McCain says he's not offended his former running mate blacked out his name for her visor.

(CNN) - Arizona Sen. John McCain said the recent flap over Sarah Palin's decision to black out his name from a campaign visor while she was vacationing in Hawaii is much ado about nothing.

"Oh, it's fine. Sarah said she wanted to be a little bit incognito," McCain said when asked about the incident on "Fox News Sunday. "I don't blame her. I understand that."

The controversy arose after photos of a vacationing Palin showed the former Republican vice presidential candidate relaxing on a Hawaii beach wearing a McCain campaign visor on which she had clearly blacked out the Arizona senator's name with a marker.

The Web site TMZ declared the blacked-out visor amounted to a "frontal attack on Sen. John McCain," but Palin later said she was merely trying to "be incognito" in an effort to get a little rest and relaxation after her nearly month-long book tour.

"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection," Palin told the Web site Politico when questioned about the hat. "As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him."

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," McCain said he is taking Palin at her word.

Can't you take her at her word? It's - Sarah and I and Todd, Cindy - we have a wonderful relationship. We're dear friends," he said. "She is a - going to be a force in the Republican Party for a longtime. And the hysterical attacks on her from the left continue to validate that. "

Huckabee says Nelson was bribed into voting for the Democrats' health care bill.

(CNN) – Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee blasted Sen. Ben Nelson in his own backyard over the Nebraska Democrat's decision Saturday to provide the key 60th vote to advance the party's health care reform bill.

In a fiery speech Sunday at an Omaha rally sponsored by Americans for Prosperity of Nebraska - a group opposed to Democratic efforts at health care reform - Huckabee said it is "historic and unprecedented that we are now bribing public officials openly - now we openly bribe them with $300 million at a time and tell them this is what your vote is worth."

The final Democratic holdout, Nelson agreed to back the measure following 13 hours of negotiations during which he won a commitment from the federal government to fund entirely his state's Medicaid population beyond the three years of funding granted to all states by the bill.

Republicans were quick to question Nelson's motivations for backing the bill, dubbing his alleged deal making the "cornhusker kickback," and claiming Nelson's provision has increased the burden on the 49 other states.

"That puts an added burden on all the other states, including mine," Sen. John McCain said "Fox News Sunday."

In an interview with CNN, Nelson said he did not seek any special favors but rather voted for the bill because of an added amendment allowing states to opt out of providing abortion coverage - a provision conservatives say falls far short of the blanket prohibition Nelson originally sought.

"I didn't ask for a special favor here. I didn't ask for a carve-out," Nelson told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King. "What I said is the governor of Nebraska has contacted me, he said publicly he's having trouble with the budget. This will add to his budget woes. And I said, look, we have to have that fixed."

But during his comments at the Omaha rally, Huckabee - a 2008 presidential candidate and potential White House hopeful in 2012 - likened Nelson's deal to the biblical story in which Judas agreed to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

"I don't want [senators] to go up there…and then somehow go back and boast, 'Here's some money that I got for you.' The last time we saw that kind of historic moment it was 30 pieces of silver and that didn't work out too well for us either," Huckabee said.

As Connecticut voters remain wary of Sen. Chris Dodd, one state Democrat is openly suggesting the five-term senator abandon his re-election bid 'for the good of the party.'

(CNN) - As Connecticut voters remain wary of Sen. Chris Dodd, one state Democrat is openly suggesting the five-term senator abandon his re-election bid "for the good of the party."

"Chris has had Obama in for him, Biden in for him, a lot of TV ads and they haven't moved the numbers," former Connecticut Democratic Party Chair Ed Marcus told local television station WFSB. "Rightfully or wrongfully the perception within the voting public in Connecticut is just negative toward Chris."

A recent Quinnipiac poll suggests Dodd faces an 11-point deficit against Rob Simmons, one of several Republicans vying for the party's nomination to face Dodd. The poll also suggests Dodd would loose to Republicans Linda McMahohn and Tom Foley, while he would tie Sam Caligiuri and Peter Schiff.

Despite high-profile visits from President Obama and Vice President Biden in recent months, Dodd's numbers have barely recovered in the year since the Connecticut Democrat first took heat over his involvement in the federal bailout of a string of Wall Street banks.

Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, also faced controversy when news surfaced he had received favorable mortgage terms from now-defunct sub-prime mortgage lender Countrywide Financial. Dodd later severed his relationship with Countrywide to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

"If I were the Democratic chairman I would sit down with Chris and indicate to him that for the good of the party he should withdraw… he is going to be a drag on the ticket," Marcus also said.

A Connecticut Democrat tells CNN the comments are the result of ongoing sour grapes between the two men after Dodd tried to oust Marcus as party chair almost 10 years ago.

Dodd campaign manager Jay Howser brushed aside Marcus as a "bitter has-been" whose opinions have no relevance.

"Ed who? To be honest, it's embarrassing for Ed Marcus that he's still holding a grudge against Senator Dodd based his own ineptitude as State Party Chair nearly a decade ago," Howser said. "Ed's judgment in the past has been questionable at best, and he's in no place to be playing judge and jury with anyone."

Biden: Dodd is 'getting the living hell beat out of him'.

Washington (CNN) – Joe Biden praised Sen. Chris Dodd Friday, but conceded his good friend - one of the Senate's most vulnerable Democrats - is "getting the living hell beat of him."

The vice president made his comments at a fundraiser for Dodd Friday in Hartford, Connecticut. Dodd had been scheduled to accompany Biden at the fundraiser and at event earlier in the day to announce nearly $4 million in federal stimulus funding to replace an aging fire station in East Hartford, but stayed in the nation's capital to work on health care reform legislation and other Senate business.

The five-term senator, who's up for re-election next year and fighting for his political life, was replaced by wife Jackie Clegg Dodd.

The vice president heaped compliments on his fellow Democrat, calling him "the single most gifted legislator in Congress, now that Teddy Kennedy's gone."

Biden spoke of Dodd's dual roles for much of this year leading both the Senate Banking and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees at a time when financial reform and health care reform are among the most pressing matters facing Congress.

"Chris Dodd is the first United States senator that has simultaneously chaired two major committees in a moment of genuine national crisis," Biden said. "And had he got either of those jobs wrong, the consequences for America would be dire....

"Chris is getting the living hell beat out of him, the living bejesus beat out of him," said Biden. "Why? Because he's being a leader. This is going to be a hell of a race and it's an uphill race, but Chris Dodd will prevail."

In a sign of Dodd's sinking political fortunes, the Cook Political Report this week moved his race from "toss up" to "lean Republican."

Dodd saw his approval ratings plunge late last year and early this year, following last year's Wall Street and banking industry financial meltdown, Dodd's involvement in the AIG bonus controversy, and questions about mortgages he obtained from a VIP program.

Dodd's poll numbers inched up during the spring and summer after bottoming out earlier this year. But his approval rating slipped back again in a Quinnipiac University survey released last month. The poll also indicated that by 53 percent to 39 percent, Connecticut voters don't think Dodd deserves to be re-elected next year. According to the survey, Dodd is trailing his two potential Republican challengers in hypothetical 2010 general election matchups.

–Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn

Biden: Dodd is 'getting the living hell beat out of him'.

Washington (CNN) – Joe Biden praised Sen. Chris Dodd Friday, but conceded his good friend - one of the Senate's most vulnerable Democrats - is "getting the living hell beat of him."

The vice president made his comments at a fundraiser for Dodd Friday in Hartford, Connecticut. Dodd had been scheduled to accompany Biden at the fundraiser and at event earlier in the day to announce nearly $4 million in federal stimulus funding to replace an aging fire station in East Hartford, but stayed in the nation's capital to work on health care reform legislation and other Senate business.

The five-term senator, who's up for re-election next year and fighting for his political life, was replaced by wife Jackie Clegg Dodd.

The vice president heaped compliments on his fellow Democrat, calling him "the single most gifted legislator in Congress, now that Teddy Kennedy's gone."

Biden spoke of Dodd's dual roles for much of this year leading both the Senate Banking and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees at a time when financial reform and health care reform are among the most pressing matters facing Congress.

"Chris Dodd is the first United States senator that has simultaneously chaired two major committees in a moment of genuine national crisis," Biden said. "And had he got either of those jobs wrong, the consequences for America would be dire....

