The hard working Congress, candidate translation, plus the return of Dan

Capital Caucus #3

Intro

• Pop-Culture-Politics
• Shownotes at capitalcaucus.com
• Email us at capitalcaucus@gmail.com
• Roundtable intro

Legislative

• Congress finds 5-day workweek is too taxing, Seattle P-I
• Congress Is Empty, Get Used to It, ABCNews.com

Executive

• President's "I'm optimistic about Iraq" news conference
• Bush: U.S. will succeed in Iraq, CNN
• Bush: U.S. Troops Will Remain In Iraq Through The End Of My Presidency, ThinkProgress.org

Judicial

• Stanford Law Review Symposium
• Welcome to the Kennedy Court, TNR.com
• O'Connor, Kennedy speak of Western roots at Stanford tribute, San Jose Mercury

Fourth Estate

• Translating potential candidates English... today's lesson: "no plans" means "I'm thinking about it"
• Gore says he has no plans to run for president in 2008, AP
• Gore Says He Has No Presidential Plans, LA Times

Last Call

• Kelly - Illinois primaries
• Dan - Unanimous rulings on the high Court
• Tim - Condi Rice... NFL commissioner? "At the moment," no.

Conclusion

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• capitalcaucus@gmail.com

Censures, Jessica Simpson and game show teeth

Capital Caucus #2

Intro

• Pop-Culture-Politics
• Shownotes at capitalcaucus.com
• Email us at capitalcaucus@gmail.com
• Roundtable intro

Legislative

• Katherine Harris snags herself on a scandal, but stays in the race (AP)
• If a censure motion falls in a forest, but no one is there to hear it... (AP)

Executive

• President's low polling continues (NBC/WSJ, Pew Research Center)
• Pre-emption doctrine (Washington Post)

Judicial

• Claude Allen and James Payne - the best Bush can nominate!
  • Bush judge under ethics cloud, Salon.com
  • Store reports Allen admitted fraud, AP/Washington Times
  • Former Justice O'Connor criticizes the beginning of dictatorship - death threats revealed (Ms. Magazine, CNN)

Fourth Estate

• Washingtonienne/Jessica Cutler gets another 15 minutes (Washington Post)
• Clooney's no blogger (Los Angeles Times)
• Mark Warner - 70s game show host? (NYT Magazine)

Last Call

• Kelly - Jessica Simpson is no Bono, snubs Prez
• Adam - St. Patricks Day dispensation and discontent
• Tim - Electoral college end around

Conclusion

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• capitalcaucus@gmail.com

Ok, so we're no Barack Obama... or even Sean Hannity (trust me on that latter one), but the first episode of Capital Caucus launched us into the top 100 political podcasts on iTunes! Currently, the ragtag gang of the usual suspects sits comfortably at number 75... and rising! THANK YOU for your continuing support... if you dig the show, tell your friends all about it. They can subscribe with one click over there on the right side of the page.

Now, the truly amazing thing is that we're doing this without our full team. Succeeding despite the absence of Dan is kinda like Gerry McNamara, hobbled with a gimpy groin hitting those threes in the Big East tourna... what's that Kelly? Stop with the sports? Um, ok...

(go Orange!)

Tim was the featured interview on Darren Main's Inquire Within podcast this week. He discussed the history of Roe v. Wade and the ramifications of the recent law passed in South Dakota that makes virtually all abortions illegal. Check out Darren's podcast at darrenmain.libsyn.com, or download it directly here (mp3).

Next Capital Caucus will be held later in the week. Thanks for listening!

Delay, polling in the teens, the courts and the ports

Capital Caucus #1

Intro

• Pop-Culture-Politics
• Inside the beltway, out of the ordinary
• Shownotes at capitalcaucus.com
• Roundtable intro

Welcome to the first show... sort of

• A special welcome to those who listened to "the old show"
• CC will cover the law, the courts, politics, plus what we hear inside the beltway mixed in with our futile attempts at comic bronze
• The roundtable doesn't always agree, but we're mostly on the same page
• Email us at capitialcaucus@gmail.com

Tom "The Hammer" Delay's primary challenge

Vice President Cheney's low polling

• 18%?, Washington Post

The Courts

• Randall v. Sorrell and campaign finance
  • Can Congress regulate expenditures by candidates?
  • Vermont Challenges Tie Between Speech, Spending, NPR
  • How to Decide the Vermont Campaign Finance Case, Rick Hasen, Loyola Law School
• Henderson v. Perry
  • Texas redistricting case
  • Ties to Delay, etc.
• Abortion and the Court
  • Late-term abortion case
  • South Dakota passes a law banning almost all abortions... Court bound?

The ports

Former Rep. Cunningham goes to the pokey

FEMA: Are the Mikes the new Donald and Martha?

Last Call

• Whadaya got? Predictions or something interesting
• Kelly - WH plugging leaks
• Adam - Immigration reform
• Tim - John Kitzhaber

Conclusion

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• capitalcaucus@gmailcom

Too much stuff this week... we're still mourning the loss of Don Knotts, and our travel schedules are getting in the way of recording our best show ever. We were also momentarily distracted by the star power at the Court this week. (No, we're not talking about the guy who argued the campaign finance case for Vermont.) Trim Spa baby! We promise... next week!