Two Dems Back Republican Push for Countrywide VIP Subpoena

ABCNews' Matthew Jaffe reports:

A House panel's contentious battle over issuing a subpoena to obtain documents about a controversial Countrywide program took a turn Thursday night when two Democratic members on the committee supported the ranking Republican's request to proceed with the investigation.

Rep. Paul Hodes, D-NH, and Rep. Mike Quigley, D-IL, wrote to House Oversight & Government Reform committee chairman Ed Towns, D-NY, and Darrell Issa, R-CA, informing the panel chiefs of their desire to issue a subpoena.

“We write to you today to request that the committee initiate an investigation into Countrywide Financial's “Friends of Angelo” program, and if it was used to gain influence over federal officials,” Hodes and Quigley wrote. “We believe that to properly conduct this investigation, the committee needs to gain access to all documents related to the program that Countrywide used to provide preferred status to certain customers.”

In recent weeks, Issa has vehemently argued for Towns to issue a subpoena, but Towns has refused to do so. Issa then attempted to call a committee vote on the subpoena, but a bizarre sequence of cancellations and lock-outs has prevented the California lawmaker from bringing the panel to a vote.

More HERE

The new support of Hodes and Quigley, a Republican committee aide told ABC News, now gives the GOP the necessary votes to pass the subpoena measure, assuming they can manage to bring it to a vote.

“Ranking member Issa fully supports the outline that Reps. Hodes and Quigley have outlined,” said Kurt Bardella, the spokesman for Issa. “He believes it is a blueprint for a fair and comprehensive investigation that will uncover the full scope of Countrywide's efforts to buy influence.”

Issa has fought to gain documents on the murky Countrywide program, which he has said was used to give sweetheart deals to federal government officials and members of Congress who worked on housing policy in an effort to gain their support.

More HERE

Democrats have called the GOP's push for a vote a political stunt to embarrass two prominent Senate Democrats, Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad, who received special VIP loans from the lender. Dodd chairs the Senate Banking committee and Conrad the Senate Budget committee.

Countrywide, once the nation's largest home mortgage lender, collapsed in 2008 in the midst of the subprime mortgage meltdown. In June, the company's former CEO was charged by the Securities & Exchange Commission with civil fraud and insider trading, making him the highest-profile official to date faced with federal charges stemming from the financial crisis.
More HERE

-Matthew Jaffe

The Note: My Kind of Town: Obama to Copenhagen on Friday to Push Chicago’s Olympic Bid

ABC News' Teddy Davis reports:

President Obama is going to Copenhagen.

The president will leave Thursday and will join his wife, Michelle, and others in his administration, in leading the U.S. appeal for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Chicago.

The planned trip will make Obama the first U.S. president to take on such a direct role in lobbying for an Olympics event.

The president will be a part of the formal presentation on Friday morning with Mrs. Obama.

White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett tells ABC News' Ann Compton that both the president and Mrs. Obama will participate in the Q & A session.

He will be back in D.C. by Friday evening.

A White House official says the president decided to go at this late hour because the competition looks very close.

President Obama believes “it's gonna take everything we got” to win, reports ABC's Yunji de Nies.

Two Obama Cabinet members from Illinois — Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood – are also going. Chicago is in competition with Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley heralded the news that President Obama would join his wife (and Oprah) in Copenhagen.

“President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama symbolize the hope, opportunity and inspiration that makes Chicago great, and we are honored to have two of our city's most accomplished residents leading our delegation in Copenhagen,” said Daley.

Afghanistan:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says that he is still thinking about his position on a troop increase for Afghanistan.

But during an appearance on ABC's “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” he “appeared to disagree” with the view of a number of senior administration officials, led by Vice President Biden, that the U.S. effort should move away from full-fledged counterinsurgencytoward a greater emphasis on targeted attacks on insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan with drone-fired missiles and other standoff weaponry.

That strategy, Gates said, “is only possible if you have the kind of intelligence that allows you to target the terrorists. And the only way you get that intelligence is by being on the ground. . . . You can't do this from a distance or remotely.”

Gates is also pushing back against liberal calls for withdrawal timelines from Afghanistan, telling CNN's “State of the Union” that it's a mistake to set a deadline to end U.S. military action and a defeat would be disastrous for the U.S.

On Friday, MoveOn.org called on President Obama to develop an exit strategy for Afghanistan.

“U.S. policy in Afghanistan has reached a pivotal moment,” reads MoveOn's email to its members. “Can you write to the White House and tell them we need a clear exit strategy — not tens of thousands more US troops stuck in a quagmire?”

Gates said on “This Week” that a decision on Afghanistan would come in “a few weeks.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who also appeared on ABC's “This Week,” said the size of the request is one of the “worst-kept” secrets in Washington.

“It's 30,000 to 40,000 troops,” said McCain.

McCain, who supports sending more troops to Afghanistan, said he spoke with President Obama on Saturday.

“It's a very difficult decision for him,” said McCain. “But I — I believe he'll make the right decision.”

On Tuesday, the White House will host the first of a series of National Security Council meetings to review the strategy President Obama laid out in March, along with McChrystal's recommendations for a stepped-up counterinsurgency effort, reports the Washington Post.

Unsettled politics in Afghanistan are a major concern for the Obama administration.

Appearing on NBC's “Meet the Press,” former President Clinton said: “[M]y guess is, is what the president wants to do is to see how this Afghan election is resolved. . . .I think that what the president has done here is not to dis the general . . . he's saying, ‘Look, my responsibility is not just to win military battles . . . I got to decide whether we got a partner there,' which means there has to be a functioning Afghan government.”

Keying off of a George Stephanopoulos report on ABCNews.com that the new “must-read book” for President Obama's war team is “Lessons in Disaster” by Gordon M. Goldstein, Frank Rich urged President Obama in his Sunday New York Times column to stand up to the generals.

“That he has temporarily pressed the pause button to think it through while others, including some of his own generals, try to lock him in is not a sign of indecisiveness but of confidence and strength,” wrote Rich.

Bob Woodward, the Washington Post legend who was first to report the details of the McChrystal report, said Sunday on “This Week”: “Maybe there will be an inclination to not give these troops, but (President Obama) can't put himself in a position where he's at war with his military.”

In an op-ed published in today's Wall Street Journal, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., urges President Obama to heed the lessons of Vietnam: “one of the lessons from Vietnam — applied in the first Gulf War and sadly forgotten for too long in Iraq — is that we should not commit troops to the battlefield without a clear understanding of what we expect them to accomplish, how long it will take, and how we maintain the consent of the American people.”

Iran:

“Iran said it successfully completed two days of missile tests that including launching its longest-range missiles on Monday, weapons capable of carrying a warhead and striking Israel, U.S. military bases in the Middle East, and parts of Europe,” reports the AP.

As officials from six world powers prepare to meet with Iranian negotiators this week to discuss Tehran's nuclear program, Secretary Gates told ABC's “This Week” that the severe sanctions the West is threatening against Iran could force a change in the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions, especially since the country is already under severe economic distress.

Health Care:

On Eve of Vote, New TV Ad Pressures Baucus to Create a Public Option

One day before the Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote on amendments that would create a public health insurance option, progressive groups are escalating the pressure on Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., to support it with a new TV ad in his home state and Washington, D.C.

The 60-second ad, released by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) and Democracy for America (DFA), features Montana father Bing Perrine, whose family is struggling with over $100,000 in medical debt because of his congenital heart problems.

No private insurance company will cover him, he says in the ad.

“None of this debt would have piled up if I'd had the option of buying into a public health insurance plan,” Perrine says in the ad. “Private insurance companies need competition. They profit by denying care to people like me. Senator Baucus, when you take millions of dollars from health and insurance interests that oppose reform, and oppose giving families like mine the choice of a public option, I have to ask: Whose side are you on?”

Watch the ad HERE.

Reid to Call on Obama for Help:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is planning to call on President Obama to help him mediate disputes between liberals and centrists as the Senate melds together bills produced by two different committees.