"Chris is getting the living hell beat out of him, the living bejesus beat out of him," said Biden. "Why? Because he's being a leader. This is going to be a hell of a race and it's an uphill race, but Chris Dodd will prevail."

In a sign of Dodd's sinking political fortunes, the Cook Political Report this week moved his race from "toss up" to "lean Republican."

Dodd saw his approval ratings plunge late last year and early this year, following last year's Wall Street and banking industry financial meltdown, Dodd's involvement in the AIG bonus controversy, and questions about mortgages he obtained from a VIP program.

Dodd's poll numbers inched up during the spring and summer after bottoming out earlier this year. But his approval rating slipped back again in a Quinnipiac University survey released last month. The poll also indicated that by 53 percent to 39 percent, Connecticut voters don't think Dodd deserves to be re-elected next year. According to the survey, Dodd is trailing his two potential Republican challengers in hypothetical 2010 general election matchups.

–Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn

Dodd faces a tough 2010 re-election fight.

Washington (CNN) – Joe Biden heads to Connecticut Friday to help out one of the Senate's most vulnerable Democrats.

The vice president is teaming up with Sen. Chris Dodd in East Hartford, Connecticut to announce nearly $4 million in federal stimulus funding to replace an aging fire station. Later in the day, Biden is scheduled to join Dodd at a private fundraiser in Hartford for the embattled five-term senator, who's up for re-election and fighting for his political life.

The Senate Banking Committee chairman saw his approval ratings plunge late last year and early this year, following last year's Wall Street and banking industry financial meltdown, Dodd's involvement in the AIG bonus controversy, and following questions about mortgages he obtained from a VIP program.

Dodd's poll numbers inched up during the spring and summer after bottoming out earlier this year. But his approval rating slipped back again in a Quinnipiac University survey released last month. The poll also indicated that by 53 percent to 39 percent, Connecticut voters don't think Dodd deserves to be re-elected next year. According to the survey, Dodd is trailing his two potential Republican challengers in hypothetical 2010 general election matchups.

(Updated with new Dodd developments after the jump)

In a sign of Dodd's sinking political fortunes, the Cook Political Report this week moved his race from "toss up" to "lean Republican."

This will be the third recent high-profile visit for Dodd. The vice president and the senator in Connecticut appeared together at a stimulus event in early October. Later that month, President Barack Obama visited the state to headline a Dodd fundraiser.

It seems that right now, Chris Dodd's become the posterboy for incumbents in trouble.

"Dodd's in bad shape. He needs to put the focus on the eventual GOP nominee. He needs voters to reassess him and what he's done for Connecticut," says Stuart Rothenberg, editor and publisher of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. "He needs voters to feel good. If their overall mood is deeply sour, they are going to listen to messages of change. If there's a general uptick in mood, that will help Dodd."

UPDATE: Dodd's staying on Capitol Hill Friday. In a press statement, the vice president's office says that due to the possibility of votes on the Senate floor, "Senator Dodd will be unable to join Vice President Biden in Connecticut. The Senator's wife, Jackie Clegg Dodd, will make brief remarks at each event."

–Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that recent talks with North Korea were 'quite positive.'

Washington (CNN) - The Obama administration's first high-level direct talks with North Korea yielded no promise by Pyongyang to return to Six- Party negotiations aimed at ending its nuclear program, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton nonetheless Thursday called the meeting "quite positive."

Asked about the three-day visit to North Korea by special envoy Stephen Bosworth, Clinton told reporters, "I think for a preliminary meeting it was quite positive."

Clinton said she agreed with Ambassador Bosworth that the talks were "very useful" and added: "It does remain to be seen whether and when the North Koreans will return to the Six-Party talks but the bottom line is that these were exploratory talks, not negotiations."

Clinton said the talks "were intended to do exactly what they did: reaffirm the commitment of the United States to the Six-Party process, to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, and to discuss with the North Koreans their reactions to what we are asking them to do in order to move forward."

North Korea has refused to return to the talks conducted by the United States, Russia, China, South Korea and Japan since last year when it carried out a nuclear test and a series of missile tests, insisting that it wanted to talk directly with the United States.

Clinton previously said the United States was willing to meet bilaterally with North Korea but only within the framework of the six-party talks. She also has warned that the United States will not normalize ties with Pyongyang or lift sanctions unless North Korea takes irreversible steps toward dismantling its nuclear program.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin spoke about Mike Huckabee's clemency decision and a potential third party run in 2012.

Washington (CNN) – Sarah Palin said in a recent radio appearance that Mike Huckabee made a "horrible decision" nine years ago to commute the prison sentence of the man suspected of killing four police officers in Washington, but she added that her "heart goes out" to the former Arkansas governor.

In an interview last week with conservative radio host Lars Larson, Palin called the murders "tragic" and "unfathomable."

"It was a bad decision obviously, but my heart goes out to Huckabee," the former Alaska governor said. "I love him, and I feel bad for him to be in this position. But I feel even worse for the victim's families in this situation. I do feel bad for Huckabee, but it was a horrible decision he made."

Huckabee has said he regrets the decision to commute the sentence of the suspected shooter, Maurice Clemmons, but said he thinks he made the right assessment at the time. Palin said she had never pardoned or granted clemency to prisoners when she served in Juneau.

"I don't have a whole lot of mercy for the bad guys," she said. "I'm on the good guys' side."

Pressed on her political ambitions, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee would not rule out a third party run at the White House in 2012.

"That depends on how things go in the next couple of years," she said. "It really does depend. There are enough Republicans who are realizing, 'Oh whoops, some of us liberal republicans have screwed up.' And I'm not including myself in that group, but some liberal Republicans have screwed up."

Palin said her decision rests on whether or not the GOP does a better job of appealing to its conservative base.

"If the Republican Party gets back to that base, I think our party is going to be stronger and there's not going to be a need for a third party, but I'll play that by ear in these coming months, coming years," she said.

President Obama used a speech at West Point last week to announce that he has ordered 30,000 additional troops to be sent to Afghanistan as part of a new, refocused strategy intended to quell the Taliban and help the Afghan government build up its own security forces. As part of the new strategy, Obama also said last week that the U.S. would begin to remove those additional troops in July 2011, depending upon the conditions on the ground in the war-torn country.

“I think he’s made the right decision with regards to Afghanistan in a general direction,” former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

“And, by the way, you’re noting that Republicans are not making this a political football,” the former White House hopeful added. “Republicans are saying ‘Yeah, he’s done the right thing here.’”

But, Romney’s praise of Obama quickly turned to criticism.

“It took him a long time,” Romney said of Obama’s 3-month deliberation process. “That was a mistake, of course.

“I think he is mistaken also in sending these conflicting and confusing signals about the timeline because you don’t want in any way to have [Pakistan or Afghanistan] thinking that somehow we’re only in there for 18 months and then we’re getting out no matter what. That’s not the message you want to have heard.”

Romney also questioned Obama’s judgment in providing Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan with 30, 000 additional troops when McChrystal had reportedly requested 40,000 more.

“My first question is not, ok, how do I get it down to 30,000?” Romney told CNN Chief National correspondent John King. “My first question is what’s the right number?”

“I think [Obama] may have been a little unwise to cut back on that number,” Romney said Sunday. “But we sure hope [Obama’s surge] works,” the Republican added.

Romney’s comments echoed those of Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl who said earlier on State of the Union that Republicans generally supported Obama’s decision to order the surge.

But “I think he has complicated matters by having this firm beginning-of-withdrawal date” of July 2011, added Kyl.

“The reason I said it complicates matters is that in war, will matters, “explained Kyl, “In fact, the whole object of war is to break the will of the enemy to fight.”

"I am officially an MOTB: a mother of the bride," Clinton said Friday in an interview with CNN's John Roberts. "And I am very excited about it"

Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, is engaged to marry Marc Mezvinsky, the son of former congressmen Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky of Pennsylvania and Ed Mezvinsky of Iowa.

"For me, [it's] particularly an extraordinary moment to see how happy my daughter is and to have a wonderful man that will become my son-in-law. But it's daunting to try and plan a wedding."

Related video: Clinton discusses NATO troops.

Clinton, who has been criss-crossing the globe since becoming Secretary of State, said she recently received an encouraging call from former Secretary of State Madeline Albright.

"Madeline Albright called me the other night and said, 'Well, when I was Secretary of State and had not a minute to myself, I had to plan a wedding, so if you need any advice, just call me,'" Clinton told Roberts in an interview in Brussels, where she is trying to rally European support for President Obama's new strategy in Afghanistan. "And I said, "I'll be calling."

