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March 27, 2008

Articles of Interest 3-27-2008

223 Days until Election Day

MORNING UPDATE:

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the state could not create or disseminate information identifying voter participation in the Republican and Democrat primaries on Jan. 15. We would argue therefore the list should be available to anyone who requests them. Developing….

The budget process continues to work its way through the state Senate. The Governor’s proposed budget is too expensive in some areas and shortchanges others. She is clearly playing games with the budget…again. This could be setting us up for another “revenue enhancement”…i.e. tax increase.

Frustration with the governor and Democrats is one of the main reasons folks are talking about enacting a constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds vote of both houses of the legislature to raise taxes. This maybe the only way to avoid another tax increase from being rammed down Michigan taxpayers’ throats.

I taped “Michigan Matters” yesterday with Carol Cain which will air this weekend. “Michigan Matters” airs Saturday on CBS—WWJTV Detroit at 11 a.m. and will repeat on Sunday on CW 50 (Channel 50) at 11:30 a.m.


BECOME A PRECINCT DELEGATE! 
Fill out and return the Affidavit of Identity to your county clerk or send it to the state party…we’ll handle the filings. Link to form. Many folks have asked…what does a precinct delegate do?  Here is some basic information about how we try and organize our precinct delegates to be part of our “political machine” to help elect Republicans.

State Rep. Jack Hoogendyk has started his petition collection efforts. If you would like to help, please sign up at his Web site at: http://www.jackformichigan.org/


THE REST OF THE STORY:

No further commentary today.


Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
Granholm sidesteps Detroit mayor talk, says she might have role to play
The Associated Press
Wednesday March 26, 2008, 11:31 AM
DETROIT (AP) -- Governor Jennifer Granholm says she doesn't have much to say about the criminal case against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, citing the possibility she could have a role to play in the situation down the road.
Granholm has the power to remove local officials for misconduct.
The Democratic governor said Wednesday she would prefer not to discuss the issue other than to say she wants to allow the legal process to go forward.
Brown firing set off alarms
Beatty ordered secret seizure of files, cops recall
BY BEN SCHMITT and JOE SWICKARD • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS •
Even as Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was preparing to fire cop Gary Brown, a secret computer raid was being planned by Christine Beatty and other city officials for any files from internal affairs officers looking into suspected misconduct by the mayor's bodyguards and a rumored party at the Manoogian Mansion.
Although the mayor and his former chief of staff have portrayed their actions as a prudent step in ousting a rogue employee, prosecutors appear to be basing obstruction of justice charges against the pair on the swift seizure of sensitive police computer files, according to investigative records filed in the criminal case.
The report in the Kilpatrick-Beatty criminal court file details potential testimony from internal affairs cops and computer technicians about the early days of May 2003, when Brown was abruptly ousted as deputy chief overseeing the internal affairs operations.
Mayor Kilpatrick to get legal defense funding
Kilpatrick's political, business and other allies form group to raise money to fight criminal charges.
Robert Snell, Christine MacDonald and Darren A. Nichols / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- A team of prominent businessmen, power brokers and politicians has formed a legal defense fund to help Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick afford a legal fight against felony perjury charges that could cost millions of dollars.
The Detroit Justice Fund is still forming, but its membership committee includes former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown; Detroit native and television personality Judge Greg Mathis; and S. Martin Taylor, a former DTE executive and a University of Michigan regent, according to Kilpatrick legal team spokesman Christopher Garrett.
The fund, which could be announced today, would be vital for a mayor who is a former schoolteacher and career politician who makes $176,000 a year. That would pay roughly six weeks of full-time work from lead lawyer Dan Webb, a former U.S. attorney who reportedly charges $750 an hour. Its formation also is one of the first visible signs of support among Detroit business leaders, who have said little since the scandal broke in January.
Editorial: Detroit shouldn't bankroll officials' criminal defense
Taxpayers should not automatically be on the hook for the legal fees of city employees charged with crimes. Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick understands this; that's why he's establishing a legal defense fund to raise private money to pay his attorneys.
But City Council is being asked to pay the lawyers representing John Johnson Jr., chief of the city's Law Department, and Valerie Colbert-Osamuede, a city attorney. Both are under investigation for withholding information in Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's probe of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty.
The mayor and Beatty are charged with multiple counts of perjury and obstruction of justice. Worthy contends city employees, particularly those in the Law Department, have intentionally obstructed her investigation of the pair.
