Representatives voted for failure in Iraq – and the President will veto its bill." (WhiteHouse.gov) KING: Now, did you say you think Gonzales should leave? JOHN MCCAIN: I think out of loyalty to the president that -- that that would probably be the best thing that he could do. President's Schedule: Tonight, the president and Mrs. Bush participate in a Social Dinner with the Prime Minister of Japan and Mrs. Abe at the White House at 7 pm ET. Also on the Political Radar: "Demonstrations, both in support and in opposition to the war in Iraq, have marked Cheney's visit... BYU was expected to be an overwhelmingly friendly host for Cheney, but the opposition and protests posed a challenge for the university." (Salt Lake Tribune) ================================================================= Political Hot Topics (Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country) HOUSE PASSES SPENDING BILL WITH WITHDRAWAL DEADLINE 218-208: The House last night brushed aside weeks of angry White House rhetoric and veto threats to narrowly approve a $124 billion war spending bill that requires troop withdrawal from Iraq to begin by Oct. 1, with a goal of ending U.S. combat operations there by next March. The Senate is expected to follow the House's 218 to 208 vote with final passage today, completing work on the rarest of bills: legislation to try to end a major war as fighting still rages. Democrats hope to send the measure to the White House on Monday, almost exactly four years after President Bush declared an end to major combat in a speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. That would be a particularly pungent political anniversary for Bush to deliver only the second veto of his presidency. Washington Post: House Passes Iraq Pullout Timetable SEN. LEVIN: THE MAN WITH "A MORE PRAGMATIC TONE": As Democratic leaders have ratcheted up their rhetoric on the Iraq War in preparation for a veto showdown with the president, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (Mich.) - one of the most influential, and consequently most quoted, Democrats - continues to strike a more pragmatic tone that has elicited cringes from the left and delight from the right. Levin is arguably as anti-Iraq War as they come, having last year sponsored one of the first measures intended to draw down U.S. involvement in the region, but his baldfaced honesty about the fact that Democrats likely will lose the first few rounds in their fight with the White House on the issue has often appeared to muddy Democratic attempts to frame the debate on the war. Roll Call: In War Debate, Levin Is Man in the Middle DEMS APPROVE "FLURRY OF SUBPOENAS," INCLUDING ONE FOR CONDI: In a vivid display of their new power, Democrats across Capitol Hill on Wednesday approved a flurry of subpoenas to fuel a series of investigations of the Bush administration. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued three subpoenas in quick order. One was to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to answer questions about the administration's prewar claims about Iraq's weapons programs and two were to the Republican National Committee and its chairman to be questioned about whether the party's e-mail system was used by Bush officials to conceal some of their actions. New York Times: Flexing Muscles, Democrats Issue 3 Subpoenas RICE, ON THE ROAD, SIGNALS SHE WON'T APPEAR: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she has already answered the questions she has been subpoenaed to answer before a congressional committee and suggested she is not inclined to comply with the order. Rice said she would respond by mail to questions from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the Bush administration's prewar claims about Saddam Hussein seeking weapons of mass destruction, but signaled she would not appear in person. "I am more than happy to answer them again in a letter," she told reporters in Oslo, where she is attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers. AP via Yahoo! News: Rice signals rejection of House subpoena RENZI DIDN'T REPORT $200K PAYMENT: Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) failed to disclose a $200,000 payment he received from a business partner in 2005 in apparent violation of House ethics rules. Prosecutors could use the omission as evidence that Renzi intended to conceal a transaction he knew to be controversial or even improper. The $200,000 was a payment from James Sandlin to settle a debt related to a previous business transaction involving land in northeast Arizona, one of the lawmaker's attorneys, Grant Woods, told a newspaper last week. This explanation might have been expected to dispel suspicion that Sandlin gave Renzi an illegal gift in exchange for action Renzi took to help Sandlin sell a $4 million parcel of land. But Renzi's claim that Sandlin's $200,000 payment was a legitimate business transaction is weakened by the fact that he failed to disclose it in his personal financial disclosure report for 2005 filed with the House clerk. The Hill: Renzi didn't reveal $200K WH SENT POLITICAL OFFICIALS TO BRIEF AGENCY APPOINTEES: White House officials conducted 20 private briefings on Republican electoral prospects in the last midterm election for senior officials in at least 15 government agencies covered by federal restrictions on partisan political activity, a White House spokesman and other administration officials said yesterday. The previously undisclosed briefings were part of what now appears to be a regular effort in which the White House sent senior political officials to brief top appointees in government agencies on which seats Republican candidates might win or lose, and how the election outcomes could affect the success of administration policies, the officials said. Washington Post: Political Briefings At Agencies Disclosed SCOTUS CONSIDERS CAMPAIGN FINANCE PROVISION: The Supreme Court put defenders of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law on the defensive on Wednesday in a spirited argument that suggested the court could soon open a significant loophole in the measure. At issue is a major provision of the five-year-old law that bars corporations and labor unions from paying for advertisements that mention the name of a candidate for federal office and that are broadcast 60 days before an election or 30 days before a primary. By a 5-to-4 vote in December 2003, the court held that the provision, on its face, passed First Amendment muster. New York Times: Justices Raise Doubts on Campaign Finance OPPOSITION TO CHENEY BYU VISIT "DRAWING NATIONAL MEDIA ATTENTION": The vice president's visit is expected to be popular with the majority of graduates, their family members, faculty and staff. More than 1,000 people signed an online