From the NBC Political Unit and authors of First Read:
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From Elizabeth Wilner, Mark Murray, Huma Zaidi, and Jennifer Colby

Five years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and 57 days until election day... As President Bush takes part in a series of observances and prepares to address the nation tonight, pluralities of voters say the country is "more safe" than it was before September 11, 2001 and give his Administration and its policies "some of the credit" for the absence of another terrorist attack on US soil since then, per the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. The results suggest that some of the key arguments of the partisan debate over the war on terror -- Democrats' claim that the nation is actually less safe today because of the war in Iraq, and the Administration's effort to take credit for the absence of another terrorist attack -- are having limited impact.

Democrats hope to keep the spotlight on the unpopular war in Iraq by arguing that it has made the nation less secure. Their congressional challengers around the country are observing the anniversary by "reminding local voters that this Republican Congress should be doing more" on border and port security and to implement the recommendations of the September 11 commission, per a party release. Yet public opinion on whether the country is safer now than it was before the terrorist attacks remains largely unchanged from two years ago: 42% say the country is more safe, compared to 41% in September 2004; 32% say the country is about as safe, compared to 31% two years ago; and 23% say the country is less safe, compared to 27% two years ago. Voters in the Northeast, the region most directly affected by the attacks, feel as safe as voters elsewhere.

The White House casts tonight's address as part of the President's ongoing effort to build support for the war in Iraq as central to the broader war on terror, an effort which will culminate with his appearance at the United Nations on September 19. Public opinion on whether the war on terror has succeeded in disrupting international terrorism remains roughly where it was in September 2002. Today, 15% say the WOT has succeeded in disrupting international terrorism "a great deal," compared to 18% four years ago; 26% say it has succeeded "quite a bit," compared to 25% four years ago; 32% say "just some," compared to 36% four years ago; and 18% say "very little," compared to 15% four years ago.

The Administration lately has tried to claim credit for the absence of another attack since September 11, 2001, but only 32% of registered voters give the Administration and its policies "all" or "most of" the credit for that fact. Forty-five percent give the Administration and its policies "some of" the credit, while 21% give them "very little" credit.

By the time he speaks tonight, Bush will have laid wreaths at Ground Zero; in Shanksville, PA; and at the Pentagon. His primetime address, per White House spokesperson Tony Snow, will not be political -- "there are no calls to action, there are no attempts to segregate Democrats from Republicans." Bush will talk about "how September 11th reshaped the way in which we view the growing menace of what we now refer to -- the Islamist terrorist threat represented by bin Laden, Zarqawi and others, and that as a nation we don't have the luxury of sitting around and waiting for them to hit us again." The speech pits Bush against Monday Night Football (Washington Redskins vs. Minnesota Vikings), and also will cause ABC to interrupt part two of its broadcast of its controversial September 11 docudrama.

Vice President Cheney stays close to home, observing the anniversary at events at the White House and Pentagon. Members of Congress attend an observance at the Capitol.

And candidates facing tough primaries tomorrow will have to finesse hitting the campaign trail today. Moderate GOP Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island may lose his party's nomination to conservative Steve Laffey, furthering the anti-incumbent storyline of this cycle and potentially costing Republicans this Senate seat. The party's Senate campaign committee has suggested they would see better races on which to bet their resources this fall than on helping Laffey win in this blue state. More on this race below from MSNBC's Tom Curry.

In Maryland, it's Democrats who will be watching the outcome of their Senate primary between leading contenders Rep. Ben Cardin and former Rep. Kweisi Mfume, with their chances of retaining the seat potentially hanging in the balance as Cardin is believed to be the stronger general election candidate. An Mfume win would set up an unprecedented race between two African-American major-party nominees. Eyes also will be on Sen. Hillary Clinton's showing against a liberal challenger in her primary.

Got calendar?

Bloomberg looks at how the glancing attention paid by Americans to national security issues in the years prior to September 11 changed that day. "Sept. 11 compelled Republicans and Democrats to develop strategies for taking the anti-terror battle to distant outposts and for protecting the homeland. It also polarized an already hyper-partisan atmosphere in Washington as the parties dueled over competing visions of foreign policy... [F]or the foreseeable future candidates for national office will run as they did during the Cold War, when credibility on national security was a threshold concern."

