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November 30, 2007

Undecideds Hold Sway in South Carolina

A few years ago, my brother founded the Undecided Party of Canada. ("When no choice is a good choice.") He created an undecided platform, undecided bumper stickers, window signs, you name it. It was all a joke, of course, but it also made a point about how many people in Canada feel unsettled about their political choices.

After hearing from NPR's Audie Cornish, I'm thinking my brother might want to expand his party to America, specifically South Carolina. Audie e-mailed me about the latest Clemson University Palmetto Poll, which she found remarkable for the large number of undecided voters.

Twenty-eight percent of Republicans and 49 percent of Democrats are undecided. Those totals dwarf the number of people who voiced their support for any individual candidate. (Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson lead the Republican field with 17 percent and 15 percent, respectively. The top Democratic candidates are Hillary Clinton at 19 percent and Barack Obama at 17 percent.)

Even more astonishing figures: 65 percent of the Republicans and 51 percent of the Democrats said they were likely to change their minds before the primaries in January (Republicans on Jan. 19; Democrats on Jan. 26).

"Voters in the state have not started paying really close attention to candidate activity ahead of the primary," said Joseph Stewart, chairman of Clemson's political science department. "South Carolina is up for grabs."

Or maybe those voters were just all Stephen Colbert supporters with nowhere to go.

Man Takes Hostages at Clinton Office in N.H.

A man claiming to have a bomb has taken at least two workers hostage at Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, N.H.

WMUR reports that a witness says a woman rushed with her baby into a neighboring business and told the employees that a man had entered the office and showed what appeared to be a bomb taped to his chest. He then let the woman and her baby leave.

"There are sharp shooters on the roof, and police are negotiating with someone in the building," said another witness. "The police are notifying all the business owners on the street to evacuate. There are fire trucks behind the Hillary Clinton office."

Rochester is about 20 miles north of Portsmouth near the Maine border.

Clinton was scheduled to attend a Democratic National Committee meeting in Virginia today. Boston.com reports that workers for Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards were also evacuated from their offices.

Update: WMUR reports that two hostages have been released from the Clinton campaign office, but it was unclear if there were any more inside. CNN reports that Sen. Clinton has canceled the speech she was to give at the DNC meeting in Virginia because of the situation in Rochester.

Illegal Immigrant from Mexico Helps Crash Survivor

Illegal immigration continues to be a hot topic for politicians, as evidenced by the amount of time spent on it at this week's Republican debate. To some, it seems "illegal-alien bashing has become a national sport," as Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts puts it, and she and others are pointing to the story of illegal immigrant Manuel Jesus Cordova Soberanes as a counterpoint.

Cordova, a 26-year-old Mexican bricklayer, was "two days into his walk and about 50 miles from Tucson" on Thanksgiving when he came across a boy whose mother had been killed in a van crash, The Associated Press reports.

Cordova gave up his chance to "disappear" into the United States to help 9-year-old Christopher Buztheitner, who had walked away from the crash. Cordova got a fire started, found food in the van for the boy and waited while he slept. Fourteen hours later, a group of hunters found the pair and called for help.

"I am a father of four children. For that, I stayed," Cordova told AP. "I never could have left him. Never."

Cordova was taken into custody and deported. Roberts writes that Cordova is "probably nobody special." And that's the point.

I don't know if anything should be done for Cordova. He did what any human being should do. Maybe what we can do in appreciation is to reclaim the debate that has been taken over by the extremes, those who would have you believe that every person here illegally is out to rob us and cheat us and steal our country.

The Tucson Citizen reports that the response to the story from its online community has been mostly positive. But about a quarter of the readers weren't swayed by Cordova's "act of compassion." One wrote that the media are "heaping praise" on the story to further an immigrant-loving agenda.

November 29, 2007

Huckabee Gets High Marks for Debate Performance

"Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office."

"More people in this country are afraid of an audit than a mugging and there's a reason why."

Those one-liners from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee were part of a performance that has his name on the lips of many asked to pick which candidate stood out at Wednesday's CNN/YouTube debate.

"Huckabee is rapidly becoming the hot story in the 2008 presidential campaign. After Wednesday night, he's likely to get a whole lot hotter," writes Des Moines Register political columnist David Yepsen.

John Weiss, a police officer and Iraq veteran from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., also opines that Huckabee was the standout of the evening at the The New York Times' Caucus blog. He says Huckabee possesses "the ability to get me to believe that he really does mean what he says; sincerity if you will. Not the manufactured type that the Clintons are so adept at generating upon command, but a warmer, more genuine tone."

