Biden throws mouth in the ring

Posted by Mike Dorning at 7:20 pm CST.

Hotel and real estate heiress and prominent Chicago liberal fundraiser Penny Pritzker will lead the national fundraising campaign for Barack Obama's presidential bid.

Pritzker, whose personal fortune last year was estimated at $2.1 billion by Forbes magazine, will be national finance chairman for the Barack Obama Presidential Exploratory Committee, the campaign announced on Wednesday evening.

She joins a campaign whose backers include such other prominent billionaire investors as Warren Buffett and George Soros.

Penny Pritzker is among a trio of cousins who manage the family businesses of the Pritzker family, Chicago's richest family. Their corporate empire, estimated to be worth $15 billion, includes the Hyatt hotel chain and the Marmon Group of manufacturing companies

Posted by Frank James at 4:44 pm CST

What can we say about Sen. Joe Biden's comments about Sen. Barack Obama that hasn't already been said?

Needless to say, Biden kind of stepped on his announcement today of his presidential run with his shot heard round the political world regarding Illinois's junior senator, delivered courtesy of today's New York Observer: “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

Posted by Mark Silva at 4:08 pm CST

With longtime Cuban leader Fidel Castro believed to be on or near his death-bed, a lot of American congressmen believe the decades-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba should see the same fate.

With hope, perhaps, that they can open the door to Cuba just a little wider, a bipartisan pair of congressmen has offered a bill, the Cuban American Family Restoration Rights Act, to enable people with relatives in Cuba to travel there freely and deliver family aid. Reps. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) and Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) today offered their bill as a long-awaited remedy for families divided by a mere 90 miles of the Florida Straits and nearly 50 years of failed American political policy.

Any break in the trade embargo faces rough waters, however, with the Republican, Cuban-American community of South Florida holding Congress and the Bush administration alike to its commitments to exact as much punishment as possible on the Communist Castro regime. And neither party takes Cuban politics lightly – the Clinton administration's insistence on returning the young Cuban refugee, Elian Gonzalez, who had lost his mother in a raft crossing to Florida during the presidential election campaign of 2000, probably cost Vice President Al Gore the state of Florida, and the White House as well.

Posted by Frank James at 3:36 pm CST

The question of whether Sen. Barack Obama, the child of a black Kenyan father and a white Kansas mother who was raised by his white grandparents in Hawaii, is authentically black enough to excite enough African-American voters to win the big prize, won’t go away.

That's largely because journalists like me keep asking it.

Still, I thought I’d find some experts on black voters and put the question to them. So I hung outside the door of where the Congressional Black Caucus was having its weekly meeting today. It just so happened that Obama was at the meeting though he must’ve left through a different door than the one at which I posted myself.

But Speaker Nancy Pelosi popped through my doorway. (Who knew she was black?) She was paying a courtesy call to one of her most important House constituencies.

It was also an auspicious day for her to appear at the black caucus meeting since she had just appointed the first African-American to be House Clerk in the nation’s history. She and her security detail were on the move and were out of sight within seconds.

Posted by Christi Parsons at 2:45 p.m. CST

When he makes the official announcement in February that he will run for president, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will do so at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, a venue rich with historic and political significance as the site where Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous “House Divided” speech.

The Obama campaign today confirmed the location of the Feb. 10 announcement, when Obama is expected to announce his run for the White House in 2008.

The building served as the center of Illinois government from 1839 to 1876, and Lincoln served there as a state legislator. He used the governor’s rooms as a political headquarters before and after the 1860 presidential election, and his final funeral service was held in the Representatives Hall in May of 1865.

Posted by Frank James at 11:34 pm CST

Another day, another web announcement by a presidential candidate. Today, of course, it was the turn of Delaware Democrat Sen. Joe Biden.

Just like Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.,) Biden went with the announcement-casual look--tieless and open-collared. It's supposed to give politicians a web-savvy, Silicon Valley appeal.

"In my view, President Bush has dug America into a very deep hole," Biden said in the video. "This administration's mishandling of the war in Iraq may be the greatest foreign policy disaster of all time."

Posted by Mark Silva at 8:25 am CST

If many Democrats are feeling uneasy these days, it may have something to do with the way they perceive their front-runners in the campaign for the party's 2008 presidential nomination.

While likely Democratic votes view Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York as most likely to win the party's nomination, and while Clinton out-paces Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina in a number of measures -- with many more voters viewing Clinton as most qualified to be president -- a new survey shows that Obama is viewed as more likeable than Clinton. The survey also accords the senator from Illinois higher ethical standards than the senator from New York.

"The most promising dimension for Obama, and by contrast Clinton's weakest area, is with respect to human relations,'' says a report from the Gallup Poll on its survey that shows Clinton rated not only as most qualified among likely Democratic voters, but also the strongest leader, best debater, best in a crisis and best manager. Yet another telling response: Fewer than 50 percent of those likely Democratic voters surveyed say Clinton has the best chance of beating the Republican nominee. And then again, only 27 percent perceive Edwards as having the best chance, 21 percent Obama. For more on the way Democrats are sizing up the three, see the survey:

Posted by David Lightman at 7:23 am CST

Name recognition is what's driving a lot of the early 2008 presidential election polling.

Just ask Chris Dodd, the Democratic senator from Connecticut whose name was recognized by just one or two -- people, not percentage points -- in a recent survey.

For more on the name game, see the Courant's story:

Posted by Mark Silva at 7:11 am CST

In that money primary, the one where a realistic candidate for president hopes to have $50 million banked by the start of January's primary elections and caucuses, Republican Mitt Romney is conceding nothing to Arizona Sen. John McCain on the senator's home turf.

Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, has assembled an Arizona fundraising team.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 6:30 am CST.

Backers of Sen. Barack Obama have rapidly built up large networks of supporters using the popular social web site Facebook. The political value of the social networking groups is unclear but they provide a potential base of supporters to turn to for volunteer activities or, possibly, small contributions.

One group on www.Facebook.com, popular among college and high school students and recent alumni, already has attracted more than 175,000 members, with a goal of building a list of at least 1 million by the time Obama is scheduled to make his official announcement on Feb. 10.

