501 Days until election day.
MORNING UPDATE:
Karl Rove in Michigan tonight.
Hike in CAFE standards passed in the middle of the night. Senators Levin and Stabenow cut a “deal” that “slows” the bleeding, but is still a bad deal for domestic auto manufacturers.
Now the bill moves to the House where congressional Democrat leaders from Michigan need to put up a fight. Can Congressman Dingell and Stupak deliver?
Michigan has Democrat leaders who won’t “buck” their San Francisco Democrats for the good of the auto industry…what good are Levin and Stupak if they can’t represent Michigan???
TAXES…still the talk of the town in Lansing…stay tuned and talk to your state legislators!
State Senator Nancy Cassis is introducing legislation to make Michigan a “Right to Work” state…making union membership voluntary?
U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson in town Monday for a POWER event. More below.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
- Karl Rove will keynote the Marquette County GOP dinner tonight in the U.P. As Republicans look to target Congressman Bart Stupak’s seat, have “the architect” come into the district sends a strong message.
County GOP officials report this promises to be the largest county Lincoln Day Dinner they have ever had…looking at doubling their best turn out ever!
First District Republicans smell blood. Stupak scammed campaign cash to pay his family HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of dollars, voted against investigating a fellow Democrats Congressman who had $90,000+ in his office freezer (petty cash?) and now appears to be willing to “cut a deal” on CAFE standards that put UAW and auto related workers retirement and pay at risk. And national journalist Ben Stein pens an article calling Congressman Stupak one of the most dangerous men in America? Wow.
Term limited State Representative Tom Casperson is emerging as a potential leading candidate to take on Congressman Stupak. Tom has a great record representing his district in the U.P. and defeated Stupak’s wife for his first bid to win his current state legislative seat. Party leaders appear to be getting behind Tom’s bid to take on Bart Stupak…who may end up lobbying or running for Governor anyways.
- Senators Levin and Stabenow couldn’t stop CAFE in the Senate…they cut a deal to “help”, but a bad deal that costs us jobs and BILLIONS isn’t much of a deal.
As a favorite state rep of ours said…with friends like Levin and Stupak, who needs enemies?!?
The bill now moves to the House where Democrat leaders…in a Democratically controlled House…can see what they could do.
Congressman Dingell, the “dean” and Congressman Stupak, Michigan’s newest leadership member can show us what kind of “clout” they really have. Forget the rhetoric, save jobs…save our industry…save Michigan.
Every autoworker, supplier and related voter should be paying attention.
Why elect Michigan Democrats if they can’t produce…if they can’t have influence in their own MAJORITY…which is controlled by San Francisco Democrat philosophy.
Levin failed us in the Senate….will Stupak do the same?
Retirees…UAW…Michigan citizens…pay attention…demand action - not rhetoric and symbolic “no” votes.
GONGWERS reports: RIGHT TO WORK: Sen. Nancy Cassis (R-Novi) said Thursday she is introducing legislation that would make Michigan a right to work state. If the measure were to pass (the likelihood seems remote this session with a Democratically-controlled House and a Democratic governor) it would make Michigan the first such state in the Midwest and provide Michigan with an advantage for companies looking to expand or locate in the state, she said. Similar legislation has already been introduced in the House by Rep. Brian Palmer (R-Romeo).
- Now Open: The Michigan Republican Party Online Store! Our secure, user-friendly site offers a variety of Republican items, including sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats, travel mugs, and more! Perfect for personal use, holiday presents, or volunteer gifts, our items will allow you to confidently display your Republican pride. Visit www.migop.org/store to view, purchase, or comment on our selection of unique Republican items.
- POWER Political Briefing with Senator Hutchinson..Please join Jane Abraham for a POWER Political Briefing with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson on Monday, June 25, 2007 at the Detroit Athletic Club.
Current POWER members receive complimentary invitations to the event. If you are not a member and would like to join POWER and attend the event, please contact Michelle Rudoni at 517-487-5413 or email her at michelle@migop.org. Membership is $1,000 annually and can be paid in one lump sum or in quarterly installments.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.mlive.com/news/chronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-11/118259381498850.xml&coll=8
Congressman's influence helped Muskegon
Saturday, June 23, 2007
By Steve Gunn
There's no doubt that Guy Vander Jagt was a major player in national political circles, particularly during the height of his power in the 1980s.
