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Sen. Lamar Alexander Fills Up His Hybrid for 60 Cents
Tweet Share on Facebook September 25, 2008 Comment (1)He wore a red-and-black checked flannel shirt to show he was a man of the people, and now Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander has a new personal symbol to show off his energy concerns: an electric Toyota Prius modified to operate exclusively on a battery. "I thought I better put myself where my mouth was," he chuckles over the thrill of driving the specially fitted hybrid at a time when Washington is making energy and alternative car fuels a top priority. Naturally, it's black. "Very senatorial," he says. Alexander says he learned of the new battery technology from Watertown, Mass.'s A123 Systems during a hearing. For a $10,000 premium, they fit cars with bigger batteries that allow the vehicles to drive 30 miles on electric power alone. Just plug it in at night and it's off to the races, says Alexander, who says the technology will hit the mass market in just two years. "I can fill up at night for 60 to 80 cents instead of going down to the gas station to fill up for $60 to $80," he says. "If half our cars and trucks were electric, that would be 125 million and that might take 15 to 20 years but would reduce imported oil by 4 [million] to 5 million barrels a day, which is $400 [million] to $500 million dollars less a day we'd be sending overseas," he says.
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Media Group: Give Fox News a Chance to Question Obama and McCain
Tweet Share on Facebook September 24, 2008 Comment (23)Something will be missing from the media-hosted presidential and vice presidential debates starting Friday night: Fox News Channel. It's another blow for Fox, which was boycotted by Democrats during the primaries. Now the conservative Media Research Center is coming to Fox's defense with a last-minute demand: Give Fox a voice. Armed with a review of the 35 primary season debates that gave Fox the highest marks for asking hardball questions of Republicans, the center calls on the Commission on Presidential Debates to include a Fox questioner. Maybe Chris Wallace, for example, who scored a recent Sunday show interview with Sen. Barack Obama. Yes, ABC is also missing from the debate hosts (public TV's Jim Lehrer, who will host Friday at Ole Miss; PBS's Gwen Ifill; NBC's Tom Brokaw; and CBS's Bob Schieffer), but ABC played a big role during the primaries. What are the chances that the commission will change its plans, though? Very doubtful, says an insider.
But maybe conservatives and Republicans shouldn't fear the mainstream media hosts. The Media Research Center found that the press was remarkably fair and neutral in its primary debate questions. Of the 1,332 questions asked during the primaries, 42 percent were framed minus an ideological bias. Now, that's a headline.
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White House Worries McCain Will Vote 'No' on $700 Billion Wall Street Bailout
Tweet Share on Facebook September 24, 2008 Comment (25)There are deep concerns in the Senate and in the White House that GOP presidential candidate John McCain, eager to break from President Bush, will vote against the $700 billion Wall Street bailout in a bid to show his maverick status. Senate leadership aides tell me that it's a "very real concern," though in the end they expect him to come on board and follow the directions of the Senate Republican bosses. "We don't want to vote for this thing and then McCain comes in and votes no, leaving us holding the bag," said a Republican aide. It's of such concern that now even Democrats like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are pushing McCain to spell out his plans. The reason: Without solid GOP support, the plan will fail, and many Republicans are looking to McCain to signal how they should vote. "We're going to keep hammering McCain on where he stands," said a very senior Democratic leadership aide. He's not the only one calling for McCain to speak up: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wants McCain to say "No" to Bush.
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Inspector General Probing Pentagon's Pundit Briefings
Tweet Share on Facebook September 24, 2008 Comment (3)You've seen them often on TV, former military officers and defense officials analyzing the war in Iraq in a positive light. Normally, they talked with unusual authority. That's because those members of the informal defense surrogates program received insider briefings to help the media pundits better explain the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan. That was, however, before the New York Times suggested some shady relationships or worse between the Pentagon and TV talkers. Now, Whispers has learned, the Defense Department's inspector general is working with Congress to probe the program and allegations the Pentagon favored analysts working for military contractors or fed the talkers bad info. Some analysts say they were used, but not Jed Babbin, editor of the conservative Human Events. Babbin, who supports the war but is frequent Bush critic, says he won't cooperate with the IG. He says: "If they were trying to buy me for good coverage, they got a lousy deal."
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The CIA and Pentagon are Ready for a McCain or Obama Inauguration Day
Tweet Share on Facebook September 23, 2008 Comment (5)Inauguration Day will mark more than just a historic power handoff. It will also be the first wartime transition since Vietnam. And for agencies like the Pentagon and CIA, getting ready is a huge challenge. At the CIA, for example, Director Michael Hayden this month started to prepare agents and analysts for the switch with comments that suggested he is prepared to stay on to help either winner of the election. "In the course of just a few months—from the election through the first months of a new administration—CIA will demonstrate not only our unique capabilities and leadership role in the community but also our ability to adjust to the interests and needs of our new customers." Ditto at the Pentagon, where spokesman Geoff Morrell says many top insiders will stay on to assist the transition if the winner so desires. Other agencies are also getting into the act, part of an order from President Bush to build a glitch-free transition.
