So much has been said and written about "2012," the new movie about the coming end of the world (according to the Mayan Calendar), that I had to go see it.

And there is something so insidious, so beyond-the-pale about it that I felt I needed to use this space to warn anyone who was planning to see it.

It wasn't the fact that the movie was about an hour too long. Or that the plot and dialogue were inane. Or that John Cusack managed to make every traffic light as his car was improbably escaping the apocalypse. And as far as the implausability of having an African-American as president (in this case, Danny Glover) -- well, don't you remember David Palmer on "24"? That proves that a black president is possible.

I could live with that stuff. But what really destroyed, for me, any chance of credibility was the scene in which the governor of California, whose accent and physical presence made it clear it was Arnold Schwarzenegger, was telling residents about the impending horrors they were going to face.

Folks, this was taking place in 2012. Arnold Schwarzenegger is TERM LIMITED, and will be out of office after 2010.

I don't know how Hollywood ever expected us to buy into the fact that he was still governor in 2012. That's what makes this movie so unbelievable.

(Look for more movie reviews to periodically appear in Political Junkie.)

Remember John Edwards' famous $400 haircut? It was that story, leaked to Politico back in April of 2007, that helped bring down Edwards as a "man of the people" kind of candidate in his second bid for the White House.

And where did that tip come from? The Obama campaign.

Politico's Ben Smith, who initially reported the "hair apparent" story, writes that David Plouffe, who managed Barack Obama's race for the White House, fesses up to the Obama campaign's role in leaking the story:

I was always interested in candidate Obama's relationship with the dark(er) political arts and asked him at his first campaign press conference why he'd hired opposition researchers; he responded that they were to check out the candidate himself and to examine high-minded policy questions.

That was not, exactly, the whole truth. Indeed, Obama's campaign had a particularly capable opposition research shop, a source of tips to many reporters, not all of them on policy. And Plouffe, in passing, outs the campaign as the source of a brief item I did in April 2007 off an Edwards campaign expenditure -- probably driving as much traffic, chatter and grief as anything that short I've ever written.

"We did much less of this [opposition research] than other campaigns did," Plouffe writes a bit self-servingly, "but there were times we indulged -- it was our researchers who found John Edwards's infamous $400 hair cut expenditures."

A programing note:

I'll be joining forces with our friends at NPR's "other" blog, The Two-Way, starting at 7 p.m. Eastern time, to "live-blog" election results from Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Maine, California, Houston, Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Miami and other voting places across the nation.

We'll embed a "Cover It Live" box in both blogs so that you can see what The Two-Way's Frank James and I are reporting -- and comment as well.

You have until 2 p.m. Eastern time to enter our contest to predict the key races on today's ballot. (Yes, the deadline has been extended!)

The winner receives the unbelievably valuable set of Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford picture campaign buttons from 1976.

Good luck!

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has long held firm to its opposition to the climate-change bill that's currently before Congress.

Until today.

Or so Reuters thought.

It looks like the wire-service agency was duped by a group pretending it was the Chamber of Commerce and who held a press conference in Washington this morning. At the fake press conference, the fake Chamber handed out a fake press release today that quotes a spokesman for its "president," Tom J. Donahue -- the head of the real Chamber is Tom Donohue -- saying:

"We believe that strong climate legislation is the best way to ensure American innovation, create jobs, and make sure the U.S. and the world are on track to reduce global carbon emissions, and to provide for the needs of the American business community for generations to come," said the spokesman, Hingo Sembra.

The new position is an about-face on climate policy for the Chamber, which previously lobbied against government action. The shift comes after the defection of several prominent members of the Chamber, including PG&E, Apple, PNM Resources, and Exelon.

"We believe the Kerry-Boxer Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act is a good start towards strong legislation," noted Sembra, adding that such legislation "should include a stiff carbon tax and correspondingly strong incentives for industries we wish to foster."

And Reuters immediately sent out an alert:

US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SAYS WILL NO LONGER OPPOSE CLIMATE CHANGE LEGISLATION, WANTS CARBON TAX IN SENATE BILL

The problem, of course, was that is was nothing more than a hoax. The REAL Chamber of Commerce -- or at least what we think is the real Chamber of Commerce -- announced on its Web site that the statement quoted above was a "prank," adding that a clarifying statement was forthcoming.

Continue reading "Chamber/Commerce, Reuters Victimized By Climate Change Pranksters" >

Just back from a very successful and rewarding trip to Arizona and membr station KJZZ (Tempe), meeting both the talented journalists at KJZZ and the generous donors who understand the importance of public radio.

A heartfelt thanks to everyone at the station who made the trip a success: Aaron Pratt, Lou Stanley and station manager Jim Paluzzi. I was especially impressed with Jim's vision for KJZZ and its potential for unprecedented growth.

It was also great meeting reporters Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez, who knows more about Chicago politics, her hometown, than anyone I've ever met (and whose infectious laugh can still be heard some 2,329 miles away), as well as Steve Goldstein and Mark Brodie, who MC'd our big event on Saturday night that drew hundreds of thousands (or fewer) folks to hear my presentation.

Saturday night's event ended the way the Political Junkie segment on NPR's Talk of the Nation begins every Wednesday: with a trivia question and with a Junkie t-shirt going to the person with the first correct answer.

No one was able to answer the tougher question: What do former Arizona Gov. Jack Williams and Fidel Castro have in common? The answer (which Steve Goldstein insists he knew): they were both succeeded by Raul Castro. (P.S. No relation between ex-Gov. Castro, who in 1974 was elected as Arizona's first Latino governor, and Fidel's brother Raul who succeeded the Cuban dictator last year.)

But the second question -- who was the last Arizonan who served as both governor and senator -- was correctly answered by Mark Dioguardi, who sponsored our Friday night dinner and who is a major donor to KJZZ. The answer: Paul Fannin (R), elected governor in 1958 and senator in 1964.

The weather was incredibly perfect, but so were the people and the great conversation. Thank you, KJZZ, for making this happen. For all my attempts at Yuma, I'm so glad I didn't make a Mesa things.

Another opportunity to use my perennial "I have a sense of Yuma" joke. Or maybe not.

Either way, I will be in Phoenix, Ariz., for the next couple of days, meeting donors and friends of KJZZ, a great member station with an outstanding staff.

And not to worry: There is a ScuttleButton puzzle ready and waiting to be posted on Friday.

Anyone who has ever read my Political Junkie column/blog -- which began on the Washington Post Web site in 1998 -- knows that the passions exhibited here are of politics, of course, and baseball.

A lot of it has to do with the similarities of the two obsessions: the history, lore, stats, trivia.

And unlike politics, where I am scrupulously and reflexively neutral, I don't hide my love for the Yankees.

So I was naturally drawn to Clyde Haberman's fun piece in today's New York Times, which points out (gasp!) that "except for the 1980s, there has been no other decade since the 1910s when the team has not produced a championship." As you know, and are no doubt saddened, the Yanks haven't won the World Series since 2000. And that brings Haberman's focus into the political realm:

Consider this: Michael R. Bloomberg, who grew up in Boston Red Sox territory, has been something of a baseball Jonah for this city. With one exception, he is the only modern mayor who has not had a World Series winner on his watch, be it the Yankees, the Mets or the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers of blessed memory.

The other one was David N. Dinkins, who couldn't catch a break on almost anything. Mr. Dinkins aside, you have to go all the way back to John Purroy Mitchel, who was mayor from 1914 to 1917, to come up with someone with such a sorry record.