He made a stirring keynote address to the Republican National Convention in 1980. He was the longtime chairman of the Republican National Congressional Committee. He was widely rumored to be on former President Ronald Reagan's short list of potential running mates.
But Muskegon-area leaders from that era were less interested in the Vander Jagt who rubbed elbows with presidents than they were in the congressman who brought home the bacon.
In that respect Vander Jagt, who died Friday at the age of 75 from pancreatic cancer, was very much a local hero, they said.
"During his tenure he was very, very supportive of Muskegon," said former Muskegon County Administrator Frank Bednarek, who worked closely with Vander Jagt for years. "He was in the minority (in the House), but he was the ranking Republican on the appropriations committee, so he had a lot of ability to get us funds."
Defeat on fuel economy reflects Big 3's lost clout
Critics cite Detroit automakers' resistance to earlier proposed standards, rise of global warming concerns.
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- If any doubt remained that Detroit's auto industry has lost most of its once considerable clout on Capitol Hill, the Senate's lopsided vote this week to raise fuel economy mandates removed it.
The most intensive Detroit-led lobbying effort in years not only failed, it was virtually ignored by a Senate that voted 65-27 to approve fuel economy regulations that the automakers said could cripple the industry.
"We don't believe you anymore," Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday. "We've had enough."
The reasons for Detroit's impotence in Washington are many. The industry lost credibility by fighting even modest fuel measures in the past decade with sky-is-falling rhetoric, critics say.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070623/OPINION01/706230323/1069
Senate puts U.S. carmakers at risk
June 23, 2007
Chalk it up to gas prices.
How else to explain the Senate's overwhelming vote to burden the domestic auto industry by drastically raising fuel-economy standards? Now senators can say they've done something, albeit nothing that will make gas any cheaper. And if an auto company or two is run out of business trying to build vehicles that meet the new standards and that American consumers will want to buy, well, they were in trouble anyway ...
Chalk it up to ineffective arguing on the industry's behalf by Michigan's two U.S. senators, Democrats Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, and the industry's own history of clumsy or crisis-only engagement with the political process.
And chalk at least some of it up to a genuine desire on the part of some senators to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil and craft an overdue national energy policy. No arguing with those two goals, but under the Senate plan, the auto industry faces a disproportionate role in meeting them.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070623/AUTO01/706230393&theme=Autos-Delphi
Delphi-UAW deal: Sign of the future
Bill Vlasic and Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News
The historic restructuring of the American auto industry cleared another major hurdle Friday with the announcement of a deal covering wage cuts and factory closures between bankrupt Delphi Corp. and the United Auto Workers.
The tentative agreement includes a payout of $105,000 over three years that will be offered to about 4,000 of Delphi's 17,000 UAW workers. In return, the workers' pay will be cut from about $27 an hour to a maximum of $18.50 an hour by Oct. 1.
Delphi said the pact negotiated with the UAW and General Motors Corp., its former parent, represents a "significant milestone" in its torturous, 20-month odyssey since filing for Chapter 11 on Oct. 8, 2005.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-44/118259942349350.xml&coll=5
Delphi deal now up to members
UAW leaders to brief workers next week
FLINT
THE FLINT
It's a deal - but now come the rank-and-file ratification votes.
Top officials of the UAW, Delphi Corp. and General Motors signed a tentative agreement Friday afternoon that paves the way for bankrupt Delphi to move ahead with plans to cut wages, allows the UAW to protect pensions - and clears the decks for upcoming national contract talks.
But now its up to the membership to hear about it, buy into it - and vote for it.
Leaders from UAW locals that represent Delphi hourly workers gathered Friday in Detroit for a briefing on the pact. They will be fanning out to their home union halls to tell their members about it early next week.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070623/AUTO01/706230361&theme=Autos-UAW-talks
Gettelfinger: Big Three are 'posturing'
UAW head dismisses talk that union must cut worker pay by $30 an hour.
Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- UAW President Ron Gettelfinger disputed U.S. automakers' claims that they must cut workers' pay and benefits by $30 an hour to compete with foreign rivals.
In an online chat Friday with United Auto Workers members, Gettelfinger dismissed the figure as "posturing" and said he will not debate the issue in the press.
