Articles of Interest 3-26-08
224 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
The Political, Candidate & Party Assistance team was on the road again. The road show stopped in Cass County last night. We had representation from Cass, Berrien, and St. Joseph counties. State Rep. Rick Schafer was there along with more than 40 grassroots activists. We owe a special thanks to Cass County Chairman William LaBre for helping make this meeting a success.
Michigan Democrat’s hypocrisy continues as they are the ONLY party involved in recalls around the state. Typical…they say one thing…do another. Sounds like their tax policy.
The Clinton campaign keeps pushing for a “re-vote” trying to save its own fledging campaign. The “political super delegates” may be the “tie-breakers” as the Democrat party continues to look for sanity in their process and party.
Senator John McCain gives a powerful and direct speech on the housing crisis in America:
“We should also convene a meeting of the nation’s top mortgage lenders. Working together, they should pledge to provide maximum support and help to their cash-strapped, but credit worthy customers. They should pledge to do everything possible to keep families in their homes and businesses growing. Recall that immediately after September 11, 2001 General Motors stepped in to provide 0 percent financing as part of keeping the economy growing. We need a similar response by the mortgage lenders. They've been asking the government to help them out. I'm now calling upon them to help their customers, and their nation out. It's time to help American families.”
Now there’s a Republican style “fix” that taxpayers can afford! Simple, common sense Conservatism.
John McCain forced change in Iraq…now its working. John McCain forced change on earmarks…if elected, it will work. Now John McCain is leading on market based solutions to the real estate market…standing up for the homeowners and job providers.
John McCain is the agent of change…for the better…not the rhetoric of change.
While I was visiting Bosnia under sniper fire….ooops, I digress J
THE REST OF THE STORY:
No further commentary today.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/NEWS01/303250001
Kilpatrick and Beatty surrender
Pair are booked after being charged with perjury, conspiracy, misconduct
By DAVID ASHENFELTER, JOE SWICKARD and ZACHARY GORCHOW FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS March 24, 2008
UPDATED AT 5:30 P.M.: Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and former chief of staff Christine Beatty surrendered to Wayne County authorities this afternoon after Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged them today with perjury, obstruction, conspiracy and misconduct. Kilpatrick said that he expects "full and complete vindication."
Beatty was booked at 3:30 p.m. and Kilpatrick at 5 p.m.
The mayor spoke two hours after Worthy announced to a packed news conference that she is charging Kilpatrick with eight felonies and Beatty with seven.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/METRO/803240417/1409/METRO
Wayne County Executive Ficano: Sad day for Detroit and entire region
Tom Greenwood / The Detroit News
Reactions to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's decision this morning to charge Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty, his former chief of staff, with 12 felony counts of perjury and obstruction of justice, were swift in coming.
"This is a sad day for the city of Detroit," said Detroit City Council President Ken Cockrel, Jr.
"The nature of the charges was not a surprise; the surprise was in the number of counts. That blew me away."
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080325/NEWS01/803250395
Worthy: Resignation alone not enough to spare mayor
BY M.L. ELRICK and JIM SCHAEFER FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS March 25, 2008
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Monday that even if Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick resigned, it would not spare him a trial on criminal charges that threaten to send him from the mayoral Manoogian Mansion to a prison cell.
"I don't consider that to be a factor in which this case would be dismissed," Worthy told the Free Press in her first interview after stunning a city that wondered for two months whether its leader would become the first sitting Detroit mayor to be charged with a crime.
Seemingly unfazed by her moment in history, the Notre Dame University Law School graduate, former high-profile assistant prosecutor and onetime circuit judge said it does not appear Kilpatrick will seek a plea deal.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080325/METRO/803250357
Mayor charged with 8 felonies
Kilpatrick vows he'll be exonerated of perjury, obstruction, misconduct; won't quit.
David Josar, Paul Egan and Ron French /The Detroit News Tuesday, March 25, 2008
DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, the once high-flying leader of Detroit, was charged Monday with eight felonies -- the latest jolt to his promising career and another blow to the punch-drunk city he serves.
In a historic and stunning day, the charismatic but scandal-plagued politician was charged with eight counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office stemming from a police whistle-blower scandal that has engulfed his administration. The mayor's former chief of staff and Kilpatrick high school buddy, Christine Beatty, was charged with seven counts of the same crimes, which carry maximum prison terms of five to 15 years.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/24/AR2008032401120_pf.html
Detroit Mayor Is Charged With Eight Felonies
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 25, 2008; A02
CHICAGO, March 24 -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D), who wore a diamond earring and pledged an urban renaissance in Detroit when he won election as America's youngest big-city mayor in 2001, was charged Monday with eight felonies in an obstruction-of-justice case that could end his once-promising career.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Kilpatrick lied to a jury and settled a whistle-blower lawsuit with $8.4 million in tax dollars to hide a romantic affair with his chief of staff. If convicted, the 37-year-old politician once dubbed the "playah mayah" will lose his job and could face prison.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080325/OPINION03/803250356
Howes: Mayor's credibility long gone, no matter outcome
Detroit News
Daniel Howes: However the mayor's legal predicament ends, he is damaged goods, a sitting mayor charged with crimes that evoke words like coverup and conspiracy. He draws apt allusions to fallen governors, even a president, forced from office by scandals and the threat of conviction or impeachment.
