If President Obama ever calls Joe Sestak with a request to exit the 2010 Senate race in Pennsylvania, the congressman already has an answer: no.

In an interview on Fox News Radio this morning, the Democrat, who's a more-than-likely primary challenger to newly minted Democrat Arlen Specter, said his final decision hinges on Pennsylvanians, not the leader of the free world.

"So I will have to defer to the president's desire and say, I think that Mr. President, I have great respect for you, but . . . don't preclude any opportunities for us Pennsylvanians," Sestak said. "And I need to do this."

A group called WhoSigned.org says it will publicize the names of people signing petitions for Referendum 71, which seeks a public vote to overturn a new expansion of Washington's same-sex partnerships.

WhoSigned.org says it's partnering with the gay rights group KnowThyNeighbor.org to put the names online.

In a statement Monday, WhoSigned.org says it expects people who see the names online to contact the signers for what may be uncomfortable talks about gay rights.

Sponsors of Referendum 71 have until July 25 to collect about 121,000 signatures to make the fall ballot. The referendum seeks to overturn the latest expansion of the domestic partner law, which would give partners the same state rights as married couples.

ESSENCE.COM: What do you think of Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court nominee?
ANITA HILL: I think it's an excellent choice, just on the face of the selection. Here's a person who has years of experience on the bench, and has distinguished herself in private practice as well, and has been a prosecutor. I think she's got an incredible breadth of experience. Clearly she's an exceptional mind, having done very well at her undergraduate school, Princeton, and law school at Yale. But that's just the beginning. There are other things that I think make her a great choice.

Occasionally, we try to prove or disprove the trope that men read Playboy for the incisive articles. Today, having read Guy Cimbalo's epic work on the 10 conservative women he'd like to hate-fuck, we're guessing not too many men even care.

Because it's not as if Cimbalo does anything in his piece but slag on these women for having the audacity to be attractive, conservative, opinionated and loud about those opinions. In other words, if he didn't agree with us mouthy liberal broads, he wouldn't want to fuck us either, and apparently prefers his women quiet and agreeable. And that – no matter what your politics are – is just gross.

For instance, on Michelle Malkin, he opines:

Worse than fucking Eva Braun.

Playboy has concocted a list of GOP women they "hate to love."

"So Right, It's Wrong," they say.

And the list is:

1. Michelle Malkin

2. Megyn Kelly

3. Mary Katharine Ham

4. Amanda Carpenter

5. Elisabeth Hasselbeck

6. Dana Perino

7. Laura Ingraham

8. Pamela Geller

9. Michele Bachmann

10. Peggy Noonan

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs is declining to say what it cost for President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, to eat dinner and take in a play in New York over the weekend.

Asked if he would outline the costs, Gibbs said Monday the Obamas would have preferred using a commercial airline shuttle to New York and back but the Secret Service would not allow such unprotected travel.

Nancy Reagan told Vanity Fair that Obama missed an opportunity when she wasn't invited to a March ceremony where Obama said he'd allow comprehensive stem-cell research — but that the commander in chief later apologized for the oversight.

“I would have gone, and you know I don’t like to travel,” said Reagan, 87, a well-known stem-cell advocate. “Politically it would have been a good thing for him to do.

"Oh, well, nobody’s perfect," she said.

It isn't the first time Obama's insulted the former first lady — he cracked a joke in November 2008 about Reagan's reported consultations with astrologers during her time in the White House.

"I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any séances," Obama joked on November 7 at a press conference. Obama later apologized for his "careless and off-handed remark."

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D) insisted over the weekend that he has no plans to challenge Gov. David Paterson (D) in a primary, reports the New York Daily News.

Cuomo said his "plan" is to run for reelection next year even though most analysts assume he wants to be governor.

Perhaps Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) knew something about this?

Update: Politicker NY reports Cuomo promised Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) that he would not run against Paterson.

