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May
Don’t get caught flat-footed in front of the press! Below is a quick rundown of today’s “must reads.” – John T. Doolittle, House Republican Conference Secretary
The Morning Murmur – Wednesday, May 3, 2006
1. Write-in victory keeps alive Democrats' hopes for Ohio - Associated Press
Results from yesterday's Ohio primary show support for Rep. Bob Ney as well as
Rep. Jean Schmidt, while a write-in's decisive primary victory is keeping
Democrats from essentially conceding the seat Rep. Ted Strickland has left
open to run for governor.
2. U.S. Crafts Response on Iran - Washington Post
The United States is working with European allies to craft a binding U.N.
resolution demanding that Iran immediately stop nuclear-related activities,
and will push for tough economic and diplomatic sanctions if it refuses, a
senior U.S. official said Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, a senior Iranian
military official was quoted as saying that if the U.S. causes problems,
"Israel will be the first place that we will target."
3. Star-Spanglish - Investor's Business Daily
The day without illegals has come and gone, but the backlash is likely to hang
on. To understand why, take a look at the lyrics of "Nuestro Himno."
4. The Oil Crunch Is a Rich Opportunity - Human Events
The oil crunch has the potential to positively impact many important
endeavors. If we just tap into our patriotism, good old American ingenuity
-- where necessity is the mother of invention -- and yes, even our fat
cells, we can use this crunch to our advantage.
5. Democrats Push Fight for House in the Northeast - New York Times
In the battle for control of the House of Representatives, Democrats are
concentrating their efforts on defeating a particularly resilient set of
opponents, Northeast Republicans who have held their seats despite the
region's tendency to vote Democratic.
For previous issues of the Morning Murmur, go to www.GOPsecretary.gov
FULL ARTICLES BELOW:
1. Write-in victory keeps alive
Democrats' hopes for Ohio - Associated Press
DAVID HAMMER
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A write-in's decisive primary victory is keeping Democrats
from essentially forfeiting a district and allowing the party to focus again
on making Ohio a prime place to take away GOP seats.
Two-thirds of Democratic voters wrote in state Sen. Charlie Wilson's name in
the 6th District, setting up the November showdown with Republican primary
winner Charles Blasdel that everyone expected - until Wilson bungled his
petition signatures and didn't make it on the primary ballot.
For now, Democrats don't have to concede the seat Rep. Ted Strickland has
left open to run for governor. That's crucial in a year when the party hopes
to seize on GOP ethics scandals in Columbus and Washington to make gains in
Ohio and cut into the GOP's 30-seat advantage in the U.S. House.
Former state Rep. Betty Sutton also gave the party a strong chance to hold
the northeast Ohio seat Rep. Sherrod Brown left open to run for U.S. Senate.
Her closest challenger, shopping mall heiress Capri Cafaro, had some
national Democrats complaining that she would give a Republican like Lorain
Mayor Craig Foltin a shot at a solidly Democratic district.
"Today, the people of northeast Ohio said they have had enough with business
as usual in Washington and the state," said Sutton, who relied on strong
union and national party support.
A similar message was delivered by the Democrats vying to oppose GOP Rep.
Bob Ney, who is at the center of a Justice Department probe of
influence-peddling in Congress. Although he received less overt support from
national Democrats, Dover Law Director Zack Space won a four-way primary in
the expansive, rural southern and eastern district.
But Ney came out of his first Republican primary challenge this decade with
an easy victory and a clear financial advantage over Space.
"I have a healthy campaign account, in contrast to the Democrat Party, which
is deeply divided and has a candidate with almost no campaign cash," Ney
said.
GOP Rep. Jean Schmidt captured a second primary win in 11 months over former
Rep. Bob McEwen, overcoming any stigma from her widely ridiculed first
appearance on the national stage.
She received 48 percent of the vote to McEwen's 42 percent, similar to her
advantage in last June's special election primary, 31 percent to 26 percent.
McEwen supporters said they were turned off by Schmidt after her first
appearance on the House floor last November. She was booed off the floor for
implying a Democratic congressman and Marine combat veteran was a "coward"
for wanting to pull troops out of Iraq. She later apologized, but was
ridiculed by national TV comedians.
The race with McEwen was bitter, but it isn't likely to deter Schmidt from
gaining re-election in the solidly conservative district in November.
Wilson's write-in campaign in a 300-mile-long Appalachian district along the
Ohio River provided the most suspense for national political leaders. The
national parties spent more than $1 million for and against him.
The Republicans even tried to highlight Wilson's unknown primary opponents
in some of their many television ads, but it didn't work.
"This has been a real movement of the Democratic Party, founded by labor,"
Wilson said Tuesday night. "We've raised our credibility, and we're back to
our numbers before the petition issue. I can feel the momentum everywhere I
go."
The AFL-CIO had 300 volunteers in the district for the last two weeks of the
campaign, promoting Wilson and explaining the write-in process with 120,000
phone calls, letters to the members of 201 local unions and about 35,000
work site leaflets, national union spokesman Steve Smith said.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/14484928.htm
2. U.S. Crafts Response on Iran -
Washington Post
Work With Europe on a Binding U.N. Resolution Follows Defiance From
Tehran
By John Ward Anderson and Colum Lynch
Wednesday, May 3, 2006; A14
PARIS, May 2 -- The United States is working with European allies to craft a
binding U.N. resolution demanding that Iran immediately stop nuclear-related
activities, and will push for tough economic and diplomatic sanctions if it
refuses, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.
The statement from R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state for political
affairs, came as Iranian officials said they had boosted the purity of their
uranium enrichment from 3.6 percent to 4.8 percent, found three new uranium
deposits in Iran and would retaliate against Israel if attacked by the
United States.
Burns spoke before a closed dinner meeting in Paris with senior diplomats
from the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- Russia,
China, France and Britain -- plus Germany.
There was no immediate comment after the session from the representatives of
Russia and China. But a Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said that at the meeting the Russians resisted proposals that the
new resolution mention Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter, which is usually
invoked to authorize sanctions or military action.
Russia and China, which both hold veto power in the council, contend that
sanctions would be counter-productive. In numerous previous meetings about
Iran, U.S. and Western European officials have failed to persuade them to
sign on to the idea.
A spokesman for Burns said the parties at the meeting agreed to begin
Security Council debate and start negotiations on a resolution. A statement
from France's Foreign Ministry said that officials from the three European
countries presented the broad outlines of a mandatory resolution.
On March 29, the council passed a nonbinding resolution calling on Iran to
suspend nuclear activities. Iran ignored it. The proposed new resolution
would represent a step up in pressure from the Security Council.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John R. Bolton, said Tuesday in
Washington that if the Security Council does not ultimately approve
sanctions, the United States might line up its own coalition of countries
willing to do so.
According to Burns, steps under discussion include a ban on weapons sales to
Iran, a prohibition on transferring nuclear technology to Iran that could be
used for peaceful or military purposes, and a ban on other commercial
activities that could benefit Iran's nuclear program. Officials are also
discussing restricting international travel by senior Iranian officials,
Burns said.
The United States and its European allies argue that Iran's enrichment
program is part of a covert effort to build nuclear weapons. Iran says the
sole purpose is to use it in nuclear power plants, a practice recognized
under international law as a sovereign right.
Some analysts in Europe argue that tough policies being pushed by the United
States and its allies have achieved none of their main goals, and are
instead making matters worse.
"The policy to isolate Iran has not only strengthened the most radical
segments of the Iranian population, it also has led to the extreme
popularity" of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Arab world, said
Azadeh Kian-Thiebaut, a political scientist at the National Center for
Scientific Research in Paris.
The analysts note that in the last year, Iran has suspended negotiations
with European countries, has accelerated its nuclear program and has begun
enriching uranium. It has adopted a much more belligerent tone and has
significantly scaled back cooperation with inspectors from the International
Atomic Energy Agency.
On Tuesday, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Gholam Reza
Aghazadeh, told the Iranian Student News Agency that Iranian scientists have
enriched uranium to 4.8 percent purity, up from 3.6 percent last month.
