The Hill News

Herman Cain on Wednesday vowed to stay in the presidential race and decried a "character assassination on me."

Cain only vaguely alluded to the brewing controversy surrounding his alleged extramarital affair â€" and subsequent decision to "reassess" his campaign â€" in what was billed as a "way forward" speech by campaign manager Mark Block earlier in the day in an interview with ABC.

"They want you to believe that with enough character assassination on me, I will drop out," a defiant Cain said, before telling supporters that "we the people, you and I, are still in charge of this country."

Cain also said that liberals and the political establishment wanted to "shoot me down, tear me down" because of objections to his policy programs.

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South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley confirmed Wednesday that she will endorse a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination ahead of the primaries beginning in January.

She said at a press conference during the annual meeting and elections for the Republican Governors Association that she would "absolutely" endorse before the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, according to multiple reports.

Haley is a rising star in the Republican party and governor of a key, early-voting state. Her endorsement could mean a huge boost for a candidate, particularly in a cycle where many high-profile GOP names have declined to endorse.

One key issue for Haley will likely be that of labor unions. Her state has undergone a protracted battle with the National Labor Relations Board over a Boeing expansion plant, and Haley has called on the GOP presidential candidates to make their positions clear on the issue. 

One of Bachmann's top supporters in Iowa caused a stir on Twitter when he led followers to believe Herman Cain's campaign was emptying out its Iowa headquarters.

Kent Sorenson, Bachmann's Iowa chairman, sent out a tweet on Tuesday claiming that moving trucks were parked outside Cain's Iowa office.

He included a photo of the trucks â€" which Cain's campaign later said were actually there to deliver materials for the campaign, including boxes of yard signs.

The tweet has since been deleted.

Bachmann's Iowa campaign manager, Eric Woolson, later apologized, telling CNN it was his fault and an unnecessary distraction.

The continuation of Cain's presidential campaign has remained an open question all week after he told supporters on a conference call Tuesday that he was reassessing his candidacy. Cain said Wednesday that he is consulting with his wife and will make a decision within a week.

As Congress considers how to move forward with funding for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), it would be wise to consider its recent successes in fighting illegal immigration, and the unintended consequences on legitimate trade and travel. Cross-border tourism and trade, which is so vital to our economic recovery, is suffering as a result of an unbalanced approach toward the Southwest border.


In recent years, responding to constituent concerns, politicians have jumped on the border security bandwagon, insisting on the need for more Border Patrol and National Guard, especially along the Southwest border. 


Accordingly, appropriations for Border Patrol, which is an agency under CBP, have leaped from $1.06 billion in FY 2000 to $3.54 billion in FY 2011. This represents a 238 percent jump. The results have been nothing less than astounding. In the 11 months ending in August, Border Patrol apprehended 304,755 illegal immigrants along the Southwest! border, down from a peak of about 1.6 million in 2000. Meanwhile, seizures of narcotics continue to increase. 


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How often these days the world feels like we’ve fallen down the proverbial rabbit hole! To paraphrase Alice, nothing is what it is because everything is what it isn’t. We're told waterboarding isn’t torture and that to make the United States safe we have to violate our own laws and standards and reinstitute secret prisons and torture, policies we were wrong to use in the first place.
 
But that’s exactly the argument being made by most of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination, as well as what is embodied in a shocking amendment offered by Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire on the Defense Authorization bill.  It appears that Ayotte won’t get a vote this time on bringing back secret, illegal interrogations that amount to torture, but chances are, the senator will find another opportunity to offer her amendment.  Furthermore, the issue continues to come up on the presidential campaign trail, so it’s one we cannot be satisfie! d to think is over.
 

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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Wednesday continued promoting the White House's pick for a key healthcare post overseeing the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

“Marilyn Tavenner, the @WhiteHouse nominee for Medicare Administrator, is eminently qualified to run the program.” Cantor tweeted.

Cantor’s tweet echoed his statement to the Associated Press on Tuesday, where he also called Marilyn Tavenner “eminently qualified.”

The steadfast support is somewhat surprising from Cantor, who has rarely sided with President Obama on issues.

Cantor, who does not actually have a confirmation vote because he does not serve in the Senate, seems determined to advocate on behalf of Tavenner. He told the Associated Press: “I would hope to be able to support her.”

Republican front-runner Newt Gingrich blasted Michele Bachmann as "factually challenged" on Wednesday after the Minnesota congresswoman said his position on illegal immigration was the equivalent of amnesty.

"Some people are just factually challenged," Gingrich said, according to the Washington Examiner. "It's unfortunate. When I was a teacher I occasionally had a student who couldn't figure out where things were or what things were or what the right date was. When that happens, you feel sorry that they are so factually challenged."

Bachmann has repeatedly criticized Gingrich for suggesting in the Republican foreign policy debate last week in Washington that law-abiding, tax-paying il! legal immigrants who had been in the country for a number of years should be afforded a pathway to legal status. Last Saturday, Bachmann also produced an editorial from eight years ago in which Gingrich endorsed "paths to permanent residence to enable more workers to stay, assimilate and become part of America."

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Newt Gingrich said that his campaign was taking off at a pace that even his team did not anticipate, and that he was the most electable of the Republican candidates during an interview set to air Wednesday night on Fox News' Hannity program.

“I'm beginning to think we may actually see a totally different dynamic than anybody could have predicted even a month ago, including me," Gingrich said. "A month ago, I didn't think we would get here for another 60 days, but it's clear the country is talking to itself…. And so I think, whereas I would have thought originally it was going to be Mitt and not-Mitt, I think it's going to -- it may turn out to be Newt and not-Newt.  And that's a very different formula than, frankly -- I mean we're having to redesign our campaign strategy because we're at least 60 days ahead of where I thought we'd be."

