------------------------------------------------------ The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC ------------------------------------------------------
Hardball airs at 7pm, 11pm & 2 am....That's 4, 8 & 11 pm on the West Coast... Chris is back from vacation and is hot to trot on the Recall...A new poll out suggests this is gonna be a horse race folks with Dem Lt. Gov. Bustamante at 25% & Arnold at 22%...Plus, the sniping has already begun on the Dem side with Bustamante accusing Davis "minions" of sabotaging his campaign...Also, is Arnold a conservative? His top economic advisor Warren Buffet said on Friday that property taxes in Calfiornia were too low and Arnold's camp has since been distancing themselves from the comment...And some Republicans are urging the other two GOPers, McClintock & Simon to bow out of the race and back Arnold...Plus, the ACLU is going to court today to try and delay the election...Lots of action all over the Golden State....We'll slice and dice it with a panel of political pros including David Dreier, Gergen and Fineman.... In the D block we'll do the political blame game over last week's energy blackout.... In the Buzz we've got Norah and Conason on the Recall, energy politics and Joe's new book: "Big Lies: The Right Wing propaganda machine and how it distorts the truth"...Wow, sounds like the Left Wing equivalent of a Coulter book... Dominic Bellone wrote, compiled and edited The Briefing from Washington, DC... Bustamante Snipes At Guv...Bustamante accuses Gray Davis of sabotaging efforts to keep state in Democratic hands. (SF Chronicle) http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/08/18/MN258838.DTL California's high-stakes recall election is producing fresh cracks in party unity, with the state's second-leading Democrat accusing Gov. Gray Davis of personal disloyalty and two leading Republicans bickering about which one hates taxes more. (AP) http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-08-18-candidates-recall_x.htm Poll Places Bustamante In Lead to Succeed Davis...Schwarzenegger Tops the Other Calif. Hopefuls (The Washington Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A712-2003Aug15.html Suddenly, the Terminator looks vulnerable....Arnold Schwarzenegger, who just last week seemed likely to flatten the opposition in the gubernatorial recall election, has come under fire, and his once formidable lead in the polls has disappeared. (USA Today) http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/2003-08-17-schwarzenegger_x.htm Davis turns on a charm offensive...Calif. governor reintroducing himself to key voters (The Washington Post) http://msnbc.com/news/953808.asp?0cv=CB10 Mortman's new stuff: Schwarzenegger's fantastic world...On the campaign trail, Arnold is positively positive http://www.msnbc.com/news/953920.asp The nation's worst blackout is putting energy - especially upgrading high-voltage transmission lines - back on Congress' radar. But resolving the problem could be difficult and expensive. (AP) http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=703&e=2&u=/ap/20030818/ap_on_re_us/power_politics The Army acknowledged Monday that it had killed a television journalist after soldiers mistook his camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Press advocacy groups called for an investigation. (AP) http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=3&u=/ap/20030818/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq Israeli pits U.S. politics against 'road map' plan...Israeli tourism minister Benyamin Elon has embarked on a "Bible Belt tour" to exploit evangelical Christian enthusiasm for Israel, to lure Christian tourists back to Israel and to derail President Bush's "road map" to Middle East peace. (The Washington Times) http://washingtontimes.com/national/20030818-122328-1683r.htm Joe Lieberman is on the presidential campaign trail, embracing his inner centrist. Wherever he goes, he calls himself "an independent-minded Democrat." His rivals, he says, are big spenders, weak on defense - or both. (USA Today) http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/2003-08-17-lieberman-usat_x.htm 'How to be Gay' course draws fire at Michigan...A course called "How to be Gay: Male Homosexuality and Initiation," scheduled this fall, has reignited a culture war at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. (The Washington Times) http://washingtontimes.com/national/20030818-122317-3268r.htm Rep. Bill Janklow says he feels "anguish" over the death of a motorcyclist who collided with a car he was driving. Authorities said the intersection had a stop sign only for Janklow and an investigation was continuing. (AP) http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-08-17-janklow-accident_x.htm Opinion/Editorial Vulnerable in the dark?...Could a terrorist cause a blackout on the scale of the one that hit parts of the United States and Canada? Doubtful, writes Slate's Fred Kaplan. http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/953089.asp Barnicle: Arnold's a nice guy who can't make it worse http://www.nydailynews.com/news/col/story/109600p-98967c.html Katrina's editor's cut: A Form of Looting Nobel Laureate condemns "the worst government the US has ever had." http://thenation.com/edcut/index.mhtml?bid=7 Pat: "Is it a rebellion?" asked Louis XVI of the count who informed him of the fall of the Bastille. "No, sire," came the reply. "It is a revolution." That same question may be asked of the recall election of Gov. Gray Davis http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34150 Doonesbury http://www.ucomics.com/doonesbury/ Mallard http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/mallard.asp ========================================= This email is never sent unsolicited. You have received The Hardball Briefing Newsletter because you subscribed to it or, someone forwarded it to you. 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