An interagency criminal task force investigating former lobbyist Jack Abramoff has subpoenaed a Republican group founded by Interior Secretary Gale Norton and now run by her former aides, sources with knowledge of the investigation say.

The subpoena was issued to the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), a nonprofit group created in 1997 by Norton and Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, and long denounced by environmental organizations as a front group for industry interests.

[...]

CREA was one of several groups that received contributions from tribes represented by Abramoff. The Coushatta tribe of Louisiana gave $50,000 in 2001 and $100,000 in 2002, according to published reports. The Texas Tigua gave $25,000 in 2002.

Lobbyists with knowledge of Abramoff’s dealings with CREA said that the tribes did not give to CREA in an effort to support its environmental mission. Rather, they said Abramoff directed donations to CREA in return for the help of Federici, CREA’s president and formerly an aide to Norton during her 1996 Senate bid, in the tribes’ lobbying of the Interior Department.

Federici contacted top officials in the Interior Department, including former Deputy Secretary Steve Griles, on behalf of several of Abramoff’s tribes, at times drawing on one-page talking-points memos provided by Abramoff, the lobbyists said.

“It was a you-scratch-my-back, I’ll-scratch-yours situation,” one source with knowledge of the arrangement said. “CREA was seen as being close to Interior.” According to IRS filings, the manager of Norton’s Senate race, former Colorado state representative Jeanne Adkins, is CREA’s treasurer.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:42 PM | | Basie! Home

Emanuel’s higher vulnerability standards also indicate that the DCCC, under his direction, will implement a more calibrated strategy toward channeling member-to-member donations and will not ask lawmakers to part with campaign cash simply to pad skittish incumbents’ margins of victory.

The DCCC declined to confirm the names on the list, but numerous sources throughout the caucus, including aides for lawmakers who have been told of their Frontline status, said that Reps. Melissa Bean (Ill.), Leonard Boswell (Iowa), Chet Edwards (Texas), Stephanie Herseth (S.D.), Brian Higgins (N.Y.), Jim Matheson (Utah), Charlie Melancon (La.), Dennis Moore (Kan.), and John Salazar (Colo.) were informed last week that they will receive direct donations from their fellow incumbents, in addition to other campaign assistance.

[...]

This year’s shortened list could still grow by two or three lawmakers, several caucus sources said, pending redistricting in Georgia, where two marginal Democrats — freshman Rep. John Barrow and second-term Rep. Jim Marshall — will likely see their districts become more Republican.

Reps. Marshall, Tim Bishop (N.Y.), Lincoln Davis (Tenn.), Tim Holden (Pa.), Darleen Hooley (Ore.), Paul Kanjorksi (Pa.), Rick Larsen (Wash.), Mike Michaud (Maine) and Earl Pomeroy (N.D.) received the Frontline designation last cycle but were not included on Emanuel’s initial list. It was unclear if last cycle’s beneficiaries had been formally notified that they would not be included in this year’s program.

The pared-down list also reflects the Democrats’ confidence that several of their members who had been considered vulnerable are in fact safely ensconced in their districts, even if some of them have failed to throttle past the 55 percent ceiling. In previous cycles, the 55 percent high-water mark almost always guaranteed that an incumbent House Democrat would receive a crush of contributions from the chamber’s safer members.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:24 PM | | Basie! Home

Republicans in the Georgia Legislature have reached consensus on new Congressional boundaries, moving a proposed map forward that would shore up Rep. Phil Gingrey's (R) swing district and potentially complicate the re-election efforts of Democratic Reps. John Barrow and Jim Marshall.

The state House and Senate redistricting committees passed the same version of a new Congressional map Friday, bringing an end to a week of behind-the-scenes wrangling over how to reconcile the chambers' two competing plans.

[...]

State Democrats privately expressed relief after seeing the compromise map Friday, as they admitted that the redrawing of lines could have hit them much harder politically.

"It could be worse," said a Georgia Democratic operative. "My guess is if everybody ran for re-election, we'd end up with the exact same delegation we've got right now."

Still, Democrats are likely to mount legal challenges if the new lines are approved.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 6:44 PM | | Basie! Home

A liberal interest group began running television ads Monday criticizing Rep. Jim McCrery of Louisiana, House Republicans' self-described "point man" on a Social Security overhaul, while House Democrats released a report that they said documents the use of the Social Security Administration to promote President Bush's proposal for the program. A group of Senate Democrats, meanwhile, planned a news conference tomorrow to "share the community reaction" to the proposal voiced over the recess.

The moves indicate that Democrats and their allies plan to keep up a steady pressure on Republicans, who are returning to the Capitol from a recess during which they heard much criticism of Bush's plan from their constituents and little support. The president, meanwhile, plans to return to the road Friday to sell his proposal for personal investment accounts created through a diversion of payroll taxes.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:07 AM | | Basie! Home

This is how a top Republican lawmaker sums up President Bush’s attitude toward Congress: “Come let us reason together — and do it my way.” He meant to be critical, but the observation also shows how Bush gets things done — in Congress, and in the world at large.

[...]

[H]is “my way or the highway” leadership style is wearing thin for the second term, especially among conservative Republicans. On Social Security, budget deficits and immigration policy, many could publicly break ranks with him.

[...]

Some Republicans who are friendly to Bush’s [Social Security] plan, but not to the idea of making wealthier taxpayers contribute more, now privately hope it goes away without a vote. They fear that the president will go too far to win the Democratic votes he’ll need to thwart a Senate filibuster.

“If we get investment accounts by increasing taxes on our base voters, forget about it,” one GOP staffer said.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:26 AM | | Basie! Home

A Republican congressman will try to repeal President Bush's policy on embryonic stem-cell research when the House Energy and Commerce committee considers a bill to reauthorize the National Institutes of Health budget.

Rep. Charles Bass, New Hampshire Republican, will offer a proposal to repeal the policy Mr. Bush outlined in an August 2001 speech.

[...]

Supporters of the bill say embryonic stem-cell research holds the key to breakthrough cures and that the government should invest as much as possible in it. Their effort to roll back Mr. Bush's policy appears to have momentum, but conservative forces are gearing up to fight it.

"We will be up on the Hill stopping Mr. Bass' bill," said Connie Mackey, vice president for governmental relations at the Family Research Council. "We are preparing what we can to stop him in that effort."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 7:55 AM | | Basie! Home

"We've had more mudslides than the Bush twins on spring break."

-- Bill Maher, on the weather in California, on HBO's Real Time

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 7:32 AM | | Basie! Home

"He's not as easy to watch as [Peter] Jennings or [Tom] Brokaw."

-- Mike Wallace, of 60 Minutes fame, on Dan Rather

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 7:29 AM | | Basie! Home

A suicide bomber detonated a car near police recruits and a crowded market south of Baghdad Monday, killing 115 people and wounding 148 in the single bloodiest attack in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The bomber blew the car up next to a line of recruits waiting at a health center to take an eye test so they could join the Iraqi police force in the town of Hilla, 100 km (62 miles) south of the capital, witnesses said.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 2:40 AM | | Basie! Home

The same survey found the President's job approval rating falling to 46% after hovering around 49% to 50% since the November election.

[...]

Pollster John Zogby: "The President has had wonderful opportunities in the past four months to build a majority coalition, but he has not done so. Even with elections in Iraq and democracy spreading in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Palestine—all consistent with the President's goals in his inaugural—the President's numbers have plummeted.

"The good news for Mr. Bush is that the Democrats have no majority coalition either. Even though they receive good marks for healthcare and jobs, where is their alternative plan? They even outscore the President on foreign policy. What foreign policy? We are right back where we have been for the past two years: an evenly-divided nation and neither side hugging the center to get a majority. This isn't gridlock and stalemate, this is the politics of checkmate. The only winners in this poll are the third parties—who would get more votes today than on November 2.

"As for the War in Iraq, our polling just before the war in March 2003 showed support would plummet with the loss of hundreds of American lives and thousands of Iraqi civilian casualties."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:13 PM | | Basie! Home

A civil trial scheduled to open here on Monday involving allegations of illegal campaign contributions to Republican members of the Texas House is likely to attract almost as much attention in the halls of Congress as it will on the floor of the State Legislature.

The reason is the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, the Texas Republican who is among the most powerful men on Capitol Hill and his party's most potent fund-raiser in Congress. While not named as a defendant in the civil trial or placed on the witness list, Mr. DeLay is still likely to find himself a focus of attention in the Travis County courthouse, with Congressional Democrats looking for any sign that his legal troubles back home could be widening.

[...]

The trial in Travis County, which includes most of the state capital, Austin, was prompted by a lawsuit brought by defeated Democratic candidates who charged that political operatives of Mr. DeLay used illegal fund-raising tactics to engineer a Republican takeover of the Legislature. The takeover benefited Mr. DeLay and his colleagues in Washington by enabling Texas Republicans to redraw Congressional districts, solidifying Republican control of the House.

Two of Mr. DeLay's major political operatives in Washington and another political ally in Texas were indicted last year in the grand jury investigation, accused of participating in what local prosecutors described as a scheme to make illegal corporate donations to Republican candidates for the Legislature.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:33 PM | | Basie! Home

The property-rights law, which was approved overwhelmingly by voters last fall and is known as Measure 37, is on the brink of wrecking Oregon's best-in-the-nation record of reining in sprawl, according to state officials and national planning experts. They say the new law illustrates a nationwide paradox in public opinion: While voters tend to favor protection of farmland and open space, they vote down these protections if they perceive them as restrictions on personal rights.

[...]

Measure 37 was sold to voters last year as a matter of fairness. On ubiquitous radio ads, the frail, woebegone voice of Dorothy English, who bought land in 1953, explained how land-use laws had blocked her from dividing up her 40 acres for her children. "I'm 91 years old, my husband is dead and I don't know how much longer I can fight," she said. The ballot measure won with 61 percent of the vote.

State financial records, though, show that small family farmers contributed virtually nothing to the Family Farm Preservation political action committee that bankrolled Measure 37. Most of the money came from timber companies and real estate interests that stand to profit if, as many here expect, large tracts of forests and farmland are unlocked for development.

This mirrors a national pattern, according to Jacobs, at the University of Wisconsin. He says that property rights campaigns are often sold to voters as compensation for struggling small landholders, while the support money comes from large companies seeking ways around regulations that limit resource extraction and property development.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 7:45 PM | | Basie! Home

A newly-released poll for National Public Radio gives Democratic congressional candidates an early lead in the 2006 congressional campaign. The poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research 2/15-17 indicated that 42 percent of repondents would vote for the Democratic candidate and 36 percent would vote for the Republican candidate in their district, "if the election for Congress were held today."

The 6 point Democratic advantage was in line with a GQRR poll conducted in January that gave the Dems a 5 point advantage in '06. A December Ipsos-Public Affairs poll gave the Dems a 7 point advantage in response to the question "And if the election for congress were held today, would you want to see the Republicans or Democrats win control of Congress?"

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 5:48 PM | | Basie! Home

Gov. Ted Kulongoski is planning on running for a second term, a key adviser, Peter Bragdon, said.

There have been rumors that the Democrat might choose against running for re-election in 2006 because he has not said with certainty that he will. But all the signs point to Kulongoski as a candidate.

He has formed a political committee called Kulongoski for Governor 2006 that's raising money for a campaign.

It's overseen by Bragdon, who was Kulongoski's chief of staff until mid-2004.

Bragdon said Kulongoski was making re-election plans as early as last summer, when Bragdon left the governor's office to return to private business.

"When I walked out the door, he asked me to take the lead in pulling together his operation" for a campaign, Bragdon said.

Kulongoski has recruited a campaign manager -- Paige Richardson, director of John Kerry's presidential campaign in Oregon last year. She managed the campaign of Bev Stein, who ran for governor against Kulongoski in the 2002 Democratic primary.

Kulongoski has not yet said whether he's going to run.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:47 AM | | Basie! Home

"Republicans at their town halls are getting treated like off-pitch singers on the Gong Show and the Democrats should cut a phase-out deal that gives the president what until a couple months ago was supposed to be all that he wanted (i.e., 2 percent of payroll)?"

-- Joshua Micah Marshall of Talking Points Memo, on the battle over Social Security

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:29 AM | | Basie! Home

Mr. Bush had long been intrigued by the idea of allowing workers to put part of their Social Security taxes into stocks and bonds. One Tuesday in the summer of 1978, in the heat of his unsuccessful race for a House seat from West Texas, Mr. Bush went to Midland Country Club to give a campaign speech to local real estate agents and discussed the issue in terms not much different from those he uses now.

Social Security "will be bust in 10 years unless there are some changes," he said, according to an account published the next day in The Midland Reporter-Telegram. "The ideal solution would be for Social Security to be made sound and people given the chance to invest the money the way they feel."

Two decades later, Mr. Bush's desire to change Social Security intersected with the promotion of private accounts by well-financed interest groups and conservative research organizations, which viewed the concept as innovative if ideologically explosive. What was once a fringe proposal has been propelled to the forefront of the national agenda in one of the biggest gambles of Mr. Bush's political career, and in one of the most concerted challenges since the New Deal to liberal assumptions about the relationship of individuals, the government and the market.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:33 PM | | Basie! Home

Alarmed by soaring Medicaid costs, the nation's governors say they are enchanted with some of President Bush's proposals to restructure the program, but they adamantly oppose budget cuts sought by the White House and Republican leaders of Congress.

[...]

Republican governors, like Democrats, reject President Bush's proposals to cut back federal contributions to Medicaid, which is financed jointly by the federal government and the states, at a cost exceeding $300 billion a year.

"Simply cutting the Medicaid budget is unacceptable," said Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, a Republican who is vice chairman of the governors association. [emphasis added]

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:25 PM | | Basie! Home

Republicans

Arnold Schwarzenegger (Calif): Needs constitutional amendment -- quickly.

Mitt Romney (Mass.): Prettier than John Edwards.

George E. Pataki (N.Y.) : He'll have to outfox Rudy.

Jeb Bush (Fla.): Many hope he'll break his promise not to run.

Haley Barbour (Miss.): Deep ties to Washington steakhouse of dubious value.

Mike Huckabee (Ark.): Recent weight loss increases speculation.

Mark Sanford (S.C.): Can't run if his friend John McCain does.

Bill Owens (Colo.): Embarrassed by Democratic victories in his state in '04.

Democrats

Tom Vilsack (Iowa): Early favorite to win the Iowa caucuses.

Mark R. Warner (Va.): A southern Democrat.

Phil Bredesen (Tenn.): Could do better in his state than Al Gore did.

Bill Richardson (N.M.): Dogged by his Energy Department tenure.

Jennifer M. Granholm (Mich.): Waiting for the Schwarzenegger amendment to pass.

Janet Napolitano (Ariz.): Her home state may be too red for Democrats to win.

Rod Blagojevich (Ill.): His home state may be too blue to matter.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:13 PM | | Basie! Home

Oregon lawmakers basked in waves of welcome news Friday.

First, a new revenue estimate promised $202 million more for the state budget. And they dodged a $113 million bullet when the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the Legislature's decision four years ago to keep a portion of the income-tax kicker rebate was legal.

"All of a sudden, we have more money on the table than we ever dreamed of," said Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem. "I can at last hope again."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 7:59 PM | | Basie! Home

A major oil fire raged Saturday after insurgents blew up a pipeline in the north of the country. The family of an anchorwoman for a U.S.-funded state television station — a mother of four who was repeatedly shot in the head — found her body dumped on a street in the northern city of Mosul.

Insurgents, meanwhile, killed two civilians in a roadside bombing west of Baghdad, a suicide car bomber killed an Iraqi national guardsman and injured 7 people southwest of the capital and the U.S. military announced the death Friday an American soldier killed in a massive security sweep in the Sunni Triangle.