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Obama, Biden Tag-Team Fundraising
Tweet Share on Facebook September 22, 2008 Comment (1)
If money talks, then it's better to have two mouths, right? At least that must be the thinking from the Obama campaign with its latest fundraising effort. In a direct-mail approach to Whispers and millions of others, the campaign has tried something new: wrapping the standard pitch from Sen. Barack Obama in a much tougher letter from running mate Sen. Joe Biden. In his letter, Biden plays his pit-bull role of attacking Sen. John McCain, while Obama's approach is much more focused on issues, such as energy, and praise for Biden. "I can tell you that Joe Biden gets it. He's that unique public servant who is at home in a bar in Cedar Rapids and the corridors of the Capitol—in the VFW hall in Concord and at the center of fixing an international crisis," pens Obama. In his letter, Biden slaps at McCain's claim to be a "maverick," writing, "I've served with John McCain in the Senate for 22 years. I know him as a courageous patriot and an honorable man. But what he is not—not by any stretch—[is] a maverick." Biden also ties McCain to President George Bush and claims the Republican has rejected earlier promises not to launch negative attacks. He even assails McCain's choice of staffers, like Steve Schmidt to run his campaign.
"He hired a protégé of Karl Rove to help run his campaign. After condemning the Swift Boat attacks of 2004, John took tens of thousands of dollars from their architects—and, with no sense of irony, even put one of them on his Truth Squad for 2008." What is unusual about the package is that two different letters are included from the candidates, instead of just one carrying both their names. It probably didn't cost much more to do the unusual packaging, but it may explain why the Obama-Biden campaign has continued to outraise the McCain-Sarah Palin ticket.
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The First White House Christmas Tree
Tweet Share on Facebook September 22, 2008 Comment (4)It's that time of year again, and the new White House Historical Association Christmas ornament is ready. This year, it's a beaut. Harking back to the 1889-1893, one-term administration of Benjamin Harrison, the colorful ornament is of a large Christmas tree decorated with roping, candles, and presents. And that's appropriate because Harrison was the first president to display a Christmas tree in the White House. He even gave out staff gifts. Married men received turkeys and single men fine gloves. The assumption was that families ate Christmas dinner at home, while singles had to dress up to go out.
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Obama and McCain: Drinkers in the Oval Office
Tweet Share on Facebook September 21, 2008 Comment (11)Good news on the booze front. No matter who wins on Election Day, a drinker will be returning to the Oval Office, which has been dry for eight years. If Barack Obama replaces the teetotaling President Bush, look for fine wine or a nice microbrew to be poured at the end of the day. And if it's John McCain, he likes it all but is especially keen on vodka and Bud Lite.
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Usher Endorsed Obama but Has Bipartisan Approach to Voting
Tweet Share on Facebook September 20, 2008 Comment (3)
He's a big fan of and spokesman for Sen. Barack Obama, but Sen. John McCain likes his R&B and hip-hop music so much that singing sensation Usher might be in the rarest of company come Inauguration Day. No matter who wins the presi-dency, he could be the star entertainment at the Inaugural Ball. "Yeah, yeah," he chuckles at the thought, unsuspectingly quoting the title of one of his hit songs. "I respect John McCain so much as a serviceman and to be a fan is definitely something I'm proud of and very thankful for," Usher Raymond IV tells Whispers. And even though Usher has appeared at rallies with Obama and believes the Democrat is "right on spot" with all of his positions, he's trying to keep his Big D affiliation away from his little d passion: getting kids 17 and younger hip to the election and politics. Usher's focus is his program "I Can't But You Can," which aims to engage kids by getting them to register new voters at community events and even by going door to door with registration info. "I want it to cross all barriers, not just be a Democratic promotion," Usher tells us. And that means he has to straddle the fence when promoting his plan. "More than anything, I wanted to make sure that it wasn't a put-off," the Grammy winner says of his Obama endorsement. "There may be some people out there who feel differently," he says. Obama's cool with Usher's approach. "The one thing he told me is that, 'I want you to educate youth about voting, and how important it is, and how to utilize their voice,' " Usher says. So far, the program has signed up 17,000 new voters.
Illustration by Joe Ciardiello for USN&WR
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Whispers Poll: Voters Care Most About Palin's Role as a Mother
Tweet Share on Facebook September 20, 2008 Comment (13)The entry of little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to the national political scene has been met with great interest. What about the Republican running mate's public or personal life intrigues you the most?
Juggling motherhood with politics 40%
Taking on the good-old-boy network 36%
Her hunting and fishing exploits 9%
Kazuo Kawasaki eyeglass frames 9%
Her snowmobile champ husband 6%
Source: The Synovate eNation Internet poll was conducted September 10-12 among 1,000 nationally representative households by global market research firm Synovate.
