A Palin goes for Gingrich
Newt Gingrich may have been hoping for a Palin endorsement, but the one he announced Monday was probably not the one he was expecting.
The aspiring Republican presidential nominee said he received a call from former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s husband saying he would endorse him for president.
“Honored to be endorsed by Todd Palin.” Gingrich tweeted, though he did not mention anything about the more powerful Palin and if she had chosen whom to support in the 2012 campaign.
Gingrich’s campaign released a short press release later in the day quoting Todd Palin — a former snow machine champion who was introduced throughout the 2008 campaign by his wife as the “First Dude” of Alaska — calling Gingrich a “true leader.”
Palin even drew comparisons of the 68-year-old former speaker of the House with his 47-year-old wife who was the first Republican woman to run for vice president.
“Just like Sarah, Newt has faced many successes and challenges,” Palin said in the statement released by Gingrich’s campaign. “Despite his consultants leaving him last summer, Newt is still standing because of his ideas and his success in the debates — not by spending millions of dollars in campaign ads.”
FBI releases files on ex-Senator Stevens, little on corruption case
The FBI released some of its expansive files on former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens who died last year in a plane crash, offering tidbits about threats against him, accusations of corruption and some correspondence he had with the FBI.
There was very little in the thousands of pages about the federal corruption investigation into Stevens beyond press clippings and court filings previously made public. The senator was initially convicted by a jury in October 2008 but the case was later dropped after a federal judge found that federal prosecutors withheld critical evidence from Stevens’ defense team.
Still, there were a few interesting tidbits, including details of contacts with foreign officials, several threats against him and also his work dating back to the 1950s when was a federal prosecutor in Alaska.
One FBI note talks about allegations that an attorney made a contribution to the Alaska Republican Party but it was allegedly illegally directed to Stevens’ re-election campaign and later the attorney received an appointment to be a federal judge with the senator’s support.
Another memo talked about an allegation that the former owner of the Fairbanks Daily News Miner who died and gave Stevens a $400,000 yacht in his will in exchange for his past help winning federal funds for projects in the city. The files do not offer details of investigations into the allegations. Stevens was never charged in those incidents.
One interesting document in Stevens’ FBI file included correspondence about the senator’s contacts with a diplomat from the Chinese Embassy in 1982, Ji Chaozhu, and the FBI’s request for advance notice of meetings in the future. (page 334 in this file)
“As you know, your letter is very helpful to us in fulfilling our counterintelligence responsibilities,” then FBI Director William Webster said in a letter to Stevens. “Edward J. O’Malley, Assistant Director of our Intelligence Division, has suggested to me that if you have an opportunity to do so, similar notification of future meetings you may have with officials of the People’s Republic of China would be of interest.”
As ghostwriter of Ji Chaozhu’s autobiography, “The Man on Mao’s Right,” I was fascinated to find that the FBI had to ask Sen. Stevens to keep the Bureau in the loop on Mr. Ji’s contacts with the Senator. I always thought the relationship, which Ji described as quite sincere and useful to both sides, was a classic case of odd bedfellows: the conservative and the communist breaking bread instead of heads. Ji was a product of America as well as China, having spent most of his youth until Harvard here, then returning to China out of a sense of duty. I hope more details of the US interest in this relationship turns up. I had always wanted to interview Sen. Stevens about it but never got the chance. — Foster Winans
Murkowski rates write-in campaign courageous or crazy
“Political courage or just plain crazy.”
That’s the explanation Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski gives for why, against her party’s wishes, she waged a write-in campaign to hang on to her U.S. Senate seat.
The ballots are still being counted but Murkowski looks set to make history as the first senator to be elected in a write-in campaign since Strom Thurmond in 1954.
“This is a whole new world for me and a whole new world for my colleagues,” Murkowski said in an interview with Katie Couric on CBS on Monday.
Murkowski has made a stunning comeback after being defeated in Alaska’s Republican Senate primary election by Tea Party favorite and Sarah Palin-endorsed Joe Miller.
“I do not pass the purity test that the Tea Party has set out. It’s as simple as that,” Murkowski said. “But I don’t think most people in my state pass that.”
