The Earlybird: Today's headlines

Bush's Florida trip, Dem takeover, McCain's loyalties, Israeli cease-fire, Nepal's royalty, California 32 voting, Earley's GOP victory, Gore's policy meetings:

• President Bush will be in Florida today to "celebrate his tax cut and speak about restoring the Everglades," the Orlando Sentinel reports. "The president's Florida appearance will serve as the first lap of a national victory tour with the tax bill, which Bush plans to sign Thursday in Washington."
• "A group of religious, civil rights and political leaders have sent a letter to President Bush asking for an immediate federal moratorium on the death penalty," the New York Times reports.
• On Sunday Bush hosted the second T-ball game at the White House, AP reports. "Before the opening swing, Bush paid tribute to the 'Little League moms' in the bleachers along the first-base line."

• The Democrats will take over as the majority party in the Senate when Congress returns on Tuesday, the Dallas Morning News reports. The Senate will focus on "education, health care, the minimum wage and federal spending bills" with the Democrats in power.
• Bush's energy policy "is expected to hit a brick wall in the Senate" with Democrats in the majority, the Washington Times reports.
• "Republicans said Sunday they would cede control of Senate committees without a fight in exchange for assurances the new-majority Democrats will not reject outright or indefinitely delay President Bush's judicial nominees," AP reports.
• Republican leaders also said they "will push ahead with" President Bush's "agenda as long as the administration does not move to the left to appeal to Senate Democrats," Roll Call reports.
• Members of both parties are feeling "relief" that "Bush's ban on partisan sniping" has ended with Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords' (I) party switch, U.S. News and World Report's "Washington Whispers" reports. "Democrats tell us they were tired of whispering sweet nothings in GOP ears, and Republicans say they're happy to stop the 'fraud.'"

• Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Tom Daschle, D-S.D., spent the weekend together at McCain's ranch, USA Today reports. "Their get-together fueled speculation that McCain might bolt the GOP to become an independent," but McCain denied the rumor.
• Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said Sunday that "sooner or later," McCain will "either become independent or Democrat," the Washington Times reports. "Some Republicans and Democrats believe Mr. McCain is preparing a presidential run, to be announced late next year," as either a Democrat or an independent.

• The administration "has absolved OPEC of any role in pushing up fuel prices and instead blamed a limited refining capacity at home," the New York Times reports. "The White House is gambling that such low-key rhetoric will help it achieve a variety of intertwined goals, in the Middle East and back home."
• Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "has cut off virtually all of the Pentagon's contacts with the Chinese armed forces," the New York Times reports. "Under Mr. Rumsfeld's policy, no direct contact between American and Chinese military officers has been authorized in recent months."
• The Violence Policy Center, a gun control group in Washington, is expected to file a lawsuit today against Attorney General John Ashcroft for his "delay putting into effect a Clinton administration regulation involving background checks of handgun buyers," New York Times News Service reports.
• The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to outline Tuesday "a 10-year air traffic control modernization plan to squeeze 30 percent more traffic into the commercial aviation system while easing delays and increasing safety by giving pilots better information on weather problems and the location of other aircraft," the Washington Post reports.

• Yesterday Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat "ordered his security forces to carry out a cease-fire pledge and Israel continued to restrain its troops," the Baltimore Sun reports. The pledge followed "a suicide bombing Friday night outside a popular Tel Aviv nightspot" that killed 20 people.
• Appearing on NBC's "Meet The Press" on Sunday, Secretary of State Colin Powell "challenged" Arafat to "enforce the self-imposed cease-fire," AP reports.
• CIA director George Tennet will visit the Middle East this week "to help the sides solidify a cease-fire and a move toward a resumption of negotiations after eight months of hostilities," UPI reports.
• "The Palestinian father of the 22-year-old suicide bomber who attacked" the nightclub said "that he was 'very proud' of his son," the New York Post reports.
• Speaking at the University of Hartford Sunday, Israeli President Moshe Katsav blamed Arafat "for the attack and said leaders who condone terrorism 'don't belong to humankind, to our planet, or to our galaxy,'" the Boston Globe reports.

• In Peru, "Alejandro Toledo, the son of a poor Andean mountain sheep herder, won the presidency today over onetime President Alan Garcia," the New York Times reports.
• "Nepal's King Dipendra, who had been in a coma since shooting his entire immediate family after a palace argument Friday night, has died after being taken off life support systems," the Washington Post reports.

• Tomorrow is the special election in California's 32nd District to replace the late Rep. Julian Dixon, D-Calif. Roll Call reports "House Members can expect" former state Sen. Diane Watson (D) -- "who's widely favored in tomorrow's runoff" -- to "bring to Capitol Hill that same no-holds-barred style that rises easily into vocal, often partisan outrage."
• BU Washington News Service reports that in a potential Senate primary between New Hampshire Republicans Sen. Bob Smith and Rep. John Sununu, the "differences that determine" who will win "are numerous. Physical. Personal. In matters of style. Even baseball."

• At the Virginia GOP convention this weekend, Virginia Attorney General Mark Earley (R) "was nominated by acclamation" to run as governor "after outpolling his chief rival," Lt. Gov. John Hager (R), Reuters reports.
• The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports that the "exact vote of the 9,000 delegates was never announced because Hager, certain of defeat, conceded after the ballots had been tabulated. Sources said Earley received 62 percent of the vote."
• Wisconsin Gov. Scott McCallum (R) "won points with delegates at the state Republican convention Saturday," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. "State party Chairman Rick Graber expressed doubts over whether a primary will materialize in 2002, and said McCallum's performance at the convention was outstanding."

• Florida "is preparing to negotiate its own discounts with pharmaceutical companies" after Gov. Jeb Bush (R) signed a law late last week that makes Florida "the first state to break away from a system of federally negotiated discounts from drug manufacturers," the Wall Street Journal reports.
• "Five children holed up in a remote Idaho home with guns and dogs ended their five-day standoff Saturday night," the Los Angeles Times reports.
• In Missouri, "573 buses and 80 Call-A-Ride vans operated by the Bi-State Development Agency will begin using biodiesel in their tanks later this summer," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. "Buses and other vehicles that burn the soy diesel blend produce fewer toxic and air-fouling emissions than those powered with regular diesel."

• Former Vice President Al Gore will visit the Twin Cities today as part of a "series of private meetings across the country to discuss public policy issues," AP reports.