McCain Defeats Cheney

"At first, the senator didn't notice, but Bush persisted, holding his arm in the air until McCain grasped his hand with a firm shake."

Here's the transcript of the Bush-McCain meeting.

McCain was more than gracious in victory. But he didn't mention Cheney.

"Thank you, Mr. President. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the effort that you made to resolve this very difficult issue. I thank you for your active participation in it. And I also want to thank your National Security Advisor, Steve Hadley, who played a very important role, as well."

After the event, Hadley met with the press. Here's that transcript .

"Q Steve, it seems as if a lot of what you ended up with, almost all of what you ended up with is essentially what Senator McCain was telling us several weeks ago he was offering you. And he seemed to confirm that out on the driveway.

"MR. HADLEY: No, he didn't. He didn't. Actually, that's just not the case."

Domestic Spying

James Risen and Eric Lichtblau writes in the New York Times: "Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials.

"Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible 'dirty numbers' linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications. . . .

"The White House asked The New York Times not to publish this article, arguing that it could jeopardize continuing investigations and alert would-be terrorists that they might be under scrutiny. After meeting with senior administration officials to hear their concerns, the newspaper delayed publication for a year to conduct additional reporting."

DeLay Watch

Jonathan Weisman writes in The Washington Post: "Democratic leaders sternly criticized President Bush yesterday for saying former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) is innocent of felonious campaign finance abuses, suggesting his comments virtually amounted to jury tampering before DeLay stands trial. . . .

"Administration officials have repeatedly deflected questions about other legal probes -- especially Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald's inquiry into the leaking of CIA operative Valerie Plame's name -- by saying they could not comment on ongoing investigations. White House spokesman Scott McClellan called the apparent inconsistency a 'presidential prerogative.'"