Gingrich said that part of the reason he was succeeding - and would be the best opponent for President Obama in! 2012 - was a willingness to "fight" the liberal media and create a clear contrast between himself and the president.

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The House is moving forward with three bills that would cripple the regulatory system.  The bills are not going to become law this Congress, but they show how far a party in thrall to its right-most wing is willing to veer from what has long been the mainstream.  The critical question is whether and when more moderate voices â€" centrist Republicans in Congress, sensible business leaders and the largely centrist American public â€" will recognize the damage being done and raise their voices to call it to a halt.  Clearly, that’s not going to happen in the House itself.
           
No one would argue that the regulatory system is perfect or that it’s some holy apparatus from which mere lawmakers should keep their distance.  But overall, it accomplishes what Congress set it up to do â€" it protects the public, produces benefits that outweigh costs, and has, according to most studies, a neutral to slightly positive effect on employment.  And ! as we continue to suffer through a bank-induced recession, it shouldn’t take leaps of imagination to understand the harm inflicted when the system fails to do its job.
          
Yet the bills before the House would prevent the system from working: they are a recipe for failure.  The bills are sometimes described with the mild term “regulatory reform” but these measures have as much to do with reform as Communist re-education camps had to do with education.  

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While Republican frontrunner Newt Gingrich continues to insist that he never lobbied on behalf of clients who paid his consulting firm millions of dollars, a new report from the New York Times revealed that the the former Speaker pushed lawmakers to consider clients for government contracts.

The Times' investigation focuses on Gingrich's work as a consultant for the Center for Health Transformation, a company he founded after leaving Congress. Firms paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the firm, and in exchange Gingrich facilitated meetings between executives and lawmakers. The former Speaker of the House would also promote the companies and their goals in presentations to lawmakers,! The Times found.

Among the discoveries from the paper were presentations and briefing materials given to lawmakers in Florida and Georgia where Gingrich argued that his clients could save government money and provide specific benefits. In one instance, Gingrich told Florida lawmakers that Clearwave - which paid his firm tens of thousands of dollars - could help save the state millions with a new medical patient data system.

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New Hampshire's sitting Democratic governor praised Jon Huntsman for his commitment to campaigning in the Granite State.

"You've been here so frequently, you're almost a native," Gov. John Lynch said Wednesday according to the Boston Globe. "I do want to thank Governor Huntsman for his steadfast commitment to the New Hampshire primary."

Lynch's comments came while Huntsman was speaking at a town-hall event at Concord High School in New Hampshire.

It's not clear how happy Huntsman was to earn a public complime! nt from a sitting Democratic governor while he works to win the support of conservative voters in New Hampshire, but at the time he took Lynch's comments in stride. Huntsman immediately told the crowd at the high school to give Lynch applause, according to the Boston paper.

"I have great respect and admiration for your governor," Huntsman said.

On the other hand, as the Globe notes, Lynch remains popular among even New Hampshire Republican and independent voters which could serve Huntsman well, particularly among moderates, who Huntsman has been working to court.

Huntsman is currently staking his presidential fortunes on a good showing in New Hampshire. The former Utah governor hopes if he performs well in the early primary he can use that momentum to win subsequent victories in the following primaries.  

Recently, Huntsman has been seeing modest gains in the state. A recent poll by the conservative Rasmussen Reports found Hu! ntsman with 11 percent support of Republican voters in New Ham! pshire, his best showing in the Granite State.

New Hampshire's sitting Democratic governor praised Jon Huntsman for his commitment to campaigning in the Granite State.

"You've been here so frequently, you're almost a native," Gov. John Lynch said Wednesday according to the Boston Globe. "I do want to thank Governor Huntsman for his steadfast commitment to the New Hampshire primary."

Lynch's comments came while Huntsman was speaking at a town-hall event at Concord High School in New Hampshire.

It's not clear how happy Huntsman was to earn a public complime! nt from a sitting Democratic governor while he works to win the support of conservative voters in New Hampshire, but at the time he took Lynch's complements in stride. Huntsman immediately told the crowd at the high school to give Lynch applause, according to the Boston paper.

"I have great respect and admiration for your governor," Huntsman said.

On the other hand, as the Globe notes, Lynch remains popular among even New Hampshire Republican and independent voters which could serve Huntsman well, particularly among moderates, who Huntsman has been working to court.

Huntsman is currently staking his presidential fortunes on a good showing in New Hampshire. The former Utah governor hopes if he performs well in the early primary he can use that momentum to win subsequent victories in the following primaries.  

Recently, Huntsman has been seeing modest gains in the state. A recent poll by the conservative Rasmussen Reports found! Huntsman with 11 percent support of Republican voters in New ! Hampshir e, his best showing in the Granite State.

Jon Huntsman may not qualify for an upcoming Republican presidential debate in Iowa.

According to The Des Moines Register, which is one of the debate hosts, the former Utah governor has not polled at 5 percent or above in a national Republican presidential primary poll or in the Iowa newspaper's poll â€" a requirement to attend the Dec. 10th debate at Drake University in Des Moines.

This isn't the first time Huntsman has been in danger of not meeting the minimum requirements to attend a debate. In October, it was uncertain whether Huntsman would meet the requirement to be polling at 2 percent or above in three separate polls in order to participate in a debate in Las Veg! as. Huntsman was able to meet the requirements but opted out of the debate in order to protest the pressure Republican leaders put on Nevada officials to move their caucus date.

Huntsman's campaign did not immediately respond to inquiries as to whether they expect him to appear at the debate.

