Editorials
CNN's Failure to Disclose - New Hampshire Union Leader
GOP's Compassionless Conservatism - Los Angeles Times
A Teddy Bear Called Mohammed - Daily Telegraph
Venezuelans Get Last Chance - USA Today

Political News & Analysis
CNN Hit for Planted Questions - Washington Times
The Evolution of John Edwards - Des Moines Register
Rudy Defends Spending on His Mayoral Security - New York Times
Paul on Track to be Biggest Fundraiser - The Politico

CNN: The Last Name In News
- John Podhoretz, Contentions
Big Night for Mike Huckabee
- Chuck Todd, MSNBC
Huckabee is For Real
- John McIntyre, RealClearPolitics
Two Hours of Humiliation

Have Democrats Already Lost Florida?

Bob Moser, The Nation

Florida Democrats are being boycotted by their party's presidential candidates, leaving many voters in the nation’s largest swing state feeling alienated.

Are Presidential Candidates Out of Touch With America?

Sally Kohn, Center for Community Change

This Saturday, the Heartland Presidential Forum will bring politics back to the people

Huckabee Pretended to Get a Phone Call from God Endorsing Bush in '04
Faiz Shakir: Mike Huckabee's religious zealotry has potentially serious consequences.


The Swiftboating of Obama Is Already in Full Effect
Taylor Marsh: It's despicable but it's not surprising, because this is what wingnuts do best.

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Romney Refuses To Call Waterboarding Torture, Says He’ll Consult With Blackwater’s Cofer Black
Video: Cofer Black infamously demanded the head of Osama bin Laden in 2001. More »

Debate Audience Boos McCain for Comparing Ron Paul's Anti-War Stance to Appeasing Hitler [VIDEO]

Adam Howard, AlterNet

War on Iraq: John McCain tries to take a cheap shot at Ron Paul about supporting US troops but it turns out Paul gets more donations from active duty military men and women than any of his Republican competitors.

A GOP Senate seat pick-up in Louisiana?
November 29, 2007
Finally, some good news for the GOP in Senate recruiting efforts. More

OBL tape
November 29, 2007
There's a new Osama Bin Laden tape out. Dang! If it had been released a day earlier CNN could have used it in the debate. More

The evil people do lives after them
November 29, 2007
Bringing some answers to the rapidly dying Shoah (Holocaust) survivors and historians of all types studying that period, finally: "After more than 60 years, Nazi documents stored in a vast warehouse in Germany were unsealed Wednesday" More

Partition Day, 60 years ago, Nov 29, 1947
November 29, 2007
Today is Partition Day; sixty years ago, on the Gregorian Calendar, on November 29, 1947 the UN agreed to partitioning the land into two states: Israel and Palestine. Israel accepted, the Arabs did not. More

Advice for the Dems from last night's debate.


Post perpetuates the right-wing Obama/madrassah rumor.

Richard Perle Grooming Future Ahmad Chalabis For Syria and Iran - 2007-11-30

Iraq
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Good news presents a “problem” for Democrats. “The Looking-Glass War in Iraq” 11/30 6:00 AM

Day Late, Dollar Short
by Joseph L. Galloway, McClatchey Newspapers
In Annapolis, the elephant in the room was Iraq, as the grotesque failure of Bush's foreign policy.

Bush's Next Preemption
by Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect
If Bush tries to lock the next president into permanent bases in Iraq, he may also lock in a Democrat as president.

The Gathering Storm - Clive Crook, National Journal
For the War, Then Against It, & Now for It? - Victor Davis Hanson, NRO
Iraq's Fate Remains Uncertain - George Packer, Interesting Times
Putin, Chavez & the Cold War's Return - Michael Moynihan, Reason
The Huckabee Factor - Howard Fineman, Newsweek
A Hint of Desperation in Clinton Camp - Gerard Baker, Times of London
Obama's Mandates and Mudslinging - Paul Krugman, New York Times
An Embarrassing End to the YouTube Experiment - Blake Dvorak, RCP
NH '08 Poll (FOX News): Clinton 30, Obama 23 | Romney 29, McCain 21

