The Golden Report

POST-DEBATE EDITION

BREAKING: The Trustees of Pennsylvania State University held a news conference at 10pm to announce that they have fired head football coach Joe Paterno and University President Graham Spanier amid a growing child sex abuse scandal with allegations of abuse facing a longtime assistant coach. Yesterday, Paterno announced that he had planned to retire after this season.

THE DEBATE:

The Ninth Republican Presidential Candidates Debate just concluded from the campus of Oakland University in Oakland (outside of Rochester), Michigan. The one-hour forty-five minute debate aired on CNBC and was moderated by John Harwood and Maria Bartiromo.

THREE Takeaway from tonight’s debate:

1/ Rick Perry suffered a seemingly devastating moment for his campaign when he suggested that he would eliminate three federal departments under his budget/deficit reduction plan, then turned to Ron Paul (who proposes eliminating five departments) to list them, and could not remember the third, after Education and Commerce.

Another candidate on stage said “EPA” in an attempt to help Perry recover. But then Perry was prompted by Harwood “seriously? seriously, EPA was the one you were looking for?” he asked. And Perry was still not able to come up with the third cabinet department…Harwood “but you can’t name the third one?” Perry “I would do away with education…with commerce..and..let’s see…I can’t..the third one…I’m sorry.”

Twenty minutes later, when answering a different question, Perry finally said that he was trying to remember that it was the department of energy.

Here’s the video of the full question (it’s about 2 minutes long, forward to 1:40 for the Perry “oops” moment)

2/ Herman Cain went through the debate nearly unscathed. Now in the second week of allegations of sexual harassment, and with four accusers who have come forward with statements alleging misconduct by Cain, this was the dominant campaign narrative going into the debate.

But we knew this debate was hard-centered around jobs and the economy. Indeed, although the first question (on the Italian debt crisis) did go to Cain, it wasn’t until 20 minutes into the debate that Cain was asked directly about the allegations. Moderator Maria Bartaromo was booed by the audience for asking the question and Cain gave what has become his standard response- blaming the media and saying that he does not deserve to be judged in the court of public opinion.

Harwood asked a follow-up question to Romney- asking whether he would fire Cain if he was CEO of his company. Romney ducked and avoided an opportunity to draw distance between himself and (for now) his chief rival for the Republican nomination. That was a telling exchange that ended the discussion of Cain’s allegations at the debate. And now with a Perry fumble, it is possible that Cain has escaped completely from allegations that threatened his candidacy.

3/ Mitt Romney looked and sounded like the Republican presidential nominee. With the exception of messed up hair tonight, Romney was in control when answering questions and gave solid, well-rounded answers on everything from taxes to the European debt crisis to Chinese currency manipulation. He avoided calling out other candidates by name, choosing instead to focus all criticism on President Obama. Likewise, only Jon Huntsman took a serious shot at Romney (continuing a theme he started on Meet the Press on Sunday), accusing Romney of waffling on his Chinese policy. Despite some edging by Harwood, the exchange did not result in any of the intra-candidate fireworks like we have seen in previous debates

THE EVENING REPORT DEBATE SCORECARD: Romney, Cain, Gingrich, Huntsman, Santorum, Bachmann, Paul, Perry.

IN OTHER NEWS:

AWFUL STORY FOR VETERANS DAY: Breaking tonight from the Washington Post- “Remains of war dead dumped in landfill”

“The Dover Air Force Base mortuary for years disposed of portions of troops’ remains by cremating them and dumping the ashes in a Virginia landfill, a practice that officials have since abandoned in favor of burial at sea.

The Dover, Del., mortuary, the main point of entry for the nation’s war dead and the target of federal investigations of alleged mishandling of remains, engaged in the practice from 2003 to 2008, according to Air Force officials. The manner of disposal was not disclosed to relatives of fallen service members.”

IS ITALY NEXT IN EUROPEAN DEBT CRISIS? The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down over 3% today on new fears from Europe that Italy may be the next county to suffer from a growing sovereign debt crisis. Borrowing costs today hit 7% as the BBC reports:

“Italy’s cost of borrowing has touched a new record, a day after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he would resign once budget reforms were passed. If Italy tried to borrow money today, payable in 10 years, it would have to pay an interest rate of more than 7%.

Investors fear that Italy could become the next victim of the debt crisis. In a bid to calm markets, President Giorgio Napolitano said reforms would be passed and Mr Berlusconi would resign “within a few days. The 7% level is widely viewed as unsustainable and was the point at which Portugal, Greece and the Irish Republic were forced to seek a bailout.”