In his hour-long interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Vice President Cheney disputed suggestions that US involvement in Iraq has created more terrorists, that Osama bin Laden's trail has grown "stone cold" (as the Washington Post put it), that Iraq has been a distraction in the war on terror (especially regarding Afghanistan), and that Iraq had no ties to al Qaeda. However, Cheney did admit that the Administration didn't "anticipate an insurgency that would last this long" in Iraq. In addition, he said that victory in Iraq would mean 1) that it has a viable government; 2) that it would pose no threats to the United States; and 3) that al Qaeda would be eliminated there. Click here for the Meet the Press netcast.

Former President Clinton and current and past aides continue to object to ABC's "Path to 9/11." Clinton spokesperson Jay Carson said of part one, which aired last night, "Despite admonitions from members of the 9/11 Commission, 9/11 family members, and public officials from across the political spectrum, ABC/Disney chose fiction over fact and entertainment over education in airing their tv show." The AP says, "ABC's editing of the five-hour movie… was evident from the very beginning. Twice, the network de-emphasized the role of the 9/11 commission's final report as source material for the film."

President Bush defended the Administration's use of secret CIA prisons to detain suspected terrorists to NBC's Matt Lauer in their interview which aired on TODAY this morning and said, "We're using techniques within the law." Embattled Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that the "14 high-level terrorists" who have been transferred to Guantanamo "will be treated humanely -- though their victims were not -- and, if and when the necessary legislation is passed by the Congress, prosecuted for their crimes, in accordance with law."

Senate GOP leaders Bill Frist and Mitch McConnell, along with Judiciary Committee chair Arlen Specter, traveled to Guantanamo Bay yesterday. The AP reports that Frist "expects bipartisan support for putting top captured al-Qaeda figures on trial before military commissions and for guidelines on how they should be treated," per Bush's request.

The Wall Street Journal says GOP hopes of drawing "Democrats into a battle over [Bush's] terrorism-surveillance program" may get "stymied by members of their own party who are raising concerns about the program... There are similar splits as Congress prepares to debate the Bush plan to prosecute suspected terrorists using military commissions... Democrats, facing their own difficult political calculations on the issue, and possibly internal divisions as well, are taking care to avoid sounding too strident."

Progress for America, the GOP interest group formed to build support for Bush judicial nominees and initiatives, is back in the fray with an ad buy on national cable and on broadcast TV in Missouri, home to what analysts regard as the real bellwether Senate race of the cycle. The ad echoes GOP themes: their "cut and run" charge against Democrats, the fact that the United States has not seen a terrorist strike in five years, and criticism of those who oppose the NSA warrantless wiretapping program.

USA Today says Laura Bush's schedule for New York next week while her husband addresses the United Nations reflects her "own second-term agenda - one that gets her out more to champion favorite causes and that some analysts say also helps burnish her husband's image and that of the United States around the world."

Keith Ellison, the Minnesota Democrat who could become the first Muslim-American elected to Congress, has been trying to "focus on the war and the economy," but "questions about his faith and character have kept him on the defensive," including "concern" about his "past associations with the Nation of Islam and its leader, Louis Farrakhan." -- Washington Post

The new NBC/Journal poll shows that 48% remain quite concerned that the US economy will decline if there's another attack, making it the top concern of those listed. "Knowing how important the economy is to voters this cycle, it's no surprise that [this] tops the list of items voters say they are extremely or very concerned about," says NBC/Journal pollster Bill McInturff (R).

The Financial Times reports, "Concerns about Wall Street's ability to withstand a terrorist attack, natural disaster or flu pandemic have prompted Hank Paulson, the new US Treasury secretary, to review the financial market's disaster-planning."

A Saturday Wall Street Journal look at the US economy post-September 11 found that in general, the economy has grown and "become more efficient" in the past five years.

Bloomberg columnist Kevin Hassett of conservative think-tank AEI finds that the attacks changed the US economy "in two distinct ways. First, there was significant and immediate damage back in 2001... In retrospect, it seems clear that the U.S. wouldn't have had an official recession that year," otherwise. "Just as significant has been the intangible damage to the economy" because of a resulting "increased risk aversion" which "has driven up the prices of assets that are perceived to be safe and depressed those of assets that may be more exposed to a sharp decline if another terrorist attack occurs."

