Fred Thompson In 1991: Abortion Lobbyist
The Los Angeles Times revealed last night that Fred Thompson accepted a lobbying job from Planned Parenthood in 1991. The assignment was to lobby the George H. W. Bush Administration to rescind or at least relax the "gag rule" preventing clinics receiving federal money from counseling women regarding abortion. Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo is denying Thompson ever did the work, but Planned Parenthood minutes from 1991, and the personal allegations of two people involved at the time, attest to it.

Hillary Leads In Congressional Endorsements
A review by The Hill finds that Hillary Clinton has a wide lead over the competition in terms of endorsements from current members of Congress. Hillary has an astounding 51 endorsements, while her closest Democratic competition, Barack Obama, has a mere 22 Congressional supporters. On the Republican side, John McCain and Mitt Romney are tied at 27 endorsements each.

For Now, Fred Thompson's Committee Doesn't Have To Report Donors
While the other candidates are reporting their donations and facing the good or bad news, Fred Thompson has found a temporary loophole. ABC News notes that Fred Thompson's "testing the waters" committee does not have to report its donors until such time as he officially becomes a candidate. As such, he is able to raise donations up to the $2,300 limit for the primaries, but does not have to report his totals, as he has not said outright that he is a candidate. If and when he does finally call himself a candidate, all the donations will be made public, including those raised in the "testing the waters" phase.

White House Attacking Dems On Spending — Dems Say It's Bogus
The Wall St. Journal reports that the White House is attacking Congressional Democrats on the grounds that they are "are looking for opportunities for increasing taxes, looking for opportunities to increase spending," as deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said yesterday. The language is sure to help shore up the White House's support among the conservative base. However, Dem aides say the attacks are empty, and that their spending proposals are not showing significant growth over the budgets from past years. "I have no idea what all this carping about spending is all about," said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Harry Reid.

In Maine, GOP Congressional Candidate Reports For Duty In Iraq
Naval Reservist Charlie Summers, the first Republican candidate thus far to declare for the Democratic-leaning 1st Congressional District of Maine, reported yesterday for a tour of duty in Iraq\. His wife will campaign on his behalf until he gets back. "She will articulate my ideas for me. If all goes well, I will be back the first week of August 2008," Summers said. However, the primary is in June 2008 — meaning he will likely be unable to do any actual campaigning for the race, and his wife will effectively become the face of the campaign on the ground in the district. The seat has opened up due to the Senate candidacy of Congressman Tom Allen (D).

Spitzer Allegedly Calls Bruno "Senile Piece Of Shit"
The New York Post reports that in the midst of a heated argument, Governor Eliot Spitzer (D-NY) called state Senate Majority leader Joe Bruno (R-NY) "an old, senile piece of shit." And just to add some more leverage, Spitzer made sure to remind Bruno of the current ongoing federal investigation against him, according to a Bruno aide.

Disapproval Of Libby's Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free Card Still Strong
Almost two out of three Americans disapprove of President Bush's decision to commute the sentence of Scooter Libby, according to a new American Research Group poll. The results are consistent with a SurveyUSA poll taken the night of the announcement. Meanwhile, an astonishing 84% of respondents are opposed to granting Libby a full pardon.

To Iowans, She's Hillary Clinton (D-Midwest)
A new Hillary Clinton flyer making its way around Iowa promotes the New York Senator and former First Lady of Arkansas (not to mention the United States) as a Midwesterner at heart. Hillary was born and raised in a suburb of Chicago. The flyer proclaims that her "strong Midwestern roots, lifetime of advocacy and leadership make her the most qualified person to lead our nation."

Giuliani Calls For Hope and Prayers For Thomas Ravenel
"All you can do is hope and pray that his rehabilitation works out," Rudy Giuliani said, regarding the indictment Thomas Ravenel, the state treasurer and his former South Carolina campaign chairman, on charges of using and distributing cocaine. Giuliani, normally a very stern law-and-order type, took a compassionate tone on the subject of the Ravenels: "This is a wonderful family that's contributed a great deal to South Carolina. I think everyone knows that in families, no matter how big they are, tragedies happen, bad things happen. The most important thing is can they rally around and turn something bad into something good."

Former McCain Supporter Cites Immigration As Reason For Joining Romney
A New Hampshire state representative said he left John McCain's campaign because of the candidate's position on immigration, and now believes Mitt Romney is a superior candidate. "It was known for a quite a long time that while I believe McCain is an American hero, I was very upset over his position on immigration," D. J. Bettencourt said. "I have a lot of respect for Senator McCain and I wish his campaign well. I just thought Mitt was a better candidate."

Brownback Rolls Out Christian Right Support In Iowa
Sam Brownback has announced the support of former Iowa state legislator Chuck Hurley, a prominent Christian Right activist. Hurley is the head of the social conservative Iowa Family Policy Center, though the organization is itself officially neutral. Brownback has been busy courting the social right in Iowa, making appeals to those activists who disagree with Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, but also strongly distrust Mitt Romney.

AP Poll Shows Distrust In Government For Border Security, Disease Outbreak
More than 3/4 of Americans think the government doesn't do enough to screen people who cross the borders into the United States, and three out of five are not confident in its ability to handle a major disease outbreak, according to a new AP/Ipsos poll.

