I received an invitation for a 2008 campaign kickoff event for Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor.  The invitation listed hundreds of hosts including every state and federal constitutional officer from the Democratic Party.  Well, almost.  Lt. Governor Bill Halter’s name was missing.  An oversight? Maybe.  But perhaps it means something more.  A primary challenge, perhaps?

FRA Administrator Denies DM&E Powder River Basin Loan Application
Citing Unacceptable Risk to Federal Taxpayers

Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph H. Boardman today denied a $2.3 billion Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) loan application from the Dakota, Minnesota, & Eastern (DM&E) railroad concluding it posed an unacceptably high risk to federal taxpayers.
In a decision released today, Boardman found that while the Powder River Basin project met some of the RRIF program’s statutory requirements, there remained too high a risk concerning the railroad’s ability to repay the loan even with an appropriate combination of credit risk premiums and collateral.
He said he was concerned by several factors, including the DM&E’s current highly leveraged financial position; the size of the loan relative to the limited scale of existing DM&E operations; and the possibility that the railroad may not be able to ship the projected amounts of coal needed to generate enough revenue to pay back the loan.
In addition, Boardman cited concerns that the application did not sufficiently address how the railroad would handle potential cost overruns and schedule delays with the Powder River Basin construction project.
Boardman reached his final decision after reviewing the DM&E application using the criteria set by Congress for the RRIF loan program and following an environmental review of the proposed project.
DM&E had applied for the RRIF loan to finance construction of a new 280-mile rail line to Wyoming’s Powder River Basin coal mines and to reconstruct approximately 600 miles of existing track in South Dakota and Minnesota.

“The Post-ABC poll found that 53 percent of Americans favored setting a deadline for troop withdrawals. Among those who favored a deadline, 24 percent said they would like to see U.S. forces out within six months and 21 percent called for the withdrawals to be completed within a year. The rest of those who supported a timetable said they do not support withdrawing all troops until at least a year from now.

“This is the first time a Post-ABC News poll has found that a majority of Americans supported establishing such a timetable for withdrawal, which has long been resisted by the president and even some Democrats.,” according to the Washington Post.

This is old news by now, but fmr. Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack has dropped out of the race for President.  Vilsak was polling around 18% in Iowa.  The real question is who gets those votes?

Fresh off a marquee appearance at the Academy Awards on Sunday, former Vice President Al Gore is the subject of rampant speculation that he’ll enter the Presidential race in the fall if an opening presents itself, according to The Politico.

according to The Politico.

“Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle has committed his support to Barack Obama, two Democrats with knowledge of Daschle’s decision said.

“I certainly expect that he will be supporting Barack,” said Leo Hindery, a Daschle friend who backs John Edwards. “Senator Obama could have no better ally and adviser than Tom Daschle.”

Two of Daschle’s former top staffers, Pete Rouse and Steve Hildebrand, already work for Obama, but Daschle himself brings, along with a broad popularity among Democrats, a set of long friendships and relationshps with Democrats around the country that can help compensate for Obama’s recent arrival on the national scene.”

According to a Strategic Vision poll.

Republicans

Rudy Giuliani 29%
John McCain 22%
Newt Gingrich 11%
Mitt Romney 9%
Chuck Hagel 5%
Tommy Thompson 3%
Tom Tancredo 2%
Sam Brownback 2%
Mike Huckabee 2%
Jim Gilmore 1%
Duncan Hunter 1%
Undecided 13%

Democrats

John Edwards 24%
Hillary Clinton 18%
Barack Obama 18%
Tom Vilsack 14%
Joe Biden 5%
Bill Richardson 3%
Wesley Clark 2%
Chris Dodd 1%
Dennis Kucinich 1%
Undecided 14%

“The All England Club, which organizes the Wimbledon tennis championships, said today that from now on it will offer women the same prize money as men. The chairman of the club, Tim Phillips called the decision “good for tennis, good for women players and good for Wimbledon” (and besides, the men-women differential had shrunk to near insignificance over the years anyway), reports the New York Times.

Through spokespeople, both the Clinton and Obama campaigns traded jabs yesterday over media mogul David Geffen, once a Clinton supporter who now appears to be backing Obama.  He made some negative remarks about the New York Senator, including calling her a “very polarizing figure” (Geffen co-hosted a fundraiser for Obama that raised $1.3 million for the Illinois Senator).  The Clinton camp hit back calling Obama, in essence, a hypocrite for preaching positive, new ideas and then engaging in “slash and burn” politics.  Obama’s group retorted referencing $18 million Geffen raised for President Bill Clinton over the years and the often-investigated Lincoln Bedroom.
This is simply not productive or smart for the Democrats.  If it’s a sign of things to come, we’re in for a long, messy Democratic Party primary.   But hopefully not.

according to the New York Post.  The building housing the campaign is set for demolition.

“Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton told an audience of black voters on Monday that they would be “breaking barriers” if they supported her for president in 2008 — deliberately signaling that they could still take pride in making history if they chose a woman over one of their own, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, reports the New York Times.

His Holly wood fundraiser co-hosted by Steven Spielberg, Jeffery Katzenberg and David Geffen “is expected to be at least $1 million, making it the first major event here of the presidential campaign. (Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, will get a chance to flex her own Hollywood fund-raising muscles on March 24 at the estate of Ronald Burkle, the supermarket tycoon.) Originally set for a restaurant with room for 400 people, the Obama event was moved over the weekend to a hotel ballroom with a capacity of 600, and payments were still filtering in by fax, according to the New York Times.

Writing for the New York Times Brooks defends Senator Clinton’s vote on Iraq and says that requests for her to apologize or further explain her vote are bogus (you have to have a subscription to get his columns, sadly).

“On the one hand, she rejected the Bush policy of pre-emptive war. On the other hand, she also rejected the view that the international community ’should only resort to force if and when the United Nations Security Council approves it.’ Drawing on the lessons of Bosnia, she said sometimes the world had to act, even if the big powers couldn’t agree.

“She sought a third way: more U.N. resolutions, more inspections, more diplomacy, with the threat of force reserved as a last resort. She was triangulating, but the Senate resolution offered her a binary choice. She voted yes in order to give Powell bipartisan leverage at the U.N.

“This is how she’s always explained that vote, and I confess that until now, I’ve regarded her explanation as a transparent political dodge. Didn’t everyone know this was a war resolution? But now, having investigated her public comments, I think diplomatic leverage really was on her mind. I also know, from a third person, that she was spending a lot of time with Powell and wanted to help.”

“According to one influential Democratic insider, close associates of the former Vice President have communicated to him and other prominent fund-raisers who are uncommitted to the other ’08 candidates that Mr. Gore will consider entering the race—if an opening presents itself—in September,” reports the New York Observer.