President Obama's unannounced trip to Iraq led all three network newscasts and generated overwhelmingly positive media coverage. The CBS Evening News, for example, reported the President "drew cheers from US troops when he told them it's time to phase out America's combat role and let the Iraqis take responsibility for their own country." The President, says the AP, "went for the defining television shot in Iraq and got it -- pictures of hundreds of US troops cheering wildly as he told them it was time for the Iraqis to take charge of their own future." The footage from the event "produced a stunning show of appreciation for Obama from military men and women," one that "likely will prove critical to the credibility of a new and liberal commander in chief." NBC Nightly News said that "at times, the room looked frenzied, excited, like a rock concert. Hundreds of US troops clamored to take photographs."
McClatchy reports that while Obama "didn't mention his opposition to the war...the troops surely knew that." USA Today, meanwhile, reports Obama "was resolute that the time had come for Iraq to become self-reliant." However, says the Los Angeles Times, "events on the ground illustrated how difficult that may yet prove to be," as "the number of violent incidents in Baghdad has been increasing: Six car bombs exploded in the capital the day before Obama's visit, killing 36 people. Another detonated Tuesday before he arrived, killing nine more." According to the Washington Post, "In sharp contrast to the previous US presidential visit to Iraq, in December, when an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at President George W. Bush, many Iraqis spoke approvingly of Obama on Tuesday."
The AP reports Obama "met with top US commanders as well as senior Iraqi leaders on a visit of a little more than four hours that was confined to Camp Victory." While "a helicopter flight to the heavily fortified Green Zone a few miles distant was scrapped...White House aides attributed the change in travel plans to poor weather rather than security concerns." Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki appeared "alongside Obama after their meeting." The President, notes The Politico, also met with Iraqi president Jalal Talabani. The Financial Times notes that Obama "praised the 'significant political progress' made among the country's fragile factions." According to the New York Times, "with a hint of impatience in his words," the President also "urged Iraq's leaders to unite the country's deeply divided ethnic and sectarian factions and to incorporate them all into government and security forces." The Wall Street Journal reports that "some US officials in Baghdad and Washington worry that a series of unresolved political disputes -- including the fates of tens of thousands of Sunni militiamen and the limits of Kurdish self-rule -- could spark violence as Iraq's competing factions work to secure their positions ahead of the American withdrawal." The Wall Street Journal editorializes that "the most pleasant surprise" out of the trip "has been Mr. Obama's near-about face on Iraq since becoming President."
Media analysts are offering mainly positive assessments of President's overseas trip that concluded yesterday. The Wall Street Journal, for example, says the White House "tried to portray the trip as a sharp break from the previous administration." Obama "made modest tangible progress, but left behind what he hopes are the seeds of more dramatic foreign-policy success to come." The New York Times reports that during his trip, "tellingly, Mr. Obama talked about taking on terrorists but not tyrants. Al Qaeda had to be destroyed, he said, but Iran, North Korea and Cuba would all be engaged." Also, "gone was Mr. Bush's signature line that 'freedom is on the march' or the insistence that democracy was a God-given right." The Washington Post reports "Obama portrayed a proud but flawed United States, using a refrain of humility and partnership in an attempt to rally allies around such issues of mutual concern as the global economy, climate change and nuclear proliferation." But "despite his celebrity reception," Obama "was unable to persuade European allies to increase fiscal stimulus spending or to send additional combat troops to Afghanistan for long-term deployments." More positive was the assessment in The Politico, which reports the President "has in bright, bold strokes revealed his signature on the world stage: He is Obama the rationalist." The Hill says Obama now has "more political capital than when he left."