Being the Inevitable is a High-Risk Game - Peggy Noonan, OpinionJournal
Obama Offers Glimpse of Post-Racial Politics - Juan Williams, NY Times
CNN Admits Holes in Screening Questions - Howard Kurtz, Washington Post
In Debate Screwup, CNN Misses Political Plants - Michelle Malkin, NY Post
Stench of Nativist Compost at GOP Debate - E.J. Dionne, Houston Chronicle
Dems: Voters Shifting Focus from Iraq - M. Kady & J. VandeHei, The Politico
Remove Troops from Iraq, Create Good Jobs - Bill Richardson, DM Register
Too Bad Fred Won't Sell His Good Ideas - Kimberley Strassel, Wall St Journal
Stem Cell Vindication For Bush - Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post
Why Science Can't Save the GOP - Michael Kinsley, Time
Charles Mahtesian: The Human Almanac - Reid Wilson, RealClearPolitics
Spitzer's Troubling, Tantrum-Filled Year - David Margolick, Vanity Fair
The 'Sadat Standard' for Mideast Peace - David Warren, Ottawa Citizen
A Partner For Dealing With Iran? - Zbigniew Brzezinski, Washington Post
John Bolton: When Diplomacy Fails - Con Coughlin, Daily Telegraph
Global Warming: Now the Rich Must Pay - Nicholas Stern, The Guardian
Sean Taylor's Death and the Black KKK - Jason Whitlock, FoxSports.com

CNN's Failure to Disclose - New Hampshire Union Leader
GOP's Compassionless Conservatism - Los Angeles Times
A Teddy Bear Called Mohammed - Daily Telegraph
The Principled Henry Hyde - Chicago Tribune

CNN Hit for Planted Questions - Washington Times
The Evolution of John Edwards - Des Moines Register
Rudy Defends Spending on His Mayoral Security - New York Times
Paul on Track to be Biggest GOP Fundraiser - The Politico

Politcal Capital With Al Hunt: Bill Richardson on "Political Capital"
Ben Bernanke: Bernanke Hints At Rate Cut At Charlotte Chamber
Countdown w/Keith Olbermann: Edwards On Countdown With Olbermann
Hannity & Colmes: Frank Luntz Shares Results of His Debate Focus Group
Hardball with Chris Matthews: Huckabee On Hardball

• Making Sense of Ron Paul's Rise - N. Gillespie and M. Welch, Washington Post
• The Surge Against the Surge Failed - Noemie Emery, Weekly Standard
• Bush's Foreign Policy Disaster & the GOP - George Packer, The New Yorker
• How to Beat Hillary Next November - Karl Rove, Newsweek
• How Hillary's Done It--So Far - Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect
• New Ideas Put Obama Ahead in Iowa - Gary Langer, ABC News
• Growing Up Giuliani - Evan Thomas and Suzanne Smalley, Newsweek

Who's Afraid of Barack Obama? - Frank Rich, New York Times
McCain The Great Man in the Race - Debra Saunders, SF Chronicle
Rudy Works on Clearing Final Hurdle - Michael Goodwin, NY Daily News
Co-president Seeking Her Third Term - John Brummett, Las Vegas R-J
Will Obama Win in IA Open Door for Biden? - Jonathan Alter, Newsweek
Campaign Wasteland - Paul Greenberg, Washington Times
Liberalism Out of Touch With Working Class - Kotkin & Siegel, LA Times
Democrats Make a Bad Trade - Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune
It's Time to Declare Victory in Iraq & Get Out - David Gompert, SF Chron
The Smart Way to Beat Tyrants Like Chávez - Donald Rumsfeld, Wash Post
Pakistan's Dr. Doom - Douglas Frantz & Catherine Collins, Los Angeles Times
Mixing Toys and Islam is a Deadly Serious Business - Jemima Khan, ST
Is Blair Smiling Over Brown's Agony? - Andrew Rawnsley, The Observer
2nd Amendment Is Anything But Plain - Cass Sunstein, Boston Globe
Howard's Defeat a Loss For Civilization - Mark Steyn, The Australian
The Humbling of Eliot Spitzer - Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker
This Is How We Die - Leonard Pitts, Jr., Miami Herald