Clinton said the size of the wedding has not been determined, but noted it would be private.

During an interview Thursday night on CNN's Larry King Live, Romney, who in his four years as governor said he did not pardon or commute a single sentence, noted the focus should be on the tragedy that struck the lives of Washington State residents.

Huckabee has come under fire because, as governor of Arkansas in 2000, he signed a clemency order for Maurice Clemmons. That made Clemmons, who at the time was serving a 108 year prison sentence, eligible for parole, which was granted. Clemmons, 37, was fatally shot Tuesday by police in Seattle, Washington, after a two-day manhunt that began after he allegedly killed the officers at a coffee shop in Lakewood, Washington.

"You have three families that lost their father, one family that lost their mother, and this is just tragic," Romney said. "I think [Huckabee] indicated that had he got the chance to do it again based on what he knows now, of course he wouldn't have made that decision and I believe that's true."

As governor of Massachusetts, Romney said he put strict pardoning guidelines in place to avoid letting personal impressions fog his judgment.

"My conclusion was if somebody has been convicted by a jury of their peers and they have been prosecuted and the police were able to get the evidence necessary to put them behind bars, why in the world would I step in and reverse that sentence," he said.

Romney and Huckabee, who both unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, are considered possible contenders for the 2012 GOP nomination.

McCain had some harsh words for the AARP.

Washington (CNN) – The John McCain of 2009 is singing a different tune than the John McCain of 2008.

On Thursday, the Arizona senator hammered the AARP on the Senate floor and on his Twitter account for supporting a proposal by Senate Democrats to cut millions from Medicare to help pay for health care legislation.

"I call on seniors to cut up their AARP cards and send them back to them!" McCain tweeted Thursday afternoon.

Endorsing Democrats in the health care fight seems to have changed McCain's thinking on the AARP, the nation's most influential senior lobby. During his 2008 presidential bid, the Republican nominee praised the group's leadership in some key policy battles.

"I say God bless AARP for everything they are doing, not only for the present generations of Americans, but for future generations," McCain told an AARP audience in September of last year. "That's your duty, that's your strength, and that's why I love to see you at every town hall meeting. And that's why I always try to let you talk."

McCain thanked the group for working with him on what he called "the big fights," citing tobacco legislation and campaign finance reform. "This organization has been an incredibly valuable contributor to the important discourses I just mentioned, and it's been there for decades, for decades," he said at the time.

Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for McCain, said his objection to AARP is based on what the group is doing now, not what they did in the past.

UPDATE: John Ashbrook, a spokesman for the Senate Republican Communications Center, points out that the AARP changed course from some of their past positions on Medicare cuts.

During the Clinton administration's push to reform health care, for example, the AARP expressed concerns about cutting Medicare as a way to pay for legislation.

'If we're talking about Medicare cuts alone as a way of financing health reform, we would fight that with all our strength - we've gone as far as we can go down that road," John Rother, the AARP director of federal legislation and policy, told the Los Angeles Times in 1993.

Washington (CNN) – In its first votes on amendments to the massive health care bill, the Senate approved a Democratic amendment Thursday to provide women with low cost mammograms and other preventative tests and rejected a Republican counter amendment that sought to prevent government boards from having influence over which screening tests for women would be covered.

The amendments were prompted by the recent uproar over a controversial recommendation by a government task force that some women should not receive annual mammograms to detect breast cancer. Democrats wanted to assure women that health care reform won't lead to a rationing of such care and Republicans wanted to make the point that it will.

The votes came on the fourth day of debate on health care reform,, which has been dominated by partisan rhetoric and gridlock. A second series of votes is planned Thursday afternoon on another hot-button issue: whether almost $500 billion in cuts to Medicare in the Democratic bill will mean a reduction of care for the nation's seniors.

A motion by Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain would force the bill back into committee to be stripped of its Medicare cuts. Last year's GOP presidential nominee and other Republicans argue it's impossible to cut that much spending from the Medicare program without hurting seniors.

A counter motion by Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet states that nothing in the Democrats' bill reduces benefits for Medicare recipients. Democrats argue their bill will improve the overall U.S. health care system and therefore strengthen Medicare.

The Democratic amendment on preventative screenings was authored by Sen. Barbara Mikulski. In addition to mammograms, the Democrat from Maryland said it is expected to cover a range of women's health screenings, including those for cervical cancer, post-partum depression, heart disease and diabetes. It passed 61 to 39. Three Republicans voted for the amendment and 2 Democrats voted against it.

The Republican counter amendment was sponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-AK. It failed 41-59. One Democrat crossed lines and voted with the Republicans.

Another amendment that could be debated later Thursday is a measure that would ban government funding for abortions, similar to the strict prohibition adopted by the House. Offered by conservative Sen. Ben Nelson, a conservative Democrat from Nebraska, the issue divides Democrats and threatens their ability to get the 60 votes needed to pass a final bill.

Romney lays out his plan to fix the economy in an op-ed Thursday.'

Washington (CNN) – Mitt Romney says that like other presidents, Barack Obama inherited a recession. But the former Massachusetts governor feels unlike his predecessors, Obama has made the recession he inherited worse, not better.

In an op-ed in Wednesday's USA Today, Romney says what he calls the president's inability to "stem" the rise in unemployment should not be a surpise.

"With no experience whatsoever in the world of employment and business formation, he had no compass to guide his path. Instead, he turned over much of his economic recovery agenda to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, themselves nearly as inexperienced in the private sector as he," says Romney.

The op-ed's release comes hours before the president holds a jobs forum at the White House. The nation's unemployment rate stands at 10.2 percent, the highest level in 26 years. November's job report will be released Friday.

In the article, Romney, a Republican presidential candidate in the 2008 election and a possible contender for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, lays out advice he terms a ten point plan to help reenergize the economy.

See Romney's "10-point plan" after the jump.

My 10-point plan

The president's economists insist that technically, the recession is over. But double-digit unemployment was neither prevented nor has it ended. To get people back to work as rapidly as possible and to restore America's economic vitality, the nation must change course. Here's the advice I would give:

• Repair the stimulus. Freeze the funds that haven't yet been spent and redirect them to immediate, private sector job-creation priorities.

• Create tax incentives that promote business expansion and hiring. For example, install a robust investment tax credit, permit businesses to expense capital purchases made in 2010, and reduce payroll taxes. These will reignite construction, technology and a wide array of capital goods industries, and lead to expanded employment.

• Prove to the global investors that finance America's debt that we are serious about reining in spending and becoming fiscally prudent by adopting limits on non-military discretionary spending and reforming our unsustainable, unfunded entitlements. These are key to strengthening the dollar, reducing the threat of rampant inflation and holding down interest rates.

• Close down any talk of carbon cap-and-trade. It will burden consumers and employers with billions in new costs. Instead, greatly expand our commitment to natural gas and nuclear, boosting jobs now and reducing the export of energy jobs and dollars later.

• Tell the unions that job-stifling "card check" legislation is off the table. Laying new burdens on small business will kill entrepreneurship and job creation.

• Don't allow a massive tax increase to go into effect in 2011 with the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. The specter of more tax-fueled government spending and the reduction of capital available for small business will hinder investment and business expansion.

• New spending should be strictly limited to items that are critically needed and that we would have acquired in the future, such as new military equipment to support our troops abroad and essential infrastructure at home.

• Install dynamic regulations for the financial sector — rules that are up to date, efficient and not excessively burdensome. But do not so tie up the financial sector with red tape that we lose a vital component of our economic system.

• Open the doors to trade. Give important friends like Colombia favored trade status rather than bow to protectionist demands. Now is the time for aggressive pursuit of opportunities for new markets for American goods, not insular retrenchment.

• Stop frightening the private sector by continuing to hold GM stock, by imposing tighter and tighter controls on compensation, and by pursuing a public insurance plan to compete with private insurers. Government encroachment on free enterprise is depressing investment and job creation.

The 10% unemployment crisis hangs like an albatross around President Obama's neck. Eventually, as with every recession and recovery, the economy will improve and jobs will be created, but those who were unnecessarily unemployed due to the president's faulty economic program will not forget. In order to most rapidly re-employ all Americans and to speed a strong recovery, the president must change course. If he does not, Republicans will bring a change of their own to Washington in the 2010 elections.

