|
|
ABC "This Week" is preempted this week for network coverage of the British Open.
Bloomberg's Political Capital with Al Hunt: Obama's chief economic advisor, Jason Furman, and McCain's chief economic adviser , Douglas Holtz-Eakin.
CBS Face the Nation: (UPDATE) Sen. Barack Obama excerpts from interview with CBS Correspondent. Also Secy. of the Treasury Heny Paulson.
CNN Late Edition: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Speaker; Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Minority Whip; Henry Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury; Bill Schneider, CNN senior political analyst; Candy Crowley, CNN senior political correspondent; and Gloria Borger, CNN senior political analyst.
Fox News Sunday: Adm. Michael Mullen, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), McCain supporter; Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Obama supporter; and a round table with Brit Hume, Washington Managing Editor of Fox News; Bill Kristol from the Weekly Standard & Fox News; Juan Williams, National Public Radio & Fox News; and Jill Zuckman, Chicago Tribune. Power Player of the Week is Earl Morse -- Founder, Honor Flight.
NBC Meet The Press: Al Gore, NBC's David Gregory and NBC political director Chuck Todd.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: U.S. Department of State
Al Gore is challenging the next president of the United States, whomever that may be, to embrace an ambitious energy plan that would make the country’s electricity carbon-free within 10 years.
But while he outlined the steps he thinks the future president should take, he says he won’t be beside him as vice president, even if the Democrats win.
Gore dashed the hopes of those pining for an Obama-Gore dream team ticket in an interview with Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News Thursday. The interview was conducted after Gore gave a speech on alternative energy in Washington.
“I have a personal term limit,” said Gore, who served for eight years as Bill Clinton’s vice president. “Only two terms as VP.”
Couric then wondered what Gore would do if Barack Obama came to him and begged, “Al, buddy, listen. I really, really, really need you."
Gore said the answer would still be no.
Speculation about a possible Obama-Gore ticket has bubbled in the blogosphere since last month, when Gore gave Obama a hearty endorsement after the primary struggle with Hillary Clinton had already been settled.
Gore, who won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to draw the world’s attention to global warming, even used his website to solicit donations for Obama.
But when Couric suggested that Gore was playing coy in denying an interest in the VP spot, Gore shook his head and vowed, “This interview will not come back to haunt me. You can believe me.”
-- Kate Linthicum
Here's what Democratic strategist and former Clinton aide James Carville says:
"If I was Sen. Obama, I would say the biggest economic problem we face is the biggest national security problem and the biggest environmental  problem. And if I were him, I would ask Al Gore to serve as his vice president, his energy czar, in his administration to reduce our consumption and reliance on foreign energy sources.
"That would send a signal to the world, to American people, to Congress, to everybody, that America's getting serious about this horrendous problem that we face."
Here's what Al Gore said last winter:
"I haven't ruled out the idea of getting back into the political process at some point in the future. Don't expect to. But if I did get back, it would be as a candidate for president, not in any other position. But I don't expect to ever get back into the political..."
To which Carville, a self-described "Capt. Cueball," responded today on CNN's "Situation Room:"
"Well, I'm not suggesting he's just any vice president. I'm suggesting that Sen. Obama as president would give him a lot of authority to deal with our consumption of oil."
James Carville supported, contributed to and wrote fundraising letters for the unsuccessful campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Here's another problem: Gore hasn't even endorsed Obama yet, raising some political eyebrows. He could be awaiting a grand televised entrance at the national convention in late August. And, actually, Gore has not expressed any interest in joining yet another Democratic ticket in the No. 2 spot.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo Credit: AP
On this, the first anniversary of our Top of the Ticket blog, we are reminded of the mercurial, unpredictable nature of U.S. politics -- part of what makes what we do so fascinating.
Our goal -- one of us on the East Coast and the other on the far more important or at least less humid West Coast -- was to write about Campaign '08 virtually around the clock.
Our second-ever posting, 12 months ago today, previewed an upcoming L.A. Times/Bloomberg Poll; later in the day, we detailed the results of the nationwide survey. The findings were in line with other polls of the time.
In the Republican presidential race, which then seemed the most likely to last deep into the primary season, Rudy Giuliani was perched in first place. His lead wasn't overwhelming, but it was strong enough that he appeared certain to remain a major contender.
His liberal record on social issues loomed as an obvious liability within his party, but his tough-on-terrorism message was attracting substantial support from moderates and GOP-leaning independents.
His major headache among rivals last June was an as-yet-undeclared candidate who was riding a wave as the great conservative hope -- Fred Thompson. He ran a strong second in the poll.
Lagging far behind were John McCain and Mitt Romney, each barely with double-digit support. In our preview posting, we were especially scornful of McCain, noting sarcastically (and foolishly, as it turned out) that in the poll, he found himself "in heated competition with the 'Don't Know' category."
Meriting no mention from us was Mike Huckabee, one of several back-of-the-pack candidates barely earning any support across the country.
The Democratic race, at that point, seemed so much more cut-and-dried.
Hillary Clinton was the clear front-runner; Barack Obama was just as clearly ...
Read more Top of the Ticket, the start of Year Two »
OK, here's what's going to happen in the messy Democratic presidential race: Neither one of your favorites is going to win. They're gonna tear each other apart to no successful end.
It'll stay stalled into the convention in late August, while John McCain and Condi Rice raise money  and get the Republicans united and organized.
In Denver, the Democratic superdelegates, like the unelected elites they are, will gather in great worry, maybe after an inconclusive first round of general balloting.
And these big names will pick not the best candidate nor the one with the most delegates or, actually, any delegates or any popular votes.
To solve this self-destructive stalemate, they'll pick someone who denies even being a candidate, the least-worst candidate, somebody hardly anyone can really object to, except the Clintons.
They'll pick one of their own superdelegates, Al Gore, Mr. Party Elder, Mr. Nobel Prize, Mr. I-Got-Screwed-Out-of-Victory-Last-Time and Mr. Trust-Me-the-Globe-Really-Is-Round-and-Warming and I'm finally gonna get a chance to do something about it from the White House. The Draft Gore folks will be ecstatic and the Democratic blogosphere is already excited.
To keep the Obama zealots in the tent, Gore in turn will pick Barack Obama as his vice presidential running mate with the silent understanding that Big Al will ....
Read more It's solved! Democratic race prediction: Neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama will win »
Republican Fred Thompson dragged his feet getting into the presidential race, much to his detriment. He moved more expeditiously getting out of it, issuing a simple, three-sentence statement today announcing -- to no one's surprise -- that he was ending his candidacy.
