Thursday, December 07, 2006
Hillary leads the presidential pack
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A new poll shows Democrats favor Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, as their presidential candidate for the 2008 election. The survey was conducted by the Marist Poll for WNBC-TV in New York.
Question: "If the 2008 Democratic presidential primary were held today, whom would you support if the candidates are:"
Sample Size: 327 Democrats Margin of error: +/-4.5% Polling Dates November 27 -- December 3, 2006 -- CNN Political Researcher Xuan Thai
Dem leaders hope to block Congressional pay raise
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Members of Congress are in line for a $3,300 pay raise effective Jan. 1 unless they block it, and Democrats said Thursday they intend to try.
Officials said Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California and Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the party's leaders, had notified Republicans they will try to add the anti-pay-raise provision to a bill that provides funds for most government agencies through Feb. 15. Congress must pass the funding bill before it adjourns for the year, and the target for that is Friday. Under federal law, lawmakers, like many federal employees, receive a cost of living increase on each Jan. 1. The increase for 2007 is pegged at 2 percent, and would put the salary for rank-and-file lawmakers at $168,500. Dems set sights on the West
DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- Prominent Western Democrats who have snatched Senate seats and governorships from Republicans in recent years are joining forces with the hope of spreading their party's success to the White House.
The New West Project, to be formally announced December 18, would outline strategies for reaching Western voters and the issues critical to them. Colorado Gov.-elect Bill Ritter said Wednesday that he had agreed to be a co-chair. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado and other Western senators have agreed to provide expertise and guidance on the region, said Jon Summers, Reid's spokesman. Other Western governors also were expected to participate. Full story Ahead on CNN
4 p.m. ET, The Situation Room
-Democratic strategist Paul Begala and Bay Buchanan, chairwoman of Team America PAC, will weigh in on the latest developments in Iraq. -Former Rep. Joe Kennedy, founder of Citizens Energy, will discuss his partnership with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. 5 p.m. ET, The Situation Room -New Mexico Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson will discuss his views on immigration and his potential presidential aspirations. -Qubad Talabani, representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government to the United States, will react to the ISG report. 6 p.m. ET, Lou Dobbs Tonight -Retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton will weigh in on the ISG report. Lieberman, Collins to establish bi-partisan "consultant group"
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The two senators heading the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in the 110th Congress will announce the creation of a bipartisan working group on Iraq.
Sens. Joe Lieberman, D-Connecticut and Susan Collins, R-Maine, will unveil their proposal Friday that will consist of leading senators who sit on committees that deal with Iraq issues. Lieberman is set to become chairman, while Collins will be the ranking Republican on the panel when Democrats take the majority next year. -- CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
DP World to test screening of U.S.-bound cargo
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Dubai Ports World, the Arab-owned company which set off a furor with its purchase of six U.S. port operations earlier this year, has been cleared to join a federal pilot program to test the methods used to screen U.S.-bound cargo for radiation.
The Security Freight Initiative involves the use of existing technology -- including streaming video and nuclear-detection devices -- at foreign ports, according to details announced Thursday by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. Three of the ports that will participate in the congressionally mandated initiative are operated by DP World, the United Arab Emirates-owned company deemed a security risk by numerous lawmakers in February when it bought P&O, the British company that manages some cargo and passenger terminals at ports on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Full story -- CNN Congressional Correspondent Andrea Koppel
Frist pushes for end of partisanship and self-imposed term limits
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Reflecting on the chamber's heavily partisan climate, Senate Majority Leader Bill First urged his colleagues to transcend party politics in his farewell speech on the Senate Floor Thursday.
"I urge that we also consider what our work in this Chamber is really all about," the Tennessee Republican said. "Is it about keeping the Majority? Is it about Red States versus Blue States? Is it about lobbing attacks across the aisle? Is it about war rooms whose purpose is not to contrast ideas but to destroy? Or is it more?" Frist, who pledged only to serve two Senate terms when he was elected in 1994, also urged his colleagues to follow his own self-imposed term limit. "Today, self-imposed term limits are the extreme exception -- not the practice in this city," Frist said. "As a consequence, we are moving toward a body with a two-year vision, governing for the next election -- rather than a body with a 20-year vision, governing for the future." -- CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
Pelosi: GOP is 'going to leave a mess'
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- House Democratic Leaders aren't happy their GOP colleagues have left them with a slew of unfinished business as the 109th congressional session is set to close.
