------------------------------------------------------
The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
------------------------------------------------------
It's a big Hardball exclusive tonight as Chris talks to Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS),
who, after much suspense in recent months, announced today that he will seek a
fourth term in the Senate. Will the former Senate Republican leader seek a
leadership post again? Find out the answer to that and how the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed Lott's own home, affected his decision
professionally and personally. The New York Times has more on his decision:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/17/politics/17cnd-lott.html.
Lott's downfall as the GOP leader happened of course after he boasted of
Mississippi's support for the 1948 segregationist presidential candidacy of
then-Gov. Strom Thurmond at a retirement party honoring Thurmond in 2002.
Ironically enough, two politicians are making waves today with race related
comments made on Monday's Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. Sen. Hillary Clinton
(D-NY) likened the House GOP leadership to plantation owners and New Orleans'
Mayor Ray Nagin (D) said that God is mad at the black community and vowed that
his city would be "chocolate" again. Hardball's David Shuster will have the
latest on that and what it could mean for the Democrats' political plans. Plus,
Chris will talk about it all with Rev. Al Sharpton and Ron Christie, a former
White House advisor and author of "Black in the White House."
The AP has more about Clinton and Nagin: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10889047
and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10880589.
Also tonight, Chris will have a reaction from the U.S. Army over comments made
on Monday's Hardball by former Army interrogator Spc. Tony Lagouranis (Ret.).
Chris also will have the latest on the federal lawsuits filed against the Bush
Administration over the NSA's formerly secret domestic spying operation with
Larry Diamond, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and Ann Beeson,
associate legal director for the ACLU. Here's the AP's report on the lawsuits:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10891444.
Plus, for more on the Clinton and Nagin remarks, the developing House GOP
leadership fight, and the continuing fallout of the Abramoff scandal, Stephen
Hayes, senior writer for the Weekly Standard, and MSNBC's Chief Washington
Correspondent Norah O'Donnell will join Chris.
Here are some things you might not have read yet today:
--SCOTUS upheld an Oregon assisted suicide law today against White House wishes
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10891536
--Chris vlogs about how Martin Luther King, Jr. has impacted voters
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10284912/#060117a
--Newsweek's Robert Samuelson ponders the U.S. by the numbers
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10853266/site/newsweek
--Hardblogger (!) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5445086
--NBC's First Read 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.
=========================================
This e-mail is never sent unsolicited. You have received this The Hardball
Briefing Newsletter newsletter because you subscribed to it or, someone
forwarded it to you.
To remove yourself from the list (or to add yourself to the list if this
message was forwarded to you) simply go to
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7140407/, select unsubscribe, enter the email
address receiving this message, and click the Go button.
Microsoft Corporation - One Microsoft Way - Redmond, WA 98052
MSN PRIVACY STATEMENT
http://privacy.msn.com <http://privacy.msn.com/>