Thompson bowed to what became inevitable after his third-place showing in Saturday's South Carolina primary. Less than an hour after the polls closed that night, when it was already evident he would be an also-ran, Thompson addressed his supporters in the state -- remarks that walked right up to a withdrawal but stopped just short of it. Since then, he has been absent from the campaign trail.
Some of his higher-profile backers had jumped ship before Thompson officially abandoned it. Earlier today, ex-New York Sen. Al D'Amato -- who like many Republican leaders had not so many months ago viewed Thompson as the candidate who could magically cure what ailed the GOP presidential field -- switched allegiance to John McCain. (D'Amato seems mainly motivated this campaign season to sidetrack fellow New Yorker Rudy Giuliani, long a political foe.)
Thompson entered the White House race with a semi-splash, you'll recall, using the couch on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" to proclaim his candidacy in early September. But by that time, the bloom was already off his rose. His clear interest in running -- and efforts to generate support for such a bid by his longtime political mentor, Howard Baker, and other respected Republicans -- had been a hot topic ...
Read more BREAKING NEWS: Fred Thompson ambles back to the sidelines »
The off-again-maybe-on-again-maybe-I'm-not-saying-today possible, maybe presidential candidacy of New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg took on some more credibility during the night.
Associates of the mayor told the Associated Press that Bloomberg, a billionaire several times over, has begun an expensive cross-country detailed polling and sophisticated voter analysis in all 50 states as part of his careful, not-so-secret consideration of a White House bid, presumably as an independent.
"They want a hard-headed sense of their chances," Doug Schoen told the AP. He was in charge of Bloomberg's voter database efforts, or microtargeting, for his two campaigns for mayor.
A Bloomberg spokesman declined to comment, which, of course, only heightens the New York media interest in the potential candidacy.
As if two New Yorkers running to run the country wasn't enough.
--Andrew Malcolm
You know the New Yorker who's mixed up in all that presidential talk?
Not the Democratic one who always cheered for the Cubs before she always cheered for the Yankees. And not the Republican one who always cheers for the Yankees unless they lose in the playoffs when he always cheers for any other American League team still playing.
No, not that pair. But the New Yorker who used to be both a Democrat and then a Republican, now calls himself an independent and has enough money to buy his own baseball league. Mike Bloomberg, the current mayor. He's the one who keeps saying he has no intention of running for president and then goes on to talk about what kind of president America needs and the terrible gridlock he sees in Washington but not in New York where he often takes the subway, which he could also buy his own of.
Let's be honest. The businessman loves to be seen toying with the idea of an independent run for the White House. He knows how to play the media: the more he denies interest, the more they ask him about it in case there's a nuanced change. It's their job to look for a story. And Mike is just playing and holding the spotlight while he does.
Still, an independent candidacy would save all the expense and hassle and talk of....
Read more Mike Bloomberg Watch: Now he's meeting with Obama »
Oh, no! No more Gore Watch?
No more seizing on every strand of hope -- his daughter's wedding, his appearance on an NBC TV show, his sighting at a global environmental concert in New Jersey of all places -- that the 2000 Democratic presidential candidate would become the 2008 Democratic presidential candidate and save the party from more planted questions, who can get out of Iraq faster and who to tax more next.
Can it be true?
"I don't expect to be a candidate again," he told the New York Times. Maybe they got it wrong and what he really said was, "I do intend to be a candidate again."
But it doesn't look good for the Draft Gore movement here and here and here.
It seems Gore has taken a job in industry promoting a whole new string of coal-fired electrical-generating plants throughout the Ohio Valley. They wanted someone with good Washington connections and some environmental credentials to make the case for acid rain on "Larry King Live" and elsewhere.
Just kidding. The Times reports that Big Al has taken a part-time partnership in a Silicon Valley venture capital firm called Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers where he'll devote time to investigating the potential of new green industries, especially the growth potential of start-up companies in the alternative energy sector.
Al Gore already has an advisory role with Google in the Bay Area, sits on the board of Apple and is founder of Current TV, the San Francisco-based cable channel you've never heard of because it's devoted to viewer-created material.
Gore says he will donate his salary to promote national energy independence to the APSNWP, the Alliance to Promote Stripmining in National Wildlife Preserves.
Just kidding. He intends to contribute the money to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a nonprofit foundation. Maybe in 2012 we can try to get him to run again.
--Andrew Malcolm
Californians know well the emotions that swirl around any debate over giving legal driver's licenses to illegal aliens. Now, the rest of the country is coming to understand it.
We saw some of the furor during Tuesday's Democratic party debate in Philadelphia where Hillary Clinton seemed to be for giving licenses to illegal immigrants in New York state before she was against giving licenses to illegal immigrants in New York state. Or the other way around. She got nicked over that and keeping her first lady's papers sealed, as the transcript shows, and next morning quickly pulled out a union endorsement to try to change the subject of public discussion.
Now, for what it's worth the mayor of New York has weighed in on the issue. The former Democrat-turned-Republican-turned independent Michael Bloomberg says he opposes the plan to give illegals drivers licenses. "I do not believe they should," Bloomberg said on CNN.
"The bottom line," the billionaire added, "is we should be giving driver's licenses to people knowing who they are and making sure that they have a right to have them."
As long as Bloomberg was there, Blitz Wolfer asked him, yet again, about running for president. "You are asking a person who's not a candidate," the mayor said. "I have 791 days left to go in my job. And I plan to finish that."
"You plan to finish it. But, zero chance you would run for president this time around?"
"This country does not need another candidate and I'm not a candidate. And I told you I'm going to speak out. I have every intention of speaking out and traveling around this country and trying to get people to say, look, you know who are running. Tell us what you will do and how do you stop the constant fighting that has immobilized Congress, both parties and both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue?"
You'll note, of course, that having answered the driver's license question directly, Bloomberg found himself unable to address the "zero chance" one in the same manner.
--Andrew Malcolm
Former Vice President Al Gore was named a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize this morning for his work on global warming, capping 24 hours of speculation driven in part by his role in a San Francisco fundraiser for Sen. Barbara Boxer's 2010 reelection bid.
Gore was the scheduled headliner for the Thursday afternoon event, but canceled late Wednesday to attend a hastily scheduled global warming conference with top government officials in China. Boxer's campaign scuttled the event, e-mailed supporters who had bought tickets and began making plans to reschedule it for next month.
But about 8 a.m. Thursday, Gore called Boxer to say he was still in the country. The fundraiser was back on, as was the speculation that Gore might have received an inkling of the pending announcement and decided he'd rather be on home ground than in China when the word came (which regular Ticket readers knew yesterday).
