Political Bulletin

WASHINGTON NEWS

GOP Losing Another PR War?

The day after Senate Republicans effectively blocked debate on an anti-"surge" resolution, some in the caucus are growing increasingly alarmed over indications that they are losing the public relations battle to the Democrats. The Los Angeles Times says that although Republicans continue "to insist...that they simply want a fair debate," by yesterday some Republicans were concerned "the public would misunderstand their stance." The Capitol Hill publication Roll Call describes a concerned Senate Republican leadership yesterday struggling "to shift their focus away from complaints about parliamentary procedure and onto which party is best supporting the troops." Republicans, adds Roll Call, "found themselves on the losing end of the public relations fight as they woke up to headlines across the country pinning the blame squarely on them. 'It doesn't matter what's going on the floor. It's all about media,' one senior GOP aide said Tuesday."

The Washington Times reports Senate minority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell previously insisted he won't "allow a vote on the resolution of no confidence" without a vote on two other resolutions. One, authored by Sen. McCain, "would endorse the 'surge' plan but set benchmarks for Iraqi self-governance." Another GOP-backed resolution, sponsored by Sen. Judd Gregg, "would promise not to cut funding for the war." By late yesterday, McConnell changed his position and "offered to allow the [Warner] resolution to go forward in exchange for a vote on the 'no funding cutoff' resolution only." But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, says USA Today, told McConnell "negotiations are over." And The Hill reports that as Senate Democrats "seek votes on capping troop numbers and funding for Iraq, they may use the pending bill on the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission as a vehicle."

The Wall Street Journal reports that McConnell's strategy to get senators "on record against withholding funds for the war" has "the quiet backing of the White House." But according to the Washington Post, Bush strategists "have been surprised by how quickly the politics of the war have shifted in the past few weeks, and they have been grappling for a strategy to contain the political damage. The White House privately believes that a statement of opposition by Congress may be inevitable." And some advisers "have been surprised that Bush has not more aggressively accused Democrats of advocating retreat." Yet in a front-page analysis piece, the New York Times noted that "a surprising number of Republicans showed they were not yet ready to abandon the president even though many blame him for their November election losses and worry he will hurt them again next year."

Fox News' Special Report reported "Senate Democrats label the GOP move a distraction from the debate they find more politically advantageous," and yesterday they "appeared content with another story line 'Republicans blocking debate on the new Iraq plan.'" On the other hand, Chris Matthews, on MSNBC's Hardball noted the morning's headlines blaming GOP obstructionism for the end of the debate and asked, "Is this political gamesmanship for 2008? Public pressure on Congress to take action on the war couldn't be higher. But where was the courage of senators' convictions?"

The DC insider publication The Politico, meanwhile, reports the liberal group MoveOn.org "will begin airing attack ads as early as Wednesday against eight Republican senators who blocked debate on the Bush administration's plan for a troop surge in Iraq. The ads "specifically target" Sens Sam Brownback, John Sununu, Gordon Smith, and John Warner. The Politico notes Sununu, Smith and Warner "face re-election in 2008," while Brownback "is up again in 2010."

NYTimes Blames Democrats Support for the GOP line, surprisingly, comes from the New York Times editorial page this morning. Says the Times, "The right way for the Senate to debate Iraq is to debate Iraq, not to bar proposals from the floor because they might be passed. The majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, needs to call a timeout and regroup."

House To Take Up Anti-Surge Resolution USA Today reports House Democratic leaders scheduled three days of debate on an anti-surge resolution. The House's action "will guarantee that the president's Iraq policy will remain at the top of the national agenda next week, even if procedural disputes prevent the Senate from voting on its own resolution." The Washington Post adds that House Democrats "had intended to work with" the Warner resolution, but, "after assessing the morass on the other side of the Capitol, they are now considering a more narrow statement of objection to Bush's proposal." According to Roll Call, the language of the House measure "is being crafted by House Foreign Affairs Chairman Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.)." The AP reports Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer yesterday "reassured lawmakers clamoring for more robust action that the vote would merely be the first attempt to pressure the president to shift course and that future legislation will be binding."

