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Giuliani Ad Paints Dems As Tax Hikers

TITLE: "Promise."

LENGTH:30 seconds.

AIRING: New Hampshire.

SCRIPT: Giuliani: "When I became mayor of New York City things were out of control. I lowered taxes. I reduced the growth of government. Made government more accountable. And New York City boomed. I would do these things for America because I know they work. I know that reducing taxes produces more revenues. Democrats don't know that. They don't believe it. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, here's a promise I assure you they'll keep. They are making the promise to raise taxes. The only thing I can tell you in addition to that is they'll raise taxes even more than they promise. I'm Rudy Giuliani, and I approve this message."

KEY IMAGES: The ad features Romney in suit and tie talking to the camera. He smiles, he gestures, he scoffs and he laughs. The spot is interspersed with images from previous Giuliani ads _ a couple moving into a brownstone, a jogger in Central Park, a couple looking out over the cityscape.

ANALYSIS: Giuliani takes on Democratic front-runners Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards and casts their pledges to roll back some of the tax cuts enacted during the past six years as tax increases.

To be sure, all three Democrats have said they would pay for their policy initiatives, especially their health care plans, largely by allowing Bush's tax cuts to expire on schedule in 2010. That would result in higher tax rates and higher taxes, especially for high-income taxpayers.

But the Democrats also have proposals for their own tax cuts, while increasing those of the wealthy. Edwards' $25 billion per year plan would cut taxes for the middle class and raise the capital gains rate on individuals who make more than $250,000 per year. Obama would provide tax relief to workers and the elderly by raising the capital gains rate and closing some corporate tax loopholes.

Giuliani's anti-tax message could have special resonance in New Hampshire, a state that prides itself on not having a sales tax or a state income tax. By casting the top Democrats as tax raisers, Giuliani also appeals to the vast number of independent New Hampshire voters, who can vote in either the Democratic or the Republican primaries.

Giuliani and Mitt Romney have sparred over who was responsible for more tax cuts and who was the better fiscal steward _ Giuliani as mayor of New York or Romney as governor of Massachusetts. The two went after each other during Wednesday night's CNN/YouTube debate, particularly on the subject of immigration.

But neither Giuliani nor Romney, who aired a new ad this week as well, are using commercials to criticize each other directly. Tobe Berkovitz, interim dean at Boston University's college of communication and a former political media consultant, said the candidates are still not ready to run attack ads for fear of angering the public.

"Overall, you tend to get less blowback from the media and from the voters when it comes to these fights at a debate rather than in attack ads," he said. Still, he predicted that in the final weeks before New Hampshire's Jan. 8 primary "the gloves will come off."

"It will be like one of those caged death matches."

Giuliani, as he has in previous ads, emphasizes New York's resurgence while he was mayor. He did indeed cut taxes, though he lays claim to $9 billion in cuts during his eight-year tenure, while the city's independent Citizens Budget Commission gives him credit for about $5.8 billion. He also reduced welfare rolls by more than 50 percent. But he inherited a $2.3 billion budget deficit when he became mayor and left an even bigger gap when he left.

Romney is leading in New Hampshire polls, but Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain are in a virtual tie behind him.

The Giuliani campaign has significantly increased its spending on advertising in New Hampshire and Boston markets. For the period from Thursday through Tuesday he is outspending Romney, according to data compiled by other presidential campaigns. By some estimates, Giuliani is spending between $570,000 and $650,000. Romney, who has spent about $5.2 million in ads throughout the year in New Hampshire and Boston markets, is spending about $350,000 for his current buy, according to one estimate.

6,000 Sunnis Join Pact With U.S. in Iraq

HAWIJA, Iraq -- Nearly 6,000 Sunni Arab residents joined a security pact with American forces Wednesday in what U.S. officers described as a critical step in plugging the remaining escape routes for extremists flushed from former strongholds.

The new alliance -- called the single largest single volunteer mobilization since the war began -- covers the "last gateway" for groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq seeking new havens in northern Iraq, U.S. military officials said.

U.S. commanders have tried to build a ring around insurgents who fled military offensives launched earlier this year in the western Anbar province and later into Baghdad and surrounding areas. In many places, the U.S.-led battles were given key help from tribal militias -- mainly Sunnis -- that had turned again al-Qaida and other groups.

Extremists have sought new footholds in northern areas once loyal to Saddam Hussein's Baath party as the U.S.-led gains have mounted across central regions. But their ability to strike near the capital remains.

A woman wearing an explosive-rigged belt blew herself up near an American patrol near Baqouba, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, the military announced Wednesday. The blast on Tuesday -- a rare attack by a female suicide bomber -- wounded seven U.S. troops and five Iraqis, the statement said.

The ceremony to pledge the 6,000 new fighters was presided over by dozen sheiks _ each draped in black robes trimmed with gold braiding _ who signed the contract on behalf of tribesmen at a small U.S. outpost in north-central Iraq.

For about $275 a month -- nearly the salary for the typical Iraqi policeman -- the tribesmen will man about 200 security checkpoints beginning Dec. 7, supplementing hundreds of Iraqi forces already in the area.

About 77,000 Iraqis nationwide, mostly Sunnis, have broken with the insurgents and joined U.S.-backed self-defense groups.

Those groups have played a major role in the lull in violence: 648 Iraqi civilians have been killed or found dead in November to date, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press. This compares with 2,155 in May as the so-called "surge" of nearly 30,000 additional American troops gained momentum.

U.S. troop deaths in Iraq have also dropped sharply. So far this month, the military has reported 34 deaths, compared with 38 in October. In June, 101 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq.

Village mayors and others who signed Wednesday's agreement say about 200 militants have sought refuge in the area, about 30 miles southwest of Kirkuk on the edge of northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region. Hawija is a predominantly Sunni Arab cluster of villages which has long been an insurgent flashpoint.

The recently arrived militants have waged a campaign of killing and intimidation to try to establish a new base, said Sheikh Khalaf Ali Issa, mayor of Zaab village.

"They killed 476 of my citizens, and I will not let them continue their killing," Issa said.

With the help of the new Sunni allies, "the Hawija area will be an obstacle to militants, rather than a pathway for them," said Maj. Sean Wilson, with the Army's 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division. "They're another set of eyes that we needed in this critical area."

By defeating militants in Hawija, U.S. and Iraqi leaders hope to keep them away from Kirkuk, an ethnically diverse city that is also the hub of Iraq's northern oil fields.

"They want to go north into Kirkuk and wreak havoc there, and that's exactly what we're trying to avoid," Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, the top U.S. commander in northern Iraq, told The Associated Press this week.

Kurds often consider Kurkik part of their ancestral homeland and often refer to the city as the "Kurdish Jerusalem." Saddam, however, relocated tens of thousands of pro-regime Arabs to the city in the 1980s and 1990s under his "Arabization" policy.

The Iraqi government has begun resettling some of those Arabs to their home regions, making room for thousands of Kurds who have gradually returned to Kirkuk since Saddam's ouster.

Tension has been rising over the city's status _ whether it will join the semi-autonomous Kurdish region or continue being governed by Baghdad.

"Hawija is the gateway through which all our communities _ Kurdish, Turkomen and Arab alike _ can become unsafe," said Abu Saif al-Jabouri, mayor of al-Multaqa village north of Kirkuk. "Do I love my neighbor in Hawija? That question no longer matters. I must work to help him, because his safety helps me."

In Baghdad, crowds waited until nightfall for the arrival a bus convoy carrying more than 800 Iraqi refugees home from Syria. The buses _ funded by the Iraqi government _ left Damascus on Tuesday and were expected in the Iraqi capital on Wednesday. Government officials gave no details on the delay.

Bill on Hillary: Get Back to the Future

Hillary Rodham Clinton will bring America "back to the future," husband Bill says, promoting his own legacy in public life almost as much as his wife's presidential campaign.

"I think she has proven in all these debates, and especially the last one, that she is the strongest, most reliable person that we could elect," the former president told more than 400 potential voters at a YMCA gym. "And I say that as an admirer of the rest of the candidates. I like this field."

Clinton's visit marked the start of a battle of campaign surrogates _ Clinton vs. Winfrey, the former president stumping for his wife and media mogul Oprah Winfrey backing Sen. Clinton's chief rival, Barack Obama, in appearances scheduled for next week.

"Oprah vs. Bill! Now, there's a race," said Gail VanGundy, 59, an undecided voter who said the former president is a bigger draw for her than Winfrey.

"Both have star power," said Alfred Monroe, 76, as he awaited the former president's appearance in this eastern Iowa town.

Whether surrogates like Clinton and Winfrey sway voters is debatable, but operatives in both campaigns welcome their ability to draw crowds and attention in the closing days of a hotly contested race. An hour before Clinton was scheduled to arrive in Muscatine, more than 50 people lined up for seats.

Speaking for more than an hour, he discussed his wife's agenda and experience in exhaustive terms, sprinkling the remarks with asides about his presidency and his activities on the world stage since he left office in January 2001.

"I never ask anybody to vote for Hillary because they supported me. I only ask you to listen to my reasons why I think you should caucus for her," Clinton said, adding that his opinion should matter because "I know what it takes to be president" and "because of the life I've lived since I left office."

