Sunday Morning "Talking Heads" Cheat Sheet

George Wenschhof

A grab bag Sunday, with topics likely to include filibuster reform in the Senate, Texas abortion laws, immigration reform, Syria and the failed peace process between Israel and Palestine. 

NBC "Meet The Press" will have Senate leaders Harry Reid (D-Nev. and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as guests and expect Reid to discuss the failure of Republicans to confirm President Obama nominees, causing him to consider the "nuclear" option for filibuster reform.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will appear on CBS "Face The Nation" and will likely discuss the latest efforts by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to restart the Israel-Palestine peace talks.

On ABC "This Week", George Stephanopoulos goes one-on-one with former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer on his decision to re-enter political life as he joins the race for New York City comptroller.

Also, the pending verdict in the George Zimmerman trial will be discussed with NAACP President Ben Jealous on CNN "State of The Union".

The scheduled guests follow below.

NBC "Meet The Press" - Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY.), Rep. Tom Cotton (R-AZ)

Roundtable with Rich Lowry; Former Democratic Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson; President of the Center for American Progress Neera Tanden; and Republican Strategist as well as former senior strategist to the McCain-Palin campaign Steve Schmidt.

CBS "Face The Nation" - Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu, Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), Peter King (R-NY), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and Sen. Dick Durbin

Roundtable with The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan, TIME Magazine's Bobby Ghosh, The New York Times' David Sanger, POLITICO's John Harris and CBS News' State Department Correspondent Margaret Brennan.

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ABC "This Week - Eliot Spitzer, Sens. Orin Hatch (R-Utah), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Reps. Karen Bass (D-Calf.) and Tom Cole (R-Okla.)

Roundtable with Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul Gigot; Politico senior political reporter Maggie Haberman; New York Times Magazine chief national correspondent Mark Leibovich, author of the new book “This Town”; and television and radio host Tavis Smiley.

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CNN "State of The Union" - Texas Governor Rick Perry and Illinois governor Pat Quinn (D), Reps. Raul Grijalva  (D-Ariz.), Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.), and NAACP President Ben Jealous

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Fox News Sunday - Reps. Peter King (R-NY), Steve Israel (D-NY) and Michael McCaul (R-Tex.)

Roundtable with Bill Kristol, Jane Harman, Karl Rove and Charles Lane.

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No Big Surprises in Primaries held Yesterday

George Wenschhof

Former President Bill Clinton showed he still has clout in Arkansas as incumbent Democrat Senator Blanche Lincoln won a hard fought battle against Lt. Governor Bill Halter 52% - 48%.

In California, it will be Republican Meg Whitman who will face former Democratic Governor Jerry Brown. In the California senate race, it will be Republican Carly Fiorina against incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) will face Republican Sharon Angle who won the republican primary with only 40%. This is good news for Reid who just 8 weeks ago was considered vulnerable. Look to see Reid to win reelection by a comfortable margin in November.

Also in Nevada, incumbent Republican Governor Jim Gibbons (27%) was beaten by Brian Sandoval (55%).

The intrigue in South Carolina for the Republican nomination for governor is not over as Republican Nikki Haley (48.8%) failed to obtain 50% of the vote against her main opponent Graham Bennett (21.8%). A runoff election will be held in several weeks. Haley was accused of infidelity and also called a "raghead" by a supporter of her opponent. let's see if the Republicans continue to beat themselves up prior to the runoff election. Look to see Haley win.

Republican candidates in the 4th congressional district are also facing another runoff in South Carolina. Incumbent Bob Inglis (27%) will face Trey Gowdy (39%) with Gowdy favored to win easily.

One thing that is becoming clearer as a result of the early primaries is the Republican Party does not have a message or a leader as they did in the 1994 mid term elections when they recaptured majority of the House. Then, it was Minority Leader Newt Gingrich and his "Contract with America" that helped swing the voters their way.

While history tells us is the political party who is in the White House loses an average of 25-35 House seats in mid term elections, do not look to see that figure increase. As long as Republicans continue to battle each other with no clear message, Democrats will maintain a majority in the House.

As long as the National Republican Party message is simply "No" to Democratic proposals, Democrats will remain in the majority in Congress.

Politic.com has all the results from all the states here.

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Democratic Chatter 2-6-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

Welcome to Washington, Mr. President - President Barack Obama is finding his first weeks in office to be anything but easy. He has had Cabinet nominees withdraw due to tax issues and others have their confirmations delayed due to questions that should have been addressed during the vetting process.

