The Second-Quarter Ends Today — Campaigns Pulling Out The Stops For Cash
The New York Times has a rundown of what the presidential candidates are doing this weekend to bring in the final infusions of cash for the second quarter. CNN also offers their take. The big question on the Dem side: Who will raise more, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama?

Romney Campaign: We Won't Raise As Much As We Did The First Quarter
Mitt Romney's campaign, seeking to keep down expectations, said they will not match the $20 million dollars they brought in for the first quarter. The campaign said they have been focused on more on-the-ground campaigning to boost the candidate's profile, taking time away from fundraising.

McCain Announces Trip To Iraq
John McCain told reporters yesterday that he will be headed back to Iraq this week, where he will attend a re-enlistment ceremony for troops who have decided to sign up for another tour. "I would rather spend the 4th of July with the men and women in Iraq than anywhere else in the world," McCain said. VIP trips to Iraq are normally kept secret until the visit actually occurs, but McCain decided to make it publicly known for this one, his sixth trip to the country.

Fred Thompson's Short Speech Bombs In New Hampshire
At a much-awaited fundraiser for New Hampshire Republicans last night, his first major appearance in the state, Fred Thompson let down the crowd with a speech lasting only nine minutes. "He's got a nice voice. But there was nothing there," said one activist who attended. "He's for apple pie and motherhood. He's going to have to say what he's for."

For Fourth Of July, Obama Campaign Buys 500 Minor League Baseball Tickets
Barack Obama's campaign has bought 500 tickets to the Fourth of July game of the Iowa Cubs, the farm team for the Chicago Cubs. The tickets cost $9 apiece. Obama will attend the game, and will throw out the first ball if he is able to arrive on time.

Philadelphia Mayor John Street To Endorse Hillary
John Street, the term-limited outgoing Mayor of Philadelphia, will endorse Hillary Clinton on Monday. On the one hand, this is the endorsement of a high-ranking black elected official, which could help Hillary against Barack Obama. But on the other hand, Street is not enjoying too much popularity after two terms, and the voters in the Democratic primary to succeed him nominated an anti-Street reform candidate. "Endorsements mean very little, especially an endorsement by Street, who is very unpopular," said Larry Sabato. "I'd say it's a mixed blessing at best."

Edwards Campaign Expanding In New Hampshire
John Edwards' campaign has announced plans to open eight new offices in the key state of New Hampshire, accompanied by the hiring of 11 new staffers. In addition to their current offices in Concord and Manchester, new locations will be opened in Berlin, Dover, Derry, Keene, Laconia, Lebanon, Nashua and Portsmouth.

Tancredo: Immigration Bill Is Dead, But The Issue Remains
Tom Tancredo told a Des Moines crowd that although the White House's immigration bill is dead, "This issue is not gone. The problem is not gone." Tancredo said he will still be promoting his position on the issue: "I have been screaming it from the rooftops - enforce the law."

Bill Shaheen: Jeanne Likely To Decide On Senate Race Before September
Bill Shaheen, husband of former Governor Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), told The Hill that his wife will likely make a decision before September on whether to run for Senate, out of respect to the current candidates. A draft effort from high-profile Democrats in the state has been trying to recruit the former governor into the race, and Bill Shaheen had previously predicted that his wife would make her decision in September. Two recent polls have shown Sununu to be extremely vulnerable, with a re-elect rate of 31% in one, and Jeanne Shaheen beating him in the other by an astounding 57%-29% margin.

ABC News Asks: What Was It Like For Romney's Dog?
Although it's about an incident that happened nearly 25 years ago, the Mitt Romney dog story just isn't going away. ABC News has now asked a range of experts in physics and veterinary care exactly what it may have been like for Mitt Romney's dog on top of the car for 12 hours, protected only by a windshield in front of its carrier but buffeted by turbulent winds at the sides. The bottom line: It wasn't fun.

Webb To Ratchet Up Role Against Iraq War

Jim Webb is hoping to play a leading role in the Dem Congress' efforts to stall the war after the July 4th Congressional recess. Webb told a blogger conference call this afternoon that he plans to introduce an amendment to the must-pass defense authorization bill that will increase "dwell time," the amount of time troops stay at home before redeployment, to at least the amount of time active-duty troops spend deployed.


In April, Defense Secretary Bob Gates announced that to support the surge, all active-duty Army soldiers in the Middle East will spend 15 months deployed and only 12 months before the next deployment, in defiance of the Army's desired ratio of twice as much dwell time as deployment time.


Webb's move will be controversial: if attached to the defense bill, the White House will likely portray it as a backdoor measure to reduce troop levels, since the increased dwell time will prevent recently-returned troops from relieving units rotating out of Iraq. While Webb said he hadn't worked out the exact size of the force that would become available in Iraq if his amendment passes, he signaled his readiness for the White House's response.


"If it does result in fewer troops, I would support that, anyway," Webb said in response to a question from TPM. "We've reached the point where we've burned these troops out. Our operational policies change from month to month, and it's time for us to stop." --Spencer Ackerman


McCain Acknowledges He's Down Going Into Second-Quarter Deadline

John McCain's campaign is admitting in a fundraising letter that they may fall short of their goal of reaching $10 million for the quarter, imploring supporters to give more so they can meet it. Meanwhile, McCain told the Des Moines Register that he needs to improve in the key caucus state. "I think I've got a lot of work to do in Iowa," McCain said.

