Solyndra scandal probe widens as White House orders new review (The Christian Science Monitor)

The Obama administration has ordered an independent review of loans made by the Energy Department to energy companies – a clear response to the controversial and now-bankrupt Solyndra Inc. solar energy company.

It’s the latest step in the face of growing criticism over the $528 million government loan to Solyndra, which was part of the administration’s economic stimulus package meant to advance green energy. Last month, FBI agents and investigators from the Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General searched Solyndra headquarters in California for documents and other information.

Heading the review announced Friday is former Treasury official Herbert Allison, who oversaw the Troubled Asset Relief Program, part of the 2008 Wall Street bailout.

"Today we are directing that an independent analysis be conducted of the current state of the Department of Energy loan portfolio, focusing on future loan monitoring and management," White House chief of staff Bill Daley said Friday afternoon – the traditional time for burying announcements. "While we continue to take steps to make sure the United States remains competitive in the 21st century energy economy, we must also ensure that we are strong stewards of taxpayer dollars."

Announcement of the internal review of procedures dealing with Solyndra was not enough to satisfy congressional critics.

Leaders of the Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee on oversight and investigations say they’ll meet this coming week to consider a resolution authorizing the issuance of a subpoena for internal White House communications relating to the Solyndra loan guarantee.

“Subpoenaing the White House is a serious step that, unfortunately, appears necessary in light of the Obama administration’s stonewall on Solyndra,” Fred Upton (R) of Michigan and Cliff Stearns (R) of Florida said in a statement. “Since we launched the Solyndra investigation over eight months ago, the Obama administration has unfortunately fought us every step of the way, even forcing us to subpoena documents from [the White House Office of Management and Budget].”

Apparently, White House officials weren’t the only ones pushing special consideration for green energy.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R) of Utah, who has criticized the Obama administration’s backing of Energy Department loan guarantees to Solyndra, pushed for more than $20 million in government funding for a clean energy firm in his home state, reports USA Today.

“Hatch aides [said] earlier this month that the Republican lawmaker had never pushed for taxpayer money to be used for Raser Technologies, which operated a geothermal power plant in southern Utah and also developed hybrid plug-in vehicles,” the newspaper reported Friday. “But on Friday, Hatch spokesman Matthew Harakal said that after an internal audit following publication of the USA Today story on Hatch's support for Raser, the Utah senator's office found that Hatch actually requested seven earmarks for more than $20 million from 2006 to 2008 to help fund research and development projects for the automotive wing of the company.”

None of the requests were funded, and Raser Technologies filed for bankruptcy in April.

Meanwhile, the Solyndra scandal – if that’s what it is – has indirectly touched at least one Republican presidential hopeful.

“Mitt Romney is facing scrutiny this week for associating himself with a lobbyist whose firm worked for failed California solar panel company Solyndra,” The Hill newspaper in Washington reported this week. “Lobbyist Alex Mistri co-hosted a Romney fundraiser Wednesday that included a number of lobbyists and members of Congress, held at the American Trucking Association near Capitol Hill.”

Also attending the Romney fundraiser co-hosted by lobbyist Mistri was Rep. Darrell Issa (R) of California, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform investigating Solyndra.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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Stalled free trade deals now on a fast track, White House says (The Christian Science Monitor)

Washington – By the time South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak arrives at the White House for a state dinner honoring him next Thursday, President Obama will be able to present him with a ratified US-Korea free trade agreement.

That’s the prediction of White House Chief of Staff William Daley, who confidently told a Washington audience of business leaders and diplomats Wednesday night that Congress will approve a package of three free-trade deals and domestic trade-impact legislation by the middle of next week.

Mr. Daley told guests at the National Foreign Trade Council’s annual black-tie dinner that the four-part trade package – free trade deals with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama, plus legislation that renews funding for retraining workers who lose jobs to foreign competition – will move “across the finish line” next Wednesday.

RECOMMENDED: 'Zero job' economy: 11 ways Washington can fix it

If he’s right, it will be uncharacteristically quick work for Washington, and will constitute a striking turnaround for trade deals that have languished for years.