1 courtroom, 2 vastly different worlds
BY BILL MCGRAW • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • March 26, 2008
The defendant in case No. 0856794 is accused of negligent homicide with a motor vehicle for a drag-racing accident in which four people died, including his wife. The defendant in case No. 0769345 is accused of home invasion and felony firearm for pointing a rifle at someone and stealing a wallet and a jar of coins.
The defendants in case No. 0868169 are accused of perjury, conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office. Tuesday was not a routine day in Detroit's 36th District Court, a bouillabaisse of humanity widely regarded as the busiest court in Michigan.
Text message casts more doubt on mayor
He asked how to explain cop's firing
BY M.L. ELRICK, JIM SCHAEFER and BEN SCHMITT • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • March 26, 2008
A newly revealed text message shows that six weeks after dismissing Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown in 2003, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick referred to the move as a firing. Nevertheless, Kilpatrick testified last summer that he merely demoted Brown.
The message emerged Tuesday after Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff Christine Beatty were arraigned on felony charges, making history while complicating efforts to revive their hometown.
The previously undisclosed message, included in a report by an investigator for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, shows the mayor pleading with staffers to provide a reason why Brown was ousted.
Kilpatrick in court
Legal experts said Tuesday that the heart of the perjury case against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick - steamy text messages that seem to contradict his sworn denials of an affair with an aide - might be less open-and-shut than many believe.
Kilpatrick to set up legal defense fund
By M.L. ELRICK • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • March 26, 2008
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will soon announce that he is establishing a legal defense fund, a spokesman confirmed Wednesday.
Chris Garrett of Impact Strategies, the Washington, D.C.-based communications firm hired to speak for Kilpatrick’s legal team, said it would be a not-for-profit fund.
He declined to say whether city contractors would be asked to contribute or whether some contributions would not be accepted to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest.
Lawyer withdraws from defending city in lawsuit over exotic dancer's slaying
Christine MacDonald and Paul Egan / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Attorney Mayer Morganroth has withdrawn from defending the city of Detroit in a lawsuit brought by the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene, according to a letter from the city's top attorney, John Johnson.
He will still be under contract with the city to represent Kilpatrick and ex-chief of staff Christine Beatty, who were sued individually in the lawsuit, Morganroth said.
In a letter sent to the Detroit City Council today, Johnson said Morganroth agreed to withdraw from the case as the city of Detroit's representative but it didn't give a reason for the move.
Federal judge in Detroit strikes down state primary records law
3/26/2008, 9:49 p.m. EDT
By JEFF KAROUB The Associated Press                  
DETROIT (AP) — The prospect of a Democratic do-over primary election remained unsettled Wednesday after a federal judge struck down a Michigan law that allowed only the Republican and Democratic parties access to voter information from the state's Jan. 15 presidential primary.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds' order prohibits the Michigan secretary of state from giving the voter lists to the parties.
Michigan jobless rate up
Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News
Michigan's unemployment rate in February edged up to 7.2 percent, according to the state's Department of Labor & Economic Growth.
February jobless rate was a one-tenth of percentage point increase from January's unemployment rate. The national unemployment rate is 4.8 percent.
"Overall, Michigan's labor market has been relatively stable since last fall," said Rick Waclawek, director of DLEG's Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives. "Since October, payroll jobs have been steady, while the jobless rate has declined slightly."
Federal judge: Michigan's presidential primary law unconstitutional
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
DETROIT -- A federal judge on Wednesday ruled Michigan's presidential primary law unconstitutional and blocked the state from giving voter lists from the Jan. 15 election to the state's major political parties.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds in Detroit ruled that the law's provision giving the list of voters' partisan preference only to the Democratic and Republican parties violated the rights of several small parties, who argued that the information should be distributed to all who wanted it or to no one.
The only immediate practical effect of the ruling was to bar the Secretary of State's office from sending the list to the parties on Wednesday, the deadline for turning it over under state law.
Central Michigan student announces plans to run for House
3/26/2008, 5:35 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press   
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) — A Central Michigan University student who has drawn attention for his clashes with university administrators over the hiring of an assistant professor says he is running for the state House.
The Saginaw News reports 23-year-old Dennis Lennox announced his candidacy for a seat that covers parts of northern Michigan including Antrim, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Otsego counties. Lennox is from Topinabee.
The seat now is held by Republican Kevin Elsenheimer, who plans to run for the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Editorial
Judge properly protects voter privacy
Ruling strikes down law restricting primary lists to Democrats, GOP
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds correctly ruled that the Michigan primary election law directing that voter preference lists be given to the chairmen of the state Democratic and Republican parties, but no one else, is unconstitutional.