The combined bill “would not include a proposal for a government-run insurance plan, or public option, despite the clamoring of liberals who support it, senior Democratic Senate aides” told the New York Times.
Decisions which may fall to President Obama include: “setting the maximum percentage of income that Americans would be required to spend on health insurance, and the amount of penalties, if any, that should be imposed on those who fail to obtain coverage as required under the legislation.”

“The White House may also be asked to settle regional disputes, including disagreement over proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage, which offers extra benefits to some people 65 and older but often costs the government more than traditional Medicare.”

Rockefeller Pushes for Greater Insurance Protections:

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., says that more than 70 million people who work at large companies would not get health insurance protections sought by President Obama under the Senate Finance Committee's health-care bill, reports USA Today.

Baby, You Can Drive My Car:

“Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that House Democrats are weighing a proposal to tax generous health-insurance plans, a step that risks conflict with unions but would help pay for the House's version of health-overhaul legislation,” reported the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal.

House Urged to Let Illegals Buy Their Own Coverage:

“Fearful that they're losing ground on immigration and health care, a group of House Democrats is pushing back and arguing that any health care bill should extend to all legal immigrants and allow illegal immigrants” to use their own money to purchase health coverage through the insurance exchanges, reports Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times.

The House Democrats who signed the letter say this will help reduce dependence on emergency rooms.

Following President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress, the White House announced that it favored barring illegal immigrants not only from taxpayer-funded subsidies but also from using their own money to purchase insurance through the exchange.

Individual Mandate:

The insurance industry is worried that the individual mandate might get watered down, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Buy insurance or go to jail? Find out what this is all about HERE.

The Disconnect with the Rest of the Developed World on Universal Health Care:

While speaking to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation dinner over the weekend, President Obama told a little anecdote.

Here's more from ABC's Jake Tapper: 'World Leader' to Obama: Explain Why 'They're Putting a Hitler Moustache On You.'

Housing:

“The Obama administration is close to committing as much as $35 billion to help beleaguered state and local housing agencies continue to provide mortgages to low- and moderate-income families,” reports the Wall Street Journal.

“The move would further cement the government's role in propping up the housing market.”

Ex-VPOTUS:

There is a new Cheney taking the stage for the GOP, reports the New York Times.

Ballot Measures: Abortion:

“From Florida to California, abortion foes are gathering signatures, pressing state legislators and raising money to put personhood measures on ballots next year,” reports the Los Angeles Times.

Kennedy: The Name You Know:

“New Hopeful for Ted Kennedy's Seat Has Right Name for the Job,” reports the Boston Herald.

Joe Kennedy, 37, a member of the National Libertarian Party, is collecting signatures to run as an independent.

2010: Senate: Florida:

Marco Rubio, the young Cuban-American running in the Republican Senate primary against Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, got the George F. Will treatment over the weekend.

“Rubio intends to prove that ‘in the most important swing state, you can run successfully as a principled conservative.' He probably will,” writes Will.

2010: Senate: Colorado:

In the latest reminder that White House intervention extends beyond New York, the Denver Post reported over the weekend that White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina called Colorado speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff about the prospect of working in the Obama administration in an attempt to talk him out of a primary challenge (from the left) to incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.

(The attempt was unsuccessful; Romanoff decided to go ahead with his challenge).

2012:

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) was slammed as President Obama's “favorite Republican” at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference for helping to sell the president's stimulus package.

But Crist was singing a decidedly different tune over the weekend.

Speaking to the biennial Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference in Michigan, Crist said he thinks President Obama could be in for an ousting from office similar to what happened to President Jimmy Carter after his first term.

Seizing on Crist's speech in Michigan, Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., a Democratic Senate candidate, sent a fund-raising appeal on Sunday, accusing Crist of using the Senate race as a springboard for a presidential bid in 2012.

Mitt Romney held a Saturday fundraiser for the gubernatorial campaign of Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., reports Politico's Ben Smith. (Hoekstra was an early Romney backer in 2008).

(Republican businessman Rick Snyder won the gubernatorial straw poll held at the Mackinac leadership conference).

Mike Huckabee ripped into the UN over the weekend while speaking in St. Louis: “It has become the international equivalent of ACORN and it's time to say enough!”

Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., spoke on the West Coast over the weekend and was described by the San Francisco Chronicle as someone who is “touted at a Great GOP Hope for 2012.”

Remembering Bill Safire:

William Safire, a speechwriter for President Nixon and a Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist for The New York Times, died at a hospice in Rockville, Md., on Sunday. He was 79.

The cause was pancreatic cancer.

Four years ago, when people assumed that Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, Bill Safire attended a roast of future White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel to benefit CURE, Citizens United to Cure Epilepsy, a non-profit organization headed by Susan Axelrod, the wife of Democratic media consultant David Axelrod.

Believing that the “hawkishness on the part of Democrats and liberals” would “continue to grow” as we move closer to 2008, Safire suggested a possible bumper sticker if “a couple of guys from Illinois” make it onto the Democratic ticket together: “Invade & Bomb with Hillary & Rahm.”

The Kicker:

“You can't just sit off on the sidelines and kill people, as Secretary Gates said.”
–Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., discussing the need for a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy on ABC's “This Week with George Stephanopoulos”

By RICK KLEIN

It?s nice to leave August behind — but what?s ahead that?s pleasant to see?

On health care — we?re in a loop with no new input, churning through the same information, and watching the chances of bipartisanship evaporate.

On national security — we?re seeing the typical battles fought anew, with the same players, and probably the same political outcomes.

On Afghanistan — Obama?s war looks like Bush?s war once did, but the blame factor doesn?t make the choices ahead any easier.

As the White House stay-cation continues, some unappealing options.

And with foreign policy at the forefront again, they?re not the even the type of choices President Obama wants to have to make.

?For Mr. Obama, who already ordered an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan this year, the prospect of a still larger deployment would test his commitment to a war he did not launch even as it grows more violent by the month,? Peter Baker and Dexter Filkins reports in The New York Times. ?He already faces growing discontent among his liberal base, not only over the war but also over national security policy, health care, gay rights and other issues.?

?The report arrived at U.S. Central Command and NATO as four more troops, including two Americans, were killed today, closing out what was already the deadliest month in the war's history,? per ABC?s Nick Schifrin, Martha Raddatz, and Kirit Radia. ?Since a surge of U.S. Marines and soldiers began fighting in early July, at least 150 international troops have died — nearly the same number killed in the first 27 months of the war, according to icasualties.org. The assessment comes at a time when U.S. officials fear much of the country is slipping out of control.?

Internal angst: ?With tough battles ahead on health care, the budget and other issues, Vice President Joe Biden and other officials are increasingly anxious about how the American public would respond to sending additional troops,? McClatchy?s Nancy A. Youssef reports.

?Although President Barack Obama committed 21,000 new American forces to Afghanistan this year, officials are bracing for a request for even more. Obama would then face a buildup of troops there just as troop commitments in Iraq are easing or the risk losing the war he argued the U.S. had neglected,? per the AP?s Anne Gearan.

?Time to Get Out of Afghanistan,? reads the headline on George F. Will?s column.

?The U.S. strategy is ?clear, hold and build.? Clear? Taliban forces can evaporate and then return, confident that U.S. forces will forever be too few to hold gains. Hence nation-building would be impossible even if we knew how, and even if Afghanistan were not the second-worst place to try,? Will writes.

(Flashback: ?This Week” with George Stephanopoulos, August 23. ?Clear, hold, build. They can't hold it because they can't stay there,? Will said. ?And when they leave, the Taliban comes back. Therefore, what's the point in clearing? I think the American people are right about this.?)

?All quiet signs that when Congress returns to Washington in coming days, the unheard sounds of the distant war may become far louder on the political landscape there than anyone thought when those folks left town to discuss a different kind of pre-existing condition,? Andrew Malcolm blogs for the Los Angeles Times.

Whose war is it anyway? ? ?War on terror? — the Bush-era phrase that has disappeared at the Obama White House — appeared again on Monday,? the Washington Examiner?s Byron York points out.