The Washington Times says some recent polling shows "that the No. 1 issue heading into the election season is not the war in Iraq or the terrorist threat, but the performance of the U.S. economy, which has gotten poor marks from voters despite steady growth and lower unemployment. But pollsters conducting election surveys for Republicans say persistently sour voter attitudes about the economy have begun to improve recently, partly because of last week's sharp decline in oil and gasoline prices."

Gas prices have dropped nearly 22 cents a gallon in the last two weeks. -- Chicago Tribune 

If Sen. Lincoln Chafee, the Senate's lonely Republican moderate, defeats conservative Steve Laffey in Tuesday's primary, would be it correct to see that as a rebuff of President Bush? asks MSNBC.com's Tom Curry, writing from Cranston, RI. After all, Chafee did vote "no" on the Alito nomination, on the Bush tax cuts, and on the Iraq war resolution. And just last week, he stymied UN Ambassador John Bolton's renomination. So Curry asked Chafee yesterday morning if a victory for him should be read as voters thumbing their noses at Bush. His answer: "Yes, for the unaffiliated (voters) more so, certainly."

And the unaffiliated -- read: independent -- voters may well determine the outcome here: They can vote in tomorrow's GOP primary, and there are about 365,000 of them, five times the number of registered GOP voters in this blue state.

Laffey, the scrappy mayor of Cranston, is giving Chafee a run for his money. Chafee was standing by the side of Route 4 in North Kingstown, RI yesterday, saying in a conversational tone to the cars zooming by at 60 mph, "Good morning, vote Chafee, have a good time at the beach." A half-dozen staffers were with him, each toting a Chafee sign, and motorists responded with honking horns, waves, some thumbs up, a few thumbs down and one guy who shouted with disdain, "Liberals!" as his car sped past.

Sen. Elizabeth Dole, the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, seems to have to gone on a spending binge here in her effort to save Chafee, filling voters' mailboxes with a torrent of anti-Laffey mailers. Curry cites one that features a photo illustration of a Hiroshima-style atomic mushroom cloud, blasting the roof off a house. "Steve Laffey is blowing property taxes through the roof," warns its headline. (Laffey said he did raise taxes to avert a fiscal crisis but later cut them.)

Chafee told Curry that Laffey's recent warm-and-fuzzy TV ad, featuring his wife, had burnished the Mayor's standing with voters, "trying to de-horn him, if you will, soften his image," said Chafee. So Chafee unleashed a negative ad, accusing Laffey of stealing documents from a firm he once worked for, and calling Laffey "untrustworthy, unpredictable, unreliable." Accusing Chafee of "character assassination," Laffey said Sunday, "Senator Chafee is going to wake up on September 13 and have to look at himself in the mirror; he's not going to like what he did."

Among his other recent interviews, Bush gave one to the Wall Street Journal, which ran on Saturday. As a way to motivate seniors, Democrats are seizing on his comments that "he hoped to revisit Social Security reform next year, when he 'will be able to drain the politics out of the issue.'"

In the absence of real lobbying and ethics reform, House Republican leaders hope to pass a resolution this week changing the way the House handles earmarks. But, Roll Call says, "The reform measure does not eliminate earmarks or change the process by which earmarks are inserted into legislation."

"The stack of delayed initiatives" being put off by the GOP-run Congress until a lame-duck session "is growing," business and government strategist Billy Moore (D) writes to his clients. On this list: "the budget, non-security spending, tax extenders, estate tax cuts, immigration, lobbying reform, offshore drilling, Medicare physician payments, telecommunications reform, asbestos liability and warrantless surveillance. Should the voters elect a Democratic House of Representatives in November," Moore says, "almost none of the postponed agenda will see action."

Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson has a new gig as a Washington Post op-ed columnist.

Stuart Rothenberg says Democrats will hold a majority of governorships after election day, which could prove key in the next redistricting process as well as in the presidential election.

ARIZONA also hosts a competitive Republican primary in a key House race on Tuesday, the race for retiring GOP Rep. Jim Kolbe's seat, which one moderate Republican stands a better chance of winning in November. But that candidate also stands a real chance of losing to a more conservative opponent tomorrow.