Detroit mayor charged with perjury, says he will be exonerated
By COREY WILLIAMS
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was charged with perjury and other offenses Monday - and got a stern lecture about the importance of telling the truth - after a trove of raunchy text messages contradicted his sworn denials of an affair with his chief aide.
The 37-year-old "Hip-Hop Mayor" who brought youth and vitality to the job in this struggling city of 900,000 could get up to 15 years in prison for perjury alone and would be automatically expelled from office if convicted.
Ignoring mounting demands that he step down, Kilpatrick said: "I look forward to complete exoneration once all the facts have been brought forth. I will remain focused on moving this city forward."
What's next legally for Detroit mayor and ex-aide
The Associated Press
(AP) - What's next for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and ex-Chief of Staff Christine Beatty:
District court arraignment: Both Kilpatrick and Beatty were expected to be arraigned Tuesday at 1 p.m. in 36th District Court in Detroit. They will be told of the charges and potential punishments and be advised of their constitutional rights to a jury or bench trial. The judge will determine the conditions and amount of bond. They will be advised of their rights to a preliminary examination within 14 days.
Community weighs in on charges filed against Detroit mayor
By NATASHA ROBINSON and JAMES PRICHARD
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) - Detroit electrician Tim Morton said Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick could've been the next Barack Obama even before Obama and his message of hope became prominent.
But after Monday, his hope was gone. As he grabbed his Starbucks cup, he shook his head in disbelief and sadness over how the day had unraveled.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy on Monday filed perjury and other charges against Kilpatrick, a Democrat, and his former top aide following the disclosure of racy text messages that appear to contradict the mayor's sworn denials during a whistle-blower trial of an affair with Christine Beatty, his ex-chief of staff.
Statements made by prosecutor Worthy and defense lawyer Webb
3/24/2008, 5:32 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
(AP) - Statements made Monday by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy and Dan Webb, lawyer for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick:
WORTHY:Fifty-nine days ago I told you that the Wayne County prosecutor's office would conduct a fair and impartial investigation and that we would not be rushed and that only the facts and evidence would lead us.
This is just what we have done. For the men and women in this office, doing things right trumps doing things fast and easy every time. We serve you with independent thought unbossed and unbought. We have taken orders and instruction from no one.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/COL27/80324020/1081
MOTOR CITY JOURNAL
Bill McGraw: Kilpatrick a first for Detroit
By BILL McGRAW FREE PRESS COLUMNIST March 24, 2008
In 2002, he was the youngest elected mayor in Detroit history. In 2005, he was the first mayor in more than half a century to finish second in a primary. Today, on March 24, 2008, Kwame Kilpatrick became the first Detroit mayor to be charged with a crime while in office.
As Kilpatrick himself put it in his interview last week with Bankole Thompson of the Michigan Chronicle: "The kind of thing that's going on now, I don't think we as a city have seen before."
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/COL33/303240008/0/NEWS01
STEPHEN HENDERSON
Time to learn lessons and leave
BY STEPHEN HENDERSON FREE PRESS COLUMNIST March 24, 2008
In her harshest moments Monday, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy conjured Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick as an unruly man-child who never learned the lessons that are imbedded in most people by kindergarten age and form the basis of our legal system.
"Tell the truth," she said. "Take responsibility for your actions. Admit when you are wrong. Be fair and play fair. Don't take or use things that aren't yours. There are consequences for bad behavior."
And so the prosecutor vividly reminded us all Monday of what this Kilpatrick mess is all about. Despite the mayor's spins, twists and denials, it comes down to honesty, responsibility and consequences. It's about Kilpatrick's misbehavior before and during the police whistle-blower suit and his negligence in the wake of it, as the leader of this city.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/COL01/303240009/1082
MITCH ALBOM: Mayor's scandal has a sports page feel
BY MITCH ALBOM FREE PRESS COLUMNIST March 24, 2008
They call him the Hip-Hop Mayor, but that always has been misleading, for he is less a musician than a jock, with a jock's sense of entitlement, a jock's bully muscle, a jock's entourage, a jock's approach to women, and, most of all, a jock's eternal belief that he can fight his way out of anything.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/METRO/803240425/1361
Leaders tend to survive scandals involving sex, but not crime
Mike Wilkinson / The Detroit News
With the charges against him announced today, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick joined a list of big city leaders whose troubles -- both legal and moral -- have created headlines from coast to coast. Only a couple were forced from office.
They range from the mayors of Providence, R.I., and Washington, D.C. doing time for corruption and drug possession to two California mayors whose admitted infidelity weakened them but did not topple them.
When it's just sex, the politicians usually survive; when their behavior saddles them with a crime, they're usually booted from office or step aside.
