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Pollster Predicts Onslaught Of Political Ads In December And January
Tweet Share on Facebook April 9, 2007 CommentThis comes from Chief White House Correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh
Aside from clarifying the pecking order among the presidential candidates -- endlessly analyzed by the mainstream media during the past week -- the astronomical amounts of money raised for Campaign '08 will have another big, if less-noted, effect: generating endless TV ads this fall and in the early winter.
Political pros are predicting that in December and January, the air waves will be filled with political commercials. And the blitz will continue for weeks because so many states are moving their primary dates to February 5. That includes California, one of the most expensive states in which to advertise and a huge source of nominating delegates for both parties.
"You won't be able to tune in on TV without seeing a candidate's face yelling at another candidate," says GOP pollster Frank Luntz. "There will be so many ads that they will drive people crazy." Result: rising potential for political overload that might drive down public interest in the campaigns.
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Civil War in Iraq Predates Samarra Bombing, Book Claims
Tweet Share on Facebook April 9, 2007 CommentSenior editor Kevin Whitelaw, who has made seven trips to Iraq since 2000, gives us this insight on a revealing new insider's account of sectarian violence in Iraq:
The Bush administration frequently suggests that Iraq's sectarian civil war began in February 2006 with the bombing of a Shiite shrine in the Sunni town of Samarra. But a fascinating new book by Ali Allawi, The Occupation of Iraq (Amazon.com), traces the "first flashes" of the civil war back to a series of incidents in late 2004.
Allawi, a former Iraq government minister now serving as an adviser to the prime minister, writes about how, in the wake of the second battle for Fallujah, Sunni refugees resettled in several Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad. These refugees often joined forces with local insurgents to push local Shiites out of their homes in order to get a place to live for themselves.
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It's Anniversary Season in Iraq
Tweet Share on Facebook April 9, 2007 CommentSpring is anniversary season in Iraq--and in Iraq and at home, anniversaries are excuses to protest.
Today marks the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to American forces, and tens of thousands of Iraqis are commemorating the occasion by marching through the streets in cities south of the capital in protest of the continued presence of American troops. This anniversary comes about 20 days after the anniversary of the invasion, which inspired its own series of protests, including a large demonstration in San Francisco and a march on the Pentagon here in Washington. Many media outlets took the opportunity to review four years of the war and the difficult situation that remains.
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Schwarzenegger Heads For Washington To Support Global Warming Legislation
Tweet Share on Facebook April 9, 2007 CommentAssociate Editor Bret Schulte reports:
A week after the Supreme Court dealt the Bush administration a blow by ruling that the EPA does have the authority to regulate carbon dioxide, emboldened environmentalists and other supporters of mandatory cuts in greenhouse gases are aggressively pursuing their agenda.
This morning, Georgetown University announced that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will come to Washington on Wednesday to deliver a keynote address at its environmental leadership conference. Schwarzenegger angered the White House during his reelection campaign by supporting the country's most aggressive global warming legislation to date and circumventing federal policy to discuss a carbon credits exchange deal with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
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Rhetoric Aside, a Deal May be Coming on Iraq
Tweet Share on Facebook April 9, 2007 CommentThis comes to us from Chief White House Correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh:
Republican strategists with close ties to Congress predict that majority Democrats and President Bush will find a compromise on the Iraq funding issue sooner rather than later once the legislators and the president return to Washington from their spring break.
The Senate returns Tuesday, but the House is out the rest of the week, so official conferencing on the spending bill passed by both houses will have to wait. Meanwhile, the "Countdown to Troop Funding Cuts" hosted on GOP.com is set to expire at midnight this coming Saturday. (This is just one of several estimates.)
One possible outcome, Walsh notes, would be for the White House accepts some form of nonbinding "bench marks" for success in Iraq as part of legislation to increase supplemental funding for the war, while at the same time the Democrats delete a mandatory withdrawal timetable from the funding bill.
"When the president says, 'Send me a bill to support the troops,' he has a lot more impact than the Democratic leaders do, because they have so many voices," says a GOP insider. "But in the end, there's got to be a deal. That's the way Washington works."
Etc.: Bush Blasts Dems Over Spending Bill (Video), on USNews.com
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Who's Where on the Trail
Tweet Share on Facebook April 9, 2007 CommentNot much activity on the trail today.
Bill Richardson is in North Korea to help negotiate the return of the remains of missing U.S. servicemen.
Most of the Democratic candidates for president will be participating in a virtual town hall meeting on Iraq tomorrow, sponsored by Moveon.org.
From the Political Bulletin: John McCain is about to launch a major political offensive on why he believes the war in Iraq is winnable. And while a possible Fred Thompson candidacy is making a few waves, his relatively late start compared with his peers may have cost him the allegiance of major fundraisers in the party.
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Morning Buzz: April 9, 2007
Tweet Share on Facebook April 9, 2007 CommentThis morning's top stories:
- An exclusive story by U.S. News & World Report's Linda Robinson found an alarming trend on veterans' disabilities. New data show that a majority of seriously wounded service members are not paid full military retirement benefits and sometimes face a hostile bureaucracy at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
- Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called on tens of thousands of Iraqis to rally in the streets of two southern cities today to mark the four-year anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.
- An official in Iraq's post-invasion government has published a harsh but authoritative account that reflects on why Iraqis might have lost confidence in U.S.-led efforts in Iraq.
- The White House plans to file two complaints with the World Trade Organization this week over what the administration calls unfair trade practices by China, CNN reports according to two senior administration officials.
- Researchers at Purdue University have designed a portable biorefinery that can transform certain types of inorganic trash and food remains into electricity.