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Might David Vitter belong to that rare breed of politicians who survive the type of scandal that sink most others (see Spitzer, Eliot, and Fossella, Vito)?
Chances are we won't know for sure until 2010, when the Republican senator from Louisiana is up for re-election. But based on a new poll by the Baton Rouge-based Southern Media & Opinion Research firm, Vitter has reason for optimism that he will keep his job.
When we last left Vitter -- almost exactly a year ago -- he was confessing, vaguely, to a "very serious sin" that involved his association with a D.C.-based prostitution ring. Then a New Orleans-based prostitute alleged that she and the senator had once been especially good friends (a connection Vitter denied).
Perhaps the best-remembered moment stemming from the scandal occurred when Vitter held a news conference in Metairie, La., to try to put it behind him (fat chance) and was joined at the podium by his wife, Wendy -- whose pained expression said it all (he didn't look especially happy, either).
In Washington, Vitter has kept a mostly low profile since then. But he's kept going about his senatorial business and, in Louisiana, his standing appears about the same as it was before the commotion erupted.
The new survey of the state's voters found that 55% view him favorably, 38% unfavorably. In April of 2007, a poll by Southern Media put his numbers at 52% favorable, 32% unfavorable.
One of the firm's pollsters, Bernie Pinsonat, told us Vitter has benefited from a reservoir of goodwill he could draw upon. For instance, many voters well remember that as a state legislator several years ago, he led the charge for highly popular term limits.
Nor has he lost that sense of what the public wants.
Louisianans became incensed recently ...
Read more David Vitter seems to have rolled with the punch of last year's sex scandal »
Federal prosecutors planning their case against Illinois political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko intended to invoke the name of his onetime associate, Sen. Barack Obama, often during the recently concluded two-month prosecution in Chicago.
Rezko was convicte d on federal corruption charges.
The onetime political mentor and fundraiser for Obama, especially in the early days of his Illinois political career, arranged for a series of so-called straw political contributions to Obama, money from Rezko channeled through other people's names. Obama has since donated an equal sum to charities.
According to published reports in the Chicago Sun-Times, recently unsealed documents show prosecutors intended to call several witnesses who would tie Rezko to Obama. The federal judge ruled that they could.
"Witnesses will testify that Rezko was a long-standing supporter and fund-raiser of Barack Obama," one prosecutor wrote in their planning notes. But for unexplained reasons, they ended up not calling those witnesses.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: Nam Y. Huh / Associated Press
In case you've been worried, you should know that Ashley Alexandra Dupre, a.k.a. Kristen, of the Spitzer scandal is back. She's fine. Apparently happy. And her mood is "thankful."
That according to her r estored MySpace page.
Alexandra's photo here became very famous overnight because she has this huge pair of sunglasses. In fact, she was so famous so suddenly, we feel like we've known her a long time.
You probably remember her as the high-priced prostitute who traveled all the way from New York City to Washington, D.C., to a high-priced hotel for a high-priced night with a high-ranking government official, who turned out to be New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who happened to have been an outspoken prosecutor who prosecuted illegal things like, well, prostitution.
So, with his wife by his side, Spitzer was forced to resign from the governor's office. (Which cost Hillary Clinton yet another superdelegate, btw.)
The jut-jawed Spitzer was replaced by his lieutenant governor, David Paterson, who is well liked in New York's capital, is legally blind and, although no one remembers asking, took the opportunity of his first weekend in office to reveal along with his wife Michelle that they both had had extramarital affairs during their marriage. Is there something in the Albany water?
But that's another story.
Anyway, Alexandra kind of dropped out of sight. But she's back now and busy updating her page. She had so many Friend requests that she got behind and MySpace deleted a whole bunch because they timed out.
So if yours was among them, she asks you to file another one please.
She also wants to thank everyone for their support and publishes some inspirational letters she received. Here's one: "hey i just wanted to say to you, that you truely are the most beautiful women i have ever seen. i am just a nobody in this world and knowing that you might just read this has really made my day."
If you want, you can go to her music page and join the 5-million-plus others who have sampled some. She says she is all about music.
You can also go to her regular page and read some of the comments or leave one of your own. Or not.
We now resume our normal programming.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: MySpace via AFP/Getty Images
P.S. Here's a bonus for people who read the photo credits. The New York Daily News took a bunch of photos of Alexandra on the beach recently and the big news is she has a tattoo down there.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer today defended a California Democrat facing ethics questions over her personal finances, while appearing to downplay his involvement in a fundraiser for her this week.
Rep. Laura Richardson's Sacramento house was sold in a foreclosure last month, according to news reports, and she has gon e into default on properties in San Pedro and Long Beach. She still owed $9,000 in county taxes on the Sacramento house.