Comments related to charges announced against Detroit mayor
3/24/2008, 5:28 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
(AP) - Comments related to perjury and other charges being announced Monday against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a Democrat, and Christine Beatty, his former chief of staff:
"Honesty and integrity in the justice system is everything. That is what this case is about. Just when did honesty and integrity, truth and honor become traits to be mocked, downplayed, ignored, laughed at or excuses made for them? When did telling the truth become a supporting player to everything else?" - Kym Worthy, Wayne County prosecutor
Comparison of trial testimony and text messages in Det mayor case
3/24/2008, 3:41 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
(AP) - A comparison of what Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his then-Chief of Staff Christine Beatty said during a whistle-blower trial in August 2007 and in text messages on Beatty's pager. The Detroit Free Press hasn't explained how it obtained the 14,000 text messages, which were sent or received in two months each in 2002 and 2003 from Beatty's city-issued pager:
TRIAL TESTIMONY ON AFFAIR: Mike Stefani, a lawyer for police officers who sued the city, asked the mayor at trial: "Mayor Kilpatrick, during 2002 and 2003, were you romantically involved with Christine Beatty?"
Striking union workers cheer, criticize charges against mayor
3/24/2008, 2:27 p.m. EDT
By TOM KRISHER
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) - Moments before Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced criminal charges against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, about 200 people had gathered at a local union hall to support striking workers at auto parts maker American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc.
The people, most from nearby Chrysler LLC factories, stocked the hall with soft drinks and bottled water, and many were in the meeting room talking, eating lunch and listening to music before going outside to the picket lines. But the songs were silenced and the audio switched to a television station as Worthy was about to announce the latest development in a case that has captivated the region.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080325/NEWS06/803250331
Parolee Kevorkian seeks seat in House
Assisted-suicide advocate to push for individual rights
BY KATHLEEN GRAY FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER March 25, 2008
He called his candidacy audacious, even outrageous, but assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian will run for U.S. Congress this year, hoping to continue a crusade to fight for individual rights.
"I have never been a political person. I have only voted once in my life," he said, during a rambling news conference Monday in Southfield in which he quoted a range of historical figures that included Alexis de Tocqueville and Frederick Douglass.
Kevorkian plans to run as an Independent candidate in the 9th Congressional District, for a seat that is held by U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg, R-Bloomfield Township.
Kevorkian promised to stay in office only two years if elected.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080325/NEWS02/803250332
Father, son are both on ballots
State, township campaigns set
BY CECIL ANGEL FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER March 25, 2008
They are father and son and both are politicians.
Philip LaJoy, 63, is a state representative. His son Todd LaJoy, 35, is on the Canton Board of Trustees. Both have campaigns under way -- but not for re-election.
The younger LaJoy wants to succeed his father, who has to leave at the end of this year because of term limits.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080325/NEWS03/803250322
A new top cop Warren
Police chief leaves Farmington Hills for Warren
BY KORIE WILKINS FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER March 25, 2008
Once a cop, always a cop. That pretty much sums up why Farmington Hills Police Chief William Dwyer, 67, decided not to run for public office and will become Warren's police commissioner instead on April 2. In doing so, he's leaving the police department he's led for 23 years in Farmington Hills.
It's a bittersweet parting, he said, but he's looking forward to the challenge of running a department that's twice the size: Warren has 245 sworn officers, Farmington Hills has 120. His last day will be Monday.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080325/NEWS04/803250328
Support builds for a county exec
Effort collects $40,000 from businesses, unions, leaders
BY STEVE NEAVLING FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER March 25, 2008
An effort to revamp Macomb County government is gaining broad support from business, labor union and government leaders, with tens of thousands of dollars pouring into a committee that is urging voters to approve the beginning steps of change in May.
Mark Brewer, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, led the list of roughly 100 donors by contributing $6,210 to the Charter Equals County Executive Committee, a group that is leading the effort. The group also received $5,000 each from Community Central Bank in Mt. Clemens and Citizens First Bank in Chesterfield Township, more than $5,500 from unions and $2,000 from the Detroit Regional Chamber, according to campaign finance reports.
http://macombdaily.com/stories/032508/loc_local04.shtml
County won't raise taxes
Republican board member says 'smoke and mirrors' balanced 2007 budget.
By Chad Selweski
Macomb Daily Staff Writer
Macomb County taxpayers will not be called upon to help balance the county budget, as officials have agreed to hold the line on the millage rate for the coming year.
The county board's Budget Committee has unanimously approved a 4.2-mill property tax rate, the same millage levy that has prevailed in Macomb for a quarter century. The decision means that a tax hike will be off the table later this year when the board is expected to wrestle with another budget deficit.
"Just because the politicians are unable to make the fiscal decisions that are needed doesn't mean we shouldn't put the burden on the taxpayers," said Commissioner Peter Lund, a Shelby Township Republican and one of the board's most conservative members on budget issues.
http://thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/NEWS05/80324009
Area illegal immigrants caught crossing the border typically Mexican
By BOBBY AMPEZZAN
Times Herald
Three illegal immigrants caught crossing into Algonac Saturday night came from China originally, and that's rare, Border Patrol Agent Kurstan Rosberg said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Sector Detroit has monitoring stations along Michigan's eastern border from Sault Ste. Marie to Trenton.
Last year, of the 904 arrests, more than three-quarters were illegal Mexican immigrants. Most of the rest were from Central American countries such as Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. He did not have information on arrests made from the Marysville station specifically. The arrest Saturday night highlights a trend of human smuggling into Michigan that begins in Toronto, Rosberg said.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/METRO/803240396/1361
State, local authorities arrest 205 fugitives in sweep
Associated Press
LANSING -- Officials say 205 fugitives were arrested during a statewide sweep aimed at getting offenders off the streets. The Project S.A.F.E. (Statewide Apprehension of Fugitives Effort) Street sweep has been conducted quarterly since 2003. The latest one, held March 11-13, resulted in the arrests of 58 parole violators, 27 parole absconders and two probation violators.