Pushing back at former Vice President Dick Cheney (who can — and might — pop up whenever he wants to in any debate over national-security policies):

?The world is coming together on this matter now that President Obama has taken the leadership on it and is approaching it in a slightly different way ? actually a radically different way ? to discuss things with other rulers to enhance the working relationships with law enforcement agencies ? both national and international,? National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones, tells ABC?s Jake Tapper.

Jones said that ?we are seeing results that indicate more captures, more deaths of radical leaders and a kind of a global coming-together by the fact that this is a threat to not only the United States but to the world at-large and the world is moving toward doing something about it.?

President Obama is at the White House Tuesday, with a 1:15 pm ET briefing on H1N1 flu preparedness. He closes out his evening with a dinner celebrating Ramadan.

Any more unpopular choices ahead? ?By force of circumstances and by design, the president has promoted one policy after another that increases spending and centralizes power in Washington,? David Brooks writes in his New York Times column.

?The result is the Obama slide, the most important feature of the current moment. The number of Americans who trust President Obama to make the right decisions has fallen by roughly 17 percentage points. Obama?s job approval is down to about 50 percent. All presidents fall from their honeymoon highs, but in the history of polling, no newly elected American president has fallen this far this fast.?

(The New Republic?s Gabriel Sherman: ?It is an odd situation to say the least: David Brooks, prominent conservative, has become the most visible journalistic ally of arguably the most liberal president of his lifetime.?)

Plan from here, on health care: ?Democrats lost the month of August — not just in the polls and at town hall events but also within their own caucus,? Alex Isenstadt and Martin Kady II write for Politico. ?The comeback for Democrats — if there is one ? will begin in an all-important closed-door caucus meeting next week in the basement of the Capitol, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her top lieutenants will try to undo the damage of the August recess and convince their wobbly members that a vote for health care reform will not cost them their jobs in 2010.?

They continue: ?Leaders say their strategy is to convince members that nothing is set in stone and that they are more than open to negotiations. And they?re engaging in a softer sell, prioritizing health insurance reforms while pitching the public option as something that?s way, way down the road.?

(Plus, backtracking on the public option? House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., ?is advocating a ?two step? approach in which the most widely supported health insurance reforms, like coverage for pre-existing conditions, go into effect immediately, while the public option is framed as a distant step — something that would go into effect in 2013, only after benchmarks and pilot programs are studied.?)

(And what of the timeline for action? ?We?re not going to make our guys walk off the cliff without seeing what the hell the Senate does,? said one House Democratic leadership aide.)

Tracking the D?s: ?Threats by President Barack Obama and congressional leaders to push health-care legislation through the Senate without Republican support may be undercut by some Democrats whose support they need,? Bloomberg?s Kristin Jensen writes. ?Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, ?opposes using reconciliation,? though he hasn?t ruled out voting for it, said spokesman Jake Thompson.?

Broader concerns: ?Recent town-hall uproars weren't just about health care. They were also eruptions of concern that the government is taking on too much at once,? The Wall Street Journal?s Janet Adamy and Jonathan Weisman write. ?That suggests trouble for the president and his party, and fears of losses in next year's midterm election are likely to shape the Democrats' fall agenda.?

Not good news: ?Preventive services for the chronically ill may reduce health-care costs, but they are unlikely to generate the kind of fantastic savings that President Obama and other Democrats have said could help pay for an overhaul of the nation's health system, according to a study being published Tuesday,? Lori Montgomery reports in The Washington Post.

New to the airwaves: the RNC touts its ?Seniors Bill of Rights? in a new TV ad launching Tuesday in Florida and on national cable: ?Let?s agree in both parties that Congress should only consider health reform proposals that protect senior citizens,? RNC Chairman Michael Steele says in the ad. ?For starters, no cuts to Medicare to pay for another program. Zero.? Plus, of course: ?Prevent any government role in end-of-life care.?

Tracking bipartisanship: Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., made his views clear in the GOP radio address over the weekend, and now comes Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

?I had to rush you this Air-Gram today to set the record straight on my firm and unwavering opposition to government-run health care. And ask your immediate support in helping me defeat ?Obama-care,? ? Grassley writes in a fund-raising letter, per The Washington Post?s Ezra Klein. ?The simple truth is that I am and always have been opposed to the Obama administration's plan to nationalize health care. Period.?

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., to the AP?s Matt Gouras: ?I talked to [Republican negotiators], and they all want to do health care reform. But the sad part is a lot politics have crept in. They are being told by the Republican Party not to participate.?

(Any reason left for talks with Republicans to extend past the state of Maine?)

Limits of legacies: ?I don?t want to see the county be guilted into a health care reform because of the passing — unfortunate passing of a great senator,? RNC Chairman Michael Steele said Monday on ABCNews.com?s ?Top Line.?

Another call for a new strategy: ?As the president and his administration figure out how to hit the reset button on health at the close of a bruising August, one option is to, at last, lay out exactly what Mr. Obama now wants in an overhaul package, and start selling and defending that,? Gerald F. Seib writes in his Wall Street Journal column.

Norman Ornstein defends the president?s approach: ?The odds remain reasonable that a solid, if not dramatic, health reform bill can make it through this process and become law. Any bill, under these conditions, will be a major accomplishment. The odds have been improved, not damaged, by the president's approach,? he writes in a Washington Post op-ed.

Fiscal discipline, starting in his own house: ?President Obama urged Congress Monday to limit cost-of-living pay raises to 2% for 1.3 million federal employees in 2010, extending an income squeeze that has hit private workers and threatens Social Security recipients and even 401(k) investors,? per USA Today?s Richard Wolf.

Ready for a campaign ad, somewhere: ?Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum. With little fanfare, a deal is moving forward to direct billions in U.S. tax dollars to an unlikely beneficiary — the giant British liquor producer that makes Captain Morgan rum,? the Chicago Tribune?s Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten report. ?Under the agreement, London-based Diageo PLC will receive tax credits and other benefits worth $2.7 billion over 30 years, including the entire $165-million cost of building a state-of-the-art distillery on the island of St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, a U.S. territory.?

The race in Virginia — very much rocked. The Washington Post?s unearthing of GOP candidate Bob McDonnell?s thesis has the sense of a game-changer — if there?s a game to be changed.

?The Virginia governor's race ignited Monday over Republican Robert F. McDonnell's 20-year-old graduate thesis: Democrats assailed him in e-mail blasts and interviews for what he wrote about working women, homosexuals and ?fornicators,? and McDonnell tried to explain his views to crucial moderate and female voters,? per the Post. ?McDonnell's opponent, Democrat R. Creigh Deeds, bombarded state and national media with details of the thesis, submitted by McDonnell in 1989 for a master of arts in public policy and juris doctorate in law from Regent University in Virginia Beach.?

?I know Senator Deeds has got to try to make some controversy out of this. He?s behind in the polls,? McDonnell told reporters Monday, per ABC?s Teddy Davis. ?You know why? [People] don?t care about a 20-year-old thesis. They care about what am I telling them today. What I have actually done for jobs, opportunity, and free enterprise and what am I going to do as governor. And that?s what people care about.?

In New Jersey, new Q-poll numbers: ?Democratic incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine is losing the battle of the attack ads in his campaign for reelection and now trails Republican challenger Christopher Christie 47 ? 37 percent among likely voters, with 9 percent for independent candidate Christopher Daggett, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.?

In Massachusetts, the special election is set for Jan. 19, with the primary — the one that really counts — Dec. 8.

?The governor?s announcement comes as the political world awaits a signal from Joe Kennedy, a former member of the US House, on whether he will seek his uncle?s seat. With three members of Congress and the state?s attorney general seriously considering running, Kennedy?s decision is expected to significantly shape the Democratic primary race,? Frank Phillips and Matt Viser report in The Boston Globe. ?Kennedy is being urged to run by some relatives who would like to keep the seat in the family, and he could announce his intentions as soon as this week, according to people close to the family.?

No Vicki: ?A solid source assures me that Vicki Kennedy won't run in a special election to fill the Massachusetts Senate seat. She's not interested in an interim appointment if it becomes available,? reports ABC?s George Stephanopoulos.

