All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

The release of Sarah Palin's book "Going Rogue" has elicited different reactions from two prominent Democrats, as well as some Republicans.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday gave a gracious response to the compliment Palin paid to Clinton in her book.

"Should Secretary Clinton and I ever sit down over a cup of coffee, I know that we will fundamentally disagree on may issues, but my hat is off to her hard work on the 2008 campaign trail," the 2008 vice presidential candidate wrote. "Compared to the guys she squared off against, a lot of her supporters think she proved what Margaret Thatcher proclaimed: 'If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.'"

On NBC's "Meet the Press," Clinton said she "absolutely would look forward to having coffee" with Palin.

"I've never met her, and I think it would be very interesting to sit down and talk with her," Clinton said. "Maybe I can make a case on some of the issues that we disagree on."

Meanwhile, Barack Obama's former campaign manager David Plouffe had harsher things to say about the former Alaska governor. Echoing comments from John McCain's presidential campaign strategist Steve Schmidt, Plouffe told the New Yorker magazine that Palin would be a "catastrophic" pick for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.

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To the surprise of even his closest aides, President Obama seriously considered choosing Hillary Clinton as his running mate in the 2008 presidential election, according to a new book from one of those aides.

"What surprised me at [our first meeting to discuss the vice presidency] was that Obama was clearly thinking more seriously about picking Hillary Clinton than Ax [top-level adviser David Axelrod] and I had realized," David Plouffe, Mr. Obama's presidential campaign manager, writes in his new book "The Audacity to Win." The book is excerpted in Time magazine today.

"[Obama] said if his central criterion measured who could be the best VP, she had to be included in that list," Plouffe wrote. "She was competent, could help in Congress, would have international bona fides and had been through this before, albeit in a different role. He wanted to continue discussing her as we moved forward."

Mr. Obama was still seriously considering Clinton after narrowing down his list to his top six choices, according to Plouffe, but was concerned former President Bill Clinton would complicate the picture. There was pressure to choose Clinton, Plouffe wrote, though Clinton herself abated that pressure.

By early August 2008, Mr. Obama narrowed his list down to three names: Senators Joe Biden of Delaware and Evan Bayh of Indiana, along with Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine.

"I gave him a lot of credit for so seriously thinking about his fierce former rival," Plouffe wrote. "Some in the Clinton orbit thought we gave Hillary short shrift. My view is that any serious consideration was somewhat surprising given all the complications and the toxicity during the primary campaign."

Despite her loss of the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now apparently better liked by the American public than President Obama, according to a newly released Gallup poll.

The poll results show that her favorability ratings outrank his, 62 percent to 56 percent.

The poll, which surveyed 1,013 American adults, was conducted during the first week of October (which should be noted is before Mr. Obama was announced the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize).

When Mr. Obama took office in January, his favorable rating was 78 percent, one of the highest recorded by Gallup in its 17 years of conducting favorability polls. Since then, however, the president's favorable rating has dropped to 56 percent, while his unfavorable rating has risen from 18 to 40 percent. This is the highest unfavorable rating that has ever been recorded by Gallup for Mr. Obama.

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At a town hall meeting in Nigeria Wednesday in which she said the country needs to fix its "flawed electoral system," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested that American has troubles of its own, citing the disputed 2000 presidential election as an example.

"Our democracy is still evolving," Clinton said, as the Wall Street Journal reports. "You know we've had all kinds of problems in some of our past elections, as you might remember. In 2000, our presidential election came down to one state where the brother of the man running for president was the governor of the state, so we have our problems, too."

Clinton's reference, of course, was to then-presidential candidate George W. Bush and then-Florida governor Jeb Bush.

"The point she is making is that it's about a disputed result and then the willingness of the candidates to accept a flawed result rather than, say, resort to violence," Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley told reporters later.

Crowley went on to note that then-candidate Al Gore accepted the result despite questions about the legitimacy of the election.

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President Obama encouraged maximizing trade relations between the United States and Africa today in a video message to a conference in Kenya.

Formed from the African Growth and Opportunities Act that was signed by President Clinton and went into effect in 2000, the AGOA Forum is focused on discussing critical economic and trade issues facing sub-Saharan Africa. The AGOA was intended to expand access to American markets for the 39 Sub-Saharan African countries.

