The buzz over the Clinton-linked questioner in Wednesday's GOP debate has grown this morning, generating stories on the controversy in most top print outlets. The Washington Post reports CNN "expressed regret yesterday for allowing a Hillary Clinton adviser to ask a question at Wednesday's Republican presidential debate, even as controversy swirled about two other questioners who have declared their support for Democratic candidates." Retired Brig. Gen. Keith Kerr, "who asked why gays should not be allowed to serve openly in the military, is a member of Clinton's steering committee on gay and lesbian issues, something her campaign disclosed in a news release in June." Similar stories ran in USA Today and the New York Times.
The Politico reports this morning that Kerr "was not the only person linked to a Democratic presidential candidate who got to ask a question at Wednesday's CNN/YouTube debate." CNN "also aired questions from supporters of Democratic candidates John Edwards and Barack Obama." That is "fine by the network, which is standing by its question selection process and lashing out at critics who say the debate demonstrated CNN's liberal bias."
The Washington Times reports "things spiraled downward for CNN yesterday as bloggers - a more natural audience for a debate co-hosted by YouTube - held each questioner under a magnifying glass and found anti-Republican links ranging from the Council on American-Islamic Relations to a pro-Democratic labor union. The network defended its choice of questioners and noted that it drew 5 million viewers - the most-watched primary debate ever."
Meanwhile, CNN's Newsroom broadcast an interview with Kerr, who said he was not encouraged by the Clinton campaign and "this was a private initiative on my own."
The New York Times reports Rudy Giuliani yesterday "called a Web site's account of his spending a 'political hit job' as his campaign struggled to explain why hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel expenses for his mayoral security detail were billed to obscure city offices instead of the Police Department." The CBS Evening News interviewed Giuliani about allegations that the security costs were intentionally disguised as they came up at the same time he began an extramarital affair with his now-wife. Giuliani: "The story turned out to be a totally false story. This practice was going on in my first term as mayor. It didn't just happen in my second term as mayor. The police department paid for all of these expenses. But since the police department would sometimes be slow in payment, city hall would pay it first, and then the police department reimbursed every single penny of it. And now we've been able to confirm that. All of it on the record, all of it discoverable, all of it going on for five or six years, and perfectly appropriate. And three budget directors have asserted that."
The New York Times reports that earlier Thursday, "a senior aide to Mr. Giuliani defended the handling of the expenses, which were incurred from 1999 to 2001, calling them completely proper. The aide contended that the billing practices followed longstanding procedures in which legitimate travel expenses for the police detectives were spread among the budgets of a variety of mayoral agencies." NBC Nightly News reported Randy Mastro, former New York City deputy mayor: "Always allocated this way, going back to his first term. I was the deputy mayor for operations and oversaw the budget."
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Second day news coverage of the GOP debate is focusing on the sparring over immigration and the harsh nature of the attacks, with NBC Nightly News reporting, "The immigration debate has become the core of the fight for the GOP nomination." ABC World News adds immigration is "the issue trying to make the already heated Republican primary nuclear." The CBS Evening News reported that for Romney and Giuliani, "the targets seemed to be Iowa Republicans, where polls say illegal immigration is their top concern."
The Wall Street Journal reports the St. Petersburg forum "featured some of the sharpest attacks between the leading candidates of the campaign so far" and standing "next to each other on the stage," Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney "escalated the already sharp sparring they have displayed almost daily on the issues of crime and immigration."
A new CNN /Opinion Research poll of likely Florida Democratic primaries shows Hillary Clinton leading with 51%, followed by Barack Obama, 21%, and John Edwards, 11%. However, CNN Polling Director Keating Holland says, "Six in ten likely Democratic primary voters say they have not made up their minds and a quarter admitting that they will wait until the first primaries to decide who to vote for, so the outcome in the Sunshine State is difficult if not impossible to predict. Most Democrats have not campaigned in Florida, so it's possible that Clinton's big lead is due to name recognition."