Speaking before more than 400 Boxer supporters in an ornate ballroom of the Westin St. Francis Hotel, Gore reprised his now-familiar call for a new bipartisan and international approach to attacking global warming, as well as humanitarian crises such as Darfur. Calling such issues "a moral imperative," Gore said the world needed to change its consciousness and work to end such vast threats to human life.
The appearance also sparked -- no surprise -- an impromptu crowd chant of "Run, Al, run!," which he sought to cut off by waving his arms like a baseball umpire calling a runner safe. Gore, of course, has maintained he has no intention of joining the already crowded Democratic field of presidential contenders despite the persistent urging of a loyal band of supporters.
Many Democrats still believe that Gore won the 2000 election decided by the Supreme Court. And he was greeted by the liberal Democrats in San Francisco as something of a conquering hero.
On stage, Gore followed a short musical set by pop performers Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne. While talk of a possible Nobel swirled in the crowd, Gore did not mention it from the stage.
But the work that earned him the honor was front and center. Gore argued that half a century ago concerns that an unsettled Europe might spawn another world war led to the development of the Marshall Plan -- and the result is a much different world perception of Europe. Gore said: "Europe saw things differently after they had the opportunity to work together. Consciousness has changed. Thinking has changed. It hasn't been that long ago that it wouldn't have been ... absurd to ask how likely is it that Germany will invade France or France will invade Germany. But now, thank goodness, because of the political changes in consciousness of the last 50 years, that ... is utterly absurd. We need to create a future in which when people say, 'How likely is it we'll have a genocide in Africa this year?' people will say, 'That's absurd.' Right now, it's not absurd."
-- Scott Martelle
Well, the Al Gore drafters are still not giving up. In an online fundraising drive last week, Draftgore.com raised $65,000 to buy a full-page ad in today's New York Times that appeals to the former senator, former vice president and former presidential nominee to reconsider his current stand and run for the 2008 Democratic nomination.
"Many good and caring candidates are contending for the Democratic nomination," the ad letter says, "But none of them has the combination of experience, vision, standing in the world and political courage that you would bring to the job. Nor do they have the support among voters that you enjoy and would lead you to victory in 2008."
"All we're trying to do," says Monica Friedlander, a 47-year-old Oakland public relations person who founded the group, "is persuade him that it's a moral imperative for him to be a candidate." That's all.
She says the group has amassed 136,000 signatures on a petition for Gore to run and is about to launch a California petition drive to get him on the state's Democratic primary ballot next year. It's also two days before Gore is prepared to win the Nobel Peace Prize, in the minds of supporters, for his work against global warming.
Gore is actually in the state today. He was to attend a San Francisco fundraiser Thursday afternoon for Sen. Barbara Boxer. But that event was canceled when Gore dashed off to China late tonight for a last-minute invitation to meet with Chinese officials on his favorite issue.
(UPDATE: The Boxer fundraiser is reportedly back on. Maybe Al wants to be around when he wins the big prize?)
Gore has said he has fallen out of love with politics and does not intend to run. But he's never said never. A spokeswoman repeated those sentiments today: "He deeply appreciates the heartfelt sentiment behind this ad and understands where this comes from," said Kalee Kreider. "But he has no intention of running for president."
See, that's where Gore always gets in trouble. That malleable word "intention." Some people may recall not too long ago Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig, the toe-tapping men's room customer who got in trouble in the Minneapolis airport, announcing it was his intention to resign from the Senate on Sept. 30.
But he's still there.
--Andrew Malcolm
Another ray of light for hopeful Al Gore backers. With the Newt Watch now officially over, much attention has focused on the political plans of the former vice president.
Based on absolutely no sign whatsoever from the potential candidate himself, the Draft Al Gore movement remains strong and alive with its own well-designed website with petitions to sign, posters to post, a campaign song to sing, volunteer lists, a way to find like-minded Al Gore backers in your area, Draft Gore merchandise, videos, a collection of his not-so-recent speeches, and op-ed articles urging his candidacy which you can plagiarize and send to your local newspaper.
Anyway, Al is going to be on national TV again. Now, there are no guarantees that he'll announce a candidacy during his appearance on NBC. The network refused to comment. But the show is scheduled for the politically symbolic month of November. And one can always hope.
Word leaked in recent days that Gore was seen in New York City, where he taped an appearance as a guest star on NBC's "30 Rock." He'll play a mysterious evil genius who lives in a giant house on a Tennessee mountaintop and is threatening to melt all the globe's glaciers and raise the sea level to cover the entire state of Florida unless the 2000 recount there is re-opened.
No, that's not true. We don't know what his guest role is, which is what prompts so much hope among Al Gore backers that he might take the occasion of a real TV show about a fictitious TV show to announce his real presidential candidacy that night. That would be just in time for the Iowa caucuses, which if the primary schedule keeps going as it is, could come right around Thanksgiving. So set your TiVo for the week of Nov. 4.
--Andrew Malcolm
Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker whose political striptease over running for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination went through even more layers of clothing than Fred Thompson, sent out a spokesman today to say that the Georgian had decided not to make the effort this time.
Barely 72 hours ago the 64-year-old Gingrich had announced that a close advisor would depart Monday on a three-week nationwide trek to gauge possible financial commitments and that if he could round up $30 million worth, Gingrich didn't see how he could resist such popular pressure to run.
Today, the spokesman, Rick Tyler, said Gingrich had just discovered that he could not legally explore a political opportunity like running for president while remaining head of American Solutions, his tax-exempt political organization. So he was giving up the presidential idea. "Newt is not running," Tyler said.
A master at manipulating the media, even before helping to invent the "Contract With America" that in 1994 won Congress back for the GOP after decades of minority status, Gingrich is an erudite and eloquent speaker who retains a loyal Republican following despite his resignation after Republican election losses in 1998.
A presidential confrontation next year between Gingrich and Hillary Clinton, who so often denounced his right-wing conspiracy, would have been one of the most entertaining in decades. And the debates would have surely outdrawn reruns of "The Simpsons."
The decision's implications for the other Republican candidates seem minimal, except possibly the freeing up of some Gingrich donors awaiting his decision. You can bet that the Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson folks are calling them this afternoon.
In public, such as during the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair, Gingrich can be one of the most pointedly partisan speakers imaginable. His biting remarks leave scars not easily forgotten, and he'd never make any Democratic Lincoln Bedroom list. Yet out of office, he can also publicly debate prominent Democrats like Mario Cuomo and produce a fascinating evening of bipartisan political dialogue rich in enlightening history.
