Tip Sheet for the Week of September 16 - 20

This is a partial transcript from The Beltway Boys, September 14, that has been edited for clarity. Click here to order the complete transcript.

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MORT KONDRACKE, CO-HOST: Welcome back.

Let's see if Fred can navigate through this week's Tip Sheet.

Item number one, congressional hearings on Iraq begin next week. CIA director Tenet, Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld, and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers are on deck first.

FRED BARNES, CO-HOST: And Secretary of State Powell may also testify. The idea here is very, very simple, have all these people go up there and put the pressure on Congress to ultimately pass a resolution in a couple weeks authorizing war against Iraq. Very simple.

KONDRACKE: Well, are we finally going to see the evidence of, of, of his weapons of mass destruction or mass murder?

BARNES: Not in...

KONDRACKE: ... not program?

BARNES: Not in public. I mean, a ton of evidence is out there, but the private new classified evidence won't be — we will not be announcing it on this show, Mort.

KONDRACKE: OK, too bad.

Item two, Colin Powell and Don Rumsfeld meet with Russia's foreign and defense ministers. The objective, get the Russians on board for an attack on Iraq.

BARNES: Yes, now, both of those Russians, of course, work for Vladimir Putin, the president, and a top official of the Bush White House said privately the other day, Watch Putin on Iraq. Putin's going to go along one way or another, and it'll be reflected in these negotiations.

KONDRACKE: I take it that the price tag is $6 billion...

BARNES: Eight million, I think.

KONDRACKE: ... what the Iraqis owe the Russians.

Item three, not all the 2002 primaries are over, and we've got a good one in the Massachusetts gubernatorial race. Former Clinton labor secretary Bob Reich is leading a packed field.

BARNES: You know, Reich is actually a very impressive candidate, a very likable guy, knows a lot, one of the liberals that I admire. I hope he wins the primary. I think he will. It's going to be tough beating Mitt Romney, the Republican, unusually strong Republican candidate in that Democratic state.

KONDRACKE: Indeed.

Item four, like father, like son. President Bush and his dad will be in Tennessee next week to stump for Lamar Alexander, who's running for the Senate.

BARNES: Well, Lamar is pretty far ahead. It's going to may — it's going to take some real ruffling of the waters for Bob Clement, the Democrat, to beat him. I don't really think he needs the Bushes there, but they'll raise some money for him.

KONDRACKE: Yes, it's not, it's not a seat that the Republicans, if they … they're going to hold it. It's not a gainer.

BARNES: Yes. Yes.

KONDRACKE: And item five, President Bush will be headlining a Washington fund-raiser for South Dakota Congressman John Thune, who's running for the Senate.

BARNES: You know, Bush ...

KONDRACKE: That would be a pickup.

BARNES: Yes, Bush has a couple of reasons for doing this. One, he talked Thune into running in the first place, rather than holding onto his House seat, and he would love to stick it in Tom Daschle's ear by beating Thune's opponent, who is a sidekick of Daschle, Tim Johnson.

KONDRACKE: But Tim Johnson's ahead.

BARNES: Yes.

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