On ABC World News , George Stephanopoulos said "White House aides" believe "this trip went exactly as they planned. They couldn't be happier." McClatchy notes White House senior adviser David Axelrod described the trip as "enormously productive," pointing to "an international approach to solving the economic crisis, restoring growth and creating a new regulatory framework for business and finance, including hedge funds." White House "aides also lauded the agreement by NATO allies to send an additional 5,000 troops to Afghanistan, though they didn't mention that none would be combat troops." The Financial Times adds that "analysts said that Mr Obama's main initiatives his input into a reformist G20 communiqué designed to help dig the world out of recession, his moderately successful attempt to drum up European support for the new Afghanistan strategy, and a sweeping plan to rid the world of nuclear weapons would take months or years to come to harvest." In an interview shown on CNN's The Situation Room, Vice President Biden argued that contrary to former Vice President Cheney's assertions, "We are safer today, our interests are more secure today, than any time in the last eight years. ... Not just at home but around the world. We are rebuilding America's ability to lead. ... People are beginning to follow the United States again as a consequence of our Administration."
US District Judge Emmet Sullivan, at the request of Attorney General Eric Holder, yesterday dismissed the conviction of former Sen. Ted Stevens and appointed a special prosecutor to probe the conduct of six federal prosecutors involved in the case. The CBS Evening News said Sullivan "had a surprise for the prosecutors. ... Their next case could be as defendants." ABC World News noted Sullivan remarked, "In nearly 25 years on the bench. I've never seen anything approaching the misconduct in this case." According to the New York Times, Sullivan, "delivered a broad warning about what he said was a 'troubling tendency'...to stretch the boundaries of ethics restrictions and conceal evidence to win cases." The Washington Post says, "The rare move to turn the investigation on the prosecutors themselves puts six federal lawyers...in the awkward position of becoming potential defendants in a criminal trial."
The Wall Street Journal reports, "Paul O'Brien, part of the new Justice team that sought dismissal of the case, told the judge, 'I apologize to the court and deeply regret this occurred.'" The Los Angeles Times reports that in February," Holder "replaced the team that tried Stevens and ordered the new group of lawyers to conduct a thorough review of the government's actions." Holder "announced this month that the case should be dismissed because exculpatory evidence suggesting Stevens' innocence was never turned over to defense lawyers." The Times adds that Sullivan "praised Holder's actions." The Washington Times notes Sullivan "also called 'shocking, but not surprising,' revelations that three letters outlining problems with the case that Mr. Stevens' defense team sent to former Attorney General Michael Mukasey went unanswered." The AP reports, "Subjects of the criminal probe are lead prosecutor Brenda Morris, the department's No. 2 corruption official and an instructor within the department; Public Integrity prosecutors Nicholas Marsh and Edward Sullivan; Alaska federal prosecutors Joseph Bottini and James Goeke; and William Welch, who did not participate in the trial but who supervises the Public Integrity section and has overseen every major public corruption case in recent years." According to Bloomberg News, Sullivan "may conduct a trial of any criminal contempt citations that carry up to a six-month jail term. ... A jury trial would be required if Sullivan contemplated a longer sentence."
The Hill reports that, "After the decision, Stevens...expressed his gratitude to his supporters and said his faith in the legal system had been restored." In his "Washington Sketch" column for the Washington Post, Dana Milbank writes, "In the end, a form of rough justice triumphed in the case. It was a marginal prosecution to start with -- accusations of penny-ante corruption and ethics violations -- and it ended with a political, rather than a legal, punishment: Stevens keeps a clean criminal record, but loses his Senate seat. The judge has dismissed the case, but the court of public opinion is unlikely to be as generous."
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The Chicago Tribune reports that Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley (D) "cruised to an easy victory Tuesday" in the special election to fill the IL5 Congressional District seat formerly held by Rahm Emanuel, defeating "Republican Rosanna Pulido and Green Party candidate Matt Reichel." The New York Times /AP reports, "With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Quigley had 69 percent of the vote. Ms. Pulido had 24 percent, and Mr. Reichel nearly 7 percent."
The Chicago Sun-Times reported on its website that Quigley "won more than 70 percent of the vote in a record-low turnout general election." Roll Call reports, "Quigley won his first term to the House...without the vote of its former Congressman. Emanuel issued a statement, according to the Chicago Tribune, saying he forgot to cast his ballot in the general election."