Even our own political editor, Ken Rudin, told me that he thinks Huckabee gave one of his best debate performances so far.

Perhaps Huckabee was more at ease during the debate after seeing a Rasmussen poll released Wednesday that showed him with a 3 percentage point lead in Iowa over the longtime front-runner in the state, Mitt Romney. (Even though the margin of error really means the race is a dead heat.)

Questions Arise About Giuliani's N.Y. Security Bills

CNN's Anderson Cooper, who had a bit of a rocky evening as moderator of the CNN/YouTube Republican debate, had one brief "stop the presses" moment Wednesday night. It came when he asked former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani about a report Politico published on its Web site shortly before the debate.

Politico reported that previously undisclosed government records showed that Giuliani had billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses while mayor. The expenses for his police security detail were incurred during trips to the Hamptons during the period when he was beginning his extramarital relationship with his current wife, Judith Nathan, who lived there.

Giuliani's office refused to explain the unusual accounting to city auditors at the time, citing "security." But auditors looking at expenses in 1999 and 2000 "were unable to verify that these expenses were for legitimate or necessary purposes," the city's comptroller wrote in a letter Politico obtained.

"First of all, it's not true," Giuliani said during the debate. "I had 24-hour security for the eight years that I was mayor. They followed me everyplace I went. It was because there were, you know, threats, threats that I don't generally talk about. Some have become public recently; most of them haven't. And they took care of me, and they put in their records, and they handled them in the way they handled them."

But Giuliani didn't offer an explanation for why the expenses were billed to agencies like the Office for People with Disabilities.

The Associated Press notes that the "the suggestion, true or not, that he was hiding expenses for liaisons with Nathan in little-known city accounts, could open him up to criticism, remind voters of his three marriages and infidelity and tarnish his good-guy image from the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks."

Not Your Father's GOP Debate

As someone who grew up watching Republican debates in the '70s when Ronald Reagan debated William F. Buckley on the Panama Canal treaties, and in the '80s when a stageful of Reagan-successor wannabes debated each other, and in the '90s when Republicans competed to displace or succeed Bill Clinton, I can scarcely believe I watched a Republican debate Wednesday night.

I can't imagine an audience at a Republican debate in those days booing some of its candidates so lustily (as Ron Paul and John McCain have been booed). Neither can I imagine a field of Republican candidates having such sharp disagreements over Vietnam, over foreign engagement, over immigration or over abortion.

This is truly a different Republican Party, if indeed last night's audience and questioners are the Republican Party.

- Ron Elving

November 28, 2007

How the GOP Candidates Handled the YouTube Debate

It's really not fair to toss a question such as "Do you believe every word of the Holy Bible?" to a panel of candidates when one of them happens to be an ordained minister.

This is like asking each candidate to face a pitching machine when one just happens to be a professional baseball player. Nonetheless, you could not fail to be impressed with how the Reverend Mike Huckabee played the part of the pro when given a chance to shine. Not only was he instantly connected with those in the audience most devoted to the literal truth of the Bible (by tone of voice if nothing else), but he skillfully avoided giving offense to those in the audience who are not.

Contrasted with the stuttering response of a somewhat annoyed-looking Romney, Huckabee's hit was a line drive out of the park. And compared with the rather candid but uncomfortable response of Rudy Giuliani, who had to talk about "modern context" and had to use the word interpretive, it was a towering home run ...

Meanwhile, there's little reason to wonder why Dennis Kucinich says he could have Ron Paul as his running mate. Paul continues to stand apart from all his rivals on Iraq.

But not just on Iraq. He goes to foreign policy again and again and articulates a totally different view of the world and its many problems than any other major Republican candidate in memory. Even Robert Taft, the Senate Republican leader from Ohio who represented the western conservative wing of the party until his death in 1953, was never so pure in his opposition to American globalism and "big government conservatism."

Paul has little chance of winning the nomination, and one of the YouTube questioners demanded to know whether he would run as an independent or "let America down." Paul's answer was to insist he was in the GOP contest to win and had "no intention" to run outside the party. But then, he used a verb in the present tense ...

- Ron Elving

War of Words Becomes Distasteful in Iowa

As the Iowa caucuses approach, voters are making their views known with buttons, bumper stickers and -- barn writing?

