A special news digest from the staff of the Hotline.
A weekend from .... for the GOP? Dems nervous about MT as poll shows dead heat .... Turnout hints .... Bill Clinton's only TV ad?
WHAT'S BREWING
This may be the closing weekend from hell for the White House. First, the mainstream media is savoring the Ted Haggard controversy; it led network newscasts last night.
Then, those brave neo-cons who pined for a war with Saddam Hussein essentially regurgitate all over the entire Bush national security team in Vanity Fair. Vice President Cheney, in an interview with George Stephanopoulos yesterday, looked shell-shocked.
Then the Los Alamos security breach.
Then, of course, the news that the four independent and influential newspapers that serve the branches of the military will jointly call on Monday for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld in an editorial entitled "Time For Rumsfeld To Go."
Cheney, on ABC, said it was "full speed ahead" with the admin's Iraq policy.
"It may not be popular with the public — it doesn't matter in the sense that we have to continue the mission and do what we think is right. And that's exactly what we're doing," Cheney said. "We're not running for office. We're doing what we think is right."
So: the context for tomorrow's expected Saddam Hussein verdict will be all of the above.
On NBC this morning, Tim Russert said that strategists in both parties think there’s a 50/50 chance that Democrats retake the Senate.
On 11/2, the RNC recorded more than 1 million voter contacts, bringing their total for the year to more than 23 million. (Hotline)
We hear the NRCC is flying in a plane load of volunteers to help Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) survive.
Meanwhile, Montana's tightness concerns Democrats. Over the past two days, Gov. Brian Schweitzer has convened conference calls with several groups of Democrats, including a handful of prominent liberal bloggers. His message is that Jon Tester's (D) margin over Conrad Burns (R) has shrunk to about five points in internal Democratic tracking, and that if Tester isn't ahead of Burns by three points on election day, the state's natural conservative swing could shove Tester off the precipice of victory. Democratic donors have also been asked to contribute. Democrats worry about the GOP's formidable 72 Hour Program in the state, long touted as one of the country's most proficient. Republicans say they've averaging about 17,000 telephone calls and in-person contacts with voters. (Hotline)
A new Mason-Dixon poll shows Republicans are coming home for Burns. The poll has the two tied at 47%. Will the under-50% incumbent-rule kick-in or has Burns become the challenger?
The Washington Post recapitulates the "Save The Senate" mantra.
Ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani dispensed with the happy talk at his Victory NH forum yesterday. He talked about the importance of compromise. "We have to figure out how to work together. Maybe it's a bad time to be talking about that, a few days before an election ... but the day after it's over, we've got to return to the spirit of 'We're all Americans." His post-forum rally attracted 25 people.
Good news for Bill Frist. Apparently he'll be living a white house sooner than he thinks.
TURNOUT WATCH: Arizona Republic reports of very crowded early voting lines yesterday.
SENATE
FL: Katherine Harris wants to convert the Jews. To vote Republican, apparently.
MO: Bush stumps for Talent; McCaskill jokes Talent never wanted his help.
MD: According to a video, 20-year-Rep. Ben Cardin (D) said the Patriot Act “predates” his election to Congress (Steele release). Cardin’s camp said he simply misspoke. MD Dems are focusing on the African American vote, and got an assist Friday from Sen. Barack Obama.
NJ: Bill Bradley comes out for Bob Menendez which only makes us wonder why it took so long for the Menendez folks to trot him out. On the NJ integrity scale, isn't Bradley the equal of Tom Kean Sr.?
PA: Who's afraid of Nancy Pelosi? Not Bob Casey, Jr., who'll campaign with the maybe-next-Speaker today.
TN: Harold Ford Jr and Bob Corker spent much of Friday on the other's turf, Ford in the fast-growing Nashville exurb of Williamson Co and Corker in Ford's Memphis. Both accused the other of running a dirty campaign. Ford's picked up $1.6M in contributions since Corker put in $2M of his own money earlier this week as new records show Corker ran more ads than any other SEN candidate in the country between 8/1-10/15.
VA: In SE Virginia, George Allen and Jim Webb are scrambling to find every black voter they can. Allen was boosted by the endorsement of several prominent African American clergymen. The Harrisonburg News Daily Record endorses Allen.
HOUSE
FL 16: There is a rural heartland in Florida, and it happens to be the potential source of Joe Negron's salvation.
IL 06: You think the AP is trying to tell us something? "CHICAGO (AP) - Rejecting a Democratic veteran who lost her legs in Iraq, the Veterans of Foreign Wars' political action committee endorsed a Republican congressional candidate with no military experience."