Katie Couric, in her commencement speech today at Princeton, made a few jokes at the expense of Rush Limbaugh, Donald Rumsfeld and Sarah Palin.
– When Princeton called to invite me, I was thrilled. It also gave me a perfect excuse for turning down Harvard and Yale — my safety schools! And since I’ve been called a cougar lately in the tabloid press — today I’m very happy to be an honorary tiger! Coming here was a real no-brainer! After all, I can see New Jersey from my house!

– There may be some opportunities in the Republican Party. They’re still looking for an effective spokesman, and the only person they can find so far is Rush Limbaugh … and he won’t take the job because he doesn’t want to give up his prescription plan.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s comments last month to RNC state chairmen calling for the party to turn the corner “on regret, recrimination, self-pity and self-doubt” and to declare “an end to the era of Republicans looking backward” weren’t ill-advised or inappropriate. They were just irrelevant.
That’s because the chairman of the RNC simply doesn’t have the authority or power to dictate to Republican Congressional leaders or to the Club for Growth how to behave. Nor can he tell talk-show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), former Secretary of State Colin Powell or former Vice President Dick Cheney what they can say and how they can say it.
Republicans are a mess right now for one reason: They are focused on what divides them from each other rather than on what unites them in their opposition to President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.

Senate Democrats are pressing ahead with ambitious plans to bring health care reform to the floor in July, vowing not to allow President Barack Obama’s push to quickly confirm Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court to steer them off course.

Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) are both committed to marking up separate health care bills in their committees this month. Both veteran Democrats have planned a series of hearings and Senator-only meetings to settle on the policies that will comprise the legislation.

Ensign’s trip to Iowa on Monday continues to stoke speculation that the rising conservative leader is testing for a presidential run in 2012.

Ensign will speak before a conservative organization in Republican-friendly Sioux City, and make a few other stops. He admits he has thought about being president — what politician hasn’t? — he recently suggested to an interviewer.

Republicans are desperately in search of new leaders as they work to rebuild the party. Ensign offers conservative credentials and a TV-ready fresh face. He has been a regular presence this year on the political news shows.

While 99 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds have profiles on social networks, only 22 percent use Twitter, according to a new survey from Pace University and the Participatory Media Network.

This is consistent with what some observers have said about Twitter's recent push from early-adopter territory into the mainstream: that it's catching on with a slightly older demographic than the teenagers and college students who formed Facebook's initial core.
But of those young people using Twitter, the survey found that 85 percent of them follow friends, 54 percent follow celebrities, 29 percent follow family members, and 29 percent follow companies–not stellar news for the brands and marketers that have flocked to Twitter as the latest "conversational" destination.

For Air America Radio, Evan Montvel-Cohen is the story that just won't go away. As co-founder of the liberal talk radio network, his tenure was marked by the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club Scandal, where $875,000 in taxpayer funds were diverted from the Bronx-based children's charity in order to pay the salaries of Al Franken and others inside the fledgling firm.
Though there's no indication Franken took part in the scheme, he clearly benefitted from it, but expressed no remorse, much less any desire to repay the money.

When his show airs tomorrow, Bill O'Reilly will most certainly decry the death of Kansas doctor George Tiller, who was killed Sunday while attending church services with his wife. Tiller, O'Reilly will say, was a man who was guilty of barbaric acts, but a civilized society does not resort to lawless murder, even against its worst members. And O'Reilly, we can assume, will genuinely mean this.

But there's no other person who bears as much responsibility for the characterization of Tiller as a savage on the loose, killing babies willy-nilly thanks to the collusion of would-be sophisticated cultural elites, a bought-and-paid-for governor and scofflaw secular journalists. Tiller's name first appeared on "The Factor" on Feb. 25, 2005. Since then, O'Reilly and his guest hosts have brought up the doctor on 28 more episodes, including as recently as April 27 of this year. Almost invariably, Tiller is described as "Tiller the Baby Killer."

As it happened, plenty of people in the Senate were begging Obama to offer Clinton the job. Obama's aides believed that many Senate Democrats thought Clinton had extended her presidential campaign far beyond the point where she had lost the election. Her negative advertising wasted Democratic money, threatened to undermine the party's nominee, and suggested that she was disloyal to the party. They were unwilling to offer the junior New York senator a position ahead of her lowly rank, and she stood little chance of becoming majority leader. 'There was a lot of encouragement from inside the Senate to get her into this job,' said one senior Obama aide. 'They wanted her out of there.'"