Judith Returns!
Rudy Giuliani's wife Judith was back on the campaign trail with her husband today after a prolonged absence following her rocky introduction to the political spotlight and mounting controversy over the candidate's relationship with his estranged children and the origins of his current marriage — Rudy started dating Judith when he still married to Donna Hanover, resulting in a messy public divorce. Campaigning with his wife in Georgia, Giuliani fielded a question from a supporter who said she moved from New York after discovering her husband was adulterous. He then kissed the woman's hand, twice.

Giuliani Forgot U.S. Slowly Withdrew From Vietnam
Think Progress finds a comment exceptionally telling of Rudy Giuliani's knowledge of recent American history. "Have you ever heard of an army being required to give a printed schedule of its release to the enemy?" Giuliani said in a speech to the Jewish Community Relations Council. TP finds eight examples of specific statements by President Nixon, stating how many troops he was removing from Vietnam and when he would be removing them.

ABC News reports that Ron Paul's presidential campaign has more cash on hand than one-time frontrunner John McCain -- $2.4 million to McCain's $2 million. The candidacy of the anti-war, long-shot libertarian Congressman from Texas has been seen as something of a third-tier fringe distraction. But if Paul has more money in the bank than McCain, what does that mean for the Arizona Senator?

Paul's overall fundraising has not been made public yet, so we don't know how much he raised in total, or how much he spent. But it's obvious that Paul improved significantly over his haul of $638,389 in the first quarter.

McCain raised $11 million this quarter, but his campaign has spent nearly all the $23.5 million he's raised so far for the race, and fundraising has been disappointing overall.

Late Update: CNN reports that Paul's quarterly take was $2.4 million, the same amount he has on hand — meaning he burned through his first-quarter take, while raising about four times as much.

Does the conventional wisdom that impeachment would be politically radioactive still hold true in the post-Libby commutation political world? A new poll from American Research Group shows a startling result: The people are evenly divided on impeachment proceedings against the president, and a majority favor the House beginning impeachment proceedings against Vice President Cheney.

Do you favor or oppose the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush?

	Favor	Oppose	Undecided
All Adults	45%	46%	9%
Voters	46%	44%	10%

Do you favor or oppose the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney?

	Favor	Oppose	Undecided
All Adults	54%	40%	6%
Voters	50%	44%	6%

Among independents, 50% favor starting impeachment proceedings against President Bush, to only 30% opposed. And 51% of independents are also for starting impeachment proceedings against Dick Cheney, to 29% opposed.

In a new guest column in the Wall St. Journal, Senator Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) lays out his view that the Iraq War has in fact become a proxy war with Iran:

While some will no doubt claim that Iran is only attacking U.S. soldiers in Iraq because they are deployed there--and that the solution, therefore, is to withdraw them--Iran's parallel proxy attacks against moderate Palestinians, Afghans and Lebanese directly rebut such claims.

Iran is acting aggressively and consistently to undermine moderate regimes in the Middle East, establish itself as the dominant regional power and reshape the region in its own ideological image. The involvement of Hezbollah in Iraq, just revealed by Gen. Bergner, illustrates precisely how interconnected are the different threats and challenges we face in the region. The fanatical government of Iran is the common denominator that links them together.

While Lieberman adds that he hopes diplomacy can solve the situation, he adds that diplomacy can only work if there is a truly credible threat and intention of using force against Iran if American goals are not met. And, Lieberman adds, hopefully a new approach to Iran can stop all this talk at home about withdrawing from Iraq:

I hope the new revelations about Iran's behavior will also temper the enthusiasm of some of those in Congress who are advocating the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Iran's purpose in sponsoring attacks on American soldiers, after all, is clear: It hopes to push the U.S. out of Iraq and Afghanistan, so that its proxies can then dominate these states. Tehran knows that an American retreat under fire would send an unmistakable message throughout the region that Iran is on the rise and America is on the run. That would be a disaster for the region and the U.S.

Christopher Dodd just released this statement on merit pay for teachers, a policy Barack Obama endorsed yesterday:

"The service of all our public school teachers is meritorious and deserves our support. I fear that instituting a merit pay system may encourage teaching to the test and discourage teachers from working in schools with large numbers of disadvantaged students. As the principle [sic] author of the No Child Left Behind Reform Act, I believe that we should instead focus our reform efforts on measuring school performance based on individual student's growth, targeting resources to where they are most needed, and adding a greater degree of common sense to the teacher certification process."

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska), often a critic of the Bush administration, called the decision to commute Scooter Libby's sentence yesterday "unfortunate."

Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Oregon), who recently came out strongly against the Iraq War, was less assured:

It is a very serious thing to not tell the truth to a federal officer and why he would have gotten in that situation I don't know, because he was not guilty of the charge of the case. But the constitution gives the president the lawful right to commute or pardon, he's exercised that, every president before has done that. I would have preferred to see this run the full legal course but I know Scooter Libby and he's a very smart and as far as I know a decent guy and I just don't know what happened here. It's just sad...I feel bad for everyone, even the Plames who were affected by this case."