UPDATE: In a statement, the Democratic National Committee scoffed at Romney's ideas and claimed that Republicans have refused to offer their own plans to fix the economy.

"Now, instead of acknowledging, as leading economists and the independent CBO have, that the President's Recovery Act rescued this country's economy from the brink of disaster and has already saved or created 1.6 million jobs, Republican leaders like Mitt Romney and Eric Cantor are now offering 'plans' that are nothing more than a laundry list of the failed Bush-era economic policies that nearly destroyed our economy in the first place," said DNC national press secretary Hari Sevugan. "Mitt Romney's allegiance to Bush economics is one policy position he'd do well to flip-flop on."

Mike Huckabee commuted Clemmons' sentence when he was governor of Arkansas in 2000.

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (CNN) - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Wednesday he was aware of Maurice Clemmons' long and violent criminal history when he commuted the then-teenager's 108-year prison sentence - but he couldn't have foreseen the deadly consequence of his act.

"You're looking at this nine years later and trying to make something as if I can look in to the future," Huckabee said, before a speech at Jacksonville University.

Related video: Huckabee on clemency decision

"I wish I could have. Good Lord, I wish I had that power. I wish I could have done that. But I don't know how anyone can do it," he said.

Clemmons, 37, was fatally shot Tuesday by police in Seattle, Washington, after a two-day manhunt that began after he allegedly killed four officers at a coffee shop

Huckabee has come under fire because, as governor of Arkansas in 2000, he signed a clemency order for Clemmons. That made Clemmons eligible for parole, which was granted.

The prospective 2012 GOP presidential candidate said he was aware of the long string of crimes that had put Clemmons behind bars, but based his decision on the teenager's age: 16 at the time.

"I read a stack this thick," he said, holding his hands several inches apart. "I looked at the file. Every bit of it. And here was a case where a guy had been given 108 years. Now, if you think a 108-year sentence is an appropriate sentence for a 16-year-old for the crimes he committed, then you should run for governor of Arkansas."

Clemmons served 11 years of his sentence before he was released.

Clemmons moved from Washington to Arkansas as a youngster. There, he had several run-ins with the law, and was eventually handed the hefty prison sentence for a host of charges - including robberies, burglaries, thefts and bringing a gun to school.

During a pre-trial hearing, he hid a piece of metal in his sock, court documents show. Before the start of another hearing, he grabbed a padlock off his holding cell and threw it at a court bailiff. He missed, and the lock hit his mother who had come to bring him clothes.

"That's the one word that came to my mind that I remembered about him was that he was mean," said W.A. McCormick, who was a deputy prosecuting attorney at the time. "He was shackled in court and deputies placed behind him while he was tried - because he was such a security risk."

Clemmons continued to lash out violently behind the prison fences in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

"Over and over again," said Larry Jegley, the prosecutor who put Clemmons away.

"Failure to obey, engaging in sexual activity," he rattled off the charges as he flipped through Clemmons' prison record, "failure to obey, possession or introduction of drugs, firearms."

McCormick said he told the parole board - repeatedly, in writing - that Clemmons should remain in prison. And he would have opposed it once again if he knew that Huckabee was considering commuting Clemmons' sentence.

During his 2008 presidential bid, Huckabee was criticized for granting
clemency to another inmate, convicted rapist Wayne DuMond.

DuMond was later convicted of raping and murdering a woman in Missouri.

Before he accepted responsibility for his decision, Huckabee first blamed Clemmons' alleged actions on Sunday to failings in both Arkansans and Washington's legal systems.

But Jegley pointed the finger directly at Huckabee. One survey, he said, showed Huckabee issued more clemencies from 1996 to 2004 than the governors of all six surrounding states, including Texas.

"He needs to bear responsibility for that," Jegley said of the former governor's decision to grant clemency to Clemmons.

"We did everything that we could do with him and got him sentenced to 108 years. Mike Huckabee, with the stroke of a pen, undid that."

Sen. McCain makes a plea to voters in Arkansas, Colorado, Nebraska and North Dakota in a taped phone message.

(CNN) – Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, is asking residents of Arkansas, Colorado, Nebraska and North Dakota to pressure their senators to support a legislative move that would effectively end Senate Democrats' efforts to pass a health care reform bill this year.

McCain began making the plea Wednesday in a taped message that was sent to home telephones in each state. When a person picks up the telephone, McCain is heard asking the listener to support an amendment that would send the health care reform legislation back to the Finance Committee.

The calls specifically target five Democratic senators: Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Lincoln, Bennet and Dorgan are all facing re-election in 2010.

Lincoln and Dorgan are facing re-election in 2010. Bennet, who was appointed to his seat, is running for his own six-year term next year.

Listen: McCain's call to Arkansas voters

Amber Marchand, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the calls are specifically "targeting independent voters" and that they "will run for a few days." The NRSC is paying for this telephone campaign.

Full transcript of Arkansas call below:

Hi.

This is Sen. John McCain. On Monday, I introduced the first Republican amendment to the massive health care bill, which would send the bill back to the Finance Committee and stop the Democrats from cutting $500 billion of vital Medicare coverage for our seniors.

I need Sen. Blanche Lincoln to join me in this effort. If you want to keep Medicare from getting cut, please go to our website at: www.healthcaretaskforce.org and sign a petition to Sen. Lincoln urging her to join my effort to fight a Washington D.C. government takeover of your health care.

Thank you for your time.

Follow Mark Preston on Twitter: @prestoncnn

Clinton makes light of Chelsea's engagement.

Washington (CNN)– Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made light of months of speculation regarding her daughter's engagement Wednesday during the House Armed Services Committee hearing on Afghanistan.

When congratulated on her daughter's engagement by New York Congressman Gregory Meeks, Clinton responded saying, "Thank you, it was a very long, thoughtful process."

Speculation of Chelsea Clinton's engagement and marriage began swirling early last summer.

According to an email sent out by Chelsea Clinton announcing her engagement, she and longtime boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky are planning to get married next summer.

Sen. Evan Bayh also took time out of the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Afghanistan to congratulate Clinton.

–CNN's Emily Sherman contributed to this report.

Huckabee granted clemency to Maurice Clemmons in 2000, when he served as governor of Arkansas.

(CNN) – The Arkansas coordinator for Mike Huckabee's political action committee resigned Tuesday, citing the former Arkansas governor's decision nine years ago to grant clemency to Maurice Clemmons, the man suspected of murdering four police officers in Washington state.

Jason Tolbert, who runs a conservative blog, served as Arkansas state coordinator for HuckPAC in a volunteer capacity.

"My departure was with a heavy heart but was done after serious prayer and consideration," Tolbert wrote on his Web site. "Some have asked about the timing. As most could imagine, the recent news of the last two days along with the response did play a role in this decision but was not the sole factor."

Huckabee said Tuesday he takes "full responsibility" for the clemency decision.

"I acted on the facts presented to me in 2000, the former GOP presidential hopeful said in a statement. "If I could have possibly known what Clemmons would do nine years later, I obviously would have made a different decision. But if the same file was presented to me today, I would have likely made the same decision."

Washington (CNN)– Sen. Evan Bayh took time out of the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Afghanistan Wednesday to congratulate Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her daughter's recent engagement.

"I haven't had a chance to see you since the news about your daughter was announced. Congratulations," Bayh said.

Earlier this week CNN confirmed Chelsea Clinton is engaged to longtime boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky.

"If you say there's a date certain for withdrawal, your friends and enemies who will be in the region make accommodations accordingly," McCain said.

During Tuesday night's prime time address laying out his Afghanistan troop buildup, President Obama said that a troop withdrawal could begin as early as July 2011.

McCain said Wednesday in an interview on CNN's American Morning that Obama "gave an excellent speech and I think the policy, although it's very extended period of deliberation which is now behind us, is a good one, and I'm confident the president will do exactly as he says."

But the Republican senator from Arizona criticized the president's comments regarding an exit strategy, adding that "it's contradictory to say you're going to have your withdrawal dictated by the situation on the ground, and at the same time say that there's going to about date certain for withdrawal."

McCain challenged the president hours before Obama addressed the nation on his new Afghanistan strategy. The president and members of his war council spent about an hour briefing senior members of Congress at a White House meeting that multiple sources described as businesslike and sobering. Democratic and Republican lawmakers, who attended the meeting, said Obama laid out his plans to escalate the military mission before several lawmakers asked questions.

