Democratic Chatter 1-27-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

President Barack Obama reaches out to Muslims in interview - I watched on CNN part of the interview conducted by Hisham Melhem broadcast on Al-Arabiya. This was a significant interview where the president was reaching out in friendship to the many moderate Muslims. he pointed out the actions of radical Muslim factions resulting in the tearing down of communities as opposed to the building of communities. George Mitchell, the recently appointed Middle East envoy is on his way to the region to begin negotiations. McClatchydc.com has more and some video of the Obama interview here.

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President Barack Obama will meet with Republican Congressmen today - he is expected to continue to push his Economic Stimulus bill. Republicans and some democrats are questioning the size of his bill and how effective it will be. Meanwhile, Caterpiller, Sprint and others announced large numbers of layoffs. Reuters.com has more here

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Vice President Joe Biden to swear in Kristen Gillibrand as NY Senator today.- the ceremonies are expected to take place at 12:30 PM ET in the U.S. Capitol. Earlier today, the Vice president had breakfast with the new Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Time.com has more here.

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Timothy Geithner confirmed as Treasury Secretary - this was expected in spite of the revelations Mr. Geithner had not paid social security taxes for several years. Geithner is expected to spell out new restrictions on the 700 Billion bailout program today after criticism of no accountability for the first 350 Billion that has been spent. Read more here. William Dudley is reported to be the person to replace Geithner as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Bloomberg.com has more here.

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McAuliffe's race for Governor of Virginia not a given - for many Democrats, he was referred to as "McAwful" when he served as chair of the Democratic National Committee. Now, he is bringing his experience of raising millions to the Virginia Governor race. RealClearPolitics has a good read here. Expect Brian Moran, a former Democrat state delegate to battle for the Democratic nomination. He is already calling on candidates to refuse to accept out of state contributions, clearly a shot at McAuliffe. In addition, Moran has just added Joe Trippi as his media director. Read more here. Joe Trippi gained notoriety when he managed the Howard Dean campaign for President in 2004.

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