Kerry digs a deeper hole

Posted by Frank James at 11:00 am CST

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) really has a way with words. Fortunately for Karl Rove, it’s a way that makes keeping a Republican Congress easier.

For Republicans, Kerry is the gift that keeps on giving. For Democrats, he’s turning out to be the October surprise and Halloween all wrapped into one.

The Internet, of course, is abuzz with a comment Kerry made during a Los Angeles campaign event last night.

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

Posted by Frank James 7:28 am CST

Democrats aren't happy with what they consider a slap on the wrist meted out by Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) to a staffer who threatened with revenge a former Kirk supporter who is supporting the congressman's opponent, Dan Seals.

So one prominent Democrat, Abner Mikva, who once occupied the seat 10th Congressional District, has asked U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to probe the actions of Kirk staffer Caryn Garber for criminal violations.

Posted by Frank James at 7:00 am CST

President Bush has recently taken to mocking Democrats for allegedly declaring victory before voters cast their votes exactly one day from day. And to a certain extent the minority party appears to be trying to validate the premise behind the president's taunting.

The Washington Post has an article today that reports on a competition between two Democrats for the House Majority Leader's job appears to have reignited between Reps. Jack Murtha of Pennsylvania and Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland.

Posted by Mark Silva at 6:40 am CST

Jeb Bush has run his last campaign, and now brother George W. Bush is running his. And the younger Jeb, stepping down as governor of Florida at year's end, has joined the eleventh-hour fundraising appeal and get-out-the-vote drive of the Republican Party to help the president defeat what Jeb Bush is calling a Democratic Party intent on gaining control of Congress with an "agenda of anger and revenge.''

In an e-mail appeal to millions of Republicans this morning, Jeb Bush is calling on those who cannot contribute any more money – the president already has raised close to $200 million for his party and its congressional candidates in this election cycle – to take part in telephone-calling to targeted Republicans in "key states.'' The president has been "vilified'' by Democrats, the media and Hollywood, his brother tells fellow Republicans, and now it's time "to make your voice heard.'' With Election Day one week away, he boasts that the president, first lady, vice president and GOP leaders have campaigned in 194 cities.

Happy Halloween.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Tuesday, October 31, 2006 as collected by the Associated Press.

President Bush is campaigning for Republican candidates in Georgia.

10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. MIDTERM ELECTIONS — George Washington University' Graduate School of Political Management hosts a panel discussion on the fate of the 2006 midterm elections, featuring leading political experts from both sides of the aisle and moderated by Christopher Arterton, dean of GW's Graduate School of Political Management. As campaigning draws to a close, the panel will focus in on the key races that will determine the outcome of congressional control.
Location: Room 2168, Rayburn House Office Building.

Posted by William Neikirk at 2:20 p.m. CST

A report issued by British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government warned today that global warming will devastate the world economy by 2050 and beyond if world leaders do little or nothing to stop it.

The price for inaction could be a worldwide depression every bit as severe as the Great Depression in the 1930s, said the report, perhaps the grimmest to date on the impact of climate change. And guess who will be advising the British government on how to deal with the problem? Al Gore.

Posted by Frank James at 11:16 am CST

It’s not often that you hear President Bush called soft on terror by another Republican. But that’s precisely what happened yesterday. Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, appearing on Fox News Sunday, agreed with interviewer Chris Wallace who asked him if he would equate supporting a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants with being weak on terrorism.

The issue came up because Santorum’s campaign is running an TV ad which links support for such immigration reform, his opponent Bob Casey Jr.’s position, with being a wuss on terror.

Posted by Mark Silva at 11:30 am CST

Every good Bush campaign-closer demands a stirring, patriotic country anthem, and the president rolled a beauty today with a campaign rally appeal for Republican control of Congress that underscores the president’s resolve to fight a war against terrorism – and to fight it in Iraq.

“The Democratic goal is to get out of Iraq,’’ the president said on stage in Statesboro, Ga., today. “The Republican goal is to win in Iraq.’’ And the goal of Aaron Tippen’s gallopping Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly is to carry Bush off stage with a patriot fervor in the closing week of a campaign in which the president maintains that American freedom itself is at stake.

Posted 9:57 am CST

David Lightman of the Hartford Courant has a story today that captures the ambivalence many voters have about the coming election: they're fed up with the Republican-led Congress but not persuaded that Democrats would do much better.

Tired Of GOP; Wary Of Dems

HARRISONBURG, Va. -- The mood on the streets of this small Virginia town is the same one dominating the political landscape across key states in this last full week before the Nov. 7 election: People are fed up with Republicans, but not sure they want to vote for Democrats.

Posted by Frank James at 7:10 am CST

Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio,) the House Majority Leader who looks like he could've belonged to Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack, is a reliable producer of good quotes. And he delivered on ABC News's This Week with George Stephanopoulos yesterday.

Stephanopoulos, very craftily to be sure, asked Boehner a damned-if-you-do-or-don't kind of question. "Your own senator, as I said, Mike DeWine, thinks Rumsfeld has to go. Do you agree?" Sephanopolis asked.

Posted by Mark Silva at 9:15 am CST

Every bluesman and wannabe-a-bluesman who picks up a guitar takes a crack at Sweet Home Chicago, but David "Honeyboy'' Edwards has earned the right to play it. In his time, he has played with Robert Johnson, author of the homage to this great northern city, terminus of an epochal migration from Mississippi that carried the music of the Delta with it.

