Below are the topics and guests announced for these programs, along with my take on the "memes" that the shows are trying to push. With each guest's name are a series of links that I found in a web search that helped me get a handle on who they are and what their likely positions will be when they are interviewed.
The Beltway Boys (Mort Kondrake, Fred Barnes)
CNBC's Tim Russert Show (Tim Russert)
Fox News Watch (Eric Burns)
Journal Editorial Report (Paul Gigot) - FNC show page
First and foremost, where is Bill Sammons when you need him?
Republican advantages (per Fred)
Mort compares the GOP "These are the stakes" ad to the Johnson "daisy ad" from 1964. Fred disagrees, but doesn't articulate it well (surprise, surprise, surprise).
Mort cites Zogby poll on Bush approval (sub 40%) and generic poll data (dims up big). Then he cites NPR polls showing Dhimmicrats having more "voter intensity" in tight races. NPR and Zogby. Go figure why Mort would cite clearly biased Dhimmicrat polls.
Cites Burns, Dewine, Chafee and Santorum as problems (but he likes Chafee!!!!!!!).
Kean v Menendez - Mort says Menendez, Fred says Kean
Talent v McCaskill - Mort says toss up, Fred says Talent
Ford v Corker - Mort says toss up, Fred says Corker
Allen v Webb - both say Allen, Fred says big time
Predictions: Mort, Dims pick up 25 in House and enough to take Senate. Fred, 18 in the house but only 4 in the Senate.
Now on to Obama and Reid.
Mort: Reid's stuff is hardly "Watergate." The illegal use of campaign funds was chump change. It's not going to trump the Foley scandal.
Fred: Reid is protected by the D by his name. The press is protecting him.
Obama UP because of his book and media cheerleading, he's a really uniter not a divider, will end up was VP (Mort)
He's enormously charming, which Hillary is not. Dims are looking for a savior and that should scare Hillary, who isn't. Vanity article says he's not a radical (Fred)
Maliki DOWN because he can't rain in militia, four months is long enough to judge that he is not the right leader (Fred)
Maliki is protected the worst of them all, Sadr, and he won't "fix the Iraq constitution (Mort)
Coming up, Dims are going to sweep the state houses and that will impact the next Presidential race (Mort)
(Side issue - the save Darfur folks have a new ad that only mentions Bush, along with "other world leaders" in passing, unlike the previous one which blamed him for the genocide. It specifically calls for steps like a no-fly zone and again demands action, but doesn't put it all on Bush.)
Bob Ehrlic, MD Gov, DOWN, trailing in the polls, issue is crime, Ehrlic ad blaming O'Malley, if Ehrlic wins it's the upset of the year, R could win in Michigan, IL, Minnesota, R to D, Arnold will win in CA, lesson is "be moderate," Hillary must choose between Richardson and Obama for VP (Mort)
Five states where Dims ahead for picking up governors seat, CO, NJ, NY, MD, ?? fifth state, DE? Arnold will win, don't raise taxes, Bill Richardson will win in NM, he has a great ad, "let's watch" (Fred)
Buzz, Richardson or Obama for D can be met by Menendez or Rice for R (Mort)
I missed Fred's last point... Sorry about that.
Now on to Fox News Watch.
Opens with clip of Bill Kristol predicting as many as a 40 seat pick up for Democrats under "worst case scenario" as sign of media bias (WTF????? That tells me tons about their position on this question - why not show Steponallofus or Perkie™ Katie Couric?)
Greta van Sustern and Larry King plus syndicated Psychiatrist Ablo interviewed Karr