The Golden Report

BREAKING: Longtime “60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney, who just recorded his final essay for the CBS newsmagazine a few weeks ago, is hospitalized in stable condition tonight after what the Washington Post reports were “serious complications” following minor surgery

WE CAN’T WAIT: President Obama continued his administration’s “We Can’t Wait” initiative today, announcing executive branch actions directed towards helping veterans and students. The Department of Education’s student loan restructuring program will accelerate reforms of the student lending system that were scheduled to go into effect in 2014 with two key elements: capping loan payments at 10% of income and forgiving remaining debt after 20 payments. For veterans, the Administration through the Health and Human Services department announced that they are challenging the 8,000 community health centers scheduled to open as a result of the Affordable Care Act to hire at least one veteran each and providing additional training to transition veterans to careers as physician assistants.

A FLAT TAX: In South Carolina today, Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry announced his much-anticipated tax plan- which Perry calls a flat tax. Two big elements: the plan allows for anyone who chooses to remain within the existing system (the campaign will therefore say that it is not a burden because anyone can “keep their existing tax bracket”) and the Perry proposal would place a 20% cap on individual income taxes.

In an Op/Ed in the Wall Street Journal this morning, Perry introduced his “Cut, Balance and Grow” plan,

“The plan starts with giving Americans a choice between a new, flat tax rate of 20% or their current income tax rate. The new flat tax preserves mortgage interest, charitable and state and local tax exemptions for families earning less than $500,000 annually, and it increases the standard deduction to $12,500 for individuals and dependents.

This simple 20% flat tax will allow Americans to file their taxes on a postcard, saving up to $483 billion in compliance costs. By eliminating the dozens of carve-outs that make the current code so incomprehensible, we will renew incentives for entrepreneurial risk-taking and investment that creates jobs, inspires Americans to work hard and forms the foundation of a strong economy.

My plan also abolishes the death tax once and for all, providing needed certainty to American family farms and small businesses.”

TONIGHT in his first appearance on THE O’REILLY FACTOR, part of the Perry re-introduction and the campaign’s Cut, Balance & Grow roll-out, the Texas Governor had some interesting comments on his 10 weeks in the Republican race, including the series of debates  he has participated in, to date,

“Actually, these debates are set up for nothing more than to tear down the candidates. It pretty hard to be able to sit and lay out your ideas and your concepts with a one minute response. So, you know, if there was a mistake made, it was probably ever doing one of the campaigns [debates] when all they’re interested in is stirring up between the candidates instead of really talking about the issues that are important to the American people,” he said. 

NATIONAL JOURNAL AND CBS NEWS announced today that they are sponsoring a Republican presidential candidates debate in Greenville, South Carolina on Saturday November 12th with a focus on foreign policy and national security. This debate is squeezed in between the debates we already had on the calendar for November: Wed 11/09 in Rochester, Michigan and Tuesday 11/15 in Washington, DC. The NJ/CBS debate will be the 10th of the primary season.

CBS/NEW YORK TIMES POLL out today:

• Cain 25%
• Romney 21%
• Gingrich 10%
• Paul 8%
• Perry 6%
• Bachmann 2%
• Huntsman 1%
• Santorum 1%

Observations on this poll- which is surprising for a number of reasons:

• Herman Cain remains in first place despite a weaker debate last Tuesday and two weeks of critical reporting on the the candidates’ 9-9-9 economic plan

• Newt Gingrich is in third place- he has been in single digits in nearly every other poll this year and has run a disorganized, flustered and even angry campaign

• Rick Perry, who the conventional political narrative suggests is challenging Mitt Romney for the nomination, places fifth in this poll, registering only 6% of the national Republican respondents and behind Rep. Ron Paul

• Jon Huntsman, who went on the Colbert Report last night on Comedy Central, still can’t rise above the 1% mark in a major national poll

PRESIDENT OBAMA JOB APPROVAL RATING: Approve 46%, Disapprove 46%

CONGRESSIONAL JOB APPROVAL RATING: Approve 9%, Disapprove 84%

EUROZONE BALOUT- the latest from BBC News-

“The Polish presidency of the EU has confirmed to the BBC that key meetings have been postponed. The EU’s 27 finance ministers and the 17-nation Eurogroup will not now meet on Wednesday, although a full emergency heads-of-government summit will happen.

This could mean a delay to final announcements on solutions.”

WALL STREET- on the news from Europe, the final hour of trading saw a selloff today, sending major indices lower:

• DOW down 207
• NASDAQ down 67
• S&P 500 down 25

IBM today named Virginia Rometty its next CEO, the first female CEO in IBM’s history. She will begin on January 1st.

FINALLY..If you haven’t yet watched HERMAN CAIN’s new campaign video- released last night- you just have to. It is one of the most bizarre campaign ads you might ever watch. Keep in mind that this candidate leads the CBS News/NYT poll we referenced earlier.

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.”

SPECIAL POST-DEBATE EDITION
The Eighth Republican Presidential Candidates Debate just concluded from Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the third debate hosted by CNN, the first moderated by Anderson Cooper, and the second to take place in the Pacific Time Zone. It also was the most consequential debate thus far and a game-changer in the Republican primary race.

THE HEADLINE, in THREE PARTS: Cain falls, Perry and Romney attack, Santorum rises

 
PART ONE: Herman Cain, whose campaign has been on a meteoric rise for the past two weeks, started this debate with the first question from the audience about his 9-9-9 economic plan. Quickly, the plan was attacked by second and third tier candidates Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann, and then by Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich. In his folksy Texas tone, Perry even said “It’s just not going to work, brother,” to Cain. For much of the rest of the debate, Cain was silent- answering questions when they were posed to him- but not bringing up any new attacks or showing very much concern in defending his candidacy. The Cain bubble has now burst. 

