New York (CBS) -- AFGHAN LEADER REACHES OUT AFTER RUNOFF CANCELLED
President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has been declared the President of Afghanistan, and therefore that is what he is.
So says White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
"President Karzai has been declared the winner of the Afghan election, and will head the next government of Afghanistan so obviously, he's the legitimate leader of the country," said Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary.
True, the election was fraught with corruption that required a runoff and there was no runoff, because the other candidate wanted no part of it.
And, Gibbs acknowledges.
"We know there are problems related to corruption that have to be addressed, moving forward," said Robert Gibbs.
Moving right along, as they say.
"I don't think there's any reason to believe that the Afghan people won't think this government is a legitimate as it is," said Robert Gibbs.
President Obama put in a phone call to President Karzai yesterday, and to hear him tell it.
"I emphasized that this has to be a point in time in which we begin to write a new chapter based on improved governance, a much more serious effort to eradicate corruption. He assured me that he understood the importance of this moment. But as I indicated to him, the proof is not going to be in words it's going to be in deeds," said President Barack Obama.
President Karzai was emphatic, too to hear him tell it.
"My government will be for Afghans and all those who want to work with me are most welcome," said Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's President.
And, through an interpreter, called for everyone to follow him to the sunlit uplands.
"The road towards prosperity of Afghanistan is in our national cooperation. With a national unity government, we will bring Afghanistan into the landscape of peace, prosperity, and development," said Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's President.
President Obama says he will work with Karzai. Our Mandy Clark asked Abdullah Abdullah whether he thinks that's possible.
"Does Obama really have a partner here?," said Mandy Clark, CBS News Correspondent in Kabul.
"I think I will leave it with the United States to judge it, because the United States has an experience dealing with the same partner in the past few years. So, this is what it is," said Abdullah Abdullah, Karzai's last challenger.
Indeed.
SIZING UP KEY CONTESTS ON THIS ELECTION DAY
It's Election Day today. These aren't the midterms; those aren't until next November.
But here and there, there are contests that could be portents harbingers, perhaps, depending on where you stand of things to come.
"Here and there" being the states of Virginia and New Jersey and the 23rd Congressional District of New York.
To the Democrats, a "moderate" Republican is one who votes with the Democrats.
By that definition, the Republican candidate in the special election in the 23rd Congressional District in upstate New York Republican candidate Dierdre Scozzafava --- is such an extreme moderate that she has made the supreme sacrifice: stepping aside to endorse the Democratic candidate, leaving all of right field and most of center field open for Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman.
Says Steve Chaggaris, director of CBS News' political coverage.
"People can criticize it all they want, but the Republicans right now don't have one leader they're trying to figure out what they stand for and, this is one part of the party that's being very vocal and getting involved," said Steve Chaggaris, CBS News Political Director.
Then there's New Jersey where Governor Jon Corzine, the Democrat, and former head of Wall Street's Goldman Sachs is hoping President Obama can, bail him out, so to speak.
"Governor Corzine, really down in the dumps in the polls, is sort of tied with the Republican there, and it's a very Democratic state. But, Barack Obama has high approval ratings in New Jersey, and I think Governor Corzine's hoping that the President can come in and help boost his numbers," said Steve Chaggaris.
And there's Virginia where Republican Bob McDonnell is facing Democrat Creigh Deeds.
"When you look in Virginia and the Democrat down there named Creigh Deeds, he's been down in the polls about double digits for the last several weeks. Obama did very well in Virginia, was the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Virginia since 1964. I think Deeds was hoping that Obama can sort of have some of that magic rub off on him. In terms of the polls, it hasn't really worked so far we'll see what happens tonight," said Steve Chaggaris.
Thank you, Steve Chagarris.
HOW LONG WILL THE FED KEEP INTEREST RATES LOW?
When the Fed meets today and tomorrow, those who lend or who borrow will be listening hard to detect any sign whatsoever that the Fed may suspect there'll be interest rate hikes up ahead.
Evidence may be sparse, but observers will parse every comma and word that is said.
"While it's expected that interest rates will remain at zero when the meeting concludes Wednesday afternoon, economists and investors will parse the accompanying statement for signals of any future changes to Fed policy," said Jill Schlesinger, editor-at-large for CBS MoneyWatch.Com.
Jill Schlesinger says people will be sensitive not only to the interest rate numbers the Fed puts out tomorrow, but also the accompanying text.
"Observers will focus on whether the Fed will stop noting that the Federal Funds Rate will stay very low for a, quote 'extended period' endquote. The deletion of that soft promise by the Fed could indicate that central bankers are priming the public for a rate hike sometime next year," said Jill Schlesinger.
Why has the Funds Rate and consequently, interest rates been kept so low?
"The Fed has kept rates at essentially zero percent, because the economy is so weak. The thought is, low interest rates help prime the pumps of the economy, allowing for credit to be easy. The accessibility to money is cheaper and that hopefully helps people during a very difficult time," said Jill Schlesinger.
You might think that financial firms would like to be able to charge higher interest. But that's not the case, says Jill.
"The idea that the banks, that large institutions can borrow for essentially zero and then make loans at a much higher rate explains a lot of the positive earnings from Wall Street. A lot of these companies have access to cheap Federal money, and they're using that money so, one of the outcomes of low interest rates is that it's been a boon for financial firms," said Jill Schlesinger.
THE BEST WAY TO HELP SMOKERS KICK THE HABIT?
There are various therapies to get smokers to quit lozenges, patches, chewing gum, sprays, inhalers, you name it alone or in combinations.
And they all seem to work for a while, anyway.
But there hasn't been a lot of testing of which things and combinations of things work best. Now, they've tested them all in different combinations and the result?
"Smokers who were given the combination of nicotine patch plus nicotine lozenge had the best quit rate," said Dr. Megan Piper.
Dr. Megan Piper, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention in Madison.
Dr. Megan Piper and her colleagues conducted the tests on 1,504 adults all of whom were smoking at least 10 cigarettes a day.
The nicotine patch-and-lozenge combination worked best.
"The nicotine patch gives you a steady state of nicotine and the nicotine lozenge allows smokers to sort of dose as needed, if they're having a craving if they're worried about going into a situation where they may have a craving. And so, it gives them a little more control and ability to cope with whatever's going on in life, using a nicotine lozenge instead of a cigarette," said Dr. Megan Piper.
Whether singly or in combination, the therapies all worked to a point.
"Everything's effective, but the patch and lozenge really seems to give people the edge," said Dr. Megan Piper.
As far as relapses are concerned?
"Fewer people relapsed. So what we were looking at was who was still smoking, six months after their quit date. And what we found was in the patch-lozenge combo, 40 percent had made it that far without smoking. When we talked to them at six months, they said --- No, smoke-free at this point," said Dr. Megan Piper.
Even so, a majority of the smokers did relapse.
"Still, the majority of smokers relapsed. Which is why we're continuing to look for new treatments both medication, as well as coaching and counseling as well as other kinds of things that can help smokers quit," said Dr. Megan Piper.
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