In person Gingrich's attention to and involvement with those around him is intense, like a college professor engaging students in the hall after a lecture. Win-or-lose, his ...
Read more BREAKING NEWS: The Newt Watch -- now he says no »
Clinton/Gore, together again.
It was a reunion -- however brief -- that must have been heartwarming for most Democrats (and a cause of heartburn for most Republicans).
It happened today in Manhattan, at an annual conference on world problems that Bill Clinton sponsors, now that he's not president anymore (and now that his wife is the family's working politician).
Clinton led the opening panel, and one by one he introduced its heavy-hitter participants: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, World Bank President Robert Zoellick, Aghan President Hamid Karzai, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott Jr.
Last to take the stage was Al Gore, who with Clinton formed the only Democratic team to occupy the presidency and vice presidency for two full terms since 1941 (a pretty amazing stat, when you think about it).
The symbiotic bond they once seemed to exude (remember the bus blitzkrieg through Middle America after their party's 1992 national convention?) has long since dissipated, frayed by a slew of political and personal recriminations. Still, a hint of a good vibe between them was in evidence....
Read more A political dynamic duo reunites »
Some days Newt Gingrich talks as if he's this close to jumping into the Republican presidential race because the rest of the field is a bunch of pygmies. On other days the former House speaker sounds more hesitant and stresses the need to complete his series of American Solutions seminars this week and then seriously survey the field and judge the financial commitments he might count on.
Take a look at this exchange between Gingrich and Chris Wallace last weekend on Fox News Sunday:
"Next Monday, Randy Evans, who's been my friend and adviser for many, many years, will hold a press briefing. Randy will spend the next three weeks checking with people around the country. If he reports back that, in fact, we think the resources are there for a real race — remember, Governor Romney has been very successful legitimately as a businessman. He can write a $100 million check. I mean, there's no point in getting into a fight with a guy who can drown you unless you at least have enough resources for a vote.
"And so if we have enough resources, then close to that we'll face a very big decision in late October. If there aren't enough resources, I'm not for doing unrealistic things.
WALLACE: But why even go through it unless, if you get the money, you'd run?
GINGRICH: I think the odds are very high, if we ended up with that level of pledges, we'd — I don't see as a citizen how you could turn that down.
WALLACE: So you'd run.
GINGRICH: I think you'd be compelled to.
WALLACE: And?
GINGRICH: I think any citizen — how could you turn to all of your fellow citizens — if they walk ...
Read more The Newt watch: Now he's fundraising »
BUNDLERS ALERT!!
Norman Hsu may not be available anymore, but others who have the clout, connections and cunning to hustle up -- i.e. "bundle," in the political vernacular -- big amounts of political dough may want to give Newt Gingrich a call. But you need to act quickly.
Gingrich has said before that if he could get his hands on $30 million or so, he just might, just maybe, perhaps possibly decide to enter the already hard-to-figure Republican presidential race. Today, at a breakfast with reporters in Washington that included The Times' Janet Hook, he revealed that he'll set loose his top political advisor to see if the cash is out there.
The aide, Randy Evans, will spend October on the task. And if pledges from backers hit the $30-million mark by Nov. 1, Gingrich said, "I would seriously consider running." Indeed, he added, it would be hard to say no to such a show of support.
Gingrich has been taking the art of flirting with a White House race to a whole new level, as we have noted here and here. The new carrot he dangled came on the same morning that the Washington Post's David Broder, who has been tracking Gingrich's political career for more than 30 years, expressed regret in a column that the onetime House speaker "has virtually decided to pass on the 2008 presidential race."
Chances are, Broder remains on the money. Gingrich's comments today may set hearts aflutter among his most ardent allies, but think about it -- how realistic is it that he can line up $30 million in commitments in a month? It strains credibility that there's that much spare change available for a candidate who, even if he stormed on to the GOP nomination, would be anything but a sure bet in the general election.
Still, it's undeniably fun to have Gingrich toying with a campaign. For instance ...
Read more The Newt watch: The beat goes on »
Because 17 presidential candidates obviously aren't enough--besides being an unlucky odd number--and because American presidential campaigns still don't spend as much money as many nations' entire budgets, Newt Gingrich has inserted himself again as a potential, possible, slightly more likely Republican candidate.
But not yet, of course.
To get the buzz going again--it's been--what?--a whole week since the last interview--the former speaker granted a sit-down to the Washington Times' Ralph Z. Hallow (no relation to our Mark Z. Barabak). Hallow reveals in the article that Newt "is moving closer" to a candidacy.
"I will decide based on whether I have about $30 million in committed campaign contributions and whether I think it is possible to run a campaign based on ideas rather than 30-second sound bites," Gingrich said. Good luck with that.
Let's be honest. Sound bites are how you reach millions of people via TV. Campaign staffs carefully craft and polish these phrases and insert several such short, sharp, focus-group-tested quotes near the beginning of every speech, because not every local TV crew stays for the whole talk. Also in the Newt's equation is how well the rest of the GOP field is faring by, say, mid-October.
This week's Times/Bloomberg poll in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina showed that no Republican had solidified the kind of broad front-runner status as Hillary Clinton. The figures also show more volatility in the GOP race, with 72% in Iowa, 50% in New Hampshire and 64% in South Carolina saying they still might change their minds on a candidate.
Those are very tempting numbers for a big-league politician. But first Gingrich will watch how Fred Thompson does in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, the Georgian will continue his speeches, his online seminars, his interviews and his behind-the-scenes fundraising pulse-taking.
Although Gingrich has not done as well as Thompson did in the polls by not running, he does have a faithful following, solidly conservative credentials and a grasp of history and basket of ideas that can make his speeches compelling listening. How many ways the party's conservative wing can be sliced up among Thompson, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback and possibly Gingrich without handing a plurality to Rudy Giuliani may turn out to be the real question come next winter's caucuses and primaries.
You can, by the way, express your own opinion on Newt's possible, likely, maybe, who-cares candidacy by going here to vote and seeing the totals so far.
--Andrew Malcolm
Once again, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg says he is not running for president. Still. He says on his own website that he was asked about it again in Washington recently. He doesn't say who asked him again, but it must have been someone who hasn't read or heard the mayor's last 20 coy denials.
So now as long as he says someone brought it up again, Bloomberg proceeds to discuss the issue again. He says, 'Are you running?' is the wrong question, even though you have to run before you get elected. And he says the question is not who is the best candidate either, even though that's supposed to be what this confounded party primary-caucus business is all about. He says the real question is who will be the best president? That makes sense.