He seemed to suggest that the nation needs a return to 1990s sensibilities.

"Here's why I think that she is the person to bring us the right kind of change that we need. First of all, what kind of change do we need? We need to get American back to the future. We need to get America back to the solutions business."

He said his wife has the experience to be president, noting among other things her work as Arkansas' first lady on behalf of school standards, her travels as the nation's first lady to 82 countries and her victory as a Senate candidate in several GOP counties in New York.

Left off his list of Sen. Clinton's experiences: her stewardship of the Clinton administration health care plan that failed in the 1990s.

"You need somebody who is strong, competent, has a good vision and never forgets what it's like to be you," Clinton said. "That's why if we had never spent a year together as husband and wife, I'd be here today."

He pulled a pledge card out of his pocket, held it up to the crowd and asked them to caucus on his wife's behalf Jan. 3.

"The reason I want you to sign one of these cards is because I know her," he said. "I hope you make her the next president because she would be a great president and you would never, ever regret it."

Hillary Defeatable by 5 GOP Frontrunners

All five of the leading Republican presidential candidates — including John McCain — would beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head match-up, according to a surprising new poll from Zogby International.

But Barack Obama outpolled all five GOP hopefuls — Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee, and McCain.

The national poll of nearly 10,000 people — about equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, with about one-quarter independents — is more bad news for longtime front-runner Clinton. It shows that she’s slipping not only in Iowa and several other early caucus or primary states, but across the country as well.

And it appears to confirm the fears of many Democratic stalwarts that candidate Hillary does not offer the party its best chance to win the White House.

Asked whom they would choose in a race between Giuliani and Clinton, 43 percent of respondents said Giuliani and 39.4 percent chose Clinton, with 14.6 percent opting for “someone else” and 3 percent selecting “will not vote/not sure.”

Romney outpolled Clinton by a margin of 43.1 percent to 39.9 percent; Thompson beat out Hillary by a similar margin, 43.2 percent to 39.6 percent; and Mike Huckabee bested Clinton by a solid margin of 44.3 percent to 38.5 percent.

McCain, who trailed Clinton 45 percent to 43 percent in a July Zogby poll, has pulled ahead of the Democrat in the new poll, winning 42.1 of the vote compared to Clinton’s 37.6 percent.

But when the GOP hopefuls are matched up against Obama, the Illinois Democrat beats Giuliani by a margin of 46 percent to 40 percent, Romney (45.8 percent to 39.9 percent), Thompson (46.4 percent to 39.9 percent), Huckabee (45.8 percent to 39.6 percent), and McCain (44.8 percent to 38.2 percent.

Another bad sign for Hillary: John Edwards, who runs third in the polls behind Clinton and Obama, also outpolled all five leading Republicans, although by smaller margins than Obama.

Obama Slams Hillary on Bill Experience

On the campaign trail in rural, western Iowa, presidential hopeful Barack Obama has gone out of his way to belittle Hillary Clinton's experience as first lady, according to an ABC News report.

"I think the fact of the matter is that Sen. Clinton is claiming basically the entire eight years of the Clinton presidency as her own, except for the stuff that didn't work out, in which case she says she has nothing to do with it," Obama said.

Referring to his relationship with his wife, Michelle, Obama said, "There is no doubt that Bill Clinton had faith in her and consulted with her on issues, in the same way that I would consult with Michelle, if there were issues." He added, "On the other hand, I don't think Michelle would claim that she is the best qualified person to be a United States Senator by virtue of me talking to her on occasion about the work I've done."

With this line of attack, Obama continues to portray himself as the most "authentic" candidate -- whose real life experiences distinguish him from his democratic rivals.

"Our most successful presidents have been people who were successful not because of their wealth of Washington experience," Obama said, "but because of the life lessons and schools of hard knocks that they had gone through."

Obama also poked fun at the usual argument against his candidacy:

"I think this whole argument about 'He speaks well, he's got good ideas, but he needs more experience,'" Obama said to a crowd gathered in a School in Western Iowa. "What they really mean is I haven't been in Washington long enough. They want to boil all the hope out of me."

Labels: H

Romney: I'm Glad Hillary Attacked Me

Mitt Romney said Saturday that the best part of the campaign thus far was seeing his picture in a Hillary Clinton attack ad, according to reports in Fox News and the Associated Press.

"For me, I guess it was seeing Hillary Clinton run an ad with my picture in it," Romney said. "Now, I never imagined that would happen. She said, Mitt Romney, part of the Republican attack machine. Isn't that great? I've always (aspired) to be a machine. This is really exciting to have a campaign that is that strong. She hasn't seen nothing yet, of course."

Romney's comment was directed at a TV ad Hillary Clinton began airing in New Hampshire earlier this week, which shows brief cuts of anti-Clinton ads from Republican rivals Romney and John McCain under the title "The Republican Attack Machine."

Romney took the opportunity to expand on the theme.

"I'm convinced you are going to have the Democrats always whining about something. When we talk about their lack of experience they'll be whining. When we talk about the course they would have taken in Iraq and how bad it would have been for our country they'd be whining," Romney said. "It's going to be a lot of whining you are going to hear. But, from our side, you are going to see optimism, hope and a pathway for greater prosperity in this country. "

Romney, moreover, criticized Clinton's record on taxes, spending and health care.

SEC Investigates Co. with Clinton Links

The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into spending by database marketer InfoUSA Inc.

The Omaha-based company said in a filing Tuesday that it would cooperate with the SEC's request for documents related to expense reimbursement, transactions with related parties, some corporate expenditures and certain trades of company stock.

The company did not specify what spending the SEC is looking for, but a lawsuit two hedge funds filed earlier this year may offer some clues.

InfoUSA did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Wednesday.

The hedge funds — Cardinal Value Equity Partners and Dolphin Limited Partnership — say InfoUSA's chief executive misspent millions of dollars in corporate funds.

The funds say InfoUSA paid for use of a jet plane, the 80-foot (25-meter) yacht American Princess, condos in Hawaii and California and a University of Nebraska-Lincoln stadium box.

Some of the $28 million (€19 million) in "related-party transactions" the hedge funds have questioned included payments to Annapurna Corp. which InfoUSA founder and CEO Vin Gupta owned.

The lawsuit also questions why Gupta used private jets to fly Bill and Hillary Clinton on business, personal and campaign trips, and why Gupta gave Bill Clinton a $3.3 million (€2.2 million) consulting contract.

According to the lawsuit, InfoUSA has spent nearly $900,000 (€607,533) since 2001 flying the Clintons to domestic and international locations and political events.

In the past, Gupta and InfoUSA have said the jet, condos, stadium box and American Princess are for entertaining clients.

The company has come under scrutiny for its policies concerning the sale of personal information.

The New York Times reported in May that InfoUSA, which compiles consumer information and sells it to direct marketing companies and others, sold the names of senior citizens, including millions with Alzheimer's disease and others whom it identified as gamblers, with labels that said things such as, "These people are gullible."

The company has denied those allegations and said it does everything it can to ensure it does not do business with scam artists.

Labels: H

Gore Cashing in on $6T Energy Business

Former vice president and environmental activist Al Gore is joining forces with a venture capital company that’s seeking to profit from the move toward “clean technology” in the $6 trillion global energy business.

Gore is becoming a hands-on partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a major Silicon Valley venture capital firm where an old friend, John Doerr, is a partner.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner’s move comes as the company “makes a risky move beyond information technology and healthcare investing into the fast-growing and increasingly competitive arena of ‘clean energy,’” Fortune magazine reports.

Within several years more than a third of Kleiner’s latest fund, which totals $600 million, will reportedly be invested in technologies that seek to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Among the companies the fund has already invested in are firms that make microbes to scrub old oil wells, build large-scale solar-power farms, develop solid-oxide fuel cells, and design equipment for use in electric car batteries.

Doerr, meanwhile, will join the advisory board of Generation Investment Management, the $1 billion investment company Gore began three years ago with David Blood, former head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, to invest in environmentally friendly companies.

Gore, along with Doerr and Blood, insist that halting global warming will require “a makeover of the $6 trillion global energy business,” according to Fortune.

“Coal plants, gas stations, the internal-combustion engine, petrochemicals, plastic bags, even bottled water will have to give way to clean, green, sustainable technologies.”

Asked why he is combining his environmental advocacy work with a profit motives, Gore — who is already an advisor to Google and a director at Apple Inc. — told Fortune: “We all believe the market must play a central role.”

Labels: G

Writers Strike Could Cancel Dems' Debate

NEW YORK -- A potential strike by CBS news writers imperils the last debate among Democratic presidential contenders before voting is to begin.

In a statement Wednesday, Hillary Rodham Clinton said she would not cross a picket line to participate in the debate, scheduled Dec. 10 in Los Angeles. Most of the other candidates quickly followed.

CBS is to broadcast the debate, which is co-sponsored by the Democratic National Committee.

"It is my hope that both sides will reach an agreement that results in a secure contract for the workers at CBS News, but let me be clear: I will honor the picket line if the workers at CBS News decide to strike," Clinton said.

Edwards, on a conference call with reporters, said he would not cross the picket line in the event of a strike. Spokesmen for Barack Obama, Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd also said those candidates would not participate.