In the face of low national poll numbers Huntsman has focused most of his campaign resources on New Hampshire, hoping that if he can perform well there he can use the momentum to win successive victories in subsequent Republican primaries. He has also focused some of his time and resources in South Carolina, another important early primary state.!

Huntsman's efforts in the Granite State seem to be! paying off modestly. A recent poll conducted by that conservative Rasmussen Reports found that Huntsman had 11 percent support of Republican voters in the state, the best showing so far in New Hampshire.

Huntsman's campaign said that the poll's findings are consistent with their internal polls as well.

“It’s largely consistent with the recent body of Granite State polling in which the governor has registered between 8 and 11 points,” a Huntsman campaign staffer said.

â€"This story was updated at 12:44 p.m.

Jon Huntsman doubled down on criticizing Herman Cain's presidential campaign in light of new allegations that he had a thirteen-year-affair. 

"We’ve got real issues to talk about not the latest bimbo eruption," Huntsman said to the Boston Herald on Wednesday.

On Tuesday the former Utah governor suggested that Cain should drop out of the presidential race in light of an accusation by Atlanta businesswoman Ginger White that she and Cain had had a consensual affair. That allegation stacks on top of other ones made against Cain by a number of women that Cain sexually harassed them.

"You’ve got to be reconsidering just based on how we have lost focus on the issues that really do matter," Hun! tsman said in an interview with the Boston Globe. "Every time another accusation comes up, it diminishes our ability to stay focused on the issues that really do matter for the American people. And I think that’s a disservice to the voters."

Before Huntsman's comments on Tuesday Cain suggested that he was reconsidering whether to move forward with his campaign. Cain's campaign later backtracked those remarks saying that Cain was only reassessing his campaign strategy.

Jon Huntsman knows how to take a joke.

Comedian Jon Stewart played a joke on Huntsman Tuesday night when the Republican presidential candidate took questions from followers on Twitter.

Huntsman had announced at the beginning of the week that he would field queries using the hashtag #q4jon.

Stewart, best known for Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” appropriated Huntsman’s town-hall hashtag for a faux purpose at around the same time. The show’s official account tweeted on Tuesday: “@MadMen_AMC fans: tweet Jon Hamm your questions by 4:15 Eastern! Hashtag #Q4Jon.”

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The grand bargain of advanced capitalism is that businesses are encouraged to prosper in pursuit of profits while, at the same time, government, through safeguards and regulations, is empowered to protect people from the excesses of the market.



Many of the great public policy advances of the past century can be understood in these terms.  Child labor laws, building codes, anti-trust laws, many public health measures, workplace safety and wage laws, labor rights, environmental and consumer protections, food and drug safety, and many others are properly understood as public actions that limit business behavior in order to strike a fairer balance between the needs of business and the needs of people and the environment.  Business typically opposes reform; yet the public interest can ultimately prevail.



Last year about this time the U.S. Chamber of Commerce began a focused campaign to challenge the ability of the U.S. government to maintain that bala! nce.  Despite the fact that financial deregulation was a major factor in the worldwide economic collapse, the Chamber, emboldened by Republican control of the House of Representatives, spun a narrative that the dismal employment rate was attributable to excessive regulation.  

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Hot Air comments yesterday that "the polls in every one of the early states have been pretty much of a roller coaster ride since summer. There’s probably time for at least one more rise and fall before the state’s [South Carolina's] residents actually go to the polls.”

The Republican campaign degenerates now to a state like that in the mid-'70s when political contrast was phrased “hippies v. hard hats.” The hard hats, rednecks today, were characteristically pictured sitting by a construction site on lunch break with American flag decals on their safety helmets and on their metal lunch pails poignant political slogans like “I’m not FONDA commies.” Yelling to passing hippies or just anyone, “Get a job! Take a bath!” (And to hippie girls or just any woman, “I like it in the morning!”)

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Ron Paul brings to government culture today a vision as complete and comprehensive as that which Martin Luther brought to religious culture. He is close to Luther in this regard as well: Ron Paul, like Martin Luther, dispels the worship of idols. Europe could not conceive of life without Roman dominance in the 1500s even as it descended into massive corruption. Until Luther, when half of the European establishment flipped. Paul and his libertarian cadre disdainfully view the political establishment of Washington, D.C., and it may be about to flip.

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Rick Perry shrugged off a gaffe he made concerning the legal voting age on Tuesday as simply human error.

Speaking a day after he mistakenly said that the voting age was 21 and that the 2012 presidential election is on November 12th (it's on November 6th), Perry said that everyone makes mistakes sometimes.

"From time to time we all will get something wrong â€"the President of the United States said there was 57 states one day" Perry said.

The gaffe was the second one that garnered a great deal of attention. During a debate in early November Perry tried to list three government agencies that he would cut as president but forgot the third one. The Republican Texas governor explained the attention that both Tuesday's gaffe and the one during the primary debate as an effort by political observers to distract from more substantive issues.

"Generally speaking, of my ten plus years as governor of Texas, when someone doesn't want to talk about the substantive issues, when they don't want to talk about the flat tax that I've laid out, when they don't want to talk about a major overhaul of D.C. like going to a part-time Congress â€"which most of the states operate very well withâ€" they want to find some error and talk about that," Perry said.

Perry said sometimes he, like everyone else, is just going to make mistakes when he's speaking.

"Look, I'm a human being, I'm going to make some mistakes sometime in my remarks! ," Perry added.

Folks, this is a big deal. Jon Huntsman has taken the gloves off against Mitt Romney, called him a captive of banking donations and the candidate of the status quo. And Huntsman has offered a serious financial plan that attacks “too big to fail” and would impose a new fee AGAINST banks that are too big to fail to prevent mega-bailouts in the future.

