MSNBC reports this morning at about 7:15 AM, "NBC News has learned that Trent Lott's in the midst of informing close allies that he plans to resign his Senate seat before the end of the year. It's possible a formal announcement of his plans could take place as early as today."
The US News Political Bulletin has learned that Lott will make the announcement today at noon. According to a knowledgeable source, Lott is resigning by the end of the year to avoid new ethics rules that double the amount of time a retired lawmaker must wait before lobbying former colleagues. The former Senate majority leader had contemplated retiring prior to his last election, and is said to be eager to begin his post-Senate career while he is still relatively young.
The GOP race, which has been so far generally devoid of large-scale battles, turned decided negative this weekend as Rudy Giuliani, who leads in national polls, sparred with Mitt Romney, who leads in many early state polls, including New Hampshire. The Washington Post reports in a front-page story that "the race for the Republican presidential nomination took a sharply negative turn" in New Hampshire yesterday "as the two candidates traded accusations about taxes, crime, immigration, abortion and ethical standards." The "rhetorical volleys underscored the growing stakes here in New Hampshire, where Romney leads in the polls but Giuliani now believes he has a chance to derail the former Massachusetts governor's campaign before it can build the kind of momentum that could make him unstoppable." Romney "dramatically escalated the attacks Sunday with a salvo at Giuliani, who had earlier criticized him over a judicial appointee who had overruled a lower court and ordered the release of a convicted killer who has since been charged with another killing." Romney "proceeded to link Giuliani to Clinton on abortion, gay rights and immigration, and ended with tough words for the former mayor's support for former New York police commissioner Bernard B. Kerik to be secretary of homeland security."
The Chicago Tribune reports that Giuliani "said on Sunday that rival Mitt Romney was 'not one of the outstanding governors' and that he failed to lower taxes or do much else of note while he was in the Massachusetts executive office. In fact, Giuliani said, the only reason Romney is leading some polls in early voting states is because he has been spending a lot more money than the other candidates seeking the GOP nomination for president. Asked why he was breaking with his declared plan to keep things positive, Giuliani said that Romney and others started it. 'It's because they criticized me,' Giuliani said. 'Notice I haven't criticized anyone who hasn't criticized me. Gov. Romney has been criticizing me for weeks and weeks and weeks.'"
The AP reports the "back-and-forth backbiting between" Giuliani and Romney that began on Saturday "spilled over into Sunday as Giuliani contended that the former Massachusetts governor has fumbled on health care and economic matters." Asked by "a diner patron about Romney's health care program while governor, Giuliani said Romney 'made a mistake' by mandating coverage for all Massachusetts residents." Giuliani, on day two of a New Hampshire bus tour, said, "He sort of did Hillary's plan in Massachusetts." The AP adds after a "campaign event in Newport on Sunday, Romney told The Associated Press: 'Let's compare our records. Mayor Giuliani left a budget deficit of $3 billion -- a $3 billion budget gap that Mayor (Michael) Bloomberg called a financial crisis. I left a $2 billion rainy day fund and my last budget left a $500 million surplus.'"
USA Today reports Giuliani accused Romney "of taking a page from Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton's book" on health care. Romney has "not highlighted his Massachusetts plan in his presidential campaign, and he often notes that the Democratic-controlled Legislature changed his original proposal."
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The Politico reports Fred Thompson "attacked Fox News on Sunday for what he called a 'constant mantra' that his floundering campaign for president is troubled, and he accused the network of skewing things against him." Though he "certainly isn't the first politician to make that accusation," he was "the first high-profile Republican to do so." The assertion was "arresting because Fox News was frequently Thompson's forum of choice when he was contemplating a campaign and as he tried to find his footing after he announced." Asked on Fox News Sunday by host Chris Wallace to explain the perception that he has failed to gain traction in the polls thus far, Thompson replied, "This has been a constant mantra of Fox, to tell you the truth. And I saw the promo for this show, and it was kind of featuring the New Hampshire poll. ... From day one, they said I got in too late, I couldn't do it. ... They're entitled to their opinion. But that doesn't seem to be shared by the cross-section of American people. If you look at the national polls, you'll see that I'm running second and have been running second for a long time." Thompson went on to reproach host Wallace for "highlight[ing] nothing but the negative in terms of these polls, and then put on your own guys, who have been predicting for four months, really, that I couldn't do it, you know, kind of skews things a little bit. ... You have the right to put in your one side, and put in the Fox side, and I have the right to respond to it. And thankfully, you've given me that opportunity."
