Wednesday, May 09, 2007
CNN Political Ticker AM
Compiled by Stephen Bach, CNN Washington Bureau
Making news today... The trip to Baghdad -- Cheney's second -- comes as the Bush administration has been working to foster national unity among the fractious Iraqi leaders. (CNN.com) HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II: Mr. President, I wondered whether I should start this toast saying, "When I was here in 1776"... (WhiteHouse.gov) SHARPTON: "As for the one Mormon running for office... those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don't worry about that - that's a temporary situation." (New York Sun) He later said, "There are going to be times when I get tired... There are going to be times when I get weary. There are going to be times when I make mistakes." (AP) President's Schedule: Also on the Political Radar: Tonight, Giuliani will meet patrons at the Fish Market Restaurant in Birmingham and attend "a $1,200 per person fundraiser at the Mountain Brook home of Rance and Angie Sanders." (Birmingham News) ================================================================= Political Hot Topics (Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country) "SURGE" INTO NEXT SPRING: The Pentagon announced yesterday that 35,000 soldiers in 10 Army combat brigades will begin deploying to Iraq in August as replacements, making it possible to sustain the increase of U.S. troops there until at least the end of this year. U.S. commanders in Iraq are increasingly convinced that heightened troop levels, announced by President Bush in January, will need to last into the spring of 2008. The military has said it would assess in September how well its counterinsurgency strategy, intended to pacify Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, is working. "The surge needs to go through the beginning of next year for sure," said Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the day-to-day commander for U.S. military operations in Iraq. Washington Post: Commanders in Iraq See 'Surge' Into '08 CHENEY IN BAGHDAD: Vice President Dick Cheney arrived unannounced in Baghdad early Wednesday, and a senior Bush administration official said he's carrying a terse message to Iraq's government: "It's game time." The trip to Baghdad -- Cheney's second -- comes as the Bush administration has been working to foster national unity among the fractious Iraqi leaders. The parliament's planned two-month recess -- a move that the Bush administration dislikes greatly -- is expected to be one of the topics Cheney will raise. The Bush administration believes it is crucial that the parliament needs to keep working on important legislation, such as the measure involving oil revenues. Shortly after landing, Cheney met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and, following the meeting, told reporters the two discussed the country's political and economic issues as well as how to build an Iraq that is "self-governing and free of threats of the insurgency and al Qaeda." CNN.com: Cheney in unannounced visit to Baghdad IRAQI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER LOBBIES U.S. LAWMAKERS ON THE HILL: Mowaffak al-Rubaie, the national security adviser to Iraq's prime minister, undertook on Tuesday what may have been his most challenging mission yet: trying to persuade American lawmakers who have all but run out of patience that still more patience is required. In a whirlwind series of closed-door meetings that began with Representative John P. Murtha and ended with Senator Carl Levin - two Democrats who have been leading the charge for American troop withdrawals - Mr. Rubaie sought to make the case that an American pullout would be catastrophic. "I know that they are running out of patience, and I understand this very well," Mr. Rubaie said in a Monday interview in which he outlined his case. "And we have to play the political game. But I feel we are on the last mile of a walk toward success, and if they let go and don't take our hand, I feel that we are going to lose everything." New York Times: Official Takes Case to U.S., but Skeptics Don't Budge "WE CAN TAKE THE PRESIDENT TO COURT," SAYS PELOSI: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is threatening to take President Bush to court if he issues a signing statement as a way of sidestepping a carefully crafted compromise Iraq war spending bill. Pelosi recently told a group of liberal bloggers, "We can take the president to court" if he issues a signing statement, according to Kid Oakland, a blogger who covered Pelosi's remarks for the liberal website dailykos.com. "The president has made excessive use of signing statements and Congress is considering ways to respond to this executive-branch overreaching," a spokesman for Pelosi, Nadeam Elshami, said. "Whether through the oversight or appropriations process or by enacting new legislation, the Democratic Congress will challenge the president's non-enforcement of the laws." The Hill: Pelosi threat to sue Bush over Iraq bill SIX IN TEN SUPPORT TIMETABLE FOR WITHDRAWAL: Most Americans don't believe that the continued presence of U.S. troops in Iraq is the key to preventing a full-scale civil war there or protecting the United States from new terrorist attacks, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds. The results of the poll, taken Friday through Sunday, underscore the limited traction the Bush administration's arguments have gotten as White House officials and congressional Democrats negotiate an interim bill to finance the war. Amid broad pessimism about what's ahead for Iraq and the region, one-third of those surveyed would be bothered "a great deal" if the United States is seen as losing the war. One in four would be bothered "not at all."