From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
The president is in Martha's Vineyard. While he's there, the White House says he is not looking to make news, but that hasn't been true of past presidents.

The Washington Post reported that President Obama approved last week a new interrogation unit to be housed at the FBI to question detainees called the High Level Detainee Interrogation Group, or HIG. And the New York Times reports that the Justice Department is recommending the reopening about a dozen CIA interrogation cases.  

"The CIA has played a vital role in the work of the task force, and its substantive knowledge will be essential to interrogations going forward," CIA spokesman George Little said, NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

A U.S. official tells Mitchell that actually "the CIA didn't want to house this initiative. They're glad to be out of the long-term detention business."

Though the White House has said the president has "no plans" to meet with the ailing Sen. Ted Kennedy in nearby Hyannis, we'll be watching to see if Obama does wind up meeting with Kennedy, an Obama friend, supporter and staunch health reform ally.

The president may be away, but the fight over health care continues here in DC. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has an op-ed in the Washington Post saying Republicans will fight for seniors rights when it comes to health care, and he pushes the notion that there will be rationing.

On the Sunday shows, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said the president should think about making smaller changes on health care until the economy is out of recession. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said there has to be a public option, and Democrats are looking at ways around Republicans.

President Obama has often said if you like the insurance you have, you can keep it. That's not a guarantee government can make, of course, but his 2008 Republican rival John McCain yesterday went so far as to suggest that if a public option were included, if you have private insurance, "you would have to lose it."

The Times also reports that the administration has filled less than half of the positions that require Senate confirmation. The paper calls it a sign that the administration has grown more cautious after several nominations didn't work out early on.

And American military commanders are saying there are not enough troops in Afghanistan, that they are stretched to the limit by the Taliban.

Cash for Clunkers ends tonight at 8.

And Elizabeth Edwards apparently opened a furniture store in Chapel Hill on Saturday. Her husband, John Edwards, attended the opening. AP: The store is called "Red Window" and "will be similar to The Red Door, a charity store her mother managed in Japan."

From NBC's Ali Weinberg
Seeking to re-launch his campaign after trailing in recent polls, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Creigh Deeds gave a speech today in vote-rich Northern Virginia in which he contrasted his records and policies with those of his Republican opponent, Bob McDonnell.

Deeds criticized McDonnell's fiscal policies by linking him to George W. Bush. "Just recently he said he believes President Bush did a good job and he created -- and I am quoting here -- 'an economic revival in America.' The fiscal policies of George Bush doubled the national debt and results in over 300,000 Virginians losing their jobs and 48,000 Virginia families losing their homes to foreclosure."

He also drew stark contrasts with McDonnell on social issues like abortion, stem cells, and birth control. "He sponsored 35 bills in the General Assembly to restrict a woman's right to choose," Deeds said of McDonnell. "He introduced legislation to create a different 'class' of marriage four separate times. He supported legislation allowing a pharmacist to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions. He supports vouchers for private schools. He opposes stem cell research and believes that government should interfere in a family's most personal decisions like those of Terri Schiavo and Hugh Finn."

Delivering his speech from George Mason University, Deeds also attached himself to the legacies of former and current Virginia Govs. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, Democrats who won the most recent gubernatorial contests in the state.

"My approach is best illustrated by my support for Mark Warner's 2004 bipartisan budget reform plan. My opponent opposed this historic budget agreement, which many in his own party supported," Deeds said. "My opponent opposed that plan, opposed moderates in his own party, and continues to voice support for the failed economic policies of the past."

Deeds also outlined his plans for governor, including:
-- an additional $40 million per year for college financial aid;
-- a permanent "Efficiency Improvement Office," headed by a director who would review all state agencies, beginning with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency; and
-- providing a tax credit for every job an employer creates.

*** UPDATE *** McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin fired off this response: "That was the most backwards looking speech ever given by a Virginia gubernatorial nominee. If Creigh Deeds thinks blowing the dust off an old political playbook amounts to a major new announcement, he doesn't get what the voters of Virginia are looking for in their next governor. Virginians need jobs and opportunity. Instead, Creigh Deeds is focused on history lessons about former governors and presidents, and trying to bring back old time wedge politics to tear Virginians apart."

From NBC's Mark Murray
As we mentioned earlier today, pundits on the left and right are criticizing President Obama's efforts on health care. Paul Krugman says the message is lacking; Peggy Noonan argues that Obama is losing (or has already lost) the debate; and Eugene Robinson writes that Democrats are lacking energy.

And all with good reason -- the president's poll numbers are declining, his opponents are invigorated, and the chances for health reform don't seem to be as good as they were a couple of months ago.

But we've been here before, right?

Here was Krugman back in August of 2008: "[T]he problem isn't lack of specifics -- it's lack of passion. When it comes to the economy, Mr. Obama's campaign seems oddly lethargic. I was astonished at the flatness of the big economy speech he gave in St. Petersburg at the beginning of this month -- a speech that was billed as the start of a new campaign focus on economic issues. Mr. Obama is a great orator, yet he began that speech with a litany of statistics that were probably meaningless to most listeners."

Here was Noonan in late August '08 before the conventions (and after Obama's subpar performance in that Rick Warren forum): "Why is it a real race now, with John McCain rising in the polls and Barack Obama falling? There are many answers, but here I think is an essential one: The American people have begun paying attention."

And here was Robinson around the same time: "If they want to win in November, Democrats have one task to accomplish this week: Snap out of it. Somehow, tentativeness and insecurity have infected a party that ought to be full of confident swagger. It's not that Democrats don't like their odds of winning the presidency and boosting their majorities in both houses of Congress. It's that they are even bothering to calculate and recalculate those odds."

The hand-wringing, doubts, and skepticism of August 2008, however, later turned into Obama's decisive seven-point victory in November.

Of course, campaigning -- especially when the outgoing president and his party were incredibly unpopular -- is much different than governing -- when no one (the left and right) seems particularly happy with you. But if the White House is able to pull out a victory on health care in the fall, history will have repeated itself.  

