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Former New York City Mayor Giuliani said Sunday that former Alaska Gov. Palin got a positive reception even in a Democratic stronghold like New York.

(CNN) – A prominent, socially moderate Republican said Sunday that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has achieved iconic status with the Republican Party’s conservative base, is an asset to the GOP.

“I think Sarah Palin is great for the Republican Party,” former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said in an interview that aired on CNN’s State of the Union.

Giuliani said Palin generates a lot of enthusiasm for the party which has struggled to define itself and identify its leading voices after the McCain-Palin ticket lost its White House bid a year ago.

“She gets a tremendous reception even here in Democratic New York,” Giuliani, who hosted Palin at a New York Yankees game, told CNN’s John King.
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Former New York City Mayor Giuliani said Sunday that former Alaska Gov. Palin got a positive reception even in a Democratic stronghold like New York.

(CNN) – A prominent, socially moderate Republican said Sunday that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has achieved iconic status with the Republican Party’s conservative base, is an asset to the GOP.

“I think Sarah Palin is great for the Republican Party,” former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said in an interview that aired on CNN’s State of the Union.

Giuliani said Palin generates a lot of enthusiasm for the party which has struggled to define itself and identify its leading voices after the McCain-Palin ticket lost its White House bid a year ago.

“She gets a tremendous reception even here in Democratic New York,” Giuliani, who hosted Palin at a New York Yankees game, told CNN’s John King.
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In his Crib Sheet, CNN's John King looks back at Sunday's talk shows and ahead to the topics that will be making news this week.

Anti-terror policy and politics dominated the Sunday conversation, with a crackling back and forth over whether the Obama administration made the right call in deciding to put Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other alleged 9-11 conspirators on trial in a federal courthouse within walking distance of Ground Zero.

“We’re very confident about these cases, and we believe this is the appropriate thing to do,” top presidential adviser David Axelrod told us from Singapore, one of the stops on President Obama’s eight-day trip to Asia.

“I don’t know why you want to give terrorists’ advantages,” was the retort of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

The Afghan troop deliberations and the endangered deadline to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility were other major subplots in the feisty terror strategy divide.

Axelrod also weighed in on the question of how health care reform deals with abortion, making clear the White House would prefer language less restrictive than an amendment added to the House legislation.

“There are discussions, ongoing, as to how to adjust it accordingly,” Axelrod said.

Another frequent Sunday topic was “Going Rogue,” the Sarah Palin memoir due in bookstores Tuesday. The divide on this one was fairly predictable, and we looked not only at how it is playing in Washington but also back in Palin’s hometown of Wasilla.

Highlights of the Sound of Sunday, beginning with the debate over terror trials:
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(CNN) – Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani strayed from the facts in discussing the discord within the Republican Party caused by the insurgent candidacy of Doug Hoffman, a Republican who chose to run on the Conservative Party ticket in the recent special election for New York’s 23rd congressional district.

Talking about the Bill Owens, the Democrat who won the special election, Giuliani erroneously said Owens had voted against the Democratically sponsored health care reform bill that recently passed in the House of Representatives.
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David Axelrod tells CNN that he'll borrow a copy of former Gov. Palin's new book.

(CNN) – “Going Rogue,” the forthcoming memoir of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin may already be a bestseller but the former Republican vice presidential nominee won’t be getting a royalty from one Democratic politico.

Instead of purchasing his own, Obama adviser David Axelrod tells CNN he will borrow the much anticipated book from another veteran of the Obama campaign.

“I think I’ll borrow [former Obama campaign manager David] Plouffe’s copy,” Axelrod said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, “I don’t see why we both have to buy one.

“Once he’s done with it maybe he can summarize it for me or lend it to me and I’ll give it a look.”
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(CNN) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday the primary U.S. mission in Afghanistan is defeating al Qaeda, rather than making a long-term commitment to rebuild the country.

"We're not interested in staying in Afghanistan; we're not interested in any long-term presence there," Clinton told the NBC program "Meet the Press."