USA Today: Richardson Hauls $7 Million

Bill Richardson has raised $7 million in the second quarter, slightly more than the $6.2 million he raised last quarter.

Huckabee Bests His First Quarter

Mike Huckabee's campaign has announced that they have topped their first quarter fundraising total, which weighed in at a mere $500,000. Beating the previous quarter's haul will give them enough money to compete in the Ames straw poll, the candidate said today.

Dems Plan New Iraq Vote

Democratic Congressional leaders are planning new efforts to pass bills that would begin withdrawal from Iraq. "We have many arrows in our quiver, and we are sharpening them," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said.

Bloomberg Had Previously Undisclosed Heart Surgery In 2000

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has been conspicuously tightening up his image as a potential presidential candidate while simultaneously denying that is one, has admitted to having heart surgery in 2000 before he ran for mayor. The surgery to insert two coronary arterial stents was not perviously disclosed.

Kucinich Picks Up Three New Co-Sponsors For Cheney Impeachment

Dennis Kucinich's drive to impeach Vice President Cheney has recruited three new co-sponsors: Democratic Congressmen Jim McDermott (WA), Hank Johnson (GA) and Keith Ellison (MN). On the other anti-Cheney front, only two Republican voted for Rahm Emanuel's failed amendment to strip funding from the VP's office: Walter Jones (NC) and Ron Paul (TX) — one a strong conservative who has broken with the Bush Administration on Iraq, the other the libertarian Republican candidate for president.

New Hampshire Makes Abortion Law History

Governor John Lynch (D-NH) today signed a repeal of the state's parental-notification abortion law, making his state the first ever to repeal a law requiring notification for a minor seeking an abortion. The repeal was widely expected after last year's elections, when Democrats took both houses of the state legislature with strong majorities.

Was Biden And Obama Exchange On AIDS Testing Homophobic?

Some discussion has popped up over an exchange between Joe Biden and Barack Obama last night, about AIDS testing. Alexander M. Belenky thinks Obama's retort to Biden — that he was tested for AIDS in Africa, accompanied by his wife — had a homophobic undertone. Meanwhile, Steve Benen has defended the remark. What do you think?

Don't miss this one. Just a few moments ago on CNN, Elizabeth Edwards explained Coulter to Wolf -- very, very slowly:

Look, Elizabeth Edwards' calm, steady and unrelenting attack on Ann Coulter is a great story, pure and simple. And clearly, the Edwards campaign knows this is a great story, which is why it's keeping up with this. The juxtaposition here of Elizabeth's placid presence with Ann's clowing is just great TV. And as I've noted before, it's part of one of the more interesting subplots in Campaign 2008: The Edwards campaign's decision to aggressively target the right very publicly in a way that the other campaigns aren't doing right now.

This is a strategy that's partly an outgrowth of the story that the campaign is trying to tell about the newly liberated, newly feisty, and genuinely progressive John Edwards, as he describes himself. It's also partly a strategy of necessity, a bid to stake out turf that he has the best shot at claiming. And yeah, Edwards is raising money off of it. Fine.

But whatever the intent or strategic goal, what's happening here is important and noteworthy. Elizabeth is making some key points, in a very high profile way, that many of us have been yelling about in the wilderness for some time now. And through poise and sheer force of will she's compelling people to pay attention. Hopefully it will awaken a slumbering TV exec or two. Good to see CNN picking up on it, and my bet is more big news orgs will be lavishing lots of attention on Elizabeth Edwards in the very near future.

Some discussion has popped up over an exchange between Joe Biden and Barack Obama last night, about AIDS testing. Alexander M. Belenky thinks Obama's retort to Biden — that he was tested for AIDS in Africa, accompanied by his wife — had a homophobic undertone. Meanwhile, Steve Benen has defended the remark. What do you think?

As we've reported here before, Fred Thompson continues to play coy about running for President, even though the man obviously is a candidate for President -- he's already got a campaign staff in place, is beginning to campaign, and has even all but said he's running.

Well, it turns out that Thompson's studied coyness may be more than just irksome and phony: It may also be a violation of election law.

The Hill reports:

Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) may be violating Federal Election Commission (FEC) laws by failing to report funds raised in the second quarter, which ends tomorrow — giving his probable presidential campaign a one-month fundraising advantage over his rivals in the third quarter.

Republican or Democratic rivals could file a complaint against Thompson if he enters the 2008 presidential race and it becomes apparent that he spent the month of June campaigning rather than wrestling with the decision to run.

And as we've seen, Thompson did spend some of June campaigning.

John Edwards' campaign is either playing the expectations game brilliantly — or Camp Edwards is in big, big trouble.

"Thanks to you, we're within striking distance of our $9 million fundraising goal with just under 48 hours to go," Edwards said in an email to supporters today.

Nine million dollars actually happens to be more than Howard Dean raised in the second quarter of 2003, when he took the lead in the Dem field. But in today's environment it's simply a paltry total, particularly when compared to Hillary's predicted $27 million and Obama's potentially higher fundraising tally.