... Six in 10 support setting a timetable for withdrawal and sticking to it regardless of what's happening in Iraq; 36% say the United States should keep troops in Iraq until the situation there improves. USA Today: Many see civil war in Iraq whether or not U.S. stays ECHOES OF BUSH-BLANCO "SKIRMISHES": For months, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and other governors have warned that their state National Guards are ill-prepared for the next local disaster, be it a tornado a flash flood or a terrorist's threat, because of large deployments of their soldiers and equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then, last Friday night, a deadly tornado all but cleared the small town of Greensburg off the Kansas map. With 80 square blocks of the small farming town destroyed, Ms. Sebelius said her fears had come true: The emergency response was too slow, she said, and there was only one reason. "As you travel around Greensburg, you'll see that city and county trucks have been destroyed," Ms. Sebelius, a Democrat, said Monday. "The National Guard is one of our first responders. They don't have the equipment they need to come in, and it just makes it that much slower." New York Times: Kansas Tornado Renews Debate on Guard at War WOLFOWITZ SUPPORT "CRUMBLING IN EUROPE AND ON CAPITOL HILL": Support for World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is crumbling in Europe and on Capitol Hill, increasing pressure on the Bush administration to negotiate a face-saving exit for the former deputy defense secretary. Germany's director at the bank is under orders from his government to rally board opinion against Wolfowitz, according to a European official. Representative Barney Frank, chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, said funding for the bank is harder with Wolfowitz at the helm. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who controls the U.S. vote on the bank's board, must decide whether maintaining support for Wolfowitz is worth risking a confrontation that could damage the world's largest poverty-fighting institution. Bloomberg: Wolfowitz Support Crumbles, Putting Onus on U.S. for Solution DeLAY: DOJ SHOULD "BRING CHARGES QUICKLY" OR LEAVE HIS FAMILY ALONE: Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) is calling on the Justice Department either to drop its investigation of his wife and former political associates or else to bring charges quickly. DeLay said he has given the FBI documents exonerating his wife, but an associate of the former lawmaker said that agents have followed up with a fresh round of subpoenas. The inquiry appears to be focused on determining whether DeLay's wife, Christine, earned her pay from two organizations controlled by Ed Buckham, a lobbyist once closely affiliated with the former Republican leader, according to sources interviewed by federal investigators. Several former employees of the groups have received subpoenas for documents, some in the past few weeks. The Hill: DeLay: FBI 'running amok' "THE MOST IMPORTANT PLAYER IN THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE": For two years, the White House thought the chances of getting an immigration bill passed in Congress lay with Arizona's Republican senator. Unfortunately for President Bush, he was counting on the wrong one. While the White House was working with Sen. John McCain, Arizona's other senator, Jon Kyl, emerged this year as the most important player in the immigration debate, showing that even as the Congress has grown more liberal with Democrats in control, the immigration debate has shifted to the right. It's also a recognition that as Mr. Kyl goes, so go a number of Republicans. "If it's good enough for Kyl, it's going to be good enough for a lot of conservatives," said Rep. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican and one of the top House lawmakers pressing for a bill this year. Washington Times: White House counts on Kyl DHS PUSHES NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR DRIVERS' LICENSES: The Homeland Security Department said Tuesday that it would plow ahead with national standards for driver's licenses, despite a highly unusual level of activity by state legislatures opposed to the idea, and substantial second thoughts in Congress. The department said it had received about 12,000 public responses to its draft rules, in a 60-day comment period that ended Tuesday. Russ Knocke, a spokesman, said the comments were mixed. Comments at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday were more negative. The chairman, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, complained that security rules were supposed to be "smart as well as tough" and predicted that state motor vehicle departments would not be able to cope with the requirements, which include verifying all documents presented by applicants. Even renewals will require birth certificates or other proof of legal residence. New York Times: Agency Affirms Mandates for Driver's Licenses THE NRCC'S "CONSUMMATE INSIDER": [Rep. Tom] Cole has run the Republican National Committee, the Oklahoma GOP and a lucrative consulting business. He has also been a state senator, congressional staff member and Oklahoma's secretary of state. He loves to read cross tabs, and he's a consummate insider. "His Rolodex," says former aide John Woods, "is like all of MySpace plus all of Facebook." But even the best political consultants know there's only so much they can do with an unpopular client, and congressional Republicans had a 39 percent approval rating in the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll -- nearly as low as that of President Bush and the Iraq war. Washington Post: A New Pitchman -- and a New Pitch FEC CALLED "DYSFUNCTIONAL": The six-person Federal Election Commission, which enforces campaign-finance laws, is entering the presidential election season with three temporary commissioners who have not been confirmed by the Senate, two commissioners whose terms have expired but who have not been replaced, and one vacancy. As a result, most of the commissioners who are now passing judgment on campaign-finance fights will also be looking ahead to their own confirmation battles -- a process that threatens to intensify the politics surrounding an agency that was set up to resolve disputes over election rules in a bipartisan manner. "This is symbolic evidence of how dysfunctional this agency is, when there is not one commissioner serving today under the normal process for appointing and confirming federal officials," said Fred Wertheimer , president of Democracy 21, a group that has frequently criticized the commission as failing to take sufficient steps to reduce the influence of money in politics. Boston Globe: Politics could cloud election panel's work MD GOV. TO ENDORSE CLINTON TODAY: Gov. Martin O'Malley will endorse Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton at a campaign rally in Annapolis today and has begun encouraging his supporters to back her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, sources familiar with his plans said. The governor's endorsement is hardly a surprise -- when speaking in the abstract about the next president, O'Malley has been known to use the pronoun "she" -- but it would solidify Clinton's position in the race for Maryland's delegates to the Democratic National Convention in 2008. