The media feeding frenzy surrounding New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, ensnared in a prostitution scandal, continues unabated, with most analysts still expecting him to resign sooner rather than later. In fact, ABC World News reported last night that according to "lawyers close to the case" Spitzer has already "drafted a letter of resignation. But the hold-up is his negotiations with federal prosecutors." In a similar report, the CBS Evening News said "the end game" for Spitzer is that "in exchange for avoiding felony charges in connection with this high-priced prostitution service, Spitzer would step down." The Financial Times reports, "A deal was expected as early as Wednesday."
The Wall Street Journal reports prosecutors "are considering charging" Spitzer "with violations of the Mann Act, which bars transporting people across state lines for prostitution. Other possible charges could include structuring transactions to evade financial-reporting requirements; violating bans on interstate travel with intent to commit a crime; and helping an illegal entity to launder money. Some of the charges carry prison terms of more than five years."
The Chicago Tribune reports James Tedisco, "a Republican state legislative leader with whom Spitzer has tangled in the past, called for him to resign within two days or face impeachment." The Christian Science Monitor reports, "Some longtime political analysts say Spitzer has cut corners in the past. Many of his cases against Wall Street wrongdoers were built on the threat of political indictment and the use of strategic leaks to bolster press coverage," according to critics. The Los Angeles Times runs a similar report on yesterday's events.
The Washington Post reports, "Weeks before a hotel meeting with a prostitute that threatens to derail his career, the FBI staked out...Spitzer at the same hotel in an unsuccessful effort to catch him with a high-priced call girl, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation."
Bad News For Clinton? A number of media analyses are putting Spitzer's behavior in the context of previous political sex scandals. The Washington Post reports that Spitzer's "apparent involvement with a prostitution ring has not only distracted attention from" Hillary Clinton's "efforts to take down the front-runner, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), it has brought back unhelpful memories of her own husband's dalliances in office. There on cable television again were pictures of Bill Clinton hugging Monica Lewinsky."
The CBS Evening News said the scandal "has thrown a spotlight on a dark corner of politics: powerful men who cheat and the women who stand stoically behind them. What makes these men who seem to have it all so reckless? And why do their wives put on such a brave public face?" The Los Angeles Times runs a similar analysis under the headline "Wife Puts Troubling Face On The Spitzer Scandal."
Moreover, the Wall Street Journal reports that if Spitzer resigns, "Clinton will be down one superdelegate. ... The DNC confirmed yesterday that New York would lose Mr. Spitzer's superdelegate slot if he resigns."
Media coverage of the abrupt resignation of Adm. William J. Fallon, the top US commander in the Mideast, strongly suggests the move stemmed from the commander's policy disagreements with the Administration. The New York Times, for example, reports on its front page that "there was no question that the admiral's premature departure stemmed from what were perceived to be policy differences with the administration on Iran and Iraq, where his views competed with those of Gen. David H. Petraeus, the American commander in Iraq, who is a favorite of the White House."
The Wall Street Journal reports "a senior Central Command officer said...Fallon wasn't ousted by the White House and came to the decision to resign on his own. But a second Fallon aide said the Central Command chief 'saw the writing on the wall.'" The Washington Post reports Fallon "had made several comments reflecting disagreement with the administration's stance on Iran, most recently in an Esquire magazine article last week that portrayed him as the only person who might stop" President Bush "from going to war with" Iran. The Financial Times notes Fallon also "created controversy last November by suggesting to the Financial Times that belligerent Bush administration rhetoric on Iran was 'unhelpful.'"
All three networks reported the story last night. NBC Nightly News reported, "Sources say that in the end, under pressure from the White House," Gates "refused to take Fallon's calls, making it clear he had to go." The CBS Evening News reported, "Virtually every senior military officer is opposed to war with Iran. But from now on, they might be more cautious about how they say it." ABC World News surveyed Fallon's apparent policy disagreements with the Administration, adding he also "rubbed his fellow military officers the wrong way, by being, in the words of one, 'supremely arrogant.'"
The Hill also notes "Fallon's decision reverberated across Capitol Hill and prompted criticism from Democrats." Fox News' Special Report reported Rep. Ike Skelton, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, "has asked the Pentagon if Admiral Fallon can actually appear with Petraeus on the Hill when he comes back in April." USA Today, the Washington Times, Bloomberg News, and UPI run additional stories on Fallon's resignation this morning.
A number of media sources also reported on potential replacements. McClatchy notes Army Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, "Fallon's deputy and a one-time commander of efforts to train Iraq's security forces, will lead US Central Command until the Senate can confirm a permanent replacement." The Washington Post reports "a likely successor to Fallon is Petraeus." Another "possible successor mentioned yesterday is Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the head of Special Operations in Iraq."
The Wall Street Journal editorializes that Fallon's "departure will be especially good news if it means that...Bush is beginning to pay attention to the internal Pentagon dispute over Iraq." In "seven years as President," Bush "has often proved more adept and determined in fighting enemies abroad than imposing discipline on his own, so often wayward, Administration."
