The Detroit News reports that voters go to the polls today in the Michigan GOP primary. Campaigning across the state yesterday, the top three contenders Mitt Romney, John McCain and Mike Huckabee all pitched their economic plans. ABC World News reported, "When the Republican race moved here to Michigan, it was almost like it was moving to a different country. Whatever issues the candidates were talking about before are now on back-burner. Here in Michigan, the one issue on everybody's minds is the economy. One by one the Republican candidates paraded through Detroit's auto show. One by one they pledged to help Michigan's anemic economy." Michigan has "the highest unemployment rate in the country, and has lost nearly 300,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000." However, while the candidates "are overflowing with sympathy for Michigan, they are not overflowing with specifics."
Fox News' Special Report reported that in Michigan yesterday, Mitt Romney "pledged to cut taxes and regulations and quadruple funds for alternative energy research. In a speech at the Detroit Economic Club, he blasted John McCain as a pessimistic Washington insider who has given up on Michigan." NBC Nightly News reports McCain "again today has been warning Michigan the hard truth is that most lost jobs are not coming back and workers need retraining and education." Senator John McCain: "My friends, as President of the United States, I will herald a new day for Michigan."
McClatchy reports Michigan's presidential primary "is this election year's first clear referendum on who voters think can best manage - and revive - the slumping economy, which has hit this state harder than most." Wherever the candidates "go, job security and the threat of inflation are the political topics people most want to discuss. Most voters are highly uncertain about who, if anyone, can get this state moving again."
McCain Has Narrow Edge In Zogby Tracking The Zogby International/C-Span tracking poll of 824 likely Michigan GOP primary voters taken January 13-14 shows McCain leading Romney 27%-26%, followed by Huckabee, 15%; Ron Paul, 8%; Fred Thompson, 5%; and Rudy Giuliani, 3%.
Independent Voters May Give Edge To McCain The AP reports McCain has "an automatic advantage Tuesday when Michigan votes. Not only did the Republican win the state eight years ago, but he also draws his support from across the political spectrum and Michigan voters of all stripes can participate in the GOP primary." Because the Democratic race in Michigan "is of little or no consequence...he won't be competing full-bore with Democratic candidates for the backing of independents as he did in New Hampshire last week."
Democrats also have a primary in Michigan today, but because the state is being punished by the Democratic National Committee for scheduling its primary too early, most candidates have withdrawn from the ballot. The only major candidate still on the ballot: Hillary Clinton. The Detroit News reports "supporters for her foes are seeking revenge. Few analysts doubt that Clinton won't win, but that has not stopped her opponents from trying to cut into Clinton's vote total by mounting a last-ditch push for Democrats to vote 'uncommitted.'" In addition, one prominent Democrat is furious with Clinton for remaining on the ballot. The Detroit Free Press reports the Michigan Democratic ballot "is a sham that was rigged by Hillary Rodham Clinton, her husband and her supporters to give the nation the impression that she's the leading candidate in Michigan, an angry former Sen. Don Riegle said Monday." Riegle said, "What happened in Michigan is not very different from what used to happen in the old Soviet Union. The Clinton machine manipulated the ballot. They don't care how they win, only that they do. It's wrong and people need to know that."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
The AP reports Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama "stepped back from a controversy over race Monday night, agreeing that a prolonged clash over civil rights could harm their party's overall drive to win the White House." Obama was "the first to try and quell the controversy that flared in the Democratic campaign in recent days, calling reporters together to say he didn't want the campaign 'to degenerate into so much tit-for-tat, back-and-forth that we lose sight of why all of us are doing this.'" Obama said while he, Clinton and John Edwards "may have disagreements, 'we share the same goals. We're all Democrats, we all believe in civil rights, we all believe in equal rights.'" The AP adds Clinton's campaign "issued a statement in the same vein about an hour or so after Obama spoke, saying it was time to seek common ground." The Boston Globe runs similar coverage under the headline, "Obama, Clinton sound a conciliatory tone on controversies."
