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I’m on my way to New Hampshire to pitch Michigan as being “next”. I will be traveling to various candidate headquarters, victory parties and media venues with NH Chairman Fergus Cullen and meeting with NH Secretary of State Gardner to visit several polling places and discuss the presidential primary options for 2012 and beyond.
We are in the process of compiling a complete list of “party events” and “candidate appearances” around the state. If you have any additional information, please send it to our offices ASAP and we will update the list. The list is being sent to state and national media outlets regularly and updated on our web site and blog daily. To see the latest list go to:
Michigan’s primary could be key, regardless of how things play out today. The Democrats in Michigan are organizing a “Stop Senator Clinton” effort encouraging Obama and Edwards supporters to vote “uncommitted”. This could be the “nail in her coffin” if Obama wins NH.
Republicans have a very competitive contest going on nationwide. Huckabee won Iowa. Romney won Wyoming and New Hampshire is a “dead heat” between Romney and McCain.
Regardless of what happens, Michigan will be critical in either “breaking the tie” or “confirming momentum” or someone’s “firewall” or even another’s “come back”. As Bill Kristol said on Frank Beckman’s show…Michigan is “ground zero” for the Republicans. Hear his interview on our web page or here:
Take advantage of the many events being planned around the state and come hear and see the candidates first hand. This is YOUR chance to make a difference and be part of electing the next President of the United States.
Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the February 7th county conventions and the February 15/16 state convention in Lansing. If you have any questions about the state convention, please contact DAWN WADE, Events Coordinator (dwade@migop.org or 517-487-5413).
The DNC also formally punishes state Dems for moving voting date up.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Gordon Trowbridge /
Detroit
News
Washington
Bureau
A federal judge on Monday ruled against a challenge to next week's Democratic presidential primary, and the national Democratic Party formally punished
Michigan
for moving up the date of the contest. District Judge Robert Yonker denied a request to halt the state party from using the primary's results to select delegates for the Democratic National Convention. The suit was brought by a supporter of Democratic candidate John Edwards, who removed his name from the
Michigan
ballot as part of the dispute with the national party over the primary calendar. Edwards, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson and Joe Biden all withdrew from the ballot, citing
Michigan
's decision to hold a January contest, earlier than national rules allow. Hillary Clinton is the only major candidate still on the ballot, and she has joined a boycott of campaigning in the state.
-- A federal judge ruled Monday against a Democratic activist who sued to stop
Michigan
's Democratic presidential primary election because the candidate she supports is not on the state primary ballot. U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker said the matter was a dispute between the state and national Democratic parties. Earl Erland, a
Grand Rapids
attorney representing Martha Hayes, a John Edwards backer, initially asked for a halt to the election in the lawsuit filed Dec. 10.
-- Republican state Rep. David Law is joining the race to replace outgoing Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca.
Law spent 6 years as an assistant
Oakland
prosecutor before his two terms in the Michigan House. Gorcyca has announced he is not seeking re-election. The Republican first was elected in 1996. County election officials say only assistant prosecutor Randy Secontine has filed paperwork to be a candidate.
Farmington Hills
attorney Larry Leib says he will announce he's joining the race as a Republican. Law was sentenced to six months of probation in 2005 after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of operating a motor vehicle while visibly impaired.
Attorney General Mike Cox is getting blasted for his ruling against the issuance of driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Yet he and other state legal chiefs are only reacting to the vacuum that has served as a substitute for policy all these many years in Washington, D.C. Cox, asked to rule by State Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, says it would be "inconsistent with federal law" to regard an illegal immigrant as a permanent resident in Michigan. Thus, Cox decided, the secretary of state's office should no longer issue licenses to those in
Michigan
illegally. This was a tough but correct call, inasmuch as illegal immigration has risen to the top of national concerns based not only on the economic implications of "legalizing" aliens who have slipped into the country, but the uses such licenses could have for terrorists.
The following is the Jackson Citizen Patriot's editorial for January 6: The budget circus that came to
Lansing
a few months ago looks like it might not return in 2008. Officials have determined that state government finished its last fiscal year Sept. 30 with $353 million more than expected. If the economy doesn't get worse, lawmakers and Gov. Jennifer Granholm ought to make good on their solemn vows not to raise taxes again this year. Forgive us if we don't pop the corks on the unopened New Year's champagne. If seven years of economic doldrums have showed anything, it's that state government's finances are far from solid.