Messages left for Joe Biden's campaign were not immediately returned.

The debate was to be the final meeting of Democratic contenders before the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3.

CBS News writers on Monday authorized their union leaders to call a national strike. About 500 of the network's television and radio news writers in New York, Los Angeles and other cities have been working under an expired contract since April 2005.

CBS News called the vote "unfortunate" and said its latest offer was "fair and reasonable."

Democratic spokeswoman Karen Finney said the committee would monitor the CBS labor situation, and she indicated the party would cancel the debate in the event of a strike.

"The Democratic Party believes the right to organize and collectively bargain is one of our most fundamental rights, and we are proud to stand with the working men and women in the labor movement," Finney said. "Given the Democratic Party's long history of supporting the labor movement in America, if the strike is still going on, we will not cross the picket lines."

The DNC recently announced it would move its winter meeting from Baltimore to suburban Virginia west of Washington because of a labor dispute at the Baltimore hotel.

Labels: D

Hillary Blames GOP for Her Woes

Hillary Clinton has been sinking in the polls ever since she fudged her response to questions about driver’s licenses for illegal aliens in the Oct. 30 Democratic debate.

With the latest poll out of Iowa showing her in second place behind Sen. Barack Obama, Hillary’s blaming her woes on . . . Republicans!

In a new Clinton TV ad released Tuesday and airing in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, the voice-over declares:

“Here they go again. The same old Republican attack machine is back. Why? Maybe because they know that there's one candidate with the strength and experience to get us out of Iraq. One candidate who will end tax giveaways for the big corporations. One candidate committed to cutting the huge Republican deficit. And one candidate who will put government back to work for the middle class. The strength to fight. The experience to lead.”

Wait a minute: we thought Obama and Edwards were attacking Hillary.

In an analysis piece in the Washington Post, Howard Kurtz observes: “Hillary Clinton is attempting a form of political jujitsu with this ad, portraying herself as the victim of unfair Republican criticism without specifying what that criticism is.”

The commercial “also evokes the years of GOP assaults during her tenure as first lady, ranging from the Whitewater investigation to the Monica Lewinsky controversy, which Clinton initially blamed on a ‘vast right-wing conspiracy.’”

Kurtz points out that Hillary has not disclosed a comprehensive plan to end corporate tax loopholes, or a plan to wipe out the $163 billion budget deficit while at the same time she is proposing increased spending on healthcare, housing, energy, and education.

Kurtz adds: “In mentioning the words ‘strength’ and ‘experience’ twice, this spot draws on what polls show are Clinton's greatest assets with Democratic voters, as opposed to questions about her candor and ability to foster change. The argument, in effect, is that Clinton draws the most fire from Republicans because she is the candidate they fear most.”

The ad comes as results of the latest poll in early caucus state Iowa now show Barack Obama leading Clinton by a margin of 30 percent to 26 percent.

Another poll taken after the Oct. 30 debate, by CNN/Opinion Research Corp., found that Clinton — who for months had commanded a 30-point advantage over Obama — had seen that lead slip to 19 percent.

And two polls in early primary state New Hampshire showed similar results.

A University of New Hampshire poll found that Hillary’s lead over Obama slipped from 23 percent to 14 percent. And a poll by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion in New Hampshire showed her lead slipping from 22 to 12 percentage points.

Labels: H

Violence Declines Because Iraqis Tired of War

By: Terence P. Jeffrey

Violence is declining in Iraq because Iraqis have grown tired of war, Army Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling told reporters Monday in a teleconference from Contingency Operating Base Speicher outside Tikrit, Iraq.

The general, who commands Multinational Division North and the 1st Armored Division, also attributed the declining violence to the increased capabilities of Iraqi security forces and their effectiveness working in tandem with the U.S. military.

"I think a combination of the people being sick of the violence and the fact that the Iraqi security forces - both army and police - are improving across the board has contributed to the reduction in violence," said Hertling.

"I think primarily the reduction in violence has been caused by the fact that the Iraqi citizens, across the board, are tired of seeing people use their country for a traumatic playground," he said.

"The Iraqi people have stepped up, and that's the primary reason. They're tired of violence. They just want to go back to having their children go to school, farming their fields, running their businesses," Hertling added.

"The second issue, though," he said, "is the increased capability of the Iraqi security forces."

Hertling returned to Iraq from Germany two months ago to take command of Multinational Division North, which oversees coalition forces stationed in four Iraqi provinces, which are north of Baghdad and east of Anbar Province.

He previously served as assistant division commander of the 1st Armored Division, when it was deployed in Baghdad in 2003-2004.

On Nov. 5, the forces under Hertling's command, in combination with Iraqi troops, launched a long-planned operation called Iron Hammer, which is targeting al Qaeda cells in a region of northern Iraq the size of Pennsylvania.

Hertling said the operation has been tremendously successful so far, seizing 400 al Qaeda terrorists and other extremists, as well as 79 arms caches, including "ammunition, homemade explosives, rocket-propelled grenades, about 500 RPGs, 50 RPG launchers, a variety of machine guns, over 100 heavy and light machine guns."

Hertling said that of the 400 terrorists his troops have detained, 200 are still undergoing questioning about the al Qaeda cells operating in the region.

"They are giving us some very good intelligence on the makeup of those cells -- who the leaders are -- and we're continuing to use that information for intelligence-driven raids to continue to go after those organizations," he said.

About 22 percent of the arms caches discovered by Iron Hammer, Hertling said, were discovered because of tips from local citizens.

The area of Iraq that Hertling's forces cover has recently become the most violent area in Iraq because the surge of U.S. troops and the "Awakening" movement among Sunni sheiks in Anbar Province -- which has led to an alliance between formerly hostile Sunni tribes and U.S. forces -- have driven al Qaeda from Anbar and Baghdad.

"What you're seeing is the enemy shifting," said Hertling.

Even though his region is now the most violent in Iraq, he said attacks are nonetheless dropping there dramatically. In June, "there were 1,830 IEDS placed in the MND-North area," said Hertling. "In the October time frame, there were about 900."

Through the first 19 days of October, he said, there were 520 IEDs placed in his region, and through Nov. 19 there were only 466.

"So, it's still continuing to go down, and what's critical about that is, as you know, October was the month of Eid and was somewhat of an off-month, and attacks decreased significantly. So the fact that we're still under the current glide path for the same period last month tells me that's good," Hertling added.

Hertling said that he is now planning a follow-up operation to Operation Iron Hammer. It will be called Iron Reaper. "I won't tell you what we're going to do during that particular operation, but we're going to continue to pursue al Qaeda extremists," said Hertling.

"Whenever you hear the term 'Iron' linked with something else, you'll know that something big is going on in MND-North," he added.

FEC Hits Pro-Kerry Fund with Big Fine

A union-financed advocacy group that played a major role in the 2004 elections has agreed to pay a $580,000 fine after the Federal Election Commission concluded it illegally ran advertising against President Bush and in favor of Democrat John Kerry.

In an agreement announced Monday, the FEC said the now inactive Media Fund spent $53.4 million during the contest on television, radio and newspaper ads and direct mail that made reference to Bush or Kerry. The FEC said the fund violated campaign finance laws because it accepted unlimited donations from labor unions and expressly advocated the defeat or victory of a political candidate.

The Media Fund is the latest in a string of so-called 527 organizations the FEC has fined for their activities during the 2004 presidential campaign. They include groups on both sides of the election, including the anti-Kerry Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth as well as the liberal MoveOn.org Voter Fund.

Lawyers for these groups have argued that at the time of the campaign they believed they were acting within the law. But the FEC has concluded that 527 organizations that stated their desire to influence the presidential election through fundraising, public statements or advertisements violated the law. Such activity, the FEC has said, could only be conducted by political committees registered with the FEC that abide by contribution limits and public disclosure requirements.

In the agreement, the commission said it ''does not challenge TMF's assertion of their good faith reliance on their understanding of the law.'' The FEC said the Media Fund operated ''on their understanding, informed by legal advice, of the legal definition of the scope of 'express advocacy.'''

''The Media Fund is confident that all of the issue advocacy it conducted in 2004 followed both the letter and spirit of the law,'' the group's president, Erik Smith, said. ''In the end, we determined it (was) in the best interests of The Media Fund to avoid litigation cost, settle for a fine and agree not to contest the FEC's conclusions.''

The issue has centered on the emergence of the 527 groups, nonprofit organizations named after the section of the Internal Revenue Service code that governs their activities.

The Media Fund was formed in 2003 as part of a broad effort by liberal and union-related activists to confront Republican voter mobilization efforts and defeat Bush. In August, another group allied with Democrats, America Coming Together, agreed to pay a $775,000 fine.

The settlement with the Media Fund comes nearly four years after campaign finance watchdog groups filed complaints against it and others, alleging they improperly tried to influence the 2004 election with money raised outside federal limits.

The agreement was announced one day before the FEC was to vote on new regulations governing how far a corporation or a union can go in mentioning candidates for political office in ads that are ostensibly advocating for or against an issue. Some critics have said the rule could give nonprofit groups financed with unlimited corporate or union money greater leeway to influence elections.

Activists allied with both Democrats and Republicans already are forming nonprofit groups to run ads and influence the electorate in the 2008 election.