As part of the offensive, residents in Ramadi, the Sunni-dominated city 70 miles west of Baghdad, reported clashes between insurgents and American forces, but the military provided no details. U.S. troops have been conducting an offensive in the region for nearly a week.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 5:02 PM | | Basie! Home

"The Social Security trust fund really does exist."

-- David Espo, Special Correspondent to the AP covering Social Security.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:02 AM | | Basie! Home

The Bush administration cites public safety in trying to block admission of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, but has agreed to expand imports of Canadian beef and cattle despite cases of mad cow disease, Montana's Democratic governor complained Saturday.

"President Bush was recently here in Montana and we had just one question for him," Gov. Brian Schweitzer said in his party's weekly radio address. "Why allow bad beef to enter the U.S. from Canada and not allow safe medicine?"

Schweitzer, who was elected in November as the state's first Democratic governor in 16 years, has been a staunch proponent of allowing drug imports from Canada, saying they could dramatically cut costs for senior citizens and others on fixed incomes.

[...]

During an earlier, unsuccessful campaign for a Senate seat, Schweitzer became known for chartering buses to take older people to Canada to buy their prescription drugs.

He said he often gave those on board clipboards and asked them to make note of the number of Canadian trucks headed into the United States carrying cattle, hogs and lumber.

"Yet prescription drugs made in the U.S., shipped to Canada, aren't allowed back across the border. This makes no sense," Schweitzer said.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:57 AM | | Basie! Home

FOX NEWS SUNDAY: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); Cardinal Francis George of Chicago; and Ray Flynn, former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.

THIS WEEK (ABC): Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) and Democratic strategist Donna Brazile.

FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. John E. Sununu (R-N.H.) and Jon S. Corzine (D-N.J.); and former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski.

MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sens. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.).

LATE EDITION (CNN): Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.); Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.); German Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger; French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte; British Ambassador David Manning; Brzezinski; and former defense secretary William S. Cohen.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:41 PM | | Basie! Home

The Federal Communications Commission, in an abrupt about-face, has decided to reconsider a staff decision that allowed a prominent Oklahoma politician convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice to sell a group of radio stations, officials said on Friday.

The decision to approve the sale was considered by some media experts to be a significant deregulation of the broadcast ownership rules, because the agency has long required the forfeiture of radio licenses to the commission by those who fail a character test. The character test, which requires truthfulness in dealing with the government, is an integral part of the media rules, because owners of radio licenses hold a public trust and are obliged to act in "the public interest."

The commission had never considered a case involving a conviction of perjury before a federal agency, according to officials.

But the commission has revoked licenses for a variety of other crimes, from sexual abuse of a minor to fraud to dealing in illegal narcotics. The character guidelines also make clear that truthfulness is a central element of the rules.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:33 PM | | Basie! Home

A majority of Americans now say they believe U.S. troops will have to stay in Iraq for at least two more years, compared with 44 percent of people who felt that way last summer, a poll released Thursday finds.

The Jan. 30 elections in Iraq appear to have improved perceptions in the United States about the possibility of a stable Iraq, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. But that has not convinced the public that U.S. troops are coming home any sooner.

The poll found that 54 percent of those surveyed think U.S. troops will have to stay in Iraq for two more years, while 22 percent put the time at longer than five years.

[...]

The poll found that President Bush’s overall approval rate was 46 percent, compared with 50 percent in January. Bush’s approval rate on Iraq was 40 percent, compared with 45 percent in January.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 5:20 PM | | Basie! Home

A suicide bomber blew himself up among Israelis waiting outside a nightclub near Tel Aviv's beachfront promenade just before midnight Friday, killing several people, wounding dozens and shattering an unofficial Mideast truce.

The area was crowded with young Israelis. About 20 to 30 people were waiting to get into the "Stage" club on Herbert Samuel street, close to the promenade. "I was near the club. There were about 20 people outside. Suddenly, there was an enormous explosion," said a witness, identified only as Tsahi.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. However, militants in the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group with ties to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, said the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah was involved in the attack.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 2:22 PM | | Basie! Home

In a move that is likely to bring it into conflict with Catholic and Evangelical Christian groups, the largest Jewish organization in America is launching a push for pro-stem-cell-research legislation in state houses around the country.

Hadassah, the 300,000-member women's Zionist organization, is bringing hundreds of advocates to the capitals of 47 states this spring to agitate for legislation authorizing state funding for stem-cell research, which scientists hope will lead to cures for many chronic diseases, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Hadassah has identified 10 states — including Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Missouri, Florida and Maryland — as the central focus of its effort. The organization will launch their new campaign with a March 1 trip to Albany, during which Hadassah members will make their case to New York lawmakers.

[...]

Hadassah's advocacy of stem-cell research is not incidental: The group supports the Hadassah Medical Center, located in Jerusalem, at which advanced stem-cell research is conducted.

"This goes to the core of Hadassah's mission because Hadassah is a world leader in stem-cell research at our hospital in Israel," Klein said. "We have a hundred-year history of advocating for health. Our position is not a partisan issue. It's about saving lives. As a Jewish women's organization, we want to make the point that religions aren't monolithic about this. There are plenty of religious voices on the side of stem-cell research."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 12:01 PM | | Basie! Home

Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., a Republican from Winchester, plans to announce Friday morning that he is mounting an independent bid for governor but will not formally leave the party he says is gripped by conservative social issues and anti-tax rhetoric.

Potts, an irascible politician who has become a voice of the GOP moderates as chairman of the Senate's Education and Health Committee, has scheduled a news conference at the State Capitol to announce his decision.

He declined to comment publicly Thursday, but aides and colleagues said Potts has informed them that he is certain to run as an "independent Republican" in the 2005 campaign.

[...]

His entry will transform the Virginia governor's campaign into a three-way race between Potts and the two likely major-party candidates, former attorney general Jerry W. Kilgore (R) and Lt. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D).

Some political observers said Potts could hand the race to Kaine if enough voters see the Winchester senator as an alternative to Kilgore's conservative policies.

His friends have called him crazy.

But Chris Bell doesn't care. He's formed an exploratory committee for the 2006 governor's race anyway.

The Houston Democrat, defeated last year after a single term in the U.S. House, admits he has a lot of work ahead of him. Not only will he have to build his name recognition statewide, but he's also considering a run when no Democrat holds a statewide office.

Though Republicans call it wishful thinking, Democrats hope the state's growing Hispanic population will fuel a comeback by the party as soon as 2008 or perhaps by 2012.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:35 AM | | Basie! Home

A far right-wing group is comparing Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, to Osama bin Laden in a new flier that says: "Not all terrorists wear turbans."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:57 AM | | Basie! Home

In new bombshell claims, a former Watergate investigator says the break-in was motivated by President Nixon's paranoia that the Democrats would find out that he had taken a $50,000 bribe from Howard Hughes.

Terry Lenzner, revealing fresh details after more than 30 years, told "60 Minutes" that Nixon was obsessed with finding out whether Democratic National Committee boss Larry O'Brien knew that the billionaire recluse had sent him a stash of cash.

The money — delivered in a bulging envelope — was spent on a putting green and a pool table at Nixon's Florida residence, investigators believe.

"I am absolutely certain it was a significant part of the president's thinking that [finding out what the Democrats knew had] to be done," Lenzner told correspondent Lesley Stahl in a broadcast to be aired Sunday.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:53 AM | | Basie! Home

The nation's former security chief, Tom Ridge, will champion duct tape once again -- this time as a director on Home Depot's board.

Atlanta-based Home Depot, the nation's largest home improvement retailer with 1,892 stores, appointed Ridge to its board yesterday, replacing Roger Penske, who steps down when his term expires in May.

Ridge, 59, former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and governor of Pennsylvania, is expected to lend cachet to Home Depot's board just as the chain looks to China for growth.

[...]

Home Depot chief Bob Nardelli is a big supporter of -- and contributor to -- the Republican Party.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:47 AM | | Basie! Home

A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded eight others north of Baghdad on Friday, the military said, while the government announced the capture of three figures associated with Iraq's bloody insurgency.

[...]

The attack, which occurred around midday in Tarmiyah, about 20 miles north of the capital, raised the U.S. military death toll in Iraq to at least 1,489, according to an Associated Press count since the war began in March 2003. On Thursday, the military said three U.S. soldiers were killed in separate attacks.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:33 AM | | Basie! Home

James B. Lockhart III, the deputy commissioner at the Social Security Administration, said Thursday that he had appeared with four Republican members in recent days to provide information, not to endorse the diversion of some payroll taxes to personal accounts.

But several Democrats are objecting to Mr. Lockhart's role in an aggressive campaign to promote administration proposals for restructuring Social Security.

"The administration is running one of the most sophisticated grassroots lobbying strategies in history, and they are using federal employees and taxpayer dollars to do it," said Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey. "Social Security employees should be spending their time serving the needs of Social Security recipients, not advancing a political agenda."

Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said the agency "is supposed to serve all the people and should not be giving the appearance that it is taking sides."

"It is absolutely inappropriate for officials from the Social Security Administration to hit the hustings in support of the president's plan," Mr. Schumer said in a statement.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:36 PM | | Basie! Home

The battle lines in the coming war over Social Security have finally been drawn with the creation last week of a new umbrella group that will coordinate attacks on President Bush's drive to create personal investment accounts.

At the urging of Democratic leaders in Congress, a few political campaign veterans have formed Americans United to Protect Social Security. The nonprofit organization with close ties to organized labor plans to raise $25 million to $50 million to pressure lawmakers to vote against Bush's proposal.

[...]

About 200 organizations will coordinate their efforts through the new group. The Media Fund, which raised and spent millions of dollars on anti-Bush advertisements last year, is considering joining, according to one of its principals, Harold Ickes, a former deputy chief of staff to President Bill Clinton.

The largest single opponent of the president's plan, the seniors lobby AARP, will operate separately.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:27 PM | | Basie! Home

A Zogby survey conducted for the Democratic firm WhatsNext Communications shows [Hillary] Clinton with a big lead on the overall 2008 field -- both women and men. When asked who they would vote for if the Democratic primary were held today, 32 percent of respondents named the New York senator. (John Kerry came in second with 16 percent and former Vice President Al Gore earned 12 percent. Former vice-presidential candidate John Edwards -- who some think has already started campaigning for the ticket's top spot in 2008 -- got 9 percent of the vote.)

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 3:15 PM | | Basie! Home

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said today that he will "exercise every last ounce of my energy" to strike a deal with Democrats on President Bush's judicial nominations. Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has threatened to execute a parliamentary move that has become known as the "nuclear option" to short-circuit Democratic filibusters of Bush's judicial picks. Frist would need the support of at least half the senators present and voting in one or more procedural votes. It is not clear Frist has the votes he needs. Specter, R-Pa., has avoided taking a public position on the "nuclear option," but he is clearly reluctant to see the Senate's tradition of minority rights eroded. "I think historically if you were to flash ahead 100 years from now, this controversy over judges would be miniscule. It would not be a major matter in the life of the country. But minority rights are," Specter said.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:20 AM | | Basie! Home

First it lost "Jeff Gannon" as its White House correspondent. Then it scrubbed all of his articles from its site. Now Talon News is going dark.

The Web site, closely linked to Texas Republican activist Bobby Eberle and his GOPUSA.com, posted a message on its home page today announcing that Talon was going offline for, as it said, a "top-to-bottom" review.

James Guckert, better known by his pen name Jeff Gannon, got press credentials for two years at the White House under his alias, first under the auspices of GOPUSA, then Talon News. He has since been linked to male escorts sites and has refused to deny working as a prostitute, most recently on this morning's NBC "Today" show.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:22 AM | | Basie! Home

A man wearing a police uniform drove a car bomb inside the main police compound in Saddam Hussein's hometown north of Baghdad on Thursday, setting off a massive explosion that killed 15 police and wounded 22, officials and witnesses said.

At least four other police were killed in separate attacks across the country, including another suicide car bomb assault on a police convoy in Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of the capital.

In the capital, gunmen opened fire on a bakery in eastern Baghdad, killing two people and wounding a third, police said.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:18 AM | | Basie! Home

The debate over changing Social Security can be a mind-numbing actuarial exercise, with calculations and projections that reach into the trillions of dollars and unfold over decades. But for President Bush, the most important number right now might be one.

That's how many Democrats he needs - and still lacks - to claim that his plan is bipartisan.

"This can't be done without Democrats," says Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank here. "They need the political cover of both parties."

[...]

But some moderates who have voted at times with the president, such as Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, may be wary of crossing party lines again. Landrieu was one of nine Senate Democrats to vote for Bush's 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut in 2001. The next year, Republicans spent millions - unsuccessfully - to oust her.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:08 AM | | Basie! Home

"[He's] not some wild-eyed, left-wing nut."

-- Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) defending new DNC Chair Howard Dean

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:39 AM | | Basie! Home

Barbara Hafer and conducted by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates shows the Republican-turned-Democrat former Treasurer Barbara Hafer tied 44- 44 with Senator Rick Santorum in a hypothetical matchup. The poll shows Santorum losing to Treasuer Bobby Casey Jr. 40-47.

Over the course of the next several months, I will begin to have a conversation with the people of Pennsylvania regarding a potential campaign. I will spend time introducing myself to communities across the Commonwealth, and listening to the people of Pennsylvania. As I consider my personal decision regarding the upcoming gubernatorial race, we will also explore the potential political and financial support for my candidacy. With the support of friends and family, I have authorized the formation of "Team 88" to help accomplish these goals.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:06 AM | | Basie! Home

Usually Hollywood borrows from Washington for on-screen drama, but now studios and stars are using cutthroat political campaign strategies to win the Oscar. The latest twist: Washington-trained campaign strategists have been hired for the battle for best actress. Insiders say they're involved in a vicious whispering, E-mail, and rumor campaign to help--or sink--Hilary Swank, star of Warner Bros.' Million Dollar Baby, and Annette Bening, star of Sony's Being Julia. It's so hot, said one consultant, that the attacks could lead to a surprise winner.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:37 PM | | Basie! Home

The public relations war over President Bush's Social Security plan escalated on Wednesday, as a liberal advocacy group attacked the Republican chairman of the House Social Security subcommittee, and conservative groups fought among themselves over strategy.

The advocacy group, Campaign for America's Future, accused the subcommittee chairman, Representative Jim McCrery of Louisiana, of conflict of interest, saying he had accepted nearly $200,000 in contributions over four years from securities firms and commercial banks that could benefit from Mr. Bush's plan to let workers invest in retirement accounts.

On Thursday, the group will begin running newspaper advertisements against Mr. McCrery under the headline "Who Does This Man Work For?" in his hometown, Shreveport. In addition, it is using the Internet to raise money for television advertisements.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:08 PM | | Basie! Home

The nonprofit Congressional Management Foundation, which helps educate Congress on running its business, says at least four members - Mr. Pence; Representatives Mark Kirk, Republican of Illinois, and Katherine Harris, Republican of Florida; and Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont - have taken up the task on a continuing basis. (Others have used temporary blogs to document trips, said Brad Fitch, the foundation's deputy director.)

The Congressional bloggers praise the power, popularity and potential of blogging, citing it as one of the most frequently visited parts of their Congressional Web sites.

"It shows your constituents that you're going to be updating your Web site regularly, and the next time they log on, they will see something new," Mr. Kirk said.

While popular political blogs like Wonkette, MyDD and Daily Kos serve as an alternative to traditional news sources and allow their authors to purvey commentary, Congressional blogs are extremely tame. In many cases, staff members - not the legislators themselves - post entries, and they rarely link to other blogs, as most blogs do.

[...]

