In Washington, he's known for knowing everything and everyone. Political operatives and journalists strain to divine his tastes and instincts. Mark Halperin, the political director of ABC News since 1997, both molds and reflects elite opinion with his pithy appearances on the network, and as overlord of "The Note," the daily online phenomenon that is to politics what Variety is to Hollywood.
Now, a new and surprising side of Harvard-grad Halperin can be seen at 12:30 p.m. today and other Fridays on ABC News Now, the network's 24/7 news channel, which is available via desktop computer, mobile phone or digital TV tier. Along with Katrina Szish, Halperin is the regular co-anchor of "Seen & Be Heard," a new, hour-long program from New York that invites viewers to send in opinions, videos and cell-phone images while the show is on the air, allowing high-tech feedback on a menu of topics that ranges in any given hour from the war on terror to Jennifer Aniston, gas prices to Vince Vaughn, Castro to movie reviews, the Middle East to celebrities misbehaving.
Michael Clemente, the executive producer of ABC Digital News, said the versatile Halperin is valuable because when viewers see him, they know something important is going on. The sets are spare -- a one-camera location with the show's logo, a director's chair in the middle of the ABCNews.com newsroom, and a set in the middle of the Los Angeles newsroom. Clemente, former senior producer of "World News Tonight" and "This Week," said the look sends a message. "It's simple, to the point and is supposed to help make viewers understand that their comments are heard, right in the middle of the newsroom," he said. "We hear you, we're listening and we're interested in you participating in the conversation about the news each day."

When Mark Halperin isn't joking about celebrity look-alikes and cult-classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer on ABC News Now, the network's ubiquitous political director is getting ready to launch his fall book on Presidential politics -- "The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008," from Random House, with a publication date of Oct. 3. His co-author is John F. Harris, national political editor of The Washington Post and New York Times bestselling author of "The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House."
Here's some breaking news: Halperin and Harris scored interviews with both Bill Clinton and Karl Rove, in which they give advice on how to win the White House in 2008. The former President and the White House Senior Adviser have differences, but agree on a remarkable and surprising number of factors. Sort of like Halperin and Harris.

From Washington State to Missouri to Pennsylvania, Democratic candidates found themselves on the defensive Wednesday as the Republican Party worked ferociously at every level to try to use the primary defeat of Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut to portray the opposition as the party of weakness and isolation on national security and liberal leanings on domestic policy. Doleful Democrats bemoaned the irony: At a time when Republicans should be back on their heels because of chaos abroad and President Bush's unpopularity, the Democrats' rejection of a sensible, moralistic centrist has handed the GOP a weapon that could have vast ramifications for both the midterm elections of '06 and the big dance of '08.

At breakfast time, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman was in Cleveland, decrying "an unfortunate embrace of isolationism, defeatism, and a blame- America-first attitude by national Democratic leaders at a time when retreating from the world is particularly dangerous." In early afternoon, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow told reporters in Crawford, Tex.: "It's a defining moment for the Democratic Party, whose national leaders now have made it clear that if you disagree with the extreme left in their party they're going to come after you." And an hour or so later, Vice President Cheney told wire-service reporters in a conference call: "It's an unfortunate development, I think, from the standpoint of the Democratic Party to see a man like Lieberman pushed aside because of his willingness to support an aggressive posture in terms of our national security strategy."

Karl Rove, White House senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, telephoned Lieberman but an aide said the call was personal in nature and did not include any offer of assistance with his independent bid against Tuesday night's victor, Ned Lamont of Greenwich.

One of the nip-and-tuck Senate races this year is in Missouri, and backers of Sen. Jim Talent are preparing an attack on his opponent, State Auditor Claire McCaskill, that is emblematic of the sort that will be seen all over the country within 24 hours. "Does Claire McCaskill support the wishes of the angry left by endorsing Ned Lamont's candidacy or will she support the man who was chosen by Al Gore as the Democrat's 2000 nominee for Vice President?" the National Republican Senatorial Committee asks in a statement that will force McCaskill to talk about messy party business instead of her favored issues of government accountability and affordable health care.

The NRSC blasted similar releases into 10 states.

House candidates planned a similar tack, and the National Republican Congressional Committee issued a memo this morning playing up the potential distraction of Lieberman's independent candidacy in a state where three GOP incumbents — Reps. Rob Simmons, Chris Shays and Nancy Johnson — are perennially endangered. The memo said Connecticut Democrats "will now continue to train their attention on vanquishing Senator Lieberman when their three House candidates need all the help the can get."

Some senior Democrats hoped Lieberman would bow out to avoid underscoring party divisions. For instance, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, who is close to the Lamont family, will campaign for the Democratic nominee, an aide said.