State surplus already spent; spending cuts still needed
Monday, January 7, 2008
The
Detroit
News Editorial
Michigan
residents were greeted with the good news last week that the state closed its financial books for the budget year that ended in September with surpluses totaling more than $350 million. But before the celebrating starts, it's worth noting that most of that money will have disappeared by the end of the current budget year.The extra money couldn't have prevented the need for a state tax hike and spending cuts. But it does show the value of spending restraint. More such restraint will be needed in the coming months.The $350 million total is the result of adding a $259 million surplus in the state's General Fund, its main checkbook, and a $94 million total in the separate School Aid Fund, which is fueled by different taxes.
and an anti-abortion group Monday to revive the state’s law banning the procedure opponents call partial-birth abortion. The justices did not comment on their decision to let stand a ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
Cincinnati
. The appeals court said the law is unconstitutional because it also could prohibit other abortion procedures.
The
U.S.
high court in April upheld a federal law banning the abortion method.
The cases are Cox v. Northland Family Planning, 07-313, and Standing Together to Oppose Partial-Birth Abortion v. Northland Family Planning, 07-291.
Pontiac's suit over No Child Left Behind may proceed, appeals court rules
Monday, January 7, 2008
Shawn D. Lewis / The
Detroit
News
PONTIAC
-- The
Pontiac
Public
School District
's lawsuit against the federal government over funding for the No Child Left Behind Act may proceed, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. In April 2005,
Pontiac
joined a lawsuit by school districts in
Texas
and
Vermont
, along with teacher's unions across the country, asking for exemptions from any requirements of the No Child Left Behind act that aren't paid for by the federal government. A U.S. District Court ruled earlier that
Pontiac
must comply with the No Child Left Behind Act, but Monday's ruling overturned that decision.
Lawmakers battle to protect the region's key resource
Monday, January 7, 2008
By Jim Lynch / The
Detroit
News
As drought-plagued states cast a jealous eye toward
Michigan
's abundant supply of freshwater, local lawmakers are scrambling -- unsuccessfully so far -- to fend off efforts to siphon from the
Great Lakes
. A regional effort to enact legislation giving the eight
Great Lakes
states more control over water diversion is languishing in several states, with only two --
Minnesota
and
Illinois
-- giving full approval so far. Committees in both the Michigan House and Senate have passed versions of the compact, and officials hope a unified version will be on the governor's desk before the end of January. But delays in legal protection for the
Great Lakes
states could prove costly, especially as the waterways sink to all-time lows set in 1965.
fell substantially during the first six months of 2007, led by a sharp decline in rapes, robberies and assaults, according to a report from the FBI released today. Overall, violent crime in the state's largest city fell nearly 12 percent, from
10,551 in
the first six months of 2006 to 9,314 last year. There were more than 600 fewer aggravated assaults and more than 400 fewer robberies. Forcible rapes fell nearly in half.Police have said a surge in crime spiked in 2006, with a noticeable decline since. Murders fell 12 percent in the first six months of 2007, from 210 to 184.The preliminary, semiannual FBI report listed crime statistics from
Grand Rapids
,
Flint
,
Lansing
,
Warren
,
Sterling Heights
and
Ann Arbor
. Only
Sterling Heights
, with a rise from 118 to 137, reported an increase in violent crime.
-- Chrysler LLC today reported record sales outside
North America
in 2007, rising 15 percent over 2006 figures.The private company said it had its best year in international markets for 2007, selling 238,218 vehicles, up from the 206,925 it sold in 2006. "We feel that the international business showed the potential that we have in front of us," Vice Chairman and President Jim Press told reporters on a conference call.Still, international sales represented only 9 percent of the company's business. Executives said Chrysler is trying to expand that by bolstering its dealer network and forming alliances with automakers across the globe. Total sales outside the
U.S.
amounted to 599,618, up 8 percent from 2006, but sales worldwide dropped just less than 1 percent to 2.68 million vehicles, due largely to a 3 percent decline in
DIXVILLE NOTCH, New Hampshire (CNN) -- Citizens went to the polls in Dixville Notch a moment after Tuesday to cast the first ballots in a 2008 presidential primary. They gave Sen. John McCain an early lead in the GOP race and denied Sen. Hillary Clinton any votes in the Democratic contest. McCain garnered four votes, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with two and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani with one. Sen. Barack Obama, fresh off a victory in the
Iowa
caucuses, was a favorite among Dixville Notch Democrats, with seven votes. Former Sen. John Edwards won two votes, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson got one.
