Recent works by Glenn Thrush

ELECTION 2006

Right-hand man taking a left turn

Stephen Herbits - Donald Rumsfeld's former right-hand man at the Pentagon and once a trusted Iraq adviser - has allied himself with the defense secretary's nemesis, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Why Hillary wants to win LI

During the 2000 campaign, the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association subjected Hillary Rodham Clinton to a grilling she might have expected at Bill O'Reilly's family picnic. Seventeen hostile union officials badgered her for hours about her husband's morality and rumors about her ties to '60s radicals. Then they whisked her out the door and backed Republican Rick Lazio.

Hil: Looks aren't anything

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton wishes politics weren't such a beauty contest.

He touts her presidential hopes

Would-be first lady Elizabeth Edwards may have claimed her life is "more joyful" than Hillary Rodham Clinton's, but the former first lady says she loves her life, particularly the parts that include daughter Chelsea.

Spencer's up-Hil battle

GOP hopeful John Spencer struggled mightily to pick a fight with Hillary Rodham Clinton at Friday night's Senate debate, but Clinton seemed intent on flaying the elephant who wasn't in the room: George W. Bush.

ELECTION 2006

Spencer says he'll stay put

John Spencer says he'll avoid any Rick Lazio-type "excursions" into Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's personal space at tonight's debate in Rochester.

Is he waiting in the wings?

Hillary Rodham Clinton's team has plenty of real and perceived rivals (John Spencer, John McCain, Al Gore, George Bush, to name just a few) but the man they're watching most closely these days is Clinton protege Barack Obama.

Presidential pardon me?

George W. Bush doesn't think much of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's criticism of his new military commissions law.

Warner's exit a boon for Clinton '08 rivals

Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner had been touted to be the moderate "anti-Hillary" candidate in the 2008 Democratic presidential mix, but now his stunning exit has created an opening for another would-be Clinton-slayer: John Edwards.

Dean to dole out $8M to Senate election effort

After weeks of backroom wrangling, Sen. Charles Schumer has convinced Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean to rush about $8 million to Democratic Senate campaigns, Newsday has learned.

HIGH-RISE CRASH

Fighters scan U.S. skies

Dozens of combat aircraft rushed to the skies over New York, Washington and West Coast cities after yesterday's plane crash, the largest deployment of jet fighters over the United States since 9/11.

McCain assails Clinton on N. Korea

John McCain fired the opening salvo in the 2008 presidential campaign against possible opponent Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday over the issue of North Korea's nukes.

Hillary bucks Dem boss Dean

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton took a backhanded swipe at Democratic National Committee boss Howard Dean yesterday, saying Dean's long-term party-building efforts should take a back seat to fundraising for the midterm elections.

Hillary charges back in husband's defense

Hillary Rodham Clinton is emerging as her husband's key defender in the who-lost-Osama fight, but the senator's role as family protector could boomerang to hurt her career, Clinton-watchers say.

Hillary backs Bill after Fox tirade

Bill Clinton's fire-breathing defense of his administration's effort to kill Osama bin Laden is getting a thumbs-up from his wife, who says she's tired of Democrats being pushed around on national security issues.

Clinton defends terror record

A red-faced Bill Clinton, fed up with six years of GOP sniping over his failure to kill Osama bin Laden, attacked the Bush administration for neglecting to pursue the al-Qaida leader during its first eight months in office.

Contenders' game of double-dare

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign is daring President George W. Bush to stump in New York for her Republican opponent - joking that Clinton would even consider paying for Bush's airfare if he stumped in Dubya-phobic Gotham.

Clinton aides had hand in Dubai deal

In the spring, when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was denouncing the Dubai Ports World deal, a consulting firm run by her top advisers was quietly lobbying for a Dubai takeover of two U.S. defense plants, Newsday has learned.

Clinton seeks $1.9B, faults ex-EPA official

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is calling for $1.9 billion in new medical aid for Ground Zero workers, saying it's needed because former Environmental Protection Administration chief Christie Todd Whitman failed to alert workers to health risks.

Clinton to face Spencer in November

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton bulldozed anti-war challenger Jonathan Tasini in yesterday's Democratic primary, clearing the way for a new David-and-Goliath contest against Republican John Spencer in November's general election.

