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Morning Buzz: March 25, 2008
Tweet Share on Facebook March 25, 2008 Comment (2)U.S. home prices dropped 11.4 percent in January, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index, the Associated Press is reporting this morning. The index looks at the price of single-family homes in 10 major metropolitan areas. The decline means that housing prices have been growing more slowly or dropping for 19 consecutive months. The worst-performing markets were in Las Vegas and Miami, while Charlotte, N.C., did the best.
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The Clinton Campaign Is Counting on a Momentum Shift That Wins Over the Superdelegates
Tweet Share on Facebook March 24, 2008 CommentHillary Clinton's strategists are preparing an all-out bid for support from superdelegates as their last, best hope of winning the Democratic presidential nomination. "Come June [after the last primary], the superdelegates are going to look at a Barack Obama who has finally been more vetted and will look at a Hillary who has been completely vetted and who will be surging after wins in Ohio and Texas and presumably Pennsylvania," says a senior Clinton adviser.
The adviser predicts that Obama's changing positions on issues ranging from free trade to "single payer" healthcare will undermine his popularity and that his inexperience on national-security and economic issues will contribute to buyer's remorse on the part of many delegates. The furor over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's anti-American and antiwhite statements is also hurting Obama among voters who are troubled by his longtime association with the controversial Chicago pastor.
Clinton and Obama will be separated by only about 100 delegates in June out of more than 4,000 who will cast ballots at the convention, Clinton insiders predict. "It will be essentially even," the adviser adds," and the superdelegates will have to make a decision.... Who can beat John McCain?"
There are about 800 superdelegates—mainly elected officials and party activists—whose votes aren't tied to caucuses or primaries. Clinton insiders hold out a slim hope that delegates from the disputed primaries in Florida and Michigan (which Clinton won) will be counted at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August. If that happens, they say, Obama's lead could be cut to only about a dozen delegates.
—Kenneth T. Walsh
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Supreme Court Lets Stand a Ruling That Permits Female Prisoners Access to Abortion Services
Tweet Share on Facebook March 24, 2008 CommentThe American Civil Liberties Union is applauding today's decision by the Supreme Court not to review a lower court's ruling that a prison in Maricopa County, Ariz., did not have the right to restrict female prisoners' access to abortion. "Today's announcement puts an end to Maricopa County prison officials' blatant disregard for the law and failure to ensure that prisoners get the healthcare they feel they need," said Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona. The Supreme Court's ruling was a blow to antiabortion forces and Joe Arpaio, the sheriff in charge of the Maricopa County Jail who has grown a national reputation for his hard-line stances. In the case, the ACLU argued that prison officials did not have the right to decide whether a woman could have an abortion, building on the success of a similar case in Missouri earlier this year.
—Bret Schulte
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Morning Buzz: March 24, 2008
Tweet Share on Facebook March 24, 2008 CommentYesterday marked a grim milestone when four American soldiers were killed from a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Now 4,000 U.S. soldiers have been lost in the conflict in Iraq, which is going into its sixth year. The soldiers were on patrol in southern Baghdad when the bomb struck their vehicle at about 10 p.m. Sunday. Another soldier was wounded in the attack.
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Obama 'Typical White Person' Comment Delights Clinton Aides
Tweet Share on Facebook March 21, 2008 Comment (43)Hillary Clinton's strategists are delighted at what they consider Barack Obama's latest stumble in the hypersensitive world of racial politics.
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Reporter Describes a Grim Life in Iraq
Tweet Share on Facebook March 21, 2008 Comment (1)While violence has declined noticeably in Baghdad, day-to-day life for Iraqis is grim, U.S. News Associate Editor Alex Kingsbury told Jon Stewart on The Daily Show last night. Kingsbury, who recently returned from his second reporting assignment in Iraq, described Baghdad neighborhoods where there is raw sewage in the streets and goats graze on garbage from toppled bins.
Kingsbury's "Iraq Journal" series has reported on how American troops and Iraqi citizens cope with the difficulties in the country five years after the U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
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Morning Buzz: March 21, 2008
Tweet Share on Facebook March 21, 2008 Comment (1)New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former Democratic presidential candidate himself, will endorse Barack Obama for president today. In a statement released on Thursday, Richardson wrote: "I believe [Obama] is the kind of once-in-a-lifetime leader that can bring our nation together and restore America's moral leadership in the world."
Chinese forces are continuing to expand their crackdown on Tibetan rioters. Earlier today the government dispatched air and ground forces to various regions in western China, attempting to reassert control over areas believed sympathetic to the protesters. In India, meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with the Dalai Lama, whom Chinese authorities have blamed for the riots.
In a decision that promises to make hundreds of Starbucks baristas even perkier, a California court yesterday ordered the coffee giant to pay $100 million of back tips and interest to Golden State baristas. The case was brought in 2004 by a barista who claimed that shift supervisors, in violation of state law, were taking a portion of employees' tips for themselves.
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Another Democratic Superdelegate Warns of Bucking Elected Delegates
Tweet Share on Facebook March 20, 2008 CommentNancy Pelosi's weekend warning to superdelegates not to vote differently than those elected in primaries was seconded today by former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, a superdelegate and former Democratic Party boss.
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Our Iraq Reporter on Jon Stewart's Show
Tweet Share on Facebook March 20, 2008 Comment (1)Just back from a monthlong reporting assignment in Iraq, U.S. News Associate Editor Alex Kingsbury will be the guest tonight on Comedy Central's The Daily Show W ith Jon Stewart. He will talk about his experiences as a reporter embedded with U.S. troops in Baghdad during his second assignment to Iraq in the past year.
Kingsbury found that, while the level of violence has clearly diminished since his previous visit, the capital remains a dangerous and volatile place and the hurdles to reconstruction and political reconciliation remain daunting. His "Iraq Journal" reports highlight many of the challenges that are front and center in Iraq. His earlier story on the life and death of Staff Sgt. Darrell Griffin received widespread attention for its insight into one soldier's fateful experience in Iraq.
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Iraq Surge Architect: Don't Cut Troop Levels Till '09
Tweet Share on Facebook March 20, 2008 Comment (1)Frederick Kagan, a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank, tells U.S. News that, barring major developments, he sees little reason to reduce force levels in Iraq below presurge levels until early 2009.
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