Who was it who last week claimed that lobbying reform was fizzling in the House? Oh, yeah, now I remember–me.

As it turns out, the final votes–especially on that crucial bill requiring bundling disclosure–weren’t even close.

FRIDAY MORNING UPDATE: There’s a lot of interest these days among our commenters regarding our sourcing, and …

Conspiracy theories have been flying about whether or not the leaked memo about Hillary possibly skipping Iowa was

— a gambit design to lower Iowa expectations
— an attempt of sabotage by a rival campaign
— something leaked to a rival campaign that was always intended to get leaked to the press in order to lower …

Shorter Bush presser: If you’re not afraid, you’re not paying attention.

Also sticking in the mind:
– China needs to open its borders in order to fully appreciate American beef.
– His directly threatening the children of a reporter — or, rather, implying that they, specifically, are in danger.
– Jim Rutenberg and the Prez: get a room, guys!

Apologies for my lateness. I fully intended to post on this yesterday, but my computer–through which I had been streaming CSPAN-3–decided to commit suicide halfway through her testimony, and I spent the afternoon dealing with that. (In the new and allegedly cost-effective order of things around here, the High Sheriffs have to send …

A leaked memo from Hillary Clinton’s deputy campaign manager Mike Henry urging the candidate to skip the Iowa caucuses is causing quite a stir today. “I believe we need a new approach to winning the Democratic nomination,” Henry wrote. “This approach involves shifting the focus away from Iowa and running a campaign that is more focused …

I like Ryan Lizza’s analysis of the Hillary-may-skip-Iowa story:

Perhaps it is a controlled leak to lower expectations for Hillary in Iowa, where — what a coincidence! — she has been cratering in the polls recently. Just raising the idea that she might skip Iowa changes the perception about how well she has to do there, and it is

…

I’ve got an actual story up about the McCain/Romney spat. The two campaigns have the most quickly birthed feud in modern politics, I look forward to following it:

Indeed one thing both McCain and Romney staffers agree on: The aside and the two camp’s reactions to it highlight the fundamental differences between the campaigns — and the

…

The Bush Administration now has one less political fight on its hands. The National Association of Manufacturers lobbyist that the White House had nominated to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission has withdrawn his name. This came after Barack Obama and other Democrats had raised questions about Baroody’s ability to regulate the …

We all know that zombie movies are all political allegories, but it’s also true that some politicians are actually zombies:

In virtually any other Presidency, Alberto Gonzales—a clumsy prevaricator, a talentless hack and a dangerously indifferent advocate of the rule of law—would be a dead man walking. In the Bush White House,

…