Push to reopen 9/11 fund for ill

Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer want to reopen the Sept. 11 compensation fund to allow billions in new claims from workers suffering long-term effects from exposure to toxins at Ground Zero.

Schumer pushes for ports vote

Sen. Charles Schumer is demanding that all cargo shipped from 42 ports overseas be screened for nuclear devices and will try to force a vote on an amendment as early as today.

Dems back Hillary despite war stand

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's support of the Iraq war isn't popular with her party's left wing, but an overwhelming majority of New York Democrats back her re-election bid and fewer than a quarter think she's too pro-war, a Newsday/NY1 News poll shows.

Blessed debate over Rove rite

A spirited debate is raging over whether Hillary Rodham Clinton was the subject of a religious rite held in Karl Rove's West Wing office in 2001.

U.S. to speed up illness funds

U.S. Health and Human Services chief Michael Leavitt will release $75 million allocated by Congress for World Trade Center-related illnesses in early October - months earlier than projected.

Switching allegiances

David Brock, the reformed right-wing reporter who once took aim at Hillary Rodham Clinton, has cultivated surprisingly deep ties to the senator - paying $200,000 to a Clinton confidant for working at his watchdog group, Media Matters.

Parents seek SUV safety changes

The driver who killed 16-month-old Alec Nelson in 2004 had checked his rearview mirror and walked behind his SUV, but that wasn't enough.

Rove denies 'demon' rumors

Karl Rove says he's not The Exorcist.

Lamont ponders Clinton's aid

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton invited anti-war upstart candidate Ned Lamont to her Chappaqua estate last month. But the millionaire Democrat from Connecticut who upset Sen. Joe Lieberman isn't sure he'll return the favor by inviting Clinton to campaign in the state.

Despite money woes, he fights on

Jonathan Tasini is a rebel without a nest egg.

Bloomberg bypasses Nagin quip

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin may be slapping the Apple, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he's "scrupulously avoiding criticizing" Nagin's quip about the slow pace of work at Ground Zero.

Clinton gives go-ahead

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will stop blocking President George W. Bush's nomination of Andrew von Eschenbach to head the Food and Drug Administration, following the agency's decision yesterday to allow over-the-counter sales of Plan B contraceptive pills.

Clinton: HIV funding unfair

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is fighting a new federal AIDS funding formula she says will cost New York $40 million, sparking the ire of groups who want more money allocated in southern states.

Mag ticks off Sharpton

The Rev. Al Sharpton is accusing the conservative Weekly Standard of "race baiting" after the magazine caricatured him as a white Senate candidate's white-gloved chauffeur on the cover of its current issue.

Questions, cash flow for Clinton at fundraiser

The drinks were flowing and so were the $1,000 checks, but there was also an undertow of resentment over Hillary Rodham Clinton's support of the Iraq war at an East End fundraiser for the senator yesterday.

Hillary in the Hamptons

U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton kicked off her Long Island fundraising tour Friday with an announcement about federal funding to save the shorelines and sidestepped whether she'd debate primary challenger Jonathan Tasini.

Exemptions to fluid ban eyed

The restrictions on carry-on liquids are likely to be in effect for the foreseeable future, but some restrictions could be eased soon, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says.

Clinton's weekend stay at $9.4M home of financier

It turns out Hillary Rodham Clinton isn't checking into the Hotel Spielberg for her weekend Hamptons fundraising blitz after all.

THE PSYCHOLOGY

King, Giuliani were together when told of plot

Rudy Giuliani just happened to be with Rep. Peter King Wednesday when the House homeland security chairman got his first indication of the Sept. 11-scale bombing plot in London.

THE SECURITY

Schumer is stranded

Chuck is stuck.

Unlikely Lamont boosters

Ned Lamont's victory over Joe Lieberman Tuesday has sparked surprising reactions from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jonathan Tasini.

For Democrats, Iraq war a minefield

A year ago, several of Hillary Rodham Clinton's advisers predicted that the Iraq war would be winding down by the summer of 2006 and pooh-poohed the idea that Iraq would dominate the 2008 presidential election.

Hunting in Hamptons

The annual Bill and Hillary Clinton cash caravan rolls onto the East End next weekend with a quartet of big-cash fundraisers - even as some Clinton campers worry donors are feeling tapped out.

QUEENS POWER MESS

Questioning Hil's visit

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's top aides are privately fuming over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's post-blackout visit to Astoria on Friday.