The group, "Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack)", writes on its information page that it was created on Jan. 16 by Farouk Olu Aregbe, a recent University of North Dakota alumnus now living in Washington, DC. Aregbe could not immediately be reached.

The organization Students for Barack Obama also began as a Faecebook group, "Barack Obama for President in 2008," with more than 53,000 members now.

Posted by Josh Drobnyk at 6:10 am CST

With the money primaries of the 2008 presidential election campaign well underway, Arizona Republican John McCain has staked a serious claim to the Keystone State, with former Pennsylvania Gov. and ex-Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge supporting the senator's campaign.

Following introductory meetings, two of the state's top fundraisers have signed onto a campaign that McCain, who also sought the GOP's nomination in 2000, has not even formally announced yet.

For more on the story, see the report from the Morning Call:

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Wednesday, January 31, 2007 as collected by the Associated Press.

The Commerce Department is releasing the Gross Domestic Product report for the 4th quarter. 8:30 a.m.

The Joint Economic Committee is holding a hearing on the impact of middle class economic insecurity on long-term economic growth, with former Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers and others. 9:30 a.m.

President Bush is speaking on the economy in New York. 11:05 a.m.

Posted by Frank James at 4:23 pm CST

Sen. Barack Obama had promised recently that he would introduce legislation embodying his idea of a phased redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq.

Today he unveiled his bill, the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007. His legislation would cap the number of troops at the level that existed as of Jan. 10. Furthermore, it would require a redeployment of U.S. combat forces to start by May of this year and be completed by March 2008.

If the Iraqis meet the benchmarks set by the Bush Administration, the redeployment could be temporarily suspended, although it seems that if the Iraqis make enough progress to meet the benchmarks, that would make an even stronger argument for continuing the redeployment, not suspending it.

Keep going to read the Obama press release.

Posted by Mark Silva at 2:45 pm CST

Mo Elleithee, a veteran of Democratic state and presidential campaigns, is becoming a senior campaign spokesman for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2008 “exploratory’’ presidential campaign.

Elleithee has helped Democrats explore, and win, some fertile new political ground in Virginia – where he served as communications director for Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine’s campaign in 2005, and served as press secretary for former Gov. Mark Warner’s campaign in 2001.

Posted by David Lightman at 3:35 pm CST

WASHINGTON--Congress' leading reformers today proposed a dramatic revamping of the presidential campaign financing system, changes that would allow taxpayers to contribue $10, instead of the current $3, to help publicly fund White House bids.

The checkoff would be used to provide more money to the current public financing system--a system experts say is badly broken.

The current system, created after the Watergate scandals of the early 1970s, provides candidates with up to $45 million for their nominating campaign and at last $75 million for the general election. Candidates are then subject to strict spending limits.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) testifies on global warming before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 30, 2007. Chicago Tribune photos by Pete Souza.

Posted by Frank James at 1:23 pm CST

Congress can't usurp the military role of the president as commander-in- chief during wartime but lawmakers definitely call the shots when it comes to who the U.S. fights, for how long and where, according to constitutional scholars on Capitol Hill today.

Given that, the majority of the scholars said Congress would be well within its constitutional power, to draw the Iraq conflict to a close.

"In my judgment, a statute that says as of six months of the date of enactment, the U.S. shall no longer be engaged in hostilities in Iraq is presumptively constitutional," said Bradford Berenson, who was a lawyer in President Bush's White House from 2001 to 2003 who advised on executive authority.

Former Secretary of State James Baker (l) and former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton who co-chaired the Iraq Study Group testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2007. Chicago Tribune photo by Pete Souza.

Posted by Mark Silva at 1 pm CST

Remember Baker and Hamilton?

The Republican and Democratic co-chairmen of the Iraq Study Group that called the situation in Iraq “grave and deteriorating’’ and recommended a withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq by the early part of 2008? Republican James Baker, the former secretary of state, and Democrat Lee Hamilton, the former congressman from Indiana, appeared together today in testimony before a Senate committee.

Baker and Hamilton have called for a dramatically stepped up U.S. diplomatic effort with all of the nations in Iraq’s region, noted Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican who has joined Democratic leaders in sponsoring a resolution opposing the president’s new troop deployment in Iraq. Critical of the president’s strategy, Hagel today called it “all surge, all military… But where is the diplomatic effort?’’

Posted by Mark Silva at 12:12 pm CST

There was a time, recalls retiree Paul Weishaar, when “just about everybody in Peoria worked for Caterpillar.’’

Now that Caterpillar is doing well with the sales of a lot of equipment overseas, the Korean War veteran and retiree from a union job with the Operating Engineers Local 649 acknowledges, they are not alone –when it comes to out-sourcing work, “every company is, really.’’

With a bid to underscore successes in the American economy this week, President Bush headed to Peoria, Ill., today to tout the success of companies such as Caterpillar and praise how they have adjusted to a global economy. “It’s good to be in the heartland of America,’’ Bush said. “People have said, ‘Why would you want to go to Peoria?’… I wanted to get out of Washington.’’

Posted by Christi Parsons at 11:00 a.m. CST

The House today will consider a resolution congratulating Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy for becoming the first African-American NFL head coaches to go to the Super Bowl.

We're reminded of this by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), the deputy Democratic whip who will be in the chair when the House takes up the matter.

For the record, Schakowsky, who grew up in Rogers Park and lives in Evanston, says she is "for da Bears."

Posted by Pete Souza at 10:38 am CST

Adm. William J. Fallon testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his nomination hearing to become commander of U.S. Central Command. Chicago Tribune photos by Pete Souza.

Posted by Christi Parsons at 9:10 a.m. CST

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) is telling friends that he doesn't want the job as U.S. ambassador to Japan, a post many had assumed he would pursue.

But close friends say that Hastert's wife isn't interested in spending that much time outside the country and is urging her husband to consider other opportunities.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Tuesday, January 30, 2007 as collected by the Associated Press.

President Bush is talking about the economy at a Caterpillar Inc. plant in Peoria. 11:45 a.m.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on Congress’ constitutional power to end a war.
Location: Room 226, Dirksen, 10 a.m.

