Sen. Edward Kennedy, joined by Rep. Patrick Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy, yesterday endorsed Barack Obama at an event at American University. The AP reports Kennedy summoned "memories of his brother the slain president" as he "led two generations of the First Family of Democratic politics Monday in endorsing Barack Obama for the White House, declaring, 'I feel change is in the air.'" Kennedy said Obama is "a man of rare 'grit and grace'" in "remarks salted with scarcely veiled criticism of the Illinois senator's chief rival for" the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton.
The endorsement drew the focus of the national media away from the runup to President Bush's State of the Union speech, making the front pages of the major dailies and the lead of each of the networks last night. ABC World News reported, "Today the audacity of hope had its rendezvous with destiny. The Kennedy clan anointed Barack Obama, a son of Camelot." Sen. Ted Kennedy: "I know that he's ready to be the president on day one." For Bill Clinton, "who has always cast himself as President Kennedy's political heir, today's endorsement was a slap to face." Sen. Kennedy: "With Barack Obama we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion."
The CBS Evening News reported, "It was a moment packed with political significance. Ted and Caroline Kennedy, the surviving brother and child of a revered Democratic president declaring that the torch has been passed." NBC Nightly News reported the Obama campaign "certainly knew it snagged a big one today. It was on the staff's face, you could certainly see it on his face. They hope a nod from the Kennedy camp could put a whole new trajectory on this campaign as they head into Super Tuesday."
ABC World News reported, "The Clintons tried very hard to stop this endorsement from happening to keep Kennedy neutral. But he decided to go forward. The timing couldn't be worse for the Clintons." NBC Nightly News reported, "This was an enormous blow for Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton, who has long portrayed himself as the political heir to the legacy of John F. Kennedy."
The New York Times reports Kennedy "plans to campaign this week for Mr. Obama in Arizona, California and New Mexico, hoping to influence voters torn between Mr. Obama, of Illinois, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York."
Author Morrison Also Backs Obama USA Today reports Obama also "picked up the support Monday of author Toni Morrison, who once called Bill Clinton 'the first black president.'" The AP reports Morrison "said she has admired Clinton for years because of her knowledge and mastery of politics, but then dismissed that experience in favor of Obama's vision."
Three Other Kennedys Tout Their Endorsement Of Clinton In a Los Angeles Times op-ed, Kathleen Kennedy-Townsend, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Kerry Kennedy say, "We, however, are supporting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton because we believe that she is the strongest candidate for our party and our country. ... We have worked with Hillary Clinton for 15 years (and in Kathleen's case, 25 years) and witnessed the power and depth of her convictions firsthand. We've seen her formidable work ethic, courage in the face of adversity and her dignity and clear head in crisis. We've also seen her two-fisted willingness to enter the brawl when America's principles are challenged. Her measured rhetoric, political savvy and pragmatism shield the heart of our nation's most determined and most democratic warrior."
Clinton Dismisses Endorsement The East Valley (AZ) Tribune reports that Clinton "downplayed" the endorsement in a conference call with Arizona reporters last night, saying, "We're all proud of the people we have endorsing us. At the end of the day, this is a contest not among our endorsers but among us as individuals. I believe that I have the experience we need to make the changes we need in America."
Two polls out in the last 12 hours show the Florida GOP race coming down to the wire. The Zogby International tracking poll of 941 likely GOP primary voters taken January 27-28 shows McCain leading with 35%, followed by Romney with 31%. Huckabee and Giuliani are tied for 3rd with 13% apiece. An American Research group poll of 600 likely GOP primary voters taken January 27-28 shows Romney leading with 34%, followed by McCain with 32%. Huckabee pulls 12%, while Giuliani has 11%.
