The AP analyzes Chicago's defeat in terms of top ten GOP talking points about Obama. Too overexposed, just a celebrity, etc.

The Hardin, MT, economic development official involved in bringing the American Police Force outfit to town is scrambling to reassure the local citizenry:

People who would believe that the State of Montana, or any town in Montana, would allow, much less invite, a private paramilitary security force to take over police duties, JUST DO NOT KNOW MONTANANS. Montana has more firearms, per capita, than virtually any other state in America. Gun control in Montana is best described as 'Being Able To Hit Your Target." Even many of our women practice gun control in Montana. Montana has more women who have concealed weapons permits, and know which is the business end, than most states have men who have them. Montanans don't post this type of misinformation on the internet, we post pictures of things we kill.

Conservatives revel in Chicago's Olympic defeat.

Just before an arson expert was supposed to give important testimony to a Texas board investigating the state's handling of a case that may have led to the execution of an innocent man, Gov. Rick Perry stepped in and removed three members of the board and appointed a new chairperson, who cancelled the scheduled testimony. Zack Roth reports.

I wonder if right-wingers would be less stoked if Chicago were part of America.

Chicago out in first round in Olympic picking.

Good for Obama, for trying to get the Olympics for the USA and for his home town. But I have to say I'm not terribly surprised if the Olympic big-wigs were not crazy about being big-footed by the American president. Maybe it had nothing to do with it at all. Apparently South America has never hosted the Olympics, making Rio a logical choice.

(I think I may go insane if I hear one more cable news yakker say they're "shocked" and "stunned." I mean, 9/11 it ain't, right? I think we'll recover.)

Late Update: Chuck Todd is saying that as recently as a few weeks ago, the White House had been resisting pressure from Chicago friends and supporters who were pushing for Obama to make a big push for Chicago.

Later Update: We're now living in the post-Chicago Olympics rejection era.

Even Later Update: TPM Reader JC doesn't agree ...

Despite your reaction it is pretty shocking given that Chicago and Rio were the frontrunners and the most recent guesses suggested Chicago had eeked out a bit of a lead.

Madrid has hardly been in the conversation.

And what's up with your "big-footed" comment? Heads of state were there from all the finalists.

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It turns out that setting up a paramilitary porn website with all sorts of dubious claims and offers of outlandish services can get you in some trouble. Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock has opened an investigation into whether APF may be violating Montana's Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act by making up all sorts of crap on its website.

McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt: A Palin presidency would be "catastrophic."

Late Update: Here's the video of the Schmidt's comment. Seeing the entirety of his comment, I think it's incorrect to say that he called a Palin presidency "catastrophic" but that her nomination would lead to Republican defeat in 2012, which would be a "catastrophic" result.

President Obama had a brief meeting with Afghanistan commander Stanley McChrystal aboard Air Force One before leaving Copenhagen this morning. That and the day's other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.

In case you missed it, on his show last night David Letterman unexpectedly revealed the arrest yesterday of a blackmailer for attempting to extort $2 million from Dave with threats of exposing his history of affairs with female staffers on the show -- affairs Letterman cops to. Watch.

Back on again? After Sen. Kerry's attempt to stop him, Sen. DeMint's trip to Honduras to give moral support to the leaders of the recent coup plot appears to be back on.

Be Still! ...

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We show you ... in pictures: Joe Biden is on the loose!

Pawlenty on Cash-for-Clunkers: "There's a joke out now that says the main value of the Cash for Clunkers program may be that we'll get a lot of cars with Obama stickers off the road."

TPM Reader JS checks in from New Jersey ...

I claim no expertise on this race but for being a Jersey voter. However, my guess is that Daggett is not doing Corzine as much good as you think he is. Most Daggett votes are coming from Corzine, which I think you observe. Christie is the kind of candidate that Republicans can get behind (wingnutty enough, but not insane), so I don't think that many Daggett votes are coming from him. If Daggett weren't in the race, there would be a run on clothespins to wear in the voting booth, and Corzine would win.

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TPM Reader BL is skeptical ...

Is Sacha Baron Cohen doing another movie?

Crazy coat of arms. Over the top paramilitary photographs and dubious services. Mercedes with police decals on them. All in the heart of Black Helicopter conspiracy country and on the heals [of] collective wing nut seizure following Obama's election. This is just too over the top to be real.

As you know, we've been chronicling the story of Hardin, MT and American Police Force. And you've got to sympathize with the town leaders trying to support a decent-sized but unused prison facilitiy on a tax base of like 3500 people. They only went in with Hilton after they lost out on getting the Gitmo prisoners. So you could say they're kind of desperate. But with all the news coming out about APF chief Michael Hilton's lengthy criminal record and fraud and theft convictions, we've been trying to get in touch with the folks who gave him the contract to find out what was up and whether they're reconsidering the deal.

TPM's Zack Roth just got a hold of Hardin development official Al Peterson, who's still looking on the bright side. Yes, Hilton has a long criminal history, said Peterson. But that was before he got sober.

"He was an alcoholic, and everybody knows that. Did he do some not-the-best choices in his personal and professional life when he was not sober? Absolutely. He made some very unwise decisions."

Read the rest of the story here.

Montana town that contracted with American Police Force seeks to reassure citizens: "There are no commandos in the streets."

Yesterday I mentioned a new Q-poll showing that while Jon Corzine is still doing awful (seldom getting over 40%), Chris Christie is falling fast enough that that could be enough for Corzine to win. Specifically, Christie probably can only win because of Corzine's unpopularity. Because Christie is now almost as unpopular as Corzine. But third-party candidate Chris Daggett is acting as a safety valve for anti-Corzinism. And that's pulling Christie down into Corzine territory.

Now it seems that Q-poll was no outlier. Monmouth is out with a new sounding this morning showing an almost identical result.

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