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[However, Kennedy adjusted the numbers to account for undecided black voters, who overwhelmingly vote for Democrats, and said the runoff election currently stands in Blanco's favor. With that adjustment, Blanco would get 53 percent of the vote, compared to Jindal's 47 percent]
Republican Primary Trial Heat (among Republican voters): Cecil Underwood 30% Robin Capehart 8% Sarah Minear 8% Dan Moore 3% Monty Warner 3% Doug McKinney 2% Other 3% Undecided 43%
Democratic Primary Trial Heat (among Democratic voters): Joe Manchin 46% Darrell McGraw 11% John Perdue 5% Jim Humphreys 4% Lloyd Jackson 3% Jim Lees 3% Spike Maynard 2% Robin Davis 2% Other 1% Undecided 25%
MSNBC'S Buchanan & Press scored a major scoop on Wednesday, all but unmasking the high government official who "outed" a CIA operative via a July 14 column by Robert Novak. Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst who worked with Valerie Plame, the reported agent, all but identified "Scooter" Libby as the government official who outed her – and at least one other in the Vice President's office.
Who is "Scooter" Libby?
He's the nexus of the neocon network in Washington, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, and assistant to the President, whose office is the operational nerve center of the War Party. It is Libby and Cheney who made repeated trips to the CIA, pressuring them to accept tall tales of Al Qaeda connections and assorted "weapons of mass destruction" supposedly lurking in Baghdad – including the Niger-uranium yellowcake "evidence" that Iraq had acquired fissionable material for a nuclear weapon.
The documents purportly proving the Niger-Iraq uranium connection turned out to be a crude forgery.
Pressed by Pat Buchanan to name the leaker, Johnson refused to deny it was Libby; he furthermore stated that the perpetrator was no stranger to "scandal."
As Marc Rich's longtime lawyer, and a key figure in procuring the fugitive billionaire a presidential pardon, Lewis ""Scooter" Libby surely fits the bill.
Johnson also rebutted widespread stories that Plame wasn't an undercover intelligence officer. Clifford May, of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, has said her status was an open secret, and that she was an analyst whose life would not be placed in danger if her CIA connection was revealed. Asked by Buchanan if Plame's work would have taken her overseas, where compromising her CIA affiliation would put her in physical danger, Johnson's answer was an emphatic yes. Furthermore, he emphasized, her outing would put all her various overseas contacts in jeopardy.
California gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked off his bus tour of California today amid allegations of sexual harassment and anti-Semitism.
In a front-page story, the Los Angeles Times, California's largest newspaper, quoted six women who claim Schwarzenegger groped or made sexually offensive remarks to them. One woman told ABCNEWS she encountered Schwarzenegger in the 1970s when he was a bodybuilder.
"The gym was quite full and Arnold was there and I remember him passing by me and groping my breast," Elaine Stockon told ABCNEWS. "And I was just in sheer shock."
Of the six women who spoke to the newspaper, four would not give their names. One claimed that 20 years ago, Schwarzenegger "grabbed and squeezed" her left breast. She told the Los Angeles Times she "just started crying and crying." She said he did not rape her, but he humiliated her.
The Los Angeles Times also quoted a woman, who asked not to be named, who worked on the movie Terminator 2 and claimed Schwarzenegger "would pin me against the corner of the elevator" and try to pull off the straps of her bathing suit.
The story broke just as Schwarzenegger was kicking off his bus tour of California — an event that was supposed to be the crescendo of his campaign.
He confronted the allegations directly today. At first he appeared to deny them: "A lot of those what you see the story, is not true." But he then added, "I have done things that at the time I thought then was playful but now I recognize that I have offended people. And those people that I have offended, I want to say to them I am deeply sorry about that and I apologize."
‘I Admired Hitler’
Yet even as he tried to put out that fire, another broke out.
ABCNEWS obtained a copy of an unpublished book proposal with quotes from a verbatim transcript of an interview Schwarzenegger gave in 1975 while making the film Pumping Iron.
Asked who his heroes are, he answered, "I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education, up to power. I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it."
He is quoted as saying he wished he could have an experience, "like Hitler in the Nuremberg stadium. And have all those people scream at you and just being total agreement whatever you say."
The author of the book proposal, Pumping Iron's director, George Butler, told ABCNEWS today that the quotes needed to be seen in context, and that Arnold never said anything anti-Semitic.
"I cannot remember any of these," Schwarzenegger told ABCNEWS. "All I can tell you is that I despise everything Hitler stood for. I despise everything the Nazis stood for, everything the Third Reich stood for."