McCain Slashes Iowa Staff Down To Seven
The Des Moines Register reports that drastic budget cuts in the McCain campaign have now resulted in the loss of at least ten staffers in Iowa, who were either laid off or refused to stay on at lower pay. The McCain camp is now down to a mere seven current staffers in the crucial caucus state. But on the other hand, three consultants have agreed to stay on without pay at all. Nevertheless, McCain's campaign has now certainly cut itself down to the bone in the state that could determine the presidential nominations. "It would truly be one of the greatest comebacks in history if he can win Iowa and the nomination at this point," said Larry Sabato, a political analyst with the University of Virginia.

McCain Camp Casualties Include Internet Campaign Chief
Last week John McCain's presidential campaign announced a second round of layoffs in the wake of a middling quarter for fundraising and the fact they only had $2 million cash left on hand. Internet chief Christian Ferry is among those leaving while economic advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin will work without pay.

New York Times Looks At Candidate Health Care Plans
The New York Times has put together a long piece examining the presidential candidates approaches to expanding health care coverage. Republicans by and large propose using tax incentives to encourage people to buy private plans while most Democrats support expanding employment-based solutions and in some cases a much larger role for government.

Though He Endorsed Libby Commutation, Rudy Hedging On Full Pardon
At a campaign stop in Florida yesterday, Rudy Giuliani hesitated on the question of whether Scooter Libby should get a full pardon."I don't know the case in enough depth to tell you whether that's the right thing to do or not," the candidate said, adding that he would like to see how the appeals process works out.

Thompson Under Fire For LifeLock Radio Ads
As part of his radio duties, Fred Thompson has been doing one-minute ads for LifeLock, a company offering services against identity theft. But as the New York Daily News reports, LifeLock founder Robert Maynard settled with the Federal Trade Commission in 1996 ... allegedly securing credit card numbers under false pretenses. "He's lobbying for the powerful special interests ... serving as the pitchman for a company whose owner is accused of fraud," said Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Stacie Paxton. Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo defended the candidate: "The company seems to be fine. It's currently giving away its services to soldiers and vets."

Bloomberg Supporting New York GOP
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will continue to support local Republicans in his state despite throwing off his party affiliation when he declared himself an independent. Bloomberg, the billionaire who is believed to be considering an independent presidential bid, is the largest individual donor to the state Senate Republicans, who hold the majority, with some $575,000 in contributions since October alone.

Doolittle Breaks With White House On Iraq
Calling the Iraq War a "quagmire," conservative Congressman John Doolittle (R-CA) broke with the White House's Iraq policies at a town hall meeting in his district. "We've got to get off the front lines as soon as possible," Doolittle said. "We just can't continue to tolerate these kinds of losses."

Joy To The World
Today is President Bush's birthday. He turns 61.

This is pretty egregious. As many of you already know, The Washington Post's John Solomon weighed in today with an astonishingly long article on...the Los Angeles stylist who gave John Edwards that infamous $400 haircut.

Most sane readers would look at this piece and wonder: Why now, more than two months after the "news" of his haircut broke?

The Solomon piece attempts to answer this question by portraying the interview he got with the stylist as news.

But here's the thing thing: It turns out that Solomon and his editors blatantly misled The Post's readers in order to portray this interview as something entirely new -- and hence, in order to justify running the piece in the first place.

Read more »

Obama To Teachers' Union: I Support Merit Pay
Speaking today before the National Education Association, Barack Obama grabbed directly onto a third rail of education policy with the teachers' unions by endorsing scales of merit pay for teachers, based upon the results they can produce. At the same time, Obama endorsed across-the-board pay raises for teachers as a good thing in and of itself, paired with the increased accountability and incentives for student improvement. "I think there should be ways for us to work with the NEA, with teachers' unions, to figure out a way to measure success," the candidate said to the 9,000-strong crowd in Philadelphia. "I want to work with teachers. I'm not going to do it to you, I'm going to do it with you."

Edwards, Biden and Kucinich Court Steelworkers
John Edwards, Joe Biden and Dennis Kucinich spoke today in Cleveland, before a gathering of 600 activists in the United Steelworkers of America union. The three candidates all gave their takes on how they would work to reverse the loss of manufacturing jobs in America. Edwards touted the union's Blue Green Alliance with the Sierra Club, seeking to promote new jobs in alternative energy, while Biden called for new investments in the country's infrastructure. Kucinich spoke of his family's brief homelessness when he was a child, and the hope that the manufacturing sector brought to them, and called for a comprehensive national industrial policy to protect domestic industry.

Giuliani Will Spend Burgeoning Pocketbook In More States
Rudy Giuliani's top campaign manager said today on a conference call that they will begin devoting more resources to states that do not have the earliest primaries, such as California. Giuliani campaign manager Michael DuHaime also said Giuliani, who is moderate on social issues, would be able to compete against a Democrat in some traditionally blue states. "We're very confident right now that we are in a very, very strong place," DuHaime said.

ABC Looks At New Mexico Marijuana Program Signed By Richardson
ABC News takes look at the New Mexico medical marijuana bill signed by Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson earlier this year, putting the state in conflict with federal law. A key distinction of the New Mexico program: The state itself will be organizing the private cultivation and distribution of the herb.