From NBC's Mark Murray
Here's a new TV ad (airing on national and DC cable next week) from the left-leaning Americans United for Change that seizes on the "death panels" myth.

[Youtube:ja8h2wxTzJY]

And here is a new ad the National Republican Congressional Committee is running against Democratic Reps. Michael Arcuri (NY) and Zack Space (OH). The ad refers to Obama's and Pelosi's "risky experiment" on health care, arguing that it will include "massive cuts" to Medicare.

[Youtube:u-Wkb0Gd7mY]

From NBC's Mark Murray
Listening to the pundits and reading the op-ed pages, it's a pretty brutal day for President Obama.

Paul Krugman criticizes the president's messaging in the health-care debate, writing that he comes across, "far too often, as a dry technocrat who talks of 'bending the curve' but has only recently begun to make the moral case for reform. Mr. Obama's explanations of his plan have gotten clearer, but he still seems unable to settle on a simple, pithy formula; his speeches and op-eds still read as if they were written by a committee."

Peggy Noonan argues that it's time to pull the plug on Obama's health-reform plans. "I write as if health-care reform or insurance reform or whatever it's called this week is already a loss, a historic botch, because it is. Even if the White House wins, they lose, because the cost in terms of public trust and faith was too high."

Eugene Robinson, although much kinder to Obama, contends that Democrats have lost their intensity and focus. "There's not enough passion on the Democratic side, not enough heat. There's some radiating from the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, too little emanating from the Democratic majority in the Senate, and not nearly enough coming from President Obama. Republicans, by contrast, have little going for them except passion -- but they're using it to impressive effect." (That said, the DNC says more than 200,000 people participated in yesterday's strategy session on health care with Obama.)

And Politico has a piece about Obama's lost summer on health care and being forced to going back to square one in the debate.

All this comes as a new Washington Post/ABC poll shows Obama's approval rating dropping to 57% and those who have confidence that he'll make the right decisions for the country falling to 49%.

In other health-care news, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that no legislation will be able to pass the House unless it contains a public option.

And the bipartisan Senate Finance Committee Gang of Six met last night and Chairman Max Baucus said they had a productive conversation, although there were no breakthroughs.

From NBC's Athena Jones
After weeks of struggling to break through the chanting throngs of health-care overhaul opponents at town halls across the country and to correct inaccurate information about his proposals, President Obama finally seemed to hit his stride Thursday when it came to explaining his goals in plain, brief, to-the-point language.

The administration has had a tough time this month selling its "change" message when it comes to health care in the face of strong, organized, and sometimes rowdy opposition. As negotiations on legislation stalled in Congress ahead of the August recess, misconceptions began to take root among voters who worried about what a comprehensive revamp of an industry that represents one-sixth of the economy would mean for them.

The president's town halls last week in New Hampshire, Montana, and Colorado were part of an effort to explain to the American people how they would be helped by a revamped system, but it was during an interview today at the White House with talk radio host Michael Smerconish that Obama gave perhaps his strongest, clearest defense to date of his health-care plan. He continued his push with a Q&A session at which he sought to rally a group of Organizing for American volunteers.

"We all know this has been an emotional debate," he told supporters assembled at the Democratic National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill. "We've seen tempers flare, accusations have been hurled, and sometimes it seems like one loud voice can drown out all the civil, sensible voices out there. But remember one thing: Nothing's more powerful than millions of voices calling for change. That's how we won this election. You know this."

Yesterday, the president called on religious leaders to help him "spread the facts" about his proposals and fight the "deceptive attacks" of opponents. Today at the DNC, Obama slammed the media for not correcting -- and even spreading -- the kind of misinformation that has riled up critics, such as promoting the idea of rationed care, death panels, and benefits for illegal immigrants.

"We know where these lies are coming from," he said to laughter. "I don't think it's any secret. You know, if you just flick channels you'll -- and then stop on certain ones of them then you'll see, you know, you'll see who's propagating this stuff and so all we can do is just keep on pushing the truth."

But it was in his radio interview with Smerconish -- where the president tended toward simple and concise language rather than long, professorial discourse -- where he seemed most effective in laying out a clear case for his proposed health-care exchange, a key element of his plan.

When asked whether he would urge members of Congress to force federal employees to join a public plan, Obama explained that the large number of people in the federal workforce meant they could get the best rates possible from insurance companies, all of which want to do business with the federal government. He said a health insurance exchange would do the same, but stressed the matter of choice -- assuring listeners that no one would be forced into any plan.

"What we have said is: Let's make a public option one choice of many choices that are available to people who are joining the exchange, and I see nothing wrong with potentially having that public option as one option for federal employees, as well," he said.

Obama went on to highlight two private insurers to drive home the point.

"But the important thing that I think I have to make absolutely clear: Nobody would be obligated to choose the public option," he said. "If you went on that Web site and you said, you know what, Aetna or Blue Cross/Blue Shield are offering a good deal and I would rather choose that plan than the public plan, you'd be perfectly free to do so. Nobody would be saying you are obligated to go into a public plan."

The toughest question the president got during the radio show was from a self-proclaimed supporter who was "ticked off" at him for being "weak knee-ed" -- too willing to compromise with Republicans on health care, even though Democrats have control of both houses of Congress.

The president said he still hoped to craft a bipartisan bill and hailed three Republican senators -- Olympia Snowe from Maine; Chuck Grassley for Iowa and Mike Enzi from Wyoming -- for negotiating with Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, compliments he echoed later at the DNC, where he sought to convince his supporters he would not compromise too much.

"We're going to just continue to wait to see if they can get a product done. But at some point in the process, there's going to have to be a conclusion that either they can get a bill done or they can't get a bill done," he said. "And my commitment to the American people is to get a good product, which will include Republican ideas. But I have no control over what the other side decides is their political strategy and my obligation to the American people says we're going to get this done one way or another."