PART TWO: Rick Perry had his best debate performance to date, although he continued to stumble on questions of immigration (clearly his largest vulnerability). In his first question, he declined an invitation by moderator Anderson Cooper to attack Romney. A few minutes later, in a question on the economy, Perry, himself, introduced immigration..as he tried to set up an attack on Romney, reviving an allegation first used in the campaign four years ago that Romney’s family hired illegal immigrants as landscapers on their property. There were several exchanges between Romney and Perry tonight, and in every one it was clear that Romney took the higher road. Romney was well-prepped and demonstrated that he is a skillful debater, and that was clearly communicated in his actions tonight.

PART THREE: After last week’s debate, we discussed how impressed we were with Rick Santorum, and we saw a potential opening for him in the future of the campaign. After this week’s debate, we see this as even more the case. Santorum increased his attacks- on both Romney and Perry- tonight, becoming the only other candidate to take on the two front-runners directly. He appealed to social conservatives by discussing his credentials as the family values candidate. And he made the case that he was well prepared to take on Barack Obama because he was a conservative Republican who defeated a liberal Democrat in a swing state. Santorum’s candidacy is on the rise- and with Cain’s fall there is now an opening for him- if he can embrace it. Watch to see if Santorum can effectively communicate in mediums beyond the debate stage- fundraising, organization, media, advertising- and put it all together in a state like Iowa, where he could have a good chance at winning. 

THE EVENING REPORT CANDIDATE RANKINGS: Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Herman Cain 
*Note: We placed Perry second not because he had a stellar debate by himself..but that compared with his previous debate performances he was significantly improved

WHERE WE GO FROM HERE:

The next televised debate is scheduled for WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 09, three weeks from tomorrow. It will be the longest stretch without a debate since the early summer. It will be an important time for the candidates to focus their attention on fundraising, finalizing their strategies for the early states, and beefing up their credentials in areas of weakness - many exposed during this near-weekly series of debates held since Labor Day. Watch to see where the candidates spend their time, how they respond to world events (including, importantly, the growing Occupy Wall Street movements), what their media strategy is for staying relevant and in the public’s attention, and how quickly they go up on the air with paid television advertising- the next milestone that we’ll cross in the 2012 race. 

THE OTHER TOP STORIES TODAY:

Israel finalized a prisoner-swap with Hamas for the release of Pvt. Gilad Shalit, held for the last five years by the Palestinian group.

President Obama was on the second of a three day bus tour through North Carolina and Virginia. Today he spoke at Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestone, NC and later in Greensville County, NC. He was interviewed by ABC’s Jake Tapper (airing on Nightline tonight).

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an unannounced visit to Libya today and met with rebel leaders. This came after key advances by rebel forces in Gadaffi’s hometown of Sirte over the weekend. 

The White House announced that President Obama will sign the three free trade agreements passed by Congress last week in The Rose Garden on Friday.

ON WALL STREET:
DOW up 180

NASDAQ up 43

S&P 500 up 25

POST DEBATE EDITION

The Seventh Republican Presidential Candidates Debate just concluded from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Eight candidates shared the stage- and for the first time this election season, sat around what moderator Charlie Rose described as a “kitchen table.” The nearly two-hour debate, sponsored by Bloomberg and The Washington Post- and airing on Bloomberg television but not on a major cable news channel- was the second to be held in New Hampshire this cycle, the state which is expected to play host to the “first in the nation” primary in early January. 

Three takeaways:

1/ Romney is the frontrunner

2/ Cain has a 9-9-9 Problem

3/ Santorum had a good night.

1/ From his poise to his answers. His jokes to his choice of a candidate to address a question of. There was absolutely no doubt that Mitt Romney not only won this debate, but is the Republican presidential frontrunner with a good chance at beating President Obama next November. Romney towered over his opponents at tonight’s debate, deflecting their criticisms with a commanding presence that seemed professorial. He even at one point held his finger in the air and wagged it at Rick Perry, scolding him saying “I’m still talking Rick, I’m still talking.” When it came time to answer a hard question poised by the moderators- if Europe’s looming debt crisis was a threat to the American economy- Romney again played a card from the upper deck, challenging the premise of the question as hypothetical. And late in the debate when it seemed that there wouldn’t be a question specifically about it, he reminded his fellow candidates- as if they needed reminding- of the big political news pre-debate: that he had secured the coveted endorsement of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Yes, Romney is the Republican frontrunner and he handily won tonight’s debate.

2/ What spared Hermain Cain’s rise from third-tier to first-tier candidate in less than a month? His repetition at the six previous debates of his economic plan: 9-9-9. The simplicity of the catchphrase- that Jon Huntsman tonight said first reminded him of a pizza deal- is also Cain’s biggest liability. Huntsman, Bachmann, Gingrich, Santorum, Paul, Perry & Romney (those would be all of the other candidates) took swipes- some specific, some veiled, at the plan tonight. Santorum was the most aggressive- turning to the audience of Granite State residents notorious for their “live free or die” mantra and asking them how many want to see a 9% sales tax. No hands went up. “There’s your evidence, Herman, it’s not going to work,” Santorum said. 

