Clinton and McCain to Appear Side by Side on MLK PanelThis will be a much-needed photo op for Clinton, who wants to frame the race as being between her and McCain, as the two most distinguished and serious candidates.
A Fresh New Spokesman for PatersonAs Paterson’s personal scandals ebb into the past, he hires a flashy young communications manager to move into the future — at $175,000 a year.
Christine Quinn Joins the Scandal BandwagonThe City Council Speaker has been allocating monies to phony nonprofits at the beginning of every year so she can use the funds later for favors, reports the Post.
early and often
Elizabeth Edwards Responds to John HeilemannIn an MSNBC interview, the former candidate’s wife claims she likes Hillary’s health-care plan and finds Obama to be “charming,” but still won’t make an endorsement of either.
early and often
Hillary Is F**king Obama“On the floor, and when they talk about the war!” So sayeth the latest, awesome tribute to Sarah Silverman’s “I’m Fucking Ben Affleck” video.
Mayor Pats Christine Quinn on the BackAfter her help passing the congestion-pricing bill through City Council, Bloomberg is sharing an NRDC award with her.
early and often
Nader to Clinton: Don’t Quit!Ralph Nader wrote Hillary Clinton an impassioned poem about why she should stay in the race, comparing her position to his own in previous presidential races before Obama even thought of it.
early and often
McCain Says He Used to Be Way More of a Jerk Than He Is NowJohn McCain is scheduled to give a speech at his alma mater, Episcopal High School, in Alexandria, Virginia, today. According to Reuters, the speech will address what led the Arizona senator to become the temperamental, F-bomb-dropping hothead that we know and, well … know.
Washingtonienne Resurfaces!In our excitement over nubile, young Spitzer hooker Ashley Alexandra Dupre, we completely forgot about that other politician-probed prostitute that captivated America’s hearts and loins not so long ago: Jessica Cutler, who gained notoriety by writing about the anal preferences of Washington muckety-mucks on her blog, Washingtonienne, back in 2004. But now she’s back.
intel
Can’t Keep a Rudy Giuliani Down, No Matter How Much You Wish You CouldYou know that one Rudy, the one you couldn’t help but love for his unshaking belief in his cause and his dogged persistence in the face of adversity? Loved that movie. Anyway, the other one is considering a run for the occupied governor’s seat.
early and often
Weary Electorate Warming to John McCainMcCain’s crossover appeal and “maverick” image are likely the perfect antidote to the star power of the Democratic candidates.
TMI Index for Politicians: Some Scandalous Details Are Best Left UnknownIt’s been a rough couple of weeks for anyone who likes their news served modestly. From Paterson’s girls to McGreevey’s wings, politicians are on overshare overdrive, and Americans are suffering. It’s time to chart the moments when titillation turns to revulsion.
early and often
Media Panel Stretches Blog Metaphors, Blows Kisses at ObamaAt a NYU Media Talk last night focusing on “Publishing and the Election,” Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter called Thomas Payne “the original blogger.” We bet he didn’t have to deal with unending pajama jokes!
Anderson Cooper Morphs Into an I-Banker Before James Carville’s Very EyesThe flap over Democratic strategist James Carville’s calling New Mexico governor Bill Richardson a “Judas” for his recent endorsement of Barack Obama had people hot and bothered up and down the Beltway and the airwaves yesterday.
intel
How to Be a Scandalite: Don’t Follow Ashley Dupré’s ExampleJust like a brand-new car, Ashley Alexandra Dupré’s earning potential has been steadily decreasing since Eliot Spitzer rolled her off the lot and into the spotlight two weeks ago today.
in other news
Fred Thompson Quietly Goes Back to Acting Like a PoliticianThis election has been going on for so long and has taken us in so many directions that we almost forgot Fred Thompson, the Tennessee senator best known as Arthur Branch on Law & Order, was ever in the race.
Eliot Spitzer: Disgraced Governor, Chronic ExpectoratorThe rapidly deteriorating economy, the five-year anniversary of Iraq, and new governor David Paterson’s seemingly limitless libido all may have distracted you from what’s going on with our fallen former governor. But news is still dribbling out about the Spitzer affair, and perhaps more importantly, so are sexy pictures of hookers!