Read more »

The Democrats are now using the accusation that Mitt Romney strapped the family dog on top of their car over 20 years ago against him. Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera said this in a statement about a rash of minor scandals in the past week involving people connected to his campaign:

“The only thing sicker than smooth talking Mitt Romney’s poor dog is his refusal to provide the American people the openness and accountability they expect from their next president. The Romney campaign may be disintegrating into a wacky cast of characters and bizarre stories, but the truly disturbing thing is how thoroughly it echoes the Bush Administration’s consistent pattern of putting itself above the law. If Romney thinks he can win by blindly defending scandal-plagued cronies, skirting ethics rules, and surrounding himself with shady donors and fundraisers, the American people have a clear message for his (sic): That dog won’t hunt."

As people in Washington have been saying for weeks now, the whole town is waiting with bated breath for September's Iraq-war progress report from General David Petraeus. Depending on what it says, that report will either serve as a short-term bulwark against Democratic calls for withdrawal or will make withdrawal a politically unstoppable force.

But it may be that an accompanying assessment of Iraq's political scene, to be delivered by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, will actually prove to be the more significant one -- in a way that could give a crucial political boost to the antiwar cause.

Here's why: Some recent comments Crocker made to a reporter that have gone almost entirely unnoticed suggest that he is on the verge of concluding in his report that the Iraqi political scene is flatlining and that there's really no hope for political reconciliation. And if he does say this come September, it would likely undercut Petraeus's expected plea for more time to prosecute the surge. It would also give antiwar critics much more ammo to pressure wavering Republicans in Congress into abandoning Bush and the war.

Read more »

As noted here before, one of the more interesting sub-plots of Campaign 2008 is the extent to which the candidates are all trying to outdo each other with new and snazzy online video innovations.

Now Bill and Hillary have just come up with their next entry in this contest. The Clintons, who are campaigning in Iowa next week, are planning to deliver personal reports, on video, directly to viewers from the road in Iowa:

"Introducing HillCam," the vid says. "Spend a few minutes every day next week with the Clintons as they travel across Iowa. Totally unvarnished. Completely unprecedented."

Sure, why not? The more video, the merrier. The Sopranos thing was a surprise hit, and seemed to accomplish the campaign's obvious goal of humanizing her and Bill in keeping with the campaign's "you don't know the real Hillary" theme. If this latest does indeed come across as "totally unvarnished," as promised, it could prove equally effective.

This really is one strange campaign, isn't it?

Oh, man -- serious, serious trouble ahead for Mitt Romney's campaign: The story of his alleged mistreatment of the family dog is going national in a big way.

The Associated Press is now running a story with what may be the most politically devastating headline imaginable:

Just in case you haven't been following this, the gist here is that in 1983, Romney -- according to The Boston Globe -- put the family dog in a dog carrier and attached it to his car's roof. Though Romney apparently built a windshield for the carrier, the story has gained momentum, and before long it was picked up by Time magazine, which accused him of a "cruel canine vacation."

Yesterday things got so bad that Romney was forced to address the scandal while speaking to reporters in Pittsburgh. His rather creative defense was that "my dog likes fresh air."

"He scrambled up there every time we went on trips," Romney also said. "He got it all by himself and enjoyed it."

Talk about a man-bites-dog tale.

Is there any doubt that this AP story will be in countless small papers across the country tomorrow? There's no way Romney recovers from this one. The man's toast.

Update: Editor's note: The prediction that Romney's finished over this wasn't meant to be taken literally.

A new poll from Mason-Dixon via McClatchy:

More than half of Americans say they wouldn't consider voting for Sen. Hillary Clinton for president if she becomes the Democratic nominee, according to a new national poll made available to McClatchy Newspapers and NBC News.

The poll by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research found that 52 percent of Americans wouldn't consider voting for Clinton, D-N.Y.

This of course doesn't bode well for her success in a general election contest. However, it's worth noting that since she has consistently had the highest name recognition of all the candidates, voters may be relying on old impressions of her and not the latest positioning coming out of her campaign.

With approval of Congress dropping sharply in polls, we've been waiting for a survey that tries to gauge public attitudes towards Congress in a bit of detail -- such as, where do people fall on the performance of each party, for instance.

Now we have some new numbers from a new CNN poll that takes a few baby steps in this direction. The verdict? The public is pretty sour on the Dem leadership's performance -- but is still happy to have Dems in control, views the party favorably, and plans to reelect Dems in 2008. And the Republicans? Well, they're still in the soup.

Key findings:

* 51% view the Democratic Party favorably; only 36% look favorably on the GOP.

* 57% think it's good for the Country that Dems run Congress.

* Only 42% approve of what Dem leaders have done thus far; 49% disapprove.

The poll also suggests that right now Dems still hold an advantage heading into the 2008 Congressional races. Fifty-three percent say they'd vote for a Dem candidate in their district if the elections were held today; 41% would cast their vote for the Republican.

Influential Iowa columnist David Yepsen of the Des Moines Register calls the debate for Hillary in glowing terms:

Clinton was crisp, cogent and methodical in her answers. She understood better than any of the other candidates the need for terse answers when so many candidates are given so little time in which to answer questions.

It’s more than just a debating skill. American presidents lead the nation through television appearances, and Clinton’s performance Thursday night suggests she can do that. She showed she has mastered the ability to put a lot of information into a few seconds on the tube.

In a key footnote, Yepsen claims her performance will help her in Iowa, where she's trailing John Edwards in polls: "In Iowa, where she’s not been doing as well as she is across the country, it should help her break away from Barack Obama and try to overtake John Edwards."