Posted by Pete Souza at 3:29 pm CST

Capitol Hill police try to stop protesters from the group Code Pink from unfurling a "Stop Funding War" banner inside the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Capitol Hill police tussle with anti-war protesters as they attempted to unfurl a banner over a balcony in the Hart Senate Office Building. Chicago Tribune photos by Pete Souza.

Posted by Frank James at 1:46 pm CST

One of the day’s major stories is of a battle in Najaf between Iraqi forces and members of an apparent Islamic cult which was poised to do a lot of killing, according to Iraqi officials.

Those same officials are saying a combination of Iraqi security forces and the U.S. military killed hundreds of the fighters although the enemy apparently shot down a U.S. helicopter, killing two soldiers.

The engagement is being hailed as a signal success by Iraqi and U.S. officials since the Iraqis are being portrayed as in the lead. In an interview with National Public Radio, President Bush said of the news from Najaf: “My first reaction on this report from the battlefield is that the Iraqis are beginning to show me something."

Excuse me, Mr. President, but how much did the Iraqis really show?

Posted by Mark Silva at 12:29 pm, updated at 1:55 pm CST

President Bush didn't pay much attention to the war protest staged in Washington over the weekend, according to a spokesman, suggesting the crowd wasn't as big as had been predicted.

"It's nice to see Jane Fonda in front of a camera again,'' White House spokesman Tony Snow said today, suggesting that the seasoned war protester is not the only one engaging in new war rhetoric. Pointing to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's newest criticism for President Bush over the war, Snow said: "Expected a lot of, 'can you top this,' rhetoric early on, on the campaign trail.''

Clinton on the Iowa campaign trail

Posted by Frank James at 11:13 am CST

Those pesky laws Congress keeps passing requiring financial disclosure continue to trip up none other than lawmakers themselves.

For example, a story in USA Today kindly points out today that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois and Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana failed to disclose as mandated by law that they serve as directors of family foundations.

Posted by Mark Silva at 9:05 am

No puffery here, friends: The proof is in the pumpkin pudding.

It turns out that William "Bill'' Yosses did such a good job with the coconut chiffon, truffles and other holiday sweets at the White House that the first lady has found a new executive pastry chef.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 6:30 am, updated at 12:42 pm CST

NEW ORLEANS -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is in New Orleans this morning, with plans to criticize President Bush's performance in leading the federal effort to rebuild the city.

According to prepared remarks that Obama's office released in advance, the Democratic senator cites Bush's failure to mention New Orleans in his State of the Union Address as he questions the president's continuing commitment to the city's recovery. The Bush Administration was roundly criticized for its initial handling of the distaster.

"In the weeks after Katrina, an ashamed nation looked at what had been allowed to happen here and said 'Never again. Never will we turn our backs on these people. Never will we forget what happened here,'" Obama plans to say. "The President came down and said, 'We will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives.'"

"Just eighteen months later, we heard not one word – not one word – in the President’s State of the Union address about New Orleans. And so I have one more set of questions to ask today: 'Are we willing to do whatever it takes? To stay as long as it takes? Are we in danger of forgetting about New Orleans?'" Obama adds in his prepared remarks.

Obama: Shameful to forget New Orleans.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Monday, January 29, 2007 as collected by the Associated Press.

Jan. 28 - 31. SCHOOL BOARDS — The National School Board Association holds its annual Federal Relations Network Conference.
9:45 a.m. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, will outline his priorities and new ideas for the education agenda in the 110th Congress as well as his proposed changes to the No Child Left Behind law for the upcoming reauthorization.
2:45 p.m. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings will discuss the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act and take questions from school board members.
3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. A panel of congressional members will present their educational priorities for the 110th Congress. Participants: Reps. James Clyburn, D-S.C., House Majority Whip; Mike Castle, R-Del., Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education; and Dale Kildee, D-Mich., Chairman, Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education.
Location: Grand Hyatt Hotel, Independence A Room, 1000 H St. NW.

12 p.m. CHINA/ANTI-SATELLITE — Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., speaks on the implications of China’s recent test of an anti-satellite weapon.
Location: Heritage Foundation’s Lehrman Auditorium, 214 Masschusetts Ave. NE.

Posted by Mark Silva at 8:40 am CST

"Well, I'm the vice president, and they're not,'' Vice President Dick Cheney said with a laugh at the close of a long interview, asked how he handles criticism from the likes of Brent Scowcroft, former national security adviser, an old associate who has said that he does not know Cheney anymore.

People have gotten personal, Cheney was reminded in the interview with Newsweek magazine. But he is, as Newsweek concludes in its online report of this interview, a "Man Without Doubt.'' Cheney withheld his own criticism for war critics such as Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, with the vice president invoking Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment that "thou shall not speak ill of a fellow Republican'' -- while admitting that, with Hagel, it's often difficult.

While Cheney hews to the administration's line on the war in Iraq and the standoff with Iran over its nuclear ambitions– with Cheney maintaining the White House wants to resolve the Iranian dispute diplomatically – the vice president does offer a stern reminder that President Bush also has voiced during his travels in Europe: "We've also made it clear that we haven't taken any options off the table.''

Posted by Mark Silva at 8 am CST

President Bush spent much of the first six years of his presidency asserting broad war-time powers, based first on a resolution of force that Congress authorized in 2001 for retaliation against the terrorists who struck on Sept. 11 and continuing with the resoulution authorizing use of force in Iraq in 2002.

Now, Bush enters the final two years of his presidency facing an escalating conflict with Congress over the exercise of his war powers in Iraq. That starts this week with a debate of the Senate on a non-binding resolution opposing the president's new deployment of troops in Iraq as contrary to "the national interest.'' But it is likely to lead to a struggle over war spending as well. For now, says William Howell, of the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, Congress is "drawing a line in the sand."

For more on this, from today's Perspective section of the Tribune, please see the story:

Posted by Mark Silva at 5:35 pm CST

When Jane Fonda shows up to protest the war in Iraq in the shadow of the Capitol, the president and Congress know they have a bona-fide anti-war protest on their hands.