WALL STREET

• Dow down 328
• NASDAQ down 106
• S&P 500 down 47

FINALLY- Today the federal government conducted the first ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS), broadcasting a 30-second alert at 2pm ET on all television and radio stations across the country. The FCC, other federal agencies, and the private sector are still reviewing the data from today’s test- which worked well in some places, and not so well in others, according to a statement from the FCC,

“The Nationwide EAS Test served the purpose for which it was intended, to identify gaps and generate a comprehensive set of data to help strengthen our ability to communicate during real emergencies. Based on preliminary data, large regions of the country received the test but some areas did not. We are currently in the process of collecting and analyzing data, and will reach a conclusion when that process is complete.”

Here’s how the test looked today: (scroll to about 2 minutes in this amateur video).

JUST IN: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to bring a veterans tax break bill to the floor for a vote on or close to Veterans Day, the latest component of the President’s proposed American Jobs Act to be considered in a piece-meal approach. In doing so, Reid is all but daring Republicans to vote against a popular tax break on a symbolic holiday. Today, the Senate failed to reach 60 votes to cut off debate on a transportation and infrastructure bill, one day after President Obama went to Washington’s Key Bridge to urge its passage.

TOP STORY: Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou appeared to walk back today on his proposal earlier this week to put the EU-brokered financial rescue package for his country up for a vote by popular referendum. Tomorrow, Papandreou faces a vote of no confidence in the Greek Parliament and it is not clear if he and his ruling political party will survive the vote. This comes as leaders of the G-20 nations are meeting this week in Cannes, France to discuss the proposal and its effects, should it pass or fail.

TOMORROW MORNING: The Labor Department releases its monthly employment report which will show the jobs situation for the month of October. Bloomberg is predicting that 95,000 jobs were added last month and the unemployment rate is expected to be unchanged at 9.1%. The numbers are released at 8:30am EST.

WALL STREET:

• DOW up 208
• NASDAQ up 58
• S&P 500 up 23

STILL IN THE DARK: As of this hour, 318,212 customers in Connecticut remain without power after Saturday’s historic and unusual snow storm. Tonight, the Connecticut National Guard has been dispatched to some areas of the hard-hit Farmington Valley. Many school districts have been closed for the entire week. Connecticut Light & Power, the state’s primary utility company, predicts that all customers will have power restored by Sunday night.

TOP POLITICAL STORY: the developing scandal over allegations of sexual harassment by Republican frontrunner Herman Cain. The story has taken a number of new developments: with now three accusers coming forward, at least one asking permission from the National Restaurant Association to go public with her story and an accusation by the Cain campaign that a staffer with the Rick Perry campaign reportedly leaked this story to POLITICO. In an interview with CNN tonight, Perry strongly denied that, saying, “You know, I don’t know how to tell it any other way except we knew nothing about it.”

SO FAR, Cain is holding his own against a growing media firestorm. But as each day goes by, more and more details are coming out that, when compared against Cain’s prior statements, and the statements that he has made this week, don’t appear to add up. The biggest unknown right now is what kind of damage this story may have in the eyes of Cain’s supporters. However, his campaign reported this week that they have been raising on average of $1 million a day, a sign that Cain’s base of support may not be weakened- but rather emboldened- by this controversy. And with Rick Perry being drawn into the story, the Romney campaign is having a very good week. Although their candidate is not attracting any media attention, he also isn’t attracting any scrutiny while his chief obstacle (at the moment) for frontrunner status is fighting hard to get his campaign back on track.

THE NEXT DEBATE is Wednesday night in Rochester, Michigan. Its focus is slated to be jobs and the economy, although it is hard to see at this point how the Cain scandal could not be brought up.

RASMUSSEN POLL out today:

• Cain 26%
• Romney 23%
• Gingrich 14%
• Perry 8%
• Paul 7%
• Bachmann 2%
• Huntsman 2%
• Santorum 1%

QUINNIPIAC POLL out Wednesday:

• Cain 30%
• Romney 23%
• Gingrich 10%
• Perry 8%
• Paul 7%
• Bachmann 4%
• Huntsman 2%
• Santorum 1%

FINALLY..SERIOUSLY…”Siri” the voice activated network on Apple’s new iPhone 4S, encountered a major glitch today resulting in its first outage. According to TechCrunch, which is compiling some of the best tweets from users experiencing the problem, “When you try to use Siri on the iPhone 4S right now, the usually perky virtual assistant just responds: “Sorry, I am having trouble connecting to the network” and does nothing.”

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!

Happy Halloween!

PREMIERING TONIGHT: “Rock Center” with Brian Williams- the network’s new primetime new magazine hosted by the anchor of the top-ranked evening news broadcast.