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski has signed on as a national co-chairwoman of the Clinton campaign, and O'Malley's backing would give the New York senator the support of the two most powerful statewide Democratic organizations in Maryland. Baltimore Sun: O'Malley to back Hillary Clinton NY'S SPITZER WILL ENDORSE CLINTON ON MONDAY: Barack Obama may invade Hillary Clinton's turf with the regularity of a freeloading in-law, but Monday she's proclaiming New York is her house - with endorsements from every statewide official. In a display of state solidarity, Gov. Spitzer, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Controller Tom DiNapoli will join a slew of other state and congressional Democrats on the steps of the state Capitol to back Clinton's White House bid. "We are gratified by the overwhelming support and excitement in New York," said campaign spokesman Blake Zeff. New York Daily News: Hil of an army! OBAMA'S GREENSBURG GAFFE: Barack Obama, caught up in the fervor of a campaign speech Tuesday, drastically overstated the Kansas tornadoes death toll, saying 10,000 had died. The death toll was 12. "In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died — an entire town destroyed," the Democratic presidential candidate said in a speech to 500 people packed into a sweltering Richmond art studio for a fundraiser... As the Illinois senator concluded his remarks a few minutes later, he appeared to realize his gaffe. "There are going to be times when I get tired," he said. "There are going to be times when I get weary. There are going to be times when I make mistakes." AP via Yahoo! News: Obama overstates Kansas tornado deaths NEWSWEEK "PUSH-POLLING FOR AL-QAEDA," SAYS COULTER: A recent Newsweek poll showing Democrat Barack Obama leading top Republican presidential hopefuls could have been made up and might help al-Qaeda, conservative commentator Ann Coulter said in her latest verbal broadside. Coulter, a best-selling author known for outrageous and often controversial statements, was asked Sunday on Fox News' "At Large" what she thought about the survey results. "I think this is Newsweek doing more push polling for al-Qaeda," she said, referring to campaign-season telephone calls to voters masquerading as neutral surveys but designed to build opposition to targeted candidates. Asked by host Geraldo Rivera whether she thought Newsweek would make up the results, Coulter said, "Yes, I do," adding, "In polls where people are actually allowed to vote, Republicans do a lot better." AP via Yahoo! News: Coulter: Obama poll lead helps al-Qaida EDWARDS SAYS HEDGE FUND JOB WAS LEARNING OPPORTUNITY: Democrat John Edwards said Tuesday that he worked for a hedge fund between presidential campaigns to learn about financial markets and their relationship to poverty — and to make money too. In an interview with The Associated Press, the former North Carolina senator said his yearlong, part-time position with Fortress Investment Group helped his understanding of the connection but he has more to learn. Edwards has made eradicating poverty a focus of his second White House bid. Edwards, a multimillionaire after years as a trial lawyer, would not disclose how much he got paid for a year of consulting beginning in October 2005. He said the amount will be revealed when he releases his financial disclosure forms due May 15. Asked if he had to join a hedge fund to learn about financial markets, Edwards replied, "How else would I have done it?" AP via Yahoo! News: Edwards discusses time at hedge fund GIULIANI VULNERABLE ON ABORTION? Faced with the durability of Rudolph W. Giuliani's lead in the Republican presidential race, his rivals are stoking new debate on whether the party should accept a White House nominee who favors abortion rights. If he prevails, the former New York mayor would be the party's first White House nominee in a generation to support abortion rights during his campaign. But Giuliani has used increasingly nuanced, even tortured, language in recent days to minimize resistance to his candidacy among antiabortion Republicans... "He's well outside the mainstream of rank-and-file Republicans on this issue, not only as someone who is pro-abortion, but someone who has supported one of the most radical pro-abortion groups in the country," John Weaver, the McCain strategist, said in a telephone interview. Los Angeles Times: Giuliani's foes see abortion as chink in armor CRITICS KNOCK SHARPTON'S ROMNEY REMARKS: Less than a month after helping to get Don Imus removed from the radio airwaves following an offensive remark about the Rutgers women's basketball team, the Reverend Al Sharpton is drawing criticism for a quip about the Mormon presidential candidate. Hundreds of people at the New York Public Library laughed Monday night when Rev. Sharpton joked that a Republican presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney, would lose the election. "As for the one Mormon running for office," Rev. Sharpton said, "those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don't worry about that - that's a temporary situation."... In an interview last night, Rev. Sharpton called his critics "politically exploitative," saying they "fabricated a nonexistent issue." New York Sun: Sharpton Criticized For Romney Quip |
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• Poll: Americans disapprove of Bush's Iraq veto• Clinton to get backing from two governors • Republican considers calling for troop withdrawal • Spitzer: I am for Clinton • McCain: Pro-choice Republican will have tough time... • Edwards defends working for hedge fund • Queen visits NASA, gets call from space station • Giuliani camp defends abortion stance anew • White House v. Kansas governor on storm response • Romney complains of flak over abortion shift SUBSCRIBE
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