Growing threat of Iraq civil war

A top U.S. commander is warning that the threat of sectarian civil war in Iraq is "as bad as I've seen it" and predicts that quelling religious conflict in Baghdad could increase U.S. casualties.

Clinton: Rumsfeld should quit

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been forced to defend her continued support of the Iraq war to fellow Democrats, distanced herself from Bush administration war policy yesterday by calling for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's resignation.

Senate hopeful slams Israel's actions

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's Democratic foe Jonathan Tasini says that Israel - where he spent his teenage years - is violating international law and terrorizing civilians in Lebanon and Gaza.

Different take on Israeli action

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki yesterday refused to condemn Hezbollah guerrillas for their role in the Israel-Lebanon crisis, prompting Sen. Charles Schumer and other local Democrats to declare a boycott of his address to Congress today.

'Madame President' campaign focuses on Hillary

A little girl, no older than 10, was coveting Mosemarie Boyd's stack of bright red "Madame President" placards on the sidewalk outside Little Rock's First United Methodist Church.

Clinton targets tobacco ads

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has glimpsed the future and sees a world where corporations implant tiny microchips into children's brains to bombard the littlest consumers with intracranial commercials.

Stars' checks tell Clinton's fortune

J.Lo is high on Hillary.

Clinton returns to Arkansas

Hillary Rodham Clinton signed just about anything that north Arkansas Democrats shoved into her hands yesterday - except for those big crimson signs that read: "Madame President, January 20, 2009."

NY sens. rebuffed in funds recovery

Republicans beat back a last-ditch attempt by New York's senators to boost federal homeland security funding by more than $1 billion, in an effort to offset 40 percent in cuts to anti-terror grants to the state and city.

Duke player’s D.C. trial begins

Duke University lacrosse player Collin Finnerty instigated an attack on two bar patrons in Georgetown last year, allegedly shouting anti-gay slurs and asking one man if he'd perform a sex act, according to trial testimony from his accuser yesterday.

Plot was derailed in early stages

For at least a year, eight followers of al-Qaida scattered across six foreign countries discussed how to send suicide bombers to blow up PATH tunnels under the Hudson River, but their plans never came close to realization, U.S. officials said Friday.

Anti-terror funds for transit

The Bush administration is boosting anti-terror funding to New York-area transit systems by about $10 million this year, after being criticized for recently slashing city Homeland Funding Security money by $83 million.

Clinton: Cheney flouts laws

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton says the Supreme Court's Guantanamo Bay ruling is a major denunciation of Vice President Dick Cheney and his attempts to "rewrite" the Constitution, flout international law and hoard power in the executive branch.

Clinton blames Times' sources

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton doesn't think The New York Times should be prosecuted for baring a Bush administration practice of tapping confidential bank records to thwart terrorists.

Panel votes to cut anti-terror funds

In a sign that New York's homeland security funding woes are far from over, a key Senate committee yesterday voted to cut anti-terror funding to high-threat areas such as New York by $20 million in 2007.

Dems back Clinton to block pay raises

Senate Democrats are lining up behind Hillary Rodham Clinton's plan to peg congressional pay raises to hikes in the stagnant federal minimum wage, vowing to bottle up all future House and Senate wage increases.

Schumer joins fight for low-cost generic drugs

Sen. Charles Schumer and the Republican chairman of the Senate finance committee are proposing a ban on pacts between drug makers that block production of low-cost generic medicines.

Democrats debate war exit

As Republicans rejoiced at Democratic infighting over Iraq, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday shot back on the Senate floor, accusing the GOP of "blindly following" President George W. Bush's "dead-end" Iraq policies.

Senate Dems split on Iraq proposals

Sen. Hillary Clinton is on a collision course with possible Democratic presidential rivals John Kerry and Russ Feingold over the Iraq War - opposing their amendment to force a complete withdrawal of troops by July 1, 2007.

On the podium, Hil's a chill

Jennifer Stephens had never seen Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in person before the senator strode into Adelphi University's commencement, oxblood robes billowing in her wake.

Bill gets the nod over Tipper as sidekick pick

Bubba tops Tipper in the battle for first spouse.

Senator sure, but president?