Sen. Reid Will Keep Senate Working to Block Bush

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will keep the U.S. Senate in session over the Thanksgiving break because he wants to block President Bush from making any recess appointments.

Roll Call is reporting that Sen. Reid inserted a statement into the record Friday stating that he will "hold the Senate in a series of pro forma or nonvoting sessions" to prevent Bush from exercising his appointment power.

Reid said, “While an election year looms, significant progress can still be made on nominations. I am committed to making that progress if the President will meet me halfway.

“But that progress can’t be made if the President seeks controversial recess appointments and fails to make Democratic appointments to important commissions.

“With the Thanksgiving break looming, the administration informed me that they would make several recess appointments. I indicated I would be willing to confirm various appointments if the administration would agree to move on Democratic appointments.

“They would not make that commitment,” Reid said.

Roll Call reports that the Democrats particularly object to the possible appointment of James Holsinger as surgeon general. Holsinger has been criticized by gay rights organizations and key Senate Democrats.

President Bush has used his recess appointment power quite a few times in the past, although not as often as his predecessors - Bush's father made more than 75 recess appointments during his term in office, and Ronald Reagan made almost 250, for example.

Some of the most famous of George W. Bush's appointments were those of John Bolton, whom Bush named U.S. ambassador to the U.N.; judges William Pryor and Charles Pickering, who were named to U.S. courts of appeals after their nominations were filibustered by Senate by Democrats; and Sam Fox, who was made U.S. Ambassador to Belgium.

Besides Bolton, whom the Democrats did not want at the U.N., the most controversial recess appointment Bush made was naming Julie L. Myers to head the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau at the Department of Homeland Security.

Myers is a niece of former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Richard B. Myers and the wife of the chief of staff under Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Obama Demands She Come Clean

As the Democratic primary draws near to the Iowa Caucus, the sparks -- and sleaze -- are starting to fly.

The latest mud: columnist Robert Novak reported Friday that "agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information" about Sen. Barack Obama.

So what dirt does Hillary have about the Illinois Senator?

Novak says the details, so far, have not been disclosed.

Democratic primary campaigns can be particularly dirty. Remember Sen. Gary Hart's "Monkey Business" affair that was reportedly dredged up by operatives of his 1988 primary rival Al Gore.

Also remember the Gennifer Flowers scandal. Republicans get blamed for the "Clinton Hate Machine" -- but the truth is that the buzz against Bill Clinton was fed by Democratic operatives in the '92 primary campaign.

This time, Obama is on the offensive and quickly lashed out at Hillary.

In a statement released by his campaign this weekend, Obama said: “The cause of change in this country will not be deterred or sidetracked by the old ‘Swift boat’ politics. The cause of moving America forward demands that we defeat it ....

“I am prepared to stand up to that kind of politics, whether it's deployed by candidates in our party, in the other party or by any third party."

Obama demanded that Hillary and her operatives release their "scandal" or deny they are part of an effort to smear him.

An angry Obama added, “She of all people, having complained so often about ‘the politics of personal destruction,’ should move quickly to either stand by or renounce these tactics.”

Clinton's campaign hurriedly responded to the growing brouhaha. Clinton spokesman Jay Carson told Fox News that the campaign has "absolutely no idea what [Novak] is talking about. ..."

Carson said, bluntly, Hillary Clinton's campaign had no scandalous information about Senator Obama.

Word of the Obama scandal comes as Hillary has lost her momentum after flip-flopping on the issue of licenses for illegals. Obama appears to be gaining, and recent polls in Iowa show him closing the gap with Hillary.

Hillary Hiding Something

What’s Hillary Clinton hiding? That’s what the Republican Party wants to know.

In a mass e-mail sent to GOP supporters, Robert Duncan, chairman of the Republican National Committee, writes: “In 2004, Hillary claimed that all of the records at the Clinton Library would be opened…

Nearly three years after the opening of the Clinton Presidential Library and the ensuing Freedom of Information Act requests, less than half of one percent of the library’s documents are open for review.”

The e-mail also cites a news report that another Arkansas library holding documents related to Clinton won’t be available until after the 2008 election.

Duncan writes: “On the campaign trail, Clinton consistently speaks to her level of experience, yet she will not allow details of that experience to be reviewed by the public. The American people deserve to know what information is being guarded in these libraries.”

The e-mail invites recipients to sign a petition urging Bill and Hillary Clinton to “stop hiding their White House records from the public.”

Labels: H

Liberal Dems Back Party's War Bill

WASHINGTON — Three leading House anti-war Democrats said they now back a $50 billion bill that funds the war but calls for most troops to come home by December 2008.

Their support paves the way for the bill's passage Wednesday. The trio, California Reps. Lynn Woolsey, Barbara Lee and Maxine Waters, represent a liberal anti-war caucus that last week expressed opposition to the measure on the grounds it was too soft and did not demand an end to combat.

The bill requires that President Bush initiate troop withdrawals within 30 days of its passage with the goal of bringing home most soldiers and Marines by Dec. 15, 2008.

A provision added to the bill, to satisfy liberal caucus members, states that the primary purpose of the $50 billion included in the bill "should be to transition the mission" and redeploy troops in Iraq, "not to extend or prolong the war."

The measure is largely a symbolic jab at Bush, who has already begun withdrawing some troops but fiercely rejects the notion of setting a timetable for the war.

"While this bill is not perfect, it is the strongest Iraq bill to date," the Democratic trio wrote in a joint statement. "This is the first time that this Congress has put forth a bill that ties funding to the responsible redeployment of our troops, and it also includes language mandating a start date for the president to begin the redeployment of our brave men and women."

Woolsey, Lee and Waters said they remained disappointed that the 2008 date was a nonbinding goal that Bush could ignore. But, they said they realized the provision made it more likely that the Senate could pass it.

"This is a concrete step in the right direction, and an important marker for this Congress to lay down," they wrote.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters on Wednesday that he anticipates the bill will pass.

Similar legislation has repeatedly passed along party lines in the House only to sink in the Senate, where Democrats hold a razor-thin majority and 60 votes are needed to overcome procedural hurdles.

It is expected that if the measure fails in the Senate, Democrats will not consider Bush's war spending request until next year.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday that if it does pass and Bush rejects the bill, "then the president won't get his $50 billion."

The money included in the bill represents about a quarter of Bush's $196 billion war spending request for the 2008 budget year, which began Oct. 1.

Democrats say the military won't need the money until early next year. Until then, the Pentagon can transfer money from less urgent accounts or fourth quarter spending to cover costs, they say.

The Pentagon says moving money around is a bureaucratic nightmare that costs more in the long-run. And if taken to the extreme, the military would eventually have to freeze contracts or lay off civilian workers to ensure troops in combat have what they need.

In another provision sure to draw White House opposition, the bill requires that the president certify to Congress 15 days in advance that a unit being sent into combat is "fully mission capable."

The House bill also would require that all government interrogators rely on the Army's field manual. The Army's manual was updated in 2006 to specifically ban the military from using aggressive interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding.

Labels: I

Hillary Plant Comes Clean

The college student pressed by Hillary Clinton’s staffers to ask a scripted question at a campaign stop now says she reluctantly took part in the ruse and that she wasn’t the only plant in the audience.

In an interview with CNN, Grinnell College student Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff owned up to reading a scripted question to Sen. Clinton at the Nov. 6 event in Newton, Iowa.

Gallo-Chasanoff, told CNN that a senior Clinton staffer approached her at the event and asked if she'd like to ask Clinton a question after the senator’s speech on energy policy.

"I sort of thought about it, and I said 'Yeah, can I ask how her energy plan compares to the other candidates' energy plans?'" Gallo-Chasanoff said.

The campaign staffer told Gallo-Chasanoff that wasn’t “a good idea,” and produced a binder with pre-written questions, she said. "The top one was planned specifically for a college student," she added. " It said 'college student' in brackets and then the question."

Gallo-Chasanoff, who told CNN she "likes to be agreeable," conceded to asking the question, which read: "As a young person, I'm worried about the long-term effects of global warming. How does your plan combat climate change?"

The student says she now feels participating in the charade was wrong. She told CNN that scripting questions is "dishonest," and that the incident has given her a negative outlook on politics.

"Personally I want to know that I have someone who's honest representing me," Gallo-Chasanoff said. “

Gallo-Chasanoff also says she wasn’t alone in being manipulated by the Clinton staff..

"After the event, I heard another man talking about the question he asked, and he said that the campaign had asked him to ask that question," Gallo-Chasanoff said.

The Clinton campaign has since distanced itself from the practice of prepping questioners. Clinton spokesperson Mo Elleithee told CNN that Sen. Clinton had "no idea who she was calling on."

"This is not acceptable campaign process moving forward. We've taken steps to ensure that it never happens again," Elleithee said in a written response to the network.

Still, this is not the first time such accusations have been leveled at the Clinton camp.

Earlier this week, Geoffrey Mitchell of Hamilton, Ill. told CNN the Clinton campaign wanted him to ask a certain question at an Iowa event in April.

"[They] asked me if I would ask Sen. Clinton about ways she was going to confront the president on the war in Iraq, specifically war funding," said Geoffrey Mitchell, a Barack Obama supporter "It was not a question I felt comfortable with."

