Rudy's new political ad attacking Hillary Clinton features multiple pictures of General Petraeus in uniform -- but now the Pentagon says that the General "has not condoned" the use of his image in Rudy's ad or any other political ads, adding that it was done "without his consent."

Rudy's Web ad -- launched yesterday -- features images of a uniformed Petraeus as a narrator's voice in the background accuses Clinton of slandering the General. In the ad, the Giulilani campaign also faults Clinton for not forcefully condemning a MoveOn ad in The Times that also features a picture of Petraeus.

Giuliani's ad, in addition to featuring multiple pictures of Petraeus in uniform, also features photos of uniformed American soldiers in Iraq that are "shown as Mrs. Clinton is accused of turning her back on them," as today's New York Times piece on the ad puts it. You can view the ad here, on Giuliani's campaign Web site.

Defense Department regulations prohibit uniformed personnel from appearing in political ads. And while these are stock photos, meaning that neither Petraeus nor the other military personnel actively moved to appear in Giuliani's ad, their use in this ad makes the question of whether Petraeus or the Defense Department condone the use of images of him or other military uniformed personnel a fair one.

It also raises the question of whether the Giuliani campaign perhaps should have asked Petraeus' permission to use his image in the ad -- particularly since the ad is designed to portray him as respectful of the General while painting Clinton as disrespectful, even disdainful, towards the top commander in Iraq.

So we posed the question to Petraeus' spokesman, Colonel Steven Boylan: Does General Petraeus condone the use of his image in political ads? He emailed this reply:

"General Petraeus has not condoned the use of his photo in political ads. Use of his photos in recent ads was without his consent or advance knowledge."

We've emailed the Giuliani campaign for comment about this, asking whether Petraeus should have been informed of the use of his image in a political ad in advance. We also asked whether the ad would continue to remain posted now that Petraeus's spokesperson has confirmed that he "has not condoned" its use in any political ad.

We'll keep you posted.

Late Update: Quick clarification. I should have made it clearer in this post that the point I'm making here isn't that the ad is a violation of DOD regs. Rather, it's that the spirit of the regs, which frown on the appearance of uniformed personnel in political ads, makes the question as to whether Petraeus condones the use of his image in ads a fair one.

It's also a fair question in light of Petraeus' high profile and in light of Rudy's aggressive use of his image to paint Hillary as disrespectful, even disdainful, of the top commander and of the military in general.

This is fun. John Boehner's office has hatched a new explanation for why Dems and others are criticizing his "small price" remark: Because they want American troops to get defeated in Iraq.

The Cleveland Plain-Dealer asked Boehner's office about his comment, in which he said that the loss of American lives was a "small price" to pay for defeating Al Qaeda, and here's what the paper got from Boehner spokesperson Jessica Towhey:

A Boehner spokeswoman said his remarks referred to the monetary investment the United States has made to win the global war on terror and ensure U.S. security. She observed that Boehner visited Iraq this week to thank U.S. troops for their service and assess the "progress on the ground that some Democrats are so desperate to ignore."

"It's apparent that some Democrats and the far-left wing of their party are deeply afraid we are winning in Iraq now, and it's clear they will do anything they can -- including making false representations -- to ensure our troops come home after defeat, not victory," said Boehner spokeswoman Jessica Towhey.

It's worth noting, of course, that Ms. Towhey is, well, not telling the truth. In fact, Boehner was answering a question that very clearly was about the loss of American lives, not just money.

It's also worth noting that Navy veteran and Republican John McCain agrees with the Dems who allegedly are only criticizing Boehner because they want our troops to lose. Just yesterday, McCain said that Boehner should "retract" is remark.

The Democratic field for Senate in New Hampshire is already starting to clear for former governor and 2002 nominee Jeanne Shaheen, who announced this morning that she'll be making the race. The New Hampshire Union Leader reports that Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand, one of three Democrats already running, will soon withdraw from the campaign. Marchand had previously indicated that he would drop out if Shaheen ran.

The two remaining Dems, activist Katrina Swett and Dartmouth professor Jay Buckey, don't appear to be withdrawing for now. Swett put out a press release declaring, "I entered this race to make a positive change in the direction of our country and I remain committed to ensuring John Sununu’s defeat November 2008" — a noncommittal statement either way.

Buckey, meanwhile, appears committed to staying in: "I look forward to a vigorous discussion of the important issues in a primary, and I’d welcome Jeanne Shaheen into the race if she decides to run."

Late Update: Marchand formally withdrew from the race on Saturday. He did not close the door on a future race for political office — perhaps a run for Senate in 2010 — but did not seem too eager to address the question just yet: "I've only been an ex-candidate for 15 minutes."

Two House Dem leaders have now added their voices to the growing criticism of John "Small Price" Boehner:

Democratic whip Clyburn:

“Minority Leader John Boehner calls the cost in American lives and taxpayer dollars a ‘small price’ to pay in Iraq. The loss of American lives is never a small price."

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer:

From President Bush’s repeated use of the word strategy (5 times) while offering no new strategy, to Minority Leader Boehner’s declaration that 3,775 American dead is a “small price to pay,” Republicans once again showed Americans that they just don’t get it.

The war between the two New York frontrunners is heating up today. Rudy -- who took out a full page ad in The New York Times today blasting Hillary and MoveOn for questioning Scholar-Warrior Petraeus -- has just posted a new Web ad with lots of pictures of Petraeus hitting her yet again on this front.

In response, the Hillary campaign is charging that Rudy is attacking her to halt his slide in recent polls. Hillary spokesperson Phil Singer sends over the following:

Rudy Giuliani is dropping in the polls and is unable to defend his own support for George Bush's failed war. Instead of distorting Senator Clinton’s record in the campaign's first attack ad, the Mayor should tell voters why he thinks sticking with the Bush Iraq strategy makes sense. The country wants change and while Hillary Clinton is focused on ending the war, Mayor Giuliani is playing politics.

We'd like to see these responses contain references to the fact that Rudy's 9/11 performance is now being questioned by his own hero firefighters, but that's just us.

A new Research 2000 poll of Kentucky finds Governor Ernie Fletcher (R) trailing Democratic nominee Steve Beshear by a 56%-39% margin — meaning Fletcher's recent anti-casino campaign has failed to get him any traction in the polls or change the subject from his administration's own ethics scandals.

Fletcher's favorable rating is only 40%, with a 57% unfavorable rating. Beshear's rating is a much better 57%-34%. Adding insult to injury, Beshear leads Fletcher in all six of the state's Congressional districts, despite the fact that only two of those seats are actually represented by Democrats.

Beshear has led by at least 15 points in almost every poll taken since the May primary.

Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) — who's becoming increasingly vulnerable to a challenge from comedian Al Franken or trial lawyer Mike Ciresi, has figured out what to do about his political problem: Call for withdrawal from Iraq.

Withdrawal, that is, of only half the troops — in three years. That's what Coleman is now calling for, according to CQ Politics, though it's unclear whether he's willing to back legislation compelling that to happen.

Faced with restive constituents, vulnerable incumbents are likely to be offering more and more solutions like this. But if this is the sort of thing that GOPers hope will help stave off more losses in 2008, the party could in for real trouble, if the polls indicating majority support for full and relatively prompt withdrawal are any indication.

MoveOn is now raising money to air a new TV spot, debunking Bush's promised "withdrawal" of 30,000 troops in Iraq — which if true would only bring us back to the pre-surge levels.

And MoveOn isn't backing away from the "Betray Us" ad, either — the narrator closes the ad with, "George Bush: A betrayal of trust."

Nancy Pelosi has a new formulation to describe the Iraq War: Bush's "Ten Year War." Check out her just-released statement lacerating the White House's new report finding slim progress in Iraq:

“President Bush is committed to 10 more years of war in Iraq at a cost of untold lives lost and hundreds of billions of dollars to American taxpayers, even though today’s White House report admits little progress has been made by the Iraqi government.

“The redeployment of our troops cannot be delayed by the failure of the Iraqi government to achieve the political and economic benchmarks established by the Bush Administration. The American people reject the President’s 10-year war in Iraq and want a responsible redeployment to end this war.”

The "ten year war" formulation seems like a potentially effective one -- its basis appears to be General Petraeus' recent claim to a Congressional delegation that we could be in Iraq for a decade to come. Meanwhile, Harry Reid also harshly condemned the report today, blasting the lack of progress and the non-drawdown of troops to pre-surge levels as "unacceptable." Reid's full statement here.

It's early in the cycle, but a Republican candidate in a top-tier race for Congress has already dropped out. Ohio Coal Association president Mike Carey, who had been seeking the nomination to face freshman Democrat Zack Space, has withdrawn his candidacy, saying he did not want to lose time with his wife and five-year old son.

The seat will still be a top target for the Republicans, as it voted 57% for President Bush in 2004, and went Democratic last year after the resignation and corruption-related guilty plea of longtime Republican incumbent Bob Ney.

Elizabeth Edwards, in a new interview:

MoveOn.org should not have labeled Gen. David Petraeus “General Betray Us” in a controversial newspaper ad, Elizabeth Edwards said in Des Moines Friday.

“Someone who’s spent their life in the military doesn’t deserve ‘General Betray Us,’” said Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.

Ben Smith puckishly wonders if this is a "Sister Souljah moment." Indeed, you've got to wonder what the thinking is here, since all this does is give the MoveOn story legs. And, right on cue, it's already up on Drudge...