"The war in Iraq and the Republicans in Congress are in disarray," House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi, D-California, told reporters Thursday. "They are going to leave a mess as they go out." Pelosi's comments came during an end-of-session press conference with incoming House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, and Rep. Dave Obey, D-Wisconsin. Hoyer also sharply criticized his GOP colleagues for ending the congressional session with little legislative action. "We are ending appropriately; doing nothing -- at least doing nothing right," Hoyer said. -- CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
Dean calls for new election in contested House race
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Calling Florida's District 13 election result "not valid," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said there should be a completely new election for the seat being vacated by GOP Rep. Katherine Harris, the St. Petersburg Times reports Thursday.
"This election is not valid," Dean said in a taped interview with Bay News 9, set to air on Sunday, the Times reports. "There are 18,000 people who may have voted, and we don't know what happened to their votes." "You can bet that if the Republicans were 500 votes short they'd be calling for a new election, and they'd be right," Dean added. Republican Vern Buchanan was certified the winner of the race by a margin of 369 votes. His Democratic opponent, Christine Jennings, officially contested the result claiming as many as 18,000 votes in Sarasota County may not have been reported. -- CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
FEC chairman stepping down
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Federal Election Commission Chairman Michael Toner announced Thursday he would leave the panel he has served on for the past four years. Toner, a former counsel to President Bush's 2000 presidential campaign and counsel to the Republican National Committee, said he would leave "this winter" but gave no specific date of his departure. "The Federal Election Commission has never been stronger and more effective than it is today," Toner said in a statement released by the FEC. "During the first half of 2006, the FEC collected over $5 million in civil penalties, which is more than the Commission has ever collected in an entire year during the agency's 30-year history. Moreover, seven of the 10 largest civil penalties that the FEC has ever collected were obtained during the last four years." -- CNN Political Editor Mark Preston Incoming Senate Armed Services chairman pledges vigorous Iraq oversight
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Incoming Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said Thursday he plans vigorous oversight of the Pentagon when Democrats take over control of Congress next month. The Michigan Democrat plans three Iraq war oversight hearings beginning in early January and warned the Pentagon to cooperate with the committee's requests for reports and documents. "If necessary we'll use subpoena power," Levin said. "Just the fact that we have it probably means we don't have to use it." Speaking to reporters after a hearing with the leaders of the Iraq Study Group, Levin said he agrees "it's worth trying to get a bipartisan statement of support" of the ISG's recommendations passed by the House and Senate -- unless the effort became an "instrument of division" in the already fractured Congress, he said. -- CNN Congressional Producer Ted Barrett
Brownback open to partitioning Iraq
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican presidential hopeful Sam Brownback said Thursday that Iraq must achieve a "political equilibrium" even if means partitioning the country along ethnic lines.
"I'm saying, and I hope the Iraqi leadership is hearing it: We will not face the American public in 2008 with a situation that looks anything similar to where we are today ... American deployment of troops on the front line conducting the military operations," the Kansas senator said in an interview with The Associated Press. Brownback called for the United States to push more aggressively for a political solution, and said the message already is being clearly sent -- "You, the Iraqis, will have to take this over." McCain making '08 moves
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain has signed up several key political operatives including a former top campaign staffer to President Bush, in the event the Arizona senator decides to make a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. Terry Nelson, political director in Bush's successful 2004 re-election bid, has signed on to be the campaign manager, while Mike Dennehy will serve as the Arizonan's political director. Dennehy ran McCain's 2000 primary campaign in New Hampshire when McCain came from behind to defeat then-Texas Gov. Bush. Nelson recently made headlines for approving a controversial television ad paid for by the Republican National Committee's independent expenditure arm that was critical of Rep. Harold Ford Jr., D-Tennessee, who was running for Senate. Critics complained the ad was racially charged. In addition, Brian Jones, who serves as the communications director for the RNC, will run communications for the McCain campaign. GOP pollster Lance Tarrance will serve as the director of research, and Bill McInturff will be McCain's primary pollster. These new positions will bolster McCain's current inner circle that includes longtime McCain chief of staff Mark Salter, top strategist John Weaver, veteran GOP operative Rick Davis, and Straight Talk America executive director Craig Goldman. -- CNN's Dana Bash and John King Senators grill ISG chairmen on 'the way forward' in Iraq
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The situation in Iraq is "perilously close" to hopeless, former Rep. Lee Hamilton, the co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, told a Senate panel Thursday, adding that having come that far, action must be taken quickly to change the course in Iraq.
