Hints of a campaign scandal involving Sen. John McCain and a female telecom lobbyist broke into the open today, with the New York Times running a front-page story that features unnamed McCain aides' suspicions of a romantic relationship between the Senator and Vicki Iseman. Some details of the story reports of an improper relationship between McCain and a lobbyist had appeared on the Drudge Report earlier in the primary season. The NYT story says that in 2000, "waves of anxiety swept through" McCain's "small circle of advisers" because "a female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client's corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself - instructing staff members to block the woman's access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity." After media reports that McCain "had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist's client, the former campaign associates said, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement." McCain, 71, "and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, 40, both say they never had a romantic relationship. But to his advisers, even the appearance of a close bond with a lobbyist whose clients often had business before the Senate committee Mr. McCain led threatened the story of redemption and rectitude that defined his political identity."
The Washington Post reports former McCain aide John Weaver said aides "confronted" Iseman "in late 1999 and asked her to distance herself from" McCain "during the presidential campaign he was about to launch." Weaver, who "served as McCain's closest confidant until leaving his current campaign last year, said he met with Vicki Iseman at the Center Cafe in Union Station and urged her to stay away from McCain. Association with a lobbyist would undermine his image as an opponent of special interests, aides had concluded."
The McCain camp is hitting back hard. The Politico reports McCain's campaign "promised to 'go to war' against the New York Times Wednesday night." Communications director Jill Hazelbaker said, "It is a shame that the New York Times has lowered its standards to engage in a hit and run smear campaign." The Politico adds the McCain campaign "is using a two-pronged attack to push back against the story. First, they'll argue it was thinly sourced piece of innuendo journalism. But McCain aides will also strike at the source, using the Times' liberal reputation as a means of self-defense to draw sympathy from the GOP's conservative base."
In the wake of Sen. Barack Obama's convincing wins on Tuesday, the major media outlets are now portraying him as the clear frontrunner in the Democratic race, and conversely see Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign as struggling to survive. For example, NBC Nightly News reported, "It is now safe to say there is a Democratic frontrunner and his name is Barack Obama. Coming off a major victory in Wisconsin last night, his map of victories is impressive. 23 states stitched together across the country. His opponent, Hillary Clinton, has won about half that number."
The CBS Evening News reported, "It comes down to this for Hillary Clinton: She must win 57% of the nearly 1,000 delegates up for grabs in the remaining primaries and caucuses to catch up with Barack Obama." ABC World News reported, "Hillary Clinton returned home to New York last night, a wounded candidate. The head of her efforts in Wisconsin called it 'a painful night.' Her fellow New York Senator Chuck Schumer said to the crowd this morning what everybody was thinking: 'these past couple weeks have not been easy.'"
In an AP analysis, Tom Raum says Clinton is "still fighting, but it's awfully hard to find encouraging news for Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic homestretch." She is "behind in money, delegates and momentum. She's selling experience when everyone seems to want change. And all the cheering for the man who could be the first black president is drowning out any excitement for the first female." In a story headlined "Desperation Time for the Clintons," the New York Daily News reports that "never have" Clinton's "odds of winning her once-indomitable White House bid looked so long."
Bill Clinton Says Campaign Finished With Losses In TX, OH NBC Nightly News reported Bill Clinton yesterday "made a prediction that could be hard to walk back from. If Hillary doesn't win in Texas and Ohio, he doesn't think she can be the nominee." The New York Post reports, "It's Texas or bust for Hillary Rodham Clinton, hubby Bill admitted yesterday. 'If she wins Texas and Ohio, I think she will be the nominee. If you don't, then I don't think she can,' he told a crowd in the city of Beaumont. 'It's all on you.'"
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The Washington Post reports Sen. Hillary Clinton "launched a tough new offensive" against Sen. Barack Obama yesterday, "asserting flatly that her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination is not prepared to serve as commander in chief." Speaking at Hunter College in Manhattan, Clinton said, "It is time to get real -- to get real about how we actually win this election, and get real about the challenges facing America." The Washington Times reports Clinton "went after" Obama "as inexperienced on matters of national security and as a politician with no record of accomplishment."