Scrawled in large letters on the side of a barn outside Marshalltown was a simple message: "HILLARY STAY HOME." The barn literature was more than offset by pro-Hillary Clinton lawn signs in the area.

But 40 miles west in the city of Ames, the political war of words became distasteful.

Handwritten notes were discovered at Iowa State University urging people to vote for Democrat John Edwards and -- presumably -- not vote for Democrats Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. The note said to "vote for the White Man!" and not to support two other candidates, whom the writer described using a derogatory word in one case and a racial slur in the other.

News outlets across Iowa have been buzzing about the notes, which were first reported by the Ames Tribune. The paper said the notes — handwritten and photocopied — were found on a campus magazine rack, a bulletin board and in a residence hall. It also reported that the notes were signed by a "local man" but that the paper "has chosen not to reveal alleged author's name."

A spokeswoman for the Edwards campaign told the paper the notes are "deeply offensive and unacceptable."

- David Greene

GOP Debate Comes as Dynamics of Race Change

The party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan meets the video bloggers of YouTube tonight in Florida. The GOP presidential debate marks the second time CNN and YouTube have cooperated as sponsors. The Democrats had the first go at it in July. This one almost didn't happen; the debate had to be rescheduled after the GOP candidates initially balked.

Reuters predicts fireworks at the debate, particularly between Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, who have engaged in some nasty bickering about each other's records during the past few days.

Time says there will be two things worth watching tonight: how the candidates interact with "real" people, and how they stack up "head to head" now that so much about the race for the GOP nomination has changed. In particular, the emergence of Mike Huckabee, who has been surging in the polls.

As David Folkenflik pointed out on Morning Edition, that new level of attention has also meant a lot of scrutiny of Huckabee's record as governor of Arkansas. Watch for some of the other candidates to bring up his problems during that era tonight in an effort to slow down his rapid rise.

Almost 5,000 video questions have been submitted for tonight's debate. (That's about 2,000 more than for the Democrats.) CNN says it hopes to be able to pose about 40 to the candidates.

Some of the video questions submitted tackle difficult issues. One asks what the candidates believe about the use of the Confederate symbol on the state flag of Mississippi. Another asks the candidates just how far they're prepared to go to slow down the national debt's growth.

Giuliani Uses 'Reality' Against Romney

Just hours before the GOP presidential hopefuls appear on the CNN/YouTube debate, the battle between Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney has been kicked up a notch. Until today, the two have traded verbal shots. But Giuliani's many press releases have been almost entirely focused on Giuliani himself: his record, his philosophy, his speeches and appearances.

Now comes "The Romney Reality" from Giuliani and his supporters in Massachusetts; 1400 words attacking the former Massachusetts governor's record on taxes and spending. It's studded with 20 hotlinks to websites that will presumably back up Giuliani's arguments. And the release begins with a quote from another former Massachusetts governor, Paul Cellucci. "By any measure," he says, " Mitt Romney was unable to bring about the fiscal discipline in Massachusetts that Mayor Rudy Giuliani brought to New York City." (Meanwhile, Massachusetts just moved its primary up to Feb. 5.)

Romney has been attacking Giuliani lately for being soft on illegal immigration when he was mayor of New York City, for his opposition to a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage and for poor judgment in appointing Bernard Kerik as New York police commissioner. Kerik has pleaded guilty to state corruption charges and was recently indicted by the federal government.

While Giuliani leads in most national polls, he trails Romney in most polls in the early-voting states. A recent New Hampshire survey showed Romney leading with 33% of the vote, while Giuliani trailed in third place with 16%.

- Ina Jaffe

RV Residents Purged from Voter Rolls in Tennessee

It's an American tradition — hitting the open road, seeing the country, no ties to hold you back. I had always imagined doing it in something like a Volkswagen Beetle after college. These days, it's popular for Americans to take off in their RVs after they retire.

But in Tennessee, as Audie Cornish explained on Day to Day, there's a price for wanderlust — you can lose the right to vote. The Tennessee legislature recently passed amendments to state voting laws requiring voters to have a residential address. So officials in Bradley County told 286 people who live in their RVs full-time that they are being removed from the voter rolls. All list their addresses through a mail-forwarding service, Mail Call USA. Tennessee does not allow people to list commercial businesses as their official residences unless they actually live there.