Honeyboy is 91. So you know we weren't the only ones happy to hear the song at the close of his set on the south side of Chicago last night. Every time he rolls it out - "Baby, don't you wanna go?'' - the old bluesman born on June 28, 1915, in Shaw, Miss., has made it through another night.

"Honeyboy'' Edwards, second from right, at the University of Chicago last night. Photo by Mark Silva

Posted by Mark Silva at 10:30 am CDT

Vice President Dick Cheney, attempting to quash the controversy surrounding his remark that a dunk in the water for a suspected terrorist is a "no-brainer,'' insists that he was not condoning water-boarding -- and maintains that he wasn't even talking about water-torture; his radio interviewer was.

The vice president spent some time answering questions aboard Air Force Two en route to Washington, returning from speeches out west. He acknowledged that the Republican Party had gone through a "rough patch'' with the Mark Foley scandal this fall, but suggested that "momentum'' has turned toward the party's favor again. He noted the impact that falling gasoline prices might have on that. And, as for the GOP's campaign debate with Democrats on the war in Iraq, the need to tough interrogation and controversial surveillance techniques, Cheney said: "We're not pulling our punches.''

Posted by Mark Silva at 10 am CDT

With Election Day "around the corner,'' President Bush wants to talk about tax cuts, the ones that he has won, the ones he wants to make permanent and the ones that he warns Democrats will take away if they gain control of Congress in these midterm congressional elections. That's the message of his weekly radio address

Democrats are happier talking about the war in Iraq, as they attempt to connect Republican congressmen and candidates for Congress with the president's "stay the course'' policy. Jim Webb, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Virginia, says in his party's radio response to the president today that he hates to say "I told you so,'' but none of the president's strategies for victory have worked. Here are the duelling radio addresses delivered by the president and the Democratic candidate for Senate:

Posted by William Neikirk at 2:10 p.m. CDT

Vice President Cheney told a radio interviewer earlier this week that dunking terrorist suspects during questioning was a "no-brainer," creating a tsunami of protests that he was endorsing a torture technique known as "waterboarding." Not so, said the vice president's office. No way, said President Bush.

"This country doesn't torture, we're not going to torture," Bush told reporters Friday. "We will interrogate people we pick up off the battlefield to determine whether or not they've got information that will be helpful to protect the country." Cheney's office concurred.

(Vice President Cheney is interviewed at White House by Scott Hennen, host of the Hot Talk radio program on WDAY AM 970 in Fargo, N.D. White House photo by David Bohrer.)

Posted at 10:33 am CDT

Turning out the vote will become the greatest challenge for Republican and Democratic candidates alike fighting for the balance of power in Congress on Election Day.

And the Latino vote, a traditionally Democratic-leaning force, is high on the minds of candidates across the country. One of the key pitches this year is that the Hispanic vote matters more than ever for a party hoping to wrest control of Congress from the GOP. In some close races, notably Senate contests in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri and Rhode Island, and about a dozen House races, it could be decisive. See this account from today's Hartford Courant:

Posted by Frank James at 9:00 am CDT

For all those who believe media coverage of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has made him out to be a latter-day Mr.-Smith-Goes-to-Washington, there's the new Harper's magazine cover story whose essential point appears to be that the junior senator from Illinois is really shaping up to be a tool of the monied interest.

The piece by Ken Silverstein isn't available on the Harper's website so you'll need to go buy a copy of the magazine if you want to read the entire thing.

Posted at 7:00 am CDT

Glenn Thrush of Newsday has an interesting piece in his paper today about a person he describes as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's "former right-hand man" who has made sizable financial contributions to Sen. Hillary Clinton's political action committee.

It all seems very strange, given the way the New York senator has taken to beating Rumsfeld like a pinata whenever she gets the chance.

By Glenn Thrush
Newsday Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Stephen Herbits — Donald Rumsfeld’s former right-hand man at the Pentagon and once a trusted Iraq adviser — has allied himself with the defense secretary’s nemesis, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Friday, October 27, as compiled by the Associated Press.

The Commerce Department is releasing the Gross Domestic Product for the 3rd quarter, 7:30 a.m. CDT.

President Bush is meeting with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer this morning.

10 a.m. CDT-- MOUNT VERNON-FESTIVAL — Mount Vernon, George Washington's home, opens 25 new galleries and theaters in the new Donald Reynolds Museum and Education Center. Opening festival features author David McCullough, broadcaster Roger Mudd, 18th-century military re-enactors, and others.
Location: Mount Vernon, Fairfax County, Va.

Posted by William Neikirk at 5:35 p.m. CDT

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today that people should "just back off" and "relax" about the issue of setting timelines for Iraq to take control of its country.

In saying this, the defense chief sought to quiet the controversy arising from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's statement that he had not agreed to such timelines or "benchmarks" pushed by the Bush administration--that it was just an election ploy by the White House. Rumsfeld said the prime minister had not specifically rejected these timelines.

(Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld at Pentagon press briefing today. Defense Dept. photo by James M. Bowman.)

Posted by Mark Silva at 3:38 pm CDT

Add another volatile vote-driving issue stirring emotions anew as voters face the midterm elections of 2006: Same-sex marriage. If only the president can get this Republican candidate's name right.

