MEDIA LEAD SHEET/DECEMBER 22, 2008 ISSUE (on newsstands Monday, December 15, 2008). To book correspondents, contact Brenda Velez at 212-445-4078-Brenda.Velez@Newsweek.com- Katherine Barna at 212-445-4859-Katherine.Barna@Newsweek.com-or Grace Huh at 212-445-5831-Grace.Huh@Newsweek.com. Read the issue and Web exclusives at www.Newsweek.com.

COVER: "The Fed Who Blew The Whistle" (p. 40).  Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff writes about Thomas M. Tamm, a former lawyer with the Justice Department who leaked information about the Bush administration's warrantless-wiretapping program.  After growing up in a family of FBI officials, Tamm seems an unlikely candidate for an informant.  But in 2004 he used a Washington, D.C., pay phone to tip off The New York Times to the existence of a vast classified domestic intelligence-gathering operation. "The story of Tamm's phone call is an untold chapter in the history of the secret wars inside the Bush administration," Isikoff writes.  "That one call began a series of events that would engulf Washington-and upend Tamm's life."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/174601

EXCLUSIVE: "Now We Know What The Battle Was About" (p. 46).  Managing Editor Daniel Klaidman reveals the truth about the fabled 2004 Justice Department revolt against the White House.  He writes that the clash erupted over part of Bush's espionage program "that had nothing to do with the wiretapping of individual suspects. Rather, [a number of lawyers at Justice] threatened to resign because of the vast and indiscriminate collection of communications data."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/174602

BUSINESS: "Southern Comfort" (p. 24).  Senior Editor Daniel Gross explores the second auto industry that has emerged over the past two decades: nonunion, Southern-based, and foreign-owned.  He examines the "Little Eight," foreign manufacturers that have moved into Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Georgia and Texas, and transformed the economic geography of the nation's auto industry. "Today's Southern solons have watched their local economies blossom thanks to a younger, more-vibrant auto industry unencumbered by the Big Three's legacy costs and union work rules-a sort of anti-Detroit that has the flexibility and ability to turn profits by making the types of cars that Americans actually want to buy," writes Gross.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/174337

"The Big Bang of Bailouts" (p. 28). Jeffrey E. Garten, the Juan Trippe professor of international trade and finance at the Yale School of Management writes that the trillions of dollars spent so far are not slowing the rapid descent of the global economy. The answer is even more trillions. "We stand on the threshold of a calamity that goes well beyond the deepening of a global recession, one that could lead to major political instability and conflict," Garten writes. "The needed response is a big-bang global bailout that is even bigger than what we have seen so far, one that is large and sweeping enough to restore confidence."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/174336

JUDGMENT CALLS: "Lobbying Is Democracy in Action" (p. 29). Contributing Editor Robert J. Samuelson writes that Barack Obama has brought an onslaught of lobbyists, influence peddlers, media consultants and self- styled crusaders to Washington, D.C.   But the only way to eliminate lobbying would be to eliminate government.  Therefore, the more powerful government becomes, the more lobbying there will be.  "We are a collection of special interests, and one person's special interest is another's job or moral crusade. If people can't organize to influence government-to muzzle or shape its powers-then democracy is dead," Samuelson writes.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/174283

SCANDAL: "Being Rod Blagojevich" (p. 30). Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas, National Correspondent Suzanne Smalley and Senior White House Correspondent Richard Wolffe explore the politics of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.  Illinois has a tradition of "pay to play" politics-no campaign contribution, no government contracts or favors.  But then so do many states and, for that matter, Congress.  "What Blagojevich is accused of doing is flaunting his greed-on tape."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/174386

"My Weird Week On Blago's Bad Side" (p. 32). John McCormick, deputy editorial-page editor of the Chicago Tribune and former Newsweek Chicago bureau chief, writes about last week's surreal moments in which he learned that Gov. Blagojevich wanted him fired and allegedly threatened to withhold $100 million in state financing help from the Chicago Tribune's parent company unless the paper fired him.  "The Justice Department says that by Nov. 3 of this year, Blagojevich was concerned about possibly being impeached next spring-and about the Tribune 'driving' the discussion. In fact, we had urged legislators only to investigate that possibility. Not until last week, with Blagojevich refusing to resign despite the devastating federal disclosures, did we finally editorialize in favor of impeachment," he writes.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/174387

POLITICS: "Their Own Obama" (p. 34).  Assistant Editor Andrew Romano profiles Louisiana Gov.  Bobby Jindal who, after ten months in office, is being touted as the GOP's Barack Obama.  "There are plenty of rising stars in the GOP. But in the wake of Barack Obama's victory on Nov. 4, none has attracted as much speculation, curiosity and unapologetic hype as Jindal," he writes.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/174518

ESSAY: "What Obama Needs to Know" (p. 37).  Charles Peters, founding editor of the Washington Monthly and president of nonprofit Understanding Government, writes that for Barack Obama to succeed in Washington, D.C., he must reach outside it.  For a president to succeed in puncturing the Washington bubble, he has to make sure everyone, military and civilian, is clear about their assignments and that policy is implemented properly.  "But to do so, he must have a characteristic that is conspicuously missing from the current president: curiosity. His desire to learn must be very nearly insatiable, and it helps to have an instinct for the right question."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/174383

INTERVIEW: "Zardari: 'I Am a Victim Here'" (p. 39). Special Diplomatic Correspondent Lally Weymouth  interviews Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, who says that he will not allow any group, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani terrorist group that India blames for the Thanksgiving attacks in Mumbai, to use Pakistani soil "for any form of aggression toward any friend or foe." Zardari adds that he wants to improve relations with India. "I want to be a friend of India and a friend of the world and [a foe of terrorism] because I am a victim myself. There is always room for improvement on every side. There is room for the world to help me with the present situation in Pakistan, where poverty is a friend of the terrorists," he says.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/174277

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