Mr. Bloomberg would probably love for the Yankees to sweep the Series to bolster his re-election campaign (as if the $65 million he has spent thus far weren't enough). The Series is not scheduled to begin until quite late this year: Oct. 28. Election Day is Nov. 3. If the Yankees win in four straight games, they would wrap up the title on Nov. 1. The mayor could then throw a ticker-tape parade for them on Nov. 2, just in time to bask in their reflected glory.

Continue reading "Our Two Passions: Politics And Baseball" >

... on Tuesday, Sept. 29. (Though there very well may be a "Today in Campaign History" on Monday.)

Details just coming in now. But here's what we know:

President Obama will address a joint session of Congress the evening of Wed., Sept. 9.

More details as we learn them.

A birthday wish, in buttons.

OK, it's not Friday, and it's not officially a ScuttleButton day.

But how can we not wish our good friend and colleague Dan Schorr a Happy Birthday! He turns 93 today.

Happy Birthday Dan!

One of the realities at National Public Radio is that we can only survive if member stations survive. And the only way member stations survive is if people can give to their local station.

But when the economy falters, and people have less to give, everyone suffers. Including the folks here at NPR.

In our attempt to return to fiscal health, we are all required to take a furlough week. Next week is mine.

Political Junkie will return on Monday, Aug. 24.

Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson who made an unsuccessful attempt on the life of President Gerald Ford, has been released from prison.

On Sept. 5, 1975, Fromme -- then nearly 27 years old -- pointed a gun at Ford in Sacramento. She was immediately stopped by the Secret Service (though, for the record, there was no bullet in the gun's firing chamber) and was sentenced to life in prison. Now 60 years old, Fromme was released this morning from the Federal Medical Center near Fort Worth, Texas.

Manson remains in prison for his role in the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and three other people. Ford died three years ago. Seventeen days after Fromme's action, Ford was the target of another assassination attempt, in San Francisco, by Sara Jane Moore. Moore, also sentenced to life in prison, was released on Dec. 31, 2007.

A note from the campaign of Sen. Chris Dodd, written by the senator's wife, says that Dodd -- the embattled five-term Connecticut Democrat who is seeking re-election next year -- underwent early-stage prostate cancer surgery this morning. Jackie Clegg Dodd says that the surgery "went very well" and that the doctors "predict a full recovery."

Dodd is facing the toughest challenge of his Senate career in 2010, where he is likely to be opposed by former Rep. Rob Simmons (R).

Jon Huntsman resigned as governor of Utah today to become the U.S. Ambassador to China. The Senate confirmed Huntsman on Aug. 7. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Huntsman "said he felt a sense of emptiness as he leaves 'a state and people we love and job that has been the most rewarding of my life.' 'It is our hope that we have measured up,' he said. 'I am confident that we are better prepared than any other state in America to meet our future needs.'"

Taking over as the 17th governor of Utah is fellow Republican Gary Herbert, who faces "a projected $700 million budget shortfall next year and an economy that, while better than most in the country, continues to hobble along." Herbert opposed Huntsman for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2004, dropping out a month before the state Republican convention to become Huntsman's running mate. He is considered far more conservative than Huntsman, who surprised Republicans with his support for civil unions.

We received a few totally opposite reactions to Hillary Clinton's response to a question from a student in Congo on Monday. The questioner apparently asked the secretary of state what her husband thought about a Chinese loan offer to Congo; at least that's how it was translated to the sec/state. But it was her reaction that drew headlines. Some cheered her on and said her answer was a perfect feminist response to a sexist question; others said the incident reminded them of the "prickly" Clinton they rejected for president in 2008.

Here's the video. What do you think?

With President Obama's town-hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H. underway, some last-minute thoughts:

If the decline in his approval ratings tells us anything, it's that the president may be in the process of losing control of the conversation about how to overhaul the nation's health-care system.

Polls indicate that the number of people who want to see major changes in the system has been declining. Blame it on whomever you want -- talk radio, the insurance industry and Republican activists are popular targets for the Democrats -- but there seems to be a clear division in the country on what health care "reform" is going to look like. The uncertainty and confusion have led to ugly confrontations at other town-hall meetings -- witness the outbursts against Sen. Arlen Specter (D) earlier today in Lebanon, Pa., or the burning in effigy last month of a cardboard cutout of Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD).

Obama, declining numbers or not, is still the most effective communicator in the nation. If anyone can make the case that the status quo is unacceptable, it is the president. There is still a shocking number of people -- 47 million -- uncovered by health insurance, and many of those who are covered are finding the costs prohibitive and skyrocketing.

And, to be fair here, there are reasons to be unhappy, if not furious, with some of the practices of the insurance companies, especially in instances of their refusal to pay for coverage or limiting what they decide to cover.

But to dismiss the protesters as creations of conservative operatives misses the point. To dismiss the fear and unease about radical change in this country -- no matter what the issue, even if it is overdue -- is a mistake. This is still a pretty (small "c") conservative country. Change does not come easily. But that doesn't mean it shouldn't happen. It just takes awhile.

It doesn't excuse the vitriol, misinformation and hate that's out there. And there may be more nefarious agents out there trying to stop this than I'm acknowledging. But both sides still seem to be talking past each other, seem to be yelling at each other. One presidential town-hall meeting will not reduce the temperature. It is still only one side of the argument.

But it's a start.

Two political events of the 1980s worth remembering once more.

Some thoughts about notable political events that took place while we were hiding in the Atlantic Ocean last week -- the death of Cory Aquino in the Philippines, Bill Clinton's diplomatic mission to North Korea, the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, the decision by Florida GOP Sen. Mel Martinez to quit, and the announcement by Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York that she will not challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in the Democratic primary.

Continue reading "Catching Up: Sonia Confirmed, Bill's Excellent Adventure, Mel Says Adios" >

First, my photograph vanished from the Political Junkie blog.

Then, ScuttleButton disappeared.

Now it's my turn. Political Junkie will be on vacation all next week, returning on Monday, Aug. 10.

An honest conversation about race, after a round of beers.

Are you kidding?

I grew up in New York City, where one takes the subway if you want to get anywhere. I distinctly remember being on the A train on countless late nights, and many St. Patrick's Days, where folks who have had one too many were not shy about expressing their views about race. It was not pretty. I'm not sure if today's "beer summit" -- involving President Obama, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, and Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley -- is the way to go.

Beer makes people do strange things. I clearly recall getting home after a night of beers with some pals and then calling every ex-girlfriend I ever had -- or imagined I had. Many of them hadn't heard from me since the third grade and were appalled to be hearing from me, decades later, at 2 in the morning. A big mistake. I can only imagine what weird things President Obama might do after an evening of beers. Bowling, for example.

Continue reading "The Danger Of Combining Beer With Race (Or Anything)" >

We're out until Monday.

Have a great and safe weekend.

Ken

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the Senate won't vote on a bill to overhaul the health-care system until September -- after the August break.

But there won't be much of a vacation for the health-care lobbyists. Their work does not stop.

In three months -- April, May and June -- America's biggest drug makers spent $40 million lobbying Congress on health care. That's the conclusion of an analysis of the most recent lobbying disclosure reports by NPR's Dollar Politics team, Andrea Seabrook and Peter Overby.

The Seabrook/Overby team points out that those three months were critical in the drafting of the current health care proposals floating around Capitol Hill. And it's more than just the amount of cash -- it's what that money bought: people. Phrma alone hired 45 separate D.C. lobbying firms to represent it in those months. Most of the companies that belong to Phrma were also running their own lobbying operations as well, and the biggest ones hired additional dozens of DC firms. It appears there was a critical mass of lobbyists -- all on the side of the brand-name prescription drug companies -- on Capitol Hill at the same time.

