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ThinkFast: November 23, 2010

“North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire on Tuesday after dozens of shells fired from the North struck a South Korean island,” in the greatest outbreak of violence between the two countries since the 1950s. A North Korean news agency said the “South had started the fight when it ‘recklessly fired into our sea area.’”

U.S. and Afghan officials say a man they believed to have been a senior Taliban commander who was involved in high-level peace talks for months was actually an imposter. The man was apparently impersonating Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, a major Taliban figure. “It’s not him,” said one Western diplomat. “And we gave him a lot of money.”

In letters sent yesterday to the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve, GOP Reps. Spencer Bachus (AL) and Judy Biggert (IL) demanded an investigation into the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created under Wall Street regulatory reform. The letters “are the strongest signals yet” that new House GOP majority “plans to use its oversight powers to hobble elements of the Obama agenda.”

Sharpening his attacks on the DREAM Act, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is circulating a white paper claiming that the bill amounts to “amnesty” for millions “including certain criminal aliens.” Noting the “rigorous and lengthy process” for legalization in the bill, the White House responded that it’s “about accountability, not amnesty” and that the GOP “can’t keep kicking the can down the road.”

“A majority of Americans want the Congress to keep the new health care law or actually expand it, despite Republican claims that they have a mandate from the people to kill it,” a new McClatchy-Marist poll found. “At the same time, the survey showed that a majority of voters side with the Democrats” on preferring to extend the Bush tax cuts for only those making less than $250,000.

Iran’s parliament revealed it “planned to impeach President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but refrained under orders from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, exposing a deepening division within the regime.” Conservative newspapers in Iran reported that lawmakers have also launched a petition to start a debat about Ahmadinejad’s impeachment. Four prominent lawmakers accused the president of violating the law.

WikiLeaks reports that its next release of secret documents will be seven-times larger than the Iraq war logs. Yesterday on twitter, the site said there has been “intense pressure over it for months” but later said, “The coming months will see a new world, where global history is redefined.”

“A lack of preparedness, a dearth of research and insufficient investment hindered the response to the giant Gulf of Mexico oil spill this summer, according to two draft reports by the staff of the presidential oil spill commission.” Federal agencies “consistently spent less than they were authorized to spend on improving cleanup technology,” while the report chided BP for a “failure to anticipate” the disaster.

And finally: Judges on Dancing With the Stars consistently give Bristol Palin “among the lowest marks,” yet she gets plenty of votes, leading many experts to suspect the work of Tea Party hackers. “The campaign apparently includes exploitation of a loophole in ABC’s e-mail voting feature. The loophole is explained as a technicality in the system that allows voters to register an infinite number of email addresses and vote, vote, vote. The e-mail addresses are never validated, such as what happens when you sign up for a Facebook.”

ThinkFast: November 22, 2010

North Korea earlier this month showed a visiting American scientist, Siegfried Hecker, a Stanford professor who previously directed the Los Alamos National Laboratory, “a vast new facility it secretly and rapidly built to enrich uranium.” Hecker said he was “stunned” by the facility’s sophistication, where he saw “hundreds and hundreds” of centrifuges and an “ultra-modern control room.”

Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned yesterday of “significant consequences” if the Senate fails to ratify the START nuclear arms treaty, and rejected Republican stall tactics. “Despite what anybody says, I, as secretary of Defense, and the entire uniformed leadership of the American military believe that this treaty is in our national security interest,” Gates said.

At the NATO Summit last weekend, European allies signaled “growing alarm” over the possible failure of the Senate to ratify the New START treaty this year. Not only would its failure jeopardize Russian cooperation in Afghanistan and Iran, but would complicate U.S. plans to help reduce thousands of smaller Russian nuclear weapons that are “much more even dangerous” to Europe than long-range weapons.

Gates will release the military’s DADT report Nov. 30, one day earlier than planned, the Pentagon said Sunday. With the Senate slated to vote again on the repeal after the Thanksgiving recess, Gates ordered his staff to be ready a day sooner to allow for Senate hearings and “to support Congress’s wish to consider repeal before they adjourn” in December.

Billionaire Warren Buffet told ABC’s Christiane Amanpour during an interview scheduled to be aired next week that taxes on the richest Americans should be dramatically raised. “I think that people at the high end — people like myself — should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we’ve ever had it,” said Buffet.

A new study from the British University of Exeter finds that carbon emissions worldwide dropped 1.3 percent from 2008 to 2009, largely as a result of the economic recession. The study also “projects that if the economic recovery proceeds as expected, global fossil fuel emissions will increase by more than 3% in 2010.”

Faced with enormous budget shortfalls and balanced budget requirements, some states are now considering what was once unthinkable: dropping out of Medicaid. Officials in half a dozen states have floated the idea recently, according to the Wall Street Journal, and have even produced detailed studies examining the risks — though even proponents don’t expect any state to actually follow through.

Former First Lady Barbara Bush said she hopes former Alaska governor Sarah Palin will “stay” in Alaska, suggesting she does not want Palin to run for president. In an interview with CNN’s Larry King set to air tonight, Bush says, “I sat next to her once, thought she was beautiful. And I think she’s very happy in Alaska — and I hope she’ll stay there.”

And finally: Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) doesn’t understand why presumptive House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) cries so much. In an interview with the New York Times Magazine published yesterday, Pelosi said, “He is known to cry. He cries sometimes when we’re having a debate on bills. If I cry, it’s about the personal loss of a friend or something like that. But when it comes to politics — no, I don’t cry.”

ThinkFast: November 19, 2010

President Obama has decided to confront Senate Republicans, daring them to block the New START treaty “at the risk of disrupting relations with Russia and the international coalition that opposes Iran’s nuclear program.” Flanked by Henry Kissinger, James Baker and Brent Scowcroft, Obama said yesterday that “it is a national security imperative that the United States ratify the New Start treaty this year.”

House Republicans successfully blocked the extension of unemployment benefits for millions of Americans yesterday. Because the vote was brought up under fast-track authority, it needed two-thirds in favor to succeed; but the measure failed 258-154.

