Politics Today: Big Names Help Embattled Dems
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:
** Obama and Bill Clinton stump for Corzine and Deeds...
** Pelosi pushes for a liberal public option...
** Karzai agrees to a runoff...
Tuesday, Corzine "showcased a popular ex-president, Republican Chris Christie sat at a kitchen table talking taxes and independent Chris Daggett said the nasty tone of the race is driving voters to his side," reports the Newark Star-Ledger.
Corzine "was boosted in two rallies by former President Bill Clinton, the latest in a lineup of Democratic Party rock stars sweeping across New Jersey in support of the incumbent."
"'If these were the real choices in normal times, this would be a runaway election for the governor, wouldn't it?' Clinton said to a crowd of about 1,100 in Collingswood. 'The only reason it's not a runaway election is people are hurting.'"
In Virginia, President Clinton also stumped for Democrat Creigh Deeds, though Politico's Jonathan Martin and Andy Barr suggest his comments in praise of Deeds may have been ill-advised.
"It's doubtful that any of the few hundred people who turned up for Democrat Creigh Deeds at a Northern Virginia campaign office needed a reminder that their candidate is trailing badly in his race for governor.
"They got one anyway — courtesy of the former president and still-current political analyst Bill Clinton, who offered the small-by-late-October-standards crowd an extended discourse on why Deeds's situation is not necessarily as bad as it seems…
"Having some of the most celebrated names in Democratic politics reminding supporters that you are in need of a political miracle is not exactly where a candidate would like to be exactly two weeks from Election Day."
Last night, the two candidates faced off in their last debate before the Nov. 3 election.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch's Tyler Whitley reports, "Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell said last night that Virginia should not participate in a federal health-care program that contains a 'public option.' Democrat R. Creigh Deeds said he has reservations about such an approach but would consider it because it might save money for the state.
"In the final debate in the campaign for governor, two weeks before the Nov. 3 election, the two rivals broke little new ground and generally stuck to the themes that have dominated their campaigns. The debate came amid a flurry of political polls showing McDonnell with a clear lead."
Washington Post's Anita Kumar and Rosalind S. Helderman, "Deeds, McDonnell sharpen attacks in final debate"
"President Barack Obama took on Wall Street in its own backyard Tuesday night, telling the bankers at a glittering Manhattan fund-raiser to get on board with his efforts to re-regulate the financial industry even as his Democratic Party was taking their money," reports the Wall Street Journal's Jonathan Weisman and Ianthe Dugan.
"At a $15,200-a-plate dinner at the Mandarin Oriental, the president castigated people 'who have just taken taxpayer bailout money saying, 'What do you want from me?''
"Stories of small businesses unable to get loans means the banks are not thinking about 'our mutual obligations,' he said, adding, 'We're in this together.'
"'So if there are members of the financial industry in the audience today,' Obama said, drawing some ooohs and chuckles from the crowd, 'I would ask that you join us in passing what are necessary reforms. Don't fight them.'
"It was a gutsy — critics might say galling — performance given the price the Democratic National Committee had just charged for dinner. Partiers munched up tomato and mozzarella salad topped with basil and drizzled with balsamic vinegar, as Broadway singer Brian Stokes Mitchell belted out 'America the Beautiful,' then segued into 'On the Wings of a Dream.'"
Washington Post's Anne E. Kornblut and Jason Horowitz, "Investors, more than big banks, open checkbooks for Obama": "Fundraisers familiar with Tuesday's guest lists said that Wall Street firms were well represented, although the crowd included more private investors than senior managers from the big banks. At the same time, top fundraisers said Obama brought in philanthropists and issue-driven donors who had not played a major part in political activism before 2008."
Later this week, Mr. Obama continues campaigning: Friday he heads to Massachusetts to raise money for his friend Gov. Deval Patrick, D-Mass., who's up for re-election next year; Monday, he's in Florida for several Democratic fund-raisers and on Tuesday he heads to Virginia to rally with gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds.