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would trounce both her possible GOP Senate foes by more than 30 points - but she's in a dead heat with Al Gore if New Yorkers were voting in a hypothetical presidential face-off, according to a new Newsday/NY1 statewide poll.

Schumer changes tune on bioterror cuts

Sen. Charles Schumer, who has likened $7 million in federal cuts to New York's bioterrorism programs to "rubbing salt in an open wound," voted to cut those programs by 10.4 percent last year, according to Senate records.

THE STATE CONVENTIONS

Clinton accepts party's re-election nod

With her husband sitting a few feet away, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton accepted her party's unanimous re-election endorsement - even as state Democrats denounced the "error" of invading Iraq, an action Clinton strongly supported and still staunchly defends.

Crowning moment for Lady Liberty?

The Senate's passage of immigration reforms might be a crowning achievement for lovers of Lady Liberty.

Environment meeting closed to stop 'rhetoric'

Senate environment committee chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who has called global warming a hoax, held a roundtable on greenhouse gases behind closed doors yesterday - in part to muzzle Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and other green Democrats, aides said.

Clinton: Let's cut oil use

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton wants Americans to cut their oil and gasoline consumption in half by 2025, arguing that dependence on foreign sources compromises national security by forcing the United States to defend energy assets in the Middle East.

Amazin'! Clinton's no fan of Mets

One crowd Hillary Clinton will never be accused of pandering to? The one at Shea Stadium.

Hillary tackles migrant policy

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a stern lecture to Long Island business executives yesterday on the evils of hiring undocumented immigrants, while offering a surprisingly downbeat assessment of prospects for immigration overhaul before the midterm elections.

Rudy leans conservative, backs right-wing candidate

Rudolph Giuliani seems to be tacking right, ex-Christian Coalition chief Ralph Reed is tacking to the center and some opponents of both men think their surprising political alliance is, well, a little tacky.

Mayor lobbies for gun trace bill

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is backing Sen. Charles Schumer's bill giving local police access to federal gun tracing databases - and is blasting opponents of the plan as "soft on crime."

Their job: Backup

The National Guard is renowned for its front-line military role in Iraq, but the 420 guard members now assigned to the Mexican border are mostly technicians who tote laptops, surveillance gear and blueprints, not guns.

Clinton offers niceties on Bush

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton offered a thorny olive branch to President George W. Bush last night, praising his "charm and charisma" while claiming the administration covered up Sept. 11-related health problems in New York.

Clinton gains unlikely support

A founding father of the vast right-wing conspiracy is throwing a July fundraiser in New York for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's re-election campaign.

For Rudy, running concern

A year ago, Rudolph Giuliani added his name to the venerable Houston law firm Bracewell & Patterson in a deal that guaranteed the former mayor and his consulting company about $10 million, according to a person with knowledge of the transaction.

Political pals size each other up

Visitors ushered into Hillary Rodham Clinton's private inner office on Capitol Hill are greeted by a jarring image: Clinton and her potential arch-rival John McCain smiling conspicuously in an autographed snapshot hung by the door.

Bush consultant eyed to help Giuliani raise funds

Rudolph Giuliani's pet political action committee has hired the Michigan consultant who directed President George W. Bush's wildly successful Pioneers and Rangers fundraising programs, the latest indication the ex-mayor is ramping up for a possible White House run.

Contender's eyes on the spies

Soon after she entered the New York Senate race in March, Republican K.T. McFarland told surprised supporters that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had dispatched helicopters to conduct surveillance over her East End vacation house.

Giuliani to examine chances for '08

Rudolph Giuliani emerged from political hibernation yesterday, telling an Iowa audience he's got the itch for public office - and musing aloud about his White House chances.

THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE

Prospects brighten for Senate bill

The Senate moved closer to an immigration compromise Friday when a key Democratic leader said he'd be willing to allow a reform bill - along with up to a dozen controversial GOP amendments - to come to a vote soon.

GOP votes to divert war funds to border

Senate Republicans voted yesterday to divert $1.9 billion in Iraq and Afghanistan war funding to border security, sparking a floor fight between a riled-up Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and a GOP leader who accused her of spouting "poppycock."

House battle over port security

A post-Dubai showdown between Republicans and Democrats over port security reform is shaping up today in the House, with the homeland security committee voting on competing cargo inspection bills.

