Michael Cooper has Michael Cooper and Marc Santora have a piece in the Times today previewing the same McCain speech I did, though he frames it more explicitly as a knock on Romney. McCain himself denies that the paragraph or two he devotes to his unnamed rivals was intended to knock on Romney; he, correctly, points out that none of his …

As I settle in as a guest blogger here at Swampland, I’d like to thank Time and its readers for inviting me to share my views. I hope I can raise the debate about the direction in which the conservative movement and the nation are heading. I welcome questions and comments.

For those who read this column, you probably most know me as a …

The Dodd “Talk Clock” has proven to be the CNN debate’s biggest contribution to the format. (it was dreamed up by Dodd staffers Matt Butler and Tim Tagaris.) Not surprisingly, the gizmo shows that the night’s winner, in terms of airtime, was Blitzer. Equally unsurprising (though still remarkable in its quantitative form) is just how …

7:01 PM Wolf starts the pandering off. It’s the debate limbo, how low can you go?! Also some answers may be less than a minute long, “we can only hope.”

7:03 PM “I’m John Edwards.” Shortest “opening statement” and either remarkably humble or remarkably…not.

7:04 PM Obama and his GIANT EARS OF JUSTICE! He and Tommy Thompson should …

Adam Zagorin just posted a story on Time.com reporting in depth on developments in the trial and sentencing of Don Siegelman, the former Democratic governor of Alabama. Adam has key assertions from the affidavit of a Republican lawyer who testifies that on a conference call in November 2002 she heard a close associate of Karl Rove boast …

The White House just released a transcript of this morning’s press briefing with departing WH staffer Dan Bartlett. Pretty standard stuff (loves the President, not escaping the Titanic, family family family) but this struck me as a, well, odd analogy:

Q Did you take into consideration at all in your decision the status the

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I corresponded with one of the court clerks about the seating for Tuesday’s hearing this morning; I was worried about getting in since I’ve somehow lost the badges they gave us the first time around. She told me she was trusting the press to “police themselves.”

And they say irony is dead.

It’s hard to tell from Jay’s post, but if you click through, you’ll see Dan has officially given “spend more time with my family” as his departure line:

With twin, 3-year-old boys and another son born in January, Bartlett said it was time to pursue a new chapter of his life and “reacquaint myself with my family.” His wife, Allyson, had

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Dan Bartlett went to work for George W. Bush straight out of college, 14 years ago, when Bush was making his first run for governor of Texas. During the 2000 campaign, Bartlett’s job was to know everything about Bush’s past and Texas record. He has been a constant in Bush’s political life. Now Bartlett, 36 today and the father of three …

I was wondering what Valerie Plame was doing in New York yesterday when I saw her across the lobby of my hotel. Turns out she was here to file suit in federal court against the CIA, which has blocked the publication of her memoir. It’s always amazing how Washington scandals metastasize.

Karen has a piece in the new print magazine about Barack Obama’s penchant for telling audiences things they don’t want to hear. Read it slowly — Karen is off for the next few weeks!

The Scooter Libby sentencing hearing takes place on Tuesday at 9:30am. It sounds like a SRO event:

Members of the media should be aware that the courtroom passes from the trial will apply to the sentencing. Please discuss the seating with your organization and decide on a representative – seating is expected to be quite limited!

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