Billionaire Meg Whitman’s bizarre press conference that wasn’t, yesterday in Oakland. The massively self-funding candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of California laughs oddly when asked to answer questions.
** QUICK HITS. The stalled Middle East peace process took a big hit today. Visiting Vice President Joe Biden, embarrassed by the Israeli announcement that hundreds of new housing units will be constructed in hotly disputed territory, showed up 90 minutes late for dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. And the Arab League moved close to pulling its endorsement of Israeli/Palestinian peace talks. … Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s party appears to be leading in preliminary counting of Sunday’s national parliamentary elections. Over 60% of Iraqis turned out to vote despite a series of terrorist attacks that killed at least three dozen people. Some official results will be available tomorrow. … California political insiders are scratching their heads over billionaire Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman’s behavior yesterday. After inviting the press to a press availability at a Union Pacific in Oakland, the elusive former eBay CEO declined to speak with them. She also declined to allow them to view her touring the facility, claiming that the railroad officials forbade it. The railroad officials said they had no problem with it. I’m pleased that Whitman’s behavior matched my column about her, linked below.
** AND NOW FOR SOMETHING NOT COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. While a huge amount of eye-rolling surrounds billionaire Republican Meg Whitman’s ultra-megabucks campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, the race for lieutenant governor of California is about to heat up.
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn has been the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.
But now look for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to jump into the race on Friday. And not a moment too soon, as that is the end of the filing period. Newsom is still working on the question of who would succeed him as mayor if he wins in November.
Meanwhile, Hahn, the sister of former Los Angeles Mayor Jimmy Hahn and daughter of the late and legendary L.A. County Supervisor Kenny Hahn, today won the endorsement of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The Hahns have long been very major players in LA politics. There’s a twist to this, however, as Villaraigosa beat Jimmy Hahn when the latter ran for re-election as mayor in 2005. After losing to him in 2001. And Villaraigosa is probably not anxious to see Newsom find his way into a statewide office.
Not to be outdone, Newsom is likely to have the endorsement of the California Teachers Association.
One key question: How will Newsom get along with Jerry Brown? There was some bad blood between their campaigns, albeit with much of it stirred up by Newsom’s then chief strategist, Garry South, who turned on Newsom about five minutes after Newsom withdraw from the race last fall.
NWN broke the story of Newsom’s withdrawal from the gubernatorial race and will be monitoring the situation.
The Republican field has long been set with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appointee as lieutenant governor, moderate state Senator Abel Maldonado, facing off against conservative state Senator Sam Aanestad.
** NEW POLL: GOOD NEWS FOR OBAMA, BAD NEWS FOR CONGRESS. The new national AP poll shows President Barack Obama with a 53% job approval rating, good numbers in these bad times for incumbents. But the news is bad for Congress at the tail end of a long, nasty, and confusing debate over national health care reform.
As an institution, Congress has only a 22% job approval rating.
The latest Associated Press-GfK poll found that fewer people approve of Congress than at any point in Obama’s presidency. Support has dropped significantly since January to a dismal 22 percent as the health care debate has roiled Capitol Hill. Neither Republicans nor Democrats are safe; half of all people say they want to fire their congressman.
Conversely, Obama’s job-performance standing is holding fairly steady at 53 percent. And over the past two months, the Democrat has gained ground on national security issues, specifically the subsiding Iraq war and the escalating Afghanistan war, as he has spent most of his time — at least publicly — on domestic matters like the economy and health care. On those issues, he still has the support of about half the people. …
Congress is getting the blame for the gridlock in Washington.
And Obama’s handling of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is in positive territory and rising.
Obama’s overall standing hasn’t really moved since January. Neither have his ratings on health care and the economy.
But his marks have jumped on Iraq and Afghanistan. More than half of people approve of how he’s handling the wars, with 55 percent backing him on Iraq and 57 percent supporting him on Afghanistan. That’s compared with 49 percent for each two months ago. The new poll was taken during weekend elections in Iraq, where a U.S. troop drawdown is under way, and in the midst of a buildup in Afghanistan, as the U.S. notches victories in rooting out suspected terrorists.
By comparison, Congress’ approval rating has dropped 10 percentage points since January, perhaps an indication that people are blaming lawmakers more than the president for gridlock that has paralyzed Washington on a host of fronts.