Romney, McCain Take The Gloves Off ABC World News reported that "the battle" between Mitt Romney and John McCain "has grown extraordinarily tense. In the latest round of what has become a political boxing match, Mitt Romney threw the first punch." Romney: "If you want that kind of a liberal Democratic course as president, then you can vote for him." But John McCain "wasted no time counterpunching." McCain: "Governor Romney has been entirely consistent. He has consistently taken at least two sides of every issue. Sometimes, more than two." ABC added that "the clash between the top two contenders has become intense, nasty and at times, personal." The CBS Evening News noted that McCain "sought to paint Romney as the liberal governor from Massachusetts." NBC Nightly News showed McCain saying, "As the liberal governor of the state of Massachusetts, he raised taxes by $730 million."
The Washington Post also reports that McCain "launched a new negative radio ad. 'If they're going to attack us, we'll push back, so if we have a little sport roughing them up, too bad,' McCain adviser Mark Salter said. McCain's new radio ad mocks Romney's economic record as governor and questions his electability, with an announcer saying, 'The bottom line: Mitt Romney loses to Hillary Clinton. Republicans lose. We can't afford Mitt Romney.'"
Giuliani's Campaign Struggling The New York Times reports in a front page story that Rudy Giuliani "pledged that he would participate in a Republican presidential debate in California on Wednesday regardless of where he finished in Tuesday's voting here. Still, if Florida is not his last stand, it remains the place where he has all but staked his campaign." The Times adds that although Giuliani's campaign had chartered a Boeing 727 "for a day of barnstorming on the eve of the primary, none of the rallies at airports in Sanford, Clearwater, Fort Myers or Fort Lauderdale drew even 100 supporters." The Washington Post's Dana Milbank writes, "A 50-strong press corps manned the death watch Monday. ... His first rally, in the Orlando area, attracted only 100 non-journalists -- and about a quarter of those were foreign visitors participating in a State Department program." According to Milbank, "By the time Giuliani reached Fort Lauderdale in the evening, the crowd had shrunk to 75, producing an embarrassing media-and-staff-to-supporter ratio of about 2 to 1. Giuliani hurried through his speech, then hid himself inside a hangar for 45 minutes."
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Hillary Clinton looks set to win in today's Florida Democratic primary. It remains an open question how much momentum it will gain her going into the February 5 primaries, as the leading Democratic candidates have avoided campaigning in the state after it was punished by the Democratic National Committee for scheduling its primary too early. An American Research group poll of 600 likely Florida Democratic primary voters taken January 27-28 shows Clinton leading with 57%, followed by Obama with 27% and Edwards with 12%. Clinton also picked up several endorsements in the state yesterday, the Palm Beach Post reports. Former Attorney General Janet Reno backed Clinton, as did Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D).
A Los Angeles Times /CNN/The Politico polls shows John McCain and Hillary Clinton with double-digit leads in California, the biggest prize on February 5. Clinton leads the Democrats with 49%, followed by Barack Obama with 32% and John Edwards with 11%. McCain leads the GOP with 49%, followed by Mitt Romney, 26%; Rudy Giuliani, 13%; and Mike Huckabee, 11%. The poll surveyed 437 likely GOP voters and 690 likely Democratic voters from January 23-27.
Clinton Leads Democrats The AP reports a Gallup Poll of 426 registered Democrats in New York, which was conducted Jan. 23-26, shows Hillary Clinton leading the Democratic presidential field with 56%, followed by Barack Obama with 28% and John Edwards with 11%. The Gallup Poll of 412 registered Republicans in New York shows John McCain leading with 40%, followed by Rudy Giuliani, 21%, Mitt Romney, 17%; and Mike Huckabee, 11%.
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Media accounts this morning report President Bush outlined a "modest" agenda for 2008 in his final State of the Union speech, a fact that's being widely portrayed as an indication of his diminished, lame-duck status. USA Today, for example, reports the address "made clear his waning time and influence." Bush "focused...a $150 billion economic stimulus package slated for a House vote today and a bill in the Senate that would update the law that allows monitoring of communications involving foreign terrorists." He "urged Congress to act on his No. 1 domestic policy priority: making the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 permanent, so that 116 million taxpayers don't see their taxes rise by an average of $1,800, he said." In addition, says the AP, the President urged the nation to "stay patient with the long, grinding war in Iraq." The Washington Post notes "Bush, whose administration has come under fire in recent years over the poor treatment of injured soldiers, also unveiled several initiatives aimed at boosting federal assistance to families of veterans and active service members."