Clinton's immigration positions draw criticism

On April 5, at the height of the Senate's immigration debate, Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered an impassioned speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, praising the "hard work" of undocumented immigrants and honoring those who died in the military.

THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE

Clinton backs border 'smart fence'

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton raised eyebrows this weekend by saying that she thought use of a "smart fence" along parts of the U.S.-Mexico border could identify people approaching the barrier.

The may-be press secretary

Conservative commentator Tony Snow, on the short list to replace Scott McClellan as White House press secretary, played a small but pivotal backstage role in uncovering the sex scandal that nearly sunk the Clinton administration.

McCain, Schumer spar on immigration

Sen. John McCain isn't one of Chuck Schumer's biggest fans in the first place, but the New York Democrat's role in the immigration reform debate has really aggravated the GOP's possible presidential front-runner.

Clinton on blitz for donors

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is raising cash at a blistering pace and spending it almost as fast to build a nationwide donor network similar to the one that propelled George W. Bush to the White House, according to campaign filings.

THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE

Immigration deal a 'hard sell'

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats and Republicans agreed to a last-ditch compromise yesterday to save immigration reform, but their effort still must run a gantlet of conservative Republicans in the Senate and House.

THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE

Compromise reached on reform legislation

Desperate to break the impasse over immigration reform within his own party, Senate majority leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) announced a deal late last night to allow illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S. - but only if they have lived here five years or longer.

Chappelle tours Capitol

Reporters staking out a meeting between Sen. John McCain and Majority Leader Bill Frist on the second floor of the U.S. Capitol were surprised to find a vaguely-familiar figure in a hooded sweatshirt lurking around the doors of the Senate chamber yesterday.

THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE

Rove seeks immigration compromise

Embattled White House political czar Karl Rove has injected himself into the increasingly chaotic immigration battle in the Senate, lobbying GOP senators in hopes they'll accept a guest worker program reviled by some conservatives in his party.

IMMIGRATION: THE GREAT DEBATE

LI congressman takes a controversial stance

Fifty years ago, 11-year-old Peter King sat in a classroom at St. Teresa's Grammar School in Woodside watching a little girl, who was deeply depressed about the death of a close relative, struggle with a mountainous multiplication table on the blackboard.

Call for more port screening

Sen. Charles Schumer, fresh from his weeklong tour of China, is demanding that the United States immediately implement a cargo screening system used in Hong Kong that allows inspection of all containers passing through the port.

THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE

Immigration reform faces hurdles

With a bruising Republican-on-Republican battle over immigration brewing today in the Senate, many on Capitol Hill are predicting that passing comprehensive reforms before the fall midterm elections seems increasingly like a long shot.

Migrant bill loses favor

With an immigration showdown looming on the Senate floor, a controversial GOP proposal that might have spurred prosecutions against undocumented immigrants and humanitarian groups is fast losing favor, according to legislators and advocates.

THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE

Uneasy approval

The Senate Judiciary Committee rammed through a sweeping immigration reform bill yesterday, rejecting a House measure making it a crime to assist undocumented immigrants, while creating a way for millions of illegal immigrants to stay here legally.

IMMIGRATION: CHALLENGING CHANGE

The battle hits the Capitol

The Republicans' election-year push for immigration reform was supposed to be a boon for the party, coupling tough border protections with a humane guest-worker program to bring 12 million undocumented immigrants out of the shadows.

Back on the campaign trail?

Rudy Giuliani is dropping into Iowa for a GOP fundraiser May 1 - just two weeks after his pal and potential 2008 presidential rival Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) makes a similar pilgrimage to the crucial caucus state.

Sen. to fight new bill on immigrants

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton says that "Jesus himself" would be judged a criminal under a "mean-spirited" GOP immigration proposal that makes it a felony to help or hire undocumented immigrants.

FDA nod stalled over Plan B pill

Hillary Rodham Clinton is invoking senatorial privilege to bottle up Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach's nomination as Food and Drug Administration commissioner until the agency releases a ruling on over-the-counter distribution of Plan B morning-after contraceptives.

His moment

George W. Bush's Dubai nightmare began early last month, the moment Chuck Schumer fielded a call from an Associated Press reporter asking New York's senior senator to comment on an obscure plan to rejigger operations at six U.S. ports.