Clinton
drew no votes among the 10 Democrats casting ballots in Dixville Notch, a hamlet of about 75 people near the Canadian border.
, a sudden collapse in national polls and an expected fund-raising drought, Senator Hillary Clinton is preparing for a tough decision: Does she get out of the race? And when?!"She can't take multiple double-digit losses in
New Hampshire
,
South Carolina
and
Nevada
," laments one top campaign insider to the DRUDGE REPORT. "If she gets too badly embarrassed, it will really harm her. She doesn't want the
Clinton
brand to be damaged with back-to-back-to-back defeats." Meanwhile, Democrat hopeful John Edwards has confided to senior staff that he is staying in the race because Hillary "could soon be out." "Her money is going to dry up," Edwards confided, a top source said Monday morning.Key players in
Clinton
's inner circle are said to be split. James Carville is urging her to fight it out through at least February and Super Tuesday, where she has a shot at thwarting Barack Obama in a big state. "She did not work this hard to get out after one state! All this talk is nonsense," said one top adviser. But others close to the former first lady now see no possible road to victory, sources claim.
— Sen. Barack Obama, enjoying a new status as the Democratic front-runner, excoriated one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's debate arguments while she tearfully told supporters she is running because "this is very personal for me." The senator from
Illinois
and the former first lady traded rhetorical shots on their final day of campaigning here. Mrs. Clinton was forced to fend off rumors that she would end her presidential bid should she lose today, and Mr. Obama enjoys a comfortable lead in most polls heading into the first-in-the-nation primary. Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain of
Arizona
, who is poised to snatch victory in the Republican primary from longtime front-runner Mitt Romney, predicted victory — which his campaign has acknowledged is the only way he can survive the nomination contest.
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - Her voice quavering, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton struggled Monday to avoid a highly damaging second straight defeat in the Democratic presidential race. Republicans John McCain and Mitt Romney scrapped for success on the eve of a
New Hampshire
primary that neither could afford to lose. "You're the wave, and I'm riding it," Sen. Barack Obama, the new Democratic front-runner, told several hundred voters who cheered him in 40-degree weather after being turned away from an indoor rally filled to capacity. Obama has been drawing large, boisterous crowds since he won the
Iowa
caucuses last week, and a spate of preprimary polls showed him powering to a lead in
New Hampshire
, as well.
Clinton
runs second in the surveys, with former Sen. John Edwards of
North Carolina
third, and the former first lady and her aides seemed to be bracing for another setback.
— Now, it's all about change. The five-day campaign here leading to Tuesday's primary is a supercharged blur of candidates trying to apply the lessons of last week's
Iowa
caucuses.
Iowa
's winners — Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee — are pressing to shake up the status quo in
Washington
. Now, the exchanges among candidates in debates, on TV and at rallies are increasingly caustic, reflecting the likelihood that the voting here will end some candidacies and ignite others.
(CNSNews.com) - The final stretch of the Republican campaign in
New Hampshire
has two of the frontrunners arguing over who is getting the ugliest. "John McCain is running the most negative personal attacks I have ever seen," former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said after speaking in
Manchester
Friday. "It reminds me of his attacks against President Bush in 2000." Romney stressed that he has run only "comparison" ads against McCain, the
Arizona
senator who by the end of the weekend was leading by 5.5 points in the Real Clear Politics average of
with two days left before the Republican voting, but Romney is coming back fast. Obama looks like a winner over Clinton in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, which will be damaging but not fatal to her Democratic presidential candidacy.Here is our New Hampshire outlook based on a personal reporting trip by Robert Novak: Republican: Sen. John McCain (
Ariz.
