Capital Briefs

* HUCK UP IN IOWA, BUT...: With two weeks to go before the Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, a just-completed Diageo/Hotline poll showed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with a handsome lead of 36% to 23% over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney among likely caucus attendees. All the other GOP hopefuls trail far behind, with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani at 12%, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson at 8% and Arizona Sen. John McCain and Texas Rep. Ron Paul tied at 5% each. But the same survey showed a whopping 53% of likely attendees "say that it is possible they could change their mind" before the January 3 caucus. Huckabee also signed on onetime Reagan White House political operative Ed Rollins as his national campaign chairman and, following publication of a controversial article in Foreign Affairs, is assembling a national security advisory team headed by former Rep. and House Intelligence Committee member Bob McEwen (R.-Ohio).

* PORK THROUGHOUT OMNIBUS BILL: For all the crowing by the staff of Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) that the $518-billion omnibus bill that passed the Senate last week "stopped so many bad things" and was a "victory" for fiscal conservatives, close scrutiny of the 3,400-plus-page measure (which President Bush promptly signed) supports an opposite conclusion. McConnell and friends claim that there is a drop in earmarks, but the 9,170 earmarks in the omnibus combined with the 2,161 earmarks in the Defense spending bill passed last month represent a mere 15% reduction in earmarks compared to the 2005 earmark baseline pushed by the President. (Congress passed 13,492 earmarks in '05.)This reduction is a far cry from Bush's call in the State of the Union Address at the beginning of the year for Congress to "cut the number and cost of earmarks at least in half." Among the earmarks that were passed and signed into law last week were a bike trail in Minnesota ($700,000), a post office museum in downtown Las Vegas ($200,000) and rodent control in Alaska ($113,000).

* SCHIP: THE LAST CHAPTER: Almost unnoticed by the media in the final flurry of Senate activity before adjournment last week was the extension of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) through March of 2009. This, in effect, takes the issue of the President's two vetoes of a $35-million expansion of SCHIP off the political table for the election year. With obvious eyes on the '08 campaign, many Senate Democrats had called for a shorter extension of the program that provides health coverage for children of lower-income families. But Democrats knew Bush and the GOP had won this fight and the final vote to maintain SCHIP at present levels was unanimous in the Senate.

* TINDER TO 7TH CIRCUIT: Also effected in the twilight hours of the Senate session last week was the unanimous confirmation of John D. tinder to sit on the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.The Senate action onTinder came five months after the President nominated the Hoosier lawyer to succeed Judge Daniel Manion, who assumed senior status. A former U.S. attorney, the 57-year-oldTinder has been a U.S. District Court judge since 1987.

* TANCREDO GONE (FOR NOW): The Republican presidential hopeful whose name is now synonymous with a hard line against illegal immigration withdrew from the race last week. Inclosing his campaign, Colorado Rep. TomTancredo said he accomplished all he set out to do by putting on the political map (including "even Hillary") the issue for which he was pilloried in the liberal media. Tancredo, who says he is "no fan" of Mike Huckabee also announced he is now supporting Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination. As for his own political plans. Tancredo-who is retiring from the House after eight years-ruled out a run for the open Colorado Senate seat next year and endorsed close friend and conservative former Rep. Bob Schafer for the Republican nod. But he indicated he could re-enter active politics in 2010 by running for Colorado's other Senate now held by Democrat John Salazar.

* ENERGY BILL BECOMES LAW: An energy bill that is so larded with regulation that one conservative House staffer said it "wouldn't get through the Cuban legislature" nonetheless sailed through Congress and was signed by the President last week. Despite its name, the Energy Independence and security Act does almost nothing to expand energy production and has as its main distinctive feature a large future increase in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for cars and trucks that is likely to lead to a significant decrease in oil consumption in the next 10 years and greater use of ethanol. Although the White House made it clear that the measure was different from that initially proposed by the President, he did sign the bill in part because, as Press Secretary Dana Perino told reporters, it "does not include tax increases."

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Dec 24, 2007
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