Late Update: An Edward supporter writes in and notes that Elizabeth's comments aren't surprising considering her upbringing as the daughter of a Navy pilot and points out that Elizabeth goes on to praise grassroots organizations like MoveOn.org in the original article.

DNC chair Howard Dean is seeking to ratchet up the pressure on John "Small Price" Boehner in a new statement out to the national press corps, calling on voters to express their disapproval of Boehner's remark to their individual Representatives. You can read the whole thing here. Key quote:

"House Republican Leader John Boehner's comments on Wednesday are deplorable and he should apologize immediately. Our brave men and women who have given their lives in service to our country and their families have made the ultimate sacrifice, and to say anything less is insulting to their memories and service."

Meanwhile, in another bid to turn up the heat, the DNC has created a new Web site explicitly designed to enable people to email their Reps. about Boehner. It's here.

Depending on how this story works out, could there be zero New England Republicans in the House two years from now?

Congressman Christopher Shays (R-CT) is the sole remaining Republican House member from New England, and even he barely survived the 2006 election. And now he's threatening to not run again — he's already a top Democratic target — if the House GOP leadership doesn't make him the head Republican on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. If they do promise him the top spot but then renege in 2009, he says he'll resign.

"I'm 61 years old. I've been in Congress 20 years," Shays told the Hartford Courant. "If I have to fight to become chairman of a committee, given the job I've done, I need to move on."

The Hillary campaign is hitting back at Rudy's full-page Times ad faulting her for daring to raise questions about Scholar-Warrior Petraeus' credibility. The statement from Hillary spokesperson Phil Singer:

It’s hardly surprising that Mayor Giuliani is running the first negative ad of the 08 campaign given his inability to justify his unqualified support for President Bush’s failed Iraq strategy. Senator Clinton respects Gen Petraeus’ service to our country. She knows the best way to honor our soldiers is to end the war in Iraq and bring them home.

Former Governor Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) has confirmed in a statement that she is running for the U.S. Senate — a rematch against Republican incumbent John Sununu that currently looks to be heavily in her favor. The news was first reported this morning.

"We've proven in New Hampshire that we can work together to get things done," Shaheen said in a press release. "I want to take that common-sense approach to Washington and help get this country moving in the right direction."

Full statement after the jump.

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Joe Biden went on MSNBC last night and slammed Boehner's "small price" line in very harsh terms, saying:

"It's unconscionable. Simply unconscionable. And the rationale put forward is simply ridiculous."

Note that Biden wasn't just slamming the remark itself, he was also ridiculing the argument by Boehner's people that he was only referring to the expense of the war. The question Boehner was answering, however, was very clearly about troop deaths, too.

Here's video of Biden (the key moment comes towards the end):

Now that the ultra, super serious John McCain and Joe Biden have both faulted Boehner, how much longer can the press pretend this isn't news?

Okay, we have our first Republican criticizing GOP House leader John Boehner for saying that troop deaths in Iraq are a "small price" to pay for defeating Al Qaeda.

Time magazine's Ana Marie Cox reports the following from McCain's bus:

On the bus, McCain responded to John Boehner's remark that American lives were a "small price" to pay for a victory in Iraq.

Asked about it on the heels of his demanding that Democratic candidates "repudiate" the MoveOn.org Petreaus/Betray Us ad, he grimaced: "He misspoke. With all due respect, every American wounded or sacrificed is the greatest possible price to pay," and we should all be grateful, "particularly those of us who sit in relative safety while those young men and women are fighting."

McCain does go on to say that the Petraeus ad is worse than what Boehner said, but nonetheless, McCain's reference to "those of us who sit in relative safety" seems like a pretty harsh dig at Boehner -- criticism that it will be hard to ignore. What's more, Boehner's spokesman isn't conceding that he "misspoke" -- indeed, he's defending the remark. McCain, meanwhile, says he in fact "misspoke," and implied strongly that Boehner was minimizing the sacrifice our troops are making.

Okay, so now that the respected and serious John McCain has faulted Boehner's remark, can we call it a gaffe yet? Will the big news orgs step up and cover this story in a serious way?

Late Update: Ana Marie Cox emails me to say that McCain also said the following (which she didn't include in her initial report): "He ought to retract it."

I've updated headline to reflect this. So now respected veteran and Republican John McCain has called on Boehner to retract this remark.

The right-wing astroturf group Freedom's Watch, founded a few weeks ago to be a pro-war answer to MoveOn, has a new TV spot attacking MoveOn's "Betray Us" ad in the New York Times:

"Name calling, charges of betrayal — it's despicable. It's what MoveOn shamefully does, and it's wrong," the narrator says. "America and the forces of freedom are winning. MoveOn is losing."

Newt Gingrich games out what's going to happen in the Presidential race next year, and decides that the odds are running heavily in favor of a Democratic win:

I think that the country, after the last couple of years, has a bias in favor of change -- I think probably starting with Katrina and coming through Baghdad and the whole sense of too much spending. And you sense a lack of enthusiasm in the conservative base, and you sense a stunning level of intensity in the anti-war Left. And so you just look at the dynamics and you have to say the odds are probably 80-20.

This follows Bob Novak's equally depressing assessment the other day that the GOP is facing losses of at least five seats in the Senate. At this rate the 2008 Republican Convention is going to be sponsored by Zoloft.

Rudy has spent the last several days blasting Hillary and other Dems over Iraq, accusing her in particular of treasonously questioning the credibility of General Petraeus. He's blasted other Dems as defeatist or worse, and he's getting tons of attention for it.

But it's worth noting that Rudy's own questionable record on Iraq is getting lost in the shuffle -- and by all rights should lead folks to question his own credibility in making such criticisms.

Read more »

The new AP-Ipsos poll shows Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson running close among Republicans nationwide: Rudy 24%, Thompson 19%, John McCain 15%, and Mitt Romney 9%. In a way, Thompson is actually in third — undecideds come in at 22%.

In terms of demographic breakdown, it's a close race among various Republican constituent groups, with no overall leader. Giuliani and Thompson each have about a quarter of those under 50, white males and married men, and one fifth each of conservatives, Southerners and evangelicals.

Meanwhile, Giuliani and McCain both have one fifth of white Republican women. And Giuliani, Thompson and McCain are all running about equally with college-educated GOPers, Midwesterners, suburbanites and married women.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton leads with 34%, followed by Barack Obama at 20%, and John Edwards at 10%.

Fred Thompson may have just stepped into some serious trouble with the Christian right. During an interview in Florida, Thompson was critical of the federal government's attempted intervention into the Terri Schiavo case in 2005. "Local matters, generally speaking, should be left to the locals," Thompson said. "I think Congress has got an awful lot to keep up with."

Thompson also went beyond mere talk about proper jurisdiction in the case, and declined to give any opinion on the actual moral details of the case. "I can't pass judgment on it. I know that good people were doing what they thought was best," he said. "That's going back in history. I don't remember the details of it."

Over on the right, David Brody is not impressed: "I think it goes without saying that if you want to be the candidate for social conservatives you need to do your homework on Terri Schiavo. Nobody is saying you have to go chapter and verse on it but to go generic isn't enough."

As for the details, ABC News notes that Thompson did an episode of Law & Order loosely based on the case.

Rudy Giuliani has responded to MoveOn's ad against General Petraeus with a full-page New York Times ad of his own — using his own ad to not only attack MoveOn but also to blast Hillary Clinton for criticizing Petraeus' analysis during this week's committee hearings.

The ad promotes "the Petraeus record," detailing the general's medals and other awards. "Who should America listen to," the ad asks, "A decorated soldier's commitment to defending America, or Hillary Clinton's commitment to defending MoveOn.org?"

Rudy boasted last night on Fox News that he would be getting the same "discounted" rate that MoveOn got for their ad — a line the right has been pushing. However, the Times explained yesterday that $64,575, the rate that MoveOn paid, is in fact the standard rate for a full-page, black-and-white advocacy ad purchased on a standby basis, in which the buyer can request a specific day and page placement but is not guaranteed to get them.

To view the ad, click here.

Big news out of New Hampshire: A new report says that former governor Jeanne Shaheen has decided to seek a rematch against vulnerable incumbent GOP Senator John Sununu. This morning's Union Leader says it has the story:

Former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen will be a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2008, the New Hampshire Union Leader has learned.

The Democratic former three-term chief executive is expected to issue a statement today addressing her political plans. While it's unclear exactly how the statement will be phrased, sources say Shaheen has decided to seek the seat held by Republican John E. Sununu, who defeated her in a bitter 2002 contest...

Shaheen, who served as governor from 1997 to 2003, lost to Sununu by a 51 to 47 percent margin five years ago after polls had shown her with a narrow lead heading into the final weekend of the campaign.

Polls show that Shaheen is already leading by landslide margins against Sununu, who's been badly weakened by his support for the Iraq War. Her entry into the race, should this report be true, adds greatly to the considerable woes facing the GOP as they ponder the Senate map for 2008.

Republicans are already dealing with the retirement of Senator John Warner, whose seat is now being targeted by popular former governor Mark Warner, as well as the near-certain resignation of Senator Larry Craig and the mounting vulnerability of multiple GOP incumbents due to Iraq. Making matters worse for the GOP, they are being forced to defend many more Senate seats than Dems are, meaning Dems will have more resources to pour into top tier races. Shaheen's presumed entry adds one more such race to the list.