3/ Which leads into the final point of the initial takeaways: Rick Santorum had a good night. Of the third-tier candidates, he was the most animated, even commanding at times. Clearly angered that Herman Cain has become the darling of Tea Party conservatives- a group that he needs in order to place well in January’s Iowa Caucus, Santorum knows that he was to either distinguish himself from Cain or tear him down. And he has decided on the latter. Watch to see how Mitt Romney- who remembers how Santorum joined his pile on of Rick Perry in previous debates- may come to the aide of Rick Santorum in next week’s debate. 

THE LEAD- as it is evolving, in The Washington Post, as of 10:15pm, “The government is the problem. That was the message Tuesday night as the eight Republican presidential hopefuls clamored to blame Washington for the nation’s economic ills. In turn, they pointed fingers at President Obama, the Federal Reserve and the government generally as the cause of the nation’s economic collapse. Together, they were strident in their belief that Obama-era regulations are stunting growth. Yet although the White House aspirants largely agreed on their overall visions, the two candidates whose positions at the top of the field were expected to rise or fall in Tuesday’s Washington Post-Bloomberg News debate at Dartmouth College — Texas Gov. Rick Perry and businessman Herman Cain — were short on policy specifics, even when pressed by the moderators.”

AND IN POLITICO, “The Republican presidential candidates found their target for the evening: Herman Cain and his “9-9-9” tax plan. The former pizza executive has thrilled Republican primary voters with his proposal to toss out the U.S. tax code and replace it with 9 percent taxes on business, income and sales. But now that he’s swiftly rising in the polls, his rivals are clearly hoping to puncture his political balloon.”

THE BACK TIER: Aside from some awkwardly-timed jokes, Jon Huntsman showed he is a candidate who will soon be forgotten in this field. And Rick Perry had another bad night. As we predicted last evening, he did not have nearly as much time as he has in previous debates, but when he did speak, he didn’t seem passionate or knowledgeable- at one point nearly-stuttering and looking around the room as if to say “I don’t know the answer.” Perry showed that his campaign is quickly on the decline. 

THE EVENING REPORT CANDIDATES RANKINGS- who won, and who lost- tonight’s debate:

Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Jon Huntsman

IN OTHER NEWS

It was a very busy news Tuesday. Here are the other top stories of this day:

ISRAEL PRISONER SWAP IMMINENT 

The Israeli Cabinet- meeting in emergency session today- agreed to a prisoner swap that will allow Sgt. Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who has been held by the Palestinian group Hamas since 2006 to be released.

From the New York Times, “Israel and Hamas announced an agreement on Tuesday to exchange more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza for five years, a deal brokered by Egypt that seemed likely to shake up Middle East politics at a time when the region is immersed in turmoil.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told his nation in a live address on television that the soldier, Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit, who was  captured in June 2006 at the age of 19, could be home “within days,” ending what has been widely seen in Israel as a national trauma.It was unclear what drove the two to accept a deal that had been on the table for years. But both stand to benefit politically and had reasons to distract attention from the efforts of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, as he circles the globe seeking votes for his bid to gain United Nations membership for a state of Palestine.”

IRANIAN-LINKED TERROR PLOT UNRAVELED

Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that a FBI sting operation has uncovered and unraveled a significant plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States, with links to both Iran and Mexico. 

From Reuters, “U.S. authorities said they had broken up a plot by two men linked to Iran’s security agencies to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir. One was arrested last month while the other was believed to be in Iran. Iran denied the charges. But President Barack Obama called the plot a “flagrant violation of U.S. and international law” and Saudi Arabia said it was “despicable.” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder alleged that the plot was the work of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is the guardian of Iran’s 32-year-old revolution, and the Quds force, its covert, operational arm. “High-up officials in those (Iranian) agencies, which is an integral part of the Iranian government, were responsible for this plot,” Holder told the news conference. “I think one has to be concerned about the chilling nature of what the Iranian government attempted to do here,” he said

SLOVAKIA REJECTS EUROZONE BAILOUT FUND

This afternoon the Slovakian Parliament rejected, by 21 votes, the Eurozone bailout fund proposal. Slovakia is the 17th and final country whose approval is necessary for the measure to be ratified and its defeat sends into chaos the current efforts to save the European financial system from collapse. However, a second vote is expected in the Parliament within days and is expected to pass. Today’s measure also included a vote of no confidence against the sitting Slovak coalition government. 

From the BBC, “The governing coalition had linked the vote to a confidence motion and as a result has effectively been toppled. Slovakia is the last of the eurozone’s 17 members to vote on expanding the European Financial Stability Facility. However, the BBC’s Rob Cameron says a second vote could be held soon and is likely to succeed. The measure failed to pass by 21 votes, but that result had been anticipated after a junior party in the centre-right coalition said it would abstain. The Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party said it was opposed to Slovakia’s taxpayers being asked to cover the debts of richer countries. Many Slovaks feel their country - the second poorest in the eurozone - should not have to bail out countries like Greece.”

WALL STREET TODAY

Dow down 17

NASDAQ up 17

S&P 500 up 1

SENATE 

The Senate tonight, in a procedural vote, defeated President Obama’s jobs plan, in a complete bill form, failing to reach the 60 votes necessary to bring the bill to a vote. The President, campaigning in Orlando after touring a manufacturing plant in Pittsburgh and receiving an interim report from his Jobs and Competitiveness Council today, released a statement saying that tonight’s vote was only the beginning of his efforts to get Congress to pass the American Jobs Act.

