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The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
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In Washington today Judge Samuel Alito garnered a strict party-line vote by the
Senate Judiciary Committee and can look forward to a vote by the full Senate in
the coming days (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10993560/). Tonight, we'll hear
from a member of the Judiciary Committee and a member of the Gang of 14 with
opposing votes on Alito: Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, who
voted for Alito in the committee today, and Senator Ken Salazar, Democrat from
Colorado, who has said he'll vote against the judge.
As expected, the vote was a party-line vote. And tonight, we'll talk to Fmr.
Bush/Cheney '04 Counsel Ben Ginsberg, an advisor to Progress for America, and
Democratic Strategist Hilary Rosen on today's news. We'll also debate the
political fallout of the NSA eavesdropping and Bush's latest polling, which
according to the latest USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll has him with a 43% approval
rating - unchanged from a month ago.
And in a look ahead to '06, we'll preview the president's State of the Union
address and the midterm races with Republican Strategist and Former Bush 41
Aide Ed Rogers and Democratic Strategist Steve McMahon. Do Americans respond
more to the GOP national security message or the Dems' corruption theme (Check
out NBC's First Read Today: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3626796/)? Which will
resonate come November? Ed and Steve will provide some insight.
One of the hottest stories to appear this week was Time magazine's piece on
photos that have surfaced of President Bush and Jack Abramoff. We'll have one
of the co-authors of that story, White House Correspondent Mike Allen, and
Craig Crawford, MSNBC Political Analyst and Columnist for Congressional
Quarterly. We'll talk about the potential impact for the White House in the
Abramoff scandal, as well as the Bush blitz on national security, which
included a trip to Kansas yesterday. (For more on that trip, read Mike's
dispatch yesterday from Manhattan, KS
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1152247,00.html.)
It's looking like a hot show, so tune into Hardball tonight! And don't miss
tomorrow's program when we'll have an exclusive interview with former Abu
Ghraib Guard Megan Ambuhl, who was featured in yesterday's Washington Post
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/22/AR2006012200928.html).
Here are some stories you may have missed:
-Craig Crawford on the White House and Abramoff:
http://www.cq.com/public/crawford.html
-UCLA Alum Andrew Jones pulls his plan to pay students to record liberal profs:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/national/24ucla.html?_r=1
-Dems will focus on ethics in the lead up to State of the Union:
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/51_71/news/11842-1.html?type=pf
-EJ Dionne's column on Karl Rove:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/23/AR2006012301261_pf.html
Colleen King compiled the "Hardball Briefing" in Washington, D.C.
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