Editorials
McCain Is the Man to Lead America - New Hampshire Union-Leader
Saudi Whiplash - Washington Post
Recommit to Founding Principles - Des Moines Register
Has Chavez Overplayed His Hand? - Wall Street Journal

Political News & Analysis
DNC Punishes Michigan For Early Primary - Washington Post
Congress' Stall on Tax Bill Threatens Refunds - Houston Chronicle/AP
Standoff Ends With Surrender At Clinton Office - Washington Post
Giuliani's Profitable Partnership - Wall Street Journal

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Politcal Capital With Al Hunt: Bill Richardson on "Political Capital"
Ben Bernanke: Bernanke Hints At Rate Cut At Charlotte Chamber
Countdown w/Keith Olbermann: Edwards On Countdown With Olbermann
Hannity & Colmes: Frank Luntz Shares Results of His Debate Focus Group
Hardball with Chris Matthews: Huckabee On Hardball

Trouble on the Mitt Trail
- Dick Morris and Eileen McGann, FOX News
Clinton Seizes Opportunity After Crisis
- David Paul Kuhn, The Politico
Al Gore is the Democrats' Best Hope
- Seth Swirsky, RealClearPolitics
Paul's Crackpot Revolution
- Ryan Sager, New York Post

Don't Listen to The Pessimists on America
- David Brooks, New York Times
Clinton Could Lose IA, NH
- Mort Kondracke, Roll Call
Why is Dick Cheney Smiling?
- Nina Easton, Fortune

Iowans Start Choosing Favorites - Michael Barone, US News & World Report
Iowa Polls Prod Clinton, Romney to Shift Gears - Nicholas & Wallsten, LAT
Romney Speech is Big Gamble - Mike Allen & Jonathan Martin, The Politico
Mitt's Ham-Handed Campaign - Jay Cost, RealClearPolitics
Hillary Struggles Against Oprah Factor - Dan Gerstein, Wall Street Journal
The Frontrunners and the Wingmen - Richard Baehr, American Thinker
In Unsettled GOP Field, Huckabee Finds Footing - Susan Page, USA Today
Iraq Becomes Non-Story in '08 Campaign - Peter Beinart, Washington Post
TNR's Iraq And a Hard Place - Ed Morrissey, Captain's Quarters
Is Looming Recession a Gift for Dems? - Kurt Andersen, New York Magazine
Facing Down a Bullying Mob - David Warren, Ottawa Citizen
Fresh Air From Secretary Gates - Ephron, Hirsh & Thomas, Newsweek
Venezuela: Limits of 21st-Century Revolution - Roger Cohen, NY Times
A Revolution in Africa... Deaf Ears in Iowa - Heather Wilhelm, RCP
Overdiagnosing Depression - Frederick Crews, New York Review of Books
The Ground-Zero Health Care Myth - Adam Brodsky, New York Post
On the Brink of Apocalypse! Again! - Gregory Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times

Editorials
Battle of the Surge - The Nation
A Failed Congress - National Review
Justice on the Mend - Washington Post
The BCS Debate - RealClearSports

Political News & Analysis
Losing Ground In Iowa, Clinton Assails Obama - Washington Post
Pressed, Romney to Speak on His Mormonism - Boston Globe
Obama's Gains Show Volatility of Iowa Contest - Wall Street Journal
Lonely No More, Huckabee Faces Hurdles - New York Times

Transcripts & Speeches

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Late Edition: Interviews with Pres. Bush, Sen. Dodd, and Rep. Paul
Meet The Press: Sen. Jim Webb on "Meet The Press"
Fox News Sunday: Karl Rove, Chris Van Hollen, Roundtable
Larry King Live: Fred and Jeri Thompson On Lary King
Hannity & Colmes: Obama in the Lead in Iowa

None of The Below
- George Will, Washington Post
CNN: Corrupt News Network
- Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
- Maureen Dowd, New York Times
Democrats Make a Bad Trade
- Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune

Desperate Dems Blame Their Own Party
The only aspect of failing Presidential campaigns of the Democratic party that is interesting is their latest plea to their own national committee and the desperate strategy to blame their failures on someone else.

