Daily Political Wire 5-8-2010

George Wenschhof

Last night was date night for the First Couple - the press pool followed and took notes as President Obama and the First Lady had dinner at Komi Restaurant, located in DuPont Circle. Time.com has a pool report here.

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Sunday morning "Talking Heads" lineup - national security appears to be the theme for the morning talk shows. The recent failed attempt by Faisal Shahzad to detonate an SUV with explosives in busy NY Times Square will be the focus. Attorney General Eric Holder and White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan will appear on several of the shows.

NBC - "Meet the Press" - Eric Holder

ABC "This Week" - Eric Holder and former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani

CBS "Face The Nation" - John Brennan, Senators Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). Dodd is chair and Shelby the ranking minority member of the senate banking committee. Their discussion will be on the status of the Wall Street Reform bill.

CNN "State of the Union" - John Brennan, Senators Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.)

Fox News Sunday - John Brennan, Senators Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Representative Peter King (R-NY). Expect discussion of the most recent ridiculous and hardly constitutional, legislation proposed by Lieberman pertaining to renouncing U.S. citizenship of someone accused of a terrorist act.

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Energy/Climate bill finally to be introduced in the Senate - the long awaited and very controversial legislation will be presented next week on May 12 by Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has withdrawn his support as he waits to see if the issue of immigration is taken up by the senate, which he feels should be delayed until next year. TheHill.com has more here.

The bill being introduced will still have concessions included for Republicans that encourage off-shore oil drilling. Expect this provision to receive intense scrutiny in light of the horrific gulf coast BP oil spill.

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Sestak tied with Specter will 10 Days to Go - Representative Joe Sestak did not want to heed the advise of Democratic leaders - instead he wanted to give the voters an opportunity to elect a real Democrat. Politico.com has more here.

Ads run by the Sestak campaign showing Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) as one who changed political parties just to keep his job seem to be working as he is now tied with Specter.

Expect President Obama and Governor Ed Rendell to come to the aid of Specter in the closing days and for this support to give an edge to Specter. I, for one am pulling for Sestak to win the Pennsylvania Democratic primary on May 18.

Stay tuned...

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RNC chair Michael Steele Stays - fires Finance Directors - expenditures at a bondage themed nightclub, a fund raising letter sent that looked like the U.S. Census were some of the reasons used in the firing of finance director Rob Bickhart and deputy finance director Debby LeHardy. CNN.com has more here.

The huge expenditures racked up by Michael Steele with his use of private jets, limos and stays at posh resorts must be acceptable by the Republican Party, as he remains in his job.

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