Then the former Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent proceeds to write a short essay that sounds suspiciously like a mini-stump speech of the sort we're all hearing a lot of these days if we're listening yet. "The country," he says, "faces very real and very big challenges: creating growth in a global economy, fighting terrorism, meeting our energy needs, tackling global warming, and reforming public education."
Bloomberg, the non-candidate, says, "We need solutions that are innovative and bold, not superficial half-steps that are driven by politics, partisanship, or special interest campaign contributions." Hard to argue with that, right? He says we need "real solutions."
"For too long," the billionaire adds, "the American people have been served up empty promises based on what politicians think we want to hear. It's time for something real." Wait a minute. Isn't he the real mayor? Wasn't he selected in a real election? Doesn't that make him a real politician? One of Them.
So how does he get to claim to be one of us non-politicians who are being fed blather? Is this something he thinks we want to hear?
"Real solutions" is what "this upcoming campaign needs to be about," Bloomberg writes. "And these," he promises, "are the issues and challenges I will continue to address."
Whether he's asked or not, apparently.
--Andrew Malcolm
Back at home on NBC-TV, Fred Thompson, formerly of "Law & Order" and the United States Senate, made it official a few minutes ago.
 During a taping of the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" in Burbank for national broadcast later this evening, Thompson said, "That's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. I'm running for president of the United States."
The audience broke into prolonged applause.
Asked if he waited too long, "Of course, we'll find out, but I don't think people are going to say, you know, 'That guy would make a very good president, but he just didn't get in soon enough.'"
Thompson criticized the current debate formats with so many candidates and only seconds to reply, saying he favored a format with one-on-one candidates going for a longer time. Asked about missing tonight's debate in New Hampshire, Thompson said, "I'll do my share." He said his opponents are all formidable and cited John McCain as "a good friend, and he will be again after this is over with--unless he beats me. Then I'll have to take another look."
"Look," he said, "the nation's not gonna be hurt by having one more good person step into the race."
He told Leno he did support the Iraq war. "You got to remember what it'd be like if we'd not done what we did. Saddam would still be there, having defeated the United Nations and all its resolutions, continued its nuclear weapons program, putting people in human shredders and attacking their neighbors and in a nuclear competition with Iran. We stay till we get the job done."
Another former actor named Arnold Schwarzenegger used the same stage to announce his candidacy for California governor a few years ago. And that worked. Thompson let the other eight GOP wannabes once again debate their same old positions on a Fox cable channel from New Hampshire this evening.
Thompson was plugging his formal 15-minute webcast campaign announcement set to go up early Thursday morning on his new campaign website, Fred08.com. Then he'll actually hit the campaign trail in Iowa Thursday afternoon in a new bus that also breaks tradition; it's not red, white and blue. It's brown, mustard yellow and red, but doesn't look as bad as it sounds.
He'll head out to Des Moines, Council Bluffs, Sioux City and Council Bluffs, which if you've ever driven Iowa, is a hike. Thompson is months behind his GOP opponents in money, organization and contacts, especially Mitt Romney, who leads the Iowa and New Hampshire state polls and won the Ames straw poll last month. Thompson, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain skipped that event given Romney's organization and lead. No Republican has ever won the Iowa caucus without competing in the Ames poll.
Before leaving, Leno tried out some bumper stickers on Thompson: "Fred Thompson because Giuliani is
Read more BREAKING NEWS: Fred to Jay: I'm running for president! »
After a summer of procrastination, distraction, reorganization and delay, former senator and pretend prosecutor Fred Thompson enters the race for the Republican nomination today in as carefully-scripted manner as any network show.
His long-awaited entry, positioning himself as a true conservative, could fundamentally alter the GOP race or he could flame out like one of those jets landing on his carrier in "The Hunt for Red October." It won't take long to find out. All eyes will be on him, especially the next 10 days, to see if he can get up to the same speed as his eight other Republican competitors who've been at it for months, refining their speeches, their movements, their messages before crowds and challenging reporters.
Not that any of them have dominated previous debates. And so eager are a substantial number of Republicans for an exciting conservative alternative that the avuncular Thompson has earned strong second-place showings in many polls by not campaigning.
To avoid immediate direct comparisons, Thompson and his newly-reassembled campaign team are wisely skipping the Republican debate tonight in New Hampshire, which angers the Manchester Union Leader and both of its readers.
Instead, his campaign will play off the program with its first 30-second television ad just before the debate on the Fox News Channel, steering viewers to his website where early Thursday he will officially launch his campaign with a 15-minute web speech that will be closely-watched for Thompson's campaign themes. Talk about controlling the message. No pestering reporters or hecklers. The same approach as Hillary Clinton took last winter, which hasn't hurt her chances.
And, wait one minute, does any of this sound like another actor's successful entry into the California gubernatorial race back in the anti-Gray Davis days? It should. A bunch of Gov. Arnold's folks are on the Thompson team now.
"On the next president's watch," Thompson says in the ad, "our country will make decisions that will affect our lives and our families far into the future. We can't allow ourselves to become a weaker, less prosperous and more divided nation."
"Today, as before," Thompson adds, "the fate of millions across the world depends on the unity and resolve of the American people. I talk about this tomorrow on Fred08.com. I invite you to take a look and join us."
But first comes an appearance on NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," which will...
Read more Hurricane Fred blows ashore »
Al Gore fans, hang in there.
Once again, the former vice president has not ruled out jumping into the 2008 presidential race. He has said this so many times--here and here and here and here, among others--that some Democrats, dissatisfied with the current field, have visions of a deadlocked convention next summer turning in renewed hope to the loser of the 2000 race one more time.
The hope springs from several factors. Given numerous chances, Gore never says never. He refuses to rule a run out again in a new interview with 02138 magazine about Harvard alums. "It doesn't feel right at this point," Gore said. But that sounds more equivocal than what he told Larry King earlier this year, that he had fallen out of love with politics.
Gore admitted he would have more influence over his environmental concerns as president, but said he was satisfied for now with raising environmental awareness and forcing the next president to confront it. And, let's face it, he is pulling in $100,000 for each 75-minute environmental slide show he gives.
Also in the interview Gore declined to endorse any of the other current Democratic candidates. Why wouldn't he do that if he's really not running?
Gore said several Democratic candidates had phoned and visited him seeking advice. He would not name them, but he did single out for praise Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd for his proposal to enact a carbon tax on polluters.
Then Bill Clinton's vice president was asked if he felt any obligation to endorse Clinton's wife, Hillary?