Hillary on Bush's speech:

"Regrettably, the President did not seize the opportunity tonight to offer the American people a candid assessment of the challenges that we continue to face in Iraq, or offer a change in course to his failing strategy. Instead, he portrayed an unavoidable reduction in U.S. troops to pre-surge levels as a marker of progress. Redeploying over the next year five of the twenty combat brigades currently deployed in Iraq will merely bring our total number of troops back to the same level that existed before the President announced his escalation in January of this year. As was discussed during General Petraeus's testimony this week, troop levels in Iraq must decrease by this amount regardless, in order to avoid extending Army deployments beyond 15 months and straining our military even further than it already is.

"What the President told the American people tonight is that one year from now, there will be the same number of troops in Iraq as there were one year ago. That is simply too little too late, and unacceptable to this Congress and the American people who have made clear their strong desire to bring our brave troops home.

"The Commander-in-Chief has the authority to issue the order to greatly accelerate the redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq, and to bring so many more of our troops home so much faster. They have done everything we have asked of them and more, but are now stuck in the middle of a civil war. I continue to implore the President to change course, bring our troops home faster, and end this war responsibly as soon as possible."

Bill Richardson on Bush's speech:

"Enough is enough. This President lacks credibility. President Bush needs to stop putting his historical legacy ahead of the safety of our troops and the security of our nation.

"As of next summer, the President plans to have 130,000 troops in the midst of a civil war in Iraq. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards would leave between 60,000 and 90,000 troops in Iraq with no timetable for a full withdrawal. All of these plans are unacceptable. We must get all of our troops out of Iraq in six to eight months.

"After years of President Bush's reckless mismanagement of the war in Iraq, there is only one responsible course of action left to us. We need to get all of our troops out of Iraq, not just the combat troops as others have suggested, and leave no residual forces behind. Our troops have done everything asked of them, but the solution in Iraq involves diplomacy, not military force. Leaving troops behind would serve as a roadblock to political progress. The hard work of diplomacy and reconciliation cannot begin until we start to withdraw our troops and make it clear that we are leaving. If Congress does not join me and get all of our troops out of Iraq, I will show them the way once I am elected President."

Harry Reid responds to Bush's speech:

"Tonight President Bush announced his plan to keep at least 130,000 troops in Iraq indefinitely, demonstrating that he is trying to run out the clock on his failed strategy and leave the hard decisions to the next president.

"For months the American people, a bipartisan majority of Congress and countless military experts have called for a new way forward in Iraq, but the President has offered only a commitment to endless war that will continue to take American lives, deplete our treasury, and divert our focus from fighting an effective war on terrorism against Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda operatives.

"After almost five years, tonight was just more of the same. It's not progress nor is it the strategy for success our troops deserve. And as long as President Bush keeps them in harm's way without clear purpose or achievable goals, Democrats will keep fighting to responsibly end this war."

Here's the full ad John Edwards ran on MSNBC faulting Bush during the speech:

Barack Obama's statement on Bush's Iraq speech:

"It is long past time to end a war that never should have started. President Bush was wrong when he took us to war, he was wrong when he escalated this war in January, and he is wrong to stay the course now. I opposed this war from the beginning, I introduced legislation in January that would have already started to bring our troops home, and I will continue to lead the fight in the Senate for a fixed timeline with a deadline for the removal of all of our combat troops.

"The American people are not going to be fooled by the same false promises of success that got us into Iraq. Iraq's leaders are not making the political progress that was the stated purpose of the surge, but the President wants us to keep giving him a blank check. We must not continue the enormous sacrifice of our troops, our military readiness, our treasury, and our standing in the world just to keep the violence at the same unacceptable levels they were at in 2005 and 2006.

"That is why I have proposed an immediate and sustained removal of 1 to 2 combat brigades each month to conclude by the end of next year. We have to come together – not as Republicans and Democrats – but as Americans to turn the page in Iraq so that we can recapture our unity of purpose at home and our leadership around the world."

The Senate Democrats have released excerpts of a speech to be delivered tonight by Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), in which he will be rebutting President Bush's address regarding Iraq.

Check out the excerpts after the jump.

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Okay, here's a first look at a portion of the new two-minute ad that John Edwards, in a novel move, is running on MSNBC during President Bush's prime-time speech on Iraq. We obtained a copy of an excerpt:

Thoughts?

A poll released by Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning (R) shows a close race against former Governor Mike Johanns for the Republican nomination for Senate, Roll Call reports. Johanns leads with 39% support, followed by Bruning at 30%.

"These numbers show that the pundits who say Mike Johanns is a clear favorite are flat-out wrong," said Bruning campaign manager Jordan McGrain. "Johanns is not the heavyweight among Republicans some expect him to be."

The poll also showed Bruning ahead of former Congressman Hal Daub in a two-way Republican primary, 48%-17%. Overall, the poll is a strong signal that Bruning has no intention of backing down if Johanns makes the race.

The Nebraska Senate race is expected to be a top Democratic target next year, if former Dem Senator Bob Kerrey runs for the seat. Two-term incumbent Chuck Hagel, a strong conservative who has broken sharply with the White House on Iraq, is retiring. Bruning was already running hard against Hagel in the GOP primary, citing Hagel's votes with Senate Democrats on the issue.

Here's another Democratic leader coming out to blast GOP House leader John Boehner for saying that troop losses in Iraq would be "a small price" to pay to defeat Al Qaeda and stabilize the Middle East.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Chris Van Hollen, who oversees the 2008 House races for Dems, has just emailed over this statement demanding that Boehner apologize to the military and their families:

“To belittle the sacrifice of more than 30,000 brave Americans killed or injured in Iraq as a ‘small price’ is reprehensible. Clearly, Minority Leader John Boehner will say anything to justify George Bush’s stay the course approach, but this damaging rhetoric has no place in the debate about the new direction needed in Iraq. Minority Leader Boehner owes our military and their families an apology for his hurtful comments that minimize their tragic loss.”

Marine Corps veteran Daniel Johnson is considering a run for Congress as a Democrat against Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who hails from a heavily Republican district and was re-elected with 62% of the vote in 2006.

"So far, my entire professional career, I've been in one type of service or another," said Johnson, adding that a campaign "would be another way to serve a lot of people in a wide range of issues. It's very appealing and something worth considering."

Johnson lost both legs below the knee, plus a finger, while saving another man in a 1999 accident. He was awarded the Navy Marine Corps Medal, the highest peacetime award given to an officer.

(Via Kos)

As we noted below, in a novel move, John Edwards has booked some time on MSNBC to run an ad countering Bush's big Iraq speech tonight. Here are some excerpts from what he'll say in the spot that were provided by the campaign:

“Unfortunately, the president is pressing on with the only strategy he’s ever had – more time, more troops, and more war.

“In January, after years of evidence that military actions cannot force a political solution, the president announced a military surge to force a political solution. In May, he vetoed a plan to end the war, demanded more time to show the surge could work, and Congress gave it to him. Now, after Gen. Petraeus reports the surge has produced no progress toward a political solution, what does the president want? More time for the surge to work, when all of us know it won’t.

“But Congress must answer to the American people. Tell Congress you know the truth -- they have the power to end this war and you expect them to use it. When the president asks for more money and more time, Congress needs to tell him he only gets one choice: a firm timeline for withdrawal.”

Fred Thompson has now received his first endorsement from a Senator outside his home state of Tennessee: Thad Cochran of Mississippi.

"Senator Thompson is the candidate best able to win the general election in 2008 and carry our conservative values all the way to the White House," Cochran said in a Thompson campaign press release. "I worked closely with him in the United States Senate and know he has the conservative values, integrity, experience, and judgment to unite our country, lead our nation, fight the Global War on Terrorism, and keep us safe."

So just how out of the mainstream is MoveOn's "Betray Us" ad, about which the GOP has been screaming bloody murder? And politically, should Democrats rush to distance themselves from it? A new poll from Fox News, of all places, shows that the number of registered voters who agree with the substance of the ad is actually larger than the number who think Petraeus was being honest in his report of progress in Iraq:

This week General David Petraeus gave a report to Congress on the progress in Iraq. Based on what you know, was General Petraeus’s report truthful and objective or was it slanted toward the policies of the Bush administration?

Truthful 35%
Slanted 40%

The poll was taken on Tuesday and Wednesday, in the wake of Petraeus' testimony — and it turns out that only 35% of Americans actually believe him. And not only that, but more respondents agree with the MoveOn position.

Okay, here we go.

Democratic leaders are now opening fire on GOP House leader John Boehner, demanding that he apologize for saying in an interview yesterday that troop deaths in Iraq would be a "small price" to pay for defeating Al Qaeda and achieving Middle East stability.

"Boehner’s comments yesterday are deplorable and he should apologize immediately," Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean said in a statement emailed to Election Central. "Bohener’s comments show how truly out of touch the Republicans are. The loss of a son or daughter is never a small price to pay, especially for a policy which was initiated by Republicans who misled the nation about why we are there."

As we first reported yesterday at The Horse's Mouth, Boehner was asked yesterday on CNN about the continued sacrifice of money and American lives in Iraq. He replied that "the investment that we’re making today will be a small price if we’re able to stop al Qaeda here, if we’re able to stabilize the Middle East, it’s not only going to be a small price for the near future, but think about the future for our kids and their kids."

Because the question had specifically referred to America troop deaths, in his answer Boehner appeared to be saying that the expenditure of not just money, but untold American lives, too, would be a "small price" to pay for achieving our goals in the Middle East.