In January's primary, residents had to choose whether to vote in the Democratic or GOP primary election, and their choice was then noted on a list by the secretary of state. The law directed the secretary to deliver those lists to the two party chairmen within 71 days of the election.
Edmunds held that section of the law violated the Equal Protection clause of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, which requires that laws treat all equally. The effect of her invalidating the statute is that no one gets the lists. The ruling thus allows individual voters to keep their political party preferences private -- an important protection and one that will encourage political participation.
Dingell goes for record by running for 28th term
Todd Spangler Detroit Free Press
WASHINGTON – Surprising absolutely no one, Rep. John Dingell - the dean of the U.S. House of Representatives - is throwing his hat in the ring again Thursday, officially filing re-election papers for his 28th term in office.
The Dearborn Democrat, who took over the office held by his father in 1955, is set to become the longest-serving member of the House ever on Feb. 14, 2009. He would pass Jamie Whitten, the late Mississippi congressman who holds the House record with 53 years, 2 months and 13 days.
Senate must pass federal shield law
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton issued a contempt-of-court citation against a former USA Today reporter who refused to reveal her confidential sources in anthrax stories that she investigated.
Walton has ordered Toni Locy to pay up to $45,000 in fines and -- in an incredible departure from previous cases in which news reporters have been cited with contempt over confidential sources -- has ruled that no one may help her pay the fine, which ratchets up another $5,000 a day for each day she does not pay it.
It means that her former employer, Gannett Co., which certainly benefits from having journalists who understand the importance of maintaining promises of confidentiality, cannot help her pay the fine. Her friends and colleagues can't assist her.
Senate approves spending plan for public schools
The Associated Press
LANSING — The state Senate today passed a $13.4 billion spending plan for K-12 public schools after skirmishing over giving some districts a higher increase than others.
Schools would see increases ranging from $71 to $142 more per student under a plan that would give more to districts that are at the lower end of the funding scale.
While some school districts are getting the basic foundation grant of $7,204 this school year, others receive more than $12,000 per student in state aid.
Budget plan would give universities 3 percent hike
By MIRIAM MOELLER, Journal Staff Writer and The Associated Press
POSTED: March 26, 2008
MARQUETTE — The state Senate has approved a spending plan that would give each of Michigan’s 15 public universities the same percentage increase in aid next year.
Each school would get a 3 percent increase.
“That puts us in the middle innings of the ball game,” said Les Wong, president of Northern Michigan University. “The numbers are moving in the direction that are quite positive for us. Everyone is again recognizing that education is a key strategy to getting out of the recession.”
Wong said the passage of the Senate bill is good news, but he remains cautious until the House produces its version of the bill.
All incumbent judges file for new terms
Eastpointe's Norene Redmond may face at least two challengers
By Jameson Cook
Macomb Daily Staff Writer
Controversial Eastpointe Judge Norene Redmond likely will face competition this year when she seeks to continue serving as a district court judge.
Redmond was one of 14 Macomb County jurists whose terms expire at the end this year who had to file re-election paperwork by Monday's deadline with the state Secretary of State's Office. The judges have until 5 p.m. Thursday to withdraw.
Potential challengers have until April 29 to file (and May 2 to withdraw). By late Tuesday afternoon, two people had filed to run against Redmond for the 38th District Court bench and one had filed to run against Macomb County Probate Judge Kathryn George.
Gas bills due now that spring's here
by Charles Slat , last modified March 26. 2008 11:21AM
Michigan Gas Utilities is warning customers who are behind in paying their bills that their service might be cut off.
"Those customers that have made efforts to pay over the winter or have worked out a payment arrangement with us shouldn't be concerned," said MGU President Gary Erickson.
Traffic fatalities for drivers ages 16 to 20 up 20 percent
Christine Rook Lansing State Journal
Traffic fatalities among drivers ages 16 to 20 in Michigan jumped last year by more than 20 percent over the previous year, according to data released this morning by the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning. There were 227 young-driver traffic deaths in 2007.
The trend comes at a time when traffic fatalities overall in Michigan dropped slightly from 1,002 in 2006 to 987 in 2007 and when traffic deaths related to drugs or alcohol dropped 13 percent to 382 in 2007.
Muslim charity exec indicted as spy
Feds: He helped Saddam, paid for trip for Bonior, others
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- A former top official with the Southfield-based Muslim charity Life for Relief and Development spied for the regime of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and organized a 2002 congressional junket to Iraq secretly paid for by the Iraqi Intelligence Service, a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday alleges.