The New York Times reports Barack Obama held a fundraiser last night at Harlem's historic Apollo Theater, "his first event in the historic seat of black cultural and political power" since he entered the race. Obama's "address had a familiar topic: the need for change." Though he "did not mention Mrs. Clinton by name," Obama "appeared to refer to her several times. 'I'm not running to fulfill some long held plans,' he said. 'I'm not running because I feel it's owed to me.'"
The Chicago Tribune adds that "most of the local African-American political leadership, led by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Charles Rangel, have lined up behind New York's favorite daughter, Sen. Hillary Clinton." But "long lines of overwhelmingly black supporters waited outside for a $50-a-seat fundraiser at the Apollo Theater."
Two top Republican campaign figures both think that Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nod, but they disagree on whether she will be elected. The Dallas Morning News reports that at an address to a conservative think-tank, long-time Bush strategist Karl Rove predicted Clinton would probably not win in a general election. Offering a contrasting view, Rep. Tom Cole, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the GOP's House campaign arm, predicted that Clinton would likely be the next president because of the lack of a consensus GOP candidate, the Oklahoman reports this morning.
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The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Rep. John Murtha, a leading war critic, said this week "he saw signs of military progress during a brief trip to Iraq last week, but he warned that Iraqis need to play a larger role in providing their own security and the Bush administration still must develop an exit strategy." In his blog for The Politico, Josh Kraushaar writes Murtha's comments, "coming from a harsh critic of...Bush's Iraq war policy, suggest there may be a shift in Democratic rhetoric on Iraq in light of recent reductions in violence in Iraq over the last several months." Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says this morning Murtha "believes the Bush administration is beginning to show a willingness to negotiate with Congress an end to the war in Iraq."
US Troop Deaths In Iraq Continue To Fall USA Today reports on its front page that the "number of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq this month" 27 "is headed toward the lowest monthly level since March 2006, reflecting a turnaround in U.S. efforts to establish security and defeat insurgents." The November "toll could mark the sixth consecutive month of declines in American deaths." ABC World News also briefly mentioned the decline, while the AP reports that as of Thursday, at least 3,880 members of the US military have died in Iraq.
Meanwhile, the AFP reports Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte "told reporters in Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region" that "there are 'definite' signs of improvement in the security situation in Iraq."
Baghdad Basic Services Still Lacking In a front-page story, the Washington Post ambivalently assesses quality-of-life improvements in Baghdad. While the "war-battered city, according to US statistics, now receives an average of 11.9 hours of electricity a day, far more than earlier this year," some neighborhoods must cope with "uncollected garbage, piled into giant, malodorous heaps dotting the street."
US, Iraqi Data Often At Odds. The Los Angeles Times reports, "As U.S. forces begin to scale back in Iraq, the military is becoming increasingly reliant on Iraqi forces to report a wide array of crucial statistics, from the number of attacks on the local infrastructure to how many Iraqi civilians have been killed or wounded. And just as Iraqi forces have had a mixed record in fighting insurgents, they have been spotty at providing data from the regions where they have taken command."
In remarks at the Pentagon yesterday, President Bush increased pressure on congressional Democrats to pass a supplemental spending bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The AP reports Bush on Thursday "sternly" pressed Democrats to approve the "money to fund the Iraq war 'without strings and without delay' before leaving town for the Christmas holidays, something congressional leaders have already indicated they will not do." Democrats "have said they plan to sit on Bush's $196 billion request for war spending until next year," but Bush "said this will push the Pentagon toward an accounting nightmare and affect the military's ability to do its job protecting the country."
The Washington Post says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid responded that Bush "refuses to fund his own war," adding, "The president demands more money to continue his failed war policy, yet he and his enablers in Congress have rejected our proposal for an additional $50 billion provided they work with us to change course in Iraq. He cannot have it both ways." The New York Times says Bush "began a new offensive against Congressional Democrats over money for the Iraq war." The Times says the "last time the money issue flared up, just over a week ago, the Democrats accused the administration of using scare tactics to try to get its way on the money bill."