Perhaps Huntsman will next challenge the new candidate of pay-per-play, the man who runs Newt Inc., who tries to con voters into thinking he is the outside-Washington candidate.

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Presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman feels that people who misspell his name are "wasteful liberals."

"@tjmorf: @JonHuntsman Do you feel those who spell John w/ H are wasteful liberals using consonants wantonly & w/o discretion? #Q4Jon," a Twitter account wrote to Huntsman on Tuesday.

"Yes!" Huntsman replied.

In the past, political observers have noted moments when Huntsman's first name has been conspicuously misspelled. Perhaps the most notable occasion was during his rollout in the presidential race when his name was misspelled on some of his campaign merchandise.

There are no priorities before Congress more pressing than spurring private sector job growth and reducing the deficit.

That’s why, under my direction, the Communications and Technology Subcommittee has dedicated the past year to exploring how spectrum policy can help accomplish these goals.

Following multiple hearings, negotiations, and input from job creators, public safety officials, and other stakeholders, I am disappointed that we could not develop a bipartisan bill. But for the sake of the economy and public safety, we decided to take the best ideas and move forward today with unveiling the Jumpstarting Opportunity with Broadband Spectrum (JOBS) Act of 2011.

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One of the pertinent questions left out in the Cain-Ginger White affair is whether Gloria Cain knows Ms. White. If in fact her husband had a legitimate friendship with another woman for 13 years, certainly the wife would know about this.

We're not speaking of rocket science, but of logical investigative techniques. Also, when candidate Cain was asked whether White was lying about a 13-year sexual relationship, he simply stated let's see what the allegations are. If in fact there was no sexual relationship, he would have stated emphatically that this was a straight-up lie. Either there was a sexual relationship or he's the most inept person running for president in the history of the United States.

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The move from T to V is short, alphabetically.

Metaphorically, it is huge; from the Tea Party to the Vote Party suggests a major political shift. The Occupy Wall Street Movement has traveled across American cities, attracted national attention, and is ready to move from gaining attention to influencing social action.

If the movement â€" I’d call it the embryonic V Party â€" uses its social media network to advance a national agenda focused on curing our excessive economic disparity, it could generate important social reforms, like the Tea Party did for its agenda. Recent press reports noted that the Occupy Wall Street movement has morphed into YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, wiki and Web presences with millions of followers and thousands of activists.

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This was an accident waiting to happen. The deadly skirmish on the Afghan border involving U.S. special forces and Pakistani soldiers, which left 24 Pakistanis dead from a NATO air strike, reflects the contradiction at the heart of U.S. policy regarding Pakistan.

With the Afghanistan drawdown looming, the escalated U.S. military operation targeting the Taliban is out of step with U.S. diplomacy, which is looking for a negotiated solution. 

There you have it. So while U.S. diplomats back Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s decision to talk to the Taliban, the U.S. military is busy killing the people with whom he is supposed to negotiate, as well as angering the neighbor with a justifiable stake in Afghanistan’s future stability.

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The Nov. 28 op-ed by Steve Bartlett and Richard Hunt, “Financial Services: Coming to the Aid of Small Business,” misses an important aspect of the small business lending puzzle.

While these two respected leaders of two critically important lending trade associations  accurately describe the uptick in small business lending that we have seen this year, many aspiring entrepreneurs and existing franchise owners and job creators are still being held back from taking out loans to open or expand their business.

According to an IFA analysis by FranDATA, lending to franchise businesses in 2011 will fall short of the forecasted demand for growth by 20 percent â€" a shortfall causing 82,000 new jobs not to be created as well as keeping 8,000-10,000 new franchise establishments from opening their doors this year.
 

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Jon Huntsman criticized Mitt Romney for being in the "hip pocket" of Wall Street as well as being the status quo candidate. 

Speaking at a town hall in New Hampshire on Monday night, Huntsman accused the former Massachusetts governor of being under the influence of big Wall Street banks.  

"Anyone who is in the hip pocket of Wall Street because of all the donations they are picking up, like Mr. Romney, is in these days not going to be the change agent who is going to fix the too-big-to-fail banking system," the former Republican Utah governor said, according to MSNBC. 

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President Obama debuted his first pair of reelection campaign television ads Tuesday, imploring supporters to get involved in what looks to be a tough 2012 campaign.

"I need you to do me a favor," Obama says in one spot. "It will only take a minute. The 2012 campaign is under way, and the outcome will depend not on what I do, but on what you do … It’s up to you to fight for the values we all share. Don’t sit this one out."

Viewers are provided a telephone number and website â€" JoinObama.com â€" where they can sign up to volunteer and receive updates about the campaign. 

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Herman Cain, who said Tuesday he is "reassessing" his presidential bid, shared a personal anecdote about his relationship with his wife.

A feisty Cain delivered a foreign policy speech at Hillsdale College in Michigan on Tuesday evening, interacting with the crowd and repeating his popular campaign slogans including "9, 9, 9" for his tax reform plan. In sharing a story about the use of "in God we trust" on television, Cain said he turned to his wife in the kitchen one night from his spot in an easy chair.

He stopped in response to laughter in the crowd, saying: "What? That's what we do in our house on Sunday, I sit in the easy chair and [my wife] prepares dinner!"

He went on to say sometimes he prepares dinner and she sits.

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Michele Bachmann said Tuesday that it was "not for me to say" whether her fellow Republican presidential contender Herman Cain should drop out of the race, but she expected he would have to determine soon "whether he sees himself as a viable candidate."