Special election Tuesday: ?Voters in San Francisco?s suburbs head to the polls Tuesday to choose a successor to former Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher,? per CQ?s Rachel Kapochunas. ?Democrats John Garamendi, California?s lieutenant governor, state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier and state Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan are the frontrunners to succeed Tauscher, who resigned from Congress in March to take a position in the State Department.?

Old governors never really go away . . . ?Disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been privately talking with friends about a possible comeback, and is considering a run for statewide office next year, several sources told The Post,? Maggie Haberman reports in the New York Post. ?Less than 18 months after he left Albany in a prostitution scandal, Spitzer has held informal discussions in recent weeks about the possibility of making a bid for state comptroller or the US Senate seat currently held by Kirsten Gillibrand, sources said.?

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich?s book is due out next week — and he names names. ?Emanuel wanted to return to the House after two years in the Obama administration to continue his quest to become speaker of the House one day, according to Blagojevich,? Bloomberg?s John McCormick writes.

?Rahm understandably wanted to keep his options open,? Blagojevich writes in ?The Governor,? expected in stores on Sept. 8. ?That?s what all good politicians do.?

On Valerie Jarrett: ?I knew her and I liked her. But was this the best I could do for the people of Illinois?? the ex-governor writes, per the Chicago Sun-Times? Lynn Sweet.

Launching Tuesday: The Employment Policies Institute is calling it ?stage 1? of ?a high-profile, multi-million dollar ad campaign that highlights and quantifies the enormity of the federal deficit.? Look for a national TV ad, print ads in The New York Times and USA Today, and a new website.

The Kicker:

?Clearly he wasn?t serious.? — Jon Summers, Harry Reid spokesman, after Reid reportedly told a Las Vegas Review-Journal advertising executive that he hoped his newspaper would ?go out of business.?

?When the former President of the United States is caught with an intern in his, underneath his desk, does that impugn every Democrat in the country? So I don?t buy this broad brush, sweep that a lot of folks want to do to take situations involving [Mark] Sanford or [Sarah] Palin and make it writ large for every Republican in the country.? — RNC Chairman Michael Steele.

For up-to-the-minute political updates check out The Note?s blog . . . all day every day:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/

The Note: The Diagnosis — Is Health Care Push a Prescription for Paralysis?

By RICK KLEIN

Fired up? Check. Ready to go? We’ll get back to you on that one.

One party is in solid control. The other is spinning out of control.

The first party has a popular messenger. The second party is losing popular messengers at a rate of one a week.

That first party is trying to remake a health care system that nobody really loves. Sound like a fair fight?

Why is this so hard again? Wednesday night’s health care conversation on ABC gave some clues: This is complicated stuff, where not everybody’s going to be happy.

And it’s easier to diagnose problems than prescribe solutions.

“President Obama struggled to explain today whether his health care reform proposals would force normal Americans to make sacrifices that wealthier, more powerful people — like the president himself — wouldn’t face,” ABC’s Jake Tapper and Karen Travers write in their summary of the health care forum.

A campaign slogan, for another campaign: “What’s lacking is political will, and that’s what I’m hoping the American people provide, because genuine change generally does not come from Washington,” the president told ABC’s Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer. “And I think this is that moment.”

And the thing that may make the moment work best is that the other side keeps trying to tear itself down, even while it tries to build itself up. (Somehow, each deconstruction effort discovers a new floor).

Gov. Mark Sanford’s, R-S.C., self-immolation would be a shocker by itself. But with some context, those tears were not his alone.

“For a Republican Party down on its luck, the governor’s disappearance and subsequent rambling apology to his wife, his family, his close friends and all the people of South Carolina draw more unwelcome publicity to a party that needs but cannot seem to get any good news,” Dan Balz writes in The Washington Post. “They will need missteps by the president and more success in finding a credible message. But when every small step forward is matched by a setback juicy enough to dominate the cable-news culture of today’s politics, it’s no wonder Republicans continue to have such long faces.”

An official media trend: “The personal travails on display during Mr. Sanford’s awkward news conference became the latest symbol of the struggles vexing his Republican Party, as another of its rising stars was upended by a sexual indiscretion,” Jonathan Weisman and Susan Davis write in The Wall Street Journal. “Mr. Sanford’s confession comes as the party is starting to gain some traction in battling Democrats, focusing on the still-weak economy and raising fears among voters about big budget deficits and an overly intrusive federal government.”

“Extramarital affairs, gambling, alcohol abuse, prostitution and sexual pursuit of minors have taken a toll on the GOP,” S.A. Miller writes in the Washington Times.

“That series of problems has become so chronic that even the party’s most pragmatic members could be forgiven for wondering whether being named ‘possible 2012 contender’ is like winning the movie role of Superman,” Jim Rutenberg writes in The New York Times.

Former Bush Press Secretary Dana Perino, writing for National Review: “It’s like the stuff of Danielle Steele novels has turned into reality. Next fall’s TV season can feature a new show: ‘I’m a Politician’s Wife — Get Me Out of Here!’ ”

“No excuses,” Michelle Malkin blogs. “If you can’t honor your marriage vows, how can you expect voters to trust you to honor your damned oath of office?”

“I’m very disappointed,” said Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., per McClatchy’s James Rosen.

“I think I represent to him people who believed in him, believed in the power of his ideas,” state Sen. Tom Davis, R-S.C., Sanford’s former chief of staff, told ABC’s Robin Roberts on “Good Morning America” Thursday. “Actions do have consequences, and it hurts people.”

“He shouldn’t resign. I think that South Carolinians specifically, Americans in general have a great capacity for forgiveness. Now, that said, they can also recognize hypocrisy. . . . The tale of the tape will be the next few days, whether or not Gov. Sanford is sincere in his repentance.”

The State has e-mails between Gov. Sanford and “Maria” that provide just enough spice to season yet another scandal for a few more days of cable chatter, as talk of impeachment brews in Columbia. (“I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself . . . ” )

The immediate future: “Mark Sanford gets his own chapter in the scandal management playbook with that raw and rambling performance today. Will it work?” asks ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “While no top South Carolina Republican has yet called for Sanford’s resignation, former GOP Chair Katon Dawson says they will come.”

“We don’t really know how this is going to go now,” Stephanopoulos said on “GMA.” “Democrats have had a harder time holding onto office after these scandals recently than Republicans.”

“The calls for the governor’s resignation from across the state are now growing,” ABC’s Steve Osunsami reported on “GMA.”

Might it be Obama’s big issue that offers a path back for the GOP?
“While still good, President Barack Obama’s political health is deteriorating, threatened by what he thought would be balm — his ambitious plan for a government takeover of health care,” Karl Rove writes in his Wall Street Journal column. “Americans are increasingly concerned about the cost — in money and personal freedom — of Mr. Obama’s nanny-state initiatives. . . . Health care may actually be an issue that helps resurrect the GOP.”

Hmm — have Republicans ever gotten anywhere on this tax issue in the past?

“With lawmakers trying to crunch the numbers on a $1 trillion health care overhaul, President Barack Obama is leaving the door open to a new tax on employer-provided health care benefits,” the AP’s Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar writes.

“There is going to have to be some compromise,” Obama said.

He may not have a choice: “It is hard for me to see how you have a package that is paid for that doesn’t include reducing the tax subsidy for health care,” said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., per ABC’s Z. Byron Wolf.

The left knows how to press, too: “If reform legislation comes to the floor, and it does not include a real and robust public option that lives up to our criteria, then we will fight it with everything that we have,” Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., tells Roll Call’s Steven T. Dennis.

“I think leaving it to the private health insurance companies that continue to rip off the American people will not bring down costs and will not be successful,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said on ABCNews.com’s “Top Line” Wednesday.

Some GOP response, post-forum: “I think there probably will be health care reform — unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be a bipartisan health care reform,” Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told Diane Sawyer on “GMA” Thursday. “I think they’re going to be pushing their version of reform through, and they probably will get it through by the end of the year.”