The Associated Press, reporting on the deaths of five more American soldiers in Iraq, adds this:

"The deaths brought to 99 the number of U.S. troops to die in Iraq this month, according to an Associated Press count. The toll for the past three months — 329 — made it the deadliest such period for GIs since the war began in March 2003."

In the face of such figures, it's getting harder and harder to imagine how war supporters will be able to continue asserting that the surge could still succeed — or even that it is already succeeding.

• In case you missed last night's Democratic debate on PBS, online video can be found here. A transcript is not yet available.

• A brief commentary: Once this debate switched, about midway through, to limiting answers to a paltry 30 seconds, it became next to impossible for any candidate to be able to say anything complex, interesting, or even just surprising. This situation was a consequence of multiple factors, from the large crowd of candidates to the relatively short 90-minute time slot for the debate, and the fact that the crowd was permitted to applaud, taking up more precious time. In addition, the hosts took up a large amount of time at the beginning of the debate with their own social commentaries. The candidates were not actually able to start talking until about 15 minutes in.

• MSNBC's First Read counted only eight questions and reports Bill Richardson spoke for the most time:

Richardson 8:15
Obama 7:42
Dodd 7:25
Clinton 7:20
Biden 6:58
Edwards 6:36
Kucinich 6:29
Gravel 6:08

• An exasperated Chris Dodd eventually got fed up with the short-answer, game-show like format, and delivered the best line of the night: "I was gonna say, Tavis, I'll take global warming for $600." Tavis Smiley replied, "And I was gonna say, were you Paris Hilton, you'd have an hour. But you're not."

• According to a focus group presided over by longtime GOP pollster Frank Luntz, Hillary Clinton came out the winner of the debate by a landslide. On the other hand, the verdict from this debate might not be worth much — the same focus group participants crowded around Barack Obama after the debate, with one yelling, "We'll see you in the White House."

• Chris Dodd, like most candidates, lashed out at the Supreme Court decision blocking the use of race as a criteria for assigning students to different schools. "To say today that you're going to exclude race as a means of allowing for the diversity in our communities is a major step backwards and as president of the United States, I would use whatever tool is available to me to see to it that we reverse this decision today."

• Hillary Clinton responded to a question about whether the "color line" exists in America affirmatively. “You can look at this stage and see an African American, a Latino, a woman contesting for the presidency of the United States,” she said. “But there is so much left to be done."

• Barack Obama garnered applause for his unfavorable comparison of the recent Supreme Court decision with the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision. "If it were not for them," he said of the liberal Warren Court that handed down Brown, "I would not be standing here."

• Joe Biden noted that some people said he was being too tough when he voted against the confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts. "The problem is the rest of us were not tough enough," Biden said. "They have turned the court upside down," he added, referring to both Roberts and Samuel Alito.

• John Edwards suggested policy specifics like having Medicaid cover drugs for AIDS, vowing to have an adivisor report to him daily on recontruction of New Orleans, and recommending Congress roll back the President Bush's tax cuts. "People who have done well ought to have more of a responsibility to pay back," he said.

• Barack Obama made a somewhat bold move within the culturally conservative black community: He specifically named the homophobia common among blacks as a contributing factor to the spread of HIV.

• Joe Biden said it would be great if more people set an example by getting tested for HIV, praising Obama for doing just that, which prompted Obama to interrupt. "Tavis, Tavis, Tavis, I just got to make clear — I got tested with Michelle when we were in Kenya in Africa," Obama said. "So I don't want any confusion here about what's going on." Biden added — over the crowd's macabre laughter — that he was tested because he's received blood transfusions.

• Hillary Clinton garnered some of the loudest applause from the largely black audience with the line: "Let me just put this in perspective: If HIV/AIDS were the leading cause of death of white women between the ages of 25 and 34, there would be an outraged outcry in this country,” she said.

• John Edwards declared: "This issue of poverty in America is the cause of my life. It's the reason I started a poverty center at the University of North Carolina. It's the reason I've been working so hard on this issue." The invocation of the poverty center, relating it to his passion on the issue, may be a rebuttal of recent allegations in The New York Times, that he started the center mainly to benefit his presidential aspirations.

• A careful viewer can see that Barack Obama said the Bush tax cuts need to be "lapsed" — as in, not renewed when they expire in 2011. Note that he did not explicitly call for them to be repealed sooner than that.

• Dennis Kucinich delivered a line that was sharply critical of the Bill Clinton years, a rarity in a Democratic debate: "A Democratic administration started NAFTA. A Democratic administration will end it."

• On the final question of Darfur, Bill Richardson defended his much-criticized proposal, offered at the last Democratic debate on CNN, to boycott the Olympics if China does not take action: "I believe fighting genocide is more important that sports."

• The debate ended with a whimper. "What? No mic?" Mike Gravel asked, as his audio wasn't working. "You can't hear me? You can hear me now?" Joe Biden patted him on the back for that one.

• Dennis Kucinich remarked, "If Darfur had oil, this administration would be occupying it already." Jim Geraghty over at National Review writes, "Sudan has oil, you doofus. That's why China deals with them."

The Democrats Meet Tonight On PBS

Just a reminder: Tune in to PBS tonight at 9 p.m. ET, for a Democratic debate focusing on minority issues.