Bloomberg irate over dead deal

A raging Mayor Michael Bloomberg is lashing out at politicians who blocked the Dubai ports deal, calling the charge that the contract compromised homeland security "the cheapest political shot in the world."

Port deal dies in a storm

In a bid to end the Dubai ports fracas, a United Arab Emirates-owned company yesterday agreed to transfer operations at six U.S. ports to an American "entity" - hours after GOP leaders pronounced the deal dead on Capitol Hill.

Port deal in trouble

A House panel voted yesterday to scuttle a proposed deal to give control of operations at six American ports to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates, setting in motion a legislative process that could hand President George W. Bush his first significant congressional defeat.

Mixed signals for Clinton

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton holds a 2-1 lead over GOP Senate challenger John Spencer, but her inability to woo state Republicans could foreshadow similar problems she would have as a presidential candidate, a Newsday/NY1 News survey released yesterday has found.

Clinton says criticism of temper is sexism

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested yesterday that her Republican enemies have targeted her simply because of her gender, hinting that Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman's recent claim that she was too "angry" to be elected president was political sexism.

King eyes deal on port safety

House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King (R-Seaford) says President George W. Bush can dodge defeat on the Dubai ports deal only by backing the creation of a U.S. subsidiary to keep the United Arab Emirates from directly controlling U.S. shipping terminals.

Bill's Dubai input

Bill Clinton coached United Arab Emirates officials on how to handle the Dubai ports controversy two weeks ago - but didn't tell his wife about that conversation, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton disclosed yesterday.

Hillary: Rove 'obsessing' about me

Bush's Brain can't get Hillary off his mind, New York's junior senator charged yesterday.

Port deal warning

Despite repeated White House assurances that the Dubai ports deal poses no significant threat, the Coast Guard warned last year that it couldn't say whether the company involved would provide a platform for "terrorist operations" at U.S. seaports.

Timeout on ports

A company owned by the United Arab Emirates has tossed a political life preserver to the White House, voluntarily submitting to a 45-day investigation of its increasingly unpopular deal to operate terminals at six East Coast ports, including New York/Newark.

A 'cooling off' delays ports deal

The White House has pressured a state-owned company from the United Arab Emirates into delaying its contract to run six East Coast ports in order to buy time needed to quell a Republican revolt against the $6.8 billion deal.

Schumer ally is port company's new lobbyist

Days after Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) first attacked the Dubai Ports World U.S. seaport deal, the multibillion-dollar company hired a new lobbyist: former Long Island congressman Tom Downey, the senator's close friend and Democratic Senate campaign fundraising partner.

Hillary appeal features Laura Bush

Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign is enlisting an unusual fundraising partner: Laura Bush.

Clinton raps vouchers

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton slammed private-school voucher proposals yesterday, predicting that vouchers would eventually lead to the creation of taxpayer-financed white supremacist academies - or even a government-funded "School of the Jihad."

Tax can come as a shock

Rhonda Buckley is barely able to pay her bills, so the $6,000 tax refund she expected this April had already been earmarked for college tuition and improvements on her Dix Hills split-level.

Lots of dough couldn't save race of Clinton foe

Millionaire lawyer and Richard Nixon's son-in-law Ed Cox spent about $1.1 million of his fortune for the privilege of not running against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, records show.

Clinton takes lead in dash for cash

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is raising, spending and hoarding cash at a far faster pace than any other senator up for re-election this year - doubling fundraising runner-up Jim Talent (R-Mo.), according to a new report by a Washington watchdog.

Mr. Suozzi goes to D.C.

Tom Suozzi sounded very much like a candidate for governor during his trip here yesterday, blaming New York's high property tax rates on "special interests" in Albany - while steadfastly refusing to identify the culprits.

CHENEY'S ERRANT SHOT

Clinton decries 'pattern' of secrecy

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton thinks White House delays in disclosing Dick Cheney's shotgun mishap are evidence of a vast West Wing conspiracy to stonewall journalists and voters.

Schumer makes EPIC request

Sen. Charles Schumer is pressuring Gov. George Pataki to keep 360,000 New Yorkers, most of them from Long Island and the five boroughs, from being moved off the state's popular EPIC drug plan into the trouble-plagued Medicare D program this summer.

Hillary rival fires assault

GOP Senate hopeful John Spencer made his harshest attack to date on Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday, saying the senator's recent criticism of Bush administration war and anti-terrorism policies "aids and abets" enemies of the United States.

