Tue, June 24, 2008 - 11:25 AM

Hillary Clinton has given up her run for the White House, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today that Clinton's impact may be felt on future generations of women politicians.

Pelosi, speaking to reporters at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, said all women face sexism ,but it’s still unclear whether sexism played a role in this contest.

Click the play button below to hear her full comments on the topic.



Pelosi also touched on her focus this election season: electing more Democrats to the House and Barack Obama to the White House.

She’s already telling her Democratic colleagues in the House to be prepared to work if Obama is elected president.

Pelosi also said the low approval ratings for Congress are due to what hasn’t happened in Washington.

“I think the reason it’s so low is that we did not end the war and deal with these issues related to energy,” she said.

-- Amy Dominello

Mon, June 23, 2008 - 4:47 PM

John McCain said today that the government should pay a $300 million prize to a person or company that develops an auto battery that makes plug-in cars viable for drivers.

Several auto companies have tried to develop plug-in electric cars. But most cannot drive more than 10 to 30 miles on one charge. Unless there’s a major development in battery technology, McCain said, the cars are not likely to take off with consumers.

--Sean Mussenden

Barack Obama’s campaign to attract Jewish voters got a key boost in Florida over the weekend from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. It was no endorsement, but certainly a helpful defense in front of a Jewish audience that is still learning about the presumed Democratic presidential nominee.

While Obama was in Jacksonville and Miami, Bloomberg was in heavily Jewish Boca Raton telling the audience it was time to shut down the online rumors that Obama is a closet Muslim.

"This is wedge politics at its worst, and we've got to reject it — loudly, clearly and unequivocally,” he said, calling the whispering campaign “fear mongering.”

Billionaire Bloomberg, once a Democrat, then a Republican and now an independent, has been considered a potential vice president for Obama or John McCain.

--Neil Simon

Fri, June 20, 2008 - 3:29 PM

WASHINGTON – An early sample of the national media scrutiny on Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and his personal life if he is tapped as John McCain’s vice presidential running mate will be offered in this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine.

Greg Mitchell, of Editor & Publisher, writes today in the newspaper industry magazine that “all those old rumors that the longtime bachelor may be gay have gained new currency -- along with reports about Crist dating several women.”

Mitchell specifically points to this Sunday's New York Times Magazine, in which he says writer Deborah Solomon “coyly sort of raises that issue at the very end.”

As depicted by Mitchell, the magazine has Solomon kicking off an interview with Crist by stating: "Your personal life is not that of a typical Republican candidate. For starters, I hear you're"-- wait for it -- "not a property owner."

Crist replies, "It is true. I do not own property."

Solomon then moves on to, "You were married nearly 30 years ago, but the marriage lasted less than a year. Do you prefer"-- wait for it -- "living alone?"

Crist is quoted as saying, "I got married and divorced because it didn't work out. I haven't found the right one since."

“Of course, the use of the word "one" may be parsed for days,” suggests Mitchell.

Finally, he reports that Solomon asks Crist: "You can't find one woman in all of Florida?"

"Maybe I have. Stay tuned,” Crist is reported to have told Solomon.

Mitchell goes on to report that earlier in the article, Crist claims he is a "common-sense Republican.”

When told people say he will be remembered as much for his tan as for his accomplishments, Crist reportedly says, "that's very flattering," hastening to add that he does not use self-tanning lotion, 'it's the sun" -- and his Greek heritage.

-- Billy House

WASHINGTON – President Bush says Democrats who control Congress will have some explaining to do over their Fourth of July break if they don’t take some action on allowing more offshore drilling for oil.

In an already-recorded radio address for Saturday, Bush says: "If congressional leaders leave for the 4th of July recess without taking action they will need to explain why $4-a-gallon gasoline is not enough incentive for them to act."

During a briefing with reporters today, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said he believes that as members of Congress go home and hear from constituents, they will rethink their opposition to lifting the ban in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and along the Outer Continental Shelf, along with a block on oil shale leasing and expand US refining capacity.
“Americans are increasingly concerned,” he said.

“I think if you'd asked Americans two, three or four years ago what their views were on drilling in certain areas, it probably wasn't as popular then either,” he added.

“It is now, because I think most Americans understand the common sense that if prices are rising rapidly and supply is short, and we are finding ourselves dependent on foreign and maybe unreliable sources of energy, then what we ought to be doing is trying to increase that output here at home -- especially if we know there are sources of oil and other forms of energy here,” said Fratto.

-- Billy House

Thu, June 19, 2008 - 1:46 PM

If you were in Congress today, or even watching C-Span, and wondered why everyone was dressed like a country Southern lawyer from the turn of the century, here’s your answer:

It was Seersucker Thursday.

Every year, members of Congress put on the lightweight, summer-friendly fabric for one day, usually the second or third Thursday in June. Before air conditioning, it was commonplace to see such suits in the Capitol, according to the Senate Historian’s office.