And when tens of thousands of people turn out to join her, with throngs streaming down the hills from the Capitol through the streets and across the sandy walkways of the national mall as they did today carrying placards and protesting the president and his war – marking the first major Washington war protest of 2007 – the president and Congress know they have a protest on their hands.

Posted by David Lightman at 9:05 am CST

With the Senate ready to debate a non-binding resolution opposing the president's deployment of new troops in Iraq, the Capitol is echoing with reminders of wars past.

We heard senators -- Democrats and Republicans -- an arms expert and a former Republican House speaker all speak of what's at stake in the debate over the escalation of force in Iraq. Here are some of those voices, on the eve of a potential showdown between Congress and President Bush:

Posted by Mark Silva at 9:06 am, updated at 10:25 am CST

With a brief and truncated reprise of his State of the Union address this morning -- dropping that part about the war in Iraq and the war against terrorism -- President Bush promoted his plans for health care reform and energy independence. The only "way forward" mentioned in today's radio address has to do with the president's determination to find alternatives to oil for the nation's energy supply.

The president will turn more away from the war, and more toward the economy, as he travels during the week ahead. He will travel to Peoria on Tuesday, to tour a Caterpillar factory and tout the gains of the U.S. economy, and he will travel to Wall Street on Wednesday, to speak more about the economy. That could be about the time the Senate starts debating its resolution opposing the president's deployment of new troops in Iraq, however -- a subject to which Bush devoted the better part of the second half of his 49-minute State of the Union address this week, but none of today's much quicker radio address.

Antonio Villaraigosa, mayor of Los Angeles, delivered the Democratic Party's radio response today. He did talk about Iraq as well as the president's energy proposal -- I"n Iraq and here at home, it’s time for a new direction,'' the mayor said. "We must stop talking about challenges, like energy, and work together to solve them.

Posted by Mark Silva at 3:56 pm CST

Several of the proclaimed and prospective Democratic candidates for president in 2008 are parading before leaders of the Service Employees International Union today and tomorrow.

The union, one of the more active in the ground-game of campaigning for candidates whom the union endorses, maintains that this two-day stream of candidate screenings will not produce an immediate endorsement. But Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois, Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Joe Biden of Delaware and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina were among the first in line when the SEIU opened its political runway today.

Posted by Mark Silva at 10:35 am, updated at 11:40 am CST

President Bush, convening war counselors in the Oval Office this morning, said he will be unswayed by a resolution moving through the Senate to oppose his deployment of additional troops to Iraq.

“I know there is skepticism and pessimism, and that they are – some are – condemning a plan before it's even had a chance to work,’’ Bush told reporters allowed a couple of questions afterward. "They have an obligation and a serious responsibility, therefore, to put up their own plan as to what would work,'' the president said. "I've listened to lots of members of Congress. I've listened carefully to their suggestions. And I have picked the plan that I think is most likely to succeed, because I understand, like many in Congress understand, success is very important for the security of the country.’’

Posted by Christi Parsons at 6:30 a.m. CST

Sen. Barack Obama said Thursday that he's not worried about how he will fare with fellow African Americans should he launch a bid for the presidency, as he is expected to do in February.

"If you look at my black vote in my U.S. Senate race or my approval ratings back in Illinois," Obama said, "I feel pretty confident that, once folks know who I am, we'll do just fine."

Rev. Al Sharpton Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois in his office, where a portrait of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall hangs. Chicago Tribune photo by Pete Souza.

Good morning.

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

President Bush is speaking at the House Republican Conference retreat in Cambridge, Md. 12:10 p.m.

10 a.m. HOYER--- House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer delivers a ``major’’ address on Iraq.
Location: Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW.

11 a.m. PATAKI — Georgetown University sponsors a lecture by former New York Gov. George Pataki discussing ``A Way Forward in Iraq.’’
Location: Copley Formal Lounge, on campus.

Posted by David Lerman at 5:05 pm CST

Virginia Sen. John W. Warner, a key supporter of the 2003 Iraq invasion, publicly questioned the credibility of top military commanders today, saying he felt ``misled” by years of assurances that Iraqi troops were being trained to take over for American soldiers.

One day after introducing a resolution opposing President Bush’s plan to send 21,500 more U.S. troops to Iraq, Warner used a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee to suggest that generals had not been candid about their progress in building a new Iraqi army.

Posted by Pete Souza at 4:40 pm CST

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, who is exploring the idea of seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, had a visitor today: The Rev. Al Sharpton, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004. Here they are standing in front of a portrait of the legendary Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in Obama's Capitol office. Tribune staff photo by Pete Souza.

Posted by Mark Silva at 4:35 pm CST

While Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton conducts her online “conversation’’ – a “chat,’’ as she calls it – about her exploratory campaign for president, the New York Democrat is dispatching political operatives to the front-line of the 2008 campaign in wintry Iowa.

Clinton has hired JoDee Winterhof, an Iowa veteran of caucus-organizing and the staff of Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, to serve as director of her Iowa campaign. And Clinton will head to Iowa this weekend for some more conversations on the ground in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Davenport.

Posted by Christi Parsons at 2:50 p.m. CST

Some big Chicago unions are unhappy with him, but Democratic Mayor Richard Daley shrugged it off with a smile today.

It's true the Chicago police union isn't endorsing his bid for reelection, but Daley said he thinks that's actually a "strong message for me."

Mayor Daley at the Capitol today. Tribune Photo by Pete Souza

Sen. Dick Durbin plays host to a group of mayors from Illinois in his Capitol office. Chicago Tribune photo by Pete Souza.

Posted by Christi Parsons at 1:51 pm CST

The sandwiches he served were nice and the view from his office is spectacular, but Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) was under no illusion as to why thirty Illinois mayors were so eager to join him for lunch today.

"I know many of you will be coming to me for earmarks," Durbin told the mayors, referring to the process by which Congress doles out federal money for special projects to local officials who come calling every year.

Now that Democrats have taken over and Durbin is the second-in-command in the U.S. Senate, he’s in a position to give Illinois communities a leg up in that process – whether they’re seeking money for a new bridge, a road or a municipal building.

