By chance, I happened to watch two different network evening news programs Thursday night. Each had big stories about how we are facing a recession in early 2008.

I also caught the Republican debate in South Carolina. Every candidate was asked about it. They were all in denial.

Who's doing something about it? Hillary Clinton, who will announce an emergency spending plan today in California. The New York Times writes:

The Clinton package is to include $30 billion for an “emergency housing crisis fund” for states to help low-income families unable to make mortgage payments and in danger of losing their houses. Last year she proposed $5 billion for such a fund.

In addition, Mrs. Clinton’s package would channel $25 billion to help low-income families pay heating bills this winter, a tenfold increase of the existing federal program. Her proposal would also include $10 billion to extend unemployment insurance for people unable to find jobs.

For more details, see the Times article or this AP article.

Hillary is the first presidential candidate to come up with the plan. As the Times notes, others likely will follow suit.

The ACLU reports:

In the first decision of its kind, a federal judge today ordered the government to stop the deportation of Egyptian national Sameh Khouzam based on a secret and unreliable “assurance” from the Egyptian government that it will not torture him upon his return. The judge called for Khouzam’s immediate release from jail under reasonable conditions of supervision and granted his habeas corpus petition. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit on Khouzam’s behalf, applauded the judge’s ruling.[More....]

Is anyone watching the Republican debate on Fox News? It just started and Ron Paul is there. They started with the stories on the network news tonight that we are headed to a recession. They all deny it and talk about cutting spending.

Update: Papa Fred must have had a double Starbucks before the debate. He's actually somewhat lively and cracks a few one-liners (all things being relative, of course.)

Update: the highlight so far. Britt Hume asked the candidates whether the Navy commander in the Strait of Hormuz incident in the Persian Gulf made the right decision. McCain, Thompson, Giuliani answered in sync. Then Ron Paul went on the offensive, saying he was disturbed about what he was hearing and that hewould be much more cautious because the voice on the ship radio might not have been the enemy.

Britt Hume stopped him after a minute or so and asked him what he was talking about because the other candidates had praised the Navy commander for using caution. (Hume might have well have said "What planet are you on?)

As expected, Bill Richardson dropped out of the presidential race today. Here 's a transcript of his remarks.

He did not endorse any of his competitors. Instead, he asked everyone to make up their own minds and listed their strengths:

Senator Edwards is a singular voice for the most downtrodden and forgotten among us.

Senator Obama is a bright light of hope and optimism at a time of great national unease, yet he is also grounded in thoughtful wisdom beyond his years.

Senator Clinton's poise in the face of adversity is matched only by her lifetime of achievement and deep understanding of the challenges we face.

He also appeared on CNN's the Situation Room. When asked who he thought would get the Latino vote, he said Hillary Clinton had an edge but Obama could garner support from all minorities, particularly the young ones. [More...]

Andrew Knoupt, the President of the Pew Center, attributes Obama's loss in New Hampshire to race and bigotry, not women. His piece is about why the pollsters got it wrong, but he's not too subtle:

Poorer, less well-educated white people refuse surveys more often than affluent, better-educated whites. Polls generally adjust their samples for this tendency. But here’s the problem: these whites who do not respond to surveys tend to have more unfavorable views of blacks than respondents who do the interviews.

What he's really claiming is that white people who make less than $50k a year and didn't attend college are bigoted.

Mrs. Clinton beat Mr. Obama by 12 points (47 percent to 35 percent) among those with family incomes below $50,000. By contrast, Mr. Obama beat Mrs. Clinton by five points (40 percent to 35 percent) among those earning more than $50,000.

There was an education gap, too. College graduates voted for Mr. Obama 39 percent to 34 percent; Mrs. Clinton won among those who had never attended college, 43 percent to 35 percent.

As to why this didn't happen in Iowa, he only says:

My guess is that Mr. Obama may have posed less of a threat to white voters in Iowa because he wasn’t yet the front-runner. Caucuses are also plainly different from primaries.

