Articles of Interest 1-5-08
306 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
Granholm’s/Democrat’s Taxpayer Fraud gets worse. The state announces a $350 million surplus, yet the latest figures show that the Governor underfunded pension commitments, education funding and borrowed funds from the tobacco settlement…just pushing off more hard decisions down the line.
Why the shell game???
Michigan needs leadership and responsible reforms as the way we spend tax payer’s dollars. Now is the time for a bi-partisan approach to address the “structural reforms” needed to put Michigan back on the right track.
Presidential politics continues to take center stage on the national front. Weekly Standards Editor Bill Kristol yesterday, on WJR’s Frank Beckman Show, said Michigan will be “the state” when it comes to the Republican nominating process!
Nationally, Michigan’s primary is getting more attention and folks are realizing how important Michigan will be given the lack of consensus coming out of Iowa and New Hampshire.
Democrat spin on Iowa…the Democrats keep talking about how many more “participants” showed up on the Dem side…well, the Republicans held a “straw poll” while the Democrats actually elected delegates. No surprise, not relevant…but as usual…a great way to spin a “Clinton rejection”.
Our 2007 Annual Report was emailed out to our party activists yesterday and is posted on our blog at:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2008/01/2007-annual-rep.html
If you are interested in the RNC presidential primary reform options, here is the proposal Debbie Dingell and I proposed to both national parties. For more information go to:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/12/dingell-anuzis.html
The bottom line: trust will be the issue if Senator Clinton is the nominee. Hypocrisy will be the issue if John Edwards is the nominee and experience will be the issue if Obama is the nominee.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
No further commentary today.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1199457949187510.xml&coll=6
Iowa results lend importance to Michigan primary
Friday, January 04, 2008
By Ted RoelofsThe Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS -- Steve Nortier had a hunch that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee could shake up the field in Tuesday's GOP Iowa caucus. He was right, as Huckabee cruised to a win over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. "That's awesome," said Nortier, 44, who hosted a couple dozen Huckabee supporters at his Grand Rapids home as results rolled in. Nortier said he met Huckabee while a student at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas and came to admire him as a Baptist pastor and as a governor.
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/news-49/1199484561323960.xml&storylist=newsmichigan
Michigan strategy already shaping up as candidates head to NH
1/4/2008, 5:00 p.m. EST
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan is shaping up as a make-or-break state for Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and John McCain as the three gear up to fiercely compete in the state's Jan. 15 Republican presidential primary. The focus shifts to Michigan next Wednesday, the day after the New Hampshire primary. Huckabee beat Romney by nine points in Thursday's Iowa caucuses, making New Hampshire increasingly critical for Romney, who had based his campaign strategy on winning Iowa and New Hampshire.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080104/UPDATE/801040426/1022/POLITICS
Deadline passes for Obama, Edwards to join Michigan fray
Gordon Trowbridge and Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Friday, January 4, 2008
There was no last-minute change of heart by Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and John Edwards to enter Michigan's Jan. 15 primary. Both have removed their names from the Michigan primary ballot, and neither changed that position before today's 4 p.m. deadline for write-in candidates to register for the contest, Secretary of State officials reported. Michigan law requires any write-in hopefuls to register; write-in votes for unregistered candidates do not count.
http://blog.mlive.com/saginawnews/2008/01/state_dems_to_absentee_voters.html
State Dems to absentee voters: don't write-in your pick
Posted by Barrie Barber/The Saginaw News
January 04, 2008 09:41AM
Dorothy L. Crawford pulled out her Democratic absentee ballot for the Jan. 15 presidential primary and stared for a name she didn't see. John Edwards. Former North Carolina senator and a populist. Headline-making 2008 presidential contender making his second run at the White House. And missing in action in Michigan. Crawford, 80, hoped to write in Edwards' name, but because he is one of four Democrats who withdrew from contention in the Michigan primary, Crawford's vote wouldn't count if she did. Her choices are those who remain on the ballot -- U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio -- or to vote uncommitted.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080105/NEWS07/801050314
Write-in vote will spoil Michigan ballot
Chris Christoff
January 5, 2008
Michigan voters getting absentee ballots for the state's Jan. 15 presidential primary have four Democratic choices -- Hillary Clinton, Dennis Kucinich, Chris Dodd (who dropped out of the race Thursday) and Mike Gravel. That's because Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson and Joe Biden (who also dropped out this week) removed their names from the ballot last fall. So, what should their supporters do? Don't write in a candidate's name. Your ballot will be thrown out. Detroit officials say they're already seeing a lot of spoiled ballots.