At this stage, he added, members of Congress are primarily experimenting with blogs as a creative means to reach voters, not as a way to attract the attention of the blogosphere - the bloggers' realm, which can sometimes be an incubator of ideas and news. "The Hill has yet to really reach that level of sophistication" with the Internet, he said, but "there are people that do get it."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:15 PM | | Basie! Home

"Senate Democratic leaders will target two Republican leaders seeking re-election in 2006 by visiting their states in a two-day blitz next week that’s designed to drum up opposition to President Bush’s effort to overhaul Social Security," Roll Call reports.

"Specifically, Democrats will single out Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R) and Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl (R) for seconding Bush’s contention that the system is in “crisis” — a notion Democrats roundly dispute."

"Democrats say they plan to mount vigorous challenges to both GOP Senators in 2006, in a bid to wrest control of the Senate from Republican hands."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 6:39 PM | | Basie! Home

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Gov. Rick Perry are continuing to trade "subtle and not so subtle digs" against each other as they position themselves for the 2006 Texas gubernatorial race, according to the Dallas Morning News. Hutchison was scheduled to speak at the Harris County GOP's annual dinner on Tuesday night, but hours before she took the podium, Perry released a list of endorsements from Houston-area Republican leaders. "If it sounded like the dinner's guest roster, it was no accident," reports the paper. Even county GOP chairman Jared Woodfill -- the master of ceremonies for the program -- was on the list. Hutchison has not made her candidacy official, and she did not speak directly about Perry at the dinner. But she has established a campaign team that by all counts would be overkill if she is planning to return to the Senate, the paper reports.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:59 AM | | Basie! Home

"Then why did he go to the New York Times? ... he should have gone on 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos,' then he would have been sure no one would ever see them."

-- Jay Leno, on Doug Wead's claim he didn't want to make the Bush tapes public.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:04 AM | | Basie! Home

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's job approval ratings -- though still high -- have deflated markedly among state voters, who now see him as partisan and more tied to special interests, a new Field Poll shows.

The poll shows that 55 percent of the state's voters approve today of the job Republican Schwarzenegger is doing -- compared to 35 percent who disapprove and 11 percent who hold no opinion.

But that is a 10 percentage point drop from just six months ago, when 65 percent of the voters saw him positively and only 22 percent viewed his job performance negatively.

"Schwarzenegger's readings are coming down from the stratosphere,'' said Field Poll Director Mark DiCamillo. "It's almost like he's coming down to earth, where most politicians reside.''

In another important measure of public mood, the poll also shows that a majority of registered voters -- 53 percent -- believe the state is headed in the wrong direction, with 35 percent saying California is heading in the right direction. That is a significant increase from September, when 46 percent said the state was on the right track and just 38 percent said the wrong track.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:01 AM | | Basie! Home

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) will be making trips to New Hampshire and Iowa this spring, but not necessarily to launch a presidential campaign.

Gingrich, who is promoting his new book, Winning the Future, told reporters yesterday at a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor that he will travel to the presidential primary battlegrounds to ensure that his conservative ideals remain relevant in the 2008 presidential campaign.

Asked if he will ever run for elected office again, Gingrich said, “It strikes me as implausible,” adding that he would not rule anything out.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:30 PM | | Basie! Home

A new Florida poll is prompting fresh speculation that Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) will challenge Sen. Bill Nelson (D) next year.

In the survey, conducted Feb. 16-20 by the GOP firm Strategic Vision, Harris garnered 38 percent of Republican voters. Trailing the second-term congresswoman were state Attorney General Charlie Crist, with 19 percent, and state Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, with 13 percent.

The poll also showed Harris beating other well-known politicians in the race for the GOP Senate nomination, including former Rep. Bill McCollum, who has run unsuccessfully for the Senate twice; Reps. Mark Foley and Dave Weldon; and Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings.

[...]

In a general-election match-up, Nelson easily defeated Harris, with 46 percent backing the Democrat, 39 the Republican and 15 undecided.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:13 PM | | Basie! Home

Senate Democrats hope to use this week to block President Bush's Social Security public relations campaign, countering state visits by Bush, Cabinet members and congressional Republicans with a series of town hall meetings, roundtables and "real people press conferences," Democratic sources said. According to Senate aides, Minority Leader Harry Reid asked each member of the Senate Democratic Caucus to hold at least one event during this week's Presidents' Day recess focusing on Democratic charges that Bush's Social Security plan would reduce benefits and increase the national debt. In a memo sent to all 45 Democratic senators' press secretaries late last week, Reid aide Jim Manley warned staff that, "With the administration aggressively making their case to the American people through presidential visits and Cabinet secretary travel, it is important that we do our best to drive our message into the states when we can."

Manley outlined the types of events Senate Democrats could host, ranging from a traditional news conference to rolling out the party's "debt calculator" to the "real people press conference." At those, members of various age groups would be held up "to illustrate the serious questions -- benefit cuts in particular -- raised by the president's privatization proposal." Manley also provides talking points that mirror the recent shift in Democratic rhetoric away from denouncing Bush's argument that Social Security is facing a "crisis" to a willingness to "strengthen" the program.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:53 PM | | Basie! Home

Jonathan Singer: You were part of a generation of Democrats in the Senate -- including other people like Frank Church, George McGovern, Birch Bayh, Gaylord Nelson -- who helped enact a large body of progressive legislation that makes America great today. But now, the President and the Republicans are trying to overturn much of your work. How do the Democrats regain that momentum?

Walter Mondale: It is true that the agenda of the Bush administration and of many in the Congress is a radical assault on the legacy of Roosevelt and the Lyndon Johnson Great Society years and many of the fundamental reforms that were put in place in the period that I served in the Senate and the White House. But I must say I don't know what the Democrats do to regain momentum.

We got through the last election. The President won, albeit by a minor edge, but he did win. We dropped four or five seats in the Senate and we're now in a position where [it's] not even clear that we're going to be successful in blocking legislation through Rule 22.

Certain people have to rethink this thing, and realize what's happening to them and to their lives, and more importantly to their children and their opportunities for mobility and progress. I don't think that's happened yet. I hope it will. Until it does, I'm afraid we're going to have a deeply divided nation. At least as of now, the Democrats will be blanked out of the South, out of the Mountain states and out of a good deal of the Midwest, which means that it's going to be very hard to get the Senate back. Now this can change quickly, but talking right now, I don't have an answer to your question.

Singer: Speaking of Rule 22, during your service as Vice President in the late 70s, you issued a number of parliamentary rulings that affected the rules surrounding the filibuster. Given this experience, what are your feelings towards Senate Majority Leader Frist's consideration of the so-called "Nuclear Option," ridding the Senate of judicial filibusters?

Mondale: I'm very much opposed to it and I don't believe it's very good law.

My view is that the Senate can shape its own rules, and the Rule 22 now requires that 60 percent of the -- 60 votes in the Senate are required to impose cloture, and I think where nominations are concerned it may be a little higher (I'm a little vague on that right now). But I think if we ever went to majority rule it would really undermine the capacity of the Senate [to] advise and consent, and I think the people who voted for it would see that the Senate as a unique institution in the world would rapidly diminish in stature.

The Constitution talks about "advise and consent." A President doesn't appoint judges, he nominates judges. The President only has half the action. The other half [of the] action is the independent discretion of the Senate. If it was just a case of majority rule, they'd be able to jam all the stuff through without the traditional ability of the Senate to ventilate these issues. So I'm very much opposed to it.

A long time ago when I was Vice President I once ruled that a majority could change the rules. I changed my mind while I was in the Senate and a few years ago gave a speech at the Senate Leadership Conference saying that I believe majority rule would undermine the Senate in a profound way. So I'm very much opposed to it.

Singer: Now speaking of your term as Vice President, John Nance Garner famously said the Vice Presidency is -- we'll say it as -- "not worth a warm bucket of spit*." You're widely credited with reshaping the office and gaining real clout in the White House. As subsequent Vice Presidents have taken more and more power in the government, culminating in the central role of Dick Cheney in this administration, do you feel the balance of power needs to begin moving in the other direction? Do Vice Presidents hold too much power today?

Mondale: I believe that we did change the Vice Presidency, principally Jimmy Carter. We did what we call "executive-ized" it. Before then, the Vice President was both in the Executive and Legislative branches, but wanted by neither. Under Carter, the Vice President moved into the White House and became a principal aide with the President. I think that's been a very useful, important institutional change in American government.

What I'm worried about now is that under Cheney, a very important line I think has been breached. In other words, I don't consider that there are two Presidents. I don't think there should be a President and a Prime Minister. I think only the President should have Presidential executive authority. And what I'm worried about is that this Vice President has set up, in effect, his only National Security Council. He feels free to go anywhere -- including into the CIA and so on -- and directly press government officials to respond to his views. I'm afraid that the necessity of these agencies and these key officials in providing the President with their own honest advice may be compromised and undermined by this, what I consider to be, excessive use of the Vice [Presidency].

I think the Vice President should never, ever put himself in the position within the administration to appear to be speaking for the President unless he actually has been authorized to do so by the President. Otherwise, I think there's a tendency if he's not careful, that he will chill or intimidate the open advice given to him by key leaders in the administration. And from what I hear, that's going on now.

Singer: Now moving on to your run for the President in 1984, a central part of your platform was reducing the immense Reagan deficit. With a burgeoning deficit today that is set to explode in the years after Bush's term is completed -- in 2009, it could reach into the 500-700 billion range -- is there any possibility of restoring fiscal balance.

Mondale: I think it's a very, very serious problem. We have unprecedented deficits now, and with these massive tax cuts and these other out year commitments -- and the President has been very careful to let the good news arrive during his time and pay for it after he's gone -- that the rising deficits could have really catastrophic consequences for our economy. I noticed today that the dollar is dropping, the market has taken a big hit -- and part of it is that the price of oil has gone up -- but the big story is the South Koreans started selling American dollars and buying European currency. I think there's an increasing shakiness in confidence in the American dollar, which is essential to America's strength.

So I think we've got to do something about these deficits. I would take back those big tax cuts for the wealthy. I would restore what we used to have, a pay-go system where anything you want to do in the budget, you've got to pay for if it costs money, so you have the discipline at the time you do something popular that involves trying to keep the budget in good balance.

In my opinion -- and I worked hard for the Budget Act and I was on the Budget Committee and I did some work on this from the White House -- in my opinion, the use of the budget making process by this administration is becoming increasingly cynical. The Budget doesn't really tell you what the administration knows. It didn't include the cost of what they call the Supplemental for the War in Iraq. It doesn't include the cost of amending the Alternative Minimum Tax that costs in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Lots of things in that Budget that mislead and undermine an honest discussion of the Budget. So we need honest budgeting and we need a much stronger Congress that uses its Congressional Budget Committees and offices to hit back harder than they're doing now.

It can happen. You know it was just three years ago when we were running a $300 billion -- four years ago -- a $300 billion surplus. So this is a self-inflicted and irresponsible action that's undermining the strength of our country.

Singer: Well you certainly have a wealth of experience in dealing with this and I know your party turned to you three years ago, two and a half year ago, to be its standard bearer after the death of Paul Wellstone. But The Washington Post's Michael Leahy wrote an article this weekend on the treatment given to former presidential nominees, focusing on George McGovern. Do you feel that people like McGovern, Bob Dole, Michael Dukakis and yourself receive the appreciation and respect from their parties that they -- that you -- deserve?

Mondale: I think it's just fine. You know, those of us who run are just American citizens who happen to be nominated to run for an office. Some of us get elected, some of us don't. But I think it's a very healthy thing in America to remember that all of us are just citizens. We're not entitled to anything extra.

Having said that, I think people like George McGovern, with their wonderful public careers, in his case, a wonderful war hero record and all that he's done for our country and the world, I think he deserves respect for that, and not just because he happened to be a nominee. I wouldn't think that's worth much.

Singer: Speaking of the nominee, John Kerry, this year's nominee, lost the election quite narrowly, and the Democrats, as you said, lost quite a few seats in the Senate, but the House was about even, especially when you consider what happened in Texas with the redistricting. How do you read the results of the November election? Was it as much of a blowout or a mandate as the Republicans have made it seem?

Mondale: I thought it was a marginal, but disastrous election for us. Marginal because it wasn't won by much. In fact in the House the number of seats in the House only reflected the games that were played in Texas; if it hadn't been redistricted between censuses, we would have exactly the same number of Congressmen we had last time. Nevertheless, that four or five seats we lost in the Senate, four or five we've lost in the House, plus the election of the election -- the President this time won, unlike the last one -- I think has given them momentum and ability to shape things that is disastrous.

Singer: Now looking ahead to 2006, the chances of retaking the Senate are perhaps slim, but they're very much contingent on keeping the close seats that are held now. Your Senator Mark Dayton recently announced he will not seek another term, and a number of leading Minnesota Democrats, including Al Franken and yourself, have declined to take a run. Any feelings on who might pick up the nomination? Will the Democrats even be able to hold the seat?

Mondale: There's a long list of them, and it's getting longer as we talk. I'd just as soon not get into particular names, but there's ten or fifteen out there that are thinking about it. I think we've got a pretty good chance of holding the seat. The Democrats simply must hold it. Minnesota is, I think, by a narrow margin, but by a palpable margin, still a Democratic state. And I think if we get a good nominee, and I think we will, we'll win, but I'd just as soon not get into names right now.

Singer: Just one last question about Minnesota politics, then I'll let you go. Minnesota has long been a breeding ground for national politicians from both parties, such as Harold Stassen, Warren Burger, Hubert Humphrey and of course yourself. What do you think of the next generation of Minnesotans? Are they fit to carry the mantle that you--

Mondale: Yeah. I think we've got some good leadership coming up. We elected a lot of new members of the state legislature, we've got good leadership in the state Senate, we've got people like Amy Klobuchar, the County Attorney, Betty McCollum, the Congresswoman from St. Paul. I don't want to get into names, because it gets me in a trap here, but we've got several gifted, impressive young public leaders coming up.

Singer: That's good to hear. Again, I can't tell you how much of an honor it is to speak with you. Thank you so much for taking the time and have a wonderful day.

Mondale: I'm very glad to do it and I wish you the best.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 3:39 PM | | Basie! Home

Sen. Rick Santorum said today he plans to introduce a bill next week to increase the minimum wage by $1.10 over the next two years. "My sense is this is probably a good time [to increase the wage] with the economy growing the way it has," Santorum, R-Pa., said during a question and answer session at a forum on Social Security at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Republicans last year blocked Democratic attempts to increase the minimum wage, which has remained at $5.15 an hour since 1997, to $7 an hour over two years. Santorum's proposal is similar to an alternative Republican plan discussed last Congress to raise the minimum wage to a lesser amount -- Democratic aides put the figure at $6.25. But that Republican alternative was never offered as stand-alone legislation or as an amendment.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:05 AM | | Basie! Home

President Bush earlier this month dispatched top White House official Frances Fragos Townsend to head an official U.S. delegation attending an "anti-terrorism" conference in Saudi Arabia -- a conference that aired vile anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist canards. Saudi Cleric Aed Al-Qarni noted at the conference that "The first to kill and use terrorism in the world were the Jews," according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI); the cleric went on to describe September 11th as "an American terror attack."

According to White House press secretary Scott McClellan, President Bush spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Abdallah on February 14th and "complimented the Crown Prince on last week's successful counter-terrorism conference in Saudi Arabia."

In addition to the American delegation led by Townsend, who serves as President Bush's Homeland Security Advisor with the rank of Assistant to the President, the conference included participation from nations including Iran, Syria and Sudan -- all state sponsors of terrorism, according to the Department of State. Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ) first warned President Bush to avoid the conference in a February 4th letter to Bush.

Throughout and surrounding the conference, various Saudi clerics noted that "Jews and the Christians are Allah's enemies," and that Jihad -- including attacks by insurgents in Iraq -- is appropriate. In a poem read before Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan, it was noted that Osama bin Laden "was sent by the Jews."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:07 AM | | Basie! Home

"It perpetuates this myth that every Filipino is eating it [...] But they're not."

