The media today sees Barack Obama's sweep of the weekend nominating contests as giving him momentum going into tomorrow's Potomac Primary and beyond. On Saturday, Obama defeated Hillary Clinton 68% to 31% in the Washington state caucuses. In Nebraska, Obama won 68% to 32%, while in Louisiana, Obama won 57%-36%. Obama also won in the Virgin Islands, 90% to 8%. Capping off the weekend, the AP reports that Obama defeated Clinton in the Maine caucuses 59%-40%, a contest in which Clinton had been expected to be very competitive.
NBC Nightly News reported last night, "It's a clean sweep for the Illinois senator who has beaten Hillary Clinton in all four of this weekend's Democratic contests, Maine, Washington, Louisiana and Nebraska. Still tonight the fight for delegates remains close." NBC added, "It wasn't only the number of states Barack Obama racked up this weekend, it was his margin of victory, two to one over Hillary Clinton in Washington and Nebraska and that wasn't all." Sen. Barack Obama: "We won in Louisiana, we won in Nebraska, we won in Washington State. We won north, we won south and we won in between." Cowan: "It's the kind of sweep that has Hillary Clinton now calling herself the underdog."
ABC World News said the wins give Obama "momentum. Virginia is one of three states voting in Tuesday's Potomac primary, along with Maryland and Washington, DC. This region's large population of African-American voters should help him along with affluent educated liberals. Obama's argument, electability." Obama: "We want more red states and swing states that the next Democratic nominee needs to win in November."
The New York Times reports that, "Combined with his advantage in fund-raising, these victories should give him momentum going into the primaries on Tuesday in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C."
Superdelegates Said To Give Clinton Narrow Lead The AP reports Hillary Clinton "retains her lead among suddenly critical Democratic Party insiders even as Barack Obama builds up his delegate margin with primary and caucus victories across the country, according to a survey by The Associated Press." Of the "796 lawmakers, governors and party officials who are Democratic superdelegates, Clinton had 243 and Obama had 156. That edge was responsible for Clinton's overall advantage in the pursuit of delegates to secure the party's nomination for president." The AP's latest tally shows has "a total of 1,136 delegates and Obama has 1,108, following Obama's victory Sunday in Maine's caucuses. A candidate must get 2,025 delegates to capture the nomination."
The AP reports Hillary Clinton replaced her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, with "longtime aide" Maggie Williams yesterday, "engineering a shake-up in a presidential campaign struggling to overcome" Barack Obama's "financial and political strengths." The Wall Street Journal reports in a front page story that the replacement of Solis Doyle was "the first of what could be a broader shakeup in her campaign." The changes "come among other problems within the campaign. Last week Mrs. Clinton said she had loaned her campaign $5 million in January and some senior staffers said that if the financial situation didn't improve, they would forgo paychecks this month."
The Los Angeles Times reports an "overhaul of Clinton's senior staff had been rumored for months as her national lead shrank and she struggled to keep pace with Obama's prodigious fundraising." With the "nomination up for grabs and no quick end in sight, campaign supporters, donors and the staff itself wanted new energy and perhaps a different approach, and Clinton made the change." ABC World News added Williams was originally brought in "to advise the campaign after Clinton lost Iowa and has been exerting increasing control ever since. The resignation came while Clinton campaigned in Virginia, two days before the primary here. She sounded almost apologetic."
The Politico reports it is "unclear whether the switch will lead to any discernible shifts in campaign direction, since Solis Doyle, who ran Clinton's 2006 Senate reelection campaign, had played a role that was more operational than conceptual. And Williams' influence in the campaign had already become increasingly apparent since Super Tuesday, particularly in some of Clinton's speeches, which have become more ornate."
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The Washington Post reports on its front page this morning that on Thursday, Hillary Clinton "made an unannounced trip to Chapel Hill, N.C., to seek an endorsement from former senator John Edwards, who gave up his presidential bid last month. Obama is scheduled to meet with Edwards on a similar mission tonight." NBC Nightly News reported, "Hillary Clinton, we understand, actually traveled to John Edwards' home in North Carolina on Thursday to talk with him face-to-face. Barack Obama has been talking with John Edwards on the phone quite extensively over the last several days."
NBC Nightly News reported, "We can now report another weekend win for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. This afternoon he picked up the Grammy in the category of Spoken Word for the audio book version of his book, The Audacity of Hope and he beat Clinton, Bill Clinton, who was up for his book about the call to public service." The AP reports that Obama edged out former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. "Though Clinton and Carter lost, they both have won the category before (Clinton, twice). And Hillary Rodham Clinton took home a Grammy in 1996 for her audio version of the book 'It Takes A Village.'"
