Entries for April 16, 2007

This item comes to us from U.S. News reporter Silla Brush:

Michigan Democrats are hotly pursuing two Republican-held congressional seats in the early goings of the 2008 cycle and are working closely with both the national party and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to get them.

Democrats have their sights on seats held by Reps. Joe Knollenberg and Tim Walberg. In addition, Mark Brewer, the Michigan state party chairman, tells U.S. News that targeting the seat held by Republican Rep. Thaddeus McCotter is "under consideration" by the party and the DCCC. Brewer says that after having little or no interaction with the DCCC during the 2006 cycle, Michigan is becoming a popular state for Democrats to try to add to their gains.

While authorities have not confirmed that the gunman in today's horrific shooting at Virginia Tech was affiliated with the school, the topic of weapons possession at the Blacksburg university has been a political issue in the past.

As at most Virginia universities, firearms are banned on campus at Virginia Tech in most cases, regardless of whether the person possessing the gun has a concealed weapons permit. This came up in the Spring of 2005, when a student was disciplined for bringing a gun to class in spite of having a permit.

The incident touched off a legal dispute over whether a university has the legal authority to ban weapons, inspiring a member of the state House of Delegates, C. Todd Gilbert, a Shenandoah County Republican, to propose legislation that would prohibit universities in Virginia from imposing such restrictions. The measure quickly died in committee.

"Nothing short of like violence would have stopped that guy," Gilbert said today. "It's certainly done nothing but reinforce what I knew to be true, which was that gun laws and gun violations do not stop a committed criminal."

U.S. News Chief White House Correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh has these two tidbits for us:

Bush Is Marshalling Allies for Confrontation With Dems ...

The sparks are expected to fly at President Bush's meeting with Democratic congressional leaders Wednesday at the White House. The topic will be Iraq, and neither side has shown much willingness to compromise so far.

As a result, the face-to-face session should test everyone's patience, including that of the public. The public is less interested in contest than compromise, and Democratic pollster Geoff Garin says the president has the most to lose. In Garin's assessment, which reflects the thinking of many key Democrats, it's the president who will have the most trouble maintaining public favor over the long run amid the current antiwar environment.

Last Saturday's suicide bombing in Morocco, in which two brothers blew themselves up near the U.S. consulate, has revived fears that Islamic extremism is resurging in the North African kingdom, a close ally of the United States.

The bombings, which injured one woman, were the first since a deadly 12-person suicide bombing in Casablanca in 2003 that killed 33 people in addition to the bombers. Two years later, U.S. News & World Report diplomatic correspondent Thomas Omestad traced 11 of the 12 bombers in that attack to an impoverished shantytown outside Casablanca and examined the genesis of their extremism.

Democrats:

• Hillary Rodham Clinton visits Rutgers for the 50th anniversary of the Eagleton Institute of Politics.
• John Edwards makes two stops in South Carolina for meet-and-greets in Seneca and Anderson this morning, then heads to Nashville for a concert.
• Barack Obama is in Milwaukee this evening for a $25/person fundraiser.

Republicans:

• Sam Brownback is in Ames, Iowa, this evening as a guest at the Future Farmers of America leadership BBQ.
• Rudy Giuliani attends a fundraiser in Denver at the home of former Denver Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe.
• John McCain is in Memphis to give a major policy speech on taxes, trade, and curtailing government spending.

This morning's top stories:

• Update (9:55 a.m.): Sallie Mae, the gargantuan student loan lender, has agreed to sell the company to a group of investors led by a private equity firm, J.C. Flowers & Co., for about $25 billion.
• The influential Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Monday called on followers in the Iraqi parliament and cabinet to abandon their posts. The move would deal a significant blow to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki who relied on support from the Sadrists to gain office.
• President Bush will meet with legislative leaders from both parties on Wednesday to discuss the disputed defense supplemental spending bill that does not include timetables for U.S. troop withdrawal.
• An off-duty Northwest Airlines pilot was arrested Sunday in Port Huron, Michigan, for suspicion of driving under the influence of cocaine.
• A consortium of nine automakers is soliciting proposals for a computer program that would function as a "virtual human," allowing more realistic simulations of the effect of crashes than dummies can provide.
• Protesters in Moscow and St. Petersburg clashed with police over the weekend during anti-Kremlin rallies.