From their Web site:

In the late 1990s, Mississippi Senator Trent Lott decided the time had come to revive a long-forgotten Senate sartorial tradition. He selected a “nice and warm” day in the second or third week of June to be designated Seersucker Thursday. His goal was to show that “the Senate isn’t just a bunch of dour folks wearing dark suits and—in the case of men—red or blue ties.” On the day before each year’s event, senators are alerted to the impending “wearing of the seersucker.” In 2004, California Senator Dianne Feinstein decided to encourage participation by the growing cadre of the Senate’s women members. “I would watch the men preening in the Senate,” she said, “and I figured we should give them a little bit of a horse race.” The following year, 11 of the 14 women senators appeared on Seersucker Thursday in outfits received as gifts from Senator Feinstein. Today, senators voluntarily make this annual fashion statement in a spirit of good-humored harmony to remind their colleagues of what earlier Senates considered mandatory summer attire.

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama’s campaign says the Tampa Bay area market will be among those targeted in its first television ad for the general election, announced today.

The sixty second ad, entitled “Country I Love,” will also air elsewhere in Florida, and 17 other states.

The aim of the ad, according to the campaign, is “to highlight how our shared values have shaped Senator Obama’s life.”

Campaign spokesman Josh Earnest said the campaign will not disclose exactly for how long the ad will run, and how much money will be spent to air it in the Tampa area.

Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for the McCain campaign responded: “Barack Obama wants more taxes from 21 million small businesses, 10 million seniors and he’s confessed that his economic proposals could damage the economy – we’re confident the more Americans know about Barack Obama the less likely they are to support him.”

Here’s the script:

OBAMA: I’m Barack Obama.

America is a country of strong families and strong values. My life’s been blessed by both.

I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents. We didn’t have much money, but they taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland where they grew up. Accountability and self-reliance. Love of country. Working hard without making excuses. Treating your neighbor as you’d like to be treated. It’s what guided me as I worked my way up – taking jobs and loans to make it through college.

It’s what led me to pass up Wall Street jobs and go to Chicago instead, helping neighborhoods devastated when steel plants closed.

That’s why I passed laws moving people from welfare to work, cut taxes for working families and extended health care for wounded troops who’d been neglected.

I approved this message because I’ll never forget those values, and if I have the honor of taking the oath of office as President, it will be with a deep and abiding faith in the country I love.

-- Billy House

Forget Pennsylvania and Ohio.

If this interesting article in Time holds up, the South could be a major player in the presidential race.

And if Barack Obama is able to bring Southern states into play as the article suggests, it could also have implications on congressional races as well.

-- Amy Dominello

Sen. Barack Obama’s decision this morning (see his video announcement here) to forego public financing for his presidential bid put the Democrat’s campaign on the defensive after his earlier rhetoric in favor of public financing.

Speaking to reporters within an hour of Obama’s Web video statement, Obama campaign aides repeatedly called the public campaign finance system “broken” and deflected questions suggesting Obama did not try to broker a campaign financing deal with Republican Sen. John McCain as Obama had pledged to do during a primary debate.

Click the play button to hear Obama communications director Robert Gibbs and counsel Rob Bauer on the slippery slope of trying to reign in third-party spending from so-called 527 groups, like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth who helped derail John Kerry’s 2004 candidacy.



McCain’s campaign spokeswoman fired back in a statement.

“The true test of a candidate for President is whether he will stand on principle and keep his word to the American people. Barack Obama has failed that test today, and his reversal of his promise to participate in the public finance system undermines his call for a new type of politics,” Jill Hazelbaker said.

-- Neil Simon

Wed, June 18, 2008 - 4:50 PM

WASHINGTON – In a just-released statement, Florida’s nine Democratic congressional members say they are unified in opposition to expanding offshore oil drilling off the coasts of the state.

The note that they are particularly concerned that Gov. Charlie Crist seems to be on board with the plan.

Here’s their statement, in its entirety:

“We, the Democratic members of the Florida delegation, stand together in our opposition to the Bush/McCain proposal to severely expand drilling for oil in the coastal waters of the State of Florida. We view it as a political gimmick that will not lower gas prices for consumers but could have real and tragic consequences for Florida’s economy and natural environment. We are especially concerned that our Governor, who ran on a platform that included opposition to offshore drilling, a position stated even in his 2007 inaugural speech, has now opted to support the Bush/McCain efforts to support this gift to Big Oil.

“While President Bush, Senator McCain, Big Oil, and perhaps even our Governor are willing to put Florida’s vital tourism and fishing economies at risk for a small amount of oil and gas, we are not willing to do so. We cannot sacrifice Florida’s billion-dollar tourism and fishing industries, our beaches, coastal environment and marine resources due to the Administration’s wholesale failure to produce sound energy policy. Florida’s hard working families have enough to contend with - the high cost of insurance, record prices at the gas pump, trying to access affordable health care and keeping up with their mortgages. A blow to tourism and our fishing industry is certainly something we cannot afford.