One incentive for the Obama administration to get quick passage of the trade package is President Lee’s state visit. The Korea deal is the largest US trade pact since the landmark NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) accord with Canada and Mexico. It is expected to generate about $11 billion of the total $13 billion in new US exports the administration says the three free-trade agreements (FTAs) will deliver. Obama, who fine-tuned the South Korea trade deal originally negotiated under President George W. Bush, did not want to greet his White House guest empty-handed.

Another incentive is that Obama made implementation of the three FTAs part of his jobs bill now before Congress. Daley called the four-part trade package an “essential part of the president’s jobs agenda,” and predicted that the Korea deal alone will “support” 70,000 US jobs and open up markets to allow for creating thousands of new jobs.

Outside of government, business and labor organizations disagree on the jobs impact of the three pending FTAs. The US Chamber of Commerce predicts the deals will prevent hundreds of thousands of job losses by keeping exporting companies humming, while the AFL-CIO says the pacts spell doom for more than 150,000 jobs.

Daley, who helped the Clinton administration usher NAFTA through Congress in 1993, described Obama as coming down in the middle of the polar views on tradea€?s impact. On one hand, the president believes that trade agreements create jobs, but on the other he realizes that a€?there are people who are negatively hurt by trade,a€

He said that explains Obamaa€?s insistence that renewed funding for Trade Adjustment Assistance, the program that enables worker retraining, accompany the three trade deals.

Going a step further, Daley also warned his audience of mostly pro-trade business representatives that this kind of “balanced” approach to trade will be necessary if the American public is to be convinced that more trade liberalization is in the national interest. For example, the administration is currently pursuing a huge Pacifc-region trade agreement.

“We’ve got to reach out to people who are negatively affected, especially at this crisis time,” Daley said. “If we don’t continue to build a consensus, these [trade] fights will get more and more difficult.”

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White Sox hire Ventura as manager (AP)

CHICAGO – Former All-Star third baseman Robin Ventura is replacing the fiery Ozzie Guillen as manager of the Chicago White Sox.

The White Sox say that Ventura agreed to a multiyear deal on Thursday.

A longtime star with the White Sox, Ventura was hired by the club last June as a special adviser to director of player development Buddy Bell. Ventura is the 38th White Sox manager overall, including 17 who played for the team.

Guillen was released from his contract with one year remaining after eight seasons with the White Sox and immediately was hired by the Florida Marlins as their manager.

Ventura was a first-round draft pick of the White Sox out of Oklahoma State in 1988 and spent the first 10 seasons of his 16-year career with Chicago.

Known for his slick fielding, clutch hitting and left-handed power, Ventura also played for the New York Mets, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. He was six-time Gold Glove winner and an All-Star in 1992 and 2002.

Ventura's selection came as a surprise. Most speculation had the White Sox's top candidates as either Tampa Rays coach Dave Martinez or Cleveland Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr. Both are former White Sox players.

"When I met with the media as our season ended, I identified one person at the very top of my managerial list," White Sox general manager Ken Williams said in a team release.

"I wanted someone who met very specific criteria centered around his leadership abilities. Robin Ventura was that man. His baseball knowledge and expertise, his professionalism, his familiarity with the White Sox and Chicago and his outstanding character make him absolutely the right person to lead our clubhouse and this organization into the seasons ahead."

Ventura, who has also dabbled in TV commentary, said he welcomed the chance to return to the city where his major league career started.

"When I rejoined the White Sox this June, I said this was my baseball home and that part of me never left the White Sox organization," Ventura said. "My family and I are thrilled to be returning to Chicago. Managing a major league baseball team is a tremendous honor. It's also an opportunity and a challenge."

Pitching coach Don Cooper and first base coach Harold Baines were already re-signed to multiyear contract extensions before the season ended. Hitting coach Greg Walker is not returning.

Ventura batted hit .267 with 294 home runs and 1,182 RBIs over his career. His 18 career grand slams are tied for fifth in major league history.