DM Register Iowa Poll
GOP: Huckabee 29, Romney 24, Giuliani 13, Thompson 9
Dem: Obama 28, Clinton 25, Edwards 23, Richardson 9

Human Rights Crusader Michael Ratner: We'll Keep Going After Bush and Cheney When They Leave Office

Joshua Holland, AlterNet

War on Iraq: As the Supreme Court prepares to hear the next major challenge to Bush's imperial power grab, AlterNet talks with Michael Ratner, who has been at the center of the battle over the administration's human rights assault.

Ditch Green Industries, Invest in Guns -- a Deadly Market Gospel

Naomi Klein, The Nation

Environment: In the world of venture capitalism, there has been a race going on between greens on the one hand and guns and garrisons on the other -- and the guns are winning.


Arizona Lawsuit a Crystal Ball Into 2008 Presidential Vote Count

Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet

Rights and Liberties: Democrats and others say access to electronic voting records may prove fraud. But local officials say releasing the data will show hackers how to rig votes.

Democratic Rep. Van Hollen to Rove: "You've Tried to Revise History" [VIDEO]

Post by Cliff Schecter
War on Iraq: Karl Rove is quite simply a sociopath. He has no shame, no compassion, no concern for those he's hurt or care for the truth. And he's been an complete and utter failure in his role in government. More »

Have the Judith Nathan Scandals Doomed Giuliani's Campaign?
Richard Blair: Two revelations this past weekend in Rudy's "Fornigate" seem to elevate the chances that his campaign can't continue.


Why Romney's "Religion Speech" Won't Work
Steve Benen: Right-wing Iowa caucus voters, who are already pre-disposed not to like Mormons, don't much care for "religious tolerance."

Nominating the Next President: The Frontrunners and the Wingmen
Richard Baehr
Not for the first time in the current Presidential election cycle, the momentum appears to have shifted in each party's race. More

Will Hillary's Sweet Nothings Persuade America?
Kyle-Anne Shiver
Hillary Clinton appears to be either scared to death of the voters, disturbingly paranoid about the media's intentions, or haughty enough to believe that the Presidency is her entitlement, considering the way she treats the press. More

If Obama Beats Clinton to the Nomination
Lee Cary
If Barack Obama beats Hillary Clinton for the Democrat nomination, will Republicans be ready? More

Hillary Clinton: Talon Timeby Austin HillUh-oh. It looks like a change of direction is underway over at "Fortress Hillary." Questions About Character Cost Clintonby Star ParkerThe honesty and transparency themes are driving much of voter sentiment in this election.

The Soundbite Congressby Jed BabbinWith three weeks left, Harry and Nancy are setting records for fewest accomplishments and most short tv hits.

Emblems of the Bush Age: Adrift in a Sea of Booze
By ALEXANDER COCKBURN

Politicians here still parrot Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign against teen drug use. Barrack Obama's in trouble for supposedly having told teens as part of his counseling that he too used bad drugs including heroin. But the needle and the increasingly potent joint don't hold a candle to simple booze in which the current cohort, stretching from mid-teen high schoolers through to college age kids, is marinating itself into weekly oblivion. Though there are those who deprecate claims that youth is drinking more than earlier cohorts, it seems a new lost generation is in the making, emblem of the Bush Age.

One big concern touted in the press endlessly used to be date-rape, with the girl-victim laid out by drugs. Now it's binge-drinking. High schoolers, and in particular high school girls, drink hard liquor in large quantities as fast as they can and pass out. Sometimes they get gang-raped and wake up pregnant.

This is the culture. Even meth addiction looks better. Much of it started with the Girls Gone Wild home videos, which were largely filmed during Spring Break. Now it's spring break all year round. Google tries to strip these off Youtube and such as soon as they go up. But there are undergound sites that may be searchable.