) had pulled even with front-running former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney prior to the
Iowa
caucuses and pulled ahead based on Romney's disappointing second-place finish in
Three months ago, the Democratic presidential nomination looked up for grabs, but the party had a narrow favorite, an identifiable frontrunner. Today, after
Iowa
but before
New Hampshire
, the Democratic nomination looks up for grabs, but the party still has an identifiable frontrunner -- only it's a different candidate. Three months ago the Republican contest looked like a chaotic brawl, with no clear favorite and a bunch of scenarios still in play. Today, looking at the
Iowa
results and contemplating Tuesday's
Granite
State
primary, the GOP contest looks like a chaotic brawl, with no clear favorite and a menu of potential scenarios.Something big happened on the frozen turf of
Iowa
on Thursday, but the state's caucuses still were only the first test of a process that, for both parties, could drag on at least a bit longer than many assumed.
: Senator John McCain's presidential campaign wheeled out a confetti gun in
Peterborough
to boom a festive end to his 100th town-hall-style meeting. It was the same place he began his
New Hampshire
primary campaign of 2000. McCain, a Republican, is methodically returning in these last days before the New Hampshire presidential primary on Tuesday to the same venues he visited in that campaign, in which he defeated George W. Bush by 18 percentage points. He is surrounded by many of the same
New Hampshire
aides, telling many of the same jokes, appealing to the same voters and promising what seems like unlimited access to the state's residents and reporters.
Here it was, the proverbial picture worth a thousand words: Sen. John McCain standing before an overflow crowd of several hundred in the
Peterborough
,
N.H.
, Town Hall. He had just finished his introductory remarks -- standard lines he's uttered hundreds of times, but this time with a verve and an energy that bespoke his rising political fortunes in this state and beyond. Teary on the Campaign Trail: A Side of Hillary Never Seen Before Obama Calls Clinton Tactics 'Depressing '
Clinton
: Choice is Experience vs. 'Pizzazz A dozen television cameras rolled. A week ago, there would have been maybe two. The audience was applauding wildly and McCain, in his coat and tie and V-neck sweater, was just standing there basking in it. On his face was a happy smile
I know John McCain does not go down easily among many conservatives. But with Barack Obama looking like the victor among Democrats, his party needs the Arizona Senator at the top of the ticket. Conservatives may decry his support of campaign finance reform (a mistake to be sure -- it simply moved the money around to new vehicles, but with less disclosure of contributors), his opposition to the size of the Bush tax cuts, his support for the Bush immigration plan, his embrace of global warming fears. But this is the reality ten months before the November election: if the Republicans nominate anyone other than John McCain, they are doomed to defeat against Barack Obama, maybe even a decisive defeat. McCain on the other hand, has a real shot at winning against Obama.
John McCain is old - very old. Which may explain his abject confusion about whether he supports amnesty for 20 million illegal aliens. When you’re 71 years old, short-term memory loss can be part of the package, along with the delusion that Wilfred Brimley’s endorsement is big with the iPod generation. Last spring McCain and the hero of Chappaquiddick, with the help of La Raza, put together a grandiose scheme to grant amnesty to millions upon millions of foreign invaders. It was so outrageous they refused to hold hearings on it. The bill went down in flames, twice, and so did McCain’s campaign for almost a year.
After more than a year of meticulous planning, Mitt Romney's drive to the Republican presidential nomination is in danger of foundering in less than two weeks of voting.But campaign aides say their strategy is sound and that there will be few, if any, significant changes as the contest moves to New Hampshire on Tuesday and then to Romney's native state of Michigan eight days from now.From the moment of Thursday night's loss to Mike Huckabee in Iowa, Romney and his staff insisted that the defeat did nothing to derail their plan: that Iowa was never a must-win, that their "ground game" effort to turn out supporters was successful, that they had simply been overwhelmed by a flood of religiously motivated voters who identified with Huckabee's background as a Baptist minister.