The Long Beach Press-Telegram reports that in 1995 Richardson stiffed a local mechanic on a $735 bill to repair her heavily damaged BMW, and then had it towed to another body shop and abandoned it. Then a member of the Long Beach City Council, she began using a city-owned car, according to the Press-Telegram, which she continued to drive for five days after joining the California State Assembly.
The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has called on the House Ethics Committee to investigate.
Hoyer, known in political circles as a prodigious fundraiser, is hosting a Capitol Hill event on Wednesday to help Richardson retire her campaign debt. Matthew Hay Brown has the rest of the story over at the Swamp.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Former Bear Stearns fund manager Ralph R. Cioffi, who made news in a big way in recent days by being one of the first two investors charged in the latest Wall Street scandal, regularly took time out from his busy schedule to make campaign donations to politicians, most of them Republicans.
But with a few exceptions, Cioffi's political calls weren't particularly shrewd, according to campaign financial data unearthed by The Times' chief money digger, Dan Morain.
In the presidential campaign, he gave $2,300 not to John McCain, Mitt Romney or even to Sam Brownback.
In May 2007, at a time the indictment says he was actively misleading investors, Cioffi donated $2,300 to James Gilmore, the former Virginia governor who didn't even make it through last summer as a GOP presidential candidate and is trailing in the Virginia Senate race these days.
Over the years, Cioffi gave to two Democrats -- $2,000 to former Gen. Wesley Clark in 2003, and $500 to Sen. Bill Bradley in 1999. Those worked out well.
The rest appears to have gone to Republicans, including $4,000 to President George W. Bush's reelection in 2003; $1,000 to former New York Rep. Rick Lazio in 2000 for his run to once and for all stop the emerging political career of someone named Hillary Clinton.
Cioffi also gave $1,000 to Steve Forbes in 1999; and $4,100 to Vermont congressional candidate Martha Rainville in 2006. In 1998, he gave $1,000 to Rudolph Giuliani's mayoral campaign, according to New York City records.
Then on Dec. 4, 2007, Cioffi became interested in much smaller government and turned sort of libertarian, giving $500 to the GOP presidential campaign of Rep. Ron Paul, who calls himself a Republican but ran on the Libertarian presidential ticket in 1988.
Paul is a free market advocate with little use for government regulators. That appears to be Cioffi's final campaign donation, at least according to Federal Election Commission records.
Cioffi's co-defendant, Matthew M. Tannin, evidently did not play politics. And look what it got him.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: AP
We're in the thick of a pretty intense presidential campaign, but that doesn't mean all the scores from the 2004 election have been settled.
Veterans who served with John Kerry during the Vietnam  War released a letter and documents this week that they hope will put the lie to claims that Kerry's Navy service was anything less than exemplary.
The missive was delivered Thursday to Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, who said in November that he would pay $1 million to anyone who could disprove even a single claim made against Kerry by the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth."
That group launched a series of television ads against the Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee that undercut a crucial piece of his biography -- that he was a courageous war hero. Many Democrats felt the accusations helped kill Kerry's chances of defeating President Bush, so much so that they created a new verb form for unfair political attacks -- "Swift boating."
In their letter to Pickens, 10 of Kerry's comrades in arms said they were providing conclusive proof that the opposition group "lied about our skipper's and our service in Vietnam and in so doing, damaged our reputations and attacked the quality of our service to country."
The 15-page letter and 42 pages of Navy reports and other documentation focus principally on a 1969 engagement in which three boats under Kerry's supervision counterattacked after an ambush on a tributary of the Bay Hap River.
Kerry won a Silver Star for his actions, but critics contended he had exaggerated the incident and his own heroism. In this week's response, Kerry's crew offers details, after-action reports and the medal citation to prove that Kerry led with valor.
One of the most telling rebuttals to the anti-Kerry camp came from Bill Rood, who commanded one of the other swift boats that day. Rood, who went on ...
Read more John Kerry's Swift Boat pals to T. Boone: Cough up $1 million »
Our colleague Johanna Neuman is keeping an eye on Scott McClellan's testimony today before the House Judiciary Committee, and reports that McClellan was uneasy about I. Lewis "Scooter" Li bby's assurance that he had nothing to do with the leaking of Valerie Plame's name as a CIA agent.
McClellan testified that former White House chief of staff Andrew H. Card Jr. asked him to announce that Libby (pictured) wasn't involved, similar to what McClellan had already done on behalf of Karl Rove. "I was reluctant to do it," McClellan said. "I got on the phone with Scooter Libby and asked him point-blank, 'Were you involved in this is any way?' And he assured me in unequivocal terms that he was not."
Libby gave a similar assurance to federal investigators, and eventually was convicted of lying to them.
The committee has also asked Rove to testify about the Plame leak, something McClellan suggested might not be fruitful because he doubted Rove would be truthful about it. "I would hope that he would be willing to do so," McClellan said. "Based on my own experiences, I have some doubts. He lied to me."