There is no evidence the congressmen knew Iraqi intelligence paid for the trip. The indictment does not identify the congressmen, but records show former U.S. Rep David Bonior, D-Mount Clemens, and two other congressmen made that trip to Iraq. Bonior could not immediately be reached.
Muthanna Al-Hanooti, 48, of Dearborn Heights received a potentially lucrative contract for the right to purchase 2 million barrels of Iraqi oil in return for his work for the Iraqi Intelligence Service, the indictment alleges.
Zoo seeks Metro funds
New state legislation allows tri-county voters to decide on tax to aid cash-strapped facility.
Catherine Jun / The Detroit News
LANSING -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm is scheduled this morning to sign legislation that would allow county authorities to levy a tax on residents to help fund the cash-strapped Detroit Zoo.
"This legislation will allow local voters the option of selecting new tools to support the zoo," said Liz Boyd, spokeswoman for Granholm.
The approval comes as a sigh of relief to zoo officials, who have been scrambling to close an $8 million funding gap left when the city of Detroit, which owns the zoo, withdrew its annual operating subsidy and turned operations over to the Detroit Zoological Society.
But before any tax dollars can be collected, zoo officials have to convince individual county governments -- specifically the county boards of commissioners -- to create taxing authorities as well as get voter approval. And with the ambitious goal to get the proposed tax to Metro Detroit voters in August, zoo officials are canvassing the entire tri-county area to make their pitch.
Prisoner re-entry program eases adjustment
Supporters say Mich. initiative has lowered number of inmates who have returned to prison.
Julie Swidwa / Associated Press
BENTON HARBOR -- When someone complains to Peggy Schaffer that the requirements of the Michigan Prisoner Re-entry 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. When he had to wait for Dial-a-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.
But Vinson, 32, admits he is learning some valuable lessons. He has held a full-time job for more than a year. He has grown to like the fact that people care about him. He appreciates having a mentor he can call anytime. And he's glad to be home.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Opinion
Wright controversy can bridge racial chasm
Judge pastor on his deeds, not a few sermon snippets
William A. Von Hoene Jr.
Excerpts from sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, pastor for more than 35 years at Trinity United Church of Christ, have dominated our discourse about the presidential campaign. Wright has been depicted as a racial extremist or a racist. Political figures and commentators have attempted to use Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama's association with him to call into question Obama's judgment and the sincerity of his commitment to unity.
I have been a member of Trinity, a church with an almost entirely African-American congregation, for more than 25 years. As a white male, I have heard Wright preach about racial inequality, in unvarnished and passionate terms, from a decidedly different perspective.
In his recent speech on racial issues confronting our nation, Obama eloquently observed that Wright's sermons reflect the difficult experiences and frustrations of a generation. We need to understand this dynamic. It also is important that we not let media coverage and political gamesmanship isolate selected remarks by Wright to the exclusion of anything else that might define him more accurately and completely. I find it troubling that we have distilled Wright's 35-year ministry to a few phrases; no context has been explored.
NATIONAL STORIES
Michigan judge: You broke it, you bought it
by James Oliphant
In the post below, we highlighted why Wednesday's ruling by a Detroit federal judge was a setback for the Clinton campaign.
Here's another reason. In her opinion, U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Edmunds found little sympathy for the state of Michigan when it argued that it passed the statute last year to help voters in the state comply with the rules of the two major political parties.
IN OUR OPINION
Trust fund trouble comes of age
March 26, 2008
The usual dire annual warnings about Social Security and Medicare should not mask the true nature of the country's problems: a huge national debt that limits options and a health care system that cries out for reform.
Tuesday's annual assessments by the programs' trustees did not change much year-to-year. But continued budget deficits in this decade mean the trust funds' surpluses have been used to balance the budget, along with additional borrowing. For next year, for example, President George W. Bush has asked to use $204 billion from trust funds plus sell $407 billion in bonds.
If all the surplus money for Social Security and Medicare had been saved, the trust funds would be good for 33 and 11 years respectively.
McCain: We can't do whatever we want
By: Jonathan Martin
March 26, 2008 05:14 PM EST
LOS ANGELES — Just back from a week of meetings with U.S. allies in Europe and the Middle East, John McCain today signaled that he would seek to repair the perception of America abroad. But he wouldn't back down on a conflict that much of the world has come to despise.
McCain, speaking to an international affairs organization here, sought to explain his unique foreign policy outlook, one that mixes elements of conciliation rejected by the Bush administration with a stay-the-course approach to Iraq and a tough-minded stance toward other potential threats.