In the final days of his campaign, Schwarzenegger may be battling yet another opponent: his own past. - Source
With the election now 13 months away, President Bush finds his ratings near the low-water mark of his presidency, reports CBS News Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts.
His overall job approval hovers just above 50 percent – almost back to where he was before 9/11, and way down from his stratospheric ratings of 89 percent following the attacks on America.
White House officials say they expected the numbers to slide, but the dramatic drop has them troubled. The president's marks on foreign policy have hit new lows (44 percent approval), half of Americans (50 percent) don't have confidence in his ability to handle an international crisis, and a majority (53 percent) now believes the war in Iraq wasn't worth it – a big change from the heady days after the swift defeat of Saddam.
"Landing on the carrier, declaring the conflict over, this Romanesque sort of victory parade, certainly did raise the stakes," says historian James T. Smith. "And now those expectations are falling because people are seeing that the Iraq situation is not going according to plan."
And foreign policy had been President Bush's strong point.
Fifty-six percent of Americans now lack confidence in the president's economic decision-making, a reversal from just four months ago when 54 percent said they were confident – a result of three-million lost jobs and sputtering economic growth.
"Twenty-two months into the recovery, we still have fewer jobs than we had at the beginning of the recovery. That is a historical first. And the reason for that is that the economy is just not growing fast enough," says Christian Weller with the Economic Policy Institute.
And the mood of the nation is shifting: 56 percent now say the country is on the wrong track, a bad trend heading into an election year.
"I don't really see many policy options for the White House at this point to really boost the economy before election time," Weller says.
Looking ahead to the election, President Bush has lost what was a commanding lead. Voters are now evenly split – 44 percent to 44 percent – between Mr. Bush and an un-named Democrat; though more voters, 50 to 35 percent, believe the president will win re-election.
President Bush's strongest marks are on leadership. Nearly two-thirds of Americans think he's a strong leader. But in another troubling sign, the majority feels that leadership isn't focused on priorities that matter to them. - Source
One of the less ennobling secrets of the mainstream media in recent years is its reliance on the tabloid press to launder seedy but irresistible stories about celebrities and politicians. Once the story is baptized in the tabloids, it's not long before it's fodder for TV talking heads and late-night comics. Then, more often than not, it's regarded as fair game for the elite media.
This symbiotic wash cycle went into high gear during the O.J. Simpson trial, and it was commonplace in time for Clinton's impeachment (with added suds from tab-like Web sites like the Drudge Report). Gennifer Flowers and Dick Morris both made a splash in the tabs before hitting the mainstream.
So there was a reasonable expectation that the tabloids would be having a field day with candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger. After all, in his 1977 Oui interview he spoke of his vast sexual conquests and a predilection for orgies; a Premiere magazine article in 2001 depicted him as an aggressive womanizer and a bully; and the same year, the National Enquirer "documented" his alleged seven-year affair with a young actress. Given the film community buzz about his vanity, marital woes and plastic surgery, it seemed the tabs would be wallowing in their good fortune.
All of which has made Schwarzenegger's tabloid disappearing act something of a mystery. Last week, the San Jose Mercury News turned over a few pieces of the puzzle when it reported that, in January, Schwarzenegger's mentor and early business partner, Joe Weider, had sold his publishing empire — including Muscle and Fitness, Shape and Men's Fitness magazines — for $350 million to American Media, the tabloid conglomerate that owns the Enquirer, the Star, the Globe and the News of the World.
The story also disclosed that although American Media's tabloids had been virtually "Arnold-free" since the recall race began, they just published a 120-page glossy one-off titled "Arnold, the American Dream," without identifying it as one of their publications. It's on newsstands for $4.95, and one cover line reads: "Camelot's Future." To complete the coronation, the News of the World ran an "exclusive": "Alien backs Arnold for governor!"
On another front, the New York Daily News reported that American Media owner and CEO David Pecker had assured Weider that the tabloids were going to "lay off" Schwarzenegger. "We're not going to pull up any dirt on him," Weider said Pecker told him. (American Media spokesman Richard Valvo calls the conversation "unfounded rumor"; Weider reconfirmed it Wednesday.)
Though some Democrats have begun whispering about the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, the motives and agenda behind the Schwarzenegger tabloid blackout appear to be more about commerce than politics.
Two sources at American Media confirmed that it was no accident that the tabloids had been Arnold-free, pointing to the Weider sale as an explanation.
"They cannot afford to [anger] Arnold because he is an icon in the muscle magazine world," one said, adding that Schwarzenegger writes a column in one of the publications. The other American Media employee explained that Schwarzenegger's influence in the bodybuilding world is such that his disapproval could nix everything from advertising to content: "If they [antagonize him], that huge sale is money down the drain."