But the RVers are fighting back with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union. They're suing the Tennessee government to put them back on the rolls, saying that they shouldn't be penalized for their lifestyle. Tennessee has no official requirement for the amount of time needed to establish residency — if it did, they say they would have complied.

But Tennessee officials aren't impressed with those arguments. "You can't establish residency by wanting to live somewhere ... it means actually physically moving here," said Brook Thompson, the state's coordinator of elections.

Interesting problem, especially as more Americans look at adopting this kind of lifestyle as they get older. What do you think? Should people without residential addresses be allowed to vote, or is there too high a risk of someone manipulating an election by having lots of RVers "move" into their state?

Poll: More Americans Optimistic About Iraq

For the first time in many months, nearly half of Americans now believe that the war in Iraq is going fairly well.

But the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press reports this new optimism is not translating into support for a long-term U.S. mission there — 54 percent of those surveyed say the troops should be brought home as soon as possible, rather than waiting until the situation has further stabilized. That number has been pretty steady for the past nine months.

Much of the good news for the Bush administration in the poll, which surveyed 1,399 adults across the country, related to security in Iraq.

The number of Americans who say that the United States is making progress in reducing the number of civilian casualties in Iraq has doubled from 21% to 43% since June. The proportion saying that progress has been achieved in preventing terrorists from establishing bases in Iraq is also up substantially, as is the number saying the U.S. is making progress in defeating the insurgents militarily.

In other areas, the news wasn't quite so good for the White House. President Bush's approval rating stayed virtually unchanged since the last survey in September; only 30 percent of Americans approve of the job he's doing. And the country remains almost evenly divided on whether the U.S. effort in Iraq will succeed.

Did Huckabee's Surge Catch His Team By Surprise?

They were putting holiday lights up Tuesday at Mike Huckabee's campaign headquarters in downtown Des Moines. The Republican presidential candidate is hoping to celebrate more than Christmas in the Hawkeye State.

Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, has surprised many people by pulling into a statistical dead heat with Mitt Romney in polling ahead of the Republican caucuses in Iowa on January 3.

But did Huckabee's surge surprise even his own Iowa campaign manager? Eric Woolson took precious days off last week to go snake hunting with his son in Costa Rica. The Washington Post saw this as evidence Woolson never anticipated Huckabee's success — or else he would have stayed put at the office.

When an NPR reporter visited Tuesday, Woolson was back at work showing off photos of his snake expedition. He explained that he planned the vacation with his son long before the Iowa caucuses were moved up to January 3. He said he always thought his boss would start moving up in the polls — though not by this much so fast. Now, Woolson said, his job is to make sure the campaign organization is strong enough to match the excitement the boss is drawing.

"Mike Huckabee has this extraordinary ability to connect with people on a one-on-one basis. He listens to what people are saying," Woolson said. "When he's been here in the state and he meets with Iowans, they want to support him. He's the best closer that we have."

The "closer" is vowing to all but live in Iowa in December. Huckabee, however, hasn't been in Iowa this week. And in recent days, he's been forced to make stops elsewhere — like in Ohio and Texas — in search of donors. He must find money wherever he can if he's in the race for the long haul. Even if can finish strong in Iowa, he may face trouble in New Hampshire. The candidate plans to spend much of this weekend stumping in the Granite State.

Meanwhile, the former governor was getting some good news out of Florida, where a new Insider Advantage/Majority Opinion poll shows him pulling into second, ahead of every other GOP candidate except for national front-runner Rudy Giuliani.

- David Greene

November 27, 2007

Looking at Just Who Can Vote in Iowa Caucuses

When my dad worked in politics back in Canada, he used to tell me that he had one simple rule when it came to rounding up voters on Election Day: If they can breathe, they can vote.

After reading about the rules governing who can vote in the upcoming Iowa caucuses, I can see that it seems like pretty much the same idea. Oh, you still have to be a U.S. citizen. But you don't have to be registered. You don't have to be affiliated with any particular party. You don't even have to be 18 (you just have to be 18 by the November 2008 election).

You do need to sign a statement that says you're a resident of the precinct you're voting in. And that's about it. My high school's election for valedictorian had more complicated rules.

But as lenient as the rules might sound, don't try to cheat, warns NPR's Evie Stone, who went to a caucus training session. "If you take the risk of pretending to be from Iowa and trying to caucus, then not only will you probably be noticed by all the little old ladies who know EVERYONE in their precinct and can smell an imposter a mile off...but you could also get thrown in the clink," she wrote in an e-mail.