He appeared in 1,254 games over 10 seasons with the White Sox, hitting .274 with 171 home runs and 741 RBI. He ranks among the White Sox career leaders in grand slams, walks, homers, RBIs, extra-base hits and runs scored.

Ventura led Oklahoma State to the College World Series and still holds the Division I record with a 58-game hitting streak.

Guillen, who was a friend of Ventura's while with the White Sox, left after he couldn't get a contract extension from owner Jerry Reinsdorf. His relationship with Williams had become fractured over the last two seasons.

Expected to be contenders this season, the White Sox finished 79-83 and third in the AL Central as several key players, most notably DH Adam Dunn and center fielder Alex Rios, struggled offensively.

With the managerial search completed, Chicago's next big offseason move could be determining whether to bring back longtime ace Mark Buehrle, who will be a free agent.

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Struggling Pawlenty exits White House race (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty became the first major casualty in the marathon presidential campaign on Sunday while fellow Republicans Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry built momentum in the race.

Pawlenty, once seen as a strong contender for the Republican nomination to face Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 2012 election, dropped out a day after a disappointing showing in Iowa's straw poll, a key early test of strength among his party's candidates.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is the early front-runner in the Republican race, but he must fend off a surging Bachmann -- who won the poll -- and Perry, the governor of Texas who announced his candidacy on Saturday in South Carolina.

Some experts felt Romney may benefit most from the departure of Pawlenty -- neither of whom are favorites of the conservative Tea Party movement that likes Bachmann and Perry.

Pawlenty touted a record of balancing the budget, cutting spending and down-sizing government in Minnesota, but his "nice guy" image failed to gain traction after entering the race in May, particularly among Republican conservatives.

"I wish it would have been different. But, obviously, the pathway forward for me doesn't really exist. And so we're going to end the campaign," Pawlenty told the ABC program "This Week" after his distant third-place finish in the Iowa straw poll.

"You know, I'm from a small state. I don't have a big national financial network or political network," he said.

Bachmann won the Iowa straw poll on Saturday with 29 percent of the vote, with Ron Paul, a congressman from Texas, was second with 28 percent and Pawlenty at 14 percent. Romney was on the straw ballot but did not participate.

The straw poll is a nonbinding mock election that serves as an early gauge of strength in the state that holds the first 2012 Republican nominating contest -- the Iowa caucuses scheduled for next February.

In a round of appearances on the Sunday morning U.S. news programs, Bachmann, a U.S. congresswoman from Minnesota, defended her credentials to be president and called herself a leader in the U.S. Congress fighting against Obama's agenda.

Critics question her accomplishments in the U.S. Congress.

"So being a governor and having governor-level experience isn't the number-one requirement. It's really, who is the person? What is their character?" Bachmann said on ABC.

"What I've demonstrated is that I have a core set of principles that I believe in. I'll fight for them. That's what we need in a president of the United States because a president is more than just a manager," Bachmann added.

'SOMETHING DIFFERENT'

Pawlenty said that what he brought as a candidate was "a rational, established, credible, strong record of results" as a two-term governor in Minnesota. "But I think the audience, so to speak, was looking for something different," he added.

University of Minnesota political scientist Larry Jacobs said Pawlenty's departure "shows the Republican voter is angry and has moved in a pretty conservative direction."

On NBC's "Meet the Press," Bachmann sidestepped a question on whether she would seek the endorsement of fellow Minnesotan Pawlenty. "I'll be calling him today to wish him well. And he brought a very important voice to the race. I have a lot of respect for the governor," Bachmann said.

Perry's candidacy could steal support from Bachmann, replacing her as Romney's top rival and potentially bridging the gap between the party's establishment center and right-wing activists.

Pawlenty had been seen as a Republican candidate who could attract vital support from independent voters wary of more conservative candidates in a general election against Obama.

He raised $4.3 million in the most recent quarter, on par with other Republicans jockeying to run against Obama but lagging well behind the $18 million brought in by Romney.

