<><>2008/CONGRESS<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Budget Takes Shape As Veto Threat Looms

By David Rogers
Wall Street Journal
October 31, 2007

WASHINGTON -- A $686 billion-plus budget bill began to take shape in Congress as negotiators agreed on the defense portion, which Democrats will wrap together with education and veterans funding today and send to the White House next week…

<><>DEM<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

THE FIELD

Within Democratic field, Iran is the new Iraq

By Linda FeldmannChristian Science Monitor
November 1, 2007

During Tuesday's debate, '08 contenders pounded Clinton for her recent vote on Iran resolution…

CLINTON

Union Gives Endorsement to Clinton

By Steven Greenhouse
New York Times
November 1, 2007

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is one of the nation’s largest and most politically active labor unions…

A Day Later, Clinton Embraces Spitzer’s License Effort

By Adam Nagourney
New York Times
October 31, 2007

Senator Clinton's advisers worry that her answers on the issue in a debate Tuesday could be her biggest misstep in the campaign…

How to argue that night is day

Los Angeles Times Top of the Ticket
October 31, 2007

We feel for whoever had to write this memo from the Clinton campaign…

Clinton Library Secrets II: Hillary trips over her sealed papers

Los Angeles Times Top of the Ticket
October 31, 2007

Her papers are locked in Bill's library. She says she has no control. Next thing, Kucinich will see a UFO…

OBAMA

A "rocky" reference by Obama

Los Angeles Times Top of the Ticket
October 31, 2007

Needed for his campaign: new joke writer…

<><>REP<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>>

McCAIN

New McCain Ad: ‘Guts’

By Jim Rutenberg
New York Times
October 31, 2007

The commercial portrays John McCain as a corruption-busting, responsible fiscal steward. But it also contains perhaps one of the closest brushes with commercial confrontation…

<><>FIRST CONTESTS<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Have a Laptop? You, Too, Can Sway New Hampshire Race
Self-Appointed Bloggers Get Candidate Face Time; On the Bus With Edwards

By Amy Schatz
Wall Street Journal
November 1, 2007

HANOVER, N.H. -- As a high-school Latin teacher, Dean Barker makes an unlikely political heavyweight…

<><>2008/PRESIDENT<><><><><><><><><

Immigration Burns Candidates
Republicans and Democrats Alike Approach Issue With Care

By June Kronholz
Wall Street Journal
November 1, 2007

WASHINGTON -- An uproar over New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants -- and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's seeming endorsement of it -- shows how perilous the immigration issue is for the presidential candidates…

Immigration: From Talking Point to Sore Point

By Marc Santora
New York Times
November 1, 2007

A plan to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants was fodder for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s rivals Tuesday night…

Driver's license issue complicates immigration politics

By Joe Mathews and Nicole Gaouette
Los Angeles Times
November 1, 2007

The leading presidential contenders, Republicans and Democrats alike, routinely declare their opposition to illegal immigration. But a divide has emerged over a narrower question: Should undocumented immigrants already in the United States be issued driver's licenses?

Biden-Giuliani Smackdown Enlivens Campaign Trail

By Michael Cooper
New York Times
November 1, 2007

The Democratic debate Tuesday night in Philadelphia had a lively undercard: Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. vs. Rudolph W. Giuliani…

Candidates wrangle over Social Security

By Mike Dorning
Chicago Tribune
October 31, 2007

WASHINGTON - It's become one of the sacred laws of politics: Don't mess with Social Security. The wisdom of that admonition was strengthened further when President Bush in 2005 pushed a Social Security privatization plan that proved immensely unpopular, went nowhere and contributed, along with the Iraq war, to the decline in his popularity…

<><>WAR/TERROR<><><><><>><><><>

Mukasey's Confirmation Prospects Dim Over Waterboarding Issue

Associated Press
October 31, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Prospects for Michael Mukasey's confirmation as the nation's 81st attorney general dimmed Wednesday after he again refused to equate waterboarding with torture and endorsed many of President Bush's positions on executive power…

Nominee’s Stand Avoiding Tangle of Torture Cases

By Scott Shane
Wall Street Journal
November 1, 2007

Fear of opening the door to criminal or civil liability for torture or abuse appeared to loom large in Michael B. Mukasey’s calculations as he parried tough questions from committee members…

Two More Democrats To Oppose Mukasey
White House Says Justice Pick Will Still Be Confirmed

By Dan Eggen and Paul Kane
Washington Post
November 1, 2007

Democratic support for attorney general nominee Michael B. Mukasey dwindled further yesterday over his refusal to comment on the legality of a harsh CIA interrogation technique, setting the stage for an unexpectedly close vote next week by the Senate Judiciary Committee…

More criticism for Mukasey's answers on 'waterboarding'

By Donna Leinwand
USA Today
November 1, 2007

Support for Michael Mukasey's confirmation as attorney general showed more signs of eroding Wednesday as Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee criticized his refusal to declare a controversial interrogation method, called "waterboarding," illegal…

Wiretap Battle Heats Up
As Vermont Defies U.S., Telecoms Feel 'Caught in Middle'

By Evan Perez
Wall Street Journal
November 1, 2007

Vermont regulators allowed an investigation to proceed into how telecommunications companies cooperate with government surveillance, opening a small but potentially significant window into the federal government's post-9/11 spying efforts…

<><>OTHER NEWS AND VIEWS<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Longtime Bush Adviser Hughes To Leave Position at Year's End

Associated Press
October 31, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Karen Hughes, who led efforts to improve the U.S. image abroad and was one of President Bush's last remaining advisers from the close circle of Texas aides, will leave the government at the end of the year…

Former North Dakota Governor Nominated as Agriculture Secretary

Associated Press
October 31, 2007

WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Wednesday nominated Edward Schafer, a former two-term Republican governor from North Dakota, to be his next secretary of agriculture, a senior administration official said…

With Book, Gerson Is Back To Fight for GOP's Identity
Former Adviser of Bush Seeks to 'Save Conservatism'

By Peter Baker
Washington Post
October 31, 2007

For Michael Gerson, the pattern became discouragingly familiar. A proposal to help the poor or sick would be presented at a White House meeting, but Vice President Cheney's office or the budget team or some other skeptical officials would shoot it down. Too expensive. Wrong priority…