May 2006 Archives

A lot of ')8 buzz on the blog today....Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) makes her second term bid offiical today......After November.....on to '08... as chatter increases about whether freshman Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) should run before his Senate record gets too long to defend.

(Obama item follows)

The House is off this week, so any ceremony marking House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert milestone as the longest serving GOP House Speaker in the nation's history will be scheduled for when the members are in Washington.

Hastert in Illinois today.

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) in rare unity with Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez they are developing guidelines on how the Justice Department can obtain evidence from House members--without violating the separation of powers provisions in the Constitution.

The letter from his lawyer............

After months of speculation, Treasury Sec. John Snow's departure was announced today. Will Snow write a tell all?

Paulson bio at end of post

The presidential week ahead.........

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert was presiding over a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, welcoming new Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Hastert sits next to Vice President Dick Cheney in the House chamber.

It's a seat Hastert has long filled. He has wielded the speaker's gavel since Jan. 6, 1999. On Monday, speaking in Chicago, President Bush made note of the record Hastert is poised to set:

Life in the Blogosphere fishbowl.
A few days ago I posted a blog item about the Bush-Blair press conference where I identified the British journalist, Toby Harnden, who got the leaders to talk about their mistakes.

Later I talked to Harnden, a friend, to chat about the press conference and...well you can read his take on my probing questions about British proper attire at
www.toby harnden.com

My Friday column led with how chatter is increasing about Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) running for president in 2008. On Fox News Sunday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) talks about the possibility.

Chatter is increasing among supporters of Sen. Barack Obama about him jumping into the 2008 presidential race as he cranks up his political operation.

UPDATE 1 Democrat Obama’s Washington D.C.-based political action committee, Hopefund, reported raising $474,433 and spending $320,449 in April, leaving cash-on-hand at the end of April of $1,005,902.
California is Obama's HOPEFUND top donor state.

Hopefund, Inc.
Donor State Break-Out (source: PoliticalMoneyLine)
1. $508,938 CA
2. $445,450 IL
3. $258,353 NY
4. $186,451 MA
5. $185,306 TX

UPDATE 2
Obama, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and three other senators breakfasted Friday morning with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the British Embassy in Washington. Also attending was British Prime Minister David Manning.

UPDATE 3 (Inserted in item)

In the far south suburban 11th district, former CIA officer John Pavich is the Democratic nominee running against Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Illl.).

This message just sent to House staffers............

-----Original Message-----
From: US Capitol Police [mailto:uscp11700@alert.house.gov]
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 10:45 AM
To: All House Staff
Subject: An Emergency Exists for the Rayburn HOB - Shelter in Place
Importance: High

This is a message from the U.S. Capitol Police

1. If you are in the Rayburn HOB then Shelter in Place. Quickly move
into the nearest interior office space or interior hallway and away from

windows. The Capitol Police are investigating reports of gunfire in the
Rayburn HOB.
2. If nearby, grab Go-Kits and personal belongings.
3. Close doors behind you, but do not lock.
4. Remain calm.
5. Await further instructions. Do not leave the building.

Please do not respond to this e-mail. This mailbox is unattended. End of
message.

Sent on: 05/26/2006 10:44:26

click for UPDATE

Pop quiz: Name a state where the senators split on the immigration vote.

For the answer, click to

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00157

No more wanted ``dead or alive'' talk.

President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair last night held a joint press conference at the White House where Bush said he made a mistake to use cowboy language in the runup to the war in Iraq.

Here's the setup to how this admission came out:

Bush's comment, ``But not everything since liberation has turned out as the way we had expected or hoped. We've learned from our mistakes, adjusted our methods, and have built on our successes '' prompted this question from British reporter Toby Harnden, Washington Bureau Chief, The Sunday Telegraph.

Q Mr. President, you spoke about missteps and mistakes in Iraq. Could I ask both of you which missteps and mistakes of your own you most regret?

click for the answer.......

A federal jury in Houston convicted two top former Enron executives on Thursday. With that peg, a Democratic operative pointed me to a calendar in evidence in the case that noted a Sept. 26, 2001, meeting Dave McSweeney, the 8th District GOP House candidate, then working for the Bank of America, had with former Enron CFO Andy Fastow, along with McSweeney's Bank of America colleague Jim Mercurio.

President Bush may contain the anger of House Speaker of J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) over a weekend raid of the Capitol Hill office of a lawmaker suspected of corrruption (the one the FBI discovered stashed $90,000 in his freezer) by calling for a 45-day hold of the seized materials.

This just in from the White House......

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) today accused the Justice Department of trying to ``intimidate’’ him in the wake of his complaints over an FBI raid of a lawmakers’ office who is the target of a corruption probe.

I've been told that Hastert confronted President Bush with his concerns over the FBI raid while they both were in Chicago on Monday.

I do the interview with ``848'' host Steve Edwards.

The Senate gets to work this morning on the bi-partisan immigration bill with provisions dealing with border security, a fence, guest worker programs and a path to legal status for illiegal immigrants.

The two leaders, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, hold a press conference at 6:30 p.m. Chicago time.