"Unfortunately, the newspapers keep repeating that the auto companies 'need' a $30 reduction in hourly wages and benefits," Gettelfinger said in the morning chat. "In our opinion, this is nothing more than posturing by the auto companies."
The Detroit automakers are expected to press for deep concessions from the UAW when negotiations on a four-year national contract begin this summer.
Appeals court ruling may keep Jackson prison from closing
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- A state prison in Jackson will not close in July after a federal appeals court on Friday blocked officials from moving sick inmates to other facilities, at least for now.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals order allows the Michigan Department of Corrections to transfer about 300 healthy inmates at the Southern Michigan Correctional Facility to other prisons.
But 700 sick prisoners will stay beyond July 15, when Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration had hoped to completely shut down the 1,400-bed facility.
Friday's decision is a victory for inmates involved in a class-action lawsuit involving three Jackson prisons and issues such as prisoners' health care. Their lawyers argue the planned closure of Southern Michigan is a flagrant attempt to escape long-standing federal oversight.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070623/AUTO02/706230388
Daniel Howes
Daniel Howes: A tough blow, a long road ahead
On the second Saturday in October 2005, when Delphi Corp. filed for bankruptcy, Detroit's auto industry, its people and communities shuddered.
Now we see a big reason why.
The painful, concessionary and, depending on your point of view, inevitable labor agreement inked by the United Auto Workers, Delphi and former parent General Motors Corp. is the most prominent piece of the Delphi parable and what it could portend for the larger pieces of Detroit's automotive empire -- the three automakers themselves.
Like the third ghost in Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," the Delphi story over the past 21 months offers glimpses of what could be. But it's not necessarily what must be, unless GM, Ford Motor and Chrysler stumble even more than they already have in their North American turnarounds.
http://www.hometownlife.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070617/NEWS17/706170522
New program is 'tough love at its finest'
By Pat Murphy
Not long ago, three young men from Southfield celebrated. They had successfully completed eight weeks of the Oakland County Sheriff's boot camp.
In previous years, their military-style ordeal would be over. The Southfield men and other members of Platoon 07-04 would have graduated and would have been cut loose, sentences completed, bodies leaner and lives altered forever.
This year, however, Trainees Jeffrey Mills, Patrick Hennessee and Tu' Wan Richardson didn't graduate. Instead, they and 11 other members of Platoon 07-04 experienced "Recognition Day."
It was a happy day. Parents and family were invited to celebrate completion of the most gruelling part of boot camp and passage into the so-called "After Care" program.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070623/NEWS06/706230364/1008
Paper prints salaries of state workers
June 23, 2007
BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF
FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF
LANSING -- A Lansing newspaper that posted an Internet link to the salaries of 53,000 state employees, spent Friday fending off complaints from angry state workers, some of whom said they cancelled their subscriptions or threatened to boycott.
The Lansing State Journal published on Thursday's front page a link to the database, which allows readers to enter state employees' names, salaries, jobs and county of residence.
Executive editor Mickey Hirten said he was surprised by the level of outcry and said it shows state employees feel besieged by the state's budget crisis. The paper's Web site drew hundreds of comments from readers about the salary posting.
"Just because I'm a state employee doesn't mean that I'm not entitled to privacy," wrote one angry reader.
But another reader was glad to see the salaries made public, and wrote, "This is great for those of us employed by the state who want to see how much our do-nothing managers make (in my case, $75K)."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070623/BUSINESS01/706230341/1002/BUSINESS
Lear to push Icahn sale
Shareholders' meeting delayed to win votes
June 23, 2007
BY JEWEL GOPWANI
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
Lear Corp. has delayed its annual meeting by two weeks and plans to use the extra time to sway shareholders to support its plan to sell the seat maker to billionaire investor Carl Icahn.
Southfield-based Lear plans to meet with its major shareholders before its rescheduled July 12 meeting to counter criticism of the deal that surfaced this week after three investor advisory firms recommended that shareholders vote against it.
The vote was scheduled to take place Wednesday.
"We just need to make sure we get a full and complete story out to them," said Daniel Ninivaggi, Lear's general counsel.