Three GOP sources told CNN that Sen. John McCain used the meeting to directly challenge the president on his exit strategy. The sources said that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell deferred to McCain, who questioned the concept of announcing now plans to begin withdrawing in July, 2011. These sources said the president responded to McCain by promising that the withdrawal would be based on conditions on the ground.

McCain also says he has problems with the administration's civilian strategy in Afghanistan.

"Another concern I have has to do with the civilian side of our counterinsurgency strategy," said McCain in his opening statement at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday morning on Afghanistan. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were among the witnesses at the hearing.

McCain, the ranking Republican on the committee, said "I am concerned that we and our allies do not have a unified plan to 'build' – to work with and support our Afghan partners, in Kabul and beyond, as they build their own nation, their own economy, and their own free institutions. I'm also concerned by reports of divisions in our embassy, and by major differences between our commander and our ambassador."

In his speech at West Point Tuesday night, Obama declared that the U.S. " will work with our partners, the United Nations, and the Afghan people to pursue a more effective civilian strategy, so that the government can take advantage of improved security. This effort must be based on performance. The days of providing a blank check are over."

–CNN's Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn

In a private meeting held hours before his prime-time address, President Obama was challenged by his 2008 presidential campaign rival Sen. John McCain.

Washington (CNN) - Hours before he was set to address the nation on his new Afghanistan strategy, President Obama and members of his war council spent about an hour briefing senior members of Congress at a White House meeting that multiple sources described as businesslike and sobering.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers, who attended the meeting, said Obama laid out his plans to escalate the military mission before several lawmakers asked questions.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin told CNN the president emphasized that in addition to sending some 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, he also has a "target for when this is coming to an end."

"The president believes that gives the Afghans enough time, and the Pakistanis enough time to take control of the situation," Durbin said.

Three GOP sources told CNN that Sen. John McCain used the meeting to directly challenge the president on his exit strategy.

The sources said that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell deferred to McCain, who questioned the concept of announcing now plans to begin withdrawing in July, 2011.

These sources said the president responded to McCain by promising that the withdrawal would be based on conditions on the ground.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn was one of the only members of the Democratic leadership in either chamber to tell CNN "I'm very supportive of it."

Even Durbin, one of the president's closest allies, told CNN he is withholding judgment. "The president took some time to reach his decision, I'm going to need some time to reach mine," Durbin said.

In a private meeting held hours before his prime-time address, President Obama was challenged by his 2008 presidential campaign rival Sen. John McCain.

Washington (CNN) - Hours before he was set to address the nation on his new Afghanistan strategy, President Obama and members of his war council spent about an hour briefing senior members of Congress at a White House meeting that multiple sources described as businesslike and sobering.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers, who attended the meeting, said Obama laid out his plans to escalate the military mission before several lawmakers asked questions.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin told CNN the president emphasized that in addition to sending some 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, he also has a "target for when this is coming to an end."

"The president believes that gives the Afghans enough time, and the Pakistanis enough time to take control of the situation," Durbin said.

Three GOP sources told CNN that Sen. John McCain used the meeting to directly challenge the president on his exit strategy.

The sources said that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell deferred to McCain, who questioned the concept of announcing now plans to begin withdrawing in July, 2011.

These sources said the president responded to McCain by promising that the withdrawal would be based on conditions on the ground.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn was one of the only members of the Democratic leadership in either chamber to tell CNN "I'm very supportive of it."

Even Durbin, one of the president's closest allies, told CNN he is withholding judgment. "The president took some time to reach his decision, I'm going to need some time to reach mine," Durbin said.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Tuesday said he accepts 'full responsibility' for granting clemency in 2000 to a man authorities say gunned down four Lakewood, Washington, police officers on Sunday.

(CNN) - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Tuesday said he accepts "full responsibility" for granting clemency in 2000 to a man authorities say gunned down four Lakewood, Washington, police officers on Sunday.

Maurice Clemmons, 37, was shot and killed early Tuesday by Seattle police. He was the subject of a two-day manhunt after the four officers were killed at a coffee shop as they met before their shifts began Sunday morning.

Clemmons had a criminal history in both Arkansas and Washington. In May 2000, Huckabee commuted his 108-year prison sentence to make him immediately eligible for parole, which was granted by the parole board two months later. Clemmons had been sentenced to 95 years, to run after time he was already serving on previous convictions.

In a statement on the conservative news Web site Newsmax.com, Huckabee wrote that he commuted Clemmons' sentence from 108 years to 47 years. Reports he had pardoned Clemmons or set him free were erroneous, he said.

"I take full responsibility for my actions of nine years ago," Huckabee said. "I acted on the facts presented to me in 2000. If I could have possibly known what Clemmons would do nine years later, I obviously would have made a different decision. But if the same file was presented to me today, I would have likely made the same decision."

But the Arkansas prosecutor who put Clemmons behind bars told CNN Tuesday that Huckabee was exercising his clemency powers at "an astounding rate" during his tenure as governor.

"He was exercising the clemency power at what I call a wholesale rate," Larry Jegley said. "He was letting murderers out, he was letting rapists out and he was letting the likes of Mr. Clemmons out."

One survey, he said, showed Huckabee issued more clemencies from 1996 to 2004 than the governors of all six surrounding states, including Texas.

He said he didn't know why so many clemencies were granted. "That was part of the frustration that we felt with the entire process. ... We never felt as though he gave victims, their families, jurors, law enforcement and the community in general an adequate explanation as to why he felt compelled to let people of proven danger go in our community."

Huckabee was a Republican presidential candidate in the 2008 election and has not ruled out another White House bid in 2012. During his 2008 campaign, he was criticized for granting clemency to another inmate, convicted rapist Wayne DuMond, who was later convicted of raping and murdering a woman in Missouri.

"Between 1,000 and 2,000 requests for some form of clemency came to my desk each and every one of the 10 1/2 years I was governor," Huckabee said Tuesday. "Ninety-two percent of the time I denied the requests."

He noted that in Arkansas, a governor does not initiate a sentence change - the Post Prison Transfer Board makes a recommendation to the governor after reviewing an inmate's file. The governor then can grant or deny it.

Clemmons was 16 when he was charged with robbery and burglary. "For the crimes he committed and the age at which he committed the crimes, (a 108-year sentence) was dramatically outside the norm for sentencing," Huckabee said. The board unanimously recommended that the sentence be commuted.

Jegley said that while in prison in Arkansas, Clemmons had a disciplinary record for violent incidents, and that something should have tipped the board or the governor off that "this man was not a good candidate to be put back in society, because he couldn't live in the cloistered environment of prison and stay out of trouble."

In the case of any form of clemency - a commutation or a full pardon - notice is given to the prosecutor, the judge, law enforcement officials, the attorney general and the secretary of state, as well as the media, for a public response period, Huckabee said. "The only record of public response to the notice to commute was from the trial judge, who recommended the commendation in concert with the board."

Jegley told CNN he was not notified of the commutation, but he doesn't "attribute that to something sinister. ... I just think that maybe the system fouled up and didn't get notification out to all the parties who were interested in it, my office included."

After being paroled, Clemmons was returned to prison after violating his parole, Huckabee said. He "should have stayed there. For reasons only the prosecutor can explain, charges were not brought forth in a timely way and the prosecutor ended up dropping the charges, allowing him to leave prison and return to supervised parole."

He noted that Clemmons, who had been picked up again in Pierce County, Washington, was released on bail there only days before the officers were slain.

"I can't explain why he wasn't prosecuted properly for the parole violations or why he was allowed to make bail in Washington state and not incarcerated earlier for crimes committed there," the former governor wrote.

On Sunday, Huckabee's office issued a statement saying if Clemmons was "found responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington state."

Police responded sharply to that statement. "We're disappointed that Governor Huckabee came out in the middle of the night without calling anybody here and blamed this on the criminal justice system in the state of Washington," Pierce County Sheriff's Department spokesman Ed Troyer said. "We're guessing that's probably a spin doctor, not him."

Huckabee wrote of Clemmons, "I wish his file had never crossed my desk, but it did. The decision I made is one that I now wish were different, but I could only look backwards at his case, not forward. None of this is of any comfort to the families of these police officers, nor should it be. Their loss is senseless. ... Our system is not perfect and neither are those responsible
for administering it.

