The Note: 80% of Gang Members Can't Be Wrong
— -- WASHINGTON, Mar. 19
Yet another manifestation of the early, intense start of the presidential campaign -- as well as of the white-hot politico-media obsession with the Iraq war and the US attorney imbroglio: 398 members of the Gang of 500 showed up on Sunday at Lauriol Plaza for the weekly brunch.
While not a scientific survey by any means (but perhaps more meaningful than a CNN Internet question of the day) there was better than 80% agreement on all the key points:
1. Attorney General Gonzales is a dead man walking; he will "resign" rather than be fired in the next 8 ½ days; and/but Josh Bolten and Don Evans are under no illusion that throwing the AG from the train will end the problem (his departure will only put more blood in the water).
2. The White House will not -- just this once -- follow the Washington Post ed board's advice in selecting a replacement for Gonzales.
3. The worst development for the White House in the last 48 hours was Bob Novak's weekend column, which suggested that the always-gurgling-beneath-the-surface tension between Chuck Schumer (Senior Senator from Brooklyn) and Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Hades) is blowing sky-high over rivalry on the US attorney matter, which will create the kind of market-driven competition Republicans normally love, but, in this case, will hate. LINK
4. Karl Rove and George W. Bush (and Slayne Waiter) well remember the fishing expedition that occurred when Rove got lured into going under oath in public in front of the Texas legislature, and they can't imagine letting that happen again in the DC/global context.
5. Heaven will need to help Hillary Clinton and/or John McCain if they are not the gross cash leaders in their respective party first-quarter fundraising derbies.
6. Every one of the Big 6 has the potential to be the big money story of the quarter.
7. It is possible that every one of the Big 3 Democrats will outraise every one of the Big 3 Republican candidates, which will cause the Old Media to go ga-ga-ga.
8. The only one of the Big 6 who appears to have the potential to be a first-quarter break-through candidate in terms of web fundraising is Senator Obama.
9. When John Fund feels so inclined, he can be a princemaker; see his must-read weekend tête-à-tête with a swaggering Fred Thompson. LINK
10. Having Weaver/Salter/McKinnon/Dennehy/Wiles/Duprey staff at one townhall meeting might be overkill, but McCain still owns the genre; interesting things might happen when Romney and Giuliani start taking come-one-come-all questions in the Granite State.
The Department of Justice is expected to release more emails today, perhaps detailing further DOJ/White House coordination on the US Attorneys matter. Whether or not a bombshell exists is TBD, as is Gonzales' schedule. The timing is also up in the air, but get ready to read that PDF file!!
The bigger moment probably comes tomorrow, though, when the White House explains what level of cooperation it intends to provide.
President makes a statement on the 4th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq in the Roosevelt Room at 11:30 am ET. The President later gives 3:15 pm ET remarks to the University of Florida's 2006 NCAA championship football team on the South Lawn of the White House.
The U.S. Senate meets at 2 pm ET to consider the "Preserving United States Attorney Independence Act of 2007."
Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) campaigns at a 1:45 pm ET event at Benedict College in Columbia, SC.
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) attends a 5:30 pm ET fundraiser at the Farmers Public Market Building in Oklahoma City, OK.
Sen. McCain begins his day in Nashua, NH where he will tour Buckingham Place -- a 20-unit apartment building dedicated to serving homeless veterans. McCain also participates in the dedication of a new Veterans' Home in Nashua. Then, at 6:00 pm ET, McCain attends a fundraising reception in Philadelphia, PA. (The fundraiser is closed, but McCain will gaggle with reporters.)
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) plans to raise coin in Philadelphia, PA too.
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) attends a 6:00 pm ET fundraising reception at Sonsie Restaurant in Boston, MA.
Sen. Sam Brownback is in New Hampshire today where he will do a 9:00 am ET interview with WMUR, attend a 10:30 am ET economic policy forum in Nashua, NH, and lunch with religious leaders and activists at noon ET in Manchester, NH.
Gov. Mike Huckabee appears on MSNBC at approximately 11:10 am ET as part of that networks coverage of the four year anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war.
Political strategist Mark McKinnon and ABC News' Political Director Mark Halperin moderate a discussion on the 2008 Democratic presidential campaign with senior advisers from the Clinton, Obama, and Edwards campaigns at Harvard University's Institute for Politics in Cambridge, MA at 6:00 pm ET. Participants include Clinton adviser Mark Penn, Obama guy David Axelrod, and the pan-national Jonathan Prince of the Edwards campaign.