-- Scott Martelle
Scott McClellan, author of "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," didn't exactly get a warm hug of welcome from some members of the Ho use Judiciary Committee this morning as he began testifying about his White House days, as our colleagues over at the "Countdown to Crawford" blog report.
McClellan, the former press secretary, took a drubbing by Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, over his motives for writing the book. Not that Smith entered the hearing with an open mind: "While we may never know the answers, Scott McClellan alone will have to wrestle with whether it was worth selling out the president and his friends for a few pieces of silver."
Our other colleagues at The Swamp have some more details. But if you want to see for yourself, the hearing is being webcast when the committee is in session (it broke earlier so members could cast votes on the wiretap bill). Below is some video of McClellan's appearance.
-- Scott Martelle
Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images
Jim Johnson, the former head of Fannie Mae who was leading Barack Obama's vice presidential search when his favorable loans with Countrywide Financial were revealed, is stepping down from the Obama campaign, he says, to avoid becoming a distraction.
In a statement just issued from the Obama campaign headquarters in Chicago mome nts ago, the candidate sought to minimize the impact of the embarrassing episode. He said:
“Jim did not want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering information about my vice presidential nominee, so he has made a decision to step aside that I accept.
"We have a very good selection process underway, and I am confident that it will produce a number of highly qualified candidates for me to choose from in the weeks ahead. I remain grateful to Jim for his service and his efforts in this process.”
The fact is the situation was untenable for a campaign that parades itself as an agent of change prepared to invade Washington and reform its sleazy insider ways. There are few other modern Democrats who are more savvy or insider than Johnson, who also happens to be a significant fundraiser for Obama.
He and the campaign could sense the lasting legs this story of the wealthy Johnson getting special insider loan rates from Countrywide as a "friend of Angelo's," Angelo Mozilo, the co-founder of Countrywide. That's the company Obama has criticized by name as bearing a large responsibility for the current loan crisis.
Obama tried to make it clear yesterday that he couldn't vet everybody and that Johnson really was not "working" for him, he was merely helping with the VP search and did not have a formal campaign position. But by this morning even in Chicago they could tell that wasn't washing.
Special deals for others also bring back memories of Obama's early Illinois connections with now-convicted political insider, Antoin Tony Rezsko.
So Johnson, D.C. veteran that he is, knew he had to walk the plank. He offered to resign early today or late last night. And the campaign said, gee, well O.K. So long.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo Credit: AP
On this, the first anniversary of our Top of the Ticket blog, we are reminded of the mercurial, unpredictable nature of U.S. politics -- part of what makes what we do so fascinating.
Our goal -- one of us on the East Coast and the other on the far more important or at least less humid West Coast -- was to write about Campaign '08 virtually around the clock.
Our second-ever posting, 12 months ago today, previewed an upcoming L.A. Times/Bloomberg Poll; later in the day, we detailed the results of the nationwide survey. The findings were in line with other polls of the time.
In the Republican presidential race, which then seemed the most likely to last deep into the primary season, Rudy Giuliani was perched in first place. His lead wasn't overwhelming, but it was strong enough that he appeared certain to remain a major contender.
His liberal record on social issues loomed as an obvious liability within his party, but his tough-on-terrorism message was attracting substantial support from moderates and GOP-leaning independents.
His major headache among rivals last June was an as-yet-undeclared candidate who was riding a wave as the great conservative hope -- Fred Thompson. He ran a strong second in the poll.
Lagging far behind were John McCain and Mitt Romney, each barely with double-digit support. In our preview posting, we were especially scornful of McCain, noting sarcastically (and foolishly, as it turned out) that in the poll, he found himself "in heated competition with the 'Don't Know' category."
Meriting no mention from us was Mike Huckabee, one of several back-of-the-pack candidates barely earning any support across the country.
The Democratic race, at that point, seemed so much more cut-and-dried.
Hillary Clinton was the clear front-runner; Barack Obama was just as clearly ...
Read more Top of the Ticket, the start of Year Two »
First, we need to clear the air about our colleague, David Sarno, the clever fellow who writes for The Times' Web Scout blog.
No one has come forward with any proof of the rumors that he's a Chinese sleeper agent sent here to confuse Americans about how the Internet and popular culture interface while his parents a re held hostage back home.
None of that is probably true.
As far as we know at The Ticket, David is hardly behind on his taxes at all. Most of the speeding tickets have been paid. And the Hollywood incident never came to court.
So he's perfectly well-qualified to write about what he's writing about today: the damaging power of rumors in politics, their viral spread on the Web and the urgent need to combat them constantly. It's a fascinating column that deals mostly with the efforts of Barack Obama's campaign to fight distorted truths and outright lies.
All candidates have rumor problems and virtually all campaigns experience and/or employ some dirty tricks, some as simple as stealing opponents' lawn signs, others push polling or worse.
