Day: February 28, 2007

By LAURIE KELLMAN

President Bush and his Senate allies will kill a Sept. 11 antiterror bill if Congress sends it to the White House with a provision to let airport screeners unionize, the White House and 36 Republicans said Tuesday.

“As the legislation currently stands, the president’s senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill,” said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.

Senate Republicans swiftly backed up the threat with a pledge by more than enough senators to block any veto override attempt.

By JOHN WHITESIDES

While the early favorites in the 2008 presidential race fight for dollars and support, the immediate challenge for a crowded band of lesser known candidates is political survival.

A fast-starting White House race dominated by a cast of political heavyweights already has knocked out two Democratic contenders and left a handful of hopefuls in each party scrambling to escape the bottom of the pack and climb into the top ranks.

A Republican Party campaign committee that received $20,000 in 2003 from a man now accused of helping terrorists has donated the money to a foundation that comforts families of wounded soldiers.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign arm for Republican senators, renounced the contribution after news reports identified Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari as an NRSC “Inner Circle Member for Life.”

By BETH FOUHY

Democrat John Edwards said Tuesday that honesty and openness were essential qualities for a president, and that he was proud to acknowledge his 2002 vote authorizing the invasion of Iraq was a mistake.

Trolling for campaign cash on a three-day visit to New York — home of his chief Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton — Edwards spoke to reporters after attending a union-sponsored workshop on eradicating poverty.

By ANNE FLAHERTY

House Democratic leaders are developing an anti-war proposal that wouldn’t cut off money for U.S. troops in Iraq while requiring President Bush to acknowledge problems with an overburdened military.

The plan could draw broad bipartisan support but was expected to be a tough sell to members who said they don’t think it goes far enough to assuage voters angered by the four-year war.

By DALE McFEATTERS

Joseph Lieberman — independent senator and Iraq war supporter — is probably not someone the Democrats feel like taking advice from. But in an op-ed piece this week, he urged his colleagues in Congress “to step back and think carefully about what to do next.”

By PAUL C. CAMPOS

One of my best friends grew up in the Mormon Church. I asked Steve recently what he thought of Mitt Romney’s statement that. “we need to have a person of faith lead this country.” Steve, unlike Romney, isn’t an orthodox Mormon, but he’s a very thoughtful person, who knows more about religion that just about anyone I know.

Furthermore, Steve takes his own religious beliefs with the utmost seriousness. So his views on this matter were of great interest to me.

By BARBARA BARRETT

Raleigh News & Observer

R.J. Reynolds’ new Camel No. 9s arrived this month in a black package trimmed in fuchsia, the slim cigarettes stamped with a tiny pink dromedary. The No. 9s are, according to the floral advertising, “light and luscious,” and full-size packs are handed out free to women at bars.

“They’re cute,” said Samantha Brown, a 20-year-old North Carolina State University junior. “And they’re lighter. They are. It’s like smoking air.”