Daily Democratic Wire 10-5-2009

George Wenschhof

This morning, President Barack Obama will hold a health care press conference in the White House rose garden - he will be joined by Doctors from around the country. Later in the day, he will meet with his senior advisers and have a private discussion with Defense Secretary Robert Gates. You can read more here.

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Senate Majority Leader supports a Public Option in health care reform legislation - as the vote in the Senate approaches, Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says he supports a public option. After the Finance Committee votes on the Baucus bill this week, Reid will merge that bill with the bill from the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and present to the full Senate for a vote. TheHill.com has more here.

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UN set to inspect Iran nuclear facility on October 25 - the International Atomic Energy Agency will be given access to the previously secret underground facility near Qom, Iran. Additional talks with Iran, the United States, France, Britain, China, Russia and Germany will be held later in the month. Time.com has more here.

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Afghanistan vote recount begins as U.S. considers policy - a UN commission ruled a 10% recount of the ballots from the more hotly contested polling stations were voter fraud allegedly transpired. President Hamid Karzai had received 54.6% of the vote prior to the recount. Official results will be announced by Afghanistan election officials by the end of next week. The credibility of the election weighs heavily as the U.S. considers future strategy and involvement in Afghanistan. You can read more here.

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Banks even worse than what was originally reported when the Bailout bill was passed - not a huge surprise in the report generated by Neil Barofsky, the bailout special prosecutor inspector general. The report on the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) shows some of the banks who received early infusions of cash from the program were far from healthy. CNN.com has more here.

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DNC sends more money to Virginia Governor race - another one million was contributed to the previous 5 million the Democratic National Committee had contributed to the Creigh Deeds campaign. The close race has the attention of the republican National committee as well as they have contributed 7 million to the Bob McDonnell campaign. Republican McDonnell continues to have a slim lead in the polls in spite of revelations surrounding an old college thesis on his conservative views on women's rights. Politico.com has more here.

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