From The Hill, “In the run-up to the vote, Obama’s political advisers portrayed it as a black-and-white partisan fight between a president trying to address the nation’s high unemployment rate and Senate Republican leaders more interested in partisan politics than the national good. “Their strategy is to suffocate the economy for the sake of what they think will be a political victory,” Jim Messina, campaign manager of Obama for America, wrote in an email to supporters. “They think that the more folks see Washington taking no action to create jobs, the better their chances in the next election. So they’re doing everything in their power to make sure nothing gets done.” [But] Centrist Democrats undercut that narrative by speaking out against Obama’s plan, even though they voted to debate it.”

Shana Tovah!

TOP STORY: Today the Justice Department formally requested that the Supreme Court decide a case determining the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act and consider the ruling of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals which found the law’s individual mandate section to be unconstitutional. The Court has until January to decide whether it will hear the case- and issue its ruling by next June, which would make the decision a major factor in next year’s presidential election. The Justice Department said in a statement, “Throughout history, there have been similar challenges to other landmark legislation such as the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act, and all of those challenges failed. We believe the challenges to Affordable Care Act — like the one in the 11th Circuit — will also ultimately fail and that the Supreme Court will uphold the law.”

2012 PRIMARY CALENDAR: Republican National Committee officials are scrambling tonight after an early-morning report by CNN that Florida was about to announce a change in the date of its presidential primary next year- moving it forward to January 31st. Such a move would violate Republican Party rules, and put Florida as the first state to vote. As a result, Iowa and New Hampshire (and likely South Carolina and Nevada)- the four states sanctioned by the party to have the first primaries and caucuses in the nation- would move their elections forward- with the Iowa caucuses potentially being held in early January. They are currently slated to be held in early February. There are reports tonight that Florida Republicans may be easing from this action- and may instead agree to hold their primary on February 21st- still ahead of the planned March 6th “Super Tuesday” primaries but after the two traditional first states. Saturday is the date set by the RNC for states to finalize the dates for their elections. 

IF FLORIDA moves its date forward, and New Hampshire and Iowa follow suit- the Iowa Caucuses could be held in early January just days into the new year. This means we might be close to within 90 days of the first-in-the-nation caucus. The election that seemed to be getting off to a slow start may in fact be moving along at a much faster pace- which makes it all the more unlikely, and closing in on impossible, that another candidate could enter the race and be viable.

HUNTSMAN: A FOX News poll out today has the former Utah Governor sitting at 4%- still extremely low, but enough to make him likely qualify for the next round of debates. Huntsman had been trailing at 1% in the average of recent polls, which would disqualify him from the planned October 11th and October 18th debates- however, with this higher poll number, it appears he will be invited to attend

CAIN: ”“Today, I could not support Rick Perry as the nominee for a host of reasons…Him being soft on securing the border is one of the reasons. I feel very strongly about the need to secure the border for real, the need to enforce the laws that are already there, the need to promote the path to citizenship that’s already there,” candidate Herman Cain said today on CNN. Cain was the surprise victor of Saturday’s straw poll in Florida and has been gaining in recent polls as his candidacy may be poised to move from the third tier to the second, eclipsing the position of Michele Bachmann, who once enjoyed enthusiastic support

PERRY: Texas Governor Rick Perry, who campaigned with his wife on the trail today in Iowa, now says he apologies for his word choice in answering a question about illegal immigration and the DREAM Act at last week’s Republican presidential candidates debate. Perry accused rival Mitt Romney of “not having a heart,” Perry’s statement:  “I probably chose a poor word to explain that for people who don’t want their state to be giving tuition to illegal aliens, illegal immigrants in this country — that’s their call and I respect that. I was probably a bit over-passionate by using that word and it was inappropriate.”

CAPITOL TERROR PLOT: 26-year-old Rezwan Ferdaus, a US Citizen, was arrested today on charges of conspiring with Al-Qaeda to attack and blow up the US Capitol Building and the Pentagon with remotely-controlled aircraft. Ferdaus was discovered as part of a FBI sting operation. Roll Call reports, “Undercover FBI employees delivered C-4 plastic explosives, three grenades and six fully automatic AK-47 assault rifles today to Ferdaus, who had already acquired a remote-controlled F-86 Sabre. According to the affidavit, Ferdaus opened a PayPal account under a false identity to buy the aircraft, which the unmarried, childless man claimed he was purchasing for his son.”

GUANTANAMO TRIBUNAL: Abd al-Nashiri, the chief suspect held at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba accused of the 2000 attack of the USS Cole in Yemen will face a military tribunal and, if convicted, could face the death penalty, the Justice and Defense Departments announced today. A trial must begin within 30 days- and this will be watched very closely as the Administration continues to operate the military prison after having pledged to close it within one year of taking office

WALL STREET ended its three-day winning streak, with the Dow ending the day down over 1.5%. Also today- Finland’s parliament gave approval to the creation of a Eurozone bailout fund. Now 7 of the 17 nations have yet to ratify the measure- with Slovakia expected to be the next country where deep debate could delay the fast-track approval regulators had hoped to achieve. 

• DOW down 180
• NASDAQ down 55
• S&P 500 down 24

FINALLY: Amazon today unveiled today the KINDLE FIRE- its response to Apple’s iPad and a device that is expected to become a chief competitor. The $199 device is available for pre-order today and will ship November 15th. Logging onto Amazon.com tonight, customers will see a letter from CEO Jeff Bezos which reads- in part:

“There are two types of companies: those that work hard to charge customers more, and those that work hard to charge customers less. Both approaches can work. We are firmly in the second camp… 

 

Kindle Fire brings everything we’ve been working on at Amazon for 15 years together into a single, fully-integrated experience for customers – instant access to Amazon’s massive selection of digital content, a vibrant color IPS touchscreen with extra-wide viewing angle, a 14.6 ounce design that’s easy to hold with one hand, a state-of-the-art dual core processor, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, and an ultra-fast mobile browser – Amazon Silk – available exclusively on Kindle Fire. 