Now Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean's office has sent us the following statement from him:

“House Republican Leader John Boehner’s comments yesterday are deplorable and he should apologize immediately. Our brave men and women who have given their lives in service to our country and their families have made the ultimate sacrafice, and to say anything less is insulting to their memories and service. Republicans stubbornly refuse to acknowledge that their Iraq policy is a failure, our troops are mired in a civil war and we’re not making the necessary political progress on the ground. Bohener’s comments show how truly out of touch the Republicans are. The loss of a son or daughter is never a small price to pay, especially for a policy which was initiated by Republicans who misled the nation about why we are there. The war in Iraq must end. We need to bring our troops home.”

Earlier today, Senator John Kerry also demanded an apology from Boehner. "What a stunningly cavalier statement about the lives of the young men and women who serve our country," Kerry wrote. "A single life is a large price to pay for any endeavor...Where is Representative Boehner's apology? And where is an Iraq policy equal to our soldiers' tremendous sacrifice?"

Meanwhile, we make the case as to why Boehner's comment matters here. Now that Dean has come out and hit Boehner, with other Dems likely to follow suit soon, it remains to be seen whether this highly questionable statement from Boehner will attract anywhere near the media attention that was accorded, say, Kerry's botched troop joke last fall.

A Boehner spokesperson didn't immediately return a call for comment.

Late Update: Here's another one. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee head Chris Van Hollen has sent over this statement demanding that Boehner apologize to the military and their families:

“To belittle the sacrifice of more than 30,000 brave Americans killed or injured in Iraq as a ‘small price’ is reprehensible. Clearly, Minority Leader John Boehner will say anything to justify George Bush’s stay the course approach, but this damaging rhetoric has no place is the debate about the new direction needed in Iraq. Minority Leader Boehner owes our military and their families an apology for his hurtful comments that minimize their tragic loss.”

Oh, this is just sad. Fox News and other right wing news outlets are attacking The New York Times today for running a "discounted" ad placed the other day by MoveOn attacking General Petraeus. The claim being made is that The Times is somehow in league with MoveOn and the rest of the shadowy left-wing conspiracy to end the war.

Now Rudy Giuliani has jumped aboard this Merry-Go-Round. At a campaign appearance today, he called on the Times to run an ad from him, at the same discounted rate, an ad praising Petraeus.

"We're going to call upon the New York Times to give us the same rate, heavily discounted rate that they gave MoveOn.org for that abominable ad that was very very coincidentally published on the day that Gen Petraeus testified," Rudy said.

It doesn't appear to matter to these folks that such discounts are standard in the industry with clients who advertise often, such as MoveOn does. It's really sad to see Rudy reduced to this, in a way.

Prediction: This story is going to crash and burn in a big way soon.

This is interesting: A new study finds that contributions to Democrats from members of the U.S. military have shot up dramatically since the start of the Iraq war in 20003.

The study, by Capital Eye, which is a newsletter for the Center for Responsive Politics, finds that this year, 40% of military money has gone to the Democratic Party or Dem Presidential candidates, compared to only 23% in 2002, before the war started.

Even more interesting, it finds that of all the Presidential candidates, the one receiving the most military money right now is Barack Obama, who opposed the war from the beginning (though his relative youth could be a key factor, the study speculates).

And the leader among GOP candidates in military contributions is Ron Paul, the only antiwar Republican Presidential candidate, who's getting far more than veteran John McCain.

How about that?

Full study and all the numbers here.

Okay, we now have our first poll taken during the days of General Petraeus' Congressional testimony, and it suggests that The Petraeus Show didn't budge public opinion in any significant way on several key questions.

The new Associated Press poll, taken September 10-12, two days during and one day after his testimony, finds:

* Only 33% approve of the President's handling of Iraq

* Only 40% approve of his handling of foreign policy and terrorism

* Only 33% approve of his overall job performance

In all three cases, the numbers went up one or two points from last month -- statistically meaningless changes.

These numbers don't tell us the whole story, of course. It'll be better to see polling on the questions of whether people think the surge is working and whether people want withdrawal, all put to voters after the Petraeus testimony concluded. But this is a start.

Is Hillary Clinton's 2002 vote to authorize the Iraq War hurting her with Democratic voters? Not one bit, according to the latest round of Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg polling of key primary/caucus states — and if anything, she's actually viewed as the best Democrat to end the war.

Hillary wins easy victories among Democrats in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina on this question: "Regardless of your choice for president, who do you think would be best at ending the war in Iraq?" Hillary scores in the mid-30's in all three states, outpacing Barack Obama by over 15 points in all three states, with John Edwards in third.

And among voters who said the Iraq War is the most important issue to them, Hillary still leads the pack: 30% in Iowa, 32% in New Hampshire, and an astonishing 63% in South Carolina.

A possible explanation could be that despite her 2002 vote for the war, Hillary Clinton is consistently viewed in polls as the best experienced top-tier Democratic candidate.

As we reported over at The Horse's Mouth, GOP House leader John Boehner went on CNN yesterday and said that the blood and treasure being expended in Iraq would be a "small price" to pay in exchange for defeating Al Qaeda and achieving stability in the Middle East.

Now the first Democrat has stepped forward to fault Boehner for the remark: John Kerry. The Massachusetts Senator has posted a piece over at The Huffington Post responding to our story and demanding an apology from Boehner. Kerry writes:

What a stunningly cavalier statement about the lives of the young men and women who serve our country.

Whether you support or oppose the Bush escalation, no American should ever for even a moment think the cost of war is small.

A single life is a large price to pay for any endeavor. Sometimes, in our national interest, we choose to pay that awful price, but we must always make sure that the policy is worthy of it.

Visit our wounded warriors at Walter Reed hospital and ask whether the price they paid was small. Talk to the mothers, fathers, husbands and wives of those who have been killed and ask them to measure the price of war. Young lives stopped short, children who won't have a mother or father there as they grow up, when they graduate, when they get married -- that loss is many things, but it is not small.

Where is Representative Boehner's apology? And where is an Iraq policy equal to our soldiers' tremendous sacrifice?

Kerry has opened the door. It'll be interesting to see if other Dems follow suit.

Fran Reiter, the campaign manager for Rudy Giuliani's successful mayoral reelection campaign in 1997, is snubbing her old boss and backing Hillary instead, according to today's New York Post.

Tellingly, Reiter, who also served as a deputy mayor in the Giuliani administration, blows the whistle on Rudy for his lurches to the right in the GOP primary, saying he's backed off of the "progressive" positions he held as Mayor.

"He took a political turn to the right," Reiter tells the paper. "It's a much more ideological agenda. The progressive views he took he's backed away from."

So a former top adviser to Rudy says he's "progressive"? Somehow we get the feeling that GOP primary voters will be made aware of this.

Wow -- check out this number in the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll:

And when asked what they think is the most acceptable outcome to the war in Iraq, 24 percent say that American troops should remain in Iraq until it becomes a stable democracy. Twenty-six percent want them to begin the process of leaving now, and 37 percent want them to leave within the next year — but still keep some of them in the region.

Huh. So less than one in four support Bush's preferred course of action -- that is, staying until Iraq becomes a stable democracy. That seems pretty low -- particularly since the poll was taken after an enormous public relations push on the White House and GOP's part to persuade everyone that they actually think the surge is working. And it seems extra low in comparison with the number -- 63% -- that wants to start leaving now or within the next year.

Not that there isn't any good news for the President in the poll. Approval of his handling of Iraq has soared -- all the way up to 30%.

Hillary Clinton is set to roll out her new health care plan on Monday at an event in Iowa, she revealed during yesterday's recording for the Slate/Yahoo!/Huffington Post online forum. And she clearly knows that she has to finesse this issue in light of the stalled health-care reform effort from 1993-1994.

"Obviously, I hope the headline is that, you know, Hillary is back, and we're going to get it done this time, because we tried and were not successful in '93-'94," said Clinton. "And as we all know, the problems of the uninsured and the underinsured, the pressures on doctors and nurses and hospitals, the loss of jobs with employers struggling to maintain health insurance is all much worse than it was when we were trying to do this before."

Videos of all the Democratic candidates separately answering questions will be posted later today.

(Via Ben Smith)

The new American Research Group poll is the latest to show Fred Thompson enjoying a huge jump in the polls since his announcement. He and Rudy Giuliani are statistically tied: Giuliani 24%, Thompson 23%, John McCain 14%, and Mitt Romney 9%.

A month ago, Rudy had 27%, Thompson 16%, Romney 16%, and McCain 13% — meaning the net benefits of Thompson's announcement appear to have come right out of Romney's hide.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton dominates the field with 39%, Barack Obama has 21%, and John Edwards is at 15%. Those figures are statistically unchanged from where they were a month ago in ARG polling.

Wide Stance Larry just isn't giving up. He's now privately reaching out and apologizing to his fellow GOPers for the "distraction" he caused with his men's room cruising. And he's hit on a novel way to win them back -- mail them a copy of his paperwork seeking to withdraw his guilty plea. Roll Call picks up the story (sub. only):

Craig sent a copy of his appeal to his fellow GOP Senators, along with a personally signed letter of regret and an offer to provide further information as his case moves ahead.

The embattled Senator, who has said he intends to resign on Sept. 30 unless he is able to have his guilty plea thrown out, wrote to Senators: “I regret the distraction this situation has caused at a time when the attention of the Senate, and the nation, should be on the war and other serious policy issues.