So maybe getting in is a little more complicated than I thought. And from there, it's a whole new ballgame. The rules for the caucuses are confusing even to many Iowans, and the Democrats and Republicans conduct the meetings differently. (The Democrats' method is the more complicated of the two.)

In 2000, the last contested GOP event, about 90,000 Republicans attended caucuses. In 2004, the Democrats attracted 124,000. Both parties expect more than 100,000 this time around.

Group's Offer to Pay for Positive Hillary Posts Retracted

From the Department of Too Much Thinking:

The folks at www.voteforhillaryonline.blogspot.com don't work for the Clinton campaign, but they really want their gal to win. As their homepage says, "God help us all if Hillary isn't elected."

Which may explain this posting from last week: "Get paid to post positive comments about Hillary." The idea: Send their grassroots readers out prowling through blogland for other political sites, where they would add comments like, "Hello, this is a really interesting blog. I'm glad I stumbled upon it. I understand where you're coming from but I really think you should check into Hillary Clinton. She's got some really good ideas."

Do that and the voteforhillary bloggers would pay you a buck.

But wait. There's less.

Their lawyer saw the posting, got the FEC jitters and had them cancel the scheme.

No word from Ron Paul's many online supporters on whether they'll pay you to write nice things about their guy. Would they pay out in Ron Paul Dollars?

- Peter Overby

Officials Downplay Expectations for Mideast Summit

When President Bush opens the Middle East summit in Annapolis, Md., today, he will tell the attendees that the time is right to relaunch peace talks because "a battle is under way for the future" of the troubled region. But he's not expected to detail any of his own ideas on how to achieve the goal.

Meanwhile, the two main participants are having trouble even agreeing on a joint statement about the purpose of the talks, despite heavy pressure from the United States to produce one. Palestinians want the statement to address, "at least in general terms, key issues of Palestinian statehood — final borders, sovereignty over disputed Jerusalem, and the fate of Palestinian refugees who lost homes in Israel following its 1948 creation. Israel has pressed for a more vague statement of commitment to two states living side by side in peace," The Associated Press reports.

In the Middle East itself, a series of polls found widespread skepticism among Israelis and Palestinians about the summit, McClatchy reports.

Nearly three-quarters of Israelis expect the conference to lead to nothing. A majority of Palestinians expect that a failure at Annapolis will lead to a surge in violence. And while most people on both sides support peace talks, they aren't willing to make the painful sacrifices necessary to end the conflict.

Participants in the summit are publicly expressing optimism about the talks, while at the same time trying to downplay any expectations that they will lead to a settlement quickly. However, both Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have said they will try to find a solution before Bush leaves office next year.

November 26, 2007

Mass. GOP Politician Backs Giuliani, Slams Romney

Former Chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party Jim Rappaport endorsed Rudy Giuliani today, and took the opportunity to settle an old score with his fellow Massachusetts pol, Mitt Romney.

During a conference call to announce the endorsement, Rappaport was asked about a story making news in the Bay State that's reminiscent of the Willie Horton story from the 1988 presidential campaign. A Massachusetts Supreme Court judge appointed by Romney released a convicted killer back in July, over the objections of prosecutors. Although Daniel Tavares Jr. had finished serving his 16-year sentence for killing his mother, officials wanted to keep him in jail for alleged assaults on two prison guards. Tavares is now accused of killing a young couple in Washington state. And Romney has said the judge should resign.

Instead of criticizing Romney for appointing the judge — a longtime prosecutor with strong law-and-order credentials — Rappaport faulted the former governor for essentially throwing the judge under the bus. "This is very typical of Mitt Romney to jump on this judge as opposed to looking at what might be the systemic problems that resulted here," Rappaport said. "Mitt Romney has a habit of taking the expedient way out. And this is a classic example of that."

Romney's camp called the attack "nothing more than sour grapes," noting that Romney passed over Rappaport as a would-be lieutenant governor in 2002.

- Scott Horsley

Oprah Hits the Campaign Trail

TV's biggest daytime star is going to Iowa to campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. His staff says Oprah Winfrey will attend events on Dec. 8 in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. She also will appear in New Hampshire and South Carolina to support the Illinois senator.

In September, Winfrey hosted a fundraising event for Obama that raised about $3 million.

A political science professor tells The Des Moines Register that when a celebrity shows up at events, it means more to a campaign than an endorsement alone, which doesn't often mean much. Live appearances bring in people who wouldn't normally attend but who want to see the famous person.