The AP reports Clinton "went beyond her frequent complaint that the Illinois senator lacked the experience to be president." In her speech at Hunter College, Clinton "depicted his candidacy as a 'campaign about a campaign' while casting herself as a champion of the middle class. 'Others might be joining a movement. I'm joining you on the night shift, on the day shift,' Clinton said to loud applause and cheers." The Chicago Tribune reports, "Facing huge odds," Clinton "retooled her message Wednesday in New York, using urgent, sharper tones to exhort Democrats in upcoming battleground states to 'get real' about Obama's short-tenured record and to question whether he could handle crises or serve as commander-in-chief at a time when the nation is fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."
The New York Daily News reports that New York Sen. Chuck Schumer (D), "who introduced Clinton to the less-than-capacity crowd" at Hunter College, "framed the junior senator as a figure who's faced fiery attacks from the Republicans and survived: 'I have seen Hillary Rodham Clinton take a punch, but every time, she gets right back up stronger than before,' he said."
Clinton Camp Hoping Debate Sparks Rally The Houston Chronicle reports that Clinton "campaign strategists think they have just the solution" to the campaign's struggles: tonight's debate in Austin. "Campaign officials are counting on landing a memorable zinger or forcing an Obama gaffe that could change the dynamic of the presidential race." The Wall Street Journal reports, "Months of regular debates between the Democratic rivals have registered only tiny blips in the opinion polls," but tonight's event, "and the one next week in Cleveland could prove pivotal in settling public opinion." The New York Times reports that Obama and Clinton "have not met face to face in a debate since their love-fest in Hollywood on Jan. 31." However, "given the recent unpleasantness between the two...the tone just might not be so jolly."
Clinton Supporters Form New Group To Advertise In Texas, Ohio The AP reports that in an effort to "boost" Clinton's "sagging fortunes, a group of Democratic political strategists has assembled an organization that will raise money from wealthy donors and run ads promoting her views in Texas and Ohio." Called the "American Leadership Project, the organization has been formed as a so-called 527 committee, which can raise unlimited amounts of money from some of Clinton's most deep-pocketed benefactors." The Wall Street Journal reports the Clinton supporters "plan to spend around $10 million on television advertisements in" Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The Washington Post reports that in the "group's first ad, the television image shows a shuttered factory and a home in foreclosure, and a voiceover says: 'If speeches could create jobs, we wouldn't be facing a recession.' The criticism of 'speeches' closely mirrors a line of attack Clinton has used against Obama." The Post adds the Obama campaign "compared the effort to the 'Swift boat' ads that helped sink Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry's 2004 presidential bid."
The AP reports Sen. Barack Obama "won an endorsement from the powerful Teamsters union on Wednesday, critical labor support for the Democratic front-runner with upcoming contests in Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania." Teamsters President James P. Hoffa said, "There was very, very strong support for him [among the union's members]." The AP adds Hoffa "met with Obama on Wednesday in Texas, site of the next Democratic primary against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton." The New York Times reports, "A spokesman said Mr. Hoffa would campaign with Mr. Obama on Friday in Ohio, where the Teamsters have considerable strength. ... With the Teamsters' move, labor leaders said, Change to Win, a five-million-member coalition of unions that broke away from the A.F.L.-C.I.O., is expected to vote Thursday to endorse Mr. Obama."
NBC Nightly News reported, "As the Democrats are still sorting things out," Sen. John McCain "really saw an opening" yesterday "to turn up the pressure on" Sen. Barack Obama "by using an Obama campaign theme against him. Before John McCain visited voters at an Ohio dairy farm today, he found a way to challenge Barack Obama's credibility with a very familiar word." Sen. Barack Obama: "Something has to change." O'Donnell: "McCain was riled by a piece Obama wrote for USA Today where Obama did not say he would take the taxpayer financing, but suggested starting negotiations to figure out a limit on private fund raising." McCain: "That's Washington double speak. I committed to public financing. He committed to public financing." O'Donnell: "McCain turned to foreign policy and made a stinging judgment saying Obama doesn't grasp the fundamentals."
The USA Today reports McCain "says he will accept public money in the fall and stick to spending limits if his Democratic opponent does the same. Obama agreed to do so last fall if he became the Democratic nominee, in response to a questionnaire from the Midwest Democracy Network, a non-partisan civic group." The AP reports, "As Obama has lengthened his lead in the Democratic race, McCain has increasingly taken the one-term Illinois senator to task." McCain "has started raising questions about Obama's experience level, seeming lack of foreign policy credentials, and, now, his character. In that process, McCain is espousing some arguments similar to those made by Hillary Rodham Clinton against Obama."
