The Rundown, 10/21

Vice President Joe Biden is in Europe today, working his Bidenly charms on Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Lech Kaczynski. Poland wasn't too happy about the White House's decision to pull out of Bush-era plans for a missile defense system partly based there; we'll see if Biden can put his foreign policy expertise and famed affability to work in allaying those concerns.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, will deliver a major policy address on nuclear nonproliferation to the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC.

With his deputies thusly occupied, President Obama will be in campaign mode: after attending a fundraiser for Democrat Bill Owens in New York's 23rd district last night, Obama will stump for New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) at a rally at Fairleigh Dickinson University, seeking to boost the governor in his tight re-election race with some patented Obama eloquence.


Though we're supposed to be in an age of transparency, both the Democratic and Republican caucuses in the House will hold closed-door meetings, with the Democrats hearing from Elizabeth Warren, who heads up the congressional oversight panel charged with overseeing the TARP.

And Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh aren't the only populists in the land: we'll get a dose of Democratic, anti-CEO populism today as the House Populist Caucus holds a press conference to demand that the White House clamp down on executive compensation and the House Judiciary Committee marks up legislation to void antitrust exemptions for the health insurance industry.