The Hill adds that Wallace "denied to Thompson that 'Fox has been going after you' and asked, 'Do you know anybody who thinks you've run a great campaign, sir?' Thompson responded, 'It's not for me to come here and try to convince you that somebody else thinks I've run a great campaign.' He added that National Review magazine has praised him for issuing detailed policy proposals on Social Security and immigration. Following the sharp exchange, a smiling Wallace said, 'I'm glad I asked the question because I got a heck of an answer.'"
With polls showing a tight race in Iowa, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are touting their ability to win in the general election. The AP reports Clinton, campaigning in Iowa, "maintained Sunday that she's the best candidate to win against Republicans, saying she has more experience battling the GOP than any other candidate in the Democratic field." Clinton said, "I believe that I have a very good argument that I know more about beating Republicans than anybody else running. They've been after me for 15 years, and much to their dismay, I'm still standing. I'm leading in all the polls, I'm beating them in state after state after state."
The Washington Post reports Obama and Clinton "are locked in a tight race in Iowa with former senator John Edwards (N.C.), and each is putting renewed focus on electability -- a factor that helped turn the state for Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) in the 2004 Democratic contest. Although most Democrats at the national level view Clinton as the most viable nominee, Iowans are more receptive to viewing Obama and Edwards that way. All of the campaigns concede electability is a top concern among caucusgoers. Health plans and war policy aside, they want to back a winner."
Meanwhile, Time reports, "The new message driving Barack Obama's resurgent campaign these days is 'electability plus.' ... Electability plus means not just getting elected but getting elected for the right reasons. It is a rebuttal of the argument that Hillary Clinton should win the Democratic nomination simply because of her perceived advantage against G.O.P. rivals. And it provides a rationale for why Obama is running now, why he didn't wait four or eight years to launch a presidential campaign. It's significant then that Obama's message seems to be catching on among the notoriously pragmatic Iowans."
USA Today reports that Indiana Rep. Julia Carson (D) "revealed she has terminal lung cancer in a statement Saturday in which she expressed her 'eternal gratitude' to family, friends and her constituents. The Indianapolis Democrat, who took a leave from Congress in September because of a leg infection, said her doctors discovered the cancer while treating her late this summer. In her statement, Carson, 69, disclosed that she had battled cancer before and that it had gone into remission but was back with 'a terminal vengeance.'" The AP adds Carson "did not say if she intended to hold onto her seat or to run for a seventh term. She previously said she intended to seek re-election.
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As President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prepare to convene talks this week in Annapolis in an effort to reach a Mideast peace deal, the Los Angeles Times reports on its front page that Bush will not take an "activist" role in the summit. Under the headline "Bush To Stay On Sidelines Of Mideast Talks," the Times reports that speaking to reporters Sunday night, National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley "said Bush believed Washington's role should be to aid and encourage Israelis and Palestinians, not 'lean on one side or another and jam a settlement through.'" While the President's position "is likely to reassure Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is politically weak at home and fearful that tough concessions could bring about his government's collapse," it will "almost surely disappoint the delegation headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, which has been hoping American pressure could force Israeli concessions." In addition, Bush's less involved role "is likely to displease many of the Arab and European governments attending the conference that have been urging a more active role."
In an analysis, the AP says that "two key questions" about this week's meetings "are how much Bush himself will become involved and how much good he could do during the final year in the White House after a hands-off history." Though "past presidents staked much on the Middle East," Bush, "for a host of reasons...has behaved differently. There was his inclination to discard all things Clinton, coupled with the recognition that past intensive efforts...had not paid off. The Sept. 11 attacks and the Iraq war drew the bulk of the White House's attention." Along similar lines, the Washington Post writes under the headline "For Bush, It's Not About Being There" that "the opening of Tuesday's Middle East conference in Annapolis, seven years into the Bush administration, is a reminder of how little the traditional concept of brokering an Arab-Israeli settlement through an ongoing 'peace process' has figured into...Bush's foreign policy. Another is Bush's near-absence from the Middle East during his presidency."