In an effort to break into campaign news coverage that is dominated by the increasingly heated Democratic primary, McCain’s aides billed the speech as a major discussion.
McCain supports limited federal aid
March 26, 2008
By Stephen Dinan - Sen. John McCain yesterday promised a do-no-harm approach to current economic problems, calling for lenders to help out homeowners but refusing to promise concrete government help, saying he wouldn't politicize the issue.
In a speech that seemed aimed at establishing his conservative credentials, Mr. McCain cautioned against a quick-fix government-spending approach and spent more time talking about government's limited role than he did proposing concrete steps.
"Any assistance must be temporary and must not reward people who were irresponsible at the expense of those who weren't," he said. "In this crisis, as in all I may face in the future, I will not allow dogma to override common sense."
Mr. McCain, traveling in California yesterday, also received the endorsement of Nancy Reagan, a longtime friend.
Op-Ed Contributor
The Maverick and the Media
By NEAL GABLER
Amagansett, N.Y.
IT is certainly no secret that Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is a darling of the news media. Reporters routinely attach “maverick,” “straight talker” and “patriot” to him like Homeric epithets. Chris Matthews of MSNBC has even called the press “McCain’s base” — a comment that Mr. McCain himself has jokingly reiterated. The mainstream news media by and large don’t cover Mr. McCain; they canonize him. Hence the moniker on liberal blogs: St. McCain.
What is less obvious, however, is exactly why the press swoons for him. The answer, which says a great deal about both the political press and Mr. McCain, may be that he is something political reporters really haven’t seen in quite a while, perhaps since John F. Kennedy.
Seeming to view himself and the whole political process with a mix of amusement and bemusement, Mr. McCain is an ironist wooing a group of individuals who regard ironic detachment more highly than sincerity or seriousness. He may be the first real postmodernist candidate for the presidency — the first to turn his press relations into the basis of his candidacy.
Fortunate Daughter
Meghan McCain Offers Her Own Straight Talk on The Campaign -- And Who Wears The Best Shoes
By Libby Copeland
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 26, 2008; C01
Meghan McCain, who blogs about life inside her dad's presidential campaign, is not terribly interested in matters of policy, but she is acutely attuned to matters of footwear.
McCain is a political outsider with an insider's access, and on her Web site she notices the things political junkies never would, like the "really cute" shoes Chelsea Clinton wore when they met. She posts photographs of her own shoes and of the shoes she encounters on the trail, including those belonging to such fashion luminaries as Dick Armey and Henry Kissinger.
On War and the Economy, McCain Provides a Clear Contrast
By Dan Balz
In a pair of policy speeches over the past two days, John McCain has signaled that a general election against either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton will spark a broad philosophical debate on domestic and international policy. For all the talk about McCain's maverick style and cross-party appeal, his views on two of the biggest issues of the campaign put him sharply at odds with the Democrats.
On Wednesday, in a wide-ranging foreign policy address, McCain once again signaled in forceful terms his sharp differences with Obama and Clinton over the withdrawal of U.S. forces in Iraq. "Those who claim we should withdraw from Iraq in order to fight al-Qaeda more effectively elsewhere are making a dangerous mistake," he said.
On Tuesday, McCain drew a bright line of difference with his potential Democratic rivals over government's role in dealing with the home mortgage and foreclosure crisis, arguing against widespread government intervention to help those who act irresponsibly, whether individual borrowers or giant financial institutions.
McCain: Collaborate More With Allies
Mar 26, 5:11 PM (ET)
By LIZ SIDOTI
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Republican John McCain on Wednesday called anew for the United States to work more collegially with democratic allies and live up to its duties as a world leader, drawing a sharp contrast to the past eight years under President Bush.
"Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed," the likely presidential nominee said in a speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. "We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies," McCain added.
Coming days after his trip to the Middle East and Europe, McCain's speech was intended to signal to leaders abroad - and voters at home - that he would end an era of what critics have called Bush's cowboy diplomacy. McCain never mentioned Bush's name, though he evoked former Democratic Presidents Truman and Kennedy.
McCain’s Evangelical Problem
How McCain can pull ahead of the Dems.
By Joel C. Rosenberg
After months of speeches and debates, and nearly $1 billion in total campaign spending to date, the presidential race is a dead heat.
A head-to-head showdown between Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama is now too close to call — 45.9 percent to 44.6 percent — based on an averaging of national polls by realclearpolitics.com. A head-to-head showdown between McCain and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is also razor-thin, 46 percent to 45.7 percent.