You can read more about Andrea and Peter's report -- and hear their piece that airs tonight on All Things Considered -- here.

And here's a great graphic, showing Phrma's lobbying firms.

... And for a good cause: raising money for Aspen Public Radio, an outstanding member station with a phenomenal staff.

No appearance for me on Talk of the Nation tomorrow -- you already got the trivia question! -- but you'll get the same, lame postings from me the rest of the week, including a new ScuttleButton puzzle on Friday.

We had Jesse, Scoop and Andrew. But never a presidential candidate named Michael Jackson.

We're taking the rest of the day off.

ScuttleButton is up. The desk is clean. And we wanted to leave you with this Michael Jackson button ... a spoof, of course, put out in 1983-84 as a response to the Jesse Jackson for president campaign.

What a week. See you Monday.

One of the funniest people in the world is the satirist Andy Borowitz. His missives that reach my in-box each day more often than not elicit a laugh-out-loud reaction.

Like today's:

In a nationally televised speech in Iran today, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei ordered his countrymen not to stage further protests, warning the nation, "I am following you all on Twitter."

To back up his words, the Supreme Leader then displayed his Twitter account page, showing that he was indeed following 65,875,224 people, but had only one follower, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Ayatollah's announcement sent a chill up the spines of opposition leaders, most of whom assumed that the Supreme Leader did not have a Twitter account.

"You mean he's been reading all my tweets?" said opposition organizer Mohsen Sobhi. "Oh, s***."

Robert Siegel is, as many of you know, the host of NPR's All Things Considered.

He is also a graduate of Stuyvesant High School in New York City, Class of 1964.

Robert may be one of the more famous graduates in Stuyvesant history -- unless you think James Cagney is more famous. But Robert sends along a page of the current Alumni Spectator -- the Stuyvesant newsletter -- that features some other famous graduates who are in the news.

It's worth a look!

 

Former President George Bush -- we're talking 41, not 43 -- turns 85 on Friday. And he plans to celebrate his birthday by making a parachute jump in Kennebunkport, Maine, where he has his summer home.

The Associated Press says Bush "will make a tandem jump with a member of the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team onto a landing zone near St. Ann's by the Sea Church in Kennebunkport," according to Bush aide Jim Appleby. The AP report continues:

Bush's most recent jump was in November 2007 at the reopening of his library at Texas A&M University in College Station. He made his first jump as a Navy pilot when his plane was shot down over the Pacific during World War II. He also made two jumps apiece on his 75th and 80th birthdays.

According to the World Almanac, only six former presidents have had a longer life than Bush, who was born on June 12, 1924. They are/were:

Gerald Ford (93 years, 165 days)
Ronald Reagan (93 years, 120 days)
John Adams (90 years, 247 days)
Herbert Hoover (90 years, 71 days)
Harry Truman (88 years, 232 days)
James Madison (85 years, 104 days)

If the thought of Friday wasn't exciting enough, there's this to look forward in tomorrow's Political Junkie:

-- A look at the two gubernatorial races up in 2009, in New Jersey and Virginia.

-- The new episode of our "It's All Politics" podcast, recorded today, will be up on the site tomorrow morning.

-- And a new ScuttleButton puzzle.

Thanks to everyone at member station WUWM in Milwaukee for their hospitality and good humor during my visit last Thursday. It was standing room only for my speech at the Boerner Botanical Gardens in Hales Corners on Thursday night ... but that's because we hid the chairs.

A special shout out to General Manager Dave Edwards, Development Director Noel Skarpmoen, Lake Effect host Mitch Teich and, last but not least, the incomparable Lara Couture, WUWM's development specialist, who made everything go smoothly.

If you're in proximity of Milwaukee, Wis., on Thursday night, and you want to help out NPR member station WUWM -- and if you want to be captivated by a political speech that includes (yes, it's true) ScuttleButton puzzles -- then you'll make your way to the station fundraiser at Boerner Botanical Gardens in Hales Corners. Event starts at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets for the fundraiser are $10. For more information, call (414) 270-1225.

... But here tomorrow.

No Political Junkie today.

We return tomorrow with the new podcast, the new yakking, and the new ScuttleButton puzzle.

This is one of those posts where I'm having trouble coming to a conclusion. I need your help.

There seems to be a backlash building against Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), who has written a tell-all book (and hit the TV talk-show circuit to expand on it) about her reaction to the news that her husband was having an affair during his 2008 presidential bid.

Since her cancer returned in 2007, Elizabeth Edwards has become one of the nation's most admired and sympathetic people. Given the dire prognosis of her illness, her decision to go along with her husband's second White House bid was hotly debated at the time.

Continue reading "Should We Blame Elizabeth Edwards For Husband John's Sins?" >

We had one contest, to predict the next secretary of health and human services secretary, following the withdrawal of Tom Daschle. That one was won by Cheryl Weller of West Orange, N.J., who wound up with a Nixon campaign button from 1968.

We had another contest, to guess the Senate confirmation vote for Sebelius at HHS. No one correctly got that one.

We're trying again. Who will President Obama nominate to replace the retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter? The first correct answer will win a Nixon's The One bumper sticker from that '68 campaign. Impress your friends when you affix it to your car!

But first send in your prediction to politicaljunkie@npr.org. First one wins.

For those of you wondering who won our "correctly guess the Senate confirmation vote for Kathleen Sebelius for secretary of health and human services and win a personalized ScuttleButton puzzle" contest -- a very cleverly-titled name for a contest, if you ask me, especially in light of the fact that "U.S. News and World Report" was already taken -- the answer is ... no one.

No one arrived at the 65-31 tally. But here are the three people who came the closest:

Dennis Triglia of Portland, Ore., said 64-33.
David Poleykett of Charlottesville, Va., said 67-32.
Payton Bradford of Athens, Ga., said 68-31.

Congratulations to all. But, sadly, no button puzzle.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) has been confirmed as secretary of the Health and Human Services Department. The Senate vote was 65-31. Sixty votes were needed for approval.

The nomination took on a greater urgency in the wake of the swine flu outbreak. That apparently outweighed Republican objections to her record on abortion.

President Obama's first choice for the post, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, withdrew his name from consideration on Feb. 3 following tax payment problems.

Mark Parkinson, the former state Republican Party chairman who became a Democrat to run with Sebelius on the 2006 ticket, will become the next governor of Kansas. He has said he will not run to keep the post in 2010.

A clarification to our contest announced yesterday, in which the first person to correctly predict the Senate vote on the nomination of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to be the next secretary of health and human services wins his or her own personal ScuttleButton puzzle.

The vote we are looking for is NOT the final confirmation vote. It's the initial vote -- it may even be a procedural vote -- in which Democrats are hoping to get more than the 60 votes needed to shut off a Republican filibuster. That's the vote everyone is watching, and that's the vote that matters. Especially when it comes to a personal ScuttleButton puzzle.

As we discussed yesterday, filling that Cabinet post has undertaken a new urgency in the wake of the spreading swine flu virus.

To help people understand more about the potential crisis -- 50 cases have now been reported in the U.S. -- NPR has launched a new blog, Flu Shots. The blog will track news about the virus from all around the world.

The last contest we held was to predict whom President Obama would select to head up the health and human services department. The first person who guessed Kathleen Sebelius received a genuine "Nixon's The One" campaign button from 1968.

Now it's time for another Sebelius contest. The Senate is likely to vote on her nomination next week. What will be the final vote?