Law enforcers also made arrests for assault and battery, breaking and entering, domestic violence, forgery, fraud, identity theft, larceny and possession of marijuana. State police and the state Department of Corrections organized the sweep with help from county sheriff's departments, local police, the U.S. Marshals services and police from Arizona and Texas.
Kevorkian formally announces run for Congress
3/24/2008, 7:22 p.m. EDT
By DAVID EGGERT
The Associated Press
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) - Jack is back. Just 10 months removed from prison, assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian thrust himself into the spotlight again by formally announcing a run for Congress as an independent Monday.
If elected, the 79-year-old said his main priority will be promoting the little-known Ninth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The measure protects rights not explicitly specified elsewhere in the Constitution, which Kevorkian said safeguards choices like dying through assisted suicide and not wearing a seat belt.
http://www.mlive.com/business/chronicle/index.ssf?/base/business-0/1206022516168050.xml&coll=8
Jobless rates up in Muskegon, Ottawa, across state
FROM LOCAL REPORTS
WEST MICHIGAN -- The employment picture worsened in all 17 of Michigan's major labor markets as jobless rates increased from December to January.
Muskegon County and other West Michigan counties followed the trend. The January unemployment rate in Muskegon County was 7.5 percent, up from 7 percent in December and 7.3 percent a year ago.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/AUTO01/803240431/1361
Dura bondholder wants probe of bankrupt auto-parts maker
The Detroit News
Dura Automotive Systems Inc., a Rochester Hills auto-parts maker that failed to exit bankruptcy last year because of credit market turmoil, may now face a probe by bondholders, Bloomberg News reported today.
James W. Korth, the managing partner of East Lansing-based bond brokerage J.W. Korth & Co., is seeking approval from the federal judge in Wilmington, Delaware, overseeing Dura's bankruptcy to investigate the company's value, according to Bloomberg.
Korth and his clients own more than $100 million of Dura bonds, he said in the request, filed without an attorney and on behalf of a group of creditors which he didn't name. Korth is seeking access to 16 categories of financial documents.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/METRO/803240362/1408/LOCAL
Michigan's home vacancy rate rises
Only Florida, Nevada rank higher on list; problem most acute in Metro area.
Marisa Schultz / The Detroit News
The percent of non-rental homes that sit vacant on the market has risen markedly in Michigan, another example of how the state's beleaguered economy and foreclosure crisis have hit home.
Just two states rank higher -- Florida and Nevada -- for the rate of homeowner vacancies, according to census statistics released earlier this year. But unlike Michigan, those states have something powerful working in their favor: growing populations.
"If they stop building homes in Florida, they will eventually fill up," said Donald Grimes, senior research specialist in economics at the University of Michigan.
After 74 years, Tecumseh Products leaves town it helped create
3/24/2008, 7:07 p.m. EDT
By ERIK GABLE and DAVID PANIAN
The Associated Press
TECUMSEH, Mich. (AP) - When the last employees leave Tecumseh Products Co.'s East Patterson Street location later this year, it will mark the end of an age for the city of Tecumseh and the company that bears its name.
Tecumseh Products says its global headquarters will move to the Valley Ranch Business Park in Pittsfield Township near Ann Arbor. The decision follows an announcement in November that the company, which makes refrigeration compressors, would shut down its local manufacturing operations this year, moving the work to other plants in North America.
The company's exit from its longtime home was not the death blow it would have been in years past. The company no longer dominates Lenawee County's economy the way it once did; its work force has dwindled to 300 or so people, most of them in its corporate office.
Michigan Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative offers a helping hand
3/24/2008, 7:09 p.m. EDT
By JULIE SWIDWA
The Associated Press
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) - When someone complains to Peggy Schaffer that the requirements of the Michigan Prisoner Reentry Initiative are too stiff, she knows the program is doing what it's supposed to do.
Take Timmie Vinson, for example.
He grumbled about the mandate to put in eight job applications a day. He complained that no one bought him a car. When he had to wait for Diala-Ride and was late for an appointment at MichiganWorks!, he didn't like hearing, "You have to be here when you were told to, just like you would at a job," he said.
A roundup of recent editorial opinion from Michigan newspapers
3/24/2008, 3:42 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
(AP) - Michigan is in line to become the first state in the nation to issue food stamps twice a month.
The Senate has given the bill its nod. A similar bill is pending in the state House while food stamp recipients are surveyed to find out how the change would affect them.
Ford officially takes over Romanian carmaker Automobile Craiova
3/24/2008, 2:18 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - Ford Motor Co. formally took over the Romanian plant Automobile Craiova from the Romanian government on Friday.
Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu handed the factory's key to Ford of Europe President John Fleming, saying that Ford's investment of about $1 billion would allow Romania to become the biggest car producer in southeastern Europe.
Last year, Dearborn-based Ford bought a 72.4 percent stake in the state-owned company, paying about $88 million and vowing to invest $1 billion to upgrade and expand car production. Ford said it would increase the number of employees from 3,900 to between 7,000 and 9,000.