But in an ominous sign, some donors to Pawlenty's campaign began to express second thoughts about supporting him.

"Well, there's a lot of factors that go into a successful campaign. Obviously, we had some success raising money, but we needed to continue that, and Ames was a benchmark for that. And if we didn't do well in Ames, we weren't going to have the fuel to keep the car going down the road," he said.

(Additional reporting by Lisa Lambert and Eric Beech in Washington and Todd Melby in Iowa; Editing by Jackie Frank)

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Obama celebrates 50th birthday at White House (AP)

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama was counting on at least one birthday greeting when he turned 50 on Thursday.

"By the time I wake up, I'll have an email from AARP asking me to call President Obama and tell him to protect Medicare," Obama joked during a fundraiser in Chicago on the eve of his birthday.

Obama's big birthday comes just days after he reached a deal with Republicans to raise the nation's debt ceiling and avert a calamitous government default. While the mood around the White House hasn't exactly been festive since the deal was reached — Obama didn't get much of what he wanted — there will be plenty of celebration there Thursday for the president's 50th.

Senior members of Obama's staff will toast the president in the Blue Room of the White House Thursday afternoon. At night, he'll celebrate with family and friends, including some coming in from his hometown of Chicago, then cap the festivities with a weekend trip to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.

An administration official said the Obamas will pay for the president's birthday party at the White House.

First lady Michelle Obama used her husband's birthday as an opportunity to both poke fun at his graying hair and rally support for his re-election. In an email to supporters Thursday — subject line "Gray Hairs" — Mrs. Obama asked supporters to sign an electronic birthday card for the president. When they do so, the campaign gets valuable contact information for its databases.

"I see Barack make choices he knows will affect every American family. That's no small task for anyone — and more proof that he's earning every last one of those gray hairs," Mrs. Obama wrote.

The president also used his re-election campaign as an opportunity to start his birthday celebrations early. He headlined birthday-themed fundraisers in Chicago Wednesday night and spoke via video conference to supporters holding their own presidential birthday events around the country.

A group from North Carolina sang "Happy Birthday," while another in Ohio held up signs wishing the president a happy 50th.

With the cloud of uncertainty that surrounded the debt debate now lifted, Obama had a wide smile on his face for much of the night. He got another birthday serenade from musicians Jennifer Hudson, Herbie Hancock and the band OK Go, along with the crowd of about 2,400 gathered at Chicago's historic Aragon Ballroom.

At a small dinner for high-dollar donors later in the night, Obama said there would be one very important present waiting for him in back in Washington on Thursday. His oldest daughter, Malia, was coming home from camp to celebrate his father's birthday.

Obama was born Aug. 4, 1961, near the end of the baby boom years of 1946-64. He's the third U.S. president who belongs to the baby boom generation, a population of more than 76 million. Bill Clinton was the first, followed by George W. Bush.

___

Julie Pace can be reached at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

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Obama calls Democratic leaders to White House (AP)

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama summoned top Democratic lawmakers back to the White House Wednesday to resume negotiations on averting a potentially crippling government default, as attention focused on a new bipartisan budget plan emerging in the Senate.

The White House also indicated Obama would be willing to sign a short-term debt limit increase — something he's opposed — if it's merely a stop-gap measure to allow time for a broader plan to get into place, something that likely couldn't be finished by the Aug. 2 deadline to increase the government's borrowing limit.

Obama's meeting with House and Senate Democratic leaders, planned for mid-afternoon Wednesday, marked a partial resumption of talks that ended last week after five days straight of Obama huddling with lawmakers from both parties, with little progress to show for it. But the announcement Tuesday of a possible deal by the Senate "Gang of Six" was seized on by Obama as a possible breakthrough. Now the job ahead for the president, if he is to build momentum behind the plan, includes selling members of his own party on the cuts to entitlement programs that it embraces.

"We are in the 11th hour," said White House press secretary Jay Carney, repeating what Obama had said Wednesday. "We need to meet, talk, consult and narrow down in fairly short order what train we're riding into the station."