Hawaii State Rep. Alex Sonson, on a bill to "ban the slaughter of dogs and cats for food"

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:39 AM | | Basie! Home

"I think I know what Bush meant when he said he had a 'mandate.'"

-- Bill Maher, on gay escort Jeff Gannon/J.D. Guckert being allowed in the White House as a reporter

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:35 AM | | Basie! Home

Americans are split down the middle on President Bush's job performance, with 49% approving his conduct of office and 50% disapproving, despite doubts about his handling of the Iraq war, a new Zogby International survey finds. The same survey found a slight jump in the percentage that believe the nation is on the wrong track, with 48% choosing that option and 46% saying the nation is heading the right direction. The poll of 921 likely voters was conducted nationwide from February 14 through 17, 2005 and has a margin of error of +/-3.3 percentage points.

The survey also found that while a slight majority (52%) support the war in Iraq, nearly three-in-five (57%) likely voters rate President Bush's handling of that war negatively.

"The President's approval ratings have been on a plateau since the election—the nation remains evenly-split on his performance in office," said pollster John Zogby. "What is interesting, though, is the growing majority of Americans who do not believe President Bush—and his administration—have properly conducted the war in Iraq. And remember, this poll comes just two weeks after elections that were viewed positively."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:25 AM | | Basie! Home

The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will hear a challenge to the nation's only assisted suicide law, taking up the Bush administration's appeal to stop doctors from helping terminally ill patients die more quickly.

Justices will review a lower court ruling that said the U.S. government cannot sanction or hold doctors criminally liable for prescribing overdoses under Oregon's voter-approved Death with Dignity Act. Since 1998, more than 170 people — most with cancer — have used the law to end their lives.

Arguments will be heard in the court's next term, beginning in October.

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft filed the appeal last November, on the day his resignation was announced by the White House. He argued that physician-assisted suicide is not a "legitimate medical purpose" and that doctors take an oath to heal patients, not help them die.

Oregon lawyers counter that regulation of doctors generally has been the sole responsibility of states. The U.S. attorney general has no authority under the federal Controlled Substances Act to punish doctors because Congress intended the law only to prevent illegal drug trafficking, they say.

A panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Oregon last May.

"The attorney general's unilateral attempt to regulate general medical practices historically entrusted to state lawmakers interferes with the democratic debate about physician-assisted suicide," wrote Judge Richard Tallman in the 2-1 opinion.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:20 AM | | Basie! Home

A powerful earthquake shook central Iran on Tuesday, destroying villages, cutting power to the area, killing at least 175 people and injuring more than 330, state-run television reported.

TV footage showed a village in Kerman province almost flattened by the 6.4-magnitude earthquake, with few mud-built walls standing. Residents were shown digging frantically amid collapsed slabs of concrete and piles of dirt in a bid to find buried friends and relatives.

"All hospitals in Zarand are filled to capacity with the injured. Hospitals in the town cannot receive any more of the injured," the broadcast said, showing images of elderly women and men lying on beds with various injuries.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 1:23 AM | | Basie! Home

In the fall of 1983, Cato made clear that it was preparing for a protracted fight. It published a paper by Heritage Foundation scholars Stuart M. Butler and Peter Germanis that called for "guerrilla warfare against both the current Social Security system and the coalition that supports it." They compared the drive to Nikolai Lenin's effort to undermine capitalism: "Lenin well knew to be a successful revolutionary one must also be patient and consistently plan for real reform." [emphasis added]

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:33 PM | | Basie! Home

Yes, today is Presidents Day, and you know what that means. It's time to go out and buy some patio furniture! But first, take advantage of our huge inventory of useless presidential material from the book "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into the Presidency":

• All U.S. presidents have worn glasses.
  
• James K. Polk had a mullet.
  
• Of all the presidents, Warren G. Harding had the biggest feet. He wore size 14 shoes.
  
• George Washington loved cream of peanut soup.
  
• James Madison was the first president to wear long trousers. (Previous presidents wore knee breeches.)
  
• John Tyler was on his knees playing marbles when informed that he had become president.
  
• Ronald Reagan saved 77 people when he worked as a lifeguard.
  
• Calvin Coolidge liked having his head rubbed while he ate breakfast in bed.
  
• Warren G. Harding once gambled away an entire set of White House china.
  
• Richard Nixon once worked at the Wheel of Fortune game booth at the Slippery Gulch Rodeo.
  
• Thomas Jefferson's favorite vegetable was the pea.
  
• John F. Kennedy's nickname at Choate prep school was Rat Face.
  
• The first asteroid named after a president was Hooveria.
  
• During the 1790s, the White House lavatory consisted of an outdoor wooden privy.
  
• Bill Clinton usually wears briefs rather than boxers.
  
• The Bushes are related to Benedict Arnold, Marilyn Monroe and Winston Churchill.
  
• George Washington was an enthusiastic spelunker.
  
• Chester A. Arthur owned over 80 pairs of pants

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 5:39 PM | | Basie! Home

Fifteen months ago, President Bush and Congress fixed Medicare, or at least that is what they told the public. Enacting the new prescription drug benefit and some modest measures to stimulate private competition was so exhausting that both parties declared victory and moved on. Bush and congressional Republicans are tackling Social Security and Medicaid this year.

The reality, though, is that Medicare has not been fixed. The program that 41 million senior citizens rely on for health care is in worse financial shape than Social Security, the retirement program Bush says he wants to rescue from a coming fiscal crunch. Far from trimming Medicare’s spending, the legislation that Congress passed in 2003 may have made the program better for seniors, but it piled on billions of dollars in new spending and trillions of dollars in long-term liabilities.

[...]

Medicare faces a larger long-term crisis than any other program in the social safety net, yet it is off the table for this year, and for reasons that speak volumes about the inability of the nation’s leaders to solve the biggest problems. Medicare’s fixes will be more painful than Social Security’s: not just tax increases or payment cuts, but possibly even a halt to certain kinds of care. The repairs will not appeal to younger voters, the way Republicans think Social Security private savings accounts will. The prospect of more changes to the program upsets the powerful health care industry, which is just getting used to the last ones. And a “sweetener” — the one time-honored trick that might make painful changes go down more easily — is no longer available. For Medicare, adding the drug benefit was the sweetener.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 5:03 PM | | Basie! Home

From the right wing American Spectator [caught by Daily Kos]

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 4:25 PM | | Basie! Home

Finally, if George Washington were running for president against George W. Bush and the election was being held today, for which candidate would you vote, George Washington or George Bush?

Among Republicans

Bush 62%
Washington 28%

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 12:27 PM | | Basie! Home

Hillary Clinton and John McCain could make for a dream presidential contest judging by the two senators' mutual praise yesterday.

McCain said he was "sure that Sen. Clinton would make a good President," when asked by NBC's "Meet the Press" moderator Tim Russert during a joint appearance from Baghdad. "I happen to be a Republican and would support, obviously, a Republican nominee, but I have no doubt that Sen. Clinton would make a good President," McCain (R-Ariz.) said.

Clinton (D-N.Y.) returned the compliment and said McCain "absolutely" would make a great commander in chief.

But a fusion ticket?

"We're both in trouble," McCain quipped.

"Yeah, we're in trouble now. Thanks a lot," Clinton said.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:04 AM | | Basie! Home

Specifically, almost six in 10 (59%) adults now favor bringing most troops home in the next year and 39 percent favor keeping a large number of troops in Iraq until there is a stable government there. In November, less than half (47%) favored bringing troops home and half (50%) favored keeping troops in Iraq.

However, the public remains split on whether the invasion of Iraq strengthened (46%) or weakened (48%) the war on terrorism.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:22 AM | | Basie! Home

Young workers can retire richer by investing Social Security taxes in private accounts, and people older than 55 will feel no impact from changes, President Bush has said. But in between, a generation faces a future that is likely to be less secure under his plan.

Workers now in their 40s would suffer the deepest cuts in guaranteed retirement benefits payable under current law, an analysis by The Oregonian has found. At the same time, they have the least chance to recoup reductions by investing in stocks and bonds.

The effect of President Bush's evolving plan for Social Security would depend largely on market returns -- a variable that has swung widely in recent years. But in all except best-case scenarios, 40-somethings would fare worse than if Congress did nothing at all.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:21 AM | | Basie! Home

The Arab League chief said Monday that Syria will "soon" take steps to withdraw its army from Lebanese areas in accordance with a 1989 agreement.

The announcement by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa came after a meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"Assad stressed more than once his firm determination to go on with implementing the Taif agreement and achieve Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon in accordance with this agreement," Moussa said.

"Syrian withdrawal is part of Syrian policy and will see steps in this direction very soon," Moussa quoted Assad as saying.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 7:45 AM | | Basie! Home

The valuable federal tax deductions that people receive for paying local and state taxes have quietly started to vanish for many households, raising the cost of living in places like New York, Massachusetts and California, already among the nation's most expensive.

The culprit is a once-obscure federal tax provision known as the alternative minimum tax, which was created in 1969 to ensure that a relatively small number of wealthy people did not use loopholes to avoid paying taxes.

But it is increasingly being applied to families with incomes of $75,000 to $250,000 a year who claim relatively high deductions - like the ones for property taxes, state and local income taxes - and the exemption for children. When it does apply, it cancels some of those deductions.

[...]

The interplay between local taxes and the A.M.T. has in effect become a face-off between two forces that many economists consider unsustainable: the rising federal budget deficit and the continuing leaps in home prices. Left unchanged, the alternative tax would produce more revenue by 2009 than the ordinary federal income tax, according to the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute.

[...]

If the tax remains, living in many localities will become more expensive, potentially curtailing the growth in home values that has been a major boon to the economy recently. It could also create pressure to cut property taxes, the major source of public education funding in many communities.

Without a change in the A.M.T., 30 million taxpayers are likely to face it five years from now, many of them concentrated in high-tax states.

The tax falls hardest on states that are overwhelmingly Democratic, including Connecticut, Maryland and Oregon. Some Dermocrats say the uneven effect is one reason that the provision has not yet been changed.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:23 PM | | Basie! Home

Hunter S. Thompson, the acerbic counterculture writer who popularized a new form of fictional journalism in books like "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," fatally shot himself Sunday night at his Aspen-area home, his son said. He was 67.

"Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family," Juan Thompson said in a statement released to the Aspen Daily News.

Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis, a personal friend of Thompson, confirmed the death to the News. Sheriff's officials did not return calls to The Associated Press late Sunday.

Juan Thompson found his father's body. Thompson's wife, Anita, was not home at the time.

Besides the 1972 drug-hazed classic about Thompson's visit to Las Vegas, he also wrote "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72." The central character in those wild, sprawling satires was "Dr. Thompson," a snarling, drug- and alcohol-crazed observer and participant.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:41 PM | | Basie! Home

To help set USA Next's strategy, the group has hired Chris LaCivita, an enthusiastic former marine who advised Swift Vets and P.O.W.'s for Truth, formerly known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, on its media campaign and helped write its potent commercials. He earned more than $30,000 for his work, campaign finance filings show.

Officials said the group is also seeking to hire Rick Reed, a partner at Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm, a firm that was hired by Swift Vets and was paid more than $276,000 to do media production, records show.

For public relations, USA Next has turned to Creative Response Concepts, a Virginia firm that represented both Swift Vets - the company was paid more than $165,000 - and Regnery Publishing, the publisher of "Unfit for Command," a book about Senator John Kerry's military service whose co-author was John E. O'Neill, one of the primary leaders of Swift Vets.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the White House doesn't want anything to do with a group that is attacking the AARP [...] We are not going to drag them into this mess."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:28 PM | | Basie! Home

Israel will free 500 Palestinians on Monday in its largest prison release in nearly a decade as a goodwill gesture to bolster peace efforts with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinians say Abbas needs a large-scale release to persuade militant groups to formalize a ceasefire he agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at a Feb. 8 summit. Some 8,000 Palestinians are held by Israel.

Prospects for peacemaking in the Middle East have strengthened since Abbas was elected to succeed Yasser Arafat on a platform of non-violence and persuaded the armed factions to follow a de facto truce.

The release of prisoners comes a day after Israel's cabinet approved a plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, marking the first time Israel decided to dismantle settlements on land Palestinians want for a state.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 5:32 PM | | Basie! Home

Half of Russia's nuclear materials that can be used by terrorists plotting new attacks against the United States remain unaccounted for, a US senator with access to classified intelligence information charged.

John Rockefeller, vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said the situation with Russian loose radioactive materials and other possible components of nuclear weapons made him wonder whether Russia was a greater proliferation threat than North Korea, which has publicly claimed to have a nuclear weapons arsenal.

Members of the committee received last week a detailed briefing from Central Intelligence Agency officials on security threats faced by the United States.

"In the sense that half of the nuclear materials, pieces and parts of it, are unaccounted for by the Russians -- and a lot of them, these places are in rural areas -- I think you can ... have a real debate as to which is more threatening to the world right now," said the Democratic senator, appearing on the "Fox News Sunday" television program.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 4:27 PM | | Basie! Home

Shiites and their clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance, which received nearly half the election votes, were to decide in coming days on their choice for prime minister.

The two main candidates so far are the former Pentagon favorite Ahmad Chalabi, a secular Shiite, and Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the interim vice president.

Chalabi last week claimed in an Associated Press interview that he had enough support among the 140 alliance delegates elected to the National Assembly to beat Jaafari. He repeated the assertion in an appearance Sunday on ABC's "This Week" television show with George Stephanopoulos.

"I believe I have a majority of the votes on my side right now," Chalabi said.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 1:52 PM | | Basie! Home

Gov. Ted Kulongoski is considering former congressman and fellow Democrat Les AuCoin for appointment to the Oregon Board of Forestry, potentially adding a strong conservation voice to a panel sometimes criticized as favoring the timber industry.

Environmental groups agree that it would better balance logging with fish and wildlife concerns on the board.

AuCoin "would not have been our first choice," said Susan Ash of the Audubon Society of Portland. "But he'd approach clean water, fish and wildlife concerns with a more balanced perspective than the person he'll replace."

[...]

The timber industry is maneuvering to fight AuCoin's nomination. [emphasis added]

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:26 AM | | Basie! Home

FOX NEWS SUNDAY: Sens. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.); former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

THIS WEEK (ABC): John Edwards, former Democratic vice presidential candidate; and Ahmed Chalabi, candidate for Iraqi prime minister.

FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.).

MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Hillary Clinton and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

LATE EDITION (CNN): Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.); former Iraq Governing Council member Adnan Pachachi; Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan; National Basketball Association players Manu Ginobili, Grant Hill and Shaquille O'Neal; Billy Hunter, executive director of the NBA Players Association; NBA Commissioner David Stern; Bush and Bill Clinton.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:09 PM | | Basie! Home

Mr. Bush, who has acknowledged a drinking problem years ago, told Mr. Wead on the tapes that he could withstand scrutiny of his past. He said it involved nothing more than "just, you know, wild behavior." He worried, though, that allegations of cocaine use would surface in the campaign, and he blamed his opponents for stirring rumors. "If nobody shows up, there's no story," he told Mr. Wead, "and if somebody shows up, it is going to be made up." But when Mr. Wead said that Mr. Bush had in the past publicly denied using cocaine, Mr. Bush replied, "I haven't denied anything."

He refused to answer reporters' questions about his past behavior, he said, even though it might cost him the election. Defending his approach, Mr. Bush said: "I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions. You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried." [emphasis added]

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 7:57 PM | | Basie! Home

They are not large in number, but the Mormon Democratic Congressional Caucus is determined to dispel the perception that the words "Mormon" and "Democrat" cannot be used to describe the same person.