Meijer is resisting demand for documents, prosecutor says
3/24/2008, 10:21 a.m. EDT
The Associated Press
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - Meijer Inc. and its law firm are refusing to hand over documents sought by the Grand Traverse County prosecutor in an investigation of the company's role in a failed recall election, the prosecutor's office says.
In a motion filed last week, Prosecutor Alan Schneider asked a circuit court judge to order Meijer and the law firm Dickinson Wright to provide the documents and witnesses.
"Meijer Inc. may not assert attorney-client privilege to preclude disclosure of communications, work-product and financial records of an attorney who acted in concert with them to commit a crime," Schneider wrote in the motion, the Traverse City Record-Eagle reported on Sunday.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14997.html
McCain shouldn't count on too much support from state GOP committees
Posted March 24th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
And I thought Republican committees at the federal level were in trouble. At a time when the GOP presidential nominee will need more assistance than ever, a number of state Republican parties are struggling through troubled times, suffering from internal strife, poor fundraising, onerous debt, scandal or voting trends that are conspiring to relegate the local branches of the party to near-irrelevance.
In some of the largest, smallest, reddest and bluest states in the nation, many state Republican organizations are still reeling in the aftermath of the devastating 2006 election cycle, raising questions about how much grassroots help the state parties will be able to deliver to presumptive GOP nominee John McCain.
The state party woes are especially ill-timed since McCain will face a Democratic nominee who may be considerably better funded and organized, and since Republicans will be facing an energized Democratic party that is shattering primary election turnout records.
Saul Anuzis, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party was surprisingly candid about the state of affairs for state affiliates: "After 12 years of being in power, you tend to get fat and lazy, and in some cases arrogant with respect to your positions. There is no doubt that we have had people who have gotten caught up in both illegal activities and immoral activities and none of that helps the party as a whole. If you go back to 2006 most people would agree that not only did we lose our brand, that we damaged our brand significantly. We are clearly rebuilding."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9175.html
GOP state parties are in dire straits
By DAVID PAUL KUHN & CHARLES MAHTESIAN | 3/24/08 4:51 AM EST
At a time when the GOP presidential nominee will need more assistance than ever, a number of state Republican parties are struggling through troubled times, suffering from internal strife, poor fundraising, onerous debt, scandal or voting trends that are conspiring to relegate the local branches of the party to near-irrelevance.
In some of the largest, smallest, reddest and bluest states in the nation, many state Republican organizations are still reeling in the aftermath of the devastating 2006 election cycle, raising questions about how much grassroots help the state parties will be able to deliver to presumptive GOP nominee John McCain.
The state party woes are especially ill-timed since McCain will face a Democratic nominee who may be considerably better funded and organized, and since Republicans will be facing an energized Democratic party that is shattering primary election turnout records.
http://www.mlive.com/elections/index.ssf/2008/03/mccain_says_us_succeeding_in_i.html
McCain says US succeeding in Iraq
by Liz Sidoti | The Associated Press
Monday March 24, 2008, 11:05 PM
CHULA VISTA, Calif. (AP) -- Fresh off his eighth Iraq visit, Sen. John McCain declared Monday that "we are succeeding" and said he wouldn't change course -- even as the U.S. death toll rose to 4,000 and the war entered its sixth year.
To underscore his view of the stakes in Iraq, the certain Republican presidential nominee twice referenced a recent audio tape from Osama bin Laden in which the al-Qaida leader urged followers to join the al-Qaida fight in Iraq and called the country "the greatest opportunity and the biggest task."
http://www.mlive.com/elections/index.ssf/2008/03/obama_mccain_to_make_stops_on.html
Obama, McCain to make stops on TV shows
by The Associated Press
Monday March 24, 2008, 4:03 PM
WASHINGTON -- Democratic Sen. Barack Obama plans to chat with the women of ABC's "The View" on Friday, his first visit to the daytime talk show as a presidential candidate.
Republican rival John McCain hopes to share a few jokes on late-night television when he appears on CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" on April 1 -- April Fool's Day.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/24/AR2008032403230_pf.html
Clinton Unveils Plan to Ease Housing Crisis
By Anne E. Kornblut and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 25, 2008; A01
PHILADELPHIA, March 24 -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sought on Monday to pitch herself as the remedy to the nation's housing crisis, a claim that drew an aggressive pushback from Sen. Barack Obama's campaign as the two candidates continued to wrestle for the upper hand on the issue of the economy.
As the economy has overtaken Iraq in recent months as the dominant issue in the campaign, Clinton (N.Y.) and Obama (Ill.) have increasingly turned their attention to darkening forecasts about the nation's financial health.
Clinton Calls for $30 Billion for Home Mortgage Crisis
By PATRICK HEALY
PHILADELPHIA - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton returned to one of her major campaign themes Monday - the economic impact of the home mortgage crisis - and called on Congress to provide $30 billion to help states and communities lessen the number of foreclosures.
In a speech at the University of Pennsylvania, Mrs. Clinton proposed several other moves to deal with foreclosures, like tapping two former chairmen of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan and Paul A. Volcker, and former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, to lead a "high-level emergency working group" to recommend ways to restructure at-risk mortgages to help avert more foreclosures.
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=E343C72C-3048-5C12-007024AB5EA6BFBA
Hillary Clinton the populist?