A still-unanswered question (one that really stokes public concern): “Senators struggled Wednesday with the possibility that in offering subsidized health insurance to millions of individuals and families, they could inadvertently speed the erosion of employer-provided coverage, which they want to preserve,” Robert Pear and Jeff Zeleny report in The New York Times.

Rally time: 11:30 am ET at Upper Senate Park, with actress Edie Falco, former Gov. Howard Dean, AFSCME President Jerry McEntee, and a few thousand of their closest friends.

Coming up on “This Week” Sunday: Senior White House adviser David Axelrod is George Stephanopoulos’ guest.

A bigger profile coming for First Lady Michelle Obama? “For weeks, Michelle Obama had been telling her staff and closest confidantes that she wasn’t having the impact she wanted,” Lois Romano reports in The Washington Post. “So, earlier this month, she changed her chief of staff, and now she’s changing her role.”

“She is hiring a full-time speechwriter and has instructed her staff to think ‘strategically’ so that every event has a purpose and a message. She doesn’t want to simply go to events and hug struggling military families, she said; she wants to show progress,” Romano writes.

Cap-and-trade — on the move.

“President Obama on Wednesday defended his assertion that a climate-change measure making its way through Congress would greatly reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, even as government figures raised questions about whether he was overstating its effect,” Paul West writes in the Los Angeles Times. “Obama has intensified his lobbying effort ahead of an expected House vote Friday on a Democratic energy proposal designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply by 2050.”

Former Vice President Al Gore hits the Hill with key House committee chairman Thursday afternoon, to tout the Markey-Waxman bill.

In the other corner, Warren Buffett: “Buffett, the chairman and chief executive officer of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc., took to the airwaves yesterday to call the legislation ‘regressive,’ ” per Bloomberg’s Lorraine Woellert and Simon Lomax.

Speaking of flashy props, it’s chart time for the House GOP: In advance of the House vote on Friday, Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, is unveiling a chart at his 11:45 am ET news conference that highlights how the “cap-and-trade national energy tax is a bureaucratic nightmare,” per an aide. “This chart will bolster our case further by highlighting how this bill will become a massive bureaucratic and government nightmare. Let me know if you have any questions.” See the new chart HERE.

Framing the opposition: “As part of the far-reaching climate bill, the House is set to vote Friday on a plan to pay companies billions of dollars not to chop down trees around the world, as a way to reduce global warming,” Amanda DeBard writes in the Washington Times.

The cost’s the thing: “Three-quarters of Americans think the federal government should regulate the release into the atmosphere of greenhouse gases from power plants, cars and factories to reduce global warming, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, with substantial majority support from Democrats, Republicans and independents,” the Post’s Steven Mufson and Jennifer Agiesta report. “But fewer Americans — 52 percent — support a cap-and-trade approach to limiting greenhouse gas emissions similar to the one the House may vote on as early as tomorrow. That is slightly less support than cap and trade enjoyed in a late July 2008 poll. Forty-two percent of those surveyed this month oppose such a program.”

Remember what it was to be BTU’d? “Democrats seem to have struck a deal on a massive energy and global warming bill, but some in the party are worried their politically risky vote in favor of the measure will be for nothing because once it hits the Senate, where opposition from every Republican and many centrist Democrats make passage, or even consideration, unlikely,” Susan Ferrechio writes for the Washington Examiner.

Growing toward this point: “There is a growing sense among Democrats that they will not be able to accomplish the entire agenda leaders set for 2009, pushing major policy debates into the midterm election year,” The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports.

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.: “There is a risk of not doing anything by trying to do too much.”

Add one more (an easy one, right?): “President Barack Obama will meet Thursday with a bipartisan, politically diverse group of lawmakers to begin discussing a rewrite of U.S. immigration laws,” The Wall Street Journal’s Jonathan Weisman writes. “[Sen. Chuck] Schumer, who took over from Mr. Kennedy this year as chairman of the Senate’s immigration subcommittee, said he believes an immigration bill can get done this year, though he admitted he is a lonely voice in Washington.”

Happy birthday, Judge Sonia Sotomayor: “Senate Republicans on Wednesday questioned whether Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor would uphold certain constitutional rights, but insisted they were only raising issues, not attacking her,” Marjorie Korn reports in The Dallas Morning News. “Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a Judiciary Committee member, said her past decisions may indicate she believes the right to bear arms applies only to the federal government.”

Look for Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to have his roughest ride yet on the Hill Thursday: “Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke likely will face hostile questions from a House committee investigating whether he and other government officials pressured Bank of America Corp. into a ‘shotgun wedding’ with Merrill Lynch that cost taxpayers $20 billion,” per the AP’s Jeannine Aversa.

Also on the Hill Thursday: Reps. Darrell Issa, Joe Barton, and James Sensenbrenner hold an afternoon news conference to highlight EPA documents from the early days of the Obama administration. Per an aide: “We’ve learned that important comments from an EPA analyst with 35 years experience were kept out of the proceeding by an Agency official, not because of scientific merit, but according to the official, because ‘the administration [had] decided to move forward on endangerment,’ and the ‘comments [did] not help the legal or policy case for this decision.’ ”

Byline: Bill Clinton, in the new Time, on FDR: “I was often criticized, just as President Obama is now, for trying to do too many things at once. Roosevelt understood that in a complex and perilous situation, you have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, and he was masterly in doing a variety of difficult things simultaneously. . . . I thought of both Roosevelts when I told Americans that we needed a new social contract for the 21st century, one that would keep us moving toward a ‘more perfect union’ in a highly interdependent, complex, ever changing world.”

“That is the challenge Obama has inherited,” Clinton continues. “I believe he will succeed in his efforts at economic recovery, health-care reform and taking big steps on climate change. Along the way, I hope he will be inspired by F.D.R.’s concern for all Americans, his relentless optimism, his penchant for experimentation, his relish for spirited debate among brilliant advisers and his unshakable faith in the promise of America.”

The Kicker:

“I don’t know how this thing got blown out of proportion.” — Gov. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., a few hours before that thing got blow into another media stratosphere.

“I think instead it shows that sexual attractiveness of limited-government conservatism.” — Grover Norquist, making conservatism sexy again.

Today on “Top Line,” ABCNews.com’s daily political Webcast: Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton. Noon ET. http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6105692

Follow The Note on Twitter: http://twitter.com/thenote

For up-to-the-minute political updates check out The Note’s blog . . . all day every day:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/

The Note: The Diagnosis — Is Health Care Push a Prescription for Paralysis?

By RICK KLEIN

Fired up? Check. Ready to go? We’ll get back to you on that one.

One party is in solid control. The other is spinning out of control.

The first party has a popular messenger. The second party is losing popular messengers at a rate of one a week.

That first party is trying to remake a health care system that nobody really loves. Sound like a fair fight?

Why is this so hard again? Wednesday night’s health care conversation on ABC gave some clues: This is complicated stuff, where not everybody’s going to be happy.

And it’s easier to diagnose problems than prescribe solutions.

“President Obama struggled to explain today whether his health care reform proposals would force normal Americans to make sacrifices that wealthier, more powerful people — like the president himself — wouldn’t face,” ABC’s Jake Tapper and Karen Travers write in their summary of the health care forum.

A campaign slogan, for another campaign: “What’s lacking is political will, and that’s what I’m hoping the American people provide, because genuine change generally does not come from Washington,” the president told ABC’s Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer. “And I think this is that moment.”

And the thing that may make the moment work best is that the other side keeps trying to tear itself down, even while it tries to build itself up. (Somehow, each deconstruction effort discovers a new floor).

Gov. Mark Sanford’s, R-S.C., self-immolation would be a shocker by itself. But with some context, those tears were not his alone.

“For a Republican Party down on its luck, the governor’s disappearance and subsequent rambling apology to his wife, his family, his close friends and all the people of South Carolina draw more unwelcome publicity to a party that needs but cannot seem to get any good news,” Dan Balz writes in The Washington Post. “They will need missteps by the president and more success in finding a credible message. But when every small step forward is matched by a setback juicy enough to dominate the cable-news culture of today’s politics, it’s no wonder Republicans continue to have such long faces.”