KY: KY: Wes Clark makes three stops in KY today in support of Mike Weaver and John Yarmuth, the Dems challenging Rep.'s Ron Lewis and Anne Northup. Weaver and Lewis both released their own polling this week, showing a very different picture of the race.
NH: A dead heat in a new poll. Automated phone calls to folks on the do not call lists? The GOP says it's legal. 11/5: Romney's stumping for Bass, Lynch for Porter.
NC 11: Patience is wearing thin for everyone apparently. Dem challenger Heath Shuler walked out of a radio debate with Rep. Charlie Taylor (R) after the GOP incumbent refused to appear in studio with the Dem.
NY 20: Rep. John Sweeney's (R) bad last week just get worse. Now, a local newspaper, the Glen Falls Post-Star, has decided to rescind its endorsement.
OH 18: Furious . Rep. Bob Ney’s “decision to resign on the eve of the election infuriated Ohio Republicans who have urged him for months to step down. Ney, R-Heath, who pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges last month, was facing certain expulsion when the House returned next week.”
GOVERNORS
FL: The Sentinel says Democratic candidates are gaining momentum. The Charlie Crist gay story gets MSM coverage courtesy of Jeb Bush's rebuke of a reporter. Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Jim Davis will join ex-Pres. Clinton and other Dem candidates in Miami today. (Orlando Sentinel )
IA: Pres Bush drew over 3K into a high school gym in GOP-heavy Western IA to rally support for Rep. Jim Nussle's GOV bid.
ID: Folks in Idaho say this is “the busiest election they've seen in 15, 20 years or so.” Jerry Brady and Butch Otter both are launching ads with their wives (Idaho Statesman).
MD: The Washington Post reports that Bill Clinton has taped a TV ad for Martin O'Malley. Is this the only TV ad Clinton has done for a candidate?
MI: GOP chair Saul Anuzis is revving up the troops: "Over 100,000 contacts Friday!!! That’s right folks, Michigan Republicans have kicked in to full swing as we get fired up and smell blood. For weeks we averaged around 25,000 contacts a day, then last week started breaking 50,000 a day and gaining. Yesterday we make over 100,000 voter contacts knocking on doors and phoning voters statewide!" An EPIC-MRA poll has Granholm up by 9.
MN GOV candidate/AG Mike Hatch (D) insists he didn't call a male reporter a "whore." But then again, maybe he did.
NV: Early voting has ended in NV. More than 180K votes have been cast in Dem-leaning Clark Co.; GOP-leaning Washoe Co. set a record broke their ’04 record with at least 40K votes cast (AP) NV Dems filed a motion to unseal court records which “reportedly detail” how Rep. Jim Gibbons ® received as much as $400K in gifts from the software exec who got classified government contracts. This is in connection with the Wall Street Journal report earlier this week, which linked the contract to contributions and mentioned a vacation cruise that Gibbons had not reported to the Ethics Cmte. (Las Vegas Review-Journal). Dina Titus (D) held a presser Friday to defend herself from what she said was Gibbons attempt to tie her to "scandals and personal problems entirely of his own making" (Las Vegas Review-Journal).
RI: It appears the wave isn't going to sweep out EVERY Republican in New England. RI Gov. Don Carcieri (R) has hit 50% in a new poll matching him against LG Charles Fogarty (D).
TX: Gov. Rick Perry tried linking Chris Bell to John Kerry. Bells camp preferred to focus on an endorsement from Wes Clark (Houston Chronicle)
WI: Mark Green is going down swinging with ads hitting Gov. Jim Doyle on casinos. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) Doyle got a boost from Bill Clinton Friday.
POTPOURRI
Rep. Joe Barton is "mulling" a senior House leadership post, per Roll Call. But Barton, in a statement he'll issue today, pledges his support to Speaker Hastert. "If a position in the Republican leadership of the House opens, I'm interested. That said, the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is literally the best job in Washington, and I am in no hurry to either leave it or have it leave me."
Dust off those Rolodexes K Street types... Seattle Times ponders what a power shift means for them.
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The "independent" newspapers calling for Rumsfield's resignation all belong to Gannett, which has one of the more Democrat leaning editorial boards around.
Clinton has also taped a tv ad for Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Mike Hatch.
Saddam Hussein was an employee of the Bush/Reagan administration. He couldn't have done anything without the help of Cheney and Rumsfeld. They should be hung right next to him in a public display. We could leave them all hanging for a couple of days for effect.