John and Elizabeth Edwards on Hardball, MSNBC.
** JOHN EDWARDS PREPS THURSDAY MOVES. Former Senator John Edwards, the Democrats’ 2004 vice presidential nominee, is getting ready to announce his candidacy for the 2008 presidential race. His campaign has said it will be sometime next week, in the unusual setting of New Orleans, where he is expected to emphasize the plight of the poor in Hurricane Katrina as emblematic of his Tale of Two Americas theme. While the campaign has not said when the announcement will take place, Edwards has scheduled a special town hall meeting in Iowa for Thursday, which sounds very much like part of a presidential announcement tour.
While the media has beey focusing almost entirely on the phenomenon of Barack Obama, until two years ago a state legislator in Illinois, and frontrunner Hillary Clinton, Edwards, runner-up for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, has been getting short shrift. But he is an experienced and attractive candidate, with real strengh in early states like Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina.
** ARNOLD BREAKS A LEG. You know the old show biz saying, a wry wishing of good luck prior to a performance: “Break a leg.” Well, that’s just what Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger did today. Break a leg. On the ski slopes of Sun Valley. Here’s the statement from his communications director and deputy chief of staff, Adam Mendelsohn:
“This morning while skiing with his family in Sun Valley, Idaho, Governor Schwarzenegger suffered a fracture to his right femur. After the accident the Governor was taken to a local hospital for x-rays and was soon discharged. He is currently at his home in Sun Valley, Idaho with his family. When the Governor returns to Los Angeles from his scheduled Christmas trip, he will have surgery to repair his femur. No one else was involved in the skiing accident.”
** OBAMA TIED WITH EDWARDS IN AN IOWA POLL. Senator Barack Obama’s media phenom surge continues, with a new poll for a Des Moines TV station showing him tied with John Edwards for the lead in the 2008 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, 22% to 22%. Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, and the frontrunner for the nomination, New York Senator Hillary Clinton, trail with 12% and 10%, respectively. On the Republican side, Arizona Senator John McCain has 27% and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has 26%.
** GROW UP AND BE A PRISON GUARD. LA Times reporter Dan Morain has a jaw-dropping story today on by far the highest paid public employees around … California’s unionized prison guards. Over 6,000 of them make over $100,000 a year. More than 1600 make more than members of the state Senate and Assembly. How? Two reasons. Prison overcrowding and policies are leading to a lot of overtime. And the contract that the prison guards union struck with administration of former Governor Gray Davis is highly lucrative.
** PELOSI SAYS NO TO C-SPAN. Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s widely proclaimed glasnost in congressional affairs will not extend to allowing C-SPAN to run its own cameras. The cable public affairs network requested control of the TV cameras in House proceedings, but on Friday the San Francisco Democrat said no. The shots currently allowed by the congressional leadership don’t really show what’s going on, restricted as they generally are to tight, static shots of whomever is speaking. As you can see from NWN videos, there are much more interesting and telling shots to be found at political events than the official view would have you see.
** Track global and national energy prices via Bloomberg. Crude oil prices are around $62 per barrel on expectation of warmer than normal weather in much of the US. Prices would probably be lower but for the usual spike in driving over the Christmas holiday.
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Bill Bradley:Kandy Kid had this comment on yesterday’s thread just before today’s was published:
From AP for the bulging Hubris and Hypocracy file –
Dec 23, 2006 - 8:04 am Jonas Blane:“Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi cited the need to preserve the ”dignity and decorum” of the House as she rejected a request Friday that C-SPAN operate its own cameras in covering the chamber.”
Pelosi’s campaign promises to lead the most open and ethical Congress in history continue to fade. After controversial leadership moves based on politics and personal pique, this First Amendment stiff-arming confirms we should watch what Pelosi does instead of what she says. You would think Pelosi would want the C-SPAN cameras to fully chronicle her Great Restoration of Democracy to Capitol Hill. Evidently some of the camera angles of this coming show may not be too flattering.
Pelosi should enjoy the four day celebration before her swearing in. When strong earmarking reform is lost like SCA 3 was here in California, her much-hyped first hundred hours will confirm that neither party is immune from the perks and corruptions of power. It is the same script of dysfunction with the starring roles shuffled a bit.
Edwards and his wife are pretty great!
Dec 23, 2006 - 8:16 am larry:I don’t know a lot about this, but I’m puzzled by the easy assertion that Hillary Clinton is the front-runner. She has the most money, but that doesn’t seem to be translating into popular support. But as I say, I don’t know much about this. I suppose it could be a bad thing to be the front runner at this early stage.
Edwards and his wife ARE pretty great. I once knew a woman whom someone else said had “anti-sex appeal.” Hillary seems to have anti-charisma.