In CALIFORNIA, the Los Angeles Times front-pages another look at GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign contributions from "scores of contributors whose interests intersect with legislation" he's now signing into law. Democrats charge that such fundraising practices are exactly the kind of behavior Schwarzenegger decried in his winning campaign against then-Gov. Gray Davis (D).

The San Francisco Chronicle says Schwarzenegger's campaign "is looking more and more like Sherman's march to the sea. It's a scorched-earth drive between now and November that appears to be aimed at robbing rival Phil Angelides of any worthwhile issue."

In the DC mayoral race, leading contender Adrian Fenty is about to launch "the biggest and most highly synchronized vote drive in city history," says the Washington Post in a story summing up regional get-out-the-vote efforts.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D) kicked off his re-election campaign in FLORIDA over the weekend, but is trying to fly under the radar. "Despite months of being dubbed by Republican challenger Katherine Harris as Florida's 'do-nothing liberal senator,' Nelson chose to let others do most of the Harris-bashing," writes the Miami Herald.  

In ILLINOIS, the FBI "is investigating allegations by the wife of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's former campaign treasurer that her state job may have come in return for a $1,500 personal check her husband wrote to one of Blagojevich's children. The inquiry is the first public indication that Blagojevich" -- a Democrat who is facing re-election against Judy Baar Topinka (R) -- "and his personal finances are under federal scrutiny as part of a sweeping criminal probe of political hiring in his administration." -- Chicago Tribune

In NEVADA, Democratic Senate candidate Jack Carter, son of the former President, has been hospitalized with severe colitis, the AP reports. Carter is waging what already was an uphill battle to unseat Sen. John Ensign (R).

A few months ago, the New York Times writes, Democrats had envisioned picking up four, maybe even five, congressional seats in NEW YORK. But that goal now seems remote.

Potential presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani (R) will be everywhere today. His USA Today op-ed emphasizes his September 11 credentials and, to some degree, echoes Bush Administration arguments that "the killing of innocent civilians by Islamic fanatics has been going on for some time." 

GOP Gov. Mitt Romney's Mormon faith may be tough for evangelicals to swallow, the Washington Times anticipates. "Mormon and evangelical Christian theology are worlds apart on many issues."

On his first trip to Iowa since announcing that he's thinking of running for president, Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd told voters that he hasn't decided whether he'll run or not, that he won't announce his decision until the beginning of next year, and that if he does run, his top priority will be education. -- Des Moines Register

Speaking to reporters in Sydney while promoting his film about global warming, Al Gore said "he hadn't rule[d] out making a second bid for the White House, though he said it was unlikely... Prime Minister John Howard, a friend and ally of Bush, said he would not meet Gore during his Australian visit and would not heed his advice to sign up to Kyoto." -- AP

And yesterday's Boston Globe wrote up Sen. John Kerry's speech on national security in Boston over the weekend, during which he outlined a five-part strategy to improve national security. Kerry told the Globe that he's planning an extensive travel schedule through the fall on behalf of Democratic candidates, beginning with a trip to New Hampshire today and to Iowa next weekend.

From Elizabeth Wilner, Mark Murray, Huma Zaidi, and Jennifer Colby
Five years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and 57 days until election day...  As President Bush takes part in a series of observances and prepares to address the nation tonight, pluralities of voters say the country is "more safe" than it was before September 11, 2001 and give his Administration and its policies "some of the credit" for the absence of another terrorist attack on US soil since then, per the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.  The results also suggest that some of the key arguments being made in the partisan debate over the war on terror -- Democrats' claim that the nation is less safe because of the war in Iraq, and the Administration's effort to take credit for the absence of another terrorist attack on US soil -- are having limited impact.

Democrats have been trying to keep the spotlight on the unpopular war in Iraq by arguing that it has made the nation less safe.  Their congressional challengers around the country are observing today's anniversary by "reminding local voters that this Republican Congress should be doing more" on border and port security and more to implement the recommendations of the September 11 commission, per a party release.  Yet public opinion on whether or not the country is safer now than it was before the terrorist attacks remains pretty much unchanged from two years ago: 42% say the country is more safe, compared to 41% in September 2004; 32% say the country is about as safe, compared to 31% two years ago; and 23% say the country is less safe, compared to 27% two years ago.  Our pollsters point out that voters in the Northeast, the region most directly affected by the attacks, feel as safe as voters in other regions of the country.