“Nevertheless, should you be interested in the facts of my case and the efforts I am making, I encourage you to review the enclosed,” Craig continued in the brief memo. “If you would like any additional information, please don’t hesitate to contact me personally, or my office.”

But it isn't working, according to GOPers who spoke to the paper. “The story is done," one Senate GOP aide said. "The door is closed. This is not about people not liking or liking him. This was business.”

Former Governor Mark Warner (D-VA) has announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate, seeking the seat of retiring GOP Senator John Warner. "I've decided the way I can contribute the most to getting our country back on the right track is to serve in the United States Senate," Warner says in an online video:

Warner has put up the beginnings of a campaign site, MarkWarner2008.com, though as of yet it only has his announcement video, a contribution page, and a sign-up sheet for future updates.

John Edwards isn't going to use the usual method — a dry press release, followed by speeches at campaign rallies the next day — to rebut President Bush's speech tonight about Iraq. Instead, Edwards will run a two-minute ad tonight on MSNBC, set to air right after Bush's speech.

"Unfortunately, the president is pressing on with the only strategy he's ever had — more time, more troops, and more war," Edwards says in the ad, regarding Bush's expected plan to withdraw 30,000 troops from Iraq, conditioned on progress in the country.

"Tell Congress you know the truth," Edwards says. "They have the power to end this war and you expect them to use it. When the president asks for more money and more time, Congress needs to tell him he only gets one choice — a firm timeline for withdrawal."

A reminder: Former Governor Mark Warner (D-VA) is set to announce his plans for 2008 in an e-mail being sent out to supporters at 9 a.m. ET today. It is widely expected that he will announce his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat of GOP Senator John Warner (no relation), who is retiring.

Mark Warner's candidacy would create a strong pick-up opportunity for Senate Democrats, as polls already show him beating two potential Republican nominees by strong margins.

The new NBC/Wall St. Journal poll shows Fred Thompson enjoying his post-announcement bump, placing within the margin of error against Rudy Giuliani among Republicans nationwide. Rudy has 32%, Thompson 26%, John McCain 14%, and Mitt Romney 11% — with the margin of error being ±5.2% for the Republican sub-sample.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton leads with 44%, Barack Obama has 23%, and John Edwards 16%, with a ±4.5 margin of error for the Democratic group.

President Bush, meanwhile, has set a low bar for what constitutes good news in a poll. His approval rating on his handling of Iraq weighs in at 30%, with 66% disapproval — up from a 22%-72% rating two months ago. Could this be the beginning of an upward trend, or is it simply a slight rebound after having hit bottom?

Update: This post originally said the 30%/66% number was for Bush's overall approval — when it was in fact simply about his handling of Iraq.

Robert Novak's latest: "The decision not to run by Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) now raises to five the possible losses of Senate seats by Republicans. Democrats also are targeting Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) for a sixth seat. If 2008 turns into a Democratic landslide, Senators Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) and even Mitch McConnell (R-KY) could be in danger."

Looks like there'll be some severe disappointment tonight among those who think Scholar-Warrior Petraeus would make a good Veep candidate.

Like Union General Sherman, who famously ruled out a run for President after the Civil War, Petraeus tells the USA Today edit board that he has no interest in running for political office.

Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd tee off on Obama's Iraq speech, with Richardson faulting it because it doesn't promise total withdrawal:

"The question is simple: How does leaving troops in Iraq end the war?"

...and Dodd hammering it in keeping with his continuing demand that Obama and Hillary show leadership and insist that the Dem Congress refuse to fund the war without withdrawal timetables:

"Without tying a date certain to funding how does he plan to enforce his call for an immediate redeployment?"

Their full statements after the jump.

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Fred Thompson will not be going to Monday's Value Voters debate in Florida. Thompson spokesman Todd Harris told David Brody:

"Our campaign will be participating in numerous debates between now and when the first voting begins but unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts, we will be unable to attend the debate on the 17th. We believe Senator Thompson’s strong pro-life and pro-family record will play well with values voters and they are a constituency we plan to heavily court."

So when, exactly will we be seeing Thompson at a debate?

Mitt Romney is working to put more distance between himself and PhoneyFred.org, a now-defunct Web site that attacked Fred Thompson — and was put up by a business associate of a GOP consultant employed by the Romney camp.

"The Web site is obviously juvenile and offensive. It was not done by anyone employed by my campaign, and Mr. Tompkins indicates it was not done by his firm, that the person who put it up was acting on his own," Romney told the Associated Press. "I've said I do not want to have that person in any way associated with my campaign."

The site was put up by Wesley Donehue, an associate consultant for Tompkins, Thompson, and Sullivan — the firm of South Carolina political consultant Warren Tompkins, who works for Romney.

The Associated Press says it has the story:

Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner intends to run for the Senate next year, Democratic officials said Wednesday, assuring his party a competitive race for a seat long in Republican hands.

Warner scheduled an e-mail announcement of his plans for Thursday...

The officials who discussed former Gov. Warner's intentions did so on condition of anonymity, saying they did not want to pre-empt his announcement.

Many analysts think Warner has a very good shot at winning the seat, and his entry into the race is a major headache for the GOP, which is also dealing with the near-certain resignation of Larry Craig, the increasing weakness the Iraq war has inflicted on a number of GOP incumbents, and the party's need to defend far more seats than the Dems need to defend.

If Warner wins, it will mean that Dems will have recaptured a seat that has been in Republican hands since 1972 -- and that two Senate seats in this southern state will have flipped from red to blue in only two years.

“Thank you for the timetable. May I have another?”

-- Tom Matzzie, the Washington director of MoveOn, commenting to Think Progress on Bush's plan to withdraw 30,000 troops from Iraq by next July.

Obama's now delivered his Iraq speech calling for immediate withdrawal and lacerating the D.C. pundit and political establishment for backing the invasion. Full text is after the jump.

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With the war of words intensifying between the White House and Congress, Harry Reid has just issued a new statement attacking the President's "plan" to do what everyone knows had to happen anyway -- i.e., reduce the troop count by next summer to what it was before the surge:

“The President’s plan is neither a drawdown nor the change in mission we need. His plan is more of the same. This is unacceptable to me. It is unacceptable to the American people. And I hope this is unacceptable to Senate Republicans. Supporting a plan that keeps at least 130,000 troops in Iraq for what could be years to come is not a change in mission. I call on Senate Republicans to stay true to their word and work with us this month to craft legislation that changes the mission in Iraq and begins a true redeployment of our troops.”

Yes, agreed, this isn't a change of course. Bush never was going to change course. The big question now is what Congressional Dems are willing to do to force this to happen.

Edwards responds to Obama's big Iraq speech today with the ultimate in Democratic Primary insults -- a comparison to Bush:

"Some, like Senator Obama, have said we should only 'begin' to end this war now. Senator Obama would withdraw only 1-2 combat brigades a month between now and the end of next year, which for the next several months could essentially mimic the president's own plans to withdraw 30,000 troops by next summer...

"Enough is enough. We don't need to 'begin' to end the war now. What we need to do now is actually end the war. This is about right and wrong. Our young men and women are dying every day for a failed policy. Every member of Congress who believes this war must end, from Senators Obama and Clinton to Senator Warner, has a moral responsibility to use every tool available to them, including a filibuster, to force the president to change course. Congress must stand firm and say: No timetable, no funding. No excuses."

At this point, I'd really be interested in seeing some polling on this. Dodd and Edwards have been pushing very hard to make a major issue out of Hillary and Obama's refusal to rule out supporting Iraq funding without a date-certain for withdrawal. Is this resonating? Do people agree with the left's argument that Hillary and Obama could force Congress not to compromise by showing some leadership and insisting on a withdrawal timetable, as Dodd and Edwards are? It would be interesting to know whether this intra-party debate is resonating.

A new SurveyUSA poll of New Hampshire — a swing state where Democrats did tremendously well in 2006 — finds that Hillary Clinton could be in for a close race in a general election there. Hillary ties Rudy Giuliani at 47% each, and leads Fred Thompson 51%-41%. Hillary trails Mitt Romney by one point, 45%-44%, a result within the margin of error.

Democrats have recruited a candidate for the California seat of retiring GOP Congressman/presidential candidate Duncan Hunter. Retired Navy SEAL Mike Lumpkin has announced his candidacy for the seat, and is already taking aim at Hunter's attempt to pass the seat on to his son, Marine Captain Duncan D. Hunter.

"Our nation faces serious challenges. Now, more than ever, the people of California’s 52nd Congressional District deserve an experienced leader to represent them," Lumpkin said at his kickoff event over the weekend. "A congressional seat is too important to pass from father to son as a birthright because of name recognition, when America’s future is at stake."

Whether Duncan D. Hunter gets the GOP nomination or not, Lumpkin still faces an uphill battle. As CQ noted, the district voted 61% for President Bush in 2004.

A few days after moving to withdraw his wide-stance guilty plea in court, Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) pops up momentarily to throw flowers at Scholar-Warrior Petraeus before promptly disappearing again.

Late Update: Just to be clear, Craig didn't really appear anywhere, he just issued a public statement praising Petraeus and the surge. No mention of his legal travails in the statement, needless to say.

A new Quinnipiac poll in Florida shows Hillary Clinton continuing to dominate in the Democratic primary with 42% support, compared to Barack Obama at 13%, non-candidate Al Gore at 12%, and John Edwards at 9%.

