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Insider Report: Al Franken Faces Deep-Pocketed Opponent Special From NewsMax's Most Informed Sources
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories): 1. Al Franken Faces Deep-Pocketed Opponent Liberal comedian Al Franken is in for a tough battle as he seeks the Democratic nomination for a Senate seat from Minnesota now that high-powered lawyer Mike Ciresi has thrown his hat into the ring. Ciresi is best known for a multibillion-dollar settlement he engineered with the tobacco industry. He also served as counsel to the government of India against Union Carbide over the Bhopal catastrophe, and represented women rendered infertile by the Copper 7 IUD. The trial attorney ran for the Senate in 2000 as a self-described progressive moderate, but lost the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party primary to Mark Dayton in a four-way race. Ciresi spent nearly $5 million of his own money and raised another $1 million for the primary race. He has said he's not planning on self-funding his new campaign, but he's not ruling it out, according to the Washington, D.C.-based publication The Hill.
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For his part, Franken who recently left the Air America radio network raised more than $1 million for his Midwest Values political action committee in the last cycle, "showing the fund-raising prowess needed to run in one of the marquee races in the nation," the Hill reports. David Schultz, a political expert at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn., told The Hill: "What you have is probably the two best-financed candidates who have entered early and probably will scare off just about everybody else at this point." Ciresi and Franken are targeting the Senate seat now held by Republican Norm Coleman, who narrowly won in 2002 after Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash. Editor's Note: 2. Cuban Oil Exports Threaten U.S. Embargo The Canadian energy company Sheritt International plans to export Cuban oil for the first time, a move that could complicate U.S. efforts to enforce the trade embargo against the communist nation. Sheritt, in a joint venture with the Cuban government, has been drilling for oil in Cuba for more than 10 years, and production now provides almost half of the country's petroleum needs, according to the Miami Herald. Refined products from Venezuela account for the rest. Meanwhile domestic demand for crude has dropped because Cuba is increasingly using diesel generators for electricity production. A U.S. Geological Survey report has estimated that petroleum reserves in the North Cuba Basin could total 4.6 billion barrels. Cuba's state oil company has signed a deal with China's Sinopec to explore for oil, and drilling is currently underway in waters just 60 miles off the coast of Florida. "Inevitably wherever this crude oil is processed in the Caribbean region, there is a high probability that its byproducts will find their way into the U.S. market," oil expert Jorge Pinon, a senior researcher at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Affairs at the University of Miami, told the Herald. The American trade embargo bans U.S. companies from doing business in Cuba, with exceptions for food and medicine. Last year two Republican lawmakers introduced legislation to allow American oil and gas companies to bid on Cuban contracts. But the bill went nowhere, but it could be reintroduced in the new Democratic-controlled Congress. Editor's Note:
3. Postal Service Helps Illegals Wire Money NewsMax.com reported last month that a Federal Reserve service called Directo a Mexico allows customers without Social Security numbers to wire money through the Fed system to Mexico's central bank, enabling illegal aliens to send money home cheaply. The service, which was launched last September, drew strong criticism from a variety of sources fighting illegal immigration. But the U.S. Postal Service offers a similar program on an even wider scale. For several years, the USPS has allowed anyone to wire transfer money not only to Mexico but also to Argentina, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Peru, a Post Service insider told NewsMax. For transactions less than $3,000, the sender does not have to provide a Social Security number. Sending more than $3,000 is really not a problem, either. The sender is asked to provide a Social Security number, although the legitimacy of the number is not checked, according to the insider. For a photo ID, the USPS will accept a "Matricula consular identification card issued by the government of Mexico," according to the USPS Web page regarding this program. Any Mexican national, including those illegally in the United States, can get a consular ID. Like Directo a Mexico, the USPS program hurts U.S. workers by draining money from the national economy. Remittances sent to Mexico alone last year totaled $23 billion. Tom Fitton, president of the conservative legal group Judicial Watch, said in a statement that Directo a Mexico "undermines our nation's immigration laws and is a potential national security nightmare." The same might