At both events today, Obama argued that one of the challenges to bipartisanship on this issue was a political decision made by the Republican leadership, making a direct reference to the Clinton administration's failed health care effort.

"I think early on a decision was made by the Republican leadership that said, 'Look, let's not give them a victory and maybe we can have a replay of 1993-94 when Clinton came in; he failed on health care and then we won in the midterm elections and we got the majority,'" Obama said on Smerconish's radio show. "And I think there's some folks who are taking a page out of that playbook, but this shouldn't be a political issue."

The president seemed to miss an opportunity on the radio show to explain just how the federal government would manage the logistics of a public option when one caller on the radio show asked why the American people should trust the government to handle health care when it could not disburse Cash for Clunker rebates in a timely manner. Obama's answer focused on the extra staff that had been hired to prevent fraud in the auto program rather than how the government would do better with health care.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Matthew Samuels
Helped by a fundraiser with President Obama in Chicago in July, the Democratic National Committee outraised its Republican counterpart last month.

The Republican National Committee earlier today announced it had raised $6 million in July. But the DNC raised $9.1 million over the same period.

"We have a plan in place and we're raising the money we need to support our operations on behalf of the president's agenda, including passing health insurance reform, and to support our political operations, state parties and campaigns," DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse said in a statement to First Read.

But the RNC still has more cash on hand, more overall money raised and zero debt. The DNC has $16.3 million cash on hand; The RNC has $21.8 (down about $2 million from June, which the RNC says is for prepping the New Jersey and Virginia governor's races.) The DNC is is carrying $5.1 million in debt; The RNC has $0 debt. The DNC has raised a total of $46.7 million this year; The RNC has taken in $51.9 million.

From NBC's Tom Costello and Domenico Montanaro
The Department of Transportation's "Cash for Clunkers" program will end Monday, DOT announced this afternoon.

"This program has been a lifeline to the automobile industry, jump starting a major sector of the economy and putting people back to work," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a released statement. "At the same time, we've been able to take old, polluting cars off the road and help consumers purchase fuel efficient vehicles."

The DOT credits the program with 457,000 "dealer transactions worth $1.9 billion in rebates."

LaHood reiterated the CARS program has been "the best economic news story in America."

DOT also claims, "Most consumers have turned in trucks and SUV's in exchange for passenger cars, with an improved gas mileage of about 60 percent."

DOT also emphasizes that there's enough money to reimburse every dealer.

"Based on conservative estimates of valid transactions so far, DOT analysts have projected that there is enough money to continue accepting submissions until the Monday deadline," according to its release.

Monday at 8:00 pm ET is the drop deadline for dealers to submit applications for the $4,500 rebates.

From NBC's Mark Murray and Athena Jones
In his first public comments on the so-called public option since the issue ignited a political firestorm over the weekend, President Obama today stressed in an interview with radio-talk host Michael Smerconish that the end he's seeking is keeping down health insurance costs.

And for him, a public option is simply a means -- perhaps one of several -- of achieving that end.

Obama told Smerconish that he believes the public/government option, which would compete against private health insurers, is a good idea. "The press got a little excited and some folks on the left got a little excited," he said in the interview that was broadcast from the White House. "Our position hasn't changed. We think that the key is cost control."

"That's the end that we're seeking. And the means -- we can have some good arguments about the best way to achieve it."

Also in his interview with Smerconish, which included questions from radio listeners across the country, Obama listed his principles for health-care reform:
-- that it must be entirely paid for;
-- that it must reduce health-care inflation over the long term;
-- that it institute protections for Americans who already have health insurance;
-- and that it sets up an exchange that would enable Americans to choose the type of health-care insurance they want, and that would help them afford the insurance.

In response to one listener's concerns about illegal immigrants benefiting from any kind of health-care reform, Obama responded, "That is simply not true," adding: "Nobody has talked about health insurance for illegal immigrants."

Another caller asked the president if he was willing to ditch working with seemingly uncooperative Republicans. "I would love to have more Republicans involved and engaged in this process," he replied. But he said that many Republicans have decided that defeating health-care reform would replicate what happened in 1994 -- a GOP takeover of Congress.

"But this shouldn't be a political issue," Obama added. "This is a issue for the American people. There are a bunch of Republicans out there who have been working very constructively. One of them, Olympia Snowe in Maine, she's been dedicated on this. Chuck Grassley, Mike Enzi, others -- they've been meeting in the Senate Finance Committee. I want to give them a chance to work through these processes."

He concluded, "And we're happy to make sensible compromises. What we're not willing to do is give up on" the core principles.

The president also touched on the release of the man convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, saying that the White House "didn't think this was appropriate."

"We're now in contact with the Libyan government, and want to make sure that if in fact this transfer has taken place, that he's not welcomed back in some way, but instead should be under house arrest."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Political guru Charlie Cook writes that the president's poll approval slide (to about 51%) is evidence that "the situation this summer has slipped completely out of control for President Obama and Congressional Democrats."

He writes that the Cook Political Report congressional model currently shows Dems losing a net of six to 12 seats in 2010, "but our sense, factoring in macro-political dynamics is that this is far too low." 

Here's what Cook wrote today in full:

For those of you not addicted to the 1:00pm EDT daily release of Gallup's three-night moving average tracking poll, President Obama's job approval rating in both their August 16-18 and August 17-19 averages was just 51 percent, the lowest level of his presidency. The latter sampling showed his disapproval up to 42 percent, matching his all-time low hit in the August 15-17 tracking poll. The 51% job approval rating is identical to two other polls released in recent days conducted by NBC News and the Pew Research Center. Today's regression-based trend estimate computed by our friends at Pollster.com from all major national surveys show an approval rating of 50.7 percent and disapproval of 43.7 percent.

These data confirm anecdotal evidence, and our own view, that the situation this summer has slipped completely out of control for President Obama and Congressional Democrats. Today, The Cook Political Report's Congressional election model, based on individual races, is pointing toward a net Democratic loss of between six and 12 seats, but our sense, factoring in macro-political dynamics is that this is far too low.

Many veteran Congressional election watchers, including Democratic ones, report an eerie sense of déjà vu, with a consensus forming that the chances of Democratic losses going higher than 20 seats is just as good as the chances of Democratic losses going lower than 20 seats. A new Gallup poll that shows Congress' job disapproval at 70 percent among independents should provide little solace to Democrats. In the same poll, Congressional approval among independents is at 22 percent, with 31 percent approving overall, and 62 percent disapproving.

That all of this is happening against a backdrop of an economy that appears to be rebounding and a resurgent stock market underscores how much the President's and his party's legislative agenda have contributed to these poor poll numbers.

We believe it would be a mistake to underestimate the impact that this mood will have on Members of Congress of both parties when they return to Washington in September, if it persists through the end of the Congressional recess.

From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell and Domenico Montanaro
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) sent a letter to Ray LaHood, head of the Department of Transportation, urging him to move faster on reimbursing dealers.

"This program has had a significant stimulative effect on the sale of cars in the U.S., and dealers have submitted hundreds of thousands of vouchers for processing," Reid writes. "In order to capture a sale but also make use of the CARS incentive, dealers have been forced to effectively finance the CARS vouchers for buyers until the dealers are reimbursed by the federal government, placing a strain on dealers' balance sheets that, if prolonged, could eventually offset some of the benefits of the program."

More: "For example, the Department should consider implementing a policy providing that all properly submitted vouchers will be reimbursed within five business days, and continue adding staff and devoting resources as needed to meet this timeline. By adopting such a guideline, dealers will be more willing to place their capital at risk to carry the cost of CARS vouchers until reimbursement."

LaHood has already said the department has staffed up to deal with a backlog of requests for the $4,500 "Cash for Clunkers" initiative. He has not given a specific timeframe for how long it will take the government to get money to every dealership that is owed money.

Here's Reid's full letter:

Dear Secretary LaHood:

I am writing to request that the Department of Transportation take additional steps to expedite reimbursements to U.S. automobile dealers for vouchers issued to consumers under the Car Allowance Rebate System (the "CARS" or "cash for clunkers" program).

As you well know, this program has had a significant stimulative effect on the sale of cars in the U.S., and dealers have submitted hundreds of thousands of vouchers for processing. In order to capture a sale but also make use of the CARS incentive, dealers have been forced to effectively finance the CARS vouchers for buyers until the dealers are reimbursed by the federal government, placing a strain on dealers' balance sheets that, if prolonged, could eventually offset some of the benefits of the program. Indeed, I was disappointed to learn of reports that many dealers are no longer participating in the program due to these concerns.

I recognize the CARS program's success perhaps has placed unexpected burdens on the Department, and I appreciate your decision earlier this week to increase the number of staff devoted to processing voucher submissions. I also appreciate your public remarks this week assuring dealers that properly submitted vouchers will be honored and appropriate notice provided to announce the termination of the CARS program, thus preventing the program from running out of money before all vouchers could be honored.

Notwithstanding these assurances, I believe that even more certainty must be provided to dealers who participate in the program to ensure its continued success. For example, the Department should consider implementing a policy providing that all properly submitted vouchers will be reimbursed within five business days, and continue adding staff and devoting resources as needed to meet this timeline. By adopting such a guideline, dealers will be more willing to place their capital at risk to carry the cost of CARS vouchers until reimbursement, and more dealers will continue participating in the program, thereby maximizing the program's objectives.

I appreciate your consideration of this matter and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
Harry Reid (D-NV)

From NBC's Betsy Cline
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden refused to comment specifically about the CIA's hiring of private security contractor Blackwater to assassinate top Al Queda leaders in 2004, saying he doesn't comment on "concrete actions." He was also quick to point out the program reportedly occurred before he took office in 2006.

In a discussion about the privatization of security forces at the National Press Club this morning, Hayden, now a private contractor himself, said the CIA turns to the private sector when "they possess experience or knowledge that [the CIA] doesn't inherently have."

His focus, he said, was to find "whoever was best suited for the job."

Answering critics, Hayden told the audience that people who accuse the CIA of turning to contractors when there's a hard problem "are simply wrong." Referencing reports that the agency uses private security forces to avoid blame, Hayden was adamant.

"We do not go outside the agency in order to deflect responsibility," he said. "Period."

Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff also defended the use of private contractors, saying it was because Congress refused to allocate enough money to hire government employees.

"[Congress] complains we're using too many contractors, so we go 'Okay, we want to increase the budget and hire more people in-house,'" Chertoff said. "Then Congress goes, 'No, no; now we're angry, so we're going to cut the budget.'"

From NBC's Chuck Todd and Mark Murray
In his interview with the Charleston Post & Courier, Sen. Jim DeMint (R) says that not passing health-care reform will result in a single-payer system.

P&C: What are the most serious things that will happen if nothing changes in the health care arena?

DeMint: If nothing is done, we're likely to end up with a single-payer system anyway in a few years. Every year we're ratcheting down what we're paying doctors and hospitals for Medicare and Medicaid, which means the cost shifting gets greater and fewer employers can offer health insurance. What we're doing is driving the private market out of business anyway, and I think that's why they don't want anything to pass that would make it easier for people to have their own insurance. So if we don't do anything, that's bad too. That's why I made the point -- I could have calibrated my words differently -- that we have to stop the president on this health care thing. ... If it's completely socialized or nationalized, whatever you want to call it, then you've got over half of the American economy in the government hands at some point, and the free enterprise system doesn't work anymore if the government is that involved. So we've got to make a stand here. We've got to stop it. My hope has always been if we could stop them on this ... then we could move on to real freedom solutions that will work in every area of society. That was the last part of my sentence.

From NBC's Mark Murray
U.S News' Washington Whispers reports that former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has an upcoming book claiming that he was pushed to raise the DHS security alert before the 2004 presidential election.

If true, it would be a explosive (and not-so surprising) charge.

Paul Bedard writes:

Tom Ridge, the first head of the 9/11-inspired Department of Homeland Security, wasn't keen on writing a tell-all. But in The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege...and How We Can Be Safe Again, out September 1, Ridge says he wants to shake "public complacency" over security. And to do that, well, he needs to tell all. Especially about the infighting he saw that frustrated his attempts to build a smooth-running department. Among the headlines promoted by publisher Thomas Dunne Books: Ridge was never invited to sit in on National Security Council meetings; was "blindsided" by the FBI in morning Oval Office meetings because the agency withheld critical information from him; found his urgings to block Michael Brown from being named head of the emergency agency blamed for the Hurricane Katrina disaster ignored; and was pushed to raise the security alert on the eve of President Bush's re-election, something he saw as politically motivated and worth resigning over.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** Kennedy's letter: When Arlen Specter switched parties earlier this year, giving Democrats 60 Senate seats, we noted that Democrats didn't necessarily have a filibuster-proof majority due to the health of Dem Sens. Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy. Well, in a letter to Massachusetts state leaders, it appears that Kennedy is concerned that there could be times during the health-care debate this fall when Democrats don't have 60 votes. The Boston Globe: "In a personal, sometimes wistful letter sent Tuesday to Governor Deval L. Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray, and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, Kennedy asks that Patrick be given authority to appoint someone to the seat temporarily before voters choose a new senator in a special election… 'I strongly support that law and the principle that the people should elect their senator,' Kennedy wrote. 'I also believe it is vital for this Commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election.'"

*** Thinking about the future: Sources close to Kennedy tell NBC's Kelly O'Donnell that he sent the letter, dated July 2, "because he is thinking about the future and what best serves the interests of the state." Sources add that Kennedy's wife, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, an attorney, is not interested in being selected as a potential interim successor, "Vicki is focused on the Senator and her family, not a Senate seat." Asked if the letter is an indication that Kennedy's health is further deteriorating, aides discouraged any suggestion of that saying, "The letter does not mean something is imminent." It's also worth noting, O'Donnell says, that the governor of Massachusetts received the letter only yesterday despite the July 2 date, per Kennedy aides.

*** The Law of Unintended Consequences: The Boston Globe reports, however, that there's some resistance to changing the state's succession law, which calls for a special election to occur five months after a Senate vacancy -- but doesn't allow for a governor to appoint someone to fill the seat in the interim. Just five years ago, when John Kerry was running for president, the state changed its succession law to prevent Mitt Romney from being able to select a Republican to fill Kerry's seat if Kerry had won the election. Hence the current law on Massachusetts' books right now. The good ol' law of unintended consequences: Sometimes lawmakers get a tad too cute in their attempts to manipulate processes like this, and this was one of those cases.

*** Reconciliation: How serious are Democrats about pushing health care through the budget reconciliation process? Very serious. The president has signaled for MONTHS, not days, that he's willing to go this route. In fact, he hinted at it in an interview with NBC News two weeks ago in Elkhart. The question is whether the threat of reconciliation is about keeping Republicans at the table talking, or whether it's a serious option. We can tell you this: We know the president's experience in the Senate has convinced him that the 60-vote threshold seems a bit absurd to him sometimes. If you can get 55 votes for something, you should be able to get your bill out of the Senate, according to those who have talked with him about this issue. By the way, as the White House has shown public flexibility on the public option, it's worth noting that we STILL can't find a single Republican who has praised the president for suggesting that the public option is optional. Instead, it seems they want to go for the political kill.

*** Obama and the public option: Speaking of the public option, senior White House aides are a little frustrated with the coverage this week of the president's stance on this issue. They believe that his position hasn't changed; in fact, they have emphasized behind the scenes that the president has ALWAYS indicated the public option was negotiable. So what he said last Saturday in Colorado was not new. Of course, it's how he said it and that he did so in public -- which came as a surprise to the most ardent supporters of the public option. Many on the progressive/liberal left did NOT realize how optional the public option was with the president. What will the president say about it today at 2:45 pm ET heads over to the DNC to participate in a health-care strategy session -- by phone and online -- with his Organizing for America grassroots supporters? Before that, Obama will discuss health care on Michael Smerconish's conservative talk-radio show, which today is being broadcast from the White House.

*** Defining the public option: By the way, here's another issue regarding the public option: Just what is it? Is it an expansion of Medicare? Is it a separate entity? Is it a new entity? Is it something akin to Freddie and Fannie? It does seem to be one of these policy initiatives that means different things to different folks. True experts on this issue have an idea, but now it has become political hot potato -- over the role of government -- and some of the loudest voices both sides of the issue are probably incapable of giving a good description of what the policy will do. Perhaps this is yet another example of how the White House has made things MORE difficult by not having a defined plan to push/defend.

*** Grassley looking for a way out of the talks? So Senate Finance ranking member Chuck Grassley now says he wants to narrow the scope of the bill. Is he looking for a way out of the talks? Does he wants Democrats and the White House to essentially kick him out of the talks? It sure looks like it. How much more does he have to say that seems to be counter-productive to the bipartisan talks and the White House's agenda before the White House will finally say, "OK, fine, Sen. Grassley -- you're released!!??!!?? The Senate Finance Gang of Six holds a conference call meeting tonight. Will this be the night Grassley backs out? Is that the signal he's sending? So he's negotiating in the press?