http://www.livingstondaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080104/NEWS01/801040319/1002
Budget woes overshadow politics
By Dan Meisler
DAILY PRESS & ARGUS
January 4, 2008
The highlight of the year in politics was a low point in the history of the Michigan Legislature — the months of budget fighting that led to a short-lived government shutdown in October. There was plenty of blame to go around as Republicans and Democrats failed to find a compromise to a state budget deficit estimated at more than $1 billion — until after the state shut down for several hours early on Oct. 1. However, local state Republican lawmakers Rep. Chris Ward of Genoa Township and Sen. Valde Garcia of Marion Township had shouldered much of the responsibility in the eyes many fellow Republicans for breaking with the GOP and voting for tax increases.
http://www.mininggazette.com/stories/articles.asp?articleID=10049
State finds itself with surprise budget surplus
By DAN SCHNEIDER, DMG Writer
January 4, 2008
HANCOCK — The state ended its last budget year with an unexpected $350 million budget surplus. Michigan ended its fiscal year Sept. 30 with $259.1 million. Annual state financial reports also listed the School Aid Fund with more than $94 million. The surplus is for the 2006-07 fiscal year, a period in which a deficit of more than $1 billion was filled by delaying payments to state universities and community colleges, dipping into funds set aside for job training and substance abuse treatment and selling off part of the state’s future tobacco settlement. Taxes were not raised to deal with the shortfall.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080104/NEWS01/801040310/1002
Gas taxes also could increase
By BOBBY AMPEZZAN
January 4, 2008
The state Department of Transportation's multi-billion dollar budget isn't enough to maintain the state's roads at their current condition, and Sen. Jud Gilbert, R-Algonac, wants solutions. Recently, Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a bill Gilbert sponsored last year that will create a task force and citizen advisory committee charged with proposing alternative revenue sources to pay for the state's transportation needs. "This last construction season was the peak. You saw more orange barrels than you had in prior years, and you're going to (begin to) see a deterioration in the roads system," Gilbert said.
http://www.monroenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080105/NEWS01/844619122/-1/NEWS
Granholm signs bill to create road panels
By: Evening News staff
January 05. 2008 12:50AM
The two groups will analyze how to generate and allocate money for road improvements. Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a bill establishing a task force and citizens advisory committee to make recommendations on alternatives for funding transportation in Michigan. The task force will finish a preliminary report by November. A final report is due by April 1, 2009. The 13-member task force will include nine citizens representing the manufacturing, labor, commerce, transportation, agriculture, public transit, tourism and aviation sectors. It also will include the majority and minority leaders of the Senate and the speaker and minority leader of the House of Representatives, or their designees.
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/news-49/1199450967196070.xml&storylist=newsmichigan
Ann Arbor police chief goes likes writing traffic tickets
1/4/2008, 7:44 a.m. EST
The Associated Press
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — If you find yourself getting pulled over for a traffic violation in Ann Arbor, take a good look at the officer writing the ticket. It could be Police Chief Barnett Jones. Jones tells The Ann Arbor News he enjoys making traffic stops. He says the best way to learn the city is to go out alone. He says he's made 20 traffic stops and written 10 tickets since he was hired in June 2006.
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/14976736/detail.html
Fallen Soldier's Family Wants His Dogs Sent Home
POSTED: 7:06 am EST January 4, 2008
GROSSE POINT FARMS, Mich. -- The Neesley family of Grosse Pointe Farms is hoping to turn heartache into healing. Their 28-year-old son, U.S. Army Sgt. Peter Neesley died suddenly and mysteriously on Christmas Day while serving in Iraq. Before his death, he told his family he wanted two stray dogs he found and cared for in Baghdad to come home with him to Michigan.
NATIONAL STORIES
ANALYZING IOWA: TWO HISTORIC VICTORIES
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
January 4, 2008
THE amazing victories by Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee in Iowa last night are truly historic. They demonstrate the impact and viability of a message of change in both parties. On the Democratic side, Obama - by winning in a totally white state - shows that racism is gone as a factor in American politics. On the Republican side, Huckabee's win shows how a truly compassionate conservative can win by harvesting voters who want the message of concern for the poor and for values to prevail. But what of Hillary Clinton? She's down but not out. In the first really contested election of her own political career, she lost dismally - outclassed, outdrawn and outpolled by Obama. Her campaign professionals (including Bill) decided to stress experience, precisely the wrong message in a Democratic primary.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0104fri1-04.html
Iowa's bold vote
Arizona Republic
Jan. 4, 2008 12:00 AM
Obamania? Well, why not? Iowa Democrats seem ready for it, successfully launching the first truly credible African-American presidential candidate on the road to the White House. But . . . Huckamania, too? For whatever the much-maligned Iowa caucus system is worth in America's presidential sweepstakes, it gives us something the Eternal Campaign has lacked until last night: a footing. These presidential contests are far from decided, certainly. But we have an idea now. And the idea out of Des Moines is that the electorate wants fresh faces, positive outlooks and (maybe above all else) effervescent personalities.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/03/AR2008010303415.html
A Revealing Start in Iowa
The first votes in the 2008 presidential race favor proponents of change in both parties.