The move is a sign that Lear doesn't believe it has enough shareholder votes for the sale. Changing investors' minds won't be easy, especially after Lear raised its earnings guidance for the second quarter and the full year earlier this week. The deal was already under scrutiny by shareholders who said Icahn's offer was too low.
http://info.detnews.com/weblog/index.cfm?blogid=10045
Fri, Jun 22, 2007 at 10:28 AM
Manny Lopez
Government should get out of the way too
Rep. Lee Gonzales said on the Frank Beckmann show this morning that legislation aimed at protecting workers from being fired because of things they do on their own time was to, among other things, keep employers from meddling in the private lives of their employees.
Let's ignore the merits of the legislation for a minute, but take a look at the premise. Keep others from meddling in the private lives of others. I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, the Flint Democrat doesn't apply that logic universally.
If he did, he'd hold himself and his colleagues to the same standard as it applies to government and business. But no.
Gonzales wants to mandate that restaurants put calorie counts for every food item on a menu and worse yet, has written language in the bill that mandates the font size and background colors that would have to be used for the text.
http://www.mlive.com/news/saginawnews/index.ssf?/base/news-23/1182594011119410.xml&coll=9
Utility pushes reform on power
Saturday, June 23, 2007
BARRIE BARBER
THE SAGINAW NEWS
First, the good news: Consumers Energy says electricity bills will fall
5 percent next month thanks to the sale of the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant.
Now, the bad: Eventually, electricity rates will rise again -- but less than the rate of inflation through 2011 -- if the utility succeeds in repealing a state law that offers the choice of picking power suppliers, a top officials at the Jackson-based utility says.
Consumers President and Chief Operating Officer John G. Russell said the power provider needs the assurance of a stable customer base to attract investors to build a $2 billion, 750-megawatt coal-fired plant using the latest clean air technology to meet the state's growing energy needs.
The Karn-Weadock plant site in Hampton Township ranks among four finalists. Consumers expects to make a final decision on the location for a new plant this summer, company officials said.
Earlier this month, two private energy companies announced a joint plan to build a 750-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Midland. The $1.3 billion investment could start generating electricity by 2013.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070623/OPINION01/706230325/1069
IN OUR OPINION
Get on board for lakes
June 23, 2007
With the threat of a lawsuit, eight wildlife and conservation groups have put welcome additional pressure on the shipping industry to stop delivering foreign species here. The groups have told several international companies to start treating their ballast water or face a judge to explain why they won't.
The notice of intent to sue, the first step under Clean Water Act provisions that allow citizens to act, complements two other legal cases over ballast water. That includes a shippers' suit against Michigan's ballast water rule.
In the nearly two decades since zebra mussels were found in the St. Clair River, neither Congress nor federal regulatory agencies have managed to force control measures on international ships. Great Lakes studies show that damage from hitchhiking species outweighs the economic benefits of welcoming ships from abroad.
The arrival of VHS, a fish disease that has already caused several die-offs in the Great Lakes basin, has been another wake-up call. Michigan and other states are imposing rules to ensure boaters don't transfer infected bait, fish or contaminated water from one lake to another, particularly to inland lakes.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070623/OBITUARIES/706230375/1022/POLITICS
Guy Vander Jagt, Cadillac
GOP congressional leader, famed orator
Deb Price / The Detroit News
Guy Vander Jagt, a former Michigan Republican congressman whom President Nixon once described as "the best public speaker in America," died Friday of pancreatic cancer. He was 75.
Vander Jagt represented the then-9th Congressional District, which stretched from Holland to Traverse City, from 1966-93.
"We were elected to Congress on the same day," former President George H.W. Bush told The Detroit News.
"We remained close friends. I had great respect for what he did for the party. I was sorry to hear of his passing. Barbara especially feels terrible," added Bush, who called Vander Jagt's widow, Carol, Friday morning to offer his condolences.
As chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee for 18 years, he was widely credited with helping to lay the building blocks that led to the Republican takeover of the U.S. House in 1994. His accomplishments for Michigan included helping to establish the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110010239
What's Not to Like
The soft side, and the underside, of Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Friday, June 22, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
Hillary Clinton doesn't have to prove she's a man. She has to prove she's a woman.
She doesn't have to prove to people that she's tough enough or aggressive enough to be commander in chief. She doesn't have to show she could and would wage a war. She has to prove she has normal human warmth, a normal amount of give, of good nature, that she is not, at bottom, grimly combative and rather dark.
