Interests: Politics, Government, Media, Transportation, Space, Social Media, Civic Engagement, Washington, DC Following: The Obama Presidency, Decision 2012, The 112th Congress Work: myImpact.org- a non-profit working at the intersection of social media & citizen engagement
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
The Evening Report for Tuesday November 29 2011
35 DAYS UNTIL IOWA
TOP STORY: Iranian protestors today stormed the British embassy in Tehran, causing serious damage and replacing the British flag from atop the diplomatic post.
Tonight, British Prime Minister David Cameron is warning of “serious consequences” after the “outrageous and indefensible” attack. As the BBC reports:
“Mr Cameron said the failure of the Iranian government to defend British staff and property was “a disgrace”.
He said all British staff and their dependents had been accounted for and he praised Britain’s ambassador to Iran, Dominick Chilcott, for handling a “dangerous situation with calm and professionalism”.
“The Iranian government must recognise that there will be serious consequences for failing to protect our staff. We will consider what these measures should be in the coming days,” he added.
US President Barack Obama said he was “deeply disturbed” by the attack.
“That kind of behaviour is not acceptable, and I strongly urge the Iranian government to hold those who are responsible to task,” he said.
Germany, France and the EU also condemned the attack.”
But still tonight, it is not known what the consequences that Cameron talked about today will amount to beyond the continued international pressure and economic sanctions imposed on the country.
CAMPAIGN 2012
HUNTSMAN OUT OF DEBATES?- The Des Moines Register reports that former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman may fail to qualify for participating in the final two debates before the January 3rd Iowa Caucus. Huntsman has until Monday to reach 5% in a major national poll, a threshold that he has not yet reached, in order to qualify for a December 10th debate sponsored by ABC News and the Iowa Republican Party. FOX News, the sponsor of the final debate on Thursday December 15th, hasn’t yet released its qualification criteria. The Register says it is likely that only seven candidates- Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich, Perry, Romney, Santorum & Paul- will qualify.
HERMAN CAIN “REASSESSING” CANDIDACY- ABC News was first to report this afternoon that, in the wake of Monday’s revelations about Cain’s 13-year affair, the one-time GOP frontrunner is reassessing his path forward in the race, indicating it is possible Cain might drop out before voting officially begins and potentially before the final debates. Cain has spent the day holding conference calls with donors and supporters to gauge the landscape for his continued candidacy. Unlike when allegations of sexual harassment broke last month, many prominent social conservatives are not yet coming to Cain’s defense.
LOOKAHEAD: Due to ballot access laws, Cain’s name would likely remain on ballots in the early primary states in which he has already qualified, even if he exits the race, which could potentially lead to a situation where Cain earns Republican delegates at next summer’s national convention, due to the proportional manner in which the Republican Party is dividing early state delegates.
RICK PERRY HAS ANOTHER OOPS MOMENT: From the AP:
“You might say Rick Perry courted the youth, but not the whole youth, in a campaign appearance at a New Hampshire college.
Speaking at Saint Anselm on Tuesday, he appealed to students who will be at least 21 before Election Day to vote for him.
As for those younger than 21, he merely asked them to work hard on his behalf. Doesn’t he want their votes, too?
It turns out Perry didn’t know or had forgotten that the voting age in America is 18.”
Perry also forgot the date of the 2012 election- saying voting was on November 12th, not November 6th.
OBAMA FOR AMERICA has launched their first television ads, a duo airing on satellite television in select markets which is meant, campaign officials say, solely as a trial.
