An Insider's Guide to the Upcoming Week

Bush's Bully Pulpit

After weeks of Congress dominating the news, President Bush returns to center stage as he tries to sell the Senate immigration bill to the public, beginning Tuesday with a speech in Georgia. The legislation would combine beefed-up enforcement with a temporary-worker program and a pathway to citizenship for most of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country. It faces critics on both the left and right, and senators are lining up with amendments that could, if passed, sound a death knell for the bill.

This Memorial Day week, Bush is also likely to face more questions about the Iraq war. Now that the question of war funding is settled, with Bush signing legislation last Friday, discussion seems ready to swing toward assessing the president's troop "surge" strategy. The administration is quick to note that the U.S. forces are not all in place yet, but Democratic and Republican lawmakers appear eager to keep pressing for either results or a change in policy.

Bush's ambassador to Baghdad will sit down today with his Iranian counterpart to discuss steps to stabilize Iraq. Senior U.S. officials have said the U.S. ambassador, Ryan C. Crocker, will also bring up Iran's growing military role in Iraq.

Congress is in recess for a week, with many lawmakers back home and hearing from their constituents.

Gore's return to Washington: Time for another round of "will he or won't he" speculation. Former vice president Al Gore, who sparked a frenzy a few months ago with his visit to Congress to testify about climate change, is to speak Tuesday at George Washington University about his new book. In "The Assault on Reason," released last week, Gore argues that the public no longer allows facts to drive the political debate -- and that no one has been a greater offender than the Bush administration.

Heavy campaigning: A few days after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) announced principles guiding her universal-health-care plan, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will do the same Tuesday at an event in Iowa City. Leading Democrats will attend a big party dinner in Cedar Rapids on Saturday, and next Sunday brings the second Democratic debate, this time in New Hampshire and broadcast on CNN.

On the Republican side, next Sunday offers still more speculation as former senator Fred Thompson (Tenn.) is the featured guest at Virginia's Commonwealth Gala, a state GOP fundraiser in Richmond.

Gore's tome might be tough on Bush, but it isn't likely to compare to the chatter Tuesday in Detroit, when Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, plans a town hall on the idea of impeaching Bush and Vice President Cheney. Conyers would just love to begin impeachment hearings, if only Democratic leaders would allow them -- which they won't.