A Gallup poll in late October showed that 81 percent of those surveyed said Winfrey's endorsement of Obama doesn't move them at all. Eight percent said it makes them more likely to support him, and 10 percent said it makes them less likely.

I bet Oprah could sway a few more people if she gave away free cars at the rallies...

Huckabee Goes After Evangelical Vote in Iowa

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is riding a wave in Iowa. Recent polls show the former Arkansas governor moving within striking distance of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Now Huckabee is going hard after a group of voters that has given Romney a less-than-enthusiastic reception: evangelicals.

Huckabee's new TV ad in Iowa doesn't beat around the bush about his Christian beliefs. "Faith doesn't just influence me, it really defines me," he says at the beginning. He talks about being anti-abortion and says he doesn't have to wake up wondering what his principles should be (a knock at Romney's changing positions) as the words "Christian leader" appear on the screen.

In a close race, the strong support of evangelical voters could give Huckabee an edge. But he seems to be having problems turning his recent surge in the polls into campaign cash, Campaigns and Elections reports. "He continues to be low on funds," said Bruce Ransom, a Clemson University political science professor. "For this reason, his campaign has been slow to gain traction and give him the footing he needs to move up in the polls."

Sen. Trent Lott Decides to Leave Office Early

It's not entirely surprising to hear that Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott has decided to retire by the end of 2007, even though his announcement comes just a year after he was re-elected to the seat he first won in 1988.

NPR's senior Washington editor, Ron Elving, says it appears to be largely about the new lobbying rules that come into play Jan. 1. They extend the length of time a member of Congress must wait before lobbying former colleagues to two years after he or she leaves office. (Lott says the change "didn't have a big role" in his decision.)

Lott's career has never been quite the same since the remarks he made at the late Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party, which were interpreted as support for segregation. After those remarks gained attention, thanks in part to the then-relatively new phenomenon of blogging, Lott was forced to step down as majority leader.

In his book, Herding Cats: A Life in Politics, Lott wrote about the lack of support he had received from his fellow Republicans, in particular President Bush. Lott said that the president had hurt his feelings by disavowing the Thurmond comments in a way that was "booming and nasty." Lott was also unhappy with the administration's slow response to Hurricane Katrina. However, he made a political comeback in 2006, when his colleagues elected him minority whip, the No. 2 job behind Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, will appoint a successor to Lott, who becomes the sixth GOP senator to announce his retirement this year. The seat is considered safely Republican, however, and early speculation is focusing on GOP Rep. Chip Pickering as the appointee.

Romney and Giuliani Go After Each Other in N.H.

While most people are looking forward to a bit of cheer and good spirits this holiday season, that doesn't necessarily extend to the presidential candidates trolling for votes as the New Hampshire primary approaches. As Morning Edition reports, two of the top Republican candidates seem more interested in tearing each other down.

Robert Smith reports that Rudy Giuliani was engaging in "retail politics" (kissing babies and shaking hands) in New Hampshire during the weekend, but he also took time out to knock Mitt Romney's performance during his time as governor of Massachusetts.

But after Giuliani criticized Romney for appointing a judge who made a questionable call on an inmate's release, Romney was quick to respond, Brian Naylor reports. Romney said he thought the former New York mayor would be the last person to make an issue of questionable appointments, bringing up Giuliani's backing of Bernard Kerik, the former New York police commissioner who has been indicted.

Naylor and Smith gave more details about the mudslinging between the two men Sunday on All Things Considered.

A recent poll showed Romney's support rising to 33 percent from 25 percent in September, compared with Giuliani's slide to 16 percent from 24 percent over the same period. With the New Hampshire primary moved to Jan. 8, we can probably expect a rather bruising Christmas season in New Hampshire as Giuliani tries to close the gap.

November 21, 2007

Southerners and Football: More Than Just the Game

My wife, who grew up in a little town near Atlanta, hates football. No, "hate" is too weak a word. She despises it. She says "football" the same way a Red Sox fan says "Yankees."

So imagine my surprise when recently, while an ESPN announcer was talking about the Georgia football team, she threw her hands in the air and shouted, "Go Dawgs! Woohoo!" I gave her a look that said, "What have you done with my wife?" She shrugged and said, "I'm from Georgia. What did you expect?"

