In the face of President Bush's veto, and their failure to override it, Congressional Democrats are rethinking their strategy. The Washington Post reports that after weekend talks, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa) "hope to unveil changes to the House version of the bill that have the blessing of the Republican and Democratic leadership" by "midweek." Still, "neither Republican nor Democratic leadership aides were ready to hail a new era of cross-party cooperation."
The AP, meanwhile, reports President Bush and "critics of a $35 billion spending increase for children's health insurance say they'll support expanding coverage to families of four making as much as $62,000 a year, but they want to limit states' ability to go beyond that level."
The Hill reports Republicans "hammered Democrats last week for poor manners in scheduling a vote" on the SCHIP legislation "while wildfires raged in California. Democrats countered that they only wanted to pass the bill as quickly as possible to ensure that a second potential veto override vote could be held before the Thanksgiving recess."
Democrats Continue To Target GOP On Radio The Hill reports on Monday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced plans for "a new batch of radio ads singling out House Republicans for their votes" on the SCHIP legislation. The new ads "will run for a week in the districts of Reps. Richard Baker (La.), Steve Chabot (Ohio), Kenny Hulshof (Mo.), Ric Keller (Fla.), Joe Knollenberg (Mich.), Peter Roskam (Ill.) and John Shadegg (Ariz.)."
Last week, public affairs officer John Philbin organized a "fake" news conference for a top FEMA official where FEMA employees tossed softball questions to a well-scripted briefer. Now, the lapse in judgment appears to have cost him a public affairs job with the Director of National Intelligence.
The Washington Post reports that Philbin has become "the highest-ranking casualty of a fake news conference staged by FEMA last week to publicize its response to California's devastating wildfires." The CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News each reported the story briefly.
The New York Times reports Philbin said in an interview Monday that "there had been no intention to deceive the public, just a desire to get information out quickly. In retrospect, he said, when he realized that no reporters were in the room and it was the agency's staff that was asking questions, he should have called off the news conference." The AP reports DNI spokesman Ross Feinstein confirmed Monday that "Philbin is not, nor is he scheduled to be, the director of public affairs for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence."
Under the headline "The Ghost Of Brownie," the Washington Post editorializes that despite its post-Katrina mantra that it is "a new FEMA," last week's incident showed "the old, bumbling agency capable of breathtaking lapses in judgment."
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The AP reports a "group of militant Islamists planned to attack the U.S. Embassy and other government buildings in Azerbaijan with stolen military grenades and assault rifles but were thwarted by security forces, officials said Monday." The Azeri National Security Ministry "described the plotters as adherents of the strict Wahhabi interpretation of Sunni Islam."
The Financial Times reports that the Azeri government "said it had prevented a 'large-scale horrifying attack against government structures and diplomatic missions' including the US embassy in Baku."
In another positive development in Iraq, the US military returned control of the province of Karbala to Iraqi authorities on Monday. The CBS Evening News reports that with "today's ceremonies, mainly Shiite Karbala became the eighth province to revert to Iraqi control." ABC World News reported the story briefly also, while Fox News' Special Report opened its broadcast by noting it "was a particularly proud moment for the Iraqi prime minister." Prime Minister Maliki enjoyed a "homecoming" in Shiite-controlled Karbala, where he was born.
The Los Angeles Times reports, in an article leading with the suicide bombing against Iraqi policemen, "The news was much better south of Baghdad in Karbala, where U.S. and Iraqi officials held a ceremony to commemorate the transfer of security responsibilities in the province from the United States to Iraq." The New York Times says Karbala "and surrounding province are for the most part calm, but in late August there were clashes between Iraqi forces guarding the holy shrines and militiamen who said they were loyal to" Moqtada al-Sadr.
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After months of polls showing him losing ground to Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama got some good news from a new poll released last night. The AP reports that a University of Iowa Hawkeye poll of 306 likely Iowa Democratic caucus-goers conducted Oct. 17-24 shows Clinton leading the Democratic presidential field with 29%, followed by Obama with 27%, John Edwards with 20% and Gov. Bill Richardson with 7%. The Washington Times reports Obama "has gained on" Clinton "in the key early state of Iowa, reducing his deficit in the latest poll to within the survey's margin of error as he and the other candidates step up attacks on the Democratic front-runner."
The Des Moines Register reports that Clinton is "buoyed by support among women and those 45 and older" while Obama "is the 'overwhelming' choice of those under 45, the poll's authors said." Edwards' support has "dropped from 26 percent in August to 20 percent now, while Obama and Clinton gained support in the same time period. Men who were surveyed preferred Obama, then Edwards and then Clinton, while women put Clinton in first place followed by Obama and Edwards."
Romney Holds Strong Lead On the GOP side, the AP reports a poll of 285 likely Iowa GOP caucus-goers conducted Oct. 17-24 shows Mitt Romney leading with 36%, followed by Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee each with 13%, Fred Thompson with 11% and Sen. John McCain with 6%.