President Bush, who has advocated but failed to win House or Senate approval for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union of man and woman, has found new cause to raise the issue on the campaign trail with the New Jersey Supreme Court's ruling this week that same-sex couples must be afforded the same rights as married couples. Another "activist court'' has demonstrated why Congress must act, the president said at a campaign fundraiser for a Republican candidate for Congress in Iowa today.

Posted by Frank James at 2:27 pm CDT

Congressional Republicans, especially those in the House, wanted a photo op of President Bush signing the “Secure Fence Act of 2006” and today they got it.

With illegal immigration being a major issue for many voters, and not just conservatives, House Republicans badly wanted the fence legislation heading into the mid-term elections.

Posted by Frank James at 8:45 am CDT

A day after President Bush's news conference in which he said his administration is seeking "benchmarks" from the Iraqi government that mark the progress of Iraqi forces towards effectively combatting the sectarian violence in the country, the Associated Press is reporting that the Iraqi prime minister has said the new U.S. position is just an election ploy.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki said this while apparently rejecting the administration's efforts to put on a clock the U.S. project to wholly turn over the security situation in the Middle Eastern country to the Iraqis.

(President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki at lunch with U.S. military personnel in July 2006 at Fort Belvoir, Va. White House photo by Paul Morse.)

Posted by Mark Silva at 7:15 am CDT

President Bush may have made his last best case for the war in Iraq before the midterm elections in which his party's control of Congress is at stake, but critics of the war see nothing new in his appeal.

Bush warns that it's premature to declare any victory for the Democrats on Nov. 7 -- though he sees a lot of people "dancing in the end zone'' here in Washington -- but whichever party wins on Election Day there appears to be a growing consensus among leaders in both aisles that a new direction is needed in Iraq. See this analysis of the president's press conference that appeared in today's Tribune:

Posted at 6:55 am CDT

If Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democrat running for reelection as an independent in Connecticut, is getting a lot of financial support from major Republican figures, his Democratic opponent, Ned Lamont, is not getting a lot of financial support from Senate Democrats.

In both cases, the parties' money is as telling an expression as any of who they see as most likely to win on Nov. 7. See this account of Lamont's support from his own party from the Hartford Courant:

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Thursday, October 26, as collected by the Associated Press.

President Bush is signing a border fence law today at the White House and later campaigning for Republicans in Iowa and Michigan.

9:30 a.m. CDT--- AFRICAN-AMERICAN VOTERS — Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies holds briefing on what factors will influence African-American voter turnout for the upcoming elections, and how the black vote will impact the outcome. With David Bositis, senior political analyst.
Location: 1090 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 1100.

Posted by Frank James at 3:35 pm CDT

President Bush appeared to take a thinly veiled shot at Illinois's junior senator during today's White House news conference.

He didn't mention Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) by name (it wouldn't have been "thinly-veiled" then.) But during a part of the press conference where the president alleged that there were "people" (read Democrats) who were acting as though they had won the election already, he was obviously thinking Obama.

"And we're going to win. Now, I know that defies conventional wisdom here. I'm not suggesting anybody in this august crowd has determined the outcome of the election already, but they're running profiles on who this person is going to be running this office, or this one that's going to be -- magazines have got all kinds of new stars emerging when they haven't won the votes yet."

It seems that Time magazine Obama cover really got under Bush's skin.

Posted by Frank James at 2:45 pm CDT

The Democratic National Committee has a new web ad meant to point out the Bush administration's change of direction in the use of the phrase "stay the course." It's worth a look.

Posted by Mark Silva at 11:45 am CDT

Acknowledging discouraging setbacks in the war in Iraq – including the greatest American death toll in a year of combat there – President Bush today faced the greatest threat to his party's chances on Election Day with a vow that the United States will be undeterred.

The president delivered an unusual report of the casualties that Americans are suffering – voicing a body-count of the 93 Americans who had died in Iraq so far this month – at a press conference in the East Room of the White House.

And with this appearance – the first time that he has staged two formal press conferences in one month – a solemn and resolute president displayed more candor about the difficulty of the struggle in Iraq than he has demonstrated before, while insisting that the U.S. is "winning.''

Posted by Frank James at 8:57 am CDT

Got an e-mail yesterday from Democratic operative David Sirota who is working for Democratic nominee Ned Lamont in the Connecticut Senate race against Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) who is running as an independent.

It contained a Lamont ad that is drawing a lot of attention because it reaches new heights of anti-Liebermanism.

The ad compares Lieberman's Iraq positions to President Richard Nixon's Vietnam position. You may have seen it already but here it is for those who haven't.

Posted by Frank James at 8:26 am CDT

In an interview aired this morning that Vice President Cheney had with National Public Radio senior correspondent Juan Williams, the veep said Iraq is not in a civil war.

But the order in which Williams asked his questions, invites the listener to reach the conclusion that the vice president may be wrong.

(Vice President Cheney during interview with Juan Williams, left, and unidentified sound technician. White House photo by David Bohrer.)

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Wednesday, October 25, as compiled by the Associated Press.

President Bush is meeting with President Leonel Fernandez of the Dominician Republic at the White House.

11:30 a.m. CDT--- SENATE RACES — Sens. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., chair, National Republican Senatorial Committee; and Charles Schumer, D-NY., chair, Democratic Senatorial campaign Committee, participate in a National Press Club Luncheon.
Location: National Press Club.

Posted by Frank James at 2:26 pm CDT, updated at 3:10 pm CDT

House Speaker Rep. Dennnis Hastert (R-Ill.) is before the House Ethics Committee now. He's been there for more than two hours, presumably explaining his role in the Foley Affair.

