Today was not a hard deadline. If need be, we will voice our concerns with others back [in New York]. The encouraging thing is the two guys we're concerned with have made progress, and they are not reporting their arms are hurting.

[A separate report by the New York Times also released today claims Arafat's medical records indicated the late PLO leader died of a stroke. The report, which says it is the] first independent review of [Arafat's medical] records ... an omission experts found bizarre.

It was an exciting day today. We flew out [to New York]; we were treated like royalty, rubbed elbows with the best in the business. He's on pay-per-view. He's at Madison Square Garden. That's like being in the Super Bowl. That's like being in the national championship. Fighters who have fought for 10 years -- title-holders -- don't get a chance to fight at the Garden.

We want to recognize the officers and enlisted men from northern New York who volunteered to fight and to show what they sacrificed on the battlefield.

It will be good to be back in New York again for New Year's, and I'm elated that Ryan has agreed to join me in ushering in New Year's on America's favorite holiday special.

Large corporations in the Midwest will be thanking drivers in New York for purchasing gas. The [bill] is a boon to mega-companies in mid-America, like Archers Daniels Midland, that produce corn for ethanol,