"Uh, no," said Gore. "I have friendships with her and with other candidates and they're all on equal footing at this point as far as I'm concerned." Uh-huh.
In another interview (gee, lots of interviews for a non-candidate, eh?), this one in Vanity Fair, Gore helps dissect the media coverage of his ill-fated 2000 campaign. The article by Evgenia Peretz is titled "Going after Gore" and is an interesting examination of the news cycles and news recycling that occurs in the mainstream media during a high-pressure presidential campaign. Peretz finds numerous distortions and misquotations that may have contributed to a caricature of Gore (Remember how he invented the Internet and was the model for Oliver Barrett in "Love Story"?).
Has Gore, the Oscar-winning, lecture-giving, global-concert-organizing, apocalypse-warning climate expert, reinvented his own self sufficiently to run for president again? His wife Tipper notes that he has done nothing to suggest a run for the presidency. But she doesn't rule it out either.
In fact, according to Peretz, she adds that "if he turned to her one night and said he had to run, she'd get on board, and they'd discuss how to approach it this time around, given what they've learned."
Hmmmm.
--Andrew Malcolm
Todd Harris may be just the prescription for Republican Fred Thompson's struggling, presumed, when-is-he-going-to-announce presidential campaign. After all, the 36-year-old Harris brings to his new job as the Thompson camp's communications director a resume that includes assisting a politician best known to voters as an actor: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Times reporter Joe Mathews recalls that just a few weeks into Schwarzenegger's 2003 gubernatorial campaign, the candidate's wife, Maria Shriver (who, like Thompson's spouse, Jeri, is a stunning, very-involved-in-politics mate), asked well-known GOP consultant Mike Murphy to come in and take charge of an effort that she saw as flawed. Murphy brought along Harris, who was then spinning for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
It was a homecoming for Harris, who's from Walnut Creek in Northern California. And he helped craft a strategy that just may come in handy for Thompson. Schwarzenegger and his aides skillfully used criticism of his celebrity candidacy by traditionalists in media and political circles to help his cause. In a clever bit of political jujitsu, they insisted that the scorn directed at the Austrian actor -- and his refusal to play by the rules of campaign scheduling and access -- showed that he was a different kind of politician who could change California.
After Schwarzenegger won the governorship in the historic election that bounced the incumbent, Democrat Gray Davis, from the job, Murphy set up an office for his new consulting firm, DC Navigators, across the street from the Capitol in Sacramento. He hired Harris to run it, and the consultant developed a reputation as an accessible operative who, Mathews reports, also was a skilled amateur photographer and an avid wine collector.
Harris served as spokesman and strategist for the governor's many ballot campaigns, including the ill-fated special election in 2005 when a raft of initiatives backed by Schwarzenegger were rejected. The strain of that campaign showed in its final days when Harris went toe-to-toe in front of television cameras with Warren Beatty. The actor was trying to crash an invitation-only Schwarzenegger rally in San Diego and Harris turned him back (though he did pose for a photograph in which Beatty pretended to put the aide in a chokehold).
Schwarzenegger brought in a new political team after the initiative debacle, and Harris was out. He relocated to Washington, where he tackles his new challenge.
An ABC News story posted today outlines the hurdles that await him. In a nod to Harris' California roots, here's a line from it that he can relate to: "But since the heady days of late spring, when the Fred Thompson fever seemed to infect the GOP, Thompson's pre-campaign has been more 'Gigli' than 'Gone With the Wind.' "
(For those needing a reminder about how dispiriting the "Gigli" reference is for Thompson backers, go here.)
-- Don Frederick
We can only guess how many of you have been desperately waiting for political advice from Fidel Castro, el supremo Cuban leader despite those nagging intestinal problems that have kept him out of sight for a year. And now, finally, we have it.
Direct from his hospital suite the bearded dictator has written an editorial in the Communist Party newspaper Granma that we bet did not receive many changes by editors fearing prison.
Anyway, the 81-year-old Castro decreed that a 2008 U.S. presidential ticket pairing Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would be "invincible." Presumably he means in the United States because they don't allow free elections in Cuba.
Of course, this could be a trick, part of a Communist plot. Maybe the wily Castro realizes that such a suggestion by a foreigner like him could actually be the kiss of death if such a ticket came out of the Democrats' Denver convention a year from now. Imagine the headlines: "Dems do as Castro says, name Hillary and Barack." Or "Castro says si to Dem ticket." He could even come to Denver disguised as Michael Moore and give one of his three-hour orations to the assembled delegates.
But maybe, Castro actually favors Ron Paul, the Republican isolationist who theoretically would care less about a tropical island 90 miles away. And by ignoring Paul like everyone else in the Northern Hemisphere except a small band of unemployed web cruisers who believe in voluminous free expression, this is Castro's way of helping to boost the Texas congressman's poll numbers out of the single digit.
The two American candidates Castro favors actually disagree on U.S. policy toward Cuba. As reported here recently, after speaking out on unilaterally bombing U.S. ally Pakistan, Obama wrote an op-ed in the Miami Herald advocating a fresh approach to Cuban policy as it nears the end of the Castro era.
Obama says he would lift Bush administration restrictions on visits to Cuba by relatives and...
Read more This just in: Fidel Castro handicaps U.S. election »
The Manchester Union Leader is no longer the awesome force in New Hampshire that it once was, but it remains a voice to be reckoned with -- especially on the Republican side of the political fence. And in an editorial today attracting a fair amount of attention, the newspaper sends a pointed message to Fred Thompson: Enough, already, with tap-dancing on the periphery of the GOP presidential race.
The opening paragraph lays it on the line: "Fred Thompson has flirted from afar with Republican voters for long enough. It's time for him to accept a date. And there is no better first date than the New Hampshire Republican Party's presidential debate on Sept. 5."
You can read the rest of the editorial here.
The Union Leader, as proudly protective as any New Hampshire institution of the state's sacred-cow status in the nominating process, has a vested interest in wanting Thompson onstage ...
Read more Thompson scolded for tardiness »
The presidential campaign of Fred Thompson, which has yet to start but has already experienced several staff shakeups and setbacks, had another one today. After only a few weeks as the communications director of the not-yet-quite-ready-for-prime-time campaign, Linda Rozett, a veteran U.S. Chamber of Commerce official, was let go.
Campaign manager Bill Lacy, who himself assumed control in a shakeup not long ago, made the announcement in a staff e-mail: "I will have to make a lot of tough decisions to make our venture successful and this was one of them." He called Rozett "a talented, professional and gracious lady" but said "in the limited amount of time we have I feel it critical to have a communications point person with significant campaign experience."
