Blue Radar

As I post each morning, here are some of the political stories thatmight not be worthy of their own posts, but are nonetheless newsworthy:

• The Alberto Gonzales 'no confidence' vote will take place on Monday in the Senate.
• Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Jim Webb (D-VA) are calling for an investigation into the military's use of second-rate body armor for our soldiers.  (I wrote about this shocking story yesterday.)
• Political analyst Stuart Rothenberg is worried that Edwards' campaign is running too far to the left, and needs to learn from the mistakes of Dean and Gephardt.  Rothenberg was mostly critical of Edwards' signing of former Dean strategist Joe Trippi.  "Trippi doesn’t merely like to think outside the box; he prefers to takethe box, rip it into little pieces, pour kerosene on it and set itablaze," Rothenberg wrote in his latest column.  (But isn't setting the box ablaze a good thing?)
• During closed-door negotiations about the immigration proposal, two Republican senators got into a shouting match.  Capitol Briefing: "During a meeting Thursday on immigration legislation, McCain and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) got into a shouting match when Cornyn started voicingconcerns about the number of judicial appeals that illegal immigrantscould receive, according to multiple sources -- both Democrats andRepublicans -- who heard firsthand accounts of the exchange fromlawmakers who were in the room."
• Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Biden is demanding that the '08 contenders in his party have a debate that focuses solely on Iraq.  (Not a bad idea.  Maybe Hillary can set her record straight once and for all.)
• Iowa Democrats (Research 2000): Clinton - 28%, Edwards - 26%, Obama - 22%, Richardson - 7%.  10% are still undecided.
• Two prominent Democratic strategists are calling for the party to regain the national security political advantage in 2008 by stressing the issues of nuclear non-proliferation, the impact of energy dependence on war, and political stability in failed states.  They call it "Security First: A Strategy for Defending America."
• Two government officials were abducted in Pakistan as Musharraf's government struggles to maintain unity.

If we left anything out, feel free to add any stories in the commentbox.