John McCain, who appeared to be the consensus GOP nominee after Romney withdrew last week, suffered several setbacks over the weekend. In Republican contests Saturday, Huckabee easily won the Kansas caucuses, while he also squeaked past McCain in the Louisiana primary, while McCain barely won a three-way race in the Washington caucuses. In Kansas, Huckabee took 60% of the vote to 24% for McCain; in Louisiana, Huckabee took 43%, McCain 42%; and in Washington, McCain had 26%, Huckabee 24%, and Rep. Ron Paul 21%, with fewer than 700 votes separating first place from third. The New York Times reports that just as McCain "appeared poised to become the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, he was reminded over the weekend that many Republican voters still have not climbed aboard his bandwagon." McCain, who "won enough delegates in the coast-to-coast nominating contests on Tuesday to place him mathematically beyond the reach of his Republican rivals, suffered embarrassing losses in the Louisiana primary and the Kansas caucuses on Saturday to former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas." The Wall Street Journal reports McCain "hit a unsettling bump in the road to his near-certain nomination. The victories by Mr. Huckabee, a populist ordained Southern Baptist minister, raised questions about Mr. McCain's ability to bring religious conservative voters to his side for the general election."
During an interview that aired yesterday on Fox News Sunday, President Bush was asked by host Chris Wallace if Sen. John McCain is "a true conservative." Bush replied, "Absolutely. I know him well. I know his convictions. I know the principles that drive him. And no doubt in my mind he is a true conservative. ... I think that if John's the nominee, he has got some convincing to do to convince people that he is a solid conservative. And I'll be glad to help him if he's the nominee, because he is a conservative. Look, he's very strong on national defense. He's tough fiscally. He believes that tax cuts ought to be permanent. He's pro-life. His principles are sound and solid as far as I'm concerned."
Bush's comments were noted in two of the network newscasts last night. ABC World News reported Bush "is stepping up to defend McCain against critics who say the senator from Arizona is not conservative enough." NBC Nightly News also remarked on Bush's "rare comment about the campaign."
The Washington Post reports, "Although he declined to formally endorse McCain and offered praise for Huckabee as well," Bush "left little doubt that he sees McCain, his 2000 campaign rival, as his would-be heir." And the New York Times says Bush's comments were "as close to an endorsement as Mr. McCain will get from Mr. Bush at this stage." With "conservative pundits like Rush Limbaugh saying that a McCain nomination would destroy the Republican Party," McCain's "advisers had been hoping for just this sort of public embrace. It came on the heels of Mr. Bush's call for unity in a speech Friday to the Conservative Political Action Conference, which was also widely interpreted as an implicit endorsement of Mr. McCain."
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Roll Call reports House Democrats "are crafting scaled-down immigration reform legislation despite the political minefields that surround the issue, with Hispanic Members seeking five-year visas for illegal immigrants who pay fines and pass criminal background checks." According to Roll Call, Democrats "say drafts of legislation already have been written and are being vetted behind the scenes." Rep. Joe Baca, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, "said he's seen a draft bill," and added "the prospects for a compromise package were discussed in high-level meetings Wednesday" that included Speaker Pelosi, Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who chairs the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law."
Mexican Prosperity May Be Cutting Migration USA Today reports on its front page that "it's understandable why Mexico might be perceived as a place with little hope." But "many Mexicans say their future looks brighter than it has in generations." The Mexican economy "is growing steadily, and poverty rates are declining significantly. Crime is down, public health and education levels are improving, and Mexico's democracy is more robust than at any time in its history." USA Today adds, "There are hopes on both sides of the border that Mexico's improving economy eventually will provide enough jobs to encourage significant numbers of Mexicans to stay and prosper in their country."
DHS Eases Immigrant Background Check McClatchy reports on "a major policy shift aimed at reducing a ballooning immigration backlog." A DHS plan would "grant permanent residency to tens of thousands of applicants before the FBI completes a required background check. Those eligible are immigrants whose fingerprints have cleared the FBI database of criminal convictions and arrests, but whose names have not yet cleared the FBI's criminal or intelligence files after six months of waiting." The change drew criticism from "advocates of stricter immigration enforcement," who "accused DHS of creating security loopholes, rather than solving the backlog problem."
Roll Call reports in its "K Street Files" column, "Heads up, defense contractors. It's time to dust off those checkbooks." Rep. Jack Murtha, House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, "is holding his annual cattle call to raise campaign funds." Roll Call notes that the February 27 event is "about two weeks before appropriators hand in their own project requests," as those "hoping to get an earmark from the defense-spending poobah will note." Roll Call adds that "last year provided some stark guidance for contractors lobbying Murtha's office: Every private entity that received a special project from the Pennsylvania Democrat in last year's defense spending bill had given him political money at some point since 2005. And of the $413,250 those PACs and employees contributed over that two and a half-year period, nearly a quarter of the sum -- $100,750 -- arrived in the two weeks leading up to last year's original deadline for lawmakers to file their earmark requests, a Roll Call analysis found."
