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The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
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It's a big day here at Hardball and the rest of NBC News because Nightly News
Anchor and Managing Editor Brian Williams has an exclusive interview with
President Bush today. You can read all about his travels with "43" today on his
blog, the Daily Nightly: http://www.dailynightly.msnbc.com/. You will also see
clips of the interview on Hardball tonight!
If you're like Brian, Chris, and all of us on the Hardball team, then there's
nothing better at jumpstarting your week than a presidential address. This
morning, President Bush delivered the third installment in his series of four
planned speeches on the Iraq War. With less than 72 hours to go before Iraqis
vote for a constitutionally elected government, the president spoke about what
he described as "our efforts to help the Iraqi people build a lasting democracy
in the heart of the Middle East."
Former presidential adviser David "Four Administrations" Gergen and Evan
Thomas, assistant managing editor of Newsweek, will be here to boil down the
president's speech and the ensuing reaction to it. You must read Thomas' big
look at what he sees as the president's bubble (which Brian asked the president
about today!) in the latest edition of Newsweek:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10417159/site/newsweek/.
The president's address was hosted by the World Affairs Council of
Philadelphia. You can find out more about them here: http://www.wacphila.org/.
And a scheduling note for you: the president's final speech in this series will
take place on Wednesday back here in Washington...stay tuned for more details
on that.
Do you want to know more about the crafting of the president's message on the
war? Then you don't want to miss Chris' talk tonight with Christopher Gelpi,
the Duke University political science professor whose work studying public
opinion and public relations strategies played a big role in the president's
continuing push to turn the public's view on the war. Meet Gelpi here:
http://www.duke.edu/~gelpi/.
And following Sunday night's blockbuster Hardball special report called
"Unraveling the CIA Leak Investigation," Hardball's David Shuster will have the
latest on developments in Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's probe
involving Time reporter Viveca Novak -- and it's possible that her testimony
will make or break the fate of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove. The
Washington Post's Jim VandeHei and MSNBC's Chief Washington Correspondent Norah
O'Donnell also will be here to tell us what's going on behind the gates of 1600
Pennsylvania Ave. In case you missed it, here's Novak's first-person account of
her involvement in the case in the latest issue of Time:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1139780,00.html.
Plus, Chris is in Boston today and who better for him to talk to than Gov. Mitt
Romney (R-MA)? Chris will ask him about being a Republican governor in
notoriously Democratic Massachusetts, what he thinks about the war, and when
he's going to make a decision about running for president. Read about Romney's
most recent visit to New Hampshire last week, where things literally got hot:
http://www.politicsnh.com/archives/pindell/2005/Dec/12_8romney.htm.
And don't miss your last chance to vote for Hardball's best political play of
2005: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10336995/.
Here are some things you might not have read yet today:
--AP wraps the president's speech http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10435818/
--Chris vlogs on Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX)'s future on Hardblogger!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10284912/#051212a
--AP reports SCOTUS will review the DeLay inspired redistricting of Texas
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10437083/
--NBC's First Read (one stop shopping for today's political news)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3626796/
--Doonesbury http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html
Brooke Brower compiled the "Hardball Briefing" in Washington, D.C.
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