July 30, 2007
Posted: 09:09 AM ET
Compiled by Stephen Bach, CNN Washington Bureau Making news today… * "President Bush, starting a new relationship late in his presidency, welcomed British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Sunday with casual diplomacy." (AP) * "He has a week to correct it if he wants." - Sen. Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' testimony regarding the Bush administration's surveillance activities. ("Face the Nation") A former government official told CNN Sunday that Gonzales "may have been splitting hairs" in his testimony. "[C]ontroversy over Gonzales's candor about George W. Bush's conduct or policies has actually dogged him for more than a decade, since he worked for Bush in Texas." (Washington Post) * Newt Gingrich predicts a Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama '08 Democratic ticket and says Republicans will have three 'formidable' choices in Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson." Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Gingrich said John McCain "has taken positions so deeply at odds with his party's base that I don't see how he can get the nomination." (AP) * Elizabeth Edwards is the latest "guru." (Washington Post) * Barack Obama "has cultivated the aura of youth that naturally surrounds the youngest major candidate in the presidential race." (Chicago Tribune) * And Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) would like to correct the record on his so-called "sartorial faux pas" on the House Floor last week. Turns out that Hawaiian shirt cost $150. Check out the rest of his defense in Hot Topics below! President's Schedule: * The president participates in an 11:25 am ET joint press availability with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown at Camp David. President Bush arrives back at the White House at 2 pm ET, then photo-ops with the 2007 March of Dimes National Ambassador in the Oval Office. Also on the Political Radar: * Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) attends an 8 am ET fundraising breakfast in Pittsburgh, PA, and later stops by a 5:30 pm ET Young Professionals for McCain event in Washington, DC. * Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) holds a 10 am ET town hall meeting at Roosevelt Middle School in Cedar Rapids, IA. * Former President Bill Clinton delivers the keynote address at the Democratic Leadership Council's National Conversation in Nashville, TN. * Fred Thompson holds a fundraiser at the J.W. Marriott in Washington, DC. * The Senate Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook * The House Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook ================================================================= BUSH AND BROWN SEEK TO ESTABLISH RAPPORT: President Bush, starting a new relationship late in his presidency, welcomed British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Sunday with casual diplomacy. In the tranquility of the Catoctin Mountains, Bush and Brown began their brief meeting — Sunday night and Monday — at Camp David, with an emphasis on private time between the two. Their substantive agenda is familiar: terror threats, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, crisis in Darfur, stalled trade. Yet the overarching theme is rapport — and establishing some. Bush is aiming for at least a solid relationship with Brown, shaped around their nations' mutual interests. That much is expected, but it is far from the kinship Bush had with Brown's predecessor, Tony Blair, who lost favor at home because of his close ties to Bush. AP via CNN.com: PM Brown: U.S. is Britain's 'most important' ally AG "SPLITTING HAIRS": A dispute within the Bush administration in 2004 over a secret surveillance program centered on data mining, not eavesdropping, a former government official told CNN Sunday. The distinction, first reported by the New York Times Sunday, is critical because it will likely be at the heart of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' defense against allegations by Democrats that he committed perjury in sworn Senate testimony about the controversy. Gonzales testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week there was no domestic surveillance — something President Bush reiterated to the nation in late 2005. CNN.com: Former U.S. official: Gonzales 'splitting hairs' in testimony GONZALES MUST "QUICKLY CLARIFY APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS," SAY SENS.: Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales must quickly clarify apparent contradictions in his testimony about surveillance laws or risk a possible perjury investigation or a special prosecutor, said the top Democrat and top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "This is going to have a devastating effect on law enforcement throughout the country if it's not cleared up," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat and chairman of the committee, during an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation." Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the committee, said the Justice Department would be "better off" without Mr. Gonzales, but declined to endorse any formal investigations until the attorney general had been given time to respond. Washington Times: Senators warn Gonzales he must clarify testimony GONZALES' "VERBAL DIFFICULTIES"… A "STRATEGIC PLOY?" [C]ontroversy over [Alberto] Gonzales's candor about George W. Bush's conduct or policies has actually dogged him for more than a decade, since he worked for Bush in Texas. Whether Gonzales has deliberately told untruths or is merely hampered by his memory has been the subject of intense debate among members of Congress, legal scholars and others who have watched him over the years. Some regard his verbal difficulties as a strategic ploy on behalf of a president to whom he owes his career; others see a public official overwhelmed by the magnitude of his responsibilities. Washington Post: Gonzales's Truthfulness Long Disputed ENERGY