Tip Sheet for the Week of November 18-22

This is a partial transcript from The Beltway Boys, November 16, that has been edited for clarity. Click here to order the complete transcript.

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MORT KONDRACKE, CO-HOST: Welcome back.

It's time for the Tip Sheet, famous throughout the galaxy.

Big test for you, Fred, are you up to it?

FRED BARNES, CO-HOST: I am up to it.

KONDRACKE: Oh, OK.

Item one, President Bush will be attending the NATO summit in Prague next Thursday and Friday.

BARNES: Well, you know, NATO these days is not exactly a hotbed of Bush supporters, but his status is a little different now after the November 5 election. I mean, he towers over these guys politically. I think they'll be actually sucking up to him at this summit, and particularly Gerhard Schroeder of Germany, who Bush may not be too warm toward.

KONDRACKE: Can't wait till he beats Saddam and see how it is then.

BARNES: Yes, yes.

KONDRACKE: Item two, President Bush will also be making a courtesy call on President -- Russian President Vladimir Putin next week, Pooty- poot, after the summit.

BARNES: That's right, yes. Spare me, spare me.

KONDRACKE: He calls him that.

BARNES: Oh, I know, but that doesn't mean you have to. That's disrespectful, by the way.

This is the most important single relationship in the entire world. The cold war is over, Putin is a great man. He's thrown in with the West, with the U.S., with the global economy, with the war on terrorism. I like him.

KONDRACKE: And even voted with us at the U.N.

BARNES: Yes.

KONDRACKE: Item three, the GOP officially gains a majority of the Senate next week when Jim Talent is sworn in in Missouri.

BARNES: Mort, how come we didn't get any credit for having been among the small group that predicted Republicans were going to win the Senate based on Jim Talent winning in Missouri? He just -- we get no respect.

KONDRACKE: I -- sad, isn't it?

Item four, Vice President Dick Cheney is going to Louisiana next week to campaign for Republican candidate Suzy Terrell. She could use the help. Most polls show her trailing by double digits.

BARNES: You sure it's Terr-ELL? I thought it was TERR-ell.

KONDRACKE: TERR-ell.

BARNES: OK. Whatever it is. I think Cheney's going to lay down the line there saying, Louisiana, you want to be with President Bush? You vote for Suzy. You want to be with Tom Daschle and Nancy Pelosi and those Baghdad Democrats and so on? You vote for Mary Landrieu. Who knows? May work.

KONDRACKE: And last item, Republican governors meet next week for their annual conference in California.

BARNES: You know, three people who won't be there are Republican governors of Oklahoma, Arizona, and Oregon. They all lost because of Libertarian or Green Party candidates...or independent candidates, too bad. Steve Largent, I really wish had won in Oklahoma.... OK.

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