Under the direction of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Nevada, three of four members of the caucus met earlier this week to discuss issues relevant to the LDS community and to discuss how to raise the profile of Mormon Democrats.

Joining in the meeting were Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M. Rep. Eni Faleomavaega, a nonvoting member of Congress from American Samoa, was not able to attend but plans to participate in the future.

"Legislation is the art of compromise, and a strong two-party system is fundamental to our democracy," said Reid, who as leader of all Senate Democrats is the highest-ranking LDS member of Congress. "I believe strongly that Democrats have many of the same issues at heart as do membership of the church."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 5:27 PM | | Basie! Home

Stocks could show some weakness next week as earnings season winds down, while inflation and interest-rate worries stoke investors' concerns about future profits.

Oil prices around $48 a barrel could also keep up the pressure on the markets, strategists said.

[...]

On Friday, Wall Street got a warning shot from a bigger-than-expected jump in U.S. producer prices, excluding food and energy. The core Producer Price Index shot up 0.8 percent in January, the government reported.

That increase -- the biggest gain since December 1998 and well above the Street's expectation for a 0.2 percent rise -- fanned inflation fears and bolstered a growing expectation that the Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates well into 2005.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 3:17 PM | | Basie! Home

The United States warned Syria on Friday that it must help investigate the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri or face the possibility of further sanctions.

Washington this week recalled its ambassador from Damascus because of its displeasure over Hariri's killing as well as its long-standing accusations that Syria allowed people in the country to help the Iraqi insurgency and to support attacks on Israel.

Washington has previously told Syria to withdraw its 14,000 troops from neighboring Lebanon, crack down on anti-Israel militants it believes operate in the country and stop what it says is support for the Iraqi insurgency across its border.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 2:57 PM | | Basie! Home

There is a guy who sits, during every game, in the press box of a major league baseball stadium. And he is issued a credential each season because it turns out the owner of the team likes the canolis that the guy makes at his bakery.

The first time he appeared, with a seat in the back row with a nameplate affixed to it, we knew he wasn’t exactly the new man from Sports Illustrated. He had a certain problem with, well, language (he said a player with a strained muscle near where his legs meet was out with a “groan injury”), and with forgetting that the proper response to an error on the field by the home team was not to stand up and start screaming at the player — nor weeping.

As soon as this gentleman arrived, the real baseball reporters questioned the team’s press representative as to who this guy was and what was he doing there. And they got some concessions out of the team— like, this man couldn't go into the clubhouses or on the field and ask questions of the players while the reporters were trying to get answers to include in their reports.

In short, ‘Groan Injury Man’ was better vetted by that ballclub than James Guckert alias Jeff Gannon was vetted by the White House press office.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:01 AM | | Basie! Home

U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon has joined a Florida Republican in sponsoring a bill giving the same tax breaks to those who commute by bicycle as those who drive or take mass transit.

The 3rd Congressional District Democrat and Rep. Mark Foley introduced the Bike Commuter Act, which would include bicycle riders in a federal transportation fringe benefit. Employers now may offer a monthly tax-exemption benefit totaling $200 for parking or $105 for transit and car-pool expenses. Blumenauer and Foley’s bill would extend the benefits to bike commuters.

“It’s time to level the playing field for bicycle commuters,” Blumenauer said. “People who bike to work should have the same financial incentives as those who use transit or participate in a qualified parking plan.”

Blumenauer introduced the bill in advance of the March 16 to March 18 Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. Blumenauer, a leading advocate for urban livability, founded the Congressional Bike Caucus, which had 164 members from both parties in the last Congress.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:31 AM | | Basie! Home

Eight suicide bombings in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq killed at least 23 people, including a U.S. soldier, and injured 70 as Shiite Muslim worshippers around the country celebrated their holiest day of the year.

The attacks came one day after at least 36 people, mostly Shiites, were killed in a string of attacks.

Saturday's bombings, during the religious festival of Ashoura, occurred despite stepped-up security around the country. Authorities had hoped to prevent a repeat of last year's attacks during Ashoura in which insurgent blasts killed at least 181 people in Karbala and Baghdad.

The attacks occurred as a five-member U.S. congressional delegation, including Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and John McCain, R-Ariz., met with Iraqi government officials in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:04 AM | | Basie! Home

The comptroller general has issued a blanket warning that reminds federal agencies they may not produce newscasts promoting administration policies without clearly stating that the government itself is the source.

Twice in the last two years, agencies of the federal government have been caught distributing prepackaged television programs that used paid spokesmen acting as newscasters and, in violation of federal law, failed to disclose the administration's role in developing and financing them.

And those were not isolated incidents, David M. Walker, the comptroller general, said in a letter dated Thursday that put all agency heads on notice about the practice.

In fact, it has become increasingly common for federal agencies to adopt the public relations tactic of producing "video news releases" that look indistinguishable from authentic newscasts and, as ready-made and cost-free reports, are sometimes picked up by local news programs. It is illegal for the government to produce or distribute such publicity material domestically without disclosing its own role. [emphasis added]

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 12:19 AM | | Basie! Home

Howard Dean, the newly minted leader of the Democratic Party, and former Pentagon adviser Richard Perle made clear their opposing views on the war in Iraq during a debate marred by a protester who tossed a shoe at Perle.

Perle had just started his comments Thursday when a protester threw a shoe at him before being dragged away, screaming, "Liar! Liar!"

Perle, a Pentagon official during the Reagan administration, was more recently chairman of the Defense Policy Board, a group of non-government experts who advise the defense secretary. He was a major proponent of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, while Dean was among the war's most prominent opponents.

Sometimes it's hard to know who your friends are — even if they're helping you fight a war. President Bush, who hopes to coax more Iraq support from European allies next week, used to boast that some 50 nations had joined the United States in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Today, a public listing is nowhere to be found.

One thing, though, is clear: The coalition is shrinking. "I expect to see the coalition countries begin paring down their forces as they complete their contributions," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told the House Armed Services Committee this week.

While a current list of coalition countries — those helping out in Iraq with troops, equipment, monetary or political support — is not easy to come by, there is a public listing of the countries that have actual troops in Iraq. These 20-plus countries, which have combat and support forces in Iraq under the command of Gen. George Casey Jr., make up the multinational force.

Daniel Goure, a Defense Department official in the first Bush administration, said current Bush officials apparently decided to start talking about a "multinational force" instead of a "coalition" to avoid questions about which countries were in or out.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 6:52 PM | | Basie! Home

• President Bush’s ratings are 48 percent positive, 51 percent negative, down slightly from his November ratings of 50 percent positive and 49 percent negative.
  
• Vice President Dick Cheney’s ratings at 45 percent positive and 52 percent negative are also down from his 48 percent positive, 50 percent negative ratings in November.
  
• Condoleezza Rice, who is coming off her inaugural foreign trip as new Secretary of State, achieves a 52 to 40 percent positive rating. This is better than the President though her initial ratings are far below those of her predecessor, Colin Powell, who consistently has been the most popular member of the president’s cabinet over the last four years. As a point of comparison, Powell left office with a rating of 66 percent positive, 32 percent negative.
  
• Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s ratings at 42 percent positive, 56 percent negative are the lowest that The Harris Poll has measured for him. These are down substantially from the 47 percent positive, 50 percent negative rating in November.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 2:22 PM | | Basie! Home

President Bush said Friday the United States does not intend to attack Iran to crush its suspected nuclear weapons project, and he expressed hopes that a European diplomatic initiative would persuade Tehran to abandon any such program.

In an interview with European journalists at the White House, Bush was asked about an opinion poll showing that 70 percent of Germans believe the United States is planning military action against Iran.

"I hear all these rumors about military attacks, and it's just not the truth," said Bush, who leaves Sunday for Europe to mend fences with allies. "We want diplomacy to work."

Bush said he supports European nations' efforts to persuade Iran to scrap its uranium enrichment program in exchange for technological, financial and political support. But he did not address U.S. reservations about Europe's approach.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 1:57 PM | | Basie! Home

According to the Idaho MOUNTAIN EXPRESS, state Senate Minority Leader Clint Stennett, a Democrat, is weighing his options, and will declare in "a couple of months" whether he will try for his party's nomination to succeed Republican Gov. Dirk Kempthorne in 2006. 1st District Congressman C.L. "Butch" Otter, a Republican, already has announced his candidacy for governor. "It's moved from thinking about it to serious consideration," Stennett told the paper. He said he was influenced by the fact that it is an open seat, a non-presidential year and a non-senatorial year. Republicans usually dominate federal election contests in Idaho and they have held the statehouse since 1995. "It's an uphill battle," Stennett said. "It's a steep, uphill battle that is doable."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:18 AM | | Basie! Home

"I'm going to lose my hair. There's no doubt about that.I'm now considering the alternatives of . . . either a new sex symbol or wearing baseball caps."

-- Sen. Arlen SPECTER, R-Pa., preparing for chemotherapy to treat his Hodgkin's disease.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:14 AM | | Basie! Home

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Thursday that Social Security is not in "crisis" as President Bush has declared, but emphasized that Congress must quickly address future funding problems in the program and far larger shortfalls in Medicare.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:10 AM | | Basie! Home

Four explosions ripped through Baghdad on Friday, killing at least 28 people and injuring dozens on the eve of Shiite Islam's most important holiday, officials said. It was the deadliest day since Iraq's landmark elections last month.

Suicide bombers attacked two Shiite mosques after Friday prayers ended, another explosion occurred near a Shiite religious procession and a third suicide bomber blew himself up at an Iraqi police and National Guard checkpoint in a Sunni neighborhood.

The attacks — the deadliest since last month's elections — recalled bombings on the Ashoura holiday a year ago that killed at least 181 during the religious festival.

In northern Iraq, meanwhile, three American soldiers were killed in separate attacks Wednesday and Thursday, the U.S. military said.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:35 AM | | Basie! Home

The House's top two Republicans strongly rejected an idea floated by President Bush to raise the ceiling on wages subject to the Social Security payroll tax, with Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay saying yesterday that they would consider that a tax increase.

Underscoring the fluidity of the debate over Bush's proposal for restructuring the 70-year-old retirement program, DeLay (Tex.) said he will not rule out an increase in the retirement age to hold down costs. But he flatly opposed subjecting more of the earnings of higher-income people to the Social Security tax.

"This Republican House didn't come here to raise taxes," DeLay said on Fox News. "We can solve this problem without raising taxes."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 7:58 PM | | Basie! Home

A Jewish Republican group greeted Howard Dean's election to chair the Democratic National Committee this week with an ad campaign seeking to depict him as a supporter of terrorism.

The group, the Republican Jewish Coalition, placed full-page advertisements in the Washington newspaper Roll Call and in Jewish weeklies around the country, featuring a large picture of Hamas members decked out in costumes resembling suicide bombers. Above the photo, referring to a long-recanted September 2003 quote from Dean, is the statement: "DNC Chairman Howard Dean Says, 'It's not our place to take sides.'"

Beneath the photograph, the ad features 2003 quotes from Democrats, including Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who criticize Dean's remark.

[...]

The anti-Dean advertisement is the latest in a series of apparent Republican attempts to link Democrats to terrorists and terrorism supporters in hopes of weakening the party's overwhelming Jewish support. During last year's presidential campaign, the Republican parties of Florida and Ohio sent mailings to Jewish households with a picture of John Kerry between pictures of the late Yasser Arafat and former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohammed, who is known for his antisemitic speeches. "Two infamous foreign leaders have stepped forward from the shadows to endorse John Kerry," the mailing said.

In Florida, Republicans printed and displayed stickers and banners claiming, inaccurately, that "Arafat endorses Kerry." The then-ailing Palestinian chairman never had expressed a preference for any candidate, but his aides had criticized President Bush for inattention to the peace process and expressed a wish for a different administration.

The strategy of linking Democrats did not appear to influence Jewish voting. Exit polls indicated that Jews in Florida and elsewhere gave about 75% of their support to Kerry this past November.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 3:32 PM | | Basie! Home

Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was so concerned about Talon News reporter James Guckert's potential ties to the Republican Party that he stopped calling on him at press briefings for about a week in 2003, Fleischer told E&P today.

"I found out that he worked for a GOP site, and I didn't think it was my place to call on him because he worked for something that was related to the party," Fleischer said in a phone interview. "He had the editor call me and made the case that they were not related to the Republican Party. He said they used the GOP name for marketing purposes only."

He said he resumed calling on Guckert, who used the alias Jeff Gannon, after Bobby Eberle, owner of both GOPUSA and Talon News, "assured me that they were not part of the Republican Party." Eberle is a Texas Republican activist and served as a delegate to the 2000 Republican National Convention.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 3:11 PM | | Basie! Home

"Pawlenty floats drug deal with Indians"

-- Minneapolis Star Tribune

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:04 AM | | Basie! Home

"Just remember, your family does love you and not everyone hates you."

-- Karl Rove to Maureen Dowd, in a note accompanying a bouquet of flowers

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:59 AM | | Basie! Home

White House aides collected empty chairs in an echoing Pease International Tradeport hangar before Bush took the stage since only about half of the 2,000 free tickets were taken.

-- The Boston Herald's David R. Guarino, on a Bush rally in New Hampshire

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:55 AM | | Basie! Home

Pennsylvania voters give incumbent Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell mixed grades, including a 51 - 33 percent approval rating, but he has solid early leads over possible Republican challengers, including Bill Scranton and Lynn Swann, according to a Quinnipiac poll released today.

Gov. Rendell had a 52 - 30 percent approval rating in a September 16, 2004, poll by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN uh-pe-ack) University.

Match-ups between Rendell and possible Republican challengers show:

• Rendell over State Sen. Jeff Piccola 52 - 28 percent;
  
• The Governor tops former Lt. Gov. William Scranton III 50 - 35 percent;
  
• Rendell over former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann 50 - 34 percent.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:51 AM | | Basie! Home

It may come as a shocker to Oregonians, but the governor’s name is being tossed around on some lefty weblogs these days as a contender for the Top Job in 2008.

No way, you say? Well, Democratic Freedom (libertariansforamerica.blogs.com) put him on a list of “people to watch in the next four years.” WesternDemocrat (www.westerndemocrat.com) listed him among 19 possible contenders. Daily Kos (www.dailykos.com) praised him, uh, sort of, by saying: “He does not appear particularly ugly or fat and seems to look like a regular guy.”

The Green Papers (www.thegreenpapers.com) was even less enthusiastic, calling him “vice-presidential fodder at best.” (The last veep named Ted — his friends called him that, anyway — was Spiro T. Agnew.)

What does Ted K. have to say about all this?

“Kulongoski,” he told Sources Say, “is easier to spell than Schwarzenegger.”

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:28 AM | | Basie! Home

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge met privately with Republican pollsters twice in a 10-day span last spring as he embarked on more than a dozen trips to presidential battleground states.

Ridge's get-togethers with Republican strategists Frank Luntz and Bill McInturff during a period the secretary was saying his agency was playing no role in Bush's re-election campaign were revealed in daily appointment calendars obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act.

"We don't do politics in the Department of Homeland Security," Ridge told reporters during the election season.

His aides resisted releasing the calendars for over a year, finally providing them to the AP three days after Ridge left office this month.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 12:55 AM | | Basie! Home

Israel's parliament easily passed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's contentious plan to pull out of Gaza and part of the West Bank, approving compensation of hundreds of thousands of dollars to families of settlers to be evacuated.

The 59-40 vote on Wednesday was the final parliamentary endorsement. But the pullout, marking the first time Israel would remove veteran settlements from the West Bank and Gaza, still has many obstacles to overcome — strident, even violent opposition by settlers and their backers, as well as attempts by opponents to scuttle the plan by bringing down Sharon's government.

[...]

