Sen. Arlen Specter's switch to the Democratic Party is being portrayed as a major boost for President Obama. ABC World News reported on the "bombshell announcement." Specter "for 30 years has been a Republican senator from Pennsylvania. Now he says he's a Democrat. Specter conceded today his low standing among Republicans in Pennsylvania imperiled his chances for re-election, but his switch puts Democrats within one vote of having a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate." The CBS Evening News reported Obama "called Specter today, telling him he's thrilled, even promising to campaign for him." NBC Nightly News reported, "One analyst today said it was the biggest gift President Obama could possibly receive on the eve of his 100th day in office."
CNN's Situation Room reported that "among the many Democrats who helped nudge" Specter were Vice President Biden and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell. After Specter "voted for the stimulus and infuriated Republicans by doing so, both men publicly teased Specter that it's time he crossed lines and joined the party. They were surprised to learn that this week he decided to do it." NPR's All Things Considered reported Specter "decided last weekend, after repeated entreaties" from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, "to go to the welcoming arms of the Democratic Party." The Los Angeles Times reports Biden "welcomed to the party a 'friend' with whom he has spoken weekly since becoming vice president."
The AP reports Specter switched parties "with a suddenness that seemed to stun the Senate." Specter "conceded bluntly that his chances of winning a Pennsylvania Republican primary next year were bleak." The Washington Post reports Specter "provided a boost to President Obama's ambitious legislative agenda" by "abandoning" the GOP." The New York Times calls Specter's move "a stunning turnabout in political loyalties that he acknowledged was driven by a desire for re-election." The Philadelphia Inquirer reports Specter had been "facing a brutal primary fight" for the GOP nomination against conservative ex-Rep. Pat Toomey. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says Specter's move came "after months of denying speculation that he would run in 2010 as an independent or a Democrat." The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says Specter "said he didn't want conservatives to decide his fate."
The Allentown Morning Call reports Specter made his decision "with the evidence mounting that Republican voters had turned their backs on him." The Scranton Times says Specter was "one of the few moderate Republicans left in the Senate." The Washington Times reports, "It was not clear whether the switch will matter much for the congressional agenda this year," since Specter "said he won't reflexively vote in line with the Democratic Party." The New York Daily News, however, says Specter's move gives "the White House a virtual E-ZPass through Capitol Hill." The Times of London says Obama "can celebrate his 100th day in office today knowing that he is one step closer to securing unfettered power in Washington."
ABC World News reports that a "White House request for $1.5 billion to fight swine flu underscores just how seriously they are taking this threat." The funds would be used for "supplementing antiviral stockpiles, developing a vaccine, supporting the monitoring, diagnostic and public health response capabilities and assisting international efforts to stem this outbreak." After two cases of swine flu were confirmed in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger "declared a statewide health emergency," according to NBC Nightly News. Acting CDC Director Dr. Richard Besser said, "I suspect that we will see deaths in this country." The New York Times reports that "state and federal officials intensified their response to the swine flu outbreak." In a hearing in front of the Senate Appropriations health subcommittee Tuesday, Rear Adm. Anne Schuchat, the CDC's interim science and public health deputy director, said, "I really think we need to be prepared for the worsening of the situation." According to the Los Angeles Times, officials in the US and elsewhere "are holding their breath to see whether the virus' spread will turn into something more severe or, as many hope, peter out." Still, "they are responding aggressively."
Flu Continues To Spread The CBS Evening News reported, "The number of swine flu cases in the United States rose" Tuesday, and "with the number of confirmed cases climbing, officials are trying to contain the outbreak." USA Today reports that the "number of confirmed cases of swine flu in the USA rose to 64 on Tuesday as additional schools in New York City reported suspected outbreaks and US public health officials warned the disease would continue to spread nationwide." New cases have now been "reported on four continents," the Wall Street Journal reports. The Journal has the number of confirmed cases in the US at 66, two more than USA Today, and adds that the "new data indicated the strain was causing more severe illness in the US than originally seen; only one of the first 40 confirmed cases had to be hospitalized. ... There also is evidence of transmission in the US."
Still, the "toll from the swine flu epidemic appears to be stabilizing in Mexico," with "only seven more suspected deaths," the AP reports. Swine flu "is suspected in 159 deaths and 2,498 illnesses across Mexico, said Health Secretary Jose Cordova, who called the death toll 'more or less stable.'"
Sebelius Confirmed As HHS Secretary NBC Nightly News reported the Senate confirmed Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as Health and Human Services secretary. The Wall Street Journal reports Sebelius was confirmed on a 65-31 vote. The confirmation "completes President Barack Obama's cabinet and thrusts Ms. Sebelius into the middle of the government's swine-flu response." The Washington Times also notes that Sebelius' confirmation "bolsters the Obama administration's bench as it confronts its first public health crisis -- the swine flu outbreak that has rattled the nation's collective nerves in recent days."
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The media's observance of the 100th day of President Obama's Administration continued last night and this morning, with most sources offering a positive appraisal of the new Presidency. The story was covered by each of the networks, with NBC running the results of a new poll in which respondents gave Obama positive job approval and likeability ratings.
NBC Nightly News reported the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows when Obama "was sworn into office, only 26% of Americans said the country was headed in the right direction. Now, 43% believe we're headed in the right direction." In the polls, 61% "approve of the job he's doing. But while that number is good for him, the more striking result, 81% tell us they personally like the President."