Hamilton's co-chairman, former Secretary of State James Baker, agreed that the situation has not yet reached the point of no return, but added that the United States' political leaders have a responsibility to be realistic about the situation as they take steps to change it. "Nobody can assure success if we take the right steps, but we can certainly secure failure if we don't take those steps," he said. Several senators Thursday challenged some of the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, but overall the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee had words of praise for the bipartisan work done by the 10-member commission. Corzine sees gain in approval rating
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A new Quinnipiac poll out Thursday shows New Jersey Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine draws a 49 percent approval rating, the highest measure of confidence Quinnipiac has measured for Corzine in his first year as governor.
Congress set to reach deal on tax and trade package
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional negotiators Thursday were closing in on a deal on a massive tax and trade package that is the main obstacle to bringing the 109th session of Congress to an end.
Senate aides said they had reached tentative agreement on the legislation, which would extend tax breaks affecting millions of taxpayers, normalize trade with Vietnam and save doctors from an impending cut in Medicare payments. "Things are nearly finalized, awaiting member confirmation," said Eric Ueland, chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. McCain gets key support in Utah
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain picked up key support in Utah Thursday, as the Arizona Republican continues to mull a potential presidential run.
McCain announced Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff have pledged to fully support him if he decides to throw his hat in the 2008 presidential race. Huntsman will serve as the national co-chairman of McCain's presidential exploratory committee and Shurtleff will head up McCain's Utah chapter. Having formed the presidential exploratory committee last month, McCain has said he will decide on a formal run after the Holidays. -- CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
Pelosi to meet with new members of Congressional Black Caucus
WASHINTON (CNN) -- Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, is set to meet with the new leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus Thursday at 1:40 p.m. Newly elected Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Carolyn Kilpatrick, D-Michigan, along will other members of the new leadership will be on hand.
Dodd set to unveil banking agenda
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Chris Dodd, the incoming chair of the Senate Banking Committee, is set to unveil his agenda for the 110th Congress on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. ET. The Connecticut Democrat has acknowledged he also is considering a run for the White House in 2008.
Frist set to say farewell to Senate
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Bill First, who decided not to seek a third term, will deliver his farewell speech on the Senate Floor Thursday at 2:30 p.m., his office announced. Vice President Dick Cheney will preside over Frist's remarks.
Frist, who had been weighing a bid for president, said last week he would not seek the GOP nomination for the White House in 2008. -- CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
Flurry of weekend events nationwide to urge impeachment
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Activists in 25 states and the District of Columbia plan to hold protests, rallies, open meetings and other events this weekend urging Congress to investigate and impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
The campaign, run by a coalition of anti-Bush organizations, kicks off with a New York forum Saturday featuring anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan and former New York Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman. Most of the events will be held the following day, December 10, coinciding with Human Rights Day. Organizers plan to make their case in myriad ways including poetry readings, panel discussions, film viewings, parades, street theater, activist workshops and even a mock funeral to the U.S. Constitution in New Haven, Connecticut. -- CNN.com Producer Greg Botelho
Presidential hopes prompted Giuliani to quit Iraq Study Group
NEW YORK (AP) -- Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday he dropped out of the bipartisan Iraq Study group earlier this year because of a possible presidential run.
"It seemed to me that it should be apolitical," Giuliani said. "The people who were on it are all people who have had very, very distinguished careers, but none of them are actively involved in politics or considering running for office." Giuliani, who quit the Iraq study group after two months in the spring, filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission last month to form a presidential exploratory committee. He said that if he had remained on the commission "a lot of the recommendations [would] get viewed from a political light. They'd have to be partisan." Islamic group urges Bush appointee's ouster from Holocaust board
WASHINGTON (AP) -- An Islamic civil rights group Wednesday called on President Bush to rescind the appointment of a U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum board member who criticized an incoming congressman, Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress.
Last week, Dennis Prager, a conservative talk radio host and columnist, criticized Ellison -- a Minnesota Democrat, for choosing to use the Quran, rather than the Bible, during his ceremonial swearing-in. "Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned," Prager wrote in an Internet column, "America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in Congress." Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, sent Bush a letter on Wednesday asking him to remove Prager, appointed to a five-year term in August. "If put into practice, Mr. Prager's exclusionary and intolerant views would permanently marginalize every minority faith in America and would violate the constitutional ban on a state-sponsored religion," said the letter. Empowered Democratic governors look to '08
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic governors who will take over the majority of state capitols plan to use their newfound power to make changes and help put their party back in the White House.
