"Charlie Black" is an American country music songwriter.

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The (Bush) campaign would prefer not to have a floor fight on anything. Because the more we talk about the things we want to talk about, the better.

The thing that has worried me for most of the year is that the economy is very good, but the majority of voters don't think so. Pocketbook issues matter for the ability to win elections in 2006.

Some of the conservative activists would prefer to have a sitting judge who has taken conservative positions on all their favorite issues. I'm sure the president considered some people like that, but that was never his goal or his job description.

There are incentives for the construction of refineries in the energy bill that he just signed, and it would make sense to talk about that. There is a real opportunity to help educate people about the nature of this problem.

The biggest problem is that the Democrats will not go along. They will keep their current primary calendar, which means their nominee will emerge in March, while the Republicans continue to fight until May or June.

It's naive all of a sudden to say that the White House just realized that there's going to be a tough confirmation fight in the Senate. Of course there's pressure from both sides, but he's not going to cave to pressure from the left or the right.

I'm not sure there's a big win available. You've got to hit a bunch of singles.

Gas prices are the classic pocketbook issue for the average person and the average family, and these are things that they notice very much. It helps explain the paradox we see in the polls: The economy is very good, but right now a majority of people say it isn't. The hurricane, and its aftermath, will only exacerbate this problem.