The Washington Post
January 4, 2008
YESTERDAY'S Iowa caucuses provided some intriguing first indications of voters' sentiments. They gave former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee a convincing victory and a chance to make his case for the Republican presidential nomination, and raised questions about the appeal of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who once led the race and was far ahead in spending. Among Democrats, Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) clearly bested former senator John Edwards and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and made himself his party's front-runner heading into Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. These are two impressive wins, with high turnout in historical terms, but at the same time it would be best not to get carried away by the results.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080105/POLITICS01/801050346
Huckabee, Obama hit N.H. on a winning note
Former front-runners Clinton and Romney move fast to minimize damage from Iowa.
Deb Price / The Detroit News
Saturday, January 5, 2008
HENNIKER, N.H. -- Jubilant after his Iowa caucus victory, Republican Mike Huckabee played bass guitar with a local rock band Friday night before urging students at the New England College to vote for him in next Tuesday's high-stakes New Hampshire primary. "Money in politics isn't as important as message," Huckabee said. "One of the challenges the next president ought to face is to make this economy work for everybody."
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080105/OPINION01/801050304
Obama gets big boost; Huckabee gets smaller bump
Nancy Kruh
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Finally, the Iowa caucuses have given pundits real results from bona fide voters to analyze. Among first responders, the consensus is remarkable: Barack Obama is regarded as the Democrats' new frontrunner in a two-person race, and his victory and Hillary Clinton's loss are being treated with equal significance. On the Republican side, commentators are putting far less stock in Mike Huckabee's win, since he still isn't considered nationally competitive, but they are almost unanimously declaring Mitt Romney's candidacy to be in serious peril.
http://nationaljournal.com/brownstein.htm
Next Time, Dilute Iowa's Power
By Ronald Brownstein, NationalJournal.com
Friday, Jan. 4, 2008
WASHINGTON, Iowa -- On a bright but chilly afternoon last weekend, Dale and Carrie Evans drove an hour from their Cedar Rapids home to squeeze into an overcrowded public library here and listen to a candidate who might be their second choice for president. The couple was planning to support Joseph Biden in the Iowa caucus that formally began the race for the presidency Thursday night. But they feared that Biden might not attract enough votes in their precinct to reach the state Democratic Party's 15 percent threshold for winning delegates. So they trundled to Washington to hear John Edwards, just in case they needed to switch in the second round of balloting.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/04/AR2008010401538_pf.html
Now Comes the Spin
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 4, 2008; 8:26 AM
It's a very big win for Barack Obama, in part because he knocked off the former first lady and in part because the media have been hankering to write the upset story. But remember all the pundits taking Hillary Clinton's inevitability for granted most of the year, and despairing during the summer and fall that Obama could never catch up because he wasn't pummeling her? He never hammered Hillary all that hard, and he still caught up. Hillary still has a national lead, but can that survive the media tsunami about her third-place finish? For close to 11 months, the media essentially ignored Mike Huckabee, who just breezed to a surprisingly easy win in the Iowa caucuses despite being outspent by 20 to 1. Heck of a job, gang.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/opinion/04brooks.html?ref=opinion
The Two Earthquakes
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: January 4, 2008
I’ve been through election nights that brought a political earthquake to the country. I’ve never been through an election night that brought two. Barack Obama has won the Iowa caucuses. You’d have to have a heart of stone not to feel moved by this. An African-American man wins a closely fought campaign in a pivotal state. He beats two strong opponents, including the mighty Clinton machine. He does it in a system that favors rural voters. He does it by getting young voters to come out to the caucuses. This is a huge moment. It’s one of those times when a movement that seemed ethereal and idealistic became a reality and took on political substance.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NGJjNDRmZjgyMjAxNDJjNDg1OTQ0NzE2OTI3MThmNDc=
Republicans After Iowa
By the Editors
January 4, 2008 10:20 AM
Mike Huckabee deserves congratulations this morning. We have been tough on him, and we retract not a word of our criticism. But he managed to score a big win with almost no money, no support from Republican bigwigs, and, until a few months ago, single-digit support in the polls. That he won is a testament to his sheer political talent: not only his much-discussed fluency as a speaker, but also his sense of the moment. The fact remains that those talents would not have brought him a plurality if not for his religion and the way he has run on it. Huckabee cleaned up among evangelicals and lost, badly, among everyone else.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080105/POLITICS01/801050345
Huckabee pumps up efforts in Michigan
Gordon Trowbridge and Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Mike Huckabee's Michigan supporters are gearing up for a weekend of outreach to conservative Christians across the state, hoping to capitalize on his Iowa caucus victory in the 11 days before Michigan's primary -- a contest that has taken on new significance for the front-runners. Campaigns for Mitt Romney and John McCain also are ramping up their efforts as the national focus shifts from Iowa to New Hampshire, hoping to lay the groundwork for what is expected to be an intense seven days of Michigan campaigning between Tuesday's New Hampshire primary and Michigan's on Jan. 15.