Is an Ed Koch Sex Scandal Next?Eliot Spitzer slept with hookers. Jim and Dina McGreevey had threesomes with their driver. Governor David Paterson’s list of conquests is starting to look like it could be longer than Wilt Chamberlain’s. And then there’s Ed Koch.
in other news
‘Superclass’ Author David Rothkopf Submits to Our QuestionsThe former Clinton-administration trade official and author of “Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making” talks to Boris Kachka about the election, the economy, and why the elite won’t stop coming to New York City.
early and often
Can Hillary Clinton Win?To do so, the junior senator from New York must make the right pitch, or gain enough momentum, to win over the superdelegates, those now-omnipotent stars of the Democratic party who will have to push one candidate over the top.
early and often
Barack Obama to Receive Perfectly Timed Endorsement by Bill RichardsonAt a moment when race is the hot topic of discussion in the Democratic primary, an endorsement by the Hispanic governor of New Mexico has to be a huge boon for Obama. Especially after pundits were on his back for a comment about “typical white people” yesterday.
Our Governor: Out-Blinded by Previous Pols?So David Paterson isn’t the first blind governor. But he does join a long line of respected (if doomed) vision-impaired politicians. A brief historical list.
OMG, Is Joe Bruno Going to Be Our Next Governor?By now, four days into Governor David Paterson’s reign, one thing is clear: He never thought he was actually going to be governor. The loosey-goosey (and juicy!) way he’s blended his personal and professional affairs don’t reflect the kind of care and caution that most people who expect close scrutiny would have used. If this goes on, will Joe Bruno use it to his advantage?
early and often
Huckabee Joins McCain in Supporting Obama’s Wright DefenseYesterday and today, Republicans John McCain and Mike Huckabee both stood up for Barack Obama concerning his relationship with controversial Reverend Jeremiah Wright. On Morning Joe today, Huckabee candidly said, “Obama handled this about as well as anybody could.” He laid out his argument pretty simply:
“You can’t hold the candidate responsible for everything that people around him may say or do,” Huckabee says. “It’s interesting to me that there are some people on the left who are having to be very uncomfortable with what … Wright said, when they all were all over a Jerry Falwell, or anyone on the right who said things that they found very awkward and uncomfortable, years ago. Many times those were statements lifted out of the context of a larger sermon. Sermons, after all, are rarely written word for word by pastors like Rev. Wright, who are delivering them extemporaneously, and caught up in the emotion of the moment. There are things that sometimes get said, that if you put them on paper and looked at them in print, you’d say ‘Well, I didn’t mean to say it quite like that.’”
Whoa, that sounds like a pretty firm defense.
early and often
Who Are David Paterson’s Girls?As with the Spitzer scandal, the news cycle for David Paterson’s affairs has now moved onto the lucky ladies in question. Although Our Lady of Indignation Andrea Peyser names the new Governor’s trysts as “too many to count,” there’s still only one woman who’s an official notch on the motel-room bedpost, and a second who, while perhaps totally innocent of any hanky panky, still sounds a bit sketchy. But given what we do know, who are the ladies to whom David turned to during his dark, jealous hours of marital misery?
early and often
After the Speech: Obama’s Six-Point Plan for Sustaining MomentumRecently, as he’s faced sustained media skepticism for the first time, Barack Obama has been more than just defensive: He’s been besieged and slightly peevish at times. But on Tuesday, he accomplished the near-impossible by making the Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s inflammatory remarks seem like just a prelude to the big, conversation-starting speech on race Obama wanted to offer the nation all along. He also achieved something else his skittish supporters had worried he might not again: He won the day’s news cycle. Tuesday’s speech was Obama’s attempt to reclaim not only the high ground, but also the initiative.
The question now is this: How does he keep it up? Here are six answers.
early and often
Barack Obama’s Speech Fails to Unite America … Over His SpeechYesterday we compared Barack Obama’s Philadelphia address on race in America to Mitt Romney’s recent last-ditch speech on faith. But as the New York Times points out, it’s really more like JFK’s 1960 speech on religion. It came at a time when Democrats, and probably even Republicans, were bored with the current political dialogue and thirsting for some honesty and something new to talk about. Indeed, yesterday and last night, hordes of people were writing and discussing. The overarching question: Will it matter? Will it change the course of Obama’s candidacy? Will it change the course of America? A lot of that is up to the press, not the people. But even the editorial boards of The Wall Street Journal, the Times and the New York Post professed not to know what the effects would be.
early and often
Chris Smith: Are Voters Ready for Civil Rights Redux?Senator Barack Obama gave a brave, powerful, important speech yesterday in Philadelphia, but he was forced to deliver it by the greatest crisis of his candidacy: the furor created by the incendiary remarks of his former Chicago pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright.