Daily Briefing: The Republicans' Sophisticated Campaign
• Bushdeclares Iraqi election a "resounding success": "The world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East."Zogby: "We shouldn't get hysterical with hyperbole, we shouldn't have a 'mission accomplished' moment." [ WP , NYT , WT , USAT ]
• Kerrycredits 9/11 withBush's win, keeps '08 open: "I won the [total] popular vote in the battleground states by two percentage points. We just didn't distribute it correctly in Ohio." [ WP , NYT ]
•Congressional Republicans launch sophisticated campaign to inform voters about need for Social Security reform, but leaders still divided; each have 104-page playbook titled "Saving Social Security" that advises on keywords ("personalization" over "privatization") and instructs to "talk to simple language." [ WP , WT ]
•Administration wants responsibility of health care to shift to workers.Gingrich: "My view is that this is absolutely the next big thing. You are going to see a continued move to trying to get people involved in the process by owning their own health accounts." [ LAT ]
• Reid, Pelosioffer pre-emptive attacks on SOTU. [ NYT , USAT ]
•One-sentence provision in law about public relations efforts has been open to interpretation. [ WP ]
•Amid uncertainty, National Intelligence Director position goes unfilled. [ WP ]
• Chertoff's role in determining legal interrogation methods after 9/11 questioned. [ WP ]
• Fowlergets endorsement of the Association of State Democratic Chairs' executive committee. [ NYT , WP , LAT ]
• Sharanskybuzzes.Bush: "I felt like his book just confirmed what I believe. He writes it a heck of a lot better than I could write it, and he's certainly got more credibility than I have." [ NYT ]
•Media firm used bySBVFThired for Supreme Court battle by conservative supporters. [ WT ]
• Dowd, Lockhartduel.Lockhart: "Well, I've been to an AA meeting, and I've been to a Democratic caucus, and AA meetings are more fun."Dowd: "That's because they're realistic." [ USAT ]
•Some lawmakers wait for hours to shakeBush's hand at SOTU photo op. [ WT ]