Financial services industry lobbyists have descended on Capitol Hill to press lawmakers to protect its ability to package mortgages as securities and resell them around the globe. The Washington Post reports that companies “are flying top executives to Washington for one-on-one meetings with lawmakers…and they are blanketing Congress with white papers, memos and other documents that lay out their arguments.”

Yesterday, the House failed to pass a Republican proposal to defund NPR. Seeking to take action against NPR after it dismissed news analyst Juan Williams, Republicans put the item on the floor through their YouCut program but the House voted 239-171 to move forward on a teleworking bill without taking up the provision.

Grover Norquist, the head of the influential conservative group Americans for Tax Reform, is encouraging the new House Republican majority to prepare to shutdown the government if they don’t get their way on spending cuts. Norquist, who played a key role in the 1995 government shutdowns, said President Obama “will be less popular if — in the service of overspending and wasting people’s money — he closes the government down.”

The Senate confirmed Jacob Lew as the new director of the Office of Management and Budget yesterday, a post he previously held from 1998 to 2001. After blocking Lew’s nomination for months to protest the administration’s ban on offshore drilling, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) lifted the hold on the nomination yesterday, saying, “I figured it would get their attention, and I think it has.”

The House Ethics Committee recommended censure for Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) yesterday, the most serious punishment it can hand out short of expulsion. Rangel was found guilty of 11 ethics violations, including failing to pay taxes on rental property, failure to report personal income, and improper fund-raising.

“Tea Party-backed Joe Miller is asking a federal judge to prevent state elections officials in Alaska from certifying” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) the winner of the state’s U.S. Senate election. “Murkowski leads by more than 10,000 votes and even if all of the ballots challenged by Miller’s legal team were thrown out,” she would still win.

And finally: Despite conservative rhetoric that this month’s election represented the will of the American people uniting together to refute President Obama, a new poll shows that fewer than half of Americans even know that Republicans won a majority in the House. “Three times as many young people, aged under 30, could properly identify Google’s new phone software, Android, as could identify” presumptive House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).

ThinkFast: November 18, 2010

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) vowed yesterday to hold votes on two key Democratic priorities: the DREAM Act and a repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t tell policy. Senate Republicans blocked both measures this fall when Reid tried to attach them to a defense authorization act.

A bipartisan group of budget experts led by former GOP Sen. Pete Domenici (NM) and former Clinton administration budget director Alice Rivlin yesterday called for steep cuts in future military spending, intensifying pressure to reduce defense spending to help reduce the deficit. Their plan includes a five-year freeze on Pentagon spending and would reduce projected deficits by $5.9 trillion through 2020.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs “expressed confidence” yesterday that the START treaty has the 67 votes necessary to pass the Senate in the lame duck Congress. Gibbs said that Senate GOP Whip Jon Kyl’s (AZ) opposition “won’t be enough to derail the treaty” and President Obama “will push forward” to see it ratified “before the end of the year.”

Ahmed Ghailani, the first former Guantamo Bay detainee to be tried in a civilian court, was acquitted of all but one charge against him related to the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He was “convicted of one count of conspiracy to destroy government buildings and property,” and faces at least 20 years in prison.

“As one of its first acts,” the new Republican-controlled House of Representatives will consider ending birthright citizenship, which has been guaranteed by the 14th Amendment for over one hundred years. Rep. Steve King (R-IA), the incoming chairman of the subcommittee that oversees immigration, “is expected to push a bill” early in the next session that would deny citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants.

The U.S. government’s stake in General Motors was halved yesterday as billions of dollars of bailout money was returned following a $23 billion stock offering by the company. The New York Times notes the offering was “bigger and more ambitious than had once seemed possible.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) claimed a historic victory last night in her write-in bid for the U.S. Senate in Alaska against Tea Party-backed, Sarah Palin-endorsed candidate Joe Miller (R). The state Republican Party called the race for Murkowski and asked Miller to “end his campaign in a dignified manner,” but Miller said he is not conceding until he can ensure “the counting process is a fair one.”

A Tennessee judge refused to stop an expansion of the Murfreesboro Islamic Center that has been protested for months and been the target of arson. The judge said “he could not find that the ‘county acted illegally, arbitrarily or capriciously‘ in approving the plan.”

And finally: “A caravan” of trucks is heading to Washington, D.C. today for a bi-partisan “Purple for the People” Slurpee summit. The idea came after President Obama criticized Republicans for sitting back and enjoying a Slurpee while he worked to save the economy. 7-Eleven, which sells the frozen drinks, is planning to send “very special Slurpee handblown glass cups” to Obama and presumptive House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).

ThinkFast: November 17, 2010

According to The Hill’s sources, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) may introduce a tax package that includes a two-year extension of all the Bush-era tax cuts. With Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) signaling support for a temporary extension of all the tax cuts, Baucus said he expects “to get down to serious discussions” on his proposal by the end of this week.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said yesterday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) personally assured him that cap-and-trade climate legislation “is dead.” Manchin, who was sworn in on Monday and has been a major critic of the bill, said he had a “heart-to-heart” with Reid, explaining, “I got his commitment that cap-and-trade will definitely not be on the agenda.”

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) announced a last-minute move to block a vote on the New START treaty after long negotiations with the White House — a move that “blindsided and angered” the administration, which pledges to continue trying to pass the treaty. “Failure to pass the New Start treaty this year would endanger our national security,” Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement.

Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), and Mark Udall (D-CO) want the Senate to vote on their plan to impose an earmark moratorium until Oct. 1, 2013. While Senate Republicans already adopted a resolution, Coburn wants a floor vote because the ban “doesn’t bind anybody” from inserting earmarks, or what McCaskill referred to as “sprinkling fairy dust” on legislation.

NATO’s military drawdown is expected to start in 2011 but continue well into 2015, said Mark Sedwill, the top civilian NATO representative in Afghanistan. “The end of 2014 does not mean that the mission is over, but the mission changes. It’s the inflection point, if you like,” Sedwill said.

RNC political director Gentry Collins resigned yesterday in a letter sharply criticizing chairman Michael Steele. Collins singled out Steele’s lack of fundraising prowess, saying that most of the money that came in was “reflective of the anti-Obama/Pelosi/Reid wave,” not Steele’s efforts. Meanwhile, the Hill reports that GOP leaders “have started to clamor” to oust Steele from the top RNC position.

