Want to know how the Republican Senators are weathering the heat? Below the fold I have news for all the Senators that are facing re-election in 2008. What was unusual about Chuck Hagel’s phone call? Why did Domenici go all wobbly on the war? Where does Susan Collins really stand? What prestigious university asked Mike Enzi to give their graduation speech? It’s all there, plus some unfortunate accidents for some former aides.
Ted Stevens:
Sen. Stevens, who has served since 1968, has been caught up in a larger probe that included FBI raids last summer at offices of six Alaska legislators including Stevens’ son, Ben, who was then the president of the state Senate.
“The worst thing about this investigation is that it does change your life in terms of employment potential,” Stevens said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It doesn’t matter what anyone says, it does shake you up. If this is still hanging around a year from November, it could cause me some trouble.
“I’m working to get this concept out of my mind that someone is trying to make something illegal out of all this, That’s what’s really disturbing.”
Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, one of more than a dozen Republican senators running for re-election next year and usually a staunch defender of President Bush’s Iraq policy, said this week his support is “not locked into concrete.”
“I don’t know the answer,” Roberts said. “I don’t know anybody that does. I know the president thinks he does. His resolve is incredible, whether or not that’s the proper course of action.”
Roberts said he doesn’t yet support measures to begin withdrawing troops. But he said, “We can’t continue to be engaged in a war which the American people do not support.”
-Moving forward on the defense bill, the Senate passed Sen. Jeff Sessions’ missile defense amendment on Thursday, making it U.S. policy to develop defenses against an emerging Iranian nuclear program.
The amendment, approved by a 90-5 vote, called for the U.S. to develop and deploy an effective defense system “as soon as technologically possible” against the possibility of Iranian missiles.
South Carolina Republicans upset with U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s support of an immigration bill are readying to challenge one of their own next year.
At least two political newcomers plan to run against the state’s senior senator when he seeks a second term in 2008. Also, state Rep. Jeff Duncan and former U.S. Rep. Tommy Hartnett said Friday they are considering entering the race.
“I’m keeping the track shoes unlaced so I can slip my feet into them quick if I need to,” said Hartnett, 65. “I would hate to see him get a free ride.”
Minnesota’s Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman said Thursday the United States will have a long-term presence in Iraq but may see a change of mission.
“We are going to be in Iraq a long time. I am not supporting dates, specific dates, timetables for withdrawal,” he said. “When my colleagues on the other side of the aisle talk about redeployment, they are talking about getting out of Iraq. I’m not. And simply because that’s the reality.”
Sen. Gordon Smith, who faces re-election next year, announced Thursday that he raised more than $1 million in the second quarter of this year.
The fundraising brought his total campaign cash to $3.5 million as of June 30.
Portland Democratic activist Steve Novick is seeking the nomination to run against Smith. Earlier this month, Novick announced his campaign raised more than $190,000 in the second quarter.
US Senator Lamar Alexander deflected speculation Thursday that he may be in the running to become the next chancellor of Vanderbilt University…
Alexander, also a former governor, said in a statement that he enjoys being a senator and hopes to be re-elected next year.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., will have influence over energy, environmental and Indian issues as he takes over three of the five committee seats that had been held by the late Sen. Craig Thomas.
Senate Republican leaders announced Tuesday that Barrasso will sit on the Energy and Natural Resources, Indian Affairs and Environment and Public Work panels.
President Bush’s national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said Sunday the administration’s “very orderly process” for reviewing its Iraq plans should be allowed to play out despite a hurry-up initiative from two respected GOP senators.
Hadley’s reply was “No” when asked whether Bush could live with the proposal by Sens. John Warner of Virginia and Richard Lugar of Indiana. They want to give the president until mid-October to submit a plan to restrict the use of U.S. troops in Iraq to fighting terrorists and securing borders and U.S. interests.
The war was not a major issue in the 2002 campaign between Sununu, then a congressman, and Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, who many Democrats hope will run again next year.
In debates and statements, both backed the 2002 congressional resolution to give President Bush the authority to go to war. That October, the New Hampshire Union Leader quoted Shaheen saying, “I want to reiterate my support for President Bush’s goals for regime change in Iraq.”
Collins seemed fed up. She says she told [Condi] Rice “that the fact that Iraqi politicians still appear to be going on vacation in August, while our men and women are out there dying, doesn’t make me think we’re going to see any more progress by September,” when Gen. David Petraeus delivers his report on the war. Collins sighed. “It’s just that my patience with the administration’s strategy is exhausted.”
