Entries for March 07, 2007

This item comes from White House correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh

Democratic leaders are trying to deepen the administration's problems by portraying the revelations about shoddy medical care for wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as another example of bad management and overall neglect by the Bush team.

"This is the Katrina of 2007," says Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, referring to the Bush administration's slow response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts echoed the sentiment, saying the administration failed to plan adequately for the Iraq war "and now they're failing those who have sacrificed so much."

Democratic strategists say they expect the revelations about Walter Reed to haunt the White House and, with their assistance, the GOP straight through the 2008 election. On the other hand, administration officials point out that new Defense Secretary Robert Gates moved quickly to correct the situation. He fired Army Secretary Francis Harvey and demoted the commander of the Walter Reed facility and others, and President Bush swiftly named a special commission to investigate the problem.

Humankind might not go the way of the dinosaurs after all. The Aerospace Organization is currently hosting a conference here in Washington to assess our ability to protect the planet from near-Earth objects (NEOs), such as asteroids, that possess the capability of causing mass devastation if they collide with the Earth. The full agenda is here (pdf).

Among orders of business: figuring out how better to detect potentially destructive objects ahead of time, how to destroy them, and what lawmakers need to do to develop the capability to do so.

Etc.: Eyes on the Skies, on USNews.com

This afternoon's top stories:

• John Edwards announced today that he will not participate in an August 14 debate in Reno, Nev., that is sponsored by Fox News.
• The 71-member Congressional Progressive Caucus will announce a plan tomorrow morning to fund a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.
• Afghan soldiers apprehended a senior Taliban commander at a checkpoint today after noticing an oddity: He was disguised as a woman wearing a burqa.
• Some new George Washington dollar coins are fetching more than 50 times their face value after it was discovered that an unknown number were printed without the "In God We Trust" inscription along the edge.
• Federal officials detained 350 people suspected of being in the United States illegally in Boston today.
• Update: The Washington Post reports that New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici has fired the lawyer who defended former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham pending an ethics investigation into his role in the firing of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias.

Etc.: Glint from the Mint, on USNews.com

The U.S. News Political Bulletin has a roundup of coverage of yesterday's testimony by six former U.S. attorneys, who reported feeling pressure from high-ranking officials to pursue or abandon investigations. Read quotes from the hearing. Sen. Pete Domenici, a New Mexico Republican, has been the subject of much of the scrutiny after he admitted to having contacted the then New Mexico chief federal prosecutor, David Iglesias, about an ongoing corruption probe of Democratic officials. While Domenici, a career lawyer, has to worry about possible political damage--he's up for reelection in 2008--legal ethics experts tell News Desk that he probably doesn't need to worry about disciplinary action.

"I would strongly doubt that any disciplinary authority would touch this with a 10-foot pole unless you had clear evidence that he crossed the line," says Leonard Gross of the Southern Illinois University Law School.

The potential violation, he said, is known as "conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice," but it's a fairly murky standard.

The liberal blog Talking Points Memo continues to doggedly pursue the story as well.

U.S. News's Silla Brush will have a full story from the hearing later today.

Pictured: From left to right, Carol Lam, David Iglesias, Daniel Bogden, Paul Charlton, H.E. "Bud" Cummins and John McKay. Jim Lo Scalzo for USN&WR

As we mentioned last week, a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll asked voters whether they were more or less likely to vote for a candidate with various personal traits commonly identified with one of the 2008 presidential hopefuls (though no names were used). The poll found that voters were most likely to be turned off by a candidate over the age of 72 (58 percent said they were less likely to vote for such a candidate), while only 6 percent said they were less likely to vote for a black candidate. Full results here.

But as one reader in Virginia argued to us, one shouldn't assume that this has much bearing on reality. We decided to investigate. While the pollster who conducted this survey, ABC's Gary Langer, ardently defended its utility, some researchers agreed with the reader, saying the entire premise is flawed.

Most of the candidates are in Washington today. The South Carolina Democratic Party is holding a fundraiser to kick off its primary. Two other Democrats are elsewhere:

• John Edwards is in San Antonio today for a rally.
• Bill Richardson is in Los Angeles for the dedication of a Latino-owned bank, Proamerica.

Updated: Mitt Romney fundraises today in Chicago and Cincinnati.

A new poll also found Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton leading their fields. The Political Bulletin has the story.

This morning's top stories:

• Attacks on Shiite worshipers in Iraq killed at least 120 people yesterday and another 11 this morning, the AP reports. The pilgrims were headed for Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, to commemorate the death of the grandson of the prophet Muhammad.
• The New York Times takes a look at unveiled members of the jury in the Scooter Libby case. Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was found guilty yesterday of lying under oath and obstruction of justice. U.S. News's Liz Halloran was at the courthouse.
• Towns across Vermont are passing resolutions to impeach George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, the Nation reports.
• Connecticut authorities are looking into an alleged scam at Best Buy in which a dummy website is said to have been used to deny attractive offers that drew customers to the store.

Coming up: Can people accurately describe to pollsters why they vote? Two researchers say no.

Etc.: Political Bulletin: Iraq Spending Bill May Not Pass, on USNews.com