Posted by Frank James at 1:28 pm CST

So what are we to make of President Cheney's appearance on CNN yesterday with Wolf Blitzer in the Situation Room?

Was it an attempt to fire up the conservative base by confronting a member of the supposedly liberal main stream media? Or was it a window into the level of denial that still exists in certain parts of the White House when it comes to Iraq? Was it both?

Just this week we had Gen. David Petraeus describe the Iraq situation as "dire." Late last year, we had the highly regarded, bi-partisan Iraq Study Group which said, in the first words of the executive summary of its report, "The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating."

Posted by William Neikirk at 12:12 p.m. CST, updated at 2:30 p.m. CST

Two health-care experts expressed doubt that universal health-care coverage could be adopted and put into effect during the first term of the next president, as Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) predicted today.

Economist Henry Aaron of the Brookings Institution, a think tank with a liberal leaning, and health-care expert Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation, a think tank with a conservative leaning, both said such a task would be enormously difficult.

Butler, who has studied America's health-care system for 30 years, said he supports universal coverage, but that the current system would require drastic overhaul and that the "costs would be staggering."

Posted by Mark Silva at 11:30 am CST

Out of Dallas today comes odd news that some of the faculty at Southern Methodist University – alma mater of First Lady Laura Bush and sole finalist in the bidding for the location of the George W. Bush Presidential Library – worry that the new library could damage the university’s reputation, and some are demanding a referendum.

Apparently they are worried about academic freedom in the midst of a new big-money institute attached to the library conducting political research there some day. And then there is that group of Methodist ministers who have mounted an online petition drive in an attempt to convince SMU to drop its plans for the presidential library -- “as United Methodists, we believe that the linking of his presidency with a university bearing the Methodist name is utterly inappropriate.’’

The president is a Methodist, after all, the first lady a former librarian.

Posted by Frank James at 10:29 am CST

Will Sen. Barack Obama the presidential candidate be embraced by African-American leaders and, more broadly, by black voters in his quest to win the Democratic nomination and the White House beyond?

That question is explored in a Washington Post piece by reporter Michael Fletcher. It was also taken on earlier this week by Peter Wallsten of the Los Angeles Times.

Both stories conclude that solid black support for Obama isn't a given and the overarching reason is that blacks are politically more complex than they are often given credit for.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 9:55 am CST.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) committed this morning to working to achieve health coverage for all Americans by 2012, whether or not he is elected president.

"I am absolutely determined that by the end of the first term of the next president we should have universal health care in this country. There's no reason we shouldn't have that," Obama said this morning in a speech to the liberal health advocacy group Families USA.

Obama, who announced a presidential exploratory committee last week, told reporters after the speech that he would release a plan for universal health care within "several months" and that the goal was "a top priority" for him.

Posted by Mark Silva at 7:35 am CST

President Bush has asked for patience with his "new war strategy.''

But the patience of congressional Democratic leaders has run out, and with the vote of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to oppose the president's new troop deployment in Iraq as contrary to "the national interest,'' the stage is set for full Senate debate next week on a confrontation with Bush over the war. It could be the beginning of a longer debate leading to restrictions in war funding, though Democrats acknowledge they lack the votes for that at this time.

And, with several Republicans advancing their own resolution opposing the president's troop deployment, Democrats are negotiating for a common wording that could lead to a bipartisan vote against the war. For more on what both parties are saying about the Senate resolution, see today's story:

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Thursday, January 25, 2007 as collected by the Associated Press.

President Bush is discussing his health-care plans in Summit, Mo. 11:55 a.m.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding a hearing on Iraqi reconstruction strategy with State Department Iraq Coordinator David Satterfield. 9:15 a.m.

Posted by Frank James at 4:14 pm CST

Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who President Bush defeated to win his second term, made it official this afternoon. He will not run for the presidency in 2008.

In a speech on the Senate floor during which he choked up at one point, Kerry made it sound as though his decision not to run was due to his desire to work instead on ending the U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Referring to the closeness of the 2004 election, which Bush won by getting nearly 120,000 votes more than Kerry in Ohio, Kerry said: “We came close… certainly close enough to be tempted to try again. There are powerful reasons to want to continue that fight now. But I’ve concluded this isn’t the time for me to mount a presidential campaign. It is the time to put my energy to work as part of the majority in the senate to do all I can to end this war and strengthen our security and our ability to fight the real war on terror.”

Posted by William Neikirk at 4:05 p.m. CST

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and President Bush think alike on more than one aspect of energy. It's already been noted that the senator and Bush have similar plans for boosting ethanol supply. (See previous item on the Swamp). Today, the senator pointed out he and Bush have similar plans on fuel economy standards for motor vehicles.

The senator sent a letter to Bush urging him to support an automatic annual increase in fuel economy standards for vehicles unless the government can prove the increase is unworkable. He said he has a bill to that effect, and that it fits the president's specifications for fuel economy legislation.

On issues like this, sometimes it is hard to tell who is the real Democrat and the real Republican.

Posted by Frank James at 2:35 pm CST

How much has the Iraq War cost your state in tax dollars? More importantly, how much has it caused your state in the lives of military service member?

The National Priority Project, an organization that strives to educate Americans about the trade-offs involved in national policy, has issued a report aimed at answering those questions.

According to the NPP's analysis, Illinoisans have contributed $20.5 billion of the $378 billion that American taxpayers have paid for the Iraq War. Chicago's contribution to the war effort has been $4 billion.

Posted by Christi Parsons at 2:40 CST

Sen. Barack Obama still hasn't made it official that he's running for president.

But that Feb. 10 announcement of his "decision" is looking ever more presidential, with the Obama "exploratory committee" daily adding new staffers to its ranks.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 1:54 pm CST.

Sen. Barack Obama is showing some early signs of a strong connection with supporters through the Internet.

Barely a week after announcing formation of a presidential exploratory committee through a video posted on his campaign web site, Obama has signed up more than 100,000 supporters through the site, according to the campaign.

"It's very, very impressive," said Matthew Dowd, chief strategist for the Bush-Cheney 2004 Campaign and co-author of the book "Applebee's America."

