President Barack Obama meets with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the White House around 11 a.m. in the long-running quest for Middle East peace that has bedeviled American presidents for decades.

Mubarak is already out with his talking points, saying in media interviews that Arab states would recognize and normalize ties with Israel only after an overall Middle East peace deal is achieved, and not before.

Obama then turns to Clinton vs. Clinton. He meets Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at 1:30 p.m. about her Africa trip, and then moves on to a meeting with Bill Clinton, the former president and current husband to the secretary of state, about his trip to North Korea.

The Obama-Clinton meeting on Africa is in the Oval Office, while the Obama-Clinton meeting on North Korea is in the Situation Room — it may be a draw in signaling which one is more important.

And speaking of searching for peace, Jenny Sanford (wife of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford who told the world about his longing for his Argentine mistress) talks to Vogue about dealing with the after-effects of the affair.

“I have learned that these affairs are almost like an addiction to alcohol or pronography. They just can’t break away from them,” Jenny Sanford says.

Click here for more Reuters political coverage

Photo Credit: Reuters/Eric Thayer (fan at music festival on 40th anniversary of Woodstock)

Plenty of current and former U.S. senators had memorable professions before they got to Washington: country fiddler (Robert Byrd of West Virginia), astronaut (John Glenn of Ohio), jewelry-maker (Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado). But none were dogged by a satirical persona, as is already happening to newly-confirmed Democratic Senator-elect Al Franken of Minnesota.

Franken, formerly a comedian and writer for “Saturday Night Live,” created the character Stuart Smalley, a cardigan-wearing self-help guru, often pictured gazing lovingly into a mirror and intoning, “I’m going to do a terrific show today! And I’m gonna help people! Because I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and, doggonit, people like me!”

Stuart showed up in many Web headlines noting Franken’s victory in the Minnesota senate race over Republican Norm Coleman, especially those with a conservative bent.

“No Joke! Stuart Smalley Headed to Senate” — www.thefoxnation.com

“Stuart Smalley Goes To Washington! Al Franken Gives Dems Super-Majority” — www.werushdaily.com

“Covering Al Franken: Stuart Smalley Saves The Senate!
Commentary: Can Journalists Look Past The Goofy Persona Of The Politician?” — www.cbsnews.com

So we ask you: Is there any way Franken can shed the ghost of Smalley? Does he need to?

Franken is lucky in at least one respect. The decision that cleared the way for him to take his Senate seat came during a quiet week in Washington. President Barack Obama holds a town hall meeting on health care in the Virginia suburbs. The morning television shows focused — again, still — on Michael Jackson and preparations for a memorial service at his California estate, Neverland. The Mark Sanford saga continues, with sympathy running high for the South Carolina governor’s wife Jenny after Sanford described his Argentine inamorata as his soulmate.

For more Reuters political coverage, click here.

Photo credit: REUTERS/Eric Miller (Franken and his wife Franni in Minneapolis on June 30, 2009)

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford hurt many people when he spent the last weekend “crying in Argentina,” as he put it at a press conference yesterday.

There’s his family, of course, and his Republican Party, where he had emerged as a rising star.

But there is opportunity in every crisis, as Rahm Emanuel likes to say, and one man stands to benefit from Sanford’s downfall: Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.

Barbour took over as head of the Republican Governors Association yesterday after Sanford resigned the post. From this perch, he can burnish his credentials as a party leader and Washington outsider as he assesses a possible 2012 presidential bid.

Barbour, a former lobbyist, is a longtime party insider who headed the Republican National Committee from 1993 to 1997, a time when the party’s fortunes were rising.

He won high marks as governor for his response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, in contrast to the chaos in neighboring Louisiana and at the federal level.

He opposed taking federal stimulus money earlier this year for unemployment benefits, saying it would eventually force the state to raise taxes. That stance won praise from conservatives worried about runaway spending, though it probably made him less popular with those down on their luck.

Party insider Ron Kaufman said Barbour’s reputation for competence could help restore a tarnished Republican brand.