"There's a shift in power and that means that the American people are seeing governors as the instrument of change," said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the outgoing chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. His staff circulated a memo noting that states with Democratic governors went from 207 electoral votes to 295 while Richardson led the group. The magic number to win the presidency is 270. The Democratic governors' national prospects have spiked from 2004, when no sitting Democratic governors was in the hunt for the White House. Besides Richardson and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack -- the first of what promises to be many declared Democratic candidates -- several others might be considered for the vice presidency because of their proven appeal in GOP-leaning states. Wesley Clark planning for third book for '07 release
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) -- Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark said Wednesday he's writing a book to be published next year -- but said political observers should not read too much into that.
Clark, who lives in Arkansas, has said he is considering running for president in two years. Last month, he vowed to decide earlier than he did the last presidential election, when he announced his bid in September 2003, four months before the first votes were cast. But the announcement about the book isn't evidence that he'll run, Clark said. "I just want to participate in the American dialogue about where we are as a nation," Clark said. The book, Clark's third, will focus on his upbringing in the South, time in Vietnam, experience in building up the Army, and views on the post-Cold War world, the former NATO commander said. EPA: Leaded gas may return, along with lower standards
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration is considering doing away with health standards that cut lead from gasoline, widely regarded as one of the nation's biggest clean-air accomplishments.
The Environmental Protection Agency said this week that revoking those standards might be justified "given the significantly changed circumstances since lead was listed in 1976" as an air pollutant, claiming that concentrations of lead in the air have dropped more than 90 percent in the past 2 1/2 decades. Battery makers, lead smelters, refiners all have lobbied the administration to do away with the Clean Air Act limits. But Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the incoming chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, called on the agency to "renounce this dangerous proposal immediately," because lead, a highly toxic element, can cause severe nerve damage, especially in children. Blair to meet with Hastert and Pelosi
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair heads to Capitol Hill Thursday to meet with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, and House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi, D-California.
Blair, Hastert, and Pelosi will meet with reporters at 12:20 p.m. ET. Pelosi slated to meet with AFSCME board
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi, D-California, is scheduled to discuss the House Democrat's legislative agenda in the upcoming Congress with board members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) on Thursday.
Pelosi and AFSCME President Gerald McEntee will address the media following the meeting at 9:30 a.m. ET. Iraq Study Group report an instant best seller
NEW YORK (CNN) -- While there is much debate over the findings of the Iraq Study Group released Wednesday, the book form of the panel's findings has already become a best seller.
Even as the White House was responding to the report's recommendations and members of Congress and other experts were debating its findings, people were snapping up copies of the book, entitled "The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward - A New Approach. At 7:15 a.m. Thursday, Barnes and Noble's Web site lists the book, published by Random House, as its No. 4 best seller, behind No. 1 seller, "The Joy of Cooking," the print and audio book "Bird Songs" and Michael Crichton's science fiction novel "Next." Amazon.com reports that the paperback book is No. 10, on its list of best sellers. It said buyers of the report were also likely to buy a number of other books critical of U.S. handling of the war, including "State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III," by Bob Woodward and "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq" by Thomas Ricks. The 9/11 Commission report sold more than 1 million copies and was nominated for a National Book Award. 