“There is an inherent fallacy in the argument that offshore drilling would significantly lower gas prices. 68 million acres of leased federal lands and waters are currently open to drilling but are not being tapped. Over 80% of offshore oil and gas reserves are already available. In fact, since President Bush took office in 2000, the number of wells in federally-leased areas has increased exponentially, but gas prices have doubled during that same time.

“Instead of calling for drilling just off the beaches of Florida, President Bush and Senator McCain should join us in support of Democrats’ ‘Use It or Lose It’ legislation, which directs oil companies to use the 68 million already open acres before they build rigs just off our coastline. The oil companies have had every incentive to drill in these locations because they are not paying the royalties to American taxpayers as they should.

“Big Oil interests have unfortunately been more important to this Administration than the concerns or our neighbors. Now all Americans are paying the price.

“We urge President Bush and Senator McCain to engage in a genuine conversation with us and our neighbors about real ways to lower the price of gas, on energy conservation and new renewable technologies, and to help us in our efforts to end the massive, wasteful taxpayer subsidies to the Big Oil companies.”

-- Billy House

Few journalists in Washington had as much pull as Tim Russert, so it wasn't surprising to see the list of dignitaries that attended his funeral. The list included both Barack Obama and John McCain, who put aside some of their battling of the past week and sat next to each other, MSNBC reported.

--Sean Mussenden

States rights?

John McCain’s about-face this week in calling for an end to the federal ban on offshore oil drilling is the latest in a line of positions he’s taken declaring that states should be allowed to make more of their own decisions.

But Democratic North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley, in a conference call with reporters on behalf Barack Obama’s campaign, says he wonders if McCain, in using that argument for more oil drilling, has fully thought it out.

“The bigger problem is that if the state above you (or) below you has a problem, it affects your shores, as well,” said Easley, referring to oil spills or other environmental mishaps that don’t oblige state boundaries.

During the same call, former Florida Gov. Bob Graham also said “there’s no state’s rights issue here,” because current law already allows states to drill in their own state waters.

“Florida has the option today, if it chooses, to drill on its own property,” said Graham.

“I’d be interested to see which state legislators line up to be the first to say we should be drilling closer to the shore,” said Graham.

-- Billy House

WASHINGTON – Most Floridians don’t want or don’t care if Gov. Charlie Crist or Sen. Bill Nelson join their parties’ presidential nominee on a national ticket, according to a new poll that has Barack Obama leading in the state over John McCain.

Democrat Obama edges Republican McCain 47 percent to 43 percent among registered voters in the state, shows the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute poll of 1,453 registered voters.

The margin of error of the Florida poll, conducted from June 9 through Monday (June 16) was plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

The poll also has Obama leading McCain in two other traditional presidential swing states, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

At this early point in the campaign, Obama’s lead in Florida should be viewed with some historical perspective, said Peter Brown, assistant director of the polling institute.

In June of 2005, Democrat John Kerry held a similar edge in the state over President Bush, who eventually carried Florida, he noted.

The poll also shows that picking a Floridian for vice president apparently won’t help either nominee carry the state’s 27 electoral votes.

Crist and Nelson have been among those mentioned as possible vice presidential picks for their respective parties.

The poll shows that 86 percent of Floridians say the vice presidential candidate is very important or somewhat important to them.

But only 16 percent said they’d be more likely to vote Republican if Crist were McCain’s vice presidential candidate, while 21 percent said they be less likely to do so. Another 58 percent said it would have no bearing on their vote.

As for Nelson, only 8 percent said they would be more likely to vote Democratic if the senator is on the ticket with Obama, while 15 percent said they would be less likely to do so. Another 69 percent said it would not it would not have any bearing on their vote.

Both men are seen favorably by state voters in their current roles, but “seeing someone as a governor or a senator is different that seeing them as a president,” said Brown.

-- Billy House

Tue, June 17, 2008 - 3:04 PM

Barack Obama talked basketball this week with Jimmy Kimmel. Obama, whose high school basketball team won the Hawaii state championship in 1979, diplomatically said he was a Bulls fan when asked if he was rooting for the Celtics or the Lakers in the NBA finals. The presumptive Democratic nominee said he manages to play a pickup game about once a week while on the campaign trail and (jokingly?) said he'd replace the White House bowling alley with a basketball court if he's elected.

To Amy's likely dismay, the interview ended with a via-satellite fist pound between Kimmel and Obama.

-- Mark Young

WASHINGTON – Florida Sen. Bill Nelson has just lashed out at John McCain’s call for an end to a federal ban on new drilling off the shores of Florida and other states.

In a conference with reporters on behalf of Barack Obama’s campaign, Democrat Nelson at one point said McCain’s positions shows his “coziness with oil companies and Wall Street investment banks that are fueling this run up in (gas) prices …”

“John McCain has flip-flopped on drilling off the coast,” said Nelson. “He used to be against it. He’s now for it.”

But the problem, said Nelson, is that “drilling off shore does not lower oil prices.”

“Now, if you really want to bring down prices, then you have to go after the speculators so they cannot use these schemes to keep running the price up and up,” said Nelson.

-- Billy House