Furthermore, the poll would indicate that Hillary is the most electable Democrat in this critical swing state. She ties Rudy Giuliani while Obama and Edwards lose to Rudy, and she beats John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson by wider margins than any of the other Democrats can manage (and Obama trails McCain).

On the Republican side, Rudy leads the primary pack with 28%, followed by Thompson at 17%, Mitt Romney with 11%, and John McCain at 10%.

General election match-ups after the jump.

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The bad polling news is hitting Rudy in waves right about now. There's the new Washington Post poll, which finds him at his lowest point this year:

Giuliani’s support dropped from 37 percent in a July poll to 28 percent in the latest survey, and his decline from February has been even more sharp. Then, he had the backing of 53 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and had a better than 2 to 1 advantage over his closest rival.

...and the new Los Angeles Times poll, which finds him in trouble in crucial early primary states:

Rudolph W. Giuliani has been well ahead of his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination in nationwide polls, but he is far weaker in the crucial states that will cast early votes in the nominating process next year, according to a new Los Angeles Times/ Bloomberg poll that underscores how unsettled the GOP race remains.

Among Republican voters, Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, trails Mitt Romney in Iowa and New Hampshire, and he lags behind Fred Thompson in South Carolina.

...and the New York Times poll we noted yesterday which finds that Rudy holds no advantage on terrorism over his GOP rivals. That's right -- despite his best efforts, GOP primary voters just aren't buying the line that he's the GOP field's superior Terminator of Terrorists.

As Steve Benen puts it, "Giuliani is starting the post-Labor Day cycle with a decidedly downward trend. If he were a stock, I’d short him in a heartbeat." Surely it's no coincidence that Rudy's slippage coincides with the fact that more and more people are raising questions about his 9/11 performance and pointing out his serial exaggerations about it.

Late Update: Real Clear Politics has a comprehensive look at all the GOP polls and disputes the argument that Rudy's numbers are dropping.

We've just obtained a copy of a new letter that Hillary's mailing out to Bush, a kind of preemptive strike ahead of his big Iraq speech tomorrow.

The short version of Hillary's letter: Stop lying.

She takes a direct shot at the notion that the President is following General Petraeus' plan, rather than the pre-designated dialback of the "surge," by announcing a pullback of 30,000 troops by next spring.

"If completed, these troop reductions would merely bring troop levels in Iraq back to the levels before you announced the `surge' in January of this year," Hillary writes.

"Mr. President, it has been nearly four and a half years since you landed on an aircraft carrier and stood before the American people under a banner tha read `Mission Accomplished," Hillary continues. "Do not repeat that mistake on Thursday night. Do not misrepresent the facts about the situation on the ground. And do not portray an unavoidable reduction in U.S. troops to pre-surge levels that would occur anyway as a marker of success. Be candid with the American people. They deserve it."

Hillary also denounces the planned pullback as "too little too late" and demands that he "greatly accelerate" the redeployment of troops.

You can read Hillary's full letter in our TPM Document Collection.

Good stuff -- Chris Dodd is upping the pressure on Hillary and Obama to step up and demand that the Dem Congressional leadership refuse to fund the war without withdrawal timetables. Check out this new web video Dodd's campaign just posted calling out the other Senators running for President -- and we all know who they are:

"I'm asking my colleagues in the Senate to state clearly and directly whether or not they will support Iraq legislation if it fails to include a firm, enforceable deadline to begin and complete redeployment of troops from Iraq." The key word there, of course, being "complete." Dodd also has a petition up on his site so voters can contact their Senators to press the point.

Mitt goes up on the air in Florida with a new version of his "Energy" ad. And surprise, surprise, he's jogging again:

A controversial new book about American foreign policy and Israel has been noticed by a presidential candidate — and he's now running in the other direction.

Barack Obama's campaign has taken down an ad that was appearing on Amazon.com's page for The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, by University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer and Harvard professor Stephen Walt, criticizing the relationship between the United States and Israel.

"The ad has been removed from the site because the views of the book do not reflect the views of Senator Obama on the U.S.-Israel relationship," said Obama spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki. "Senator Obama has stated that his support for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, which includes both a commitment to Israel's security and to helping Israel achieve peace with its neighbors, comes from his belief that it's the right policy for the United States. The idea that supporters of Israel have somehow distorted U.S. foreign policy, or that they are responsible for the debacle in Iraq, is just wrong."

The campaign believes the ad was placed there because the campaign paid to have their ads shown with books having to do with politics.

It turns out that anti-war activists who want to take on the Democrats have an ally within the House Democrats themselves: Representative Lynn Woolsey of California.

The Hill reports that Woolsey approved of a suggestion that activists challenge incumbent Democrats in the primaries. "You folks should go after the Democrats," she said on a conference call last month, organized by the Network of Spiritual Progressives.

"I’d hate to lose the majority, but I’m telling you, if we don’t stand up to our responsibility, maybe that’s the lesson to be learned," Woolsey said.

It turns out that Fred Thompson — who was courted to join the race by many social conservatives and has been going after Christian-right support — isn't a regular churchgoer, according to Bloomberg News.

Thompson attends church with his mother when he visits her in Tennessee, but does not belong to any church or attend one in Virginia, where he currently resides.

"I know that I'm right with God and the people I love," Thompson said while campaigning in Greenville, South Carolina. However, Thompson added that it's "just the way I am not to talk about some of these things."

This is interesting: In a major speech in Iowa today, Barack Obama will ratchet up his criticism of the Beltway pundit and political establishment for supporting the invasion of Iraq, according to advance excerpts of Obama's remarks.

Obama will also take aim at the notion that D.C. "experience" is a quality that should be desired in the next President, saying that such "experience' perversely left pundits and politicos in thrall to the conventional wisdom that to oppose the war would leave them "looking weak."

"Conventional thinking in Washington lined up for war," Obama will say. "The pundits judged the political winds to be blowing in the direction of the President. Despite -- or perhaps because of how much experience they had in Washington, too many politicians feared looking weak and failed to ask hard questions. Too many took the President at his word instead of reading the intelligence for themselves. Congress gave the President the authority to go to war. Our only opportunity to stop the war was lost.”

Note Obama's interesting formulation here: That "despite -- or perhaps because of" their Washington experience, pundits and politicos made the wrong choice to support the war. Obama, clearly, is seeking to expand his indictment of the D.C. political and foreign policy establishment, amplifying his argument that for all their Washington experience, many Beltway elite figures were unable to exercise sound judgment and oppose the Iraq folly. Also noteworthy and unusual in a Presidential candidate: Obama's direct targeting of the D.C. punditry.

Obama will also propose that withdrawal from Iraq begin immediately, to be completed by the end of next year, as well as proposing a new constitutional convention in Iraq, to be convened with the United Nations.

More speech excerpts after the jump.

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If you thought the scandal surrounding Senator David Vitter (R-LA) had died down, think again.

Former New Orleans prostitute Wendy Ellis, a.k.a. Wendy Cortez, held a press conference outside Vitter's Washington office on Tuesday, accusing the Senator of carrying on an affair with her between July and November 1999 — shortly before he ran for Congress on a family-values platform.

"I want the truth to be known," Ellis said. "It was a pure sexual relationship. He would come in and do his business."

Vitter has denied Ellis' specific allegations, though he has admitted to a "serious sin" in his past, for which he has received forgiveness from his wife and God.

Ellis did not comment when asked if Hustler publisher Larry Flynt, who provided documentation of a polygraph test, was paying her for her story. Ellis will appear in an upcoming issue of Hustler.

In a blog post on Monday, former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) announced that she will not be seeking the Green Party nomination for president in 2008:

For months I have answered questions about my intentions for this race in 2008 by saying that while I am not yet in, neither am I out of this race.

After careful consideration about the political conditions facing our nation, the level of development within the Party, my own readiness to take on such a daunting task and my own long postponed personal priorities, I write to inform the Party that I must at this time withdraw my name from consideration for the Party's 2008 Presidential Nominating contest.

I remain committed to our collective work of transforming our nation and to mobilizing peace loving Americans, justice seeking activists and others disfranchised by the powers which currently control our nation toward that end.

The new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg polls of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina shows Hillary Clinton leading in all three states, with a fairly close race against John Edwards in Iowa and landslide margins in the other two. On the Republican side, Mitt Romney leads Rudy Giuliani in Iowa and New Hampshire but barely registers in South Carolina, where Rudy narrowly trails Fred Thompson.

Full numbers after the jump.

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The Democratic National Committee has just sent over a statement in response to our story below reporting that Rudy is sharing a stage at a 9/11 event today with Ann Coulter, who's repeatedly bashed 9/11 widows.

From DNC spokesperson Karen Finney:

"Ann Coulter's comments are despicable and un-American. If Rudy is going to make 9/11 a cornerstone of his campaign and share the stage with Coulter he should clearly and unequivocally denounce her hateful remarks."

Still no word from the Rudy camp on this.

The Republican Governors Association is now running their own ad in support of Governor Ernie Fletcher (R-KY), who has been trailing badly in the polls against Democratic nominee Steve Beshear:

The ad features a schoolgirl giving a "report" on Beshear and his Ten-Commandments-removing, soft-on-criminals, tax-raising ways. "Steve Beshear: He's done a lot to Kentucky," the girl concludes. "I mean, for Kentucky."