NASHUA, N.H. — The first two pieces of Rudolph W. Giuliani's strategic puzzle — survive the first few contests and rally later in delegate-rich states — have fallen into place, and his campaign manager says the other pieces will soon follow. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee carried almost no momentum from his
Iowa
caucus victory into
New Hampshire
. The latest polls show his support at about 11 percent, unchanged since early November. Second, voters here are poised to pick their own winner, muddling the race at least until the Jan. 18 South
Carolina
primary. That would make
Florida
's Jan. 29 contest, as well as more than 20 others on Feb. 5, far more decisive.
(CNSNews.com) - It's a state he doesn't plan on winning, and he's currently running fourth in the polls. Still, Rudy Giuliani is spending time in
New Hampshire
in the final days of the campaign in hopes of a presentable showing that could strengthen the national GOP front-runner's status in other states. Stopping at the Elks Lodge Friday, the former
New York
mayor -- known for his leadership skills on 9/11 -- spoke to voters about the threat of Islamic terror while also making an appeal to the small-government instincts of
was scheduled to deliver the sermon Sunday at a church here called the Crossing. But instead this small evangelical congregation heard from a different special guest: Baptist minister and 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who delivered a sermon of more than 20 minutes on how to be part of "God's Army" in the middle school cafeteria where the congregation meets. "When we become believers, it's as if we have signed up to be part of God's Army, to be soldiers for Christ," Huckabee told the enthusiastic audience. Days after winning the Iowa Republican caucus, where Christian conservatives powered him to victory, Huckabee now finds himself in a state without an extensive religious base. While more than 60 percent of GOP voters were estimated to be evangelicals in the
Iowa
caucuses, they accounted for only about one in five New Hampshire Republican voters in 2000, the last time the state held a competitive GOP primary.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee made a campaign stop yesterday at the Barley House in
Concord
,
N.H.
If he wins the presidency, he said, he intends to review the case against two Border Patrol agents who are serving lengthy prison sentences for shooting a fleeing suspect. Mike Huckabee wants to amend the Constitution to prevent children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens from automatically becoming American citizens, according to his top immigration surrogate — a radical step no other major presidential candidate has embraced.Mr. Huckabee, who won last week's Republican Iowa caucuses, promised Minuteman Project founder James Gilchrist that he would force a test case to the Supreme Court to challenge birthright citizenship, and would push Congress to pass a 28th Amendment to the Constitution to remove any doubt.
-Thank you, Senator Obama. You’ve defeated Senator Clinton in
Iowa
. It looks as if you’re about to beat her in
New Hampshire
. There will be no Clinton Restoration. A nation turns its grateful eyes to you. But gratitude for sparing us a third
Clinton
term only goes so far. Who, inquiring minds want to know, is going to spare us a first Obama term? After all, for all his ability and charm, Barack Obama is still a liberal Democrat. Some of us would much prefer a non-liberal and non-Democratic administration. We don’t want to increase the scope of the nanny state, we don’t want to undo the good done by the appointments of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, and we really don’t want to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory in
Michael Bloomberg, who is expected to decide sometime in the next eight weeks whether to launch an independent bid for the
US
presidency, is on Monday meeting leading members of both main political parties who have expressed deep frustration with the state of the campaign. Organizers of the forum, to take place on
Oklahoma
, say it is not meant to be a launching pad for a bid by Mr Bloomberg,
New York
’s mayor. But it will keep him in the national discussion ahead of Tuesday’s primaries in
New Hampshire
, while also giving him the chance to woo distinguished members of both parties who could add muscle to a bid if he chooses to run.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell praised Barack Obama on the eve of the
New Hampshire
primary, crediting the Illinois Senator for breaking barriers while running as "an American man" who can represent the entire nation. In an interview with PBS host Tavis Smiley, Powell said he was "taking joy" in Obama's rise and he said citizens across the country can "enjoy this moment where a person like Barack Obama can knock down all of these old barriers that people thought existed with respect to the opportunities that are available to African Americans."Powell, the first black person to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, National Security Advisor, and Secretary of State, also firmly rebutted the idea that reporters or voters should assess whether a candidate is white or black "enough."
— Secret Service presence has increased for Sen. Barack Obama since his dramatic win in
Iowa
, amid fears over the safety of the man seeking to become
America
's first black president. The
Illinois
senator's security now rivals that of President Bush, with a dozen Secret Service agents wearing dark suits and earpieces leading bomb-sniffing dogs through event venues, sweeping all equipment brought by journalists and flanking the candidate as he plunges into crowds of supporters.
