Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Not a great month for investors: “Wall Street resumed its slide Wednesday as unease about the wilting mortgage market and the broader economy triggered selling ahead of the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Dow Jones industrial average each fell by more than 1.5 percent, with the Dow giving up more than 210 points.” The Dow is down 9.85% since mid-October. As the AP noted, “A 10 percent decline would meet the technical definition of a correction.”
* In a 4 to 3 ruling, the “Michigan Supreme Court today struck down a lower court ruling and paved the way for a GOP primary in the state on Jan. 15.” That’s good news for Mitt Romney, who expects to do well in Michigan — his father was the governor of the state, so he doesn’t have any name-recognition problems there.
* The on-again, off-again nature of the California GOP scheme to divide the state’s electoral votes can be hard to keep track of. As of today, the right-wing group driving the initiative, called “California Counts,” said it is on track to get on the state ballot. “We’re on a good pace,” said Dave Gilliard, campaign manager for the group, speaking to CQ, claiming that they already have over 400,000 signatures. They need a total of 433,971 valid signatures, and are aiming as high as 700,000 in order to have room for error.
* Good for Hillary: “U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has added her condemnation to the sentence handed out to a Saudi rape victim — 200 lashes and six-month jail term. Calling the decision ‘an outrage,’ Sen. Clinton urged U.S. President George W. Bush to protest the decision to the Saudi authorities.” “The Bush administration has refused to condemn the sentence and said it will not protest an internal Saudi decision,” Clinton said. “I urge President Bush to call on King Abdullah [of Saudi Arabia] to cancel the ruling and drop all charges against this woman.”
* Speaking of Hillary, Sen. Clinton announced today she would skip the next Democratic debate, scheduled for December 10 on CBS, unless the labor dispute between the network and CBS News writers has been resolved. “I will honor the picket line if the workers at CBS News decide to strike,” Clinton said. Shortly thereafter, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, and Bill Richardson said they, too, would not cross the picket line.
* Time’s Joe Klein argues in his latest column, “Democrats in Congress … are being foolishly partisan on two key issues: continued funding for the war in Iraq and updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).” Glenn Greenwald takes Klein’s argument apart quite thoroughly. Klein responded, but he seemed to be talking past Greenwald, sidestepping the specific concerns.
* The WaPo’s Ruth Marcus went after Paul Krugman today on Social Security policy. Regrettably, Marcus’ argument quickly fell apart upon scrutiny. Krugman added, “I’ve obviously touched a nerve with my recent writing on Social Security. The Beltway crowd loves their Social Security crisis, and they won’t give it up without a fight.”
* Speaking of Krugman, disgraced former Majority Leader Tom DeLay apparently isn’t a fan of the NYT columnist: “I’d like to bitch-slap him.” DeLay’s a class act, isn’t he?
* NYT: “MoveOn.org is turning its organizing prowess on one of the very tools it uses for its mobilizing efforts. The liberal group’s Civic Action division mounted an effort today against Facebook’s Beacon advertising feature, claiming it infringes user privacy and ‘sullies’ social networking communities.”
* Oh my: “On Hardball, Chris Matthews stated: ‘Al Gore, he’s the one who said he created the Internet. He’s the one who put out the word that he was the subject or the role model for Love Story, that he pointed the country’s attention to Love Canal. He stuck himself into that story.’ Matthews concluded: ‘Gore got himself in those problem areas by vanity and showing off and trying to make himself cool.’ Matthews’ comments echoed debunked falsehoods that were spread by the media, and Matthews in particular, during the 2000 presidential campaign.”
* Apparently, his bathroom-sex scandal, and reversal on resignation plans, has ruined Sen. Larry Craig’s (R-Idaho) credibility in the chamber: “Despite all that effort and expense, Craig has yet to regain his reputation or his political standing in the Senate. Instead of being known for his accomplishments, such as his party-defying take on immigration, he’s now known for a toe-tapping incident in a men’s room stall and for being too stubborn to leave Congress.”
* John Kerry is still urging T. Boone Pickens, financier of the Swiftboat Liars, to be true to his word and not move the goalposts. It’s not going well.
* And finally, Bill O’Reilly has apparently decided to pick a bizarre fight with the United Service Organizations (USO). As the Fox News blowhard sees it, the USO has only sent two “famous people,” including himself, to boost the spirits of the troops “in the past year.” TP reported, “USO has already sent seven entertainment tours to Afghanistan this year, and expects to send approximately 19 celebrities total in 2007.” No word on whether O’Reilly is prepared to apologize to the group.
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.