Carney also indicated that the president would be willing to support a short-term extension as a stop-gap measure. Carney said Obama would not support a short-term extension "absent an agreement on a larger deal."

The plan by the Gang of Six is far too complicated and contentious to advance before the Aug. 2 deadline to avoid a default that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and other experts warn would roil the markets, drive up interest rates and threaten to take the country back into a recession. But the plan's authors clearly hope it could serve as a template for a "grand bargain" later in the year that could erase perhaps $4 trillion from the deficit over the coming decade.

It includes tax hikes on some that are opposed by Republicans and cuts to Medicare and other entitlements that many Democrats are against.

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White House: US suspending $800M in Pakistan aid (AP)

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has ordered the suspension of $800 million in aid to the Pakistani military, his chief of staff said Sunday, as part of what experts say is a tougher line with a critical U.S. partner in the fight against terrorism.

Top aide William Daley described the U.S. relationship with Pakistan as "difficult" and said it must be made "to work over time." But he added that until "we get through that difficulty, we'll hold back some of the money that the American taxpayers are committed to give" Pakistan.

The suspension of U.S. aid, first reported by the New York Times, followed a statement last week by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, that Pakistan's security services may have sanctioned the killing of a Pakistani journalist who wrote about infiltration of the military by extremists.

The allegation was rejected by Pakistan's powerful military establishment, including the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency, which has historic ties to the Taliban and other militant groups and which many Western analysts regard as a state-within-a-state.

Daley, interviewed on ABC's "This Week," suggested the decision to suspend military aid resulted from the increasing estrangement between the U.S. and Pakistan, especially since the U.S. raid in May that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden not far from Pakistan's equivalent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

"Obviously there's still a lot of pain that the political system in Pakistan is feeling by virtue of the raid that we did to get Osama bin Laden," Daley said.

A senior U.S. official said the suspension was triggered by the Pakistani army's decision to significantly reduce the number of visas for U.S. military trainers. "We remain committed to helping Pakistan build its capabilities, but we have communicated to Pakistani officials on numerous occasions that we require certain support in order to provide certain assistance," said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently told senators that "when it comes to our military aid, we are not prepared to continue providing that at the pace we were providing it unless we see certain steps taken."

Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas declined comment on the suspension. He pointed to comments by Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who last month said U.S. military aid should be diverted to civilian projects.

Hasan-Askari Rizvi, a Pakistani political and defense analyst, said the U.S. decision to suspend aid is an attempt to increase pressure on Pakistan, but he believes it could hurt both sides.

"The Pakistani military has been the major supporter of the U.S. in the region because it needed weapons and money," said Rizvi. "Now, when the U.S. builds pressure on the military, it will lose that support."

George Perkovich, an expert on Pakistan with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, called the suspension "overdue."

"We've been trying for years to get, persuade, push the Pakistani army to conduct military operations on their border with Afghanistan, especially in North Waziristan, and they've said it's not in their interest, that they're overstretched already," Perkovich said in a telephone interview from Paris. "I think it's smart to say, `We hear you.'"

Perkovich said if U.S. financial aid didn't change the behavior of the Pakistan military, then withdrawing it probably wouldn't either. But he said the termination of the $800 million in assistance could lead to a re-examination of the military's role in that country.

"Internally in Pakistan, there's going to be a much more intense debate now on whether the Army has put the country on a good course," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington and Sebastian Abbot in Islamabad contributed to this report.

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U.S. withholds $800 million in aid to Pakistan: White House (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is withholding some $800 million in military assistance to Pakistan in a show of displeasure over its cutback on U.S. trainers, limits on visas for U.S. personnel and other bilateral irritants, the Obama administration said on Sunday.

Pakistani authorities have "taken some steps that have given us reason to pause on some of the aid which we're giving to the military," White House Chief of Staff William Daley said on ABC television's "This Week with Christiane Amanpour."

As a result, "We'll hold back some of the money that the American taxpayers have committed to give," he said, adding this amounted to about $800 million, or more than a third of the $2 billion given to Pakistan for security assistance.