BILL A "TEST" FOR PELOSI: Democrats, in taking back the House from Republicans, promised to tilt the nation's energy policy away from oil drilling and toward efficiency and cleaner sources of energy. This week their pledge will be put to the test. As the House starts debate on its energy bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi must decide: Will she push a measure, opposed by electric utilities, to require them to produce 20 percent of their power from renewable sources? Will she allow a vote on a major increase in fuel economy that's being fought by autoworkers' unions and a few powerful Democrats? San Francisco Chronicle: Energy bill will test Pelosi's command FORMER ALLIES McCAIN AND FEINGOLD COULD DO BATTLE ON REFORM PACKAGE: As the Senate takes up an ethics and earmark reform package this week that Democratic leaders have prepared behind closed doors, the chamber’s campaign finance dynamic duo of Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) could make a return performance on the Congressional reform stage — but on opposite sides. With conservative Republicans bracing for significant changes to the bill passed by the Senate in February, McCain could end up fighting his former ally in an effort to block a significantly weakened bill. According to sources close to the issue, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has called on Feingold to help push the bill over the goal line. Reid hopes Feingold’s progressive street credentials and reputation as a reform-minded lawmaker will help keep the left flank from bolting, particularly if Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) make controversial changes to the bill. Roll Call: Bill Pits McCain Versus Feingold SCHUMER BREAKS WITH FELLOW DEMS ON TAX PLAN FOR PRIVATE EQUITY AND HEDGE INDUSTRIES: June was a busy month for Senator Charles E. Schumer. On the phone, at large parties and small gatherings around the nation, he raised more than $1 million from the booming private equity and hedge fund industries for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, of which he is chairman. But there is another way Mr. Schumer has been busy with hedge fund and private equity managers, an important part of his constituency in New York. He has been reassuring them that he will resist an effort led by members of his own party to single out the industry with a plan that would more than double the taxes on the enormous profits reaped by its executives. Mr. Schumer has considerable say on the issue. In addition to being the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate leadership, he is the only Democrat serving on both of the major committees, Banking and Finance, that have jurisdiction in the matter. New York Times: In Opposing Tax Plan, Schumer Breaks With Party MILLER CORRECTS THE RECORD ON "SARTORIAL FAUX PAS": Rep. Gary Miller wants HOH readers to know that he does not, in fact, wear slippers. Or sandals. Doesn’t even own a pair, the California Republican tells us. HOH reported last week that one of our spies spotted Miller coming to the House floor for a vote last Monday wearing a Hawaiian shirt, linen pants and slippers. Miller called HOH to correct the record: It was a nice, striped Tommy Bahama shirt (a $150 item, he says), black silk pants (they don’t wrinkle) and tasseled loafers (they’re comfortable). It’s a traveling ensemble that’s relaxed, yet still stylish, he says, even if it wasn’t the dress suit he usually wears while on the job. Miller had arrived directly from the airport, much later than he expected since his early morning flight was canceled, leaving him no time to change. “I like nice clothes,” he tells HOH, fearing that the report of him wearing casual duds might besmirch his reputation as a guy who knows how to dress for the occasion. Roll Call: Suit Yourself "ANXIOUS DAYS" FOR THE ANTI-ABORTION MOVEMENT: After 30 years of political organizing within the Republican Party, the anti-abortion movement has won a series of victories in legislatures and courts and stands tantalizingly close to winning even more. But these are anxious days for the movement. Six months before the Iowa caucuses, abortion opponents are trying to adjust to a strikingly different political landscape. For the first time in a generation, they face in Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, a front-runner for the Republican nomination who supports abortion rights. Abortion opponents are dividing their support among several other candidates, including Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and a relatively recent convert to the cause, and Fred D. Thompson, the former senator from Tennessee. New York Times: Anti-Abortion Leaders Size Up G.O.P. Candidate NEWT PREDICTS CLINTON-OBAMA TICKET: Democrats will nominate Hillary Rodham Clinton for president in 2008 and Barack Obama will be her running mate, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich predicts. The GOP will have three "formidable" choices in Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, said Gingrich, who is considering whether to get into the race. Gingrich is ruling out John McCain's chances among the Republican contenders. The Arizona senator "has taken positions so deeply at odds with his party's base that I don't see how he can get the nomination," Gingrich said Sunday in a broadcast interview. Gingrich said he had dinner recently with Thompson, the former Tennessee senator and actor who has set up a political committee that allows him to raise money for a presidential bid. An official launch is likely in September, after the Labor Day holiday. AP via The Ticker: Gingrich predicts Clinton-Obama Ticket HILLARY AND THE "OUTSOURCERS": To many labor unions and high-tech workers, the Indian giant Tata Consultancy Services is a serious threat — a company that has helped move U.S. jobs to India while sending thousands of foreign workers on temporary visas to the United States. So when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) came to this struggling city [Buffalo] to announce some good news, her choice of partners was something of a surprise. Joining Tata Consultancy's chief executive at a downtown hotel, Clinton announced that the company would open a software development office in Buffalo and form a research partnership with a local university. Tata told a newspaper that it might hire as many as 200 people. The 2003 announcement had clear benefits for the senator and the company: Tata received good press, and Clinton burnished her credentials as a champion for New York's depressed upstate region. But less noticed was how the event signaled that Clinton, who portrays herself as a fighter for American workers, had aligned herself with Indian American business leaders and Indian companies feared by the labor movement. Los Angeles Times: Clinton woos the outsourcers that workers fear HILLARY'S PEN PAL: They were high school friends from Park Ridge, Ill., both high achievers headed East to college. John Peavoy was a bookish film buff bound for Princeton, Hillary Rodham a driven, civic-minded Republican going off to Wellesley. They were not especially close, but they found each other smart and interesting and said they would try to keep in touch. Which they did, prodigiously, exchanging dozens of letters between the late summer of 1965 and the spring of 1969. Ms. Rodham’s 30 dispatches are by turns angst-ridden and prosaic, glib and brooding, anguished and ebullient — a rare unfiltered look into the head and heart of a future first lady and senator and would-be president. Their private expressiveness stands in sharp contrast to the ever-disciplined political persona she presents to the public now. New York Times: In the ’60s, a Future Candidate Poured Her Heart Out in Letters EDWARDS' "CO-ARCHITECT": Among political insiders who closely follow the presidential race and gossip about who is up and who is down in every campaign, Elizabeth Edwards is seen as the hidden hand behind virtually every important decision regarding her husband's second bid for the White House… She is the candidate's closest friend and most important confidant — and co-architect of a campaign for the White House that differs in tone, style and substance from the one John Edwards ran four years ago, first as a presidential candidate and then as Sen. John F. Kerry's running mate. This one is designed to be more of a grass-roots insurgency — bolder and more left-leaning — and is set up so that the candidate's judgments and instincts take precedence over the advice of professional consultants. Washington Post: A True Political Partner OBAMA THE STATE SENATOR: There was something improbable about the new guy from Chicago via Honolulu and Jakarta, Indonesia, the one with the Harvard law degree and the job teaching constitutional law, turning up in Springfield, Ill., in January 1997 among the housewives, ex-mayors and occasional soybean farmer serving in the State Senate. The new senator, Barack Obama, was a progressive Democrat in a time of tight Republican control. He was a former community organizer in a place where power is famously held by a few. He was a neophyte promising reform in a culture that a University of Illinois political studies professor describes as “really tough and, frankly, still quite corrupt.” New York Times: In Illinois, Obama Proved Pragmatic and Shrewd CULTIVATING AN "AURA OF YOUTH": From the tieless look he's adopted on the campaign trail to his Facebook-style Web page, Barack Obama, the fresh-faced first-term senator from Illinois, has cultivated the aura of youth that naturally surrounds the youngest major candidate in the presidential race. So it was hardly surprising that the 46-year-old would be the first presidential candidate onstage when College Democrats met for their national convention last week. "In this election, it's our turn. It's your generation's turn," Obama told a cheering crowd of college political activists that filled a ballroom at the University of South Carolina student union and overflowed into a nearby theater. "Let's bring a new generation of leadership to America." Chicago Tribune: Obama hones youthful image NEW DETAILS FROM BLOOMBERG SEXUAL HARASSMENT SUIT COULD BE A LIABILITY: Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks his mind and that is a big part of his cachet in anything-goes New York. But new details from a sexual harassment lawsuit he settled in 2000 and other racy comments over the years show how his blunt style could prove a liability if he runs for president as an independent. Before his election as mayor in 2001, Bloomberg was the target of a sexual harassment suit by a female executive who accused him of making repeated raunchy sexual comments while he was chief executive of his financial company, Bloomberg LP. AP via Yahoo! News: Sex suit could be problem for Bloomberg Filed under: Uncategorized
|
The latest political news from CNN's Best Political Team, with campaign coverage, 24-7. Sign up for our twice daily Ticker emails. Got a news tip or feedback? For complete political coverage, bookmark CNNPolitics.com. CNN=Politics Screensaver
New in the Ticker
Follow us on Twitter
Categories
Popular Posts
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
CNN Comment Policy: CNN encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You may not post any unlawful, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or other material that would violate the law. Please note that CNN makes reasonable efforts to review all comments prior to posting and CNN may edit comments for clarity or to keep out questionable or off-topic material. All comments should be relevant to the post and remain respectful of other authors and commenters. By submitting your comment, you hereby give CNN the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, cablecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comment(s) and accompanying personal identifying information via all forms of media now known or hereafter devised, worldwide, in perpetuity. CNN Privacy Statement.
|
||||||||||||||||||