Earlier in the day, surrogates for both candidates had been going at each other. The Washington Post reports Missouri Rep. William Lacy Clay, an Obama campaign co-chairman, "said yesterday that Clinton was 'trying to score cheap political points on the back of Martin Luther King's legacy' when she said that 'King's dream became a reality when Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964' -- the statement that helped launch the debate over the role of race in the campaign." And Georgia Rep. John Lewis, "a prominent Clinton supporter, raised criticism of Obama to a new level. In an extensive interview, Lewis, a King lieutenant and icon of the civil rights movement, called Obama 'a friend' but added: 'He is no Martin Luther King Jr. I knew Martin Luther King. I knew Bobby Kennedy. I knew President Kennedy. You need more than speech-making. You need someone who is prepared to provide bold leadership.'"
Clinton Booed At MLK Rally The Politico reports, "Dogged by continuing racial tensions around her presidential campaign, Hillary Rodham Clinton drew a smattering of boos on Monday when she spoke at a religiously tinged Martin Luther King Jr. rally put together by a union organizing predominantly black security workers." The "catcalls came when Clinton was introduced and her speech drew only tepid applause compared to the boisterous ovations drawn by many of the pastors and reverends - not to mention a hip-hop artist and slam poet - who took the podium before her."
The Las Vegas Review-Journal offers an overview of tonight's Democratic debate in Las Vegas, reporting that "it happens that the theme of tonight's debate, in the works for more than a year, is minority issues -- just as one of the most emotional issues in politics has been raised in recent days: race." The Las Vegas Sun adds that "the campaigns will be hustling hard to win the all-important visibility war outside the debate -- a show of strength that might suggest how the campaigns' organizational skills will play out during the Saturday caucuses."
Barack Obama continued his run of new Congressional endorsements yesterday. The Washington Post reports that MD4 Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D) backed him, while the San Jose Mercury News reports that CA16 Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D) also did so. Meanwhile, Clinton also picked up a Hollywood endorsement the New York Daily News reports actress America Ferrara, who stars in the ABC comedy "Ugly Betty," came out for the New York Senator yesterday.
USA Today reports this morning that a Research 2000 poll of 500 likely caucus-goers from each party shows Barack Obama and John McCain holding narrow leads in the run-up to Saturday's caucuses. Obama leads the Democrats with 32%, followed by Hillary Clinton, 30%, and John Edwards, 27%. On the GOP side, McCain is backed by 22%, followed by Rudy Giuliani, 18%; Mike Huckabee, 16%; Mitt Romney, 15%; and Fred Thompson, 11%.
A new poll shows John McCain and Hillary Clinton leading in the race for the biggest Super Tuesday Prize. A Los Angeles Times /CNN/The Politico poll of likely California primary voters shows Clinton topping Barack Obama 47%-31%. On the GOP side, McCain leads with 20%, followed by Mitt Romney, 16%; Rudy Giuliani, 14%; and Mike Huckabee, 13%. The poll surveyed 384 likely Democratic primary voters and 244 likely GOP primary voters from January 11-13.
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
The AP reports House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke met yesterday to discuss various economic stimulus proposals being discussed in Congress. The AP notes Pelosi "is taking the lead as Democrats...have reached out to the White House to work toward an economic stimulus measure that could get enacted relatively quickly." Bernanke "has told lawmakers he favors congressional action to boost the economy." USA Today says Bernanke "expressed hope for bipartisan cooperation and indicated that fiscal and monetary policy could complement each other."
According to The Hill Congressional Democrats "had considered trying to roll out a stimulus package before Bush's State of the Union address on Jan. 28," but in a letter to President Bush, Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "emphasized that neither side should come out with a package until Bush meets with congressional leaders." In a similar report, Roll Call adds that Democrats "have made the political calculation that it will be more beneficial for them at the ballot box in November if they actually enact some sort of economic package, while Republicans, including the White House, appear to be wrestling with how much they should compromise with the year-old majority in order to create the best political outcome for themselves." The Washington Times notes that last week Treasury Secretary Paulson said the U.S. economy "slowed 'rather materially' at the end of 2007 and urged that any stimulus package should be put into effect swiftly."
The Christian Science Monitor reports, "Within the space of a few weeks, economic worries have displaced the Iraq war as the top political issue in the United States, upending the carefully laid plans of presidential candidates and causing Congress and the White House to consider emergency measures intended to prevent or moderate a looming recession." Similarly, the Washington Post says "concern about the economy has jumped to the front of voters' minds...according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll." Nearly "eight in 10" respondents said the country "is 'pretty seriously' off track." According to the New York Times, while Democrats unveil economic stimulus programs, "the leading Republican candidates are much more skeptical about short-term government rescues."