The vote reflected a realignment in which dovish parties came out in favor of Sharon's plan, while many of his traditional pro-settlement supporters voted against. Vice Premier Shimon Peres of the Labor Party called the vote "a clear decision for peace," but the Settlers' Council said it marked "a black day for democracy."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 12:50 AM | | Basie! Home

Americans remain wary of President Bush's idea for overhauling Social Security, but show increasing confidence over developments in Iraq, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll has found.

The survey of 1,008 adults, conducted Feb. 10-14, found that 51% Americans consider it "a bad idea" to change Social Security by allowing workers to invest payroll taxes in the stock market, while 40% think it's a "good idea." That is essentially unchanged since January, despite Mr. Bush's attempt to drum up support for the idea in the State of the Union address and a cross-country tour. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.

In a further sign of trouble for Mr. Bush, 60% of those who consider private Social Security investments a bad idea describe their position as "completely firm." By contrast, just 31% of proponents describe themselves that way; 68% say they could yet change their minds.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 12:42 AM | | Basie! Home

House Republican leaders last night notified their 10 most vulnerable lawmakers that they will be the lucky beneficiaries of this year’s first ROMP (Retain Our Majority Program) fundraiser.

The list provides an early preview of who GOP leaders think need the most help from their fellow lawmakers. It also lets potential Democratic challengers know that any run will be expensive.

The 10 members are Reps. Bob Beauprez (Colo.), Mike Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Jim Gerlach (Pa.), Marilyn Musgrave (Colo.), Anne Northup (Ky.), Jon Porter (Nev.), Dave Reichert (Wash.), Rick Renzi (Ariz.), Rob Simmons (Conn.) and Mike Sodrel (Ind.). Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), who narrowly won his 2004 race, is not on the list.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:36 PM | | Basie! Home

"Chairman Hastings' firing of two highly respected members of the committee’s professional staff is one more step in the elimination of consideration of ethical violations in the House of Representatives."

-- House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) on the firing of two senior aides from the Ethics panel.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:20 PM | | Basie! Home

The insurgency in Iraq continues to baffle the U.S. military and intelligence communities, and the U.S. occupation has become a potent recruiting tool for al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, top U.S. national security officials told Congress yesterday.

"Islamic extremists are exploiting the Iraqi conflict to recruit new anti-U.S. jihadists," CIA Director Porter J. Goss told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

"These jihadists who survive will leave Iraq experienced and focused on acts of urban terrorism," he said. "They represent a potential pool of contacts to build transnational terrorist cells, groups and networks in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other countries."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:09 PM | | Basie! Home

Sen. James Jeffords may be a man without a party, but he has plenty of high-powered friends. Facing his first re-election bid since leaving the Republican Party, the Vermont independent on Wednesday got an endorsement from Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and a boost from Republican Gov. James Douglas, who said he will not campaign against Jeffords because he "has served the state well."

Jeffords, whose first 26 years in Washington were as a Republican, infuriated GOP leaders four years ago when he became an independent, saying the party had become too conservative for him. The move gave Democrats control of the Senate until the 2002 election.

Jeffords often sides with Democrats, and Leahy said he will do everything he can to ensure his re-election next year.

"Jim has shown the kind of independence you expect in Vermont," said Leahy, adding, "I look as this as a Vermonter, not as a Republican or Democrat."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:01 PM | | Basie! Home

The young Nevada man designated to chair the upcoming 2005 Young Republican National Convention in Las Vegas has been accused of embezzling registration fees from around the country to pay off bar tabs, personal loans and credit card debts.

Nevada's national committeeman for Young Republicans filed a criminal complaint Monday with the Reno Police Department alleging Nathan Taylor received more than $25,000 in registration fees and donations through his corporation, YRNC 2005, and spent almost all of it in the past year for personal use.

Taylor interned in Gov. Kenny Guinn's office during the 2003 Legislature and has worked for former Republican state Sen. Mark James and in Las Vegas City Hall, where he worked on projects for then-Councilman Michael McDonald.

He was actively involved with the state's Young Republicans when Nevada won the bid to host its first-ever national convention for the organization.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 4:27 PM | | Basie! Home

Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., announced Wednesday that he has Hodgkin's disease but expects to continue to work in the Senate while being treated.

"I have beaten a brain tumor, bypass heart surgery and many tough political opponents and I'm going to beat this, too," Specter said in a statement.

Hodgkin's disease is a type of cancer involving the lymph nodes. Specter will receive chemotherapy every two weeks for up to 32 weeks at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, a release from his office said.

Specter's doctor, John H. Glick, said he has an "excellent chance of being completely cured."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 4:15 PM | | Basie! Home

Iran and Syria, who both are facing pressure from the United States, said Wednesday they will form a "united front" to confront possible threats against them, state-run television reported.

"In view of the special conditions faced by Syria, Iran will transfer its experience, especially concerning sanctions, to Syria," Mohammad Reza Aref, Iran's first vice president, was quoted as saying after meeting Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otari.

"At this sensitive point, the two countries require a united front due to numerous challenges."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 12:57 PM | | Basie! Home

If the Senate contest were held today, Representative James Langevin has a substantial lead over incumbent Senator Lincoln Chafee. Forty-one percent indicate they would vote for Langevin, compared to 27 percent who say they would vote for Chafee. Among women, Langevin has a lead of 41 to 24 percent, while among men, he is ahead of Chafee by 41 to 32 percent. With Republican voters, Chafee leads Langevin by 43 to 30 percent, while Langevin is ahead of Chafee by 61 to 18 percent with Democrats and 36 to 31 percent among Independents.

If the Democratic candidate were Secretary of State Matt Brown, Chafee holds a lead of 39 to 25 percent. Among women, Chafee is ahead of Brown by 42 to 26 percent, while among men, Chafee leads by 38 to 24 percent. With Republicans, Chafee leads Brown 54 to 13 percent and Chafee also is ahead of Brown by 44 to 18 percent among Independents. Brown is ahead of Chafee among Democrats by 43 to 31 percent.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 12:50 PM | | Basie! Home

Talk about a puzzler. According to the Herald in Everett, Wash., federal officials from the Pentagon, Energy Department and CIA last week removed several documents from the papers of the late Democratic Sen. Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson that are archived at the University of Washington. The security people picked through 1,200 boxes of material and departed with about 10 documents, according to Carla Rickerson, head of special collections. Most of the Jackson papers cover his years in Congress from 1941 until his death on Sept. 1, 1983. A defense "hawk," he was ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee when he died. His widow, Helen, donated the collection to the university after his death. At that time, a team of university library staff removed classified information before making the files accessible to scholars and the public.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:25 AM | | Basie! Home

By any measure, Carly Fiorina had a bad week last week. The board of Hewlett-Packard ousted her as chairman, CEO and president after a nearly six-year tenure that saw profits lag and the company lose one-third of its market value.

On the upside, she got a golden parachute estimated at about $21 million.

And one more thing. All this could signal the beginning of her political career.

California political insiders say that she is interested in politics — and she would get a warm reception from Republicans. “I hope she does engage in the process, because we need good people,” says the chairman of the state’s Republican Party, Duf Sundheim. “I definitely would be encouraging, and I would love the opportunity to talk to her about it.”

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:36 AM | | Basie! Home

Former U.S. Rep. Martin Frost has signed a deal to be a political commentator for the Fox News Channel, the 24-hour cable network announced Tuesday.

Frost lost his Dallas-area congressional seat in November after redistricting engineered by Majority Leader Tom DeLay forced him into a race with Rep. Pete Sessions in a more Republican-friendly district. Frost served 26 years in Congress.

Most recently, Frost dropped out of the race for Democratic national chairman after failing to win the support of organized labor. Howard Dean won the chairmanship last week.

Frost served as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which focuses on re-electing House members, after the 1994 Republican landslide.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:37 AM | | Basie! Home

Incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum trails State Treasurer Robert Casey, Jr., a possible Democratic challenger, 46 – 41 percent, in an early look at the 2006 Senate race, according to a Quinnipiac poll released today. Another 11 percent are undecided.

Sen. Santorum has a 52 – 31 percent approval rating and voters say by almost the same margin that he "deserves to be reelected," the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

Santorum would top other possible Democratic challengers:

• 47 – 39 percent over former State Treasurer Barbara Hafer;
  
• 50 – 34 percent over former U.S. Rep. Joseph Hoeffel;
  
• 51 – 30 percent over former State Rep. T.J. Rooney.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:32 AM | | Basie! Home

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) waded into Republican territory yesterday, releasing a whip count of 29 Republicans he says are on record opposing “all or major parts of President Bush’s plan” for Social Security reform.

Given the GOP’s 14-vote margin in the House, Hoyer reasons that Republicans will need to initiate a more serious conversation with Democrats if they are nursing any hopes of passing a plan this session.

Hoyer’s cross-aisle whipping is indicative of the Democrats’ swelling confidence that the Social Security debate cuts in their favor and tracks with Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel’s (D-Ill.) strategy. He has been attempting to brand vulnerable GOP lawmakers who appear open to the president’s proposal, despite their stated opposition to privatization, as “flip-floppers.”

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:35 PM | | Basie! Home

The Bush administration's global AIDS program last fall awarded a grant to promote abstinence in African youth to a politically connected Washington advocacy group, even though the expert committee reviewing requests for government money judged the request "not suitable for funding."

The decision by the committee was overruled by the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a key agency implementing the five-year, $15 billion Bush AIDS plan. On Nov. 1, the administration's global AIDS office approved a grant for an unspecified amount of money to the Children's AIDS Fund.

The existence of the award was revealed yesterday in a letter by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) to Randall L. Tobias, head of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which is run out of the State Department.

Waxman is seeking details of the Children's AIDS Fund's grant application, why expert reviewers rejected it and why the decision was overruled by Andrew S. Natsios, USAID's head.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:27 PM | | Basie! Home

The United States has recalled its ambassador to Syria amid rising tensions over the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri of Lebanon.

Before departing, U.S. Ambassador Margaret Scobey delivered a stern note, called a demarche in diplomatic parlance, to the Syrian government, said an official who discussed the situation only on grounds of anonymity.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, announcing the move, said it reflected the Bush administration's "profound outrage" over Hariri's assassination.

Boucher did not accuse Syria of being involved in the bombing Monday in Beirut. "I have been careful to say we do not know who committed the murder at this time," he said.

But he said the deadly attack illustrated that Syria's strong military and political presence in Lebanon was a problem and had not provided security in the neighboring country.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 2:00 PM | | Basie! Home

Surely the most intriguing is that of Pete Coors, the Colorado beer scion who just orchestrated the merger with Molson, creator of Joe Canadian.

Coors, who lost his bid for a Colorado Senate seat, has advocated lowering the legal drinking age from 21 to 18 and was once stumped over the name of the Canadian prime minister, even though he was in negotiations with Molson. [emphasis added]

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:27 AM | | Basie! Home

"My only interest, if I am going to serve, would be in serving as an ambassador or in a position involving trade," Acklie wrote in a May 2001 "Dear Mike" letter to then-Gov. Johanns. The letter was contained in the official gubernatorial correspondence obtained by The Associated Press under Nebraska's open records law.

"Jack Oliver told me several weeks ago that he was informed that I would not receive one of the eight major ambassadorships but would be receiving an ambassadorship," Acklie wrote.

The owner of Crete Carrier Corp., a major trucking company, even wondered aloud why he hadn't yet landed an ambassadorship when other Republicans who helped elect Bush in 2000 had already gotten theirs.

"Most of the appointments have been made. That is perfectly OK, and if others have done more work for the party, are better qualified or have helped the Bush team more, I certainly understand," Acklie wrote. "I don't understand why I haven't heard a single thing after Jack Oliver's comment to me."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:23 AM | | Basie! Home

Sen. Jeff Bingaman said Monday that he will seek a fifth term in the Congress in next year's election.

The Silver City Democrat said in a statement Monday that he feels fortunate to have spent the last 22 years focusing on health care, education and job growth in New Mexico.

"I am committed to continuing my strong advocacy, and I look forward to having the opportunity to serve our state for another term in the Senate," Bingaman said.

[...]

He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1982 and won re-election with 63 percent of the vote in 2000 against Republican challenger Bill Redmond.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:16 AM | | Basie! Home

Texas state Rep. Mary Denny (R), chairwoman of the Texas House Elections Commission, has introduced legislation that could stop Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle’s investigation of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s (R-Texas) political operation.

Denny’s bill would establish a special office in the Texas Ethics Commission with the power to stop district attorneys from prosecuting violations of the state’s ethics code. BNA Money & Politics Report reported the potential threat to Earle’s investigation yesterday.

The legislation would require district attorneys to notify the special office of alleged violations before taking any action. The special office would have 45 days to review alleged violations and could prevent prosecution if after conducting its own investigation it determined the allegations to be unfounded.

District attorneys could only pursue a criminal prosecution if the office concluded an offense had been committed. The bill would take effect Sept. 1.

Fred Wertheimer, the president of Democracy 21, a government watchdog group based in Washington, immediately condemned the proposal as an attempt to shield DeLay from possible indictment.

“The Texas legislative scheme appears to be yet another blatant and irresponsible effort to shut down an enforcement process that could encompass House Majority Leader Tom DeLay,” said Wertheimer.

If indicted, DeLay would be required by House Republican Conference Rules to step down as majority leader.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:32 PM | | Basie! Home

A government contractor defrauded the Coalition Provisional Authority of tens of millions of dollars in Iraq reconstruction funds and the Bush administration has done little to try to recover the money, an attorney for two whistle-blowers told Democratic lawmakers yesterday.

The lawyer, Alan Grayson, represents two former employees who charged in a federal lawsuit that the security firm Custer Battles LLC of Fairfax was paid approximately $15 million to provide security for civilian flights at Baghdad International Airport, even though no planes flew during the contract term. Grayson said the firm received $100 million in contracts in 2003 and 2004, despite a thin track record and evidence the government was not getting its money's worth.

A former Coalition Provisional Authority official who briefly oversaw the airport security contract also spoke, depicting a temporary governing body awash with cash but lacking in the necessary controls to ensure that money generated from the sale of Iraqi oil actually went to rebuilding the country.

"I wish I could tell you that the Bush administration has done everything it could to detect and punish fraud in Iraq," Grayson said. "If I said that to you, though, I would be lying."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:15 PM | | Basie! Home

The American Jewish Committee today reaffirmed its support for the Senate's filibuster rule regarding judicial nominations. AJC's Board of Governors took the action in response to a public campaign for eliminating the filibuster rule.

"The Senate's centuries-old rule providing for the use of the filibuster gives voice to minority viewpoints and encourages consensus on appointments to the judiciary," the AJC Board said in its resolution. Changing the Senate rules "would eliminate this incentive for bi-partisan cooperation, eroding our system of checks and balances and diluting the Senate's role to provide 'advice and consent' on the President's judicial nominees."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:23 AM | | Basie! Home

"I had the greatest eight hours of my life. I mean, I was secretary of commerce, I was ambassador to England. Honestly, I had never felt better from the eight hours that I had."

-- Terry McAuliffe, on the time during election night when exit polling showed John Kerry the victor.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:14 AM | | Basie! Home

A test of the national missile defense system failed Monday when an interceptor missile did not launch from its island base in the Pacific Ocean, the military said. It was the second failure in months for the experimental program.

A statement from the Missile Defense Agency said the cause of the failure was under investigation.

A spokesman for the agency, Rick Lehner, said the early indications was that there was a malfunction with the ground support equipment at the test range on Kwajalein Island, not with the interceptor missile itself.

If verified, that would be a relief for program officials because it would mean no new problems had been discovered with the missile. Previous failures of these high-profile, $85 million test launches have been regarded as significant setbacks by critics of the program.