"By breaking down old barriers and opening new markets, we not only increase trade between our countries. We create powerful incentives for African entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, to create jobs and build a brighter tomorrow for their children," Mr. Obama said.

Additionally, the president emphasized the importance of a strong U.S.-Africa partnership, saying that Africa is a "fundamental part of our interconnected world."

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The New York Daily News is reporting that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who labored to retire her campaign debt following her failed bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, has transformed that debt "into a $3 million mountain of political cash."

Citing federal fundraising records, the newspaper reports that, as of the end of June, Clinton's presidential campaign is $1 million in the black and her Senate campaign committee is $2.1 million ahead.

Based on those figures, the Daily News suggests that Clinton may be preparing another run for office. Hotsheet finds such a prospect unlikely. It's not uncommon for politicians to carry balances in their accounts for years or to maintain a staff after they've stopped running for office.

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made statements about Iran Wednesday that are causing a bit of a stir in Israel.

In a television interview in Bangkok, Clinton talked about extending a "defense umbrella" over U.S. allies in the Middle East in the event Iran develops a nuclear weapon.

"We want Iran to calculate what I think is a fair assessment: that if the United States extends a defense umbrella over the region, if we do even more to develop the military capacity of those (allies) in the Gulf, it is unlikely that Iran will be any stronger or safer because they won't be able to intimidate and dominate as they apparently believe they can once they have a nuclear weapon," Clinton said, according to the Associated Press.

The reaction from Israel was swift, with some expressing concern that the comments were an indication that the U.S. would accept a nuclear-armed Iran.

"I heard, unenthusiastically, the Americans' statement that they will defend their allies in the event that Iran arms itself with an atomic bomb, as if they have already reconciled with this possibility, and this is a mistake," Dan Meridor, Israel's minister for secret services, told Army Radio, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

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Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in Politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

**President Obama tackles health care as Congress inches forward on legislation...

**Sotomayor readies for day 3 of hearing; explains "wise Latina" comment...

**Hillary Clinton to deliver major foreign policy speech...

**GOP's Steele addresses NAACP...

PRESIDENT OBAMA TODAY: As Congress continues hammering out its health care reform legislation, President Obama will be in the Rose Garden at 1:05 p.m. ET to deliver remarks on health care. He'll likely urge the House and Senate to pass bills before leaving for their August recess, a goal that may be out of reach.

Following his speech, the president sits down with CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jon Lapook as part of a series of network interviews on health care.

Meantime, Mr. Obama's political organization, "Organizing for America" (which is run by the Democratic National Committee) is up with a new TV ad airing in Washington, D.C. and eight states, urging Senators to back health care reform.

The 30-second ad "features five Americans who have been affected by America's broken health care system, and are now calling for reform," reads a press release.

The ad ends with "It's time for health care reform. Call your Senators: (202) 224-3121" on the screen.

The ads will run in Arkansas, Indiana, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, North Dakota, Nebraska and Ohio.

As for Congress, "Democrats in the House of Representatives unveiled a 1,000-page-plus health care-overhaul bill Tuesday that would levy a surtax on the wealthy in a bid to pay for the program without adding to the national debt," reports McClatchy Newspapers' William Douglas.

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to meet with exiled Honduran President Manuel Zelaya Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.

Zelaya was thrown out of office last week in what some are describing as a coup. He attempted to return to Honduras on Sunday, the AP reports, but was blocked from landing by military personnel.

The day following the coup, President Obama said that he believed the coup was "not legal" and that the United States still considered Zelaya Honduras' "democratically elected president," the New York Times reported.

According to Reuters, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said that the United States seeks to restore "democratic order" in Honduras. Kelly added that "democratic order" means "the return of the democratically elected president to Tegucigalpa, the return of Mel Zelaya."

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is recovering from surgery on a broken elbow, will not travel to Moscow with President Obama next week to meet with Russian officials.

Clinton had successful surgery on the elbow June 19th, two days after she injured it in a fall while on her way to the White House. But a senior White House official told CNN that Clinton's intense physical therapy sessions to rehabilitate the elbow were deemed too difficult to replicate during the trip.

Clinton earlier cancelled a trip to Italy and Greece because of the injury.

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