It didn't take the speed of the Internet for 19th century political campaigns to spread ugly words about their opponents, things like illegitimate children, for instance. And without widespread photographs, cartoons in partisan papers could distort into ugliness an opponent's visage free of visual refutation.
In 2000, Sen. John McCain ran into a rumor buzzsaw in the South Carolina Republican primary when word was spread that the McCains' dark-skinned adopted daughter from Bangladesh was really -- here we go again -- an illegitimate child of his with a black woman.
This time the campaign against McCain is much more subtle and wrapped in smiles. It's ageism. His opponents spread and encourage all kinds of jokes and stories about his age and mental capabilities, using the cover of humor to try to make acceptable the undocumented planting of doubt.
If the same kinds of "jokes" were told about Sen. Hillary Clinton's, let's say, inability to drive properly because, well, you know women drivers, or her mood swings at certain times during the campaign, people would be quite properly outraged.
But Sarno, who isn't very old for a young person, focuses on Obama's efforts to combat untrue stories of the candidate's Muslim faith. It's a really good and revealing read here, despite what we heard about David's hunting trip to Manitoba.
-- Andrew Malcolm
P.S. Some people may have noticed Scarlett Johansson's stunning photograph here. And they may also have wondered what she has to do with our blog item on David Sarno's blog item on politics and the Internet. That's a good question. To get the answer, place your cursor on the photograph. Also, we warned Ticket readers way back here.
Photo credit: WireImage
You know that unidentified estranged wife of a Reno doctor that the governor of Nevada is not having an affair with?
Well, during one month last year he exchanged 850 text messages with her phone from his official state phone, at 15 cents per.
It's all part of an increasingly messy divorce after 22 year s between the 63-year-old Gov. Jim Gibbons, a former military and commercial pilot, and his wife, Dawn, 54, who formerly ran two Las Vegas wedding chapels. She's also served in the state legislature. Hey, it's Nevada remember.
The Times' Ashley Powers has all the background in her story here this morning.
Anyway, Dawn's original divorce papers included references to her husband's infatuation and infidelities with a marital intruder who was the estranged wife of a Reno doctor. (Are there any other kinds?)
Today, the Reno Gazette-Journal published Nevada....
Read more Nev gov Gibbons sends 100s txt msgs 2 other womans cell, not wifes »
A federal jury in Chicago today convicted developer Antoin "Tony" Rezko of corruption charges for trading on his clout as a top adviser and fundraiser to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Rezko's guilty verdict on 16 of 24 corruption counts could have broad repercussions for Blagojevich, who made Rezko a central player in his kitchen cabinet. It could also prove a political liability for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.
He once counted Rezko as a close friend and early successful fundraiser, which could haunt him as the likely Democratic presidential nominee has now defeated Sen. Hillary Clinton and heads into the general election campaign against Republican Sen. John McCain.
The 10-woman, two-man jury deliberated for parts of 13 days before convicting Rezko of scheming with Stuart Levine, a longtime Republican insider, to extort millions of dollars from firms seeking state business or regulatory approval.
Rezko befriended many Illinois politicians and was a major fundraiser for some, most prominently Blagojevich and Obama. The criminal charges against Rezko had nothing to do with his connection to Obama.
But that link still proved a nagging headache for Obama during his Democratic presidential run, especially in the wake of Chicago Tribune revelations that tied Rezko to a 2005 real estate deal involving Obama's South Side home.
The verdict poses problems that are far more acute for Blagojevich, who swept to victory in 2002 with claims that he would clean up Illinois government after the scandal-plagued years of his Republican predecessor, George Ryan, now in prison.
The complete story by Bob Secter and Jeff Coen is available by clicking here.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo Credit: AP
If there was one sliver of a silver lining in the ongoing embarrassments caused Barack Obama by his membership (which he gave up this past weekend) in the Trinity United Church of Christ, it was -- some of his partisans asserted -- that the controversies would help douse the rumor-mongering that he's a closet Muslim.
That may be wishful thinking, if the attitudes of a voter The Times' Noam Levey encountered in South Dakota today are at all indicative. 
Levey was with Hillary Clinton as, in what may be her final full day on the campaign trail, the Democratic presidential contender worked hard to score one last victory in Tuesday's South Dakota primary. Her schedule took her to Tally’s Restaurant, a landmark in downtown Rapid City famous for pigs in a blanket made with Buffalo sausage.
It was all fairly typical -- she gave a speech, smiled and posed for photos and talked with patrons about healthcare and asked young people about their student loans, shaking her head at the amount that one young woman said she was wrestling with.
In her brief talk, she zeroed on the message that, against lengthening odds, she keeps hoping will resonate throughout her party and stall Obama's seemingly inexorable march toward its nomination. Referring to the presidency, she said, “I want you to think hard. Who would you hire to do this job.”
