Across America

US stocks rise on positive housing report

NEW YORK (AFP) - US stocks rose Tuesday after a report on US housing starts suggested more momentum in the recovering housing sector.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 38.45 points (0.27 percent) to 14,490.51.

The broad-based S&P 500 increased 4.50 (0.29 percent) to 1,556.60, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 9.33 (0.29 percent) to 3,246.92.

Financial markets remained leery about Cyprus after a proposed bailout included taxes on bank deposits.

But US investors were heartened by housing data that showed housing starts edged higher in February after a plunge in January, with single-family housing starts at their highest level since June 2008.

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US conservatives choose Rand Paul as next presidential nominee

Oxon Hill, Maryland (AFP) - US conservative activists have picked Tea Party favorite Senator Rand Paul as their choice to become the 2016 Republican presidential nominee as they wrapped up a major strategy gathering outside Washington.

Paul, popular among the younger conservatives who thronged to the Conservative Political Action Conference, on Saturday narrowly beat Senator Marco Rubio -- also tipped to seek the White House -- 25 to 23 percent in the CPAC Straw Poll.

The Kentucky lawmaker saw his profile raised after mounting a 13-hour, non-stop filibuster in the Senate earlier this month to block John Brennan's nomination to head the CIA.

He used the blocking tactic to press for answers from President Barack Obama's Democratic administration on the scope of its drone policy.

Former senator Rick Santorum, a 2012 hopeful, received eight percent of the vote, closely followed by rising Republican star Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey with seven percent and Representative Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's running mate to try to oust Obama from the White House, with six percent.

Some 2,930 CPAC participants participated in the straw poll.

"We convened thousands of energized conservatives today at this 40th annual national CPAC 2013 from across the entire country," said Al Cardenas, chairman of The American Conservative Union.

"It's been a longstanding and fun tradition at CPAC national as well as our regional CPACs to poll the attendees and get their opinion on a number of important issues."

At the meeting, Paul emerged as a leading critic of Republican establishment as he looked for ways to re-invent the party following last year's election defeat.

"The GOP of old has grown stale and moss-covered," he said. "Our party is encumbered by an inconsistent approach to freedom. The new GOP will need to embrace liberty in the economic and the personal sphere."

Former US vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin took center stage on Saturday, needling Obama and even fellow Republicans.

"We don't have leadership coming out of Washington, we have reality television, except it's really bad reality TV, and the American people tuned out a long time ago," Palin told the conference.

Palin, a former Alaska governor who was John McCain's running mate in 2008, has since served as contributor for the Fox News channel and even starred in her own reality show in 2010.

"Mr President, we admit it, you won, accept it. Now step away from the teleprompter and do your job!" she said in a swipe at Obama.

"Barack Obama promised the most transparent administration ever. Barack Obama, you lie."

Palin then caused the crowd to erupt in laughter and applause by taking large sips from a Big Gulp cup filled with soda in reference to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's attempt to ban such oversized sweet drinks.

His plan, opposed by conservatives in the name of individual liberties, was blocked by a New York judge this week.

However, the sharpest attacks by the self-styled "Mama grizzly" were aimed at the head of her party, accused of trying to marginalize ultra-conservative "Tea Party" candidates in primaries for November 2016 elections.

"We're not here to dedicate ourselves to new talking points coming from (Washington) DC," Palin said.

"We're not here to put a fresh coat of rhetorical paint on our party. We're not here to abandon our principles in a contest of government giveaways.

"The last thing we need is Washington, DC vetting our candidates," she fumed, before lashing out at political consultants who advise on Republican Party strategy.

"Now is time to furlough the consultants," she added. "These experts keep losing elections and keep getting rehired and raking in millions."

Palin has long nursed a grievance against party strategists following her team's presidential election loss, when she had sharp disagreements with John McCain's campaign staff.

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Obama: White House furloughs joke writers

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama took a satirical swipe at the political drama over an $85 billion austerity drive clutching at the US economy Saturday, at a cozy dinner for the Washington establishment.

Obama attended the 128th Gridiron Club banquet, a week after the cuts, known as the sequester, came into force when he and Republicans failed to agree a deficit cutting deal as political acrimony haunts the US capital.

"My joke writers have been placed on furlough," Obama joked to the exclusive off-camera, white tie gathering of top Washington journalists, cabinet members, lawmakers and military brass.

"There is one thing in Washington that didn't get cut: the length of this dinner," Obama said. "Yet more proof that the sequester makes no sense."

The president also took a good natured jab at America's new secretary of state John Kerry, who is seeking to get out from the shadow of the former top US diplomat Hillary Clinton.

"Let's face it, Hillary is a tough act to follow -- frankly, though, I think it's time for him to stop showing up at work in pant suits. It's a disturbing image. I don't know where he buys them. He's a tall guy."

Obama also ribbed rising star Senator Marco Rubio, now famous for taking an undignified gulp of water as he delivered the Republican response to the president's State of the Union address.

"Of course, as I begin my second term, our country is still facing enormous challenges," Obama said, before taking a long draw on a glass of water.

"That, Marco Rubio, is how you take a sip of water," Obama said.

Obama also skewered Vice President Joe Biden, as rumors swirl that despite hitting 70, the veteran politician is considering a run at the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.

"It's no secret that my vice president is still ambitious. But let's face it, his age is an issue. Just the other day I had to take Joe aside and say, Joe you are way too young to be the pope."

The dinner, which features comic skits and songs, seems more suited to the Music Hall era than the Twitter age, but provides a chance for politicians and journalists, normally at each other's throats, to poke fun at one another.

For the first time, at the traditionally off-the-record event, the club permitted a White House pool reporter to pass on the jokes to his peers.

The decision appeared to be a recognition that journalists can hardly complain at the White House limiting access to Obama if it maintains an exclusive tag on its own clubby night with Washington's political elite.

Gridiron president Charles Lewis ensured that Obama did not have the evening all his own way, poking fun at the White House's penchant for bypassing traditional media with its own high powered multimedia message machine.

"As we were walking in, I thought I heard (Obama) say ... 'so many newspaper reporters, so many interviews to turn down," Lewis said.

Active membership of the organization is limited to 65 Washington journalists.

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Obamas and Clintons share intimate dinner

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Washington's political rumor mill was buzzing Friday with news that President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle hosted an intimate White House dinner with Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The dinner, on March 1, was the latest sign of a warming of the relationship between the two power couples, which was once marked by deep mistrust following the president's 2008 Democratic primary win over Hillary Clinton.

"It was a private dinner that the president and the first lady enjoyed with president Clinton and former secretary of state Clinton," White House spokesman Joshua Earnest said.

"They enjoyed the meal and they enjoyed the conversation," he said, while declining to provide more details about the dinner, first reported by Politico.

Obama's decision to name Hillary Clinton as secretary of state in his first term, after she had campaigned for him in the general election, was the spur to warmer relations between him and the former president and his wife.

Bill Clinton campaigned tirelessly for Obama in his re-election race, and the president was delighted in the endorsement offered by the former US leader in a barnstorming convention speech.

Speculation is mounting that Hillary Clinton may launch another presidential campaign in 2016 with a view to succeeding Obama in the White House, a state of affairs that the March 1 dinner will do little to quell.

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Gun legislation getting holstered on Capitol Hill

by Michael Mathes

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Three months after Newtown, the prospects for President Barack Obama's ambitious gun control measures have dimmed, as hopes for expanded background checks clash with stubborn political realities.

Advocates were keenly anticipating that sweeping federal gun laws -- the first in nearly 20 years -- could make it to the president's desk, but the ankle weights of congressional hesitation have brought such prospects down to Earth.

"It's been a very hard road," sighed Senator Dianne Feinstein, referring to her revised ban on assault weapons, one of four pieces of legislation considered Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The difficulties extend beyond her ban, which gained traction in the weeks after a gunman using a semi-automatic rifle massacred 20 children and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, but which many lawmakers have said has little chance of passing Congress.

The week was marked by a breakdown in talks over the linchpin in Obama's gun reforms: legislation that would require background checks on all gun purchases, including those by private sellers at gun shows.

Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York, who is shepherding the legislation, could not agree with Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma on what to do with records from private gun sales.

"The problem is that you have two polar opposites. You have the gun control group and the NRA," Coburn told reporters, referring to the powerful National Rifle Association pro-gun lobby group opposed to nearly all gun control measures.

"Our deal is to find the sweet spot in the middle that makes sense," he added, insisting he was "still hopeful" of passing a bill that expands background checks.

The glacial movement illustrates the sensitivity of a debate that transcends politics in a country where the US Supreme Court as recently as 2008 reiterated the inalienable right of Americans to own guns to defend themselves.

Many Democrats coalesced around universal background checks as the logical next big step, citing overwhelming public support -- as high as 94 percent in North Dakota, whose two Republican senators have "A" ratings from the NRA.

Yet several Republicans chafe at the idea of such new restrictions, even as they acknowledge the current background check system is broken.

Senators did make some progress at the Judiciary meeting, voting to approve a bill that would make firearm trafficking a federal crime and impose stiff penalties on "straw purchasers" who buy guns for people who are prohibited from owning them.

Obama urged the Senate and House to pass the anti-trafficking measure, which is now lined up as the first gun bill likely to push through Congress.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley backed it, but fellow conservative Senator John Cornyn hinted at potential problems and dismissed the bill as "a solution in search of a problem."

Gun control groups were extremely vocal in the days after Newtown, as they demanded White House action.

But they have quieted their rage -- at the urging of the White House, in exchange for a greater say in the discussion, according to the Politico news website, which quoted sources involved in talks with administration officials.

"This is a process. Nothing is going to happen overnight," Violence Policy Center legislative director Kristen Rand told AFP.

"Over the long run, the will to deal with the gun violence problem has the momentum."

But any such thrust appeared unlikely to salvage Feinstein's assault weapons ban, a tougher version of her previous ban that was in effect from 1994 to 2004.

Studies have been inconclusive about its effect on gun violence, and Grassley accused Feinstein of trying to "double down on a failed strategy."

"All of us want to take effective action to prevent future tragedies. But we have different, deeply held approaches to do so," Grassley said.

In arguing that restricting gun sales is not the solution, the Iowa Republican pointed to the steadily declining US crime rate over the past 20 years, despite the explosion in the number of weapons in circulation: more than 300 million in a nation of 315 million people.

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Across America

US stocks rise on positive housing report

US conservatives choose Rand Paul as next presidential nominee

Obama: White House furloughs joke writers

Obamas and Clintons share intimate dinner

Gun legislation getting holstered on Capitol Hill