His appearance before the panel today followed hard on the heels that of Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.,) who has publicly said he told Hastert earlier this year about former Republican congressman Mark Foley's innapropriate communications with House pages.

Hastert has said he doesn't remember Reynolds mentioning this Foley problem to him. There's many a reporter in Washington who would love to be inside the room to see how Hastert's lack of recollection is playing, especially with the Democrats on the panel who are no doubt smelling blood.

Posted by Frank James at 8:06 am CDT, revised at 10:45 am CDT

Is the Republican National Committee's playing the race card in a television ad against Rep. Harold Ford Jr., the African-American who hopes to be the first black elected to the Senate from a southern state since Reconstruction?

It certainly looked like it to William Cohen, the former Clinton administration Defense Secretary and one-time Republican U.S. senator from Maine.

Posted at 8:04 am CDT

Social Security is not going away -- at least not the issue.

Experts warn that the benefits themselves will disappear sometime in the not-too-distant future if leaders in Washington don't address the fundamentals of making the system sound for generations to come. Politicians are dancing around the question for now. Experts say it's time to get serious.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Tuesday, October 24, as compiled by the Associated Press.

President Bush is in Florida campaigning for Republicans.

7 a.m. CDT-- ELECTION ANALYSIS—Mid-term election analysis with former House Majority Leaders Dick Armey and Dick Gephardt. Also featuring Charlie Cook, Editor and Publisher of The Cook Political Report; moderated by Governor James J. Blanchard, Chair, Government Affairs Practice, DLA Piper.
Location: Willard InterContinental Hotel Ballroom

8:30 a.m. CDT COLLEGE TUITION-REPORT — Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board, releases findings from Trends in College Pricing 2006, Trends in Student Aid 2006, and Education Pays Update 2006.
Location: National Press Club

Posted by Mark Silva at 4:38 pm CDT

President Bush insists that the United States stay the course in Iraq, but he isn’t talking about staying the course anymore. The White House says that term leaves “the wrong impression’’ about what’s going on.

“I don’t think he’s used that term in a while,’’ White House spokesman Tony Snow said today at the daily press briefing, adding a little more emphatically: “He stopped using it.’’

Posted by Frank James at 3:09 pm and updated at 8:10 pm CDT

The Congress and the White House haven’t been on the same wavelength when it comes to how and when President Bush should sign the legislation to authorize the 700-mile fence on the nation’s border with Mexico, a barrier meant to slow down illegal immigration.

Passing the border-fence legislation was one of Congress’s last, much ballyhooed acts before it adjourned to allow members to return to their states and districts to campaign.

Posted by Mark Silva at 10:06 am and updated at 10:35 am CDT

The nascent Iraqi government has a long "to-do list'' of chores necessary to secure the country, the White House says, but the Bush administration has set no deadlines or ultimatums for getting the job done. However, the outcome of November's elections could change all this, one Democratic leader suggests.

As violence in Iraq has registered a dramatic daily death toll of Iraqis – and brought the most deadly month this year for American military forces operating inside Iraq – the White House has faced pressure from critics of the war to set timetables for the administration's strategy of "standing down'' as the Iraqis "stand up.'' But the White House said today that there has been no change in the strategy of working with the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in attempting to achieve its political and military goals.

Posted at 8:48 am CDT

The outcome of the Senate race in one of the smallest states could have tremendous impact on the biggest story of this election cycle: Partisan control of the Senate.

And the outcome rests with voters such as Jose Bito, a real estate agent in Providence who knows and likes Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R., R.I.) and isn't sure that Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse will do a better job as senator -- but can't bring himself to vote Republican this year. See David Lightman's survey of the political landscape in Rhode Island, with this article from the Hartford Courant:

(Also check out these ads from the Chafee-Whitehouse race.)

Posted by Frank James at 7:30 am CDT

According to a group devoted to providing voters with information about where candidates stand on issues so the electorate can make informed decisions, politicians at all levels are increasingly stonewalling when it comes to stating their true positions on issues.

Project Vote Smart says that in the case of candidates for congressional office, 72 percent of them back in 1996 answered yes to the question "Are you willing to tell citizens your positions on the issues you will most likely face on their behalf?" In 2006, that percentage had fallen to 48 percent. The responses of candidates for state offices showed similar declines.

Posted at 6:00 am CDT

Good morning.

Here are some events of interest in the nation's capital for Monday, Oct. 23, 2006, as compiled by the Associated Press.

Oct. 14 - 23. PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES — The American Psychiatric Association hosts its 2006 Institute on Psychiatric Services.
Location: Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2660 Woodley Road NW.

Highlights:
9 a.m. Royal Science Symposium on Innovations of the Mind.
11:15 a.m. Royal Science Symposium press briefing.
3:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Visit by the King and Queen of Sweden.
7 p.m. Inauguration Gala Ceremony.
8 p.m. Inauguration Gala Dinner.
Location: 2900 K St. NW.

Posted by Frank James at 10:47 am CDT

Sometimes a man has to change his mind--for the good of his country, of course.

That seems to be the position Sen. Barack Obama Today on NBC News's "Meet the Press" program, the junior Democratic senator from Illinois pretty much backed off the statement he made earlier this year on the same show that he wouldn't seek the presidency in 2008.