Few of her listeners needed any convincing that she would be the right choice. And one of those Clinton backers, 48-year-old Cheryl Chamberlain, was in no mood to transfer her allegiance to Obama, citing a litany of reasons that can only cause eyes to roll within his camp.
“I won’t vote for Obama,” Chamberlain told Levey. “You go on the Internet and see him associated with that church, with the Koran. He won’t wear a flag pin. … After 9/11, there is absolutely no way I’d support someone who is associated with the Koran. I won’t support terrorism.”
-- Don Frederick
Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images
Well, talk about going out with class. Ex-President Bill Clinton just went off again during a campaign appearance in South Dakota. The shock waves should be rippling through Chicago and Kansas City any minute.
He was asked about that, shall we say, unflattering Todd Purdum Vanity Fair article again. Talk about smoking near a propane tank. KA-BOOM! went the former leader of the free world about Purd um, which would be expected.
"Sleazy." "Dishonest." "Slimy." "Scumbag."
And those were the nice words, as Clinton firmly gripped and refused to release the hand of the inquiring reporter, who was none other than Huffington Post's Mayhill Fowler.
Remember her? Swanky private fundraiser. San Francisco mansion. Barack Obama. Inartful remarks. Bitter small towns clinging to religion and guns.
The Vanity Fair article quotes former Clinton aides criticizing the ex-president for surrounding himself with questionable friends and behaving/speaking in a way that hurt Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
Of course, Bill Clinton denies having read....
Read more Did you hear that? Bill Clinton's head explodes over Obama and Vanity Fair »
Todd S. Purdum, former New York Times staffer and current Vanity Fair national editor, lets loose in the July issue of the magazine with a lengthy profile of Bill Clinton after leaving the White House. It's getting reduced to sex in some places -- friends worried that he was spending suspicion-raising time with attractive women on the road -- but there's no smoking gun (to stick with political metaphors), and focusing on speculation about a return to form for the former wanderer-in-chief does the article a disservice.
Purdum, who covered portions of the Clinton administration, offers up a deeply reported look at a primal force in politics facing his own dissipation. Scandal, big-bucks speaking fees, big-bucks pals like Ron Burkle with private planes, but also heart surgery and a clear physical deterioration. Bill Clinton is no longer the man he once was, though he is still a force -- Purdum describes Clinton as "the smiling, snowy-haired man who is the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral he attends."
Purdum, who is married to Clinton's former press secretary, Dee Dee Myers, writes: "To know Clinton is, sooner or later, to be exasperated by his indiscipline and disappointed by his shortcomings. But through it all, it has been easy enough to retain an enduring admiration — even affection — for a president whose sins against decorum and the dignity of his office seemed venial in contrast to the systemic indifference, incompetence, corruption, and constitutional predations of his successor’s administration. That is, easy enough until now.
"This winter, as Clinton moved with seeming abandon to stain his wife’s presidential campaign in the name of saving it, as disclosures about his dubious associates piled up, as his refusal to disclose the names of donors to his presidential library and foundation and his and his wife’s reluctance to release their income tax returns created crippling and completely avoidable distractions for Hillary Clinton’s own long-suffering ambition, I found myself asking again and again, What’s the matter with him?"
What's the matter, indeed.
-- Scott Martelle
Barack Obama is in the market for a new church.
Earlier this afternoon -- probably not coincidentally on the weekend and at a time when most of the political press was focused on the Democratic Party's rules committee meeting in Washington -- word surfaced and his campaign confirmed that Obama would no longer be a parishioner at Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's South Side.
As the Chicago Tribune's John McCormick writes, the church was Obama's "longtime religious home," but it had emerged as "a place that has triggered repeated controversies during his presidential bid."
The first were sparked by the church's former pastor -- once a close Obama associate -- the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr . The latest uproar was sparked by Catholic priest Michael Pfleger, who, in a guest sermon last Sunday, egregiously mocked Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The rest of McCormick's report can be read here.
-- Don Frederick
When the general election campaign hits fifth gear this fall in all-important Ohio, residents of the Buckeye State can be forgiven for casting a jaded eye on the presidential contenders from both parties. Given their experiences with state pols, they have reason to be skeptical about anyone seeking their votes.
A few years back, a multimillion-dollar scandal involving state investment funds roiled the Republicans who reigned over state government. The result, in 2006, was a banner year for D emocrats; the victors included then-Rep. Ted Strickland, who was swept into the governor's office (and could end up as the vice presidential nominee on his party's ticket this year).
Recently, another Democrat who snared a good job two years ago -- state Atty. Gen. Marc Dann -- was forced to resign after a sexual harassment scandal in his office was made worse when he acknowledged an affair with a subordinate.
