Hotline After Dark -- Mark Your Calendars
Lots of '08ers were on TV last night:
Chris Dodd was in the "Situation Room" to discuss the Spanish language debate:
On his Spanish language skills: "I was in the Peace Corps in Latin America, in the Dominican Republic. And I speak it fairly well. I'd be careful about saying total fluency, but I'm grateful to the people in Puerto Rico and in the Dominican Republic that helped me learn that language. In fact, I wish we had more people in the country that spoke second languages. We talk about English being the national language, I agree with that certainly, but I think we ought to be expressing more interest in people becoming conversant in other languages as well, in the kind of world we're living in."
Asked if that's why others are not participating: "No, I don't know if that's the reason or not, but I would hope. And again, it's going to be simultaneous translation. And the community respects the fact that not everybody is going to speak their language, or speak it as fluently as they do. So I think it's more a question of being there to talk about the issues that are on their minds, and I think that we ought to welcome that and not shy away from it. I think it's a wonderful idea and I plan on being there."
On his criticism of Obama's Pakistan speech: "The point is, that words matter in presidential elections and from presidents. And when you announce unilaterally on your own that what you're going to do in a hypothetical situation here, you get the kind of reaction. There were demonstrations in Pakistan over a hypothetical question here with a presidential candidate making statements about it. That's dangerous. That shows a lack of nuance and understanding of the subtleties in conducting foreign policy" (CNN, 8/8).
AMESING HIGH
Mike Huckabee played "Hardball" last night:
Asked about healthcare: "One thing we have got to do is to change this post-World War II health care system which is based on tying your health care to your employer. That may have been fine when my dad and people of his generation worked for the same people for 30 years. People do not do that. We need plans that are tied to the individual, not to their workplace. I need to own my own health care. I need to be able to get the best doctors that I can. And that is not going to happen if I have got somebody up the company corporate ladder who is looking after the company's interests, not mine."
On the Ames straw poll: "It is fair. It shows organizational strength and the capacity to motivate your voters to get them to Ames. You know, this isn't an election where they are already going to go to the polls and you are just trying to get them to vote for you while they are there, you really have to get people motivated to drive three-and-half or four hours from distant corner of Iowa" (MSNBC, 8/8).
NO DEBATE ABOUT IT
Joe Biden was on "Countdown" last night:
On the campaign: "Not many people watch the debates. That's not a reflection on you or MSNBC or even on us. Most people are trying to figure out how to pay the college tuition for their kid going back it school in September. They're not going to focus. These polls don't mean anything now. But I think they begin to paint a picture of the nature of who each of us are" (MSNBC, 8/8).
CALENDAR CONFUSION
FNC's Carl Cameron gives a nice summary of the current state of the WH primary calendar situation: "Florida will hold its first primary on January 29th. Tomorrow, South Carolina, in order, by its own state law, to protect its first in the south primary, will announce that they will hold there primary January 19th. By New Hampshire law, it has to go a week before that or more. They are not going to have their primary on January 12th. It is almost certainly going to be on a Tuesday, which would be January 8th. Well, Iowa has a law that says it has to go eight days before New Hampshire. The problem is that that is New Year's Eve. It is unlikely Iowans will want to caucus on New Year's Eve. So they're faced with a problem, either jump all the way ahead into December of this year, or potentially go on January 7th, the day before New Hampshire. That would be an extraordinary and unprecedented event, back to back first in the nation contests, Iowa Monday, New Hampshire Tuesday. Both of these states have laws that require them to go first. In order for Iowa to stay in this calendar year it would have to violate its own laws because it has to go eight days ahead of New Hampshire. It is creating tremendous chaos for the candidates and the campaigns and Iowa caucus organizers. No one knows exactly what is likely to happen" ("Special Report," 8/8). [EMILY GOODIN]