Yochai Benkler (who should know) says the Stimulus Bill (House and Senate versions) turns out to be halfway decent on the broadband front.

Soros, the financial crisis, Obama ... in the FT.

In one of his first speeches as RNC chairman, Michael Steele praises the House Republicans for voting against the stimulus package, opposing the redistribution of wealth. That and other political news in today's TPMDC Saturday Roundup.

A comment in the discussion threads from one of our updates on the Coleman/Franken recount 'trial' ...

Can't somebody in the U.S. Attorney's office in D.C. or St. Paul just indict Norm Coleman for all those apparently undisclosed gifts and sweetheart deals he received from political sugar daddies, and put an end to this farce? Coleman's excruciating slow political demise puts Greta Garbo's death scene in Camille to shame.

I confess that it's occurred to me, knowing Franken as I do, that it's possible the two men reached a secret pact in which Franken agreed to be kept out of the senate for six to eight weeks in exchange for Coleman agreeing to spend down all remaining dignity he has left in order to make himself a statewide laughingstock and never be able to run again for anything.

All this said, don't miss Eric Kleefeld's report from yesterday, which noted that after a comically incompetent week, Coleman's legal team actually scored some solid points in yesterday's testimony.

Apparently paying taxes not so simple.

We already noted that the House GOP Stimulus plan job creation estimates turn out to be complete nonsense. Now it turns out, at least according to some House Democratic staffers, that the GOP plan was rushed together so hastily that it actually includes tax increases for lots of Americans.

Obama for America, the White House's outside political group, has just announced a round of nationwide Stimulus Bill house parties. Will.i.am apparently also prepping a Stimulus bill song and video.

Okay, I made up the last part.

"We need a bottoms up party" -- as yet unidentified state party chair speaking at the RNC meeting.

Michael Steele wins over racial backlash candidate Dawson.

Late Update: On a more entertaining front, they're now rushing through votes for several lower-ranking offices because they have to vacate the hall by 5 pm to make room for a wedding party that gets it next.

Latter Update: Reminds me of the good old days in 2006 when Steele's senate campaign rolled out signs to fool people into thinking he was a Democrat.

Special You of All Folks Update: I'd almost forgotten this special moment back in 2006 when Steele had the bright idea of telling the Baltimore Jewish Council in a Q&A session that stem cell research was sort of like the Holocaust. "Look, you of all folks know what happens when people decide they want to experiment on human beings, when they want to take your life and use it as a tool."

Anuzis Drops Out; endorses neither Steele nor Dawson.

Blackwell drops out and endorses Michael Steele.

(ed.note: It's always important to know a news organization's biases. And we try to be up front about them. In this case, it's probably fair to say we have some inherent bias in favor of the comedic potential of a Katon Dawson victory. Nonetheless, we will try to stick to just the facts.)

Racial backlash candidate Katon Dawson moves into slim lead on 4th round of balloting.

Mitt Romney starts flogging the House GOP's already-discredited Stimulus numbers.

In his liveblog, NRO's Jim Geraghty notes that in addition to the other weighty questions hanging over this balloting for the chairman of the RNC who will lead the party out of the political wilderness ...

the RNC has to be out of the ballroom by 5 p.m. because a wedding is slated to use the room starting at 5:30. Besides the RNC Chair, the RNC has to elect several other positions, including co-chair, secretary, and treasurer.

The few, the proud ... the TPM interns.

TPM brings on a new class of interns each season. And we're now taking applications for our Spring 2009 cycle. TPM interns are probably as intimately and rapidly involved in the preparation and production of news coverage as interns at any other news organization. And that ranges from work on the news section of the front page to research for our news blogs to video editing to bylined articles. Spring cycle interns will work closely on stories relating to the start of the new Administration and the new Congress. To find out details for how to apply, click here.

So current RNC Chair Duncan just dropped out. After his announcement, the people controlling the gavel tried several times to push for a brief recess. But there were repeated calls of 'no' from the floor. So the proceeded immediately to a vote. It looked liked someone's supporters thought that a win was within their reach on an immediate vote and they didn't want any delays that would allow something to shift or some group to jumble the numbers to put it out of their reach.

So we've just had a third vote in the RNC chairmanship race. It's still pretty scattered. But Michael Steele has moved into a clearer lead. There's also been movement in the direction of South Carolina party chair Katon Dawson. In other words, we might be moving more clearly toward a black candidate vs. racial backlash candidate race in the race to steer the Republican party out of the 19th century.

Needless to say, Dawson's move may be gaining from the withdrawal of former Tennessee GOP chair Chip Saltsman, whose main selling point was sending out racist parody songs as party gifts.