Heard Around the Hillary-Sphere

With respect to the bipartisan dinner with women in Congress, the only thing I could really find about it was this:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has revived a tradition from her Senate days, hosting a bipartisan dinner with most of the upper chambers’ 17 women members.

The dinner, which took place at the secretary’s Foggy Bottom dining room, had originally been scheduled for earlier this year but had to be postponed after Clinton broke her elbow in a fall, said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who said the event was informal and fun.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), like Klobuchar, refused to say what was discussed, wasn’t sure if the get-together was a one-off or part of a regular get-together — and didn’t say what was on the menu…

If I find any other information I’ll update the post.

I stumbled across this article about the critical role Secretary Clinton played in getting President Karzai of Afghanistan to agree to a run-off:

t was a telephone call three days ago from Hillary Clinton that tipped the scales. The US Secretary of State called President Karzai to reassure him of America’s support if he agreed to a run-off. After two months of intense talks between Washington and Kabul, the Afghan leader finally relented.

The diplomacy leading to the decision to hold a run-off began the day after the disputed August 20 vote. Washington started piling pressure on Mr Karzai as soon as allegations of fraud surfaced. The first task, one official said, was to persuade the Afghan leader to “keep quiet”, not to declare victory, and wait for the result of the election review. That crucial objective was met.

There were regular calls between US officials and Mr Karzai over the past two months, while Karl Eikenberry, the US Ambassador to Afghanistan, played a major role on the ground.

The day after the August election, Richard Holbrooke, Mr Obama’s special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, had a heated conversation with Mr Karzai, in which he urged him to agree to a second-round vote.

Since then Mr Holbrooke has barely been seen. Officials insist that he has been involved behind the scenes but there is little doubt that, given the delicacy of the negotiations, Mr Holbrooke’s role was reduced. Mrs Clinton, meanwhile, took on a far more active part, as did John Kerry, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Mr Kerry extended a visit to Kabul to negotiate the final run-off deal…

Go, Hillary!

Secretary Clinton issued the following remarks after President Karzai publicly announced his willingness to take part in a run-off:

Afghanistan has been through a rough and contentious election. The bravery, patience, and resilience of the Afghan people has been on display since election day, when so many of them went to the polls in the face of threats and intimidation. And after many weeks of counting ballots and much debate over the flaws in the vote, Afghans showed today that their processes work.

I welcome President Karzai’s announcement that he accepts the recommendations of the Electoral Complaints Commission and the Independent Election Commission’s statement on the August 20 first round election results. The leadership shown by the President, Dr. Abdullah and all of the other candidates has strengthened Afghanistan and kept faith with the best interests of the Afghan people.

Afghan plans are in place to enable a second round of voting, and we pledge our support to the election authorities to help them achieve a conclusion to the elections process. We remain committed to partnering with the Afghan people and their government on our shared objectives of strengthening good governance, tackling corruption, increasing economic opportunities and improving security for all Afghans.

And heads up! Secretary Clinton is going to give a major foreign policy speech tomorrow, Wednesday October 21st:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver a major nonproliferation policy address to the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel. The address, titled “Reinvigorating the Nonproliferation Regime: a U.S.-led Diplomatic Campaign,” coincides with USIP’s 25th anniversary.

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