FBI director Robert Mueller traveled to Silicon Valley yesterday to meet with several technology firms, including Google and Facebook, about a proposal to make it easier to wiretap Internet users. Mueller wants expanded laws requiring broadband and network providers to immediately comply when presented with a court wiretapping order.
 
Numerous newly elected Republicans, facing pressure from the Tea Party movement, say that they will immediately push for a vote to repeal the recently passed health care bill. “It’s critical that we have that vote,” said Rep.-elect Morgan Griffith (R-VA). “I think we need to tell the folks that we’re doing what they sent us here to do.”

And finally: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) continued his infatuation with the Jersey Shore’s Snooki, tweeting Monday night, “Happy birthday @Sn00ki.” “Thabk you Johnny ! :) xox,” she incoherently responded. Snooki and McCain became Twitter buddies after she publicly expressed her disapproval of a tax on tanning beds included in President Obama’s health reform law, saying McCain never would have done that if he were president.

ThinkFast: November 16, 2010

On CBS’s “The Early Show” today, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) praised Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for signing on to the earmark ban yesterday. He credited McConnell “with listening to fellow GOP lawmakers and also to voters who showed their anger over federal spending at the polls in this month’s elections.”

The British government has announced that it will be offering monetary compensation “to former detainees at Guantánamo Bay who have complained that the British intelligence agencies colluded in their torture.” The compensation is expected to “total several million dollars.”

The House ethics committee found evidence to support 13 counts of misconduct by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY). The findings came after Rangel walked out of the proceedings, claiming he couldn’t continue to afford a lawyer; the committee will now begin considering whether to formally convict Rangel and recommend punishment.

A new USDA report released yesterday found that “about 15% of U.S. households — 17.4 million families — lacked enough money to feed themselves at some point last year.” The study “also found that 6.8 million of these households — with as many as 1 million children — had ongoing financial problems that forced them to miss meals regularly.”

President Obama met with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Reps. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) and Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) yesterday to discuss the chances of passing comprehensive immigration reform or the DREAM Act in the lame duck session. Menendez said the White House is “ready and willing” to talk about immigration reform.

Blue dog Democrat Rep. Health Shuler (NC) said yesterday that he will challenge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the Democrats’ top leadership position when the party moves into the minority in the next Congress. Although Shuler acknowledged that it will be an uphill battle, he noted he is following through with a campaign promise to challenge Pelosi.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) will meet with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) today to discuss a two-year freeze of the Environmental Protection Agency’s climate change agenda, which Rockefeller has been seeking all year. Rockefeller says Reid previously promised him a vote this year on the bill, which would block EPA’s climate change regulations for power plants, petroleum refiners and other major stationary sources.

In a unanimous decision Monday, the California Supreme Court ruled that undocumented immigrants who graduated from state high schools can continue to receive in-state tuition to California’s public universities and colleges. While California is one of 10 states that permit in-state tuition for undocumented students, the ruling is “the first of its kind in the nation.”

And finally: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) “has made no secret” of the fact that he is a “superfan” of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards –- he even pardoned the rockstar for a 1975 misdemeanor in Arkansas. But in his new autobiography, Richards is less than grateful, and even criticizes Huckabee’s guitar chops, writing, “Governor Huckabee also thinks of himself as a guitar player. I think he even has a band.”

ThinkFast: November 15, 2010

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the U.S. “must reduce the visibility and intensity of its military operations, especially night raids that fuel anti-American sentiment.” “The time has come to reduce military operations,” said Karzai in an interview with the Washington Post.

Later this week, the U.S. will present NATO allies with a plan that would end the American combat mission in Afghanistan by 2014. The plan, which the New York Times calls “the most concrete vision for transition in Afghanistan” since President Obama took office, calls for the transfer of security duties to the Afghans over the next 18 to 24 months.

President Obama won’t support a permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts for top earners, senior White House adviser David Axelrod said yesterday, though he wouldn’t say if the White House would agree to a temporary extension. Meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) offered a compromise proposal to let the tax cuts expire for those making more than $1 million.

CEO paychecks continue to rise, despite a sluggish economic recovery. Over the past year, compensation for CEOs of the country’s largest publicly traded companies rose 3 percent to a median of $7.23 million. Meanwhile, compensation for all officers of the 65 biggest companies rose even more, jumping by 13.4 percent.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s $600 billion plan to spark inflation in the U.S. economy “is already showing signs of succeeding.” Despite being maligned by conservatives, the Fed’s “quantitative easing” plan is appears to working in the the market for bond options, which are associated with inflation.

Gov. Rick Perry’s (R-TX) plan to opt out of Medicaid is alarming Texas healthcare providers who say “the potential loss of billions of federal dollars could drastically undercut efforts to provide healthcare for the poor.” The Texas Medical Association said that unless the state comes up with a better plan for Texas’s 3.1 million beneficiaries, the opt out “will ultimately end up backfiring and costing more in the long run.”

The Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc returned to the Iraqi parliament Saturday, two days after walking out on the session that named Iraq’s top three leaders. Garnering the most seats in the elections, the Iraqiya could’ve jeopardized the political deal by walking out but Iraqiya not only returned but agreed to “participate in a government led by Shiite incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.”

The U.S. has offered 20 F-35 fighter planes and various security guarantees to the Israeli government in return for a 90-day extension of its settlement freeze in the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently presenting the proposal to his cabinet.

And finally: Former President Clinton will make a cameo appearance as himself in the movie Hangover II. Clinton was “spotted on the set in Thailand yesterday,” TMZ reports, and, “we’ve now confirmed he did indeed shoot a cameo.”

ThinkFast: November 12, 2010

FreedomWorks founder Dick Armey met with incoming GOP lawmakers in Baltimore yesterday and urged them to stay true to Tea Party principles when they assume office. Armey warned the new members not to be swayed by committee assignments or other enticements from Republican leaders if they came at an ideological price.

There would be minimal disruptions to the armed services if the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is repealed, according to a draft of a Pentagon study released yesterday. The report said that lifting DADT would not cause overall harm to the military, but could cause minimal disruptions that could be mitigated with effective leadership.

President Obama said today while attending the G-20 Conference in South Korea that he is not backing down on ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Obama says his “number one priority” is to extend the cuts for the middle class, and that negotiations over other cuts are still ongoing.

