Washington News

Democrats Defend Obama's Record On Jobs Politico reported Vice President Biden is "defending the Obama administration's record on jobs, saying the country is on a 'steady path' to recovery, despite unemployment numbers Friday that show the economy last month only added 115,000 jobs. 'Look, this goes up and down. But there's been a steady path -- 26 months straight employment gain, private employment,' Biden said" on NBC's Meet The Press.
David Axelrod said on ABC's This Week, "Let's consider where we were when the President took office. We were losing 800,000 jobs in one month. We lost four million in the six months before he took office, or nearly four million. In the last 26 months, we've gained 4.2 million private-sector jobs. The last six months, we've gained nearly 200,000 jobs a month. And you have to look at the trend, not one month or short periods of time. ... We've come a long way from where we were."
Sen. Charles Schumer, on CBS' Face The Nation, said the President remains "focused on middle class and the economy and jobs. ... But we have huge numbers of unemployed people. And in the future he's talking about investment to help our future in things like education, in infrastructure, in scientific research, which help create the jobs that make the middle class feel secure about the future."
Sen. Marco Rubio said on Fox News Sunday, "This president asked us to hire him four years ago on the promise that he knew how to fix this economy and that he would be different, that he would unite this country. That's the standard we should judge him by, the standard that he set. The economy is worse off."
Former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, on NBC's Meet The Press, said, "I've been all over the country in the last three weeks, and with all due respect to the President, there's a real wariness out there. They've gone from having pneumonia now to having a kind of a strong virus when they look at the economy. ... I think the country has felt they've been through these kind of false upticks two or three times now in the last couple of years, and they're waiting. There's a general feeling that things are beginning to get better, but not fast enough."
Retirement Trends Could Keep Unemployment Rate From Increasing USA Today reports, "Last month's drop in unemployment to 8.1% from 8.2% resulted from a shrinking labor force, suggesting that many discouraged workers gave up job searches," but "analyses...show growing Baby Boomer retirements were behind most of the decline in the labor force." USA Today adds, "That's key because some fear the unemployment rate will rise again when better job prospects draw discouraged workers back to the market," but "a Boomer exodus could more than offset the re-entry of discouraged workers."
Sen. Kelly Ayotte, on NBC's Meet The Press, said, "We saw that jobs report on Friday that was very, very disappointing. And the most disappointing aspect of it is that people are leaving the job market, and obviously, they feel hopeless in terms of where the economy is right now."
Newt Gingrich, on CNN's State Of The Union, claimed that "if he had the same number of people in the workforce that we had on the day he was sworn in, it would be over 10% unemployment. What Obama has succeeded in doing is actually driving people out of the workforce. So unemployment is down because there are fewer people looking for a job."
Romney Ad On The Economy Focuses On Those "Suffering In Silence" The Hill (5/7, Mali) reports the Romney campaign "unveiled a new Web video hitting President Obama on the April jobs figures report and saying that millions of Americans were 'suffering in silence' from the administration's economic policies. The ad, titled 'Silence' begins with footage from news programs announcing troubling news about the economy, amid clips of Obama speaking at a campaign rally in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday, defending his record. The video then cuts to a title card which reads, 'Today millions of Americans are suffering in silence,'" and "ends with a title card reading: 'This is the Obama economy.'"