For fun at frat or sorority Parties, the pledges--that is, those who have been accepted for membership -- are made to drink until they throw up and pass out. Then they are stripped by the slightly less drunken contingent and have swastikas and racist epithets written on their bodies in permanent magic marker, are posed in indecent positions and the whole affair is filmed and posted on Facebook/My Space websites.

If parents really want to know what they're kids are up to they should read the Facebook entries--but it's probably better not to know. A friend of mine with a frat boy son returned shaken from one weekend visit to the frat house having witnessed a lad who vomited on the sleeping fathers during "dads' weekend". This was after he had drained a bottle of Grey Goose vodka, following a day of nonstop drinking. "I don't know how he survived," my friend concluded in some perplexity.

A recent survey done in Montana, admittedly a heavy drinking state across all age groups, had 38 percent of high schoolers admitting binge drinking within the past 30 days, above the national average of 28 percent. Binge drinking is defined in these stats as having five or more drinks in one session. Over a third of these young boozers said they'd been in a car whose driver was also busy getting loaded. You trip over reports of the resultant auto disasters all the time, in any local paper.

Teen and college drinkers include here returning vets from Iraq, mostly in their mid-20s. For example Portland State University in Oregon, had 800 vets enrolling this fall, and many other colleges across the country experienced a similarly huge inrush. These include a predictable complement of people with severe problems of post traumatic stress syndrome likely to produce sociopathic behavior.

Parents worried that some drunk will drive their own drunken child into a wall or another car, or that that their own drunken child will be behind the wheel, now encourage the parties to take place in their own homes. This carries its own risks, in the form of "social hosting" laws in many states, where the householder--even if away on holiday or on business--can get nailed for allowing the party. This includes liability for damages if any death or injury stems from the revelry, either on site or in some carload of party-goers on their way home.

If Americans look for leadership amidst this crisis, they probably won't want to dwell too long on George Bush, a frat boy with a major drinking problem until--supposedly--he laid off after Laura had been on the receiving end of one too many unpleasant homecomings. George claims God saved him, but there are no signs of the mass religious revival which would now be necessary.

<h2 class="date-header">Monday, December 03, 2007</h2> <h3 class="post-title"> Michigan Delegates Excluded From Democratic Convention </h3>

<a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5igrYLRrHG3P6lIbs2E7pSH0bxhvgD8T8P7I80">A specter haunts the Democratic Party, and it is the exclusion of Michigan and Florida delegates from the Democratic Convention.

Both the Republican and the Democratic National Committees have been penalizing states that move their primaries up to January, as Michigan and Florida did.

The DNC says it will only recognize the Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina primaries in January. Michigan and Florida won't be accepted.

The dispute could affect the election in several ways. First, the Democrats have taken a pledge not to campaign in Michigan and Florida. The Republicans are also penalizing those states, but their candidates can campaign there. This difference may give the Republicans a leg up in Florida in particular.

Second, there is this bombshell:

' Democratic candidates John Edwards, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson and Joe Biden have withdrawn their names from the ballot to satisfy Iowa and New Hampshire, which were unhappy Michigan was challenging their leadoff status on the primary calendar. That leaves Hillary Rodham Clinton, Dennis Kucinich, Chris Dodd, Mike Gravel and "uncommitted," as the choices on the Democratic ballot in Michigan. '

Well, the way I read it, that means Hillary takes Michigan. And, if Carl Levin is right, Michigan delegates may ultimately be seated at the convention despite what the DNC now says.

What if the candidates went to the convention without any of them having enough delegates to win the nomination outright? And what if Michigan delegates finally got seated, and they were overwhelmingly Hillary supporters because Obama and Edwards did not run? What if they helped put Hillary over? Wouldn't that be widely viewed by the party faithful as inherently unfair?

