Daily Briefing: 'Nobody's Safe at the White House'
* Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will cost $94B in 2006, up from $48B in 2003, and higher than comparable costs of the Vietnam War; Senate will debate another round of emergency spending next week. [ WP ]
*Bolten"hopes to demonstrate to the public and the Republican-led Congress that it will no longer be business as usual in a White House afflicted by political defeats, an overseas war and shrinking public support";Tony SnowandDan Senortop the list of likely successors toMcClellan. [ WP , USAT , W$J ]
*Boltenfaces the challenge of finding "ways to open up the Oval Office to new ideas and to the opinions of people who are not longtimeBushconfidants." [ WP ]
*Rovewill focus on November's midterm elections: "The president and the new chief of staff said they wanted me focused on the big strategic issues facing the administration." [ NYT ]
*Bushwill urge Chinese PresidentHu Jintaoto "take a more aggressive stance against governments that U.S. officials believe could potentially threaten U.S. interests and, more broadly, the international system." [ WP , W$J ]
*John Negropontequietly seeks $1B intelligence budget; director of national intelligence is criticized by the House Intelligence Committee for acting as "another layer of large, unintended and unnecessary bureaucracy." [ WP , NYT ]
*Dana Milbank: "Nobody's safe at the White House these days." [ WP ]
*Fleischer: "The press creates an environment where it's going to be very hard for any press secretary to last long." [ WP ]
* Immigrant groups want to become a "powerful, organized political force." [ NYT ]
*Ralph Reedcould "become the first campaign casualty of theAbramoffscandal" in Republican primary for lieutenant governor of Georgia. [ W$J ]