By: Jeanne Cummings
March 24, 2008 08:07 PM EST
Way back at the beginning of her campaign for the White House, Hillary Rodham Clinton seemed to have what was dubbed a Sister Souljah moment during her husband's 1992 campaign.
Bill Clinton's breakaway moment involved reverse racism. Hers focused on lobbyists.
Before an audience of liberal bloggers last fall, Hillary Clinton defended Washington's advocate class. "A lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans. They actually do," she said. "They represent nurses. They represent, you know, social workers. They represent, yes, they represent corporations."
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/archive/print_558825.html
The race for president: Questions for Hillary
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Hillary Clinton continues her Hail Mary run for the Democrats' presidential nomination. She's behind in both the elected delegate count and among the superdelegates. And despite the spin of her campaign staff, the mathematics of it all suggests she cannot overtake Barack Obama without thumbing her nose at the popular will.
But as Sen. Clinton attempts to make her case that she's the more electable of the two, the junior senator of New York is raising more questions than providing answers:
Clinton has made myriad claims that her eight years as first lady afforded her firsthand "experience" in a number of areas, especially in foreign policy. But the public record -- and those actually involved in said matters -- suggests otherwise.
Obama's Test: Can a Liberal Be a Unifier?
By ROBIN TONER
WASHINGTON - At the core of Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign is a promise that he can transcend the starkly red-and-blue politics of the last 15 years, end the partisan and ideological wars and build a new governing majority.
To achieve the change the country wants, he says, "we need a leader who can finally move beyond the divisive politics of Washington and bring Democrats, independents and Republicans together to get things done."
But this promise leads, inevitably, to a question: Can such a majority be built and led by Mr. Obama, whose voting record was, by one ranking, the most liberal in the Senate last year?
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/03/obama-puts-cour.html#more
Obama puts courage ahead of political expediency
By DeWayne Wickham
If there is a lesson to learn from the speech on race that Barack Obama gave last week it is this: It's a rare moment in the life of this country when a politician is moved by unselfish courage, rather than political expediency, to address the nation.
Obama's speech was one of those moments. So, too, was the address President John Kennedy gave on June 11, 1963. Earlier that day Kennedy nationalized a unit of the Alabama National Guard to enforce a federal court order to desegregate the University of Alabama.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0324Dems0324.html
Dems consider mini convention to pick nominee
Dave Helling
McClatchy Newspapers
Mar. 24, 2008 12:00 AM
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Democrats, looking for a way out, are pondering a new idea: an unprecedented "mini convention" to bring their punishing presidential season to an early close.
The proposal surfaced during another week of pushing and shoving between the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigns and a growing concern that the party may be hurting itself beyond repair.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25659
Obama's Reverent Wright-Wing Media
by Seton Motley
Why did it take until Thursday March 13, 2008, for the nation to begin to learn about Barack Obama's pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright? The man whose Trinity United Church of Christ Obama has attended and generously funded for seventeen years? Whom he had publicly and repeatedly cited as his mentor and had named as a campaign advisor? Whom he chose to perform his wedding and baptize his two daughters?
Because, until then, we were in the midst of Phase I -- preventative medicine -- of the media's version of campaign health care for the Senator's Presidential bid. Call it the Plan to Protect Obama (PPO).
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/21/obama.wright/index.html
Wright flap may hurt Obama
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After tapes of inflammatory statements made by Sen. Barack Obama's pastor came out last weekend, it appears to have had some negative impact on the Illinois senator.
Nationally, Obama's lead over Sen. Hillary Clinton narrowed in a poll of polls -- which included CBS News, USA Today and Gallup.
The polls, taken between March 14-18, show Obama with 49 percent to Clinton's 43 percent.
"I don't think there is any doubt that the [Rev.] Jeremiah Wright controversy played a role in the 10-point drop in his favorable ratings," said pollster Terry Madonna.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/NATION/579478775/1001
Obama favorite of outside groups
By Jim McElhatton
March 24, 2008
Sen. Barack Obama, whose campaign has sharply criticized the role of outside political groups in the presidential race, has benefited more than any other candidate from millions of dollars in independent political expenditures, records show. The increasing support for Mr. Obama has given him a boost from the same sort of political activity his campaign has railed against, especially when millions of dollars in union and other special-interest money backed his opponents.
The political arm of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and other independent groups have spent more than $7.1 million directly supporting the Illinois Democrat's bid for the presidential nomination, campaign records show. By contrast, similar outside groups have spent about $5.1 million backing Sen. Hillary Clinton, New York Democrat.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/124451/page/1
`I Feel Badly About Just Quitting'
Ron Paul on why he's still running for president.
By Sarah Elkins | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Mar 20, 2008 | Updated: 10:00 a.m. ET Mar 21, 2008
John McCain may have clinched the Republican nomination on March 4, but for Ron Paul and his 800,000-strong army of supporters, the GOP primary isn't over ... at least not yet. Seventeen days and two primaries later, the Texas congressman is vowing to continue his campaign. In fact, he tells NEWSWEEK that his candidacy is "indefinite" and says that--unless the Arizona senator drastically alters his campaign platform--McCain can forget about a Ron Paul endorsement.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZGM4MGFkZDAwMWM5NmM3MDQwZjAzYzIwNTBiMjQ5ZDQ=
Pelosi's Vacation Alibi
Why won't Speaker Pelosi simply allow an honest up or down vote on the bipartisan Senate FISA bill?