*** Afghanistan's election: Polls have already closed in Afghanistan's presidential election, with preliminary results due on Aug. 25 and final results due on Sept. 3, per NBC's Dax Tejera. The New York Times says turnout was uneven "with higher participation in the relatively peaceful north than in the troubled south, where insurgents threw up makeshift roadblocks in one area to warn off voters. In the southern city of Kandahar, witnesses said, insurgents hanged two people because their fingers were marked with indelible ink used to denote that they had voted." Wow. More from the Times: "The major question at the election, diplomats and analysts said, is whether President Hamid Karzai will succeed in winning over 50 percent of the vote in the first round, securing a victory, or be pushed into a second, more unpredictable round of voting. A vast field of 34 opponents and a last-minute surge by his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, as well as Taliban intimidation in the volatile south, which is Mr. Karzai's base, threatened to chip away at the president's support."

*** Not worth fighting for? Sticking with the situation in Afghanistan… Last month, in conversations with NBC/WSJ poll respondents about the economy and health care, we told you about a few folks who -- without prompting -- brought up the war in Afghanistan as something that might not be worth escalating or spending money on during these tough times. Today, a Washington Post/ABC poll seems to have found even wider agreement on the issue of  whether this is the "good war" as some have referred to it as. According to the poll, a "majority of Americans now see the war in Afghanistan as not worth fighting, and just a quarter say more U.S. troops should be sent to the country." This is potentially a HUGE turning point in public opinion on the war, and one that could have massive political and policy implications just when the administration is debating whether to send even more troops to the war zone. 

*** Blackwater back in the news: NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports that government officials confirm reports in the New York Times and the Washington Post that the CIA subcontracted its secret assassination program to Blackwater, the controversial security program that has in the past drawn fire for using excessive force in Iraq. A senior official tells Mitchell that Blackwater -- since renamed as Xe Services -- was hired at an earlier stage but not in the later stages of the program, which never was "fully operational." The official says the program "never took anyone off the streets."

*** The dog days of August: What is about August and tough times for American presidents? As we've noted before, this is the third summer in a row that hasn't been all that kind for Barack Obama. In August 2007, he was trailing Hillary Clinton in the polls. In August 2008, his lead over John McCain narrowed, spurring plenty of Democratic backseat driving and second-guessing. And in August 2009, he appears to be losing the health-care fight. But Augusts also have been unkind to other recent presidents and presidential candidates. It was August 2001 when George W. Bush unveiled his stem-cell policy that produced plenty of criticism. That same August came the presidential daily briefing entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike In U.S." In August 2005 came Hurricane Katrina. And it was the Swift-boat campaign of August 2004 that crushed John Kerry's presidential campaign. And remember that certain August in 1998 with Bill Clinton…

*** August break: Speaking of August… In addition to us not publishing our morning note tomorrow, First Read also will be off for the rest of next week. With President Obama in Martha's Vineyard and with Congress on its recess, we're thinking the Washington noise will be a much lower decibel level.  But we will update the First Read Web site if news warrants. The morning dispatch will be back bright and early Monday, Aug. 31. 

Countdown to Election Day 2009: 75 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 439 days

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The Washington Post profiles Howard Dean's role in the health-care debate. "'This vote is not about Democrats versus Republicans and conservatives and liberals and all that stuff,' Dean said, his voice growing louder and his cadence faster. 'This is about whether you're going to vote for the people who donated to your campaigns -- the health insurance industry -- or you're going to vote for the people who pay your salary. And we're going to be watching, because there are going to be 535 people casting that vote.'"

More: "'What Howard is doing is principled but destructive,' said a Democratic strategist and former Dean adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the intraparty debate. 'If health-care reform goes down because of the public option, it's going to be the liberals that bring it down, the Democrats doing it to themselves."

Joe Klein writes in Time, "This year, the liberal insistence on a marginally relevant public option has been a tactical mistake that has enabled the right's 'government takeover' disinformation jihad… To be sure, there are honorable conservatives, trying to do the right thing... There are conservatives...who make their arguments based on facts. But they have been overwhelmed by nihilists and hypocrites more interested in destroying the opposition and gaining power than in the public weal… There is no Republican health-care alternative in 2009… Some righteous anger seems called for, but that's not Obama's style. He will have to come up with something, though—and he will have to do it without the tiniest scintilla of help from the Republican Party."

The AP's Babington: "Publicly, President Barack Obama is still calling for a bipartisan bill to overhaul the nation's health care system. Privately, Democrats are preparing a one-party push, which they feel is all but inevitable."

The New York Daily News: "Some top White House aides are pressing President Obama to drop the gloves and rely on Democratic majorities in the House and Senate to win the health care reform fight."

Despite those splashy reports, The Hill writes, "Senate Democratic leaders and negotiators have recommitted themselves to a bipartisan healthcare deal, despite an August recess characterized by partisan sniping that prompted senior White House officials to consider a go-it-alone approach. The renewed calls for patience and bipartisan talks have saved, at least temporarily, the healthcare debate from devolving into full-blown partisan chaos.

The Boston Globe: "As the Obamas prepare to alight in Martha's Vineyard this weekend, the getaway comes with a painful political truth: As goes the economy, so goes the first presidential vacation. Unlike his predecessor, who spent a month at his Texas ranch, President Obama is treating himself to just one week's respite… Clinton took a 17-day vacation in Jackson Hole, Wyo., in 1995, and went six times to Martha's Vineyard, spending up to three weeks at a time in the bucolic spot. Both Presidents Bush enjoyed long vacations: George H. W. routinely spent the month of August at his family estate in Kennebunkport, Maine, while his son, George W., spent the hot summer month on his ranch."

More details on the trip: "The White House has not released details of the Obamas' plans, but locals say the first family has rented the Blue Heron Farm in Chilmark, a 28-acre estate owned by William and Mollie Van Devender, both donors to Republicans. The property includes a swimming pool, access to a private beach, even a place to whack golf balls… Similar properties on the island rent for $35,000 to $50,000 a week. The Obamas are paying their family vacation tab themselves, administration officials said."

The AP: "Vice President Joe Biden plans to announce Thursday nearly $1.2 billion in grants to help hospitals transition to electronic medical records."