This is the woman credited with starting and naming the War Room. Her staff has nicknamed her "The Warrior." Get in her way and she'd squish you like a bug. This has been her reputation for 20 years. And it is her big problem. People want a president to be strong but not hard.
A longtime supporter of Mrs. Clinton's spoke with candor some months back of her friend's predicament. "We're back where we were in '92--likability. Nothing has changed."
Cars Will Use Less Fuel, Senate Assures
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The cars, SUVS and pickups people will buy in the years ahead are likely to use less fuel, and many will rely on ethanol or household electricity instead of gasoline. The energy legislation pushed through the Senate this week provides a roadmap to the future, demanding higher automobile fuel economy, mandating huge increases in ethanol as a motor fuel and supporting more research into building "plug-in" hybrid-electric vehicles.
While Senate Republicans complained that the bill does nothing to increase domestic oil production, Democrats said that's because the nation must move energy policy away from its heavy reliance on oil.
GOP Seeks More Immigration Enforcement
WASHINGTON (AP) -- New requirements to track down, deport and permanently bar people who overstay their visas would be added to a broad immigration bill under a GOP bid to attract more Republican support.
The amendment, which also would prevent illegal immigrants from gaining lawful status until they pass a background check, is one of those the Senate will consider next week when it returns its attention to the immigration measure. The bill is likely to see a final vote by month's end.
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., an architect of a broader deal to legalize as many as 12 million unlawful immigrants, said Friday that the amendment "will help substantially" in persuading his Republican colleagues to support the compromise.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070623/OPINION01/706230305/1008
Iraq realities continue clash among media
Three columns were written to stand alone as a bellwether of the Iraq war. But placed side by side, the three perspectives illustrate the clashing realities in this impossibly complex conflict.
In the Weekly Standard, William Kristol and Frederick Kagan take stock of the recent "spectacular attacks" attributed to al-Qaida, and they conclude the terrorists are emulating North Vietnam's decisive Tet offensive to wear down American will.
The reason, the columnists assert, is "that al-Qaida is steadily losing its grip in Iraq," as more and more Sunnis join forces with the Iraqi government and U.S. troops to root out the terrorists.
________________________________________________________________________
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062202013.html?hpid=topnews
Iraq Push Revives Criticism of Force Size
Baghdad Offensive May Shift Violence Elsewhere
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 23, 2007; Page A01
The major U.S. offensive launched last weekend against insurgents in and around Baghdad has significantly expanded the military's battleground in Iraq -- "a surge of operations," and no longer just of troops, as the second-ranking U.S. commander there said yesterday -- but it has renewed concerns about whether even the bigger U.S. troop presence there is large enough.
As the U.S. offensive, code-named Phantom Thunder, has been greeted with a week of intensified fighting in areas outside the capital -- areas that the U.S. military has largely left untouched for as long as three years -- the push raised fears from security experts and officers in the field that the new attacks might simply propel the enemy from one area to another where there are not as many U.S. troops.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062201290.html
Democrats Propose New Tax Rate on Investment Funds
By David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 22, 2007; 5:52 PM
Top House Democrats today introduced wide-ranging legislation that would more than double the tax rate that private equity firms, venture capital funds and many hedge funds pay on their gains.
The proposed legislation would cause the most comprehensive change to the capital gains tax law in decades. It was authored by Rep. Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.) and introduced by Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the Financial Services Committee.
The bill was introduced on the first day of trading of private equity giant Blackstone. Its IPO was one of the reasons Congress became interested in examining how such firms are taxed.
The IPO became one of the richest in Wall Street history this morning when it began trading about 18 percent above its offering price of $31 per share. Late in the afternoon, the stock was holding onto those gains and was trading just shy of $36 per share.
9/11 workers from Moore film fear political attack
NEW YORK (AP) -- Three ground zero workers who accompanied filmmaker Michael Moore on a trip to Cuba for medical treatment featured in his new movie "Sicko" charged they were targeted by the U.S. government because of their participation.
"It's ridiculous after what we did for the city and the country on that day, that they won't allow us to go 90 miles offshore to get treated," Reggie Cervantes, a 46-year-old EMT who worked with only a thin dust mask after the World Trade Center collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001, said Friday.
The Brooklyn-based worker, among the first responders performing triage on the street below the burning towers, now suffers from severe pulmonary diseases, as well as kidney and liver problems.