"We want to get al Qaeda, we want to disrupt, dismantle and defeat those who attacked us, and we want to be able to give the Afghans the tools that they need to be able to defend themselves," Clinton said.

On the ABC show "This Week," Clinton said she has "made it clear" the United States won't provide civilian aid to Afghan government agencies without an effective certification process that shows the money will be spent on its intended purposes.

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Updated: 1:50 p.m.

In a pre-taped interview for Sunday’s :“State of the Union” program on CNN, Obama senior advisor David Axelrod fired back at criticism by Romney that the president was taking too long to decide on whether to send more troops to Afghanistan.

“I know that Gov. Romney has never had responsibility for any decision akin to this, so he just may not be familiar with all that it entails,” Axelrod said of the former Massachusetts governor.

Obama held his eighth meeting with his war council of senior Cabinet and Pentagon officials last week to further consider a request by his commanding general in Afghanistan to send up to 40,000 more troops to bolster the 68,000 already committed.

Axelrod called the deliberation process, which has lasted more than two months, a necessity when considering the lives of American troops involved and the enormous investment by the United States.
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(CNN) –A former top adviser and spokeswoman to John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign is pushing back against comments reportedly made by Sarah Palin in her new book.

Nicolle Wallace tells CNN that Palin's account of an ill-fated interview with CBS's Katie Couric during the 2008 presidential campaign is not true.

In excerpts of her new book "Going Rogue: An American Life" that were obtained by other organizations, including the conservative Web site Drudge Report, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate discusses her interview with Couric.

"From the beginning, Nicolle [Wallace] pushed for Katie Couric and the CBS Evening News. The campaign's general strategy involved coming out with a network anchor, someone they felt had treated John well on the trail thus far," writes Palin, according to excerpts obtained before Tuesday's release date for the highly-anticipated book. "My suggestion was that we be consistent with that strategy and start talking to outlets like FOX and the Wall Street Journal. I really didn't have a say in which press I was going to talk to, but for some reason Nicolle seemed compelled to get me on the Katie bandwagon."

Related video: Palin book blitz begins

The Drudge Report says it obtained a portion of the book in which Palin claims McCain campaign adviser Nicolle Wallace pushed for the now-famous Katie Couric interview because the CBS anchor needed a self-esteem "boost."

"'She just has such low self-esteem,' Nicolle said," continues Palin in the excerpt. "She added that Katie was going through a tough time, 'She just feels she can't trust anybody.' Nicolle had left her gig at CBS just a few months earlier to hook up with the McCain campaign."

Contacted by CNN, Wallace denied the gist and specifics of Palin's account of the Couric interview, which aired at the end of September 2008.

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Sarah Palin's book is officially scheduled for release next Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A former senior campaign adviser to John McCain is rejecting Sarah Palin’s claim that she was billed for the costs of vetting her before she was selected as the Republican vice presidential nominee.

Palin’s book “Going Rogue” is set to hit the bookstores next Tuesday, but the Associated Press reported the claim Thursday after purchasing a copy of the book before the sale date. The AP reported that Palin writes about the legal fees she began to accumulate after returning to Alaska once the campaign ended, most of which were the result of having to defend herself from ethics charges.

The AP said that Palin writes about receiving a bill for about $500,000 from the McCain campaign to pay for expenses relating to the vetting process that took place before she was named as the vice presidential nominee.

"That is one hundred percent untrue," said the McCain official, who would only speak on the condition of anonymity in deference to McCain. "All those bills are from her personal attorney Thomas Van Flein, mostly relating to the Troopergate investigation and other ethics investigations. It is not legal to pay for those investigations out of general election funds, even if the campaign was so inclined."

Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton would not confirm the accuracy of the AP report.

"The book remains embargoed," Stapleton said in an e-mail to CNN. "The Governor will appear on Oprah first to discuss the book's contents.”

The Oprah interview, which was taped Wednesday, will air in its entirety next Monday. The memoir officially hits stores the following day, and Palin kicks off her much-anticipated book tour in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Wednesday.

