The Golden Report

WELCOME to a new look and feel for THE EVENING REPORT. Let me know what you think

HAPPENING NOW: Game Five of the World Series. After four innings. its CARDINALS 2, RANGERS 1

TOP STORY: In Nevada late this afternoon, Pres. Obama announced a new plan for homeowners facing foreclosure or living in homes that are “under water,” easing federal regulations to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgages

As the Washington Post’s ZACHARY GOLDFARB (who had a piece in today’s paper highly critical of the Administration’s housing policy to date) reports tonight, “Housing regulators say that 1 million borrowers might be eligible, but that is only one-tenth of the number of homeowners who need help. And while estimates cited by the administration suggest the average homeowner might save $2,500 per year, other projections from housing regulators were in the range of $312 per year, depending on upfront fees the borrower pays, which may include several thousand dollars in closing costs.”

The housing policy announcement was the first in the Administration’s new “We Can’t Wait” campaign- the new rhetorical theme- replacing the “Pass The Bill” mantra the President has used since the mid-September introduction of the American Jobs Act in a primetime Address to Congress

TOMORROW’S TOP TALKER..TONIGHT.. “Republicans Embrace Twitter for ‘12” by the New York Times’ JENNIFER STEINHAUER:

“It’s a bit of a table turn on Mr. Obama, whose 2008 campaign capitalized on social media in a way that left Republicans bruised and scrambling. Now, after a post-election order from Speaker John A. Boehner that year, House Republicans have embraced Twitter as their karaoke microphone to push their message against the White House bullhorn.

The insta-Tweet has revolutionized rapid response operations that just two years ago relied heavily on cable television, e-mails and news conferences to spread the word of the opposition, which often took a day or two to gain momentum. That time lag could delay the message from taking hold, a result Republicans were eager to undo.”

Republican House members have more than twice as many followers as their Democratic counterparts — about 1.3 million versus roughly 600,000 — and are far more active on Twitter with more than 157,000 individual Twitter messages, versus roughly 62,000 for Democrats.

“The Republicans in Congress are using new media technology to compete for the attention of Beltway reporters,” said Josh Earnest, the White House deputy press secretary. “We use it to compete for the attention of the American people,” he said, pointing to interactive forums that the White House conducts. “These are two different goals.”

At a daily meeting in Mr. Boehner’s office, the communications staff decides what they should be Twittering and blogging about, said Don Seymour, the speaker’s digital communications director. He sits at a desk with one computer for his e-mail and another monitor for his Tweet Deck, his iPad on his lap and a Coke in one hand. A half-dozen televisions show various stations and the House and Senate floors above, where someone might say something that begs for instant reaction.”

THE FULL ARTICLE is a Must-Read

WALL STREET today: All eyes on BRUSSELS two days before 17 European nations meet to reach a decision on a Eurozone bailout, bank restructuring and a solution to the debt crisis in Greece

• DOW up 105
• NASDAQ up 62
• S&P 500 up 16

TUNISIA yesterday held its first elections since the revolution at the end of last year that sparked the Arab Awakening. The widely-watched elections were the first in the region since interim governments took control following the deposition of longtime dictators. Official election results in Tunisia are expected tomorrow- but early returns show that the moderate Islamist party Ennahdha is on track to be declared the victor. This government will draft the country’s new constitution

JOHN PODESTA announced today that he was stepping aside as the President of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress. President Bill Clinton’s former Chief of Staff will remain the Chairman of CAP and also volunteer one-day a week as an advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, POLITICO reports. Podesta chaired the Obama/Biden transition effort in 2008 and 2009. In 1998, John and his brother Tony Podesta co-founded the powerhouse DC lobbying firm The Podesta Group. CAP’s Chief Operating Officer Neera Tanden will become the next President

MEET THE PRESS Executive Producer BETSY FISCHER and POLITICO reporter JONATHAN MARTIN are engaged, the couple announced on Saturday. Fischer posted to her Facebook page yesterday, “Excited to change my FB status to engaged - can’t wait to marry my best friend Jonathan Martin. Makes me happy every day. A surprise propsal Friday night at the Inn at Perry Cabin on MD Eastern Shore = smiling all weekend.”