Moore and the ailing 9/11 workers went to Cuba for treatment in March despite a U.S. trade embargo restricting travel to the Communist country. The U.S.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070623/NATION/706230341/1022/POLITICS
U.S. is expanding an Afghan prison
The facility will house some detainees from Guantanamo Bay, which Bush intends to close.
Matthew Lee / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. is helping expand a prison in Afghanistan to take some detainees from Guantanamo Bay, while administration officials argue about whether to bring the most dangerous to the U.S. when the Cuban facility shuts down.
President Bush has made closing the prison in Cuba a priority, though the Afghan site is not meant to be a substitute, the White House said Friday.
"Everybody is working toward the goal to meet what the president has asked them to do, which is to do it as soon as possible," deputy press secretary Dana Perino told reporters.
She said Bush's top aides are in active discussions about closing Guantanamo. Senior officials, meanwhile, have told The Associated Press a consensus is building on how to do it, including sending some high-value suspects to military facilities in the U.S. where they could be prosecuted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062202190.html?hpid=topnews
Fundraising Gap Likely to Persist For Campaigns
McCain, Edwards Expect To Lag Behind Leaders
By Michael D. Shear and Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, June 23, 2007; Page A01
Twelve weeks ago, after raising less money than two other Republican candidates in the first three months of 2007, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the early favorite for his party's presidential nomination, declared that it was his fault, said he hoped "to get better" at it and reorganized his finance team.
This week he said it hasn't worked out too well, acknowledging that raising money is "very tough" and allowing that "we weren't going to win this campaign on money anyway."
On the Democratic side, former senator John Edwards of North Carolina had vowed that he, too, would improve on a weak first-quarter showing. But this week, Joe Trippi, a senior aide, e-mailed supporters with news that the campaign is only two-thirds of the way to its relatively modest fundraising goal.
Edwards and McCain are two prominent victims of the widening money gap between the front-runners and the rest of the field, a separation that will be apparent when the campaigns file their fundraising reports on the second quarter, which ends next Saturday.
McCain Campaign Apologizes to Romney
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- John McCain's presidential campaign has apologized to Republican rival Mitt Romney for comments about the Mormon church allegedly made by a volunteer earlier this year.
The incident dates to a meeting of Iowa Republican activists in April, where McCain's Warren County chairman, Chad Workman, is alleged to have made negative comments about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Mormon faith. Romney is a Mormon.
A participant at the meeting said Workman questioned whether Mormons were Christians, and he referenced an article alleging that the Mormon church supports the Islamic militant group Hamas. The participant talked to The Associated Press on Friday on condition of anonymity because he is involved in Iowa politics and wanted to protect his identity.
REAGANITE RUDY
REAL FISCAL DISCIPLINE
June 23, 2007 -- AS the Washington spending juggernaut steams ahead, Rudolph Giuliani offered to toss several monkey wrenches into its gears.
Wednesday in Des Moines, Iowa, the Republican presidential front-runner unveiled several attractive ideas to "restore fiscal discipline and cut wasteful Washington spending." Among them:
* Require that federal agency chiefs propose 5-20 percent spending cuts annually. This would make them streamline their operations and improve services for less money.
- Slash federal civilian employment by 21 percent. By 2017, 42 percent of federal workers will retire. Giuliani would replace only half those vacancies. These 150,000 unfilled bureaucratic slots would save taxpayers $21 billion annually, while sparing Americans that many meddlers and nannies.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/hottopic/?id=110010249
Mike Bloomberg's Money
Making politics easier for billionaire candidates.
Saturday, June 23, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
Let's face it: There's one overriding reason anyone is talking about Michael Bloomberg running for President. It isn't New York City's real estate boom, budget surpluses or his political philosophy. It's his money.
Mayor Bloomberg, in his regular denials that he intends to run for President, likes to note that a "short, Jewish, divorced billionaire" doesn't sound very electable. We're not sure how important the first three traits are, but the last, far from disqualifying him, is the main reason behind the Bloomberg boomlet. Unlike most other American politicians, he is rich enough to finance his own independent Presidential campaign. And thanks to our campaign finance laws, he's a rare candidate who doesn't have to raise money in hundreds of $2,300 or smaller increments.