A Chance For Bush, Rice To Cement Legacy? A number of news articles this morning examine the role the Annapolis talks, and a potential Mideast peace deal, would play in cementing both President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's legacy. McClatchy, for example, reports under the headline "Can Rice Save Her Legacy With 'Hail Mary' Pass?" that Rice "is hoping to rewrite her legacy in the next 14 months, beginning with what amounts to a Hail Mary pass" at this week's talks in Annapolis. The Baltimore Sun, similarly, said yesterday that "while the Bush administration has worked to suppress expectations for the Middle East peace conference...observers say the professional and political stakes for...Rice are much harder to minimize." Though "an outcome resembling success could restore some of the former Stanford professor's diplomatic credibility, they say, and perhaps add a line to her career's postscript that doesn't contain the word 'Iraq,'" something "less than success could extinguish whatever progress she has fostered as the president's top diplomat in the past three years, and perhaps worsen relations with a part of the world considered vital to American security and foreign policy."
On its front page, the New York Times reports under the headline "Rice's Turnabout On Mideast Peace Talks" that "nearly seven tumultuous years" after Bush took office, Rice "has led the Bush administration to a startling turnaround and is now thrusting the United States as forcefully as Mr. Clinton once did into the role of mediator between the Israelis and Palestinians." Another New York Times article published today, adapted from "Condoleezza Rice: An American Life" (a book to be published next month), examines Bush and Rice's "unusually tight bond," which "has helped her as secretary of state in his second term to prod the president toward diplomacy with Iran and North Korea. But administration officials have long said that her devotion to Mr. Bush made her unwilling to challenge the president when needed during his first term, when she served as a less than confident national security adviser."
Last night NBC Nightly News reported that a "surge of violence...shattered the recent relative calm in Baghdad. At least three bombings left ten people dead and wounded three dozen. US forces also report detaining two dozen gunmen in operations targeting Al Qaeda militants around the country." The AP, under the headline "New Violence Mars Progress In Baghdad," says "a recent uptick in violence in Iraq continued Sunday as a parked car bomb exploded in a crowded area near a medical complex, killing at least nine people and wounding more than 30."
Some More Good News The New York Times is also reporting that the first "substantive drawdown of American troops in Iraq has begun, as the first members of a brigade in Diyala Province have started to leave." Col. David W. Sutherland of the Third Brigade Combat Team, First Cavalry Division "said all 5,000 of his troops would be gone by mid-December." The Los Angeles Times adds that according to U.S. officials, "the redeployment would not lessen troop levels in Diyala, but it would spread American forces thinner by sending some in Baghdad northeast to the region." The Times notes that Diyala, which borders Iran, "had been an Al Qaeda in Iraq stronghold."
Surge Deemed A Success Sen. Lindsey Graham, appearing on Fox News Sunday, said the surge is "working amazingly well, beyond my expectations. I think history will judge the surge as probably the most successful counterinsurgency military operation in history. Violence is down. Economic activity is up. ... So hats off to General Petraeus and all under his command. You're making military history and a phenomenal success." In a piece for Newsweek Charles Peters, founder of The Washington Monthly, writes, "I have been troubled by the reluctance of my fellow liberals to acknowledge the progress made in Iraq in the last six months. ... The fact is that the situation in Iraq, though some violence persists, is much improved since the summer." Time's Joe Klein writes, "In each and every debate, the Dems should acknowledge the progress being made in Iraq and ask the question, So why can't we start bringing home the troops now?"