In Monday's test, the interceptor missile was to target a mock ICBM fired from Kodiak Island, Alaska. The target missile launched at 1:22 a.m. Monday EST without any problems, but the interceptor did not launch.

The previous test, on Dec. 15, failed under almost identical circumstances. The target missile launched, but the interceptor did not. Military officials later blamed that failure on fault-tolerance software that was oversensitive to small errors in the flow of data between the missile and a flight computer. The software shut down the launch; officials said they would decrease the sensitivity in future launches.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:12 AM | | Basie! Home

"I don’t have the slightest clue who Hillary really is. [...] All I see is a gal who knew she was as good as anyone else, and she saw this guy she could make something of, so she forfeited Illinois and went to Arkansas. That’s a hell of a move to make for a redneck, which is all he was."

-- Harlem Congressman Charlie Rangel, on New York's junior Senator

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:26 AM | | Basie! Home

"Maine farmers call for semen tax repeal"

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:24 AM | | Basie! Home

A new Gallup Poll, conducted Feb. 7-10, finds President George W. Bush's job approval rating has dropped to slightly below the levels measured in three January polls, and well below the 57% measured in Gallup's Feb. 4-6 poll that followed the State of the Union address. Furthermore, the president's approval rating on handling the economy has dropped below where it was in January, suggesting that the focus on the new budget and his Social Security plan may have negatively affected the president's public support.

Here's a graph of the president's job approval ratings over the last six months.



The poll suggests that Bush's public opinion gains following the Iraqi elections and the positive focus on his Feb. 2 State of the Union address have dissipated.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:20 AM | | Basie! Home

Responding to death threats against government ministers, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered law enforcement agencies Sunday to crack down on Jewish extremists opposed to the planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Cabinet ministers said the charged climate is reminiscent of the period before the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin who was in peace negotiations with the Palestinians. One minister warned Sharon himself could become a target. Extremists have put up posters across the country that say Rabin and the prime minister's deceased wife, Lily, are "waiting for Sharon."

Despite the concerns, Sharon's Cabinet approved a list of 500 Palestinian prisoners to be released in coming days, and several hundred Palestinian workers were permitted to return to jobs in Israel in line with agreements reached at a Mideast summit last week.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:39 PM | | Basie! Home

For President Bush, the budget sent to Congress last week outlines a painful path to meeting his promise to bring down the federal budget deficit by the time he leaves office in 2009. But for the senators and governors already jockeying to succeed him, the numbers released in recent days add up to a budgetary landmine that could blow up just as the next president moves into the Oval Office.

[...]

If Congress were to pass Bush's Social Security plan and permanently extend his tax cuts, the budget deficit would bottom out at $251 billion in 2008, then climb steadily to $335 billion by 2015, according to an analysis by The Washington Post and the House Budget Committee's Democratic staff. Those figures assume, however, that Bush will secure all of his proposed spending cuts, that he will need no more emergency war spending and that there will be no changes to the alternative minimum tax, which Bush and other politicians want to rewrite to keep it from affecting more middle-class families in coming years. The AMT originally was designed to make sure wealthy people couldn't avoid paying some taxes.

With a fix to the AMT, deficits in a decade would likely reach $650 billion to $700 billion, said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.). "The days of being everything to everybody are quickly coming to a close," he said, adding that a permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts would make it politically impossible to borrow the full cost of a Social Security fix. "We have to look at the deficit in a holistic way."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:14 PM | | Basie! Home

Gordon Smith sometimes shows up in expected places.

Right now, for example, on the subject of Social Security, he appears on a list called the "Conscience Caucus," kept on a liberal Web site called Talking Points Memo. It's a tallying of "those Republicans who either oppose the president's plan or appear open to doing so," and it counts 19 House members and five senators -- with Smith the only senator west of Ohio.

Is the Conscience Caucus the accurate address for him?

"That's an appropriate conclusion," says Smith. "I have not signed up to anyone's plan.

"I'm open to the debate. I'm keeping my counsel."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 1:16 PM | | Basie! Home

[G]overnment has only grown. The Cato Institute, a libertarian research institution, says overall federal spending has increased twice as fast under Mr. Bush as under Mr. Clinton. At the same time, the federal deficit is projected to hit a record high of $427 billion this year.

These trends seem likely to continue. The White House estimated last week that the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries, originally projected at $400 billion from 2004 to 2013, would, in fact, be $724 billion from 2006 to 2015. Republicans called for scaling back the benefit, but on Friday, Mr. Bush said no and vowed to veto any changes to the Medicare bill.

"The era of big government being over is over," declared Marshall Wittmann, a senior fellow at the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist Democratic research organization. That would certainly seem to be borne out in the record of the Republican revolutionaries, known as the "Class of 1994" for the year they were elected. Of the 30 who are still in the House of Representatives, 28 hsponsored bills in the last Congress that would have increased government spending overall, according to the National Taxpayers Union, an antitax group.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:31 AM | | Basie! Home

"If there’s a vast left-wing conspiracy, Emanuel is its high priest and rabbi."

-- Eleanor Clift, on the power of Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL)

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:25 AM | | Basie! Home

New and nearly final tallies of the votes cast in the Jan. 30 Iraqi national election show Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims won nearly half, 48 percent, of the 8.5 million votes cast, more than any other group but not enough to control the planned 275-member National Assembly without the help of others.

That help could come in the form of a coalition with the No. 2 vote-getters, an alliance of Kurdish candidates, who received nearly 2.2 million votes, or 26 percent of the votes cast, The Associated Press reported.

A ticket let by Ayad Allawi, the interim Iraqi prime minister, finished third, with nearly 1.2 million votes, or 13.8 percent, according to The A.P.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:17 AM | | Basie! Home

The battle for Ohio in last year's presidential campaign came with a huge price tag: $100 million for television advertising alone, according to a new study.

Ohio residents saw "a level of campaign activity unprecedented in modern times," according to the study released last week by five political science professors from the universities of Cincinnati and Akron.

"Everyone had the sense that this was the most intense campaign ever and, by gosh, it was," said one of the authors, John Green, of the University of Akron.

The election turned on Ohio's 20 Electoral College votes. Not until preliminary results were available early on Nov. 3 did Democratic challenger John Kerry concede.

Kerry and his Democratic allies spent $61 million on television ads compared with $39 million by President Bush and Republican groups. Together, the two campaigns spent as much on television ads as Bush spent nationwide to win the 2000 Republican nomination, the study said.

Both sides also spent an estimated $50 million for mailings, door-to-door contacts and phone calls, the study said.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 5:39 PM | | Basie! Home

The Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said Saturday they will not attack Israeli targets, but they refrained from officially joining a Palestinian cease-fire with Israel agreed upon during last week's summit in Egypt.

Leaders of both groups met Saturday with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who is trying to keep the fragile cease-fire intact.

A Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, told The Associated Press the group will wait to see whether Israel stops its military activities and targeted killings of Palestinian militants before deciding whether to join the truce agreed upon by Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Zahar said after meeting with Abbas that Hamas was "committed to what is called 'quietness'" until it determines whether Israel meets its truce obligations, including disclosing the criteria for releasing Palestinian prisoners.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 1:14 PM | | Basie! Home

FOX NEWS SUNDAY: Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

THIS WEEK (ABC): Sens. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) and former secretary of state James A. Baker III.

FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Karen Tumulty of Time.

MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), Israeli cabinet member Natan Sharansky and former presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan.

LATE EDITION (CNN): Sens. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and John D. "Jay" Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.); Govs. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.) and Bill Owens (R-Colo.); South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon; Imad Moustapha, Syrian ambassador to the United States; and Daniel Ayalon, Israeli ambassador to the United States.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:40 AM | | Basie! Home

"No Al Qaeda plan was turned over to the new administration," Dr. Rice wrote in an op-ed article for The Washington Post last March. She wrote that Mr. Clarke and his team "suggested several ideas, some of which had been around since 1998 but had not been adopted."

A strategy document outlining proposals for eliminating the threat from Al Qaeda, given to Condoleezza Rice as she assumed the post of national security adviser in January 2001, warned that the terror network had cells in the United States and 40 other countries and sought unconventional weapons, according to a declassified version of the document.

The 13-page proposal presented to Dr. Rice by her top counterterrorism adviser, Richard A. Clarke, laid out ways to step up the fight against Al Qaeda, focusing on Osama bin Laden's headquarters in Afghanistan. The ideas included giving "massive support" to anti-Taliban groups "to keep Islamic extremist fighters tied down"; destroying terrorist training camps "while classes are in session" and then sending in teams to gather intelligence on terrorist cells; deploying armed drone aircraft against known terrorists; more aggressively tracking Qaeda money; and accelerating the F.B.I.'s translation and analysis of material from surveillance of terrorism suspects in American cities.

Mr. Clarke was seeking a high-level meeting to decide on a plan of action. Dr. Rice and other administration officials have said that Mr. Clarke's ideas did not constitute an adequate plan, but they took them into consideration as they worked toward a more effective strategy against the terrorist threat.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:37 AM | | Basie! Home

The tension and intrigue surrounding a crucial federal drug advisory committee meeting next week, already high, reached a boil on Friday when Senator Charles E. Grassley charged that top federal drug regulators intended to suppress an important study.

The panel has been convened to discuss whether Celebrex and Bextra, heavily selling arthritis pills from Pfizer, hurt the heart and are worth their potential risks. But top officials of the Food and Drug Administration have forbidden Dr. David Graham, a drug-safety officer at the agency, to discuss before the panel a large study of that very question, said Dr. Gurkirpal Singh of Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Graham's co-author.

"We have significant new information that will alter the thinking about these drugs," Dr. Singh said. "I don't understand why they won't let us present this information."

Mr. Grassley, an Iowa Republican, wrote a letter Friday to the agency's acting commissioner, Dr. Lester Crawford, demanding to know by Monday the reason for the agency's decision.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:23 AM | | Basie! Home

While its previous owners considered adult entertainment "immoral," Adelphia Communications Corp., the country's fifth-largest cable television provider, last week became the first to offer hard-core adult films on pay-per-view to its subscribers.

"It's a very lucrative source of funds," said Dennis McAlpine, a media and entertainment industry analyst. "The cable companies and the satellite companies are programming agnostics in the sense that they don't care what the programming is. It's what the viewers want to see."

[...]

While the corporations generate millions in profits from providing adult content, their political contributions are often given to those elected, in no small part, because of their stance on "moral values."

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Comcast Cable has given millions in political donations since 1998. The national Republican Party committees are its biggest organizational recipient, with donations totaling $851,000. President Bush is its biggest individual recipient with $109,000 in donations.

Adelphia has given $166,000 to Republican committees, $17,000 to conservative Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., and $12,000 to Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., one of the most conservative members of the Senate.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 3:45 PM | | Basie! Home

Responding to growing congressional concern about the projected costs of the 2003 Medicare prescription drug law, President Bush today vowed to veto any legislation that seeks to pare back the new benefits. Speaking at a swearing-in ceremony for Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt, Bush called the law "a landmark achievement" and warned that "any attempt to limit the choices of our seniors and to take away their prescription drug coverage under Medicare will meet my veto." Newly revised 10-year cost estimates for the Medicare drug benefit touched off consternation among many on Capitol Hill this week, especially Republican conservatives who fought enactment of the law in the first place because of cost concerns. A defiant Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said he and others who opposed the drug bill should still send Bush legislation to scale back the benefit to low-income seniors only. "If he chooses to veto this, that's his choice," Flake said. "But I don't think he will."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:42 AM | | Basie! Home

"Now I have said to the president, I've said it to all of his advisers, and I've said to all of our folks, `Look it, you can't jam change down the American people's throat unless they perceive there really is a problem.'"

-- House Speaker Denny Hastert on Bush's push to reform Social Security

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:04 AM | | Basie! Home

The public's confidence in President Bush's job performance and the nation's direction has slipped in the opening weeks of his second term, particularly among people 50 and older, according to an Associated Press poll.

Adults were evenly divided on Bush's job performance in January, but now 54 percent disapprove and 45 percent approve. The number who think the country is headed down the wrong track increased from 51 percent to 58 percent in the past month.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:01 AM | | Basie! Home

Arthur Miller, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright whose most famous fictional creation, Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman," came to symbolize the American Dream gone awry, has died. He was 89.

Miller, who had been hailed as America's greatest living playwright, died Thursday night at his home in Roxbury of heart failure, his assistant, Julia Bolus, said Friday. His family was at his bedside, she said.

His plays, with their strong emphasis on family, morality and personal responsibility, spoke to the growing fragmentation of American society.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:54 AM | | Basie! Home

A day after Canadian officials suspended the use of a hyperactivity drug amid reports of deaths associated with its use, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa contended that United States health officials had asked the Canadian regulators not to do so.

Senator Grassley, a Republican, said on Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration had made the request of Canadian health officials because the F.D.A. could not handle another "drug safety crisis." Mr. Grassley said he was basing his contentions on reports from whistle-blowers within the agency.

[...]

Mr. Grassley, who has been investigating the Food and Drug Administration for about a year, demanded in a letter written on Thursday that the agency answer questions about any discussions its officials may have had with the Canadians about the drug.

Dr. Robert Temple, director of the F.D.A.'s office of medical affairs, said the agency's decision to permit the continued sale of Adderall was not influenced by the controversies swirling around the F.D.A.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:01 PM | | Basie! Home

House Democratic leaders yesterday sought the removal of two recently appointed Republicans from the House ethics committee, questioning whether their contributions to Majority Leader Tom DeLay's legal defense fund would color their judgment on issues involving him.

The committee deferred action last year on investigating any role played by DeLay (R-Tex.) in a corporate campaign-donation controversy in Texas that led to indictments of three of his political associates.

Rep. Lamar S. Smith of Texas contributed $10,000 to the defense fund and Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma donated $5,000, according to an analysis by the watchdog group Public Citizen.

[...]

Democrats and some Republicans have publicly criticized Hastert's realignment of the committee last week. The critics called removal of the panel's previous GOP chairman and two other Republicans a purge designed to stack the panel with DeLay supporters.

The evenly divided 10-member committee admonished DeLay last year for enlisting the help of federal aviation officials in a Texas redistricting dispute, for the appearance of linking political donations and legislation, and for suggesting he would support the candidacy of a Republican lawmaker's son in return for a vote for a Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:51 PM | | Basie! Home

Rep. Earl Blumenauer yesterday:

If this provision, the waiver of all laws necessary for quote improvements of barriers at the border was to become law, the Secretary of Homeland Security could give a contract to his political cronies that had no safety standards, using 12-year-old illegal immigrants to do the labor, run it through the site of a Native American burial ground, kill bald eagles in the process, and pollute the drinking water of neighboring communities. And under the provisions of this act, no member of Congress, no citizen could do anything about it because you waive all judicial review.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 7:20 PM | | Basie! Home

Jimmy Smith, who made the Hammond organ one of the most popular sounds in jazz beginning in the mid-1950's, died on Tuesday at his home in Phoenix. He was 76.

He died of unspecified natural causes, said his stepson and former manager, Michael Ward, who also said that his age of 76 was based on his birth certificate and not the birth date found in most reference books.

Before Jimmy Smith, the electric organ had been nearly a novelty in jazz; it was he who made it an important instrument in the genre and influenced nearly every subsequent notable organist in jazz and rock, including Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDuff, Larry Young, Shirley Scott, Al Kooper and Joey DeFrancesco.

By 1955 - which coincidentally was the year Hammond introduced its most popular model, the B-3 - he had an organ trio with a new sound that would thereafter become the model for groups in what became known as "organ rooms," the urban bars up and down the East Coast specializing in precisely the kind of blues-oriented, swinging, funky music that Mr. Smith epitomized. He continued touring and recording until just before his death.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 5:53 PM | | Basie! Home

Comedian and liberal talk show host Al Franken said Thursday he wouldn't run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mark Dayton next year, saying he was committed to his radio show for two more years.

