White House press secretary Robert Gibbs donned a Canadian hockey jersey for his daily briefing today. He also sent a case of beer to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. It was all part of paying off his bet against Canada’s Olympic champion men’s ice hockey team in the Vancouver Olympics.
** JUDGMENT DAY? PELOSI SAYS NATIONAL HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL COMES UP NEXT WEEK. With President Barack Obama delaying his big Asia trip, scheduled to begin on March 18th, for three days, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today that the big House vote on the Senate bill is likely to come down next week.
The House must approve, if not specifally pass, the Senate bill, then await Senate passage through the majority vote budget reconciliation process on a number of sizable tweaks, including, perhaps, on abortion while itself adopting the same changes.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her members Friday to brace themselves for a climactic health care vote as early as next week, warning them to clear their schedules for next weekend and promising to stay in session until the landmark vote, people present at the meeting said afterward. …
A vote next week sets up the prospect that Congress could pass a sweeping health reform bill championed by Obama that has been in the works for more than a year — though the Senate would still have to take up a series of fixes through a procedural process called reconciliation.
House leaders reassured members that two of the most controversial side deals — the so-called Cornhusker Kickback and more Medicare Advantage money for Florida — would be stripped out of the reconciliation bill.
But it appeared that the “Louisiana Purchase” — $300 million in additional Medicaid money for the state — and a $100 million hospital grant program requested by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) will remain in the legislation, sources said.
In addition, it looks like House Democrats won’t have to vote directly on a Senate bill they really don’t like. The speaker hasn’t made a final decision, but she told her rank and file during the meeting that the plan now is to craft the legislation in such a way that they would “deem” the Senate bill passed once the House approves the package of fixes.
That means they would vote on the rule and the so-called reconciliation package, which would make changes to the Senate bill and require only 51 votes to pass the upper chamber. In addition, the package of changes would include a student lending bill that was paired with health care through the reconciliation process, leaders said Friday.
** GAVIN NEWSOM MAKES NICE WITH JERRY BROWN. From LA Times mid-day: Newsom also backed off his comments earlier this year that his former opponent for governor, state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, who is 71 and served as governor in the 1970s, didn’t have “fire in his belly.” He said he’d made those remarks at a time when Brown was delaying his formal entrance into the race and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), also the ex-San Francisco mayor, hadn’t officially ruled out a run for governor. Noting the “strong family ties” between him and Brown (Newsom’s grandfather was godfather to Brown’s sister, Kathleen), he said their policy differences never diminished his admiration for the party’s now presumed candidate for governor.
“We’re lucky that someone in this position at this point in his life would be willing to put himself out,” Newsom said. “He does not need to do this.”
** NEWSOM: SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR JUMPS INTO THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR’S RACE WITH STRONG BACKING. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom this morning announced on CBS5 that he will run for lieutenant governor of California. As forecast here on Wednesday, he waited until today, the final day of filing, to make his candidacy official.
Newsom already has one less opponent in the Democratic primary. He announced this morning that state Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez of Bakersfield is now supporting him in the race. Florez and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn had been the two contenders for the Democratic nomination before Newsom decided to go for the office that Jerry Brown suggested last year, while running against him, that he seek. Newsom had his own gubernatorial bid, but withdrew last October.
Newsom has a number of other backers starting out with this strong announcement this morning, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, state Senate President Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento, and Assembly Speaker John Perez of Los Angeles. As I’ve reported, the California Teachers Association is also highly likely to support Newsom.
Other Newsom backers starting out include the nurses, food and commercial workers, and carpenters unions as well as United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta, former longtime state Democratic chairman Art Torres, former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg of LA, and Sacramento Mayor and former NBA star Kevin Johnson.
There is a bit of a soap opera element to this, in that Newsom’s chief strategist in his gubernatorial campaign, consultant/lobbyist Garry South, is now chief strategist for Hahn. And he, as readers will recall, launched a nasty attack on Newsom last month, revealing confidential information from their dealings in hopes of keeping Newsom out of the race.
** MEG WHITMAN’S NEW! IMPROVED! POST-JOURNALISM! POLITICS. Something new and more than a little bizarre is busy being born in California. Call it post-journalism politics.
Billionaire Meg Whitman has been spending feverishly for months on an advertising blitz, trying first to purchase the Republican nomination for governor and, ultimately, the governorship itself. After a number of terrible performances in press conferences and interviews with knowledgeable reporters, the former national co-chair of the McCain/Palin campaign and her high-priced handlers have decided to drop the pretense of normal campaign engagement, dispensing entirely with press conferences. …
In very stark contrast to Whitman and her bloated, big budget would-be blockbuster of a campaign, Jerry Brown is pursuing what might be described as a cinema verite campaign. …
President Barack Obama, speaking earlier in the week in St. Louis, Missouri, says that health care reform is the urgent issue. He’s just postponed his trip to Asia, which had been scheduled to begin on March 18th, to work for final passage of the national health care reform bill.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
At 8 AM Pacific, Obama meets with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Situation Room
At 1 PM Pacific, Obama meets with the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in the Roosevelt Room.