 

We are building premium products and offering them at non-premium prices.”

Tech Crunch has a video demo of the new device on its site. 

TOP STORY: Saudi King Abdullah announced today that women will be eligible to participate in national elections in 2015- a major reform accomplishment and a surprising announcement that comes a few days before municipal elections (women will still be excluded from participating this year). 

Tommy Vietor (WH National Security Council Spokesperson) Statement tonight, “We welcome Saudi King Abdullah’s announcement today that women will serve as full members of the Shura Council in the next session, and will have the right to participate in future municipal elections.  These reforms recognize the significant contributions women in Saudi Arabia make to their society and will offer them new ways to participate in the decisions that affect their lives and communities.  The announcements made today represent an important step foward in expanding the rights of women in Saudi Arabia, and we support King Abdullah and the people of Saudi Arabia as they undertake these and other reforms.”

NETFLIX NEWS: To be announced tomorrow (and reported in the New York Times tonight)- Netflix has entered into a deal with the animation company Dreamworks on a major movie streaming contract. Says Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, “This is a game-changing deal.” It comes after weeks of bad press for Netflix- after announcing an increase in its pricing structure, the company split its streaming and DVD-by-mail rental business and its stock price has lost over half its value. The deal is thought to be a major victory for embattled CEO Reed Hastings who has now positioned Netflix as a leader in the online movie streaming industry.  

WEEKEND NEWS RECAP;

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Dmitry Medvedev announced on Saturday that he will step aside in national elections in March 2012, clearing the way for former President (and current Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin to resume his old position. 

AMERICAN HIKERS Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer arrived in New York City this morning, days after being released from Iranian custody and after first being examined and de-briefed in the Arab nation of Oman. They later held a news conference in New York.

2012: It was a big weekend in the 2012 Republican primary process. After a weak performance at last Thursday’s debate in Orlando, the Rick Perry campaign has struggled to convince supporters and observers of its competence and strategy for getting back on track. After spending Friday and Saturday in Florida, Perry had a very weak showing in a CPAC straw poll held on Saturday (which was won by third-tier candidate, former Godfather Pizza President Hermain Cain). This has led to a new round of open speculation that further candidates might enter the Republican primary field, with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at the top of the would-be lists. 

Some thoughts on what is going on here: 

1/ Republicans are restless. A fractured party is trying to coalesce around a challenger to President Obama but there is a wide gulf of dissatisfaction that stretches across the party with every current candidate. The main drivers of this uneasiness? Tea Party Republicans, who led the party to victory in 2010 but who are not satisfied with Romney, and have thus far shifted their early support from Michele Bahmann to Rick Perry and are now on the fence again. 

2/ Time is running out- or has run out. With filing deadlines in November, the institutional realities of ballot access will soon be the final impediment to new entrants, but the example of Rick Perry over the last six weeks shows the difficulty of starting a campaign on the fly- building a network of support, a financial base, name recognition, and significant preparation to go toe-to-toe in highly-watched and high-stakes televised debates. 

3/ The media pressure is greater than any other time, even 2008. If the last two presidential campaigns didn’t prove it, there is a very real media reality of running for president that a successful candidate must recognize and adapt their campaign around. An outsider/ “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington” campaign doesn’t work anymore. It takes years of preparation that only a skilled candidate (for example, Obama ‘08) can learn the first time around. The only current Republican candidate who has this experience and savvy is Mitt Romney, who will likely to on to become the nominee. For more, see Mark Halperin’s “The Way To Win” (2007) and “Game Change” (2009). The media is driving both of the narratives above- and just as it was the media that gave Perry a tremendous wind at his back in his first few weeks, it can (and will) be the media who will deflate his candidacy if he does not step up. 

FLORIDA STRAW POLL RESULTS (SAT 09/24):
1. Herman Cain, 37.1% 
2. Rick Perry, 15.4% 
3. Mitt Romney, 14% 
4. Ron Paul, 10.4% 
5. Rick Santorum, 10.9% 
6. Newt Gingrich, 8.4% 
7. Jon Huntsman, 2.3% 
8. Michele Bachmann, 1.5%

MACKINAC MICHIGAN STRAW POLL RESULTS (Sun 09/25):
1. Mitt Romney 51%
2. Rick Perry 17%
3. Herman Cain 9%
4. Ron Paul 8%
5. Michele Bhachmann 4%
6. Newt Gingrich 4%
7. Rick Santorum 3%
8. Jon Huntsman 2%

PRESIDENT OBAMA is spending the night in San Jose, California, where earlier he attended a DNC fundraiser. The President started the day by flying to Seattle, Washington for more fundraising events. Last evening, he headlined a dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in Washington. Tomorrow, the President conducts a first-ever LinkedIn Town Hall Meeting in Mountain View, CA. He will remain on the West Coast through Wednesday. 

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEK:

1/ Can Congress come to a deal on a continuing resolution and avert a government shutdown on Friday night? Related- can an agreement be reached to provided additional funding for FEMA before funds run out as early as Tuesday to prevent disaster-related payments from being delayed?