MoveOn.org plans to organize more than 1,000 candlelight vigils across the country outside Congressional district offices and other public areas in commemoration of the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war. The anti-war group Military Families Speak Out holds a 10:30 am ET news conference marking the occasion at the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, DC.
See below for the week ahead in politics.
Politics of prosecutorial independence:Congressional Democrats want to maximize political gain over the controversy swirling around the firing of the eight US Attorneys by asking Administration officials --including Karl Rove -- for an explanation of what President Bush knew about the impending changes and whether he "was aware of the changes, gave his okay, or was briefed on them and didn't raise objections," reports Politico's Mike Allen. LINK
Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Patrick Leahy insisted that Karl Rove and other top Bush aides testify publicly and under oath about the dismissal of federal prosecutors, "setting up a confrontation between Congress and the White House, which has said it is unlikely to agree to such a demand," writes Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times in an ahead-of-the-curve must read. LINK
More Stolberg: "Dan Bartlett, counselor to Mr. Bush, has said it is 'highly unlikely' that the president would waive executive privilege to allow his top aides to testify publicly. One Republican strategist close to the White House, speaking on the condition of anonymity so as not to appear to be representing the administration, said: 'No president is going to let their senior staff assistant to the president go testify. Forget that. They might agree to do an informal interview, but they'll never testify.'"
ABC News' Lindsay Hamilton reports on two of the fired U.S. Attorneys who spoke out yesterday. Former Attorney David Iglesias told Fox News that "The stories keep changing." LINK
ABC News' Sonya Crawford recaps the Sunday talk shows where Gonzales' fate was discussed. Appearing on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said, "I want testimony under oath. I am sick and tired of getting half-truths on this." LINK
The Los Angeles Times' Richard Serrano spotlights the firing of US Attorney Carol Lam. LINK
The Washington Post's Dan Eggen also looks at the Lam case, in which she "notified (sic) the Justice Department of search warrants in a Republican bribery scandal last May 10, one day before the attorney general's chief of staff warned the White House of a "real problem" with her, a Democratic senator said yesterday." LINK
The Washington Post's Amy Goldstein reports that David Iglesias, was, in fact, "heralded for his expertise in that area by the Justice Department, which twice selected him to train other federal prosecutors to pursue election crimes." LINK
The Boston Herald's editorial board on Gonzales: "Bush, as he did with Rumsfeld, may have to cut loose the man he affectionately calls Fredo." LINK
The Washington Post's editorial board speculates on the desired qualities of the "new attorney general." LINK
Politics of Iraq: Jennifer Yachnin of Roll Call writes about the intense effort House Democrats will go through this week to make sure they have enough votes to pass the $124 billion war supplemental.
On the Senate side. . ."If Thursday's vote on Iraq were the first test, Senate Republican leaders are feeling optimistic the supplemental will play out similarly" write Stanton and Billings of Roll Call.
Asked to describe what word comes to mind when she thinks of the situation in Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told ABC News' Diane Sawyer, "I think of perseverance" in an interview this morning on "Good Morning America" marking the fourth anniversary of the start of the war. "The fact is that we've achieved a great deal with the Iraqis but of course there is a great more to do," she said.
Secretary Rice argued that the U.S. needs to do what's necessary to win the war. "We need to complete the mission because to leave Iraq in the hands of. . . killers would have untold consequences for the region and for our security at home," said Rice.
Appearing on CBS' "Early Show," Secretary Rice said of Iraq, "It's hard to judge when you're in the middle of something. We might have looked to a more decentralized approach." She also said, "I recognize that the American people are concerned, they are skeptical."
Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) also appeared on the "Early Show," "the underlying strategy of this administration is mistaken. I hope the White House begins to change. The truth of the matter is the odd person out is the President because the House and Senate realizes this isn't working."
The AP's Ben Feller on national security advisor Stephen Hadley's comments to Democratic lawmakers, calling a timetable for troop withdrawal a "charade." LINK
Eric Pfeiffer of the Washington Times writes up Secretary Gates' comment that the Iraq surge is "so far, so good." LINK
In a silly video press release, the RNC accuses Democrats of being inconsistent and vague on their deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Click here to see: LINK
ABC News: "Iraq: Where Things Stand:" ABC News' Polling Director Gary Langer writes up the extensive ABC News poll about life in Iraq four years after American military action began. Among the findings that paint a grim picture of life in Iraq: 53 percent of surveyed Iraqis have a friend or relative who have been wounded or killed during the war. LINK
The poll helps kick off ABC News' week-long in depth look at "Iraq: Where Things Stand." Be sure to tune into ABC News throughout the week on television, the Internet, and on radio for a look into life in all regions of Iraq.