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... SC Republicans "have already announced that they've set May 15 for a GOP candidates' debate." President's Schedule: At 5 pm ET, the President lights the National Christmas tree, a 41' 9" Colorado blue spruce, on the Ellipse. Also on the Political Radar: ================================================================= Political Hot Topics (Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country) "A BROAD INDICTMENT OF US STRATEGY IN IRAQ": The bipartisan Iraq Study Group yesterday delivered a broad indictment of US strategy in Iraq, recommending that the military mission shift from combat to training local forces and urging the White House to enlist Syria and Iran to help rescue the "grave and deteriorating" situation. Without setting a timetable, the group also asserted that the United States could withdraw most combat troops by early 2008. But to reach that goal, the panel said, the Bush administration must immediately reassign far more US troops to advise Iraqi Army units, aggressively pursue the help of Iraq's influential neighbors, and place new pressure on the Iraqi government to reach a political settlement between warring ethnic groups... "Current US policy is not working, as the level of violence in Iraq is rising and the government is not advancing national reconciliation," said the report. "Making no changes in policy would simply delay the day of reckoning at a high cost." Boston Globe: 'US policy is not working' FULL ISG REPORT (pdf via USIP.org) DEMS PLAN "EXTENSIVE HEARINGS"... "WE'RE GOING TO BRING IN EVERY REASONABLE PERSON WE CAN FIND...": Congressional Democrats say their criticisms of the Iraq war are vindicated by the Iraq Study Group's report and promised yesterday to begin "extensive hearings" in January that will continue for months. "We're going to bring in every reasonable person we can find -- left, right and center; military, civilian and government -- to discuss elements of this report and discuss what alternatives there may be," Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Delaware Democrat who will head the Foreign Relations Committee, said yesterday after a private briefing with members of the bipartisan panel. Democrats -- many of whom, including Mr. Biden, voted to authorize the Iraq war -- also took the opportunity to claim victory in the debate about the war, which is sure to dominate politics for the foreseeable future and likely through the 2008 presidential election. Washington Times: Democrats pledge 'extensive' analysis SENATE VOTES 95-2 TO CONFIRM GATES: The Senate overwhelmingly approved Robert M. Gates yesterday as the new defense secretary to replace Donald H. Rumsfeld, sealing a swift confirmation with a vote of 95 to 2 that reflected bipartisan confidence in his willingness to overhaul U.S. strategy in Iraq. Senate Democrats and Republicans lauded Gates's frankness after a day of testimony Tuesday in which he acknowledged that the United States is not winning in Iraq, and said that historians would have to judge whether the decision to invade Iraq in March 2003 was correct. He also pledged to take a fresh approach to Iraq in which "all options are on the table." Two Republican senators -- Jim Bunning (Ky.) and Rick Santorum (Pa.) -- voted against Gates, with Bunning saying that Gates's criticism of "our efforts in Iraq" sends the wrong message to U.S. troops and allies. Washington Post: Senate Confirms Gates as Defense Secretary DEMS VOW TO INVESTIGATE "EFFECTIVENESS" AND "LEGALITY" OF ANTI-TERROR PROGRAMS: Leading Senate Democrats put the Bush administration on notice Wednesday that they intended to press for a fuller accounting on a wide range of counterterrorism programs, including wiretapping, data-mining operations and the interrogation and treatment of detainees. Democrats have appeared divided at times over how aggressively to challenge the administration on its terrorism policies, in part because of concerns that they risked playing into Republican accusations that they were soft on terrorism. But Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, who will take over next month as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, made clear at a committee hearing Wednesday that he wanted to investigate actively the effectiveness and legality of many programs. New York Times: Democrats Set to Press Bush on Privacy and Terrorism DON'T BOOK THAT FRIDAY MORNING PLANE, SAYS BOEHNER: The bipartisan drive to bring the 109th session of Congress to an end slowed as the lawmakers struggled with the finale, a catchall bill covering everything from tax breaks for college tuition to normal trade relations with Vietnam. With a compromise on the trade and tax bill eluding negotiators, House Majority Leader John Boehner late Wednesday announced that the goal of adjourning on Thursday was not feasible and that members should put off plane reservations until Saturday morning. Republicans, reeling from their defeat in last month's midterm elections, have shown little desire to prolong this lame duck session, while Democrats already are looking to January when they will take over both the House and Senate. AP via Yahoo! News: Congress struggles to break final logjam ELEVENTH HOUR "DEFECTIONS" BY WARNER AND COLLINS GAVE LOTT WHIP JOB: Sen. Trent Lott's (R-Miss.) stunning return to the Senate leadership was made possible by the last-minute defections of Sens. John Warner (R-Va.