Monday Roundup: Also Available In Spanish

The Democratic presidential candidates had another debate yesterday, and it was groundbreaking. Not because it marked a new record high for number of debates, but rather because, according to the AP, it was the first one ever to be broadcast in Spanish.

Now, we've talked quite a bit about how the Republican Party is losing ground among Hispanic voters. Last night's debate, sponsored by Univision, is a clear indicator that the Democratic Party is aware of how influential the Hispanic vote and the Hispanic community have become. It wasn't all smooth sailing: Univision required that all candidates answer in English, after which those answers were translated into Spanish, and Richardson protested. He and Chris Dodd both speak fluent Spanish, but Univision made the argument that they didn't want to give Spanish speakers an unfair advantage. Also, there were apparently some technical problems — there was no audio in the press room, for example — but the general opinion seems to be that it was a success.

The Iraq report due this week was a hot topic of discussion, and you can expect that item to dominate this news cycle. While we get reports that the surge has created a contentious environment among top military commanders, Joe Biden is asserting in strong terms that what General Petraeus has been saying about improving conditions in Iraq is wrong. This week is going to feature many arguments over stuff like this, but I hesitate to hold out hope that we'll learn much of anything new in the process.

It might be next week before you hear much about it, but apparently the White House has been pruning its list of possible nominees for Attorney General. Mike Allen at Politico says the number of names on that list is down to five, and who knows? On the relative strength (or weakness) of the nominee, they might roll out a name on Friday, at the end of the news cycle. (And here's a link to a corresponding story from Roll Call since Politico is acting a little weird this morning.)

In state news, the community colleges in Texas are still trying to figure out what they're going to do about all the money that Perry vetoed, and they met with state legislators last week to try and hash out some solutions. That story, from the Dallas Morning News, seems to imply that there are more problems afoot than a simple cut to certain kinds of funding. The whole system has been falling more and more into fiscal imbalance for a while, largely because the state keeps shifting its spending priorities.

In another Dallas Morning News piece, this one an editorial, William McKenzie ponders whether Bush has been good or bad for Texas. The summary of his findings: he's been bad for Texas, but maybe history will prove him out to have been not so bad. At least he got the "bad for Texas" part right.

If, like me, you've been wondering what the hard-right conservative Christian Republicans will do to try and pick themselves up in 2008, meet Rick Scarborough. He's on a mission to mobilize that group of voters, which may cast about in light of recent GOP troubles, and they may end up being a bloc that the two sides fight over, believe it or not. The Star-Telegram has an interesting look at Scarborough and where voters on the religious right may end up.