Attack ads funded by the right-wing U.S. Chamber of Commerce “dramatically expanded” the 2010 House field for Republicans, a new study found. “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce played a central strategic role in a coordinated effort to elect Republicans in this fall’s elections,” the report from union-backed U.S. Chamber Watch concludes.

Three hours after Iraqi lawmakers yesterday began the process of approving an agreement on a new unity government, “members of an alliance led by the former prime minister, Ayad Allawi, walked out in protest.” The move won’t derail the agreement but it highlights a fractured government “rife with suspicion, hobbled by a shaky grasp of the rule of law and prone to collapse, or at least chaos.”

Yesterday, the ACLU called for a special prosecutor at the Justice Department to investigate President George W. Bush for violating federal statutes prohibiting torture. In response to Bush’s recent and repeated admissions of directly authorizing waterboarding, the ACLU said it “acknowledges the significance of this request” but the admissions are “without parallel in American history” and “cannot be ignored.”

The Environmental Protection Agency has issued first-ever national guidelines for reducing greenhouse gases. The guidelines, which will go into effect January 2, include “replacing dirty fuels used to power oil refineries with cleaner sources and requiring more efficient electricity and energy use with existing power plants to reduce emissions.”

On Wednesday, anti-war Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) said “he will force a vote for withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan” by 2012 via a privileged resolution in the next Congress. Reacting to reports that troops could remain there until 2014, Kucinich said “the withdrawal of our troops must be driven by Congress, not the corrupt president of Afghanistan.”

And finally: Staid CNN host Wolf Blitzer learned how to do the Dougie Wednesday night, when rapper Doug E. Fresh taught Blitzer his eponymous dance move at the 2010 Soul Train Music Awards, where Blitzer was a presenter. But Blitzer didn’t stop there — when Eminem couldn’t make it to accept an award for best hip-hop song, Blitzer stepped in on Shady’s behalf.

ThinkFast: November 10, 2010

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will file a friend-of-the-court brief in the multi-state lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of health care reform, Politico reports. McConnell argues in his brief that the reforms “dramatically oversteps the bounds of the Commerce [Clause] which has always been understood as a power to regulate, and not to compel, economic activity.”

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) said yesterday that he will challenge McConnell and other “old guard” Republicans over earmarks that DeMint and other Tea Party-backed Republicans campaigned to eliminate. “Americans want Congress to shut down the earmark favor factory, and next week I believe House and Senate Republicans will unite to stop pork barrel spending,” DeMint said.

As President Bush begins his public relations campaign for his new memoir, Gallup finds that his approval ratings have increased marginally. Bush receives a 44 percent favorable rating, up slightly from 40 percent in January 2009.

In a news conference in Indonesia yesterday, President Obama said that, even with the “earnest and sustained” efforts, the US must do “a lot more work” to improve ties with the Muslim World. “We don’t expect that we are going to completely eliminate some of the misunderstandings and mistrust that have developed over a long period of time, but we do think that we’re on the right path,” Obama said.

Middle East peace talks may be in jeopardy following a sharp dispute between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over expanded Israeli settlements in Jerusalem. After Israel announced the settlements yesterday, Obama said in Indonesia that such actions were “never helpful,” while Netanyahu later fired back that “Jerusalem is not a settlement.”

A special prosecutor “cleared the CIA’s former top clandestine officer and others Tuesday of any charges for destroying agency videotapes showing waterboarding of terror suspects but he continued to investigate whether the harsh questioning went beyond legal boundaries.” CIA Director Leon Panetta said the Agency welcomes the decision and will continue to cooperate with the Justice Department.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) yesterday called for “a full, independent investigation” in to the possible “criminal use of torture” under President Bush. “I am outraged by President Bush’s own admission in his newly released memoir that he personally authorized the use of waterboarding,” Nadler said. Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz (UT) also said yesterday that he is willing to investigate Bush’s use of torture.

Senior GOP officials are “maneuvering” to pressure RNC Chair Michael Steele to not seek re-election when his term ends in January or, “failing that, to encourage a challenger to step forward to take him on.” Gov. Haley Barbour’s nephew, Henry Barbour, is “leading the effort” and House and Senate Minority Leaders John Boehner (R-OH) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) both said they’d “prefer a new chairman as well.”

And finally: A spokesman for Alec Baldwin denied rumors that the actor is planning to run for Congress, but did leave the door open a bit, saying yesterday, “Alec is interested in politics and public service, but now is not the time.” Republican Randy Altschuler, who ran against Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) in Baldwin’s district, said he would look forward to running against Baldwin: “I actually like his TV show,” 30 Rock.

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ThinkFast: November 9, 2010

In a statement to viewers yesterday, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann apologized for the “unnecessary drama” surrounding his temporary suspension. Admitting that he “mistakenly violated an inconsistently applied rule,” he assured viewers that he was not keeping his contributions secret and that he “immediately volunteered to explain all this, on-air and off” as MSNBC desired but was “suspended without a hearing.”

Facing scrutiny for low fundraising levels, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele told NPR that Republicans “don’t want me in this job.” Under pressure to defend the RNC’s performance this cycle as he considers a second term, Steele said his removal “has been a concerted effort” by Republicans “since I got the job.”

Last night on Fox News, Fox contributor Mort Kondracke dismissed Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) campaign against Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) to win the seat of House GOP conference chair. “Bachmann is just a loudmouth. Every once in a while, she gets caught in some outrageous comment,” Kondracke said.

At a conference organized by the financial services industry’s lobby group, Wall Street executives “begged regulators” to “cushion the blow” from the Wall Street reform bill that President Obama signed into law earlier this year. “The financial system nearly shut down. It’s only two years on,” pleaded Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman. “You need a little bit of patience to rebuild.”

Israel released plans to construct 1,000 new housing units in hotly-contested areas of Jerusalem shortly before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left for the U.S. where he will meet with both Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “We were deeply disappointed” in the move, said State Department spokesman PJ Crowley, who added that it is “counterproductive” to the peace process.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “said the U.S. and the international community need to convince Iran that a military strike is possible” in order to stop the development of an Iranian nuclear weapon. “If the international community, led by the U.S., wants to stop Iran without resorting to military action, it will have to convince Iran that it is prepared to take such action,” he said Sunday.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who will chair the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in the next Congress, says he is planning hundreds of investigations of the Obama administration. “I want seven hearings a week, times 40 weeks,” Issa told Politico, adding he plans to target the bank bailout, the stimulus, and possibly health care reform.

Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell has been fired due to his private hate campaign against a gay student leader. Shirvell “repeatedly violated office policies, engaged in borderline stalking behavior and inappropriately used state resources,” said Attorney General Mike Cox.

Sens. George Voinovich (R-OH) and Tom Carper (D-DE) have urged President Obama’s debt commission to consider raising the federal gas and diesel tax to pay for infrastructure projects and help reduce the deficit. “We suggest that the taxes be increased by one cent per month for 25 months — a total of 25 cents over a three-year period,” they wrote in a letter to the commission.

And finally: More than forty years after The Doors front man Jim Morrison was charged with indecent exposure at a Miami concert in the late 1960s, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (I) is considering pardoning the long-deceased singer. “Candidly, it’s something that I haven’t given a lot of thought to, but it’s something I’m willing to look into in the time I have left,” said Crist.

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ThinkFast: November 8, 2010

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said yesterday that banning earmarks is more complicated than it appears, but he said he would be willing to consider it. While Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) wants to ban all earmarks, McConnell said it would not be a realistic way to seriously cut federal spending.

President Obama’s commission into the Gulf oil spill will reveal its findings today, potentially assigning blame for the disaster and settling finger-pointing disputes among the large corporations involved. Representatives from Halliburton, Transocean, and BP will be on hand to answer the allegations and respond to questions.

Republicans made it clear yesterday they will not compromise on a temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts. Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) said he is not in favor of the White House approach to compromise: decoupling the rates for the top 2 percent and allowing them to expire early. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also echoed those remarks.

Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL), who is losing by a very slim margin to her Republican challenger Joe Walsh, is being floated as a possible candidate to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Her potential nomination is not sitting well with progressives who worry she is far too close to the banking industry. Said one administration official: “It’s not clear she would be acceptable to the reformers.”

Republicans who have taken control of state capitols across the country are promising deep cuts to state budgets to curb deficits. The GOP gained more state legislature seats than they’ve had in 80 years and plan to slash public workers’ pay and benefits, scale back social services, and sell off state assets, “endangering the jobs of thousands of state workers.”

The Republican takeover of the House makes comprehensive immigration reform far less likely. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), who is expected to become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said it will be pushed aside for streamlined enforcement of current laws. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), however, has promised that he would bring up the DREAM Act for a vote in the lame duck session.

In an interview aired on NBC’s Today show this morning, President Bush said Vice President Cheney angrily confronted him about Bush’s decision to not pardon Scooter Libby over his role in outing CIA operative Valerie Plame. “I can’t believe you’re going to leave a soldier on the battlefield,” said Cheney according to Bush

“Iowans’ lopsided vote to remove three justices from the Iowa Supreme Court” for their support for gay rights may harm the state’s business climate, according to PR experts interviewed by the Des Moines Register. “Historically, businesses have opposed same-sex marriage, but smart companies, smart people don’t have that reflex,” John Boyd Jr., a principal at the Boyd Co., a business relocation firm.

In a speech to the Indian parliament today, President Obama endorsed making India a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. “With this statement, we want to send as clear a signal as possible the extent to which the United States sees this as an indispensable partnership,” said Ben Rhodes, “the deputy national security adviser for strategic communication.”

And finally: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised a New Zealand mayor’s “excellent bling” on Friday during an official visit to the country. At a public event with Christchurch mayor Bob Parker, Clinton inquired what one calls the mayoral chains Parker was wearing. When Parker joked they were his “bling,” Clinton responded, “That’s the official description. Excellent bling, Mayor. Excellent bling.”

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ThinkFast: November 5, 2010

The new unemployment report from the Labor Department released this morning finds 151,000 jobs were added last month, more than economists had predicted. 159,000 jobs were added in the private sector. The unemployment rate held steady at 9.6 percent. Nearly 15 million individuals are unemployed.

The Federal Reserve’s aggressive action to pump $600 billion into the economy sent stocks soaring yesterday to “their highest level in two years as investors expressed renewed confidence that someone in Washington was finally giving the sluggish recovery a lift.” Conservatives had slammed the Fed’s plans to engage in “quantitative easing,” but the Dow responded by jumping nearly 2 percent.

Conservative misinformation about the cost of President Obama’s upcoming trip to Asia is even further off base than usual, the Wall Street Journal notes, as conservatives from Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to Matt Drudge and Glenn Beck claim the trip will cost $200 million a day, and that Obama is bringing a fleet of 40 warships with him. The White House says the claims “have no basis in reality.”

After attacking the U.S. Chamber for soliciting undisclosed contributions to air right-wing partisan attack ads, the Obama administration is now seeking to make amends. This week, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner met with Chamber CEO Tom Donohue to discuss economic matters. And Obama is heading to India to meet with the U.S.-India Business Council, which solicits foreign funding to support the Chamber’s activities.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is “seriously considering” running for the position of minority leader in the new Congress, ABC News reports. Most observers expected her to leave the Democratic leadership after Tuesday’s electoral defeat, but she is “methodically calling every Democratic House member who won” in an effort to gauge support for a bid.

In an interview with 60 Minutes, Obama acknowledged that he hasn’t been effective in promoting his economic-rescue message to anxious Americans and that he “stopped paying attention” to the leadership style he displayed during the presidential campaign. Obama said he recognizes now that “leadership is not just legislation,” and that “it’s a matter of persuading people.”

Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), who is vying for the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has vowed to call White House energy adviser Carol Browner to testify before the committee. “We have questions, and the American people deserve answers,” he writes at Human Events.

Incoming House Republicans are leaning on federal regulators to weaken the reforms in the recently passed financial regulatory reform bill. Likely House Financial Services chairman Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) said he wants to block the “radical leftist approach” of regulators.