Obama: "That was how I was thinking at that time I don't want to be coy about this. Given the responses that I've been getting over the last several months, I have thought about the possibility. But I have not thought about it with the seriousness and depth that I think is required. My main focus is '06 and making sure we retake the Congress. After Nov. 7 I'll sit down and consider it. If at some point I change my mind I'll make a public announcment and everybody will be able to go at me."

Obama: "A bit."

It sounds like Obama is taking the approach of another politician from Illinois, President Abraham Lincoln who once famously said "... I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views." Obama's new, truer view appears to be that he was wrong to say no to a White House run earlier this year and that if he does decide to run, enough voters won't hold his earlier "no" against him.

Posted at 8:22 am CDT

Seems that courtesy call that Karl Rove made to Connnecticut Democrat Joe Lieberman as he was losing his party's primary for reelection this year has kindled more than good feelings -- the Democrat's campaign treasury is flush with cash from leading Republican supporters of President Bush.

Lieberman's bid for reelection as an independent is going well, according to the latest polls. And the money of Bush stalwarts such as Joe Allbaugh, manager of the president's 2000 campaign, has assisted the senator in his campaign against Ned Lamont, the liberal Democrat who wrested the nomination from Lieberman. Rove's "friendly'' phone call to Lieberman on Aug. 8 was a signal to other Republicans, one strategist says, that the party's smart money is on Lieberman, not his anti-war rival, Lamont. See David Lightman's account of this from the Hartford Courant:

Posted by Mike Dorning, traveling with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, at 5:45 pm CDT

MOSCOW-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday paused during a visit to Russia for a pointed tribute to a prominent dissident journalist and critic of the Chechen War who was killed earlier this month under suspicious circumstances.

The Oct. 7 murder of Anna Politkovskaya, 48, a special correspondent for the independent weekly Novaya Gazeta, has focused fresh attention on restraints placed on press freedom in Russia and stirred suspicions of official involvement in the shooting.

Posted by Frank James at 4:38 pm CDT

Expect to hear a lot from now to Election Day of the Republicans new line of attack against Democrats on the minority party’s national-security credentials.

It’s about the leak of the National Intelligence Estimate or NIE a few weeks ago that said that Iraq had become a “cause celebre” for violent jihadis.

Posted By David Lerman at 4:20 pm CDT

ARLINGTON, Va. --Former President Bill Clinton, the Democratic Party’s fundraiser-in-chief, paid a visit Thursday to a state he had twice written off in his own campaigns: Virginia.

In a measure of the strengthened position Democrats enjoy in the mid-term elections, the national party is now pumping money and star power into a conservative southern state that was supposed to be safe turf for Republicans.

Posted by John Biemer at 3:37 pm CDT

The congressional page scandal "certainly slowed'' the wind at the backs of the Republican Party heading into the fall elections, the Republican National Committee chairman said today in Chicago -- but he believes that congressional races still will be decided based on the choices of candidates themselves.

“I believe that what the scandal did was two things,'' RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman said. "First of all, for about a month, I think we had a good wind behind our backs in discussing the choice in the war on terror, and it certainly slowed that down two weeks ago and the week after that and it had an impact in certain districts.”

Posted by Frank James at 3:19 pm CDT

If you happen to have some spare tickets you’re looking to sell for Sen. Barack Obama’s book tour appearance in Seattle next week, Zee Triplett is hoping you find her ad on Craigslist and contact her.

Triplett, 26, had called to get tickets just minutes after they recently went on sale for Obama’s scheduled appearance at the 2,500 seat Benaroya Hall. But the tickets for the Illinois Democrat’s visit, part of his book tour to promote “The Audacity of Hope” were sold out within minutes.

Posted at 1:57 pm CDT

A story by David Lightman from today's Hartford Courant...

Bush, VP Play Up Lieberman's Woes

The Bush routine is the same one he and Cheney have been using on the campaign trail for about a month: List the horrors of a Democratic Party takeover of Congress and then talk about how cruel party officials have ousted Lieberman, now running for re-election as an independent after losing the Aug. 8 Democratic primary.

Posted by Richard Clough at 1:46 pm CDT

Delivering the keynote address at the National Italian American Foundation’s anniversary gala luncheon on Friday, former President George H.W. Bush said the political landscape today is too partisan and, in what might seem contradictory to some, said he is proud of his son.

Bush’s eldest son, a man most of us would know better as the president, is credited with presiding over some of the most politically polarizing years in recent American history.

Posted by Mark Silva at 6:15 am CDT

President Bush, saddled with an unpopular war, is campaigning for Republicans in their bid to maintain control of Congress with a warning that Democrats are ready to "cut and run'' from Iraq. But Democrats are deploying Bush as a weapon against the GOP in their campaign ads.

Former President Bill Clinton, who campaigned last night in Virginia for a Democratic Senate candidate as Bush campaigned cross-state for the Republican incumbent, suggests that Republicans are running a tired old dog -- "a mangy old dog'' -- with the cut-and-run accusation against Democrats. For more on the story, see an expanded version of the article that appeared in today's Tribune below -- plus an additional sampler in The Swamp of the way Democrats are wielding Bush in ads against Republicans.

See some of the ads, too:

(Watch me discuss this story.)

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Friday, October 20, as compiled by the Associated Press.

Former President George H.W. Bush is delivering the keynote address to the National Italian American Foundation convention. 11 a.m. CDT.