By Peter Hoekstra
Earlier this month, the House of Representatives Democrat leadership was in a panic as it faced another lengthy congressional recess without House action to fix a serious problem with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that is hampering the ability of U.S. intelligence agencies to monitor the communications of foreign terrorists. In February, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi set off a firestorm of criticism when she adjourned the House for a one-week recess without taking action on a bipartisan Senate bill to fix the FISA problem and allowed legislation providing a temporary fix to expire. House Democrats feared more criticism if they left town again without appearing to take action on this issue.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/24/AR2008032402995_pf.html
Bush Says War's Outcome 'Will Merit the Sacrifice'
President and Petraeus Discuss Strategy as the U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Rises to 4,000
By Karen DeYoung and Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 25, 2008; A01
As the American military death toll in Iraq reached 4,000, President Bush conferred yesterday with top U.S. officials in Washington and in Baghdad and vowed in a public statement that the outcome of the war "will merit the sacrifice."
Bush held a two-hour videoconference with Gen. David H. Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker. Petraeus reiterated his plan to halt U.S. troop withdrawals, begun late last fall, at the end of July. At that point, he has said, he will "evaluate" whether Iraqi forces and a reduced number of U.S. troops can maintain the lower levels of violence.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1929611920080324
Bush expresses sorrow over U.S. deaths in Iraqpowered by SphereBy David Alexander and Paul Eckert
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush expressed sorrow on Monday as the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq hit 4,000, days after he marked the fifth anniversary of the unpopular war.
"One day people will look back at this moment in history and say 'thank God there were courageous people willing to serve' because they laid the foundation for peace for generations to come," Bush said after a roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers, pushing the toll to the new milestone.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3612661.ece
Paramilitaries open fire on hundreds of monks and nuns at Tibet rally
Paramilitary police opened fire on hundreds of monks, nuns and Tibetans who tried to march on a local government office in western China yesterday to demand the return of the Dalai Lama. Residents of Luhuo said that a monk and a farmer appeared to have been killed and about a dozen people wounded in the latest violence in Tibetan areas of China. Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, said that one officer was killed when police confronted a "lawless mob" in Luhuo.
The demonstration began at 4pm when about 200 nuns from Woge nunnery and a similar number of monks from Jueri monastery marched towards the Luhuo Third District government office. They were joined by several hundred farmers and nomads, witnesses said.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1310393,00.html
Protests At Olympic Torch Ceremony
Updated:22:31, Monday March 24, 2008
Pro-Tibet demonstrators have disrupted the Olympic torch-lighting ceremony for the 2008 Games. Lhadon Tethong, director of Students for a Free Tibet, said both men were taken to the local police station.
"One of our colleagues saw them being dragged by about 20 police through town," he said.
When the incident took place, China state TV cut away to a pre-recorded scene, preventing Chinese viewers from seeing what was taking place.
Nepal police arrest Tibetan protesters
3/24/2008, 1:34 p.m. EDT
By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA
The Associated Press
KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Police in Nepal's capital arrested about 475 Tibetan refugees, monks and their supporters Monday as they gathered to protest a crackdown on Tibetans in neighboring China, the U.N. said.
Chanting "China, stop killings in Tibet. U.N., we want justice," protesters were marching toward the U.N. offices in Katmandu when police stopped them about 300 feet away, beat them with bamboo sticks and snatched their banners. The protesters demanded the U.N. investigate the recent crackdown in Tibet by Chinese authorities.
http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080325/FOREIGN/302178250/1001
China to relay torch in Tibet
By Jason Motlagh
March 25, 2008
DHARAMSALA, India - China vowed yesterday to bring the Olympic torch through the heart of Tibet en route to the Summer Games in Beijing, again defying calls for dialogue by Tibetan exiles, the United States and much of the world.
"The more determined the Dalai [Lama] clique is to ruin the torch relay and the Olympic Games, the more hard and good work we need to do on the preparation and the implementation of all aspects," Yin Xunping, a Communist Party official, was quoted as saying by the Tibet Daily newspaper.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/BIZ/803240411/1361
Supreme Court: Employers can coordinate retiree benefits with Medicare
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court has upheld a federal policy that allows employers to reduce their health insurance expenses for retired workers once they turn 65 and qualify for Medicare.
The justices turned down an appeal by the 35-million-member AARP to undo a rule that essentially allows employers to treat retirees differently depending on their age.
The rules were put into place by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, with the support of labor unions and other groups. They worried that employers would greatly reduce or eliminate health benefits for all retirees if they could not take Medicare into account when structuring the health benefit packages they voluntarily provide their retired workers.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25660
Too Big, Too Heavy
by Jed Babbin
The mission of the US Air Force is to fly and to fight. Everyone in the Air Force's job falls into one of three categories: to do the flying and fighting, to command those who do, or to support them. Part of supporting the warriors is to buy the best aircraft to accomplish the mission at lowest risk. Which is why the Air Force's decision to buy urgently-needed tanker aircraft from the Northrop Grumman - EADS consortium must be reversed.