"The system and those of us who are supposed to make sure it works sometimes fail," Huckabee said. "In this case, we clearly did."

As President Obama prepared to explain his military strategy for Afghanistan Tuesday, his secretary of state said U.S. civilian efforts are just as critical to successfully getting Afghanistan back on its feet.

Washington (CNN) - As President Obama prepared to explain his military strategy for Afghanistan Tuesday, his secretary of state said U.S. civilian efforts are just as critical to successfully getting Afghanistan back on its feet.

At the same time, a diplomatic source says the United States is pushing for an international "special coordinator" to work in parallel with the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Speaking Monday in New York to the Business Executives for National Security Gala, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington's "goals in Afghanistan include providing the government with the support that it needs to take full responsibility for its own country.

"That makes civilian efforts as vital as military operations and of longer duration," she said. "We have begun to elevate diplomacy and development alongside defense in our national security strategy, and we are certainly engaged in doing so in Afghanistan."

Clinton described the work of the State Department, USAID and other government agencies deployed in Afghanistan. She said experts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture are embedded with the U.S. military and "rule of law" experts are working to extend a system of justice "so that the Taliban would not offer the only form of justice in Afghanistan."

The State Department says it is tripling the number of civilian staff deployed to Afghanistan, and plans to have 974 staff members there by early 2010.

Full story

Mike Huckabee commuted Clemmons' sentence when he was governor of Arkansas in 2000.

(CNN) – Mike Huckabee took to the radio airwaves Monday to explain why, as governor of Arkansas in 2000, he commuted the nearly 100-year prison sentence of Maurice Clemmons, the man suspected of murdering four police officers in Washington state.

Clemmons was sentenced to 95 years in prison in 1989 for a host of charges, including robberies, burglaries, thefts and bringing a gun to school. Huckabee cited Clemmons' young age - 17 at the time of his sentencing - when he announced his decision to commute the sentence, according to newspaper articles. Clemmons was paroled in August 2000, after 11 years in prison.

On the Monday morning episode of "The Huckabee Report" - the Republican's daily radio commentary - he pointed to "a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington state" as the reason Clemmons was allowed to re-enter society. Repeating what he said in a statement released Sunday night, Huckabee noted that the Arkansas parole board granted Clemmons' parole after he received the commutation.

"He was arrested later for parole violation, taken back to prison to serve his full term, but prosecutors dropped the charges that would have held him," Huckabee told listeners. "It appears that he has continued to have a string of criminal and psychotic behavior, but was not kept incarcerated by either state."

Huckabee, who is considering a making second presidential run in 2012, also spoke to Fox News radio about his decision.

"If I could have known nine years ago, looked into the future, would I have acted favorably upon the parole board's recommendation? Of course not," he said. "One of the things that is horrible and just, again, one of the realities you have to confront is the criminal justice system is far from perfect, and in this case it failed miserably on all sides."

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says he will be looking at the 2010 midterm election results as part of his decisionmaking about 2012.

(CNN) - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Sunday he remains undecided about another presidential run in 2012, but called the possibility "less likely than more likely."

Appearing on "FOX News Sunday," Huckabee noted the election is almost three years away and that, regardless of what happens between now and then, President Barack Obama will be a tough opponent.

"It's hard to say. A lot of it depends on how the elections turn out next year," Huckabee said of the 2010 mid-term vote expected to bring some Republican gains in Congress.

A recent USA Today/Gallup poll showed Huckabee was the front-runner among possible Republican nominees for 2012. However, Huckabee said he would need assurances that the Republican Party would unite behind his candidacy, unlike 2008 when he was considered an outsider by the GOP mainstream.

"It's less likely than more likely," Huckabee said of running for the GOP nomination again. Besides, he said, he's got a good job now.

"The reason I wouldn't is this FOX gig I've got right now ... is really, really wonderful," Huckabee said of his talk show on the network.

"Jumping into the pool, you've got to make sure there's some water in it," he said, later adding: "It's a wonderful experience, but I am nowhere near ready to say that's what I want to do three years from now."

(CNN) – Mike Huckabee released a statement Sunday night amid news the former Arkansas governor commuted the sentence of Maurice Clemmons, the man suspected of fatally shooting four Washington state police officers.

“The senseless and savage execution of police officers in Washington State has saddened the nation, and early reports indicate that a person of interest is a repeat offender who once lived in Arkansas and was wanted on outstanding warrants here and Washington State.

The murder of any individual is a profound tragedy, but the murder of a police officer is the worst of all murders in that it is an assault on every citizen and the laws we live within. Should he be found to be responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington State.

He was recommended for and received a commutation of his original sentence from 1990. This commutation making him parole eligible and was paroled by the parole board once they determined he met the conditions at that time. He was arrested later for parole violation and taken back to prison to serve his full term, but prosecutors dropped the charges that would have held him.

It appears that he has continued to have a string of criminal and psychotic behavior but was not kept incarcerated by either state.This is a horrible and tragic event and if found and convicted the offender should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Our thoughts and prayers are and should be with the families of those honorable, brave, and heroic police officers.”

 

Secretary of State Clinton spoke Tuesday about the special relationship between India and the United States.

Washington (CNN) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, praising what she called the special U.S.-Indian relationship, welcomed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Vice President Joe Biden to a formal lunch at the State Department Tuesday.

"You are the hottest ticket in town," Biden told Singh in remarks at the start of the lunch. The Indian leader will be honored at a White House state dinner Tuesday evening.

Clinton praised the relationship between the two countries, adding that India - like the U.S. - is what she called a "diverse" and "occasionally raucous democracy."

Singh, whose visit comes as the Obama administration is finalizing its policy on Afghanistan, made his feelings clear. "We have a common stake in peace and security in Afghanistan," he said. And he told Clinton, "Your visit to India in July has prepared the groundwork for a greatly strengthened strategic partnership between our two countries."

Two hundred senior U.S. and Indian officials and other dignitaries gathered in the Ben Franklin room on the eighth floor of the State Department building for the lunch.

Dark-suited Americans mingled with men in brightly colored turbans and women in flowing saris as guests sat at tables decorated with arrangements of fragrant geraniums, roses and peonies set on cinnamon and burgundy table-cloths.

Singh sat at a large oval table with Clinton; Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden; Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut.

Palin's favorable numbers among Iowa Republicans are strong, says a new poll - though one in four members of her party there have doubts.

(CNN) - Sarah Palin's book tour brings her to Iowa in two weeks. If the former Alaska governor and last year's GOP vice presidential nominee decides to return to Iowa down to road to explore a race for the White House, a new survey suggests that Republicans in the state like her - but have some doubts.

According to a Des Moines Register Iowa poll, 68 percent of Hawkeye Republicans view Palin favorably. That's a statistically insignificant 2 points behind those who have a positive view of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the 2008 Iowa caucuses, which traditionally kick off the presidential primary season.

Among other potential 2012 candidates: The survey indicates that two out of three view former House Speaker Newt Gingrich favorably and 58 percent have a positive view of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

"With those kinds of numbers, if she were to become a candidate, while it's not a sure thing, she would be starting out in a very good position," veteran Iowa GOP strategist David Roederer told the Des Moines Register. Roederer ran McCain's 2008 Iowa campaign.

But according to the poll, nearly one in four Iowa Republicans view Palin unfavorably. That's double the 12 percent who view Huckabee in an unfavorable way.

Among all Iowans, the survey indicates that 55 percent hold an unfavorable opinion, with 37 percent seeing her in a positive light.

Palin's tour for her new book, "Going Rogue: An American Life," brings her to Iowa on December 6. Palin's scheduled to sign copies of her book at a Barnes and Noble bookstore in Sioux City, Iowa.

The Des Moines Register Iowa poll was conducted November 8-11, with 800 registered voters in Iowa questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for the overall sample.

–CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report

Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn

Discussion has begun on the 2012 primary calendar.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Representatives from some of the top 2008 GOP presidential campaigns gathered in Washington, D.C. Thursday to urge the Republican National Committee to lock in a 2012 primary calendar as early as possible to avoid the confusion that dogged the early stages of last year's nomination contest. One campaign manager took his recommendations a step further and suggested ending the traditional first-in-the-nation statuses of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

An RNC panel headed by party chairman Michael Steele invited the campaigns to share their views as it considers numerous possible changes to the process the party will use to nominate a candidate to challenge President Barack Obama in 2012.