When he unveiled his flashy new campaign web site, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss declared he had a $3.3 million stash ready to spend on his re-election effort next year.
Put that figure next to what Democratic challenger Dale Cardwell has raised: $50,165. There’s a serious shortage of zeroes on that side of the equation.
A Courier-Journal Bluegrass Poll in February found that 52 percent of Kentuckians wanted McConnell to oppose the Iraq troop surge now in place. Forty percent said he should support it. The rest were undecided.
But on CNN yesterday, McConnell responded to a question about pressure from constituents this way: “My constituents are overwhelmingly on the side of Gen. (David) Petraeus and the effort. We are the home of the 101st Airborne. We also have Fort Knox.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel is used to fielding all kinds of calls from Nebraskans, but one he took this week came from way out there.
Outer space.
Really.
Astronaut Clayton Anderson, who’s on the international space station, called the Nebraska Republican this week. Anderson is from Ashland, Neb.
“I don’t know how many of you have had calls from space, but … the fidelity was amazing,” Hagel said in a weekly conference call with reporters Thursday.
Hagel said he and Anderson talked about Nebraska football, news events and Anderson’s job in space.
Incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn remained out front in the money battle in his re-election campaign, according to a report released by his office Friday.
Cornyn, a Republican, reported that he raised $2 million in the second quarter of this year and had $5.3 million cash on hand.
One of his potential Democratic opponents — attorney Mikal Watts of San Antonio — launched his campaign by putting $3.8 million of his own money into his campaign account to match Cornyn’s cash on hand at the end of the first quarter.
Cornyn’s aides declined to comment, saying the report spoke for itself.
During June, Watts raised another $1.1 million. Watts ended the quarter with $4.8 million in cash on hand.
If he wins the Democratic nomination, Watts has pledged to spend another $6.8 million of his own money against Cornyn.
“Being chummy with big oil, corporate polluters and prescription drug companies has resulted in millions of campaign dollars for our junior senator,” said Watts spokeswoman Kim Devlin. “I understand Cornyn’s spokesperson said that the numbers speak for themselves, and I would say that they certainly do.”
John Barclay, a Boise businessman and former aide to Idaho Senator Larry Craig, died Tuesday from injuries suffered in a mishap while loading an all-terrain vehicle.
Barclay was 62 years-old.
Doug Sullivan, who served one term as mayor of Brookhaven and who had been an aide to U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran since 2001, died Wednesday from a heart attack he suffered on his way to work, said Lincoln County Coroner Clay McMorris.
McMorris said Sullivan was able to get his van off the road. He was taken to King’s Daughters Medical Center, where he later died. Sullivan was 69.
North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole criticized the Iraqi government today and says she hopes the United States can start bringing troops home next year.
In a written statement released late this afternoon, Dole says U.S. troops have been doing a great job, but she says the Iraqi government has not. She says the country’s commitment in Iraq is not indefinite, nor should the Iraqi government perceive it to be.
Senator Mike Enzi (R- Wyoming) will be the keynote speaker at Western Governors University’s Summer Commencement, Saturday, July 14, 2007. The ceremony will take place at Abravanel Hall, in Salt Lake City, beginning at 10 a.m. Mountain Time. WGU (http://www.wgu.edu) is an online, non-profit, competency-based university founded by 19 U.S. governors. The university holds graduations twice a year and more than 8,000 students are enrolled at WGU.
Inhofe also grilled Gore when the former vice president testified about global warming that month before House and Senate committees. He kept referring to Gore in his questioning as “Senator Gore” instead of “Vice President Gore.” True, Gore had once been a senator, but protocol and propriety say you refer to someone by the most recent title they’ve held, and Inhofe certainly knows that, so he was behaving like a rude and unmannered little boy.
It may be coincidence that Sen. Pete Domenici (R) announced his opposition to Mr. Bush’s war strategy two days after AAEI launched its campaign in his home state of New Mexico – despite the group’s taking credit for the switch.
Seven Senate Republicans – six up for reelection in 2008 – voted last week against the Bush administration’s position on a proposal to mandate longer time at home for US forces. If passed, the measure would have limited Bush’s ability to redeploy units to a war zone.
Senator Domenici was not one of the defectors on that vote. But this week he is expected to back a proposal to require the Bush administration to revise US policy in accordance with the 2006 recommendations of the Iraq Study Group.
