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In New Contract, Newt Goes Green
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JOE CIARDIELLO FOR USN&WR Former House Speaker and possible Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich will be in Washington this week to debate Sen. John Kerry on global climate change and the environment. But don't expect Newt to be in denial mode. A source close to Gingrich says the debate will give him a chance to unveil the market- and technology-based environmental solutions that form the basis of his forthcoming book A Contract With the Earth.
Due out in November—around the time Gingrich will make up his mind about entering the presidential race—the book is cowritten with Terry Maple, former director of Zoo Atlanta. "Terry and I wrote A Contract With the Earth to push conservatives back to their environmental roots vis-à-vis Teddy Roosevelt," Gingrich tells us.
Like his 1994 Contract With America, Gingrich's book will highlight a 10-point plan that the publisher, Johns Hopkins University Press, says "promotes ingenuity over rhetoric" and calls for a "bipartisan environmentalism." It's already received endorsements from Nature Conservancy President Steve McCormick and Wildlife Society Executive Director Michael Hutchins. A source at the publishing house says Newt fans shouldn't be surprised to learn he's a tree-hugger: "For quite a while, Gingrich has been concerned that the U.S. has not been a leader in environmental issues."
By Dan Gilgoff With Suzi Parker, Anna Mulrine, and Silla Brush
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Hagel: Writing, Running, or Both
Tweet Share on Facebook April 8, 2007 CommentIn other book news, Nebraska senator and Iraq war foe Chuck Hagel doesn't know whether he's running for president yet, but the Republican's current literary project certainly points in that direction. We've learned that Hagel is hard at work on America: The Next Chapter, a collection of practical—and reportedly nonpartisan—policy prescriptions on issues as diverse as healthcare and the Middle East. HarperCollins imprint Ecco will publish it early next year, around the time of the Iowa caucuses. Hagel's keeping mum on his tome, but Ecco publisher Dan Halpern tells us the senator is taking his first draft mighty seriously: "He's said over and over again that this book is his legacy ... it's what is most important to him right now."
By Dan Gilgoff With Suzi Parker, Anna Mulrine, and Silla Brush
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Who Was First to Broach This Bridge?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 8, 2007 CommentDid Sen. Barack Obama überstrategist David Axelrod coin Bill Clinton's famous phrase "bridge to the 21st century"? A recent Axelrod profile in the New York Times Magazine credits him with introducing it "into the political vernacular" while advising President Clinton's 1996 campaign, but a clip search reveals that Clinton used the metaphor at least twice before that, in major speeches in 1985 and 1988. Axelrod didn't return a phone message, but a call to President Clinton's office triggered a quick internal investigation. An aide to the former prez says two top Clinton advisers from '96 have no recollection of Axelrod's minting the phrase.
By Dan Gilgoff With Suzi Parker, Anna Mulrine, and Silla Brush
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The Chairman Does Tae Kwon Do
Tweet Share on Facebook April 8, 2007 Comment (1)Some friendly advice for those called to testify before the House Armed Services Committee: Don't get surly with Chairman Ike Skelton. The gentlemanly and seemingly mild-mannered Missouri Democrat is a tae kwon do aficionado who can break three boards with one side kick.
By Dan Gilgoff With Suzi Parker, Anna Mulrine, and Silla Brush
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More Turnover at a Big Donor Shop
Tweet Share on Facebook April 8, 2007 CommentThe Democracy Alliance, a cadre of superwealthy Democratic fundraisers that bankrolls such major beltway groups as the Center for American Progress, is doing a fine job maintaining its very low profile, but we've learned that it's experiencing another in a series of shake-ups at the top. Founded soon after the 2004 election, the alliance—whose website is blank and phone number is unlisted—recently named its third new chief in two years: Kelly Craighead, a longtime pal of Bill and Hillary Clinton and a personal assistant to Hillary when she was first lady. Craighead gets her first crack at donors later this month, at the year's leadoff conference for the group.
By Dan Gilgoff With Suzi Parker, Anna Mulrine, and Silla Brush
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Spinning for a Tough New Crowd
Tweet Share on Facebook April 8, 2007 CommentFormer White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart is telling stories again, but this time it's not to the press corps. Lockhart, who flacked for President Clinton, will deliver his true-life tale "Impeachment Day" next week at Washington's historic Lincoln Theatre as part of a night of storytelling sponsored by the Moth, a New York-based literary series. Lockhart has spun the yarn for audiences in Aspen and New York, but he's much more nervous this time around. "People outside Washington are fascinated by a peek behind the curtain," he says. "But people in Washington live behind the curtain." Lockhart says this will be the last time he tells the tale.
By Dan Gilgoff With Suzi Parker, Anna Mulrine, and Silla Brush
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On Location With Politics on His Mind
Tweet Share on Facebook April 8, 2007 CommentIn D.C. to shoot a sequel to National Treasure, actor Jon Voight says politics are very much on his mind at the moment, particularly after wrapping up work on the forthcoming flick September Dawn. It's the true story of an 1857 massacre of California-bound pioneers by a group of Mormon zealots. Voight says that Mormonism has cleaned up its act since then but that the movie speaks to the stakes in the current battle against Islamic radicalism. That's why, Voight says, he's troubled by attacks on President Bush's war on terrorism: "The enemy would really like for us to divide and fight against each other and do their pernicious work for them."
By Dan Gilgoff With Suzi Parker, Anna Mulrine, and Silla Brush
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In Arkansas, Earth Day With a Twist
Tweet Share on Facebook April 8, 2007 CommentWe were somewhat puzzled by a recent invitation from the William J. Clinton Foundation for an Earth Day coffee at the University of Arkansas's Clinton School of Public Service, which advertises that coffee would be followed by a mysterious "special announcement." But we've cracked some of the mystery: Bill Clinton himself is scheduled to be there, possibly with Denis Hayes, who helped launch the first Earth Day in 1970.
By Dan Gilgoff With Suzi Parker, Anna Mulrine, and Silla Brush
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Out Loud
Tweet Share on Facebook April 8, 2007 Comment"I would love not to have to raise money so I could spend all my time in town hall meetings."
Sen. Barack Obama, after his presidential campaign announced it had raised $25 million in the first quarter of 2007, just $1 million less than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign"This pardon is a gift to the British people."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, authorizing the release of 15 British sailors and marines his government held for two weeks after claiming they had entered Iranian waters"The road to Damascus is a road to peace."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, after meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus despite White House"I think abortion is wrong. But ultimately, I think it is a woman's right, a woman's choice."
Rudy Giuliani, ex-New York mayor and presidential hopeful, reaffirming his support for abortion rights in South CarolinaSources: Washington Post (2), Associated Press, and New York Times
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Cartoon
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