A federal grand jury has subpoenaed records from Rep. Peter J. Visclosky ’s congressional and campaign offices, along with several employees, in an ongoing probe of now-defunct lobbying firm that specialized in defense-related earmarks, Visclosky, D-Ind., said Friday.

The firm, the PMA Group, once a powerful lobbying shop, sought earmarks from Visclosky and contributed to his campaign, though Visclosky has said he would return at least some contributions related to the firm.

“It is my intention to fully cooperate with the investigation consistent with my constitutional obligations to Congress and my duties and responsibilities to my constituents,” Visclosky said in a statement.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs walked back controversial comments made by Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor in 2001 when she said, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.”

“I think he’d say her word choice in 2001 was poor,” Gibbs said, suggesting his statement was based on conversations he’d had with people who have talked to Sotomayor. “She was simply making the point that experiences are relevant to the process of judging. Your personal exp have a tendency to make you more aware of certain facts and certain cases, that your experiences impact your understanding.”

What should a principled conservative do? Use the upcoming hearings not to deny her the seat, but to illuminate her views. No magazine gossip from anonymous court clerks. No "temperament" insinuations. Nothing ad hominem. The argument should be elevated, respectful and entirely about judicial philosophy…..
Make the case for individual vs. group rights, for justice vs. empathy. Then vote to confirm Sotomayor solely on the grounds — consistently violated by the Democrats, including Sen. Obama — that a president is entitled to deference on his Supreme Court nominees, particularly one who so thoroughly reflects the mainstream views of the winning party. Elections have consequences

Former DNC chairman Howard Dean is coming out with a new book that makes the case for Democrats' ambitious plans to reform the country's health care system.

"America has had 'socialized' medicine since 1964,'" Dean writes in the book, according to a release issued Friday. "'It's called Medicare; it covers every American over 65, and they are very happy with the program. The rest of America deserves a similar option.'"

The 2004 presidential candidate's book will be electronically published first, released as an e-book on June 5 and then as a paperback on July 1. The book will also be made available through an Apple iPhone application.

Dean, the former governor of Vermont, was a practicing physician before entering politics.

Progressive health care reform groups demanded on Thursday that Washington’s NBC television affiliate refuse to air a 30-minute infomercial funded by a conservative group opposed to creating a public insurance plan.

The Service Employees International Union sent a letter to NBC4, arguing that the station has a responsibility to pull the documentary-style commercial paid for by Conservatives for Patients’ Rights. The ad, set to run Sunday after “Meet the Press,” “will be false, deceitful, and a distortion,” the union’s attorney wrote in the letter.

The SEIU has not seen the ad, but is drawing the conclusion from CPR’s record of running “demonstrably false” ads. The station has the duty to protect the public from misleading advertising, the letter argues.

Memo to US Press secetary Robert Gibbs

1. Congratulations. Your presidential regime has managed to secure the most supine, slobbering, spineless, unquestioning media coverage since Enver Hoxha's Albania. A report last month by the Center for Media and Public Affairs said Obama has received more coverage than his two predecessors combined.

With his race for U.S. Senate still likely a long way from being resolved, Al Franken continues fundraising — but this time he’s got a partner. He’s joining forces with California Sen. Barbara Boxer to form a fundraising committee that’ll fund his ongoing Senate contest battle and her 2010 re-election bid, CQ Politics reports.

Franken spokesperson Jess McIntosh says Boxer is a strong Franken supporter and confirms there’ll be a July fundraiser for the duo.

But to detractors, Judge Sotomayor’s sharp-tongued and occasionally combative manner — some lawyers have described her as “difficult” and “nasty” — raises questions about her judicial temperament and willingness to listen. Her demeanor on the bench is an issue that conservatives opposed to her nomination see as a potential vulnerability — and one that Mr. Obama carefully considered before selecting her.