She also reiterated that voters could turn to her as a "consistent" candidate with "no surprises" in her past.

Cain on Tuesday told his staff that he is “reassessing” his decision to remain in the race for the Republican nomination, following new allegations by an Atlanta businesswoman claiming she and Cain had a 13-year-long affair.

"That’s for the voters to determine and he’ll have to make the determination about where he goes with his campaign," Bachmann said on CNN. "His campaign is reassessing where he’s at and I’m sure he’ll make a decision before too long."

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Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio defended Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday for his stance on illegal immigration, responding to a question on Perry's support of extending in-state tuition breaks with "so what?"

Arpaio is well-known for his tough stance and controversial methods addressing illegal immigration. His endorsement of Perry, and subsequent campaign stumping, provide a strong boost for Perry's immigration stance. Perry has been attacked by many of his fellow GOP candidates as "soft" on immigration due to his support as governor of extending in-state tuition breaks to undocumented students who have graduated from Texas high schools.

“So what, even if there is that little problem, why should we not recognize what he’s done at the border?” Arpaio said in a joint appearance with Perry on conservative Sean Hannity's radio show. “You have to have an ID when you go to vote [in Texas], why don’t people talk about that?”

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Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) suggested Tuesday that he might not endorse any GOP candidate in the 2012 presidential field.

Speaking with Indiana Public Media, Daniels said he wasn't sure if his endorsement would matter.

“An incredibly well-respected person, Governor Christie, made an endorsement a couple weeks ago, and it sort of sank without a trace, so I don’t know why anybody would be excited about what I thought,” Daniels said.

In October, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie endorsed Mitt Romney for president.

Daniels mulled making a presidential bid before eventually deciding against it, citing his family as a reason not to run.

Still, there was speculation that the Indiana governor could play some! kind of role in the 2012 elections either as a vice presidential candidate or as a respected conservative wielding a coveted endorsement.

Recently, two groups that really help families and vets held fundraisers, and I attended parts of both.

The Bob Woodruff Foundation featured Jon Stewart as emcee; they vet and fund a growing network of nonprofits that help out directly.

The Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America advocates and provides lots of support for vets. (I'm on their board.)

Here we see Stephen Colbert accepting a civilian work award for his support for vets.

Watching AT&T try to save its proposed merger with T-Mobile is like watching a remake of The Sixth Sense: The lead character is dead but doesn’t know it yet. 

As much as AT&T pretends to the contrary, the takeover flat-lined last week when the FCC indicated it would oppose the deal. While some observers framed the FCC’s move to designate the merger for an “administrative hearing” as just another setback for AT&T, it was actually a fatal blow. The Department of Justice blocks mergers with lawsuits; the FCC does the same with hearings.

More damning than what the FCC was about to do were the reasons behind that decision. The agency rejected the claims in AT&T’s advertising and lobbying blitz, concluding that the merger would be a massive jobs killer that wouldn’t lead to faster rollout of 4G services to rural America. The FCC also confirmed the Department of Justice’s analysis that the merger would do immeasurable harm to competition ! and innovation.

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Jon Huntsman said in light of a recent allegation that Herman Cain had a 13-year-affair, the former businessman should consider dropping out of the Republican presidential race.

"Given the bandwidth that has been taken out of the discussion of any other issues pertinent to this campaign, a reconsideration might be in order,” Huntsman said Tuesday, according to The Boston Globe.

"You’ve got to be reconsidering just based on how we have lost focus on the issues that really do matter," Huntsman said. "Every time another accusation comes up, it di! minishes our ability to stay focused on the issues that really do matter for the American people. And I think that’s a disservice to the voters."

Huntsman has previously called the allegations against his Republican competitor for the presidential nomination a distraction and something that's diverted attention from other, more important issues.

The former Utah governor's comment comes the same day that Cain suggested on a conference call that he is reassessing his campaign in light of a new allegation that he had a 13-year-affair with an Atlanta businesswoman. That claim is in addition to previous sexual harassment allegations by a number of women.

"Now with this latest one we have! to do an assessment as to whether or not this is going to cre! ate too much of a cloud in some peoples’ minds as to whether or not they should support us going forward," Cain said earlier Tuesday.

Cain's campaign later said that his comment did not mean he was planning on dropping out.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) reaffirmed the freedom to tweet this week, forced to apologize after his staff criticized a student for tweeting her dislike of the governor during a visit to the state Capitol.

“My staff over-reacted to this tweet, and for that I apologize. Freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms,” Brownback said in a news release posted Monday on his official Facebook page.

A high school student from a Kansas City, Kan., suburb tweeted her negative opinion of Brownback last week during a field trip to the state Capitol in Topeka. Her tweet was red-flagged by Brownback press secretary Sherriene Jones-Sontag, who chided the student for not being “respectful,” according to The Kansas City Star.

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Rick Santorum blasted newly minted Republican front-runner Newt Gingrich as "inconsistent" with most Iowans and Americans on abortion issues, arguing that conservative voters in the Hawkeye State would abandon the former Speaker of the House after learning about his social positions.

"My guess is that they’ll do what has happened to a lot of candidates, which is once you find out more about the candidates, you may try to look for another candidate," Santorum said in an interview with the Des Moines Register.

The former Pennsylvania senator attacked Gingrich for statements in which he said he was in favor of federally financed abortions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, and encouraged then-President George W. Bush to approve some federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Santorum argued that those positions were contrary to the goals of the Susan Anthony List pledge, an important abortion litmus test for voters in the Iowa caucus.