That decision -- announced on February 29 -- could not be judged quickly or without consulting with experts on both sides of the controversy. Air mobility experts, two former chiefs of staff of the Air Force and other experienced warfighters gave me very different opinions.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/BIZ/803240409/1361
Existing home sales rise in February but prices fall
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- After falling for six straight months, sales of existing homes posted an unexpected increase in February. But the median home price tumbled by the largest amount on record.
The National Association of Realtors said today that sales of existing homes rose by 2.9 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.03 million units. It was the biggest increase in a year and caught economists by surprise. They had been expecting a small decline.
Part of the sales improvement may have reflected more aggressive price cutting. The median home price fell to $195,900, a decline of 8.2 percent. That was the largest year-over-year drop on records that go back to 1999.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/BIZ/803240415/1361
Federal agency to inject another $100 billion into home loan market
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Home Loan Bank system can increase purchases of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities by $100 billion over two years in the latest government effort to stabilize the devastated market for mortgage-backed assets.
The 12 regional banks in the system can up purchases of securities issued by the two government-sponsored companies to 600 percent of capital from 300 percent, the Federal Housing Finance Board, which oversees the banks, said today.
The aim is to inject liquidity into a market that has seized up amid a global credit crunch sparked by the U.S. housing market downturn.
http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/03/the-liberation.php
The Liberation of Karmah, Part I
KARMAH, IRAQ - Just beyond the outskirts of Fallujah lies the terror-wracked city of Karmah. While you may not have heard of this small city of 35,000 people, American soldiers and Marines who served in Anbar Province know it as a terrifying place of oppression, death, and destruction. "It was much worse than Fallujah" said more than a dozen Marines who were themselves based in Fallujah.
"Karmah was so important to the insurgency because we've got Baghdad right there," Lieutenant Andrew Macak told me. "This is part of the periphery of Baghdad. At the same time, it is part of the periphery of Fallujah."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120631495290958169.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
Saddam's Terror Links
March 24, 2008; Page A14
Five years on, few Iraq myths are as persistent as the notion that the Bush Administration invented a connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. Yet a new Pentagon report suggests that Iraq's links to world-wide terror networks, including al Qaeda, were far more extensive than previously understood.
Naturally, it's getting little or no attention. Press accounts have been misleading or outright distortions, while the Bush Administration seems indifferent. Even John McCain has let the study's revelations float by. But that doesn't make the facts any less notable or true.
The redacted version of "Saddam and Terrorism" is the most definitive public assessment to date from the Harmony program, the trove of "exploitable" documents, audio and video records, and computer files captured in Iraq. On the basis of about 600,000 items, the report lays out Saddam's willingness to use terrorism against American and other international targets, as well as his larger state sponsorship of terror, which included harboring, training and equipping jihadis throughout the Middle East.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDhhNDg2MDZkMGZiNGVhMzE5ZGFjNWIyOTdkM2JiOGY=
Iraq's Window of Opportunity
A picture of what the long-elusive victory in Iraq might look like.
By Pete Hegseth
One year ago, the neighborhood of Doura in southeast Baghdad was al-Qaeda's headquarters in the capital city, and the daily dumping ground for dozens of victims of sectarian violence. Public association with Americans or Iraqi leaders, in any form, meant death for its residents. If Americans entered a neighborhood, Iraqis slowly slipped away and refused to talk - even behind closed doors, let alone on a busy market street.
Today, the streets of Doura are safe and bustling, as I witnessed firsthand during a trip three weeks ago. I can still smell the briny scent of fish on sale in busy markets, my boots sliding over the dust, and the muezzin's afternoon call to prayer echoing in the distance. I saw Baghdad alive again.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZTY2NDNkYjYwNjcyZmQzOTk4MTMyNzM3ZjA1NjFmZjI=
Millennial Indicators
Who I'll be watching in the next exit poll.
By Michael Barone
It's a generational thing. That was the theme of Barack Obama's speech last Tuesday, in which he both failed to renounce and at the same time separated himself from the man he has described as his spiritual mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Obama said that Wright's bellowing, "God damn America," was just a response to the evil treatment of America's blacks all those years ago by an old man (66) who does not realize, as Obama does and as the success of Obama's candidacy shows, that America is not static but has been perfecting itself.
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12940
Why Not Defeat?
By Jennifer Rubin
Published 3/24/2008 12:08:02 AM
Many observers, left and right, have begun to take note of the gap between the Democrats' defeatist rhetoric on Iraq and the reality on the ground. Karl Rove observed in the Wall Street Journal last week that the Democrats' stubborn insistence that the surge has failed makes them look out of touch and, worse, as if they were rooting for America's defeat.
Rove threw in a canny piece of advice: "They'd be better off arguing success allows America to accelerate the return of our troops rather than appear to deny the progress those troops are making."
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12935
Six Degrees of Preparation
By Adam Creighton
Published 3/24/2008 12:07:49 AM
Little fuss has been made about the Democratic presidential candidates' views on higher education spending. The Higher Education and Lifetime Learning Act -- proposed last year by Democrats Evan Bayh and Rahm Emanuel and now mired in Congressional committees with other pieces of political profligacy -- is a helpful harbinger of their agenda.
Under the Act, an additional $1,000 tax break would be given to college students. Clinton and Obama strongly support these measures, even though the federal government already spends around $68 billion on education every year (more than inheritance and gift taxes put together), including close to $20 billion on post-secondary education.