McCain says U.S. can't go it alone
By Stephen Dinan
March 26, 2008
Sen. John McCain today said the U.S. can no longer assume the mantle of lone democratic superpower, and is instead now a first among equals that must rely on an emerging "league of democracies" to secure peace and freedom.
He also said his potential Democratic presidential opponents' calls for withdrawal from Iraq would "draw us into a wider and more difficult war," and embraced the call for freedom in the Middle East that President Bush pioneered in his 2005 inaugural address.
"Success in Iraq and Afghanistan is the establishment of peaceful, stable, prosperous, democratic states that pose no threat to neighbors and contribute to the defeat of terrorists. It is the triumph of religious tolerance over violent radicalism," he said, offering a more in-depth yardstick than the Bush administration, which has consistently said success means an Iraq that can "sustain, govern and defend itself."
BARACK OBAMA'S FORMER PASTOR
Rev. Wright cancels Houston appearances, citing security
ASSOCIATED PRESS • March 26, 2008
HOUSTON — The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, presidential candidate Barack Obama’s controversial former pastor, has canceled plans to speak at three services at a Houston church on Sunday, the church’s pastor said.
The Rev. Marcus Cosby, pastor at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, told Houston television station KTRK and the Houston Chronicle that safety concerns had prompted Wright’s decision.
Cosby told the Chronicle that Wright cited three reasons for canceling: “the safety of the institution to which he has been invited; the safety of his family, which has been placed in harm’s way; and for his own safety.”
Sen. Barack Obama's historic speech on race
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's attempt at conciliation and reflection on racial matters ended up mirroring the very problems that have dogged the country for over 200 years.
Supporters continue to praise the nuanced views and lofty vision he put forth in his speech in Philadelphia. Critics ask questions about Mr. Obama's 20-year relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., a mentor and pastor to the presidential candidate.
The Rev. Wright's incendiary and outrageous statements from the pulpit stand in sharp contrast to Mr. Obama's message of racial reconciliation.
Urban issues get short shrift
By: Carrie Budoff Brown
March 26, 2008 07:25 PM EST
At the outset of the Democratic primary campaign, advocates for urban America had high hopes for a substantive discussion about the issues confronting the cities.
Between Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who represents New York City, and Sen. Barack Obama, a former community organizer who hails from Chicago—not to mention Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a former Cleveland mayor—urban policy experts and mayors expected a vigorous debate about the cities, the kind of conversation that hasn’t occurred in recent presidential elections.
But as the nomination fight shifts to Pennsylvania, home to the sixth-largest city in the country, they are still waiting.
Church defends pastor of Obama's congregation
By KAREN AUCHTERLONIE
Of The Oakland Press
OXFORD - While controversy over presidential candidate Barack Obama's minister and church has many people calling for him to disown the retired pastor, one local church stands by his decision to not do so.
"Sen. Obama did not disown Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Trinity Church. Neither will Immanuel Congregational United Church of Christ, believing that neither would Jesus," read a press release issued by the church, located in the Village of Oxford.
Video clips of Wright's sermons made their way into national news programs recently. Wright's statements have been criticized as anti-American and racist.
Dem warns party to avert disaster
By: Jonathan Martin and Mike Allen
March 26, 2008 07:08 PM EST
Democrats are increasingly nervous about their party’s protracted nomination fight, and some prominent figures are publicly warning that the party needs to act fast to avoid disaster.
Chief among these voices is Phil Bredesen, the two-term governor of Tennessee who is uncommitted to either Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
In an interview this week with Politico, Bredesen said flatly that if the contentious slog continues until the Democrats’ late-August convention in Denver, the party would have a vastly diminished chance of recapturing the White House.
Ten Is the Magic Number
These super-delegates could change the race.
By Jim Geraghty
After Puerto Rico’s Democrats vote on June 7, there will be extraordinary pressure on the remaining publicly undecided super-delegates to get off the fence and make their preferences known. The Democratic convention is not until the end of August, so there’s a potential for three more months of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama slugging it out, running negative ads, airing opposition research, jabbing each other in speeches, and driving up each others’ unfavorable ratings.
There are several hundred super-delegates who have not publicly committed, and even when you win the support of a super-delegate, you don’t always get to keep it. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia announced at the end of last month that because his district overwhelmingly supported Obama, he will vote for the Illinois senator if it comes to a floor fight (which looks extremely likely). And then, sometimes one of your super-delegates is forced to resign because of involvement with a prostitution ring. Some days, Hillary just can’t catch a break.