WATCH a 30 second ad encouraging supporters to sign up to volunteer for the campaign
WATCH “It starts with one person, making a difference”- another attempt at campaign volunteer recruitment
GALLUP has a new poll measuring “positive intensity” - essentially how enthusiastic and supportive respondents are about a particular candidate- out today. The survey finds Newt Gingrich at a high for GOP candidates this cycle, at 20, tied with what Romney was at in April. Romney, meanwhile, has fallen to his lowest intensity ranking of the cycle, at just 9%
WALL STREET: Developments in Europe continued to weigh on the markets, which finished mixed on the day
- DOW up 33
- NASDAQ down 12
- S&P 500 up 3
AMERICAN AIRLINES FILES FOR CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION: Statement from the airline, in part, “We took this action in order to achieve a cost and debt structure that is industry competitive and thereby assure our long-term viability and ability to continue delivering a world-class travel experience for customers. American Airlines and American Eagle are operating normal flight schedules, and our reservations, customer service, AAdvantage program, Admirals Clubs and all other operations are conducting business as usual”
HISTORY OF OTHER AIRLINES FILING FOR CHAPTER 11:
- Frontier- April 10, 2008
- Delta & Northwest (later acquired by Delta)- September 14, 2005
- US Airways- September 12, 2004
- US Airways- August 11, 2002
- United- December 09, 2002
- Pan Am Airways- January 08, 1991
S&P today announced it was downgrading the credit rating of major US banks, including Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo, and other institutions.
From AP:
“S&P said the changes in 37 financial companies’ ratings reflect the firm’s new criteria for banks, and they incorporate shifts in the industry and the role of governments and central banks worldwide. The agency did not release its evaluation of each company but said it plans to discuss the changes during a conference call early Wednesday.
Bank of America’s issuer credit rating was cut to “A” from “A+,” while its Countrywide Financial Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. units and a series of related subsidiaries were cut to “A-” from “A.”
FINALLY...just seconds into the East Coast broadcast of NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams tonight, a fire alarm sounded in the studio, interrupting the lead-in to the first report, on American Airline’s bankruptcy. Williams handled it, “like a pro,” as Mediaite said when it posted video of the interruption
THE EVENING REPORT is finally ready to begin building our subscription list, after nearly three months of trial with a select handful of recipients. As of today, we are soft-launching a subscription page at www.eveningemail.com and launching our social media platforms on Facebook and Twitter.
The Evening Report for Tuesday November 01
Tuesday November 01, 2011
TOP STORY: Bank of America today reversed its previous decision and said that it will not go forward with a planned $5 monthly fee on debit cards. After public outcry- extending to the ongoing Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York and around the county- and an online petition that acquired over 300,000 signatories- the Bank bowed to criticism. Initially, Bank of America blamed the need for the bank fee on the Dodd Frank financial regulatory reform legislation, passed last year, and a signature achievement of President Obama’s first term. Today, the Bank said that a changing industry environment prompted it to reverse course.
STATEMENT FROM BANK OF AMERICA: “We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee,” said David Darnell, co-chief operating officer. “Our customers’ voices are most important to us. As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so.”
GREECE: Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou gave conflicting signs today on whether or not he will move forward with a referendum on the European Union’s bailout package that was initially brokered last week- and that will be the subject of EU and G-20 meetings later this week. Yesterday, the Prime Minister said that he would go forward with the planned national referendum- which is unlikely to succeed given large public resentment and ongoing protests in the streets of Athens. According to the BBC, Papandreou said that he “has a clear mandate” to hold the referendum. However, French President Nicolas Sarkozy today said that the announcement “surprised all of Europe.” As a result of the uncertainty, worldwide financial markets have been lower over the past two days.
UPDATE: The Associated Press reports tonight that Greece’s Cabinet has concluded a marathon meeting and decided to back the Prime Minister in his call for a national referendum on the European bailout package.
- DOW down 297
- NASDAQ down 77
- S&P 500 down 35
QUOTABLE: “This brings all of the concerns about Europe back to the front burner,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James. “If this ends up turning into a financial catastrophe in Europe, then no one will escape it,” in an article tonight published in the Washington Post
SUPERCOMMITTEE: The Joint Congressional Committee on Deficit Reduction today held its latest public hearing- potentially the last time the committee will open its doors to the public and the media before a November 23rd deadline to report back a proposal to reduce the national deficit by at least $1.2 trillion.