Some believe that we should be a monolithic Party; I disagree. While we all might wish for a Party comprised only of people who agree with us 100 percent of the time, this is a pipedream. Each Party is fundamentally a coalition of individuals rallying around core principles with some variations along the way. My job as Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee is to recruit candidates who have the best chance of winning and holding seats – and to do so in as many states as possible. Earlier this month, two Republicans candidates emerged for the open Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez in the Sunshine State: Marco Rubio, the young and talented Hispanic former Speaker of the state House, and Charlie Crist, the state’s popular Governor.

"That wasn't me," President Barack Obama said on his 100th day in office, disclaiming responsibility for the huge budget deficit waiting for him on Day One. It actually was him — and the other Democrats controlling Congress the previous two years — who shaped a budget so out of balance.

And as a presidential candidate and president-elect, he backed the twilight Bush-era stimulus plan that made the deficit deeper, all before he took over and promoted spending plans that have made it much deeper still.

Obama met citizens at an Arnold, Mo., high school Wednesday in advance of his prime-time news conference. Both forums were a platform to review his progress at the 100-day mark and look ahead.
His assertion that his proposed budget "will cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term" is an eyeball-roller among many economists, given the uncharted terrain of trillion-dollar deficits and economic calamity that the government is negotiating.

I pretty much concur with Kathryn, but would observe, if Tom Ridge is determined to return to public office, why must he seek a Senate seat? Why must he jump into a primary where there's already an experienced candidate with a great fundraising network and strong grassroots support?

(To put Kathryn's response in a manner Ridge is familiar with, picture a color-coded chart, and I'd put her ire somewhere between "elevated" and "severe.")

Gov. Ed Rendell is term-limited. The only Republican who has set up an exploratory committee for the gubernatorial race is Rep. Jim Gerlach.

Or why not go back to his old House district and knock off freshman Democrat Kathy Dahlkemper?

Meanwhile, in Virginia, Republican Bob McDonnell continues to lead all Democratic challengers, with his lead ranging from 5 to 12 percentage points. Closest is southerner Creigh Deeds; farthest back is Brian Moran. Terry McAuliffe leads the primary poll, and trails McDonnell, 46 percent to 39 percent.

Polling in this state has been pretty consistent — McDonnell is almost always in the low to mid-40s, Democrats are almost always in the low to high 30s.

I do not believe that the United States should have a policy of using waterboarding to extract information from captured combatants in the Global War on Terror (GWOT). Let me explain why.

Any decent socie

North Korea threatened Wednesday to conduct nuclear and missile tests and start an uranium-enrichment program in addition to its existing plutonium-based one, unless the U.N. apologizes for criticizing its recent rocket launch, dramatically raising its stake in the worsening standoff over its atomic programs.

Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry said in a statement the country "will be compelled to take additional self-defensive measures" unless the U.N. Security Council apologizes immediately. "The measures will include nuclear tests and test-firings of intercontinental ballistic missiles."

Congressional Democrats turned up the pressure on the Obama administration Tuesday to start a criminal investigation by a special counsel into harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects.

It would be a conflict of interest for President Barack Obama's Justice Department to investigate lawyers from the Bush administration, even though they no longer work for the government, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee said.

Similarly and contrarianly, I wonder if today’s Arlen Specter party switch, this time to the president’s party, won’t end up being bad for President Obama and the Democrats. With the likely seating of Al Franken from Minnesota, Democrats will have 60 seats in the Senate, giving Obama unambiguous governing majorities in both bodies. He’ll be responsible for everything. GOP obstructionism will go away as an issue, and Democratic defections will become the constant worry and story line.

California Department of Finance statistics, released in December, show that California recorded domestic outmigration of about 135,000 people. It was the fourth consecutive year that more Americans left the state than moved in.

Each person who leaves the state has a different story. Bertha at Base Line U-Haul in San Bernardino declined to give her last name but said she has noticed people who recently moved to California are moving east again.

One woman who made the trip from Florida didn't find what she was looking for and rented a trailer for the return trip. Several families have returned to Colorado recently, she said.