And finally: Hours after President Obama “jokingly suggested at Wednesday’s day-after-election press conference that he might hold a ‘Slurpee Summit’ with the new Republican leadership,” 7-Eleven swung into overdrive to capitalize on his statement. Today, the convenience store chain “will place an ad in national newspapers that plays off the idea of Slurpees bringing people together.” “This is a rare opportunity for a brand,” says Margaret Chabris, a spokeswoman for 7-Eleven.

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ThinkFast: November 4, 2010

After securing historic state level victories on Nov. 2, Republicans will have control of about 190 congressional districts and “will dominate the redrawing of congressional districts that begins next year.” Because of this “commanding advantage in the redistricting process,” 15 to 25 seats in the House are more likely to remain or switch to Republican.

Bloomberg reports that Republican-leaning outside groups — like Karl Rove’s American Crossroads and the Chamber — spent $167 million on the U.S. midterm elections and came out on the winning side of almost twice as many races as they lost. The New York Times notes that these outside groups helped offset cash advantages held by Democratic incumbents.

In his post-election news conference yesterday, President Obama outlined his commitment to some issues and a willingness to compromise on others. He said he is “absolutely” ready to negotiate with the GOP on the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, but also signaled he will push ahead on reducing greenhouse gases even if Congress refuses to act.

Voters in Iowa chose not to retain three Iowa Supreme Court justices who were part of the unanimous decision to legalize same-sex marriage in the state last year. “I think it will send a message across the country that the power resides with the people,” said Bob Vander Plaats, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor who led the campaign to oust the justices.

In a post-defeat email to supporters yesterday, Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) said that “real change does not happen with one election night victory or end with one loss. We shouldn’t have expected nirvana after our win in 2008 and we shouldn’t expect armageddon now.” Outlining the 111th Congress successes, he said he was proud to stand “with the problem solvers over the political game players any day.”

In his new memoir, former President Bush “makes clear that he personally approved” the use of waterboarding against 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed, an admission “human rights experts say could one day have legal consequences for him.” When asked by the CIA if they could proceed with waterboarding Mohammed, Bush writes that his reply was “Damn right.”

“Under pressure from American and British officials, YouTube on Wednesday removed from its site some of the hundreds of videos featuring calls to jihad by Anwar al-Awlaki,” an American-born cleric under fire for inspiring violence against the West. Just last week, British government officials and Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) lodged formal protests with YouTube.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the Senate to move quickly on a lame-duck vote to ratify the START treaty, an arms control deal with Russia. Speaking in the capital of New Zealand early today, Clinton said the votes for passage existed and it was her “preference” that a vote take place this year.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) “pledged on Wednesday to investigate both Barack Obama and George W. Bush with his newfound subpoena power,” focusing on the two administration’s policies with respect to the mortgage market. “I’m hoping to bridge the multiple administrations in as many places as possible,” he said. “The enemy is the bureaucracy, not necessarily the current occupant of the White House.”

The Federal Reserve “moved Wednesday to jolt the economy into recovery with a bold but risky plan to pump $600 billion into the banking system.” The Fed plans to buy government bonds to increase demand for them and push long-term interest rates down. “Easier financial conditions will promote economic growth,” Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said.

And finally: Among the fallout from Tuesday’s elections, voters in Pittsfield, MA rejected a ballot measure that would have pushed for women to be allowed to “walk around town topless.” The nonbinding question would have urged that area’s state representative to “introduce legislation amending the state’s nudity definition,” but the measure failed by a large majority.

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ThinkFast: November 3, 2010 — Election Edition

Last night, Republicans gained control of 63 Democratic-held seats giving the GOP a net gain of 60 seats so far. The Republican wave “is bigger than the massive gains Republicans made in 1994,” when they picked up 52 seats.

After delivering a tearful victory speech last night, the presumptive House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) took a midnight phone call from President Obama who said “he was looking forward to working with him and the Republicans to find common ground.” Obama also called current Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), whose leadership will end in January, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) who will remain the Senate Minority Leader.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) defeated Tea Party-favorite Sharron Angle last night to help the Democrats maintain control of the Senate. “I’ve had some tight races, but this wasn’t one of them,” Reid said on CBS this morning. The Nevada senator defeated Angle by six points and had “overwhelming support” from minority voters.

It was a rough night for Democrats, but an even rougher night for conservative Blue Dog Democrats, who lost half of their caucus. According to a Huffington Post analysis, 23 of 46 Blue Dog Democrats lost, including Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (D-SD), the coalition’s co-chair for administration, and Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN), the co-chair for policy.

Stalwart progressive voices like Reps. Tom Perriello (D-VA), Alan Grayson (D-FL), Patrick Murphy (D-PA), Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH), and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), among others, went down in defeat.

The Republican surge last night also hit state legislatures, as the party took control of 18 chambers across the country. The takeover has serious implications for the makeup of Congress over the next decade, as state legislatures in most states will soon be redrawing Congressional districts.

Republicans won ten governorships last night, including in states that were long Democratic strongholds, like Wisconsin and Michigan. Meanwhile, Democrat Andrew Cuomo easily won the gubernatorial race in New York.

“The future is Cao,” John Boehner said in early 2009, referring to incoming GOP freshman congressman Anh “Joseph” Cao. Last night, Cao lost.

Republican House candidate in Ohio Rich Iott, who was criticized for dressing in a Nazi uniform during World War II re-enactments, lost to Democratic incumbent Marcy Kaptor in Ohio’s 9th District. Kaptor defeated Iott by nearly 20 percentage points.

California voters “rejected a ballot initiative on Tuesday that would have legalized marijuana for recreational use.” The initiative, known as Proposition 19, got 45.3 percent of the vote with 57 percent of precincts reporting.

California’s Proposition 23, which was backed by a variety of energy interests and would’ve disabled the state’s landmark climate change law, was soundly defeated. Voters also passed Proposition 25, which would allow a legislative majority in the state capital to pass budgets with a majority vote.

ThinkProgress founder Judd Legum lost his bid for the Maryland state house last night, despite the fact that Legum had received the endorsement of the local paper.

And finally: MSNBC host Chris Matthews asked Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) last night if she was “hypnotized.” Matthews was pressing her on whether the new GOP majority would use its subpoena power to investigate Democrats for “un-American activities,” but Bachmann refused to give a straight answer and would not “budge from her talking points on jobs and the economy.” “Has someone hypnotized you?” Matthews asked, “Because no matter what I ask you, you give the same answer.”