As the Lexington Herald-Leader notes, one person is not named at all in the ad: Fletcher, who has been dogged by scandals during his term.

Fred Thompson's campaign says they're not buying Mitt Romney's claim that the creator of the "Phoney Fred" Web site acted without authorization from his campaign.

Team Thompson -- or perhaps determined to distract from his Osama "due process" comment the other day -- is just out with a new statement demanding Romney ax the people responsible for the site:

"There is no room in our party for this kind of smut. As the top executive of his own campaign, Gov. Romney should take full responsibility for this type of high-tech gutter politics and issue an immediate apology. In addition, Gov. Romney should exercise some of his much-touted executive acumen, take control of his flailing campaign, and immediately terminate anyone and everyone related to this outrage.

"This latest episode only serves to prove what many voters are already figuring out: Mitt Romney will do anything, say anything, smear any opponent and flip flop on any position in order to win. The American people in general and the Republican Party in particular deserve better than this."

We agree that whoever came up with all those silly alliterative insults of Fred is perhaps guilty of a firing offense. Either way, this is some pretty hot rhetoric for a campaign that only just launched. The Thompson campaign's full statement after the jump.

Late Update: Romney spokesman Kevin Madden has just emailed us a response to Thompson's statement, rapping the Thompson campaign for engaging in attack politics on the anniversary of September 11. Madden:

“Today is a day of remembrance, and should be a day without political statements or attacks on opposing campaigns.”

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Fred Thompson is enjoying a nice bump in the polls coming off of his official announcement — a new CNN survey has him statistically tied with Rudy Giuliani among Republicans nationwide. Rudy has 28%, Thompson 27%, McCain 15%, and Romney 11%.

Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton has a two-to-one lead over Barack Obama. Hillary has 46%, Obama 23%, and Edwards 16%.

Also, this survey would indicate that Hillary, not Obama, is the more electable Democrat — although the differences are still within the margin of error. Hillary beats Giuliani 50%-46%, but Giuliani tops Obama 49%-45%. Hillary beats Fred Thompson 55%-42%, while Obama leads Thompson 53%-41%.

Rudy Giuliani may be running for President on his 9/11 performance, but that hasn't stopped him from planning to spend part of the sixth anniversary of the attacks with a high-profile pundit who's repeatedly bashed the 9/11 widows, calling them "self-obsessed" and accusing them of "enjoying their husband's deaths."

According to Sean Hannity's Web site and to the New York Daily News, Rudy is one of the speakers at Hannity's event this afternoon commemorating the attacks, the summer's final "Freedom Concert." Another one of the concert's planned speakers is pundit Ann Coulter.

From Hannity's site:

Here are some of the things Coulter wrote about the 9/11 widows in her book Godless:

These self-obsessed women seemed genuinely unaware that 9/11 was an attack on our nation and acted as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them.

And:

[T]hey believed the entire country was required to marinate in their exquisite personal agony. Apparently, denouncing Bush was an important part of their closure process.

And:

These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzis. I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much.

Coulter has also claimed the 9/11 widows "use" the fact that they lost their husbands to make their points heard.

Coulter's comments were so harsh that they even drew condemnation from New York's former Republican governor, George Pataki, who coped with the disaster along with Mayor Rudy. "I was really stunned and I don't think it's at all fair or accurate,” Pataki said of Coulter's comments in June 2006, according to the Associated Press.

The 9/11 widows have been sharply critical of Rudy in the past.

We've emailed a Rudy spokesperson to ask for comment. We'll keep you posted.

Late Update: Over at Think Progress, Matt Corley notes that Joe Lieberman is attending the Hannity/Coulter event, too -- only hours after decrying "terrible, partisan, political sniping."

It needs to be said that Barack Obama made some pretty solid points when questioning General Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker today -- points that are probably on the minds of many people.

First Obama pointed out the absurdity of the hearing being held around September 11:

"I think we should not have had this discussion on 9/11, or 9/10 or 9/12. Because I think it perpetuates this notion that somehow the original decision to go into Iraq was directly related to the attacks on 9/11."

Obama also made this rather salient point:

"It is not clear to me that the primary success you've pointed to, in Anbar, has anything to do with the surge."

The best moment, though, might have been when he asked what exactly has to happen for us to withdraw from Iraq:

"If we're there the same place a year from now can you please describe for me any circumstances in which you would make a different recommendation and suggest it is now time for us to start withdrawing our troops? Any scenario. Any set of benchmarks, that have not been met."

At this point, Crocker hemmed and hawed a bit -- after all, it's a tough question. But alas, when Obama tried to press him for specifics, Joe Biden stepped in and, as a senior Senator, basically bailed Crocker out by saying that they were running out of time.

As the Senate turns.

Oh, and Hillary's coming up soon. Stay with us.

By now you've heard about PhoneyFred.org, the website spoofing Fred Thompson that was created by a business partner of one of Mitt Romney's top South Carolina operatives.

The site, which whacked Thompson for, well, just about everything, offered readers just about every alliterative insult it could come up with: Fancy Fred, Five O'Clock Fred, Flip-Flop Fred, etc., etc.

So was thing the work of the Romney campaign? No, says Kevin Madden, a spokesman for the Romney camp. Madden tells us that when the campaign got media inquiries about the site they traced it back to its original owner and voiced disapproval about it.

"The site has no direct affiliation to our campaign, and we had no knowledge of its development," Madden emails. "We made it clear that we did not approve of the site and asked for immediate action to make sure it was again in no way affiliated with the campaign."

The site's now down, so from here on out you'll have to get the latest revelations about Fred's phoniness from more traditional sources.

Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) leads his Democratic opponents by only a narrow margin in a new Rasmussen poll. The poll has Coleman beating Al Franken 46%-41%, and topping trial attorney Mike Ciresi 46%-42% — results that are within the margin of error and showing the incumbent below 50%.

The poll gives Coleman a 54% favorable rating and a 46% unfavorable ratings, compared to Franken's 46%-47% rating and Ciresi's 40%-43% numbers.

Six months ago, Rasmussen had Coleman leading Franken by a 46%-36% margin.

Coleman is going to be a top target for Democrats in 2008, due his strong support for the Bush Administration on the Iraq War despite coming up from a Dem-leaning state.

As noted below, Hillary and Barack Obama have been under some pressure from Chris Dodd and others to show some leadership and demand that Congress refuse to fund the war this fall without a date-certain for withdrawal.

Now Obama's Senate office has just sent out a new and extended opening statement on this matter. Key excerpt:

I can only support a policy that begins an immediate removal of our troops from Iraq's civil war, and initiates a sustained drawdown of our military presence.

It is long past time to turn the page in Iraq, where each day we see the consequences of fighting a war that should never have been authorized and should never have been waged. We in Congress must take action to change the president's failed policy.

Like Hillary, Obama still won't rule out voting for Iraq measures that don't contain a date-certain, but as Ben Smith notes, the tough language may at least partly mollify his critics. Obama's extended statement after the jump.

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This is interesting: Some new numbers from this week's New York Times poll have just been released, and they suggest that Rudy is having no success in selling himself to GOP primary voters as the candidate best prepared to battle terrorism.

The survey finds that a solid majority of Republican voters -- 61% -- say he would do about the same job as his GOP rivals in handling the terror threat. Only 26% said he would do a better job.

The poll strongly suggests that Rudy's efforts to campaign on his 9/11 performance are translating into voter impressions of him as a strong leader. Fully a quarter of Rudy supporters cite his 9/11 moment as the reason they're backing him, and he's seen as a strong leader by 82% of Republicans.

Nonetheless, the above numbers suggest that Rudy's 9/11 campaign isn't persuading people that he's also the superior Terminator of Terrorists, as he's vying to be seen.

Representative Jim Walsh (R-NY) has returned from a trip to Iraq with a strong message: There is little evidence of any real progress being made there, and America should get out.

"Before I went, I was not prepared to say it's time to start bringing our troops home," said Walsh. "I am prepared to say that now. It's time."

The weeks-long P.R. campaign to convince the public that the "surge" has shown results has failed miserably, according to this new Associated Press poll released today. It finds that barely more than a third -- 36% -- think the escalation has "helped stabilize the situation" in Iraq.

Key number: The survey also finds that only slight majorities of conservatives think the surge has shown success.

The poll was taken in the runup to General Petraeus' testimony yesterday and today. It'll be interesting to see whether surveys register any kind of meaningful shift in public opinion at all in the days ahead. The AP poll also finds that 59% think that history will judge the war a complete or partial failure, suggesting that public opinion is pretty locked in at this point -- no matter how bright the gleam on Petraeus' medals.

A new Rasmussen poll shows Democrats are overwhelmingly favored to pick up the seat of retiring Senator John Warner (R-VA), if they can get former Dem Governor Mark Warner (no relation) to run. Mark Warner beats Congressman Tom Davis by a margin of 57%-30%, and tops former Governor Jim Gilmore by a 54%-34% margin.

Rasmussen also has Virginia looking like a swing state in next year's presidential race, with a definite chance of a Democratic win. Hillary Clinton is beating Rudy Giuliani there 44%-41%, and edges Fred Thompson 46%-44% — results that are within the margin of error. Dems have not carried Virginia since the Lyndon Johnson landslide of 1964.

Ouch. A new Rasmussen poll shows Mitt Romney losing his home state of Massachusetts, where he served a single four-year term as Governor, by a landslide margin in a general election. Hillary Clinton gets 60% support in the poll, compared to only 34% for Romney. His performance is statistically identical to Southern conservative Fred Thompson, who loses the New England state 58%-33% against Clinton.

