What You Need to Know: 04.01.09

Obama seeks common fix to global problems
On the eve of a global economic summit, President Barack Obama promised world leaders he would listen, not lecture, as they seek a common fix to the financial crisis. “We can only meet this challenge together,” he said Wednesday as the U.S. and Russia spoke on the summit sidelines about nuclear warhead reduction.

Obama, stepping on the world stage for the first time as president, aimed to shore up both America’s economy and its reputation across the globe. On Wednesday, he met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and China’s President Hu Jintao.

Seeking New Start, U.S. and Russia Press Arms Talks
President Obama and Russian President Dmitri A. Medvedev outlined their plans on Wednesday to push the reset button in Russian-American relations, launching negotiations to draft a new arms control treaty that could slash the American and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals by about a third.

In their first meeting since Mr. Obama became president, they sought to warm what had become an icy post-cold war relationship, agreeing to cooperate on issues ranging from the war in Afghanistan to efforts to rein in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. A four-page statement released after the hour-long meeting promised a “fresh start in relations between our two countries,” and White House officials said that Mr. Obama will visit Moscow in July.

U.S. Seeks to Drop Case Against Former Sen. Stevens
The Justice Department filed court papers this morning asking a federal judge to toss out the conviction of former senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) on corruption charges.

The move comes as a federal judge was preparing to conduct hearings to probe allegations of prosecutorial misconduct by the team that tried one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress. Stevens, 85, was convicted in October on seven counts of making false statements on financial disclosure forms to hide about $250,000 in gifts and free renovations to his Alaska home. Stevens’s attorneys have urged U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to drop the case and prevent prosecutors from seeking to retry the former senator, who lost a reelection bid about a week after his guilty verdict.

Upstate New York House Race Is Too Close to Call
A mere 65 votes separated the two candidates late Tuesday in a Congressional contest in upstate New York that received national attention and was widely seen as a referendum on the Obama administration’s economic recovery efforts.

With all precincts reporting, the Democrat, Scott Murphy, a 39-year-old venture capitalist, led 77,344 to 77,279 over his Republican rival, Assemblyman James N. Tedisco, 58, for the seat vacated by Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, a Democrat. The turnout was surprisingly strong for a special election.

But 10,055 absentee ballots were issued — and 5,907 received so far, state election officials said — meaning the election cannot be decided until the paper ballots are counted. Moreover, it is likely that the count may not begin until at least April 6, said Bob Brehm, a spokesman for the State Board of Elections.

Minn. Judges Deal Blow to Coleman
A three-judge state panel in Minnesota dealt  Norm Coleman (R) a serious setback in his bid for reelection to the Senate, ruling yesterday that only 400 absentee ballots in his contest against entertainer Al Franken (D) may be reviewed and possibly counted.

Franken leads Coleman by 225 votes, and the lead attorney for Coleman said that the number of ballots being recounted would make it a “long shot” for his client to make up the necessary ground.

Ben Ginsberg, Coleman’s attorney, referred to the ruling as an “April Fools’ Day” judgment and said that the decision “gives us no choice but to appeal that order to the Minnesota Supreme Court.”

Sebelius admits errors, pays $7,000 in back taxes
Health and Human Services nominee Kathleen Sebelius recently corrected three years of tax returns and paid more than $7,000 in back taxes after finding “unintentional errors” _ the latest tax troubles for an Obama administration nominee. The Kansas governor explained the changes to senators in a letter dated Tuesday that the administration released. She said they involved charitable contributions, the sale of a home and business expenses.

Sebelius said she filed the amended returns as soon as the errors were discovered by an accountant she hired to scrub her taxes in preparation for her confirmation hearings. She and her husband, Gary, a federal magistrate judge in Kansas, paid a total of $7,040 in back taxes and $878 in interest to amend returns from 2005-2007.

G-20 protesters clog streets of central London
Protesters staging “G20 Meltdown” demonstrations in the British capital on Wednesday hurled bottles at financial office buildings, smashing windows and clashing with police.

Reuters reporters said around 300 to 400 protesters attacked the offices of the Royal Bank of Scotland, shouting “These streets, our streets! These banks, our banks!”

Protesters had branded the day “Financial Fool’s Day” ahead of Thursday’s summit of world leaders who are gathering in hopes of resolving the global financial crisis that has lashed nations and workers worldwide.

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Rock the Vote Bio: Rock the Vote was founded in 1990 to organize artists and fight against censorship of musicians. Since then we've evolved to focus on empowering young people to get involved in the political process. We use pop culture, peer-to-peer organizing, and the latest technology to raise visibility of politics and demystify the process of registering to vote. @rockthevote Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com

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