Palin discussed Levi Johnston and the Katie Couric interviews in her sit-down with Oprah.

(CNN) – Sarah Palin and her almost-son-in-law Levi Johnston have been in a war of words for months, but the former Alaska governor told Oprah Winfrey in just-released clips of the highly-anticipated interview that he is still "part of the family."

While not directly saying whether or not Johnston is invited to Thanksgiving dinner, Palin said her family still has affection for Johnston.

"It's lovely to think that he would ever even consider such a thing," Palin told Winfrey. "Because of course you want - he is a part of the family and you want to bring him in the fold and kind of under your wing. And he needs that, too."

Discussing her new book, "Going Rogue: An American Life," on Winfrey's famous couch, Palin said she and her family want to make peace with Johnston and move past the dramatics that have unfolded in the media over the last year. Johnston was once engaged to Palin's daughter, Bristol, and is the father of Palin's grandson, Tripp.

"I think he needs to know that he is loved and he has the most beautiful child, and this can all work out for good," Palin said. "It really can. We don't have to keep going down this road of controversy and drama all the time. We're not really into the drama. We don't really like that. We're more productive."

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Oprah and Palin are revealing some details of their big interview.

(CNN) - Sarah Palin enjoyed her highly-anticipated sit down with talk show host Oprah Winfrey so much that the two went "way over time," the former Alaska governor wrote on her Facebook Page.

But Palin gave few details of what the two discussed for more than hour, saying only that Winfrey was "very hospitable and gracious."

The former Republican vice presidential nominee also praised the show's studio audience, which she said was "full of warm, energized and (no doubt) curious viewers."

Meanwhile, Winfrey was a little more forthcoming with details of the interview, revealing in a Web video late Wednesday that the two "talked about everything."

"We talked about inside the campaign, what it felt like when she was first asked to be vice president. We talked about Bristol, the pregnancy. We talked about Trig, her baby. We talked about Levi Johnston. We talked about her marriage…there's nothing we didn't talk about."

The interview will air on Monday, a day before Palin's memoir "Going Rogue: An American Life" is released.

Follow Alex Mooney on Twitter @awmooneycnn

John King will host a new political show at 7 pm. ET starting early next year.

Washington (CNN) – Heading into the critical 2010 midterm elections, CNN will launch a new weekday political program that will be hosted by award winning correspondent John King.

"I'm thrilled to have the opportunity, at this busy and consequential time, to have a platform to discuss and explore the big issues of our time," King, chief national correspondent and anchor of the network's Sunday program "State of the Union," said in a statement released Thursday by CNN.

Early next year, King will move into the 7 p.m. ET time slot that was previously held by longtime CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, who announced Wednesday that he was leaving the network.

"The program will reflect what CNN is all about: straight facts from our anchors and the widest range of opinions from across the political spectrum," Jonathan Klein, president of CNN/U.S., said in the network's statement. "John has enthralled CNN viewers with his vast political knowledge, and he has spent the past year reporting from beyond the Beltway on pressing policy issues and the real people they impact. Every night, he'll share his passion and his insights about what is really going on in Washington and across America."

CNN did not announce the name of King's new program and in the statement said he would "continue to anchor 'State of the Union' until early next year."

Follow Mark Preston on Twitter: @prestoncnn

A new poll suggests that Republicans are more enthusiastic than Democrats about voting in next year's midterm elections.

Washington (CNN) - When it comes to Congress, a 'throw the bums out' attitude appears to be alive and well.

According to a new Pew Research Center poll, 52 percent of registered voters would like to see their own member of the House of Representatives re-elected next year, while just over one in three say that most members of Congress should be returned to office. Both numbers come close to the all-time lows seen just prior to the 1994 election, when the Republicans won control of Congress, and the 2006 contest, when the Democrats returned to power in both chambers.

The survey indicates that only 42 percent of independent voters want to see their own representative re-elected in 2010, and just one in four independents think most members of Congress should be returned to office.