Uranium needs to be enriched to more than 90 percent to make a bomb, and
estimates differ widely about how far Iran is from that point, with some
specialists saying only two years, and others saying more than 10.
Also on Tuesday, Iran's deputy chief for nuclear research and technology
said that uranium deposits had been found in three new places in the center
of the country. And the student news agency quoted a senior military
official, Rear Adm. Mohammed Ibrahim Dehqani, as saying that if the U.S.
causes problems, "Israel will be the first place that we will target."
Seyyed Ali Moujani, a senior official at the Iranian Embassy in Paris, told
reporters that "we are not worried about more sanctions because we're
already suffering from sanctions and embargos, and we managed to enrich
uranium in a very tough situation thanks to a national effort."
Late last year, Iranian officials prepared for possible broader punitive
steps by reportedly removing money from European banks, French military
analyst Francois Heisbourg said. The real question, he said, is whether the
United States is prepared for the possible backlash of sanctions against
Iran -- specifically, higher oil prices.
"The only sanction available is to prevent the export of oil by Iran. That's
the only serious one," he said. "But if Americans aren't happy with gas at
$3 a gallon, will they be happy if prices are $6 a gallon?"
Burns said that sanctions against Iran's oil and gas industry currently are
not under consideration because they would strike too hard at ordinary
Iranians. The purpose of sanctions, he said, would be to target Iran's
policies and its political leadership.
Heisbourg said that a military confrontation between the United States and
Iran would have a devastating impact on U.S. influence in the Middle East
and could bring on a feared "clash of civilizations" between Islamic and
Christian countries -- a result he said Ahmadinejad may be angling for.
Heisbourg, Kian-Thiebaut and others expressed doubt that such attacks would
do more than slow Iran's nuclear program temporarily.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/02/AR2006050201250.html
3. Star-Spanglish - Investor's Business
Daily
Posted 5/1/2006
Immigration: The day without illegals has come and gone, but the backlash is
likely to hang on. To understand why, take a look at the lyrics of "Nuestro
Himno."
That title, as anyone within earshot of talk radio probably knows by now,
means "Our Anthem." This Spanish-language reworking of "The Star-Spangled
Banner" hit the airwaves a few days ago, timed perfectly to exploit - and
feed - the hype leading up to Monday's strike by illegal workers.
"Nuestro Himno," maybe even more than the May Day protest itself, is what's
called a "talk story" in the news business. As an actual event it may not
rank very high in raw physical or economic impact. It's not a hurricane or a
war. But it's on people's minds. They talk about it at the dinner table, at
work, on the phone. It generates strong opinions. It touches nerves.
It's a mark of political and intellectual sophistication not to take stories
like this one seriously. National Public Radio did a spot on the song and,
to its credit, reproduced the lyrics on its Web site as well as interviewing
Francis Scott Key's great-great grandson (who was not pleased with the new
version of his ancestor's lyrics). But NPR also asked "What's all the fuss
about?" and suggested this creative reworking was nothing new. It made its
point with a few bars of Jimi Hendrix blasting away at Woodstock.
But "Himno" isn't just another arrangement of the old drinking song that has
bedeviled singers ever since it was adopted as the anthem's tune. It's a
whole new anthem with a new theme. The mere fact that it's in Spanish is a
protest against assimilation. The "we" behind "nuestro" does not refer to
all Americans. It refers specifically to those who do not speak the common
American tongue and yet insist that they are as American as anyone.
We can see the argument that a faithful attempt at translation is a sign of
respect, and of a desire to spread the message of the original (think of the
Bible). But "Nuestro Himno" isn't a translation. It's a re-interpretation.
And it's not really about Americans.
When it says, "Mi gente sigue luchando" ("My people fighting on"), it's not
talking about people who faced down the British in Baltimore Harbor. It's
talking about the people who took off work and marched on Monday. And what
are they fighting against? Not some foreign invader, but the immigration
laws of their host country.
By now, "Nuestro Himno" has achieved all the publicity that its promoters
could have hoped for. But we have to wonder if some of them are starting to
worry that they have raised this project's profile a little too high.