Bush Administration agenda: The AP looks at possible upcoming presidential vetoes of bills on "presidential records, protection for whistle-blowers and withdrawal from Iraq." LINK
The Wall Street Journal's John McCary Notes the growing number (and possible influence) of foreign-policy realist thinkers at the George H.W. Bush School of Government and Public Policy at Texas A&M University, where current Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was formerly the dean, in contrast to the ideologically based neoconservatives who have dominated President Bush's foreign policy.
Democratic agenda: Democrats in Congress "have cranked the powerful congressional oversight machinery into overdrive." The Los Angles Times' Richard Simon and Noam Levey take Note of the frequent guests up on the Hill. LINK
Robert Novak finds earmarks still exist "in the dark recesses of Capitol Hill," and throws down the gauntlet to the White House LINK
2008: Republicans: McCain: CBN News' David Brody reports on Sen. McCain's acknowledgement that he will need the Evangelical Christian vote to win the presidency, although his relationship has been rocky since his comments in 2000. LINK
The AP's Holly Ramer shows McCain the comedian at a Dover fundraiser yesterday that was held in the mansion once owned by Republican Sen. Edward Rollins, who served in the late 1800s. LINK
Russ Choma of the Union Leader writes that McCain praised Granite State voters (and implicitly dissed Iowa ones!!) for the way they select candidates, adding that "it would be a shame if this kind of politics ends in New Hampshire," as states are moving their primaries up in the nominating calendar. LINK
The Concord Monitor's Eric Moskowitz has McCain admitting to errors in Iraq but reinforcing his support of the President, concluding, "I don't want to look back in anger, but I do believe that we can succeed." LINK
More from the Nashua Telegraph: LINK
On Saturday, Thomas Beaumont of the Des Moines Register reported on Sen. McCain's Friday swing through Iowa, and how his priorities have changed since 2000.LINK
Beaumont also reported on Sen. McCain's joining of a select few who have regretfully uttered the term "tar baby." LINK
2008: Republicans: Giuliani: Two new huge communications hire in Giuliani land to report. Jim Dyke, the former RNC communications honcho/Palmetto Stater -- who had at one time been helping to plot Sen. Frist's path to the nomination -- will team up again with Katie Levinson. Dyke will serve as senior communications adviser with an eye toward national media and will be on board as of April 1.
And former Pataki communications chief, Michael McKeon, is joining Team Giuliani too. McKeon will keep a focus on New York based media -- which, we understand, has some interest in covering Giuliani's every move.
Per the AP, Rudy Giuliani defends his law firm's work on behalf of its Chavez-affiliated client, Citgo, and points to the American jobs created because of Citgo's work in the United States. LINK
Giuliani expert Andrew Kirtzman of WCBS-TV ensures his phone will be ringing off the hook from TV bookers with a Sunday Washington Post op-ed looking beyond the social issues often invoked and ponders how Giuliani's governing style might dominate the national (and international) stage. LINK
Human Events' Pejman Yousefzadeh makes Note of the Mark Halperin/John Harris tome, "The Way to Win," as a guide for Giuliani to help him find some common ground among social conservatives in his campaign using a "challenge and re-brand tactic." LINK
2008: Republicans: Romney: The Romney campaign announced Sen. Hatch's (R-UT) endorsement this morning via press release.
2008: Republicans: Sanford: Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) says he's not running for president, reports Aaron Gould Sheinin of The State. LINK
"'When I come out for ethanol subsidies, then you'll know," said Gov. Sanford.
