November 19, 2005
Bush Without Card
By Robert
Novak
WASHINGTON -- The absence by Chief of Staff Andrew Card
from President Bush's Latin America and Asia trips has increased
speculation about a possible reconstruction of the White House
staff.
Presidential aides said Card was left behind to handle the crush
of congressional business during Bush's absence. However, the
chief of staff almost always accompanies the president on foreign
travels.
A footnote: Al Hubbard, director of the National Economic Council,
is being given a wide variety of domestic assignments beyond economics
and is speculated on as Card's possible successor.
IMMORTAL SENATORS
The final version of the Health and Human Services appropriations
bill rejected by the House Thursday contained a provision naming
two government buildings in Atlanta for current U.S. senators.
The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) buildings were to be named
after Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Democratic
Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa. Each has been active in securing funds
for the CDC. House members on both sides of the aisle were infuriated
by sitting senators seeking to immortalize themselves.
A footnote: The highly unusual 224 to 209 defeat on the appropriations
bill came as a surprise to Acting House Majority Leader Roy Blunt.
No Democrat voted for the bill, and 22 Republicans opposed it.
DEMOCRATS IN '08
Democratic insiders have raised from "possible" to "probable"
the prospect of presidential candidacies in 2008 by New Mexico
Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware.
Richardson has said he will await his 2006 re-election campaign
in New Mexico before making a presidential decision. But party
insiders say now he is preparing the groundwork for a national
campaign, assuming that his second term as governor is likely.
Richardson is a former member of Congress, U.S. ambassador to
the United Nations and secretary of energy.
There has been skepticism that Biden, whose 1988 presidential
candidacy was aborted, really would try again. However, Democrats
close to the six-term senator now expect Biden, who will turn
66 shortly after the 2008 election, to make a final bid for the
White House in what may be his last shot at the White House.
SOLID DEMOCRAT
Sen. Ben Nelson, a moderate Democrat seeking re-election in the
overwhelmingly Republican state of Nebraska and a leading GOP
target next year, is shown by a Republican poll to enjoy a very
high approval rating.
The survey taken by the Braynard Group shows 71 percent job approval
for Nelson, compared with 59 percent for his Republican colleague,
Sen. Chuck Hagel. President Bush's rating is 64 percent, one of
his highest in the country. Nelson previously had been considered
one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents.
Nelson had $2.6 million in campaign cash on hand at the end of
September. That's eight times as much as his Republican challenger,
Ameritrade heir Pete Ricketts, and probably enough to buy most
of the state's air time for the full '06 campaign.
REDS AT NEA
The District of Columbia cell of the Communist Party USA has
been revealed as holding a monthly luncheon in the cafeteria of
the National Education Association (NEA), without the sponsorship
but not with the disapproval of the huge, politically powerful
schoolteachers union.
The Communist meetings were reported by Chris Peterson in the
Washington City Paper edition of Nov. 11-17. A lawyer attending
the September meeting bolted from the cafeteria when he learned
a reporter was present.
"We had no knowledge of this," NEA spokeswoman Denise Cardinal
told this column, "because the NEA does not screen the patrons
of our cafeteria or listen in on conversations. It's open to the
public."
Copyright
2005 Creators Syndicate