I am worried about this situation. At the level of the presidency, it may be a close race. Michigan and Florida are key states. Michigan has been trending Democrat but that is not set in stone. Florida adds several hundred thousand residents a year, so it won't be the same state as in 2004 and may be up for grabs. The way this dispute over timing is working out, it may well disadvantage Democrats, and it certainly will disadvantage Obama and Edwards.

And here's a scenario for you: Obama wins in Iowa. Hillary wins in New Hampshire. Obama wins in Nevada. Hillary wins in South Carolina. But then Hillary wins in Michigan and Florida but they don't count. Or do they count for public opinion even if not for the Convention? Do they help create an impression that she is winning the tennis match 6-4 going into the February primaries?

Could the issue raise questions about the legitimacy of the party nominees?

I think the Democrats are crazy not to resolve this thing quick through negotiation, rather than just letting the train wreck unfold. posted by Juan Cole

Progressivism Is So 20th Century Posted by Lew Rockwell at 09:32 AM A fascinating exchange on the progressive libertarians vs. Ron Paul thread at the Liberty and Power blog:
______

"Progress" is so passé (#116127)
by David Miller on December 2, 2007 at 8:27 PM

Steve,

Since this is the "history news network," might I take exception with some of the assumptions you are making about history?

You write:
> But in the long run, the young will never sign on to a movement rooted in cultural conservatism.

Really? How do you know that?

It seems to me that your perspective on history here is rather dated, a typically "twen-cen" (twentieth-century) perspective.

The long-term course of human history, along with theoretical insights from evolutionary psychology, suggest that human beings, especially the young, are naturally "culturally conservative." After all, since everyone was once young, and since young people have historically been a much larger fraction of the populace than they are in the US today, if the young were always "progressive," one would expect that all of human history would have been a frenzied hurtling forward in a progressive direction.

It hasn't been.

I'd suggest as an alternative that you GenXers have been culturally colonized by my generation, the Boomers (I'm about a decade older than you). We Boomers coined the phrase "Don't trust anyone over thirty," we managed to convince a lot of our elders that we were the vanguard of the future, and we hectored them that they had better go along with our definition of "progress" or be swept into the dustbin of history.

Isn't it possible that the kids today, decades younger than you or me, view this whole "progress" thing as dreary lecturing by us over-40 types and find themselves more simpatico culturally with Ron Paul than with people who think that Mick Jagger is "hip"?

Continue reading "Progressivism Is So 20th Century"


Welcome Back, Imus! Posted by Lew Rockwell at 09:27 AM Don's show is now broadcast on WABC, other radio stations, and satellite tv. He noted that "nothing has changed: Cheney is still a war criminal, and Hillary is still Satan."


GOP Party Hacks Lie About Ron Paul Supporters Posted by Lew Rockwell at 09:23 AM Of course, there was no busing of Ron Paul supporters to the Virginia strawpoll! Such antique tactics are only for the Romneys and Giulianis.

Today's Republicans might not elect Reagan
They want to put his face on Mount Rushmore, but Republicans today are demanding such ideological purity that they might not even nominate Ronald Reagan for president if he were to run now. | 12/02/07 06:00:00 By - Steven Thomma

WPN/Max Whittaker
Ron Paul is a baby elephant
From around the country, Ron Paul's followers are descending on New Hampshire to go door-to-door for their man. But what do they really want?

By Michael Scherer


"The message is so powerful, in spite of my shortcomings"
As he tells Salon in an interview, even Ron Paul is surprised by his spontaneous, self-organizing campaign

By Michael Scherer

• Why Mitt Romney's "religion speech" won't work</h4>Republican candidate faces theological, political hurdles in JFK-like address
  
  By Steve Benen
  
  Blog Report

Romney to speak about his Mormon faith
After months of internal debate at his campaign, Mitt Romney decides to address his religion directly

By Walter Shapiro and Michael Scherer

Politics

Giuliani's Tenure: How did the Candidates Run Their Shops?

While there have been fifteen U.S. Senators in American history who became President, only Warren Harding and John F. Kennedy went directly to the White House from the Senate.