(AP) - Barack Obama, the new Democratic front-runner, told cheering supporters, "You're the wave and I'm riding it." Hillary Rodham Clinton, her voice breaking, told voters in a little cafe that her White House quest is not just political. "It is very personal for me," she said in
Portsmouth
. The presidential contenders hurtled toward Tuesday's
New Hampshire
primary, tired, spent and some still sniping at each other - hopefully or painfully aware of the stakes. The top three Democrats criticized each other and Republicans John McCain and Mitt Romney traded words with ever more bite.
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton's eyes welled up and her voice broke repeatedly Monday as she talked with voters in a restaurant about her campaign for the presidency.The former first lady was making a last-minute pitch for support as she spoke on the eve of the state's primary, with polls showing her trailing Democratic rival Barack Obama. Asked by a sympathetic voter how she keeps going in the grueling campaign, she replied, "It's not easy. It's not easy." "And I couldn't do it if I just didn't, you know, passionately believe it was the right thing to do," she said, her voice catching. "You know, I've had so many opportunities from this country, I just don't want to see us fall backwards," she said, her voice trailing off. The voters crowded into the restaurant applauded encouragingly.
Sen. Clinton's massive mistake - and the final chance to fix it
January 7th 2008
,
By ROBERT SHRUM
If (although I strongly suspect the right word is "when") Hillary Clinton loses tomorrow's
New Hampshire
primary, there will be a few proto-obituaries for her campaign and many more stories about how it will be "shaken up" or "relaunched." Scapegoats will be found and exiled: Mark Penn, the pollster and strategist, foremost among them. After all, the candidate can't very well dispense with the überstrategist who also happens to be her husband and who was fully complicit in designing and driving her message. The flaw wasn't just the attempt to go back to the future, to the 1990s, but that the
Clintons
picked the wrong year in that decade. Instead of 1992, when Bill was the personification of change, their model was 1996. So Hillary ran as a pseudo-incumbent, with a selection of bite-size proposals and an abundance of caution and transparent calculation. Why would any campaign ever explicitly announce a tour to make the candidate "likable"?
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - New Jersey became the first Northern state to apologize for slavery, as legislators approved a resolution Monday expressing "profound regret" for the state's role in the practice. The Assembly and the Senate 29-2 both voted overwhelmingly to approve the resolution, which expresses the Legislature's opinion without requiring action by the governor.” This resolution does nothing more than say
New Jersey
is sorry about its shameful past," said Assemblyman William Payne, a Democrat who sponsored the measure.The resolution offers an apology "for the wrongs inflicted by slavery and its after effects in the
and reportedly threatened to blow them up. A Pentagon official said that US forces were "literally" on the verge of firing on the Iranian boats and had moved to man their guns when the Iranians turned and sped away. No shots were fired in the incident yesterday morning in one of the world's key shipping routes for crude oil."We urge the Iranians to refrain from such provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future," said Gordon Johnson, spokesman for the White House's National Security Council, in a terse statement.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Iranian boats harassed and provoked three American Navy ships in the strategic
Strait of Hormuz
, threatening to explode the vessels,
U.S.
officials said Monday.In the most serious such incident in years, U.S. forces were on the verge of firing on the Iranian boats during the incident early Sunday, when the boats—believed to be from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's navy—turned and moved away, a Pentagon official said. Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman called it a "serious incident." Another
U.S.
official, speaking on condition of anonymity, called it "the most serious provocation of this sort that we've seen yet."
Iran
's Foreign Ministry said Monday the confrontation was "something normal" and was resolved, suggesting the Iranian boats had not recognized the
U.S.
vessels. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the Bush administration urges Iranians "to refrain from such provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future."
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five Iranian boats made aggressive maneuvers and showed hostile intent towards three U.S. Navy ships at the weekend in the
Strait of Hormuz
, a major oil shipping route in the Gulf, the Pentagon said on Monday. The Pentagon said the incident was serious. It described the Iranian actions as "careless, reckless and potentially hostile" and said