An official media trend: “The personal travails on display during Mr. Sanford’s awkward news conference became the latest symbol of the struggles vexing his Republican Party, as another of its rising stars was upended by a sexual indiscretion,” Jonathan Weisman and Susan Davis write in The Wall Street Journal. “Mr. Sanford’s confession comes as the party is starting to gain some traction in battling Democrats, focusing on the still-weak economy and raising fears among voters about big budget deficits and an overly intrusive federal government.”

“Extramarital affairs, gambling, alcohol abuse, prostitution and sexual pursuit of minors have taken a toll on the GOP,” S.A. Miller writes in the Washington Times.

“That series of problems has become so chronic that even the party’s most pragmatic members could be forgiven for wondering whether being named ‘possible 2012 contender’ is like winning the movie role of Superman,” Jim Rutenberg writes in The New York Times.

Former Bush Press Secretary Dana Perino, writing for National Review: “It’s like the stuff of Danielle Steele novels has turned into reality. Next fall’s TV season can feature a new show: ‘I’m a Politician’s Wife — Get Me Out of Here!’ ”

“No excuses,” Michelle Malkin blogs. “If you can’t honor your marriage vows, how can you expect voters to trust you to honor your damned oath of office?”

“I’m very disappointed,” said Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., per McClatchy’s James Rosen.

“I think I represent to him people who believed in him, believed in the power of his ideas,” state Sen. Tom Davis, R-S.C., Sanford’s former chief of staff, told ABC’s Robin Roberts on “Good Morning America” Thursday. “Actions do have consequences, and it hurts people.”

“He shouldn’t resign. I think that South Carolinians specifically, Americans in general have a great capacity for forgiveness. Now, that said, they can also recognize hypocrisy. . . . The tale of the tape will be the next few days, whether or not Gov. Sanford is sincere in his repentance.”

The State has e-mails between Gov. Sanford and “Maria” that provide just enough spice to season yet another scandal for a few more days of cable chatter, as talk of impeachment brews in Columbia. (“I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself . . . ” )

The immediate future: “Mark Sanford gets his own chapter in the scandal management playbook with that raw and rambling performance today. Will it work?” asks ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “While no top South Carolina Republican has yet called for Sanford’s resignation, former GOP Chair Katon Dawson says they will come.”

“We don’t really know how this is going to go now,” Stephanopoulos said on “GMA.” “Democrats have had a harder time holding onto office after these scandals recently than Republicans.”

“The calls for the governor’s resignation from across the state are now growing,” ABC’s Steve Osunsami reported on “GMA.”

Might it be Obama’s big issue that offers a path back for the GOP?
“While still good, President Barack Obama’s political health is deteriorating, threatened by what he thought would be balm — his ambitious plan for a government takeover of health care,” Karl Rove writes in his Wall Street Journal column. “Americans are increasingly concerned about the cost — in money and personal freedom — of Mr. Obama’s nanny-state initiatives. . . . Health care may actually be an issue that helps resurrect the GOP.”

Hmm — have Republicans ever gotten anywhere on this tax issue in the past?

“With lawmakers trying to crunch the numbers on a $1 trillion health care overhaul, President Barack Obama is leaving the door open to a new tax on employer-provided health care benefits,” the AP’s Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar writes.

“There is going to have to be some compromise,” Obama said.

He may not have a choice: “It is hard for me to see how you have a package that is paid for that doesn’t include reducing the tax subsidy for health care,” said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., per ABC’s Z. Byron Wolf.

The left knows how to press, too: “If reform legislation comes to the floor, and it does not include a real and robust public option that lives up to our criteria, then we will fight it with everything that we have,” Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., tells Roll Call’s Steven T. Dennis.

“I think leaving it to the private health insurance companies that continue to rip off the American people will not bring down costs and will not be successful,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said on ABCNews.com’s “Top Line” Wednesday.

Some GOP response, post-forum: “I think there probably will be health care reform — unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be a bipartisan health care reform,” Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told Diane Sawyer on “GMA” Thursday. “I think they’re going to be pushing their version of reform through, and they probably will get it through by the end of the year.”

A still-unanswered question (one that really stokes public concern): “Senators struggled Wednesday with the possibility that in offering subsidized health insurance to millions of individuals and families, they could inadvertently speed the erosion of employer-provided coverage, which they want to preserve,” Robert Pear and Jeff Zeleny report in The New York Times.

Rally time: 11:30 am ET at Upper Senate Park, with actress Edie Falco, former Gov. Howard Dean, AFSCME President Jerry McEntee, and a few thousand of their closest friends.

Coming up on “This Week” Sunday: Senior White House adviser David Axelrod is George Stephanopoulos’ guest.

A bigger profile coming for First Lady Michelle Obama? “For weeks, Michelle Obama had been telling her staff and closest confidantes that she wasn’t having the impact she wanted,” Lois Romano reports in The Washington Post. “So, earlier this month, she changed her chief of staff, and now she’s changing her role.”

“She is hiring a full-time speechwriter and has instructed her staff to think ‘strategically’ so that every event has a purpose and a message. She doesn’t want to simply go to events and hug struggling military families, she said; she wants to show progress,” Romano writes.

Cap-and-trade — on the move.

“President Obama on Wednesday defended his assertion that a climate-change measure making its way through Congress would greatly reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, even as government figures raised questions about whether he was overstating its effect,” Paul West writes in the Los Angeles Times. “Obama has intensified his lobbying effort ahead of an expected House vote Friday on a Democratic energy proposal designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply by 2050.”

Former Vice President Al Gore hits the Hill with key House committee chairman Thursday afternoon, to tout the Markey-Waxman bill.

In the other corner, Warren Buffett: “Buffett, the chairman and chief executive officer of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc., took to the airwaves yesterday to call the legislation ‘regressive,’ ” per Bloomberg’s Lorraine Woellert and Simon Lomax.

Speaking of flashy props, it’s chart time for the House GOP: In advance of the House vote on Friday, Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, is unveiling a chart at his 11:45 am ET news conference that highlights how the “cap-and-trade national energy tax is a bureaucratic nightmare,” per an aide. “This chart will bolster our case further by highlighting how this bill will become a massive bureaucratic and government nightmare. Let me know if you have any questions.” See the new chart HERE.

Framing the opposition: “As part of the far-reaching climate bill, the House is set to vote Friday on a plan to pay companies billions of dollars not to chop down trees around the world, as a way to reduce global warming,” Amanda DeBard writes in the Washington Times.

The cost’s the thing: “Three-quarters of Americans think the federal government should regulate the release into the atmosphere of greenhouse gases from power plants, cars and factories to reduce global warming, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, with substantial majority support from Democrats, Republicans and independents,” the Post’s Steven Mufson and Jennifer Agiesta report. “But fewer Americans — 52 percent — support a cap-and-trade approach to limiting greenhouse gas emissions similar to the one the House may vote on as early as tomorrow. That is slightly less support than cap and trade enjoyed in a late July 2008 poll. Forty-two percent of those surveyed this month oppose such a program.”

Remember what it was to be BTU’d? “Democrats seem to have struck a deal on a massive energy and global warming bill, but some in the party are worried their politically risky vote in favor of the measure will be for nothing because once it hits the Senate, where opposition from every Republican and many centrist Democrats make passage, or even consideration, unlikely,” Susan Ferrechio writes for the Washington Examiner.

Growing toward this point: “There is a growing sense among Democrats that they will not be able to accomplish the entire agenda leaders set for 2009, pushing major policy debates into the midterm election year,” The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports.

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.: “There is a risk of not doing anything by trying to do too much.”

Add one more (an easy one, right?): “President Barack Obama will meet Thursday with a bipartisan, politically diverse group of lawmakers to begin discussing a rewrite of U.S. immigration laws,” The Wall Street Journal’s Jonathan Weisman writes. “[Sen. Chuck] Schumer, who took over from Mr. Kennedy this year as chairman of the Senate’s immigration subcommittee, said he believes an immigration bill can get done this year, though he admitted he is a lonely voice in Washington.”