The same might be said of those who thought it a nifty idea to organize a
nationwide walkout of illegals to show how much the economy needs them.
Monday's strike and the co-opting of the national anthem both convey a level
of presumption that is bound to rub American citizens (and maybe naturalized
citizens most of all) the wrong way. They suggest that millions of people
not even legally in this country believe that they entitled to the rights of
citizens.
The sad thing for the illegal immigrants is that, over the years, they had
built up considerable political support for their eventual legalization
simply by doing their jobs and quietly proving their value. Now they and
their fair-weather activist friends are busy squandering that goodwill.
http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=20&artnum=3&issue=20060501
4. The Oil Crunch Is a Rich Opportunity -
Human Events
by Mary Claire Kendall
Posted May 03, 2006
Now that gasoline has soared north of $3 a gallon, the nation is riveted.
Americans are lashing out at their leaders, more than two-thirds believing
our country is on the wrong track, just as many losing confidence in
President Bush's leadership, while others decry the oil companies whom they
believe are gouging their fellow citizens, if not hording oil.
While it is important to scrutinize our leaders' response to this crisis
vis-à-vis supply and demand and possible price manipulation, the reality is,
even if everyone in power was a saint governed by perfect justice, oil is a
time-limited commodity we need to transition from in the next 50 years. So,
rather than being diverted by the alleged sins of corporate and government
players, it would be far better to use escalating oil prices to inspire
constructive change.
The oil crunch, for all the economic hardship it is causing, has the
potential to positively impact many important endeavors. If we just tap into
our patriotism, all those resolutions to clean up the environment, good old
American ingenuity -- where necessity is the mother of invention -- and yes,
even our fat cells, we can use this crunch to our advantage.
Without question, the most significant change would be a country unified in
the Global War on Terrorism. Consider the attitude of triple amputee Jayme
Bozik -- who lost his two legs and right forearm when his Humvee struck a
roadside bomb in Iraq: "'Even knowing I would lose three limbs, I would sign
up again,' Bozik, 26, told Time. 'After Sept. 11, 2001, I remember thinking,
'My God, they [terrorists] could put something in the water and kill a
million people.' That's a fear I never want my family to have to feel
again.'" (VFW Magazine, April 2006)
Three limbs devoted to the Global War on Terrorism so his family can live in
safety! His example should put to shame those who complain when only their
comfort zones are impacted by high gas prices. And, it should inspire a
united American war effort in which all Americans seek to conserve energy,
thereby reducing dependence on imported oil -- especially oil imported from
the Mideast. For the less we depend on Mideast oil, the less leverage the
jihadists will have over America.
This is the same spirit that animated the nation during World War II when
everyone rationed for the greater good of winning the war, sacrificing raw
materials essential to daily living so they might be devoted toward needed
military material. Only a united America won World War II. Anything less --
we would have lost and would now be speaking German.
To reduce our dependence on imported oil, Americans might try to walk, when
possible, instead of hopping into one's car -- the natural American
tendency, epitomized by Congressional leaders themselves, who on the very
day they were decrying high gas prices at the local gas station were relying
on their idling, gas-guzzling vehicles to transport them the two blocks back
to their offices, as reported by the Washington Post's Dana Milbank
(4/27/06). If everyone used their feet to do errands within walking distance
even one day a month, the crunch would be eased and America would be showing
a unified front plus getting a little healthier. In this regard, the
President could declare the first Thursday of each month "National Walk
Instead of Drive Day."
Finally, the great American tradition of ingenuity and inventiveness would
be invigorated by upgrading the search for alternative sources of energy --
at the same time showing better stewardship of our environment by working to
discover non-polluting materials and methods.
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=14448
5. Media Ignores the Nation's
Heroes - RealClear Politics
By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ
WATERBURY, Conn. - In the battle for control of the House of
Representatives, Democrats are concentrating their efforts on defeating a
particularly resilient set of opponents, Northeast Republicans who have held
their seats despite the region's tendency to vote Democratic.