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Perhaps one of the few things that most Republicans and Democrats in Washington can agree upon these days is the reality that our economic recovery does not solely depend on taxing and spending, but on the vitality of innovative small businesses.  As the debate rages about the best way to reduce our debt, it seems that a fundamental principal of business and sports has been forgotten.  To win, sometimes you just need to hit singles and doubles.

A clear example of this disconnect can be found in Congress’ repeated failure to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has been in a holding pattern for over three years.  The bill, which would fund the day-to-day operations of the nation’s aviation system, would also transform the nation’s antiquated 1950’s style ground-based air traffic control system to a “Next Generation” satellite-based system.  

The benefits of making our air traffic system both safer and more efficien! t are both obvious and manifold.  However, another key benefit to passing this legislation is that it would allow airports and businesses to make long-term plans regarding infrastructure projects.  

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Before breaking for Thanksgiving, Congress voted to de-fund the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program (VPA-HIP) as part of the FY2012 agriculture appropriations bill.  It is ironic that funding for a program that encourages landowners to make their property accessible to hunters and anglers would be eliminated just as millions of hunters nationwide prepared to hit the woods over the holiday weekend. And whether or not they hunt themselves, all Americans benefit from sportsmen’s dollars and the conservation investments provided by license sales and excise taxes, and therefore, the elimination of VPA-HIP deserves some attention.

The number one reason cited by hunters and anglers for forgoing the sports they love? Access â€" or rather lack of access â€" to quality fish and game habitat. Increasingly, sportsmen encounter “hunting prohibited” or “no trespassing” signs as they venture across the countryside. 

In response to this ve! ry real challenge, the sportsmen’s community developed VPA-HIP, a federal program intended to address the problem of diminished access by sportsmen and others by providing small incentives to landowners to provide public access to their lands for wildlife-dependent activities such as hunting and fishing.

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The Euro debt crisis began to spiral out of control when Prime Minister George Papandreou â€" called a “prince” by Reuters â€" failed to meet expectations. Papandreou was the third generation of his family to serve in that office. This is connected to the temperament of  Greece. The desire to want the same family to run for office again and again is in Jungian terms a "feeling" one. This is good for the Greeks, in my opinion, provided that they stay out of the EU, which is in the same Jung vein a "thinking" operation; a "greater Germany," if you will, as Germany is in these terms a thinking, objectivist place and center of the economic matrix.

And so is the U.S., but the sensibility here to default to governance by family members â€" princes; Bushes, Kennedys and Clintons in particular â€" in high office shows decline in our case as it presents a shift in sensibilities from the thinking function on which we were founded to a degenerative emotional realm, o! ne not native to American karma. One bad for a new people; one suited to the ancient regime. It is in a word a decline to monarchist instincts, or better, a desire, given the size of our country, for an emperor to relieve ourselves of the anguish and transcendence of self-governance.

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Rick Perry announced Tuesday that he had earned the endorsement of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the controversial but influential Arizona lawman known for his tough stance on illegal immigration.

"The federal government has failed on border crime and border enforcement, and no candidate for president has done more to secure the border than Governor Rick Perry. I have been watching Governor Perry and Texas closely and know his border surge operations with state, local and federal law enforcement officials have helped shut down the illegal trafficking of weapons, drugs and people," said Arpaio in a statement. 

Perry has slipped in the Republican race, due in no small part to a series of debate gaffes, including when he said that his opponents who did not agree that the children of illegal immigrants should be afforded in-state tuition did not "have a heart." Perry apologized for the statement, but the moment bruised the Texas governor's credibility with his conservative base on the immigration issue. The campaign clearly hopes the Arpaio endorsement will help Perry rebuild his immigration bona fides.

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When it rains, it pours.

Just hours after Herman Cain's campaign was hit with the latest in a string of accusations of sexual impropriety - this time, an Atlanta-area businesswoman claiming a 13-year-long affair with the former Godfather's Pizza CEO - Cain's campaign announced that the candidate had been forced to cancel a campaign event Wednesday outside of Cleveland.

The campaign blamed Independence, Ohio Mayor Greg Kurtz for reneging on a reservation to use a city venue for a campaign rally.

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In one of the most under-reported stories today, it is now revealed that the Federal Reserve Board pumped a "secret bailout" fund of perhaps $7 trillion into major banks that had not previously been disclosed. Check out the excellent story in The Hill by Vicki Needham about this. I am thrilled that Democrats have already begun calling for hearings. This could be a golden moment for Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) to hold hearings of the subcommittee he chairs.

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Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus defended Mitt Romney against an ad released by the Democratic National Committee on Monday painting the Republican front-runner as a flip-flopper.

"I think it's preposterous to believe that in all of life, we don't have the right to change our mind or alter our opinion," Priebus said on Brian Kilmeade's show.

The ad opens with text reading, "From the creator of 'I'm running for office for Pete's sake,' comes the story of two men trapped in one body," and then contrasts Romney statements on abortion rights and healthcare.

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Mitt Romney is the weakest front-runner in modern political history and is far more vulnerable than most pundits think. Newt Gingrich will get a major boost from the Union Leader endorsement, which will put pressure on Romney and Ron Paul in Iowa and New Hampshire. The great mystery of the campaign is that no matter how many Republicans rise and fall as the alternative to Romney, Jon Huntsman has not had his moment.

In my view, Huntsman is the most qualified Republican to be president. In the White House view, Huntsman would be the strongest candidate. So, Shakespeare might write, wherefore art thou, Jon Huntsman?

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In 2008, when I criticized Mitt Romney for being a weathervane in a hurricane on the TV talk shows, I thought he was simply trying to undo some of his issue stands from his Massachusetts days to appeal to a much more right-wing Republican audience in the campaign for president.  