GOPer Who Debates The Definition Of Rape To Challenge Johnson In South Dakota
Republicans have recruited their first candidate, South Dakota state Rep. Joel Dykstra, to run against Sen. Tim Johnson, who has been absent from the Senate for 7 months while recovering from a brain hemorrhage. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has already begun attacking Dykstra, digging up a quote from last year regarding exceptions to an abortion ban: "I think 'rape and incest' is a buzzword. It's a bit of a throwaway line and not everybody who says that really understands what that means. How are you going to define that?"

Poll: Three-Way Tie In Edwards' Home State Of North Carolina
A new poll from Democratic North Carolina firm Public Policy Polling shows the Demo race in John Edwards' home state turning into a three-way tie. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are both at 27%, while Edwards is at a statistically indistinguishable 26%. On the Republican side, Fred Thompson easily leads the pack with 34%, followed by Rudy Giuliani's 15%.

In New Hampshire, Keough Looking At Run For Governor
Former New Hampshire state Senator Bruce Keough (R) is considering a run against popular Democratic Governor John Lynch in 2008. "He seems to be spending most of his time responding to initiatives driven by outside groups," Keough said about Lynch, "whether it's the national labor movement, the gay rights movement or the abortion rights movement." Keough previously ran for governor in 2002, placing second in a three-way primary, and is currently the state chairman for Mitt Romney's campaign.

AP: Conservatives Link Romney To Marriott Hotels' Porn Sales
The Associated Press has picked up the story of conservatives upset about the apparent lack of leadership by Mitt Romney, who has spoken out against pornography, for not doing more to stop distribution of hardcore movies by Marriott Hotels while on its board. "Marriott is a major pornographer," said Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, an anti-pornography group based on Ohio. "And even though he may have fought it, everyone on that board is a hypocrite for presenting themselves as family values when their hotels offer 70 different types of hardcore pornography."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) released this statement today, regarding Senator Pete Domenici's (R-NM) endorsement of making the Iraq Study Group's recommendations into the official U.S. policy:

"Senator Domenici is correct to assess that the Administration's war strategy is misguided. But we will not see a much-needed change of course in Iraq until Republicans like Senators Domenici, Lugar and Voinovich are willing to stand up to President Bush and his stubborn clinging to a failed policy – and more importantly, back up their words with action. Beginning with the Defense Authorization bill next week, Republicans will have the opportunity to not just say the right things on Iraq, but vote the right way too so that we can bring the responsible end to this war that the American people demand and deserve.

"As evidence mounts that the 'surge' is failing to make Iraq more secure, we cannot wait until the Administration's September report before we change course. President Bush and the Iraqis must move now to finally accept a measure of accountability for this war, implement the Iraq Study Group recommendations, transition the mission for our combat troops and start bringing them home from an intractable civil war."

We here at Election Central have been pretty critical of major news organizations for focusing on petty and irrelevant candidate stories (haircuts, say) over important issues (healthcare, say).

Now it seems the AP is at it again, this time with Mitt Romney and the always attention-grabbing subject of pornography. The Christian Broadcasting Network, founded by Pat Robertson, began passing on allegations by right-wing Christian groups the other day that Romney has profited off hotel porn as a member of Marriott's board of directors. Three days later the story has made its way to the AP, which essentially parrots the CBN piece. Are major news orgs pretending that this issue is worthy of mainstream attention in order to needlessly push sex into their presidential coverage?

The AP has news that John Edwards has hired two new top managers:

John Edwards is reshuffling the ranks of his top staff, adding two prominent Democratic operatives as senior advisers and shifting some responsibilities from campaign manager David Bonior.

Paul Blank and Chris Kofinis, leaders of the labor-backed anti-Wal-Mart effort "Wake Up Wal-Mart," were expected to join the Edwards campaign as early as next week. Blank would take over day-to-day campaign operations, while Kofinis would serve as communications director.

Blank worked with Edwards' senior advisor Joe Trippi on Howard Dean's 2004 bid. Bonoir will keep his title but travel more extensively. The extra help seems designed to lighten his workload and add more experienced hands.

Put down the name of Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) as the latest Republican to break with the Bush Administration's policies on Iraq, after a long history of backing their positions in Congress. In a speech earlier today in Albuquerque, Domenici announced his support for legislation currently championed by Senators Ken Salazar (D-CO) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) to make the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group into the official U.S. policy — in other words, Domenici now supports a gradual pulldown of the American presence in Iraq, and a renewed effort at reaching out to other regional players in the Middle East like Iran and Syria.

"I have carefully studied the Iraq situation, and believe we cannot continue asking our troops to sacrifice indefinitely while the Iraqi government is not making measurable progress to move its country forward," Domenici said. "I do not support an immediate withdrawal from Iraq or a reduction in funding for our troops. But I do support a new strategy that will move our troops out of combat operations and on the path to coming home."

The bill calls for redeploying a large portion of American forces out of Iraq by the first quarter of 2008, except for those numbers deemed necessary for protecting U.S. infrastructure, training Iraqi forces, and conducting special operations. So while a significant number of Americans would no doubt remain, they would not be charged with everyday constabulary duties and other aspects of nation-building.

With no apparent sense of irony, John Solomon threw this sentence into his Washington Post profile of Los Angeles stylist Joseph Torrenueva and the fallout from the infamous haircuts he gave to John Edwards:

It is some kind of commentary on the state of American politics that as Edwards has campaigned for president, vice president and now president again, his hair seems to have attracted as much attention as, say, his position on health care.