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) from Sen. Lamar Alexander's (R-Tenn.) rival campaign for Republican whip. Ironically, four years earlier, Warner and Collins helped drive Lott from leadership by giving his rivals support at crucial moments during the controversy over his comments at the 100th birthday party of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.). The week before last month's leadership election, Alexander told reporters that he had been promised enough votes to become whip. He said he was working to achieve a consensus of support within the GOP conference. The Hill: Alexander defectors were Collins, Warner LOBBYISTS STAKING OUT FRESHMEN; AIDES STAKING OUT LOBBYISTS: Postelection fund-raising and political repositioning are hardly new in Washington. Candidates routinely use the last months of an election cycle to clear campaign debt. Lobbyists use the time to target freshmen who haven't staked out firm positions on the vast array of issues that come before Congress. But the cycle turns especially intense when a major power shift is under way -- as is the case this year, for the first time since Republicans took Congress in 1994. For instance, receptions such as those being held this week, coinciding with the return of Congress for its lame-duck session, are prime networking opportunity for lobbying shops looking to hire Democrats, and aides looking to cash in on their new status. Wall Street Journal: Postcampaign Lobbying Thrives MODERATE REPUBLICANS A DYING BREED: With the defeat of [Rep. Jim] Leach [R-IA] and several other Republican moderates Nov. 7, the Democrats' victory in the midterm election accelerates a three-decade-old pattern of declining moderate influence and rising conservative dominance in the Republican Party. By one measure, the GOP is more ideologically homogenous now than it has been in modern history. The waning moderate wing must find its place when the Democratic majority takes over in January. "The irony of this election is that the public, in seeking change, has.. weakened the center," Leach said recently. "In a sense, what has occurred is the strengthening of the edges of the parties."... On the Senate side, the defeat of Lincoln D. Chafee (R-R.I.), a critic of the war who declined to vote for Bush's reelection in 2004, underscored the same trend. By one measure, the 110th Congress will have the fewest moderates since the 19th century. Washington Post: Democratic Wave in Congress Further Erodes Moderation in GOP MARY CHENEY'S PREGNANCY HAS "TOUCHED A NERVE": No Republican in Washington is more beloved by social conservatives than Vice President Dick Cheney, who with his wife, Lynne, has backed and breathed every issue dear to them for six tumultuous years. News that Cheney's lesbian daughter, Mary, is pregnant has therefore touched a nerve, as advocates for conservative values struggle to reconcile their loyalty to the Cheneys with their visceral opposition to same-sex relationships - and particularly to raising a child without a father. "Not only is she doing a disservice to her child, she's voiding all the effort her father put into the Bush administration," said Janice Shaw Crouse, senior fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute, the think tank of Concerned Women for America. Asked why the administration downplayed the news, she added, "This is Cheney's daughter; anything they say will make the situation worse." Los Angeles Times: A pregnant pause in right wing "WHERE HAVE ALL THE CASES GONE?": On the Supreme Court's color-coded master calendar, which was distributed months before the term began on the first Monday in October, Dec. 6 is marked in red to signify a day when the justices are scheduled to be on the bench, hearing arguments. The courtroom, however, was empty on Wednesday, and for a simple reason: The court was out of cases. The question is, where have all the cases gone? Last year, during his Senate confirmation hearing, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said he thought the court had room on its docket and that it "could contribute more to the clarity and uniformity of the law by taking more cases." But that has not happened. The court has taken about 40 percent fewer cases so far this term than last. New York Times: Case of the Dwindling Docket Mystifies the Supreme Court NAGIN IN DC TO PRESS FEDS FOR FUNDS: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin accused the federal government Wednesday of abandoning its legal obligation to help his city recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. In an interview with USA TODAY's editorial board, Nagin insisted that even the city's most flood-prone areas should be rebuilt — albeit "smarter and safer." He said that can't happen unless promised federal aid begins to flow. "I'm planning and building for a city that's as large, if not larger, than pre-Katrina levels," he said. "There is (federal) money out in cyberspace, there is money in the mail … but very little of that money has made it to our local governments and our citizens." Under federal law, he added, the government is obliged to help restore vital infrastructure decimated by the storm, which struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005. Nagin said the federal government has approved more than $900 million to rebuild New Orleans' infrastructure, but local officials have not been able to access most of it. "We're here to say to the federal government: 'Honor the law,'" said Nagin, in Washington to see lawmakers and federal officials. USA Today: Nagin: Feds have abandoned New Orleans recovery CARTER STAFFER STEPS DOWN OVER CONCERNS ABOUT BOOK: An adviser to former President Jimmy Carter and onetime executive director of the Carter Center has publicly parted ways with his former boss, citing concerns with the accuracy and integrity of Mr. Carter's latest book, "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid." The adviser, Kenneth W. Stein, a professor of Middle Eastern history and political science at Emory University, resigned his