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The Wall Street Journal (2/21, A1, Ip, 2.06M) also says the US "faces an unwelcome combination of looming recession and persistent inflation that is reviving angst about 'stagflation,' a condition not seen since the 1970s." Stagflation, "a term coined in the United Kingdom in 1965, defined the years from 1970 to 1981 in the US Inflation rose to almost 15%. The economy went through three recessions. Unemployment reached 9%. Fed Chairman Paul Volcker finally conquered inflation, but only by dramatically boosting interest rates, causing a severe recession in 1981 to 1982." The Financial Times runs a similar report under the headline "Data Fuel Fears Of US Stagflation."
The fears, said ABC World News, were fueled by new numbers showing "inflation is on the rise. Consumer prices jumped 0.4% in January, higher than economists expected. The cost of food and fuel are the reasons. In the past 12 months, prices have risen 4.3%." The AP notes that "with the latest increase, core prices have risen over the past 12 months by 2.5 percent, far above the Fed's comfort zone of 1 percent to 2 percent gains in the underlying inflation rate." Moreover, "the increase in inflationary pressures comes as economic growth has slowed sharply, raising concerns the country might be in danger of falling into a recession."
In addition, ABC World News reported the Federal Reserve "has revised downward expectations for economic growth for the year. The board now estimates that the economy will grow between 1.3% and 2%. That's a half percentage below its earlier estimate. The Fed also expects unemployment will rise above 5% by the fourth quarter of the year." The New York Times says Fed officials "did see something of a boost in the second half of this year, however, from the fiscal stimulus package that Congress passed this month and from the Fed's recent decisions to reduce interest rates." The AP, Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times and Washington Post run additional reports on the Fed's revised forecast.
The Wall Street Journal reports this morning, "Federal agents are investigating whether former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott knowingly played a role in an alleged conspiracy in 2006 to influence a Mississippi judge presiding over a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against famed plaintiff attorney Richard 'Dickie' Scruggs, according to people familiar with the situation. The U.S. attorney's office in Oxford, Miss. ...is also examining whether several associates of Mr. Scruggs induced a different Mississippi jurist, Hinds County Judge Robert Delaughter, to rule in favor of Mr. Scruggs in a separate lawsuit by promising that Mr. Lott would recommend Judge Delaughter for a seat on the federal bench." However, "President Bush nominated a Gulfport, Miss., lawyer...to the vacant seat on the federal bench Mr. Delaughter had allegedly been interested in. People familiar with the process said Mr. Lott" and Sen. Thad Cochran "approved of the appointment."
In an "exclusive" story, McClatchy reports this morning the Bush Administration "is pressing the opposition leaders who defeated Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to allow the former general to retain his position." The US "is urging the Pakistani political leaders who won the elections to form a new government quickly and not press to reinstate the judges whom Musharraf ousted last year, Western diplomats and US officials said Wednesday. If reinstated, the jurists likely would try to remove Musharraf from office." The Washington Post, however, says Asif Ali Zardari, co-chair of the Pakistan People's Party and widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, remarked yesterday that "it is the job of the newly elected Parliament to decide whether to reinstate the country's embattled judiciary." His party, he said, "wants 'the judiciary to be an independent institution in the country.' But he offered no specific call for the immediate reinstatement of the chief justice."
According to the New York Times, meanwhile, "continuing returns and haggling over the new government on Wednesday showed his opponents likely to fall short of the numbers needed to impeach him." In fact, "the Pakistan Peoples Party, which won the most seats in the new Parliament, said it would not move against Mr. Musharraf if it could not muster the two-thirds majority needed to remove him or change the Constitution." The party "does not have a simple majority on its own and will have to enter a coalition to form a government. It is holding discussions with the party that won the second-most seats, the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif."
Speaking from Africa yesterday, says The Hill, President Bush "said this week's successful election in Pakistan is 'part of the victory in the war on terror.'" Bush "said that the elections were 'judged as being fair' and the results represent a blow to extremists." Said Bush, "It's now time for the newly elected folks to show up and form their government, and the question then is, will they be friends of the United States, and I certainly hope so. ... We've got interests in helping to make sure there's no safe haven from which people can plot and plan attacks against the United States of America and Pakistan." The Financial Times, Christian Science Monitor and Washington Times also mention Bush's comments.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that "vague accounting, disputed expenses and suspicions about overbilling have recently made...payments to Pakistan highly controversial -- even within the US government." In the aftermath of the elections, Congress may "look closer at all US financial assistance to the country. Questions have already been raised about where the money went and what the Bush administration got in return, given that pro-American sentiment in Pakistan is extremely low and al-Qaeda's presence is growing steadily stronger."