Yet the Los Angeles Times describes Bush as "relaxed, confident and unapologetic," even as he cited "a list of modest proposals," a point also emphasized by the New York Times in a story titled "A Defiant Look At What Little Lies Ahead." TV critic Tom Shales, in the Washington Post, says Bush "was assertive nearly to the point of bellicosity as he discussed his pursuit of the war in Iraq and his version of US foreign policy, which dominated the second half of the speech."
In fact, instead of analyzing the odds Bush's proposals face in Congress, much of the reporting analyzes the course of the Bush presidency, and remarked on his low approval ratings and the limited expectations for bipartisan action on his agenda. As the Baltimore Sun reports it was "impossible not to view the speech in the larger context of his presidency, as Bush sprinkled it with phrases dating from the earliest days of his political career." The Chicago Tribune describes the President as "a lame duck skirting the edges of relevance in his last year in office," and the New York Times says Bush "did not say whether he remained relevant, as his predecessor, Bill Clinton, was once forced to insist. The question, though, coursed through an address on Monday night that avoided, almost defiantly, any reflection on the legacy he is likely to leave." Similarly, the Washington Post reports, "Gone were the grand dreams of remaking Social Security, immigration law or the tax code. In their place were modest initiatives, such as hiring preferences for military spouses."
Media Sneers At Anti-Pork Pledge Meanwhile, media commentators are receiving the President's announcement that he would crack down on congressional earmarks this coming year one of the few genuinely new proposals in the speech -- with some skepticism. The New York Times remarks that Bush "has never shown much distaste for Congressional pork," but "in his last year in office, with his party out of power on Capitol Hill, he declared Monday that he had had enough." The Los Angeles Times also reports "Bush did not step in while the practice exploded under Republican-led Congresses, but the Republican president is showing a more muscular approach with the Democratic majority." The Washington Post reports, "Under then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), the GOP used earmarks to help secure reelections for embattled incumbents, obtain loyalty to the leadership, win favors with lobbyists and reward progress up the Republican chain of command, lawmakers from both parties said. Those habits have been hard to shake."
In fact, The Hill says Bush's move "attracted criticism from both sides of aisle as Democratic leaders pointed out that earmarks exploded under Bush's watch as he worked with a Republican-led Congress." Asked on Fox News after the President's speech if he thinks the Senate "can accept" the president's effort to cut back on earmarks, Sen. Mitch McConnell said, "In terms of overall spending...we appropriated exactly the amount the President asked for last year."
Democrats Denounce "Pell Grants For Kids" The New York Times reports "Bush's call for a $300 million program called Pell Grants for Kids is the latest effort by his administration to channel tax dollars to low-income parents to help them send their children to private or religious schools." The proposal, another of the few new items in the agenda Bush outlined last night, "was denounced by some top Democratic lawmakers and teachers' union officials as a national 'voucher' program that would only drain resources from urban public schools that in many cases are in need of money." During Fox News' post-speech coverage, Roll Call's Mort Kondracke commented, "It's advertised as 'Pell Grants for kids' but it's really vouchers all over again. When the Democrats figure out it's vouchers all over again, they will summarily dismiss it."
Democratic Response Calls For Unity The AP reports Democrats "followed...Bush's State of the Union address not so much with a response as with their own theme of bipartisan cooperation. Their messenger Monday night was Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a red-state Democrat touted by congressional leaders as a symbol of bipartisanship." The New York Times characterized Sebelius' call for unity as "a sign that with the fall elections just 10 months away, Democrats are aware they must show voters they can work across the aisle."