Alaina Harris, now of Oklahoma City, said she grew up in Vacaville and went to college at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa.

She said she moved to Oklahoma City to take a public-relations job after earning a master's degree from Georgetown University in 2007.

"I was able to purchase a home out here, which is something I would not be able to do at my age in Cal

In the last few months, he said, nearly a dozen parishioners have told them they plan to return to their homelands because jobs in construction, restaurants and the janitorial trade have dried up here. Others say they are discouraging their relatives from coming here because of the economic slowdown and workplace immigration raids that have snared scores of unauthorized workers.

The board of Southern California's major water wholesaler voted Tuesday to effectively cut water deliveries across the region by 10% this summer.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has warned for months that the state's drought and environmentally driven cutbacks in water shipments from Northern California would leave demand higher than the supply.

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) is asking the Federal Election Commission for permission to use up to $7,500 in campaign funds to pay for increased security at his home, charging that he and his wife have repeatedly been harassed by an alleged drug addict.

In a request to the FEC, Gallegly recounts a months-long ordeal for his family that began on Oct. 23, just two weeks before Election Day. According to FEC documents, a man approached Gallegly’s wife at their home, claiming to be a gardener. Gallegly’s wife told the man that she had no work for him and asked him to leave, the documents show.

On Oct. 27, the documents say, the same man left a letter at the Gallegly’s home, demanding to be allowed to stay “at your place or anywhere filled with Republicans for a guaranteed win of office.”

A White Plains dentist has been charged with sending phony dental bills to an insurance company, according to the Westchester County District Attorney's office.

Dr. Joanne Baker of Scarsdale was arraigned in White Plains City Court today on felony charges of insurance fraud and grand larceny. She is free on $10,000 bail.

The Obama administration and its European allies are preparing proposals that would shift strategy toward Iran by dropping a longstanding American insistence that Tehran rapidly shut down nuclear facilities during the early phases of negotiations over its atomic program, according to officials involved in the discussions. The proposals, exchanged in confidential strategy sessions with European allies, would press Tehran to open up its nuclear program gradually to wide-ranging inspection.
+++++++
Which then means that Iran will drag out the talks while developing enough uranium to manufacture a number of nuclear weapons.
Uhhhhh, NO!

When it comes to congressional races, California — despite its 53 seats — is typically one of the least competitive states in the nation. Next year, however, that may change.

The emerging consensus in both parties is that a highly gerrymandered state that rarely sees tightly contested House races is about to see a surge of them in 2010, largely because of erosion in the Republican base.

“There are a few [Republican incumbents] that are probably in danger,” said Dave Gilliard, a California-based GOP strategist. “A lot of these guys aren’t used to working the district, and they’re going to have to.”

-Republican Norm Coleman will appeal Monday's court decision that gave Democrat Al Franken the protracted U.S. Senate race in Minnesota, a spokesman said.

On Monday, a three-judge panel rejected claims by Coleman's legal team that there were systemic problems in the Senate vote tally and that more absentee ballots should have been counted.

Franken, the 57-year-old comedian-turned-politician, won the initial ballot recount in January by 225 votes. Coleman sued, contesting the election results.

Last week, yet another ballot count gave Franken an edge. This time, he had a 312 vote lead over 59-year-old Coleman, the incumbent. The count was of 351 of 387 previously rejected absentee ballots. Forty-two of the ballots went to other and third-party candidates.

Lawyers said most of the discarded votes came from precincts Coleman won. They said by counting more, Franken's lead would have likely been erased.

Gov. David A. Paterson on Thursday will announce plans to introduce legislation to legalize same-sex marriage, according to people with knowledge of the governor’s plans.

Mr. Paterson’s move, which he first signaled last week after Vermont became the fourth state to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed, reflects the governor’s desire to press the issue with lawmakers in Albany as other states move ahead with efforts to grant more civil rights to homosexuals.