And per a Treasury official, Secretary Geithner travels today to Ohio, where he'll meet with local CEOs from the Greater Cleveland Partnership before joining Governor Ted Strickland in the suburb of Berea to discuss how a $22 billion national school bonds program under the Recovery Act is being put to use building and improving public schools.

"Senator Edward M. Kennedy, in a poignant acknowledgment of his mortality at a critical time in the national health care debate, has privately asked the governor and legislative leaders to change the succession law to guarantee that Massachusetts will not lack a Senate vote when his seat becomes vacant," the Boston Globe reports. "In a personal, sometimes wistful letter sent Tuesday to Governor Deval L. Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray, and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, Kennedy asks that Patrick be given authority to appoint someone to the seat temporarily before voters choose a new senator in a special election."

Here's the letter.

Chuck Grassley, the lead Republican negotiator on the Senate Finance Committee, now wants to narrow the scope of the bill. He says the public response he's seen while traveling Iowa has convinced him you can't do major reform. "Not just on health care, but on a lot of other things Congress has done this year, people are signaling that we ought to slow up and find out where we are and don't spend so much money and don't get us so far into debt," he said in a telephone interview between stops in Iowa Falls and Ames, where he has been leading foreign diplomats on a week-long tour of the state. The Finance Committee group is still discussing a 'comprehensive' plan for extending coverage to millions of uninsured families, he said, but revisiting that approach would be 'a natural outcome of what people may be getting from the town hall meetings.'"

The Wall Street Journal outlines how a two-bill plan would work regarding a vote in the Senate.

At a Chamber of Commerce lunch in Nevada, Sen. John Ensign told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his affair with a friend's wife was different from former President Bill Clinton's relationship with a White House intern because he didn't lie about it under oath. 'I haven't done anything legally wrong,' the Nevada Republican said. 'President Clinton stood right before the American people and he lied to the American people,' Ensign said. 'You remember that famous day he lied to the American people, plus the fact I thought he committed perjury. That's why I voted for the articles of impeachment.'" He got a standing ovation after he was introduced.

"Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney says President Barack Obama is struggling to get a health care bill because he has been too deferential to the liberal wing of his party. Interviewed from Boston Thursday on CBS's 'The Early Show,' Romney said he thinks the president must shoulder the blame for the gridlocked situation surrounding health care legislation. He said Obama gave too much influence to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others. Romney said that 'if the president wants to get something done, he needs to put aside the extreme liberal wing of his party.' Romney, who ran for the Republican presidential nod last year, said Medicare and Medicaid already account for virtually half of health care and there shouldn't be any greater federal role."

But has Romney allowed Tim Pawlenty to become more associated with the debate over health care? Politico: "Minnesota GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty, best known among Republicans for his fiscal record, has discovered a policy niche that is beginning to pay dividends for his prospective 2012 presidential bid: health care. Though party insiders tend to be more familiar with the two-term governor's record of balancing his state's budget three times when facing deficits without raising taxes, he is emerging as a key GOP voice during the health care debate by occupying a space between two party poles, with former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich positioned on one side and former Massachusetts GOP Gov. Mitt Romney on the other."

NORTH CAROLINA: This would be HUGE news for the DSCC... Blue Dem Rep. Bobby Etheridge is considering a Senate bid again against GOP incumbent Richard Burr.

VIRGINIA: In every gubernatorial race in Virginia since 1977, the party that won the White House lost the Governor's Mansion," the Washington Post writes, calling the trend "understandable." A Washington Post poll released this week "shows that discontent about the nation and the state -- run by Democrats as president and governor -- is helping fuel Republican Bob McDonnell's early lead over Democrat Creigh Deeds." Even in "left-leaning Northern Virginia, where federal issues are most acute, the two run about even, 45 percent for Deeds to 42 percent for McDonnell." And: "Although 75 percent of Virginia voters who backed Obama said they would vote for Deeds, 13 percent plan to vote for McDonnell."

From NBC's Athena Jones
President Obama called on religious leaders to help pass a health-care overhaul, by knocking on doors and sharing the truth about the plan's proposals to counter those who have been "bearing false witness."

He made the push during brief remarks on a conference call Wednesday with faith leaders to discuss what he calls a moral obligation to revamp the health-care system to ensure that no one in America is denied basic health care, because they lack insurance or cannot afford the exorbitant fees sometime charged by insurers.

"I know we've got thousands of people on this call from many different denominations of faith," Obama said, "but the one thing that you all share is a moral conviction. You know this debate over health care goes to the heart of who we are as a people."

Negotiations on health-care legislation in Congress stalled in the days leading up to the August recess. Since then, the administration has struggled to get its health-care message out to the American people in the face of inaccurate information about what an overhaul would do. Today, the president sought to fight what he called "deceptive attacks" and "ludicrous ideas" that have been spread by opponents of health care revamp.

"I know there's been a lot of misinformation in this debate and there are some folks out there who are frankly bearing false witness," he said.

Obama called the notion that his proposed changes to the health care system would lead to so-called death panels "just an extraordinary lie," said the idea that they would require federal funding for abortions or provide insurance for illegal aliens was not true and told callers the plan would not amount to a government takeover of health care or to cutting Medicare benefits for the elderly.

"These are fabrications that have been put out there in order to discourage people from meeting what I consider to be a core ethical and moral obligation and that is that we look out for one another," he said. "That I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper and in the wealthiest nation on Earth right now, we are neglecting to live up to that call."

Before the president joined the call, White House Director of Domestic Policy Melody Barnes answered questions from clergy from around the country. Barnes assured one caller, a Catholic nurse from Pennsylvania, that the president's health-care plan would not change a "long-standing policy" that states that federal funds will not be used to fund abortion and said the president was "still committed to" a public option but was also open to other ideas that would increase choice and competition.