Now, the 900+ Billion Stimulus bill vote in the Senate is being delayed due to lack of consensus. It was expected to be voted on last night. But, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) could see the writing on the wall and postponed further discussion until today. A major question from both sides of the aisle is the low level of funding in the bill for infrastructure improvement across the country and questions surrounding funding a myriad of other items unrelated to what had originally been proposed.

Reid is saying if the bill does not come to a vote today, he will get the necessary 60 votes on Sunday to call for the vote to pass the bill. Expect many changes and compromises to have transpired overnight. Reuters.com has more here.

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598,000 Jobs lost in January adds urgency to pass Stimulus bill - unemployment now is 7.6%, the highest since September 1992. The number of jobs lost in the last four months now exceeds 2 million. The NY Times has more here.

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President Obama to name Economic Advisory Board today - we reported yesterday that Paul Volcker, a former Treasury Secretary was in a little bit of of a snit as he had not been named to head the special committee appointed by the President to offer advise on getting the country out of the economic mess it is in. Well, today, he gets his time in the spotlight when he appears with the President. Let's hope he and the committee gives good advise. CNN.com has more here.

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On Monday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will spell out new Economic Stability Plan - this will be a revision of (TARP) the Troubled Assets Relief Program which the remaining 350 Billion was recently authorized by for the Treasury to spend. Expect more help to go to troubled mortgages to help Homeowners with more transparency and accountability to be included in the revisions put forward by Geithner. What is unknown is whether he intends to up the current budgeted amount of 350 Billion and ask Congress for more funds. CNN.com has more here.

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Labor Secretary nominee Hilda Solis confirmation delayed - taxes pop up once again for a nominee for the President's Cabinet. This time it pertains to the husband of the nominee. Solis is already facing opposition due to her support of Labor so this recent issue is not so surprising to have popped up at this late date. Politico.com has more here.

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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has pancreatic cancer - she had surgery yesterday in what has been said to be very early stages of cancer. She is 75 years old. During the Presidential campaign, due to the age of some of the Justices on the Supreme Court, it was often discussed that the next President could easily be responsible for appointing several Supreme Court Justices. Let's hope for a rapid recovery for Ginsburg. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

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Meanwhile, the Minnesota Senate race saga continues - the state mandated recount resulting in the canvassing board verifying Democrat Al Franken the winner by 225 votes. Then incumbent Republican Norm Coleman filed suit asking for additional previously rejected absentee ballots be counted. The court just recently said up to 4800 ballots could be argued to be counted by the Coleman campaign.

Now, the Franken campaign is asking the court for more previously rejected absentee ballots to be counted. The issue of contention is where the ballots are from with some areas favoring conservative and other areas, more liberal candidates. How about just reviewing all the remaining 20,000 rejected absentee ballots? Just a thought. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has more here.

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Democratic Chatter 1-19-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

Yesterday, the excitement continued to build toward the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President with huge crowds and a concert at the Lincoln Memorial - The President elect talked about hope and how the American dream lives on. He also warned the economic problems we face as a nation will not be fixed overnight. TheHill.com has more here. One more day until Inauguration Day.

One of our Columnists, Ann-Marie Luciano will be at the Inauguration managing some volunteers and she also attended the Maryland Inaugural Ball Sunday night. She will speak of her experiences in her column this Friday.

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Today, celebrations for Martin Luther King and a Call to Service abound - People across the country will join in the national call to service day. Time.com has more here. The President and Vice President-elects with their families are expected to also join in with other volunteers today. Martin Luther king III has a good article in The Washington Post you can read here.

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Obama invites Pilot and crew of plane that landed safely in the NY Hudson River to Inauguration - Captain Chesley Sullenberger and his family along with the other members of the crew have been invited. MSNBC.com has more here.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants tax cuts for the wealthy repealed now and investigations into some of the actions of the Bush administration - this rhetoric comes even with the President-elect saying he doesn't anticipate investigations into the Bush administration. CNN.com has more here.

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) may receive competition - Many Democrats have often complained about the tactics employed by Senator Reid as Majority Leader. The recent fiasco surrounding the seating of Roland Burris is another more recent example. Dan Rather told Chris Matthews on his morning show yesterday that Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) may mount a challenge for the Senate Majority Leader position as early as this summer.

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