Happy birthday, Judge Sonia Sotomayor: “Senate Republicans on Wednesday questioned whether Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor would uphold certain constitutional rights, but insisted they were only raising issues, not attacking her,” Marjorie Korn reports in The Dallas Morning News. “Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a Judiciary Committee member, said her past decisions may indicate she believes the right to bear arms applies only to the federal government.”

Look for Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to have his roughest ride yet on the Hill Thursday: “Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke likely will face hostile questions from a House committee investigating whether he and other government officials pressured Bank of America Corp. into a ‘shotgun wedding’ with Merrill Lynch that cost taxpayers $20 billion,” per the AP’s Jeannine Aversa.

Also on the Hill Thursday: Reps. Darrell Issa, Joe Barton, and James Sensenbrenner hold an afternoon news conference to highlight EPA documents from the early days of the Obama administration. Per an aide: “We’ve learned that important comments from an EPA analyst with 35 years experience were kept out of the proceeding by an Agency official, not because of scientific merit, but according to the official, because ‘the administration [had] decided to move forward on endangerment,’ and the ‘comments [did] not help the legal or policy case for this decision.’ ”

Byline: Bill Clinton, in the new Time, on FDR: “I was often criticized, just as President Obama is now, for trying to do too many things at once. Roosevelt understood that in a complex and perilous situation, you have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, and he was masterly in doing a variety of difficult things simultaneously. . . . I thought of both Roosevelts when I told Americans that we needed a new social contract for the 21st century, one that would keep us moving toward a ‘more perfect union’ in a highly interdependent, complex, ever changing world.”

“That is the challenge Obama has inherited,” Clinton continues. “I believe he will succeed in his efforts at economic recovery, health-care reform and taking big steps on climate change. Along the way, I hope he will be inspired by F.D.R.’s concern for all Americans, his relentless optimism, his penchant for experimentation, his relish for spirited debate among brilliant advisers and his unshakable faith in the promise of America.”

The Kicker:

“I don’t know how this thing got blown out of proportion.” — Gov. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., a few hours before that thing got blow into another media stratosphere.

“I think instead it shows that sexual attractiveness of limited-government conservatism.” — Grover Norquist, making conservatism sexy again.

Today on “Top Line,” ABCNews.com’s daily political Webcast: Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton. Noon ET. http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6105692

Follow The Note on Twitter: http://twitter.com/thenote

For up-to-the-minute political updates check out The Note’s blog . . . all day every day:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/

The Note, 3/13/09: Obama Push Gets Boost from First Lady

BY RICK KLEIN

Who’s better at running an organization by himself — Tim Geithner or Michael Steele?

If the stock market is a lagging indicator of an economic recovery — what is a poll?

Which Obama allies will be harder to get on board for further stimulus funds — those foreign, or domestic?

Will Jon Stewart’s joust with Jim Cramer catch Cramer in a . . . crossfire? (Stewart: “I understand you want to make finance entertaining, but it’s not a [bleeping] game.”)

So as the White House gets action from one ally, it’s putting another one into action — the one, like President Bush’s closest ally, who always gets the biggest reception, no matter where she goes.

“It hurts. It hurts,” First Lady Michelle Obama told ABC’s Robin Roberts, on hearing about military families on food stamps. “These are people who are willing to send their loved ones off to, perhaps, give their lives — the ultimate sacrifice. But yet, they’re living back at home on food stamps. It’s not right, and it’s not where we should be as a nation.”

The White House is pushing back hard on the too-much-all-at-once narrative, and the first lady knows how to push back, hard yet gently.

Said the first lady: “There’s also people who say that he’s not doing enough, you know? So I think that’s part of the process. You know, we are at a time when we’re gonna have to try a lot of things. Some of it won’t work, some of them will. I think right now people understand that we’re gonna have to all work together and make a set of sacrifices. And they have faith — as I do — that our current commander-in-chief will see us through these times.”

“I believe in this nation, and I believe in my husband.”

On breaking in the new house: “We’ve had some guests who’ve broken some things, but not the kids. And they know who they are.” (And when Robin Roberts admired the results of her workouts: “Well, I covered my arms up.”)

This is a different face for an administration that wouldn’t mind a change in subject.

“With this series of events, she appears ready to step out as a more forceful advocate for her husband and his policies,” Washingtonpost.com’s Chris Cillizza writes on “The Fix” blog. “Polling suggests a more active role for Michelle Obama will be greeted warmly by the public. In a January Washington Post/ABC News survey, 72 percent of those polled said they had a favorable impression toward the First Lady while just 17 percent felt unfavorably toward her.”

The AP headline: “Michelle Obama begins advocacy as first lady.”

Stepping out: “The trip to North Carolina was Mrs. Obama’s first work trip outside of Washington, and she used it to focus attention on the challenges faced by soldiers and their families in this time of war. Supporting the military and their families is one of Mrs. Obama’s priorities,” Rachel L. Swarns writes in The New York Times.

Nothing like an early, early makeover: “Earlier this year, the Obama administration invited top editors of three of Washington’s local luxury lifestyle magazines — Capitol File, DC magazine and Washington Life — to a meeting where they discussed, among other things, how President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama can embrace Washington’s glittery social scene,” the Washington Times’ Stephanie Green reports.

While we’re talking allies — Robert Gibbs has a big one in taking on Jim Cramer.

Another “Crossfire” moment? Stewart vs. Cramer didn’t disappoint — and nobody captures a moment quite like Jon Stewart.

“I understand that you want to make finance entertaining, but it’s not a f—– game,” Stewart told an uncharacteristically sheepish Jim Cramer, on “The Daily Show” Thursday. “We’re both snake-oil salesmen to a certain extent. . . .But we do label it ‘snake oil’ here.”

The Chicago Tribune’s Phil Rosenthal: “Stripped of his loud, arm-waving hyperbolic TV persona, Cramer tried to defend himself, apologized for some mistakes and said he would try to do better.”

“Jon Stewart nails the zeitgeist,” blogs Andrew Willis, of the Globe and Mail. “For the YouTube generation, Mr. Stewart is issuing a call to arms, against a system that went radically wrong. As someone who works in the business media, the talk show host’s critiques are, to put it mildly, food for thought.”

“It’s true: Jon Stewart has become Edward R. Murrow,” James Fallows blogs for The Atlantic.

Maybe one reason why all of this matters: “Mr. Obama’s approval ratings, while good, aren’t exceptionally high by historical standards for a new president. His support has grown more polarized in recent weeks, and people have noticeably more faith in the president himself than in some of his programs,” Gerald F. Seib writes in his Wall Street Journal column. “All told, the findings suggest the Obama forces hardly have reason to panic. But they do indicate it’s likely to be important for the president to be able to point to some signs of economic improvement by later this year.”

Double-punch from the Journal: “It is simply wrong for commentators to continue to focus on President Barack Obama’s high levels of popularity, and to conclude that these are indicative of high levels of public confidence in the work of his administration,” Doug Schoen and Scott Rasmussen write in an op-ed. “Indeed, a detailed look at recent survey data shows that the opposite is most likely true. The American people are coming to express increasingly significant doubts about his initiatives, and most likely support a different agenda and different policies from those that the Obama administration has advanced.”

(And when does a harmless feature story about a staffer maybe reveal just a little too much? “This is what my job is like. . . . It’s one emergency after the next,” White House ethics adviser Norm Eisen tells The Washington Post’s Eli Saslow.)

Over on that other political side — can Michael Steele survive? (Probably.) Will he be a relevant force in GOP efforts in 2010? (Probably not.) Will he last longer than that? (Almost certainly not.)

“Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s series of gaffes turned into something more serious Thursday, as leaders of a pillar of the GOP — the anti-abortion movement — shifted into open revolt,” Politico’s Ben Smith reports. “The flap also added to worries generated by a series of earlier, less policy-oriented statements, ranging from insulting radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh to offering ‘slum love’ to Indian-American Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-La.).”

Was there no one on the Steele team that could stop the damaging comments — from Tony Perkins, Mike Huckabee, and Ken Blackwell, among others?