Wheelchair Executive About To Run Against Dem Chris Carney — Despite Settling Explosive Lawsuit Alleging Defective Product

Dan Meuser, CEO of wheelchair manufacturer Pride Mobility USA, is poised to run for Congress as a Republican against freshman Democrat Chris Carney, who won a GOP-leaning district last year. One potential problem: Meuser's company has settled a contentious lawsuit over the death of an elderly man using their wheelchair, in which plaintiffs alleged that a defective battery caused a fire. From the Monterey County Herald, January 9, 2007: "Had the case gone to trial, according to court records and statements in court, jurors may have heard evidence that Pride Mobility was aware of at least 18 other fires in its wheelchairs and scooters with identical battery packs since 2002. Ten of those fires destroyed dwellings and five were fatal." (From Nexis)

Helen Thomas Speaks Out About Washington Press Corps

Salon's Glenn Greenwald today posted a compelling interview with veteran reporter Helen Thomas that really is a must-read. Relatedly, a number of liberal bloggers have been pushing Greenwald's new book, A Tragic Legacy: How a Good vs. Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency, helping drive it to the top of Amazon's nonfiction charts. As they've been pointing out, if book sales determine whether you get booked on cable chat shows, when is Chris Matthews going to invite Greenwald on his show? The book is for sale right here. --gs

GOP Candidates Skip Hispanic Conference

Democratic presidential candidates will head to Walt Disney World on Saturday for a forum with top Hispanic politicians from around the country. The Republican forum was canceled after only one candidate, Rep. Duncan Hunter, agreed to attend. "The Republican candidates have blown off Hispanics in Florida," said Juan Zapata, a state representative in from the key swing state, where Hispanics have typically voted for the GOP in larger numbers, against the trend in the country as a whole.

Conservative Critic Admits It: Ann Coulter Is One Of Our Movement's Leaders

A leading conservative media critic admits that Ann Coulter is one of the conservative movement's current leaders.

Brownback Voted For Immigration Bill Cloture Before He Voted Against It

During today's cloture vote on the immigration bill, Sam Brownback made an interesting turn for a GOP presidential candidate. First he voted "Aye" on the cloture motion ... and then came back 11 minutes later to switch his vote to "No." Brownback now says this was a completely intentional, symbolic gesture: "I wanted to signal that I am supportive of comprehensive immigration reform, but that now is not the time and this is not the bill."

Dinkins Endorses Hillary

Former New York City Mayor David Dinkins has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. On the one hand, he was the first and so far the only black mayor of New York City, so his support could be a boon to Hillary's efforts to reach out to black voters, who might be inclined to support Barack Obama. On the other hand, his single term was a tumultuous one, ending in defeat from none other than Rudy Giuliani, so his endorsement may not influence many votes outside of New York, where Hillary is already running strong.

Lieberman Asks For Patience On Surge

Senator Joe Lieberman, reasserting himself as the most pro-war Democrat-turned-Independent-Democrat, held a high-profile press conference today in which he asked Congress and the public to have patience with the troop surge now in full swing in Iraq. He asserted that the surge has the enemy "on the run" and that he trusts the information he gets from the military. "We've got to think not about the next election but the next generation," he said.

Popularity Of Hillary's Sopranos Spoof Didn't Reach GOP, Independents

A new survey shows that the wildly popular video Hillary Clinton made announcing her campaign song wasn't received as well by Republicans or independents, a contrast to an ad like Bill Richardson's latest touting his resume that scored high marks with everyone. “The immense partisan divide over the content of this ad reflects the difficulties Sen. Clinton may have with the general electorate," said Chris Wilson, chief executive of Wilson Research Strategies, which conducted the survey.

Romney Once Wanted To Scrap Ag Department, End Farm Subsidies

A video of Mitt Romney speaking at a 1994 debate that shows the Senate candidate calling for a reduction in farm subsidies has been showing up in inboxes of Iowa Republicans, according to the Sioux City Journal. Other videos show him calling for the "virtual elimination" of the Agriculture Department.

Well, this is nice -- a conservative is claiming that Ann Coulter is a "leader" of the contemporary conservative movement.

Brent Bozell, head of the winger media "watchdog" group Media Research Center, has emailed out a press release attacking the big news orgs for their coverage of Ann Coulter's now-infamous remark about John Edwards and terrorist assassination plots.

This nugget in the release jumped out at us:

“But Ann Coulter is owed an apology from those outlets, including NBC’s Nightly News, The Washington Post and CNN’s American Morning, which have mis-reported her comments. And conservatives, take note: Today it’s Coulter, tomorrow it may be you. The left has demonstrated that it will stop at nothing, including flat-out dishonesty, to undermine our leaders.”

Conservatives, behold Ann Coulter -- one of your "leaders." That's what a whole bunch of nutty lefties have been saying is the problem all along! Also note the description of NBC, WaPo and CNN as "the left." Wow, the left is really kicking ass right about now.

John Amato responds to Bozell here.

One other quick point. Today Ann Coulter responded to the whole fracas with a new column ridiculing MSNBC's Chris Matthews:

I doubled the ratings of the lowest-rated cable news show on Tuesday by agreeing to go on for a full hour to promote my new paperback version of "Godless" -- a mistake I won't make again.

Memo to MSNBC, NBC, et al: This woman just spat in your face. Might be time to stop giving her a platform now.