The record then was pretty transparent and used against him by his opponents in Iowa and New Hampshire: changing on abortion, gay rights, gun control, even comments about Ronald Reagan. The trouble for Romney then was that most of this was nicely preserved on videotape. The early 2008 ads against him were pretty tough and pretty clear â€" they went to his character.

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On Wednesday, November 9, members of the UC Berkeley Police Department beat non-violent Occupy Cal protestors with billy clubs. A former poet laureate of the United States ended up with bruised ribs in the unprovoked melee.

The next morning, I skimmed through the comments forum following a Bay Area newspaper’s account of the skirmish: Hiding behind the veil of anonymity, the posters had recurring words for the students involved: “Entitled.” “Pampered.” “Babies.”

The following Friday, the UC Davis Police Department felt compelled to pepper spray non-violent protestors, who had the nerve to sit cross-legged in the middle of the school’s quad. Again, the online comments: “Entitled.” “Pampered.” “Babies.”

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Rep. Barney Frank's (D-Mass.) decision to not seek reelection may be a sign that he's angling for a Cabinet position in the Obama administration. 

In the past, Frank has expressed interest in joining President Obama's Cabinet as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 

"I want at least two years with President Obama and a solidly Democratic Senate so that we can get the federal government back in the housing business," Frank had said in 2009. 

But Frank, now 71, later backtracked those remarks.

"I'm too old," the Massachusetts congressman told The Hill in 2010. 

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Responding to reports that Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) will not seek reelection, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) called the 71-year-old congressman a "historic pioneer in American politics" and a personal mentor.

"This is a man of incredible intellect. A powerhouse who has championed the rights of consumers in the financial services community," Wasserman Schultz said. "I really have a heavy heart today. I'm going to miss him terribly."

Wasserman Schultz, who frequently speaks on behalf of the Democratic Party, told reporters on Monday that while Frank's retirement was a major loss for the country, it was something he had been contemplating for a long time.

"He has got a lot of wonderful years left, and he absolutely deserves to enjoy life a little and take a little bit of a breather."

Responding to reports that Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) will not seek reelection, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) called the 71-year-old congressman a "historic pioneer in American politics" and a personal mentor.

"This is a man of incredible intellect. A powerhouse who has championed the rights of consumers in the financial services community," Wasserman Schultz said. "I really have a heavy heart today. I'm going to miss him terribly."

Wasserman Schultz, who frequently speaks on behalf of the Democratic Party, told reporters on Monday that while Frank's retirement was a major loss for the country, it was something he had been contemplating for a long time.

"He has got a lot of wonderful years left, and he absolutely deserves to enjoy life a little and take a little bit of a breather," she said.

What's going on in Europe is scaring the living daylights out of me. The Germans cannot sell German government bonds to the bond market. They only sold about 40 percent of their sovereign bonds last week.

This is the strongest country in Europe, and they can't sell their euro bonds? That is proof positive that investors have zero confidence in the euro. They have confidence in Germany, but not the euro. If Germany sells euro bonds and the euro market breaks up. German euro bonds will convert to Deutsche Mark bonds and no one knows how they will be priced. Italy is a story unto itself; it has gone so far down the wrong path that, in an auction on Friday, it had to pay investors 6.5 percent on six-month bonds. 

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I recently had the pleasure to speak at a conference hosted by the Financial Markets Law Committee in London on the state of derivatives regulation in the U.S. and Europe. Among the hot topics of discussion were concerns over the unintended consequences of the new Dodd-Frank rules and the extraterritorial reach of the law. I focused my remarks on how the indemnification provision in Dodd-Frank is Exhibit A for both of these concerns.

New rules in the U.S. and European will require cleared and uncleared swaps transactions to be reported to repositories, which are essentially giant databases that hold the underlying data on these trades. This information is essential for market transparency because when the data is consolidated in a central repository, such as DTCC’s Trade Information Warehouse for credit default swaps (CDS), regulators worldwide can see market positions and monitor concentrations of risk.

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Each presidential campaign brings with it political strategists and demographers saying Latino’s influence is growing and neither party has a lock on the fastest growing segment of the electorate, yet the truth is Republicans have a huge deficiency of trust.  In spite of this reality, the Republicans have not developed a serious political plan targeting Hispanics.
 
The GOP establishment has done little to begin communicating with Latino voters, the segment of the electorate I believe could decide the outcome of the presidential contest.  It is important to note that groups such as American Crossroads have engaged in Spanish-language advertising, the Hispanic Leadership Network is conducting grassroots activities and the Republican State Leadership Committee has pledged to recruit 100 Hispanic candidates for state legislative races.  While these outside efforts are significant, it does not translate to a commitment on the part of the national party startin! g with its presidential candidates.

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A spokeswoman for Mitt Romney admitted Monday that the presidential campaign's strategy was to win the Iowa caucuses, despite efforts by the candidate throughout the year to downplay expectations.

"Our strategy is to win there," Romney communications director Gail Gitcho said during a conference call with reporters Monday afternoon.

Gitcho then began to walk her comments back, saying the campaign wanted to win every contest.

"We want to win wherever our name is on the ballot and we're going to be in Iowa enough to show that Mitt Romney is going to be the best candidate to take on President Obama," Gitcho said.

Romney has been reticent to fully engage in the state after a disappointing performance there in the 2008 GOP primary contest. During that cycle, Romney spent more than $10 million in the state, but still placed second to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, failing to capture the support of Iowa's conservative voters.

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The goal of antitrust policy is to protect competition and consumers, not to protect the interests of any particular group of competitors. This fundamental principle is critical when reviewing recent commentary on the proposed merger of Express Scripts and Medco, two Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). 