On Wednesday, Ohioans learned of yet another misdeed by a public official -- a state legislator from the Akron area gave up his seat after reports of improprieties involving Ohio State football tickets.
The lawmaker, Republican John Widowfield, spent almost $8,000 from his campaign coffers over several years to purchase the tickets, which in and of itself is legal (even if his contributors might be a bit taken aback by the practice). Where Widowfield went wrong was scalping the tickets for personal profit.
More can be read here about the wayward Widowfield.
-- Don Frederick
Well, thanks to everybody who participated in The Ticket's first genuine mystery political button guessing contest yesterday.
We had guesses -- all of them very informed, of course -- from across the country, from our loyal Ticket reader and talker Joe Mathieu on XM Satellite Radio's POTUS '08 channel to Debbie Meister.
The very wise Robert L. King chipped in, as did Brooks Jackson, another loyal Ticket reader who covered politics for many years with the Associated Press and CNN and now does such an impressive job monitoring American politics over at FactCheck.org.
On Wednesday morning we published a photo of this political button that Ellen Alperstein, yet another Ticket reader, had found among old belongings. The face sure looked familiar to many of us, kind of like the late Merv Griffin in a way.
But why would Merv "Hollywood-sweetheart-loved-your-show" Griffin have a political button? We just knew deep in our kind, gentle hearts brimming with springtime hope that some readers would recognize the guy.
And, sure enough, we were right!
We had guesses ranging from Gary Hart (Debbie) to a long-ago Pat Buchanan (Tominellay). "08" thought it was Tom Eagleton. "MB" suggested Mike Gravel. Wm Tate thought it was the mysterious head of that vast right-wing conspiracy that a certain ex-Democratic first lady often talked about.
Like us, Carter had the politician's name right on the tip of his/her tongue -- but just couldn't come up with it. Sonny Bono and Gilligan were other guesses.
We even had one contestant who thought the man was a disguised Prince Charles, who "Spitzered" that other woman for so many years over in Britain before marrying her. (A new verb to us, but one that works well in the current political season, even outside New York.)
We actually had four winners. The correct answer was ...
Read more Ticket readers solve the Great Political Button Mystery. It was .... »
Along with winning the Oregon primary and passing his self-declared milestone of obtaining a majority of pledged Democratic convention delegates, Barack Obama had another reason to be in a good mood Tuesday, even as he absorbed a thumping in Kentucky. 
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright -- his preacher-turned-bete noir, canceled two approaching appearances in all-so-important Pennsylvania.
Wright was scheduled to headline a revival at a church in the Philadelphia area on May 28 and 29, and then preach at another local church on June 1. But the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that he had decided to take a pass, citing fatigue.
Understandable; we imagine that almost single-handedly wrecking the presidential campaign of a former parishioner can be quite exhausting (to recollect his now-infamous appearance at Washington's National Press Club, go here).
This quote from one of the ministers who was going to host Wright, however, must have sent shivers up the spines of Obama aides. The Rev. Martini Shaw told the Inquirer that Wright "desired some time for refreshment and refueling."
Just what the campaign doesn't need -- Wright resurfacing at some point with a full tank of gasoline (figuratively speaking, of course).
-- Don Frederick
Photo credit: Getty Images
Initial exit poll results from West Virginia's Democratic presidential primary drive home the work that Barack Obama still must do to disassociate himself from his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
The Associated Press reports that 2 in 10 voters said they believe Obama shares Wright's views "a lot," while 3 in 10 said the candidate "somewhat" embraces the preacher's opinions.
In other words, fully 50% of those who trooped to the polls in his own party's primary link Obama to Wright’s views -- presumably, the inflammatory ones that made the reverend a household name, such as "God damn America" and that AIDS might be a government plot aimed at blacks.
--Don Frederick
Will Barack Obama's presidential candidacy serve his state and city by finally drawing national attention to the sleazy and corrupt politics of Illinois and Chicago?
It is all about context. The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate's politics were born in Chicago. Yet he is present ed to the nation as not truly being of this place, as if he floats just above the political corruption here, uninfected, untouched by the stain of it or by any sin of commission or omission. It is all so very mystical.
Perhaps viewing Obama as a Chicago political creature would conflict with the established national media narrative of Obama as a reformer. Actually, there's no "perhaps" about it.
"I think I have done a good job in rising politically in this environment without being entangled in some of the traditional problems of Chicago politics," Obama told reporters and editors at a Chicago Tribune editorial board meeting several weeks ago.
Yes, an excellent job. Except for his dalliance with his indicted real estate fairy, Tony Rezko, a relationship Obama considers a mistake, the senator has not played the fly to Mayor Richard Daley's spider. Almost, but not quite.
"I know there are those like John Kass who would like me to decry Chicago politics more frequently, and I'll leave that to his editorial commentary," Obama said.
Not the politics, just the corruption, I said then, wishing....
