(White House Photo by Pete Souza)
–Mike Huckabee tells the Iowa Family Policy Center the state supreme court ousters “may have been singularly the most important election that happened in America.” Back story here.
—New York Magazine‘s Jason Zengerle details how Chris Christie
John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Dick Lugar hold a media availability to discuss the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. (Douglas Graham/Roll Call)
–President Obama is running the full court press for lame duck ratification of START.
–The national security right jumps all over the Ghailani verdict. Sentencing still to …
(Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
–House Democrats vent on Nancy Pelosi as they nonetheless prepare to elect her minority leader today.
—Minor rescheduling causes hand-wringing over Obama’s ballyhooed bipartisan merlot/slurpee supersummit.
–John Sides thinks the White House need not be too
The release of George W. Bush’s memoirs and his successor’s ten-day trip to Asia complemented each other in a sobering way this last week. Bush’s book, “Decision Points,” brought back the folly of his early unilateralism. At the same time, President Barack Obama’s troubled Asia trip showed the limits of America’s influence …
REUTERS/Jose Luis Villegas
–The unemployment remained at 9.6 percent in September as the economy shed 95,000 jobs. Private sector payrolls continued to experience a small bit of growth, but not enough to offset government layoffs. The ship has pretty much sailed on Democrats getting any good economic news before the midterms, but …
–President Karzai is reportedly talking reconciliation with the Taliban.
—Nepotism reigns in Afghanistan.
–Mark McKinnon doubts the whispers of a last-minute Democratic revival before the midterms.
—Rich Lowry is very optimistic about the new crop of Republicans likely headed to Washington in November. Philip Klein not …
Outgoing White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel waves next to U.S. President Barack Obama in the East Room of the White House in Washington October 1, 2010. (Photo by REUTERS/Larry Downing)
–The DNC banks a gangbusters September.
–Mostly conservative outside money dwarfs everything.
–Pelosi doesn’t take pragmatic …
–President Obama will make a “personnel announcement” at 11:05 am from the East Room (Spoiler: As Michael noted, Emanuel is out and Pete Rouse is replacing him.)
—Ezra Klein has a thorough primer/link dump on the soon-to-be chief of staff.
–Max Boot critiques Bob Woodward’s “Obama’s Wars” as too far removed from the …
–There’s some incredible stuff in this week’s newsstand edition of TIME. Bart Gellman has a truly chilling cover story on “twisted patriotism,” reporting on (among other things) two serious domestic terrorist threats that almost were: A man named James Cummings plotted a dirty bomb attack on D.C. and James Van Brunn, the Holocaust …
President Obama speaks during the Millennium Development Goals Summit at the U.N. headquarters in New York September 22, 2010. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)
–As Alex notes, House Republicans have unveiled their new governing platform a la 1994’s Contract With America. Chris Good pulls out some bullet-points. Marc Ambinder thinks it …
–Bob Woodward’s upcoming book has leaked and it’s full of every bit of White House palace intrigue one would expect from the Washington Post icon. Also, plenty of intra-administration sniping:
Mr. Biden called Mr. Holbrooke “the most egotistical bastard I’ve ever met.” A variety of administration officials expressed scorn for
…
Rep. Mike Castle listens to testimony during a hearing about the American International Group on Capitol Hill March 18, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
–There are a bunch of interesting primaries today in Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and D.C. …
–Two major polls, the Wall Street Journal/NBC News and Washington Post/ABC News surveys, find that while the generic ballot remains neck-and-neck among all registered voters, Republicans have a commanding lead when predicted turnout is taken into account — an indication that the enthusiasm gap is spelling doom for Dems.
–Stuart …