The Washington Times reports Bush, with Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Robert Gates at his side, warned that "military operations will be affected by mid-February if nothing is done before Christmas." AFP says "only Bush spoke, but he said the military had warned that the delay would 'soon begin to have a damaging impact on the operations of this department.'" The Financial Times says Secretary Gates "has said he will have to lay off employees and reduce operations on US bases early next year unless Congress approves" the full funding.
The Los Angeles Times reports Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who has relinquished his role as chief of the army, "promised to lift his emergency decree by Dec. 16." Opponents, however, "immediately expressed skepticism that he would fully roll back the repressive measures he imposed nearly a month ago." USA Today says that "in announcing an end to the four-week state of emergency," Musharraf "went partway toward meeting opposition concerns." But the New York Times reports that "even as Mr. Musharraf announced a deadline for the end of the emergency, he showed no relaxation on the detention of the former judges and senior advocates of the Supreme Court, or of the continued suspension of radio and television stations." The Washington Times runs a similar story.
The Washington Post reports former Prime Minister Nawas Sharif "said he would ask his main rival, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, to join the boycott." But "Bhutto was quoted on Pakistani television as saying a boycott would 'accomplish nothing.'" The Wall Street Journal notes Musharraf "said the elections would go ahead, regardless."
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The AP reports that in a new audiotape broadcast on al Jazeera television, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden "called on Europeans to stop helping the United States in the war in Afghanistan." Bin Laden "said it was unjust for the United States to have invaded Afghanistan for sheltering him after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, saying he was the 'only one responsible' for the deadly assaults on New York and Washington."
ABC World News briefly noted the video, reporting Bin Laden "made a boast, saying he was the only one responsible for the 9/11 attacks." The CBS Evening News led with the story, saying "while propaganda tapes now greatly outnumber attacks, the terror groups maintains a strong desire to strike the US again."
The AP reports Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick said Thursday "that President Bush was not involved in the firings of US attorneys last winter, and he therefore ruled illegal the president's executive privilege claims protecting his chief of staff, Josh Bolten, and former adviser Karl Rove." The ruling is "a formality that clears the way for Leahy's panel to vote on whether to advance the citations to the full Senate."
The Washington Times reports White House spokeswoman Dana Perino "said the administration was 'baffled' by the ruling because Democrats have long asked for information on what Mr. Bush knew of the firings." She also "said that with Mr. Leahy's acknowledgment that the president was not involved, Congress should focus on other pressing matters, such as the federal budget."
The Washington Times reports former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods, ex-federal prosecutor Tyrone Mitchell and former Detective Lee Rappleyea have been "hired by Cochise County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer to prosecute Border Patrol agent Nicholas Corbett," who is accused of fatally shooting an "illegal alien." The National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), "which represents all 11,000 of the agency's nonsupervisory agents, called the three 'hired guns,' adding that Mr. Woods 'has a long history of anti-Border Patrol and pro-illegal alien behavior.'"
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Under the headline "You Messed Up. Now Here's Your Promotion," Al Kamen writes in his "In The Loop" column for the Washington Post that FEMA's Cindy Taylor and Mike Widomski, both of whom "asked questions of acting Deputy Administrator Harvey Johnson" during a "phony" news conference last month, "appear to have been disciplined, FEMA-style. They've received the promotions they were in line to get" prior to the incident. Adds Kamen, "Heck of a job."
Former Rep. Henry Hyde died on Thursday at the age of 83. ABC World News reported Hyde "was a fierce abortion opponent. His effort to ban federal funds for abortions came to be known as the Hyde Amendment, and as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Hyde led impeachment proceedings against President Clinton."
The Chicago Tribune notes "the news was confirmed by the office of House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). Hyde, 83, had triple-bypass heart surgery in July and had been in failing health." USA Today reports, "Earlier this month, President Bush presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The White House praised Hyde as a 'powerful defender of life' and an advocate for a strong national defense."
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The late night shows continue to be in reruns due to the ongoing writers' strike.
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