“He’s got a very loyal group of people and now he’s proven he can govern. He’s a serious player,” said Kaufman, an adviser to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2008.

“If the byword for the 2008 elections was change, then the byword for 2012 is competence,” Kaufman told Reuters.

photo credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (Barbour at a dinner for the National Governors Association at the White House, Feb. 22)

For more Reuters political coverage, click here.

When Governor Mark Sanford walks out of the woods tomorrow, he’s sure for a big surprise.

The governor of South Carolina went hiking on the Appalachian Trail last Thursday to clear his head after a tough legislative session, according to his aides. Nothing odd in that - politicians need time off as much as anyone. Trouble is, when Sanford left he didn’t tell his aides where he was going. He didn’t tell the state’s lieutenant governor either. Or his wife.

His disappearance sparked speculation about his whereabouts, although Fox News reported he did call to check in two days into the trip. Tomorrow he is due to emerge from the trail and return to work and he will doubtless face many questions. For a possible presidential candidate in 2012, the distraction could prove awkward.

And it won’t help that the father of four sons was away from home on Father’s Day.

PHOTO CREDIT: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst: South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford arrives for a dinner held for the National Governors Association at the White House in Feb. 22, 2009.

Watch out Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina, New York and California would love those dollars you turn down from the $787 billion economic stimulus plan.
 
A few governors, namely Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, South Carolina’s Mark Sanford and Mississippi’s Haley Barbour, have all said that they may turn down some of the stimulus money for their states, particularly aid aimed at bolstering unemployment benefit programs.
 
“We can’t pay for the benefits already in the program, but to get the stimulus money, we’ve got to increase the program’s size and scale,” Sanford said on “Fox News Sunday”.
 
That has some other states hard hit by the deepening recession calling for the money to be sent their way, especially New York where Wall Street has been laying off workers by the thousands.
 
“If any governor — Democrat or Republican — leaves stimulus money on the table, then we respectfully request that funds be distributed to New York,” the state’s two Democratic senators, Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, said in a letter to President Barack Obama on Monday.
 
Another New York lawmaker, Representative Anthony Weiner, plans to offer legislation that would redirect rejected stimulus funds to other states. 
 
“If some governors decide to reject the money, 45 other states should be able to use it to create thousands of jobs. We have plenty of projects across the country that will put people to work and help achieve long term economic growth and stability,” Weiner said in a statement.

For more Reuters political news, click here.

- Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Segar (Wall Street in New York City.)

Last week, Republicans were nearly united in their opposition to the massive $787 billion stimulus bill. But now that it’s been signed into law, many are changing their tune.

Nine Republican House members from Florida, who all voted against the stimulus bill, are now asking the government to send money to their state quickly, Politico reports.     

North Carolina Representative Heath Shuler, who also voted against the bill, has also told his constituents he’s going to fight for federal dollars.

And Michigan Republican Pete Hoekstra, who voted against the bill, is encouraging people to take advantage of its $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers.

“If you know of someone thinking of buying first home, now may be the time. Stimulus incentive is very generous! Up to 8k! Check it out,” he wrote in his Twitter feed.

Even South Carolina Republican Governor Mark Sanford, one of the bill’s most ardent critics, is backing away from his earlier suggestion that he might refuse stimulus cash.

Photo credit: REUTERS/Jason Reed

For more Reuters political coverage, click here.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford feels pretty good about John McCain’s chances in his state.

“If we gotta worry about South Carolina, go ahead and fold up the tent — the whole match is over,” he tells Inside the Tent contributor John Steward. “No worries in South Carolina, and if they come, we got real problems.”

Inside the Tent has more than 40 delegates and other attendees in Denver and St. Paul, equipped with video cameras to capture the conventions from the ground up. Steward is not a Reuters employee and any opinions expressed are his own.

Click here for a full list of contributors at the Republican National Convention.

Click here for more Inside the Tent contributions.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 election coverage.