ThinkFast: November 2, 2010

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said yesterday that “he has no regrets about saying the GOP’s top priority over the next two years will be to make Barack Obama a one-term president.” Democrats had attacked McConnell for suggesting that politics would be his priority over jobs or health care, but McConnell dismissed the charge as “laughable.”

The New York-based private research group Conference Board released a handbook on corporate political activity “urging corporations to establish strong internal controls and oversight over political donations” after Target Corp. was criticized for backing a GOP candidate in Minnesota. The report’s co-author says that corporate political activity has increased since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

While the 2010 season garnered almost $4 billion in “unregulated, often secret campaign money” that “sharply increased the power of wealthy individuals and groups on both the right and left,” the spending trend is “expected to grow as the 2012 presidential campaign begins.” After Citizens United, political groups are calling the influx of spending “the new normal.”

“Even though the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been among the most active outside groups trying to influence the midterm elections, the prominent business organization is likely to fall short of its ambitious spending goal of $75 million.” Yesterday, the Chamber announced it had spent only $32.4 million on electioneering and communications activities, almost all of which targeted Democrats and supported Republicans.

With one judge dissenting, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the government Monday to block a lower court’s ruling that the military’s DADT policy is unconstitutional. The lawyer for Log Cabin Republicans, the gay rights group that filed the lawsuit against DADT, said “the appeal would continue and he raised the possibility of seeking emergency relief from the nation’s highest court.”

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge John Noonan Jr. “expressed deep skepticism” yesterday “about a Justice Department lawsuit challenging Arizona’s new immigration law, leaving uncertain the Obama administration’s chances of stopping the law from taking effect.” Noonan doubted the government’s argument that the Arizona law is “preempted” by federal law in this case.

General Motors “will succeed in shrinking the federal government’s ownership stake to less than 50 percent in a $10.6 billion initial public offering later this month.” “G.M.’s market value could approach $60 billion,” following a restructuring of the company’s stocks.

The Transportation Security Administration revealed that only 20 percent of the “9 billion pounds of air cargo that comes from overseas each year is physically checked for bombs.” The security system for cargo is “under scrutiny following last week’s plot to sneak bombs into U.S.-bound planes using cargo packages sent from Yemen.”

And finally: As voters head to the polls today, one largely unnoticed election in Colorado could (though almost certainly will not) determine the fate of all humankind. Voters in Denver will consider a ballot measure to set up a commission to track space aliens, and allow residents to submit UFO sightings on the new Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission website. Sponsor Jeff Peckman says the government is tracking aliens, but refuses to make the reports public.

ThinkFast: November 1, 2010

ABC News has received wide-ranging criticism for its decision to include “dishonest hatchet-man” Andrew Breitbart as part of its election night coverage. “This blindsided a good portion of the team here,” said an ABC source. “And not in a good way.” ABC has since clarified the decision, stressing that Breitbart is not affiliated with the network and that he will only appear on its website.

Last Tuesday, the Fox Business Network devoted five hours of programming to a California ballot initiative, Proposition 24, which would repeal corporate tax breaks. The New York Times observes that during all the coverage, which overwhelmingly attacked Prop. 24, Fox Business Network never reported on one fact: its parent company, News Corp., spent $1.3 million to defeat the proposition.

GOP House candidate Rich Iott, who drew fire after photos emerged of him wearing a Nazi uniform, refused to support John Boehner for Speaker Saturday. Boehner took significant flak of own for campaigning for Iott, but “moments after Boehner spoke” in Toledo on Iott’s behalf, Iott said, “I don’t know” about Boehner for Speaker.

Top Republican advisers to the 2012 presidential contenders and veteran GOP operatives now have “a common, if uncoordinated, mission of halting the momentum and credibility” of Sarah Palin. Palin’s “intensely polarizing political style and often halting and superficial answers when pressed on policy” make GOP elites view the prospect of her 2012 nomination “a disaster in waiting.”

Rep. Peter King (R-NY), the “top Republican on the House Committee on Homeland Security,” praised the Obama Administration for successfully stopping an attempted terrorist bombing revealed last week. “The administration handled it perfectly. I give them full credit,” said King during an appearance on CBS’s Face The Nation.

According to the New York Times, the leaders of American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, the secretive groups lead by Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie which have already spent $50 million in this election cycle, are already gearing up for the 2012 elections. They told major donors that they planned to be “even more effective” during the presidential elections.

During an appearance on the Univision program “Al Punto,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) promised to bring the DREAM Act back for a vote in the lame-duck session. “We all support the DREAM Act. I just need a handful of Republicans to help me,” he told the station.

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will hear Arizona’s appeal today of a lower-court ruling that blocked “the most-contested provisions” of SB1070 from taking effect. In July, the Obama administration succeeded in blocking provisions requiring police to check immigration status when stopping someone, allowing for warrantless arrests, and criminalizing failure of legal immigrants to carry registration papers.

And finally: Ahead of his big rally in Washington on Saturday, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton challenged Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert to drink the “Eleanor’s Revenge” — a cocktail served at a local bar that was named after Norton. Norton has an “ongoing feud with Colbert over his jokes about D.C.’s lack of voting right” and said she would make sure the drink was “strong enough” for “some payback.”

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ThinkFast: October 29, 2010

Halliburton and BP knew that the Deepwater Horizon rig was facing serious structural problems before the April 20 blowout, according to the presidential commission investigating the accident. The commission staff determined that Halliburton conducted tests indicating that the cement at the rig was not up to industry standards, but did not take action.

According to the Pentagon’s DADT survey findings reported yesterday, a majority of service members “would not object to serving and living alongside openly gay troops.” The survey’s results will be included in the Pentagon’s report for President Obama on December 1 regarding how the military would end the DADT policy.

The EPA has again delayed a decision on whether to adopt tougher smog standards, a proposal that was opposed by oil refiners, manufacturers, and some Democrats running for office. The decision, scheduled for Sunday, has been put off indefinitely, and an EPA spokesman said the department was “working to ensure we get it right.”

Unemployment claims dropped sharply last week, by 21,000 claims — the biggest drop in unemployment claims in any week since July.