Asked about her relationship with Palin, a former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008, Murkowski said: “I’m still her senator. I’m going to work hard to represent her too.”
If she’s been elected she will have been chosen by the PEOPLE of Alaska, not some weird sect. Sen. Murkowski will deserve the same respect as any other senator; perhaps more because she did it herself and isn’t the creatrue of a party machine.
Washington Extra – Northern Exposure
Strange characters, quirky storylines and weird happenings out in Alaska.
Anyone hoping for a remake of Northern Exposure would have been disappointed by Sarah Palin’s Alaska, her new television series that aired last night and delivered a much straighter diet of “family adventure” and “flippin’ fun.”
The reality show, which drew a record five million viewers to TLC, showed the human side of a politician who is among the most polarizing in American politics today. It is the kind of positive media exposure money can’t buy, and got everyone talking again this morning about whether the former vice presidential nominee will run for the top job in 2012.
Washington Extra is not taking a position on that question. But after watching some of the shots of Alaska, I know where we are planning our next family vacation in 2011.
Finally, since this is Palin’s day, more congratulations are in order. Her very own word, refudiate, was awarded 2010 word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary today and came in fourth in a similar list compiled by the Global Language Monitor.
But a shout-out for the DC area too. Snowpocalypse (together with Snowmaggedon), our very own winter blizzard, was listed in a respectable seventh place in the Global Language Monitor list.
Here are our top stories from Washington today…
Will spelling count in Alaska write-in ballot count?
They’re counting write-in ballots in Alaska to decide the winner of the last undecided U.S. Senate race of the 2010 elections.
It’s write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski versus Sarah Palin protege and Tea Party favorite Joe Miller in a Republican family feud where spelling counts.
Incumbent Murkowski lost to Miller in the Republican Senate primary. But she mounted a write-in campaign to keep the seat she’s held for eight years.
It’s the “The Great Alaska Spelling Bee” in which Miller sought to make sure Murkowski’s name be spelled right on the write-in ballots. Before the counting started on Wednesday , Miller filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to invoke the spelling rule.
The jury is still out on that one.
Meantime, seattlepi.com reported initial results from Juneau indicate that Murkowski is headed back to theSenate, unless Miller prevails in court and as the count proceeded, a federal judge denied Miller’s request to immediately stop the write-in counts.
Both the Murkowski and Miller campaigns have lawyers and election observers camped out in Juneau for the write-in count which could take a few days. The counts and challenges stir up memories of hanging chads in another contentious recount battle, Bush v. Gore , which Miller cites in his lawsuit.
Campaign’s over, so start campaigning
Finally get some shut-eye after Tuesday’s election? Well, rise and shine. 2012 is just around the corner and the presidential campaign is already getting under way.
Folks at the White House may be asking themselves if the humbled, chastened President Barack Obama will face a primary challenge from the Left.
That bit of speculation got churning after newly unemployed Senate Democrat Russ Feingold conceded defeat with the decidedly unchastened message: “It’s on to the next fight. It’s on to the next battle. It’s on to 2012. And it is on to our next adventure — forward!”
Then the Washington political journal Politico wondered aloud if Obama’s almost meek-sounding response to the Republican midterm wave could make him vulnerable to a fiery challenge from Howard Dean.
According to the latest speculation, a primary challenge from the Left could weaken Obama in 2012 by making it much harder for him to galvanize his base for the general election. Teddy Kennedy did the same favor for Jimmy Carter in 1980.
Enter: Ronald Reagan.
The names of more than a dozen prospective Republican wannabes are already floating around. And some of them have lost no time in the post-midterm race for recognition. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, seen as a potential GOP frontrunner in 2012, was on MSNBC’s Morning Joe saying that one sweet spot for compromise between Obama and Republicans would be the reform of entitlement programs like that longstanding third rail of politics, Social Security. Pawlenty’s got it all figured out, as a potential presidential candidate should, and says reassuringly that there’s nothing scary involved, be ye beneficiary or politician. “The American people aren’t stupid. They need people to look them in the eye and say: ‘Here’s the truth,” says the Republican governor from the traditionally Blue state. Just reduce cost-of-living increases for wealthier Americans and index the retirement age to reflect U.S. life expectancy, which happens to rank 38th globally (right behind Cuba’s). In an arena where size really does matter, political rock star Sarah Palin has long been the 2012 Republican prospect with the biggest public spotlight.