Read more »

A press release sent out by the office of Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) says that he will hold a news conference in Albuquerque at 1 p.m. ET, where he "will announce a change in policy on the war in Iraq." Domenici has consistently voted the Bush Administration position in the Senate. Will this press conference mark the loss of Domenici, on top of other previously loyal Republicans like Richard Lugar (R-IN) and George Voinovich (R-OH), who announced their support last month for movement towards a withdrawal?

Al Gore on MSNBC today weighed in on the Libby commutation:

When asked about his reaction President Bush’s decision to spare Vice I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby 30 months in prison, Gore said he thought it was “very disappointing.” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, was convicted of lying to FBI agents investigating the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity to the media.

“I thought it was improper,” Gore said of Bush’s clemency order sparing Libby prison time. “He was charged with knowledge that could incriminate his bosses in the White House, which included the vice president and the president.”

Gore also differentiated between the Libby pardon and President Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich:

Gore said the fact that Libby may or may not have acted on behalf of others in the White House makes the order “different” than President Bill Clinton’s pardons of politically connected criminals during his final days in office.

Hillary Clinton will pick up a key endorsement today from former presidential candidate and House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, The Raw Story and Associated Press report. Gephardt, who won the Iowa caucus in 1988 but finished fourth in 2004, could bolster Hillary's support in the key caucus state. Gephardt's strong ties to many organized labor groups may also be helpful to the Clinton campaign.

Fred Thompson: Nixon's Mole On The Watergate Committee
The Boston Globe dug up Fred Thompson's long-forgotten 1975 memoir, in which the presidential hopeful made a startling admission: As an investigator for the Senate Watergate Committee, he leaked information directly to the White House. One glaring example was that Thompson tipped off the White House that the committee had found out about the secret White House taping system, giving the Nixon Administration time to prepare for the public revealing of it. "Thompson was a mole for the White House," said Scott Armstrong, who served as a Democratic investigator on the committee. "Fred was working hammer and tong to defeat the investigation of finding out what happened to authorize Watergate and find out what the role of the president was."

Bush In Independence Day Speech Defends Surge, Blasts Withdrawal
President Bush said yesterday that the troop surge in Iraq is "essential to the security" of the United States and blasted the idea of withdrawal just as Democratic congressional leaders are preparing new legislation with timetables limiting the American presence in Iraq. "If we were to quit Iraq before the job is done, the terrorists we are fighting would not declare victory and lay down their arms - they would follow us here, home," Bush said. "However difficult the fight is in Iraq, we must win it - we must succeed for our own sake; for the security of our citizens, we must support our troops, we must support the Iraqi government, and we must defeat al Qaeda in Iraq."

Rove's Mircotargeter Working For Romney
The Washington Post today has a profile of Alex Gage, the man who sold Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman on the merits of using corporate strategies of micro-targeting to tailor messages to voters during elections. He now works for Mitt Romney.

Man With Knife Arrested Outside Obama's Hotel
A 24-year-old man with an eight-inch knife, an illegal weapon, was arrested outside Barack Obama's Iowa hotel after he was spotted loitering by Obama's security crew. Due to of an inordinate number of death threats the Illinois senator is the only presidential candidate being protected by the Secret Service, besides Hillary Clinton who has a detail assigned to her because she is a former First Lady.

Rasmussen: Hillary Ties Fred Thompson, Just Edges Out Romney
A new Rasmussen poll finds Hillary Clinton leading Mitt Romney by a small margin of 46%-42%. Hillary also ties Fred Thompson at 45% each.

Rasmussen: Bush's Unfavorability Statistically Tied With Nixon's Among Presidents
A new Rasmussen poll finds that 59% of Americans view George W. Bush unfavorably. He is edged out by a statistically insignificant margin by none other than the disgraced Richard Nixon, who is viewed unfavorably by 60% of Americans.

Quinnipiac Poll: Bloomberg Would Draw From Giuliani In New Jersey
A new Quinnipiac poll of New Jersey finds that Mike Bloomberg would have a potential spoiler effect against the Republicans in New Jersey. While Rudy Giuliani beats all Dems in the state in head-to-head match-ups, Bloomberg turns in to a tied race between Rudy and Hillary Clinton at 36% each, with 18% for Bloomberg.

Tancredo Still Finds Plenty Of Vitriol To Fuel Campaign
Tom Tancredo, the maverick Colordado representative who has based his presidential bid largely around a nativist platform, has found there is still plenty of anger over undocumented immigrants to propel his single-issue campaign despite the death of comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate. "We need to stop the inflow of illegals, and we need to deal with the ones that are already in the country," said one man who drove 250 miles to hear Tancredo speak last weekend in Iowa.

Edwards' $400 Stylist Speaks Out
The Washington Post has a new article out about Joseph Torrenueva, the Beverly Hills hair stylist who gave John Edwards the infamous $400 haircuts. Torrenueva says that while he does still like Edwards, he was let down by the campaign's dismissive attitude against him when the cost of the cuts — he normally charges $175, but the price went up due to him having to fly all the way over — became public. "I'm disappointed and I do feel bad. If I know someone, I'm not going to say I don't know them," Torrenueva said. "When he called me 'that guy,' that hit my ears. It hurt."