I'm not buying this at all, and I think it's insulting to New Hampshire voters.

Update: Here's another view, one I subscribe to more: Hillary's message and moment won the day. [More...]

We haven't had an open thread yet this week and I'm off to court for the afternoon.

You pick the topics, all are welcome, and I'll be back late this afternoon or tonight.

Update: Bill Richardson will hold a press conference at the N.M. state capitol at 3pm ET. Hope someone writes what he said in the comments.

Update: Something else I wanted to mention, given the new group of frequent commenters here. TalkLeft does have diaries, and you'd like to write one, you can e-mail me to change your user permissions to "diarist." When we get a few posted, I do a "diary rescue" (like this) to bring greater attention to them. As for diary rules, they are below:

Senator and former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry will endorse Barack Obama for President.

The endorsement is considered "a slap at" John Edwards. Edwards beat Kerry in the 2004 South Carolina primary. Edwards' reaction?

"Our country and our party are stronger because of John's service, and I respect his decision. When we were running against each other and on the same ticket, John and I agreed on many issues."

How much effect will the endorsement have?

Since losing the 2004 race, Kerry has kept a national network of supporters intact. He has an e-mail network of 3 million supporters, according to aides. He also has traveled extensively raising millions of dollars for Democratic candidates nationwide.

Nick Yarris, released from jail four years ago after spending 22 years in prison having been sentenced to death for a murder he didn't commit, has settled his wrongful conviction case against Delaware County, PA for $4 million.

The settlement was the result of a malicious-prosecution lawsuit Yarris filed in 2004 against Delaware County and the law enforcement officials who investigated and prosecuted him, and it came as the case was moving closer to trial in U.S. District Court.

[His lawyer John] Beavers said county representatives agreed to inform the family of murder victim Linda Mae Craig that "no probable cause existed to believe Nick Yarris had anything to do with her death."

Yarris now lives in London where he is a stay at home dad to his 21 month old daughter.[More...]

Nevada will hold caucuses on January 19. The Republican caucuses are non-binding so no one is paying attention. But the Democratic race is heating up. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama increased volunteers and campaign workers in the state right after Iowa. Obama currently has more field offices open than Hillary.

In North Las Vegas on Wednesday, an Obama field office was buzzing with activities and people came in from the streets looking for yard signs and T-shirts. (“Tell Mama Vote Obama” remained on the wall, and there was not a sign for the taking.)

“Senator Obama has invested heavily into this state,” said Shannon Gilson, a spokeswoman for his campaign here. “We aren’t taking anything for granted.”

As I noted yesterday, Obama has garnered the endorsement of two influential unions while Clinton picked up the support of the state's Democratic Congresswoman.

Nevada will be the first western state to vote. Traditionally Republican, except for Clark County which includes Las Vegas, the demographics have been changing. From the NY Times article linked above:[More...]

Bump and Update: The New York Times reports that the Justices seemed inclined to uphold voter ID laws.

Original Post (1/9/08):
Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Voter ID Card Cases

The Supreme Court today will hear oral arguments in the Indiana voter identification card cases.

The justices will hear diametrically opposite depictions of Indiana's toughest-in-the-nation voter identification law, which requires every voter to present a photo ID card.

Democrats and civil rights groups charge that the law is a Republican ploy to prevent thousands of poor, elderly and minority citizens from casting ballots. Republicans say that it won't prevent any qualified person from voting. Instead, they say, it guards against vote fraud and heightens public confidence in the integrity of elections.

More...

The intro is a little dumb but so is the debate about whether a woman is tough enough to be President. And once the music starts (at 1:00 in) this is a great performance by Bette Midler, with Mick Jagger as her sidekick.

Tim Johnson Endorses Obama:

South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson is endorsing a colleague for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Johnson says he's backing Barack Obama because he's bi-partisan and wants to bridge differences between the two parties.

(Emphasis supplied.) Um, that endorsement makes me less likely to support Obama. Obama already is having trouble with Dem partisans. This language from Johnson is not helpful.