Last week, Michael Steele, the chair of the Republican National Committee, called on Obama to withdraw Sebelius' nomination, citing the "significant questions" about the campaign contributions she received from a late-term Kansas abortion doctor.

Today, the administration's response to the swine flu outbreak has been complicated, to some extent, by the fact that there is no HHS secretary in place. It was Janet Napolitano, the homeland security chief, who was front and center on the administration's response. (Note: Napolitano refused to blame rightwingers or veterans for the outbreak.)

The early money is on Sebelius getting the 60 votes that would overcome a filibuster and win confirmation. But who knows? The first person to accurately predict the final Senate vote will get ... a ScuttleButton puzzle in his or her honor!

It doesn't get better than this.

Send your guesses to politicaljunkie@npr.org.

Summoned to University Park, Pa., for the afternoon. No more Junkie posts today.

We are ... Penn State.

We're back ... Tomorrow.

(With a ScuttleButton puzzle that I particularly like.)

The genie -- interrogation methods used by the CIA against suspected terrorists, approved by the Bush administration in the aftermath of 9/11 -- is out of the bottle.

President Obama's decision to release secret memos detailing these tactics, which included waterboarding, has unleashed a firestorm of controversy and anger, mostly centered on what kind of punishment, if any, should be administered to those who formulated and approved the policies.

Once, the mantra of the Obama administration was to look forward, not to "dwell on the past." No longer. The graphic details of the harsh techniques that were released have resulted in a renewed call to punish those responsible. The president is now open to that.

Continue reading "Prosecute Bush Officials On Torture? Sen. Levin To NPR: Commission Good 1st Step" >

Yesterday, the story was about Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) and whether or not she told a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department to go easy on two pro-Israeli lobbyists who were under investigation for espionage if the agent would use his influence with incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi to help Harman become the next chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

Harman's alleged conversation, thought to have taken place in either 2005 or 2006, was apparently captured on an NSA wiretape. The story was broken by Jeff Stein of Congressional Quarterly; it later found itself all over the blogosphere (including here), and on the front page of today's New York Times.

The part of Stein's story that could not be confirmed was that then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the DOJ to back off from any investigation of Harman in exchange for Harman's support for the warrantless wiretapping program. I'm told that Justice Department sources say such a scenario was highly unlikely.

But the headlines today were mostly about Harman and the potential of a quid pro quo regarding helping the two lobbyists, who worked for the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), in exchange for advancing her ambitions.

Continue reading "Harman On NPR: 'I'm Outraged Over Wiretaps.' Still, More Questions Than Answers." >

The bombshell by Jeff Stein of Congressional Quarterly -- that an NSA wiretap picked up Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage charges against two officials of American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in exchange for the agent's agreement to lobby Nancy Pelosi to name Harman chair of the House Intelligence Committee -- is spreading like wildfire on the Internets.

But is it true?

Continue reading "What To Make Of The Alleged Jane Harman/AIPAC Quid Pro Quo" >

A delightful piece of trivia today from Roll Call's "Heard on the Hill" column (subscription required).

Reporters Emily Heil and Elizabeth Brotherton note that in the 1993 movie The Fugitive, when U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) is chasing Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) through downtown Chicago during the St. Patrick's Day parade, whom do we see smiling in the parade but Roland Burris!

It just so happens that the scene was shot during the actual parade, and if you watch this film clip, you'll see Burris, then the Illinois attorney general, among those marching. It's about a minute in.

Mark Lane's mug shot, Jackson, Miss., 1961. Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Today's post about Mark Lane, the activist who was Dick Gregory's running mate on the Freedom and Peace Party ticket in 1968, elicited a note from Eric Etheridge, author of a new photo book about the Mississippi Freedom Riders called Breach of Peace.

The book features portraits of about 80 Riders and the mug shots of all of the 320-plus Riders arrested in Jackson, Miss., in 1961. Eric sent in the shot of Lane, which is featured above. (Does anyone know how to contact Mark Lane? Eric has located about 115 of the Riders but not him. Let me know.)

Continue reading "Updates: Mark Lane Mug Shot; I'll Have Chocola On Club?" >

The results of Tuesday's special election in New York's 20th congressional district will be talked about for years and years to come.

Well, at least it will on Wednesday.

The contest to replace now-Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) -- which pitted first-time candidate Scott Murphy, a Democratic businessman, against Jim Tedisco, the Repubican leader in the state Assembly -- is too close to call. Sixty-five votes separate the two, with 154,000 cast, and 10,000 absentee ballots still to be counted. How to interpret the results?

That will be the main focus on our regular Wednesday web chat that begins at 2:45 p.m. ET, or immediately after the conclusion of the Political Junkie segment on NPR's Talk of the Nation.

Plus: The president's handling of the problems facing the auto industry, his agenda for the G-20 summit, an update on the Minnesota Senate race (haven't we heard that before!), and the latest on two embattled Pennsylvania pols -- Sen. Arlen Specter (R) and Rep. John Murtha (D).

I'll be joined by Liz Halloran, the Washington correspondent for NPR Digital News, who has been following the Coleman-Franken case, and Casey Seiler, the state editor and blogger for the Albany Times-Union, who has been all over the Tedisco-Murphy race. As always, the chat is hosted by NPR's David Gura, assistant editor at Talk of the Nation.

If you want to submit questions in advance, leave them in the comments section.

I'm taking my AIG bonus money and finding a beach somewhere. Next week there will be no Junkie posts, no Talk of the Nation appearance, no Web chats, no This Day in Politics, no sophisticated humor, and -- gasp -- no ScuttleButton puzzle. No Ken at all.

Returning Monday, March 30. Please don't forget me.

Ken

E-mail will always be close by: krudin@npr.org

P.S. It's not too late to enter my March Madness pool.

We usually don't endorse candidates here at Political Junkie -- strike that, we never endorse candidates.

But if there was ever one we would have considered backing, it was -- for obvious reasons -- Daniel Button. The deliciously named Button was an editor for the Albany Times-Union who challenged the long-impenetrable Democratic machine in Albany led by Mayor Erastus Corning and party boss Dan O'Connell. In 1966, when Democratic Rep. Leo O'Brien was retiring, Button jumped into the race, as a Republican, and won. He was re-elected in 1968.

But in 1970, Albany mapmakers redrew congressional districts, merging his with that of conservative Democrat Sam Stratton. With the demographics clearly favoring the Democrat, Stratton won a landslide victory.

Button was a liberal Republican, when they used to have such things, and strongly opposed the war in Vietnam.

Dan Button died earlier this month at the age of 91. Click here for a nice obit by David Filkins in the Times-Union.

I always liked the idea of a congressman named Button. And, speaking of buttons ...

If you want to see how warped Ken Rudin and other collectors of political memorabilia are, in person no less, then you'll come out tomorrow, Saturday, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., to the 10th annual meeting of (gulp) the National Capital Chapter of the American Political Items Collectors (APIC). The show will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at Tysons Corner in McLean, Va.
Address: 1960 Chain Bridge Road
Hotel phone number: (703) 893-2100

Admission is $4; $1 off with student or congressional ID.

This year there will be a special display: "The Road to 2008 -- Racial Politics in America," featuring a display of items from 1776 to today, with themes of slavery, Uncle Tom's Cabin, civil rights, and the Freedom Train, up to Barack Obama's victory in 2008, and everything in between.

Hope to see you there.

Note: NPR and its member stations are not legally responsible or for anything I might say or do at APIC meetings.

Aaron Schock is a freshman Republican from Illinois who won the House seat vacated by Ray LaHood (R) last year. Before coming to Congress, he spent four years on the Peoria Board of Education and four in the Illinois state House. But he's probably best known, according to a poll by readers of the Huffington Post blog, as Congress' "Hottest Freshman."