Divided Democrats could boost McCain
By Christina Bellantoni
March 26, 2008
Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton have each said they would support the other should they lose the Democratic nomination themselves, but two new polls suggest their devotees don't feel the same way.
A Gallup poll showed a staggering 28 percent of Clinton supporters would back Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona in the general election should the former first lady end her own bid.
“This suggests that some Clinton supporters are so strongly opposed to Obama (or so loyal to Clinton) that they would go so far as to vote for the "other" party's candidate next November if Obama is the Democratic nominee,” Gallup wrote in its analysis. “The data suggest that the continuing and sometimes fractious Democratic nomination fight could have a negative impact for the Democratic Party in next November's election.”
Obama Seeks to Quell Flap Over Pastor
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday sought to quell concerns over anti-American remarks by his former pastor, saying people are paying too much attention to a small number of "stupid" comments.
Obama gave a sweeping speech on race last week in which he condemned incendiary remarks by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, but the words of the former pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago continue to dog the candidate. Reflecting the campaign's concern about the fallout, Obama used a question about religion at a town hall forum as an opportunity to address the issue.
"This is somebody that was preaching three sermons at least a week for 30 years and it got boiled down ... into a half-minute sound clip and just played it over and over and over again, partly because it spoke to some of the racial divisions we have in this country," Obama told an audience in this central North Carolina city.
NBC-WSJ poll: New Clinton lows
Posted: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 6:30 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under: Democrats, 2008, Clinton, Obama, Polls
From NBC's Chuck Todd
As expected, one of the two major Democratic candidates saw a downturn in the latest NBC/WSJ poll, but it's not the candidate that you think. Hillary Clinton is sporting the lowest personal ratings of the campaign. Moreover, her 37 percent positive rating is the lowest the NBC/WSJ poll has recorded since March 2001, two months after she was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York.
The poll was conducted Monday and Tuesday this week by Hart-McInturff and surveyed 700 registered voters, which gives the poll a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percent. In addition, we oversampled African-Americans in order to get a more reliable cross-tab on many of the questions we asked in this poll regarding Sen. Barack Obama's speech on race and overall response to last week's Rev. Jeremiah Wright dustup.
Clinton backers warn Pelosi on superdelegate rift
Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:16pm EDT
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of prominent Hillary Clinton donors sent a letter to House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday asking her to retract her comments on superdelegates and stay out of the Democratic fight over their role in the presidential race.
The 20 prominent Clinton supporters told Pelosi she should "clarify" recent statements to make it clear superdelegates -- nearly 800 party insiders and elected officials who are free to back any candidate -- could support the candidate they think would be the best nominee.
Pelosi has not publicly endorsed either Clinton or Barack Obama in their hotly contested White House battle, but she recently said superdelegates should support whoever emerges from the nomination contests with the most pledged delegates -- which appears almost certain to be Obama.
Op-Ed Columnist
Hillary or Nobody?
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON—While the cool cat’s away, the Hillary mice will play. As Barack Obama was floating in the pool with his daughters the last few days in St. Thomas, some Clinton disciples were floating the idea of St. Hillary as his vice president.
She can’t win without him, said one Hillary adviser, and he can’t win without her.
They’re stuck with each other. It’s one of my favorite movie formulas, driving the dynamics in such classics as “A Few Good Men,” “The Big Easy” and “Guys and Dolls”: Charming, glib guy spars and quarrels with no-nonsense, driven girl, until they team up in the last reel. He spices up her life, and she stiffens his spine. And soon they hear the pitter-patter of little superdelegate feet, who are thrilled not to be pulled in two directions anymore.
Tax refunds on their way
March 26, 2008
By Seth McLaughlin - Gov. Tim Kaine yesterday said refunds are coming to Northern Virginia residents who paid regional taxes that lawmakers approved last year to raise millions of dollars for local road projects.
"Some of it will be refunded automatically, but there are a couple of taxes where people will have to show they paid it," he said, encouraging people to visit www.hb3202.virginia.gov on the Internet for an explanation of "how, if you paid taxes on the regional plan, you will get it back."
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled last month that the General Assembly's decision to delegate taxing powers to the unelected Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) was unconstitutional. The taxes and fees were applied to, among other things, home sales, motel stays and car inspections.
Philadelphia mayor wants city-issues debate
By S.A. Miller
March 26, 2008
Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter, whose city is a key battleground in the state's Democratic primary, is inviting the candidates to answer residents' questions at a town-hall meeting — an exchange with ordinary people that he says Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton's and Barack Obama's campaigns lack.