Also on the call was Derrick Harkins, the pastor of Washington, D.C.'s 19th Street Baptist Church -- a church the Obama family visited before the Inauguration in January. Harkins asked all the participants on the call to visit a Web site -- www.faithforhealth.org -- and promise to fight for reform and to encourage their friends and family to do the same. The Web site allows you to click a link that reads "40 minutes for health reform".

"Pledge to do all you can in support of health reform over the next 40 days," said Harkins, a reference to a number appears frequently in the Bible. (It rained for 40 days and 40 nights during the Great Flood and the Israelites spent 40 days in the wilderness, etc.)

Even before the conference call was over, the Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele released a statement in response -- with some of those myths included:

"President Obama was hoping to be on offense during the month of August to travel the country and put on the hard sell for government-run health care," the statement read. "Instead, President Obama is frantically struggling to shore up his base. The religious left talks about their desire for 'social justice.' No bill that funds abortion or strips health care services away from seniors and low-income Americans can or should be considered just, and that is precisely what the president's plan does."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Race car driver Jimmie Johnson, who last year won his third straight Sprint Cup Series championship, will be honored at the White House this afternoon by the president. He will be joined by 17 other NASCAR drivers.

They are: Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch, Bobby Labonte, Dale Jarrett, Terry Labonte, Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliott, Darrell Waltrip, Richard Petty and Juan Pablo Montoya.

At First Read, we had a little fun with this in our Week Ahead video.

And the House Republican political arm is taking the opportunity to take a shot at the president:

"While President Obama is meeting with some of NASCAR's greatest drivers, he may come to find out that the only thing he has in common with NASCAR Nation is a shared love for steering hard to the left," said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Campaign Committee. "The president is currently trading paint with the American taxpayer over his dangerous healthcare takeover, taking needless victory laps celebrating a failed economic stimulus bill, and if he and his fellow Democrats don't start listening to middle class voters, his agenda is going to end up in the wall."

Hardy, har-har.

From NBC's Andrea Mitchell
In an interview on MSNBC, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said that his talks today with two visiting North Korean diplomats suggested that the temperature has cooled down in the relationship -- after a period of increasing hostility. 

Richardson said North Korea is now prepared to have a dialogue with the United States again, but that Pyongyang is still resisting participating in the regional six-party talks that the U.S. has demanded. He said the visiting diplomats spoke positively of the meeting with Bill Clinton and seem to want to engage. The governor stressed that they requested the meeting, and that he is not negotiating in any way for the Obama administration. 

"Maybe there is a little thaw signaled here," Richardson said, adding that the State Department approved the visit. (The diplomats are attached to the North Korean UN mission in New York and need permission to travel outside the radius of NYC.)

Asked what he may have learned about the health of Kim Jong Il, Richardson said "he did look pretty healthy to me" (in pictures from the Clinton trip).

On North Korea's bargaining posture, Richardson said, "The North Koreans clearly feel they are owed something, that they released the two Americans that they want something in return."

Asked about the North Korean demand for one on one talks with the U.S., Richardson said, "I agree it's going to be hard to keep South Korea, China, Japan out of the conversation with North Korea." But Richardson suggested that maybe there is a framework within six-party talks for one-on-one talks, as has happened before.

From NBC's Matthew Samuels
Don Hewitt, one of the pioneers of television news and the creator of CBS's "60 Minutes" died today of pancreatic cancer. He was 86 years old.
 
More from the "60 Minutes" Web site: "Hewitt's remarkable career in journalism spanned over 60 years, virtually all of it at CBS. As a young producer/director assisting at the birth of television news, it was usually Hewitt behind the scenes directing legendary CBS News reporters like Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, using a playbook he had to write himself. He played an integral role in all of CBS News' coverage of major news events from the late 1940s through the 1960s, putting him in the middle of some of history's biggest events, including one of politics' seminal moments: the first televised presidential debate in 1960."

More: "As Hewitt's ['60 Minutes'] correspondents exposed crooks, drilled to the core of a celebrity or interrogated world leaders and newsmakers, 60 Minutes became an unprecedented success, drawing legions of faithful followers who planned their Sundays around the program. Even when CBS lost its NFL contract in 1994, putting its former lead-in audience on another network to compete against it, 60 Minutes was still a huge hit, finishing number six for the 1994-95 season. Hewitt always had stock answers to questions about what 60 Minutes' secret was. He often told journalists, 'It's four words every child knows: Tell me a story.'"

From NBC's Mark Murray
Earlier today, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus released a statement stressing his desire for a bipartisan health-care bill. Now ranking member Chuck Grassley -- despite his earlier words that he'd vote against any legislation that doesn't attract more GOP support, even if it contains everything he's asking for -- says he wants to "keep working" to craft a bipartisan bill.

I've said all year that something as big and important as health care legislation should have broad-based support. So far, no one has developed that kind of support, either in Congress or at the White House. That doesn't mean we should quit. It means we should keep working until we can put something together that gets that widespread support.

From NBC's Winston Wilde
At a Mothers Against Drunk Driving event today along the Potomac waterfront, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood addressed the CARS, or Cash for Clunkers, program -- specifically the backlog of "clunker" rebates that have not yet been paid.

"Car dealerships are not complaining that they've sold 300,000 to 400,000 new automobiles!" LaHood said, adding, "The only criticism has not been from car buyers, or dealerships ... but from the sheer number of cars that have been sold; we haven't had the processing power" to handle all the reimbursement applications.

The Washington Post wrote this morning that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would be tripling its workforce to process the applications, and when asked about the timetable for this boost, LaHood signaled that it would be implemented immediately, but could not specify how long it would take for the backlog to be cleared up.

LaHood also put some of the responsibility on dealerships.

"We're adding people all the time," LaHood said. "We're adding people today." But "we also want to encourage car dealers to fill out the forms correctly."

LaHood repeated (or rather, kept repeating) that CARS was the best economic stimulus news received to date. "Showrooms that were empty and looked like funeral homes are now open," he said, adding, "This program is working. They're going to get the money; we have the money; Congress provided the money; they're going to get the money."