Gates Says Iraq Surge Not Final Option The Los Angeles Times reports that appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Robert Gates "rejected the widely held view in Washington that the Bush administration's decision to send additional troops to Iraq is the last chance to succeed in that troubled country." Gate said, "I would be irresponsible if I weren't thinking about what the alternatives might be."

Petraeus Helped Stall Surge Critics The Washington Post reports in a front page story that before Gen. David Petraeus left for Iraq, he "conducted one last counterinsurgency mission here on the home front -- this one on Capitol Hill." Senators were "approached on the floor and urged to meet with" Petraeus in Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's office. At a time "when the president and most of his top surrogates have lost credibility even among many Republicans in Congress, the administration has turned to the chiseled, widely respected Petraeus to win the day."

Bremer Grilled Over Iraq Funds

The New York Times reports a House committee report Tuesday "questioned whether some of the billions of dollars in cash shipped to Iraq after the American invasion -- mostly in huge, shrink-wrapped stacks of $100 bills -- might have ended up with the insurgent groups now battling American troops." Democrats "sharply questioned" the former administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, "about lax management of the nearly $12 billion in cash shipped to Iraq between May 2003 and June 2004." The CBS Evening News called Bremer "a punching bag for Democrats demanding" answers to what ABC World News said is "one of the great mysteries in Iraq. ... You might call it...the case of the missing $12 billion. That much money in cash, mountains of money, got shipped to Iraq just after the invasion. Congress is asking where it went." USA Today reports Bremer testified that "he and the Bush administration made mistakes, including inadequate planning."

But in a Washington Post column titled "Rusty Democrats Unable To Pin Anything On Bremer," Dana Milbank says Bremer "had lost none of his swagger" during what was seen as "the grudge match Democrats waited years for." Bremer "proved unexpectedly agile at shifting blame: to administration planners ('The planning before the war was inadequate'), his superiors in the Bush administration ('We never had sufficient support'), and the Iraqi people ('The country was in chaos -- socially, politically and economically')." The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, AP, McClatchy, Washington Times, and New York Times also report on Bremer's testimony.

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Bush Promotes Budget, Defends Tax Cuts

President Bush defended his budget yesterday in a speech at the Micron Technology plant in Manassas, Virginia. Fox News' Special Report reported President Bush "argued today that the best way to ensure a strong economy is to keep taxes low and encourage businesses to grow." Bush "urged Congress to be fiscally responsible and to spur more economic growth by making his tax cuts permanent." The New York Times says Bush was "combative in defending the budget," and quotes him saying it "can work if Congress resists the temptation to raise your taxes."

The Washington Post says Micron Technology's Manassas plant "makes some of the most sophisticated memory chips in the world," but "the finer details of the 650,000-square-foot plant's operations may have escaped the company's most esteemed visitor yesterday." Bush "nevertheless praised the company for its growth, exports and creation of high-skill jobs -- a model, he said, for the nation's economic growth." The Phoenix Business Journal notes, "The plant now employs 4,000, according to Micron spokesman Dan Francisco, who describes them as well-paid jobs held by highly-trained technology workers."

However, the AP notes that ironically, Bush "preached the virtues of fiscal responsibility Tuesday at a company that recently settled a class-action lawsuit alleging it had engaged in price-fixing and violated antitrust laws." The White House "knew about the lawsuit when it scheduled Bush's appearance, deputy press secretary Dana Perino said." The Los Angeles Times runs a similar story, noting Bush "called Micron an 'innovative company' that is made up of 'smart people back there making the products that people want.'" Bush "made no reference to the lawsuit."