The Democratic candidates meet to debate tonight in Philadelphia, and the primary target for the evening is Hillary Clinton, the clear frontrunner in national polls. The Washington Post reports that Clinton "can expect up-close-and-personal attention from her rivals in Philadelphia." The Post adds that the issue for Barack Obama and John Edwards is whether they "are looking to significantly escalate their rhetoric and whether it will begin to hurt Clinton. In the past two months, as both have attacked her sporadically, she has strengthened her position in national polls. Iowa, however, remains a real battleground and is likely to be the focus of new television ads from Clinton's rivals."
In a blog posting on the website of the New York Times, Jeff Zeleny also expects some fireworks, writing that "with a little more than two months until the first votes are cast, watch for the intensity to begin increasing among Democrats." The piece concludes, "So what does Mrs. Clinton think about the impending arrows? 'It's unfortunate that Senators Obama and Edwards have decided to revive their campaigns by abandoning the politics of hope,' said her spokesman, Phil Singer, adding, 'But Senator Clinton isn't doing anything out of the ordinary to get ready for this debate.'"
In events yesterday, both Obama and Edwards previewed their likely avenues of attack. The Des Moines Register reports that in Iowa, Obama said Clinton "has sidestepped questions about problems the nation faces in regard to Social Security." Obama said, "When Senator Clinton was asked about it, she wouldn't say what she thought we should do." NBC Nightly News reported, "Barack Obama in Iowa today stepping up attacks on Hillary Clinton, accusing her of ducking hard questions like how to fix Social Security." Senator Barack Obama: "I don't think you are ready to lead if you can't tell us where you are going."
The AP reports that in New Hampshire yesterday, Edwards yesterday cast Clinton "and her ties to lobbyists as part of a corrupt Washington system that voters should reject in the presidential election." Edwards "railed against the 'bankruptcy of our political leadership,' an approach that his campaign said would be a major thrust of his efforts in the two months before the first nomination voting. With Clinton appearing to gain strength with every poll, Edwards seemed less to target Republican President Bush's leadership than to cast fellow Democrat Clinton as the insider voters should reject." Speaking at St. Anselm College, Edwards said, "Senator Clinton's road to the middle class takes a major detour right through the deep canyon of corporate lobbyists and the hidden bidding of K Street in Washington. And history tells us that when that bus stops there, it is the middle class that loses." The Politico adds that Edwards accused Clinton "of coziness with corporations and warned against perpetuating a 'political dynasty.'" Edwards, "struggling for traction in New Hampshire, warned his party Monday against trading 'corporate Democrats for corporate Republicans; our cronies for their cronies; one political dynasty for another dynasty.'"
The AP reports that Rudy Giuliani "talks about surviving prostate cancer in a New Hampshire radio ad promoting the tax breaks he says he would give families to buy private health insurance. 'I had prostate cancer, five, six years ago,'" Giuliani "says in the ad, using his illness to illustrate a message that the private insurance market will provide the best care. 'My chance of surviving prostate cancer, and thank God I was cured of it, in the United States: 82 percent,' he says. 'My chances of surviving prostate cancer in England: only 44 percent under socialized medicine.'" The AP adds, "Socialized medicine is how Giuliani and other Republicans refer to" Sen. Hillary Clinton's "health care plan, which would require every American to buy insurance, either through their jobs or through a program modeled on Medicare or the federal employee health plan. Giuliani opposes such a mandate." The Boston Globe adds that in touting his plan for "a deduction of $15,000 for a family or $7,500 for an individual," Giuliani says, "If we do that, and we end up with a market of 50, 60 million Americans buying their own health insurance, without a mandate, the cost of health insurance will come down and the quality will come up."
In a story headlined "Giuliani ad targets Hillary health care," the Washington Times reports that Giuliani "continues to look past his Republican presidential foes to target front-running Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, talking candidly about his bout with prostate cancer and deriding the New York senator's plan for 'socialized medicine.'"
The New York Post reports, "Democratic political consultant Chris Lehane...said the Giuliani ad 'has the potential to do more harm than good' and will put pressure on him to release his medical records. Others said it was a deft move. 'It's very clever. It's a two-fer. He's attacking Hillary Clinton and saying, 'By the way, I survived prostate cancer.' It's a riveting story. It humanizes him,' said University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato."
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Jay Leno: "FEMA has apologized for staging a fake news conference on the California wildfires. Did you hear about that? They had a fake news conference in which FEMA employees pretended to be reporters and asked softball questions to their idiot boss, a guy named Harvey Johnson. Yeah. Isn't this unbelievable? See, it was obvious the reporters were FEMA workers because the questions were about the 2003 fires."
David Letterman: "FEMA faked a press conference and earlier today President Bush strongly condemned it at his own fake press conference."
Jay Leno: "Vice President Dick Cheney went out hunting again today. God, I didn't even know it was lawyer season."
Jay Leno: "No, actually, Cheney said he was in upstate New York to hunt peasants. Pheasants, I'm sorry."
Jay Leno: "Oh, listen to this. Hey, I love this. The Democrats in Congress have announced they will now be taking Fridays off. Apparently, they were getting worried their approval rating was too high."
Jay Leno: "So they're now going to a four-day work week. Why not? They've gotten so much done, huh? Solving health care, immigration, Social Security. Whew, take a break, fellas! Why don't you go to three days and give yourself a pay raise, too?"
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