Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, a Hillary Clinton supporter, thinks that Barack Obama's disavowal of his former pastor Jeremiah Wright this afternoon was mostly about politics.  read more »

Another dire prediction from one of Rudy Giuliani's old adversaries in New York...

Here's what Representative Gregory Meeks had to say to me about last week's indictment of Bernard Kerik and its impact on Giuliani's presidential bid.

"The Kerik stuff just shows some of the decision making process that this guy had as mayor and how haphazard he was and how haphazard he ran the city," he said. "The true character of Giuliani will soon come out - you can't hide who you truly are."

Meeks said Giuliani "has been a bully all of his life. The Kerik situation is just another little peep into who the man really is."

(Giuliani spokeswoman Maria Comella responded in an email: "Umm..Gregory Meeks? Really?")

It's worth noting that Hillary Clinton isn’t the only one trying to get squared away with Eliot Spitzer’s new license policy.

The governor’s (original) plan would have allowed illegal immigrants to obtain a driver's license, but now it's being linked to federal guidelines that will be outlined in the Real ID Act. Although Spitzer backed Real ID this week, a number of Democratic congress members from New York opposed it during a 2005 vote (which may explain why it hasn't been easy getting most of them to say anything about Spitzer's new plan).

One congressional aide was kind enough to refer me to the results of the 2005 vote on the Real ID Act.

Democrats Gary Ackerman (Queens/Nassau), Tim Bishop (Suffolk), Joe Crowley (Queens/Bronx), Eliot Engel (Bronx/Westchester), Carolyn Maloney (Manhattan/Queens), Greg Meeks (Queens), Jerry Nadler (Manhattan/Brooklyn), Charlie Rangel (Manhattan), Jose Serrano (Bronx), Ed Towns (Brooklyn), Nydia Velazquez (Manhattan/Brooklyn/Queens) and Anthony Weiner (Queens/Brooklyn) all voted against it.

UPDATE: Another congressional staffer, putting this story in context, noted that every Democratic congress member in the state voted against Real ID, except for Mike McNulty, who voted for it, and Maurice Hinchey who was absent.

A reader sent over this invitation to Gregory Meeks' October 5 fund-raiser. (Maybe this was an early draft?)

New York City Congressman Gregory Meeks has been calling Hillary Clinton "Madame President" for some time now, but he is "very proud" of her closest competitor, Barack Obama, seeing him as a great choice for president — in 2016.

In a long-ish interview, Meeks also implied that he could see himself playing a role in the next administration, assuming, that is, that he first fulfills his quest of “helping Hillary Rodham Clinton become the next president of the United States of America."

Meeks, who alludes on his web site to his being part of a "generational shift" in black leadership, predicted that Clinton win among African-American voters.

"I think that as race moves on, you'll see that Barack will get his fair share but Hillary will get more than his share," Meeks said. "Cause that's one of the things that folks always forget about the black vote - it's never, and has never been, monolithic. The black vote has been something that always has voted their interest, you know."

Meeks also spoke on congestion pricing (he supports it), the future of the Democratic Leadership Council’s brand of Democratic centrism (he says the party should still be embracing it), the trips he has been taking on Clinton’s behalf. A (much) longer transcript is after the jump.  read more »

Here are the top frequent flyers in New York's current and former Congressional delegation since 2000:

... and the rundown of some of the rest:

... including a few stay-at-home types:

Among the priciest excursions were Maloney's $12,665 trip to Doha, Qatar, and Meeks' $17,194 trip to Mumbai, India.