Democrats Give Bush Budget Short Shrift The AP reports Bush's "$2.9 trillion budget plan on Capitol Hill got a predictably cool reception from congressional Democrats Tuesday, while Bush's GOP allies said it's up to the new majority to come up with an alternative that balances the budget without raising taxes." The Washington Post says the Administration officials "dispatched to Capitol Hill to defend...Bush's budget received a frosty reception yesterday from congressional Democrats."

The Christian Science Monitor reports "behind the tough talk" over the reception of Bush's budget on Capitol Hill, "conditions exist for a potential compromise in this year's budget negotiations." Democratic congressional leaders "are convinced that to keep that control after 2008 and even to take back the White House they need to show that they can govern. That means avoiding a budget train wreck and completing spending bills for the next fiscal year." Meanwhile, "an unpopular president is looking to leave a domestic legacy." In an opposing view, the AP says in an analysis article, "Rather than improve prospects of agreement with Democrats, President Bush's proposal for next year seems to have left the budget kitchen in turmoil. Bush's budget appeals to anti-tax GOP conservatives and advocates of private accounts within Social Security while slighting Democratic priorities like health insurance coverage for children in low-income families."

Bush Hiking "User Fees" McClatchy reports the Bush Administration "may be squarely against new taxes, but its proposed fiscal 2008 budget seeks to raise almost $81 billion in new revenue over the next five years by hiking user fees and other charges on taxpayers and businesses." While "technically, changes to these fees aren't taxes," for "anyone who must pay them -- everyone from recreational hikers to war veterans -- it's a question of semantics."

And in her Washington Post column, Ruth Marcus says, "The only way the administration achieves its balance" by 2012 "is by assuming that it will continue to rake in billions of dollars in revenue from the alternative minimum tax. More than billions, actually: CBO estimates that if left unchanged, the AMT would bring in an extra $1 trillion through 2017." So "the president achieves balance only with a stealth tax increase in the form of the AMT."

Lieberman Backs "War On Terror Tax" The Washington Times says Democrats "are left with few good alternatives other than tax increases if they hope to boost spending and match the president's goal of balancing the budget by 2012. It took an independent, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who called for a new 'war on terrorism tax,' to broach the issue of tax increases." Said Lieberman, "When you put together the [Department of Defense] budgets with Homeland Security budgets, we need to ask people to help us in a way that they know when they pay more it will go for their security."

Official Offers Thin Defense For Firing Of US Attorneys

USA Today reports the Justice Department "acknowledged Tuesday that it fired the US government's chief prosecutor in Little Rock for no reason except to replace him with a lawyer who had been an aide" to Bush political strategist Karl Rove. But in "an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty rejected criticism that the forced resignations of Bud Cummins and six other US attorneys last year were politically inspired, or amounted to retaliation for the attorneys' involvement in controversial investigations and prosecutions." The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor said, "The failure to acknowledge that Bud Cummins was told to leave for a purely political reason is a great disservice to someone who was loyal to the Administration and who performed his work admirably."

The New York Times reports Cummins was "asked to step down last summer although his office had increased drug and firearms prosecutions and he had helped organize a multiagency counterterrorism council." The Washington Post reports, "In often contentious testimony...McNulty also disputed Democrats' allegations that the firings appeared to be aimed at rewarding Republican allies and at avoiding the Senate's role in confirming U.S. attorney appointments."

The Chicago Tribune reports the "dismissals are unusual and that has prompted several Democratic senators to accuse the White House of taking undue aim at U.S. prosecutors, either to make way for up-and-coming Republicans or even to punish those who aggressively prosecuted friends of the administration." The Financial Times and Northwest Arkansas Morning News run similar reports. And in an editorial, the New York Times says McNulty "failed to explain convincingly why the United States attorneys had been removed, or to dispel the suspicion that politics was the driving force." The Senate "should keep pushing for answers -- and for nonpartisan prosecutors to be placed and kept in these important positions."