Asked about the firing of his top communications official in St. Paul, where he was visiting the state fair, Thompson didn't seem to have been communicated with. "I don't know what the story is," he admitted. "I don't know what to say about it except that she's a wonderful lady."
Thompson was sampling the fair food and posing for pictures. He was asked about the resignation of Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales, which he did know about. "It was mishandled," Thompson said. "He doesn't have a monopoly on that in Washington."
Rumor has it that the oft-postponed Thompson campaign, which came up $1.5 million short of its $5-million fundraising goal in June, will launch shortly after Labor Day. But the former senator is running so well in the polls, usually second place, without formally running that who can know for sure?
--Andrew Malcolm
He still hasn’t formally jumped in as a candidate, but Fred Thompson hit Des Moines today for a series of events, including the required strolling through the steamy Iowa State Fair.
As we pointed out last month, not running has been good to Thompson in the polls. But his Iowa visit today led the Des Moines Register to point out that while the former U.S. senator and actor does whatever he’s doing to prepare an announcement whenever he decides to do that, valuable time is slipping by.
Writes Thomas Beaumont: “Whether the actor-politician can be competitive in the caucuses, now only a few months away, will depend in part on how quickly he can assemble an Iowa campaign and how much time he invests personally in the labor-intensive act of meeting caucus-goers, GOP leaders say.”
But Thompson says he'll do fine, telling CNN’s John King that there’s plenty of campaigning time left, and if/when he gets in the race he’ll be able to build a winning machine for the Iowa caucuses.
Thompson also said he supported a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, and would work to overturn Roe vs. Wade (which would be a bit of a personal overturn itself, given that he once lobbied for pro-choice groups). And once he does get in, he's got an established record of lobbying to defend. So far, he only warns critics not to confuse the lawyer with the client.
As for the Big Topic -- the war in Iraq -- Thompson skipped over the question of...
Read more Fred Thompson visits Iowa, still not a candidate »
Well, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's cover is blown.
Starting with his first mayoral campaign, Bloomberg has struck a populist tone, urging New Yorkers to take public transit and being seen to do so himself, so much so that Newsday dubbed him "regular Joe Commuter." Subway stories are a staple of his standard speech fare.
Unfortunately for that image, New York Times reporters staked out the mayor's home on Manhattan's Upper East Side for five weeks recently. The resulting story reported that the mayor was picked up every morning by two gas-guzzling police Chevy Suburbans. Most days they drove him all the way downtown to his office at City Hall.
About twice a week before driving all the way downtown to City Hall anyway, the Suburbans drive 22 blocks past two local subway stops to an express line station at 59th Street and Lexington Avenue, where they drop the billionaire off for the straight shot down to City Hall.
The closest subway stop to the mayor's home is about a five-minute walk.
A mayoral spokesman said the mayor stopped walking there when he attracted hordes of cameras and photographers. Informed that Times reporters had never seen any photographers lurking near the mayor's home, the spokesman said, "So you're saying the solution worked."
Of course, when Bloomberg gets to the White House after the independent campaign he says he has no plans to run, he'll be able to commute by simply walking down some thickly-carpeted stairs.
--Andrew Malcolm
It's been a rough few weeks for the world's Pygmies.
First, during the recent Festival of Pan-African Music in the Republic of Congo, host officials housed a group of diminutive Pygmy musicians in the cages at the Brazzaville zoo, while other performing delegates got air-conditioned hotel rooms. Officials explained it was not discrimination; they just thought the group of 20 jungle natives would feel more at home amid the trees and animals.
But worse than that for the world's Pygmy people, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich recently called the nine-man field of fellow Republicans running for president a "bunch" of "pygmies." Can you imagine the insult if Pygmies ever heard about it?
Gingrich said it last week at one of those regular Washington breakfasts where hurried journalists looking for a free meal and some quotes gather with someone who desperately wants to be quoted. It's a symbiotic relationship, like those blackbirds that pick insects off the backs of rhinos.
Gingrich, a leading critic of President Clinton as an adulterer at a time when Gingrich himself was one, is always ready with a quote, sometimes intelligent, usually sharp-tongued, always self-promoting. Recently, he's been trying to stay in the news because on some days he hints he might join the field of Pygmies seeking to lead a nation of non-Pygmies and on other days it's beneath him. On humid summer days in Washington with Congress about to go on vacation, such vacillations can pass for news.
Always thorough, we did a little research into the aptness of the former speaker's remarks and...
Read more So easy even a politician can do it »
Hmmm, it's probably just a coincidence, one of those flukey chance things that just seems to happen and then bored journalists on a slow summer day make way too much of it.
But New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the current billionaire and former Democrat who became a Republican and then last spring declared himself an independent with no interest in running for president, is buying up all kinds of website names. Websites with names like mike2008.com. Or mbloomberg.com. Or michaelbloomberg.com.
At the same time, Bloomberg has stepped up his travels around the country. He told "Good Morning America" this week it's "just an accident" that his speeches take him to "big states" like Missouri, where he addressed the National Urban League along with several presidential candidates.
"I've got a job and it's a great job, and I'm going to finish this job," said the mayor, whose term runs through 2009, adding...
Read more Mayor Mike denies it again »
A minor setback for those Americans patiently awaiting Al Gore's inevitable announcement of his candidacy for president.
According to a published report in the Boston Herald, one of his daughters, Kristin, recently said, "He's really not going to get in the race." C'mon, who's going to believe a daughter over newspaper speculation?
Then comes a Washington Times commentary by Donna Brazile, who managed Gore's 2000 campaign. She says, "Common sense should tell us he is not gearing up for another presidential run." What does she know? She lost in 2000.
And anyway, whoever heard of common sense in a presidential race that features 17 candidates so far, including Mike Gravel and Ron Paul? You know, Al himself has not totally ruled it out. He's told Larry King he's fallen out of love with politics. But love is a fickle thing. He's said he has no intention of running. Aha, but he hasn't said absolutely not.
After learning how much he's making for 75-minute speeches on the environment, we can understand why Gore is delaying his announcement. He's making a fortune from talking about hot air.
And there was that recent flap about Gore the environmentalist eating endangered Chilean sea bass...
Read more Donna, say it isn't so »
With the Republican presidential race in such an unsettled state, the intriguing figure of Newt Gingrich continues to lurk on the sidelines, heightening his profile every now and then in ways that keep his name in the mix.
Yesterday, he told the N.Y. Post, "I don't get from anybody on our side a sense of mission." Then the former speaker showed up over at CBS.com. On a possible Gingrich campaign: "It's perfectly reasonable to wait around for a while and see what happens."