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=YzgzYzBjZjg2YWM3ZTU1MjNhZDFjMmFiM2U4MGI3MmQ=
Inside Huckabee’s Victory
How the impoverished governor from nowhere beat the mighty Romney machine.
By Byron York
January 04, 2008, 6:00 a.m.
Des Moines, Iowa — On the night before the Iowa caucuses, I dropped by Mike Huckabee’s campaign headquarters on Sixth Avenue in downtown Des Moines. Upstairs, in the phone-bank room, the scene was part political operation and part day care center; supporters who volunteered to make calls for Huckabee had brought their children, who were playing games while their parents worked the phone lists. In a cluttered side room, I sat down with Chip Saltsman, Huckabee’s campaign manager, and Robert Wickers, his media adviser, while four year-old James Yoest, the son of another Huckabee adviser, Charmaine Yoest, slept on a blanket spread across the floor.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080105/NEWS07/801050312
Huckabee plays lead in New Hampshire
Primary vital for Romney, McCain to even the score
January 5, 2008
By TODD SPANGLER
FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF
HENNIKER, N.H. -- The show played so well in Iowa that Mike Huckabee, the bass-plucking former Southern Baptist preacher and Arkansas governor, decided to take it on the road. The winner of the first presidential nominating contest brought the populist, social conservative message that sounded so right to evangelical Christians in Iowa to New Hampshire on Friday, even plucking out a few songs with a Manchester rock band. "Do you really think they have as much fun at Hillary's rally?" Huckabee asked after tearing through "In the Midnight Hour," "Shout" and "Mustang Sally" with Mama Kicks in the auditorium of New England College.
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1700116,00.html
Alive! John McCain's Resurrection
Thursday, Jan. 03, 2008
By JAMES CARNEY
John McCain took home a modest fourth place finish in the Iowa caucuses, garnering 13% of the Republican vote. But he may be as big a winner as Mike Huckabee. Huckabee's knockout of Mitt Romney in the caucuses was exactly what the McCain campaign, which spent little time or money in Iowa, needed from the state. McCain decided several months ago to stake his entire campaign on New Hampshire, where he is ahead of Romney (who governed next door in Massachusetts) in the most recent polls. Now that Romney has been severely wounded in Iowa, and with New Hampshire's Republicans historically cool toward Christian conservatives, McCain is suddenly poised to win big on Jan. 8 — and, perhaps, beyond.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080105/POLITICS01/801050343
McCain touts momentum to retake Mich.
Respectable Iowa finish helps stoke revival of GOP bid as primary nears.
Charlie Cain / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Saturday, January 5, 2008
It was late September on scenic Mackinac Island, where 1,500 Michigan Republican activists were gathered for a leadership conference and things were looking bleak for Sen. John McCain, who was among the GOP presidential hopefuls mingling with the crowd. A just released statewide presidential poll showed McCain badly trailing in the GOP field here; Attorney General Mike Cox had abruptly quit as McCain's Michigan chairman, saying the campaign was woefully inept; national fundraising was feeble and campaign staff was being let go; his outspoken support of the Iraq war and an immigration policy that critics said amounted to amnesty for illegal immigrants were anchors around the former Navy aviator's neck; and political reporters were preparing McCain's political obit.
McCain says he must win New Hampshire
By DAN TUOHY
New Hampshire Union Leader
January 4, 2008
MANCHESTER – Sen. John McCain says he must win New Hampshire and he's confident Republican primary voters will give him another stunning victory here come Tuesday. The Republican presidential hopeful made his declaration in an exclusive interview last night with the New Hampshire Union Leader as he arrived in Manchester for the final campaign push. McCain, who won the state's primary in 2000 by 18 points, was asked if he needs to win New Hampshire. He leaned back in his chair, smiled at his wife and replied, "Oh, yeah." He then expressed confidence in a win, in part because of the results of the Iowa caucuses.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/mccain_the_republican_heir.html
McCain: The Republican Heir?