"When Howard Dean--who was the Internet candidate and grassroots guy--finished his entire campaign, he had a total of 500,000 names. So Barack is way ahead of that pace," added Dowd, interviewed in an e-mail exchange.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing today in which he argued against the Bush administration's plan to send more troops to Iraq. Chicago Tribune photo by Pete Souza.

Posted by Jill Zuckman at 1:10 pm CST

Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president in 2004, will announce this afternoon on the Senate floor that he will not make a second bid for president in 2008.

Kerry narrowly lost the presidential election, unable to clinch Ohio and unable to win the voters’ affections. When he began his race, he famously joked about removing his “aloof gland,’’ but his natural reserve was always present as he mingled with voters on the campaign trail.

The decision was an agonizing one for the famously competitive Kerry, a wind-surfer, bicyclist, and avid snow-boarder, who hated to lose. He told friends after the election that he blamed himself, but also that he wanted to try again to get it right.

Posted by Mark Silva at 12:55 pm CST

Now, it’s important to note up front that Emily’s List, an organization committed to the election of women to political office, has endorsed the presidential campaign of Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York – as soon as Clinton made her intentions known on her website, Emily’s List launched its own e-endorsement.

But Emily’s List, whose endorsement is worth money to women who get it – with a significant donor base of women whom the organization has amassed and encourages to contribute to candidates – also has compiled some research explaining why it believes that Clinton can win both her party’s nomination and the White House.

Posted by Frank James at 11:47 am CST

It remains a mystery why President Bush gave a State of the Union speech of more than 5,600 words and didn’t say anything about the nation’s continuing efforts to contend with the aftermath of the worst natural disaster in its history, that is Hurricane Katrina.

The White House telegraphed before the speech that the president wouldn’t discuss Katrina because he and his advisors wanted to avoid the usual “laundry list” of domestic issues that presidents often rattle off in a SOTU speech.

But Katrina isn’t the typical domestic agenda item. According to a September 2006 Governmental Accountability Office report, Katrina and Rita, the storm that followed it during the 2005 hurricane season:

…Left more than 1,500 dead, affected over 90,000 square miles, caused more than $80 billion in damage, and forced mass evacuations from five states along the Gulf Coast, according to DHS. An estimated 600,000 households were displaced from affected areas and 50,000 to 100,000 households remained in temporary housing 6 months later. As a result, 44 states and the District of Columbia received hundreds of thousands of evacuees, providing them with care and shelter over an extended period. These events tested the nation’s ability to respond to catastrophic events.

Posted by Mark Silva and David Lightman at 10:50 am, updated at 3:05 pm CST

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has voted, largely along party lines, to oppose the president's deployment of additional U.S. troops in Iraq -- setting the stage for a full Senate debate on the war next week, the ramparts of a long and escalating conflict between Congress and President Bush.

"This is slow-walking,'' complained Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who has called for timetables for withdrawals of U.S. forces but reluctantly supported the resolution opposing the troop-deployment.

a Senate resolution

Some who oppose the troop-deployment complain that the non-binding resolution is a hollow statement – they want to restrict funding for any escalation. Others, who oppose the resolution, warn that it is indeed a hollow statement – that President Bush will be undeterred by it in his determination to deploy another 21,500 troops in Iraq.

Posted by William Neikirk at 9:15 a.m. CST

When President Bush announced a plan to cut U.S. gasoline consumption by 20 percent in 10 years, it had that certain ring of familiarity. I had read something like this before. And so I checked, and found that one well-known senator, Barack Obama of Illinois, had co-sponsored a similar bill just a few weeks ago.

Obama joined Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana and Democratic Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, and Joseph Biden of Delaware in co-authoring the bill I had in mind. It would require that 60 billion gallons of ethanol and biodiesel fuel be included in the annual motor vehicle fuel supply by 2030.

The numbers may be different in Bush's plan, but it's the same idea. This kind of outright appropriation goes on all the time in politics.

Posted by Mark Silva at 7:30 am CST

With a subdued State of the Union address, President Bush, facing growing criticism for the war in Iraq and finding his political power constrained by a new Democratic-controlled Congress, sought some common ground in a domestic agenda aimed at "achieving big things for the American people."

Yet the war hung like "a pall over the room,'' as Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois put it. Sen. James Webb of Virginia delivered a Democratic rebuttal calling for "a proper conclusion'' to the war in Iraq. For more on the president's State of the Union, his initiatives and the situation he faces, see today's story here and below:

President Bush pleaded for patience with his "new strategy'' in Iraq during the latter part of a 49-minute State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. See an excerpt on the war:

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Wednesday, January 24, 2007 as collected by the Associated Press.

President Bush is discussing his energy initiatives in Wilmington, Del. 10:55 a.m.

The Congressional Budget Office is releasing its 2007 Budget and Economic outlook. 11 a.m.

Posted by Frank James at 10:15 pm CST

OK, I just spent the last half hour or more writing a post in Statuary Hall with my laptop perched on the pedestal of a statue of Huey Long.

Unfortunately, the post was lost by the blogging software because I hadn't noticed that I had lost my broadband Internet connection.

So I'll quickly reprise what I wrote, except without all the quotes.

Posted by Frank James at 8:47 pm CST

"So let us find our resolve and turn events towards victory," President Bush said of the need to not give up the fight for Iraq.

Speaker Pelosi didn't applaud and most of the Democrats didn't either. The Republicans did, however, and after a few seconds, some Democrats, like Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, stood to lessen the chance that they'd be accused of not desiring victory.

Posted by Frank James at 8:35 pm CST

President Bush has just gone through a list of terror plots that have been broken up-- a plot to crash a plane into a West Coast highrise and an al Qaeda plot to unleash anthrax in the U.S. Nothing about the Miami guys who allegedly wanted to blow up the Sears Tower. Those fellas never get mentioned in any of these speeches.

Posted by Frank James at 8:25 pm CST

I don't know if it's news, but Bush said he was going to introduce a budget soon that would balance the federal budget in five years. That of course, would be three years after he's back at the ranch in Crawford, Tex. for good as a former president.