The American Trucking Associations holds a news conference to discuss its petition to limit the maximum speed of large trucks at the time of manufacture to 68 miles per hour. 10:30 a.m. CDT.

Posted by William Neikirk at 5:35 p.m. CDT

Since the U.S. invaded Iraq, President Bush and his administration have resisted any comparison with Vietnam. No, no, no, they would say, and point out the differences.

That is no longer true. The president and then his top spokesman, Tony Snow, said the recent spate of murderous attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq could be compared with the infamous Tet Offensive in Vietnam in 1968.

They did it apparently to make a point: The insurgents in Iraq may be trying to influence American public opinion just before a key election for control of Congress.

Posted by Frank James at 1:40 pm CDT

The Osama bin Laden card is being played in a big way by the Republican National Committee in a new web ad released today called “The Stakes.”

The ad has appropriately menacing images of bin Laden, his number two, Ayman al Zawahiri, and other nihilistic jihadis. The only sounds--a ticking that sounds like the time on a bomb, then a heartbeat. Superimposed over the photos and video are quotes from the al Qaeda terrorists like “What is yet to come will be even greater,” which bin Laden said in the weeks following the 9/11 attacks.

Posted by Mark Silva at 1:32 pm and updated at 2:27 pm CDT

(President Bush and Rep. Don Sherwood, R-Pa., left, along with Sherwood's wife Carol and their daughter Maria, are seen on the steps of Air Force One. AP Photo/Charles Dharapak.)

RICHMOND, Va. -- President Bush is campaigning today against the head-winds of controversies that have consumed a couple of critical Republican campaigns in Virginia and Pennsylvania. In Virginia this evening, Bush also will campaign in competition with former President Bill Clinton – with Bush standing by Sen. George Allen (R., Va.) at a fundraising reception in Richmond, and Clinton alongside Allen's rival, Democrat Jim Webb, at a fundraiser in McLean.

The president today made only a passing reference to a scandal that Rep. Don Sherwood, (R., Pa.) has confronted in his bid for reelection in Pennsylvania. The congressman has admitted to a five-year extramarital affair after settling a lawsuit with a woman who accused him of physical abuse during the affair, although he denies any abuse. The president commended the congressman's wife for standing by her man.

Posted by Frank James at 9:19 am CDT

Columnist David Brooks, the New York Times's house conservative, has a piece today urging Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to run for the White House. "Barack Obama should run for president," is his lead.

Not quite like having Oprah ask you to run and announce it on her show, but still noteworthy.

Posted by Frank James at 7:42 am CDT

Yesterday, I asked what does White House political guru Karl Rove know that we don't know? This morning I refine that question: What does he know that many conservatives don't?

The Washington Times, the same paper that had yesterday's story about a confident Rove telling Times journalists during a visit that Republicans will hold both chambers of Congress, has another story (registration required) this morning that says conservatives are so turned off by Republican leadership, many will skip voting this year.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Thursday, October 19, as collected by the Associated Press.

The Carnegie Corp. of New York is releasing a new report on improving the writing abilities of middle and high school students. 7:30 a.m. CDT

President Bush is attending Republican political events in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Posted by John Biemer at 5:39 pm CDT

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama stepped up to help Democratic 6th District Candidate Tammy Duckworth respond to ads from Republican opponent Peter Roskam attacking her position on illegal immigration.

Roskam’s new ad places Duckworth’s face next to U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and footage of people scaling a wall and states that she “supports Ted Kennedy’s plan to give amnesty to illegal aliens.”

Posted by Frank James at 5:09 pm CDT

All day students of politics have been asking the question what does White House advisor Karl Rove know that we don't?

The man credited, after President Bush, with the 2000 and 2004 White House wins and the 2002 success of congressional Republicans told the Washington Times yesterday that he is confident Republicans will hold not just the Senate but the House too.

Posted by Frank James at 4:20 pm CDT

So what are we to make of this news that the Homeland Security Department has shared with National Football League teams information about a web site threat to explode dirty bombs outside seven stadiums this weekend?

Not much, based on how quickly DHS is moving to play down the information.

Posted at 10:55 am CDT

Has Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut dallied with the idea of private accounts for Social Security or has he opposed the president's plans?

The answer is yes, reports David Lightman of the Hartford Courant, in this insightful look at Lieberman's wanderings around the third-rail of politics.

Posted at 9:59 am CDT

A story by Jill Zuckman in today's Chicago Tribune...

Obama dips toe in 2008 waters
Toll on his family called key concern

"He has gotten the presidential bug bite," said Donna Brazile, campaign manager for Al Gore in 2000. "Barack is constantly calling, he's constantly talking to people. He's not calling me to check on the weather. I'm not saying he's in, but he's checking the water. He's having lots of conversations." Brazile said she is scheduled to talk politics with Obama shortly after Election Day.

Posted by William Neikirk at 6:05 a.m. EDT

Many dangers lurk in this great Republic. If it is not terrorism, it is the war in Iraq. If it is not the price of gasoline, it is economic inequality. If it is not crime, it is illegal immigration. If it is not pollution, it is bird flu. If it is not this, it is that.

Now a new book says there's yet another threat you should be worrying about: The Theocons. The name is short for theological conservatives (or the religious right, if you will). The author, Damon Linker, knows a lot about theocons. He was one. He even edited First Things, the most prominent journal of theological conservatives.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Wednesday, October 18, as compiled by the Associated Press.

