This looks like a story I should look into...

CBS's 60 Minutes is saying that they have a GOP operative from AL that has told them that none other than e presidential chief of staff Karl Rove asked her personally to take dirty pictures of sitting Democratic governor Don Siegelman. The operative, Jill Simpson said that even though she was assigned to get the photos she found no evidence of infidelity on the part of the governor in spite of months of observation.

Apparently when that didn't work Rove just found a prosecutor who would play ball. Siegleman was convicted of bribery in a case that is at the very least highly controversial. According to the CBS report

Siegelman was convicted of bribery in a case that has drawn criticism from Democrats and Republicans. In fact, 52 former states’ attorneys general from both political parties petitioned Congress to investigate Siegelman’s case, resulting in hearings held last fall.

"I haven’t seen a case with this many red flags on it that pointed towards a real injustice being done," Grant Woods, the former Republican attorney general of Arizona and one of those who petitioned Congress, tells Pelley. "I personally believe that what happened here is that they targeted Don Siegelman because they could not beat him fair and square."

That sounds like our turdblossom all right....

Oh shit not again!

Nader to discuss election plans - Yahoo! News

Nothing would give me gas faster than this guy doing it again. Get out of the way Ralph! You do nothing but stroke your ego and ruin the rest of the race!

FEC Warns McCain on Campaign Spending - washingtonpost.com

The WAPO has this story today about the possible trouble that John McCain may be getting into with the FEC. It seems that he has asked to be released from the presidential public financing system. The chairman of the FEC, David M. Mason, a Republican though says, in effect, "hold on!"

"Mason's letter raises two issues as the basis for his position. One is that the six-member commission lacks a quorum, with four vacancies because of a Senate deadlock over President Bush's nominees for the seats. Mason said the FEC would need to vote on McCain's request to leave the system, which is not possible without a quorum. Until that can happen, the candidate will have to remain within the system, he said.

The second issue is more complicated. It involves a $1 million loan McCain obtained from a Bethesda bank in January. The bank was worried about his ability to repay the loan if he exited the federal financing program and started to lose in the primary race. McCain promised the bank that, if that happened, he would reapply for matching money and offer those as collateral for the loan. While McCain's aides have argued that the campaign was careful to make sure that they technically complied with the rules, Mason indicated that the question needs further FEC review."

Funny that a guy like McCain, who was and still is the champion of campaign finance reform would stoop to trying to game the system so blatantly.

Poll Dancing: Hillary Hijinx (hijacks?)

Evan Smith at Poll Dancing says that HC is preparing to press very hard on the seating of the delegates from FL and MI. I am sure I am not alone in thinking that this is a bad idea that will backfire in a major way on Mrs Clinton.

Here are the relevant bits from his interview:

There’s been a lot of talk about what your campaign would do should it get to the convention. Would you commit today to honoring the agreement made earlier not to seat the Michigan and Florida delegations?

Let’s talk about the agreement. The only agreement I entered into was not to campaign in Michigan and Florida. It had nothing to do with not seating the delegates. I think that’s an important distinction.

...

So your intention is to press this issue?

Yes, it is. Yes, it is. It’s in large measure because both the voters and elected officials in Michigan and Florida feel so strongly about this. Senator Bill Nelson, of Florida, early on in the process actually sued because he thinks it’s absurd on its face that 1.7 million Democrats who eventually voted would basically be disregarded, and I agree with him about that.

So, to paraphrase what is going on here, Mrs Clinton signed an agreement before any of the primaries had even begun that said that she would not campaign in either FL or MI and she was aware that the DNC had forbidden these states from seating their delegates LONG BEFORE THE EVENT. She is now saying that the DNC should change the rules and seat those delegates even though in MI hers was the only name on the ballot! Gee! That seems fair...


Nobody likes a sore loser.

That Line

TPM's Josh Marshall and reader CG found This little nugget in the history of the Clinton campaign.... The Bill CLinton campaign!

"Clinton, 92: "The hits that I took in this election are nothing compared to the hits the people of this state and this country have been taking for a long time."

Hillary Clinton, tonight: "You know, the hits I’ve taken in life are nothing compared to what goes on every single day in the lives of people across our country."

Plagiarism indeed... Next topic please!

half. a. million. donors.

Holy shit. This is in the last six weeks....

Now THATS how it's done!

Kudos galore for the 1,000 Prairie View students and the 1000 more of their friends and family who decided to march the 7.6 miles to the only polling place in their Texas county. Taking democracy back from backwards local governments is a proud tradition. Keep it up!


Via Crooks and Liars