The White House casts tonight's address as part of the President's ongoing effort to build support for the war in Iraq as central to the broader war on terror, an effort which will culminate with his appearance at the United Nations on September 19.  Public opinion on whether the war on terror has succeeded in disrupting international terrorism remains roughly where it was in September 2002.  Today, 15% say the WOT has succeeded in disrupting international terrorism "a great deal," compared to 18% four years ago; 26% say it has succeeded "quite a bit," compared to 25% four years ago; 32% say "just some," compared to 36% four years ago; and 18% say "very little," compared to 15% four years ago.

The Administration lately has tried to claim credit for the absence of another attack since September 11, 2001, but only 32% of registered voters give the Administration and its policies "all" or "most of" the credit for that fact.  Forty-five percent give the Administration and its policies "some of" the credit, while 21% give them "very little" credit.  The poll was conducted from September 8-10 of 602 registered voters and has a margin of error of +/-4%.

By the time he speaks tonight, Bush will have laid wreaths at Ground Zero; in Shanksville, PA; and at the Pentagon, among other events.  His primetime speech, per White House spokesperson Tony Snow, will not be political -- "there are no calls to action, there are no attempts to segregate Democrats from Republicans."  Bush will talk about "how September 11th reshaped the way in which we view the growing menace of what we now refer to -- the Islamist terrorist threat represented by bin Laden, Zarqawi and others, and that as a nation we don't have the luxury of sitting around and waiting for them to hit us again."  The speech pits Bush against Monday Night Football (Washington Redskins vs. Minnesota Vikings), and also will cause ABC to interrupt part two of its broadcast of its controversial September 11 docudrama. 

Vice President Cheney stays close to home, observing the anniversary at events at the White House and Pentagon.  Members of Congress attend an observance at the Capitol. 

And candidates facing tough primaries tomorrow in places like Rhode Island and Maryland will have to finesse hitting the campaign trail today.  Moderate GOP Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island may lose his party's nomination to conservative Steve Laffey, furthering the anti-incumbent storyline of this cycle and potentially costing Republicans this Senate seat.  The party's Senate campaign committee has suggested they would see better races on which to bet their resources this fall than on helping Laffey win in this blue state. 

In Maryland, it's Democrats who will be watching the outcome of their Senate primary between leading contenders Rep. Ben Cardin and former Rep. Kweisi Mfume, with their chances of retaining the seat potentially hanging in the balance as Cardin is believed to be the stronger general election candidate.  An Mfume win would set up an unprecedented contest between two African-American major-party nominees.

More from First Read to come -- check back here after 9:00 am.  Got calendar? 

From NBC's Mark Murray
-- In California, the big news of the day was Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) being caught on tape, per a Los Angeles Times report, saying that Cubans and Puerto Ricans are fiery people because of their combination of "black blood" and Latino blood." Opponent Phil Angelides (D) pounced on Schwarzenegger's remarks, saying that the governor once again "has used language that is deeply offensive to all Californians and embarrassed our state." At a news conference, Schwarzenegger apologized for the comments, and said that he'd be upset if his children had said something similar.

-- In Rhode Island's competitive GOP primary, which concludes on Tuesday, incumbent Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R) hits opponent Steve Laffey (R) in one of the toughest TV ads we've seen so far this cycle. "The file on Steve Laffey: Police document he talked down to the wife of a firefighter and then had to be restrained... To cover up a charge that he stole confidential material from a former employer, Steve Laffey doctored his resume. Steve Laffey. Untrustworthy. Unpredictable. Unreliable."

-- And speaking of hard-hitting TV ads, Tennessee Senate candidate Bob Corker (R) is running one -- his third ad of the general election campaign -- that blasts opponent Harold Ford (D) on an issue Ford has been emphasizing in his own advertising: national security. "Congressman Ford voted against reauthorizing the Patriot Act... He voted to cut defense spending by over 16%. Just who does he think is going to provide our security?"