The Politico reports House Speaker Pelosi said twice Sunday that Iraq "is a failure," and that President Bush's troop surge has "not produced the desired effect." Said Pelosi on CNN, "The purpose of the surge was to create a secure time for the government of Iraq to make the political change to bring reconciliation to Iraq. ... They have not done that." But "the speaker hastened to add: 'The troops have succeeded, God bless them.'"
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U.S. News and World Report notes President Bush's proposed 2009 budget "projects a $410 billion deficit in 2008 and $407 billion in 2009, indicating that the government just cannot live within its means. Bush's 2009 budget, in fact, calls for a 6 percent spending increase over 2008, which won't sit well even with fellow conservatives who are upset that the administration has steered away from fiscal discipline." U.S. News and World Report also reports, "Now that Congress has sent the much anticipated $152 billion stimulus package to President Bush for his signature, most taxpayers are all but assured of receiving checks by early summer. ... While the goal of the package is to stimulate the economy, a handful of surveys released over the past week suggest that most Americans will save the money or use it to pay off debt instead of spending it. Proponents of the legislation say that even using the money in those ways will help the economy in the long run."
Newsweek's Robert Samuelson says that while Bush "says his policies would produce a balanced budget by 2012," in fact "his underlying assumptions are laughably artificial." According to Samuelson, "First, he omits most of the future costs of the Iraq War (for budgeting, he effectively adopts his critics' plan of rapid withdrawal). Second, he assumes big savings in Medicare by freezing reimbursements to doctors and hospitals -- a policy Congress won't adopt. Third, he doesn't offset the growing revenue bite of the 'alternative minimum tax' that would result in a sizable tax increase: an outcome Bush rejects." According to Samuelson, "The only way Bush could balance the budget would be by not following Bush's policies."
The New York Times reports, "Military prosecutors have decided to seek the death penalty for six Guantánamo detainees who are to be charged with central roles in the Sept. 11 terror attacks." The Times adds "officials said the charges would be announced at the Pentagon as soon as Monday and were likely to include numerous war-crimes charges against the six men, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the former Qaeda operations chief who has described himself as the mastermind of the attacks." On its front page, the Wall Street Journal adds, "For Col. Lawrence J. Morris, the newly installed Guantanamo chief prosecutor, the day is a long time coming," as "people familiar with the process" say he "was sidelined by the Bush administration. Senior officials had decided to interrogate captured al Qaeda leaders in secrecy rather than swiftly bringing them to justice -- a tactic they figured might help stave off future attacks. That left Guantanamo prosecutors to pursue minor characters who might quickly plead guilty."
The Washington Post notes that a week before Pakistanis vote in parliamentary elections, President Pervez Musharraf's popularity "has hit an all-time low and opposition parties seem capable of a landslide victory that could jeopardize his efforts to cling to power." According to a poll to be released Monday, "just 15 percent of Pakistanis approve of Musharraf's job performance." However, the survey conducted by the US-based nonprofit group Terror Free Tomorrow also "found that the Taliban has experienced a similar drop, with support at 19 percent, half of what it was last summer." The AP says "24 percent of Pakistanis approved of bin Laden when the survey was conducted last month, compared with 46 percent during a similar survey in August."
Meanwhile, the Christian Science Monitor reports Pakistani opposition leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif says that the government "is trying to scare the opposition leaders into silence ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for Feb. 18." The government "has asked political leaders to refrain from large gatherings and rallies, saying they may become a target of suicide bombers."
The AP reports Vice President Dick Cheney "took the unusual step Friday of joining with lawmakers in signing a Supreme Court brief that goes further in support of gun rights than the one submitted by the Bush administration. The filings were made in a case that challenges the District of Columbia's ban on handguns." Cheney "joined more than 300 senators and representatives...who want the court to rule that Washington's ban is unconstitutional. 'The vice president believes strongly in Second Amendment rights,' Cheney spokeswoman Megan Mitchell said." The Washington Post reported on its front page Saturday that Cheney broke "with his own administration's official position."
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Jay Leno: "It looks like John McCain has gotten the nod. ... Of course, McCain getting a nomination, this is Rush Limbaugh's worst nightmare since the pharmacist said, 'We're out of OxyContin.'"
David Letterman: "I thought this was interesting. Rudy Giuliani is announcing his own line of clothing," which "comes apart at the seams."
Conan O'Brien: "The White House has announced that during President Bush's last year in office, he's going to visit more countries than in any other year of his presidency. Yeah. Yeah, Bush says he's going to accomplish all of this in one weekend, by going to Epcot Center."
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