I wonder what the assumptions are behind his idea of balancing the budget in five years? Does he assume that the capital gains and other tax cuts that sunset in 2011 will be extended, as he has insisted is necessary, or is he banking on those cuts phasing out to help bring in the necessary revenue to get to balance?

Posted by Frank James at 8:10 pm CST

As President Bush entered the chamber, he received cordial handshakes from Democrats and Republicans alike.

But I didn't see any kisses like the one he and Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, exchanged at a previous State of the Union. That kiss caused Lieberman a lot of grief during last year's Democratic primary. It helped him lose it matter of fact.

Posted by Frank James at 8:02 pm CST

As I scan President Bush's speech, it's hard not to notice that he doesn't get into Iraq until page six of an eleven page speech. This is what you call in journalism burying your lead.

It's typical in SOTU speeches to save the foreign policy issues for the latter half of the speech. But since Iraq is the first issue on the minds of Americans, maybe the White House could have changed up the usual order. It's not like the president's domestic agenda is going to get a lot of love from the Democrats, especially his idea to change the tax-free status of many employer-provided health benefits.

Posted by Frank James at 7:56 pm CST

It's standing-room-only as usual in the House Press Gallery in the U.S. Capitol as reporters and photographers wait to take their seats in the House chamber itself for the State of the Union.

Electronics aren't allowed in the seating area within the House chamber itself, so I'll be blogging from the other side of the swinging double doors that lead into the chamber where the main event is taking place tonight.

As I write this standing up, my laptop is perched on a pink marble fireplace mantle. Someone has blessedly opened a window so there's a cool breeze now blowing through what had been a very stuffy space.

Posted by Frank James at 4:23 pm CST

The New Yorker known as the Subway Superman for risking his life to save another man who fell on the subway tracks and Houston Rocket All-Star center Dikembe Mutumbo are among Laura Bush's guests at tonight's State of the Union.

So is the woman who created the Baby Einstein videotapes familiar to many anxiety-ridden parents of the last decade who paid good dollars for kiddie videos with classical music soundtracks sold to parents who hoped the tapes would make their babies smarter. It certainly made tapes' creator richer.

Members of the military who served in Iraq will also sit in the first lady's area as will a Chicago priest and an official of Lutheran Services in Algonquin, Ill.

Posted by Frank James at 4:10 pm CST

For those who anxiously await the President Bush's speech tonight (mainly journalists,) the White House has released excerpts....

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

________________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release January 23, 2007

STATE OF THE UNION EXCERPTS

As Prepared for Delivery

The American people expect their elected leaders from both parties to work together on the important issues facing the Nation. Tonight the President will lay out an ambitious agenda, driven by bold and innovative concepts. He will discuss the importance of forging common ground with the new Congress and explain that to keep America safe, we must prevail in the war on terror.

“Some in this Chamber are new to the House and Senate – and I congratulate the Democratic majority. Congress has changed, but our responsibilities have not…We are not the first to come here with government divided and uncertainty in the air. Like many before us, we can work through our differences, and achieve big things for the American people.”

Posted by Christi Parsons at 4:02 pm CST

More than a dozen former members of Congress have felony convictions on their records but are still receiving taxpayer-funded pensions, and House members think that’s a crime.

On Tuesday, they voted unanimously to strip officials of their public retirement benefits upon conviction of official wrongdoing, including bribery and conspiring with foreign interests.

At present, only a conviction of a crime like treason or espionage requires forfeiture of a congressional pension, which means that lawmakers with other serious offenses on their rap sheets continue to draw benefits.

Posted by Mark Silva at 2:05 pm and updated at 2:51 pm CST

President Bush plans to push for the conservation of oil tonight with a State of the Union address proposing a "20 in 10'' plan to cut American fuel consumption by 20 percent in 10 years, and he will press for tax incentives for health care, immigration reform and a continuation of his education reforms.

But the president plans to save for the second half of his nearly hour-long televised address to a joint session of Congress and the nation starting at 8 pm CST any mention of the controversial war in Iraq or a broader war against terrorism, fields in which the White House acknowledges Bush will break "no new ground.''

Posted by Frank James at 12:23 pm CST

I had mixed feelings about writing this since we'd selfishly prefer readers of The Swamp to stay with us after President Bush's State of the Union speech tonight instead of going off to another blog. Anyway, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.,) the Senate's Assistant Majority Leader, will be blogging on the liberal DailyKos tonight.

You can read the press release below. It seems to be written for people outside the blogosphere (do any such people still exist?) since it offers a quick definition and description of blogging and blogs.

I particularly like this line. "Recent studies show that nearly a quarter of the population in the U.S. reads blogs at least once a week (and of that group nearly one-third are moved to undertake some type of political action)."

Posted by Mark Silva at 11:40 am CST

“I’d like to thank the steel plants, and the paper mills and the oil refineries and all those SUV-drivers out there for making this possible,’’ says the Oscar-winning filmmaker, taking the stage to claim his trophy for educating everyone about global warming.

The acceptance speech may not go quite like that, but it should make for equally good political theater if the cinematic and musical team behind Al Gore, failed candidate for president, former vice president and senator from Tennessee, claims Academy Awards next month for Gore’s documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.’’ Gore may have missed his chance for the presidency in 2000, but his director and musicican have won two shots at a 2007 Oscar with nominations announced today:

Posted by Frank James at 10:26 am CST

Lt. Gen. David Petraeus appears to be acquitting himself well during this morning's appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

All the senators seem to like and respect him.

He comes across as clear-eyed about what he faces when he's confirmed by the Senate and becomes the top U.S. general responsible for Iraq.

This is some of what Petraeus said:

"... The situation in Iraq is dire. The stakes are high. There are no easy choices. The way ahead will be very hard. Progress will require determination and difficult U.S. and Iraqi actions, especially the latter, as ultimately the outcome will be determined by the Iraqis.

"But hard is not hopeless, and if confirmed, I pledge to do my utmost to lead our wonderful men and women in uniform and those of our coalition partners in Iraq as we endeavor to help the Iraqis make the most of the opportunity our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines have given to them."

Post by Mike Dorning at 10:28 am CST.