2/ After a tumultuous week on Wall Street, are there any signs that the anxiety on Wall Street- and in other global financial markets- is easing. In particular, attention continues to be on Europe as central bankers continue to work on a solution to the Greek debt crisis. In early Monday trading, Asian markets are lower- with the Nikkei already down nearly 2%

3/ Watch for a lot of “Supreme Court preview stories”- one week from tomorrow, on the first Monday in October, the  new Supreme Court term will open. It could be one of the most contentious- and significant- terms in recent history with health care and gay marriage cases possibly coming before the High Court. Also this week, watch to see if the Justice Department goes ahead and makes a formal request that the Court take up the issue of the health reform law’s constitutionality.

SPECIAL POST-DEBATE EDITION

The Sixth Republican Presidential Candidates Debate has just concluded in Orlando, Florida- the second debate held in the Sunshine state, the third sponsored by and airing on Fox News, and the first with nine presidential candidates (former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson qualified to participate tonight).

THE HIGHLIGHTS:

• The gloves came off between Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. If there was any doubt this was a two-man race, it was erased tonight. Both candidates not only came prepared to counter their opponents arguments but with a strategy to draw clear distinctions between their candidacies.
• Mitt Romney looked like the upper statesman, in control, and never wavered or flinched. Still, Rick Perry looked eager to engage and had animated responses to every question- even if they sometimes lacked substance and retorted back to talking points. 
• The “pile on” strategy continued with the other candidates on the stage- especially Rick Santorum- joining in the attacks on Rick Perry. Santorum seems to be leading the second tier pack in this tactic- an indication that he is gunning for a vice-presidential spot.

ROMNEY/PERRY went after each other on Social Security (this has been a theme of the campaign since the last debate), on immigration, on statements from each other’s published books, education policy and authenticity
THE LAST QUESTION: ‘Who would you pick as your VP?’ Here are the candidates responses:

• Gary Johnson — Ron Paul
• Rick Santorum — Newt Gingrich
• Newt Gingrich — Not Making a Decision
• Ron Paul — Not Making a Decision (“I’m almost in the top tier” he said)
• Rick Perry— “If you could take Hermain Cain and mate him up with Newt Gingrich you would have a very interesting VP”
• Mitt Romney — “any one of these men would be better than the President that we have now”
• Michele Bachmann - “a strong Constitutional Conservative”
• Hermain Cain — Mitt Romney (“only if he replaces his growth plan with 9/9/9)..otherwise, Newt Gingrich
• Jon Huntsman — Herman Cain (“because of his selection of ties..we both apparently agree with the gold standard”)

TODAY’S TOP STORY: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 391 points today- 3.5%- as a sell-off that began in Europe- and extending to Asia- engulfed the US markets. Yesterday’s decision by the Federal Reserve for enhanced monetary stimulus did nothing to stop the sell-off. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 were also both down over 3% today. Today’s global selloff comes as world financial leaders are meeting in Washington for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (and as political leaders continue their weeklong meeting in New York at the United Nations General Assembly), which only underscores the urgency in the global economy right now.

AS WE TOLD YOU LAST NIGHT: Today, the board of Hewlett-Packard announced that they have named Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay, as their next Chief Executive. “We are fortunate to have someone of Meg Whitman’s caliber and experience step up to lead HP,” Ray Lane, executive chairman of HP’s board of directors, said, “We are at a critical moment. . . . Meg is a technology visionary with a proven track record of execution.”

DEVELOPING- NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE on Capitol Hill tonight- and specifically in the House- where Speaker John Boehner is meeting behind closed doors with his Caucus to determine the next plan of action for a continuing resolution, to keep the government funded beyond next Friday at midnight. A first version of the CR failed on the floor yesterday, with Republicans joining a nearly unified Democratic caucus in defeating it. A vote could come on a revised bill as early as TONIGHT- sometime around midnight eastern. However, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said that he will defeat this revised CR in the Senate- thus setting up a prolonged showdown that might force Congress to stay in session through its Jewish New Years Recess next week. Some Republicans are aanddvocating the so-called “Solyndra option”- a $100 million offset for increased disaster funding from an Energy Department program that funded the now-failed solar power company

MORE POLITICAL TIDBITS:

• Michigan Representative Thaddeus McCotter officially dropped out of his longshot bid for the 2012 Republican Presidential Nomination today- and endorsed Mitt Romney
• Suffolk University New Hampshire Poll: Romney 41%, Paul 14%, Huntsman 10%, Perry 8%, Palin 6%, Bachmann 5%, Gingrich 4%, Santorum 1%, Roemer 1%
• Former President Bill Clinton will publish a new book in November, titled “Back to Work” which will “offer a plan to get America back into the future of business”

WHAT TO WATCH TOMORROW: Continuing diplomacy at the United Nations, as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbass may indeed bring his proposal to a vote (which will be vetoed by the United States. Watch to see if there is a last minute maneuver that can avoid any political embarrassment. 

ALSO WATCH: the House vote late tonight on a continuing resolution, and the Senate response.

UPDATES on both big stories in the EARLY EDITION of Friday’s Evening Report. 

BREAKING NEWS- SUPREME COURT DENIES STAY OF EXECUTION FOR TROY DAVIS- Within the past few minutes, the Supreme Court has issued a decision in the case of Troy Davis, the Georgia inmate who is scheduled to be put to death tonight by lethal injection for the 1989 murder of an off-duty police officer. The Court has refused to issue a stay of the execution. Prison officials have not yet said whether the execution will go forward as planned tonight, but that is expected. CBS is reporting there were no dissents in the decision, which was issued by Justice Clarence Thomas, of Georgia. For the past few days public attention has been focused on the Davis case- it increased through the day as first a Circuit Court, then the State Supreme Court and now the US Supreme Court have rejected emergency appeals.

