Democratic News Chatter 4-9-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

President Barack Obama starts off busy day with economic roundtable discussion - they will be discussing low interest rates and the roundtable discussion meeting in the Roosevelt room will include some homeowners who have recently refinanced their mortgages.

At 11:45 PM ET, the President joined by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Eric Shinseki will present a plan to improve the health care of veterans. Reuters.com has more here.

Later, Obama will meet with Treasury Secretary Robert Gates, Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke and FDIC Chair Sheila Bair. They will be reviewing an update on the "stress test" of the 19 largest banks in the country. The reports are due the end of this month and will help measure the impact of recent government action and determine the need for addition moves by the government. Bloomberg.com has more here.

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Wells Fargo Bank revenue rises 16% in first quarter - in a report out today, a three billion profit was realized in the first three months of this year. J.P. Morgan Chase and Co., Citigroup and Bank of America will all be reporting their first quarter earnings within the next two weeks. CNN.com has more here.

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Immigration reform on the table for the President - many pundits felt with the economy being the number one issue, any discussion on immigration reform would be put off by the White House. Fortunately, they were wrong as the president intends to speak publicly on this contentious issue in May, followed by workshop over the summer. There is hope legislation could be introduced in the Fall of this year. Included in the discussion will be a path to citizenship. The NY Times has more here.

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Karl Rove op-ed attacks Obama - thank goodness the former White House Senior adviser to George W. Bush is no longer there. After eight years of fear mongering and attacks on individuals patriotism, Rove now writes op-eds for the Wall Street Journal. You can read his latest piece here.

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Absentee ballots being counted today in NY District 20 race - Republican Jim Tedisco holds a 17 vote lead over Democrat Scott Murphy. The Republican absentee ballots received are 3,111 and the Democratic absentee ballots number 2394. This would indicate an advantage to Tedisco. This district has a majority of Republican registered voters, but Obama won the district with 51% and Kirsten Hillibrand, a moderate Democrat had previously held the Congressional seat before being chosen to fill the vacant Hillary Clinton U.S. Senate seat. The absentee count can take some time as both campaigns can challenge ballots. You can read more here.

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