Gore: Administration Paying Global Warming Skeptics

CNN.com reports former Vice President Al Gore "said in an interview on Tuesday the Bush administration is now paying scientists to dispute global warming since the administration can no longer argue against it." Gore said, "They've lost the argument and they don't want to stop dumping all this pollution into the Earth's atmosphere. The only thing they have left is cash and now they're offering cash for so-called skeptics who will try to confuse people about what the science really says."

Just 13% In Hill GOP Convinced On Warming The National Journal provides the results of its "Insiders Poll" of 113 members of Congress on global warming. Asked whether "it's been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the Earth is warming because of man-made problems," 95% of Democrats and 13% of Republicans said "yes."

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CAMPAIGN NEWS

Romney To Launch Bid Feb 13

The AP reports that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) will formally kick off his presidential campaign on February 13, at the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, Michigan, "his native state and an important early test for the GOP nomination, campaign aides said Tuesday." Romney will then travel to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. The Boston Globe adds that Romney's "decision to hold the campaign kickoff event in Michigan sends a clear signal of how important he believes his native state will be to his 2008 efforts. He is apparently hoping that Michigan, which is considering making its primary one of the nation's earliest, will give him a major boost, because he enjoys high name recognition in the state and has many friends and supporters there." However, taking Michigan may be a tough row to hoe for Romney, as the Globe notes Sen. John McCain "has strong support there, too, having won the state's Republican primary in 2000." In addition, the Detroit Free Press reports that Romney "had just 8% of the support among people who expect to vote in next year's Republican presidential primary, according to a recent The Detroit Free Press-Local 4 Michigan Poll. He was behind Sen. John McCain (28%), former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (32%) and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (16%)."

Romney To Give "Major" Economic Address Today The Boston Herald reports that Romney "is slated to give his first major economic policy talk today before the renowned Detroit Economic Club, a powerful business group that has hosted every president since Richard Nixon."

Clinton, McCain Tops In Granite State

A University of New Hampshire poll of likely New Hampshire Democratic primary voters shows 35% back Sen. Hillary Clinton, while 21% back Sen. Barack Obama, and 15% back John Edwards. On the GOP side, Sen. John McCain leads with 28%, followed by Rudy Giuliani, 27%, and Mitt Romney, 13%.

Clinton, Obama To Make Back-To-Back Visits To State. The New Hampshire Union Leader reports that Sen. Clinton will make her first trip to New Hampshire this weekend in more than 10 years, but the Obama campaign is not going to cede the field to her. He is scheduled to formally announce his candidacy this weekend in Illinois, but will touch down in New Hampshire on Monday morning as part of his announcement tour. However, there are already signs that Sen. Clinton is making in-roads with the state's Democratic establishment. While Gov. John Lynch (D) and former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D) have not yet endorsed a candidate, the Boston Globe reports that Anita Freedman and Gaeten DiGangi, Granite State members of the Democratic National Committee, are both publicly backing Clinton.

Candidates Setting Big Goals For Campaign Cash

The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that advisers to Sen. Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, and Mitt Romney are saying that their campaigns are kicking off the "money race" this month, with their candidates "shooting for about $30 million" in cash raised by the March 31st reporting deadline.

GOP Insiders Said To View Clinton 2008 Victory As Inevitable

The Washington insider publication The Politico, in an article tiled, "GOP Views Clinton As Virtually Unbeatable," reports, "What many conservatives regard as the nightmare scenario -- President Hillary Rodham Clinton -- is increasingly seen by veteran Republican politicians and strategists as virtual inevitability. In GOP circles, the Democratic front-runner is seen as so strong, and the political climate for Republicans so hostile, that many influential voices -- including current and former lawmakers, and veterans of President Bush's campaigns -- have grown despairing."

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POLITICAL HUMOR

The Latest From Late Night Comedians

Jay Leno: "Senator Clinton said this week if she is elected president in 2008, she will bring the troops home. The troops home? She can't even get Bill to go home. Please."

David Letterman: "Are you applauding or just trying to keep your hands warm? Here's how cold it is today. Earlier today, President Bush said, 'See, I fixed global warming."

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