Tax Cuts Present Hurdle However, the New York Times reports that "efforts to develop a short-term stimulus plan could easily fall prey to partisan disputes like whether to extend Mr. Bush's tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, which expire after 2010." Democrats "are insisting that Republicans not inject their desire to extend the tax cuts into negotiations of a short-term rescue package intended to dampen the impact of a recession," but "in interviews, several Republican lawmakers said they could not imagine a debate not involving long-term tax policy." Moreover, The Hill notes that "disagreement among lobbyists over the remedy could complicate any congressional intervention. ... Some lobbyists favor swift action to shore up consumer confidence, fearing that bolder measures will only mire a would-be package in political battles." But others "see a stimulus bill as a vehicle to move long-standing priorities -- from extending the Bush tax cuts to spurring more tourism in the United States." And "a few aren't convinced that Congress should step in at all."
Greenspan: US Likely In Recession The Wall Street Journal reports former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in an interview that the US "is probably in or about to enter a recession." USA Today notes that gold closed above $900 Monday for the first time, "raising fears of 'stagflation' -- a period of both stagnant economic growth and surging inflation that Americans haven't suffered since the 1970s."
The Washington Post reports that in a new Washington Post-ABC poll, President Bush's approval rating "stands at 32 percent, a career low in Post-ABC polling. Only 28 percent give him positive marks for dealing with the economy, another new low point." The poll "was conducted Jan. 9-12 among a random sample of 1,130 adults and has an error margin of three points."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
The New York Times reports Iraqi defense minister Abdul Qadir said Iraq "would not be able to take full responsibility for its internal security until 2012, nor be able on its own to defend Iraq's borders from external threat until at least 2018." According to the Times, the comments "were among the most specific public projections of a timeline for the American commitment in Iraq by officials in either Washington or Baghdad. And they suggested a longer commitment than either government had previously indicated." The Times adds, Pentagon officials "expressed no surprise at Mr. Qadir's projections, which were even less optimistic than those he made last year."
The CBS Evening News reported Defense Secretary Gates "gave his approval to a surge of US troops in Afghanistan." The plan calls for an additional 3,200 marines and soldiers to "reinforce" the 27,000 troops currently there. According to CBS, President Bush "is expected to sign off on it." The Wall Street Journal says Gates' will "discuss" the plan with President Bush "before issuing final deployment orders," but an anonymous administration official "said the president was certain to endorse the proposal when he returns from the Middle East this week." The Journal notes that the deployments would result in US troop levels in both Iraq and Afghanistan being "at or near their highest levels since the start of the two wars."
The Washington Post reports that the decision "reflects the Pentagon's belief that if it can't bully its recalcitrant NATO allies into sending more troops to the Afghan front, perhaps it can shame them into doing so." However, "the immediate reaction to the proposed deployment from NATO partners fighting alongside US forces was that it was about time the United States stepped up its own effort." The Post adds, "After more than six years of coalition warfare in Afghanistan, NATO is a bundle of frayed nerves and tension over nearly every aspect of the conflict, including troop levels and missions, reconstruction, anti-narcotics efforts, and even counterinsurgency strategy."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Jay Leno: "Hey, did you all see the Golden Globes last night?" Just "because a movie star wins a Golden Globe, that doesn't mean they're going to get an Oscar. The Golden Globes are kind of like the Iowa caucuses for actors."
Jay Leno: "President Bush currently visiting our good friends in Saudi Arabia. And today, President Bush said the Saudis are fully enlisted in the war on terrorism. Oh, yeah. So fully, they're on both sides."
Jay Leno: "I read something frightening over the weekend about this terror stuff. They say the scariest weapon terrorists have" is a dirty bomb, which is "a regular bomb that is coated in radioactive waste. It's the same principle as a corndog."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Click image for larger view.
Smart analysis, insightful reporting, in-depth perspective—in a new, digital format.
Log in | Buy Now | See sample
View sample page 2View sample page 3View sample page 4View sample page 5advertisement
Get your POLITICALBULLETIN
Click image for larger view.
Smart analysis, insightful reporting, in-depth perspective—in a new, digital format.
Log in | Buy Now | See sample
View sample page 2View sample page 3View sample page 4View sample page 5Embed exclusive U.S. News headlines, rankings, columns, and blog postings to your Web site, blog, or social network.
advertisement
Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our Terms and Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy.
