Daily Political Wire 11-23-2010

George Wenschhof

North and South Korea exchange Artillery fire - the latest in long standing differences between the countries. South Korea had been test firing artillery near the North Korea border when North Korea responded with shots to a island of South Korea, killing several soldiers. The NY Times has more here.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs issued a statement calling on North Korea to halt it's belligerent action and to honor the 1953 armistice agreement. The Washington Post has more here.

Another test for the Obama administration.

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Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces Impeachment - an interesting development as the parliament indicated they wished to impeach but have refrained from doing so due to the wishes of Supreme Leader Allatollah Ali Khamenei. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

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Kathleen Kennedy Townsend to chair "American Bridge" - a liberal counterpart to conservative groups such as "American Crossroads". David Brock, a Democratic political operative, has set up the group and former Maryland Lt. Governor Townsend has agreed to chair the committee. The committee will support Democratic candidates in the 2012 election and already has 4 million in pledges, including one million from George Soros. You can read more here.

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Four House Races still Undecided - Republicans added another win yesterday when Democrat Representative Solomon Ortiz conceded to Blake Farenthold in Texas. Two races in New York and two in California remain to be decided. Democrats lead in 3 of the remaining races. Republicans have now picked up a total of 62 seats. TheHill.com has more here.

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Miller Sues to Halt Murkowski Senate Victory - Joe Miller backed by Sarah Palin and a tea party favorite, has filed another lawsuit challenging the write in victory of Senator Lisa Murkowski. At issue, the legal definition of the state statute which spells out what is acceptable for a write-in. His argument will be the name has to be spelled correctly and intent is not good enough. Stay tuned... Reuters.com has more here.

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Axelrod to Leave White House after "State of The Union" - the senior adviser to President Obama will be replace by David Plouffe. Plouffe is expected to arrive soon and work for the next month or more with David Axelrod before he leaves. Axelrod will essentially be changing roles with Plouffe, who was the Obama campaign manager in 2008. Politico.com has more here.

One of the problems with the Obama administration is there has been no good spokesperson after the president. Axelrod is one of a long list; a smart individual, but poor appearance and delivery of positions on issues. Don't look to see Plouffe be the answer.

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Jurors Deliberating in Tad DeLay Money Laundering Case - a long time coming in the case involving the former Republican House Majority Leader. CNN.com has more here.

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Sunday Morning "Talking Heads" Guests 4-26-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

President Barack Obama's first 100 days in office will likely be examined by the pundits Sunday morning as day 100 is the following Wednesday. It will tough on them to wait until the following Sunday!

As to the last week, talk of a "torture probe" intensified after the release by the CIA of memos which provided more detail surrounding the use of "harsh" Interrogation techniques during the former George W. Bush administration.

It now appears Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice approved the use of waterboarding on detainees as early as 2002 contingent on Justice Department legal review. Information detailing how some prisoners were waterboarded over 100 times in a single month has lead many to wonder how any reasonable person could conclude information obtained under these circumstances could be credible.

This has put President Obama in an awkward position as he has wanted to focus on moving forward and not getting caught up in a lengthy review and investigation of individuals from the Bush administration. However, Attorney General Eric Holder realizes he must follow up on information presented to him.

With thousands of prisoner abuse photos being released as a result of a ACLU lawsuit, expect the cry for further investigation to ratchet up even more. House Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calf.) is in favor of further investigation and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is following the lead of the president.

The increased violence in Iraq as a result of suicide bombers will receive discussion along with the Islamic extremists in Pakistan posing a threat to the government in Pakistan. In the span of one day at the end of the week, 140 were killed and 240 wounded in Iraq as a result of suicide bombers. Over in nuclear armed Pakistan, the Taliban had control of the Buner district, only 60 miles from the capitol city of Islamabad.

On the domestic side, President Obama called for revisions of unreasonable credit card rates and fees to consumers. President Obama also called for Universities across the country to reduce their tuition fees as a College education is becoming unaffordable.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner began the review of the government stress tests with the largest 19 banks in the country at the end of the week so expect some of these reports to have leaked by Sunday morning. They are scheduled to be released to the public at the beginning of next week.

In the NY district 20 special election, Republican Jim Tedisco conceded on Friday. The unofficial lead by winner Democrat Scott Murphy was 399 votes. This effectively put a damper on any early jubilation by Republican leaders who had hope for a victory in a district with a majority of Republican registered voters.

Expect all of the above and more to be discussed this Sunday morning. As always, remember to check your locals listings for time and channel. The scheduled guests are as follows:

NBC "Meet The Press" - Dick Gregory will have Jordan King Abdullah II, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Doris Goodwin, and Jon Meachum.

ABC "This Week" - George Stephanopoulos will interview Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The roundtable discussion will include Donna Brazile, George Will, David Sanger, Chrystia Freeland, and Matthew Dowd.

CBS "Face The Nation" - Bob Schieffer will interview Senators John McCain (R-Az.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

Fox News Sunday - Chris Wallace will interview Lawrence Summers Director White House Economic Council. He will also have as guests, Senators Kit Bond (R-Mo.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.).

CNN "State of The Union" - John King will interview Valerie Jarrett, Senior White House Adviser. Also appearing will be Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calf.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

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Democratic Chatter 4-8-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

President Barack Obama arrived home at 3:00 AM ET this morning - he arrived a little later than originally planned due to his surprise visit to Iraq. he was greet enthusiastically, when in a speech delivered to the troops, he spoke of the withdraw timetable from Iraq and the time for the Iraq government to take over security of their country. Reuters.com has more on the Iraq visit here.

The whirlwind eight day European trip is now over and all early reports have been that it was a tremendous success. Today, the president has no planned events.

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Fidel Castro meets with Congressional Black Caucus members in Havana yesterday - the ailing Cuban leader has not been seen publicly for some time. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), Barbara Lee (D-Calf.), and Laura Richardson (D-calf.) meet with Castro and will be submitting their report to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi upon their return to the States. They indicated Castro wanted to know how Cuba could help President Obama and the u.S. better relations between the two countries. You can read more here.

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Iranian Leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad welcomes talks with the U.S. and President Obama - In a speech broadcast on state television, he stated Iran welcomed "honest" dialogue with the U.S. Iran has not had diplomatic relations with the U.S. since former president George W. Bush labeled them a terrorist nation and a member of the "axis of evil". You can read more here.

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Franken leads grows by 87 in Minnesota Senate race - good grief! five months later and we are still waiting for a Senator to be certified and seated from Minnesota. As expected, Democrat Al Franken's lead grew to 312 votes from 225 over Republican Norm Coleman after 351 absentee ballots ordered by the court were counted yesterday. The final court ruling is expected by the end of this week on various other issues surrounding the election. The Coleman campaign is expected to appeal the decision to the state supreme court. The Chicago Star Tribune has more here.

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7000 absentee ballots count begins today in NY Special Election - Republican Jim Tedisco has a slim lead of 17 votes over Democrat Scott Murphy. This is the election to replace Kirsten Hillibrand (D) in the 20th district after she was named to replace the vacancy Hillary Clinton U.S. Senate seat. Politico.com has more here.

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As expected, Democrat Mike Quigley easily wins special election in Illinois - the former Cook County Commissioner easily beat Republican Rosanna Pulido with 70% of the vote with 94% of the precincts reporting. Quigley will replace Rahm Emanuel in Congress. Emanuel vacated the position when he became White House Chief of Staff. You can read more here.

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Congressional Ethics office begins preliminary inquiry into actions of Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) - information is being sought pertaining to the filling of the vacant U.S. Senate seat in Illinois by former Governor Rod Blagojevich. TheHill.com has more here.

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