The Golden Report

34 DAYS UNTIL IOWA

JUST IN: Virginia Attorney Governor Ken Cuccinelli will announce that he is running for governor in 2013, the Washington Post reports tonight.

Cuccinelli was elected Attorney General in 2009 and has become a hero among tea party conservatives for his positions on health care, immigration and gay rights.

Incumbent Republican Governor Bob McDonnell is not eligible to run for re-election in 2013 due to term limits. Cuccinelli is expected to face Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling in a primary.

On the Democratic side, former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe is reportedly considering a second attempt at the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

CAMPAIGN 2012:

NEWT GINGRICH ON FOX NEWS TONIGHT: “And it’s clear that across the country, people are saying, you know, I think we need Newt Gingrich,” he said. “Whereas I would have thought originally it was going to be Mitt and not-Mitt, I think it’s going to — it may turn out to be Newt and not-Newt.”

RON PAUL ATTACKS GINGRICH: In a new web video out today (that only has 301 views), the Ron Paul campaign attacks Gingrich for what they call “serial hypocrisy” and applies the same flip-flopping charge that is more often leveled against Mitt Romney, to Gingrich.

HERMAN CAIN ON FOX NEWS THIS AFTERNOON: “I can only conjecture that maybe I am the Democrats’ worst nightmare if I win the nomination … Maybe the Democrats want Newt Gingrich to win the nomination, so they can then go after his personal life.” Officially, Cain is still “reassessing” his candidacy.

AND THEN, Cain said this, via POLITICO, “On the many, many phone calls between him and the woman accusing him of having a 13-year affair Ginger White, Cain said: “I talked to a lot of people 61 times.”

STILL TONIGHT, Cain had more to say, in a 9pm news conference, he said he could not guarantee that more allegations could come forward.”I can’t say that someone won’t drum up another accusation. It just comes with the territory, he siad.

MITT ROMNEY UP WITH NH AD: The second ad of the campaign cycle put up by the Romney Campaign. Their first, last week, was widely criticized for a misleading quote from President Obama during the 2008 campaign. The ad is straightforward and attacks the President’s economic policy.

PRESIDENT OBAMA is in New York City tonight, attending four campaign fundraisers. Earlier today, the President was in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of Vice President Joe Biden (who is in Baghdad today) urging Congress to extend & expand the payroll tax cut passed last year for in 2012. He is due back at The White House at 12:30am Thursday.

ON CAPITOL HILL, there is some movement on extending the payroll tax cut, with GOP leadership emerging generally in favor of doing so, resisting the opposition of some more conservative members.

In a closed-door House Republican caucus meeting today, The Hill reports that Majority Leader Eric Cantor laid down the gauntlet, saying, “taxes are a Republican issue and you aren’t a Republican if you want to raise taxes on struggling families to fund bigger government.”

THE REPUBLICAN PLAN as it is currently being floated, would freeze pay for federal workers an additional year (it has already been frozen for two years), trim the federal workforce by roughly 10% and introduce some means-testing for federal programs such as Medicare and unemployment insurance.

Ordinarily, these proposals would be dismissed out of hand by Democrats (much like their proposal, to pay for the tax extension by charging a surtax on millionaire taxes, is being by Republicans), however, the proposals in the Republican plan are taken from the bi-partisan Simpson/Bowles Committee recommendations that many Democrats see as the basis for long-term deficit reduction.

COORDINATED ACTION BY THE FED and other central banks around the world this morning was designed to increase the amount of US dollars in circulation around the world and act as a buffer to continued anxiety over the European debt crisis.

As the New York Times reports:

“The banks announced that they would reduce by roughly half the cost of an existing program under which banks in foreign countries can borrow dollars from their own central banks, which in turn get those dollars from the Fed.  The banks also said that loans will be available until February 2013, extending a previous endpoint of August 2012.”

“The purpose of these actions is to ease strains in financial markets and thereby mitigate the effects of such strains on the supply of credit to households and businesses and so help foster economic activity,” the banks said in a statement. The participants in addition to the Fed were the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank.”

WALL STREET reported its best day of 2011 as a result of the Fed’s announcement:

• DOW up 490 to 12,045
• NASDAQ up 105 to 2,620
• S&P 500 up 52 to 1,247

BILLY GRAHAM was admitted to a hospital today in North Carolina, reportedly suffering from pneumonia-like symptoms. The iconic Evangelical minister is 93-years old and has been in declining health in recent years.

$9 GAS? it looks like that’s a possibility this winter in NOME, ALASKA. A historic winter storm earlier this month prevented a barge from reaching the Alaskan city best known the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, and now officials are coming up with a plan to fly small quantities of gasoline into the community of 3,500 residents, at an extraordinarily high cost.

The Associated Press reports on the predicament:

“A gallon of gas was selling for $5.98 and jet fuel $6.77 a gallon on Wednesday. The next barge delivery wouldn’t be until next June. In the meantime, flying fuel to the city could increase the cost per gallon by $3 to $4, officials said.”

“We are going to have to have fuel drivers picking up fuel 24 hours a day as flights are available to fly into Nome,” said Jason Evans, board chairman of Sitnasuak Native Corp., which provides services to the region.”

“Sitnasuak arranged in May with petroleum distributor Delta Western Inc. to have three barges deliver fuel to Nome, but only one arrived early in the summer, Evans said. That barge carried home heating fuel.”

“The storm that barreled into Alaska’s western coastline in mid-November, zeroing in on Nome, prevented the arrival of a barge carrying 1.6-million gallons of gasoline and diesel.”

FINALLY...the 2011 Rockefeller Christmas Tree is lit! This year’s tree is a 74-foot tall Norweigan Spruce from Miffinville, Pa. Over 34,00 lights- stretching some five miles- illuminate the tree.

The first Christmas Tree was placed in Rockefeller Plaza in 1931 and the first tree lighting ceremony was held in 1933. The 2011 tree will be illuminated each evening- and all day Christmas Day- until January 07, 2012.

FOLLOW THE EVENING REPORT ON TWITTER: @EVENING_REPORT

LIKE THE EVENING REPORT ON FACEBOOK: FACEBOOK.COM/EVENINGREPORT

SUBSCRIBE TO THE EVENING REPORT: EVENINGEMAIL.COM

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.