“Some conservatives are openly mulling whether the party’s first black chairman should keep his job in the wake of a provocative interview he did with GQ magazine,” USA Today’s Jill Lawrence writes.

The upshot: “It appears highly unlikely that there would be any serious move to recall Mr. Steele, who is barely two months into a two-year job. The political repercussions of replacing the party’s first African-American chairman would be too severe, several Republican leaders said, and there are no obvious candidates ready to take the job,” The New York Times’ Adam Nagourney writes.

“Nonetheless, there were expressions of anguish over what many Republicans described as Mr. Steele’s growing pains as he takes on the role of leader of a party struggling to find its way after its defeat in the November elections. This latest episode seems likely to diminish his conservative credentials further, undercutting his ability to present his case for his party and raise money,” he writes.

“Though some party activists may be dissatisfied with Steele, they appear to be stuck with him for the foreseeable future, since RNC rules set a high standard for ousting a sitting chairman,” The Boston Globe’s Joseph Williams writes. “Several political analysts also said the board that made history by electing its first African-American leader is probably loathe to sack him just a few weeks into his tenure — a move that would be a public-relations nightmare for a party struggling to shed its lily-white image in the age of President Obama.”

(What matters more for his near-term fate — fundraising figures, or the New York-20 House race? Was it an accident that a fundraising pitch went out last night, subject line: “It’s time to set the record straight.” That would be the president’s record, but still . . . )

The fallout: “Perhaps Steele is trying to remake the Republican Party in his own image. Could be an effective big-tent strategy — if he’d pick an image and stick with it,” Laura Vozzella writes in her Baltimore Sun column.

“He’s become clownish. And that judgment could endure until the end of his tenure,” The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder blogs (welcome back!). “But it probably won’t. While Steele’s stock is lower than Citigroup’s right now, his legacy will be most likely determined by whether he can help Republicans begin to win elections again.”

A painful prescription, from Chris Kofinis, writing for The Hill: “The time has come for the Republican Party, if it wants to survive as a political party, to undergo an ideological vasectomy and cut off (once and for all) these far-right voices. It will painful (unless someone knows the equivalent of local anesthetic for a political party), but it will save their party in the long run.”

Who doesn’t love when Gov. Ed Rendell plays pundit? “The people who control the party — not the voters — but the people who control the party are not going to allow ideological flexibility,” Rendell, D-Pa., said at a Christian Science Monitor lunch, per ABC’s Teddy Davis. “I think Michael Steele’s days are numbered.”

On the subject of tough going: “Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner got such a torrent of angry criticism from Republican senators today that by the end of the hearing some Republicans lawmakers acknowledged how ‘tough’ and ‘intense’ it had been,” ABC’s Matthew Jaffe reports.

Said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.: “If you do have a plan, you haven’t persuaded us yet, and until you persuade us, confidence won’t come back.”

Will Geithner be received better abroad? “President Obama, wildly popular abroad throughout his presidential campaign, is walking into one of his toughest sells yet on the international stage. But first, his Treasury secretary faces the task of paving the way for Obama to meet other world leaders at the G-20 in London on April 2,” The Hill’s Silla Brush writes. “Obama has called on the G-20 nations, whose finance ministers are set to meet in Britain starting Friday, to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to stimulate a global economy that the World Bank predicted would contract in 2009 for the first time since World War II.”

Another one: “Democratic sources say that H. Rodgin Cohen, a partner in the New York law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, and the leading candidate for Deputy Treasury Secretary, has withdrawn from consideration,” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos reports. “It’s the third withdrawal of a top Treasury Department staff pick in less than a week.”

And maybe another one: “President Obama’s newly appointed chief information officer is on leave from his post after an FBI raid Thursday that resulted in the arrests of his former deputy and another man in connection with a D.C. government bribery scandal,” Gary Emerling and Christina Bellantoni write in the Washington Times. “Authorities did not implicate Vivek Kundra in the scandal, but a White House official said he was on leave ‘until further details become known’ about the investigation into the D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer, which Mr. Kundra headed from 2007 until this year.”

We can see earmarks from our house: “The omnibus spending bill that President Barack Obama signed on Wednesday includes earmarks that [Gov. Sarah] Palin sought,” Jonathan Stein and David Corn report for Mother Jones. “According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington-based watchdog group, Alaska will receive more money, per capita, from the bill’s earmarks than any other state. (Alaska will pocket $209.71 for each state resident.) One hundred earmarks in the bill, worth a total of $143.9 million, are tagged for Palin’s state.”

New from the DNC: The “Party of No” clock.

Could it finally be coming to an end? (Not necessarily.) “The marathon U.S. Senate trial sprinted down the homestretch Thursday as DFLer Al Franken called his final witnesses and Republican Norm Coleman posed his last challenges, setting the stage for judges to hear closing arguments today,” Pat Doyle reports in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “After seven weeks of testimony and thousands of bits of evidence, the end of the trial — if not the final outcome — is finally in sight.”

The Kicker:

“If you’re looking for a way to serve the country, join the Marines or go to Treasury. I think they’re both very difficult.” — Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., feeling a little bad for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

“Mr. Chairman, I would rather listen than to talk.” — Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., giving his colleagues (and the public) the silent treatment, per Roll Call’s “Heard on the Hill” column.

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N.Y. Politicos Push Gillibrand on Guns

ABC News’ Teddy Davis and Ferdous Al-Faruque Report:

Two of the biggest names in New York politics are urging Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Hillary Clinton’s replacement to the United States Senate, to alter her views on gun control now that she will be representing all of New York state.

During her short tenure in the House representing an upstate district, Gillibrand, who was first elected in 2006, has earned her an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association.

“I am confident that as Kirsten comes to see the cities of the state and sees the problem of gun violence there, her views will evolve to reflect the views of the whole state,” said Schumer

Schumer, the author of the Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban, made his remarks in Albany, N.Y., at the same event where Democratic Gov. David Paterson announced that Gillibrand was his choice to replace Clinton now that she has vacated her Senate seat to become secretary of state.

Schumer was not alone in nudging Gillibrand to change her gun stance.

New York Mike Bloomberg, the co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, issued a statement saying that he, too, was concerned about Gillibrand’s position on guns.

“I have a strong disagreement with one area of her record as a member of Congress: illegal guns,” said Bloomberg. “She has actively opposed the efforts of New York City, and cities around the state and nation, to enact commonsense measures that keep illegal guns out of the hands of criminals. For instance, she has voted to keep critical data needed to track illegal gun traffickers from law enforcement, has voted to tie the hands of the ATF, and has also voted to protect dealers who sell guns illegally.”

?Now, as she begins representing the whole state,” he continued, “I look forward to working with her to help her gain a broader understanding of the problems affecting New York City so she can be an effective advocate for all New Yorkers.?

Schumer sought to inoculate Gillibrand against a potential flip-flopper charge by saying that he changed his views on agriculture subsidies when he went from being a Brooklyn congressman to a New York senator.

“When I was congressman from Brooklyn, I opposed all agriculture subsidies,” said Schumer. “As senator, I came to know and sympathize with the struggles of upstate New York farmers and have become a strong advocate for them. They call me the Brooklyn farmer. Now, I know the same kind of thing will happen with Kirsten.”

Gillibrand’s conservative gun stance could result in a Democratic primary challenge to her in 2010 from Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., whose husband was killed by a gunman on the Long Island Railroad.

Gillibrand spokeswoman Rachel McEneny explained the congresswoman’s record by saying that she comes from a family of hunters and that she is a defender of hunters’ rights.

At the same time, McEneny said that Gillibrand is “not a card-carrying member of the NRA” and that the concerns raised by Schumer and Bloomberg are “something to talk about.”

The N.R.A., which backed Gillibrand’s re-election to the House in 2008, is reserving judgment on Paterson’s Senate pick.

“We don’t have anything in common with either Mike Bloomberg or Chuck Schumer,” said N.R.A. spokesman Andrew Arulanandam. As for whether it can back Gillibrand for Senate in 2010, he said, “We can’t answer that question until she answers that question.”

ABC News’ David Chalian and Lindsey Ellerson
contributed to this report.