From NBC's Mark Murray
NBC's Tim Russert reports this morning that White House press secretary Tony Snow has called the TV networks, requesting time for a Monday 9:00 pm ET primetime speech by President Bush to commemorate the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The speech will be from the Oval Office and will last about 20 minutes. But will Bush's have some competition for viewership? As all football fans across the country know, Monday nights in the fall mean Monday Night Football (which now is on ESPN). And at the same time as Bush plans to give his speech, the Washington Redskins -- the favorite team of many DC politicos and journalists -- will be taking on the Minnesota Vikings.

From Elizabeth Wilner, Mark Murray, Huma Zaidi, and Jennifer Colby

T-minus 60 days and counting until Election Day... With the news the Senate Intelligence Committee will today release a report that Democrats say will prove the White House misused intelligence in the decision to go to war in Iraq, President Bush hits the campaign trail once again. He heads first to Michigan to attend a fundraiser for the state party and Senate candidate Mike Bouchard (R), who faces Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) in November. And then he travels to Missouri, where he'll help raise money for vulnerable incumbent Sen. Jim Talent (R). Vice President Dick Cheney also chips in by heading to Boston to deliver remarks at a reception for the Massachusetts GOP. All three events are closed to the press.

But the politics surrounding Bush's trip to

The AP reports that the Senate Intelligence Committee today "will issue a report, two years in the making, that Democrats on the panel say will prove that misuse of intelligence played a role in the Bush administration's decision to go to war in

Another Washington Post article front-pages that the Bush Administration's decision to transfer the 14 suspected Al Qaeda terrorists to

Per the AP, the number of workers filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits declined last week, "signaling continuing labor market strength despite a general economic slowdown."

The AFL-CIO will officially kick off its voter mobilization program tomorrow with a series of "walks" across the country. AFL members will go door-to-door to discuss "pocketbook" issues with voters in 80 cities in 21 states. Per a release, the labor federation says this weekend is the "opening salvo in what is the single largest voter mobilization program in the nation."

Any hope of passing comprehensive immigration reform this year is dead in the water, NBC's Mike Viqueira reports. But a plan is in the works to pass a series of border security-only measures before Congress leaves for a campaign recess on September 29. In addition, Viq says, House GOP leaders announced yesterday they will hold yet another hearing on immigration reform next week to discuss their observations from immigration field hearings and in talking to constituents over their summer recess. House Speaker Dennis Hastert left no doubt about where he and the GOP leadership stand on the principal provisions of the Senate bill. "Before guest worker, we need to heal the wound and stop the bleeding," he said, referring to the tide of illegal immigrants coming over the border.

The Los Angeles Times writes that supporters of the Senate immigration bill criticized the House's announcement. "'Security alone cannot fix the problem of illegal immigration,' said Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), who backs the Senate bill. 'If we do enforcement without anything else, crops in the field will be rotting, nothing will be picked and the problems will ripple throughout the entire economy.'"

Immigrants yesterday rallied outside the Capitol, calling for a comprehensive approach to illegal immigration. But, per the New York Times, "the political potency of such marches ... seemed to be waning. Organizers here had predicted hundreds of thousands of demonstrators on Thursday, but it appeared that only several thousand showed up. Rallies in

From NBC's Mark Murray
-- In Florida, the hits on Katherine Harris (R) keep coming. The state's Democratic Party is highlighting the fact that Harris, the GOP Senate nominee, wasn't among the Republican candidates and officials who went on a "Victory 2006" tour around the state today. "How can the Republican Party claim to have unity while blatantly ignoring their top candidate?" said a spokesman for Florida's Democratic Party in a statement. "It just doesn't pass the smell test."

-- In Ohio, Rep. Sherrod Brown (D), who's challenging incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine (R), is up with his second TV ad of the campaign, which hits DeWine on trade. "They work hard; they love their country; they play by the rules," Brown says in the ad. "But the cars, steel and appliances they used to make are now being made overseas, where workers are paid 3 or 4 dollars a day. My opponent supported the trade agreements that cost us these jobs. He says it's just business - I say it's wrong."

-- With the news that Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R) is the one who pulled the plug on today's committee vote to confirm John Bolton as UN ambassador, primary opponent Steve Laffey (R), released a stinging statement: "All the other senators have made up their minds on how to vote except Lincoln Chafee, who, like always, can't figure out where he stands," Laffey said. "It is outrageous that a vote had to be postponed because Senator Chafee can't make up his mind." The Chafee-Laffey primary takes place this coming Tuesday.