Accepting Matching Funds Would Seriously Hinder McCain
The Hill has a write-up on the conditions that would be attached to federal matching funds, should John McCain's campaign be forced to tap into them. The McCain camp currently has only about $2 million in cash on hand. If they were to accept matching funds, however, they would be subjected to spending limits for the individual primary and caucus states — including a potentially prohibitive $1.5 million in Iowa, and $818,000 in New Hampshire. And if he were to win the Republican nomination, McCain would not be able to spend more than $50 million up until he formally accepted the nomination in September of 2008.

Bill Clinton Blasts White House On Libby, Defends Himself On Marc Rich
Appearing David Yepsen's radio show in Iowa, Bill Clinton defended himself from any accusation of a double standard between the Marc Rich pardon and the Scooter Libby commutation, contrasting his following of established pardon procedures with President Bush's unilateral action on the Libby case. "Yeah, but I think the facts were different," Bill said, when Yepsen inquired about the Rich controversy. "I think there are guidelines for what happens when somebody is convicted. You've got to understand, this is consistent with their philosophy; they believe that they should be able to do what they want to do, and that the law is a minor obstacle."

Hillary: Our Iowa Campaign Is Improving
In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Hillary Clinton acknowledged that her campaign had fallen behind early in Iowa. "We did not jump out and move maybe as fast as some others did," Hillary told the paper. However, the campaign has retooled its operation, and hired experienced organizers of the state such as Teresa Vilmain. "We've been building our organization, and I think we are doing it the right way," she added.

Huckabee Calls For Greater Focus On Preventative Care, Healthy Living
Mike Huckabee told an Iowa crowd that the country needs to focus more on preventative health care, and encouraging people to take better care of themselves. "We do not have a health-care crisis, we have a health crisis in America today," the candidate said. Huckabee blamed the expensive treatment of preventable diseases for the increases in healthcare costs, and touted his own record in promoting healthier lifestyles as governor of Arkansas.

GOPer Coleman And Dem Ciresi Both Stocking Up Cash To Use Against Franken
Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) was raised more than $1.5 million in the second quarter, bringing his cash on hand to $4 million. Meanwhile, Democratic attorney Mike Ciresi raised $735,000, with cash on hand of $625,000, to be used to mobilize supporters and win over delegates to the Democratic-Farmer-Labor convention — both he and Franken have pledged to abide by the convention's endorsement, should either one meet the 60% threshold there. Franken's second-quarter numbers have yet to be released. Ciresi has not opted to self-finance his campaign, though he certainly could, according to the Star-Tribune's write-up of his financial holdings.

The Horror, The Horror
The New York Times has a humorous story about the Barack Obama campaign filming an event in Iowa, to use in an ad. While the Senator was talking, a bug flew into his mouth, and Obama had to stop talking as he accidentally swallowed it. "Don't worry, I'm going to survive this," Obama said, tongue in cheek. "I hadn't had lunch yet – protein."

Top Three Dems Outpace Top Three Republicans In Fundraising

With the preliminary fundraising numbers now made public, it should be noted that the top three Republicans brought in about $42 million: Rudy Giuliani raised $17 million, Mitt Romney $14 million (plus over $6 million loaned from his own pockets), and John McCain brought in $11 million. The Democrats outpaced it by a huge margin: Barack Obama raised $32.5 million, Hillary Clinton $27 million, and John Edwards $9 million — for a total of $68.5 million. Another way to look at it: Barack Obama alone raised more money for the quarter than Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, the top two Republicans, combined.

Neuhaus: Christians Should Hold Romney's Mormonism Against Him

Courtesy of Andrew Sullivan, right-wing Catholic intellectual Father Richard John Neuhaus has a new opinion piece out, arguing that Christians should take Mitt Romney's religion into account. "The questions are: Would a Mormon as president of the United States give greater credibility and prestige to Mormonism? The answer is almost certainly yes. Would it therefore help advance the missionary goals of what many view as a false religion? The answer is almost certainly yes," Neuhaus writes. "Is it legitimate for those Americans to take these questions into account in voting for a presidential nominee or candidate? The answer is certainly yes."

GOP Candidates Skip National Education Association Conference — Except Huckabee

Just as they jilted last week's gathering of Latino elected officials, most GOP candidates will skip the annual gathering of the National Education Association. The exception is Mike Huckabee who will attend both, as did the Democratic candidates. Huckabee has long decried budget cuts for school art and music programs.

Bill Clinton: If I'm Yesterday's News, "Yesterday's News Was Pretty Good"

Bill Clinton was back on the campaign trail today stumping for his wife. "I know some people sort of say, 'well, you know, look at them – they're old,'" Mr. Clinton said, drawing out the word "old." "'They're sort of yesterday's news.' Well, yesterday's news was pretty good, that's the first thing I want to say."