The coming presidential election appears set to become the most intense political fundraising competition ever. And most serious candidates will devote much of their time in 2007 to accumulating a warchest to start the presidential primaries.

For a serious primary campaign, the "ante" is $50 million raised by 2007 of Dec. 31, said one adviser to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Several serious candidates already have set a target of raising a minimum of $100 million in advance of the first presidential caucus next January.

The "money primary" of 2007 will shape the field of candidates that voters choose from in 2008. An article in today's Tribune excerpted below offers a look at the reasons why money is playing a larger role in presidential politics today and how candidates will be chasing dollars.

Posted by David Lerman at 6:49 a.m. CST

I have a story today in the Daily Press about Sen. Jim Webb, the Virginia Democrat, who will deliver the Democratic response tonight to President Bush's State of the Union address.

Just a year ago, Jim Webb was a best-selling author and former Navy secretary who was angry about the Iraq war.

Tonight, the newly elected Democratic senator from Virginia makes his debut on the national political stage to offer an alternative to President Bush’s agenda.

Tapped by congressional leaders to deliver the Democratic response to Bush’s State of the Union address, the freshman senator suddenly finds himself serving as a national spokesman for his party and a prominent voice of protest against the Iraq war... ``On balance, this has all been a very fast start,” Webb said Monday as he prepared for his prime-time address, which will be delivered from the U.S. Capitol immediately following Bush’s speech.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Tuesday, January 23, 2007 as collected by the Associated Press.

President Bush is giving his State of the Union address to Congress tonight, 9 p.m.

The Senate Armed Services Committee is holding a confirmation hearing on the nomination of Lt. Gen. David Petraeus to be general and commander of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq. 9:30 a.m.

Posted by Pete Souza at 4:35 pm CST

Bob Ritter, a pro choice advocate from suburban Washington, argues with pro lifers in front of the U.S. Supreme Court during the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 22, 2007. In a somewhat bizarre scene, Ritter was later asked by a police official to leave the premises because he had a pair of scissors in his back pocket; Ritter said he worked nearby and forgot that he had them.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who announced this weekend he is seeking the Repubican nomination for President, greets fellow pro-lifers. Chicago Tribune photos by Pete Souza.

Posted by Frank James at 4:10 pm CST, updated at 7:05 pm

Sen. Barack Obama is being reminded of something he no doubt already knew: the higher you ascend in politics or government, the lower your opponents will stoop to undermine you.

I allude, of course, to claims that appeared in the Washington Times magazine Insight and elsewhere, that as a child in Indonesia Obama attended a Islamic madrassah or religious school and that he was a Muslim, at least for a little while and that he has been hiding this part of his "past." The implication is that Obama may be a closet Islamic fanatic and liar to boot.

Obama’s staffers have denied the madrassah story. Meanwhile, this whale of a claim has been effectively harpooned by several seekers of truth, including my fellow Tribune blogger Eric Zorn in “Change of Subject.”

What's more, Wolf Blitzer of CNN's "Situation Room" has a report in which CNN actually traveled to Jakarta, Indonesia to investigate the school Obama attended. Its reporter concluded it's a regular public school, not a madrassah at all, thus debunking the rumor.

Posted by Andrew Zajac and 12:53 p.m. CST

The FBI kept silent when it should have told someone last July about suggestive e-mail between former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla, and an underage page, according to a just-released report by the Justice Department Inspector General.

The report also concluded that the FBI wrongly told reporters that the reason the bureau didn't open an investigation was because the e-mails, which came from a watchdog group, were heavily redacted, and because the group wouldn't divulge the source of the correspondence. (The e-mails are not to be confused with more lurid instant messages that came to light later and brought down Foley and helped seal the Republican party's loss of control of Congress in the mid-term elections.)

Read the IG report here:
PDF (Full Report)

Posted by Frank James at 11:16 am CST

Clout is an attribute near and dear to the hearts of Chicagoans, of course. Students of politics and power assumed that Illinois would lose some when Republicans lost control of Congress since that meant the state would no longer have a House Speaker in the delegation or committee and subcommittee chairmanships.

Now Roll Call (subscription required), one of the best-known publications that covers Capitol Hill, has tried to measure just how much juice Illinois’s and other state delegations have gained or lost because of Congress’s recent realignment.

Posted by Mark Silva at 10:14 am CST

With a State of the Union address heavy on health care, energy and education, President Bush will attempt to get past a raging debate over the war in Iraq with pressing domestic issues as he faces a joint session of the new Democratic-controlled Congress for the first time on Tuesday.

Yet, with continuing violence in Iraq and mounting American casualties, congressional leaders are more likely to zero in on the Iraq war policy that Bush first spelled out in a televised address two weeks ago.

The president, who does plan to confront the war in a speech running longer than 40 minutes and starting at 8 pm CST Tuesday, also plans to lay out what the White House is calling a "bold'' array of plans for health care, energy independence, global warming and immigration reform. This includes a plan for a new standard tax deduction for health insurance, intended to spur health care coverage for many of the more than 40 million Americans who lack health insurance, and offering a break in costs for many while asking some Americans to pay more for insurance.

Posted by David Lightman at 7:10 am CST

In a field of Democratic candidates for president suddenly occupied by high-profile, well-known front-runners, the lesser-known will face more trouble finding a path and establishing their own credibility among primary election voters. This is the path that Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut faces.

Follow along that path this morning with this report from New Hampshire:

Posted by William Neikirk at 6:30 a.m. CST

They wear turbans and carry daggers. As a result, they have been victims of hate crimes and incidents since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. They are Sikhs, followers of one of the world's largest religions, and they seek understanding.

And that is what the Justice Department is trying to provide. Last week the department's Community Relations Service unveiled a 17-minute training video to help explain the Sikh religion (and their distinctive religious symbols) to the nation's police.

The film's unspoken message is that there is a possible problem on the part of some law enforcement officials when it comes to dealing with Sikhs, who point out that they originated in India and are not Arabs. The Justice Department obviously felt it had a duty to educate many police about the essential symbols of the Sikh religion, including the turban and the kirpan or dagger.

Manjit Singh, left, head of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Eduction Fund, which produced the film in conjunction with the Ju