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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate decided Thursday that it was time to close to a decade-old, $20 million investigation of former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros - years after Cisneros received a presidential pardon. The amendment to a spending bill, approved by voice vote, would require that the report of Independent Counsel David Barrett be made public within 60 days, and that the independent counsel close his office within 90 days after the report is published. ``The American taxpayers have spent a lot of money on this report and they deserve the right to see it,'' said Senate Finance Committee...

WASHINGTON, June 30 - A researcher secretly retained by the chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to monitor liberal bias in public radio and television set his sights on several media personalities, including Bill Moyers, Tucker Carlson, Tavis Smiley, David Brancaccio and Diane Rehm, according to documents made public Thursday. Senator Byron Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, released 50 pages of what he called the "work product" of Fred Mann, a researcher who has been connected to conservative journalism centers and who was hired by the corporation's chairman, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson. Mr. Dorgan pronounced the work "a little nutty"...

The Oral Minority A reader called our attention to a pair of strangely similar quotes from Democratic senators. On March 5, North Dakota's Byron Dorgan said of President Bush's Social Security ideas, ''This is a big wet kiss to Wall Street." Then, last Thursday, Nevada's Harry Reid, the minority leader, said of Majority Leader Bill Frist's filibuster compromise, "It's a big wet kiss to the far right." We found several other examples of liberals referring to their opponents' actions as "wet kisses": h Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias,' by an C. Andersonthe conservative think tank the Manhattan...

"SILLY SOCIAL SECURITY THING"? Democrats Too Busy To Work With President To Strengthen Social Security ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Democrats Have Other Priorities Than Social Security:   Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) Said She's Got "More Important Things To Ask About Than This Silly Social Security Thing." "Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) managed to stir up some trouble last week at the Joint Economic Committee hearing chaired by Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.). Testifying before the committee was Harvey Rosen, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Sanchez was evidently fed up with the contents of the hearing. 'I've more important things to ask about...

Parties Should Court All Voters -- Not Just Those in Battleground StatesIf you saw a real live presidential candidate this year, you must live in one of those "battleground states." You're lucky. Most of us never laid eyes on a candidate except on television. In fact, most Americans are as likely to see a presidential candidate in the flesh as they are to see Elvis walk out of a Johnny Rockets hamburger stand. Despite being called a national campaign for the presidency, it really isn't national anymore. These elections have become a series of mini-campaigns in specific states calibrated to...

BISMARCK -- First, a series of heterosexual couples kiss. Then, two men are shown about to lock lips. All are dressed for a wedding. That is followed by three people, depicting a wedding of two men and a woman. The campaign commercial's message: Sen. Byron Dorgan supports gay marriage and unless North Dakotans vote for Republican Mike Liffrig for the U.S. Senate, they can "kiss their morals goodbye." Democrats demanded Tuesday that Liffrig pull the plug on that ad and another commercial that claims Dorgan supports human cloning, saying the allegations are lies. The ads began running statewide Monday and...

U. S. Senate Republican candidate Mike Liffrig again criticized incumbent Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., for his part in Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," bringing in two veterans from the Iraq war to share their opinions. Liffrig and the veterans said Dorgan should apologize for taking part in a movie that demoralizes U.S. troops. Dorgan appears in the film asking questions about how 142 Saudi citizens got clearance to leave the country shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, before being "properly interrogated." Dorgan shouldn't apologize for the questions he asked, Liffrig said Friday morning, but for appearing in a film that attacks the...

(Washington, DC): Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) has introduced “The Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act of 2004” (S. 2328). “The legislation should be referred to as the ‘Get Your Drugs from Who Knows Where Act,’ because no one — not the FDA, not the pharmacists, not the doctors, not Sen. Dorgan and certainly not the patients — will know where the imported drugs REALLY come from,” says Dr. Merrill Matthews, resident scholar at the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI). Before the Senate takes up this legislation, the media should ask the senator some tough questions — and expect some...

WASHINGTON - Zell Miller, Georgia's maverick Democratic senator, says the nation ought to return to having senators appointed by legislatures rather than elected by voters. Miller, who is retiring in January, was first appointed to his post in 2000 after the death of Paul Coverdell. He said Wednesday that rescinding the 17th Amendment, which declared that senators should be elected, would increase the power of state governments and reduce the influence of Washington special interests. "The individuals are not so much at fault as the rotten and decaying foundation of what is no longer a republic," Miller said on the...

In a state which went for George Bush in 2000 with 61%, can two young and attractive Republican candidates raise the funds to upset a couple of Democrat incumbents? Duane Sand, doing well in fund raising, a 1990 Naval Academy graduate with a creditable Senate race behind him is opposing Democratic At-Large Cong. Earl Pomeroy...who in 2002 made it through with just 52%, and was held to 53% in the 2000 election. Sand has a real chance, for information see: http://www.duanesand.com/index.html Perhaps a bit more under the radar screen is Mike Liffrig, 45 year old Republican candidate for Senate against...

