Inside the Beltway

NEWS AND OPINION:

NEW NEWT

Newt Gingrich has not disappeared, yelping, into in a great whirlwind of bad press and slamming doors. He’s still got a campaign staff, he’s got press communiques despite a recent exodus of top aides. Press secretary J.C. Hammond sent Inside the Beltway excerpts from Mr. Gingrich’s speech before the Republican Jewish Coalition of Los Angeles Sunday night; he warned that “the survival of Israel and the safety of the United States both hang in the balance”and accused the Obama administration of elevating “political correctness above common sense.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Gingrich’s 24th book, “A Nation Like No Other: Why American Exceptionalism Matters” arrives at bookstores Monday. And yes, he’ll join the CNN/New Hampshire Union Leader prime-time presidential debate Monday night in the Granite State, sharing the stage with the likes of Mitt Romney and Herman Cain. Mr. Gingrich will likely be ready to rumble.

“Look for Gingrich to emphasize that it is the Republican Party’s charge to end the Obama depression now, by forcing action on the economy this summer and fall, and not wait till January 2013,” a source close to Mr. Gingrich tells the Beltway.

MARK OF MARCO

There’s quiet, persistent talk that Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida could emerge as a vice presidential candidate on the 2012 Republican ticket. His pacing as a public figure has been well measured. Mr. Rubio already has said he’s not ready to offer any endorsement in the White House race.

But wait. He also suggested he’d “do anything” his party asked once the alpha nominee is selected. Like be on the ticket? Definitely on the radar, then, is Mr. Rubio’s “maiden speech” before the Senate at 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday, his wife and four children in the audience.

“We have built the greatest and most exceptional nation in all of human history. Now we have to decide whether we want to continue to be that or are we prepared to decline. These are the decisions that we need to make,” Mr Rubio says; the speech airs live on C-SPAN 2 and at cspan.org. and will be available afterward on the lawmaker’s YouTube and Facebook pages.

PALIN-CENTRIC PRESS

“There exists in the newsrooms of Washington and New York City a burning desire to show this woman who is boss. How dare she make herself a media and political star without bowing before them?” asks a New Hampshire Union Leader editorial on press obsession with 24,000 recently released pages of e-mails that Sarah Palin’s sent as Alaska governor. So far, the efforts of 17 news organizations only yielded proof she used words like “sheesh” and “unflippin’ believable” while in office.

“There are so many other stories that never got the scrutiny this one is getting,” the Union Leader says. “How many media organizations devoted ’teams of reporters and database specialists’ to explain the details of Obamacare or the auto bailouts or the federal stimulus spending? How many reporters are sent to Alaska by news organizations that cut back on state government or foreign war coverage? How many initially ignored the story of a certain tweeted picture from an actual sitting member of Congress who was widely considered a top candidate for mayor of New York City?”

MINDING THE TERRORISTS

Political buffoonery and dubious media distractions continue. Thankfully, so does the serious, straightforward work at the House Committee on Homeland Security, under the auspices of chairman Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican.

A hearing Tuesday examines security of the nations ports and maritime borders with an appearance by Adm. Robert J. Papp Jr., commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, which has increased its presence at ports and waterways tenfold since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

On Wednesday, Mr. King and company examine the threat of Muslim-American radicalization in U.S. prisons.

“We have seen cases in which inmates have been radicalized at the hands of already locked-up terrorists or by extremist imam chaplains,” he says. “We will focus on a number of the serious cases in which radicalized current and former inmates have planned and launched attacks or attempted to join overseas Islamic terrorist organizations.”

PRIMARIES NOT SECONDARY

No wonder there’s such a fuss over Iowa and New Hampshire. For better or worse, they really are political powerhouses, new research reveals.

Voters in states with early primary races have up to five times the influence of voters in later states in selecting presidential candidates, says Brown University economist Brian Knight, who analyzed daily polling data from previous races to quantify the effects of those early victories.

“Clearly, the primary calendar plays a key role in the selection of the nominee. Evidence that early voters have a disproportionate influence over the selection of candidates violates ’one person-one vote’ - a democratic ideal on which our nation is based,” says Mr. Knight, whose research was published in the Journal of Political Economy.

POLL DU JOUR

• 66 percent of likely U.S. voters say Washington politics “will be more partisan in the next year.”

• 14 percent say the politics will be “more cooperative,” 20 percent are not sure.

• 65 percent say the next president likely will be Republican; 25 percent say this is unlikely.

• 65 percent say congressional Democrats “are acting like partisan Democrats,” 19 percent say they are bipartisan, 16 percent are undecided..

• 61 percent say congressional Republicans are “acting like partisan Republicans,” 20 percent say they are bipartisan, 18 percent are undecided.

• 50 percent say President Obama is governing “like a partisan Democrat,” 34 percent say he is bipartisan, 17 percent are undecided.

Source: A Rasmussen reports survey of 1,000 likely voters conducted June 9.

• Hullabaloo, cacophony, yelps to jharper@washingtontimes.com