It is quite unusual for voters to tear down their own member of Congress. People often dislike the institution of Congress but usually support their own representatives. But not this year. Half said they wanted to elect someone other than their current congressman; only 40 percent wanted to re-elect their lawmaker.
Vice President Joe Biden faces a very tricky path in Israel and Palestine.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Missouri today.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 8:20 AM Pacific, he meets with President Rene Préval of Haiti in the Oval Office.
They will discuss the ongoing efforts to recover from the massive earthquake in Haiti. Obama has withdrawn most U.S. troops dispatched to the island nation in its immediate aftermath.
At 8:55 AM Pacific, Obama and Préval make statements to the press in the Rose Garden.
At 11:05 AM Pacific, Obama boards Marine One and flies to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 11:20 AM Pacific, Obama departs Andrews Air Force Base on Air Force One en route to St. Louis, Missouri
At 1:25 PM Pacific, Obama arrives in St. Louis, Missouri.
At 1:50 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks on health reform at St. Charles High School.
This is the second trip out into the country this week for Obama in promotion of the national health care reform bill, which he wants passed by the time he leaves for Asia on March 18th.
At 5 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at a fundraising dinner for Senator Claire McCaskill at the Renaissance Grand Hotel in St. Louis.
At 5:25 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at a grassroots fundraising reception for McCaskill at the Renaissance Grand Hotel.
At 6:35 PM Pacific, Obama departs St. Louis, Missouri on Air Force One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 8:20 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, where he boards Marine One.
At 8:35 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Iran.
Israeli leaders threw Vice President Joe Biden’s Middle East peace mission a major curveball yesterday, announcing 1600 new housing units for settlements in disputed East Jerusalem.
Biden met today with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He did not seem amused by the Israeli apology for “bad scheduling” in announcing the new settlements drive during his trip.
China and the U.S. are fighting to lead the world in green energy technology, but China is well ahead.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, and Sacramento today.
At 10:15 AM, Schwarzenegger is at Microsoft in Mountain View where he will announce that California will join forces with Microsoft to provide free technology training to thousands of Californians through Elevate America, Microsoft’s tech jobs training program.
Schwarzenegger’s remarks will be webcast live on www.gov.ca.gov.
** IS MEG WHITMAN LIKE ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER? YES (IN THE WRONG WAYS) Is billionaire Meg Whitman, the former McCain/Palin campaign co-chair who seeks to replace action movie superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger as the governor of California, like Schwarzenegger?
It’s a question that her ultra-megabucks campaign clearly doesn’t like. The heavily programmed career corporate marketing executive goes out of her way to distinguish herself from the multiple times Mr. Universe. She was a CEO, of a company you may have heard of, eBay. And in case you hadn’t heard that and you live in California, she’s spent many millions of dollars for months on ads telling you about it. After all, it is her sole claim to fame. Whereas, in her view, Schwarzeneggger was merely a jock turned entertainer. (Not that she mentions her not so excellent eBay era adventures with, say, Skype, Craigslist, and Goldman Sachs. So I won’t, either.)
Whitman hates the comparison with Schwarzenegger, a comparison which is nonetheless obvious as both she and Schwarzenegger are Republicans, both are super-rich, and neither had any experience in elected office before deciding to run for governor of California. Why does she hate it? Well, Schwarzenegger, while still personally popular, has seen his once record job approval rating plummet with the global recession and the state’s gridlocked budget process. And he’s turned out to be too liberal for the increasingly right-leaning party whose nomination she is trying to win.
As someone who knew Schwarzenegger and talked with him extensively before he ran for governor in the 2003 California recall election — and who began scouting Whitman, putting together several hours of film of her, when she suddenly emerged as national co-chair of the Republican presidential campaign in early 2008 — it occurs to me that Whitman is like Schwarzenegger.
But in the wrong ways. (Keep in mind that I’m referring to the Schwarzenegger who suddenly jumped from promoting Terminator 3 into running for governor in 2003.) … From my March 9th column.