TOP STORY: It was a bad day for Herman Cain. As POLITICO first reported last night, the Republican presidential frontrunner is facing charges of sexual harassment that stem from his time as head of the National Restaurant Association. As chance would have it, Cain was in Washington today, where he was trailed by beltway political reporters. This morning, Cain spoke at the conservative American Enterprise Institute and at 12:30 he delivered a luncheon address at the National Press Club. In between, he went on FOX News for an interview and later this afternoon was interviewed by PBS’s Judy Woodruff for the Newshour tonight.

As POLITICO’s Alex Burns reports tonight, Cain’s day was filled with conflicting stories and carefully worded statements:

“Cain told the PBS “NewsHour” that he recalled a financial “agreement” with a woman who accused him of inappropriate behavior at the National Restaurant Association.

Only hours before, Cain said he was unaware of any “settlement” related to sexual harassment – a reversal he attempted to explain away through verbal hair-splitting.

“I was aware that an agreement was reached. The word ‘settlement’ versus the word ‘agreement’ you know, I’m not sure what they called it. I know that there was some sort of agreement, but because it ended up being minimal, they didn’t have to bring it to me. My general counsel and the head of human resources had the authority to resolve this thing,” Cain said.”

WHERE THIS LEAVES THE CAMPAIGN: This is the kind of story that just isn’t going to away for Cain. The media is looking into every aspect of this story..and it hardly matters that it may be 15 years old. Cain is not helping his cause by seemingly changing the story by the hour- such inconsistencies make him appear to be a candidate who is confused and on the defensive. The person who might gain the most from what is turning into the political story of the week? Mitt Romney. For every day before voting begins that the attention is on somebody other than Romney, the better for Romney’s chances- and for the air of inevitability around him.

RICK PERRY also had a bad day. This video (and other variations and spoofs) is making its way around the Internet. It shows Perry in New Hampshire delivering a speech over the weekend. He appears more animated than usual, very lively behind the podium with frequent gesticulations, almost as if he is intoxicated. It’s too early to know what this video may mean for the campaign- if anything- but it did get airtime on the evening news tonight

JUST IN- Connecticut has been declared a Federal Disaster Area, per an order signed by President Obama this evening. It makes aid available for state and local governments in response to the weekend’s unusual but devastating October snow storm. Over half of Connecticut Light and Power customers remain without electricity tonight and many jurisdictions issued emergency orders postponing Halloween festivities, including trick-or-treating, tonight. It could be a week or longer before power is restored.

GREECE’S Prime Minister, George Papandreou, announced today that his nation will hold a referendum on a bailout proposal once details are finalized with the European Union. Protests have continued in Greece since the framework for a deal was announced last week and it is unclear if a no-confidence vote like what Papandreou is proposing would pass.

WALL STREET: News from overseas was felt on Wall Street again today and markets finished near their lows for the session.

• DOW down 276
• NASDAQ down 53
• S&P 500 down 32

PRESIDENT OBAMA underwent a physical exam today (his second since taking office) and the White House reported the President’s medical report, which found him in “excellent health” and “fit for duty”

“All clinical data indicate he will remain so for the duration of his Presidency. The president is current on all age-appropriate screening tests. He is ‘fit at fifty’ and “staying health at 50+” the report says. It also reported a “well healed lower lip laceration.” Benign skin tags were removed from the President’s neck.

THE PRESIDENT weighs 181.3 pounds.

UNESCO- the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Affairs Organization- most well-known for the UNESCO World Heritage Sites- today voted to permit the Palestinian Authority to have full membership in its body- a move that prompted the United States to announce that it would pull its funding for UNESCO, per standing US law. The United States supports UNESCO with about 22% of its budget- $80 million a year.

As the Associated Press reports:

“The prohibition on U.S. funding of U.N. agencies that recognize a Palestinian state was included in two pieces of legislation that were signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 and President Bill Clinton in 1994.

The 1990 law prohibits the appropriation of funds “for the United Nations or any specialized agency thereof which accords the Palestine Liberation Organization the same standing as a member state.”

In 1994, Congress barred funding “any affiliated organization of the United Nations which grants full membership as a state to any organization or group that does not have the internationally recognized attributes of statehood.”

AND FINALLY…Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries are divorcing, it was announced today. TMZ broke the story and obtained the official divorce documents. The couple have been married since August 20th, “in a lavish ceremony in Montecito, CA. There are reports that the wedding cost as much as $10 mil, which means $138,888 for every day until today,” TMZ reported.

BREAKING: SUPREME COURT STAYS EXECUTION OF TEXAS INMATE- Shortly before 10pm tonight, Supreme Court Justin Antonin Scalia issued a stay of execution for Death Row inmate Duane Edward Buck. The case against Buck is tainted with accusations of a racial basis, a finding that was delivered by now Sen. John Cornyn when he was the state’s Attorney General. The decision to go forward with the execution following this temporary stay will rest with Texas Governor Rick Perry- who is outside of the state tonight and thus was unable to make an emergency clemency order. 