5339106HEALTH CARE: "Top Senate Democrats intend to try to strip the health insurance industry of its exemption from federal antitrust laws as part of the debate over health care, according to congressional officials, the latest evidence of a deepening struggle over President Barack Obama's top domestic priority," reports the Associated Press' David Espo. "If enacted, the switch would mean greater federal regulation for an industry that recently has stepped up its criticism of portions of a health care bill moving toward the Senate floor.
"Congressional officials said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, arranged to make the announcement Wednesday, joined by Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York.
"The officials who disclosed the plans did soon condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting a formal announcement."
The announcement is scheduled for 11:30am ET.
Meantime, "Senators battled Tuesday over legislation to forestall a cut in Medicare payments to doctors, trying to seize the advantage in the larger health debate," report the Wall Street Journal's Greg Hitt and Janet Adamy.
"Medicare's reimbursement schedule calls for a 21% drop in payments to doctors beginning in January. Top Democrats are proposing to upend that arrangement and instead freeze doctor payments at this year's level for the next decade. They seek to do so in a bill -- separate from the overhaul legislation -- that they said would shore up the government health program for the elderly.
"Republicans and some Democrats questioned the price of the Medicare measure -- $247 billion over 10 years -- and said proponents haven't offered any new revenue sources or spending cuts to offset the cost…
"Supporters of the bill say the sharp payment cuts, unless reversed, would encourage doctors to stop seeing Medicare patients."
"Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid is facing intensifying pressure from liberal lawmakers to revive a proposed government insurance plan before health-care reform legislation reaches the Senate floor, amid signs that moderate Democrats may be warming to the idea," write the Washington Post's Shailagh Murray and Lori Montgomery. "Two versions of the 'public option' were rejected by the Senate Finance Committee as potentially too great a threat to the insurance industry and the coverage it provides to millions of families and individuals. But the idea has gained momentum in recent weeks as Democrats look to ensure that the policies Americans would be required to buy would be affordable.
"A small team of Senate negotiators, led by Reid (D-Nev.), is crafting a blueprint for reform that combines the finance panel's legislation with a more liberal Senate health committee bill that includes a government plan. The House measure, now under negotiation in that chamber, also includes a public option."
As for the Senate Republicans, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will head to the Senate floor today to make a point about health care: that "every Republican in Congress supports reform."
"This morning, I'll make my way to a wooden podium at the front of the Senate floor and deliver my 50th speech since June on the topic of health care. But you would never know it from listening to Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill. Listening to them, you would think Republicans haven't been part of the health care debate at all," McConnell writes in a USA Today op-ed.
"I understand the tactic. It's an old political trick to accuse one's opponents of being against something very worthwhile when what they're really against are the specifics that you're proposing.
"In this debate, though, proponents of the administration's health care plan have turned this old strategy into something of an Olympic sport.
"The simple fact is, every Republican in Congress supports reform."
"Pelosi told her rank-and-file that she has more than 200 votes for a public option tethered to Medicare and that she wants to 'see if we can find the remaining votes,' one member present said afterward.
"'We are very close and I count tough,' Pelosi told the room, according to one person in the room. She asked Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) to ask his deputies to survey members in the next 24 hours to see if she could get to 218 votes for the bill, several members said after the meeting. ...
"Pelosi, who has long favored the most robust public option, made clear to members that part of her strategy was to strengthen her hand by taking a strong public option bill into the House-Senate conference."
LA Times' Peter Nicholas, "White House relies on core healthcare team": "Months ago, when President Obama made healthcare his top domestic priority and picked the White House team to make it happen, he selected individuals for just this moment -- not for the beginning or the middle of the campaign, but for the end of the fight.
"That time has arrived for Obama and for the six people he chose. With deep ties to Capitol Hill, the team is designed for the inside game unfolding now in House and Senate offices. Their job includes gathering intelligence, assessing what lawmakers want and devising compromises to win over balky members without alienating others.
"But their paramount goal has been -- and remains -- to keep the process moving irrepressibly forward and on a practicable track. They believe that letting it bog down or veer in some damaging direction, even for a moment, could doom the whole effort.