Labels: C

Student describes how she became a Clinton plant

GRINNELL, Iowa (CNN) -- The college student who was told what question to ask at one of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign events says "voters have the right to know what happened" and she wasn't the only one who was planted.

In an exclusive on-camera interview with CNN, Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff, a 19-year-old sophomore at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, said that giving anyone specific questions to ask is "dishonest," and the whole incident has given her a negative outlook on politics.

Gallo-Chasanoff, whose story was first reported in the campus newspaper, said what happened was really pretty simple: She says a senior Clinton staffer asked if she'd like to ask the senator a question after an energy speech the Democratic presidential hopeful gave in Newton, Iowa, on November 6.

"I sort of thought about it, and I said 'Yeah, can I ask how her energy plan compares to the other candidates' energy plans?'" Gallo-Chasanoff said Monday night.

"'I don't think that's a good idea," the staffer said, according to Gallo-Chasanoff, "because I don't know how familiar she is with their plans." Watch the student describe how she was approached »

He then opened a binder to a page that, according to Gallo-Chasanoff, had about eight questions on it.

"The top one was planned specifically for a college student," she added. " It said 'college student' in brackets and then the question."

Topping that sheet of paper was the following: "As a young person, I'm worried about the long-term effects of global warming. How does your plan combat climate change?" Watch the student ask the planted question »

And while she said she would have rather used her own question, Gallo-Chasanoff said she generally didn't have a problem asking the campaign's because she "likes to be agreeable," adding that since she told the staffer she'd ask their pre-typed question she "didn't want to go back on [her] word."

Clinton campaign spokesman Mo Elleithee said Clinton had "no idea who she was calling on."

"This is not acceptable campaign process moving forward. We've taken steps to ensure that it never happens again," she said in a written response to CNN.

Gallo-Chasanoff wasn't so sure.

"I don't know whether Hillary knew what my question was going to be, but it seemed like she knew to call on me because there were so many people, and ... I was the only college student in that area," she said.

In a statement, the campaign also added, "On this occasion a member of our staff did discuss a possible question about Senator Clinton's energy plan at a forum. ... This is not standard policy and will not be repeated again."

Gallo-Chasanoff may have some doubts about that one as well.

"After the event," she said, "I heard another man ... talking about the question he asked, and he said that the campaign had asked him to ask that question."

The man she references prefaced his question by saying that it probably didn't have anything to do with energy, and then posed the following: "I wonder what you propose to do to create jobs for the middle-class person, such as here in Newton where we lost Maytag."

A Maytag factory in Newton recently closed, forcing hundreds of people out of their jobs.

During the course of the late-night interview on Grinnell's campus, Gallo-Chasanoff also told CNN that the day before the school's newspaper, Scarlet and Black, printed the story, she wanted the reporter to inform the campaign out of courtesy to let them know it would be published.

She said the "head of publicity for the campaign," a man whose name she could not recall, had no factual disputes with the story. But, she added, a Clinton intern spoke to her to say the campaign requests she "not talk about" the story to any more media outlets and that if she did she should inform a staffer.

"I'm not under any real obligation to do that, and I haven't talked to [the campaign] anymore," Gallo-Chasanoff said, adding that she also doesn't plan to.

"If what I do is come and just be totally truthful, then that's all anyone can ask of me, and that's all I can ask of myself. So I'll feel good with what I've done. I'll feel like I've done the right thing."

Asked if this experience makes her less likely to support Clinton's presidential bid, Gallo-Chasanoff, an undecided voter, said, "I think she has a lot to offer, but I -- this experience makes me look at her campaign a little bit differently."

"The question and answer sessions -- especially in Iowa -- are really important. That's where the voters get to ... have like a real genuine conversation with this politician who could be representing them."

While she acknowledged "it's possible that all campaigns do these kind of tactics," she said it still doesn't make it right.

"Personally I want to know that I have someone who's honest representing me."

Gallo-Chasanoff's story comes at a time when a second person has also come forward with a similar one. Geoffrey Mitchell of Hamilton, Illinois, a town located on the Iowa border, told CNN the Clinton campaign also wanted him to ask a certain question at an Iowa event in April.

"He asked me if I would ask Sen. Clinton about ways she was going to confront the president on the war in Iraq, specifically war funding," said Geoffrey Mitchell, a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois. "I told him it was not a question I felt comfortable with."

No questions were taken at the event. Elleithee said this incident was different than what happened with Gallo-Chasanoff in Newton. Elleithee said the staffer "bumped into someone he marginally knew" and during a conversation with Mitchell, "Iraq came up." Elleithee denied the campaign tried to plant him as a friendly questioner in the audience.

Mitchell said he had never met the staffer before the event.

Labels: HP

Democratic Promises Carry High Price Tag

By: Rod Proctor

Talk may be cheap, but the cost to keep promises made by Democratic candidates could top $700 billion and push individual tax rates above 50 percent for the first time since the 1986 Reagan tax reform, fiscal experts warn.

In fact, a Democratic sweep in 2008 could push America’s tax burden up to 7th highest in the developed world, up from 21st place, according to researchers at the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.

“If Democrats control everything after 2008, there will be a substantial tax increase,” Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia tells Newsmax. “Most or all of the Bush tax cuts will be allowed to expire and tax rates may be increased besides.”

The largest hike in federal spending would come from Democrats’ plans to extend health coverage to 47 million uninsured U.S. residents.

Hillary Clinton’s plan, according to her campaign, would add about $110 billion a year to the federal budget.

Barak Obama’s plan, say Harvard University experts, would cost between $50 billion and $65 billion a year. John Edwards’s health care plan, according to an Emory University study, could run up to $145 billion a year.

Democrats across the board are also pitching college tuition subsidies with an annual price tag of up to $30 billion. And their promises don’t stop there. Most candidates have pledged new programs in federally funded areas such as primary education, roads and bridges, and energy.

All told, the Democratic platform could cost more than $700 billion over four years.

“I have a million ideas,” Clinton tells the Boston Globe, “and the country can’t afford them all.”

On that point, even Clinton’s critics agree with her.

“It is pretty clear that more spending programs have been promised out of repealing the top Bush tax cuts than [the] repeal would be able to fund,” Nate Bailey of the Tax Foundation tells Newsmax. “It’s almost certain that funding all of these proposed programs would require massive tax hikes, the scale of which the U.S. has never seen.

President Bush’s tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, which amount to some $188 billion in tax relief per year, are set to expire beginning in 2010. A Democratically-controlled Congress appears intent on allowing that to happen once the Bush veto threat vanishes, experts note.

Last month, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, offered a taste of what’s to come. Rangel set out a series of tax goals – something he termed “the mother of all tax reforms” – hinged on the expiration of the Bush cuts.

Acknowledging that his plan has no chance as long as Bush is in the White House, Rangel said he’s first going after the unpopular Alternative Minimum Tax – a measure passed in 1969 to ensure the most wealthy would not be entirely insulated from paying taxes.

The AMT has never been tied to inflation. As a result, it now threatens to ensnare some 20 million middle-class taxpayers. In recent years, Congress has enacted annual “patches” to exclude middle-class families.

Rangel backed the patches again this year — offset by higher taxes on hedge-fund and private-equity managers — but said in 2009 he wanted to scrap the AMT entirely in favor of new taxes aimed squarely at the wealthiest Americans

“We should try to look at the disparity that exists between middle income and those that are more fortunate in income and try to spread the tax relief,” Rangel said in a press conference.

Rangel would also like to tack a 4-percent surtax on families making more than $200,000 per year and scale back cuts on capital gains taxes enacted under Bush.

The top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Jim McCrery of Louisiana, recently told Bloomberg News that the combined effect ending the Bush cuts and adding the surtax would result in a $3.5 trillion tax hike over 10 years.

Political commentator and Newsmax columnist Dick Morris, writes that a Democratic sweep would bring “mammoth tax increases” that would “be horrific and probably trigger a recession.”

What some call “horrific,” however, others, like Hillary Clinton, term merely “sacrifice.”

Pushed by Tim Russert at the recent Democratic debate to explain her position on the Rangel tax proposals, Clinton responded that, “we’ve not been asked to sacrifice anything. You know, young men and women wearing the uniform of our country are dying and being maimed. We have the average American family losing a thousand dollars in income, and George Bush and his cronies can’t figure out how they can give even more tax cuts to the wealthiest of Americans.”

When Russert pressed further, implying she had expressed support for Rangel’s 4-percent tax surcharge and his plans for the AMT, she demurred.

“No, I didn’t say that. I said that I’m in favor of doing something about the AMT. How we do it and how we put the package together everybody knows is extremely complicated.

“There are a lot of moving pieces here,” Clinton said. “I’m not going to get committed to a specific approach, but I applaud Chairman Rangel for beginning the conversation.”

Obama, asked a similar question by Russert, spoke of a “10,000-page tax code that is rife with corporate loopholes.”

“There’s a building in the Cayman Islands that supposedly houses 12,000 U.S. corporations, which means it is either the largest building in the world or the biggest tax ripoff in the world, and I think we know which one it is.”

Sabato, author of “A More Perfect Constitution: 23 Proposals to Revitalize Our Constitution,” believes taxes will be a cornerstone of the coming Republican campaign.