TOP STORY- The House of Representatives failed this afternoon to adopt a continuing resolution that would keep the government funded beyond next Saturday’s end of the fiscal year. 48 Republicans joined a majority of Democrats in voting against the CR. Opposition came from Democrats for two reasons: a lower level of funding for FEMA than the Senate has proposed- and an offset that would pay for that increased funding by scrapping grants for a renewable energy program. Conservative Republican opposition came because the CR actually sets a higher level of annual spending than the original House passed FY2012 budget, but is consistent with the bi-partisan discretionary spending caps agreed to in the Budget Control Act of August. Congressional leaders still have over a week to come to a resolution on the funding dispute to prevent a shutdown- but today’s vote was a rare public defeat for the House Speaker, John Boehner

FREE AT LAST- Americans Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, jailed in 2009 after hiking across the Iranian border, were released from Iranian custody this morning and have now been reunited with their families in the Arab nation of Oman. They were detained on July 31, 2009; a third hiker, Sarah Shroud, Bauer’s fiance, was also detained in 2009 and released almost a year ago. Eight days ago, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told NBC’s Ann Curry in an interview that the hikers would be released “in a mater of days,” and this action comes one day before Ahmadinejad is scheduled to address the Untied Nations General Assembly in New York. Bauer and Fatel, now both 29, first met and became friends at the University of California Berkeley

STATEMENT FROM THE PRESIDENT: “I welcome the release of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal from detention in Iran and am very pleased that they are being reunited with their loved ones.  The tireless advocacy of their families over these two years has won my admiration, and is now coming to an end with Josh and Shane back in their arms.  All Americans join their families and friends in celebrating their long-awaited return home.”

DEVELOPING TONIGHT- The United States continues to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority over their plans to introduce a measure asking for statehood recognition at the UN on Friday. France has joined the United States in pressuring Palestine to drop their proposal and rejoin negotiations with Israel- with France proposing a new one-year negotiation deadline, that the Palestinian Authority has rejected. President Obama met with both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders today- and also addressed the General Assembly, saying, “One year ago, I stood at this podium and I called for an independent Palestine. I believed then, and I believe now, that the Palestinian people deserve a state of their own. But what I also said is that a genuine peace can only be realized between the Israelis and the Palestinians themselves.”

A BUSY DAY FOR THE PRESIDENT- who held meetings with the leaders of ISRAEL, JAPAN, THE UNITED KINGDOM and FRANCE, addressed the UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY, a luncheon hosted by Secretary-General BAN KI-MOON, and went across town to deliver a speech at the CLINTON GLOBAL INITIATIVE. He has just left a UN LEADER RECEPTION with the First Lady at the NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY and was driven my motorcade to JFK Airport because bad weather grounded Marine One. The President will return to the White House overnight. 

TOMORROW, the President travels to OHIO to stand on a bridge on the OHIO/KENTUCKY Border to highlight an infrastructure project that would be funded in the American Jobs Act. Ohio is the home state of Speaker Boehner; Kentucky the home state of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The FEDERAL RESERVE announced today a plan to invest $400 billion in long-term Treasury Securities over the next 9 months, a stimulus measure designed to increase economic growth and a sign that the Central Bank does not see another option for the struggling American economy. From the Fed Statement, “Growth remains slow. Recent indicators point to continuing weakness in overall labor market conditions and the unemployment rate remains elevated..Household spending has been increasing at only a modest pace in recent months.” The lower interest rates are meant to spur investments, but, as the New York Times reports, “The new effort is an experiment without a direct precedent, although the Fed tried something similar in the 1960s. Essentially, the Fed hopes to drive down rates not by expanding its portfolio, as it has done twice in recent years, but by shifting its money into riskier long-term investments.”

WALL STREET responded to the move by the Federal Reserve:

• DOW down 283 to 11,124
• NASDAQ down 52
• S&P 500 down 35

WHAT WE MISSED ON TUESDAY- President Obama will travel to Mountain View, CA next week for the First Presidential LinkedIn Town Hall Meeting. Previously, the President has used YouTube, Facebook and Twitter as platforms to answer questions directly from Americans, online

CORRECTION FROM TUESDAY- In last night’s final item on the acquisition of social networking platform Ning, I misstated the terms of an earlier deal- that of MySpace. As an eagle-eyed reader pointed out: “NewsCorp sold MySpace for $35M (and it was actually plus a 5% stake in Specific Media). NewsCorps originally bought MySpace for $580M (although only $327M was attributed to MySpace as the $580M was for its parent company)”

RUMORS- Hewlett Packard may be considered Meg Whitman, the former Chief Executive of eBay- and 2010 California Republican Gubernatorial Candidate, as its next CEO

2012:

• A must-watch campaign video released online by the Perry Campaign today (already has nearly 35,000 YouTube views) depicts President Obama as “President Zero”- using Obama’s words, as a candidate and President, against him and overlaid with the recent news of no new jobs created in August and record poverty rates 
• A McClatchy/Marist Poll that everyone is talking about: Obama 49%/ Palin 44%
• Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson has cracked 1% in the polls and thus has claimed a spot in tomorrow night’s Republican Presidential Candidates Debate, sponsored by FOX News and Google, in Orlando. 

THREE THINGS TO WATCH in the debate, the third in as many weeks:

1/ The Romney attack on Perry. It was more difficult than expected last week because of a Tea Party audience. Will Romney come out swinging at Perry? Which issues he decides to attack on will show the areas he believes Perry remains vulnerable2/ Can any of the other 7 candidates break through what has been deemed a two-man race? Any signs of traction by a second or third tier candidate will attract a lot of attention. 3/ Which candidate will be the first to mention the $16 Muffin? 