By Rich Lowry
January 04, 2008
After a brief turn as a lavishly funded front-runner, then a period as a spurned also-ran, and finally a long climb toward recovery, John McCain is what it always seemed he’d be in the Republican primary race — next in line, the natural heir to the Republican nomination. McCain’s journey to where he always should have been in the first place is a saga worthy of Tolstoy. It plays into the larger, powerful narrative of McCain’s candidacy and life as the battered survivor who is willing to suffer for the cause. McCain is springing back up so fast — to the lead in New Hampshire and in at least one national poll — because he was so far down.
Second chance for a lasting impression
By Scot Lehigh
January 4, 2008
FIRST IMPRESSIONS count, but in primary politics, final impressions matter far more - and in New Hampshire, that's very good news for John McCain. Once considered cash-starved campaign roadkill, the Arizona senator has accomplished a remarkable comeback here. Admirers who had regretfully written him off are returning to his cause, while others who had been angered by his previous approach to immigration reform are giving him a second look. Mind you, this is not the runaway love affair the state had with the jaunty iconoclast of 2000. Rather, it's a considered judgment after a long campaign, a more ambivalent return to an older, grimmer, stalwart who, just a few months ago, didn't strike the state as the right man for the moment.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1064532
Romney ego trips and falls flat in Iowa
By Howie Carr
Friday, January 4, 2008
For Mitt Romney, it may be one and done. Last night he looked like an overrated second seed out of the Big Ten who gets upset in the first round by Campbell College. As for Hillary, as my listener Ron from Norwood put it, she’ll be the one taking hostages at her headquarters in New Hampshire today. Mitt not only got his teeth knocked out by Mike Huckabee, but the Huckster and his new plug, ugly Ed Rollins, mussed up his hair pretty good, too. Unless something happens this weekend - and debates have not been Mitt’s strong suit this year - he could be going down in the record books as the John Connolly, the Phil Gramm, the Steve Forbes of the 2008 race.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/politics_nation/2008/01/how_clinton_and_romney_come_ba.html
How Clinton And Romney Come Back
Reid Wilson
January 04, 2008
MANCHESTER -- The campaign for president is about more than just Iowa. For the recent few weeks, the attentions of the national media and most major campaigns have been focused mainly on the nation's first caucus state, but as any candidate, from the ones who beat expectations to the ones who fell flat, will tell you, the contest continues. Not even twelve hours after Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee were declared the season's first winners, the focus has shifted here, to New Hampshire.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/541ixnyp.asp
The End of Inevitability
Obama in the driver's seat.
by Fred Barnes
01/04/2008 12:00:00 AM
SO MUCH FOR THE inevitability of Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential nominee. The biggest story in the world today is the defeat of Clinton and the entire Clinton political machine, led by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, in the Iowa caucuses. Iowa has the first contest in the 2008 presidential race, but it's not always a critically important event. This year it was. The second biggest story is the Iowa victory of Barack Obama, a senator from Illinois who has just finished his third year in office. He is an African-American with remarkable appeal across racial and cultural lines.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01042008/news/columnists/clintons_no_longer_the_life_of_party_98721.htm
CLINTONS NO LONGER THE LIFE OF PARTY
Charles Hurt
January 4, 2008
DES MOINES, Iowa - Awaiting her coronation here last night, Hillary Rodham Clinton instead faced a seething revolt within her own party. More than 70 percent of Iowa Democrats rejected her bid to get back into the White House. And so, after 15 years of domination, the Clinton dynasty has finally lost its grip on the Democratic Party. More than anything else, Clinton's campaign was built upon the aura of inevitability. That's now shattered and left in Iowa's frozen cornfields. What's devastating to her is that she lost so badly to such a political novice. Sure, Barack Obama is an incredibly impressive and appealing figure. He has magically turned the nasty politics of race on its head here in a state with a less than 3 percent black population.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080105/POLITICS01/801050344
Uncommitted vote a threat to Clinton
Gordon Trowbridge and Mark Hornbeck / The Detroit News
Saturday, January 5, 2008
There are growing signs that Michigan Democrats could turn out in larger numbers than expected for the Jan. 15 presidential primary -- and that may raise the stakes for Hillary Clinton, who could use a lift after her third-place finish in Iowa. Clinton, the only top contender whose name will be on the Michigan Democratic ballot, has been widely expected to win the state by an overwhelming margin. Privately, Clinton supporters acknowledged Friday that she could be embarrassed if a significant percentage of Michiganians vote "uncommitted" -- one of the ballot choices. No recent polls have been taken pointing in that direction. But Detroit News pollster Ed Sarpolus said Friday that anything less than 60 percent in Michigan would be a black eye for Clinton.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7715.html
HRC team retools strategy, predicts N.H. win
By: Ben Smith and Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen
Jan 4, 2008 08:34 AM EST
Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to target what her campaign calls Barack Obama’s inexperience over the next five days in New Hampshire and deliver much sharper — and likely much more personal and negative — attacks against the Iowa winner, according to Democrats familiar with the evolving strategy. Clinton is recalibrating her campaign message, the latest in what has been a month-long process of shifting slogans and strategies aimed at slowing an ascendant Obama. This won’t be easy. The so-called contrast strategy carries clear risk — it could make her look desperate or turn off voters tired of conventional political tactics.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/84361
Comeback Kid, Take Two?
