[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/12/03/art.mike.duncan.getty.jpg caption="Duncan torn on whether to run for another term as head of RNC."]
(CNN) - Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan told CNN he will spend the coming weekend deciding whether to run for another term at the helm of the GOP, and could announce his decision Monday.
Duncan said he is torn about what to do - he said he likes his job very much, but also feels it may time for him to return home to Kentucky after being at the RNC for eight years.
Duncan's deliberations come as several other Republicans are publicly eying his post, following two straight election cycles during which the GOP suffered stinging defeats.
Duncan has steadily risen through the ranks of the RNC over the last decade. In 2001 he was elected the committee's treasurer and was named general counsel in 2002. In 2007, President Bush tapped him to replace outgoing RNC chairman Ken Mehlman.
If he enters the race, Duncan will face a long list of challengers: former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson, former Mike Huckabee campaign manager and ex-Tennessee Republican party Chairman Chip Saltsman, and Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis have already declared they are seeking Duncan's job.
An RNC source close to Duncan later called to say the announcement may not come until later next week.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/12/03/art.split.cnn.jpg caption=" The latest debate in Washington: Does Richardson look better with or without a beard?"](CNN) – Gov. Bill Richardson showed up to his press conference with President-elect Barack Obama Wednesday morning without the beard he has been sporting since dropping out of the presidential race in January, sparking his new boss to tell reporters he is "deeply disappointed with the loss of the beard."
"I'm going to answer this question about the beard," said Obama, when Richardson was asked where the facial hair went. "I think it was a mistake for him to get rid of it. I thought that whole Western, rugged look was really working for him.
"For some reason, maybe because it was scratchy when he kissed his wife, he was forced to get rid of it.," Obama continued as his nominee for commerce secretary smiled broadly. "But we're deeply disappointed with the loss of the beard."
Obama didn't let Richardson answer the question, but the New Mexico governor told Esquire Magazine in an interview posted online Wednesday that "After the campaign, I grew a beard as a rebellion against those consultants who told me I had to comb my hair, shave, lose weight. I said, You know, I’m gonna do what I want now. That was a good feeling."
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/12/03/art.bidenwmd.ap.jpg caption="Biden was told Wednesday that a WMD attack is ‘more than likely’ somewhere in the world before 2013."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Vice President-elect Joe Biden and Secretary of Homeland Security-designate Janet Napolitano received a bi-partisan commission briefing Wednesday on potential attacks involving weapons of mass destruction. The commission’s chairman, former Democratic Sen. Bob Graham, didn’t mince words when he told the two members of the incoming administration that “it is more likely than not that between now and the year 2013 there will be a weapon of mass destruction used someplace in the world.”
After reviewing the 'World at Risk' report from the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, Biden said that the government is not doing all it can to prevent a possible WMD attack.
“The answer that jumps out very starkly is no, we’re not doing all we can or should. And we’re not doing all we can to prevent the world’s most lethal weapons from winding up in the hands of terrorists,” said Biden. “But this report is, in my view, more than a warning about what we’re doing wrong, it’s a pragmatic blueprint how to get it right...”
Graham and Sen. Jim Talent led the bi-partisan commission that was established by Congress as a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. Talent focused his comments Wednesday on steps they believe the government needs to take, including regulating work on biological pathogens and Pakistan’s nuclear elements because the country is “the nexus of all these threats right now and it’s deteriorating.”
Talent joked that he and Graham flipped a coin to see who would deliver the bad news, a duty that clearly fell to Graham as he told Biden, Napolitano and his fellow members of the Commission that terrorist groups are progressing, are more nimble and the ease of acquiring a biological weapon has increased.
“This leads us to the conclusion, one, that we have been losing ground and we are less secure today that we have been in the recent past,” said Graham. “Number two, that the threat is that it is more likely than not that between now and the year 2013 there will be a weapon of mass destruction used someplace in the world. And third, that it is more likely that that weapon will be biological than nuclear.”
Gov. Napolitano kept her remarks brief but reiterated that “the threat, whether nuclear, biological, chemical, radiological is a very real one indeed.” The Arizona governor said she would act on the commission’s recommendations in the Department of Homeland Security “with the urgency called for by the nature of the threat that confronts us.”
After the foursome made their introductory remarks to the press, reporters were ushered out so the group could continue to discuss the commission’s findings in private. Asked by CNN if his role in the administration had been clearly defined, Biden ignored the question.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/12/03/art.napolitano.ap.jpg caption=" Join the conversation on Jack's blog."]
Ed Rendell is the governor of Pennsylvania. He’s been in politics long enough that he should know you don’t say stuff around an open microphone that can come back to bite you in your situation.
And if you’re a male chauvinist you should be extra careful.
Yesterday Rendell was commenting on the nomination of Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano to be the head of the Department of Homeland Security. There was an open microphone nearby and we were treated to Rendell’s musings that Napolitano would be perfect for the job because she has “no life.”
To read more and contribute to the Cafferty File discussion click here
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/12/03/art.white.house.holiday.get.jpg caption="Festivities commence at the White House."]
(CNN) WASHINGTON - As Americans start the annual tradition of sending out Christmas cards, preparing Christmas dinner menus, and decorating their home for the holidays, President and Mrs. Bush have a decidedly larger task at hand.
Besides lighting the National Christmas tree Thursday night, President and Mrs. Bush will get into the holiday spirit by hosting 25 receptions, seven holiday dinners, mailing out 1.25 million holiday cards and creating a gingerbread house with more than 475 pounds of gingerbread and white chocolate.
Their home will have 780 feet of garland, 27 Christmas trees, 232 wreaths and 412 poinsettias (presidential pets Barney and Mrs. Beasley beware).
And if you’re lucky enough to be invited to one of the receptions or holiday dinners you’ll have a shot at trying one of the 22,000 Christmas cookies, 250 coconut cakes, 600 pounds of asparagus or 700 gallons of eggnog, among other items. It’s definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the White House.
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