That's when I first grasped that the attachment Southerners have to college football is not just about the game. It's about the experience of football: hanging out with friends, joshing rivals, having an excuse for a party.

That spirit is captured in NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman's piece about the LSU-Ole Miss football game and the Web diary that sports editor Uri Berliner kept of their trip. They provide lots of vignettes about the fans' traditions.

Take June Guillory of Baton Rouge, La., who looks like your grandmother but wears a button that says "Go to Hell Ole Miss." Then there's the "mic man" who fires up the crowd at Ole Miss: Marcus Guinn, a 6-foot-7 black man who was surprised by his celebrity, especially in an area once known for its racism. And the get-togethers at the Grove in Oxford, Miss. Nine acres of parties: Women in pearls in one canopied area beside Southern rockers who've erected shrines to Elvis in another.

And this is great: The speed limit in the Grove is 18 mph in honor of former Ole Miss quarterback Archie Manning, who wore No. 18.

Ex-Press Secretary Says Top Bush Officials Misled Him

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan, whose job was to deflect media scrutiny aimed at the White House, is now generating some of his own.

McClellan, who filled the role from July 2003 to April 2006, has a new book coming out, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and What's Wrong with Washington. On Tuesday, his publisher, PublicAffairs, put a small excerpt on its Web site. In it, McClellan says some top administration officials were behind the effort to mislead the public about the role of White House aides in leaking the identity of a CIA operative.

In a 2003 news conference, McClellan told reporters that aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were not involved in leaking former CIA operative Valerie Plame's name to conservative columnist Robert Novak. (Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, had written an op-ed piece in The New York Times critical of the intelligence the Bush administration used to make the case for war in Iraq.)

"There was one problem. It was not true," McClellan writes... "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff and the president himself."

Peter Osnos, founder and editor-in-chief of PublicAffairs, says Bush didn't know he was giving McClellan incorrect information. "The president told him what he thought to be the case," Osnos said. McClellan refused interview requests Tuesday.

But as The Washington Times' Inside Politics blog puts its, "Mr. McClellan's explosive if somewhat vague charge is sure to spark lots of interest and conversation over the coming months." In fact, Democratic presidential candidate Christopher Dodd has called for the Justice Department to investigate the president's role.

Supreme Court Takes Second Amendment Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear a case that will determine whether the District of Columbia's strict gun law violates the Constitution. It's the first time since 1939 that the top court has taken on a case that looks at the meaning of the Second Amendment.

NPR's Nina Totenberg reports that the court will examine if the Second Amendment protects a collective, military-style right to have guns (the "well-regulated militia" portion highlighted by those who support gun control) or an individual right (the "right of the people to keep and bear arms" part zeroed in on by groups like the National Rifle Association.)

Totenberg says this is the test case that gun-rights advocates have long been seeking. If the court rules for the individual right, then it means many more challenges to similar gun laws throughout the nation. If not, it likely will block legal challenges and leave gun regulation largely as it is now — in the hands of elected officials.

But The Washington Post's Marc Fisher says the court's decision won't make a bit of difference. He says the truth is that gun lobbying on both sides has led to a political stalemate, and neither position — we need more guns or we need fewer guns — really makes much of a difference when it comes to stopping crime or protecting people. Ultimately, it will be the American public's feelings on the matter that will be the deciding factor, he says. "Simple regulations, not fancy legal arguments, will determine who gets to own guns, and those regulations will be driven by politicians under pressure from citizens who've had enough," he writes.

November 20, 2007

Neil Diamond Reveals Identity of 'Sweet Caroline'

Neil Diamond performs in 2005.

Scott Gries/Getty Images

As a Boston Red Sox fan, I probably sing the words to Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline a couple hundred times a year. The 1960s tune has become one of the Sox's theme songs.

But it wasn't until today that Diamond publicly revealed "Sweet Caroline's" true identity. He told The Associated Press that the Caroline of his song is none other than Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy.

Diamond says he was a "young, broke songwriter" when a picture of the president's daughter caught his eye. "It was a picture of a little girl dressed to the nines in her riding gear, next to her pony," Diamond said. "It was such an innocent, wonderful picture, I immediately felt there was a song in there."

Years later, Diamond quickly wrote the song in a Memphis hotel. It went on to become his biggest hit and eventually a Boston baseball staple. Diamond says he's even become a Red Sox fan.

