Monday Morning Week Ahead

New feature (possibly) premiering today on TBWA as we present a list of things to keep in mind and keep an eye on as this week gets underway…

• As the trial for September 11th conspirator Zacharias Moussaoui gets back on track, let’s remember to keep an eye on it and keep in mind that a few other terrorist court cases, according to the Washington Post, have been spoiled by “government misconduct, overzealousness, hyping of charges or just plain ineffectiveness.” (Lovely… this administration is supposedly all about protecting the country and its citizens, but they can’t do a relatively simple thing like manage a trial)
• Tuesday is Election Day around the country and Scott and I urge you all to keep an eye on your state and local elections as they may give a small, yet still significant, clue on what will happen in November’s mid-terms. A few states, and races, to particularly be mindful of: the Illinois GOP primary and races in Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Ohio, all of which were states that Bush carried before but now have a good chance of swinging over to Democrat.
• It’s the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, and Bush and his galloping murder of cronies still have their blinders on and are remaining optimistic about the country and the possibility of civil war. The Prime Minister of Iraq, Ayad Allawi, told the BBC earlier “If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is.” (I think the quote from Mr Allawi is all that needs to be said on this…)
• There’s a huge GOP fundraiser in California tonight for Gov. Schwarzenegger that is expected to draw thousands of dollars for his re-election campaign. But the real show will be, and is expected to be, the event’s main speaker, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and his 2008 Traveling Presidential Bandwagon and Cavalcade. For months, McCain has been (quietly) piecing together the necessary parts to assemble a national campaign: lining up donors, courting his Senate colleagues, reaching out to social conservatives, earning IOUs from other politicians. Republican or not, I respect Senator McCain and think (especially if the Democrats can’t get behind a good, quality candidate) he would make an excellent President. Here’s a hint. Keep an eye on McCain in the next couple of years.
• The Chicago Tribune has a story that states the next big clash between Liberals and conservatives will be over gay adoption.
• Republican efforts to craft a single policy and political agenda to help carry the party into the midterm elections has stumbled repeatedly as GOP leaders face widespread disaffection and disagreement within the ranks. (This makes me happy. It would make me happier if the Democrats had themselves already decided on a single policy and political agenda to help carry them into the midterm elections…)
• As the GOP struggles to get out from under the Jack Abramoff/lobbyist cloud, lobbyists themselves are predicting that it will be business as usual with no real changes happening in the way they do their jobs. How do they expect that? By anticipating ways to circumvent any congressional efforts to impose new restrictions on how they work. (Nice. They have essentially admitted that they will do whatever it takes to lobby politicians the way they always have, no matter what restrictions are put into place. That being said, the changes that the Republicans AND the Democrats are cultivating need to be aggressive, quick and wide-spreading, and will have to have real and serious repercussions when lobbyists violate the rules. Otherwise, as they just stated to anyone who reads a newspaper or watches the news on TV, they will find ways around the rules. BTW, any politicians who are caught dealing with these shady lobbyists will also have to be reprimanded with more than a slap on the wrist… think “Duke” Cunningham)

Stay tuned...