McCain Losing Some Support To Thompson
The Washington Post has a story about how some of John McCain's supporters could defect to Fred Thompson, focusing on Washington lawyer John Dowd, who has been a McCain supporter ever since representing him during the Keating Five scandal. Mitt Romney has also lost some supporters to Thompson, but that has come mainly out of Thompson's home state of Tennessee.

Thompson Campaign: Over $350,000 In First 48 Hours
Ryan Sager reports that Fred Thompson's nascent campaign has announced that in the first 48 hours after launching their www.imwithfred.com Web site, the "testing the waters" committee has taken in $352,323.00 from 3,360 contributors.

Giuliani Applauds Failure Of Immigration Bill
Rudy Giuliani released a statement on the immigration bill's stalling. "This bill failed to guarantee a uniform, tamper-proof, biometric identification card, a single nation-wide database of foreigners in our country, and did not mandate the full implementation of a biometric check-in, check-out system," Rudy is quoted. "We can and must guarantee the American people that we know who is coming in and out of our country."

Salazar Holds Out Hope On Immigration
The Senate failed a key cloture vote on immigration legislation yesterday and although Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said he will let the bill come back to the floor, most have declared its fundamental compromise itself now compromised by a vote that put a sunset on the guest worker program. The parties have already started to heap the blame on each other. Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) holds out hope: "No, it's not dead. Defeat is not an option," Salazar said.

Obama Donates Money From Indicted Pizza King
Barack Obama has donated $16,500 from his campaign to charity — the amount originally donated to his federal campaigns by two business partners of Antoin "Tony" Rezko, owner of a pizza restaurant chain and longtime patron of Illinois Democrats, who is now indicted for influence peddling.

Giuliani Has Most Lobbyist Bundlers
The Politico reports that Rudy Giuliani has accepted bundled contributions from 20 Washington lobbyists, despite campaigning as a Washington outsider. That is more than John McCain, who has 12, and Hillary Clinton, with 6.

Biden Late to Debate He Organized
Joe Biden had been calling on other candidates to join him in an Iraq debate for the past few weeks, and he finally got his wish when Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich gathered with him at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. Biden, however, was stuck on Capital Hill duking it out over the immigration bill, and arrived an hour late to the 90 minute debate.

Romney Leads In Another New Hampshire Poll
A new poll from Franklin Pierce College has Mitt Romney leading the Republican pack in New Hampshire with 28%. Rudy Giuliani and John McCain are statistically tied for second, with 18% for Rudy and 17% for McCain.

Clinton Tries to Draw Yuppies, Ends Up With Boomers
Hillary Clinton threw a party in a Washington, D.C. parking lot dubbed "Club 44" aimed at young people. The event, advertised as an event where you should "wear your jeans," featured American Idol runner-up Katherine McPhee. The Republican National Committee was there too and quoted McPhee as saying, "That was kind of lame, I have to say."

Conservative Group Attacks Joe Scarborough
Concerned Women for America president Wendy Wright is lambasting MSNBC host Joe Scarborough for jokingly speculating on whether or not Fred Thompson's wife Jeri "works the pole." "Joe Scarborough’s banter reduces an accomplished and respectable woman to a 'bimbo' and reflects attempts to mainstream porn into everyday culture," said Wright. A spokesman for MSNBC said the outrage was "another example of a statement being taken out of context in the blogosphere." In an earlier segment on that show, Scarborough had discussed pole-dancing as a fitness routine, and talked about the subject with a female triathlete.

Alabama GOP State Senator Hits Fellow Lawmaker On Chamber Floor
In Alabama, Republican State Senator Charles Bishop punched Democratic Senator Lowell Barron during a heated argument about a matter of legislation. Bishop is unrepentant, claiming Barron called him a "son of a bitch." "I responded with my right hand," Barron said. "I hit him wherever I could get my right hand on him." And while Bishop apologized for the violence taking place on the Senate floor, he did not apologize for the punch itself: "If he calls me that again, it will happen again."