Bush Revising Political Goals For Iraq In a major front-page piece this weekend, the New York Times reported, "With American military successes outpacing political gains in Iraq, the Bush administration has lowered its expectation of quickly achieving major steps toward unifying the country, including passage of a long-stymied plan to share oil revenues and holding regional elections." Administration officials are "focusing their immediate efforts on several more limited but achievable goals." The Times noted US "officials have not abandoned their larger goals and emphasize the importance of reaching them eventually," but "public comments by President Bush and his aides" about the drop in violence "have been muted, reflecting frustration at the lack of political progress, a continuation of a pattern in which intense American efforts to promote broader reconciliation have proved largely fruitless." AFP picked up on the Times meme, claiming the Bush Administration "has whittled its political goals for Iraq, setting achievable targets so it can continue claiming success."
Sunday's Washington Post reported on its front page that a White House assessment of the war in Afghanistan "has concluded that wide-ranging strategic goals that the Bush administration set for 2007 have not been met, even as U.S. and NATO forces have scored significant combat successes against resurgent Taliban fighters." The evaluation by the National Security Council concluded "that only 'the kinetic piece' -- individual battles against Taliban fighters -- has shown substantial progress, while improvements in the other areas continue to lag." According to the Post, senior White House officials "privately express pessimism about Afghanistan."
The Washington Times reports, "The nation's largest intelligence training center changed security measures in May after being warned that Islamist terrorists with the aid of Mexican drug cartels were planning an attack on the facility." The alert warned that "60 Afghan and Iraqi terrorists were smuggled into the U.S. through underground tunnels with high powered weapons to attack" Fort Huachuca, Arizona. An FBI report claimed that "a portion of the operatives" were already in the United States, and added that they had "shaved their beards so as not to appear to be Middle Easterners."
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The Wall Street Journal reports on its front page that "battered stock and bond markets are sending an increasingly ominous signal that a U.S. recession could be near." While the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up Friday, it is "8.4% below its all-time high, set in October." USA Today says a bear market -- a decline of at least 20 percent -- may be looming. USA Today adds that the housing crisis is having a "domino effect" on the economy. As the "crisis seeps into farther-flung corners of the economy, more of us will find it harder -- and costlier -- to borrow money." In a Financial Times op-ed, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers writes, "The odds now favour a US recession that slows growth significantly on a global basis. Without stronger policy responses than have been observed to date, moreover, there is the risk that the adverse impacts will be felt for the rest of this decade and beyond."
The Financial Times quotes Peter Sutherland of Goldman Sachs International saying, "The US economy is in a mess. ... I think we are going to go through next year, certainly the first half of next year, with considerable traumas." In his New York Times column, Paul Krugman writes, "The unemployment rate in 1998 was only slightly lower than the unemployment rate today. But for working Americans, everything else was different. Wages were rising, yet inflation was low, so the purchasing power of workers' take-home pay was steadily improving."
Weekend Shopping Data Dissected NBC Nightly News reported that over the Thanksgiving weekend "malls were a little bit more crowded [as] 147 million shoppers went to the malls. That is about 4.8% more than last year, a pretty solid number, but the catch: The average consumer spent about $347. That is down from last year." On its front page, USA Today says consumers "bought smaller gifts and spent less per person than they did last year." While the average amount spent, $347.44, was "down 3.5% from a year ago," consumers "who earn under $50,000 a year spent even less: $263.73." Still, the AP reports Bill Martin of buyer tracking firm ShopperTrak said, "This was a really good start. ... There seemed to be a lot of pent-up demand."
The Washington Post says Phil Rist of research firm BigResearch agreed, saying, "The holiday season is off to a good start." According to the Wall Street Journal, online sales "were especially strong" on Friday, "rising 22% to $531 million," while "online sales for Nov. 1 through Friday totaled $9.36 billion, 17% more than last year." The New York Times notes that the research firm ComScore "predicted that online sales might surpass $700 million today, a record for a single day."
The AP is reporting that a prosecutor in Paris has thrown out a complaint against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over allegations of torture in Iraq and at the Guantanamo military base. The complaint "was filed Oct. 25 during a visit by Rumsfeld to Paris." The prosecutor "threw out the complaint Nov. 16, on the grounds that Rumsfeld benefits from immunity."
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Once again, the late night shows were in reruns last night due to the ongoing writers' strike.
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