Tancredo Campaign Hits Back At Brownback

Tom Tancredo's campaign has responded to accusations from the Sam Brownback campaign, over donations Tancredo has received from a Planned Parenthood activist in Michigan. "Those who contribute to the Tancredo campaign are supportive of Congressman Tancredo and his principles and values; in no way does this suggest he endorses theirs," said Tancredo spokeswoman Bay Buchanan. "As for the congressman's pro-life record, it is unassailable. What is far more interesting to the people of Iowa is Senator Brownback's complete embrace of massive amnesty for illegal aliens."

Dodd Campaign Launches 4 TV Channels (Online)

Chris Dodd's campaign embraced Web video with renewed gusto today, by launching four channels of DTV online. Our personal favorite is Channel Two, a web-cam set up in different campaign offices around the country.

Tommy "The Candidate, Not The Actor" Thompson Raises $470,000 In Q2

Tommy Thompson, the former Wisconsin governor and long-shot candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has raised $470,000 for his campaign last quarter. That's up from the $330,000 he raised in the first quarter. "We are certainly pleased at the strong growth in our fundraising," Thompson said. "To date, we're able to run a campaign equal to that of the better funded candidates despite the differences in funding."

Kucinich To Keynote Convention Of Political Cartoonists

Dennis Kucinich will have a prominent speaking post before journalists this Saturday: He'll be keynoting the convention of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.

DNC Releases Libby-Focused Web Ad

The Democratic Party has released a new Web ad highlighting Bush's past statements on ethics and the Libby case.

When the White House announced President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence, the right was quick to respond with a comparison to President Clinton's pardons at the end of his term. It's remained a consistent talking point and was used today by Mitt Romney. Today Hillary Clinton responded:

"I believe that presidential pardon authority is available to any president, and almost all presidents have exercised it," Clinton said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "This (the Libby decision) was clearly an effort to protect the White House. ... There isn't any doubt now, what we know is that Libby was carrying out the implicit or explicit wishes of the vice president, or maybe the president as well, in the further effort to stifle dissent."

Rudy Giuliani's campaign has just released a statement reporting they have raised $17 million in the second quarter. The Giuliani camp says they have $18 million cash on hand but no word about whether the money is for the primary or general campaigns or how many new donors the campaign picked up.

This is 21 percent more than Mitt Romney's total of $14 million, reported earlier today, a major shift in the money primary which Romney was leading in the first quarter. Romney had already predicted as much.

Rudy Giuliani threw his support decisively behind commuting Libby's sentence yesterday, saying "After evaluating the facts, the President came to a reasonable decision and I believe the decision was correct."

But Giuliani, a former US Attorney, made his views extremely clear on both the seriousness of perjury among public servants and the sentencing guidelines back when he was prosecutor. In a case involving a judge convicted of perjury, he gave a detailed objection to what he perceived as an inadequate sentence. Needless to say it does not stack up with his current position on Lewis Libby. From The New York Times of September 11, 1987:

GIULIANI ASSAILS TERM FOR JUDGE AS VERY LENIENT

The United States Attorney in Manhattan, Rudolph W. Giuliani, declared yesterday that the one-year prison sentence that a Queens judge received for perjury was "somewhat shocking."

"A sentence of one year seemed to me to be very lenient," Mr. Giuliani said, when asked to comment on the sentence imposed Wednesday on Justice Francis X. Smith, the former Queens administrative judge.

More after the jump.

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The second quarter fundraising totals for Mitt Romney just hit the wire: He raised $14 million from from 48,000 new donors this quarter and also made a loan to his campaign of $6.5 million -- meaning a total of $20.5 million. This just edges past his total from last quarter, when he raised $20.3 million including a $2.35 million loan. Without Romney's loans, the latest figures are a drop of 23 percent.

The first quarter totals put Romney at the head of the money primary. He raised 33 percent more than Giuliani, who had the next highest. Giuliani's second quarter numbers have yet to be released.

Update: Giuliani brought in $17 million, 21 percent more than Romney.

Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who earlier announced his support for President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence, had a notably different attitude towards the justice system when he was governor of Massachusetts. From the AP:

In his presidential bid, Romney often proudly points out that he was the first governor in modern Massachusetts history to deny every request for a pardon or commutation during his four years in office. He says he refused pardons because he didn't want to overturn a jury.

During the four years Romney was in office, 100 requests for commutations and 172 requests for pardons were filed in the state. All were denied.

The article includes the story of Anthony Circosta, an Iraq War veteran who asked to be pardoned for an assault conviction involving no injuries and a BB gun at age 13 in order to join the police. Gov. Romney rejected his request.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released this statement regarding the Libby commutation:

"When it comes to the law, there should not be two sets of rules — one for President Bush and Vice President Cheney and another for the rest of America ."

"Even Paris Hilton had to go to jail. No one in this Administration should be above the law."

Guantanamo isn't the only issue on which Defense Secretary Bob Gates is seeking a middle path. Gates made headlines during a trip to Hawaii a month ago when he called a decades-long U.S. troop presence in Iraq "a great idea." Now, reports the Wall Street Journal, Gates figures the path to Congressional assent for an enduring, South Korea-style stay in Iraq is to come up with near-term troop reductions. It's basically a trade-off: cut the surge short in order to stay in Iraq indefinitely.