Read more Column: Obama's mystical (national media) disconnect from sleazy Chicago politics »
This posting may defy the sentiment behind it: People say the media have over-covered the story of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
So here, to document that point, is more of that coverage.
"The latest round of news about Barack Obama and his former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright dominated campaign news coverage last week,'' the Pew Research Center finds in its latest weekly news-interest survey. "Wright's comments are by far the biggest political event of the campaign to date: Fully 62% say they have heard a lot or a little about Rev. Wright's recent speeches.''
And look at this: "Most Americans (59%) think news organizations have overcovered the Wright controversy,'' Pew's Andy Kohut reports. "About two-thirds of Democrats  (66%) and nearly as many independents (59%) say that news organizations have devoted too much coverage to Wright's recent speeches. But as many as half of Republicans agree that Wright's comments have received too much coverage.''
With all of that exposure for Obama, the Democrat who now stands the strongest chance of claiming his party's presidential nomination, and the most incendiary remarks of the fiery, longtime and now-retired pastor of Obama's church on the South Side of Chicago, comes a certain political price.
"By the end of the week a quarter of all Americans, including 26% of Democrats, said their opinion of Obama had become less favorable in recent days,'' reports Kohut, president of the Pew Center. "Fewer than half as many (11%) said their opinion of the Illinois senator had become more favorable. ''
Those whose opinions had changed were asked about any specific incidents that prompted that. "Overall, a majority of those who said their opinion of Obama had become more negative volunteered a specific incident, with the Wright controversy mentioned most frequently (by 60% of those who cited a specific event).''
Of course, nearly four in ten Americans surveyed said they also had seen the photographs of Miley Cyrus that had stirred an uproar over the young skin of Hannah Montana. And that didn't do much for her image either -- among those who saw the bare-backed photo and others, 59% thought they were inappropriate.
-- Mark Silva
Mark Silva writes for the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau.
The Ticket* has been tipped off by a secret source that we cannot reveal that an unnamed ex-diplomat and his wife, who has a name but we're n ot saying she used to be a CIA operative, are about to endorse a certain female Democratic candidate for president. But we can't say who.
That's because the unidentified couple, who were so secretive they drove around Washington in a convertible sports car and posed for photographs in fashion magazines, seem prepared to sue anybody who ever identifies them doing anything except the publicity they want.
So watch out, K.R.!
Not that this will give anything away but the husband was all egedly involved in tracking down some no-longer-with-us Middle Eastern dictator's non-existent but credible plans to acquire yellowcake uranium in some very hot place in Africa, which could be used in constructing nuclear weapons. (The yellowcake, not the hot place.) Although The Ticket can't really talk about that a lot right now.
So, anyway, the ex-diplomat thought that some other unidentified people in the unnamed blandly-colored office/house where the president of the United States works when his unidentified daughter is not getting married was trying, in fact, to discredit him by identifying his still unnamed wife as a secret agent, although a lot of....
Read more ALERT: This item contains secrets of an unidentified female presidential candidate named Clinton and 2 new backers who can't be ID'd but you might guess if you read this »
Actor Alec Baldwin, who announced he was going to leave the United States if George W. Bush was elected president and then quietly changed his mind, is now talking about entering American politics himself.
The 49-year-old actor isn't really an archconservative televisi on executive. But he does play one on TV, on the NBC show "30 Rock."
Here's another surprise for a Hollywood person: Baldwin actually has supported liberal causes in real life.
"There's other things I want to do [besides acting]," Baldwin tells Morley Safer in an interview Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes."
"I mean, in a matter of weeks, I'm going to be 50. There's no age limit on running for office, to a degree. Something I might do one day."
Two years ago, the Long Island native told the New York Times Magazine he thought he would like to be governor of New York. Asked if he was qualified to run for the office, he compared....
Read more Alec Baldwin, no longer the furious father, ponders public office »
It's beginning to look like Rep. Vito Fossella, the only House Republican representing a New York City district, may not have much of a future left in Congress.
 Fossella, who's conservative and married, has admitted to having a 3-year-old love child. This comes a week after he was arrested in northern Virginia on drunk driving charges.
There are some congressional districts where such extracurricular behavior might not be fatal to a political career. His Staten Island district probably isn't one of them.
Here's how the Almanac of American Politics describes part of Fossella's district: "Culturally, Staten Islanders are deeply conservative -- more so than in most of New York's suburbs, and quite a contrast from Manhattanites who live a 20-minute ferry ride away. Taking a cue from Fresh Kills, their motto is apt: "Don't dump on us." Not many people here read the New York Times...."
Here's a Bloomberg News story, by Christopher Stern, on the latest revelation: U.S. Rep. Vito Fossella of New York admitted having an affair ...
