Daily News Roundup, 11/28/07: Republican Royal Rumble

Boy, am I glad that the Rudy/Romney mudfest got heated over the weekend; that should make tonight's Republican YouTube/CNN debate all the more interesting.

CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider has gone so far as saying tonight's debate will be "a three-ring circus." Since the debate is in Florida, the last primary state before Super Tuesday, I have no doubt that candidates will be going after it with gusto. I imagine if — or when — it gets ugly, one of two things can come from that: either one person will pull his statesmanlike face out of the hat, and basically by default "look Presidential" and set himself head and shoulders above the folks mucking in the muck (and I'm not sure anyone in that pack has a "statesmanlike face" other than Romney and possibly Thompson), or no one will be disciplined enough to avoid the mud and Huckabee will end up looking like a king just for being the one nice guy on the stage. I don't know; I don't think I'd necessarily put money on either. But it'll be interesting, nonetheless.

A number of developments have come up in Pakistan recently. Following this weekend's filing by former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto for the Pakistani parliamentary elections scheduled for January 8, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has also filed for parliament, even as he vowed never to take a prime ministership under Musharraf. Sharif was removed as prime minister by Musharraf eight years ago, and remains possibly the key personage in the Pakistani opposition movement. Whether the filings indicate a real intent to run, or a preparation for a symbolic withdrawal from the race in the light of an all-out boycott of the January elections in protest of the emergency rule declared by Musharraf, which shows no signs of ending, remains to be seen. And finally, Musharraf took off his uniform today, stepping down as general of the Pakistani Army. To say that this would immediately change the outlook of the Pakistani government from a military to a civilian mentality would clearly be naive, the move does mean that we are definitely looking at significant change come the January elections, in one way or another.

In Texas news, state auditors released their report of questionable names on state voter rolls, and came up with 49,000 names of people who may be either dead or felons who are ineligible to vote. And — surprise, surprise — not a one of them cast a vote in the last election. I'll let Rep. Garnet Coleman give you the punchline on this one:

Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, said the audit didn't find any fraud had occurred in the May election. He said the ID requirement [in the photo ID bill that House Republicans tried to pass in the last legislative session] could suppress turnout among many Texans who are eligible to vote.

"Everytime someone says, 'Show me the fraud,' there isn't any," said Coleman.

The state Court of Criminal Appeals is also making news for not wanting to play by federal rules again. The Statesman article mentions two decisions. The first deals with a case where a man who killed his pregnant girlfriend was charged with two murders, bringing into play state law considering a fetus an individual and therefore under protection of murder statutes. The court ruled that the law does not conflict with Roe v. Wade, as the killing of the fetus was against the mother's will. The defendant's take was that abortion precedent established that states have no compelling interest to interfere before the fetus is viable. I'll leave figuring that one out to the experts. But the second decision states that a man that was in jail was not subject to Miranda protections because he was "technically not in police custody." Really, folks, I can't make this stuff up. And apparently, I'm not the only one that finds this a bit incredible:

Judge Charles Holcomb, in a dissent joined by Judge Tom Price, said the majority opinion was "in direct conflict with United States Supreme Court case law."

"The majority holds that (Herrera) must show added limitations on his freedom, beyond the fact that he is under formal arrest, before he is 'in custody,' " Holcomb wrote. "I find this amazing."

Finally today, if you'd told me a year ago that the heavies of Washington political analysis would be doing power comparisons between Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey, I would've thought you were daft. But there it is in print: WaPo takes a look at the "showdown" between "legendary communicators" Winfrey and Clinton. They also make mention of the campaigns' efforts to get the female vote, in which Edwards also ranks a mention. I thought that was particularly interesting in light of an article in the San Francisco Chronicle noting that a quarter of all eligible voters are single women.

"They have the power to reshape American politics further, if they vote," according to the Greenberg Quinlan Rosner study. "Unmarried women have the potential to emerge as the 'Democrats' Evangelicals.' "

"The Democrat's Evangelicals." I like that.