Focus Group Tests Attitude Toward Conflict with Iran

When they need to take the public's pulse, politicians and corporations often turn to focus groups. Advocacy organizations use this strategy as well, and Mother Jones reports that one of them, the Israel Project, even used a focus group to test-market language that could be used to gain support for military action against Iran.

The Israel Project, which "conducts extensive polling on American public attitudes toward Israel and the Middle East," is a nonprofit group with a board of advisers that includes 15 Democratic and Republican members of Congress.

The focus group test, held earlier this month in Alexandria, Va., was "designed" by Public Opinion Strategies, a Republican polling firm. One of the people chosen to be in the group was Laura Sonnenmark, a Democratic Party volunteer. "The whole basis of the whole thing was, 'we're going to go into Iran and what do we have to do to get you guys to along with it?'" Sonnenmark says.

After about two hours of talking about the situation in the Middle East, Sonnenmark said the focus group leader asked three questions: "How would you feel if Hillary [Clinton] bombed Iran? How would you feel if George Bush bombed Iran? And how would you feel if Israel bombed Iran?"

Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi of the Israel Project told Mother Jones that the focus group test was intended to help the organization promote "our belief in pushing sanctions."

Your Questions for the Democratic Presidential Candidates

No lights. No cameras. Just our microphones -- and your questions.

On Dec. 4 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET, NPR and Iowa Public Radio will host a Democratic presidential candidates' debate.

We received more than 1,600 questions from the public, and we'll put some of them to the candidates. Browse through the questions below and tune in for answers from Des Moines on Dec. 4!

Note: NPR is working with the leading Republican candidates to schedule a debate for early 2008.

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Controversial Minnesota U.S. Attorney Steps Down

New Attorney General Michael Mukasey may be making his presence felt already. The Los Angeles Times reports that the resignation of the U.S. attorney for Minnesota on Monday was being seen as "an early illustration of how Mukasey was moving quickly to address some of the lingering problems of the politically charged Gonzales era."

Rachel Paulose, 34, was one of several Bush administration insiders who took over U.S. attorneys' offices around the country during former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' tenure. She was the nation's youngest federal prosecutor and one of the most controversial.

The Washington Post reports that she drew criticism from the lawyers who worked with her and for her "outspoken conservative, Christian beliefs."

The Justice Department's Office of Special Counsel had been investigating allegations that she had mishandled classified material and made a racist remark to a staff member. An internal department audit found that her employees said she treated subordinates harshly and lacked the experience for her job.

Paulose denied making a racist remark in an interview that appeared on National Review Online last week. But that interview has prompted "at least one and as many as three of her current staff managers" to resign or threaten to resign, Thomas Heffelfinger, who Paulose replaced as Minnesota U.S. attorney, told the Post.

Paulose will return to work in the Justice Department in Washington.

November 19, 2007

When Turkeys Attack

Davis, Calif., used to be a nice place. A college town where you could walk around in peace. But that was before ... before the turkeys came.

Day to Day has the story of what happens when a town is terrorized by a pack of turkeys. Not the plump, overfed birds we'll be carving up Thursday, but wild, lean birds, almost three feet tall, with tattoos that say, "Don't call me butterball." OK, maybe no tattoos, but you get my drift.

The turkeys, who hang out in a cemetery, attack passers-by. They also seem to have issues with bicycles — in a town labeled the nation's most bicycle-friendly.

Cemetery managers hired a trapper to get the birds and take them into the wild. But he gave up after he couldn't entice them into the traps. College researchers also have experimented with turkey alarm calls to scare the aggressive birds. Unfortunately, the Davis turkeys didn't even notice.

My suggestion: Call in someone like Rachael Ray or Emeril Lagasse to make an emergency visit and turn this problem into lunch for the whole town.

Obama To Clinton: You're No Financial Whiz Yourself

Democrat Barack Obama may get the award for zinger of the day on the presidential campaign trail. He was beating back criticism from rival Hillary Clinton, who suggested he lacks the experience to deal with economic challenges.

Obama's response: As far as he knew, Clinton wasn't her husband's treasury secretary.

Both candidates were stumping through rural parts of Iowa, where polls show Clinton, Obama and former Sen. John Edwards in a tight three-way race six weeks before the state's all-important caucuses.

Clinton was speaking about the economy in the town of Knoxville. She said "we can't afford on-the-job training for our next president." She didn't name names, but she was clearly suggesting on-the-job-training is something her rivals would need.

"We need a president who understands the magnitude and complexity of the challenges we