I have a sense that's what attracted some to today's meeting of the Joint House-Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution. The agenda: to talk about Sen. Russ Feingold's (D-WI) proposed amendment that would take away the gubernatorial power to fill U.S. Senate vacancies. These meetings don't typically fire romantic imaginations. But for two young women, Wednesday's subcommittee hearing had a special feature: One of the witnesses was the 27-year-old bachelor Schock himself.

The women appeared equally entranced, says our spy at the hearing, filling notebook pages with Schock's name, hearts and curlicues and rustling with excitement when the congressman testified about Feingold's proposed amendment. (And I have this confirmed: They didn't have the same reaction when Rep. James Sensenbrenner [R-WI] spoke.)

Is this Hot or What??

One can only imagine what went on at today's meeting of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises!!

From Julie Rovner, NPR health policy correspondent:

So there was Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag, doing his usual job of dazzling the members of the Senate Finance Committee with his encyclopedic knowledge of the nation's health care system and its economic underpinnings Tuesday. When it finally came Sen. Tom Carper's (D-DE) turn to question Orszag, there wasn't much left to ask. So he took a whole different tack -- zeroing in on the brown liquid in the glass Orzsag had been sipping from periodically during the hearing.

"Dr. Orszag, I've been at a lot of hearings before, and I've seen a lot of witnesses have water at their table," Carper began. "And I've thought, the times I've heard you testify, as CBO director and here as OMB, I thought, 'boy, this guy is smart.' " Carper went on to recall a story he heard last month about President Lincoln and Gen. Ulysses Grant, when Grant was in charge of the Union Army. He said some of Lincoln's advisers wanted him to fire Grant, because he drank too much. But at the time, Grant was doing a pretty good job. "And Lincoln apparently said to his top adviser: 'Find out what Grant is drinking and make my other generals drink it too,' " Carper said. And peering straight at Orszag, he added, "we need to find out what you're drinking and we'll pass it around."

For the first time all morning Orzsag looked a little sheepish. "I hope this isn't product placement, but this is Diet Coke," he replied.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen: Lend me your earmarks.

OK, you get the point. Today's Web chat at noon focuses on the pet projects included in the omnibus spending bill that is before Congress, the kind of projects that get many Republicans, especially, John McCain, apoplectic. But how does this square with President Obama's pledge about pork-barrel spending?

I'll be joined by NPR money, power and influence correspondent Peter Overby and Reihan Salam, associate editor at The Atlantic and co-author of Grand New Party. As always, the chat is hosted by NPR's David Gura, assistant editor at Talk of the Nation.

If you want to submit questions in advance, leave them in the comments section.

See you today at noon. (Hopefully, by now you remembered to set the clocks ahead.)

That's right. It's true.

No Political Junkie postings. No "This Day in Campaign History." No Junkie segment on NPR's Talk of the Nation. No useless trivia question. Nothin, no way, no how.

See ya on Thursday.

Today's edition of our Tuesday Web chat at noon focused on the future of conservatism, and the ongoing feud/dust up between Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele and conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

I was joined by NPR congressional correspondent David Welna and Kelley Vlahos, contributing editor of The American Conservative magazine. The chat, as always, was hosted by NPR's David Gura.

Check out the chat below.

Sebelius was a potential Obama running mate in '08.

Lots of strong reaction, both ways, to the news that President Obama has nominated Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) to be the next secretary of health and human services.

But that's not nearly as exciting as this: We have a winner in our "be the first to predict the next HHS secretary and win a genuine Nixon for president button from 1968."

While millions of Americans are wasting time trying to figure out why a Nixon button, we are focusing on announcing the winner. And that is ... Cheryl Weller of West Orange, N.J.

In submitting her entry on Feb. 6, Cheryl wrote, "I'm doing this to get the Nixon button and for the glory."

Well, she gets both. Congratulations!

Here's an update on some political happenings over the weekend:

With only about 1,340 days until the election, Romney wins CPAC straw poll.

CPAC Straw Poll. This is a perfect example of my schizophrenia. I say (and truly believe!) that 2012 presidential straw polls at this point are meaningless, if not nutty ... and yet, I'm interested in every one. And so, I watched with fascination at the lines of people ready to cast their ballots at the multiple booths at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday. These straw polls may all have the legitimacy of a typical Chicago election, but nonetheless, here are the results, as per CPAC:

Mitt Romney 20%
Bobby Jindal 14%
Ron Paul 13%
Sarah Palin 13%
Newt Gingrich 10%
Mike Huckabee 7%
Mark Sanford 4%
Rudy Giuliani 3%
Tim Pawlenty 2%
Charlie Crist 1%
Undecided 9%

This was Romney's third CPAC straw poll victory in a row.

The poll was taken of 1,757 people who were preregistered to attend the conference. Most of those who voted were between 18 and 25. Ninety-five percent said they disapprove of the job Barack Obama is doing as president. Fifty-five percent said they were "generally satisfied" with the potential field of GOP candidates for 2012, while 44 percent said they were not.

Sebelius for HHS. President Obama will name Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as his secretary of health and human resources later this afternoon. This is the post that Tom Daschle was ready to take until he, oops, realized he hadn't paid $140,000 in taxes until he was nominated. Here's my political bio of Sebelius that is currently running on the home page of NPR.org.

When the Sebelius nomination is official, we will reveal our contest winner: As promised, the first person to correctly guess the next HHS secretary wins a genuine Nixon's The One campaign button from 1968. I'm not exactly sure what the correlation is between Sebelius and a Nixon button, but that's OK.

Paul Harvey dies. A legendary radio commentator (and one of the first people I remember listening to on politics as a kid on WABC in New York), Paul Harvey died Saturday at 90. A longtime conservative voice in the 1950s and '60s, Harvey broke with President Nixon on the Vietnam War in 1970, calling for a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops. ABC Radio Networks President Jim Robinson said, "Paul Harvey was one of the most gifted and beloved broadcasters in our nation's history. We will miss our dear friend tremendously and are grateful for the many years we were so fortunate to have known him." He had worked at ABC for more than 50 years.

 

Host

David Gura, assistant editor of NPR's Talk of the Nation

 

 

 

Chat Participants

Ken Rudin, political editor

 

 

 

Scott Horsley, White House correspondent

 

 

 

Mike Memoli, blogger for Real Clear Politics' Politics Nation

 

 

At noon ET you can take part in the latest installment of our Tuesday Web chats on the latest news in politics. It comes just nine hours before President Obama gives an address to a joint session of Congress.

While the president's speech is likely to focus on the economy, and his plans to fix it, other issues, such as administration initiatives in health care, energy and climate change, could come up.

What do you want to hear from the president? What would you ask him if you could? What role should Republicans play in the opposition?

You can submit questions for the chat now in the comments section below. We'll also be taking your questions live during the chat.

I will be unavailable all day on Thursday and thus no postings ... well, except for the obligatory "this day in campaign history" in the morning. I expect to be back on Friday -- with, among other things, a new ScuttleButton puzzle.

But, before I leave you ...

-- New York Gov. David Paterson (D) has decided the special congressional election to replace now-Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) in the 20th CD will take place March 31. The race pits venture capitalist Scott Murphy (D) against state Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco (R). The race was profiled in a Monday posting.

