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Joy in Pennsylvania

• Jonathan Beale
• 8 Nov 06, 03:17 AM

Lot of excitement at the campaign party for , the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, who has apparently won re-election.

Predictions that the ultra-conservative senator would pull out a come-back victory have come to naught as his Democratic challenger, , seems to have ridden his party's wave.

Democratic supporters here are effusive and optimistic, even though at this hour most of the returns for elections results are still coming in.

But they believe Bob Casey won because his relatively moderate stance on issues which mattered most to them - in contrast to Mr Santorum, whom they perceived as being too far to the right and too close to George W Bush.

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Hullabaloo over Iraq

• Jonathan Beale
• 17 Oct 06, 06:11 PM

In Britain, it was who fuelled the debate about a withdrawal of UK troops from Iraq "sometime soon". In America it's former Secretary of State James Baker who is now signalling the need for a change of direction.

In the words of Sir Richard it has caused a bit of a "hullabaloo" and to be honest has resulted in some fairly ludicrous headlines - such as claims that the Baker Commission is about to call for a large-scale pull-out of US troops or that America is about to ask Iran and Syria to take over. That would be a bit hard when you've labelled one a part of an "" and blamed the other for starting the war in Lebanon and accuse both of being a "".

The fundamental point, though, is that - who won't publish his commission's finding until after the mid-term elections - is making life difficult for the president ahead of those very same elections. President Bush has already had to telephone Iraq's prime minister to reassure him that America is not about to desert his country.

Clearly this is a debate that the Bush administration would have preferred to have after the mid-terms. The public discussion of the "options" already leaked to the media can hardly help a president whose one strategy so far has been to "stay the course" and "get the job done". Clearly it's a strategy that has not been working and suggest that most Americans already have worked that one out.

None of the "options" leaked would be easy pills for the president to swallow. Just talking to Syria and Iran would go against Mr Bush's policy of isolating those countries. Ditching democracy for stability would undermine the administration's central plank of "spreading freedom". And pulling out any troops without improvement would be interpreted as more "defeat" than "victory".

But these are early days and it's hard to see James Baker stabbing the knife into the president's back. After all, he was the man who helped secure this president's victory in the disputed election of 2000. Expect some of these recommendations to be "toned down" when they're published in December.

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Guilty plea

• Jonathan Beale
• 13 Oct 06, 10:10 PM

The Abramoff lobbying scandal continues to wreak havoc among Republicans. Ohio Congressman has now pleaded guilty to corruption charges in connection with Abramoff's dodgy business dealings.

He accepted free meals, tickets, hospitality - including an all-expenses-paid golfing trip to Scotland - in return for political favours and influence for Mr Abramoff and his clients. He has yet to give up his seat in the House of Representatives, but that will come soon.

Congressman Ney's other claim to fame was for calling for "french fries" to be renamed "" after France deserted America in the run up to the Iraq war. It's his betrayal though that will be felt harder among the Republicans of Ohio.

Having said that, the Abramoff lobbying scandal is currently making much less of a political impact than the saga involving Representative - who sent sexually explicit emails to male pages. One politician's (admittedly hypocritical) private life is apparently more shocking than one who is found to be lining his own pocket!

But we haven't heard the last of Jack Abramoff. His name may still haunt Republicans in the days to come - not least because he's still awaiting trial and his reach went beyond just one greedy congressman.

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Shadow of Iraq

• Jonathan Beale
• 11 Oct 06, 04:19 PM

I have just returned from a week of travelling the Middle East with US Secretary of State . About as far removed as you can get from the mid-term elections. Or is it?

While Washington was abuzz with the sexual peccadilloes of Congressman Mark Foley, Rice was in Baghdad dealing with an issue that's likely to have a bigger impact come 7 November. Even the most upbeat Republican would have to acknowledge that the Iraq war is not going according to plan.

The US Secretary of State was there in effect to read the riot act to Iraq's political leaders. She was telling them that they had to urgently get a grip on the spiralling sectarian violence; that Americans would not tolerate "watching Iraqi killing Iraqi" on their TV screens. This on top of a leading Republican senator - - warning that the Iraq war was "drifting" and (Secretary of State to Bush 41) suggesting that there may be other options rather than "staying the course" or "cut and run".

The trouble is that whatever the White House's frustrations over Iraq, it can't change policy just ahead of an election. That would look weak. The hope among Republican strategists is that if Iraq is wrapped up in the broader war on terror under the banner "America is safer" then the worsening violence in Iraq can be overlooked. The question is: will the strategy work?

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About Jonathan Beale

• Jonathan Beale
• 2 Oct 06, 10:45 AM

After university and working for an MP in the UK, I joined the 大象传媒 as a trainee reporter in 1989. My 大象传媒 career started in local radio and regional TV, before I joined 大象传媒 London and south east as the regional political correspondent.

I also spent two years in Brussels as the 大象传媒's regional Europe correspondent and Europe political correspondent, before returning to London to become one of the 大象传媒's political correspondents at Millbank. I've also presented political programmes, such as The Westminster Hour on 大象传媒 Radio 4.

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