And crude prices may be holding more or less steady, but gasoline locally has gone from $2.49/gallon to $2.65 in the last week.
Dec 23, 2006 - 8:55 am Ann:I hope Pelosi isn’t going to be a hack.
Dec 23, 2006 - 9:00 am Bill Bradley:Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner in the national polls and in fundraising. But she has problems in the early states, which were lining up very nicely for Edwards, at least prior to the emergence of Obama.
Dec 23, 2006 - 9:05 am Ann:The prison guards are out of control. They get paid all that money to watch convicts behind bars while real cops are on the street.
Dec 23, 2006 - 9:56 am Jonathan Hemlock:Ms. Pelosi should allow real cameras in House proceedings. She has pledged openness in her operations. Cameras operated by her own people showing only what they want to be shown is hardly that.
Dec 23, 2006 - 10:40 am Sullihan:Did you see Mark Martin’s story in the Chronicle about how prison gang leaders, inmate attorneys, and the guards each are opposing out of state transfers designed to reduce overcrowding in prisons?
Dec 23, 2006 - 10:56 am Bill Bradley:I love it.
One group wants to keep their gangs together in prison.
The next group wants to keep the pressure on to change sentencing for their clients.
The other group wants to keep the prison population high to get more overtime and more staff.
Dec 23, 2006 - 11:00 am Capitol Boy:The prison guards ought to be ashamed of all their whining and scheming. They won’t be.
Dec 23, 2006 - 11:47 am carole w:One of the largest fire departments in California paid for an outside firm to study overtime versus hiring new employees. It is cheaper to forece employees to work overtime.
Dec 23, 2006 - 12:27 pm larry:Working in the state prison system is not similar to havng coffee at Starbucks, it is a tough job. Oh and legislators only work part time compared to the little people.
Bill wrote:
I love it.
One group wants to keep their gangs together in prison.
The next group wants to keep the pressure on to change sentencing for their clients.
The other group wants to keep the prison population high to get more overtime and more staff.
Dec 23, 2006 11:00 AM
That’s a perfect confluence of interests.
Dec 23, 2006 - 12:54 pm Bill Bradley:Yes, well.
In the words of Colonel Hannibal Smith, leader of The A-Team: “I love it when a plan comes together.”
Dec 23, 2006 - 2:31 pm Capitol Boy:What is this crap that prison guards should be the highest paid workers in the state? That union needs to get its back broken.
Dec 23, 2006 - 3:21 pm carole w:Capitol Boy could go undercover and experience prison life and come out as Capitol Girl.
Dec 23, 2006 - 3:33 pm Capitol Boy:Not if those “tough” prison guards are worth half the money they get paid. It’s ridiculous to think real cops get so much less money than these thugs.
Dec 23, 2006 - 3:57 pm Bill Bradley:Christmas Spirit, everyone!
Some fun videos programmed the next two days.
Dec 23, 2006 - 7:42 pm Tommy Boy:Bill -
Your old boss, Gary Hart reviews Audacity of Hope for the New York Times.
I will listen to anything Senator Hart has to say.
Dec 23, 2006 - 10:23 pm Sacramento Solon:So, since Arnold once was, or still is, an actor, does breaking his leg mean he will have good luck in the coming year?
Dec 24, 2006 - 7:03 am jillian:SS let’s hope so:) BB cannot wait for the videos
Dec 24, 2006 - 7:40 am Kandy Kid:Between the $10 billion needed for prisons, the persistent $5 billion structural budget deficit and the $6 billion needed annually to fully fund state employee retiree health care costs, next year will require some strong fiscal medicine and exercise. Starting it off with a broken leg may be Arnold’s best luck.
Dec 24, 2006 - 7:47 am carole w:I hope Arnold heals quickly. I hear a broken Femur is very painful.:(
Dec 24, 2006 - 9:19 am Bill Bradley:Not to mention a broken Lemur …
Dec 24, 2006 - 9:31 am Bill Bradley:A very good review by Gary Hart of the Obama book in the NYT. Respectful and admiring, but asking some of the right questions.
Dec 24, 2006 - 9:32 am Ann:Hart is a smart man. I wish Obama had half the things to say Hart did.
Dec 24, 2006 - 10:26 am sadhana:Is this the leg AS was going to use to “kick our butts”?
Dec 24, 2006 - 8:09 pm Bill Bradley:Schwarzenegger 56%
Angelides 39%
It already happened.
Dec 25, 2006 - 3:03 pm sadhana:He made the” kicking butt” reference to the nurses. So I want to know is that the leg he was going to use to kick the nurses butt and he meant just that it had nothing to do with the election.
Dec 25, 2006 - 11:18 pm Bill Bradley:The nurses union campaigned hard all year against Schwarzenegger.
He won in a landslide.
Dec 25, 2006 - 11:54 pm