But Dan Gerstein, a strategic communications consultant who is a senior adviser to Lieberman, tells TIME that the independent campaign — formally called "Connecticut for Lieberman" — is "full steam ahead" and that the Senator's remarks on election night were "a point-of-no-return speech." Lieberman was doing a series of interviews, mostly with Connecticut reporters, and plans some campaign stops on Thursday with Democrats who supported him and will continue to do so. Organizers shied away from calling it a kick-off tour, instead saying it is a new phase of the campaign. "He's committed," Gerstein said. "He feels liberated and he feels very strongly it's the right thing to do." Gerstein said the Senator is prepared to have some tough conversations with senior Democrats, perhaps even former President Bill Clinton, who may pressure him to withdraw. "He feels there's something much larger at stake," Gerstein said.

Gleeful Republicans across the country mocked their opponents as isolationist "Defeat-ocrats," as Mehlman put it, and even some Democratic officials said they can already imagine the ads in November races saying that Lieberman, once within a few hundred votes of being Vice President of the United States, is now "not liberal enough" for the Democratic Party. Republican officials, who have had little but bad news for months as Iraq festered and U.S. voters showed increasing signs of pessimism and discontent, said the Lamont victory gave them a chance to paint Democrats as a party that had become captive to the liberal wing symbolized by the MoveOn.org civic action group. Mary Matalin, an outside adviser to the White House, signaled the message when she said on Fox News Channel shortly after the polls closed: "MoveOn is not fringe. They're the heart of the party."

On television and in speeches in coming days, party officials and strategists plan to talk about their respect for Lieberman as a distinguished public servant and argue that Lamont's victory represents the end of the long tradition of strong-on-national-defense Democratic leaders in the mold of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F. Kennedy. The GOP plans to try to broaden the argument beyond Connecticut, a liberal stronghold, and work to convince viewers and voters that Democratic nominees across the country have more in common with Michael Moore and liberal bloggers than Main Street America.

Mehlman, speaking to the City Club of Cleveland this morning, said the rejection of a well-liked Senator who was strong on national defense showed that Democratic candidates must embrace "defeatism and isolation" or "risk being purged" for their party. "For those of us who follow politics closely, who work in politics, and who know that there can be good and honest people on the other side of the political divide, it is a shame," he said. "It is also a sign of what the Democratic Party has become in the 21st century. ... The Democratic Party has chosen to nominate for Senate a leading proponent of the isolationist, defeatist, blame-America-first philosophy."

Trying to look on the bright side, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued a statement this morning pointing to strong turnout in the primaries and declaring that Democratic voters "are energized." The challenge for Dean, and his party, is to channel that energy in a direction that makes victory more likely, not less.

Ever since the mugshot taken when he was booked on money laundering
charges, former Congressman Tom DeLay of Texas has been grinning through his court appearances and resignation speeches. He even mischievously suggested recently on TV that Democratic efforts to keep him on the November ballot might
prompt him to seek reelection. On Monday, the Democrats won the ballot battle and
Republican sources tell TIME that DeLay is leaning to another surprising move --
stepping aside and supporting a write-in candidate for his old seat.

A Republican official with first-hand knowledge of the deliberations by DeLay
said he "more likely than not" will go that route, although he had not made
a final decision. "With DeLay, you never know," the official said.

DeLay plans to make the announcement this week, the officials said. Monday's decision by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia denying high court review of the ballot issue means Republicans will not be able to put another party candidate's name on the November ballot. Democrats believe that will boost the chances for a victory by Democrat Nick Lampson. The former congressman, who lost a neighboring district in DeLay's redistricting shuffle, had $2.1 million in campaign funds by last official count. Democratic operatives testifying in Austin last month said keeping DeLay's name on the ballot would boost Lampson's profile with national Democratic big donors.

Some Republican lawyers said the write-in strategy could prevail if DeLay's name remains on the ballot, or if officials allow him to withdraw so that no Republican name appears.

The write-in effort in the 22nd District of Texas would bring a fresh, unsullied face to
the hunt. "Lampson's best shot has always been against DeLay--Lampson's record is too liberal for a Republican district," a GOP official said, signaling the tack the party
plans to take. An official close to DeLay said: "Nick Lampson would lose this
race to a write-in candidate who had any name ID at all."

The write-in candidate has not been chosen, but Republican officials in
Washington said they have a good chance of retaining the seat if it is a credible
candidate like a mayor, judge or state legislator. Sugar Land Mayor David
Wallace has expressed interest in running. Write-in candidates have until Aug. 29 to
apply for a slot on the ballot. National Republicans are prepared to put
money into the write-in campaign if a promising candidate is found. "You can buy
name ID," said a Republican official, using campaign shorthand for making a
candidate well known in the district.

But the notion of a write-in campaign drew a different reaction in Texas.
"This would be met with ridicule and scorn," said Bill Miller, a Republican
consultant with close ties to the state's GOP legislative leadership. "This
strategy would be like handing the seat to the Democrats on a silver platter," Miller
said. "Tom Delay will be remembered for the craziest end to his political
career."

Miller said it is arrogant to think voters will support a write-in gambit.
"Anointing a candidate never works," Miller said. "Voters are likely to say,
'The hell with 'em' and write in their own name, their kid's name." Plus, if his name remained on the ballot, it is likely DeLay would attract some of the
vote away from the write-in candidate.

