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

Short of Money, G.O.P. Is Enlisting Rich Candidates

By Raymond Hernandez
New York Times
November 26, 2007

Republican Party officials say they are recruiting wealthy candidates who can spend millions of their own money to finance their Congressional races…

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CLINTON

Clinton: a Liberal, or a Moderate?

By Patrick Healy
New York Times
November 25, 2007

In Iowa, a question that goes to the core of a candidacy…

How Big Man In McAllen Bundles Big For Clinton

By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post
November 25, 2007

McALLEN, Tex. -- During the first nine months of this year, Sen. Barack Obama raised just $2,086 for his presidential campaign from people who live in and around this border town of stucco bungalows and weed-covered farm lots, and most candidates raised even less. But Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, has already raised more than $640,000 here, and her campaign expects to collect even more…

Iran sanctions are getting results, Clinton tells Iowans

By Louise Roug
Los Angeles Times
November 25, 2007

The Democratic hopeful says Tehran is negotiating, and her vote helped it happen. Her rivals see danger…

EDWARDS

Edwards Offers Heating Plan

By Julie Bosman
New York Times
November 26, 2007

Former Senator John Edwards outlined a proposal to lower the cost of heating oil, increase regulation of oil companies and promote energy efficiency…

OBAMA

In West Iowa, Obama’s Man Thinks Locally

By Jeff Zeleny
New York Times
November 26, 2007

MISSOURI VALLEY, Iowa, Nov. 24 — Rory Steele had bounced along a gravel road that rides like a washboard to get to the farmstead. He stepped across a few rows of soybeans, climbed up the steps of a red Case combine and squeezed into a seat next to Lyle McIntosh, who was circling a field…

Did Obama Inhale?

By Jeff Zeleny
New York Times
November 25, 2007

The candidate again confronts his past drug use…

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GIULIANI

In a Cycle of Attacks, Giuliani Gives and Receives

By Michael Cooper and Michael Luo
New York Times
November 26, 2007

The exchanges were some of the harshest yet as the campaigns ratcheted up for the post-Thanksgiving countdown to the first nominating contests…

Kerik Loan Activity Is Brought to Light After Indictment

By William K. Rashbaum
New York Times
November 24, 2007

Bernard B. Kerik fully repaid a $250,000 personal loan cited in his recent federal indictment days after city investigators began asking about it in 2005, according to people who have been briefed on the transaction…

Giuliani derides Democrats' loyalty to 'political correctness'
'I'm not questioning their patriotism'

By Christi Parsons
Chicago Tribune
November 24, 2007

LACONIA, N.H.-- - Republican presidential contender Rudolph Giuliani said Saturday that he doesn't doubt the national loyalty of Democratic candidates for president, just their comprehension of international affairs…

PAUL

lib•er•tar•ian
n. 1. a person who believes in the doctrine of the freedom of the will
2. a person who believes in full individual freedom of thought, expression and action
3. a freewheeling rebel who hates wiretaps, loves Ron Paul and is redirecting politics

By Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch
Washington Post
November 25, 2007

How to make sense of the Ron Paul revolution? What's behind the improbably successful (so far) presidential campaign of a 72-year-old 10-term Republican congressman from Texas who pines for the gold standard while drawing praise from another relic from the hyperinflationary 1970s, punk-rocker Johnny Rotten?

ROMNEY

For Romney & Company, Campaign Is All Business

By Michael Luo
New York Times
November 24, 2007

Presidential campaigns, with their boiler-room pressure, news media scrutiny and organizational challenges, have always functioned as something of a dress rehearsal for the White House. How do the candidates make tough decisions? Are they willing to listen to opposing points of view? Do they micromanage?

Romney calls for judge to resign

Associated Press
November 25, 2007

Kathe Tuttman, whom he appointed while governor, released a convicted killer who's now accused of murder…

Does perfection have its price for Romney?