"It's been too narrowly focused, and life is more complicated than sound bites and the [debate] forums we've seen them in," Mr. Nutter told The Washington Times. "The public should have an opportunity to hear them in a different format."
Philadelphia voters need answers about urban issues, including school funding, re-entry programs for convicts, jobs initiatives and plans for federal grant programs for policing and community development, the mayor said.
Outsourced passport work scrutinized
March 26, 2008
By Bill Gertz - The inspector general of the Government Printing Office today said his office is conducting an "end-to-end" review of the agency's production of electronic passports.
GPO Inspector General J. Anthony Ogden said the review is part of the office's work plan and will look at the outsourcing of some passport components, such as computer chips embedded in travel documents.
The comments follow a report in today's editions of The Washington Times quoting congressional and GPO officials who raised security questions about the use of foreign contractors in the process.
"We do pay close attention to the issue of passport manufacturing. It is a high priority of this office," Mr. Ogden said in an interview.
Two Senate Panels to Investigate Bear Stearns Deal
By DAVID STOUT
WASHINGTON — Leaders of two Senate committees said Wednesday that they would investigate the taxpayer-backed takeover of the foundering Bear Stearns investment firm — an arrangement that Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. defended even as he called for more transparency on the part of Wall Street.
Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who heads the Senate Banking Committee, asked Mr. Paulson to appear before his panel on April 3, along with Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, and the top executives of Bear Stearns and JPMorgan Chase, which has moved to acquire Bear Stearns.
Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee will investigate “just how the government decided to front $30 billion in taxpayer dollars for the Bear Stearns deal,” in the words of Senator Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who is chairman of the panel. He and the committee’s ranking Republican, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, wrote a letter asking for extensive details of the transaction.
Prosecutors: Saddam financed U.S. lawmakers' Iraq trip
By Matt Apuzzo
March 26, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said today.
An indictment unsealed in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a member of a Michigan nonprofit group, of arranging for three members of Congress to travel to Iraq in October 2002 at the behest of Saddam's regime. Prosecutors say Iraqi intelligence officials paid for the trip through an intermediary.
New Home Sales Drop for a Fourth Month
Wednesday March 26, 8:41 pm ET
By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer
New Home Sales Fall for Fourth Straight Month; at 13-Year Low in February
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sales of new homes fell in February for the fourth straight month, pushing activity down to a 13-year low. While the rate of decline has slowed, the worst slump in more than two decades has not run its course, analysts said.
The 1.8 percent drop sent the annual sales rate down to 590,000 units in February, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. That was the slowest pace since February 1995 and down 57.5 percent from the sales peak of 1.389 million units in July 2005.
The median price of a home sold last month dropped to $244,100, 2.7 percent less than the level of a year ago. The median sales price is the point where half the homes sold for more and half for less.
Report Assails Auditor for Work at Failed Home Lender
By VIKAS BAJAJ
In a sweeping accusation against one of the country’s largest accounting firms, an investigator released a report on Wednesday that said “improper and imprudent practices” by a once high-flying mortgage company were condoned and enabled by its auditors.
KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting firms, endorsed a move by New Century Financial, a failed mortgage company, to change its accounting practices in a way that allowed the lender to report a profit, rather than a loss, at the height of the housing boom, an independent report commissioned by a division of the Justice Department concluded.
The result of a five-month investigation, the report is the most comprehensive and damning document that has been released about the failings of a mortgage business. Some accusations echoed claims that surfaced about the accounting firm Arthur Andersen during the collapse of Enron, the energy giant, more than six years ago.
Shifting Careers
Finding Health Insurance if You Are Self-Employed
By MARCI ALBOHER
IF there is one issue that divides the self-employed from all other employees, it is their preoccupation with the subject of health insurance.
I was reminded of this on Feb. 14, when I wrote a post on the Shifting Careers blog asking small-business owners and would-be entrepreneurs what they were doing about health insurance. Within hours, scores of people posted comments about their own experiences and, if they had managed to find good resources, shared those. I have been reading e-mail messages and trying to make sense of the subject ever since. In short, it is not pretty out there.
A 43-year-old woman wrote about going without insurance in the first year of her business. “I lived in terror of needing a doctor visit or worse yet, lab tests or something more,” she said. She then moved to an H.M.O. for sole proprietors through a local chamber of commerce. The cost of that plan, which she said was $171 a month in 2001, has now risen to $500 a month. At the same t