“The tax issue is one of the best Republicans will have for 2008,” he tells Newsmax. “It unifies the disparate wings of the GOP, and it targets a very real vulnerability among Democrats. This is one of their few bright spots

Labels: P

Dems Question Latest Anti-War Strategy

WASHINGTON -- Rank-and-file Democrats expressed dismay on Friday over their party's latest anti-war strategy, with some members reluctant to vote around Veterans Day to bring troops home.

The House was on track to consider legislation next week that would give President Bush $50 billion for operations for Iraq and Afghanistan, but insist that he begin withdrawing troops.

The measure identifies a goal of ending combat by December 2008, leaving only enough soldiers and Marines behind to fight terrorists, train Iraqi security forces and protect U.S. assets.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed off plans for a Friday vote after caucus members told her late Thursday they weren't sure they would support it. Liberal Democrats said the proposal was too soft, while conservative members told Pelosi they thought it went too far.

"I think the message in the next week ought to be that a heck of a lot of people have been harmed (in combat) and we ought to take care of them," said Rep. Gene Taylor, a conservative Mississippi Democrat who says his constituents mostly support the war.

Rep. John Murtha, chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, said the vote was delayed because leadership was not satisfied it would pass. The proposal — which also includes a provision that would effectively ban waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques and restrict troop deployments — might be tweaked to address member concerns, he said.

Pelosi told reporters on Friday that she was confident the measure would pass.

But one guarantee, Murtha said, is that Bush will have to accept some timetable on troop withdrawals if he wants the money.

"I don't think you'll see the House pass anything without restrictions," said Murtha, D-Pa.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Thursday that Bush would again veto any legislation that sets an "artificial timeline" for troop withdrawals.

"We should be supporting our troops as they are succeeding, not finding ways to undercut their mission," he said.

Pelosi, D-Calif., told members in a private caucus meeting on Thursday that if Bush rejected the measure, she did not intend on sending him another war spending bill for the rest of the year.

"It's a war without end," Pelosi later told reporters. "There is no light at the end of the tunnel. We must reverse it."

The bill is similar to one Bush rejected in May. Unable to muster the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto, Democrats stripped the timetable from the bill and approved a $95 billion emergency spending bill, mostly for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The measure established political goals for the Iraqi government and put conditions on reconstruction aid, but Bush ultimately retained authority over the money, which ran out this fall.

Several anti-war liberals said Thursday they were willing to swing behind the measure, as long as it came with strings attached.

"The American people want out," said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. "And we have to make sure we take giant steps in that direction."

If approved by the House, the Senate also might take up the measure next week.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he did not want to approve a spending measure for Iraq unless it forced a change in Bush's policies. When asked whether that was possible, considering the thin majority Democrats hold in the Senate, Reid said it "is up to the White House and up to the Republicans."

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Democrats face "unfortunate timing" because of the military progress being made in Iraq.

"While our troops are quelling violence and defeating terrorists in Baghdad and throughout Iraq, Democrats in Washington are trying to choke off funds for our troops in the field," he said.

Labels: M

Clinton Staff Planted Question at Forum

An aide for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a Grinnell College student a question to ask the Democratic presidential candidate during a forum this week in central Iowa.

That the question had been planted by the campaign was not mentioned at the event.

"This is not standard policy and will not be repeated again," the campaign said in a statement issued Friday night. Clinton herself did not know when she called on the student that the question had been suggested by one of her staff, the campaign said.

"The senator had no idea," Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee told The Associated Press.

Clinton appeared at a biodiesel plant in Newton on Tuesday to introduce her energy plan. A student, Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff, later told Grinnell College's student newspaper, The Scarlet & Black, that she was asked by a senior Clinton staffer to pose a question about global warming. She also said that staffers prompted the senator to call on her, the newspaper reported.

"A member of our staff did discuss a possible question about Sen. Clinton's energy plan at a forum," the campaign statement said.

Labels: N

Dems to Tie Iraq Funds to Withdrawal

WASHINGTON -- Under pressure to support the troops but end the war, House Democrats said Thursday they would send President Bush $50 billion for combat operations on the condition that he begin withdrawing troops from Iraq.

The proposal, similar to one Bush vetoed earlier this year, would identify a goal of ending combat entirely by December 2008. It would require that troops spend as much time at home as they do in combat, as well as effectively ban harsh interrogation techniques like waterboarding.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had hoped the House would vote as early as Friday on the bill. But late on Thursday, after meeting with liberal Democrats who were concerned the bill was too soft, she decided to put off debate until next week.

In a private caucus meeting earlier in the day, Pelosi told rank-and-file Democrats that the bill was their best shot at challenging Bush on the war. And if Bush rejected it, she said, she did not intend on sending him another war spending bill for the rest of the year.

"This is not a blank check for the president," she said at a Capitol Hill news conference following the caucus meeting. "This is providing funding for the troops limited to a particular purpose, for a short time frame."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Bush would veto any bill that sets an "artificial timeline" for troop withdrawals.

"We should be supporting our troops as they are succeeding, not finding ways to undercut their mission," he said.

Democrats are in a tight spot. Since taking control of Congress in January, catapulted to power by voters frustrated by the war, they remain unable to pass veto-proof legislation demanding troops leave Iraq. Democrats are split on whether to continue paying for the unpopular war, with many saying Congress must provide the military with the money it needs so long as troops are in harm's way.

Without another spending bill for the war, the Defense Department would have to drain its less urgent accounts to keep the war afloat.

Several anti-war liberals said Thursday they were willing to get behind the measure, so long as Democrats don't send Bush the money anyway if the bill is vetoed.

"What I don't want to do is get on this merry-go-round where we try to end this war and negotiate it down to a blank check," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. "It's time to play hardball."

The $50 billion included in the bill represents about a quarter of the $196 billion requested by Bush. It would finance about four months of combat, Pelosi said.

It also would call on Bush to restrict the mission of U.S. troops. After December 2008, troops left behind in Iraq should be restricted to a narrow set of missions, namely counterterrorism, training Iraqi security forces and protecting U.S. assets, Pelosi said.

Bush rejected a similar proposal in May, and Democrats lacked the votes to override the veto. They eventually relented, sending Bush a $95 billion that financed operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through the summer.

The latest proposal was headed on a similar path, with Republicans immediately sounding their objections.

House Republican Leader John Boehner called the idea "backward and irresponsible" in light of military progress being made in Iraq.

"Our troops need all of the resources Congress can provide to seize upon the tactical momentum they've achieved and eliminate al-Qaida from Iraq's communities once and for all," said Boehner, R-Ohio.

Republicans will likely have other objections to the bill. In addition to setting a timetable for troop withdrawals, the measure was on track to limit the time soldiers and Marines spent in combat in relation to time spent at home. Earlier this year, the Pentagon lobbied against restricting combat tours because they said it would force troops in Iraq now to stay longer.

The new bill also would require all government interrogators rely on the Army's field manual. The Army's manual was updated in 2006 to specifically ban the military from using aggressive interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding.

While the measure was expected to pass the House, some Democrats said they would still reject it because the December 2008 date was nonbinding.

"It doesn't matter if we're voting to send the president $50 billion or $50,000, this Congress should only pass funding bills for Iraq that are used to fully fund the safe and orderly withdrawal of our brave men and women from Iraq, and bring them home to their families," said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., a co-chair of the Progressive Caucus.

On Thursday, the House approved $460 billion in annual military spending and $11.6 billion for bomb-resistant vehicles for the war, as well as a stopgap funding measure to keep the rest of the government running through mid-December.

The spending package omits money for combat operations.

Without that money, the Defense Department would have to transfer money from less urgent spending accounts to keep the wars afloat.

Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, said he believes the Army would run out of money entirely by January if Congress does not approve some war money.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he did not want to approve a spending measure for Iraq unless it forced a change in Bush's policies. When asked whether that was possible, considering the razor-thin majority Democrats hold in the Senate, Reid said it "is up to the White House and up to the Republicans."

Labels: R

Romney Wants Tax Help for Home Schooling

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Parents who home school their children should get a tax credit to help offset "the cost of being an at-home teacher," Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Wednesday.

Romney supports giving parents more educational options, through charter schools or vouchers, but he said legislation should be done on a state level.

"I really hesitate to have the federal government become too involved in local schools," he said.

Romney also said teachers are underpaid and better teachers should be rewarded with more money.

"I'd like to see there be a relationship between the pay of the teacher and their performance, their career track, their ability to mentor other students," Romney told more than 100 people at a children's museum in this early voting state. "We need to treat teachers like the professionals they are and not like people manufacturing widgets on an assembly line."

Romney downplayed the news that rival Rudy Giuliani had won the endorsementt of televangelist Pat Robertson, touting his own endorsement from Bob Jones University chancellor Bob Jones III instead. The Christian fundamentalist school is located in conservative northwest South Carolina.

"I can't get all the social conservatives to endorse my candidacy," Romney told reporters. "I'm really pleased with the support I've got. The people who have the ultimate say are the voters."

Romney also said he was not surprised that former rival Sam Brownback threw his support behind colleague John McCain on Wednesday.