-- With Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter one of only three Republican senators to support the Obama economic stimulus plan (and the only one of the three up for re-election next year), there is more speculation about him facing a formidable primary challenge in the 2010 May primary. The name of former Rep. Pat Toomey (R), who took on Specter in the 2004 primary, has come up again, even though he had earlier talked about running for governor. Six years ago, Toomey, the head of the conservative Club for Growth organization, came close to defeating Specter -- despite the support for Specter by a still-popular President Bush and Sen. Rick Santorum.

-- Hilda Solis is closer to becoming secretary of labor. Late this afternoon, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted to approve her nomination and send it to the Senate floor. Two Republicans voted against her: Pat Roberts of Kansas and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. Final vote is expected by the end of the week.

Republicans are not onboard, but -- for now at least -- a majority of the public appears to be.

 

It had not been the best couple of days for the 44th president.

Barack Obama had watched with embarrassment as his HHS secretary-to-be was not to be. In the House, not a single Republican (nor a married Republican either) voted for his economic stimulus package, despite his active courting of them. And while the measure nonetheless passed the House, the airwaves and blogosphere were filled with Republican critics of the plan: It was too big, too expensive, too filled with pork, and would not necessarily result in the jobs desperately needed to boost the economy.

Barack Obama had apparently had enough. If governing was not necessarily doing the trick, maybe the answer was campaigning. And so the president flew to the city of Elkhart, Ind., where the unemployment rate has surpassed 15 percent and where he argued that the country can't fall into the morass of politics while people are suffering. Then he came back to Washington to await the Senate vote.

Three Republicans -- Maine's Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, along with Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter -- were all he could get on yesterday's key vote to advance the stimulus bill in the Senate, but it was enough. And then he went before the nation last night, his first prime-time news conference since the inauguration, where he tried to make the case that even an imperfect bill was better than no bill at all.

There was skepticism from the reporters, but Obama would have none of it. "If there's anyone out there who still doesn't believe this constitutes a full-blown crisis, I suggest speaking to one of the millions of Americans whose lives have been turned upside down because they don't know where their next paycheck is coming from."

That Republicans by and large oppose this bill doesn't mean that they are wrong and the president is right (or vice versa). The GOP has real philosophical and ideological problems with the size and the scope of the bill. And no one can say with any certainty whether or not this will do the trick. But, as the president has argued, he inherited the economic mess and he was elected to deal with it. And he maintains high public approval. If, in the next year or so, nothing has changed in the lives of those affected by the economic downturn, it could be the Democrats who pay the political price.

The Senate is likely to pass the bill today. Because of the difference in the way the House and Senate operate -- whichever party has even a simple majority in the House can normally ram through what it wants, whereas in the Senate a lot of compromise and give-and-take are necessary -- the two bills are different. In the House, which didn't need GOP votes to pass it, there is more money for aid to state and local governments. More money for Medicaid payments to the unemployed and uninsured. In the Senate, which needed incentives to bring some Republicans along, there are more tax cuts. After today's Senate vote, the bill then goes to a House-Senate conference committee, where the differences need to be ironed out, and then it goes back to the respective chambers for a final vote.

And that leads to this morning's question from Rick Possee of Union, Maine:

Once the stimulus bill leaves the conference committee and returns to the Senate, does it need 60 votes or just a majority?

It will still need 60 to get past a filibuster, but there is no indication as of now that there will be any Republican attempt to hold up the bill when it comes back from conference. It will be interesting to see how insistent House leaders are about removing some of the sweeteners designed to attract GOP votes from the Senate bill.

President Obama once talked about getting 80 votes in the Senate. Now he'll be happy with a bill to sign.

The $829 billion economic stimulus bill has won a key hurdle this afternoon, with 61 senators voting to end debate -- more than the three-fifths necessary. Three Republicans joined the Democrats -- Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

Final passage on one of President Obama's most important priorities is expected tomorrow. Following that, the House and Senate -- which will have passed different versions of the bill -- will iron out their differences in a conference committee.

Here's what's coming up today in Political Junkie:

-- Can the Republicans win back the New York congressional seat Kirsten Gillibrand gave up to serve in the Senate? And will Gov. Paterson ever call for a special election?

-- The latest on the economic stimulus package.

-- Rep. Artur Davis (D) has announced his candidacy for governor of Alabama. A list of other African-Americans who were gubernatorial nominees of their party.

-- New "It's All Politics" podcast is up, for better or worse.

All this and (maybe) more, today in Political Junkie. Wanna be on our mailing list? Sign up at politicaljunkie@npr.org

NPR's Nina Totenberg reports that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent surgery today for removal of a cancerous tumor from her pancreas.

She is being treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan.

Ginsburg, 75, the court's only female justice, has served since 1993, when she was named by President Clinton.

Nina adds, "Ginsburg's pancreatic cancer was discovered early, in the course of a routine annual screening, but medical literature says even in this circumstance, a patient's five-year survival chances range from 10 to 30 percent."

Michael Steele is one of two African-Americans hoping to head up the RNC.

Ordinarily I would concede that it's hard to even get political junkies excited about the election of a new national party chairman. This is inside baseball to the extreme.

But when you're the Republican Party, and you have no obvious front-runner to recapture the presidency, and that new guy in the White House who beat you is extremely popular, and your leader in the House is the same guy who watched the Democrats net 50 seats the past two cycles, and your leader in the Senate is more of a tactician than a charismatic national figure, maybe the person elected to head up the GOP is someone worth watching.

If we're not exactly sure what message the party is trying to deliver in the wake of its defeat last November, there is one thing we are sure of: Republicans want to move in a new direction. And that's why my gut tells me that Mike Duncan, who headed up the party since 2007 as the personal choice of President Bush, is not going to get re-elected. That's not to say that Duncan isn't a good guy; he's just Bush's guy. And with Bush's policies being repudiated by voters in both 2006 and 2008, keeping Duncan just doesn't make sense.

(Was Duncan a good fundraiser? Yes. Was it his fault that John McCain had trouble connecting with grass-roots conservatives? No. And shouldn't he get credit for the post-Nov. 4 Republican victories in the Georgia Senate race and picking up the House seat of Bill Jefferson in Louisiana? Sure, why not? Let's give him that. But with the "change" mantra working so well for the Dems, I would think that a party that so desperately needs a new course would look elsewhere.)

Four candidates are vying to replace him. Two of them are African-American: Michael Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland and a regular commentator on the Fox News Channel, and Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's former secretary of state and the GOP nominee for governor in 2006. The other two are white state party chairmen: Saul Anuzis of Michigan and Katon Dawson of South Carolina.

Another candidate, Chip Saltsman, dropped out of the contest yesterday. Saltsman, a former party chair from Tennessee who ran Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign last year, got some unwanted attention at Christmas when he mailed out a holiday CD to RNC members that included a song called "Barack the Magic Negro." He called it "light-hearted" satire; others called it poor taste. As it was, Saltsman's candidacy suffered because of it, and he never was a factor in the race.

To win, a candidate needs 50 percent plus one of the 168 members of the Republican National Committee who will be eligible to vote -- thus, 85 members. Duncan may indeed have the most committed votes at this stage, but I suspect that as the last place finishers drop out after each round, RNC members will coalesce around someone else. My guess is that it's Dawson.

It's not that the South Carolinian doesn't have his own problems. Until last fall, he was a member of an all-white country club, a curious message to send if the party is looking to increase its support among black and Latino voters.

But the other candidates have their own vulnerabilities as well. Anuzis has been feuding with other Michigan Republicans, who argue that under his watch the party has lost too many Senate, gubernatorial and congressional races. Steele is accused by many of being too moderate; Blackwell of being too far to the right.