Clinton-Bush clash beneficial for both?

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's winter offensive against President George W. Bush has provoked the expected GOP counterattack - but the conflict just might pay off handsomely for both politicians.

Clinton blasts Bush on war

Ignoring GOP criticism that she's too angry for prime time, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday walloped Karl Rove and President George W. Bush for "playing the fear card" on terrorism and for failing to kill "the tallest man in Afghanistan," Osama bin Laden.

Bush gets an earful

Coretta Scott King's life was shaped by political struggle, so perhaps it was fitting that her memorial was marked by protest, conflict and controversy.

Hillary Clinton snubs Wal-Mart cash

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won't touch Wal-Mart's money - but Jerry Springer's checks are money in the bank.

Clinton: Dump drug plan

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton told Medicare czar Mark McClellan yesterday that the Bush administration's trouble-plagued prescription plan should be scrapped - a suggestion one GOP senator instantly assailed as "below the dignity" of the Senate.

Amid bitter split, Senate OKs Alito

Samuel Alito Jr. was sworn in yesterday as the 110th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court after a bitterly divided Senate confirmed him despite anxieties over his views on abortion rights, gun control and presidential power.

Hillary nets $6M in funds

What did Hillary Rodham Clinton get for Christmas?

Dems' filibuster fizzles

Samuel Alito is expected to be confirmed as the Supreme Court's 110th justice today after an improvised, last-ditch filibuster attempt by Senate liberals flopped yesterday.

Schumer gets tough on Medicare plan

Sen. Charles Schumer says nursing homes, which care for some of the oldest and sickest patients, have been hit hardest by the glitch-plagued Medicare drug plan and he's demanding answers from the Bush administration.

Clinton engages in war of words over wiretaps

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday took aim at President George W. Bush's secret domestic spying program, dismissing White House explanations for the warrantless wiretapping as "strange" and "far-fetched."

Clinton: Cover employees

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton wants Wal-Mart to contribute to health insurance for its employees - but can't recall if she pushed for worker benefits during six years as a paid board member for the nation's largest retailer.

Clinton revisits health

Twelve years after her attempt to provide coverage to all Americans went down in flames, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton says she's jumping "back into the fray" of health care reform to publicize the Bush administration's failures.

By George, she aims high

New York Republicans haven't yet anointed an opponent to challenge Hillary Rodham Clinton this year, so the senator seems to have selected one herself - George W. Bush.

Hillary shifts right with talk of military strike on Iran

A tough-talking Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday suggested she would back a military strike on Iran if that country's radical Islamic government attempts to build nuclear weapons.

Laura takes verbal swipe at Clinton

Laura Bush raised a ruckus in the genteel first ladies' club yesterday by labeling Hillary Rodham Clinton's comments about GOP leaders as "ridiculous."

Hillary stirs debate

The furor over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's "plantation" comment is showing no sign of being gone with the wind.

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY HOLIDAY CONTROVERSY

Hillary's hardball

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sparked a Martin Luther King Day political firestorm yesterday by describing the GOP-controlled Congress as a "plantation" during a speech before an African-American congregation in Harlem.

PART D DECISION

Seeking aid to druggists

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is being swamped by hundreds of panicked seniors complaining about the new Medicare drug plan - and wants Gov. George Pataki to reimburse pharmacists who fill prescriptions for patients who have been unfairly denied benefits.

Pentagon grilled on body armor shortage

The Army announced yesterday plans to distribute 230,000 side-protecting armor inserts to troops in Iraq over the next year amid growing criticism that the Pentagon has delayed life-saving upgrades to body armor.

Clinton: Vests not protecting troops in Iraq

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton claims that hundreds of U.S. soldiers may have died "needlessly" in Iraq because of inadequate body armor and wants the Senate Armed Services Committee to hold hearings into the safety of the standard armored vests issued to troops.

Cash flowing for Clinton

What's in a name?

Dems thwart GOP agenda

Senate Democrats, their party's last line of defense against GOP hegemony in Washington, are coming off their best week since handing over control of their chamber to Republicans three years ago.

House plan riles Hillary

A riled-up Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton accused GOP congressional leaders yesterday of encouraging abortions by allowing states to slash family planning and contraception programs for poor women.

