Friday, August 22, 2008

Washington in 5 minutes

CAMPAIGN

Candidates agree on three debates

Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama have agreed to hold three presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate this fall, the campaigns said in a joint statement Thursday that outlined formats, dates and locations.

The Commission on Presidential Debates will sponsor the events.

The first, on Sept. 26 at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, will focus on foreign policy and national security, and Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama will answer questions from moderator Jim Lehrer while standing at lecterns.

On Oct. 7, the two will meet for a town-hall style debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. Moderator Tom Brokaw will call on audience members and pose questions submitted through the Internet.

The third presidential debate, on domestic and economic policy, is slated for Oct. 15 at Hofstra University, on Long Island, N.Y. Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama will sit at a table with moderator Bob Schieffer.

Vice-presidential contenders are to meet Oct. 2 at Washington University in St. Louis.

FEC

McCain off hook on primary cash

The Federal Election Commission on Thursday voted unanimously to belatedly approve Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain's withdrawal from public financing for the primaries - a move that spared him potential embarrassment on one of his signature issues.

The decision means Mr. McCain is not bound by the spending limits that restrict candidates who accept primary season matching funds.

Had the commission rejected Mr. McCain's withdrawal from the system, any money he spent this year in excess of those spending limits would have been in violation of the law and could have been subject to a fine. Such a violation would have been an embarrassment for Mr. McCain, because he has been a strong advocate of campaign spending controls.

The commission, however, did not specifically vote on an underlying question raised by the panel's chairman and Democrats: whether Mr. McCain used the promise of public funds to secure a loan to his campaign late last year.

CAMPAIGN

Obama outspends McCain in July

After tightening his expenditures in June, Sen. Barack Obama spent far more freely in July, cutting into his cash reserves while mounting an advertising campaign against Republican presidential rival Sen. John McCain.

The Illinois Democrat raised more than $50 million in July, a slight dip from the previous month, according to his monthly financial report, filed around midnight Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission. He spent about $55 million, with three-fifths of that devoted to media costs.

Mr. McCain had his best fundraising month yet, collecting more than $26 million. He, too, spent heavily - a total of $32 million, of which two-thirds was on advertising.

Mr. McCain targeted about 11 traditional battleground states and Mr. Obama ran ads in 18 states, expanding his sights to states that have voted Republican in the past. But while Mr. Obama outspent Mr. McCain, polls show the race neck and neck, with Mr. McCain even closing the gap nationally and in some states.

CAMPAIGN FUNDS

FEC: Vitter can use coffers to pay fees

Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana can use his campaign funds to pay for some of his legal fees stemming from an escort service scandal, the Federal Election Commission decided Thursday.

The commission deadlocked on Mr. Vitter's request to pay all of his legal fees using his campaign funds.

The legal expenses stemmed from the Louisiana Republican being tied to a Washington escort service operated by Deborah Palfrey, who was convicted of running a prostitution ring that catered to the powerful. She committed suicide about two weeks after her conviction.

Mr. Vitter has acknowledged involvement with the service and apologized for what he called a "very serious sin." Miss Palfrey attempted to subpoena Mr. Vitter for a pretrial hearing, but Mr. Vitter did not testify because the hearing was canceled.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

Terror-probe rules put off a few weeks

The Justice Department has agreed to delay new rules giving the FBI greater leeway in investigations of suspected terrorists, deferring to concerns by senators that innocent Americans might be targeted.

In a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy released Thursday, the department said it will postpone the rules until after FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III appears before the panel on Sept. 17.

However, the department still wants to have the rules in place by Oct. 1 to help the FBI more nimbly investigate national security cases, wrote Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Keith D. Nelson.

He said that the rules, known as attorney general guidelines, would harmonize multiple and varying sets of standards for how the FBI conducts investigations into one regulation.

Six senators, including Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, have raised concerns that the rules could target Americans in part based on their race, ethnicity, religion or activities protected by the First Amendment and that these individuals might be singled out without evidence of wrongdoing.

CAMPAIGN

Candidates to speak at Sept. 11 event

Presidential candidates Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain have agreed to speak at a New York City forum on public service to be held on Sept. 11, the organizers said Thursday.

Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain will speak at the "ServiceNation Summit" in New York, billed as a nonpartisan forum to address the events of Sept. 11 and the importance of national service, said ServiceNation, a coalition of groups promoting civic engagement.

The candidates will speak separately at a forum called "A Nation of Service" and have been asked to "discuss their respective visions for the role of service in America's future," the organizers said.

The public has been invited to submit questions to the presidential candidates at www.bethechangeinc.org/servicenation.

COURTS

Economist, 94, sues IMF over fall

Jacques Polak, the International Monetary Fund's oldest and one of its most respected economists, is suing the IMF for $6 million after he fell down a flight of stairs at an IMF conference held last year in his honor.

Mr. Polak, 94, is claiming damages from the IMF to cover medical costs and home care he and his wife have needed since the fall in November at the eighth annual Jacques Polak Research Conference.

Mr. Polak fell as he made his way to his seat in the front row of a packed IMF auditorium for a keynote address by Stanley Fischer, the IMF's former No. 2 official and currently Israel's central bank governor.

Mr. Polak played a major role in the development of a global monetary system since the IMF's inception in 1944.

In legal documents filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Mr. Polak claims there was no adequate handrail on the staircase in the auditorium and during the fall he hit his head and sustained "serious, permanent and debilitating injuries."

From wire dispatches and staff reports