ABC POLITICAL REPORTER RICK KLEIN and his wife, Laine Kaplowitz, welcomed their third child, Max Rubin Klein, into the world on Saturday. Klein is co-host of ABC’s midday “Topline” broadcast and a frequent staple of the ABC News Washington bureau (and the Twitterspehere,@RickKlein)

OBAMA Campaign Manager Jim Messina today announced that BRODERICK JOHNSON will be joining the 2012 campaign as a senior advisor and national surrogate. Johnson served as an informal advisor in 2008 but did not join the Administration upon President Obama’s election, instead choosing to go to K Street as a lobbyist. Johnson is married to NPR’s MICHELE NORRIS, co-host of All Things Considered. Norris announced today that she will take a leave of absence while her husband works on the campaign, saying in a statement , “Given the nature of Broderick’s position with the campaign and the impact that it will most certainly have on our family life, I will temporarily step away from my hosting duties until after the 2012 elections.I will be leaving the host chair at the end of this week, but I’m not going far. I will be wearing a different hat for a while, producing signature segments and features and working on new reporting projects. While I will of course recuse myself from all election coverage, there’s still an awful lot of ground that I can till in this interim role.”

RICK PERRY may be preparing for a campaign re-launch. TIME’s MARK HALPERIN reported this morning that Perry was adding new staff to his campaign- including George W. Bush’s 2000 campaign manager JOE ALLBAUGH (who later went on to serve as Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency). Also, the campaign’s first television ads in Iowa are expected to air as early as Wednesday of this week- which will make Perry the first candidate to go up on the air with paid advertisements in the 2012 cycle

FINALLY.. Netflix announced today that it has lost more than 800,000 subscribers over the past three months- after the company initially announced it was splitting its DVD-by-mail and online streaming businesses into two, with a price hike, and then rescinded that decision after public criticism several weeks later

BUT as the New York Times reports in a story tomorrow co-written by media correspondent BRIAN STELTER, the company actually reported good results for the third quarter, “Despite the decline in subscribers, the company did well financially in the quarter. It reported net income of $62.5 million, or $1.16, a share, compared with $38 million, or 70 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose 49 percent to $822 million. Both revenue and income topped analysts’ expectations,’ they write. The company also announced today a planned expansion into the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2012.

The story chronicles Netflix’s dramatic rise and fall- all in the course of the last two years, and Stelter describes it as a “cautionary tale for other companies that try to transform to new media from old.”

HAPPENING NOW- Game Four of the 2011 World Series. TOP OF THE SEVENTH-
Rangers 4, Cardinals 0

FIRST LOOK: After a second failed attempt by the Senate to bring up
the President’s American Jobs Act proposal this past week, the
Administration will continue its campaign for the law in the week
ahead, starting tomorrow, with a slightly different theme, “We Can’t
Wait,” and a series of proposed executive branch actions to spur
economic activity (growth) and job creation, without direct
legislative action. A New York Times story today sets the scene (and
is being pushed by Administration officials Dan Pfieffer and Jay
Carney tonight via Twitter)

“According to an administration official, Mr. Obama will kick off his
new offensive in Las Vegas, ground zero of the housing bust, by
promoting new rules for federally guaranteed mortgages so that more
homeowners, those with little or no equity in their homes, can
refinance and avert foreclosure.

And Wednesday in Denver, the official said, Mr. Obama will announce
policy changes to ease college graduates’ repayment of federal loans,
seeking to alleviate the financial concerns of students considering
college at a time when states are raising tuition.”

The “We can’t wait” campaign is a new phase in Mr. Obama’s so-far
unsuccessful effort — punctuated until now by his cries of “Pass this
bill!” on the stump — to pressure Republicans to support the job
creation package he proposed after Labor Day. It comes after unanimous
votes by Senate Republicans in the past week to block the plan; House
Republican leaders have refused to put the measure to a vote.”