Both also pointed out that Schwarzenegger was not the first to get the kid-glove treatment. "We took a pass on Jeb Bush [when the Florida governor held a press conference to quell rumors about his alleged infidelity] also," said one of the longtime employees.
No doubt the tabs are aware that Schwarzenegger aggressively protects his image. According to published reports, his employees and campaign staffers must sign confidentiality agreements that prevent them from disclosing anything about the star or his family, in perpetuity.
Schwarzenegger also purchased the rights to "Pumping Iron," the 1977 documentary that chronicled his rise to bodybuilding stardom. Several scenes in the original film seem less than helpful to an aspiring politician. In one, Schwarzenegger smokes marijuana, and in another, he speaks of missing his father's funeral in order to attend a bodybuilding contest. Sightings of the original film are now rare — it's out of print, said one video store owner, "impossible to get legally" — though a DVD version is set for release in November, in which, an ad says, Schwarzenegger "shares his parents' values with the press."
Whatever the motives of the tabloids, it's clear they won't be doing any Arnold preelection spadework. As Slate blogger Mickey Kaus pointed out: "The tabs have taken a dive." Which means that now the mainstream media have to roll up their sleeves and do their own work. - Source
n July 14, Robert Novak published the now-famous column in which he identified Valerie Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, as a C.I.A. "operative on weapons of mass destruction," and said "two senior administration officials" had told him that she was responsible for her husband's mission to Niger. On that mission, Mr. Wilson concluded — correctly — that reports of Iraqi efforts to buy uranium were bogus.
An outraged President Bush immediately demanded the names of those responsible for exposing Ms. Plame. He repeated his father's statement that "those who betray the trust by exposing the names of our sources" are "the most insidious of traitors." There are limits to politics, Mr. Bush declared; Mr. Wilson's decision to go public about his mission had embarrassed him, but that was no excuse for actions that were both felonious and unpatriotic.
Everything in the previous paragraph is, of course, false. It's what should have happened, but didn't. Mr. Bush took no action after the Novak column. Before we get bogged down in the details — which is what the administration hopes will happen — let's be clear: we already know what the president knew, and when he knew it. Mr. Bush knew, 11 weeks ago, that some of his senior aides had done something utterly inexcusable. But as long as the media were willing to let the story lie — which, with a few honorable exceptions, like David Corn at The Nation and Knut Royce and Timothy Phelps at Newsday, they were — he didn't think this outrage required any action.
And now that the C.I.A. has demanded a Justice Department inquiry, the White House's strategy isn't just to stonewall, Nixon-style; as one Republican Congressional aide told The New York Times, it will "slime and defend."
The right-wing media slime machine, which tries to assassinate the character of anyone who opposes the right's goals — hey, I know all about it — has already swung into action. For example, The Wall Street Journal's editorial page calls Mr. Wilson an "open opponent of the U.S. war on terror." We've grown accustomed to this sort of slur — and they accuse liberals of lacking civility? — but let's take a minute to walk through it.
Mr. Wilson never opposed the "war on terror" — he opposed the war in Iraq precisely because it had no obvious relevance to the campaign against terror. He feared that invading a country with no role in 9/11, and no meaningful Al Qaeda links, would divert resources from the pursuit of those who actually attacked America. Many patriots in the military and the intelligence community agreed with him then; even more agree now.
Unlike the self-described patriots now running America, Mr. Wilson has taken personal risks for the sake of his country. In the months before the first gulf war, he stayed on in Baghdad, helping to rescue hundreds of Americans who might otherwise have been held as hostages. The first President Bush lauded him as a "truly inspiring diplomat" who exhibited "courageous leadership."
In any case, Mr. Wilson's views and character are irrelevant. Someone high in the administration committed a felony and, in the view of the elder Mr. Bush, treason. End of story.
The hypocrisy here is breathtaking. Republicans have repeatedly impugned their opponents' patriotism. Last year Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, said Democrats "don't want to protect the American people. . . . They will do anything, spend all the time and resources they can, to avoid confronting evil."
But the true test of patriotism isn't whether you are willing to wave the flag, or agree with whatever the president says. It's whether you are willing to take risks and make sacrifices, including political sacrifices, for the sake of your country. This episode is a test for Mr. Bush and his inner circle: a true patriot wouldn't hesitate about doing the right thing in the Plame affair, whatever the political costs.
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Sun Tzu Files 
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indicate whether the poll numbers are up or down from the previous poll. Incumbents are in italics. (prior results in '()')