On political campaigns today: "You know, Lincoln and Douglas debated seven times for three hours each. Lincoln went to Cooper Union and gave a two-hour, 7,300-word speech. Nowadays we have auditions. We do not have debates. Ten or eleven people looking like they're trying out for 'American Idol,' standing around patiently while a TV personality asks them an inane question and then gives them 30 seconds to give an inane answer."
On his own hard-shelled image: "The most common reaction I get from people, if they actually hear me give an entire speech, is they are amazed at the difference between the media image and the person I am in person. And I will let you decide whether that is because I am two different people, or that is because the media image is wrong."
On Hillary Clinton: "I think that she is, clearly, formidable, hard-working and intelligent. I think she is also way too liberal and she and I could have a lot of fun debating because we would be on very different sides."
As we've noted before, Gingrich's current main focus is organizing "American Solutions for Winning the Future," a group he formed that plans a big splash in late September. That's when the organization...
Read more The Newt watch: an update »
Well, now we have some explanation for why former vice president Al Gore is delaying the announcement of his 2008 presidential campaign. He's making a big bundle off the environment by talking about it.
Thanks to thesmokinggun.com website, we have access to a copy of the contract for the recent speech by Gore at the University of California, San Diego. It's an inconvenient truth that he got $100,000 for the 75-minute environmental slide presentation at the public school and agreed to an extra 10 minutes of questions.
Among the other requirements set out by Gore:
First-class roundtrip air transportation for himself and one traveling companion, who is also to receive $1,000 per day in expenses; all meal, phone and other expenses to be covered for both; a security guard for every minute of his visit; a sedan, preferably a hybrid but definitely not an SUV, for all transportation; no press access or interviews; no video or audio taping or broadcast of the event; no photographs; approval of all scenery, logos, banners and settings for the appearance; approval of all communications and mailings regarding the appearance; Gore agrees only to a brief reception with sponsors and invited guests; and the contents of the contract must be kept strictly confidential.
Other than that, the university was free to do as it pleased with the May 21 event.
As far as we can discern, Gore did not announce his presidential candidacy during that visit. But then again, because the press was barred, there's no word that he ruled one out either. There are, however, still 13 months left before the Democratic National Convention picks its nominee in Denver.
--Andrew Malcolm
Al Gore, the former vice president and losing Democratic presidential nominee, is in Los Angeles this weekend for the wedding of his youngest daughter, Sarah.
The bride, who is 28, married Bill Lee, identified by a family spokeswoman as a 36-year-old Los Angeles businessman. Sarah is a medical student at the University of California, San Francisco. The ceremony was held at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
As he did at last weekend's Live Earth concert in New Jersey, Gore made no announcement during the wedding about any plans for a presidential campaign.
--Andrew Malcolm
It looks like Fred Thompson is doing so well in the polls by not running yet that he's decided to not run for a while longer.
His campaign announcement, first rumored for July 1st, then July 4th and then mid-July, now won't come until August, according to both Fox News and CNN. If that's true, mid-August would make the most sense. That timing would enable Thompson, still organizing a campaign, to duck the expensive Aug. 11 Republican straw poll in Ames while almost immediately overshadowing the anticipated victory and momentum of Mitt Romney.
It would also save one month's campaigning expenses and postpone the increased scrutiny by both media and opponents' researchers. With expectations already so high among conservatives for a Thompson candidacy, he wouldn't want to stumble out of the gate.
Such a move would fly in the face of tradition, however. In politics, August is widely believed to be a time when virtually no one outside the campaigns is listening to anything but the sounds of vacation. And no Republican who has skipped the Ames straw poll has ever gone on to win the Iowa caucus the following winter.
--Andrew Malcolm
The good news for Al Gore is that his Live Earth concert highlights show on NBC, designed to raise public awareness about global warming, attracted some 19 million viewers at one point or another Saturday night, according to Nielsen ratings released late yesterday.
 The bad news is that more than 16 million of those folks switched away from the three-hour concert that consumed the network's prime time Saturday evening. Many, perhaps disappointed that Gore did not announce his candidacy for president, were no doubt out back gathered around smoking grills helping to further warm the earth's atmosphere.
This left NBC with about 2.7 million viewers to earn fourth place for the night behind ABC with 3.4 million, Fox with 4.6 million and CBS with 5.2 million. Times columnist Jonah Goldberg has a different take on the concert here.
In Britain, the BBC reported 3.1 million watched the show, which was less than a third of the 11.4 million audience for the Princess Diana concert two weeks ago. Of those 3.1 million, 123 rang up the BBC to complain about foul language during the concert. Madonna, among others, felt compelled to use the mf word.
Perhaps what we really need next is a live global concert to raise awareness about the omnipresence of live global concerts trying to raise awarenesses.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo: Al Gore and Cameron Diaz; Credit: Justin Lane/EPA
Last winter, Chuck Hagel said he'd decide on his political future in the next couple of months. For the Nebraska senator, time must have stood still.
 On Sunday's "Meet the Press," Hagel was asked about his plans today. "Well," he told David Gregory, "I'll make that decision in the next couple of months." (For video, go here. For a transcript, go here.) "I've got to decide whether I want to ask the people of Nebraska to consider giving me a third term in the Senate. I also have said, and I said this when I first ran for the Senate, after I got elected in 1996, that 12 years, two terms, may be enough, and that's another option."
Hagel, an ardent critic of the Iraq war who's rumored to have discussed an independent White House run with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, added, "And then if there might be a place for me along the presidential road somewhere to try to have some influence and change the course of this country, then I'll look at that. But that decision needs to be made soon, and I'll make it soon."
Hagel seemed somewhat more certain about staying a Republican. "Well, I have no intention of changing parties, and that doesn't mean, by the way, that I don't think an independent does not have ...
Read more Another presidential waffler, plus Ron Paul »
The former vice president announced again yesterday that he still currently has no plans to run for the White House again.
Al Gore made the statement in between several onstage appearances at the New Jersey edition of his global Live Earth concerts to combat hot air.
P.S. For a different take on the Live Earth extravaganzas, click here.
--Andrew Malcolm
For someone who keeps saying he has no intention of running for president we keep seeing Al Gore pop up in all kinds of places where he can reach millions of people. Maybe billions if his 24-hour Live Earth global concert works this weekend, although there are reports of problems, including tepid ticket sales.
This morning Gore showed up on the Today Show on NBC, which just happens to be broadcasting the | |
, Douglas Holtz-Eakin.
