Republican:
Not only did the Republicans file official intention of candidacy for President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, but they started to put the carefully planned campaign operation into action.
1) Karl Rove, of course, will be in overall command, but will change neither his title (senior advisor to the President) nor his office (in the White House West Wing).
2) Ken Mehlman, Bush’s low-profile political aide, resigned from the White House staff and began packing his bags to leave there. With the title of campaign manager, Mehlman will in effect be Rove’s deputy, devoting full time to the campaign-the same arrangement as in the 2002 mid-term campaign.
3) Jack Oliver resigned as Deputy Republican National Chairman to join Mehlman at the campaign, as day-to-day finance chief. Oliver has been running the Republican National Committee ever since Bush entered the presidency.
4) Former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot remains for now as the largely figurehead RNC chairman, but he soon will take another figurehead job as campaign chairman. (The job Racicot covets is attorney general, and that could happen in a second term).
5) Racicot’s replacement as RNC chairman is supposed to be political operative/lobbyist Ed Gillespie, and it is highly probable that it will happen despite complaints by some RNC members that he lacks experience. Unlike Racicot, Gillespie will be a full-time chairman and will have to resign from his lobbying firm.
6) Gillespie has been mentioned as a replacement for resigning White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, but that probably won’t happen Nor is Pentagon spokesman Victoria Clarke likely. It probably will be Fleischer’s deputy, Scott McClellan. This really is a taxpayer-financed campaign post, and McClellan is a veteran of the ’00 campaign.
Texas Redistricting:
National media attention turned to Austin, Tex. and Ardmore, Okla., earlier this month when a third of the Texas House walked out of the chamber and fled across state lines to block a quorum and prevent a vote on a congressional redistricting plan (the split legislature failed to pass a new map in 2002).
1) The walkout would not have happened, in all likelihood, if not for the intervention of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R.-Tex.). DeLay’s people had drawn a gerrymandered map and House Speaker Tom Craddick (R.), loyal to DeLay, offered his map. Only about 30 Democrats were originally willing to skip town, but DeLay’s involvement and Craddick’s hardball tactics on other issues radicalized enough Democrats to break quorum, according to grumbling Republicans in Austin.
2) Last Thursday was the last day the state House could have proposed any new bills, and so, for the regular session, redistricting is effectively dead.
3) The fact that Democrats in Austin decided to take the drastic measure of fleeing to Oklahoma indicates that they thought the House was the last best line of defense against the bill. This suggests that Republicans in the state Senate had the two-thirds majority (meaning at least two Democratic defectors) needed to break a filibuster there.
4) Although the legislature passed a budget, the state comptroller may lower the revenue figures soon, likely requiring a special session to pass a new budget. In a special session, Republicans could bring the map again and, because of special-session rules, probably circumvent the two-thirds roadblock in the Senate.
Edwards:
If Dean is the policy-wonk half of Bill Clinton, Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) is the "feel your pain" half.
Edwards has to date relied on his youth, his looks and his access to trial-lawyer cash to carry him this far. Those attributes undoubtedly give him a boost with the caucus voters desperate to get rid of Bush, because they see him as having the most basic tools for winning a general election.
Many Iowa Democrats see Edwards as the most electable of the field, but few are enamored with him as their potential future President. Some labor voters were impressed with his ability to empathize with their concerns. Although he’s a wealthy trial lawyer, his family’s labor roots gives him some credibility in his claim to stand for "the regular guy." Being a southerner is also an asset in the mind of voters with an eye to beating Bush.
As they have for months, Democratic activists complain that Edwards lacks substance. He was short on specifics and dodged questions, but still won points with the union workers by talking like he is knowledgeable about contract renegotiations and other details. Rather than promising favors as many of the other Democrats do, Edwards promises to empower regular Americans through "Patients’ Bill of Rights" and "Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights."