From NBC's Mike Viqueira
House GOP leaders, eager for more ways in which to trumpet their opposition to the guest worker and citizenship provisions, announced this afternoon that they'll hold another hearing on immigration next week before officially driving a stake through the heart of the "comprehensive" reform advocated by Bush and other Republicans. The "forum" will feature GOP leaders who will trade observations about what they heard over their summer break in immigration field hearings and in talking to constituents.

At a presser late this afternoon, House Speaker Dennis Hastert left no doubt about where he and the GOP leadership stand on the principal provisions of the Senate bill. "Before guest worker, we need to heal the wound and stop the bleeding," he said, referring to the tide of illegal immigrants coming over the border.

As noted earlier, and not withstanding all this, a plan is in the works to pass a series of border security-only measures before Congress leaves for a campaign recess on September 29.

From NBC's Mike Viqueira
What everyone on and around Capitol Hill has assumed for months to be true on immigration reform is expected to become official later this afternoon when House GOP leaders announce their border enforcement plan. Simply put, the Senate's "comprehensive" bill is dead for the year. That means the guest worker program and "path to citizenship" approach favored by the President and about one-third of Republicans in Congress will have to wait for another day, if ever, for a vote.

Instead, Republican leaders are expected to announce that they will move forward with money for building a border fence, additional border agents, worksite enforcement, and border surveillance. The likely vehicle is the Defense spending bill, to which the Senate has already added some $4 billion to pay for these initiatives.

The announcement will come at about 3:00 pm today, following a meeting of House GOP leaders and relevant committee chairmen.

From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
In his remarks on the war on terror in Atlanta earlier today, President Bush urged for changes to be made to the law to authorize the NSA warrantless wiretapping program and update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This represents a shift in the White House position, as Bush has not uttered this appeal before. Bush in Atlanta today: "The surest way to keep the program is to get explicit approval from the United States Congress. So today I am calling on the Congress to promptly pass legislation providing additional authority for the terrorist surveillance program, along with broader reforms in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act." The shift? From the time the program was disclosed last December, up until now, the President had insisted that no new laws were needed -- this is the first time he's called for one.

From NBC's Mike Viqueira
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is sticking to Democratic themes on Iraq and September 11 today, even as Republicans move swiftly to pass President Bush's detainees legislation, with a vote now scheduled for the week after next. Pelosi calls the invasion of Iraq "an historic blunder" and says that "we pulled our punch" by not focusing more exclusively on Afghanistan in fighting the war on terror. She disparages the Administration's approach, declaring that without a greater emphasis on diplomacy in the Middle East, "we will never win their hearts and minds." Osama bin Laden "is still on the loose," she adds. "The President said 'you can run but you cannot hide'... Apparently he could."

Asked whether Democrats would launch a series of investigations of the Bush Administration should they win the majority in November, Pelosi said, "If your point is that we are going to be bogged down in the past, disabuse yourself of that notion." Republicans have warned voters that a Democratic takeover would mean endless committee inquiries into Administration conduct, including possible impeachment proceedings.

Meanwhile, House Republicans say there's no doubt that they will pass a version of the detainee legislation sought by the President before Congress leaves town for the campaign recess scheduled to begin on September 29. "We're not going to to go campaigning and leave Khalid Shiakh Mohammed hanging around without a way to bring him to justice," said one top aide this morning. Hearings on detainee policy are being held today. And Rep. Duncan Hunter (R), who will shepherd the detainee bill through the House, delivered a long speech on the House floor last night defending Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and slamming Democrats who "sip their lattes and find themselves comfortable" while Republicans keep America safe by implementing a policy of "peace through strength."

From Elizabeth Wilner, Mark Murray, Huma Zaidi, and Jennifer Colby

Two months (or 61 days) until Election Day...  Big things are happening in politics.  With all due respect to President Bush, who's giving his fourth speech on the war on terror within a week, we'll start with a unique development that hits closer to home: the newly expanded and innovative www.politics.msnbc.com, powered by NBC News and National Journal.

As NBC's Tim Russert said on NBC's Today Show this morning, Bush's speech yesterday on military tribunals and CIA prisons for detainees "focuses the conversation on September 11, not