Aboard Air Hillary, aides revive a familiar storyline.
By Karen Breslau
Jan 4, 2008
Aboard a chartered jet from Iowa to New Hampshire Thursday night, aides to Sen. Hillary Clinton wasted no time in trying to spin her devastating loss in Iowa as little more than a "bump in the road" and "the beginning of the marathon." Clinton press secretary Jay Carson dismissed the results of the caucuses as a "curious example" of voter will. "Don't extrapolate too much from 230,000 voters in one state," he said. "It wouldn't be wise to base too much on the outcome in a single state." It wasn't an easy sell. After months of trying to build an aura of inevitability and invincibility around their candidate, Clinton's team found itself struggling to roll back expectations—and grasping for a new storyline.
http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/01/hillary_booed_at_nh_democratic.html
Hillary Booed at NH Democratic Party Dinner
Posted by Jay Newton-Small
January 4, 2008 9:18
If the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s 100 Club dinner is any bell weather – Barack Obama will handily win here. When Obama, the dinner’s last speaker, took the stage the crowd surged forward chanting “O-bam-a” and “Fired Up, Ready to Go!” So many people pressed toward the stage that an announcer asked people to “please take their seats for safety concerns.” By comparison Hillary was twice booed. The first time was when she said she has always and will continue to work for "change for you. The audience, particularly from Obama supporters (they were waving Obama signs) let out a noise that sounded like a thousand people collectively groaning.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8TV9C6O2&show_article=1
Hsu Headed to Prison
Jan 4 03:22 PM US/Eastern
By PAUL ELIAS
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) - Disgraced political donor Norman Hsu was sentenced Friday to three years in prison after a judge rejected his bid to throw out a 16-year- old fraud conviction. Hsu's lawyers had asked Judge Stephen Hall to dismiss his 1992 no- contest plea, arguing that Hsu's right to a speedy trial was violated because authorities were not actively pursuing him during his years as a fugitive. They could easily have arrested Hsu, his lawyers argued, at one of the fundraisers he hosted in California for prominent local politicians. Hsu also faces federal fraud charges in New York.
http://www.slate.com/id/2181272/
Hope Inc.
How Obama's message found its mark.
By John Dickerson
Posted Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008, at 10:47 PM ET
The big question of Barack Obama's campaign has always been whether his high-flying rhetoric could ever produce real results. Sure, he could create crowds visible from space, but during the summer—when his polls flattened and his backers got nervous—political elites wondered whether he had peaked. He was the girl you dated, not the girl you married, plenty of political analysts told me. Not any more. In the campaign's first test, Obama has beaten two tough opponents by a healthy margin. For a candidate promising to create a movement—an "army for change," as he calls it—a victory like this not only helps his political prospects in the upcoming primaries.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080105/NEWS07/801050375
Obama carries momentum with message of change, hope
But black voters' support not automatic, some say
January 5, 2008
By CHRIS CHRISTOFF, KATHLEEN GRAY and RUBY L. BAILEY
As phenomena go, Barack Obama's stunning and decisive victory Thursday in Iowa may someday rank as a watershed in American politics. Or an asterisk. For now, the 46-year-old U.S. senator from Illinois is focused on Tuesday's New Hampshire presidential primary, where he'll face a ferocious challenge by chief Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards. Both Clinton and Edwards risk a free fall if they do poorly in the Granite State. Obama carries the momentum with his catchy themes of change and hope. It is an unprecedented battle among front-runners -- one a woman, the other an African American -- and it will further determine whether Obama's antiestablishment campaign is a flash or a real movement.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-demassess4jan04,0,5159166.story?coll=la-home-center
Obama's victory upends his party's politics
His promise of change resonates more than Clinton's claim of experience
By Peter Wallsten, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 4, 2008
DES MOINES -- Barack Obama's surprisingly convincing win in Iowa on Thursday upended the Democratic presidential race and overturned some of the fundamental assumptions of modern-day American politics. Voters in an overwhelmingly white state embraced an African American candidate. Women, given the chance to vote for the first credible female White House hopeful in Hillary Rodham Clinton, voted in larger numbers for a man. And the Democratic Party's most formidable political machine, drawing on deep-pocket donors and the celebrity of former President Clinton, was beaten by a man who just three years ago held an office no higher than state legislator.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/03/AR2008010303303.html
Judge Him by His Laws
By Charles Peters
Friday, January 4, 2008; Page A21
People who complain that Barack Obama lacks experience must be unaware of his legislative achievements. One reason these accomplishments are unfamiliar is that the media have not devoted enough attention to Obama's bills and the effort required to pass them, ignoring impressive, hard evidence of his character and ability. Since most of Obama's legislation was enacted in Illinois, most of the evidence is found there -- and it has been largely ignored by the media in a kind of Washington snobbery that assumes state legislatures are not to be taken seriously.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/us/politics/04hampshire.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin
Moving On to New Ground and Issues
By MARC SANTORA
Published: January 4, 2008