White House, State Department Square Off Again. McClatchy reports "Bush's policy of hanging on to Musharraf has caused friction between the White House and the State Department, with some career diplomats and other specialists arguing that the administration is trying to buck the political tides in Pakistan, US officials said." A "Western diplomat" said the White House "strategy could backfire if Pakistanis feel betrayed after voting to kick Musharraf from office. 'This is dangerous,' said the diplomat." That diplomat and other "officials spoke to McClatchy on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss internal government debates."
The AP reports, "With deadly attacks against US targets increasing around Baghdad, anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr raised the possibility Wednesday that he may not renew a six-month cease-fire widely credited for helping slash violence." The current ceasefire will expire Saturday, raising fears "especially among minority Sunni Arabs, that the re-emergence of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia could return Iraq to where it was just a year ago." The announcement came after two days of attacks on US and Iraqi forces from "Iranian-backed Shiite extremists." USA Today notes the Mahdi Army "say they are targeted by Iraqi police and rival Shiite groups and are eager for permission to fight back." A Sadr supporter in the parliament says that since "The U.S. forces have changed their style...the Mahdi Army remains committed not to fight the U.S. forces" and are "committed to the political process." The Los Angeles Times and Washington Post also report the story.
The AP reports that a missile launched Wednesday night "from a Navy cruiser soared 130 miles above the Pacific and smashed a dying and potentially deadly US spy satellite Wednesday," the Pentagon said. Following the successful strike, "several defense officials said it apparently achieved the main aim of destroying an onboard tank of toxic fuel," whose contents "posed what Bush administration officials deemed a potential health hazard to humans if it landed intact." In a statement, the Pentagon said that "because the satellite was orbiting at a relatively low altitude at the time it was hit by the missile, debris will begin to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere immediately."
The Los Angeles Times says the Pentagon "waited until the space shuttle Atlantis landed" Wednesday morning to begin the operation. After the shuttle landed, "planners determined the best time to attempt the shot was late afternoon local time, when the cold, tumbling satellite would have maximum exposure to the sun, warming it up enough for the heat-seeking 'kill vehicle' atop the missile to find it." According to the Pentagon statement, "nearly all of the debris is expected to burn up within 48 hours, with the rest reentering the Earth's atmosphere within 40 days."
Russia and China, notes USA Today, had "objected to the Pentagon's plan to shoot down the satellite, saying it could lead to militarizing space." But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack "dismissed those concerns," saying it "was designed to protect people." Also noting the mission's goal of safety, the New York Times reports that "in the event that any of the hydrazine fuel falls on a populated area, the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday issued directions to community first responders on how to deal with dangerous debris from the satellite."
Similarly, the Washington Post says the Bush Administration "sounded new warnings yesterday about the risk of exposure" to the toxic fuel, "even as some scientists said their calculations showed the chances of actual harm are close to zero." In addition to FEMA, the Centers for Disease Control also "sent out a health advisory starkly describing the risks posed by the rocket fuel." Despite the warning, "skeptics in the arms control community have speculated that the administration chose to undertake the shoot-down partly so it can test potential anti-satellite weapons and missile defense technology."
The Washington Times (2/21, 87K) notes that notifications were also "issued worldwide to mariners and aviators to stay clear of an area in the Pacific where the satellite debris might fall."
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Jay Leno: "Happy Black History Month," and "if Barack Obama keeps winning, it looks like Hillary could be history."
Jay Leno: "Mike Huckabee's campaign starting to taper off. ... Like at the big rallies now, Chuck Norris just sends a stunt double."
David Letterman: McCain "looks like the guy who still has a rotary phone."
David Letterman: McCain "looks like the guy who brags oatmeal has lowered his cholesterol."
Conan O'Brien: "Yesterday, Senator Barack Obama won the Wisconsin Democratic primary," which "makes Obama the first black man to ever win a primary in Wisconsin and the first black man to ever go to Wisconsin."
Jimmy Kimmel: "It turns out that unlike everywhere else in the world, President Bush is very popular in Africa. They really love him. A lot of it is because he's committed a lot of financial aid to fight AIDS and malaria. A lot of it is because he brings candy wherever he goes."
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