Here is who is taking part in Obama’s latest big meeting on AfPak strategy:
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Secretary of Defense Bob Gates
Ambassador Susan Rice, Permanent U.S. Representative to the United Nations
Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan (via videoconference)
Karl Eikenberry, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan
Anne Patterson, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan (via videoconference)
Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General James E. Cartwright, USMC, Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
General David Petraeus, U.S. Central Command
General Stanley McChrystal, U.S. Commander in Afghanistan (via videoconference)
Admiral Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence
CIA Director Leon Panetta
General James Jones, National Security Advisor
Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Advisor
John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security
Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, Special Assistant to the President for Afghanistan and Pakistan
Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
He also announced this morning that he will postpone his trip to Asia, scheduled to begin on March 18th, for three days to keep working on the national health care reform bill.
Vice President Joe Biden, in the midst of a rocky trip to try to jump-start the Middle East peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, tells Al Jazeera that a two-state solution is possible.
Preliminary esults from last Sunday’s national parliamentary elections in Iraq, which came off despite jihadist attempts to disrupt them, were to have been released yesterday. Instead, only a few results were available. What’s the hang-up? Supposedly, it’s due to computer problems.
Results are now expected in a week.
Vice President Joe Biden’s mission to jump-start the Middle East peace process, which was quite possibly derailed by Israel’s “accidental” announcement of new housing in disputed areas, is continuing.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Southern California today.
At 12:30 PM, Schwarzenegger will hold a press conference to highlight the creation of jobs at the groundbreaking of the new, state-of-the-art SKECHERS’ North American Operations Headquarters at the Highland Fairview Corporate Park in Moreno Valley, a city in the Inland Empire’s Riverside County. Skechers is a lifestyle footwear company largely geared to the female youth market.
The press conference will be webcast live on www.gov.ca.gov.
Schwarzenegger will not attend the California Republican Party convention this weekend in Silicon Valley.
The two Republicans vying to succeed the term-limited governor — billionaire Meg Whitman and super-rich state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner — are both running far to his right.
** 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.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Read 
| Comments (35) |
Obama sounds good on the health care stumping.
Joe Biden did well on the Arab TV network.
Great new column on Whitman and “Post-Journalism Politics!”
Are the California press going to let Whitman get away with this crap?!
Yeah, but he has a really tough sell.
Jonas Blane says:
March 12, 2010 at 8:29 am
Joe Biden did well on the Arab TV network.
It sounds like he’s getting really close to getting the bill.
Jonas Blane says:
March 12, 2010 at 8:23 am
Obama sounds good on the health care stumping.
The Whitman coverage is priceless. This is an amazing unfolding debacle! Glad to confirm my hunch was right all those folks signing her praises in that awful ad worked at Ebay and basically stroking their ex-boss. Beyond surreal…
OK, Newsom’s in. That can be fine. If he works with JB.
Newsoms leaving San Francisco. About damn time if you ask me. He wasn’t worth a damn as Mayor. Trouble is, we probably get somebody worse.
Don’t like the SF Board president?
I think the friction is overstated.
> Capitol Boy says:
March 12, 2010 at 9:53 am (Edit)
OK, Newsom’s in. That can be fine. If he works with JB.
Thanks, I appreciate it!
It is one heck of a show, that’s for certain.
> Dana says:
March 12, 2010 at 9:49 am (Edit)
The Whitman coverage is priceless. This is an amazing unfolding debacle! Glad to confirm my hunch was right all those folks signing her praises in that awful ad worked at Ebay and basically stroking their ex-boss. Beyond surreal…
He’d better, postponing a big international trip for it …
> Capitol Boy says:
March 12, 2010 at 9:14 am (Edit)
It sounds like he’s getting really close to getting the bill.
Jonas Blane says:
March 12, 2010 at 8:23 am
Obama sounds good on the health care stumping.
Thanks. We’ll see.
> Capitol Boy says:
March 12, 2010 at 8:56 am (Edit)
Great new column on Whitman and “Post-Journalism Politics!”
Are the California press going to let Whitman get away with this crap?!
Yes, he did. He always does.
> Jonas Blane says:
March 12, 2010 at 8:29 am (Edit)
Joe Biden did well on the Arab TV network.
More video today?
I sure like this new column.