The U.S. Defense Department said Pakistan's army had requested a "significant cutback" of U.S. military trainers and limited the ability of U.S. personnel to obtain visas.

"While the Pakistani military leadership tells us this is a temporary step, the reduced presence of our trainers and other personnel means we can't deliver the assistance that requires training and support to be effective," the department said in a written response to questions.

Bilateral ties have been under mounting strain as the United States has pushed one of its key counterterrorism partners to boost efforts against Taliban and other militants fighting western forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

Pakistan also is smarting from the surprise U.S. raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on May 2 in a Pakistani garrison town, as well as U.S. drone attacks and night raids that have killed civilians as well as militants.

The New York Times, which reported the aid curtailment in its Sunday editions, said Pakistan has shut down a U.S. program that had been training paramilitary forces, sending home more than 100 U.S. trainers in recent weeks, and has threatened to close the base the CIA has been using for pilotless plane attacks on militant targets.

The U.S.-Pakistan relationship also was damaged last year after a CIA contractor in Lahore killed two Pakistanis he said were trying to rob him.

The Defense Department in its reply said a series of events over the last eight months "have affected our bilateral relations."

"We remain committed to helping Pakistan build it's capabilities, but we have communicated to Pakistani officials on numerous occasions that we require certain support in order to provide certain assistance," the Pentagon said.

"Working together, allowing an appropriate presence for U.S. military personnel, providing necessary visas, and affording appropriate access are among the things that would allow us to effectively provide assistance," it added.

The State Department added: "We are taking a very clear-eyed approach to our relationship with Pakistan - weighing both the importance of a continued long-term relationship and the importance of near-term action on key issues.

The United States will continue to work with Pakistani leaders "to affirm the importance of cooperating toward our shared national security objectives," the department added in a written reply to a query.

(with additional reporting by John Crawley, editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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Texas executes Mexican despite White House plea (AP)

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The U.S. Supreme Court refused to block Texas from executing a Mexican citizen despite a White House-backed appeal that claimed the case could affect other foreigners arrested in the U.S. and Americans in legal trouble abroad.

Humberto Leal was executed Thursday evening for the 1994 rape and murder of a San Antonio teenager after his attorneys, supported also by the Mexican government and other diplomats, unsuccessfully sought a stay. They argued that Leal was denied help from his home country that could have helped him avoid the death penalty.

From the death chamber, Leal repeatedly apologized and then shouted "Viva Mexico!" as the lethal drugs began taking effect. The 38-year-old mechanic was sentenced to death for killing 16-year-old Adria Sauceda, whose brutalized nude body was found hours after the two left a street party.

Leal was just a toddler when he and his family moved to the U.S. from Monterrey, Mexico, but his citizenship became a key element of his attorneys' appeals. They said police never told him following his arrest that he could seek legal assistance from the Mexican government under an international treaty.

Mexico's government, President Barack Obama's administration and others wanted the Supreme Court to stay the execution to allow Congress time to consider legislation that would require court reviews for condemned foreign nationals who aren't offered the help of their consulates. The high court rejected the request 5-4.

But questions remain over how Leal's execution may affect relations between Mexico and the U.S. — and Texas, the country's busiest death penalty state that shares a roughly 1,250-mile border with Mexico.

Leal's relatives who gathered in Guadalupe, Mexico, burned a T-shirt with an image of the American flag as a sign of protest. Leal's uncle, Alberto Rodriguez, criticized the U.S. justice system and the Mexican government, saying "there is a God who makes us all pay."

Mexico's foreign ministry said in a statement that the government condemned Leal's execution and sent a note of protest to the U.S. State Department. The ministry said Mexican ambassador Arturo Sarukhan attempted to contact Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who refused to speak on the phone.

The governor's office declined to comment on the execution Thursday.

Relatives said Leal would be buried in a cemetery next to his grandmother in Monterrey, Mexico, as he requested.

"I have hurt a lot of people," Leal said during his final minutes Thursday. "I take full blame for everything. I am sorry for what I did."