Independent analysts say there are at least a dozen competitive races in New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Connecticut, many
involving districts where voters have supported Democrats for president in
recent elections while electing Republicans to Congress.
Now, with many polls showing President Bush's support at its lowest level
yet, Democrats in those districts are running heavily against the president,
hoping to tie Republican incumbents to his agenda. The Democrats need to
pick up 15 seats to take control of the House, where Republicans have had a
majority since 1994. Party strategists believe that the Northeast, with the
largest number of potentially competitive battles, could provide Democrats
with the bulk of those seats.
The Democrats' strategy is on prominent display here in Connecticut's Fifth
Congressional District, where the Democratic challenger, Christopher S.
Murphy, 32, a state senator, has accused the 12-term Republican incumbent,
Representative Nancy L. Johnson, of playing a leading role in helping
advance the agenda of President Bush and conservative House leaders on
issues including the war in Iraq and health care.
Ms. Johnson, 71, has made a point of distancing herself from the president,
a strategy that appears to have the blessing of Republican leaders seeking
to retain the party's seats in the Northeast.
"As one who has been a Republican in a heavily Democratic state, I have
always been independent," Ms. Johnson explained after at a recent appearance
at the Town Hall in neighboring Brookfield. "I try to keep in touch with my
constituents at a very practical level so that I can drive very practical
solutions."
The political climate in the Northeast is such that even Representative
Thomas M. Reynolds, an influential western New York congressman who is the
chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, has to keep an
eye on his own seat. Mr. Reynolds faces a potentially strong challenge from
Jack Davis, a wealthy businessman who captured 44 percent of the vote
against him two years ago and has vowed to spend at least $1 million on his
campaign this time.
Still, independent analysts and politicians in both parties say that
Republicans have advantages in raising money, along with the high visibility
that comes with incumbency.
For instance, Ms. Johnson enjoys a huge monetary advantage over Mr. Murphy.
So the challenger has been aggressively trying to tar the incumbent by
linking her to the president.
"In the past, the success of Northeast Republicans has been due to their
ability to distance themselves from the national Republican agenda," Mr.
Murphy said in a recent interview. "But Johnson has been in step with the
national Republican agenda. And her claims that she is different have not
been holding water."
The Northeast has long had a relatively large number of swing districts
where Republicans are often viewed as an endangered group. Many Republicans
in the region have survived by embracing a more moderate brand of politics,
disagreeing with the Southern Conservatives who dominate their national
party on issues like abortion rights, gay rights, gun control and labor. But
this year could be tougher for even Republican centrists in the Northeast,
analysts say, because of the problems that have been plaguing the president
and his party since last year.
Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the chairman of the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee, argued that the troubles that have
afflicted President Bush and his party could spell trouble for Congressional
Republicans in these swing districts in the Northeast.
"The big question," Mr. Emanuel said, "is whether the Congressional map in
'06 will align itself with presidential performance" in these districts.
The dozen Congressional Republicans that Democrats are focusing on include
eight representatives from districts where President Bush lost in the
presidential election of 2004. Perhaps more problematic for these
Republicans is the fact that voters in their states seem to have greater
misgivings about the direction of the nation under Mr. Bush than voters
elsewhere.
In a CBS News Poll conducted in April, for example, 43 percent of adults
nationwide said the United States made the right decision in going to war in
Iraq. But only about a third of voters in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York
and Pennsylvania held that view, according to a similar poll conducted by
the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
But even as Democrats cast these races as referendums on the nation's
direction, Republicans argue that 2006 will be a typical midterm election
with voters responding to the candidates themselves and to local issues
rather than national ones.
Here in Connecticut's Fifth District, Representative Johnson is exactly the
kind of Republican whom Democrats must unseat to have any serious shot of
taking control of the House. Her district, which stretches west from the
wealthy suburbs of Hartford to the rural towns of Litchfield County on the
border with New York, backed Senator John Kerry for president two years ago.
Democrats have recruited Mr. Murphy, who has raised roughly $750,000. His
feisty campaign has prompted the Johnson camp to respond with an early
string of television advertisements attacking him.