Meg Whitman! New! Improved! Post-Journalism! Post-Honesty! Post-Substance! Politics
Hey, where’s my comment?
Obama has to get the bill. Especially now. Pelosi can put it together.
Capitol Boy says:
March 12, 2010 at 9:14 am
It sounds like he’s getting really close to getting the bill.
Jonas Blane says:
March 12, 2010 at 8:23 am
Obama sounds good on the health care stumping.
Those two sides will never get together.
Bill Bradley says:
March 12, 2010 at 11:02 am
Yes, he did. He always does.
> Jonas Blane says:
March 12, 2010 at 8:29 am (Edit)
Joe Biden did well on the Arab TV network.
Where’s Schwarzeneger?
Good, funny video of Robert Gibbs.
All rightee, now it’s coming together!!
** JUDGMENT DAY? PELOSI SAYS NATIONAL HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL COMES UP NEXT WEEK.
Good for Gavin Newsom, that’s classy and smart.
** GAVIN NEWSOM MAKES NICE WITH JERRY BROWN. From LA Times mid-day: Newsom also backed off his comments earlier this year that his former opponent for governor, state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, who is 71 and served as governor in the 1970s, didn’t have “fire in his belly.” He said he’d made those remarks at a time when Brown was delaying his formal entrance into the race and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), also the ex-San Francisco mayor, hadn’t officially ruled out a run for governor. Noting the “strong family ties” between him and Brown (Newsom’s grandfather was godfather to Brown’s sister, Kathleen), he said their policy differences never diminished his admiration for the party’s now presumed candidate for governor.
“We’re lucky that someone in this position at this point in his life would be willing to put himself out,” Newsom said. “He does not need to do this.”
It’s a good move by Newsom.
He’s a good sport …
> Ann says:
March 12, 2010 at 1:21 pm (Edit)
Good, funny video of Robert Gibbs.
I’ve always feared that that is an intractable situation.
> Jack Aubrey says:
March 12, 2010 at 12:28 pm (Edit)
Those two sides will never get together.
Bill Bradley says:
March 12, 2010 at 11:02 am
Yes, he did. He always does.
> Jonas Blane says:
March 12, 2010 at 8:29 am (Edit)
Joe Biden did well on the Arab TV network.
It’s getting to be now, or never. No question there.
> Jack Aubrey says:
March 12, 2010 at 12:27 pm (Edit)
Obama has to get the bill. Especially now. Pelosi can put it together.
Capitol Boy says:
March 12, 2010 at 9:14 am
It sounds like he’s getting really close to getting the bill.
Jonas Blane says:
March 12, 2010 at 8:23 am
Obama sounds good on the health care stumping.
Thanks, I appreciate it!
> Jack Aubrey says:
March 12, 2010 at 12:23 pm (Edit)
I sure like this new column.
Meg Whitman! New! Improved! Post-Journalism! Post-Honesty! Post-Substance! Politics
You have, I trust, drafted the epitaph for Ms. Whitman’s political career.
Ironically, it will be the Jewish democratic state of Israel that has the most to lose if a two-state solution does not materialize. Sadly, Netanyahu doesn’t seem to understand this.
It was slightly refreshing to see the reaction of Biden and Clinton in condemning the Israeli plan for more new Jewish housing units in Jerusalem. But, it’s going to take a lot more than strong reactions to persuade Israel to make the difficult compromises it must make … and that goes especially for the status of Jerusalem.
Is the Obama/Biden administration ready to demonstrate bold leadership on this file. I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.
Jack Aubrey says:
March 12, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Those two sides will never get together.
The nuclear peace treaty between Russia and USA is getting very close.
Yes, although it’s been close for months now …
There seems to be something of a bunker mentality at work. And Netanyahu may understand this. But his coalition is far right.
> Elizabeth Miller says:
March 12, 2010 at 4:16 pm (Edit)
Ironically, it will be the Jewish democratic state of Israel that has the most to lose if a two-state solution does not materialize. Sadly, Netanyahu doesn’t seem to understand this.
It was slightly refreshing to see the reaction of Biden and Clinton in condemning the Israeli plan for more new Jewish housing units in Jerusalem. But, it’s going to take a lot more than strong reactions to persuade Israel to make the difficult compromises it must make … and that goes especially for the status of Jerusalem.
Is the Obama/Biden administration ready to demonstrate bold leadership on this file. I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.
Jack Aubrey says:
March 12, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Those two sides will never get together.
Ah, but there is now a new chapter, a more sophisticated variant of the game.
It turns out Whitman isn’t quite that nuts …
> Jonathan Hemlock says:
March 12, 2010 at 3:05 pm (Edit)
You have, I trust, drafted the epitaph for Ms. Whitman’s political career.