TOP STORY- A PLANET WITH TWO STARS- Astronomers with the Kepler spacecraft program announced today that they have discovered a new planet outside of our known solar system. Kepler 16b is its scientific name although it is being referred to as Tatooine, after the planet also with two stars in the Star Wars series. It’s location is about 200 light years away from Earth, in a constellation called Cygnus. “Reality has finally caught up with science fiction…the very existence of this discovery gives us cause to dream bigger,” said Alan Boss, a researcher on the team that discovered Kepler. 

BACK ON EARTH- Central Bankers in Europe continued their attempt to calm the growing concern over the Greek debt crisis. In a coordinated effort, banks across Europe agreed to pump money into their economies- allowing banks to borrow dollars for up to three months, instead of just one week, the New York times reports. The move comes one day after (as we reported last night) the leaders of France and Germany agreed to back the Greek government against default. 
This action helped to continue the upwards trend this week on WALL STREET:
Dow up 186 to 11,433NASDAQ up 2 S&P 500 up 35

In other BUSINESS NEWS, John Mack, the Chairman of Morgan Stanley- and a major player in the 2009 financial crisis- announced that he would step down by the end of the year and be succeeded by CEO James Gorman

House Speaker JOHN BOEHNER used a high-profile speech at the Economic Club of Washington today to lay out his position on revenue and taxes heading into a pivotal fall that will see those issues hotly debated- and potentially decided in the supercommittee negotiations. By all accounts, it was the issue of revenue- and an ironclad position to oppose all forms of tax and revenue increases- the broke apart negotiations between the Speaker and the President over a “grand bargain” over the summer. In his speech today, Boehner did three things: 1/ he reiterated that he does not believe the supercommittee should increase taxes as a way of achieving their deficit reduction mandate, 2/ he said he supported broadbase restructuring of the tax code that, in the end, would result in a reduction in corporate tax levels and 3/ he said he agreed with the President on his desire to have the supercommittee go beyond their stated $1.5 trillion reduction goal. The Speaker also continued to say that he would review the President’s jobs proposal, announced one-week ago tonight, but that they should be incorporated with other Republican ideas for jobs creation. Meanwhile, the White House said today that cuts to Social Security, offered by the President during the debt ceiling negotiations, would not be offered- and should not be considered- in the current deficit reduction talks. 

Tonight the SENATE passed a bill (92-6) providing a four-month extension of the Federal Aviation Administration and a six-month extension of surface transportation projects. Both bills had thought to be imperiled earlier this week, but opposition from Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn was overcome. The bill now goes to the President, who wills sign it before a partial shutdown of the FAA would begin at midnight Friday. The Senate also passed a bill (62-37) providing for $7 billion in emergency disaster assistance to FEMA. This bill will have to be reconciled with the House- leaders there are proposing to offset or partially offset the cost of the disaster funding with cuts elsewhere in the budget. 

Tomorrow the PRESIDENT goes to Northern Virginia to sign patent-reform legislation. It will be a rare bill-signing this year for the President, who has struggled to achieve any legislative victories with a Republican-controlled House. It will be the President’s second visit to Virginia in two weeks. In addition to being a short distance from Washington, Virginia is a state the President won in 2008, is seen as important to his re-election in 2012, and where a new Quinnipiac Poll released today shows his approval rating at just 40%, down from 48% in June. 

2012:

• On Good Morning America today, RNC Chair Reince Preibus said that although he was “very satisfied” with the current field of Republican candidates, there was “still time” for others to get in. In a remark that some political observers are attributing as more towards New Jersey Governor Chris Christie than former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Preibus immediately made news. What was he thinking? Was it a signal that he was, in fact, not satisfied? Or was he trying to appeal to Republicans who may be hesitant about the crop of candidates, showing he understands their view so he can later use that leverage to reconcile the party? 
• Last night, Donald Trump- who briefly flirted with a run for the Republican nomination earlier this year- met with Texas Governor Rick Perry. In recent weeks, some have speculated that if Trump is not happy with the eventual nominee, he may try to mount an Independent political campaign.
• President Obama held his first fundraisers in over a month tonight, attending two events in Washington, D.C. During the debt ceiling negotiations, the President had suspended political fundraising- then resumed them the following event with a birthday fundraiser in his home city of Chicago. According to CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller, today brings to 42 the number of re-election fundraising events the President has done. [Note: all donations go to the Obama 2012 Victory Fund, which is split between the re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee]. 

FINALLY-- First Lady Michelle Obama went to Olive Garden today to announce, alongside a move by restaurant owner, Darden Restaurants (they also own Longhorn Steakhouse and The Capital Grille) to reduce calories and sodium at all of its restaurants by 10 percent over next the next 5 years and 20 percent over the next 10 years.