It's no fun being Ryan Crocker. You wake up in the morning and things explode around you in the Green Zone. You spend your day haggling with recalcitrant Iraqi politicians and fending off briefing requests from panicked officials at the White House. And even though you're only the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, charged with delivering your own progress report to Congress in September on the political aspects of the surge, the only one reporters dropping into Baghdad want to interview is Petraeus, Petraeus, Petraeus.

Maybe standing in the shadow of America's favorite general is getting to Crocker. When Time's Joe Klein visited Iraq recently, he found Crocker in something of a frustrated mood, thanks to the government of Nouri al-Maliki:

The Iraqi government is irresolute to the point of near collapse. It is nowhere near to figuring out how to make a political deal amongst the contending parties that might lead to stability. "All this attention on benchmarks has actually been bad for the process," Ambassador Crocker says. "We've wasted so much time and energy on getting a hydrocarbon law" — that is, a law to divide oil profits amongst the ethnic and religious parties, likely to be approved soon — "but it has very little to do with getting a functioning government in place." The truth is, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government is puttering along, happily dependent on the U.S. "There are no consequences for them when they screw up," Crocker says. "Whatever's wrong, we take care of it."

Read more »

It's not every day that Hillary's campaign attacks specific GOP candidates, but today, Camp Hillary has just uncorked a blast at Fred Thompson for his rather clumsy remarks about Cuban immigrants in South Carolina yesterday.

Thompson expressed his opposition to the immigration bill in Congress and, speaking of Cubans, added: "I don't imagine they're coming here to bring greetings from Castro. We're living in the era of the suitcase bomb."

Now Hillary's campaign manager, Patti Solis-Doyle, who is herself Latina, has just emailed out the following:

“For many decades, Cubans have been forced to leave the island, risking their lives to escape Fidel Castro’s brutal dictatorship in search of freedom and opportunity. It is simply wrong to equate people fleeing from communism with terrorists.“

There's been some talk in Hillaryland about a more public role for Solis-Doyle, but until now she's done mostly interviews in the Spanish media as part of the Hillary camp's outreach to Latino voters. Maybe that's changing.

This has to be a first. In its new poll, Fox News asked what may well be the ultimate in jingoistic, rally-around-the-flag questions — and the Democrats came out on top.

If there is an all-out war between the United States and various radical Muslim groups worldwide, who would you rather have in charge — Democrats or Republicans?

Democrats	41%
Republicans	38%
Both the same (not listed)	9%
Don't know (not listed)	12%

Granted, the result is within the poll's three-point margin of error, so we can't say with certainty that the Dems have a lead here. But really, this bespeaks truly terrible times for the GOP.

The question of which party the people would trust more to lead World War III against a global coalition of Islamofascists should have been a gimme for the Republicans. But they couldn't even manage to get a plurality. Pathetic.

Another key number in the new Fox News poll we noted below: Bush's approval rating sank to 31%.

That's the lowest ever in Fox polling. Yes, in Fox polling. His previous low was 33%.

Bush can take solace from one thing, however: He's doing way better than Paris Hilton. She checks in with a favorability rating of seven percent.

A new Fox News poll released today appears to show a sizeable expansion in Hillary's national lead over Barack Obama. It finds:

Clinton 42% Obama 19% Gore 14% Edwards 10%

That's a 23-point lead for Hillary -- up 10 points from Fox's poll in early June, which found Hillary with a 13 point edge over Obama, 36%-23%.

Of course, let's not forget all the usual caveats: National numbers aren't terribly significant; the first votes won't be cast for many, many months; and this is one of roughly a gazillion polls.

Indeed, that last caveat always keeps us returning to this nifty chart over at Pollster.com, which summarizes all the Presidential race polls from recent months.

Update: A Hillary supporter writes in to say that yesterday's Quinnipiac poll showed her with sizeable leads in key states, too.

Incoming!

National Dem strategists in charge of winning House seats in 2008 are unleashing a five-day radio ad buy over July 4 hammering select Republican lawmakers for having a crappy record on veterans issues.

The DCCC just announced that the radio ads -- which will be accompanied by a blitz of web videos, telephone calls and emails to voters -- will run all next week, coinciding with the period that lawmakers are in their home districts on recess. No word on the size of the buy.

You can listen to the radio ad right here.

The onslaught will target 14 select Republicans -- a list of them is after the jump.

Read more »

Mitt Romney becomes the first GOP candidate to weigh in on the immigration bill's crash-and-burn. And he does so with a little fib. Okay, it's not quite a fib. Let's call it a "fiblet":

"The immigration bill failed because the politicians in Washington are out of touch with the American people. The voice of the people is loud and clear –- secure the border, enforce the law and no special deal for permanent residency or citizenship for illegals. America will always welcome legal immigration, but as a nation we also insist on the rule of law."

Maybe the "politicians in Washington are out of touch with the American people," as Romney says, but that isn't indicated in any way, shape or form by the failure of the immigration bill. Indeed, multiple polls showed that only small minorities supported the thing. If anything, the Senate did what the American people wanted on this one.

Another day, another fiblet.

Boy, it looks like the pressure from Elizabeth Edwards is really getting to Ann Coulter. Seems to be really rattling her badly. Give this a watch, from MSNBC this morning:

Woah.

Incidentally, the Coulter column she plugged here as "one of the greatest columns ever written" is the one where she suggested that John Edwards was politically exploiting his own son's death and using it like a "bumper sticker."