Media relations eclipse rhetoric as bare-knuckle politics
The campaign rhetoric couldn’t be harsher, what with the talk about who’s a whore and who’s a nut job and who cheated on who’s ex-wife. (Remember when ‘who’ was just the guy on first?)
But nowadays the real bare-knuckle politics appears to be between the candidates and the news media.
Take the Senate campaign in Alaska. Tea Party Republican Joe Miller won’t talk to the press about his past as a public official. And when a journalist wouldn’t stop asking about it over the weekend, Miller’s private security team intervened.
Tony Hopfinger, editor of the online Alaska Dispatch, says he was pushed against the wall and handcuffed by a plain clothes Miller security guard who refused to identify himself. Miller describes the event differently, blaming “an irrational blogger” for trying to “take advantage of a town hall meeting to create a publicity stunt just two weeks before the election.” “Even though Joe had spent nearly an hour freely answering questions from those in attendance, the blogger chased Miller to the exit after the event concluded in an attempt to create and then record a ‘confrontation’ with the candidate. While Miller attempted to calmly exit the facility, the blogger physically assaulted another individual and made threatening gestures and movements towards the candidate.” So reads the statement on Miller’s campaign Web site. No one was charged or arrested. But the incident is only the latest scuffle between the candidates and the press this year. An angry Carl Paladino, the Tea Party-backed Republican gubernatorial candidate in New York, threatened to take out a reporter from the New York Post not long ago. And he didn’t mean that as a dinner invitation. The phenomenon has not occurred only in the Republican or Tea Party camp, either. A staffer for Massachusetts Democratic Senate nominee Martha Coakley got the year off to a rousing start in January by shoving a reporter as he tried to ask challenging questions of the state attorney general. At least some of the friction may stem from a campaign strategy that seeks to shepherd untried candidates away from unscripted public appearances where an unexpected question might prompt a contest-ending gaffe. The tactic may make 2010 the year of the missing candidate. Could it be that the best route to the cut-and-thrust world of Washington politics is a path that skirts the cut-and-thrust politics of the campaign? We may find out after Election Day.
Photo Credit: Reuters/Cathal McNaughton (Bare-knuckle Boxers)
Washington Extra -The audacity of hope?
If rescuing the U.S. economy from the Slough of Despond wasn’t enough, President Barack Obama took a stab at finding peace in the Middle East today. Obama is determined to forge a new relationship with the Muslim world, and presumably would like to unquestionably earn the Nobel Peace Prize he was awarded last year. But getting embroiled in the Middle East is a risk for the president, not least because failure to reach an accord could set back his efforts to win over Muslims and achieve solidarity over Iran. Ordinary Israelis and Palestinians are not optimistic about this latest peace effort, and experts say the one-year deadline to reach a deal does not appear very realistic. Nevertheless, it is hard to argue with Obama’s opening remarks today, and his hope that “extremists and rejectionists” should not be allowed to derail the peace process.
It is often interesting when high-ranking officials leave office and get the chance to unburden themselves. White House economist Christina Romer was no exception today, issuing an impassioned plea for more economic stimulus measures, even if they push up the fiscal deficit in the short term. “The only sure-fire ways for policymakers to substantially increase aggregate demand in the short run are for the government to spend more and tax less. In my view we should be moving forward on both fronts,” she said in a speech at the National Press Club. “I desperately hope that policymakers on both sides of the aisle will find a way to finish the job of economic recovery,” she added. WashingtonExtra won’t be holding its metaphorical breath.
Finally today, another win by a Tea Party favorite in Alaska this week underlines that the movement is not just a passing fad, and has the staying power to be a significant factor in November’s Congressional elections. What’s more, Democratic hopes that radical Tea Party candidates will alienate moderate voters and energize Democrats are not being realized. In fact, Tea Party favorites are already ahead of Democratic rivals in the opinion polls in Colorado, Kentucky and Florida, and only slightly behind in Nevada.