In a blog posting, The Politico reported, "The New York Board of Elections...posted its updated daily tally" Tuesday, "and now shows Republican Jim Tedisco leading Democrat Scott Murphy by 17 votes. The official tally is now Tedisco with 77,035 votes, and Murphy with 77,018. Tedisco regained the lead after election officials in Saratoga County apparently misreported its recanvassed tally to the state Elections Board."
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports, "Not long after a decisive majority of once-rejected absentee ballots were counted and broke for [Al] Franken on Tuesday, attorneys on both sides were already jawing over the merits of an appeal in the 10-week-old U.S. Senate recount trial." State Elections Director Gary Poser "went through them one by one in court, calling 198 votes for DFLer Franken, 111 for Republican Coleman and 42 for the Independence Party's Dean Barkley or others. The tally increased Franken's narrow lead from 225 votes to 312."
The New York Times reports that the judges still have "to rule on two outstanding issues: Mr. Coleman is trying to have some ballots removed from the total because he says they have been counted twice, and he says that 132 ballots lost in the recount should not be included in the final tally."
The Washington Post reports, "A decision by the Minnesota Supreme Court, if it comes to that, may not end the matter. Republicans have suggested that Coleman could challenge the state courts' decisions in federal court. Senate Republicans have encouraged Coleman to continue his challenge, saying that until the legal process is finished, it is not clear who won."
The Hill reports that "Coleman attorney Ben Ginsberg said that the campaign would file an appeal with the Minnesota Supreme Court within 10 days of the three-judge panel's final ruling, expected to come sometime later this week." Roll Call reports, "If Coleman's case fails before the state Supreme Court, he can try to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court."
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports, "After Tuesday's counting, Secretary of State Ritchie said an appeal to the state Supreme Court would provide closure on the race. Ritchie, a Democrat, said the winner should be able to receive an election certificate after the state appeal runs its course."
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The Politico reports Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D OH) " took the floor to support an amendment to a popular public-service bill -- only to face an ambush from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who hit her hard for her vote on an unrelated American International Group measure." Foxx is "part of a team of Republican members that House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has put together to create embarrassing, YouTube-worthy moments for vulnerable Democratic freshmen. Cantor's floor staff has created a photo album to help identify the 42 most vulnerable Democrats."
The Washington Post reports, "National Democratic groups have started pouring money into Virginia to directly challenge" presumptive GOP nominee Bob McDonnell "while their party faces an increasingly negative three-way primary." Democrats are "using the money to create an organization, Common Sense Virginia, that will take on McDonnell, who has no Republican opposition and has started receiving significant funding from outside groups, including $1 million from the Republican Governors Association."
In a blog posting, CNN reported, "Virginia Democrats are hoping" Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) "remains so polarizing that she'll keep voters from supporting" McDonnell "in this fall's much-anticipated gubernatorial election. In a new Web video released Tuesday, the Democratic Party of Virginia replays audio from a Palin fundraiser last fall, in which she described 'these small towns that we get to visit' as 'real America.'"
The Anchorage Daily News reports that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) "plans to raise money for the re-election campaign of Alaska" Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R), "and hopes to end speculation she might challenge Murkowski in the primary for the U.S. Senate next year. 'The governor has no intention of running for the senator's seat in 2010,' Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said Tuesday."
The Chicago Sun-Times reported on its website, "A congressional ethics board has launched a preliminary inquiry into" IL2 Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D), "related to President Obama's vacant Senate seat and the corruption investigation of ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned." The Office of Congressional Ethics, "formed just last year, voted in late March to conduct a 'preliminary review,' of actions surrounding Jackson's bid to be appointed to the Senate seat, according to documents released to parties involved in the probe."
The AP reports, "Leo Wise, who heads the Office of Congressional Ethics, told the AP he could 'not confirm or deny that we are reviewing the materials' the Sun-Times referred to. ... Wise said the office has not released any documents concerning an investigation of Jackson."
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The late-night talk-shows were reruns last night.
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