petition supporting Cheney's visit. Opposition to the visit is drawing national media attention because Utah Valley is a conservative stronghold where Republicans and unaffiliated registered voters who generally vote Republican outnumbered Democrats 21-to-1 at the November 2006 elections. At least three demonstrations taking issue with Cheney are planned today in Provo and Salt Lake City, and a student-organized alternative commencement featuring Ralph Nader will be held at Utah Valley State College at 7:30 p.m. Nearly 4,000 people signed an online petition asking BYU and the church to withdraw the invitation to Cheney. Deseret News: 20,000 to hear Cheney at BYU: He'll get honorary doctorate SELF-DEPRECATION AND ANONYMOUS PRAISE AHEAD OF DEBATE: For presidential hopefuls, it's called the Expectations Game. Here's how it's played: Before a debate, rival campaigns build up the skills of their opponents while downgrading their own candidate's verbal abilities. That way, any bright moments make a performance seem like a home run. For the Democratic hopefuls, the first major round of the Expectations Game came ahead of Thursday night's debate at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, S.C. The 90-minute event offers eight candidates their initial chance to distinguish themselves on the long road to the nomination next year. "I've just got to make sure I don't trip walking on the stage," joked Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, who complained that the candidates get no opening or closing statements and that responses to questions are limited to 60 seconds. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama cracked, "It takes me 60 seconds to clear my throat." AP via Yahoo! News: Dems try to lower debate expectations GOP WON'T CEDE THE MEDIA SPOTLIGHT: While Democrats celebrate and enjoy their time in the national spotlight today, the Republicans will try to turn that shaft into a cold, hard glare. National and state Republicans will spend the day telling South Carolinians and the country at large why the party believes "Democrats are wrong." According to a copy of a Republican National Committee plan to be released today, the GOP will launch a major media offensive to counter the Democratic message coming from Orangeburg. The plan, which was obtained by The State, includes talking points and research on why the top Democratic candidates are "wrong on the economy for South Carolina," as well as wrong on the war in Iraq and wrong on South Carolina values. The State: GOP stirs a media storm for Democrats' parade McCAIN KICKS OFF 5-STATE ANNOUNCEMENT TOUR: John McCain is the first to tell you: He's old, his fund-raising has lagged, and he strongly supports a deeply unpopular war. But the Arizona senator, in officially launching his bid for the White House in New Hampshire yesterday, sought to turn his potential liabilities into strengths in hopes of reigniting his campaign after losing ground and making a series of missteps. With the Portsmouth Naval Yard as a backdrop, McCain kicked off a five-state announcement tour by telling supporters and bystanders that his time in the military and in Congress had given him wisdom about the world that no other candidate can claim. McCain, 70, said that if elected president, he would "use every lesson I've learned through hard experience and the history I've witnessed." Boston Globe: McCain aims to turn his age to advantage AG DEPARTURE WOULD "BE THE BEST THING THAT HE COULD DO," SAYS McCAIN: Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain said Wednesday that he is "disappointed" in the performance of embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and he believes it would be in President Bush's best interests for Gonzales to step aside. "I think that out of loyalty to the president that that would probably be the best thing that he could do," McCain said in an interview with CNN's "Larry King Live." McCain, who has been a strong backer of the war in Iraq, also said he was "surprised" and "disappointed" by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's recent statements that he believes the war is lost. The Ticker: McCain: Gonzales should depart 'out of loyalty' to Bush GIULIANI TAKING A PAGE FROM THE '04 PLAYBOOK? In his two months on the campaign trail, the central animating theme of Rudolph W. Giuliani's presidential campaign has been that his performance as New York mayor on Sept. 11, 2001, makes him the best candidate to keep the United States safe from terrorists. But when Mr. Giuliani broadened that message here on Tuesday night, saying that Democrats "do not understand the full nature and scope of the terrorist war against us" and that if they were elected the United States would suffer "more losses," the response from his Democratic rivals was swift and pointed... The skirmishing, some of the most intense between the parties in the young 2008 campaign, suggests that a line of attack that the administration used in 2004 would again be a central Republican theme. New York Times: Giuliani Broadens His Message on Terrorism ROMNEY HITS THE AIRWAVES WITH $2M AD BUY: Mitt Romney began airing commercials Wednesday on national cable networks at a cost of some $2 million in an attempt to give his identity a lift in the crowded Republican presidential field. Romney also renewed an ad campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire, a Romney adviser said. Most of the national ads will run on Fox News, a strategic effort by the Romney camp to reach conservative voters. Lagging in name recognition but flush with cash, Romney by far is spending the most on advertising of any candidate at this early stage of the presidential campaign. The Romney adviser spoke on the condition of anonymity because the campaign does not publicize its ad strategy. In the national ad, called, "I Like Vetoes," Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, says that as president he would demand that discretionary domestic spending be capped at 1 percent less than the rate of inflation. AP via Yahoo! News: Romney pays $2M for campaign ad airtime BLOOMBERG SAYS GORE SHOULD JUMP IN: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that he hoped former Vice President Al Gore would run for president in 2008, saying "I think it would be good for the country." The mayor made the comments to reporters after a news conference kicking off the Tribeca Film Festival, as the two men took the stage and teased each other over speculation about their respective presidential ambitions. The former vice president was on hand to highlight the roughly 60 films in the festival that focus on environmental issues. New York Times: Bloomberg Tells Gore He Should Run in '08 |
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