The Trail

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

STILL IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Palin Planning to Speak At Governors' Meeting

For anyone who thought Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin might hole up in her home state after losing last week, think again.

Palin announced yesterday that she will be front and center at the Republican Governors Association annual meeting in Miami this week, delivering remarks about "Looking Toward the Future" and holding a news conference.

And the former Republican vice presidential nominee began a new round of national interviews last night, defending herself anew on Fox News Channel against a torrent of leaks from advisers to Sen. John McCain. NBC's Matt Lauer flew to Anchorage to record an interview that is scheduled to air today and tomorrow.

Asked on Fox's "On the Record" about clothes purchased for her by the Republican National Committee, Palin responded, "I did not order the clothes. Did not ask for the clothes. I would have been happy to have worn my own clothes from Day One."

Palin repeatedly made clear that she felt unable to defend herself against attacks and inaccurate reporting. And she said she did not regret going "off-script once in a while," saying, "Geez, if this is all going to be so scripted and kind of like a movie screen and we have to follow verbatim everything that somebody writes for you, I don't want any part of that. That's not who I am, and that's not who John McCain is either."

She said she "would have preferred more opportunity to speak to the media more often, because there were a lot of things that I think I could have, should have said that could have, would have helped John McCain."

The Governors Association appearance would put her at the center of a debate within the Republican Party about where it goes from here. Conservatives are blaming McCain and Palin for turning away from ideological principles that have sustained Republicans since Ronald Reagan's victory in 1980. But moderates point to McCain's decision to embrace base voters, and the massive loss of independents and Hispanics, as evidence that the GOP needs to return to the center to win elections.

Palin could be a lightning rod for all of that discussion. She electrified base voters, going by surveys and her heavily attended campaign events, but polls also showed that she turned moderates away. How she positions herself in the coming weeks and months could decide whether she becomes a national voice in the party or the leader of a conservative faction.

-- Michael D. Shear

PRESSURE ON OBAMA

Rights Groups Urge Closure of Guantanamo

The future of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay barely featured in the campaign, but with the election over, advocacy groups are stepping up calls for the next administration -- with the assistance of U.S. allies -- to shutter the controversial facility immediately.

The ACLU took out a full-page ad in the New York Times yesterday urging President-elect Barack Obama to restore "America's moral leadership in the world" on the first day of his administration by ordering the closure of the prison in Cuba, where about 255 detainees are being held. The group also said in a news release that there is "no reason that Guantanamo detainees cannot be prosecuted in traditional U.S. criminal courts or military courts governed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice."

The Obama transition team yesterday denied news reports that it was considering a new national security court to handle some detainees -- and future captures -- who might be difficult to prosecute in federal court but who are regarded as too dangerous to release. The size, and even the existence, of a "not prosecutable but dangerous" group has been at the heart of an escalating debate about the next administration's detention policy.

"There is absolutely no truth to reports that a decision has been made about how and where to try the detainees, and there is no process in place to make that decision until his national security and legal teams are assembled," said Denis McDonough, a senior foreign policy adviser for the transition team, in a statement.

Five human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, also called on European governments to take in detainees who have not been charged with crimes but cannot be repatriated because of the fear that they will be tortured if sent home. Any European largess would probably only follow a decision by the Obama administration to resettle a small group of detainees in the United States, advocates said.

-- Peter Finn