They "have worked together in the Senate for a long time and that's probably to be expected," he said.

On teacher pay, Romney said each state should decide the compensation. He said as governor, he pushed for a $15,000 bonus package for the best teachers in Massachusetts, including $5,000 bonuses for math and science teachers and $5,000 bonuses for teachers deemed in the top third of a school.

Labels: Q

Hillary Clinton Rivals Take on Bill

WASHINGTON -- Bill Clinton was hit with caustic criticism Tuesday from his wife's Democratic rivals, who accused the popular former president of falsely comparing questions about her candor to smears of past campaigns.

In a presidential nomination fight growing more intense by the day, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama also criticized the former first lady for having voted in the Senate against incentives for ethanol production and higher fuel efficiency standards. And 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards challenged her to spell out what she would do about Iraq.

The week after Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign accused her rivals of "piling on," those foes showed no sign of easing up. They even went so far as to criticize the former president, a strategy that comes with risks in a party filled with voters who admire him for resurrecting the party in the 1990s.

On Monday, in defense of his wife against political critics, Bill Clinton cited the "swift boat" television ads of the 2004 presidential campaign that questioned John Kerry's patriotism and the campaign commercials in 2002 that suggested Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia was soft on terrorism.

Obama told The Associated Press he was "stunned" to hear Clinton make the comparison. Both Kerry, who commanded a Navy swift boat in Vietnam, and Cleland, who lost three limbs in that war, are decorated veterans who were defeated by Republicans.

Obama said Hillary Clinton contradicted herself at the end of a Democratic presidential debate last week when asked whether she supported a plan by the New York governor to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. This week, the Illinois senator and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina have repeatedly reproached her on that subject.

"How you would then draw an analogy to distorting somebody's military record is a reach," Obama said.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, another candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, called the Clintons' response to the debate "outrageous."

"To have the former president come out and suggest this is a form of swift boating ... is way over the top in my view," Dodd said in a telephone interview.

A senior adviser to Sen. Clinton's campaign, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said the former president's remarks were not part of campaign strategy and in fact were considered counterproductive by the her advisers.

But Bill Clinton is a powerful advocate in the Democratic primary, and he is returning to the all-important first-voting state of Iowa Thursday to campaign on his wife's behalf. Roughly half of respondents to recent polls say they approve of him, and even more say looking back they approve of how he ran the White House.

The morning after last week's debate, Sen. Clinton's campaign issued a video called "Pile On" that featured each of her male rivals calling her name the night before. Then, at Wellesley College, she joked about presidential politics being an "all-boys club," and campaign surrogates suggested that sexism was behind the criticism.

Only then did Clinton herself say it wasn't her gender but her lead in the Democratic race that had led to the intensified criticism.

Said Dodd on Tuesday: "If elected to the presidency, there will be a lot of tough questions, and if you can't handle it in a debate without accusing everybody who has an issue with you of piling on or a sexist attack, somehow, first of all that's unwise and, secondly, it's false."

Sen. Clinton acknowledged Tuesday that she could have done better in the debate, but denied that her stance on illegal immigrants has been unclear.

"I wasn't at my best the other night," Clinton said on CNN. "We've had a bunch of debates, and I wouldn't rank that up in my very top list. But I've answered probably, I don't know, more than 5,000 questions over the last 10 months and I have been very clear about where I stand and what I want to do for the country."

"If they want to use their energy attacking me, that's their choice," she said. "I'm going to use my energy focusing on a new energy policy and so much else."

In fact, her energy policy was the focus of criticism from Obama, with his campaign accusing her of voting 13 times against ethanol from 2002-2006, including measures to increase the amount of ethanol to be used as an additive in gasoline and to give liability protection for ethanol manufacturers.

"I think it is important to look at who has been a consistent champion on these issues," Obama said. "I think I can make a legitimate claim that I have been consistent even when the politics is hard."

Clinton's campaign said she has backed tax incentives for blending ethanol into gasoline, tax credits for installing ethanol pumps and a mandate that the nation's fuel supply contain 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022.

"She has always been a supporter of ethanol except for a time when there was evidence that New York would be hurt economically," said Clinton spokesman Phil Singer. "Apparently, Senator Obama thinks misleading the voters about his fellow candidates' records is what the politics of hope is all about."

Clinton also was the focus of criticism in New Hampshire. Edwards said she must answer questions about her plans for Iraq, including whether she would continue combat missions.

"If you believe what Senator Clinton believes, then you can support her," Edwards said. "But if you believe that we need to bring this war to an end by getting all combat troops out and ending combat missions in Iraq, that is what I will do as president of the United States."

MSNBC Shifts Liberal

MSNBC has been leaning so sharply to the left that the cable channel is even talking to ultra-liberal Rosie O’Donnell about a prime-time show.

Under one option, O’Donnell’s show would run at 9 p.m. on weekdays on MSNBC, against “Larry King Live” on CNN and “Hannity & Colmes” on Fox News, according to NBC executives who spoke with the New York Times.

Even without O’Donnell, the cable channel already is home to three prime-time shows that regularly bash the Bush administration, hosted by Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and lastly with Dan Abrams.

The early-evening show on MSNBC that is the most pro-Bush, “Tucker” with Tucker Carlson, is in danger of cancellation, one NBC executive told the Times.

Why the tilt to the left? Ratings is the obvious answer.

Olbermann in July went so far in an editorial as to call on President Bush to resign. Similar editorials in the past year have helped boost the ratings of his show by 33 percent.

Matthews, who has talked about the “criminality” of the Bush White House, has seen his overall ratings rise as well, though not as sharply as Olbermann’s.

Even Joe Scarborough, a former conservative congressman from Florida who now hosts a morning show on MSNBC, has changed his view of his fellow Republicans in the past few months. He recently praised Hillary Clinton’s outreach to the military and Bill Clinton’s accomplishments as president, while at the same time referring to Democrats generally as “morons.”

In an interview with the Times, Scarborough said he is “just as conservative as I was in 1994, when everyone was calling me a right-wing nut.

“I think the difference is the Republican Party leaders, a lot of them, have run a bloated government, have been corrupt, and have gone a very, very long way from what we were trying to do in 1994,” he added. “Also, the Republican Party has just been incompetent.”

Clinton Defends Wife on Licenses

Former President Clinton on Monday compared Republican criticism of his wife's position on driver's license for illegal immigrants to the ads that helped sink John Kerry's White House hopes in 2004.

"I had the feeling that at the end of that last debate we were about to get into cutesy land again," Clinton told some 3,000 members of the American Postal Worker's Union at a convention.

At the end of a televised Democratic presidential debate last week, Hillary Rodham Clinton hedged on whether she supported a plan by her home state governor, New York's Eliot Spitzer, to issue licenses to illegal immigrants.

Republicans — and her rivals for the Democratic nomination — quickly criticized her answer, accusing her of trying to have it both ways.

But Bill Clinton said the issue is too complicated for sound bites.

"It's fine for Hillary and all the other Democrats to discuss Governor Spitzer's plan. But not in 30 seconds — yes, no, raise your hand," he said.

The former president told the union members not to let the Republican attacks distract them from the important issues of health care and education reform.

He compared the driver's license dustup to television ads during the 2004 presidential campaign that questioned Kerry's patriotism, and campaign commercials in 2002 suggesting that former Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., who lost three limbs in Vietnam, was soft on terrorism.

Clinton urged the union members to vote Democratic for president no matter who the party nominates.

"So do I hope you vote for my wife? You bet I do. It'd be good for America, and good for the world. But, more than that I came here to tell you today, don't you dare let them take this election away from you. This belongs to you."

Clinton also was to speak later Monday at a rally for his wife at the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy.

Iraqi Death Toll Near Record Low

BAGHDAD -- Police found the bodies of six victims of sectarian violence dumped in three Iraqi cities Friday. There were no reported shootings or bombings, and it was only the second day this year that the sectarian death toll fell below 10, according to an Associated Press count.

Both days were Fridays, the Muslim day of rest and prayer. The last was Feb. 23, when AP records show five Iraqis were found dead in Baghdad. No one died in shootings or bombings on that day either.

On average, 56 Iraqis _ civilians and security forces _ have died each day so far in this very bloody year.

But there appears to be a marked difference between Friday and Feb. 23.

More than four months after U.S. forces completed a 30,000-strong force buildup, the death toll for both Iraqis and Americans has fallen dramatically for two months running.

U.S. commanders credit a new tactic of putting troops into neighborhood bases and of signing on disaffected former enemies as new allies in the fight against the most radical elements in both the Shiite and Sunni communities, especially al-Qaida in Iraq. Anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr also has called a cease-fire, a move seen largely responsible for the drop in sectarian murders.

On Feb. 23, when the death toll was five, the foreshortened month would end with 1,801 Iraqis killed. While impossible to forecast what this month holds, Friday's stunningly low figure follows an Iraqi toll of 905 last month. The number was 1,023 in September and 1,956 in August. The figures for U.S. military deaths followed the same downward trend: 84 in August; 65 in September; 39 last month.

As if sensing a possible shift in the capital, Iraqis in mainly Shiite eastern Baghdad have returned to the streets in numbers not seen in months.

