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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/30/AR2006093001025_pf.html
Democrats Hope to Swing State Legislatures Their Way
By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Sunday, October 1, 2006; A05
Just as Democrats hope to shift the balance of power in Congress this November, they are hoping to control more state legislatures.
Tim Storey of the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures saidthere could be a seismic swing in the control of state legislatures in favorof Democrats this fall because of an energized Democratic base. Legislaturescurrently are controlled nearly equally by Democrats and Republicans.
"For a number of elections, the Republicans have been eating [the Democrats] alive," Storey said. "Do the Democrats build some momentum in the otherdirection? I think they're optimistic they can do that."
The balance of state legislatures could have national implications, as theyhave been the source of headline-grabbing lawmaking on topics includingredistricting and state policies on health care, immigration and abortionthat go beyond what Congress does.
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http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/09/everyones_jewish.html
September 25, 2006
Everyone's Jewish
By Charles Krauthammer
Strange doings in Virginia. George Allen, former governor, one-term senator, son of a famous football coach and in the midst of a heated battle for reelection, has just been outed as a Jew. An odd turn of events, given that his having Jewish origins has nothing to do with anything in the campaign and that Allen himself was oblivious to the fact until his 83-year-old mother revealed to him last month the secret she had kept concealed for 60 years.
Apart from its political irrelevance, it seems improbable in the extreme that the cowboy-boots-wearing football scion of Southern manner and speech should turn out to be, at least by origins, a son of Israel. For Allen, as he quipped to me, it's the explanation for a lifelong affinity for Hebrew National hot dogs. For me, it is the ultimate confirmation of something I have been regaling friends with for 20 years and now, for the advancement of social science, feel compelled to publish.
Krauthammer's Law: Everyone is Jewish until proven otherwise. I've had a fairly good run with this one. First, it turns out that John Kerry -- windsurfing, French-speaking, Beacon Hill aristocrat -- had two Jewish grandparents. Then Hillary Clinton -- methodical Methodist -- unearths a Jewish stepgrandfather in time for her run as New York senator.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/30/AR2006093001177.html
The Washington Post
Foley Built Career as Protector of Children
He Gained Attention by Fighting Sex Crimes
By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 1, 2006; A04
The Republican congressman who resigned Friday following the discovery of sexually explicit Internet messages he sent to teenage boys was a gregarious and charismatic lawmaker who built his political career in large measure on legislative proposals meant to halt the sexual predation of children and others.
Beginning with his 1993 sponsorship of a measure in the Florida state legislature to seize the cars of men who solicited prostitutes, former restaurant owner and real estate agent Mark Foley repeatedly attracted a flattering political spotlight by inveighing against those involved in sexual crimes and presenting himself as a protector of exploited children.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/washington/01foley.html?hp&ex=1159675200&en=a7760582db028fd5&ei=5094&partner=homepage
The New York Times
October 1, 2006
G.O.P. Leaders Knew in Late '05 of E-Mail
By CARL HULSE and RAYMOND HERNANDEZ
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 - Top House Republicans knew for months about e-mail traffic between Representative Mark Foley and a former teenage page, but kept the matter secret and allowed Mr. Foley to remain head of a Congressional caucus on children's issues, Republican lawmakers said Saturday.
The exchanges began with what Republicans now describe as an "overfriendly" e-mail message from Mr. Foley to the unidentified teenager.
But news reports about the exchanges led to the disclosure of e-mail correspondence with other former pages in which the discussions became more and more sexually explicit. Shortly after he was confronted by ABC News on Friday about the subject, Mr. Foley, who represented a south Florida district, resigned from the House.
The revelations set off a political upheaval, with Democrats and some Republicans alike calling for a full investigation of Mr. Foley's conduct and whether House leaders did enough to look into it. Members of the Republican leadership sought Saturday to detail how they had handled the case in an effort to defuse the issue, even as it was emerging as an issue in Congressional races.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/30/AR2006093000293_pf.html
Behind Public Optimism on Iraq, Administration Had Doubts
By Bob Woodward
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 1, 2006; A01
In May, President Bush spoke in Chicago and gave a characteristically upbeat forecast: "Years from now, people will look back on the formation of a unity government in Iraq as a decisive moment in the story of liberty, a moment when freedom gained a firm foothold in the Middle East and the forces of terror began their long retreat."
Two days later, the intelligence division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff circulated a secret intelligence assessment to the White House that contradicted the president's forecast.
Instead of a "long retreat," the report predicted a more violent 2007: "Insurgents and terrorists retain the resources and capabilities to sustain and even increase current level of violence through the next year."
A graph included in the assessment measured attacks from May 2003 to May 2006. It showed some significant dips, but the current number of attacks against U.S.-led coalition forces and Iraqi authorities was as high as it had ever been -- exceeding 3,500 a month. (In July the number would be over 4,500.) The assessment also included a pessimistic report on crude oil production, the delivery of electricity and political progress.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/29/AR2006092901593_pf.html
New Book Fuels Election Year Debate Over Bush, Rumsfeld
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 30, 2006; A01
New revelations that White House aides tried twice in the past two years to persuade President Bush to fire Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld fueled a caustic election-season debate yesterday over the president's wartime leadership and underscored divisions within his administration.
The latest book by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, "State of Denial," paints a portrait of an administration riven by personal and policy disagreements exacerbated by a deteriorating situation in Iraq that has grown even worse than Bush admits to the public. In Woodward's account, Bush has become increasingly isolated as his team has rejected advice to shift gears in Iraq before it is too late.
The White House tried yesterday to dismiss the significance of Woodward's assertions, while Democrats eagerly seized on the book to bolster their campaign attacks five weeks before midterm elections. Coming days after the partial release of a National Intelligence Estimate concluding that the Iraq conflict has spread the "global jihadist movement," the latest disclosures kept the focus on the missteps and consequences of an unpopular war.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/world/middleeast/01lebanon.html?ei=5094&en=c6cb244f4bdf6604&hp=&ex=1159675200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
October 1, 2006
Ruined Towns Look to Beirut, Mostly in Vain
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 30 - A ride through the south of Lebanon, across rutted and bombed-out roads, past a landscape of twisted metal and crumbled concrete, reveals little progress toward rebuilding tens of thousands of homes devastated by the 34 days of Israeli bombing that ended more than six weeks ago.
Money has begun flowing in, from foreign governments and nongovernmental organizations. But nearly $900 million in international pledges remains untapped by the Lebanese government, whose presence is barely visible in the south. continues to give cash payments to individual Lebanese for damaged homes. And the central government has allowed, and indeed encouraged, some foreign countries to begin giving similar grants.
Those villages lucky enough to have been adopted by foreign donors are preparing to rebuild. In those less fortunate, villagers sit staring into ruins, and waiting.
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