Yet Ms. Johnson's huge cash advantage - she has nearly $2.5 million -
underscores the hurdles confronting Democrats.
Republican leaders, bent on holding a majority, are getting behind their
incumbents aggressively even as they let them put some distance between
themselves and the national party, political analysts monitoring these races
say.
The fight for the Fifth District is just one of the competitive House races
in Connecticut, where two other Republican incumbents - Christopher Shays
and Rob Simmons - face what independent analysts say are fierce challenges.
Even Democrats concede that it is hard to imagine how their party could
reduce a Republican majority without gains in Connecticut and New York,
where Democrats are mounting competitive challenges against two prominent
Republican incumbents, John E. Sweeney in the 20th District in the Albany
region and James T. Walsh in the 25th District in the Syracuse region.
The threat that independent analysts say Mr. Sweeney faces is something of a
surprise, since he represents a district where registered Republicans
roughly outnumber Democrats, 200,000 to 100,000, with about 100,000
independents. In fact, Mr. Sweeney won re-election with 66 percent of the
vote in 2004, while President Bush won the district with 54 percent of the
vote.
But the Democrat seeking to unseat him, Kirsten Gillibrand, a lawyer, is
counting on what she describes as the disenchantment of certain traditional
Sweeney supporters - chiefly independents and moderate Republicans - with
the direction of the nation. In that context, she has aggressively sought to
tie Mr. Sweeney to Republican leaders in Congress and the Bush White House.
"I think John Sweeney is in trouble because he is not independent and he is
not standing up to the administration," Ms. Gillibrand said. "The climate
with voters in the district, whether they are Republicans, Democrats or
independents, is they want a change in leadership."
By most appearances, her strategy has placed Mr. Sweeney on the defensive.
The Sweeney camp maintains that he has always exercised independence in
Washington. "He works with leadership to bring what needs to his district
and he opposes leadership when their policies hurt upstate New York," said
Melissa Carlson, a Sweeney spokeswoman.
Democrats are also going after a first-term congressman, John R. Kuhl Jr. of
the Southern Tier region of New York State, which includes Cattaraugus and
Steuben Counties. Mr. Kuhl is perhaps the most vulnerable of any incumbent,
after barely winning the seat in the 29th District in 2004. And Democrats
are making a play for the Eighth District seat in the Utica area that is
being vacated by Representative Sherwood L. Boehlert, one of the most
liberal Republicans in Congress.
Democrats have pinned their hopes elsewhere in the Northeast, and
independent analysts say they also appear to be in the position to threaten
at least five incumbents in New Hampshire, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The
hope of Democrats is that the Northeast will provide a substantial number of
the overall victories they will need nationally to claim a majority.
The race in Connecticut's Fifth District typifies many of the dynamics
shaping the competitive races elsewhere. Ms. Johnson is a fixture in local
politics who has managed to survive, election after election, despite the
fact that Democrats outnumber Republicans here. But Democrats see her ties
to a Republican majority in Congress as a potential vulnerability.
For instance, Mr. Murphy has tried to exploit Ms. Johnson's role as one of
the chief architects of the new Medicare prescription drug program.
Supporters say that the program will bring the skyrocketing cost of drugs
under control for older Americans. But critics say the program has done more
to help insurance and drug companies than to help older Americans.
One recent morning, Ms. Johnson paid a visit to a center for retirees in
Waterbury, where officials organized a workshop to assist beneficiaries who
were obviously struggling to figure out how to sign up for the new plan
before the deadline in three weeks.
But she did not react defensively. Instead, she suggested that the program
was well on its way to success, noting that 75 percent of people eligible
for its benefits had already enrolled. And she accused Democrats of
undermining its success by discouraging them from enrolling with frightening
claims about it.
"I am proud of it," Ms. Johnson said, referring to her role in helping to
create the program.
As for Mr. Murphy's attacks, she said: "Bring it on. I want people to know
what I have done. I believe what I have done will help people."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/03/nyregion/03campaign.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5094&en=c2adc42ea7d2fd63&hp&ex=1146715200&partner=homepage
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