By Faye Fiore
Los Angeles Times
November 24, 2007

Sure, he's got political weak spots, but his storybook home life is a throwback to 'Father Knows Best.' For voters, though, that may not be a good thing…

THOMPSON

Thompson Unveils Plan For Voluntary Flat Tax

By Amy Schatz
Wall Street Journal
November 26, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Fred Thompson became the second Republican presidential hopeful to jump on the flat-tax bandwagon, hoping to reach out to the party's tax-cut wing to boost his campaign amid falling poll numbers…

Thompson Calls for Option of a Two-Rate Income Tax

By Marc Santora
New York Times
November 26, 2007

Fred D. Thompson recommended that people have the option to have their earnings taxed under a system with only two rates…

Thompson Woos Gun Rights Contingent

By Marc Santora
New York Times
November 25, 2007

LADSON, S.C., Nov. 24 — Joe McCormick, a burly man over six feet tall, a World War II-era Mauser rifle at his side, said he was frightened…

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

Health Care: Round II

By Patrick Healy and Jeff Zeleny
New York Times
November 25, 2007

PERRY, Iowa – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton just finished a mid-afternoon news conference with reporters here. No major news, but she whacked Senator Barack Obama again – this time by name – over his health insurance plan and the estimates that it would not cover about 15 million Americans…

ABC News and Facebook in Joint Effort to Bring Viewers Closer to Political Coverage

By Brian Stelter
New York Times
November 26, 2007

Facebook, the popular social networking site, has become a full-fledged platform for communicating, sharing and advertising. ABC News is betting that it will become a platform for political coverage, as well…

As Democrats See Security Gains in Iraq, Tone Shifts

By Patrick Healy
New York Times
November 25, 2007

As violence declines in Baghdad, the leading Democratic presidential candidates are undertaking a new and challenging balancing act on Iraq: acknowledging that success, trying to shift the focus to the lack of political progress there, and highlighting more domestic concerns like health care and the economy…

Left Off Debate List, New Orleans Sees Politics at Play

By Katharine Q. Seelye
New York Times
November 24, 2007

When presidential debates are in the news, it is usually because of something a candidate says. But the omission of New Orleans this week from the roster of four cities that will hold the 2008 debates raised the question of whether politics was behind the site-selection process…

Candidates' E-Mails Have a Bottom Line
Just Past the Chatty Subject Is an Appeal for Campaign Cash

By Michael D. Shear and Jose Antonio Vargas
Washington Post
November 25, 2007

The subject line on the e-mail is short, one of those must-click phrases that makes the recipient think it's a quick reply from a note to a friend: "Re: Hey."

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Suddenly, Huckabee Is in Romney's Rearview Mirror
Polls Show That The Two Are in Virtual Tie in Iowa

By Michael D. Shear and Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post
November 25, 2007

DES MOINES, Nov. 24 -- For six months, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has owned Iowa…

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Syria Will Attend Annapolis Summit
Olmert, Abbas Will Meet Bush At White House

Associated Press
November 25, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Arab holdout Syria agreed Sunday to attend a Mideast peace conference called by U.S. President George W. Bush to restart talks to resolve the six-decade conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, yet expectations for the summit remained low. The two sides came to Washington without agreeing on basic terms for their negotiations…


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

Massachusetts Faces a Test on Health Care

By Kevin Sack
New York Times
November 25, 2007

BOSTON, Nov. 20 — As the Democratic presidential candidates debate whether Americans should be forced to obtain health insurance, the people of Massachusetts are living the dilemma in real time…

Justice Seeks Delay in Court Challenge to Immigration Plan
Bush Administration Says It Will Modify Crackdown on Employers Who Hire Illegal Workers

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post
November 25, 2007

The Bush administration said Friday that it will modify its planned crackdown on U.S. companies that employ illegal immigrants, asking a federal judge to delay hearing a lawsuit brought by major American labor, business and farm organizations until the new strategy is completed…