Edwards Poverty Foundation Story Spreading
The Associated Press has now done their own take on allegations made by The New York Times, that John Edwards used his anti-poverty foundation work as a cover to stay in the political spotlight and travel to early primary states. Chuck Todd notes, "Neither one of them is a positive for Edwards and, frankly, the AP hit might be worse since it will likely to get picked up in a slew of smaller papers tomorrow. In fact the AP story hints at a potential FEC investigation."

Group Calls Upon Rudy To Fire Placa
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, an advocacy group for victims of abuse by Catholic clergy, are calling upon Rudy Giuliani's security consulting firm to fire Monsignor Alan Placa, a childhood friend of Giuliani who has been accused in a 2003 Suffolk County, Massachusetts, grand jury report of having sexually abused children. Placa was never prosecuted due to the statute of limitations. The company has no intention of firing Placa. "The former mayor believes that Alan Placa has been unjustly accused," said a Giuliani Partners spokeswoman.

Thompson To Announce ... Campaign Headquarters
Nashville NBC affiliate WSM-TV reported yesterday that Fred Thompson's campaign has picked a historic site in the city to be the campaign's national headquarters, with a grand unveiling set for this Tuesday. A source told the station that Thompson would announce his candidacy there, saying that "Everything's in place for Tuesday," but Tennessee GOP Chairman Bob Davis denied that there would be an explicit announcement of candidacy.

Obama Grassroots Operating Independently, Focusing On GOTV
The New York Times has a story on the grassroots support Barack Obama enjoys, and how it often operates independently of the campaign and beyond their control — potentially both a blessing and a curse. "It is our hope that anyone who supports Obama does so directly through his campaign," said campaign spokesman Bill Burton. One concern of both the movement and the campaign proper is that their work ultimately recruits not simply volunteers and small donors, as the 2004 Howard Dean campaign was notable for, but also is able to mobilize and turn out actual voters to win the primaries.

Richardson: I Will Ask Court Nominees About Abortion
Bill Richardson appears to be trying to compensate for his gaffe at the first Democratic debate, in which he said the late Supreme Court Justice Byron White — a Roe v. Wade dissenter — was his model justice. "I know I am going to upset some people, but this is what I would ask them," Richardson said at an Iowa event, when asked about his potential approach to court nominees. "I would say, 'Do you believe that Roe vs Wade is settled law?' If they say yes, they have a good chance of being picked. If they say no I will not pick them."

Elizabeth Edwards To Attend San Fran Gay Pride Event
Elizabeth Edwards will be appearing tomorrow in San Francisco at the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Democratic Club, in a breakfast being held in association with the annual gay pride parade. This marks the first time someone with such a high political profile will be attending the parade festivities — not even Senator Dianne Feinstein, who formerly served as mayor of the city, has gone there. (And on a side note, the local LGBT Democratic club is named in honor of Toklas, who in addition to being the life partner of Gertrude Stein, is also best remembered as giving her name to the recipe for marijuana brownies.)

Ohio Attorney General Curses Out Reporter At Obama Event
This might not be the kind of publicity Barack Obama wants: At a fundraiser for the candidate a few days ago in Ohio, state Attorney General Marc Dann cursed out Warren Tribune Chronicle reporter Steve Oravecz, over a story Oravecz wrote alleging that Dann helped get his adopted daughter a job in the Secretary of State's office. Dann was caught on camera yelling over to Oravecz, "Hey Steve, write this down: Go fuck yourself!"