Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

al-Zawahiri New Leader of al-Qaeda - in an announcement posted on a militant website, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was named as the replacement for Osama bin-Laden. In a widely anticipated move, the second in command is now the leader of the movement. BBC News has more here.

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Obama Administration Pushes Back on Libya - the White House sent a detailed 32 page report to Congress addressing their expressed concerns about u.S. military action in Libya. The White House, is claiming, in part, that sense the U.S. involvement is limited with no "boots on the ground", it does not fall under the War Powers Act and consequently does not require congressional approval. The Washington Post has more here.

Nice try by the White House, but their argument is weak and goes against the intent of the War Powers Act, which was passed to prohibit a sitting president from involving the U.S. in a lengthy military action without debate and passage by Congress.

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Republicans Head to The Big Easy - the annual Republican Leadership Conference begins today in New Orleans. Expect a lot of Obama bashing. Chris Cillizza has his take on what to expect here.

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House Democrats Say Republicans Censoring Their Mail - a bit of a stretch, but the claim is being made by some Democratic Representatives, who say they are not able to refer to rep. Paul Ryan's Medicare plan as a private voucher proposal. Mailings by Congressmen are reviewed by a bi-partisan Franking Commission. To date, the mailings in questions have been handled by staff and not voted on by the full commission. TheHill.com has more here. Stay tuned..

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Giffords Released from Hospital - five months after being shot in the head, the Congresswoman has been released from a rehabilitation facility and is now at home with her husband. She will continue to receive out patient rehabilitation treatment. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) verbal and cognitive skills continue to improve, but a decision on whether to run for reelection is a long way off. the deadline for candidates to file is May of next year. CNN.com has more here.

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Say Bye Bye Weiner - in the latest of the on-going Capitol sexcapades, a porn actress says Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY) asked her to lie. The twitter/email story just continues to get weirder. Speculation is swirling the Congressman will announce his resignation as early as today. Reuters.com has more here.

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New Rules on Derivatives Trading Slow in Coming - ever since the passage of the Dodd-Frank bill last year aimed at making changes to the finance industry, the financial industry lobby has worked hard to keep rules from coming into effect. The Security and Exchange Commission now says the changes scheduled to go into effect July 1, will not have to be met as the rules have not been written. So much for finance reform. The NY Times has more here.

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