Democratic News Chatter 4-16-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

Today, President Barack Obama is off to Mexico - He will meet with President Calderon and they will hold a joint press conference at 4:15 PM ET. Obama is then off to attend the fifth annual Summit of the Americas. Time.com has more here.

Prior to departing for Mexico, the president talked about the need to modernize the country's rail system.

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Housing starts down 10.8% in March - the Commerce Department report was not good news after they had reported an increase in housing starts in February. This is the second lowest level of starts for the month since the 1940's. Let's see how the markets react to this news today. You can read more here.

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Unemployment Claims drop - in a bit of good news, the Labor Department reported initial jobless claims were down 53,000 last week to 610,000. This is the fewest since January. So, the financial markets will have some conflicting reports out there. Bloomberg.com has more here.

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Obama forms committee to develop simpler tax code for Americans - he charged the committee will submitting it's recommendations by the end of this year. Meanwhile, Republicans across the country protested government spending by holding "tea party" demonstrations. MSNBC.com has more here.

Republicans have been reeling since losing the White House and both chambers of Congress in November. While recent polls show 60% of Americans agree with President Obama's economic policies, this was a good showing of support for Republicans. However, lack of clear leadership and policies of their own continue to hurt the Republican party.

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Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign debt finally paid - well sort of....when Ms. Clinton suspended her campaign in June 2008, the campaign was 25.2 million in debt. She was unable to pay herself back the 13.2 personal loan by the mandated deadline of the date of the democratic National convention, so the campaign had to forgive that debt. It appears the remaining 12 million has now been paid as the most recent financial report showed 2.6 million in the bank and 2.3 million in debt. Political strategists Paul Begala and James Carville who have long been known as Clintonistas have been helping raise money to retire her debt. CNN.com has more here.

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