Update: John Aravosis really takes Coulter apart. Key quote:

She walks around calling people "fags," mocking their dead children, wishing that they were murdered, then when people respond by saying "uh, you're kind of mean," Ann flips out over the level of venom that's directed against her.

His full takedown here.

Hillary reveals what are expected to be her second quarter fundraising totals:

We expect to bring in about what we did in the First Quarter, or slightly more, which should put us in the range of $27 million. To put that figure in some perspective, it is more than any Democrat has ever raised in the second quarter of the "off" year. While that figure is record setting, we do expect Senator Obama to significantly outraise us this quarter.

The prediction about Obama may have something to do with the fact that the Obama campaign announced this morning that it has received donations from almost 250,000 people. More soon.

A lot of people have been writing of late about the meaninglessness of Michael Bloomberg's empty denunciations of partisanship and the predictable embrace of them by Beltway elites. But Jon Chait really nails it:

"Any successful elected executive knows that real results are more important than partisan battles and that good ideas should take precedence over rigid adherence to any particular political ideology." So declared New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg upon renouncing his membership in the GOP last week. The problem, of course, is that people don't agree on what "real results" or "good ideas" are. Cutting taxes? Raising taxes? Funding stem-cell research? Banning stem-cell research? This is exactly why we have partisan battles in the first place.

You would think that anybody who failed to grasp this would be urged to study a high school civics textbook. Instead, Bloomberg is being urged to run for president and lauded for his statesmanship.

Bloomberg has thus become the most prominent example of what you could call partisanship scolds. These are people who believe that disagreement is the central problem in U.S. politics, that both parties are to blame in equal measure, and that rejecting party ties or ideology is synonymous with the demonstration of virtue. While partisanship scolds believe that they stand in bold contrast to Washington, they are probably more heavily represented among the Beltway elite than any other demographic.

This puts me in mind of one of the more irksome formulations of this sort, one frequently bandied about by Joe Lieberman: The notion that we should put the good of "country before party." Well, duh. Thing is, people who are partisans tend to think that the success of their party is the best way to ensure the success of the country. That's what makes them partisans in the first place.

There's a very simple reason that the partisanship scolds don't understand this: They're generally not interested in the actual policies being advocated by the folks they revere as nonpartisan heroes. Let's take David Broder as an example, since he's probably the ultimate partisanship scold. It's very clear from his paeans to various nonpartisan demigods such as Joe Lieberman that what Lieberman is actually advocatinghe isn't particularly interested in what Lieberman is actually advocating.

He's primarily interested in the theatrics of independence. In this sense, it's actually the partisanship scolds who are putting the empty idea of nonpartisanship before country.

Hillary is first out of the box with a statement on the SCOTUS decision this morning that rejected school diversity plans that take account of students' race. The decision could imperil efforts to create racial diversity in hundreds of school districts across the country. Hillary:

"Today, the Court turned its back on the promise of Brown vs. Board of Education that students of different racial backgrounds deserve an opportunity to attend school together...

"Once again, the Roberts Court has shown its willingness to erode core constitutional guarantees. It is a set back for all of us who are on the long march toward racial equality and the building of a stronger more unified America."

Her full statement after the jump.

Read more »

Okay, we have gotten so many queries about this that we feel compelled to clear things up.

We are not -- repeat, not -- the Greg Sargent from New Hampshire who has just been named to Hillary's national Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered steering committee. We are not a Hillary supporter. We are not gay. We are not bisexual. Needless to say, we are not a lesbian. Oh, and we are not transgendered, either. (Not that there's anything wrong...oh, never mind.)

Hope that clarifies things. Thank you for listening.

Update: And with this post, this blog is ditching the royal "we" forever.

Wow. Two new polls show that first-term Senator John Sununu of New Hampshire is extremely vulnerable to a challenge in 2008 — particularly one from former governor Jeanne Shaneen, whom he narrowly defeated back in 2002.

The first poll, from the American Research Group, shows Shaheen beating Sununu by an astonishing 57%-29% margin.

Meanwhile, the new poll from Suffolk University finds that Sununu's numbers are in truly awful shape. Only 31% of respondents said he deserves re-election, versus 47% who said they would be for someone else.

Read more »

Dem Debate Tonight — Focusing On Minority Issues
Tavis Smiley, host of tonight's Democratic debate, said he will focus the candidates on issues important to black Americans. The panel of questioners will be made entirely of minority journalists but, Smiley insisted, the event is not "tailor-made" for Barack Obama, the only black candidate. "Barack Obama could absolutely tank," Smiley told The Washington Post, adding that although he considers Obama a friend he has also given advice to Hillary Clinton. "I've tried to encourage her to be more open, and I've asked her, 'Do you have a soul?'" The 90-minute debate starts at 9 p.m. ET on PBS.

Expert: Hillary Pollster Should Answer For Testing Negative Messages About Obama, Edwards
Pollster.com's Mark Blumenthal offers an interesting analysis of our story saying that Hillary pollster Mark Penn has been testing negative messages about Barack Obama and John Edwards, including polling on Edwards' $400 haircut. On the one hand the calls do not constitute push-polling, Blumenthal says, but the Clinton campaign should still take some responsibility for them. "Don't put anything in a message testing questionnaire that you are not willing to publicly defend," Blumenthal writes. "If the Clinton campaign is willing to test the negative messages alleged above, they ought to be willing to take ownership of those messages and the tactics they imply. If not, then we are all left to draw our own conclusions."

