Today was a great success. Our flight was effortless and bordering on perfect, and the weather in DC is great. There was a briefing scheduled for 1;30 this afternoon at the Eisenhower Executive Building that WonderWoman just made it to after lunching with Little Miss Atilla (who is conveniently staying down the hall).

This briefing was like policy porn - wonks galore! Sara Taylor, White House political director, got us started with a look toward the mid-terms later this year. The top issues will be the War on Terror/Iraq/NSA, the economy, health care and values. Polls are showing that 56% of Americans support the NSA's wiretapping of overseas calls to Al Qaeda cells. Betcha won't read that in the New York Times.

Bill Ludy, a security wonk, gave us some very interesting numbers regarding Iraq:

Inflation is 1/4 of what it was pre-war
Unemployment is 1/2 what it was pre-war
Per capita income is up 30% from pre-war
Freedom is growing: there are currently 75 independent radio stations, 44 independent TV stations, and 180 independent newspapers

Why don't we ever hear this stuff on the 6 o'clock news? When asked to comment on how the current situations in Syria and Iran affect Iraq, he described those two countries as "two evil bookends." Well put, Sir.

Keith Hennessy, an economist and a very energetic speaker, gave some great numbers that prove the coutry has not gone to hell in a handbasket under the reign of George Bush, despite what the left is telling us:

4.7: the current unemployment rate, as well as the number (4.7 million) of new jobs under Bush
3.5% growth of productivity last year

He talked about health spending, and HSA's, which are becoming very popular. A year ago, 1 million people had Health Spending Accounts - today over 3 million people have them. Also, systems are being put in place that will allow people to change jobs and take their health insurance with them, "You don't have to change car insurer if you change jobs; why should you have to change medical insurers?"

Claude Allen came in to talk about domestic policy, but I have to admit to getting distracted and tuning the poor man out. But you will have to forgive me for it - Karl Rove walked in and sat down not 15 feet from me.

Tell us, Mr. Rove: Have you been working out?

Uncle Karl looks as if he's dropped 20lbs in the past few months. I wish he'd share his secret with the rest of us!

I will have more on Karl in a day or two - I taped everything, and haven't transcribed yet. I knew I would be too awed to take notes, so thankfully I brought the dicta.

WonderWoman and I picked up our conference passes and our media passes this evening, along with a great goodie bag which I haven't even opened yet. I was lucky enough to go for dinner with the hottest man in Washington (not G.W., but my beloved Jon F). I have finally had a crab cake in Washongton, which MustControlFistOfDeath insisted I do while I was here. Thanks for the tip, honey - it was great!