India has warned US President Barack Obama that he risks “barking up the wrong tree” if he seeks to broker a settlement between Pakistan and India over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

MK Narayanan, India’s national security advisor, said that the new US administration was in danger of dredging up out of date Clinton administration-era strategies in a bid to bring about improved ties between the two nuclear armed neighbours.

Bailed-out bank Wells Fargo says it's reconsidering whether to hold a corporate junket to Las Vegas amid criticism from Capitol Hill.

The company had planned a posh outing for its top mortgage writers to kick off this week at the Wynn Las Vegas. The conference is a Wells Fargo tradition. Previous years have included all-expense-paid helicopter rides, wine tasting, horseback riding in Puerto Rico and a private Jimmy Buffett concert in the Bahamas for more than 1,000 employees and guests.

After The Associated Press reported that this year's event was about to kick off despite the company's $25 billion bailout, the company defended its decision. But after swift outcry from Capitol Hill, a company spokesman says it's reconsidering its plan.

Nearly 4,800 rejected absentee ballots may be reconsidered in the U.S. Senate recount trial, after the presiding three-judge panel issued a ruling today defining boundaries for the proceeding.

The court granted Democrat Al Franken’s request to limit the universe of ballots that Republican Norm Coleman can seek to have counted, rejecting Coleman’s attempt to have about 11,000 rejected absentee ballots reconsidered. But Franken had asked the judges to limit the review to only the 650 ballots cited by Coleman when he filed his lawsuit last month challenging the recount.

With Franken holding a 225-vote lead after the recount results were certified, the 4,800 ballots that may be reconsidered would appear to be enough to put the ultimate outcome in doubt.

Wells Fargo & Co., which received $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money, is planning a series of corporate junkets to Las Vegas casinos this month.
Wells Fargo, once among the nation's top writers of subprime mortgages, has booked 12 nights at the Wynn Las Vegas and its sister hotel, the Encore Las Vegas beginning Friday, said Wynn spokeswoman Michelle Loosbrock. The hotels will host the annual conference for company's top mortgage officers.

Our advice to President Obama and Congress is to recognize the urgency by granting and encouraging the use of streamlined public procedures for our nation's governors to use as your field commanders. Governors must be enabled to work with their state and local leaders to combine these federal streamlining measures with their own state emergency powers to get federal stimulus dollars where they will have the best chance for both timely job creation and strategic, long-term economic benefits.

And because the nation's infrastructure needs so far exceed federal funds available, it is critically important that the stimulus package not only permit, but encourage private partnership and investment in these federal, state and local efforts.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and 18 other governors (if you count the Virgin Islands) sent a letter to President Barack Obama supporting the stimulus plan working its way through Congress.

The $800 billion-plus spending package could help California close its roughly $40 billion budget deficit as well as pump money into infrastructure projects in the state.

"We urge the Congress to reach prompt resolution of all outstanding differences and you to sign the bill when it reaches your desk," the bipartisan group of governors write.

The final accounting on the most expensive political campaign in Ventura County history was completed Monday, and after all the numbers were crunched, the bottom line was this: $10,970,263.31.

That’s the total amount spent by the winner, Republican Tony Strickland; the loser, Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson; and by independent interests groups advocating for the two candidates in the 19th Senate District race. The figures were revealed in final campaign finance reports filed Monday with the secretary of state.

Tom Daschle backed the patron who paid him a million-dollar salary and supplied him with a free car and driver for a job inside the Obama administration, two Democrats said Monday.

Leo Hindery, whose InterMedia Partners employed the former Senate majority leader, had been mentioned as a possible secretary of commerce or U.S. trade representative.

ABC News' Jason Ryan reports that officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement has no comment on the arrest request filed by the conservative group ALIPAC (Americans for Legal Immigration) for President Obama to honor his proclamations about upholding the rule of law deporting his Aunt Zeituni Onyango.

Two Silicon Valley tycoons who are expected to face off in the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary had the political cash registers ringing in 2008, according to year-end major campaign donor statements.

Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, who earned his fortune in satellite positioning devices for mobile phones, spent $1.7 million last year in positioning himself for a run for governor and seeing to it that termed-out lawmakers didn't get an encore in office.