position as a fellow with the Carter Center on Tuesday, ending a 23-year association with the institution. In a two-page letter explaining his action, Mr. Stein called the book "replete with factual errors, copied materials not cited, superficialities, glaring omissions and simply invented segments." Mr. Stein said he had used similar language in a private letter he sent to Mr. Carter, but received no reply. New York Times: Former Aide Parts With Carter Over Book '08ERS "OUT OF THE GATES" EARLIER THAN EVER: Shattering the pace of any previous presidential campaign, a half-dozen White House candidates already have leapt out of the gates for 2008, either formally signaling their entry into what is shaping up to be a packed field or filing paperwork freeing them to begin fundraising. The first wave of candidates - three Senators, one House Member, an ex-mayor and an outgoing governor - have eschewed traditions of waiting until at least the end of the preceding midterm year before officially opening their campaign committees. With fundraising expectations higher than ever and the caucus and primary schedule so compacted in early 2008, the candidates, former candidates, and current and former campaign aides see nothing unusual about so many declarations for a general election that's still almost two years away. Roll Call: Candidates Set Record '08 Pace SC PLANNING FIRST DEM DEBATE: Less than five months from today, South Carolina may host the first debate of the 2008 presidential cycle, said Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin. Erwin said the debate - which would feature Democratic candidates - would be tied to the April 27 Jefferson-Jackson Dinner and the state party convention the next day. He said he's begun informal talks with television networks that might be interested in carrying the debate nine months before South Carolina's first-in-the-South presidential primary on Jan. 29, 2008. South Carolina Republicans have already announced that they've set May 15 for a GOP candidates' debate. AP via Yahoo! News: S.C. Dems eye April presidential debate CORZINE SAYS HILLARY WILL "HAVE A HARD TIME GETTING ELECTED": New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine veered off-message on former colleague Hillary Rodham Clinton's White House prospects, saying she'd be a great president - but will "have a hard time getting elected." Corzine's unvarnished appraisal came in an interview with radio host Don Imus on WFAN, as he said Sen. Clinton is someone he could support for president. "There are people who are disciplined and willing to listen to different sides of issues who are articulate - maybe not charismatic - but are diligent, and I think she'll be that," Corzine said. "If she were to be president, she'd do an outstanding job," he said on the Tuesday show, adding: "I think she's going to have a hard time getting elected." New York Post: FELLOW DEM CORZINE FEARS HILL CAN'T WIN HILLARY CHOOSES HARKIN OVER NY DEMS: Sen. Hillary Clinton dumped New York for Iowa yesterday. Just a month after winning reelection to the Senate, Clinton skipped an all-hands meeting between New York's congressional Democrats and Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer - choosing instead to have breakfast with an Iowa senator. Clinton has been aggressively courting advice from Democratic leaders in key primary election states as she nears an increasingly certain White House bid. Yesterday, she had her highest-profile out-of-state sitdown yet with Sen. Tom Harkin, while the rest of New York's Democrats hashed out strategy on education, energy, homeland security and other topics. "It just shows where her head is at," said a miffed Democratic staffer. "What - 30 days after the election and she's done with New York?" New York Daily News: Hil in an Iowa state of mind PHILLY MAYOR CANDIDATE LAUNCHES $700K XMAS AD BLITZ: The air-war portion of the 2007 Philadelphia mayoral campaign is set to begin this week, as businessman Tom Knox spends nearly $700,000 introducing himself to city voters. Knox's campaign is rolling out a Christmas-season television advertising blitz that touts the candidate's rise from public housing to business-world triumph... Neither of Knox's fellow declared candidates - former Councilman Michael A. Nutter and U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah - has yet done TV ads... But Larry Ceisler, a political consultant who has worked with labor leader John J. Dougherty, another possible candidate, said December was a risky time to spend money on campaign ads. "There's a big problem with running political media so close to the holidays," Ceisler said. "I don't think people are tuned into mayoral politics. They're tuned into buying Christmas gifts." Philadelphia Inquirer: Ads cost Knox $700,000 |
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• Hagel to announce decision on presidential bid Monday• Does Tiger Woods have a political future? • AFL-CIO makes push to keep unions united behind one presidential candidate • Obama: "No place for politics" in voter intimidation • Muslim congressman talks up 'American values' in State Department outreach • Year of the 'smaller' Pig • Pataki joins law firm • Bush 'sad' about Libby's conviction • House Dems urge colleagues to fund a withdrawal from Iraq • Romney recruits from the Sunshine State ARCHIVE
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