Here are our top stories from today…
Obama opens Mideast peace summit, says U.S. resolute
President Barack Obama vowed that “extremists and rejectionists” would not derail the relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations as he opened a peace summit shadowed by Middle East violence. Wading into Middle East diplomacy in the face of deep skepticism over his chances for securing an elusive peace deal, Obama condemned as “senseless slaughter” a Hamas attack on Tuesday that killed four Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.
Florida, Arizona contestants set, still waiting on Alaska…
The contestants are set in Florida’s three-way race for the U.S. Senate and John McCain holds on to pursue a fifth term.
But most of the chatter this morning is about the Alaska surprise where Joe Miller, an underdog candidate backed by Sarah Palin and the Tea Party, edged into the lead over incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski. It may take a week or more to determine the winner of the primary as rural and absentee votes are tallied.
How Miller fares will be seen as a test of Palin’s clout in the Republican Party. She has backed a number of candidates in this primary season and her results are mixed.
The Palin-Murkowski rivalry is not new, the former Republican vice presidential candidate defeated the senator’s father, Frank Murkowski in the 2006 race for Alaska governor.
The Anchorage Daily News quoted Miller saying he was certain Palin’s endorsement was “pivotal” for his 51-49 percent lead. The newspaper also quoted Murkowski taking a shot at PalinTuesday night by saying “I think she’s out for her own self-interest. I don’t think she’s out for Alaska’s interest.”
McCain’s victory in the Arizona Republican primary went against the anti-incumbent mood when he defeated challenger J.D. Hayworth in a hard fought battle in which both candidates claimed the support of Tea Party activists.
In the Florida primary, Congressman Kendrick Meek defeated billionaire Jeff Greene to become the Democratic candidate for Senate. Meek will square off against Republican nominee and Tea Party favorite Marco Rubio and Governor Charlie Crist, who left the Republican party this year to run as an independent.
Lisa was appointed by her father, Governor Frank Murkowski, to his own unexpired Senate seat in December 2002. Is Alaska’s Senate seat hereditary?
Senate honors Ted Stevens with moment of silence, summer recess
The Senate honored Ted Stevens, the former Senator from Alaska who was killed in a plane crash this week, with a moment of silence, a resolution and an end-of-summer recess.
Stevens, who served in the Senate for 40 years until he lost the 2008 election amid a corruption scandal, was on a fishing trip with a small group of friends when their small plane crashed in a remote area of Alaska.
The Senate returned to session on Thursday to give final approval to legislation to provide $600 million to strengthen security along the border with Mexico in the latest measure aimed at fighting illegal immigration, a highly politically sensitive issue in this midterm election year.
With two senators present representing the 100-member chamber, the Senate also used the occasion to honor Stevens.
Senator Charles Schumer made note of the Incredible Hulk tie that Stevens would wear when there was a battle to be fought on the Senate floor.
The Senate resolution noted that Stevens began serving in the Senate nine years after Alaska achieved statehood, was the longest-serving Republican senator in history, and was “well respected for reaching across the aisle to forge bipartisan alliances…”
And while the Senate had already planned to be in recess until Sept. 13 before Stevens’ death, it marked the recess as an additional honor to the former senator.
Just like his Grifter wife, Todd Palin doesn’t actually care about Gingrich or the GOP nomination. He only cares about how he can USE the issue for his own benefit. Todd has recently tried to get the Discovery channel to produce another BOGUS “reality” show, this time about Todd’s participation in the Iron Dog snowmobile race. Discovery turned him down flat. Fox “news” is likely to not renew Sarah’s contract, primarily because of the incredibly shoddy way she handled her Presidential run prospects. Sarah has been like a stripper teasing the audience , and for the same reasons. She wants to fleece as much money as possible off the rubes who blindly follow her. The legacy of the Tea Party and it’s poster girl Palin, and the Right Wing extremists like Rush Limbaugh and the Koch brothers is the total destruction of the GOP’s leadership