The Food Research and Action Center releases a new survey of food stamp usage and hunger in 24 cities and urban counties in 2004. 9 a.m.

Reps. Thomas Reynolds (R-N.Y.), National Republican Congressional Committee chairman, and Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) of Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will discuss the midterm elections at the National Press Club, 11:30 a.m.

Posted by Mark Silva at 3:40 pm CDT

As voters from Virginia to Colorado this fall face ballot measures banning same-sex marriage within their states – and with President Bush repeatedly failing to win support for a federal constitutional amendment – the White House faced questions this week about how far Bush takes the “sanctity of marriage.’’

Preserving that sanctity of marriage – the institution of a bond between a man and woman – is a principle the president often cites in support of the marriage amendment. Tony Snow, White House spokesman, was asked Monday if common-law marriage between a man and a woman is also not a threat to the sanctity of marriage. “That’s a good question. I don’t have an answer,’’ Snow said, promising to return with an answer today. He did: “The reason it hasn't come up is that I'm not sure there have been any shacking up bans.’’

Posted by Frank James at 12:45 pm CDT

Today’s signing by President Bush of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 gave Republicans an opportunity to bash congressional Democrats for differing with the majority party on how to fight the War on Terror.

For instance, House Speaker Dennis Hastert issued a statement today in which he lauded the president and congressional Republicans for enacting the legislation.

(President Bush signs the Military Commissions Act of 2006 at the White House. Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images.)

Posted by Frank James at 10:37 am CDT

With the U.S. reaching 300 million in population sometime this morning, you might expect some kind of White House ceremony marking the milestone.

But none is planned, according to Tony Fratto, a White House spokesperson I talked with this morning. He said there’d be a statement later today but that’s about it.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Tuesday, October 17, as collected by the Associated Press.

President Bush is expected to sign the legislation creating military commissions to try suspected terrorists.

Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader meets with President Bush. 1:30 p.m.

Posted by Frank James at 5:00 pm CDT

Last week, I wrote that all the fuss over a particular real-estate transaction by Sen. Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who is the Senate minority leader, was much ado about nothing.

Reid was accused in an Associated Press story and by his Republican opponents of not properly disclosing on his Senate ethics forms the 2001 “sale” of some property he owned.

Posted by Frank James at 2:48 pm CDT

Anthony Cordesman of Center for Strategic and International Studies, one of Washington’s most influential security analysts, has concluded that based on the present level of violence in Iraq, that the country is engulfed in a civil war.

Until now, Cordesman, who isn’t prone to hyperbole, just the opposite, has warned of the ever increasing risks of civil war. But he has apparently seen enough.

Posted by Mark Silva at 1:37 pm CDT

After President Bush spoke by telephone this morning with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the White House today was asked what "incentive'' the Iraqi government has for securing its country if the United States does not set any timetables for withdrawal of American forces.

"The incentive is, people are getting blown up every day, and they feel it keenly,'' said Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, noting that while the U.S. suffers casualties Iraqis are bearing the brunt of the violence. "These are the people who are taking the hits…. That kind of bloodshed I think provides plenty of incentive for trying to suppress violence.''

Posted by Mark Silva at 10:05 am and updated at 11 am CDT

One week after the underground blast in North Korea, the U.S. intelligence community publicly confirmed today that a nuclear device was detonated -- albeit a relatively small one with a yield of less than one kiloton. See the Director of National Intelligence's terse report:

Download news_release_19_101606.pdf

And if politics stops at the water's edge, you couldn't tell it by the campaign-trail reaction to North Korea's test last week. David Lightman takes note today of "virtually every'' potential candidate for the White House in 2008 weighing on how the Bush administration has handled the situation with North Korea. See his report from today's Hartford Courant:

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Monday, October 16, as compiled by the Associated Press.

Vice President Cheney is speaking to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky. and later
campaigning for Republicans in Kentucky.

10 a.m. ENERGY RELIABILITY — United States Energy Association/North American Electric Reliability Council holds a briefing on its final Long-Term Reliability Assessment Report for North America.
Location: J.W. Marriott, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave, NW.

11 a.m. -- President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia is speaking to the The Womens Foreign Policy Group. Location: Ritz Carlton Hotel, 1150 22nd St. NW.

Posted by Frank James at 3:39 pm CDT

The new Time magazine cover speaks for itself. Thoughts, anyone?

Posted by Frank James at 3:00 pm CDT

I came across two pieces of political commentary I highly recommend. Both are very smart discussions of the reasons why, even in an environment highly favorable to Democrats like the current one, Republicans could still hold onto the lower chamber.

The first, by Bruce Reed, a former advisor to President Bill Clinton and head of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, focuses in on how congressional redistricting has seriously locked in the advantages held by incumbents, especially those in the Republican majority. According to Reed in a recent entry to his Slate column "The Has Been":

Posted by Mark Silva at 10:06 am CDT

The United States still isn't sure what North Korea detonated below-ground earlier this week, but simply the threat of detonating a nuclear device and then claiming that it had represents a "provocative" act, according to President Bush, who devoted his radio address today to explaining why he believes the U.S. must pursue not only sanctions against Pyongyang but also the stalled "six-party talks."

But the Democrats are talking about something else today: The war in Iraq. Patrick Murphy, the Democratic candidate for Congress in the 8th District of Pennsylvania -- challenging Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R, Pa.) -- came home from Iraq after a tour of duty with the Army. But 19 members of his unit did not come home. It's the war that Murphy, and his party, talk about in their response to Bush's address today.