"One more thing," he said, then twice shouted "Viva Mexico!" He told the prison warden he was ready, adding "let's get this show on the road."

He grunted, snored several times and appeared to go to sleep. He was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m., 10 minutes after the lethal drugs began flowing into his arms.

In denying his attorneys' appeal, the Supreme Court's five more conservative justices doubted that executing Leal would cause grave international consequences. "Our task is to rule on what the law is, not what it might eventually be," the majority said.

The court's four liberal-leaning justices said they would have granted the stay.

Leal's attorney Sandra L. Babcock said that with consular help her client could have shown that he was not guilty. But, she said, "this case was not just about one Mexican national on death row in Texas.

"The execution of Mr. Leal violates the United States' treaty commitments, threatens the nation's foreign policy interests, and undermines the safety of all Americans abroad."

Prosecutors said Congress was unlikely to pass the legislation and Leal's appeals were simply an attempt to evade justice for a gruesome murder.

Leal's argument that he should have received consular legal aid wasn't new — Texas has executed other condemned foreign nationals who raised similar challenges, most recently in 2008.

Leal's appeals, however, focused on legislation introduced last month in the U.S. Senate by Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy. The bill would bring the U.S. into compliance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations provision regarding the arrests of foreign nationals. It would ensure court reviews for condemned foreigners to determine if a lack of consular help made a significant difference in the outcome of their cases.

"Americans detained overseas rely on their access to U.S. consulates every day," Leahy said after the Supreme Court decision was announced. "If we expect other countries to abide by the treaties they join, the United States must also honor its obligations."

The Obama administration took the unusual step of intervening in a state murder case last week when Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. joined Leal's appeal, asking the high court to halt the execution and give Congress at least six months to consider Leahy's bill.

The Mexican government and other diplomats also contended that Leal's case needed to be thoroughly reviewed. Some warned his execution would violate the treaty provision and could endanger Americans in countries that deny them consular help.

Measures similar to Leahy's have failed at least twice in recent congressional sessions. The Texas Attorney General's office, opposing the appeals, pointed to those failures in its Supreme Court arguments and said "legislative relief was not likely to be forthcoming."

Stephen Hoffman, an assistant attorney general, said evidence against Leal was strong.

"At this point, it is clear that Leal is attempting to avoid execution by overwhelming the state and the courts with as many meritless lawsuits and motions as humanly possible," Hoffman said.

Prosecutors said Sauceda was drunk and high on cocaine the night she was killed, and that Leal offered to take her home. Witnesses said Leal drove off with her around 5 a.m. Some partygoers found her body later that morning and called police. There was evidence Sauceda had been bitten, strangled and raped, and bludgeoned with a large chunk of asphalt.

A witness testified that Leal's brother appeared at the party, agitated that Leal had arrived home bloody and saying he had killed a girl.

In his first statement to police, Leal said Sauceda bolted from his car and ran off. After he was told his brother had given detectives a statement, he changed his story, saying Sauceda attacked him and fell to the ground after he fought back. He said when he couldn't wake her and saw bubbles in her nose, he got scared and went home.

Testifying during his trial's punishment phase, Leal acknowledged being intoxicated and doing wrong but said he wasn't responsible for what prosecutors alleged. A psychiatrist testified Leal suffered from alcohol dependence and pathological intoxication.

Sauceda's mother, Rachel Terry, told San Antonio television station KSAT her family already had suffered too long.

"A technicality doesn't give anyone a right to come to this country and rape, torture and murder anyone," she said.

In 2005, President George W. Bush agreed with an International Court of Justice ruling that Leal and 50 other Mexican-born inmates nationwide should be entitled to new hearings in U.S. courts to determine if their consular rights were violated. The Supreme Court later overruled Bush.

___

Associated Press Writers Jesse J. Holland in Washington and Porfirio Ibarra in Monterrey, Mexico, contributed to this report.

