Entries for March 2008

President Bush left this morning for Europe, where he will be meeting with leaders from Ukraine, Croatia, and Russia before traveling to Bucharest, Romania, for the NATO summit, which begins Wednesday. Before departing, Bush delivered a speech from the White House in which he asked Congress to pass important legislation on intelligence gathering, housing, and trade matters while he is away.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson released a 200-page economic reform proposal today calling for significant changes to the day-to-day regulation of U.S. markets. If enacted, it would constitute the largest overhaul of U.S. financial regulatory powers since the Great Depression.

While primary season is still in full heat on the Democratic side, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain is starting a new leg of his bid for the White House: a weeklong biography tour, beginning with a speech at Mississippi State University today. The former prisoner of war is casting himself as an "imperfect servant of my country" who was born into a family of American warriors.

Most of the nation's 400 or 500 top conservative leaders are, for now, lukewarm about John McCain's candidacy, says a leading, old-guard conservative, Richard Viguerie.

On most issues except immigration, Hispanic voters largely echo the views of whites, black, and Asians in a new poll from Synovate Research.

Disgruntled by the negativity of his party's nominating contest, DNC Chair Howard Dean is asking Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to do a better job of keeping their supporters from engaging in nasty exchanges. "You do not want to demoralize the base of the Democratic Party by having the Democrats attack each other," he told the Associated Press in an interview yesterday. "Let the media and the Republicans and the talking heads on cable television attack and carry on, fulminate at the mouth. The supporters should keep their mouths shut about this stuff on both sides because that is harmful to the potential victory of a Democrat."

Obama is set to receive the endorsement of Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey today. This move could help the Illinois senator make inroads among white working-class Pennsylvania voters, dubbed "Casey Democrats" because they tend to agree with Casey's opposition to abortion and support of gun rights. The endorsement comes as Obama begins a six-day tour across the Keystone State, which holds the next important primary on April 22. Clinton already has the endorsement of the state's popular governor, Ed Rendell.

The United States has begun providing air support to Iraqi forces in Basra, in southern Iraq, where security force ground troops have been engaged in combat with Shiite militias since Monday. U.S. warplanes conducted at least two airstrikes last night, according to reports.

Two of the nation's largest air carriers—American Airlines and Delta Airlines—have canceled hundreds of flights today and tomorrow to conduct inspections of wiring bundles in various McDonnell Douglas-designed aircraft. The inspections come as the Federal Aviation Administration has become increasingly concerned about maintenance records of several top airlines.

More bad news on the economy: New Commerce Department statistics show that the U.S. gross domestic product in the fourth quarter of 2007 rose by just 0.6 percent, down from 4.9 percent in the previous quarter. Some analysts expect the first quarter of 2008 to be even worse.

Dallas-Fort Worth and Atlanta saw the biggest gains in population among metropolitan areas in 2006 and 2007, according to Census Bureau statistics being released today. Dallas-Fort Worth added 162,000 people from July 2006 to July 2007; Atlanta, in that same period, added 151,000. Phoenix was third, with 132,000 new residents.

Hillary Clinton's advisers are taking another tack in trying to outmaneuver Barack Obama for support among the nearly 800 superdelegates who may make the ultimate decision on who will be the Democratic presidential nominee.

After coming under fire from the environmental community last year for introducing a wider array of gas-guzzling large automobiles, Toyota took a step Wednesday to restore its green credentials. The leading automaker joined the National Audubon Society in forming TogetherGreen, a national program to fund conservation projects, train environmental leaders, and offer volunteer opportunities to better the environment. Toyota contributed $20 million to the cause, the largest grant in the society's 103-year history.