Republican leaders told rank-and-file Senators last week that the chamber will be a “battleground” in this presidential election year and unveiled a plan intended to promote the GOP’s positions on six specific issue areas in the coming months. The Republican leadership is urging their colleagues to invoke their Senatorial privilege of using the floor to speak in favor of President Bush’s legislative agenda and question the policy proposals of Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. “They have put out the signal, Senator Kerry’s campaign says the battle for the presidency is going to be waged on the...

Former college basketball coach Dale Brown said Tuesday he will not seek the Republican endorsement to challenge Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., next year. Brown had said in February he would not run, declaring that "my political career, for me, has ended." However, GOP activists asked him to reconsider, amid signs that their preferred candidate, former Gov. Ed Schafer, will refuse to run against the incumbent Democrat. Brown said Tuesday he has mailed letters to supporters declaring that he will not run because of family considerations. His daughter recently moved back to Louisiana with her husband and three children, and both...

Former basketball coach Dale Brown says he is reconsidering whether to run for office in North Dakota next year. The Minot native and former longtime LSU men's basketball coach earlier this year decided against running for Congress against Democrat Byron Dorgan in 2004. Brown said Monday that because former Gov. Ed Schafer, a Republican, is not interested in making a U.S Senate run, Republicans from across the country are urging him to run against Dorgan. Brown said he expects to make a decision within a few weeks. "I owe them not to prolong this," he said of fellow Republicans. Vern...

POLITICS: Dale Brown reconsiders running for U.S. Senate N.D. native, former basketball coach says he will decide within a few weeks Associated Press Former basketball coach Dale Brown says he is reconsidering whether to run for office in North Dakota next year. The Minot native and former longtime Louisiana State men's basketball coach earlier this year decided against running for Congress against Democrat Byron Dorgan in 2004. Brown said Monday that because former Republican Gov. Ed Schafer is not interested in making a U.S. Senate run, Republicans from across the country are urging him to run against Dorgan. Brown said...

BACK IN HIS HOME STATE TODAY, FORMER L-S-U MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH DALE BROWN SAID THAT HE'S OPEN TO RUNNING FOR SENATE AGAINST BYRON DORGAN NEXT YEAR. HE SAYS HE HAD BREAKFAST WITH FORMER GOVERNOR ED SCHAFER THIS MORNING. SCHAFER HAS BEEN CONSIDERED AS A POSSIBLE CANDIDATE. BUT BROWN SAYS SCHAFER TOLD HIM HE WON'T RUN. BROWN IS ORIGINALLY FROM MINOT, AND HAS LIVED IN LOUISIANA FOR MORE THAN 25 YEARS. BUT HE SAYS THAT HIS HEART HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN NORTH DAKOTA... AND HE AND HIS WIFE ARE LOOKING FOR A HOUSE IN BISMARCK. BROWN MADE HIS ANNOUNCEMENT AFTER GIVING...

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former basketball coach Dale Brown has told national and local Republican leaders he may run for the U.S. Senate in North Dakota against incumbent Democrat Byron Dorgan, according to several sources.</p> <p>"He has the desire to do it, he just has to see if he can make it work," said former North Dakota Gov. Ed Schafer, who says he has spoken to Brown about running. "He'd be a great candidate."</p>

Former Governor says Estrada should receive up or down vote BISMARCK, ND – Former Governor Ed Schafer has offered his assistance to help bring Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Kent Conrad (D-ND) together with Miguel Estrada to ensure the two North Dakota Senators have the opportunity to get the appropriate information they will they need to evaluate him and help end efforts to filibuster his nomination. “This has gone on long enough. President Bush nominated Miguel Estrada over 22 months ago yet the United States Senate still hasn’t taken a full vote on him,” Schafer said. “He’s argued 15 cases...

Filed at 6:26 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Democrats dealt defeat Wednesday to President Bush's call for permanent repeal of the estate tax, and Republicans signaled plans to turn the vote to their advantage in the fall campaign for control of Congress. The vote was 54-44, six short of the 60 required under Senate rules to approve the measure, which Republicans said represented simple fairness and Democrats derided as a giveaway for the super-rich. ``Strip it all away, this is a tax relief for billionaires when we have a very big deficit and we have other priorities,'' such as...

WASHINGTON -- Congress is going to look into steroid use in baseball, following the recent disclosure that two former league MVPs used the muscle-building drugs. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said Monday he plans to hold a hearing that also will look at steroid use in the Olympics and among college athletes. Dorgan is chairman of the consumer affairs, foreign commerce and tourism subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee. "Everybody knows how damaging use of these steroids are to athletes' health," Dorgan said. "We've got an issue to face as a country, not just among baseball players, but also with college...