Poll: Hispanics Increasingly Democratic, Favor Hillary
Three quarters of Hispanics say they are Democrats, according to a new poll, despite the fact that 40 percent voted for Bush in 2004. The poll also finds that Hispanic Democrats favor Hillary Clinton in large numbers, 59 percent. Immigration reform is a possible reason and campaigns are increasingly looking to Hispanics for votes.

Poll: Republicans Favor Universal Healthcare, Gays In Military
Although they increasingly identify themselves as conservative, about half of Republicans say they support universal healthcare and allowing gays in the military, according to a new poll that challenges the conventional wisdom of GOP value voters. Forty percent say they are opposed to those policies.

Edwards Reaches Out To Gay Vote In Los Angeles
The Advocate reports that John Edwards toured the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center — the only presidential candidate thus far to accept the center's invitation. His tour included a visit to the Jeffrey Goodman Special Care Clinic, and a visit to a transitional living program for homeless youth. The center's CEO, Lorri L. Jean, implored the candidate on the issue of gay marriage: "I am yearning for the day when a viable presidential candidate — a candidate like you — will have courage to lead and to clearly and unequivocally say that my people are also entitled to participate in the promise of America, including the freedom [to] marry. I ask you to seriously consider being that person."

South Carolina GOP Chair: I Will "Definitely" Move Up Primary Date
In the continuing arms race over primary dates, South Carolina GOP chairman Katon Dawson is saying he will "definitely" move up his party's primary from its current January 29 date to some time earlier. Sources believe he could pick January 15. If this keeps up, then New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner would almost certainly move his state's primary to an even earlier date, and there might be similar changes to the Iowa caucus.

New York Dems Look To DC As They Vie For State Senate Majority
New York Democrats are looking to Washington as they try to retake the state Senate, pitching their state as a possible national model for innovative policy ideas. State Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith was in D.C. this week to meet with national party leaders on Capitol Hill to raise money and offer his own help in sending more Democrats from New York to Congress. The key incentive for Washington Dems: If their New York co-partisans take full control of the legislature, then they can control the redistricting process and make the current 23-6 House delegation even more lopsided in the party's favor.

This is really something. From the Associated Press early this morning comes this:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has improved on his stunning support in the race for campaign cash, raising his total number of donors to nearly 250,000 people in the first six months of the year.

The freshman Illinois senator impressed rivals in the first quarter when he reported 104,000 donors, but he surpassed the mark in the second quarter with 138,000 more opening their wallets, the campaign told The Associated Press.

The campaign won't say yet how much the donors have given, but the large number suggests their fundraising will be competitive with the $25.7 million he raised in the first quarter. A campaign official speaking on the condition of anonymity tried to tamp down expectations by disclosing that the average donation in the second quarter is likely to be less than the roughly $247 in the first quarter.

With the campaigns dueling to set expectations in advance of reporting their second quarter fundraising totals, the Obama campaign has been working hard to focus public attention on the number of donors he has rather than the amount he raises. While campaigns obviously want to have as much cash stockpiled as possible, the former metric is in many ways a more meaningful measure of support than the latter, because it isn't skewed by the efforts of the big fundraisers for one candidate or another.

Just yesterday, for instance, the Obama camp sent out an email to supporters containing this:

Raising money is essential, especially right now, but what will make our campaign a success is the way we do it. Our funding comes from a grassroots movement of individuals giving what they can afford. And the numbers we care about reflect two things: people and passion.

Here's what really matters:

* The number of people donating to the movement
* The total number of donations people make to show their commitment

It's as simple as that. It’s the people that count.

Meanwhile, Hillary's advisers tell the Associated Press that she will match the $26 million she raised in the last quarter.

Obama Camp: Warren Buffett Likes Us Too

One day after he held a $1 million fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, Warren Buffett, the world's third-richest man and a renowned investor, is now being touted as a possible supporter by Barack Obama's campaign. A spokesman says Buffett gave the maximum $4,600 to Obama in April — after the close of the first quarter and therefore not previously released publicly — and may soon be hosting a fundraiser for the campaign as well.

Richardson Calls For Unconditional Talks With Iran

Bill Richardson said today he favors "broad, bilateral, unconditional negotiations with Iran — with all subjects open for discussion."

Poll: Gore Leading In New Hampshire

Ben Smith flags a new Suffolk University poll finding that a whopping 32% of the state's Democrats would back Al Gore, making him the leader in the Democratic primary there. Hillary Clinton would be particularly damaged by his hypothetical entry, losing a quarter of her support. Without Gore, Clinton leads with 37% of likely Democratic voters, leading Barack Obama at 19%, and John Edwards and Bill Richardson, both at 9%.

Novak: GOP Targeting Landrieu, Aided By Hurricane Katrina

Robert Novak reports in his latest column that Republicans are getting ready to target Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) in 2008, but just need to do some more work to recruit a candidate. "Of course part of the thinking, voiced publicly by no one," Novak says cautiously, "is that the state's black population in New Orleans largely disappeared with Hurricane Katrina, significantly diminishing the base vote for Landrieu." A top prospect is state Treasurer John N. Kennedy, a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 2004, and who has reportedly been courted to switch parties for the race by Karl Rove himself.

DCCC Supported Candidate Facing Possible Primary Challenger In North Carolina

Larry Kissel, who lost in North Carolina's 8th district by 329 votes last year and is support