The CBS Evening News reported Obama "gets high marks from the public, but that appears to be based on their faith in what he will do. A faith that will be earned or not over months and years, not 100 days." ABC World News reported, "As the measure of a presidency, 100 days may not be long enough, but it is certainly ample time for a family to start feeling settled, even in this home. The Obamas have already put their stamp on the place, a new jungle gym for the girls, a new garden for her, and of course, a new member of the family, too."
AFP reports Obama's "own spokesman Robert Gibbs gave his boss a report card grade of 'B plus,' noting 'there's always room for improvement.'" Bloomberg News reports as Obama "moves to enact his broad campaign platform, he may need to strike a balance between his core values and pragmatism, as his $3.6 trillion spending plan raises alarms about a widening budget deficit." The Washington Times reports President Obama has "set forth a fast-paced agenda aimed at changing policies, priorities and perceptions on several fronts in his first 100 days in office."
The Chicago Tribune editorializes that what is "most troubling" about his Obama's first 100 days is that "he is clearly committed to enlarging the federal government's role in the economy, even more so than he suggested during the campaign." USA Today says in an editorial that with "outcomes yet to be known, the most important consideration is that confronted with the worst economic threat since the 1930s, Obama acted boldly and confidently, and in so doing gained the public's confidence, a crucial element in any recovery."
The New York Times notes the "list of failed policies and urgent threats bequeathed to him by former President George W. Bush" and says in the "first 14 weeks plus two days, President Obama has made a strong start at addressing many of the most critical ones." The Wall Street Journal says in an editorial that Obama is "more popular than his policies, and sooner or later the twain shall meet. For now, we are living in another era of unchecked liberal government. The reckoning will come when Americans discover how much it costs."
In a 2800 word front page story, the New York Times recounts President Obama's handling of the auto industry, noting that the automobile industry crisis "has tested the boundaries of his activist approach and the acuity of his political instincts." In the "end, he struggled with the proper balance between government power and market forces, a theme that has defined his first months in office." The Times notes that with "G.M. and Chrysler restructuring as he demanded, the ultimate success of Mr. Obama's strategy may rest in part on how far he will go to take on constituencies like unions that have been vital to his political standing."
The Washington Post reports the President is "in the awkward position of balancing public policy goals with the financial interests of taxpayers as investors in these ailing corporations." But on CNBC Reports, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel discussed the US' ownership stake in GM and Chrysler, saying, "The President's desire is not to have more of a stake in individual private companies -- it's to stabilize these industries or companies so they can make this transition to a different place. And obviously the idea would be the sooner the better we're out of it."
The AP reports congressional Democrats "turned up the pressure on the Obama administration Tuesday to start a criminal investigation by a special counsel into harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects." In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee said it "would be a conflict of interest for President Barack Obama's Justice Department to investigate lawyers from the Bush administration, even though they no longer work for the government."
Roll Call reports House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, "argued in a letter Tuesday that the United States is obligated to investigate torture."
Bybee Defends Interrogation Memos The New York Times reports Judge Jay S. Bybee "broke his silence on Tuesday and defended the conclusions of legal memorandums he had signed as a Bush administration lawyer that allowed use of several coercive interrogation practices on suspected terrorists." Judge Bybee, "who issued the memorandums as the head of the Office of Legal Counsel and was later nominated to the federal appeals court by President George W. Bush, said in a statement in response to questions from The New York Times that he continued to believe that the memorandums represented 'a good-faith analysis of the law' that properly defined the thin line between harsh treatment and torture."
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USA Today reports this morning that Organizing for America, a DNC-run outgrowth of Barack Obama's presidential campaign apparatus, is focusing its grassroots efforts on building support for the President in Missouri, "the only battleground state Obama lost." Overall, leaders of the group, "who use the campaign's contact list of 13 million donors to corral supporters and raise money, say their goal is to support Obama's agenda and expand the grass-roots movement that elected him by launching community service projects on issues from energy to education."
WBDJ-TV Roanoke, Virginia reports a SurveyUSA poll of 409 likely Virginia Democratic primary voters conducted April 25-27 shows Terry McAuliffe leading his rivals in the Democratic gubernatorial primary with 38%, followed by Brian Moran and Creigh Deeds each with 22%. However, GOP nominee Bob McDonnell leads all three Democrats in general election trial heats, topping Deeds 44%-39%, McAuliffe 46%-39%, and Moran 46%-34%.
Roll Call reports sources close to GA9 Rep. Nathan Deal say the Republican "will run for governor in 2010 and that an official announcement is expected to come at a Friday press conference in Georgia." While Deal "informed his fellow Republican Members that he was running on Monday night and during the day on Tuesday," a spokesman for him yesterday "would only go so far as to say his boss is 'seriously considering a run' and intends to make his plans known later this week."
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Jay Leno: "To give you an idea how bad it is" with the swine flu, "earlier today, the US took down the wall between" the US and Mexico "and replaced it with a giant sneeze guard."
Jay Leno: "Another pilot has been taken off a plane for being drunk. ... They took him off the plane before he could do something really stupid, you know, like fly low over Manhattan."
David Letterman: "You folks in the balcony, be careful. You may be buzzed by Air Force One. So look out."
David Letterman: President Obama" is "now saying that the flyover was a mistake. If you're scoring at home, Obama still trails Bush in the mistake total by about 10,000."
Craig Ferguson: Sen. Arlen Specter "announced he'd become a Democrat and the Republicans are like, 'Yeah, he's been a Democrat for about 15 years.'"
Jimmy Kimmel: "To help contain the spread of the disease, the US government is trying to discourage Mexicans from coming into the United States," which is pretty "much what they have been doing for like the last 40 years."
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