“We are now entering the critical final phase of this process,” said Committee co-chairwoman Patty Murray today. Today’s news were reports that the Supercommittee may be considering reforms of Social Security in its proposal- previously the “third rail” of politics was thought to be outside of the committee’s consideration. Media reports have gone back and forth in recent weeks as to how successful the Supercommittee might be, but today there are several reports, encouraged by a speech House Speaker John Boehner gave last night, that the Committee may still “go large”- maybe picking up where the President and the Speaker left off in their negotiations over the summer.
612,000 : that’s the number of residents in Connecticut who are without power tonight, three days after an unusual October snow storm dumped over two feet of snow in some places. Connecticut Light and Power, the primary utility company in the state, has still not given estimated restoration times for over half of the towns in the state and has only improved the number of outages by 200,000 in the past three days, prompting outrage by the State’s governor and other elected officials. Of the remaining power outages from the weekend storm, Connecticut has more than any other state. The utility says it still may be until Sunday night- a full week after the storm- until all customers have power restored. Many school districts have gone ahead and canceled all classes for the balance of the week- the second time they have had to do so this year (the first week of school was delayed from many jurisdictions because of power outages stemming from damage caused by Hurricane Irene).
MICHAEL JACKSON TRIAL: In the manslaughter trial of Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s personal physician who faces charges of giving the pop start a lethal dose of the anaesthetic drug propofol in his home before he died in 2009, the defense today called its final witness and announced that Murray will not take the stand in his own defense. The defense could rests its case by the end of the week.
MINIBUS: The Senate today passed a “minibus” bill that funds give cabinet agencies for the fiscal year that began on September 30th. The minibus procedure might be the way forward for the remaining annual appropriations bills- mandatory legislation that funds the government- as House Republicans (especially Tea Party members) object to a single large-scale appropriations bill, which in recent years has become a favored procedure for Congresses under both Republican and Democratic control. The vote on today’s bill, funding the Departments of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and NASA and the FBI, at a cost of $182 billion, was 69-30, a rare bi-partisan vote in the Senate.
FROM PLAYBOOK: Readers of the EVENING REPORT know that we find our inspiration from the daily newsletter produced by POLITICO Chief White House Correspondent Mike Allen. We like to think of ourselves as an early version of Playbook [indeed, in this morning’s edition, Allen used a quote from Alexander Burn’s story on Herman Cain that we also used in last evening’s REPORT]. But tonight, we give full credit to Allen and pull a fascinating segment from this morning’s PLAYBOOK. Today, the White House welcomed local news reporters from around the country to The White House- giving them extraordinary access for local network affiliates and brief interviews with President Obama. We found it interesting- and thought our readers would like it as well.
“LIVE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE” TAKES LOCAL ANCHORS BEHIND SCENES: Anchors from nine local TV stations will spend today at the White House, meeting top officials and getting brief individual interviews with President Obama before broadcasting sweeps-month evening newscasts from the South Lawn. It’s a 21st-century update to the old “radio row,” which let talk-show hosts to broadcast from the White House, with West Wing officials going from microphone to microphone during drive-time shows. The White House is building risers on the South Lawn for the evening newscasts, which are being spread out by time zones - three from the East, two from Central, one from Mountain and two from Pacific. Each station will run cable from the riser to its network’s fiber line in the Rose Garden. Each anchor will get to ask Jay Carney a question during the briefing; have lunch with David Plouffe; interview a White House staffer from the station’s home market; get an on-camera tour with a White House curator; and tour the kitchen garden with Assistant Chef Sam Kass.
Participants are from Portland, Ore. (KGW, NBC, Tracy Barr); Phoenix (KSAZ, Fox, John Hook); Denver (KUSA, NBC, Adele Arakawa); Minneapolis (WCCO, CBS, Amelia Santaniello); Houston (KTRK, ABC, Dave Ward); Omaha (KETV, ABC, Rob McCartney); Tampa (WTVT, Fox, Mark Wilson); Hampton Roads (WAVY, NBC, Tom Schaad); and Philadelphia (WPVI, ABC, Brian Taff). A 10th participant will be Nikole Killion, representing Hearst stations, including WMUR in Manchester, N.H.