On that latter point, it is fair to say that Blackwell has indeed picked up a slew of endorsements from both social and economic conservatives. That list includes Steve Forbes, Gary Aldrich, Phyllis Schlafly, Pat Toomey, Brent Bozell, James Dobson, Ed Meese, Tony Perkins, David Keene, Tim LaHaye and Richard Viguerie.

The other ghost in the room, other than that of George W. Bush, is Howard Dean. Dean, the recently departed chairman of the Democratic National Committee, pushed a "50-state strategy" when he took over the DNC in 2005. And whether you agree or not with the assessment that he did a good job -- I think he did -- he brought new technology and new troops to states that had long gone without any Democratic Party presence. The next Republican chairman can only hope to duplicate Dean's success.

Minnick, an Idaho freshman, was one of only 11 Dems to vote against the stimulus bill.

He wooed them; he flattered them; he listened to them. But when all was said and done, no Republican in the House voted for the $819 billion economic stimulus bill pushed hard by President Obama. Nonetheless, it passed yesterday by a 244-to-188 tally.

I suspect that some House Republicans liked the attention they got from the new president; there's nothing worse when you're in the minority party in the House and your party doesn't control the White House. You're just not relevant. It's akin to being a Maytag repairman. But there was never any indication that despite the tax-cut sweeteners, a sizable number were going to be persuaded. As it was, the sizable number was zero.

And that was fine with Pat Toomey, the former Pennsylvania congressman and head of the fiscal conservative Club for Growth, who warned:

No congressman can vote for the stimulus bill and claim to be a defender of economic freedom. In fact, the Democrats' package is the antithesis of economic freedom. The bill is a paragon of government run amuck, a ballooning deficit, fiscal irresponsibility, and political greed.

And I suspect that some House Democrats resented the compromises made by Obama to get GOP votes, sensing that they didn't need to dilute the bill to pass it. Bob Herbert, in his New York Times column on Tuesday, wrote that it would be foolhardy to listen to the GOP when assembling this bill:

When the G.O.P. talks, nobody should listen. Republicans have argued, with the collaboration of much of the media, that they could radically cut taxes while simultaneously balancing the federal budget, when, in fact, big income-tax cuts inevitably lead to big budget deficits. We listened to the G.O.P. and what do we have now? A trillion-dollar-plus deficit and an economy in shambles.

In the end, I also suspect that what Obama was doing was less trying to win over Republicans than to make a point that he would consult with the GOP in trying to push his agenda -- unlike, say, his predecessor, who often eschewed the need to talk to congressional Democrats. And while it turned out that Obama didn't need any GOP votes yesterday, he might need them in the future. And thus the attempt at dialogue.

For the record, while no Republican voted for the stimulus bill, 11 Democrats voted against it. They are:

Bobby Bright (AL), Parker Griffith (AL), Allen Boyd (FL), Walt Minnick (ID), Brad Ellsworth (IN), Frank Kratovil (MD), Collin Peterson (MN), Gene Taylor (MS), Heath Shuler (NC), Paul Kanjorski (PA), and Jim Cooper (TN). Bright, Griffith, Minnick and Kratovil are all freshmen.

The Senate takes up a similar, more expensive, version of the bill next week.

... wait until Feb. 4!

That's when Howard Mortman, the DC blogger/comedian/media strategist/jack of all trades becomes -- gulp -- the director of communications for C-SPAN, the cable television network that covers Congress, politics, politicians and the media without editorial spin. Mortman, a former colleague of mine at The Hotline, is less a spinmeister than a guy who just loves this stuff and doesn't take himself too seriously. Still, it is a combination that makes us sit up and take notice.

Congratulations, Howard!

Two new reports circulating in the blogosphere:

Politico's Jonathan Martin reports that Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, will not run for the Senate seat of retiring Republican Mel Martinez. Martin quotes Mario Rubio, the ex-state House speaker, as saying Bush felt "it just wasn't the right timing." Rubio himself now looks likely to run, writes Martin:

Rubio, a close Bush ally who was waiting on the former governor's decision, said he would now "seriously explore the opportunity."

"I'll be meeting with family and supporters in the weeks ahead and make a decision shortly there after."

Rubio will visit with Republican campaign officials in Washington next week ahead of a likely bid.

Roll Call's John McArdle lists several House members who are considering the race, including Connie Mack IV (R), Allen Boyd (D) and Ron Klein (D). McArdle adds, "Most insiders remain focused on whether the state's chief financial officer, Alex Sink, will run. Sink is a moderate who is the only elected statewide Democrat."

Florida Democratic state Chair Karen Thurman said in a statement that she is confident her party will win the Senate seat: "Over the past several years, Democrats have made major gains in Florida winning three of the six statewide elections. On November 2, 2010, Florida will be electing another strong Democrat to the U.S. Senate, who will work to implement President-elect Barack Obama's vision of change and join Sen. Bill Nelson in representing the Sunshine State in the tradition of Bob Graham and Lawton Chiles."

Back to Jeb: I never felt that Jeb Bush had a great desire to come to Washington, let alone serve in the Senate. But both his father, the former president, and his brother, the current president, have talked up the prospect of Jeb for Senate in recent days.

It would have been Jeb, the legend goes, rather than George W., who was elected president in 2000, had Jeb not lost to Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles in 1994. There have always been whispers that Jeb was the family favorite, as well as the smarter politician. But in '94, as Jeb was losing in Florida, George W. was unseating Ann Richards in Texas. And by 2000, he -- not Jeb, who wasn't elected gov until 1998 -- was on the fast track to the GOP presidential nomination.

The other piece of news comes from The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz, who reports that President-elect Obama has offered the post of surgeon general to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the neurosurgeon and CNN correspondent, who apparently wants the job. Kurtz offers more:

The final vetting process is under way. He has asked for a few days to figure out the financial and logistical details of moving his family from Atlanta to Washington but is expected to accept the offer. ...

The offer followed a two-hour Chicago meeting in November with Obama, who said that Gupta could be the highest-profile surgeon general in history and would have an expanded role in providing health policy advice, the sources said. Gupta later spoke with Tom Daschle, Obama's White House health czar and nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, and other advisers to the president-elect.

The Michigan-born son of Indian and Pakistani parents, Gupta has always been drawn to health policy. He was a White House fellow in the late 1990s, writing speeches and crafting policy for Hillary Clinton. His appointment would give the administration a prominent official of Southwest Asian descent and a skilled television spokesman. ...

Gupta's only hesitation in taking the post is said to involve the financial impact on his pregnant wife and two children if he gives up his lucrative medical and journalistic careers. But he is expected to accept the position within days.

The offer, if it is made, comes after CNN anchor Lou Dobbs was not offered the job as homeland security secretary.

Back from a week's absence, today's Political Junkie brings you:

-- Bill Richardson withdraws: Obama gets his first embarrassment. It may be more than just embarrassing for Bill.

-- Illinois Senate: Did Blagojevich really name a Senate successor to Obama while we were on vacation? What was he thinking?? The latest on Roland Burris' chances to get confirmed.

-- Colorado Senate: Gov. Ritter has his say, and it's Bennet for the Senate. Not every Colorado Democrat is thrilled.

-- Minnesota Senate: Schumer says it's time for Franken to be sworn in. Not so fast, says GOP. So much for the era of post-partisanship in Washington.

-- This Day In Campaign History: A new daily feature starts today.

-- Fan mail from those who missed the Junkie blog: I'm kidding. Nobody wrote.

-- 2008 Obits: Our special feature on those in the political world who left us last year.

Welcome to 2009. I hope everyone had a healthy, safe and wonderful New Year's!

It was a remarkable, unpredictable, topsy-turvy year, not the least of which is that, for the first time in history, the U.S. has elected a president born in Hawaii.

