Broadcasting News

by Mark Silva

Who kills an abortion provider?

Police in Wichita, Kan., say Scott P. Roeder did.

They have arrested the 51-year-old from Merriam, Kan., a suburb of Kansas City, in the Sunday church-hall slaying of Dr. George Tiller of Wichita.

In the rear window of the 1993 Ford Taurus that Roeder was driving: a red rose, a symbol favored by abortion opponents. On the rear of the car: a Christian fish bearing the name of Jesus.

The Kansas City Star's Judy L. Thomas offers a picture of the alleged assailant of the 67-year-old physician who was one of the few in the nation willing to perform late-term abortions, who had been shot before and whose clinic had been bombed. Kansas City, Roeder allegedly wrote, is "the nation's abortion capital'' -- and it was time that "some attention'' be brought to Tiller's work, a Scott Roeder allegedly posted on the Internet.

Those who know Roeder say he viewed the killng of abortion doctors as an act of justifiable homicide, the Star reports:

"I know that he believed in justifiable homicide," said Regina Dinwiddie, a Kansas City anti-abortion activist who made headlines in 1995 when she was ordered by a federal judge to stop using a bullhorn within 500 feet of any abortion clinic. "I know he very strongly believed that abortion was murder and that you ought to defend the little ones, both born and unborn."

See the profile of the alleged murderer from Merriam, Kan., in the Star.

My full post out of the first day of the America's Future Now! conference in DC is below. But I wanted to highlight Howard Dean's strong push for a public option, which I wrapped into the story:

During a lunchtime press conference, Howard Dean, recent past chair of the DNC and a doctor, said that it's more important to have a public plan than a bipartisan plan. "Bipartisan," he said, "is not an end in and of itself."

He said that Republicans haven't helped Obama with the stimulus package nor do they seem poised to offer an assist with approving his nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the nation's highest court.

"If they're in there to shill for the insurance companies, I think we should do it with 51 votes," Dean said, suggesting that it be accomplished via budget reconciliation.

Dean added: "The American people voted for real change. They knew exactly what he was proposing when he was on the campaign trail."

(JENNIFER SKALKA)

Ex-VA AG Bob McDonnell, the GOP gubernatorial nominee in Virginia, announced some campaign fundraising numbers today, the Monday after he was officially nominated at the VA GOP's state convention over the weekend. Since the start of the 2nd quarter 4/1, McDonnell's camp says it has raised $3.7M from 2,159 donors (making the average donation per individual right around $1,700). When combined with monies still left over from the 1st quarter, McDonnell's camp claims "nearly" $4.9M cash on hand, according to a release.

This weekend's nominating convention was just a formality for McDonnell, who's been running unopposed for the GOP nomination since January. He's still waiting for VA Dems to choose his opponent from three contenders: ex-DNC chair Terry McAuliffe, state Sen. Creigh Deeds and ex-Del. Brian Moran. Dems are set to make their selection in a statewide primary 6/9.

The fundraising numbers are something of a formality, too. Along with the hotly contested NJ gubernatorial race, VA GOV is seen by both national parties -- but particularly by the beleaguered Republicans -- as a harbinger of '10's congressional cycle. Both parties are expected to pour vast amounts into VA's general election contest, making it tough for either nominee to grab a monetary advantage in the race. It's also hard to determine exactly what candidate fundraising totals foretell in a state with no contribution limits.

Still, McDonnell has shown that he's ready to fight hard to pull the purple VA back into the red column in Nov. Most polls show him leading a general election matchup against the Dem, even after an expensive statewide ad campaign targeting him run by the DGA through a VA-based 527.

There's also the boisterous Dem primary fight, which has focused even more attention on McDonnell criticisms. But the Republican's campaign says all the noise coming from the Democrats has been a good thing for McDonnell.

"We continue to build the resources we need to win this November," McDonnell's campaign manager, Phil Cox, said in the statement announcing the fundraising numbers. "And we are doing this while our potential opponents are waging an expensive and increasingly negative primary race. This is a crucial advantage as we take Bob McDonnell's positive message of new jobs and more opportunities to every voter in Virginia."

(EVAN McMORRIS-SANTORO)

Of course, as Spencer catches, the media did take it up (and I haven't even seen the cable shows yet). Jake Tapper's take on the new emphasis on the president's Muslim heritage reflects the ambiguity about this issue that I criticized during the campaign. On one hand, it's hard to blame Obama for wanting his religion to be correctly identified (yup, he's a Christian) and there were and continue to be bigoted attacks against him based on this false perception. On the other hand, though, by continually emphasizing that Obama was not a Muslim, it almost created the impression that maybe there is something wrong with that.

With the campaign over and his heritage now valuable on the world stage, I'm happy to see the president reclaiming his cosmopolitan background to help protect America's interests abroad and recall that American Muslims are real Americans, too. But I hope this new understanding doesn't drift away in the face of electoral battles to come in 2010 or 2012.

-- Tim Fernholz

Photo of Obama visiting the Blue Mosque in Turkey, courtesy the White House

Update: Hadn't seen Adam's post below and thus missed out on Michael Goldfarb's ridiculous insinuations. Classy!

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) announced he will seek another term in the Senate, Tulsa World reports.