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Fox News reported that in an update on the Iraq war, President Bush said "a free society is emerging there." Bush "pointed to the deaths of 8 US soldiers Monday, as he called the gains in Iraq 'tenuous, reversible and fragile,' due to a resilient enemy," and "says US troops will come home based on progress." The Tennessean notes Bush "made no mention of John McCain and few references at all to the 2008 presidential election during his visit to Nashville." Instead, "his speech before the National Religious Broadcasters convention focused on his plans for the conduct of the Iraq War during his final year in office."
The Washington Post reports, "White House aides described Tuesday's speech as the first of several in the next few weeks aimed at building support for the decisions Bush will make after next month's assessment from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top commander of US forces in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker."
The New York Times says the President mixed "faith and foreign policy as he told a group of Christian broadcasters that his policies in the region were predicated on the beliefs that freedom was a God-given right and 'every human being bears the image of our maker.'" The Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, AFP and Bloomberg News run similar accounts of Bush's speech.
Iraq Conflict Now Seen As "Stalemate" The New York Times reports, "Newly declassified statistics on the frequency of insurgent attacks in Iraq suggest that after major security gains last fall in the wake of an American troop increase, the conflict has drifted into a stalemate, with levels of violence remaining stubbornly constant from November 2007 through early 2008." These "new figures" were "presented Tuesday at a Senate hearing in Washington by David M. Walker, the top official at the Government Accountability Office."
The Austin American Statesman reports that in a speech to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Nashville, President Bush "said there's nothing fair about the so-called 'Fairness Doctrine' that once required broadcasters to offer air time for competing ideologies." The FCC "got rid of it about 20 years ago. Now, some Democrats in Congress -- long the target of popular conservative radio talk-show hosts -- think it's time to bring it back."
The Nashville City Paper quotes Bush saying, "If Congress should ever pass any legislation that stifles your right to express your views, I'm going to veto it." The comments prompted "a long, standing ovation."
The AP reports House Democrats on Tuesday "maintained their refusal to shield from civil lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on their customers without a secret court's permission." However, "they offered the companies an olive branch: the chance to use classified government documents to defend themselves in court."
The Washington Post reports, "The decision not to budge on the immunity issue reflects an apparent calculation by the Democrats that they can continue to defy the White House on a security concern in an election year." Roll Call, however, says the Democratic move "could provide political cover to moderate Democrats as Members prepare to return to their districts next week." House Democrats are expected to vote on their bill by Thursday, then go on a two-week recess, leaving FISA reauthorization unresolved.
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Sen. Barack Obama overwhelmed Sen. Hillary Clinton in yesterday's Mississippi primary yesterday, as expected by pundits and predicted by polls. CNN reports this morning that with 99% of precincts reporting, Obama topped Clinton 61%-37%. The Los Angeles Times reports Obama "rolled up a commanding victory Tuesday in the Mississippi primary, padding his delegate lead and gaining a psychological boost ahead of next month's big Democratic showdown in Pennsylvania." The New York Times says Mississippi offered Obama an "opportunity to regain his footing after losing the popular vote to Mrs. Clinton last week in three contests, Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island. Mr. Obama had been expected to win resoundingly in Mississippi, a state where 36 percent of the population is black, the highest percentage in the nation."
The Hill reports the Clinton campaign "did not completely cede the Magnolia State. Both the senator and former President Bill Clinton made campaign stops in the state in recent days." Bloomberg News reports Clinton "got a sense of how tough Mississippi would be for her during her first appearance in the state on March 6. At a Democratic Party dinner in Canton, she was greeted by dozens of Obama supporters holding signs and chanting his name."
A major theme in this morning's coverage of the contest is the racial divide in the state Obama took the vast majority of the black vote, while Clinton easily won among white voters. The AP calls the contest the "latest in a string of racially polarized presidential contests across the Deep South" with Obama "winning roughly 90 percent of the black vote but only about one-quarter of the white vote, extending a pattern that carried him to victory in earlier primaries in South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana." McClatchy says the racially split outcome "could bolster the New York senator's claim that Obama has limited appeal, an ability to win only in states with large black populations or those that hold caucuses, where organization is crucial."
Prior to the release of the Mississippi primary results, much of the television coverage of the Democratic presidential race focused on comments made last week by former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, a member of the Sen. Hillary Clinton's finance committee, regarding the press's treatment of Sen. Barack Obama. The AP reports that yesterday Sen. Hillary Clinton said she "disagrees" with Ferraro "for suggesting that Barack Obama only achieved his status in the presidential race because he's black." Last Friday Ferraro told the Torrance (CA) Daily Breeze: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."
ABC World News reported Obama told the Allentown Morning Call, "I don't think Geraldine Ferraro's comments have any place in our politics or in the Democratic Party. They're divisive; they are patently absurd." David Axelrod, Obama senior advisor added, "There's been an insidious pattern on the part of the Clinton campaign, to allow negative, really negative and out-of-bounds comments to be made and to simply gloss over them and to kind of give a wink and a nod." According to the CBS Evening News, Obama "has been fighting what he calls the Clinton kitchen sink strategy that counts on at least one of many charges sticking to him. He dismisses it as tired tactics straight from the Republican playbook." NBC Nightly News reported that Obama's "new tougher stance against Hillary Clinton took center stage in Jackson, Mississippi last night where he accused the Clinton campaign of circulating that now famous photo of the senator in native Somali dress."