Hillary urges rebuilding plan

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been hammering the Bush administration over its response to Hurricane Katrina for three months, but yesterday was the first time she muddied her boots in this swamped city.

Patriot Act renewal blocked

The Senate, bowing to pressure from civil libertarians of all political stripes, delivered a staggering blow to President George W. Bush on Friday by blocking reauthorization of the Patriot Act's eavesdropping provisions, which expire on Dec. 31.

Brookhaven's ion collider shortfall means layoffs

A last-ditch lobbying effort to restore $13 million in congressional funding for Brookhaven National Laboratory's ion accelerator has fallen short and the Upton facility is girding for as many as 95 layoffs, officials said.

Plan to cut child care opposed

A handful of Republicans are joining Democrats and liberal interest groups in battling House GOP plans to slash funding for child support enforcement, day care and Medicaid health insurance for the poor.

Gifts paint picture of happy Clintons

Bill Clinton has put his wife through a lot during their three decades of matrimony, and last night he offered her a dollop of public contrition and three pricey paintings by artist Wolf Kahn.

A GOP clash of the titans?

Rudy Giuliani and John McCain are the top-polling Republican rivals for the White House in 2008, but the two dinner buddies avoid talking about that topic when sharing tortellini and bresaola at Giuliani's favorite Manhattan bistros.

Pols call for probe of 9/11 tests by EPA

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rep. Jerrold Nadler are calling for a new probe into Bush administration efforts to identify and clean up Ground Zero toxins dumped on lower Manhattan.

Pact gives bird flu vaccine a production boost

Roche Pharmaceuticals has agreed to a tenfold hike in the production on Tamiflu, the only drug proven to help victims of avian flu, according to an agreement announced yesterday by Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsay Graham (D-S.C.).

Bill helps fill wife's campaign coffers

Bill Clinton seemed to pass the presidential torch to his wife last night, sobering an otherwise festive Manhattan fundraiser by invoking his own mortality and painting a grim picture of the country's economic and environmental policies.

VIOLENCE RAGES ON

Hillary fine-tunes message on war in Iraq

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, like President George W. Bush, is repackaging her Iraq War pitch to soothe worried supporters.

Funds restored for 9/11 workers

House Speaker Dennis Hastert is giving Sept. 11 rescue and recovery workers something to be thankful for, reversing a decision to block $125 million in Ground Zero workers' compensation and health care funding.

An unlikely connection

Anyone looking for evidence of a secret peace treaty between Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rupert Murdoch has 200,000 reasons to feed their conspiracy theory.

Sax player from New Paltz takes on Hillary

Steven Greenfield has declared war on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the name of peace.

GOP dumps Hillary's bill on Katrina

Senate GOP leaders yesterday shot down Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's last-ditch attempt to introduce a bill creating an independent Hurricane Katrina commission, sparking a Category 5 outburst from the senator.

Senate seeks exit strategy

Most politicians claim they're never swayed by polls, but GOP senators yesterday said that plummeting support for the Iraq war prompted their extraordinary request for quarterly White House report cards on progress toward withdrawal.

Keeper of the coffer

There's a certain breed of high-minded Democrat who regards squeezing campaign contributions out of the reluctant rich as disdainful.

Strengthening Israeli ties

Six years ago this week, Hillary Rodham Clinton sat quietly alongside Suha Arafat in the West Bank town of Ramallah as the Palestinian first lady accused Israelis of poisoning her people with toxic tear gas and contaminated water.

Schumer criticizes Medicaid change

Senate Republicans have quietly passed a measure that could heap billions more in Medicaid costs onto taxpayers by making it tougher for low-income patients to get generic drugs, Sen. Charles Schumer said yesterday.

Bipartisan group: No rancor

The bipartisan Gang of 14, which averted judicial Armageddon in the Senate last summer, won't be torn apart by internal rancor over Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito, senators predicted yesterday.

Clinton staffers paid more to work on her campaign

With her election day still a year away, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is paying eight full-time Senate staffers as much as $2,600 in extra monthly wages to moonlight as campaign operatives, records show.

Secret session riles Senate Republicans

Senate Democrats staged a stunning parliamentary ambush yesterday, using the "closed session" rule to force enraged GOP leaders into moving ahead with a long-delayed probe into possible manipulation of prewar intelligence.