Court documents unsealed yesterday in the case surrounding naturalized U.S. citizen Farooque Ahmed’s plan to bomb Washington, DC Metro stations revealed that the tip that led to his arrest came from a source in the Muslim community. However, the Justice Department refused to give details of the tipster’s identity.

Yesterday, the government announced it had spent a record $80.1 billion on intelligence activities in the last year, an increase of nearly 7 percent over the previous year. In its first disclosure of both the civilian intelligence agencies and military budgets, the Defense Department said “no program details will be released.”

Colorado gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo said this week that President Obama is a greater threat to the U.S. than al-Qaida. Speaking with voters in a local coffee shop, Tancredo said, “It’s not al-Qaida, it’s the guy sitting in the White House.”

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin opened the door slightly to a run for president in 2012, telling Entertainment Tonight that she would put her hat in the ring “if there’s nobody else to do it.” She said she’ll take a “real close look at the lay of the land” to see “whether there are already candidates out there who can do the job and I’ll get to be their biggest supporter and biggest helpmate if they will have me.”

And finally: Early yesterday morning while Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) was driving, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called him with an urgent message: “You shouldn’t be on the phone while you are driving.” Actually, LaHood — who has launched a major campaign to urge people not to use cell phones while driving — was calling to say that Chaffetz’ district had been awarded a $500,000 federal grant for an airport, but he would only deliver the news after Chaffetz put in his hands free Bluetooth device.

ThinkFast: October 28, 2010

House Minority Leader John Boehner will campaign this weekend with Ohio House GOP candidate Rich Iott. Iott gained notoriety after Bill Maher’s show highlighted the fact that that he enjoyed performing as a Nazi reenactor and dressing up as an SS officer. Boehner has not sought a refund of the donations he made to Iott’s campaign.

An assessment of the fallout from the Citizens United decision shows the Supreme Court majority was wrong when they promised that the “public would know – almost instantly – who was paying for” election campaign ads. According to election law experts, corporate donors can hide their contributions despite the opposition of shareholders and customers because of tax law loopholes and a weak FEC.

Appearing on “The Daily Show” last night, President Obama said the Senate filibuster process “needs to be changed” because the GOP minority’s “unprecedented” use of the filibuster “deters Democrats from working across the aisle” and drives the parties further apart. Noting the number of his nominees still awaiting confirmation, Obama said the GOP’s abuse of the filibuster is “just not in the Constitution.”

In an interview with the UK’s Daily Telegraph, former Bush adviser Karl Rove questioned if former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has the “gravitas” to be president. “With all due candor, appearing on your own reality show on the Discovery Channel, I am not certain how that fits in the American calculus of ‘that helps me see you in the Oval Office’,” Rove said.

Despite a record of gaffes and embarrassments during his tenure as RNC Chairman, Michael Steele is reportedly eyeing a second term. Steele has “already has picked two current RNC staffers to help run his re-election campaign.”

Federal law enforcement authorities arrested a Virginia man yesterday who was allegedly plotting to bomb the Washington, DC Metro system. Farooque Ahmed, a naturalized American citizen, “conspired with people he thought to be al-Qaeda operatives,” who were actually federal agents, and spent six months casing the Metro system. Authorities say the public was never in danger.

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) admitted “serious sins” during a candidate forum last night, presumably a reference to the prostitution scandal which ensnared the senator in 2007. “Obviously, I’ve stumbled in my marriage. Obviously I’ve committed serious sins, which I’ve talked about in the past,” Vitter said.

The Justice Department assured voters yesterday that it will thwart any voter intimidation efforts at the polls next week, and that all voters will have easy access to the voting booths. Conservative activists aim to challenge the eligibility of voters at polling stations, which many say amounts to intimidation, often of minority voters.

And finally: Fans of neon spandex and leather masks fear not, for a federal judge in Connecticut has ruled that the state must allow voters to dress up in pro wrestling garb at polling places on Tuesday’s election. Linda McMahon, the former CEO of the WWE (and occasional fighter) is running for Senate in the state.

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ThinkFast: October 27, 2010

“Across Washington, lobbyists have been working behind the scenes now for months to prepare for this possible” GOP takeover of Congress. The power shift has “generated excitement” among oil and gas lobbyists, who, along with their colleagues in other industries such as finance and health care, have been donating heavily to would-be GOP committee chairs.

Anticipating the arrival of new Republican members of Congress, the House Republican Study Committee is asking potential job applicants to who want to work in the House to “fill out ideological surveys on the websites of two conservative organizations.” Applicants are then asked to “rate” their level of disagreement with organizations like the Center for American Progress.

The New York Times reports that opponents of ObamaCare have spent $108 million since March to advertise against it, more than six times the amount that supporters have spent.

Television stations in two states have pulled advertisements by the American Action Network, a conservative 501(c)(4) headed by former Senators Norm Coleman and George Allen, because the ads contained flagrant falsehoods: an ad running in Connecticut claimed one would be jailed for not obtaining health insurance under recent health care reform laws, and another in Colorado said the reforms provided Viagra to rapists. The group does not disclose its donors.

A federal appeals court has overturned an Arizona law passed in 2004 that required voters to prove their citizenship at the polls. Governor Jan Brewer (R) slammed the ruling, calling it a “outrage and a slap in the face to all Arizonans.”

According to U.S. military and intelligence officials’ latest assessments, the military campaign “aimed at crippling the Taliban” in Afghanistan has left the Taliban “unscathed.” While escalated airstrikes and special operations raids have disrupted Taliban movements, insurgents have adeptly absorbed the blows and “appear confident that they can outlast” the troop buildup set to subside beginning next July.

This afternoon, President Obama will become the first sitting president to appear on Comedy Central’s “the Daily Show” with “comedian-turned-activist” Jon Stewart. Obama’s appearance, according to White House officials, is an attempt to “seek out young Democratic voters wherever they spend the most time.”

And finally: California GOP gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman has spent about $140 million of her own money on her campaign — enough to send “two medium pizzas, with two toppings each, to every household in California.” The Los Angeles Times’ Steve Lopez offers some other “more worthwhile causes” the money could have gone to, such as a new Toyota Corolla for every resident of Ojai, CA — population 7,800.

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