News and Notes: National Scene

What's going on?

A Washington Post-ABC poll shows that Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) leads other Democratic presidential hopefuls by 2-1 among women, even more among lower-income and lesser-educated women, and this factor accounts for her large lead over the others. Overall, Clinton garnered 51% support from women, compared to 24% for Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and 11% for former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC).

A new Gallup poll shows that Republicans reject evolution by a better than 2-to-1 margin, 68% to 30%. Overall the nation is about evenly split on evolution. Independents are more likely to believe in evolution (61% to 37%) than Democrats (57% to 40%).

A study shows that political considerations have played a major role in the selection of immigration judges by the Bush administration, although that is specifically forbidden by law.

New polls show Hillary Clinton pulling away in New Hampshire and also show John McCain continuing to fade nationally (he is now battling with "Don't Know" for third place behind Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney). However, social conservatives are showing signs of ganging up on front-runner Giuliani over his pro-choice and pro-gay positions.

President Bush is meeting GOP lawmakers at lunch today to urge them to support the immigration reform legislation that stalled in the U.S. Senate last week, and business lobbyists, labor unions, religious organizations and Hispanic advocacy groups plan to flood Capitol Hill this week in support of the troubled bill.

The 53-38-1 vote that killed the no-confidence resolution against Albert Gonzales yesterday could have been a little closer to the winning margin of 60. Presidential candidates Sen. Joe Biden, Sen. Sam Brownback, Sen. Chris Dodd, Sen. John McCain, and Sen. Barack Obama all missed the vote because they were on the campaign trail, costing at least three votes. The lone "present" vote was cast by Alaska's Sen. Ted Stevens, who faces a corruption investigation by the Department of Justice and thus perhaps didn't want to take a position as to the future of its chief official. Five of the seven Republican senators who voted for the no-confidence resolution are up for re-election in 2008: Gordon Smith (OR), Chuck Hagel (NE), Norm Coleman (MN), John Sununu (NH), and Susan Collins (ME).

Does anyone else find it disturbing that Democratic legislators negotiated directly with a lobbying group, the powerful National Rifle Association, to craft new federal gun control legislation in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre? The sway of the NRA over GOP lawmakers is apparently so utterly complete that the Republicans who actually fill the legislative seats are not a necessary part of the negotiations or the agreement. Don't get me wrong, I applaud better background checks for gun buyers and improving the databases of people who should not get guns due to criminal records and/or mental health problems, I just find it extraordinary and unsettling that the NRA has virtually stepped into the shoes of the Republicans who fill the legislative seats when it comes to this issue.

News and Notes: Presidential Contenders

What they are up to today:

Hillary Clinton (D-NY) - Rejected her campaign aide's advice to skip Iowa in favor of subsequent primaries, but because the news got out her campaign is in overdrive denying any intention of doing so. She will campaign in Iowa again this weekend.

Rudy Giuliani (R-NY) - Cites John Edwards' rejection of the term "Global War on Terror" as proof that Democrats are in denial about terrorism. A new Gallup poll assigns him the highest favorability rating among the six major candidates of either party at 62%, with Edwards second at 56%.

Mitt Romney (R-MA) - If you guessed that Hillary Clinton got the lowest favorability score in that Gallup poll, you are wrong. Romney is 26 points behind Clinton at 27%. (Edwards, Obama, McCain and Clinton are all bunched together between 53% and 56%.)

John Edwards (D-NC) - Isn't treated altogether kindly in a new memoir by Robert Shrum, the political consultant who helped out with Edwards' U.S. Senate campaign. Shrum writes that Edwards confessed to being uncomfortable around gays, and elsewhere refers to him as "a Clinton who hadn't read the books."

Sam Brownback (R-KS) - Trots out Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff known as "Jane Roe" in the 1973 Supreme Court abortion ruling Roe v. Wade who has become an anti-abortion icon, to prop up his flagging campaign.

Al Gore (D-TN) - The non-candidate appears on tonight's "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "Late Show with David Letterman."

Ron Paul (R-TX) - Assigned remedial reading for Giuliani after the latter upbraided him in the last GOP debate for saying that U.S. policy in the Middle East provoked the 9/11 attack. His list: "Imperial Hubris" by Michael Scheuer, "Dying to Win" by Robert Pape, "Blowback" by Chalmers Johnson, and the 9/11 Commission Report.

News and Notes: Presidential Contenders

Newsy bits about some of those angling to sit behind the desk in the Oval Office:

Fred Thompson (R-TN) - Chris Cillizza reports that a Thompson candidacy looks increasingly likely as another Washington insider, this time former FEC Chair Michael Toner, has been brought into the camp. An AP story just out says much the same.

Hillary Clinton (D-NY) - The Democratic front runner will hold a 12:15 pm ET press conference with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) to announce an amendment to the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 that would remove barriers to reunification for spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents.

Mitt Romney (R-MA) - Watch the former Massachusetts governor's new TV ad, to run in New Hampshire and Iowa, here. Called "Tested, Proven," the ad boasts that Romney stood up to liberals (picturing Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and former Gov. Michael Dukakis (D-MA)) in the most liberal state in the nation.

John Edwards (D-NC) - The Edwards campaign promises a "muscular speech" on terrorism and the use of military force by the U.S. today at Council of Foreign Relations in New York City. And this news bit is hard to figure - the Edwards campaign has confirmed an expanded ad buy in Oregon. Oregon?