Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

President Obama and family Off To Camp David - for the weekend. The presidential retreat is nestled in the Catoctin mountains near Thurmont, Maryland.

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Clinton Staff Say Rumors That Hillary is Heading to World Bank Untrue - Yesterday, speculation Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was going to become head of the World Bank was fueled by a report from Reuters. Clinton's staff immediately denied the story. Hillary Clinton has long stated she intended to serve only one term as Secretary of State. The Washington Post has more here.

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Romney To Skip Ames Straw Poll - in a different approach to the Iowa caucus than he used in the last election. Four years ago, he spent a lot of money, won the straw poll and then lost the Iowa caucuses. The Fix has more here.

The convoluted primary political system in both the Republican and Democratic Parties is once again highlighted. Real change is needed so a few early voting states do not determine the outcome of the election for all voters.

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Palin Emails To Capture Media Attention - some 24,000 email from her time as Governor of Alaska will be released today in paper form at a cost of $725 for whoever wants them. That would be the media, who is already plotting as to how to identify the emails, some of which have been heavily redacted. Another 24,000 were not released after lawyers argued privileged information. TPM.com has more here.

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Biden Budget Talks Continue - news reports indicate members of Congress who attended felt the pace of the talks have picked up as the August deadline for default of the nation's debt looms. Democrats proposed repeal of tax breaks for oil companies as one way to increase revenues. TheHill.com has more here.

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Wasserman Schultz Under Scrutiny as DNC Chair - the Florida Representative, who doubles as the DNC chair is getting mixed reviews in the early days since her selection by President Obama. Republican fact checkers are pointing out some of her misstatement pertaining to Republican Paul Ryan's budget proposal. Politico.com has more here.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz is used to media attention and will be able to handle the scrutiny over time. However, my concern is her ability to represent the overall party over her own ideological viewpoints during a period she will be running for reelection herself.

If was for these reasons, I believed a better choice for DNC chair, would have been Donna Brazile.

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Gates Criticizes NATO - the outgoing U.S. Secretary of Defense said NATO will ultimately fail if all nations do not fulfill military and financial promises. Robert Gates pointed out that only 5 of the 28 member countries are spending the required 2% of their GDP on defense. CNN.com has more here.

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