DERRY, N.H. — As the race for the White House moves from the frigid plains of Iowa to the snow-capped mountains of New Hampshire, there will be a realignment of the contest, and the focus will shift from social and religious issues to taxes and national security. While the spotlight has been away from New Hampshire in recent weeks, the competition here has been heating up as Senator John McCain of Arizona has gained ground on the longtime Republican front-runner, Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts. Mr. McCain did not compete seriously in Iowa, but the campaign was obviously thrilled to learn that Mr. Romney had been beaten in the caucuses by Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119942165195967335.html?mod=special_page_campaign2008_leftbox
Evangelical Power Revives
By GERALD F. SEIB
January 4, 2008; Page A8
So much for the idea that evangelical Christians are a dispirited and declining force in the Republican party. Last night they showed up in force -- in stunning force, actually -- in Iowa's caucuses. They were the power that made a winner of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. And they now pose a challenge for Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain -- for every other serious contender, in other words. Some six in 10 Republican caucus-goers described themselves as born-again or evangelical Christians, entrance polls showed. Almost half of them voted for Mr. Huckabee. Just two in 10 voted for former Massachusetts Gov. Romney. In a very real sense, evangelical voters, as much as Mr. Huckabee, won Iowa's caucuses on the Republican side.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8TV4CIG0&show_article=1
ABC Cuts 3 From Presidential Debates
Jan 4 09:41 AM US/Eastern
By DAVID BAUDER
NEW YORK (AP) - ABC News is eliminating Republican presidential candidate Duncan Hunter and Democrats Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel from its prime- time presidential debates Saturday night because they did not meet benchmarks for their support. The Democratic debate three days before the New Hampshire primary will include Iowa caucus winner Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Bill Richardson. It starts at 7 p.m. EDT. Before the Democrats take the stage in Manchester, N.H., Republicans Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul will hold their own forum. ABC anchor Charles Gibson will moderate both debates.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8TVIHVO0&show_article=1
Kucinich Files Complaint on ABC Debate
Jan 5 01:49 AM US/Eastern
By DAVID BAUDER
NEW YORK (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich filed a complaint with the FCC on Friday after ABC News excluded him, fellow Democrat Mike Gravel and Republican Duncan Hunter from its prime-time debates on Saturday.
Kucinich argued that ABC is violating equal-time provisions by keeping him out of the debate and noted that ABC's parent Walt Disney Co. had contributed to campaigns involving the four Democrats who were invited. "ABC should not be the first primary," the Ohio congressman said in papers filed at the Federal Communications Commission. ABC said the candidates left out of the debates failed to meet benchmarks for their support that were outlined to each campaign prior to the Iowa caucus.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110011077
The 16-Year Itch
Voters seem unusually willing this year to entertain candidates lacking in Washington experience.
BY MICHAEL BARONE
Friday, January 4, 2008 12:01 a.m. EST
The Iowa caucuses have just passed and we await, with just two weekday prime-time news nights in between, the New Hampshire primary. The biggest surprise of the campaign so far is the success of candidates with minimal credentials and little if any experience in national governance. The Wall Street Journal went to press before the results in Iowa were in, but Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, and Mitt Romney, a one-term governor of Massachusetts, were leading in Iowa Republican polls. Barack Obama, in his fourth year in the Senate, was running strong in the Democratic contest, as was John Edwards, who spent just one term in the Senate and has now been running for president or vice president for six years.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/dems_more_ready_to_fight_on_in.html
Dems Better Positioned for November
By E. J. Dionne
January 04, 2008
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Iowa voters in both parties staged a rebellion against the status quo and against the past. Mike Huckabee's decisive victory over Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucuses marks a revolution in Republican politics. An outspent outsider triumphed over a former governor who played an inside game. Huckabee's victory is also the revenge of evangelical Christians who had been taken for granted by the GOP establishment and decided to vote for one of their own, a Baptist minister turned politician. Change, particularly generational change, was also at the heart of Barack Obama's victory over John Edwards and Hillary Clinton. Voters under 30 supported him by better than 5 to 1 and he carried independents by more than 2 to 1, according to media entrance polls.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/2008_finds_democrats_in_state.html
2008 Finds Democrats In State Of Denial
By Michael Gerson
January 04, 2008
WASHINGTON -- If 2006 was a year of denial for the Bush administration -- demonstrating that patience in pursuit of a failing military strategy is not a virtue -- 2007 was a period of awakening. Like Abraham Lincoln before him, the president discovered the cathartic pleasure of replacing generals. In Petraeus, Bush found his Grant. He also found that war, like politics, is the art of adjustment. As the political blitzkrieg of 2008 begins in earnest, it is the Democrats who, on a number of key issues, are living in a state of denial.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NWU5MGM4MTZlNmQ5MmU4MzQxYmE3NjU3MDA3MDg1NzM=
Earmarks and the Executive
Bush has the constitutional authority to take a bold, unilateral stand on earmarking.