FINALLY- Facebook unveiled significant changes to its platform today, a move that has sparked anxiety and angst among some users. According the Facebook, the changes come in order to make the News Feed- on the Home Page- continually interesting. “Now, News Feed will act more like your own personal newspaper. You won’t have to worry about missing important stuff. All your news will be in a single stream with the most interesting stories featured at the top,” Facebok’s Mark Tonkelowitz blogs. Among the other changes: a real-time ticker of friend updates on the right hand bar, a wider photo display (with higher resolutions) and faster photo upload times. 

AND COMING TOMORROW: Watch for Facebook Music to be announced

ELECTION NIGHT: Polls are closed in New York’s Ninth Congressional District where Republican Bob Turner is looking for a dramatic victory against Democrat David Weprin, in the seat once held by Congressman Anthony Weiner. NY-09 has never been held by a Republican since the seat was created. Polls close at 10pm EDT in Nevada’s 2nd District where Republican Mark Amodei was leading in public opinion polling over Democrat Kate Marshall.

Watch for the final returns late tonight and for stories tomorrow to be written about if these two races are harbingers of the 2012 election season to come. 

TOP STORY: A Census report released today found that “median household income declined, the poverty rate increased and the percentage without health insurance coverage was not statistically different” from the same figures last year. The facts:

• Real median household income in the United States in 2010 was $49,445, a 2.3 percent decline from 2009
• The nation’s official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 percent, up from 14.3 percent in 2009 
• There were 46.2 million people in poverty in 2010, up from 43.6 million in 2009 <- the largest number in the 52 years of the poverty index
• The number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 49.0 million in 2009 to 49.9 million in 2010
• YET The percentage of young adults with insurance increased from 70.7% in 2009 to 72.8% in 2010

Watch for these figures to be used by Democrats as defense for not targeting safety net programs in the ongoing Supercommittee deficit reduction negotiations. They will also be the center of a forthcoming campaign, Opportunity Nation, to be unveiled in early November by a bi-partisan coalition. 

AMERICAN HIKERS TO BE RELEASED- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Ann Curry in an interview broadcast this morning on the Today Show that Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, the young American hikers held in Iran since July 2009 would be “released in the coming days,” a bail of $500,000 has been set for each. Watch for the US government to say very little about these developments until the Americans have safely left Iran. This move comes less than two weeks before the Iranian President is scheduled to speak in New York City to the United Nations. 

AMERICAN EMBASSY ATTACKED- In Kabul, Afghanistan, the US Embassy came under attack today by insurgents, who also targeted other embassies and the NATO Headquarters in the capital city. No Americans were injured- one policeman and two civilians were killed- but the attack underscores the continued instability in Afghanistan in the final months of the “surge” of US troops there. 

PRESIDENT OBAMA will be on the road in North Carolina tomorrow promoting the American Jobs Plan announced last week and unveiled yesterday. Today, the President was in Columbus, Ohio at a school that would benefit from federal funding under his plans to prevent teacher layoffs. Also today, the Administration said they would be open to signing individual pieces of the plan that Congress may pass. Congressional Republicans today walked back from initial acceptance of the proposal, citing the Administration’s proposal to pay for the plan with tax increases on the wealthy. 

LEADING DRUDGE TONIGHT: AttackWatch.com- a new initiative of Obama for America, the President’s re-election campaign. The site encourages supporters to “report an attack” on the President, contains a “News Feed” (currently rebutting last night’s Republican debate with faded photos of Rick Perry & Mitt Romney) and “attack files” 

WALL STREET

• DOW up 44 to 11,105
• Nasdaq up 37
• S&P 500 10

ALL EYES ON GREECE: From CNBC “Global Markets Move in Unison on Fears of New Credit Crisis,” “Whether you are an investor based in New York, Rio de Janeiro or Paris, it doesn’t matter which stock you pick. They are all going in the same direction in nearly perfect lockstep. The reason: growing worries that a Greek default will spark another global financial crisis, where access to funding trumps any individual merits of companies.”

WEDNESDAY MORNING PROBLEMS:

For the Obama White House- ”White House Pressed on $500 Million Loan to Solar Company Now Under Investigation,” published in tomorrow’s Washington Post, “The August 2009 e-mails, released to The Washington Post, show White House officials repeatedly asking OMB reviewers when they would be able to decide on the federal loan and noting a looming press event at which they planned to announce the deal. In response, OMB officials expressed concern that they were being rushed to approve the company’s project without adequate time to assess the risk to taxpayers, according to the e-mails, which were provided by Republican congressional investigators. [The Solar company] Solyndra collapsed two weeks ago, leaving taxpayers liable for the $535 million loan.” 

For the Rick Perry Presidential Campaign- ”Rick Perry and HPV Vaccine Maker Have Deep Financial Times” “Campaign disclosure records portray a much deeper financial connection with Merck than Perry’s remarks [in Monday’s debate] suggest. His gubernatorial campaigns, for example, have received nearly $30,000 from the drugmaker since 2000, most of that before he issued his vaccine mandate, which was overturned by the Texas legislature. Merck and its subsidiaries have also given more than $380,000 to the Republican Governors Association (RGA) since 2006, the year that Perry began to play a prominent role in the Washington-based group, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.” 

FINALLY- Miss Angola, 25-year-old Leila Lopes is the 2011 MISS UNIVERSE. WATCH her crowning ceremony from the pageant- held this year in San Paulo, Brazil