Entries for January 2008

She's always been outrageous, but when conservative Ann Coulter talked of 9/11 "rag heads" at the 2006 Conservative Political Action Conference and linked the slur "faggot" to Sen. John Edwards in a 2007 speech, CPAC's organizers decided to cut her from the list of speakers at the February 7-9 conference expected to draw 6,000. But that doesn't mean she won't speak there. "It's unfortunate that Ann Coulter is not speaking at CPAC," says Ron Robinson, president of Young America's Foundation. "She's a powerhouse for young people," he adds, and "one major reason that CPAC is so successful." So guess what? YAF and its supporters also attending CPAC will host Coulter at the same hotel as CPAC. "This way," says one host, "CPAC isn't technically having Coulter speak."

Hey Oprah! Want to get a lucky—and timely—campaign charm for your guy, Sen. Barack Obama? Well for the bargain-basement price of about $150,000, our friends at Alexander Autographs have the very same gold Benrus watch that the Democratic National Committee gave to JFK during his 1960 campaign against Richard Nixon. It's inscribed, "To our next president, J.F.K." In an authentication letter, former aide David Powers says Kennedy wore it on the campaign trail, though "he found the watch band heavy and loose" and almost lost it several times while shaking hands. And seriously, $150,000 is cheap: Alexander President Bill Panagopulos says that a watch JFK wore on Inauguration Day fetched $420,000.

There's a new rule at the Republican National Committee. Refer to the two leading Democratic presidential candidates simply as "Barack" and "Hillary" and you'll be fined $10. The reason: Using first names makes the candidates sound more likable but calling them "Senator Obama" and "Senator Clinton" makes them sound more distant and bureaucratic. "I don't think people are actually being fined," says one insider. But everyone is being "encouraged" to follow the rule.

Former superstar GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson took too long to warm to the campaign trail and wife Jeri erred in grabbing for control of the reins, according to Fred's associates. Left to wonder what went wrong, the insiders say that Jeri, a political pro in her own right, did a great job building the draft movement and getting Fred to respond but then it took too long for Thompson to warm up to his bid. "He didn't feel comfortable until after Iowa," said one ally. But, they say, Jeri interfered with the campaign staff too much and even considered hiring a whole new crew the week before the South Carolina primary, which Fred lost.

We can't tell you where it is or we'd have to kill you, but the newest CIA campus somewhere in northern Virginia is winning kudos for being green. Built from more than 20 percent recycled materials and sporting features like waterless urinals and a roof covered in vegetation, two buildings on the site have earned a gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, ratings system. The campus, which we hear will process new job applicants, should consume about 21 percent less energy and 40 percent less water than a conventional building. "We even saved on materials for a sign," kids a source, "because there ain't one." A weird footnote: The secret site has a "visitor center."

Fox News Channel's Geraldo Rivera has never been one to slink from a fight, especially when facing bigots. "There aren't many people in this country who have been called both a Spic and a dirty Jew in the same street brawl with neo-Nazis," he pens in the upcoming His Panic. But it still comes as a surprise that Geraldo rails on the news biz, especially Fox's Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity and CNN's Lou Dobbs, for what he calls anti-immigrant hate. In the semiautobiography, he blames them for helping to torpedo immigration reform with their nativist coverage. But it's Dobbs he really dislikes. "The anchorman was once a respected business journalist," pens Geraldo, "but after his ratings plummeted in the face of the Fox News ascendancy . . . he has resurrected a failed career on the backs of these poor immigrants." No word yet from Dobbs.

"I'm sure he's trying to capitalize on his Nobel Prize and fame."

Harold Vogel, of Vogel Capital Management, downplaying interest in Al Gore's plan to take his firm, Current Media, public with an initial stock offering

"Addiction is hard to overcome. As you might remember, I drank too much at one time in my life."

President Bush, discussing benefits of his faith-based initiative

"I'm not quitting. I believe in miracles."

Mike Huckabee, running behind in the GOP presidential contest but pledging to go the distance

"No, I'd tell him, 'Thanks, John. I've been there, I've done that.'"

Sen. Joe Lieberman, a former Democratic vice presidential nominee, on joining a ticket with GOP Sen. John McCain

"Oprah is a daughter to me, but she is not my clone."

Maya Angelou, the poet, on breaking with Oprah Winfrey's support for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama to back Sen. Hillary Clinton

Sources: USA Today, White House, Orange County Register, AP, Guardian

STEVE BREEN/COPLEY NEWS SERVICE/SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

It hasn't happened since 1956, and most pols believe the days of brokered presidential nominating conventions are history. But both sides now think it's a possibility this year, especially if the February 5 Super Tuesday vote splits delegates between the leading contenders.

Sen. Dick Durbin, cochair of Sen. Barack Obama's Democratic bid, is one of them. He has cochaired the normally meaningless platform committees at the past three conventions.

"I had it all wrong this time," he says. "I really figured, I calculated in my mind, this was the end of political conventions. This cycle was the end of political conventions. What is the point? If it's about the platform committee and wearing funny hats, why are we spending all this time and money?"

But with the leading two candidates on both sides tied in the polls, he adds, "things look a lot different on both sides. And it could be, it really could be, a situation that we will be heading to Denver [site of the Democratic convention] with still some uncertainty about who the nominee really will be."

Bill Clinton might not be the only one sending a heart-shaped box of chocolates to Hillary Clinton this Valentine's Day. That's because the National Confectioners Association finds that she tops a poll of who Americans are sweet for. They say that of all the candidates, 18 percent would like to give her their support and a box of chocolates. Fellow Democrats Barack Obama and John Edwards, who withdrew from the race today, are next at 14 and 6 percent, respectively, while Republican John McCain is at 5 percent. There's some irony: McCain is the only chocolate freak, with aides describing him as a fiend for those bite-size Snickers.

Other details in the poll provided to Whispers: One in 10 Republicans favored Obama as their top choice over a Republican candidate.

About 1 in 5 younger voters had the biggest crush on Obama, choosing to show their support by giving him a box of chocolates.

President Bush's hopeful comments in the State of the Union address about the war in Iraq are drawing fire from some Democrats who just don't buy it.

Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin is one of them, and he's already pledging to conduct more antiwar votes in the Senate this spring.

"How many times have we been told that we are winning or have won the war in Iraq?" Durbin asked at a media breakfast on Tuesday. "We were told that again last night. I want to tell you that with 4,000 American dead, with almost 40,000 wounded, with no end in sight and with the Iraqi government still stumbling and bumbling their way into some sort of position where they can govern, I think it is disingenuous to continue to tell us this mission has been accomplished or is being accomplished. We are a long way from there. And we have a long way to go."

The Illinois senator rapped Bush for refusing to change his policies in Iraq. "It is clear that this president is adamant and will not change his policy regardless of what happens and we have to live with it because we don't have the votes necessary" to overturn the policy, he said. But Durbin said that the political calendar might push some Republicans up for re-election to join the efforts to limit the war, or at least put restrictions on how many times troops can be redeployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I think we could have some votes on Iraq and I think we should," he said. "It is an issue. It may not be the most dominant issue today— the economy appears to be for obvious reasons— but it is an issue that concerns a lot of people."