Biden Says He Is "Absolutely Comfortable" With Gay Marriage Vice President Biden's Meet The Press comments on gay marriage are generating a great deal of coverage, including a front-page article in the New York Times titled, "A Scramble As Biden Backs Same-Sex Marriage." On the network newscasts, the story received only a brief mention on NBC Nightly News, as part of a larger piece on the Obama campaign. The almost total absence of criticism of Biden's comments, from Republicans or anyone else, is among the notable aspects of the coverage last night and this morning.
Biden said on NBC's Meet The Press, "I am Vice President of the United States of America. The President sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don't see much of a distinction beyond that." The Los Angeles Times , meanwhile, says that "in the strictest reading of the transcript, Biden didn't advance the administration's position on the issue," but "Biden's choice of words, and his expression of personal empathy for same-sex couples, suggests it is at least a subject of discussion at the White House."
Many of the headlines this morning suggest that Biden is perceived to have endorsed marriage for same-sex couples, despite the insistence of the White House and the Obama campaign that this is not the case. The AP , in an article titled, "Biden OK With Equal Rights For Married Gay Couples," says Biden's "stand" is one "that gay rights advocates interpreted as an endorsement of same-sex marriage." The Wall Street Journal titles its piece on Biden's remarks, "Biden Appears To Back Gay Marriage."
While NBC Nightly News called Biden's response to the question on marriage "a misstep by Mr. Obama's number two," and stated that President Obama "opposes gay marriage," the New York Times notes that "this is not the first time that White House officials have staked out stronger positions on gay rights than the president has, raising the possibility that Mr. Obama is relying on aides to telegraph his intentions to avoid the political consequences of articulating them himself."

9/11 Defendants Non-Cooperative During Tribunal Hearing The high-profile military hearing at Guantanamo Bay of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other alleged 9/11 plotters generated heavy media coverage last night and this morning, with nearly five minutes of coverage on network newscasts. The dramatic courtroom action over the weekend included apparently coordinated non-cooperation by defendants and protests by defense attorneys that the military justice system was "rigged" against the defendants.
The CBS Evening News reported, "The five accused 9/11 Al Qaeda terrorist who disrupted their military tribunal hearing yesterday don't have another court day for at least five weeks. But the aftershock from their actions extend far beyond Guantanamo Bay -- stonewalling the proceedings and refusing to look at the judge or answer his repeated questions. James Connell, a lawyer for accused moneyman Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, called the suspects' courtroom behavior peaceful resistance and said it was deliberate."
NBC Nightly News reported, "Throughout the hearing, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators were defiant, refusing to answer the judge's questions, look at him, or even wear headsets so they could hear translations. Judge James Pohl was visibly irritated. 'One cannot refuse to participate and frustrate the proceedings,' he snapped. Accused plotter Ramzi Bin al-Shibh twice disrupted the proceeding. 'Maybe they will kill us and say we have committed suicide,' he said in English."
The Washington Post reports, "Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four co-defendants refused to speak during the 10-hour hearing Saturday, which included a reading of the capital charges against them, including murder in violation of the law of war, hijacking and terrorism. The defendants variously prayed demonstratively in court, stripped off a shirt to show the marks of alleged ill treatment, read magazines, shouted at the judge and whispered constantly with each other."