Read more Vito Fossella of House GOP admits to fathering love child »
Early in the 1980s rising television star Oprah Winfrey was looking for a local church in Chicago. Not surprisingly, she like many blacks including four years later a community organizer named Barack Obama, was attracted to Trinity United Church of Christ and its dynamic, outspoken pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
That South Side church was THE place for upwardly mobile Windy City blacks to connect and it had an aggressive community ou treach program. And attendance continued Winfrey's childhood connection with black churches and their shared sense of community and support.
As The Ticket noted Sunday morning, the same reasons caused other black clergy to steer the young Obama there, saying he'd have more luck connecting with black churches in his urban organizing efforts if he actually belonged to one himself. Obama's friends later added that alighting at Trinity with its forceful male leader was also part of the mixed-race Obama's exploration of his black identity in the absence of his father.
Things went along fine for several years, as Oprah's fame and fortune exploded and as Obama laid the groundwork in local efforts and political connections for his political career.
But something began bothering Winfrey. By the....
Read more Why Oprah quit Jeremiah Wright's church and Barack Obama didn't »
The day Barack Obama first appeared in the church office of the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., more than 20 years ago, the pastor warned him that getting involved with Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ might not be "a feather in your cap."
Obama was a community organizer then trying to build support for his group on the South Side of Chicago, and a friendly minister at another church had suggested that he'd have more luck with black clergy support if he actually joined a congregation himself.
"Some of my fellow clergy don't appreciate what we're about," Wright told him that day, as Obama would later recount it. "They feel like we're too radical. Others [think] we ain't radical enough."
Obama ended up joining, a story he tells in his memoirs, and later was influenced enough by Wright to derive the title of a subsequent book, "The Audacity of Hope," from one of the pastor's sermons.
Some have speculated that Wright became a father figure for Obama, whose father had left the family and returned to Africa. As The Ticket noted the other day, others believe Obama was attracted by Wright's cerebral nature, as opposed to other less-educated black ministers on Chicago's South Side.
But despite the warning, the association did not seem to be a terribly risky one for Obama, given the arc of the career he was beginning to craft even then.
He was carefully constructing his resume as a street-savvy community organizer while also applying for admission to law school. Within the walls of Trinity, he found a connection to the African American community he'd lacked as a child raised by his white mother and grandparents, an important cultural marker for a biracial candidate who later would try to appeal to black and white voters alike.
He'd share church membership with some of Chicago's influential thinkers and leaders, among them lawmakers, judges and Oprah Winfrey. And in Wright he would find ...
Read more Ticket Special Report: How and why Barack Obama allied himself with the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. »
Remember Stuart Smalley, the smarmy self-help therapist that comedian Al Franken played on "Saturday Night Live"? One has to wonder what advice Smalley would be giving Franken these days as his Senate bid in Minnesota has sprung a leak. The cause? A hole in the hull in the form of tax troubles.
Franken, who also was a radio talk show host on left-leaning Air America, reportedly paid $70,000 in back taxes owed in 17 states, a problem for which he blamed his tax accountant. Some $5,800 of that was owed to California. The underlying issues are too convoluted to go into here -- we invite the truly curious to click through the links for the full dissections. And it's interesting to note that all this began with an aggressive blogger.
For Ticket readers, the significance lies in the make-up of the U.S. Senate (okay, and the chance to snicker at Stuart Smalley). Franken is considered the Democratic front runner in Minnesota to challenge Republican incumbent Norm Coleman. And if indeed it is a Democratic year at the polls come November, Coleman could be vulnerable -- offering a seat pick up for the Democrats in the Senate, where it holds power only by virtue of independents Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders voting Democratic more than Republican.
But having a candidate with tax troubles isn't going to help the Democrats' chances there.
-- Scott Martelle
Peter Dreier over at the Huffington Post's "Off The Bus" site has an interesting piece that outs longtime Clintonite Sidney Blumenthal as a disseminator of anti-Obama e-mail, some of it drawn from the "vast right wing conspiracy" that Blumenthal helped define.
What's interesting here isn't that Blumenthal is distributing this stuff -- political reporters, including us Ticketers, get this kind of e-mail all the time from partisans. But it's useful for close watchers of politics -- i.e., Ticket readers -- to digest Dreier's piece as a look inside how some of the candidates' supporters operate. While the piece is specifically about Blumenthal, he is not alone in making sure that journalists and bloggers see whatever is new and nasty about the candidates the activists oppose. Sometimes the campaigns themselves send out the e-mails.
It's all part of the game, one that many political reporters take as part of the process as we try to figure out where the spin ends and the truth begins. But Dreier's piece also helps illuminate the depths some folks go to to influence coverage and perceptions. Email, in a lot of ways, is the new whisper campaign.
-- Scott Martelle
Confession may indeed be good for the soul, but spurring book sales and trying to tamp down a potential political problem apparently are also good motivators.
Which brings us to two revelations today that involved political figures. | |