I will be pondering that one all week, along with writing up my New Year's resolutions and plotting new things to bring to this column (oops, "blog"). Any thoughts, comments, ideas, criticism or cash, send them my way at politicaljunkie@npr.org.

The Political Junkie returns on Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. Wishing everyone a safe, healthy and Happy New Year!

Ken Rudin

(or, as my Camp Lokanda friends on Facebook call me, "Kenny Rudin")

The Political Junkie, at 12:24 pm today:

It's cold outside, the economy stinks, and the Yankees still haven't signed Mark Teixeira.

The Associated Press, two minutes ago:

The New York Yankees have reeled in another prime free agent, reaching a preliminary agreement with first baseman Mark Teixeira for $180 million over eight years.

A person familiar with the negotiations disclosed the agreement, which is subject to a physical. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal was not yet final.

Coincidence? I think not.

-- The Obama transition team releases a report of its contacts with Gov. Rod Blagojevich regarding the vacant Illinois Senate seat;

-- New numbers are expected in the Minnesota recount between Sen. Norm Coleman (R) and challenger Al Franken (D). But don't expect a winner anytime soon;

-- List of 2010 gubernatorial elections;

and ...

most important ...

-- Pre-holiday ScuttleButton puzzle!

Here's what's coming up today in Political Junkie:

-- Mark Felt, the former FBI agent who became the "Deep Throat" source in the Watergate scandal, has died at age 95.

-- The Minnesota Supreme Court said that improperly rejected absentee ballots in the too-close-to-call Minnesota Senate race should be counted, which is good news for the camp of Democratic candidate Al Franken, not so for Republican incumbent Norm Coleman.

-- Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich holds a news conference at 3 p.m. ET.

-- New "It's All Politics" podcast is up, for better or worse.

-- Another ScuttleButton puzzle!

If you weren't so busy throwing shoes at Bernard Madoff you would have seen these postings yesterday in Political Junkie:

The prospect of Caroline Kennedy actively seeking Hillary Clinton's soon-to-be-vacated Senate seat.

The incident Sunday in Baghdad is not the first time a shoe has been used as a political metaphor.

The Electoral College, and a listing of electors in the past who failed to vote for the candidates to whom they were pledged.

Nobel Prize winners in the Cabinet.

When my weekly Political Junkie column resumed on the NPR Web site back in January of 2004, I stated that my goals for the column were the same as when it ran previously (1998-2001) on the Web site of the Washington Post. It was sharing a love of politics: the campaigns, the candidates, the voters, the process, the history, the trivia, the lore. All of it.

Just as I could never talk about baseball (another passion) without reaching back into the past, I'm the same about politics. That's true whether we're talking about the race for president, the battle for control of Congress, state and national conventions, redistricting, third parties, primaries and caucuses. The confluence of the present with the past. That has been what each Political Junkie has been since Jan. 14, 2004 — encompassing nearly 200 columns, thousands and thousands of questions from readers from all over the world, with each column featuring vintage campaign buttons illustrating the subject(s) of the week.

And something very important happened in the process. It was not a monologue. It was a conversation. I would hear constantly from fellow political junkies from all corners of the globe (are there really corners on a globe?) about what they were seeing, and hearing, and discussing with their friends, neighbors and co-workers. For every fun fact or piece of trivia I included in my column, there were countless tidbits of campaign treasures I received from you. The conversation that went on in this column expanded, first to an appearance each Wednesday on NPR's Talk of the Nation program, and then to a weekly podcast (It's All Politics) with NPR Senior Washington Editor Ron Elving. Both the podcast and the Political Junkie segment on TOTN continue. But now comes a change in this column.

It will no longer be just once a week. As anyone who has been reading this from the beginning knows, it has multiplied in size. The columns were running close to 3,000 words, a bit much to be read online in one sitting. And so, starting today, Political Junkie goes from a once-a-week column to a blog featuring multiple posts each day. The format will be pretty much the same, only spaced out in the course of a week.

In the wake of one of the most intense and exciting presidential campaigns in recent memory, I have found more and more people interested in politics than ever before. This is not just anecdotal; my e-mail "in box" has been filled with far more questions about far more subjects than ever before. I'm hoping the same excitement and interest will carry on into this post-election phase: the transition from Bush to Obama; the new Cabinet and the resulting special elections; the still-undecided contests in Georgia, Minnesota and elsewhere; and the next round of elections in 2009, 2010, and (gasp!) 2012. That's the argument for taking the column to a daily presentation.

I've never had a rooting interest in politics; I'm neither a Democrat nor a Republican. But for as long as I remember, I have had a deep passion about covering it, talking about it, writing about it. I hope the passion you experienced in this most amazing election season will continue as well. Please let me hear from you on this. Tell me what works and what doesn't. I know there are a lot of political blogs out there, and some readers might say the last thing we need is yet another one. They may be right. But unlike others, this is not one that preaches a point of view. It doesn't take sides, nor does it take positions. If it's yelling you want, there are plenty of avenues for you to find that; I'm not a yeller. No yeller journalism here. Above all, what I try to do is to make politics fun.

A tribute for the ages.

One more thing: a huge thank you to Evie Stone, who has been manning (or personning) the Vox Politics blog these past months. She has done a superb job, under trying conditions, and so she gets her very own "button puzzle" — a feature you may see appear now and then in this blog. Her name is spelled out in campaign buttons, something that I'm sure she will agree is far more rewarding than money.

Please see the FAQ if you have any lingering questions about PJ's transition to a blog. And don't ever hesitate to ask any question and offer any suggestion.

What is the 'Political Junkie' blog?

The Political Junkie column that you knew and loved each week on the NPR Web site is now a daily blog. The same features, insightful analysis and sophisticated jokes will remain.

It is written by NPR Political Editor Ken Rudin, a self-described political junkie who can remember the results of every congressional election since 1066 but somehow forgets to send his mother a birthday card each year. It is written for those political junkies out there who eat, breathe and sleep politics and campaigns — and their history, lore and trivia.

It will include postings and tidbits from NPR reporters and correspondents around the country.

It will also include questions from readers around the world, as was the case with the weekly column.

How can I send you questions for the blog?

Same as before: Send an e-mail to politicaljunkie@npr.org or submit your question through the Political Junkie contact form.

Can I send you private, not-for-publication e-mails?

Yes, to the same e-mail address or through the same contact form.

How can I contribute to the conversation on your blog?

There is a comment form at the bottom of each blog entry. Registered members of the NPR community can publicly comment on and discuss all posts. I'm hoping to have a civil conversation here. But I also understand that politics do generate some heated opinions. So, please read NPR's guidelines for commenting and Community FAQ.

Is there a way you can add me to your mailing list?

Absolutely. I had been sending out an e-mail notice each week when the new column was up on the NPR site. I don't think people are in the mood for a daily reminder. So, I will send out a weekly note summing up the hot topics discussed on the blog. Please send me your e-mail address if you want to receive my weekly update. Of course, you can take your name off the list whenever you like. In addition, you may subscribe to an RSS feed, something that I have no understanding about whatsoever.

Will a daily Political Junkie mean that the weekly PJ segment on NPR's Talk Of The Nation will end?

No, they continue each Wednesday, despite popular demand.

What about the weekly It's All Politics podcast?

That continues as well. The listener will be thrilled.

Can I link to your blog?

I would be honored.

Will you still be shamelessly asking for campaign buttons from your readers?

Yes. That goes without saying.

Who's going to be the Republican nominee for president in 2012?

Ask me in 2012.