The core group consists of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, legislative affairs director Phil Schiliro, communications expert Dan Pfeiffer, [Peter] Orszag, [Jim] Messina and [Nancy-Ann] DeParle. Each brings particular experience and skills to the task. Each is first and foremost an inside player, comfortable operating behind the scenes."
"Mr. Abdullah, who finished second in nationwide voting in August, said he was under no pressure from American officials or anyone else to join a coalition government. But he declined to rule out that possibility, one which officials in the Obama administration appear to favor to end weeks of political uncertainty here...
"Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission formally certified the vote Tuesday, and said Mr. Karzai had received 49.7 percent of the votes, higher than a foreign-led panel of experts conducting an audit had found, but still short of over 50 percent which was required to avoid a runoff."
Washington Post's Karen DeYoung and Joshua Partlow, "Afghanistan's Karzai accepted runoff election only after hours of tense talks"
"The success or failure of a runoff will play a large part in determining how President Barack Obama decides to move forward in Afghanistan," adds McClatchy Newspapers' Hal Bernton. "His top military commander, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, is seeking as many as 80,000 additional American troops to improve security and train Afghan forces, but top administration officials have warned that Obama isn't likely to send them unless he's convinced that the U.S. has a credible partner in Kabul.
"'This is a reflection of a commitment to the rule of law, an insistence that the Afghan people's will should be done,' Obama told reporters in the White House after he called Karzai. 'And so I expressed the American people's appreciation for this step.'
"The Taliban are less appreciative. Last week, a Taliban spokesman told McClatchy that his group would try to disrupt a new election, and the planned second-round vote will require a repeat of the massive military mobilization that supported the $300 million first round — this time on short notice as the winter snows approach and travel becomes more difficult."
Boston Globe's Farah Stockman, "Kerry brokers Afghan runoff": "What began as a routine fact-finding trip to Afghanistan last week turned into a high-profile diplomatic foray for Senator John F. Kerry, who unexpectedly plunged into five days of talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to resolve a political impasse over disputed elections that threatened to drag the country deeper into crisis.
"Hours after he landed in Kabul on Friday, the Massachusetts Democrat was called upon by the US ambassador to negotiate with Karzai, a request that triggered a marathon of detailed meetings - over tea, over dinner, and in private strolls on grounds of the presidential palace.
"Yesterday, Kerry stood beside Karzai as the Afghan president announced that he had agreed to a runoff election Nov. 7. It is meant to diminish the taint of fraud on Karzai's reelection that has thrown doubt on the legitimacy of Afghanistan's government, and greatly complicated President Obama's deliberations on the war. Kerry is due to meet Obama today at the White House to report on the runoff agreement, which could ease the way politically if the president decides to increase troop levels."
Washington Post's Dan Balz and Jon Cohen, "U.S. deeply split on troop increase for Afghan war": "As President Obama and his war cabinet deliberate a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan, Americans are evenly and deeply divided over whether he should send 40,000 more troops there, and public approval of the president's handling of the situation has tumbled, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has recommended the substantial increase in troop strength, and 47 percent of those polled favor the buildup, while 49 percent oppose it. Most on both sides hold their views 'strongly.' The survey also found that a large majority of Americans say the administration lacks a clear plan for dealing with the problems in Afghanistan."
"You may have noticed that the appearance by the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate is happening smack dab in the middle of the November ratings derby. It's also the day before Palin's new book, 'Going Rogue: An American Life,' is scheduled to hit bookstores…
"It's not just another show booking for Oprah. She's going whole hog this season to try to recover from the ratings tumble she took last season when her audience slid to under 7 million viewers. And, during one awful week in July, 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' suffered its smallest ratings since its debut way back in 1985.
"Industry navel gazers speculated Oprah had turned off some of her conservative viewers -- or, more accurately, they had turned her off -- when she not only endorsed then presidential candidate Barack Obama but even campaigned for him. (Palin, of course, was the running mate of Obama's rival, Sen. John McCain.)"
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