Meg Whitman, the ex-eBay CEO who became a billionaire helping pack rats sell their stuff, spent $634,000 to help the state Republican Party and stop Proposition 5, a measure that emphasized treatment over incarceration for drug offenders.

When the state Republican Party holds its convention in Sacramento Feb. 22, Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina will be there and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will be there.
ut California's Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is nowhere on the official agenda.

Given that the convention is often showtime for the party's most conservative members, it's not surprising that the pro-choice, pro-tax and not-all-that-conservative governor has found somewhere else to be at convention time, as he has at times in the past.

But the governor might have to stay out of the elevator to avoid this convention – which takes place in the Hyatt Regency, not too many floors below the rented suite he's lived in since taking office in 2003.
+++++++
They will add him where they have a hole in the wchedule. Trust me.

Nearly 14,000 donors — including homemakers, priests and a former member of the Los Angeles Dodgers — poured millions of dollars into the last two weeks of the campaign to pass Proposition 8, which outlawed same-sex marriage in California. According to a campaign finance report made public on Monday, in all, both sides spent more than $83 million.

A tech guru from Facebook may jump into the Democratic race for state attorney general, joining potential candidates Kamala Harris, San Francisco's district attorney, and Rocky Delgadillo, Los Angeles' city attorney.
Chris Kelly, chief privacy officer at the social networking site and former education adviser under ex-President Bill Clinton doesn't have traditional AG credentials like Harris and Delgadillo.

But supporters say Kelly is well-versed in information technology, white-collar crime, identity theft and other Internet-related issues

NBC News has learned that the president's choice for "chief performance officer" — technically a deputy OMB director post — could end up having to withdraw over a number of issues, including tax problems. The withdrawal of Nancy Killefer could happen as soon as today. So far the White House has no comment on the situation.

Siddiqui was charged in mid-December on allegations that he was part of a $65 million kickback scheme, where he supposedly charged vendors exorbitant fees to place their products on Fry's shelves, and pocketed the money to pay off huge gambling debts. He was formally charged in January on nine counts of wire fraud and money laundering. The Palo Alto resident is on house arrest and is scheduled to appear in San Jose's federal court Wednesday morning.

The three-page complaint is signed by Nancy James, deputy attorney general, and was mailed on Dec. 11 to the clerk at the Ventura County Superior Court.

Neither James nor any other deputy attorneys general were available to comment on the complaint Tuesday, said Abraham Arredondo, spokesman for the attorney general’s office.

The four charges stem from alleged intimidation of or threat of injury toward at least three people.

Count one alleges a violation of civil rights after Angeles “unlawfully and by force or threat, (did) injure, intimidate, interfere with, oppress or threaten Louis Pandolfi, in the free exercise and enjoyment of a right and privilege” to peacefully demonstrate.

Count two alleges Angeles unlawfully used force or violence against John Phillips, and “inflicted serious bodily injury.” Count three alleges Angeles unlawfully used violence against Pandolfi; and count four alleges Angeles used force or violence against Sandra Quiring.

It would be an embarrassment for the Democratic party, which suddenly seems to know nothing but since November 4. But for Republicans, the possibility of Franken, Caroline, and Burris all making it into the Senate is like hitting the trifecta — incompetence, nepotism, and corruption, respectively, will be the buzzwords for our new Democratic Senate.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) threatened Friday to filibuster any attempt to seat Democratic Minnesota Senate candidate Al Franken next week.
The newly minted National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chairman said he had not whipped votes in the GOP caucus, but added that he could not imagine any members defecting and seating Franken without a certificate of election.
+++++++
A court challenge looms and Franken will not be seated next week.

Does the Constitution allow the Senate to refuse to seat Roland Burris, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's surprise appointee? In a word, yes. Here's why.
+++++++
Doubtfut the US Supreme court would allow such machinations when the intent of the Senate is clear. And, it is extremely doubtful the GOP will help the Democrats to threaten to exepl Burris.
Why knock out an easy candidate to beat in 2010?