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Outspoken Bachmann launches White House bid (AP)

WATERLOO, Iowa – Outspoken tea party favorite Michele Bachmann cast herself as the "bold choice" for the Republican presidential nomination as she formally kicked off her campaign Monday in her Iowa home town.

Outside a sun-splashed historic mansion in Waterloo, Bachmann told a crowd of more than 100 family members, friends, supporters and others that she is waging her campaign "not for vanity," but because voters "must make a bold choice if we are to secure the promise of the future."

The three-term Minnesota congresswoman railed against the Democrat she hopes to oust — President Barack Obama.

"We can't afford four more years of Barack Obama," she said.

Bachmann steered clear of specific proposals she'd advance as president, a day after suggesting that the concerns over averting a debt crisis were "scare tactics" that could be solved by paying only the interest on U.S. obligations while lawmakers work on a deal to cut spending as part of a new debt ceiling. The idea has been dismissed as unworkable by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

She reminisced about her childhood in a Democratic household — and her own volunteer work for Democratic President Jimmy Carter's 1976 campaign. But she made clear her allegiances long ago shifted, stressing her tea party connections.

"The liberals, and to be clear I am not one of those, want you to believe the tea party movement is just the right wing of the Republican Party," she said. "Nothing could be further from the truth."

As a new Iowa poll this past weekend signaled she'll be a force in the state that opens the Republican nomination contest, Bachmann hopes to reshape the GOP field and how she's viewed by voters. After the formal Iowa kickoff, she planned to shift her focus to New Hampshire and South Carolina, other early voting states with traditions of separating the viable contenders from the political also-rans.

Bachmann, 55, has many wondering if the edgy side that turned her into a conservative star will be the one she shows on the presidential campaign trail. Her say-anything approach has earned her a loyal following but also plenty of guff from detractors who see her as a fringe politician prone to missteps.

In March, she famously flubbed Revolutionary War geography. She told a group of students and conservative activists in Manchester, N.H. "You're the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord." Those first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired in Massachusetts, not New Hampshire. She later admitted she made a mistake.

For this campaign, she has surrounded herself with no-nonsense veterans of national politics, some of whom have deep ties to the political establishment Bachmann typically eschews.

Striking a less contentious tone, Bachmann told the Iowa crowd.

"Our problems don't have an identity of party, they are problems that were created by both parties," she said, adding, "Americans aren't interested in affiliation, they're interested in solutions."

Bachmann's unswerving style provides a sharp contrast with the more measured way of 2012 rivals, such as former Govs. Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Others vying for the nomination are ex-Sen. Rick Santorum, Texas Rep. Ron Paul and businessman Herman Cain.

Possible late entrants include Texas Gov. Rick Perry and 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

A Des Moines Register poll published Sunday showed Bachmann and Romney far out front of the others in Iowa.

Some at Monday's event said they were giving her a hard look and could see supporting her at February's caucus.

Marv Dillavou, a firearms salesman, said he's not ready to commit to a candidate but likes what he's seen from Bachmann.

"I'm happy to see a serious female candidate. She's very accomplished," Dillavou said. Critics, he added, "make too much of every word, every innuendo gets blown out of proportion. It's good that she speaks her mind."

Cedar Falls retiree Terrye Kizlyk was also impressed.

"She speaks from here," Kizlyk said, pointing to her heart.

Bachmann's political climb has been swift, brushing off a school board race defeat just 12 years ago and moving rapidly from Minnesota's state Senate to Congress. In Washington, Bachmann vaulted to prominence by trying to block and now promising to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law. She has also tangled with GOP House leaders over her concerns they are too timid on federal spending cuts.

She's staunchly conservative on social issues, too, calling for more abortion restrictions and constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage.

In her latest national introduction, Bachmann has played up a softer side by highlighting her role in raising five children and 23 foster kids. But she's also gone hard at Obama, laying federal debt and deficits at his feet and accusing him of pushing the nation toward socialism.

Dubbing herself a "constitutional conservative," Bachmann said she would bring a vastly different philosophy to the White House.

"I don't believe that the solutions to our problems are Washington centric, I believe they are every American centric," she said.

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