** IS OBAMA’S AFPAK STRATEGY ACTUALLY WORKING? … From my March 5th column.
** THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. With Democrat Jerry Brown finally declaring his candidacy for California governor today and billionaire Meg Whitman’s super-rich Republican rival Steve Poizner starting his own TV ad campaign against her, this seems a good time to talk about a big new negative theme about the rather tarnished Golden State. Is California America’s first “failed state?” That’s what a lot of people are saying. So I talked about that with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger; the governor he replaced, Gray Davis; and a famous former governor favored to be the next governor, Jerry Brown. … From my March 2nd column.
** SO WHO IS THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL FRONTRUNNER ANYWAY? PALIN, ROMNEY, PAUL (!) … … From my February 23rd column.
** MAD MEN: THE STREAK CONTINUES. … From my February 22nd column.
** THE BIGGEST SPENDING RACE IN AMERICA IS UNDERWAY! (WELL, SORT OF.) … From my February 19th column.
** TONY BLAIR’S GHOST (WRITER). … From my February 16th column.
** THE MACHINATIONS OF MEG WHITMAN: BEHIND HER ATTEMPTS TO ELIMINATE COMPETITION AND HER WHOPPER ABOUT HOW LONG SHE’S LIVED IN CALIFORNIA. … From my February 10th column.
** HOW JERRY BROWN CLEARED THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. … From my December 9th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** HELP FOR HAITI.
You can donate to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, www.clintonbushhaitifund.org, by clicking here.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $82 per barrel.
This is up about $48 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
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| Comments (39) |
Good luck to Biden over in the Middle East.
I hope Califonria challenges China again on green energy.
When JB was the Governor, California led the world in renewable energy.
The Israelis are really messing with old Joe over these settlements of theirs.
Jonas Blane says:
March 10, 2010 at 9:07 am
Good luck to Biden over in the Middle East.
This article really does take care of business.
** IS MEG WHITMAN LIKE ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER? YES (IN THE WRONG WAYS) Is billionaire Meg Whitman, the former McCain/Palin campaign co-chair who seeks to replace action movie superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger as the governor of California, like Schwarzenegger?
Thanks.
Yes, I don’t sense a coincidence there …
> Capitol Boy says:
March 10, 2010 at 9:43 am (Edit)
The Israelis are really messing with old Joe over these settlements of theirs.
Jonas Blane says:
March 10, 2010 at 9:07 am
Good luck to Biden over in the Middle East.
That’s true.
> Capitol Boy says:
March 10, 2010 at 9:43 am (Edit)
When JB was the Governor, California led the world in renewable energy.
He sure needs it …
> Jonas Blane says:
March 10, 2010 at 9:07 am (Edit)
Good luck to Biden over in the Middle East.
Where’s Schwarzeneger?
Meg Whitless has no business in politics.
Whitman is UNBELIEVABLE. What is up with that cackle laugh of hers??
lol
I’ve never seen a story like that before.
Barack is gonna have to save the Democratic Congress. They wasted way too much screwing around on health care.
** NEW POLL: GOOD NEWS FOR OBAMA, BAD NEWS FOR CONGRESS. The new national AP poll shows President Barack Obama with a 53% job approval rating, good numbers in these bad times for incumbents. But the news is bad for Congress at the tail end of a long, nasty, and confusing debate over national health care reform.
“… to elect someone other than their current congressman; only 40 percent wanted to re-elect their lawmaker.”
This means the Republicans may have a chance to target those Democrats of a few years ago who won in moderate/right leaning districts that propelled the dems into control of the House. But are candidates being recruited, campaign stelwarts sent out to help the newbies, monies raised and handed out to the likely take-aways, etc? Disontent leads nowhere if there is no opposition to vote for…
I doubt it.
That’s some amazing footage.
Whitman seems like a strange duck
Len says:
March 10, 2010 at 10:28 am
Meg Whitless has no business in politics.
Capitol Boy says:
March 10, 2010 at 10:36 am
Whitman is UNBELIEVABLE. What is up with that cackle laugh of hers??
Back to the Future, eh?
Jonas Blane says:
March 10, 2010 at 9:13 am
I hope Califonria challenges China again on green energy.
Capitol Boy says:
March 10, 2010 at 9:43 am
When JB was the Governor, California led the world in renewable energy.