The ringmaster is Deputy White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest , who said the mission is “to increase interest and raise the profile of the president’s efforts to strengthen the economy and create jobs in local communities across the country, and explain to Americans how their communities will benefit from the president’s agenda. … The highlight of the day will be an opportunity to briefly interview the President from the Cabinet Room about the American Jobs Act … The anchors will also interview Cabinet secretaries … about how the bipartisan proposals included in the president’s American Jobs Act would create jobs in their community and put money in the pocket of every single American worker and small business owner.”
FINALLY: Google announced a redesigned look for GMail today, highlighting on its blog the new features, including: “streamlined conversation, elastic density, new customized themes in high definition, smarter navigation, and better search. As Erick Schonfeld reviews on TechCrunch today, “Messages aren’t as bunched up as before and easier to read. Adding a social element, Google is adding profile pictures beside each message, and the labels pop out more. The density of the text also adjusts depending on your screen size and resolution, making it easier on the eyes. The new design is in line with some of the changes Google just made to Google Reader in terms of spacing and overall feel.” Check it out!
The Golden Report for Thursday September 29
TOP STORY: Bank of America announced today that they will begin charging a $5 per month fee to debit card users on the bank’s popular “Basic Checking Account.” The move comes as banks around the country adjust to new financial regulations signed into law over a year ago in the Dodd/Frank legislation, that capped credit and debit card interchange fees at about half what the industry had been charging. The decision by the nation’s second-largest bank will likely mean Wells Fargo, Chase and other mid-size and smaller banks will soon follow suit
EUROPEAN BAILOUT: The German Parliament gave approval this morning to a measure to create a Eurozone bailout fund- a vote in the upper parliament is expected tomorrow and it is expected to pass. German support is critical to the eventual creation of the fund and give it significant momentum.
COOL CHART: List of Countries in the World by Credit Rating. S&P has GREECE at CC Negative- the lowest ranking of any other nation in the world, according to the agency.
WALL STREET: In continuing volatile Thursday trading-
CONGRESS RECAP:
WATCH YOUR E-MAIL: Tomorrow is the final day of the third quarter and a federal election reporting deadline. Candidates, campaigns and party committees, who have been jamming e-mail inboxes all the week, will up their ante over the next twenty-four hours. Watching the Third Quarter political fundraising numbers in the presidential race will give us a sense of how strong Mitt Romney is, how quickly Rick Perry was able to pull together a finance operation, how much President Obama was hurt by having to suspend fundraising during the debt ceiling negotiations, and show if there are any surprises by mid or lower tier candidates
SPACEX announced today that they are building a fully reusable rocket a lofty goal that has long been a challenge for international aviation and aeronautics engineers. At an announcement at the National Press Club, the company released a video demonstration for how the rocket would work. Earlier this month, SpaceX said they are working on a system to dock with the International Space Station. With the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet, the United States no longer has a manned vehicle capable of such a maneuver.
JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Today is the final day on the job for Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Michael Mullen. Tomorrow, Mullen will retire and U.S. Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, who was confirmed unanimously by the Senate last month, will become the new Chairman during a ceremony at Ft. Meyer, Va. Mullen is the nation’s 17th JCOS Chairman and began his term on October 01, 2007. The Chairman is the highest ranking official in the US military. Previously, Dempsey was Chief of Staff of the Army, a post he transfered earlier this month to former Joint Chiefs Command General Ray Odierno
FINALLY: First Lady Michelle Obama went to Target today. According to a White House Pool Report, “the First Lady wore grey Nike baseball cap and sunglasses, and was pushing a red shopping cart inside the retailer’s Alexandria, Va., store” POLITICO has a picture.