"I believe in honoring my commitments," Franken said. "I agreed to do two more years on Air America radio."

Franken, a veteran of "Saturday Night Live," was born in New York City and lives there now, but grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis. He had talked about the possibility of challenging Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., in 2008, but Dayton's departure gave him the chance to run earlier without challenging an incumbent Democrat.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 12:21 PM | | Basie! Home

By a huge 42-19% margin, Americans think they are more liberal than their parents. And this is borne out by most of the questions in panel 3. Set alongside the replies to an identical set of questions asked by Gallup in 1995-97, Americans seem less supportive of the death penalty and more tolerant of both marijuana and homosexuals. On economic issues, they look less favourably on trade unions, but the number who think they pay too much tax has dropped from 66% to 56%.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:24 AM | | Basie! Home

Even so, Mr Bush's charge forward should be greeted with two big caveats. The first is that in his focus on Social Security he must not lose sight of the overall fiscal challenge—and the role his own policies have played in it. The long-term burden of Mr Bush's first-term tax cuts and spending increases is three times bigger than the looming Social Security shortfall. Pension reform is desirable; but it will not solve America's long-term fiscal problems, and if its political price is an out-of-control budget, that would be a serious mistake.

The second caveat is that Mr Bush must get the details of the reform right. Many are unresolved, but the basics are in place. He has ruled out raising payroll taxes or tampering with the benefits of anybody aged 55 or older—a political necessity. The plan's main idea is to let people divert up to a third of their payroll taxes into individual retirement accounts. In exchange, the account-holders would get smaller pensions from Social Security. The government would see its revenues fall in the short term, but its future liabilities would be lower as well.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:10 AM | | Basie! Home

The nation's largest seniors group is launching a new round of ads opposing President Bush's proposal to divert some Social Security taxes into private investment accounts. This time, AARP is aiming at a new audience: the young.
William Novelli, chief executive officer of the 35-million member organization, said Wednesday that AARP would air TV ads aimed at convincing younger workers that Bush's proposal would undermine Social Security and would not do anything to ensure the solvency of the retirement program.

AARP, which is open to people 50 and older, ran full-page ads in 53 newspapers in December and January opposing voluntary accounts that younger workers could invest in the stock market.

Speaking at the National Press Club, Novelli said his group's TV ads will attempt "to talk to young people," who polls find are skeptical that Social Security will be around when they reach retirement. "We will try a little humor this time," Novelli said.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:17 AM | | Basie! Home

Just one day after U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton decided not to run for a second term, comedian Al Franken may be throwing his hat into the ring.

Last year, Franken said he wanted to run for the Senate in 2008. But last night he told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that he is now considering his candidacy for next year.

Franken, a Minnesota native, plans to make an announcement live on his national radio show in Washington D.C. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS will be in the studio with Franken for that announcement.

The announcement is expected to come near the end of the broadcast, which will be around 1:45 p.m. [Central]

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:12 AM | | Basie! Home

"The idea was to recognize Mr. Peanut for his historical and cultural significance to this city."

-- Ron Williams, Suffolk, VA Treasurer, on placing the likeness of the famed "resident" on every vehicle registration card.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:36 AM | | Basie! Home

Here at E&P, we thought we'd join in the fun, since Deep Throat, whoever or whatever it is, is the most famous journalistic source in history. Send us your pick for the most likely candidate (to: letters@editorandpublisher.com), and we will tabulate the results. We will also award a free subscription to whoever is first to submit the correct name -- assuming, that is, we ever learn who he/she/it is.

In the early returns, based on dozens of submissions, the clear frontrunner is (ailing) Chief Justice Willam [sp] Rehnquist. Mark Felt holds second, and (ailing) President Ford is in third. Other interesting picks include: Ben Stein, Bill Casey, Leonard Garment, Henry Kissinger, G. Gordon Liddy, Earl Silbert, Steven Bull, Fred Fielding's secretary, and Richard M. Nixon himself ("he was so self-destructive").

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:31 AM | | Basie! Home

North Korea publicly acknowledged Thursday for the first time that it has nuclear weapons and said it won't return to six-nation talks aimed at getting it to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

The statement from the reclusive, Stalinist state dramatically raised the stakes in the two-year-old nuclear confrontation and posed a grave challenge to President Bush, who started his second term with a vow to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programs through multilateral talks.

"We ... have manufactured nukes for self-defense to cope with the Bush administration's ever more undisguised policy to isolate and stifle the (North)," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 12:13 AM | | Basie! Home

Most Americans are certain Social Security will go bankrupt but are not ready to embrace changes that would shore up the system's finances, according to two surveys by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University.

Seven in 10 Americans agree with President Bush that Social Security eventually will go bankrupt if Congress fails to act, though most predict that the system will not do so for at least two decades. Yet while Bush has warned of a crisis in Social Security, barely one in four Americans believes that a crisis exists.

More broadly, the polls raise serious doubts about whether Americans are willing to make the choices necessary to fix the system's financial problems. Solid majorities reject both increases in payroll taxes and decreases in retirement benefits, except for the wealthy. Experts agree that without new revenue coming in or less flowing out as benefits -- or both -- the Social Security system will not be able to pay all its promised benefits, perhaps as early as 2042.

Bush Approval

Approve: 50
Disapprove: 48

Strongly Approve: 32
Strongly Dissapprove: 37

Views on Social Security

Crisis: 27
Major Problems, but no Crisis: 46
Minor Problems: 22
No Problems: 4

Who Does a Better Job on Soc. Sec.

President Bush: 21
Congressional Republicans: 20
Congressional Democrats: 43

Will Social Security Go Bankrupt?

Yes, in the next 10 Years: 6
Yes, in 10-20 Years: 22
Yes, in 20-30 Years: 22
Yes, in 30+ Years: 19
No: 28

Private Accounts

Support: 54
Oppose: 42

Personal Accounts

Support: 57
Oppose: 40

Views on Social Security

Crisis: 26
Major Problems, but no Crisis: 50
Minor Problems: 16
No Problems: 5

Personal Accounts

Support: 46
Oppose: 46

Will Social Security Go Bankrupt?

Yes, in the next 10 Years: 8
Yes, in 10-20 Years: 24
Yes, in 20-30 Years: 17
Yes, in 30+ Years: 14
No: 31

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:33 PM | | Basie! Home

The conservative reporter who asked President Bush a loaded question at a news conference last month resigned yesterday after liberal bloggers uncovered his real name and raised questions about his background.

Jeff Gannon, who had been writing for the Web sites Talon News and GOPUSA, is actually James Dale Guckert, 47, and has been linked to online domain addresses with sexually provocative names. He has been under scrutiny since asking Bush how he could work with Senate Democratic leaders "who seem to have divorced themselves from reality." The information about Gannon was posted on the liberal sites Daily Kos, Atrios and World o' Crap.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:01 PM | | Basie! Home

Sen. John Kerry is contributing $1 million to the Democratic National Committee to support efforts by the next chairman, Howard Dean, in building grass-roots support for the party at the state level.

"Join me with a contribution of your own to show the incoming DNC chair that you want to support organizing in your own community," Kerry wrote in an e-mail to about 3 million supporters on his e-mail list.

"A new DNC chair will be elected at the end of this week," Kerry wrote of his one-time political rival. "Let's make sure he has everything he needs to start strong."

Kerry said Democrats need to have strong organizations at the state, local and precinct levels. Republicans were very effective at grass-roots organizing in the last election.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 6:13 PM | | Basie! Home

Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., said today that he will not run for re-election in 2006.

Dayton made the announcement this afternoon in a telephone conference call with reporters.

"I do not believe that I am the best candidate to lead the DFL Party to victory next year,'' Dayton said.

The senator made a brief statement and took no questions.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:54 AM | | Basie! Home

A Senate Democrat blasted the Bush administration Wednesday over plans to raise ticket fees for airline passengers — a budget proposal that would pay for a host of homeland security programs.

The proposed White House budget, released earlier this week, would raise existing ticket fees by $3 to help finance a $2.2 billion increase in the fiscal 2006 budget of the Department of Homeland Security.

"I am one of the strongest advocates for more transportation security resources in Congress," Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., wrote in a letter dated Wednesday to President Bush. "But we cannot balance the budget on the backs of the traveling public and small business people."

"You campaigned on a message of fear that your opponent would raise taxes upon taking office," added Lautenberg, a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "However, it turns out that the first act of your new term includes a proposal to raise taxes on millions of American families."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:41 AM | | Basie! Home

Nearly two-thirds of Massachusetts voters have a favorable impression of Gov. Mitt Romney and more than half think it's OK for him to leave the door open for a run for president even as he campaigns for a second term as governor, a new poll found.

But Romney's re-election is far from assured, with Romney and top Democratic rival Attorney General Tom Reilly running in a statistical dead heat for governor according to the University of Massachusetts poll.

The poll, conducted by the university's Lowell campus, also found that voters are more likely to trust state lawmakers than Romney when it comes to decisions about taxes and program cuts.

For Reilly, who has yet to announce his candidacy for governor, the poll held a kernel of good news. The poll had 45 percent of voters choosing Reilly and 41 percent choosing Romney in a head to head match, a statistical dead heat.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:27 AM | | Basie! Home

"What happened to our country?"

-- Actress Shannen Doherty (of 90210 fame) on Americans' obsession with "material things and the way people look and all of that."

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 8:00 AM | | Basie! Home

Sen. Hillary Clinton gets an all-time high 65 - 27 percent approval rating from New York State voters, who say 64 - 30 percent that she is honest and trustworthy, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Among Republicans, 38 percent say she is honest, along with 85 percent of Democrats and 55 percent of independent voters.

[...]

Looking at her 2006 reelection bid, Sen. Clinton tops Republican Gov. George Pataki 61 - 30 percent, and edges former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani 50- 44 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 7:45 AM | | Basie! Home

The Bush administration offered a new estimate of the cost of the Medicare drug benefit on Tuesday, saying it would cost $720 billion in the next 10 years.

That is much more than the $400 billion Congress assumed when it passed legislation creating the benefit in late 2003.

[...]

Representative Pete Stark of California, the senior Democrat on the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, said: "I told you so. We can't trust numbers provided by administration officials. They'll say anything to get a bill passed. And if the new drug benefit costs more, the extra money goes to their friends in the pharmaceutical industry, not to senior citizens."

Mr. Stark said the higher cost estimate showed that Congress should allow the secretary of health and human services to negotiate with drug manufacturers to secure lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries. The law forbids such negotiations. But Tommy G. Thompson, the former secretary of health and human services, said he wished Congress had given him the power to negotiate.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:41 PM | | Basie! Home

Here is the only possible explanation for this games-playing. President Bush is cutting, in some cases slashing, domestic programs. If he appears to be raising military spending by about 4 percent, well, some may think that's not excessive in a dangerous world. But if he seems to be raising it by 8 percent or 9 percent (again, not including the costs of the war in Iraq), that may seem a bit lopsided, warranting closer inspection.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 6:35 PM | | Basie! Home

While Fox News Channel remains the favorite network of Republican lawmakers, NBC's new anchor, Brian Williams, is the one turning GOP heads. Message guru and former MSNBC contributor Frank Luntz says in a confidential memo to Hill leaders that Williams has emerged as the "go-to network anchor" because of his brains and "lack of detectable ideological bias." Luntz credits NBC Executive Producer Steve Capus for "a flawless transition to a new generation of news anchor." Still, Fox and CNN lead the nets when it comes to GOP loyalty.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 3:13 PM | | Basie! Home

But the principal prescriptions Edwards offers from his own story of political survival are more tactical than ideological. He argues that Democrats should put more effort into convincing voters that many Republican candidates are too conservative — even in areas where Bush has remained popular. Democrats must show a friendly face, he says, but must strike first against their opponents and strike back when attacked. And Democrats need to enhance their reputation as strong on national security.

Too many Americans, he says, perceive Democrats as naive on such matters — as thinking that all will be right in the world “if everyone just joins hands and sings ‘Kumbaya’ with the bad guys.”

“We have to be willing to show Americans that when push comes to shove and national interests are at stake, that we can be as tough as anyone,” says Edwards, the top Democrat on the Military Construction Appropriations Committee for the past two years. He previously spent eight years as a chief deputy whip, acting as a liaison between the liberal-leaning House Democratic leadership and the caucus’ often disgruntled conservatives.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 12:58 PM | | Basie! Home

President Bush's proposal Monday that the Bonneville Power Administration charge market rates for its electricity ran into immediate fire from Republicans and Democrats in the Northwest delegation.

The move, contained in the president's 2006 budget, could add hundreds of millions of dollars in annual energy costs to the Northwest economy.

The budget, released Monday, says that the administration will propose legislation to require the BPA and the nation's three other power marketing administrations to gradually bring their electricity rates closer to market averages.

[...]

The annual increases would be capped at 20 percent, said Bruce Carnes, associate deputy secretary of Energy.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 11:07 AM | | Basie! Home

"Emanuel, 45, has been known to pinch people when he felt that words weren't strong enough to be persuasive."

-- The AP's David Espo on new DCCC Chairman Rahm Emanuel

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:18 AM | | Basie! Home

Pataki would lose to Attorney General Eliot Spitzer 51-35 percent and he would be beaten 58-32 percent in a race for Senate against Clinton.

[...]

“Rudy Giuliani, however, would beat Spitzer handily – today (49-40 percent). And in a match up of two New York political titans, a race between Rudy and Hillary for the U.S. Senate would have the Senator winning re-election comfortably (52-43 percent),” [Director of Polling Joe] Caruso said.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:13 AM | | Basie! Home

Although Gov. Bill Richardson has been coy since last November's election about whether he plans to run for president in 2008, he has told party leaders he will run, according to a Monday report by The Associated Press.

[...]

Richardson spokesman Billy Sparks downplayed the story -- but he didn't deny it.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 10:05 AM | | Basie! Home

A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of Iraqis outside an army recruitment center Tuesday, killing 21 other people and injuring 27 more, the U.S. military said. It was the deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital since last week's election.

There were conflicting reports about the attack, which occurred at an Iraqi National Guard headquarters at the Muthana airfield. Iraqi officials blamed the explosion on mortar fire and officials at Baghdad's Yarmouk Hospital said they had received 16 bodies from the scene, all of them army recruits.

But witnesses reported only one explosion, and the U.S. military said the blast was caused by a suicide bomber.

The al-Qaida in Iraq terror group, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the attack in an Internet statement.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:42 AM | | Basie! Home

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas declared Tuesday that their people would stop all military and violent attacks against each other, pledging to break a four-year cycle of bloodshed and get peace talks back on track.

With the flags of their countries whipping in the wind, Sharon and Abbas met face-to-face at a Mideast summit, smiling broadly as they leaned across a long white table to shake hands. In one sign the talks went well, Egypt and Jordan announced afterward that they would return their ambassadors to Israel after a four-year absence — possibly within days.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 9:32 AM | | Basie! Home

President Bush is requesting $419.3 billion for the Pentagon next year, a prodigious sum that exceeds the Cold War average and will grow larger still when fiscal 2006 supplemental spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is added. But buried within the rising defense budget are cuts to major defense programs that had lawmakers bracing for a brawl even before the budget was sent to Capitol Hill. The defense request is 15 percent higher in real, inflation-adjusted terms than the Cold War average, according to Steven Kosiak, a defense budget analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. It is driven by a nearly 8 percent boost in operations and maintenance spending to $147.8 billion, and an almost 5 percent hike in personnel accounts to $108.9 billion. By contrast, research and procurement accounts would get less-than-inflationary increases under the proposal. The White House would like $78 billion for military procurement and $69.4 billion for research and development initiatives.