Posted by Mark Silva at 6 am CDT

For all the buzz that Republican heavyweight Jim Baker has generated with his public talk about an alternative to the “stay-the-course’’ or “cut-and-run’’ approaches to the war in Iraq, it will be some time before the bipartisan Iraq Study Group which Baker co-chairs will offer any glimpse at any alternative course of action.

And the White House, which insists that the president will not “outsource’’ his duties as commander-in-chief, is reserving the right to shelve whatever Baker and Co. come up with.

Posted by Frank James at 5:30 pm CDT

The tempest that’s been created over Sen. Harry Reid’s Las Vegas real-estate transaction puts me in mind of the famous poet’s famous line “There is no there, there.”

In Reid’s case, the line could be adapted to say: There was no sale there.

Posted by Mark Silva at 11:26 am CDT

Get ready to hear a lot more about cutting, running and hiding in the remaining few weeks of the midterm congressional campaigns. President Bush, already accusing his Democratic opponents of “cut and run’’ politics with the war in Iraq, has revived a line that he played against Democrat John Kerry in the presidential campaign of 2004.

At an appearance in Chicago this week, the president spelled out the votes that most Democrats have cast on the Patriot Act, on terrorist surveillance and on terrorist interrogation, and warned: “They can run from this record, but we’re not going to let them hide.’’ We were hearing echoes of campaign ’04, when Bush said of his Democratic rival: “He's got a record. It's been there for 20 years. You can run, but you can't hide.’’ But Kerry, engaging anew in the debate of '06, has another phrase for Bush’s own war stance: “Stand still and lose.’’

Posted at 6:46 am CDT

From today's Hartford Courant....

By DAVID LIGHTMAN
Washington Bureau Chief

But, he told students, faculty and alumni in a speech at Providence College: “The hour has arrived when Iraq must assume the responsibility of policing itself.”

(click here to read the whole story.)

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Friday, October 13, as collected by the Associrated Press.

Scheduled plea agreement hearing for Rep. Robert Ney (R-Ohio) before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle. 9 a.m.
Location: U.S. District Court, 3rd St. and Constitution Ave. NW.


10:30 a.m. IWO JIMA FLAG — One of the country's most historic American flags, raised atop Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima during WWII, will be placed in the new National Museum of the Marine Corps in time for the Museum's dedication. Encased behind an etched glass image of Joe Rosenthal's famous Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph, the second flag to be raised on Feb. 23, 1945 will go on display for the American public in the newest national museum in the Washington area.
Location: National Museum of the Marine Corps, 18900 Jefferson Davis Highway, (Proceed to Jefferson Davis Highway, Make right turn onto Jefferson Davis Highway. Make next right turn on the gravel road).

Posted by Mark Silva at 6:05 pm CDT

With President Bush making his first public show of support alongside House Speaker Dennis Hastert since the congressional page scandal consumed the House Republican leadership two weeks ago, the speaker introduced the president in the most friendly of possible surroundings in the South Loop of Chicago this evening: A Republican Party fundraiser.

At an intimate gathering of a few hundred supporters standing crowded in a small, chandeliered function-room of the Hilton Chicago, the Republican National Committee said it raised $850,000 for midterm congressional campaigns with this reception featuring Bush and Hastert in the final weeks of the fall campaign.

President Bush, right, joins House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R, Ill.) next to him, at a Chicago fundraiser that raised $850,000 for Republican congressional campaigns. Photo by Mark Silva

Posted by Frank James at 1:58 pm CDT

An observation about yesterday’s presidential news conference. Over the years, it has become almost axiomatic that the Washington press corps cares mainly for scandals, especially if sex is involved, while ignoring issues of great moment.

But at yesterday’s White House Rose Garden press conference, the White House reporters' first 13 or so questions to President Bush had to do with important affairs of state – his policy towards North Korea and the continuing difficulties for the U.S. in Iraq dominated the first 13 or so questions.

(Official White House photo by Paul Morse.)

Posted by William Neikirk at 12:15 p.m. CDT

Citing family concerns, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner announced Thursday he has decided against running for the presidency in 2008.

He became the first major casualty from what is expected to be a crowded field for the Democratic nomination for the nation's highest office. He has already tested the political waters by visiting states such as New Hampshire and Iowa.

Posted by Frank James at 10:23 am CDT

The Washington, D.C.-based American Highway Users Alliance released a report card today on American cities’ ability to evacuate their entire populations in the event of natural disasters or terrorist attacks.

The only A went to Kansas City while failing grades of F went to the nation’s largest cities—New York, Chicago and, bringing up the rear, Los Angeles.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Thursday, October 12, as collected by the Associated Press.

President Bush is speaking on energy issues in St. Louis and later campaigning in Chicago for Republican congressional candidates.

The American Highway Users Alliance is releasing a report card on the evacuation capacity of the country’s 37 largest urban areas. 9 a.m.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 10:30 pm CDT

Sen. Barack Obama's office provided an advance copy of his forthcoming memoir, The Audacity of Hope, a few hours ago tonight. The following article is based on a quick read of the 362-page book.

By Mike Dorning

Obama, a Democrat, does not directly address the possibility of a presidential campaign, much less the timing of a run. But Obama's telling of his political life clearly signals possible plans for greater deeds ahead.