The AP reports the Senate voted 48-45 Monday "against extending" the Protect America Act, which the AP refers to as "the eavesdropping law," beyond Feb. 1, "increasing political pressure to pass a new version of the bill this week." The existing law will expire Friday, "a deadline the White House, intelligence officials and congressional Republicans are using to push the Senate into adopting a bill that would also protect from civil lawsuits the telecommunications companies that allowed their customers to be wiretapped without court approval." Also on Monday, the House Democratic leadership "delayed until Tuesday a vote on whether to extend the law."
The Washington Post says the fate of the measure was left "up in the air" following yesterday's Senate vote. Also "heightening the drama," the Senate yesterday "failed to approve a Democratic effort to extend the deadline by 30 days." During his State of the Union address last night, President Bush said, "We need to know who the terrorists are talking to, what they are saying, and what they are planning." Addressing Congress, he said, "This means that if you do not act by Friday, our ability to track terrorist threats will be weakened." The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial, says it "strains credibility to believe, as Majority Leader Harry Reid claims, that the Senate needs another month to do what it couldn't in the past six."
The AP reports Senate Democrats plan to add "rebates for senior citizens living off Social Security and an extension of unemployment benefits," to the $150 billion economic stimulus package, "setting up a clash with the White House and House leaders who are pushing a narrower package." While the House will vote today "on a plan that would speed rebates of up to $600 to most income earners," the Senate "was planning to draft its own measure with the add-ons." The AP adds "the move was in defiance of admonitions from the Bush administration not to risk derailing the deal with changes, and it threatened to slow what was shaping up as an extraordinarily rapid trip through Congress for the stimulus measure."
The Financial Times notes Treasury Secretary Paulson "said that if direct-spending elements, absent in the House deal such as food stamps and unemployment insurance were considered, there would be 'a real danger that we're going to [get bogged] down and screech to a stop.'" But Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said yesterday, "The White House says we mustn't slow the economic stimulus agreement down, or blow it up. I agree. We're going to improve it and get it passed right away."
House-Senate Divide Predicted The New York Times reports "some aides who worked on the House plan" said Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner "had rejected some components in the Senate proposal as too expensive." The Times adds, "The Senate proposal is less generous to some but more generous to others. For example, a household with two working parents and two children would most likely receive $1,800 under the House plan, but only $1,600 under the Senate proposal." According to the Wall Street Journal, the Senate "is expected to retain proposed increases in loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration that are part of the House plan." But "Democratic aides said other provisions of a bill modernizing the FHA and allowing more homeowners to refinance out of costly subprime loans would now move on a slower track."
The Washington Post says that "with the strong backing" of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, "the package that emerges from the Finance Committee is likely to pass the Senate, forcing House-Senate negotiations that Bush and House leaders had hoped to avoid." The Washington Times notes "the push for stimulus add-ons has garnered bipartisan support, including a proposal from Sen. George V. Voinovich, Ohio Republican, to award tax credits to businesses that lack funds to make investment."
The Los Angeles Times reports Scott J. Bloch, head of the US Office of Special Counsel, "the government agency that enforces one of the principal laws aimed at keeping politics out of the civil service" is accusing the Justice Department "of blocking its investigation into alleged politicizing of the department" under former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Bloch wrote Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey "that the department had repeatedly 'impeded' his investigation by refusing to share documents and provide answers to written questions."
The CBS Evening News last night aired "an exclusive follow-up to" its investigation "that revealed that thousands of Katrina victims are living in toxic trailers." CBS reported that it has learned that the Centers for Disease Control "suppressed repeated warnings from one of its top scientists, raising questions about whether the CDC bowed to pressure from FEMA to conceal the long-term health risks of formaldehyde in trailers like this."
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Jay Leno: "Here's something interesting. Exit polls showed that Bill's campaigning actually hurt Hillary. I just hope it doesn't...cause any tension in their marriage."
David Letterman: "But you know, President Bush is standing there giving his State of the Union, and behind him you can see Dick Cheney and Nancy Pelosi sitting right" there, looking "like a married couple waiting for their divorce to be final."
David Letterman: "During the State of the Union address, whoa, what a rowdy crowd. ... At one point Cheney had to fire a couple of shots in the air."
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