Hotline After Dark -- O'Reilly v. Kerry, Postponed

The Abu Musab al-Zarqawi news broke early this a.m. so there was nothing about it on the shows last night. However, it was all over the cable/broadcast morning shows this morning. Pres. Bush is scheduled to make a statement at 7:30 a.m. The military is expected to brief at 8 a.m. Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) appeared on the "Today" show this a.m. Biden: "It's great, good news. There's a special place in hell reserved for Zarqawi" (NBC, 6/8).

ABOUT LAST NIGHT

"Hardball" was all about Super Tuesday fallout.

MSNBC's Shuster: "The bottom line from the elections this week is that while Democrats are making headway and charging Republicans with corruption, a safe seat is still a safe seat, even though the margin has narrowed."

RNC Chair Ken Mehlman: "The Democrats have claimed from the beginning that the environment would be so bad that they would win in seats Republicans had won before. This seat was a perfect storm. ... What happened? The Republican won."

And Biden was on to talk about the situation in Iraq and Iran. He was also asked about CT SEN. Biden: "I think people who don't like the war are probably voting against Senator Lieberman. ... But there's a different circumstance. ... He's backed the president because the president has 130,000 troops there. ... Joe's made the judgment that there's no alternative, but I believe if Joe had been president, I don't believe Joe would have taken us into war the way the president did" (MSNBC, 6/7).

"Special Report" also had post-Tuesday analysis. FNC's Cameron, on CA GOV: "The Democratic primary was so nasty that the predicted low turnout was actually worse than expected, an abysmal 28 percent."

Washington Examiner's Sammon, on CA 50: "This election showed the culture of corruption was not the issue. The issue was immigration and this kills what little hope there was for Bush to pass his guest worker program through the House. ... Every House person looking for re-election is looking at the race and saying, that settles it I'm not going there" (6/7).

CNN's J. King: "Most House conservatives that view the president's plan as amnesty were in no mood to compromise to begin with, but they are immediately taking from Bilbray's victory a sign that they should not compromise at all" ("Lou Dobbs Tonight," 6/7).

Rep. Peter King (R-NY): "It was clear today among Republican House members that we believe Brian Bilbray won that election because of the strong stand he took against any type of amnesty or legalization, by his strong, unequivocal opposition to the Senate bill" ("Scarborough Country," MSNBC, 6/7).

And Rep.-elect Brian Bilbray (R-CA) was on "Lou Dobbs Tonight": "The greatest scandal was not about Cunningham but actually about 11 million to 12 million illegal aliens in this country" (CNN, 6/7).

REMEMBER THAT WIRE TAPPING PROGRAM?

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) was in the "Situation Room" to discuss his letter to VP Cheney: "I'm not accusing anybody of anything. And I'm not saying the vice president acted in bad faith. What I am saying is that you have a domestic surveillance program, wiretapping, which is in flat violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. ... There has to be judicial review. And, for weeks now, really months, I have been trying to get an answer from the administration on my legislation. ... And the vice president did contact Republican members of the committee yesterday, didn't call me up, which was surprising, frankly."

More Specter: "This is Washington, D.C. I don't care whom the vice president talks to. What I want him to do is to submit the program, so we can have oversight, and to have the tradition of a warrant. This is not personal" (CNN, 6/7).

RAINING ON HIS PARADE

And FNC's Bill O'Reilly noted at the end of his show last night: "I was supposed to be in D.C. this evening. We had an interview set up with John Kerry. But it rained here in New York, and when it rains in New York, planes get backed up and a nightmare unfolds. So I couldn't get to Washington in time to do my radio program. ... And we appreciate Senator Kerry. He's been very good about this. And we'll catch up with him later on in the month" ("O'Reilly Factor," 6/7).