Campaign News

Obama Campaign In Full Swing After Weekend Trips, Sunday Shows The Washington Times says President Obama's "re-election effort shifted into a higher gear over the weekend," with the President and First Lady "leading rallies at colleges in Ohio and Virginia on Saturday," and Vice President Biden and David Axelrod defending the Administration "on everything from the killing of Osama bin Laden to the latest jobless numbers" on the Sunday morning talk shows.
On NBC Nightly News, Mike Viqueira said, "After headlining some 130 fundraisers in a series of official events that critics say were a little more than political rallies in disguise, the President is now officially on the trail and he's naming names. This weekend, there was no mistaking the real thing." President Obama: "The challenge we've faced for over a decade is that harder work has not led to higher incomes. Is that bigger profits haven't led to better jobs. Gov. Romney doesn't seem to get that." Viqueira: "Two rallies in two crucial swing states Ohio and Virginia."
Obama Addresses 14,000 In Columbus The Columbus (OH) Dispatch reports the President, addressing "a boisterous crowd of 14,000 in the 20,000 seat Schottenstein Center at Ohio State University" on Saturday, offered "a spirited defense of his first 41 months in office and asking for a second term to finish restoring the economy." Obama said, "This is not just another election. This is a make or break moment for the middle class, and we've been through too much to turn back now."
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports the President, "echoing themes from his first campaign" in 2008, said "this year's election is still about hope and change in America. But he added it is also about continuing to move the country forward instead of returning to previous Republican policies." The Enquirer says the turnout was "about 6,000 short of the campaign's stated goal." The Toledo (OH) Blade says the President's visit to Ohio "was his fifth this year."
Eight Thousand Turn Out For Richmond Rally The Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch reports, "Before a boisterous crowd of about 8,000 at Virginia Commonwealth University," the President "said that while the nation's economy still faces headwinds, it's making progress. He presented himself as a fighter for the middle class" and cast Romney "as a potential president who will 'rubber stamp' the agenda of conservatives in Congress."
The Norfolk (VA) Virginian-Pilot says the President "conceded the nation is still recovering from near fiscal ruin and that more work is needed to right the job and housing markets." He said, "This crisis took years to develop, and the economy is still facing headwinds. And it will take sustained, persistent effort -- yours and mine -- for America to fully recover. That's the truth. We all know it."
The Fredericksburg (VA) Free Lance-Star says, "The choice of Virginia for one of just two kickoff events is significant. Obama's 2008 election was the first time Virginia had gone for a Democrat in a presidential election in 42 years."

Gallup Shows Tight Race In Swing States, But Democrats More Enthusiastic USA Today reports, "Six months out, it's a tie." In the first USA Today/Gallup poll of 12 presidential swing states since Mitt Romney emerged as the near-certain Republican nominee, the candidates "start their head-to-head contest essentially even among registered voters -- Obama 47%, Romney 45%. ... That's closer than the lead of 9 percentage points for Obama in the Swing States survey in late March. But the poll also finds a reversal in what has been a key GOP asset in the five previous battleground surveys taken since last fall: an edge in enthusiasm among voters." Democrats are now more likely than Republicans "to say they are extremely or very enthusiastic about voting." For the Democrats, 57% said they are "extremely or very enthusiastic," while that stands at 46% for Republicans.
Axelrod Says Romney Faces Enthusiasm Gap David Axelrod said on ABC's This Week, "Republican enthusiasm has dropped precipitously, partly because what we've seen from Gov. Romney is all negative. Ninety percent of the ads that he's run in this campaign, $55 million of advertising...have been negative. His attacks, his speeches now are entirely negative attacks on the President, doesn't talk about his own record, doesn't really talk about his vision. That is not going to create enthusiasm."

Lugar Tries To Fight Off Primary Challenge From Mourdock The AP reports that Sen. Dick Lugar (R) on Sunday stumped "through northern Indiana, fighting hard to beat back the perception that he's already lost" his primary battle with state Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R). The AP notes, "Numerous polls show" Lugar's GOP foe "is poised to unseat the six-term incumbent in Tuesday's primary, which would hand the tea party its biggest trophy kill yet." Yesterday, Lugar "worked to inspire his" backers "with a last-ditch attempt to beat back the new political wisdom."
The Evansville (IN) Courier & Press reports that the Lugar and Mourdock camps on Sunday focused "on what the race's outcome means this fall and beyond." The Senator said a Mourdock win in the primary "would open the door for the Democratic candidate, US Rep. Joe Donnelly, to swipe the seat from Republican hands. Mourdock's campaign shot back that Lugar's refusal to pledge his support for the GOP ticket, no matter who wins the race, demonstrates why it's time to boot him from office."
The Christian Science Monitor says Mourdock's "assault on Lugar is two-pronged: That the incumbent is not conservative enough at a time when the tea party movement has pushed Republicans to the right. And that Lugar has long since become out of touch with his home state."
Donnelly Expects To Face Mourdock In November Politico reports Donnelly is expecting Mourdock to be his opponent. During a Friday evening speech before Indiana Democrats, Mourdock "never mentioned Lugar," but "directed plenty of fire at Mourdock."