For her part, Ferraro is not backing down. The New York Times, in an article titled, "Ferraro's Obama Remarks Become Talk Of Campaign," says that in an interview on last night, Ferraro, "defended her comments and said she was furious with the Obama campaign, accusing it of twisting her words. 'Every time that campaign is upset about something, they call it racist,' she said. 'I will not be discriminated against because I'm white. If they think they're going to shut up Geraldine Ferraro with that kind of stuff, they don't know me.'"
With the Mississippi primary concluded, the focus of the Democratic race turns to the next contest Pennsylvania, which holds its primary six weeks from now on April 22. Sen. Hillary Clinton arrived in the state on Monday, and continued to campaign across the state yesterday. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports Clinton "ventured into the GOP heart of Pennsylvania yesterday with a stop in Harrisburg," where she was "enthusiastically received." The Philadelphia Inquirer reports Clinton "portrayed" Obama yesterday "as a talker rather than a doer who does not believe what he says on Iraq, energy and foreign trade" at her Harrisburg rally. The Harrisburg Patriot-News reports Clinton drew "an overflow crowd of more than 2,100 people at The Forum in Harrisburg on Tuesday" and "many people were turned away." Clinton also attended a rally at Temple University later in the day.
For his part, Sen. Barack Obama kicked off his campaigning in the state focusing on economics. The AP reports Obama "promised on Tuesday to encourage trade but to enact new safeguards for workers and the environment, as he opened his campaign for the Pennsylvania primary six weeks away. 'Trade is an important part' of the global economy, said Obama, who has been rebuked in some quarters for criticizing trade agreements in rust-belt areas, where the pacts are often unpopular with blue-collar workers. 'But I'll make sure that our trade deals have strong labor and environmental protections to help keep jobs here in Pennsylvania,' he said at a gathering of workers in a wind turbine manufacturing plant north of Philadelphia." The Doylestown (PA) Intelligencer reports Obama "arrived Tuesday afternoon in Bucks County with a horde of media and a wave of hype in tow. Obama's campaign rallies have been described as nothing short of mass hysteria, but his appearance at the U.S. headquarters of Gamesa Inc., the Spanish wind turbine company, was a more somber discussion of the Illinois senator's domestic policy."
Obama Campaign Looks To Register New Pennsylvania Voters The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that "priority No. 1" for Obama's campaign in Pennsylvania is "registering as many voters as possible -- at least 100,000 -- before the March 24 deadline. ... While Obama's goal is to expand the Democratic electorate in Pennsylvania, Clinton is hardly as focused on doing the same." Clinton's campaign "said it had no similar voter-registration drive because that is not central to its strategy; Clinton has done better in closed-primary states, so it is not a necessity for her to lure independents, Republicans or new voters."
Clinton Up In Two Pennsylvania Polls Two early polls show Clinton with a significant advantage in the Keystone State. A Susquehanna Polling survey of 500 likely Pennsylvania Democratic primary voters taken March 5-10 shows Sen. Hillary Clinton leading Sen. Barack Obama 45%-31%. A SurveyUSA automated poll of 608 likely Pennsylvania Democratic primary voters taken March 8-10 shows Clinton leading Obama 55%-36%.
The AP reports Sen. John McCain "said Tuesday his inquiries into a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract were designed to assure evenhanded bidding and denied they were motivated by lobbyists who are close advisers to his presidential campaign." The remarks "came after The Associated Press reported that some of his current advisers lobbied last year for the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., the parent company of plane maker Airbus. EADS and its U.S. partner Northrop Grumman Corp. beat Boeing Co. for the lucrative aerial refueling contract." Fox News reports that in St. Louis, McCain said, "I had nothing to do with the contract except to insist in writing on several occasions, as this process went forward, that it be fair and open and transparent." Fox noted that "though some McCain aides gave up lobbying before the campaign, at least one worked for Airbus last year during the campaign."
The New York Times reports that given McCain's "relentless efforts to portray himself as an opponent of influence peddling in Washington, his close ties to lobbyists are certain to be a continuing issue through the presidential campaign. Democrats have begun to try to turn the tanker contract against him, suggesting Mr. McCain unfairly swayed the decision and caused American jobs to be lost overseas."
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Jay Leno: "New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has admitted that he was involved in a prostitution ring. ... You know, this is the most embarrassing thing to happen to a governor, I guess, since Arnold Schwarzenegger did 'Kindergarten Cop.'"
Jay Leno: "Hillary Clinton has been hinting that she and Barack Obama might share the Democratic ticket, with her in the number one position. She feels Barack Obama deserves some sort of consolation prize for getting the most votes and being the most popular."
Jay Leno: "Well, here's a very scary story. Prescription medications have been discovered in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans." President Bush "calls that the Republican healthcare plan."
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