DeLay is a proven draw when it comes to national Democratic fundraising and
he continues to garner support in his old Texas district, where he won the March
primary election with 62% of the vote. But his legal troubles have cut
into that hometown popularity and when DeLay made his stunning decision not
to run again, it was based partly on a poll showing he might have to struggle
for the seat while almost any other Republican would win easily.

DeLay's legal woes will not be going away before Election Day. In Texas, he
is appealing state money-laundering charges linked to funneling prohibited
corporate donations to state legislative races. Meanwhile in Washington, the
Jack Abramoff scandal has ensnared two of DeLay's former aides
and on Monday prompted Republican Congressman Bob Ney to announce he would not seek re-election.

DeLay has suggested in television appearances that he would give Democrats
their worst nightmare by mounting a full-fledged campaign for the seat if the
court fight failed, and DeLay's team gave serious consideration to that route.
But out of the more than $3 million raised by his reelection committee last year,
DeLay still had some $641,000 on his latest federal elections report in June and he
testified in an Austin federal court last month that he has embarked on a new
career. DeLay has signed with an international speakers' bureau, and has a
contract with a bestselling author who will write an as-told-to book that will
include DeLay's views on his Christian faith. However, Miller warned that DeLay
could jeopardize his ties to conservative Republicans if he adopted the write-in
scenario.

Royal Masset, the former political director of the Republican Party of Texas, said DeLay's old district is still "winnable" by the GOP even with DeLay as
the candidate, but a write-in campaign would be "a disaster." Masset warned
his fellow Republicans to recall the last time they ran a major write-in
effort.

In 1976, Donald Yarbrough, an unknown with a mess of legal woes said he was called to run "by God" for a seat on the state Supreme Court. Yarbrough won the
Democratic primary on the strength of sharing the same last name with several notable Texas Democrats. Republicans thought they saw an opening and launched a
statewide write-in campaign for their own candidate who also boasted a famous
last name - Houston, as is Sam Houston. Masset said the GOP bombarded voters with
free pencils and copies of sample write-in ballots. But Yarbrough won with
over 90% of the vote. Later, Justice Yarbrough was indicted for perjury
by DeLay's nemesis, prosecutor Ronnie Earle, then fled to Grenada and was
discovered there attending medical school when the U.S. invaded the Caribbean
island nation. -- With Hilary Hylton/Austin

The least known, but one of the most eagerly courted, screening
committees for the next G.O.P. presidential nominee met recently in
Colorado Springs, Colo., amid the panoramic opulence of the Broadmoor
Hotel and Resort. The four-day meeting of affluent Evangelicals was
billed as a "summer family retreat," and the kids rode ponies and
played water sports while their folks chewed over immigration and gay
marriage. The political group, called Legacy, aims for mystique: it
has received no media attention and is unknown even on the Web. Yet
all the marquee '08 Republican candidates have spoken to Legacy or
met with its founders, having come to regard the group as a prime
audience in these early days of raising money and trying to conjure
momentum. "If you're running for President," said a close associate
of President George W. Bush's, "it is the place to go." One of the
group's first projects: supplying cash and ground troops to help
South Dakota's John Thune beat Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle
in 2004. Thune, a presidential prospect, electrified the Broadmoor
audience, which also heard from Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee,
Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and
John Cornyn of Texas.

Legacy was started by two Dallas businessmen: Ray Washburne, a real
estate and Tex-Mex-restaurant baron, and George Seay III, founder of
the Seay Stewardship & Investment Co. and grandson of former Texas
Governor Bill Clements. Its members are mostly young--in their 30s
and 40s--and wealthy, through entrepreneurship, inheritance or both.
They are Christians concerned with social justice, in the mold of
Rick Warren of Purpose Driven Life fame, and practice their faith
without, as a Broadmoor attendee put it, "quoting Leviticus"--a
reference to the harder-edged rhetoric at other gatherings of social
conservatives.

Organizers declined to be interviewed, saying they want to continue
working below the radar. Cornyn tells Time that the founders "have
been beneficiaries of the political activity of their parents, and
want to step up now that they're the next generation
in line." Legacy, he says, fills
"a vacuum between national organizations and political activists who
are grandparents."

Speakers at the retreat in late July, which drew 165 families,
included Matt Daniels of the Alliance for Marriage, and an
immigration panel featured tax-cut leader Grover Norquist and Hugh
Hewitt, a conservative radio host and blogger. Reflecting Legacy's
aim for social impact, Gary Haugen of International Justice Mission
talked about heading the U.N. genocide investigation in Rwanda.
Audience members rose to describe a trip they had taken there. The
weekend ended in the Cheyenne Lodge with a family worship service led
by Mark Brewer of California's Bel Air Presbyterian Church. He was
Ronald Reagan's last pastor, now ministering to a group hungry to
amplify Reagan's spirit.