By Phil Kerpen
January 4, 2008 7:30 AM
President Bush signed a massive omnibus appropriations bill last week, calling the $550 billion monstrosity “reasonable and responsible.” Leading fiscal conservatives aren’t so sure. The bill is littered with pork-barrel earmarks, which Bush, to his credit, has denounced. But this talk needs to be followed with action: If the president is to help restore fiscal discipline in Washington he must issue an executive order to prevent these 9,000 or so earmarks from being funded. There is excellent precedent for this. President Ronald Reagan took on earmarks back in 1987, denouncing that year’s omnibus appropriations bill for being stuffed full of pork projects.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080104/economy.html?.v=12
Unemployment Up, Stoking Recession Fears
Jobless Rates Hits 5 Percent, a 2-Year High, Fanning Recession Fears
Friday January 4, 3:34 pm ET
By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wary employers clamped down on hiring and pushed the unemployment rate to a two-year high of 5 percent in December, an ominous sign that the economy may slide into recession. President Bush explored a rescue package, including a tax cut, with his economic advisers. Gripped by uncertainty, government and private employers last month added the fewest new jobs to their payrolls in more than four years. In fact, employment at private companies alone actually declined. The Labor Department's report, released Friday, provided evidence of an economy greatly strained by a housing slump and a credit crunch.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8TV8DN01&show_article=1
Bush Says Markets 'Strong and Solid'
Jan 4 02:17 PM US/Eastern
By DEB RIECHMANN
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush said Friday that while there is some uncertainty about slowing economic growth, the nation's "financial markets are strong and solid."
Bush spoke after meeting with his top economic advisers about possibly drafting a package to stimulate the U.S. economy as it weathers the housing slump, rising oil prices and an uptick in unemployment. "This economy is on a solid foundation," Bush said. But he also said it can't be taken for granted, and there are some signs of concern that require the administration and Congress to be careful to ensure economic strength. "There are signs that cause us to be ever more diligent in making sure good policies come out of Washington," he said.
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=213343
Forget oil, the new global crisis is food
BMO strategist Donald Coxe warns credit crunch and soaring oil prices will pale in comparison to looming catastrophe
Alia McMullen, Financial Post
Published: Friday, January 04, 2008
A new crisis is emerging, a global food catastrophe that will reach further and be more crippling than anything the world has ever seen. The credit crunch and the reverberations of soaring oil prices around the world will pale in comparison to what is about to transpire, Donald Coxe, global portfolio strategist at BMO Financial Group said at the Empire Club's 14th annual investment outlook in Toronto on Thursday. "It's not a matter of if, but when," he warned investors. "It's going to hit this year hard."Mr. Coxe said the sharp rise in raw food prices in the past year will intensify in the next few years amid increased demand for meat and dairy products from the growing middle classes of countries such as China and India as well as heavy demand from the biofuels industry.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZmM1MWQ4ZWM0MDM4YjBhMWViZGFhZjFjMjNkYzA0Mzg=
Democracy Endangered
After a rigged election, Kenya slides into tribal violence.
By Travis Kavulla
January 4, 2008 12:00 AM
NAIROBI, KENYA — In the wake of ethnic violence that has left 300 people dead following an apparently rigged presidential election on December 27, there has been widespread disbelief at what has happened. Kenya is not in the same league as Somalia of today, or Rwanda of 1994. It is one of Africa’s best-off countries, with high productivity, one of the world’s freest presses, and a capital city whose business district would not look out of place in Europe or America. While Kenyans for four decades lived under a self-serving dictatorship that manipulated tribal politics and so rendered elections futile exercises, Kenya’s free and fair polls in 2002 were supposed to have spelled the end of all that.