Mike DuHaime, the 2008 campaign manager for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, told the panel that the three early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina should continue to hold contests early in the process, but not necessarily as the first three contests.

"I believe there needs to be greater decision-making authority given to states beyond the early states," said DuHaime, referring to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. "If you win two out of three states, those have been our nominees. With that, 47 other states don't have the same say."

"I think that is ultimately not in the best interests of the party," he added.

DuHaime went on to say that the early phase of the nomination calendar should be more geographically and ethnically diverse and that doing so could make the party more competitive in general elections.
DuHaime's candidate did not campaign heavily in the early states and instead focused his time and energy on later contests.

Former Huckabee presidential campaign manager Chip Saltsman, whose candidate won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, defended the role of the traditional early states.

"I think it's very important and crucial to have Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina early on in the process," he said.

Saltsman said that he has seen during his experiences in Iowa from previous campaigns "just how seriously folks in those states take the process. Not that the other 47 states don't. It's an opportunity for any candidate, no matter how rich, no matter how poor, no matter how new, and no matter who's been running for eight years."

"This is making our candidates better candidates," Saltsman added.

The campaigns all agreed that regardless of what the calendar eventually looks like, it will be important to lock in the schedule early so that candidates can plan and strategize accordingly. In 2008, both the Republican and Democratic primary calendars were thrown into disarray when Michigan and Florida moved their contests earlier in the process to challenge the early positioning of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

"This is something that I don't know if there's a perfect solution, but there needs to be a solution," said Saltsman. "Set the rules. Set them fair. Let [the presidential campaigns] know what they are. And set them in a way that don't change."

Beth Myers, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's 2008 campaign manager, echoed a similar sentiment.

"I am of the belief that a campaign can plan for any calendar, but that certainty is what matters," she said in a written statement submitted to the panel. "In other words, my primary recommendation would be that the calendar is set as early as possible so that it is known by all campaigns."

Myers did not address the politically sensitive issue of whether Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina should remain as the first contests, but she did suggest a later start for the primary season, which began on January 3 in 2008, the earliest start of any presidential primary season in history.

"The one complaint we heard more than any other was that it started too close to the holidays," she said. "I would urge you to mandate a start in late February or early March."

Saltzman suggested late January as a starting point.

The RNC invited all the 2008 GOP presidential campaigns to provide feedback for Thursday's forum. The Huckabee, Giuliani and Duncan Hunter campaigns sent representatives to testify in person. The Romney, Ron Paul and Fred Thompson campaigns submitted written statements. The remainder of the 2008 GOP field, including the campaign of Sen. John McCain, did not respond to the invitation.

The RNC is expected to finalize its rules governing the nomination process at its summer meeting next year.

Poll: Giuliani on top in possible 2010 Senate showdown.

(CNN) – A new poll of New York state voters indicates Rudy Giuliani leads incumbent Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a hypothetical Senate race.

According to a Marist College survey released Thursday afternoon, 54 percent of registered voters in New York support the former New York City mayor for Senate, with four in 10 backing Gillibrand, a Democratic congresswoman from upstate New York who was appointed to fill Hillary Clinton's former Senate seat. Gillibrand is running in 2010 to serve the final two years of Clinton's term.

The poll indicates that Giuliani would top former New York State Gov. George Pataki 71 percent to 24 percent in a hypothetical Republican Senate primary next year. In September, Pataki wouldn't say if he was interested in making a bid for the senate seat held by Gillibrand. Earlier this year, fellow Republican Rep. Peter King officially announced that he would not challenge Gillbrand next year.

According to the poll, Giuliani leads Gillibrand overwhelmingly among registered Republicans, tops her by 14 points among independents, and trails her by 26 points among registered Democrats. The survey indicates that New York City voters are divided between Giuliani and Gillibrand.

The Marist College poll was conducted November 12, 16 and 17, with 805 registered New York state voters questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

The poll's release comes as a spokeswoman for Giuliani says the former mayor has not made up his mind about running for New York governor next year. Maria Comella was responding to a Thurday New York Times report that quoted unnamed sources saying Giuliani had decided not to run for New York governor in 2010.

There's speculation that if Giuliani decided against a run for governor, he might consider making a bid for the Senate. Top New York Republicans have reportedly urged Giuliani to run for the Senate in 2010.

Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn

Giuliani spokeswoman: No decision yet.

(CNN) - A spokeswoman for Rudy Giuliani says that the former New York City mayor has not made up his mind about running for governor next year.

Maria Comella's comments were in response to report Thursday in the New York Times that Giuliani had decided not to run for New York governor in 2010, according to people who have been told of his decision.

"Rudy has a history of making up his own mind and has no problem speaking it. When Mayor Giuliani makes a decision about serving in public office, he will inform New Yorkers on his own," said Comella in a statement.

Recent polls of New York State voters indicate that Giuliani holds a wide lead over former Rep. Rick Lazio, the only Republican to have declared a gubernatorial bid, in a hypothetical 2010 GOP primary match-up.

According to the surveys, Giuliani has a double-digit advantage over incumbent Democratic Gov. David Paterson in a hypothetical general election faceoff. But the polls suggest that New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who has not indicated if he wants to run for governor, tops Giuliani by 10-12 points. Cuomo also easily beats Paterson in a possible Democratic primary, according to those surveys.

The polls indicate that New Yorkers have an overall favorable opinion of the former New York City mayor.

Sunday on CNN's State of the Union with John King, Giuliani said he had not yet made up his mind regarding a run. He had previously indicated that he would make a decision before the end of the year.

Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn

Vice President Joe Biden is downplaying news the government Web site Recovery.gov reported hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars spent on projects in congressional districts that in fact do not actually exist.

(CNN) - Vice President Joe Biden is downplaying news the government Web site Recovery.gov reported hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars spent on projects in congressional districts that in fact do not actually exist.

The districts don't exist, but the projects do, Biden said Tuesday night.

And the administration isn't to blame - the fault lies with the nation's educational system.

In an appearance on The Daily Show, Biden said the errors - first reported by ABC News - do not indicate unaccounted-for spending but are rather the result of 70 people who are the product of "bad civics classes."

"Every single solitary penny that got sent out there to a state, a construction company, a nonprofit had to be accounted for," Biden told host Jon Stewart. "And it all got put on Recovery.gov. What happened was, out of 130,000 people reporting in what they did with the money…70 did not know how to count."

"There was bad civics classes for those 70 people," Biden continued. "They had to fill out a form, what district are you in, and there was no such district."

Biden said checkers are now going through the reports to determine the actual districts where the money was spent.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton landed in Kabul Wednesday in a surprise visit.

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton landed in Kabul Wednesday in a surprise visit on the eve of the inauguration of President Hamid Karzai.

Clinton went straight into a meeting with U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry and Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, before having dinner with Karzai.

Her first visit to Afghanistan as secretary of state comes as President Obama is deciding whether to send up to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan, as requested by McChrystal.

Clinton will attend Karzai's Thursday inauguration to a second term, showing U.S. support for his government, after an election which was tainted by fraudulent balloting.

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(CNN) – Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will headline a conference call Wednesday with national reporters to criticize the Obama administration's decision to hold Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's trial in New York.

The call is being organized by the Republican National Committee.

Giuliani has been very vocal, including in an interview Sunday on CNN's State of the Union with John King, about his opposition to having the trial take place in New York.

Follow Mark Preston on Twitter: @prestoncnn

McCain said Palin's legal bills were for 'troopergate.'

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Days after telling his former staffers to avoid responding to charges in Sarah Palin's new book, Sen. John McCain has spoken up to deny that his campaign made her pay for her own vice presidential vetting.

The former Republican presidential candidate told The Hill on Monday night that Palin did receive a legal bill - but it was to deal with allegations that she abused her power as governor to try to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from his job as a state trooper in Alaska.

"That was over the troopergate," McCain told The Hill.

In her book "Going Rogue: An American Life," Palin said that the McCain campaign stuck her with a bill for $50,000 to cover the costs of her own vetting. McCain's aides have denied this charge, and others made in the book, but the Arizona senator has largely remained silent. On Friday, he asked his former aides to avoid television appearances and refrain from engaging in a back-and-forth with Palin over the claims.

Palin has given him a signed copy of the book. McCain told the Hill that he enjoyed reading it.