The poll suggests that Republicans are more enthusiastic than Democrats. Fifty-eight percent of people who say they plan to vote for Republican in next year's elections say they are very enthusiastic about voting. That's 16 points higher than the 42 percent of people of plan to vote for a Democrat who describe themselves as enthusiastic.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released last week also indicated that Republicans are more energized right now than Democrats.
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Washington (CNN) – Dede Scozzafava, the Republican New York assemblywoman who gave up her bid for a House seat late last month, is decrying the "vicious" attacks she underwent from people within her own party.

"The attacks were pretty vicious, especially since it was coming from people that identified themselves as Republicans," Scozzafava told CNN's John Roberts on American Morning Wednesday. "So that was difficult to overcome."

Scozzafava ultimately gave up her bid in New York's special congressional elections for the 23rd district after conservatives rallied around third-party candidate Doug Hoffman and charged Scozzafava was too liberal on a host of issues including government spending, taxes, and abortion rights.

Scozzafava, who maintains she is not as liberal as her critics claim, endorsed the Democrat in the race who ultimately went on to victory - the first time a Democrat won in that district in over 100 years.

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With a year to go before midterm congressional elections, a new national poll suggests that Republicans are making gains.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – With a year to go before midterm congressional elections, a new national poll suggests that Republicans are making gains but that Americans are divided over whether they'd vote for the Democratic or Republican candidate in their district.

According to a Gallup survey released Wednesday morning, 48 percent of registered voters questioned answered that they would vote for the Republican candidate if the 2010 election for the House was held today, while 44 percent said they would back the Democrat in the race. The GOP's 4 point advantage is within the poll's sampling error.

The Republican Party's lead is a switch from a Gallup poll released a month ago, when 46 percent said they'd back a Democrat, a two point advantage over the GOP. Republicans trailed the Democrats by 6 points when Gallup questioned Americans in July.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released last week indicated that 50 percent of registered voters would vote for the Democratic candidate, with 44 percent saying they would back the Republican candidate. The 6-point advantage for the Democrats was within that poll's sampling error.

Other polls conducted over the past two months also suggest a division among Americans when it comes to the generic ballot question, which asks a respondent if they would vote for a Democrat or Republican in their congressional district without naming any specific candidates.

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Dede Scozzafava, the woman who has become the symbol of moderate Republicanism, is taking a shot at former Republican vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin.

Washington (CNN) – Dede Scozzafava, the woman who has become the symbol of moderate Republicanism, is taking a shot at former Republican vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin, the woman who has become the darling of the Republican Party's conservative grassroots.

In a new interview, the state assemblywoman also lets loose on former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who chose to endorse Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman over Scozzafava, her party's official nominee, in the closely-watched race in New York's 23rd congressional district.

The Hoffman campaign and many of his supporters targeted Scozzafava on some of her more moderate views, particularly on social issues.

The growing conservative support for Hoffman, including the endorsements from Palin and other prominent conservatives, eventually led Scozzafava - who had been hand-picked by local party leaders - to drop out of the race just days before Election Day.

"How can Sarah Palin come out and endorse someone who can't answer some basic questions?" Scozzafava told the Washington Post. "Do these people even know who they are endorsing?"

In the interview, Scozzafava - who ended up backing the race's victor, Democrat Bill Owens - sounded a bitter note about how she was treated by members of her own party.

"It was organized," Scozzafava told the Post about the attacks against her by Palin, other prominent conservative figures, and conservative advocacy groups. "There is a lot of us who consider ourselves Republicans, of the Party of Lincoln. If they don't want us with them, we're going to work against them."

"I broke the top of my femur, so with the plate and screws, now I'm actually, two months later, able to walk - do some walking on my own," Ballard told us. "Physical therapy is coming along very well."

Once the hip is back to full strength, Ballard will need knee surgery to repair ligament damage, but he shrugs and voices encouragement at his progress and smiles a confident smile when asked about his ultimate goal.

"Get back and fight," Ballard said without hesitation. "Return to duty."