Romney has actively run against Massachusetts liberalism, and even ran an ad attacking the state back in May. If the Republicans nominate Romney, could Massachusetts end up being his single worst state?

Update: Romney spokesman Kevin Madden has responded to the poll. "Massachusetts is a very 'blue' state when it comes to presidential electoral politics, so I’d expect any Republican candidate would encounter a big challenge in a state that has a huge Democrat voter registration advantage like that," he told Election Central via e-mail.

New Hampshire state Senator Peter Burling (D) is objecting to Hillary Clinton's appearance yesterday at a rally in Florida. The top six Democratic candidates have all pledged to avoid states that violate the Democratic National Committee's official calendar. "I really think that Ms. Clinton has said one thing and done another," said Burling, who has endorsed John Edwards.

New Hampshire Democratic chairman Ray Buckley said Clinton was not technically breaking that pledge, as the DNC has given Florida until the end of the month to change their primary date from January 29 to February 5 or later. Only then will they be in violation if they haven't complied.

Fred Thompson has responded to Mike Huckabee's offer/challenge to hold a one-on-one Lincoln-Douglas debate: No.

Thompson emphasized that his praise of the format last week on Hannity & Colmes had more to do with a general election than in the context of the primaries. "In terms of some individual in a crowded primary situation, that's a different situation," Thompson said. "We'll have an opportunity to exchange our views many times before this is over."

House Republicans are introducing a resolution to condemn an ad that MoveOn.org ran in The New York Times, referring to General David Petraeus as "General Betray Us" and accusing him of playing politics with his statistics regarding the surge. The ad was frequently referred to by Republican members at yesterday's committee hearing with the general.

"The despicable attack MoveOn.org launched against General Petraeus today should be condemned by all Members of Congress, including the Democratic leadership," said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH). "I urge Members on both sides of the aisle to join in support of this resolution so the House speaks with one voice rejecting the character assassination tactics employed by this extremist group."

The Hillary Clinton campaign's clean-up operation surrounding Norman Hsu continues. In addition to giving away $23,000 to charity that she had received directly from Hsu over the years, the campaign will now return $850,000 in bundled donations, given by an estimated 260 people. Those individual donors will then be free to re-donate if they wish.

In today's response to the Petraeus testimony, Barack Obama said he'd only support future Congressional measures on Iraq that started withdrawal immediately, but he stopped short of saying he wouldn't back something without a date-certain for withdrawal.

That's not good enough for the Dodd campaign, whose communications director, Hari Sevugan, has just emailed over this challenge to Obama by name and to Hillary by implication:

While we are glad that Senator Obama has called for a change of course in Iraq, he isn't clear as to what he will do to make that happen, or when.

Rhetoric and highly nuanced statements are not going to end this war -- strong leadership and clarity will...We urge Senator Obama, and all the other candidates in the Senate, to state clearly and directly whether or not they will support Iraq legislation if it does not include a firm, enforceable deadline to begin and complete the redeployment of troops from Iraq.

Not clear why he's naming Obama but not Hillary, but nonetheless, Dodd's aggressive insistence on a date-certain for withdrawal has won him plaudits among bloggers and antiwar activists, and this will likely win him more.

Harry Reid on Petraeus' testimony:

“Today, we heard that the Bush Administration likely intends to keep at least 130,000 troops in Iraq through next summer. Our enemies around the globe gain great advantage by having the United States mired in an Iraqi civil war. Clearly, continuing to pursue the President’s flawed escalation policy until at least July 2008 is not in the national interest of the United States.

“U.S. national security requires that we truly and immediately change course in Iraq, so that America can more effectively dedicate our resources to other, more pressing challenges we face across the globe. The longer we keep over 130,000 troops in Iraq, the less incentive Iraqis have to engage in the needed political reconciliation and the longer we avoid dealing with several pressing threats to our national security: Bin Laden remains at large and his terrorist organization has rebuilt its strength to pre-9/11 levels, Afghanistan’s stability is being undermined as the Taliban and narco-traffickers grow in strength, and Iran and other countries and groups pursue the acquisition of nuclear weapons technology.”

That's gotta be the statement that's made the case most explicitly today that the war is helping our enemies.

Late Update: From Rahm Emanuel's statement: “General Petraeus has testified that he will push for our presence in Iraq to continue for the long term, at a cost of more than $12 billion per month, and far too many young American lives...It is time for a new direction in Iraq, not another year of the status quo.”

Looks like Senator David Vitter (R-LA) may have to do a whole new round of repenting and Lord's-forgiveness-asking in public:

NEW ORLEANS -- A former New Orleans prostitute who says she had an affair with Sen. David Vitter has passed a lie-detector test and will provide details of the four-month relationship at a press conference Tuesday, according to Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt.

Wendy Cortez, whose real name is Wendy Ellis, says she had a sexual relationship with Vitter, R-La., in 1999, when he was a state legislator.

Copies of the results of Cortez's polygraph test, which she took at Flynt's request, will be provided to reporters at the news conference at Flynt's office in Beverly Hills, Calif., Hustler said in a news release Monday.

But remember, the only reason Republicans who demanded Larry Craig's ouster aren't howling for Vitter's head is because Craig did something illegal and Vitter didn't...

Uh oh -- trouble for Rudy. A key aspect of the Giuliani game plan is to compensate for his weakness in southern and conservative-dominated states by winning in coastal states like California, New York, and Florida.

But a new Survey USA poll finds the post-announcement Thompson closing in on Rudy in California:

Giuliani 28%

Thompson 26%

Mccain 18%

Romney 14%

On the Dem side, Hillary holds a commanding lead over Barack Obama in the state, 51%-27%, with Edwards at 14%.

Now this is fun — and almost enough to make you believe in omens. As Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) was delivering his retirement announcement at the Omaha Press Club today, a caricature portrait of the Senator, hanging on the wall behind him with other caricatures of state politicians, slipped and fell to the ground.

Hagel's reaction: "I would have preferred to have somebody else tumble down."

Fred Thompson has now taken a novel position among the presidential race: Osama Bin Laden, when captured, should not be killed on sight, but should instead be put through a trial.

"No, no, no, we've got due process to go through," Thompson said in the wake of allegations that he did not place a high priority on killing Bin Laden. "I'm not suggesting those things happen simultaneously." So is Thompson soft on Bin Laden? Apparently not. Thompson spokesman Todd Harris offered an interesting explanation for Thompson's position: He said Thompson's approach would help our national security.

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The Dem Congressional leadership is now starting to weigh in on the Petraeus testimony. Here's Nancy Pelosi's statement:

“Last November, the American people voted for a New Direction in Iraq, but the President chose instead to escalate the war by reverting to a ‘surge’ strategy that had failed four times before. The President promised the American people that this surge would be a short-term effort to provide space for political reform and national reconciliation in Iraq. Today, despite overwhelming evidence that neither goal has been achieved, General Petraeus testified that the surge would last at least until next summer. This is simply unacceptable...

"At home, an overwhelming majority of Americans want us to responsibly redeploy our troops so we can begin to address the dire readiness state of our military and refocus on fighting terrorism around the world. Standing in the way is the stubborn refusal of President Bush to change course, regardless of the facts.

“The President’s strategy in Iraq has failed. It is time to change the mission of our troops to one that will promote regional stability and combat terrorism, so that the numbers of our brave men and women in uniform in Iraq can be reduced on a much more aggressive timetable than the one outlined today by General Petraeus.”

Okay. It's true, as Pelosi says, that the President isn't going to change course. So what is the Dem Congressional leadership prepared to do to force it to happen?

On the trail this afternoon, Fred Thompson addressed some of those nagging questions about the report today saying he did consulting work for a colleague representing two Libyans implicated in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people. Here's how he dealt with it:

The New York Times reported on Sunday that Thompson provided advice to a colleague at the Washington law firm of Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn when he worked there in the early 1990s.

"As I recall, one of the senior partners at a law firm, asked me questions about -- I believe it was about -- venue; where a trial like that would take place," Thompson said.

Thompson said he had a background in handling that type of question and was only consulting with the other attorney.

But does this really change the story in any appreciable way?

Larry Craig's full legal request to withdraw his guilty plea has now been submitted in court. Here's the key quote saying the media made him do it:

Shortly after Senator Craig's meeting with the Idaho Statesman, in June 2007, Senator Craig was arrested and charged with interference with privacy and disorderly conduct, based on an arrest stemming from an undercover operation targeting gay men in a public men's restroom at the Minneapolis International Airport. Despite Senator Craig's denial of any inappropriate behavior, he was panicked that such allegations would be made public and that they would provide the Idaho Statesman with an excuse to publish its baseless article.

While in this state of intense anxiety, Senator Craig felt compelled to grasp the lifeline offered to him by the police officer; namely that if he were to submit to an interview and plead guilty, then none of the officer's allegations would be made public. Thus, rather than seek legal advice from an attorney to assist him in publicly fighting these charges and potentially protract the issue, Senator Craig's panic drove him to accept a guilty plea, the terms of which offered him what he thought was a private, expeditious resolution of this matter.

Senator Craig maintains his innocence with respect to these charges, and it would be manifestly unjust not to allow his guilty plea, entered in a state of fear, to be withdrawn.

You can read the whole thing in our TPM Document Collection. Enjoy!