"I hope she sells lots of them," he said.

Biden will become the first VP on to appear on The Daily Show Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – It could be an historic day for Vice President Joe Biden.

Biden heads to New York City late Tuesday afternoon and will appear on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." That's nothing new for Biden, who's appeared on the program as a guest five times over the past few years.

But this will be Biden's first time on the show since his inauguration as vice president in January. And apparently it will be the first time any sitting vice president will appear as a guest on the program.

– CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report

McCain asks staffers to hold their fire on Palin.

Washington (CNN) – John McCain asked former campaign staffers Friday to avoid engaging in a back-and-forth over claims made by former running mate Sarah Palin in her new book, CNN has confirmed.

On a conference call with senior campaign advisers, the former Republican presidential candidate asked them to hold back from responding – telling them, in effect, that "this too shall pass," according to sources familiar with the call.

Palin's book, 'Going Rogue', slams the McCain team – particularly campaign manager Steve Schmidt and senior adviser Nicole Wallace – over the rollout plan and overall media strategy for the former vice presidential candidate. He also told staffers on the call he was sorry they were coming under fire.

On Friday, McCain conceded to the reality of the media firestorm surrounding Palin's charges against his team, and told them he understood if they felt the need to defend themselves. But the Arizona senator called for a minimalist approach, suggesting that his former aides avoid television appearances.

Clinton would 'look forward' to meeting with Palin.

(CNN) - While their fictional personas have teamed up on Saturday Night Live, Sarah Palin and Hilary Clinton have actually never met.

But the secretary of state said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press she'd "look forward" to talking politics with Palin over coffee sometime soon.

Clinton was responding to an excerpt in Palin's forthcoming memoir in which the Alaska governor praises the then senator Clinton's 2008 presidential primary campaign effort.

"Should Secretary Clinton and I ever sit down over a cup of coffee, I know that we will fundamentally disagree on many issues," Palin writes in the new book called "Going Rogue: An American Life. "But my hat is off to her hard work on the 2008 campaign trail. A lot of her supporters think she proved what Margaret Thatcher proclaimed. 'If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.'"

TOPICS: Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden

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(CNN) – Vice President Joe Biden is lending a helping hand to five Western House Democrats who may face competitive re-election races next year.

The vice president attends a political event in Phoenix Monday for Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick and Harry Mitchell. Kirkpatrick, a freshman, won her seat in Arizona's 1st congressional district by 17 points. Mitchell, a two-term representative, won re-election last year by 9 points. Both the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report and Cook Political Report are keeping their eyes on both races.

Later Monday, Biden attends an event in Albuquerque, New Mexico for Reps. Harry Teague and Martin Heinrich. Republicans are gunning to win back Teague's seat, in New Mexico's 2nd congressional district. Teague, a freshman, won the district by 12 points last year. Both the Rothenberg and Cook Political Reports consider the race a tossup. Heinrich is also a freshman who won his race in 2008 by 12 points.

On Sunday, the vice president was the main attraction in Las Vegas at a fundraiser for freshman Rep. Dina Titus. Last year, Titus won Nevada's 3rd congressional district in a three-way contest, grabbing 47 percent of the vote. She could face a tough re-election next year.

According to a pool report of the event, Biden said he had campaigned in 54 House districts this year. The vice president added that with Titus' help, "we're going to be riding into, not a sunset, but a sunshine."

The Connecticut Democratic Party announced Monday that Biden will join Sen. Chris Dodd for a fundraising event in Hartford on Friday, December 11. The five-term senator is up for re-election next year and is fighting for his political life.

A Quinnipiac University survey released Thursday morning suggests that 54 percent of Connecticut voters disapprove of the job Dodd's doing as their senior U.S. senator, with 4 in 10 giving him a thumbs-up. The 54 percent disapproval rating is up 5 points from September. The poll also indicates that by 53 percent to 39 percent, Connecticut voters don't think Dodd deserves to be re-elected next year. According to the survey, Dodd is losing or tied with all of his potential Republican challengers in hypothetical 2010 general election matchups.

Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn

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.

“We’re very far away from a 2012 election,” Giuliani added, “Right now, I like figures who are creating interest in the Republican Party.

“Given the decisions that the Obama administration is making, particularly on this area of terrorism which concerns me probably more than any other, we’re going to need some pretty strong alternatives in 2012. I don’t know if it’ll be Sarah Palin or someone else. But right now it’s [about] developing interest in a Republican Party and we need a two-party system and we need a healthy one.”

Giuliani said he had not made any decision yet about whether he will seek the White House again in 2012 or run for New York governor. Asked when he had to make that decision, Giuliani told King “Not today, not this morning.”

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.

“We’re very far away from a 2012 election,” Giuliani added, “Right now, I like figures who are creating interest in the Republican Party.

“Given the decisions that the Obama administration is making, particularly on this area of terrorism which concerns me probably more than any other, we’re going to need some pretty strong alternatives in 2012. I don’t know if it’ll be Sarah Palin or someone else. But right now it’s [about] developing interest in a Republican Party and we need a two-party system and we need a healthy one.”

Giuliani said he had not made any decision yet about whether he will seek the White House again in 2012 or run for New York governor. Asked when he had to make that decision, Giuliani told King “Not today, not this morning.”

(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.

Prior to Owens' win, Doug Hoffman’s candidacy, which was supported by prominent conservatives including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, exposed a growing rift in the Republican party between conservatives represented by Hoffman and moderates represented by New York Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava. After lagging in polls and fund raising and being the target of attacks from both conservatives and Democrats, Scozzafava abruptly decided to drop out of the race just days before Election Day. After receiving Scozzafava’s last minute endorsement, Bill Owens, a Democrat, won a seat occupied by Republicans for more than a century.

Giuliani told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King that the nascent GOP civil war sparked by the NY-23 race was “not a good precedent for the party.”

“That’s the way you can allow Democrats to win even if the public has turned against them on certain things. I think in that particular case, I know that district. That’s a district that is very concerned about Obama’s health care [plan].”

“You see the Democrat has voted against the Obama health care program. That’s a district where we could elect a Republican if we get our act together and let’s hope don’t repeat that too often because then we surely won’t be a majority party.”

Giuliani’s comment about Bill Owens’ vote on the House health care reform bill was in error. Owens voted in favor of the bill.

Instead of bringing suspected mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspects to Manhattan federal court, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says military tribunals are better suited to try those accused of terrorism.

“A military tribunal is certainly fair,” Giuliani said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, “it’s a great example to the rest of the world. The tradition for over 150 years has been to use those military tribunals.”

Giuliani said that law enforcement officials had made a mistake in using civilian federal court to try those accused of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

“To treat the 1993 bombing as if it were just a criminal act – just one of the 1,973 murders in the city of New York that year – was a big mistake. So, basically the Obama administration is repeating the mistake of history. . . . It should’ve been treated as an act of war.

“And it’s part of a bigger picture here,” Giuliani told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King, “it’s part of Barack Obama deciding that we’re not at war with terrorism any longer. So this is not treated as if it was an act of war which is what it should be treated like.”

The former New York City mayor also said the Obama administration’s decision not to use the phrase “war on terror,” a phrase coined and used frequently by the previous administration, was problematic.

“The only problem with [Obama’s approach], John, is the terrorists haven’t stopped going to war with us. It may be that the Obama administration doesn’t think that we’re at war with them but they’re very clear on the fact that they’re at war with us.”

Giuliani also said the trials will pose security problems for New York City including additional threats in a city already regarded as a target, millions of dollars in additional security costs, and the inconvenience of having to close areas around the federal courthouse where the trials will take place.

Because military tribunals are available as an alternative means to try terrorism suspects, Giuliani said Holder’s decision posed “unnecessary risk” to the city and gave “unnecessary advantage” to the suspected terrorists.

“If it was necessary, if this was the only option, well, of course, I’d be in favor of it,” Giuliani told King.

Updated: 1:57 p.m.

(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.

(CNN) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used no diplomatic doublespeak Sunday when asked about a rumor she was considering a run for governor of New York next year.

"No, no," she said on the ABC program "This Week," adding: "I hope maybe we can put it to rest today."

Clinton said she was committed to her job in President Barack Obama's Cabinet, adding it was "an extraordinarily important time to be secretary of state for our country."

"That rumor is dead," Clinton said. "If you could please put it in a little box and send it off somewhere, I'd appreciate it."