2008: Democrats: ABC News' Jake Whitman offers a piece on the YouTube video that is a spin-off of the 1984/'Big Brother' Apple Computer advertising campaign -- but this time it features Sen. Clinton. LINK
2008: Democrats: Clinton: ABC News' Kate Snow and Eloise Harper report on Bill Clinton's sales pitch to donors in Manhattan for Sen. Clinton's presidential candidacy , saying, "'You will never find anybody that will do it better than her.'" LINK
"With her husband at her side, Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton last night pulled in more than $1 million for her 2008 presidential aspirations at a huge Manhattan dinner sprinkled with famous faces and political high rollers," writes The New York Daily News' Celeste Katz. LINK
At her $1 million fundraiser in New York last night, Sen. Clinton said that New Yorkers need to do more than just "go shopping" after 9/11, a play on President Bush's words after the 2001 terrorist attacks, reports the New York Post's Stephanie Gaskell. LINK
The Houston Chronicle's Kristen Mack Notes that Sen. Clinton got religious while visiting Houston this weekend, going to a church on her tour with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX). LINK
2008: Democrats: Edwards: The News & Observer's Rob Christensen, Barbara Bartlett, and Bill Krueger report on the naming of Sen. Edwards' Iowa caucuses staff.LINK
Philip Gailey of the St. Petersburg Times tries to "tune out" Sens. Clinton and Obama, and examines the leftward shift of Sen. Edwards, writing, "it remains to be seen how moderate and independent voters will react to the way Edwards has thrown himself prostrate at the feet of union bosses and liberal bloggers." LINK
2008: Democrats: Obama: The San Francisco Chronicle's Carla Marinucci was in Oakland for Obama's weekend visit, where the Senator took the opportunity to once again highlight his stance on the war versus that of his opponents. LINK
The AP on the same: LINK
John C. Ensslin of the Rocky Mountain News reports on Sen. Obama's Denver campaign appearance, where he moved one attendee to proclaim, "Just as we changed the world with the civil rights movement, we're going to change the world with Obama." LINK
Per the New York Daily News' Helen Kennedy, Rev. Al Sharpton said that he and Sen. Obama had a good conversation and that they agreed to keep in touch. LINK
2008: Democrats: Richardson: After what Republicans and Democrats have called a successful legislative session, the AP reports that Gov. Bill Richardson is about to embark on a state-wide tour of Texas, one of the several states considering upping its primary to February 5, as he hopes to bank on the wealth of Hispanic voters. LINK
Deborah Baker of the Associated Press reports that Gov. Richardson will sign a bill legalizing medical marijuana in New Mexico. LINK
Richardson gets a boffo Cindy Adams referenced today. LINK
2008: Democrats: Dodd: Charlotte Eby of the Quad City Times reports on Sen. Dodd's war vote mea culpa in Iowa, and his promise to be "very well-organized here in the next few weeks."LINK
2008: Democrats: Kucinich: Genevieve Bookwalter of the Santa Cruz Sentinel reports on the love for Rep. Kucinich in Santa Cruz, CA. LINK
2008: New Hampshire: The Associated Press looks at the clout held by independent voters in New Hampshire. LINK
2008: The Washington Post editorializes on the possible early need for Secret Service protection for 2008 Presidential candidates. LINK
". . . Barack Obama has the most 'friends' on MySpace...[but] Hillary Rodham Clinton. . . has drawn much heavier traffic to her Web site than either of her biggest competitors," writes the Wall Street's Journal Amy Schatz on the changing face of the "Internet primary" and the amount of money that 2008 campaigns are spending on their websites. The New York Times on MySpace politics: LINK
As 2008 coverage continues to ramp up, the Los Angeles Times' James Rainey examines the marriage of news media and politics. . . quite literally. LINK
2008: Democratic National Convention: Jennifer Yachnin reports under the headline 'Rocky Mountain High Cost of Security' that the Colorado (Democratic) congressional delegation will request $50 million in federal funding to cover security costs for the 2008 Democratic convention in Denver.
Al Gore takes the Hill: The Washington Times' Christina Bellantoni offers a curtain raiser. LINK
Washington Post: LINK
Newsweek's Eleanor Clift Notes Al Gore's shrunken waistline and gets an anonymous adviser to say, "'Hillary can read into that what she wants. . .'" LINK
Politics of immigration: The Washington Times' S.A. Miller and Christina Bellantoni report that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is drafting a "bipartisan solution" to the immigration conundrum. LINK
2008: Senate: Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) should easily capture a re-election bid in 2008, but the NRSC isn't taking any chances and is stepping up its efforts to make sure she retains her seat, reports Roll Call's Erin Billings.
The week ahead in politics: Tomorrow, former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Clinton repeat their fundraising performance in Washington, DC.
President Bush takes a 1:10 pm ET tour of the General Motors assembly plant in Fairfax, KS, and a 2:05 pm ET tour of the Ford Motor Company's Kansas City plant in Claycomo, MO, followed by a 2:30 pm ET address on energy initiatives.
Sen. McCain delivers 12:00 pm ET remarks at a Republican fundraiser at RSA Plaza in Montgomery, AL, and then gives a 1:30 pm ET address to a joint session of the Alabama State Legislature.
On Wednesday, former Vice President Al Gore testifies before a House committee in the morning and a Senate committee in the afternoon on global warming.
Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) gives a 1:00 pm ET address on Iraq and the economy at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on Thursday.