Firas Rahim, who owns a shop selling clothing for men and children in the Karradah neighborhood, said the number of customers in the store has risen 75 percent in recent days. He now stays open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Before the chaos diminished he was open only from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

"I was afraid to stay open longer because of the bombings and violence. Things are looking better now. My business is booming," Rahim said. "I have whole families coming in again. It's a positive sign. I hope it lasts. Baghdadis love to live at night. I used to close after midnight and hope, someday, I can again."

Taxis and minibuses, scarce even on recent Fridays, were plentiful. In the mainly Shiite district of New Baghdad, in the east of the capital, a small amusement park was under repair, workmen rejuvenating the rides. The park was closed when the United States invaded in March 2003.

Shops were under repair for reopening. And in the neighborhood market, there were women present, able to enter without searches for the first time in months. Residents said hundreds of shops that had been closed on recent Fridays were now open.

But people remain bunkered in many neighborhoods of west Baghdad where struggle for control still rages among militant Shiites and Sunnis.

Despite the overall relative calm for civilians and Iraqi forces, the military said U.S. forces backed by attack helicopters Friday killed 10 al-Qaida in Iraq fighters, two of them wearing suicide bomb vests, in Salman Pak on the southeast fringe of Baghdad.

The military statement said American forces found a small weapons cache, including several suicide vests, heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft artillery.

North of Baghdad, the military said, it captured an al-Qaida fighter responsible for communicating between combat units and the organization's leader, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, know to the Americans as Abu Ayyub al-Masri.

And three U.S. airmen were killed in combat operations north of Baghdad, the military said in a separate statement.

All three, assigned to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, died Thursday near Balad Air Base, some 50 miles north of Baghdad, the military said.

The statement did not give details on how the airmen died, nor whether they died in aircraft or on the ground. No air crashes, emergency landings or shootings were reported Thursday or Friday.

In a second statement, the U.S. military said Apache helicopters shot a Hellfire missile and destroyed an anti-aircraft weapon Thursday south of Baghdad. Two suspected insurgents were spotted walking away from the weapon, which had been covered by a tarp, the statement said.

At least 3,848 U.S. military personnel have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an AP count.

Hillary: It's Not a Girl Thing

Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that her status as the Democratic presidential front-runner - not her gender - has led her male primary rivals to intensify their criticism of her.

"I don't think they're piling on because I'm a woman. I think they're piling on because I'm winning," Clinton told reporters after filing paperwork to appear on the New Hampshire primary ballot.

"I anticipate it's going to get even hotter, and if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen. I'm very much at home in the kitchen," she said.

The New York senator's comments came three days after a televised debate in which her six male opponents challenged her character, electability and apparent unwillingness to answer tough questions.

Her campaign reacted strongly to what it called "piling on." One fundraising e-mail it sent out called Clinton "one tough woman" and decried the "six on one" nature of the debate criticism. Clinton herself referred to the "all boys club of presidential politics" in a speech at Wellesley College Thursday.

Clinton spoke to reporters outside the office of New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, who has the sole authority to set the date for the state's primary.

Gardner has indicated it will be no later than Jan. 8, rather than the planned date of Jan. 22 because Michigan and Florida have taken steps to move their contests up.

Late Nite Jokes

Jay Leno

My Halloween was marred. Horrible incident. A kid dressed as O.J. broke into my house and stole all my candy.

Dennis Kucinich admitted during the debate the other night that he had seen a UFO close up. Dennis Kucinich doesn’t seem like the type of guy who would see a UFO. He seems like the kind of guy you’d see coming out of a UFO.

Hillary Clinton’s meltdown during the debates the other night continues to be the big story. Even Bill Clinton said it was Hillary’s worst performance since their honeymoon.

The Atlanta International Airport is now considering shorter flushes in its bathrooms to help cope with the drought. Shorter flushes on their toilets. Or as Sen. Larry Craig calls that, speed dating.

David Letterman

Joe Girardi was introduced today as the new manager of the New York Yankees. Girardi says it’s going to be tough coming up with a team on only a $300 million payroll.

Democratic debate last night. Tough night for Bill Richardson. During the entire debate, the only question Tim Russert asked was, “. . . And you are?

Does anyone know anything about Dennis Kucinich running for president? Can you prove it?

In the debate he claimed he once saw a UFO. He also claims aliens introduced him to his hot wife.

Conan O'Brien

Political experts are criticizing Hillary Clinton’s performance at the recent debate as her worst performance of the year. After hearing this, Bill Clinton said, “That’s what you think.”

Last night the New Jersey Devils played their first home game in the new $380 million stadium. Newark residents say the new arena is classy place to get shot outside of.

This week Wal-Mart started selling a $199 computer. What they don’t tell you is the computer is actually an Etch-a-Sketch taped to a toaster oven.

Craig Ferguson

It’s World Vegan Day. Strict vegetarian day. So be kind to vegetables.

I had an uncle who was a strict vegetarian. When he died there was a big turn up at his funeral.

Jessica Alba has announced that she will never do a nude scene in a movie. Never. I wrote a whole screen play for nothing!

A hunter in Minnesota is recovering after he was shot by his dog. His dog! In the dog’s defense, the man was wearing a Michael Vick jersey.

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

What a crazy Halloween in Hollywood last night. I saw more half-naked women on the streets last night than I usually see here.

Some of them were actually women too, which is nice for a change.

My arm is killing me from throwing eggs last night.

Iran Racing to Build Bomb

In an interview with The Times of London newspaper, Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa became the first Arab leader to directly accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons.

“While they don’t have the bomb yet, they are developing it, or the capability for it,” he said.

He also said “the whole region” would be caught up in any military conflict and called on India and Russia to help find a diplomatic solution. “There needs to be far more done on the diplomatic front,” he said. “There’s still time to talk.”

Also Thursday, Saudi Arabia and a consortium of Arab Gulf states invited Iran to produce enriched uranium jointly, where the plant could be properly monitored by international observers.

“We have proposed a solution, which is to create a consortium for all users of enriched uranium to do it in a collective manner that would distribute (nuclear fuel) according to need,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said. “We hope the Iranians will accept this proposal.”

He said that the proposed plant would be built in a neutral third country, like Switzerland.

Late Nite Jokes

Jay Leno

Happy Halloween, everyone. This is the day we teach our children, “Go ahead, take candy from strangers.”

Dick Cheney had an awkward moment at the White House Halloween party. He went dressed as Darth Vader. And at the party he ran into the real Darth Vader who was dressed as Dick Cheney.

There was another Democratic debate last night in Philadelphia. Boy, the other candidates really went after Hillary Clinton. The only Democrat who didn’t jump on Hillary was her husband Bill.

In his latest rambling, Osama bin Laden is now calling for his followers to avoid “extremism.” Because the last thing you want in a suicide bomber is some sort of radical wacko.

David Letterman

Joe Torre, formerly of the New York Yankees, signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Well, look at this way — who wouldn’t take earthquakes and wild fires over George Steinbrenner?

It’s now safe to eat squirrel in New Jersey. They say it’s OK. Thank God — now I don’t have to go to Delaware.

Happy Halloween! I used to hate it. My mom used to dress me like a tramp . . . hair makeup, the works.

Late Show Top Ten

Top Ten Least Popular Halloween Candies

10. Bit-O-Monkey

9. Lice Krispie Treats

8. Good N' Clammy

7. Malted Meat Balls

6. Mullahmars

5. They-Might-Be-Raisinets

4. Al Gore's Melted Sno-Caps

3. No No. 3 — writer out trick-or-treating

2. Mr. Goodbar Who Used To Be Mrs. Goodbar

1. Tootsie Roids

Conan O'Brien

Last night, yet another Democratic debate. Sen. Barack Obama accused Hillary Clinton of frequently changing positions. After hearing this, Bill Clinton said, “I wish.”

It’s Halloween, so this morning on the “Today” show, Matt Lauer dressed up as Hermann Munster and Al Roker dressed up as a scary vampire. Not only that — Larry King went on his show without makeup.

This year Daylight Saving time has been extended. This will allow trick-or-treaters an extra hour for Halloween. Experts predict it will be this final hour that will separate the fat from the husky.

This week, a 90-year-old man in Minnesota became the oldest person to win a Nobel Prize. Next week, the 90-year-old man will be the first person to misplace the Nobel Prize.

Craig Ferguson

Happy Halloween! Halloween is a time when people wear crazy outfits, scary makeup, and they do Satan’s bidding . . . as we call it here in L.A., Wednesday.

Last year I went as a banana. People said I looked like an overripe fruit. And that was before I put on the costume.

Last year I went to west Hollywood party . . . the guys there really dressed up. One guy was like Judy Garland and one tiny guy was dressed as Tom Cruise. To be fair, I think it was Tom Cruise.

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Britney Spears did a call-in to Ryan Seacrest’s radio show this morning. Half-way through the interview, she was suddenly gone. Ryan asked her a question and there was no response. Her assistant said she went to take a shower. At least she’s showering, we know that.

They called her back a little while later, and she didn’t say much, but she did talk about her Halloween costume. She had a good idea. She’s going to go wearing panties. So she will be totally unrecognizable.

Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what celebrities are hiding behind the masks. Here’s one [picture of Phil Spector]. If he comes to your house, give him whatever he wants.