Gates's fear is that President Bush intends to extend the surge until the end of his term. But the longer the surge lasts, the greater the likelihood that political support for the entire Iraq war will collapse, as evidenced by last week's high-profile defections of GOP Senators Dick Lugar and George Voinovich. Coupled with rising sentiment that the Democrats aren't doing enough to end the war -- the basis for next week's crush of antiwar amendments to the defense bill -- and Gates sees the war drawing to a too-rapid conclusion, leaving behind a terrorism-exporting failed state. His answer? Cut off the surge, probably by next spring, and convince Congress to accept a reduced-but-enduring mission in Iraq.

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According to The International Herald Tribune, Mitt Romney joined the chorus of GOP presidential candidates weighing in on the Libby commutation while campaigning in Iowa:

The prosecutor in the case "went after somebody even when he knew no crime had been committed," Romney said. "Given that fact, isn't it reasonable for a commutation of a portion of the sentence to be made?"

Like many Libby defenders, Mitt Romney invoked earlier pardons by President Clinton to justify the move, asking "Wasn't it Bill Clinton who was handing out pardons like lollipops?"

Joe Biden just issued a second statement on Scooter Libby, saying Bush has "flip-flopped" by commuting Libby's sentence after filing an amicus curiae brief supporting a similar perjury sentence for Victor Rita earlier. As Josh mentioned on the main site last night, Rita is a 25-year military veteran and civilian federal employee whose 33-month sentence for perjury was upheld by an appeals court. Here's Biden:

Today, Tony Snow said that President Bush decided to commute Scooter Libby's 30 month prison sentence for perjury and obstruction of justice because it was 'excessive.'

Yet, last year, the Bush administration filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court in an attempt to uphold a lower court's ruling that a 33 month prison sentence for Victor Rita, who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice, was 'reasonable.'

The questions we should all be asking ourselves today are: Why is the President flip-flopping? Why does Scooter Libby get special treatment?

Biden may be the most outspoken of the presidential candidates reacting to the Libby commutation. Last night he asked supporters to flood the White House with phone calls.

The bad news keeps mounting for New Hampshire Sen. John Sununu, who has recently seen some terrible poll results. Now the Hill reports that Democratic challenger Katrina Swett raised $700,000 in the second quarter, beating Sununu's total of $550,000.

Swett, who has recently been distancing herself from her support for Sen. Joe Lieberman's independent bid in Connecticut, has two rivals for the nomination, Portsmouth Mayor Steven Marchand, who reportedly raised $100,000 last quarter, and Dartmouth professor and former astronaut Jay Buckey. However, many believe that the race would easily go to former governor Jeanne Shaneen, who narrowly lost to Sununu in 2002, if she decided to run as many are urging her to do.

After a short delay issuing her statement on President Bush's decision to commute Scooter Libby's prison sentence last night, Hillary Clinton mentioned the controversy in a campaign event in Iowa:

"I mean you heard what the president did today, didn't you?" she said to boos from the crowd while shaking her head.

Her husband sat beside her as she slowly paced the stage, recounting Bush's pledge to fire anyone involved in leaking Valerie Plame's identity.

"Well apparently that is another one of those statements by the president that just doesn't hold up, does it?" she said. "And what we saw today was elevating cronyism over the rule of law. And what we saw today was further evidence that this administration has no regard whatsoever for what needs to be held sacred. And when I'm president we're going to get back to cherishing the Constitution, upholding the rule of law and putting forth the best values of America for the entire world to see again. [applause]"

Rudy Giuliani released this very short statement regarding the Libby commutation:

"After evaluating the facts, the President came to a reasonable decision and I believe the decision was correct."

Clinton Brings Out Bill For Iowa Crowd
After much anticipation Bill Clinton introduced his wife at a campaign rally in Iowa last night. "She is by a long stretch the best qualified non-incumbent I have ever had a chance to vote for in my entire life," he said. Hillary followed and tried to yank the spotlight back. "I'm thrilled to finally be doing something in politics that my husband didn't do," Hillary said, referring to her husband's decision to skip Iowa in 1992, when Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) was running.

Polls: Romney Leads In New Hampshire; Thompson Nationally
A new Rasmussen poll shows Mitt Romney has a nine-point lead in New Hampshire with 26% of the vote, and his three top competitors trailing in the teens. Rasmussen also reports that the national results have stabilized since the all-but-declared entry of Fred Thompson, who has displaced Giuliani at the head of the pack with 27% over 24% for Giuliani, who actually has the highest favorable rating. A caveat: Thus far, Rasmussen is the only pollster with Thompson in the lead nationally, as our Election Central Poll Tracker shows.

Hillary Endorsed By Tom Harkin's Wife Ruth
While Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) has not yet made any endorsement yet in the presidential race, his wife Ruth has now given her potentially weighty recommendation in the crucial caucus: She backs Hillary Clinton. Ruth Harkin served in Bill Clinton's administration, as director of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Nevada GOP Trying To Boost Popularity Of Its Early Caucus
Republicans in Nevada are hoping to get their presidential candidates to notice that they have the have moved their caucus date to coincide with the Democratic caucus, just a few days after Iowa. Democrats have been promoting their caucus for a year – dubbing their effort "Winning the West" and hiring consultants to promote their influence – and have even had some visits by candidates.

Brownback Blasts Tancredo For Donations From Abortion Activist
Sam Brownack's campaign is