Daily Political Wire 3-27-2010

George Wenschhof

President Obama at Camp David for the weekend - the presidential retreat located in the Catoctin mountains is about 20 miles north of where I live and only an hour by car to Washington. Of course, the president uses helicopters.

Next week will be busy for the President. On Tuesday, he will sign the health care reconciliation bill at Northern Community College. This will also give him the opportunity to spell out the little know education components in the bill. On Thursday. he is off to Portland, Maine and Friday, he will be in Charlotte, North Carolina as he continues to hit the road to tout the benefits of health care reform.

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Sunday morning "Talking Heads" Lineup will have plenty to talk about - headlining the discussion will be the recently passed and signed into law health care bill. How this will affect the Democratic and Republican parties in the mid term elections this Fall is surely to be talked about as well as the recent uptick in threats and use of inciting language in the debate.

However, Immigration will take center stage on NBC "Meet the Press" as David Gregory hosts Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). They both recently met with President Obama and have co-sponsored an Immigration bill.

ABC "This Week" will have White House senior adviser Valarie Jarrett, along with Governors Ed rendell (D-Pa.) and Haley Barbour (R-Miss.).

CBS "Face The Nation" guests will include DNC chair Tim Kaine, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.).

CNN "State of The Union" has White House adviser David Axelrod along with Senators Barbara Milkuski (D-Md.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).

It is unfortunate it does not appear guests have been invited to discuss the significant agreement in nuclear arms reductions between Russia and the U.S. - President Obama is scheduled to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Prague on April 8 to sign the treaty. Below, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates speak of the importance of this treaty.



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Iraq election fails to determine governing party - with all the interest on health care reform at home, few are following the important results to the Iraq election held over three weeks ago. Ayad Allawi and his secular political party won 91 seats and current Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Malicki won 89 seats. The Kurds won 43 seats and Shiites won 70 seats. The NY Times has more here.

The Iraq parliament has 325 seats, so 163 are needed for a majority. Allawi is still considered a puppet of the U.S., so his work is cut out for him to gain support from the Kurds or Shiites to reach the 163 seat threshold. Meanwhile, Prime Minister al-Malicki wants a recount.

It is speculated it could take months for a government to take shape in Iraq and the possibility for violence is a major concern. How this works out over the next several months will surely impact the planned withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. Stay Tuned...

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