Veterans Day traditionally has been set aside more to honor those who have served rather than those still serving. But eight-plus years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq have created a huge class of combat veterans who still wear the uniform, many of them with two or three or more deployments under their belts and perhaps more in their futures.

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Huckabee wants to be taken seriously.

(CNN) – There's a likely GOP 2012 presidential candidate who is a former governor, darling of the party's conservative base, and the leader of nearly every early presidential poll.

And his name is not Sarah Palin.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whose upstart presidential campaign toppled Mitt Romney in Iowa and nearly brought down John McCain in South Carolina last year, wants people to know he's every bit as serious as other potential presidential aspirants, and suggested there's a double standard when it comes to how some in his party treat him and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

"Some of the people who had excoriated me and really been very dismissive of me for views that I had taken, and labeled me anything from a populist to an ignoramus - the same people have been very defensive [of] and laudatory to Sarah Palin," Huckabee told Politico in an article published Monday.

I'm a very serious person," he also said. "I may not be dour, but I'm serious."

The former two-term Arkansas governor has expressed criticism of Palin before, suggesting her abrupt resignation of the Alaska governorship may suggest she's not ready to handle the pressures of a hardscrabble presidential primary campaign.

"If she's looking to be a national political figure, it's not going to get easier," he said in July. "In a primary this is going to be an issue she'll have to face. Will she be able to withstand the pressure?"

In many respects, Huckabee should be considered the early favorite in what already appears to be a crowded field of 2012 Republican contenders. He consistently leads Palin and his old rival Romney in presidential polls and has maintained a legion of faithful followers. He's also out with a new book this month and a concurrent book tour through some of the country's most conservative townships - including some in politically important Iowa.

Huckabee was also the winner of a recent Values Voter Summit straw poll, grabbing nearly 29 percent of the vote in a crowded field that, in addition to Palin and Romney, included Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

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Rep. Cao brought his daughter to a town-hall event last month that President Obama held in New Orleans.

Washington (CNN) - Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao was the only Republican to vote in favor of the Democratic health care bill that passed the House late Saturday, a vote that came after President Obama called to personally to ask for his support, Cao told CNN.

The president dialed the freshman congressman from Louisiana around noon on Saturday, hours before a vote on an amendment offered by anti-abortion Democrats that banned most abortion coverage from the public option and other insurance providers in the insurance "exchange" the legislation would create. That measure passed later in the evening.

Cao said he explained to the president he could not support the health care bill without the amendment, but said he would support the bill if the abortion measure passed. It was a sentiment he also expressed to House GOP leadership ahead of the vote, he said.

Earlier: I put needs of my district first, Cao says

The final vote came after several discussions about the bill with White House officials.

Cao, who hails from one of the most Democratic districts in the country, also asked the president for assurances that the administration would do more to help with ongoing disaster relief efforts in his New Orleans district, specifically by forgiving millions in disaster loans to the region.

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Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said Sunday that he does not think President Obama should send additional troops to Afghanistan.

Washington (CNN) – As the American public and the global community await the completion of the Obama administration’s extensive review of U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union, said Sunday that, instead of sending more troops, Obama should begin to the lay the groundwork to withdraw from Afghanistan.

“I think that what’s needed is not additional forces,” the former Soviet leader said through a translator, “this is something that we discussed, too, years ago but we decided not to do it. And I think our experience deserves attention.”

WATCH: The entire Gorbachev interview

Instead of more troops, Gorbachev said the Soviets decided to emphasize domestic development in Afghanistan and promoting national reconciliation between the various clans in the country. In deciding how to proceed in Afghanistan, Gorbachev said the Soviet Union also consulted with other countries including the United States, Iran, Pakistan, and India.

Soviet troops occupied Afghanistan in 1979. They withdrew a decade later after facing stiff resistance from Afghan fighters, who were backed by the United States and Pakistan. The conflict killed 13,000 Soviet soldiers and more than a million Afghan civilians.

But the former world leader added that Afghanistan’s history as a staging ground for international terrorism could not be ignored.

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