THE PRESIDENTS WEEK AHEAD: Tomorrow- Las Vegas, and then to Los
Angeles. Tuesday- records Jay Leno and then on to San Francisco.
Wednesday- Denver and back to Washington. The West Coast trip will be
a mix of campaign fundraisers and White House events for the American
Jobs Act.

WHAT THE ADMINISTRATION IS THINKING- back to the Calmes Article- which is highly sourced-

“Polls show overwhelming support for pieces of the $447 billion
package, which includes expanded tax cuts for workers and employers,
and spending for infrastructure projects and for state aid to keep
teachers and emergency responders at work. But Republicans oppose
provisions in Mr. Obama’s plan that would offset the costs with higher
taxes on the wealthy.

Should the bill ultimately fail, Democrats believe they at least have
the better political argument, and they vow to exploit what they call
the Republicans’ obstruction in the 2012 campaign.”

THIS WEEKEND ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL:

Nevada Republicans agreed to change the date of their early state
caucuses next year, from a proposed January 14th date, to Saturday
February 4th- after votes in Florida and South Carolina- and allowing
New Hampshire to follow Iowa in early January with the traditional,
and historical, first in the nation presidential primary

New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, who demanded that
Nevada change the date of their caucus- and threatened to hold his
state’s primary as early as December 6th if necessary- is likely to
announce the official date of the 2012 New Hampshire Primary this
week- between Iowa and South Carolina on Tuesday January 10th.

Therefore, the early state calendar will go like this: IOWA-Tuesday
01/03, NEW HAMPSHIRE- Tuesday 01/10, SOUTH CAROLINA- Saturday 01/21, FLORIDA- Tuesday 01/31, NEVADA & MAINE- Saturday 02/04, COLORADO & MINNESOTA- Tuesday 02/07, ARIZONA & MICHIGAN- Tuesday 02/28, WASHINGTON- Saturday 03/03 and SUPER TUESDAY on Tuesday 03/06.

Remember- all of the states before April will award their delegates
proportionally. That means that it will likely not be until Super
Tuesday in March when a presumptive nominee will be officially
declared. With the calendar just about settled, it’s looking like a
two month primary season before that point.

THE FRONTRUNNERS:

MITT ROMNEY- will officially file paperwork for the New Hampshire
primary ballot tomorrow, when he will also announce the endorsement of
Former NH Sen. John Sununu

RICK PERRY- will unveil the second piece of his “jobs and fiscal
reform” plan on Tuesday in South Carolina, when he will announce his
support for a rewrite of the tax code and the institution of a “flat
tax”

NO DEBATE this week..or next week..the next scheduled debate (the
ninth) will be on Wednesday November 09 in Rochester, Michigan. There
is one other debate (the following Tuesday, 11/15) scheduled in
November.

DECEMBER DEBATE SCHEDULE: 12/01- Phoenix; 12/10- Des Moines; 12/15- Sioux City

JANUARY DEBATE SCHEDULE: 01/16- Myrtle Beach; 01/19- Charleston;
01/26- Jacksonville; 01/30- Tampa

THREE THINGS TO WATCH IN THE WEEK AHEAD

1/ Europe. Reports from over the weekend show signs of progress
between German and French officials who are meeting to develop a
resolution to the Eurozone debt crisis. Wall Street (and tonight in
Monday trading in Asia) are watching the European developments very
carefully. This has been a top story for several weeks and months, but
things appear to be coming to a head this week.

2/ Occupy Wall Street. 100 protestors were arrested in Chicago over
the weekend as the “Occupy” protest continue in cities across the
country- and even in cities around the world. Watch to see if there is
any organizational growth this week. A Sunday Washington Post story
compared (and found similarities) between Tea Party members and Occupy
protestors- watch to see if other news organizations jump on to that
narrative.

3/ On the campaign trail- without a debate, watch to see how the
candidates are defining themselves as they meet with voters in early
states and get into the weeds with them on policy issues. With Romney,
watch to see how he is connecting with the “average joe” in New
Hampshire- a must-win state for him. And with Perry, watch to see what
kind of specific details are announced in his Tuesday jobs speech- and
if and how the Romney campaign chooses to respond to it.