be said about the USPS program. Editor's Note: 4. Giuliani's Children Absent From His Campaign Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's relationships with his two children have cooled and neither his son nor his daughter is taking part in his presidential campaign. In the past, Andrew Giuliani, 21, has appeared in his father's campaign ads and at inaugurations. In 1989, the then 3-year-old was at Giuliani's side when he declared his candidacy for mayor. But Andrew's relationship with his father has grown strained since Giuliani's divorce from Andrew's mother, Donna Hanover, and his marriage to Judith Nathan in 2003, The New York Times reports. In a telephone interview with the Times, Andrew a sophomore at Duke University admitted having had difficulties with Judith Nathan, and said he and his father were only now trying to reconcile after not speaking with each other "for a decent amount of time." He also told the Times that he would not take part in Giuliani's presidential campaign, saying his focus on becoming a professional golfer in the coming years would prevent him from participating "even if I wanted to." Similarly, "a distance appears to have developed" between Giuliani and his daughter Caroline, a 17-year-old high school senior, according to the Times. Giuliani did not attend Andrew's high school graduation in 2005, and stopped attending Caroline's school plays 18 months ago. His campaign Web site does not mention his children, but it does include photographs of Judith Nathan, his third wife. After the Times story appeared, Giuliani acknowledged during a campaign trip to California: "I believe that these problems with blended families, you know, are challenges sometimes they are." Editor's Note: 5. Joe Wilson: Bush Should Pardon 'Scooter' Libby The above headline no doubt is stunning in light of the fact that Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted on charges related to the outing of Joe Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA agent. But the Joe Wilson here is not the former U.S. ambassador who was critical of the Bush administration's prewar intelligence on Iraq. He is Rep. Joe Wilson, a Republican from South Carolina. In a conversation with radio host Steve Malzberg, who was hosting "Bill Bennett's Morning in America" on the Salem Radio Network, Malzberg asked if it was tough to have Joe Wilson's name. "I am the good Joe Wilson," he replied. "There is another one in town." The congressman said he was "startled" by the outcome of the Libby case. And when asked if President Bush should grant Libby a pardon if he seeks one, Wilson responded: "Absolutely." Editor's Note: 6. NewsMax Wants Your News Tips Become a NewsMax "news associate" by tipping us off to stories you feel NewsMax readers will want to read. We'd like you to be our eyes and ears and send us news tips, story ideas, and comments. We keep your tips confidential.
We also appreciate readers who send us links to important stories that they have found in a local paper or other publications and believe deserve national attention. Help us watch the media and bring you articles of interest from anywhere around the globe. We do read your e-mails! To send us a news tip, click here. 7. We Heard . . . THAT former ABC News anchor Carole Simpson is no fan of Fox News Channel's leading light, Bill O'Reilly. In an interview with Keith O'Brien of the Boston Globe, Simpson now a journalism professor at Emerson College in Boston said she watches ABC's Charles Gibson, whom she described as a "serious journalist." When asked about a TV news figure she doesn't watch, Simpson said: "Bill O'Reilly . . . I used to work with Bill. Bill was an arrogant I'm not going to say it. See, I get to talking, and then I get in trouble." THAT even former President George Bush Sr. doesn't know if his son Jeb will run for president. The elder Bush expressed his uncertainty about the former Florida governor's intentions during a recent visit from Czech President Vaclav Klaus in Houston.
Jeb Bush has insisted that he won't seek the GOP nomination for president in 2008, although some observers believe his plans could change. THAT Sen. Joe Lieberman is once again attending Democratic policy lunches thanks to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Lieberman, who lost the Democratic primary last year and won re-election as an independent, said he felt "kind of awkward" attending the lunches as the only supporter of President Bush's planned troop surge in Iraq. His no-shows led some Democrats to fear he was contemplating a switch to the Republican Party, according to the Congressional Quarterly. But lunch is on again. Lieberman said Reid "just called me, and he said, 'Come on back.'" THAT Chuck Todd is leaving his post as editor in chief of National Journal's Web site The Hotline to become an on-air analyst and political director for NBC News and MSNBC.com. Todd has been writing for National Journal for nearly 10 years and has been a frequent guest on Chris Matthews' cable news show. Said Todd: "I am not saying goodbye to readers just changing addresses." Editor's Note: Editor's Notes:
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