Prior to the campaign finance "reforms" of the 1970s and McCain-Feingold of 2002, it was possible for a political maverick like Eugene McCarthy to mount a campaign with the money of a couple of well-heeled backers. These days, a Stewart Mott or Jack Dreyfus could only advance their views by running themselves. This is not progress.
http://info.detnews.com/dcblog/index.cfm
Deb Price
Fri, Jun 22, 2007 at 10:55 AM
Obama, Clinton lining up top African American allies
Leading Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are lining up endorsements in the influential Congressional Black Caucus.
Obama is endorsed by one of Michigan's two CBC House members -- John Conyers, the powerful chairman of the Judiciary Committee. CBC Chair Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, who, like Conyers, is from Detroit, hasn't yet endorsed.
In addition to Conyers, Obama, an IIlinois senator who is African American, has the early support of nine other CBC House members. They are Al Green of Texas, who endorsed this week; three fellow Illinois lawmakers -- Danny Davis, Jesse Jackson Jr. and Bobby Rush -- Lacy Clay of Missouri; Artur Davis of Alabama; Elijah Cummings of Maryland; Keith Ellison of Minnesota, and Gwen Moore of Wisconsin.
Hillary and Arkansas: Together for Now
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- The on-again, off-again love affair between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Arkansans is on again. Clinton returns to the state where she was first lady for 12 years on Saturday to headline a state Democratic Party fundraiser, this time as her party's front-runner for the White House and with a rock star-like celebrity status.
One benchmark of that status: A local sign store says Clinton paraphernalia is outselling that of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee 20-to-1 even though Huckabee is a Republican presidential candidate who recently retired as governor after serving for 10 years.
Arkansans also buy 10 Clinton items for every one with fellow Democrat Barack Obama's name.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/picking-up-where-dean-left-off/
June 22, 2007, 12:42 pm
Picking Up Where Dean Left Off
In his web column today, Jeff Zeleny writes:
Hungry for dinner with Senator Barack Obama? A minimum contribution of $5 to his presidential campaign – and, of course, a little dash of luck – was all it took to play along in the latest political gimmick of the 2008 race for the White House.
Eyeing ways to expand and energize the ranks of its supporters, the campaign invited people to write a few words explaining why they wanted to meet Mr. Obama. Thousands of responses came in, aides said, and four winners were selected this week to join the senator for a private dinner in July.
Sound like something Howard Dean might have tried four years ago?
The Obama campaign, along with several of his rivals, is hoping to pick up where Mr. Dean’s presidential bid left off – at least where political creativity is concerned – by seizing on the power of the Internet to raise money, stir excitement and mobilize supporters across the country.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/us/politics/22nader.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin
Nader Weighs Another Run for President
Published: June 22, 2007
Ralph Nader, whose run for president infuriated Democrats in 2000 and made him the object of disdain when he ran again in 2004, said today that he might get into the 2008 race.
Mr. Nader said he would wait until the fall to decide. His decision, he said, would depend on whether he could round up enough volunteers and pro bono lawyers to get him on the ballot in all 50 states despite what he expected would be widespread opposition from Democrats.
Mr. Nader, who ran as a Green Party candidate, won 2.7 percent of the vote in 2000. Democrats contend that he siphoned enough votes from their candidate, Al Gore, particularly in Florida and New Hampshire, to cost Mr. Gore the presidency.
http://info.detnews.com/weblog/index.cfm
Fri, Jun 22, 2007 at 10:44 PM
Libby Spencer
Why does the liberal press love the GOP?
While that "liberal press" was busy finding ways to falsely slime John Edwards for helping poor people, much as they falsely smeared Gore in 2000 with a fake narrative that survives to this day, the underreported story of the week was Rudy Guiliani's greedy priorities. I don't believe it's mentioned at all in the major media. Somebody should call that liberal press and remind them they're supposed to slanting the bais for liberal Democrats, not covering up for authoritarian Republicans.
You may not know that Guiliani was one of the ten people appointed to Howard Baker's Iraq Study Group. You remember that was the committee Bush put together to analyze the situation in Iraq and make recommendations he ignored, along with all other advice, when he ordered the surge. Rudy was happy to make political points with one and accepted a seat on the panel. It was his prime chance to learn about the foreign policy problems, about which he knows zilch. As a presidential candidate, that was a responsible move.