The extremists are too strong on both sides, Israeli and Arab. Always have been, always will be.
Jonas Blane says:
March 10, 2010 at 9:07 am
Good luck to Biden over in the Middle East.
It’s a fairly intractable situation.
Indeed.
>#
Jack Aubrey says:
March 10, 2010 at 2:21 pm (Edit)
That’s some amazing footage.
Whitman seems like a strange duck
Len says:
March 10, 2010 at 10:28 am
Meg Whitless has no business in politics.
Capitol Boy says:
March 10, 2010 at 10:36 am
Whitman is UNBELIEVABLE. What is up with that cackle laugh of hers??
I don’t know all that. I know that Bakersfield’s Kevin McCarthy is in charge of GOP candidate recruitment.
I also know that Republican congressional fundraising has been oddly down.
> Dana says:
March 10, 2010 at 10:58 am (Edit)
“… to elect someone other than their current congressman; only 40 percent wanted to re-elect their lawmaker.”
This means the Republicans may have a chance to target those Democrats of a few years ago who won in moderate/right leaning districts that propelled the dems into control of the House. But are candidates being recruited, campaign stelwarts sent out to help the newbies, monies raised and handed out to the likely take-aways, etc? Disontent leads nowhere if there is no opposition to vote for…
Still Somewhat Super O to the rescue …
> Capitol Boy says:
March 10, 2010 at 10:54 am (Edit)
Barack is gonna have to save the Democratic Congress. They wasted way too much screwing around on health care.
** NEW POLL: GOOD NEWS FOR OBAMA, BAD NEWS FOR CONGRESS. The new national AP poll shows President Barack Obama with a 53% job approval rating, good numbers in these bad times for incumbents. But the news is bad for Congress at the tail end of a long, nasty, and confusing debate over national health care reform.
It’s relatively novel, that’s for sure.
> Jonas Blane says:
March 10, 2010 at 10:48 am (Edit)
I’ve never seen a story like that before.
The laugh is familiar to those who have scouted her …
> Capitol Boy says:
March 10, 2010 at 10:36 am (Edit)
Whitman is UNBELIEVABLE. What is up with that cackle laugh of hers??
If Newsom’s a team player w / JB, he could be good.
** AND NOW FOR SOMETHING NOT COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. While a huge amount of eye-rolling surrounds billionaire Republican Meg Whitman’s ultra-megabucks campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, the race for lieutenant governor of California is about to heat up.
Just when I thought the Israel/Palestinian news couldn’t get worse…
** QUICK HITS. The stalled Middle East peace process took a big hit today. Visiting Vice President Joe Biden, embarrassed by the Israeli announcement that hundreds of new housing units will be constructed in hotly disputed territory, showed up 90 minutes late for dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. And the Arab League moved close to pulling its endorsement of Israeli/Palestinian peace talks. …
It can always get worse.
I am glad I don’t see Message 30 any longer.
I told you, your Meg Whitman is like an Russian oligarch.
What new video today?
Patrick Kennedy railing against the media, and the world’s richest people.
It’s looking more and more that way …
> sergei says:
March 11, 2010 at 12:27 am (Edit)
I told you, your Meg Whitman is like an Russian oligarch.
Indeed.
> Elizabeth Miller says:
March 10, 2010 at 5:26 pm (Edit)
It can always get worse.
It was clearly a very calculated snub.
> Jack Aubrey says:
March 10, 2010 at 5:03 pm (Edit)
Just when I thought the Israel/Palestinian news couldn’t get worse…
** QUICK HITS. The stalled Middle East peace process took a big hit today. Visiting Vice President Joe Biden, embarrassed by the Israeli announcement that hundreds of new housing units will be constructed in hotly disputed territory, showed up 90 minutes late for dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. And the Arab League moved close to pulling its endorsement of Israeli/Palestinian peace talks. …
We’ll see.
> Capitol Boy says:
March 10, 2010 at 4:23 pm (Edit)
If Newsom’s a team player w / JB, he could be good.
** AND NOW FOR SOMETHING NOT COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. While a huge amount of eye-rolling surrounds billionaire Republican Meg Whitman’s ultra-megabucks campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, the race for lieutenant governor of California is about to heat up.
I really liked your blog! great