A recent opinion piece by David Balto (Step up to the plate: FTC needs to stop the Express Scripts-Medco merger- November 2,2011)
 rehashes the positions of retail pharmacy groups that repeatedly have been disproven by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO). 

Mr. Balto and the lobby for retail pharmacies have waged a l! ong-running battle in state capitals and in Washington to restrict PBMs because they are unhappy that PBMs negotiate lower prescription drug prices for employees, union members, and others than retail pharmacies would charge if left to their own devices.

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Recently, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to lift the current ban on military insurance covering abortion care in cases where a woman is pregnant after rape or incest. Unfortunately, rape is a very real threat for American servicewomen, and they must be able to access the abortion care they need after experiencing sexual violence.
 
Servicewomen rely on the military for their health care, but under current policy they are left to fend for themselves if they become pregnant after rape or incest. Through our website and toll-free hotline, we hear from military women about their difficulties obtaining abortion care after they experience sexual violence:
 
I am in the military and got raped and became pregnant. I would like to just move on without military intervention. I am stationed in South Korea and abortion is illegal here, even for rape. I cannot go home on leave at this time. I don’! t know what to do. What can I do?
Anonymous; South Korea (as reported to NAF)

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The devastating tornados that flattened entire cities throughout the southern states earlier this year claimed hundreds of lives and caused up to $5 billion in damages.  A number of lessons can be learned from this disaster and subsequent relief efforts, but among the most important are ensuring that future disaster recovery efforts happen as efficiently and effectively as possible. Research and experience show that these goals can be accomplished through strategic planning and project and program management.

Recently, I testified on behalf of the Project Management Institute (PMI) before the Senate Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery and Intergovernmental Affairs on the benefits of effective program management and our extensive research in program management and disaster recovery. 

Disaster relief efforts, with all their inherent risks and urgency, benefit immensely from PMI’s project management standards. Training project and program ma! nagers to facilitate and streamline responses allows a disaster recovery team to stay organized and focused, and to implement solutions a community needs after being struck by a disaster as quickly and efficiently as possible.

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Newt Gingrich has opened a sizable lead over Mitt Romney in the first national poll taken since the former Speaker of the House earned the key endorsement of the New Hampshire Union Leader, showing Gingrich with a nine-percentage point lead over the former Massachusetts governor.

The poll, conducted by Majority Opinion Research Sunday night, showed Gingrich leading the Republican field with 32 percent of support from those surveyed. Romney earned 23 percent, while Herman Cain rounded out the top three with 14 percent of the vote. Ron Paul led the remainder of the field with 6 percent.

Gingrich's lead has opened up as the former Speaker has rallied both older voters and independents. 39 percent of those 65 and older support Gingrich, versus 28 percent for Romney, while those in the 45-64 age range b! ack the speaker by a 37 to 19 percent margin. Those figures would tend to support the emerging theme that conservatives are rallying behind Gingrich as their preferred alternative. Gingrich and Romney are virtually tied among voters 18-44, who are more likely to hold liberal views.

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These are strange times at the National Labor Relations Board. First, the Board has endured months of relentless right-wing attacks. Now, in an unprecedented move, Brian Hayes, the sole Republican member of the NLRB â€" which will be reduced to two members and lacking a quorum by the year’s end â€" is threatening to resign in order to sabotage a long-awaited new rule on union certification elections.

In an op-ed in The Hill, former Bush NLRB chairman Peter Schaumber, a prominent critic of the Board, blames the current shambles on the allegedly shabby way Hayes has been treated by his fellow Board members, both Democrats. But Hayes’ resignation threat has been coming for months.

When Chairman Wilma Liebman’s term ended in late August, right wing groups and prominent Republicans immediately called for Hayes to step down in order to incapacitate the Board. Senator Graham stated that, given the NLRB’s efforts to enforce the law more effectively,!   “Inoperable is progress,” whereas South Carolina Governor Nikki Halley would “support anything that would disband the NLRB.” Perhaps the only surprise is that Hayes has taken so long to follow their advice.

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Michelle Obama and Vice President Biden attended funeral services Monday for Maggie Daley, wife of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Obama and Biden were also joined by Jill Biden, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett and White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, brother to the former mayor.

Besides White House dignitaries, current Chicago mayor and former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, as well as both of Illinois's senators, Mark Kirk (R) and Dick Durbin (D), attended, according to NBC Chicago.

Daley died on Thanksgiving Day, on Nov. 24. She had been battling cancer for a decade.

"Michelle and I were deeply saddened to learn of the passi! ng of Maggie Daley," President Obama said in a statement shortly after Daley died. "Maggie was an extraordinary woman who dedicated her life to public service. While she will be sorely missed, her initiatives on behalf of Chicago’s youth live on as national models for how to create environments for children to learn and grow outside the classroom."

Rick Santorum said President Obama emerged as the victor from the supercommittee's failure to reach a deficit-reduction compromise.

The Republican presidential candidate and former Pennsylvania senator said Monday that Obama got exactly what he wanted with the automatic trigger cuts to defense spending that will go into effect because the panel failed to reach a deal.

"If you think about it he's the big winner here," Santorum said in an interview with the Nashua Telegraph editorial board. "He's accomplished what he wanted by being an absentee leader on very important issues."

Santorum's comments came the same day that Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), a member of the committee, said that Democrats were the ones on the panel that ruined any chance of making a deal. He said there was "something to" the idea that Democrats had an incentive for the committee to not reach a deal.

Santorum also blamed President Obama for not being more involved in the supercommittee's dealings. He said that there was "very little evidence that the president tried to participate."

"He played politics with this," Santorum said. "He's acting like a politician running for office than a president governing."