Americans seem to want to see some kind of executive/management ability in their president typically, and thus all politics and political affiliations aside, candidates like Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Bill Richardson, and Rudy Giuliani have something in their portfolio a bit different than those who vote but don't get the frills and problems of the buck stopping with them -- like Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama, John McCain, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich, Fred Thompson, and Ron Paul.

But for those who were governors or generals, the spotlight will then go to how did they actually perform as chief executives, and were there any shenanigans that raise serious doubts about competence, self-dealing, or blurry ambiguities that simply ought not to be there.

Ben Smith and Politico have discovered under a Freedom of Information Act inquiry some material exposing Rudy Giuliani's bureaucratic technique of hiding and/or billing travel and security expenses incurred during a marital affair within what appear to be inappropriate agencies in New York.

Read the whole article, but here's the core of what's at issue:

As New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses amassed during the time when he was beginning an extramarital relationship with future wife Judith Nathan in the Hamptons, according to previously undisclosed government records. The documents, obtained by Politico under New York's Freedom of Information Law, show that the mayoral costs had nothing to do with the functions of the little-known city offices that defrayed his tabs, including agencies responsible for regulating loft apartments, aiding the disabled and providing lawyers for indigent defendants.

At the time, the mayor's office refused to explain the accounting to city auditors, citing "security."

The Hamptons visits resulted in hotel, gas and other costs for Giuliani's New York Police Department security detail.

Giuliani's relationship with Nathan is old news now, and Giuliani regularly asks voters on the campaign trail to forgive his "mistakes."

It's also impossible to know whether the purpose of all the Hamptons trips was to see Nathan. A Giuliani spokeswoman declined to discuss any aspect of this story, which was explained in detail to her earlier this week.

But the practice of transferring the travel expenses of Giuliani's security detail to the accounts of obscure mayoral offices has never been brought to light, despite behind-the-scenes criticism from the city comptroller weeks after Giuliani left office.

The expenses first surfaced as Giuliani's two terms as mayor of New York drew to a close in 2001, when a city auditor stumbled across something unusual: $34,000 worth of travel expenses buried in the accounts of the New York City Loft Board.

When the city's fiscal monitor asked for an explanation, Giuliani's aides refused, citing "security," said Jeff Simmons, a spokesman for the city comptroller.

But American Express bills and travel documents obtained by Politico suggest another reason City Hall may have considered the documents sensitive: They detail three summers of visits to Southampton, the Long Island town where Nathan had an apartment.

Auditors "were unable to verify that these expenses were for legitimate or necessary purposes," City Comptroller William Thompson wrote of the expenses from fiscal year 2000, which covers parts of 1999 and 2000.

The letter, whose existence has not been previously reported, was also obtained under the Freedom of Information Law.

I maintain my view that Romney would be a more formidable candidate for any of the Dems than Giuliani -- though a good number of Dems disagree with me.

However, I think that these kinds of shenanigans during Giuliani's term would help fill in the long, tedious months between February 6, 2008 and election day.

-- Steve Clemons

Politico Playbook: No regrets By: MIKE ALLEN | 12/03/2007 09:01 AM Candidates do Imus, and Clinton says it will be the economy. Kotecki video: Mitt preps for The Talk
One month out, Iowa eyes Cinderellas By: DAVID PAUL KUHN | 12/03/2007 06:05 AM Late surges by Huck and Obama upset front-runners in first-caucus state, but raise expectations.
Obama camp attacks HRC for attacking By: BEN SMITH | 12/03/2007 09:58 AM Blog: In response to HRC offensive, the Obama campaign has launched website, "Hillary Attacks."
Pro-Huckabee negative calls flood Iowa By: JONATHAN MARTIN | 12/03/2007 01:12 AM Blog: Iowans report getting robo-calls slamming Giuliani, Thompson and McCain; Huckabee camp denies link.

Romney speech is a huge gamble
By: MIKE ALLEN and JONATHAN MARTIN | 12/03/2007 06:29 AM Challenge on Thursday is to allay reservations of evangelical Christians without making Mormonism contest’s overriding issue.