I guess I should start scouting office space in South Carolina because at this rate it’s only a matter of time before we’re forced to launch TPMSC.

The latest development down there is that one of the three Democratic primary candidates who Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) fingered yesterday as likely “plants” hired a GOP consulting firm that happens to be run by a guy who until recently had been a congressional aide and campaign manager to Rep. Joe “You Lie” Wilson (R-SC).

Suspicious? So are we. Here’s our report.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) concedes to Jon Stewart that he doesn’t have what it takes to be elected President: “I don’t have a billion dollars. I don’t have novelty. I don’t have a big schtick.” Watch.

Analysts at BofA say a “conservative estimate” for BP’s total liability is $28 billion dollars. That, I think, is what this Chamber of Commerce/Boehner thing is all about. That includes a lot more than the narrow clean-up expenses. And even for BP that’s real money.

If I’m understanding this correctly, the new cap and suck system down on the sea floor is working very well and sucking up a huge amount of oil each day. But now we’re finding out that the amount still going into the ocean is as much and perhaps more than we thought was the total amount like last week. As the AFP puts it, “A containment device fitted last week is now capturing 15,800 barrels a day, but the latest data suggests at least 4,200 barrels and possibly up to 25,000 barrels — more than a million gallons — are still spewing into the sea each day.”

After telling reporters that the Bush tax cuts aren’t what created our deficits, the House Minority Leader lays out a Bush-like plan for economic recovery.

LA Log Cabin Republicans announce “tea bagging” tea bag toss contest with open-mouthed Jerry Brown, Pelosi and Palin likenesses to toss into.

South Carolina, on many levels, has not emerged from the Robert Penn Warren/William Faulkner era of race and political struggle. So we’re looking at these cases of alleged sham candidacies down in the state that Rep. Clyburn (D) was talking about yesterday. And the first rock we turned over we’ve found that the allegedly sham candidate running against Clyburn was paying a consultant tied to uber-winger Rep. Joe “You Lie” Wilson (R). And the one guy who gave him money also contributed to McCain. So since this guy was running in a Democratic primary, I’d say that pretty good prima facie evidence that Clyburn was on to something, at least about that guy.

We’ll have the piece for you shortly.

Remember all those state Attorneys General who were going to use suing to block Health Care Reform as their road to higher office. It hasn’t really panned out.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was the guest of honor at a dinner Wednesday night in Washington with representatives of some of the biggest Jewish organizations in the United States. Laura Rozen has more.

Olbermann interviews mystery Senate candidate Alvin Greene. See the video below the fold … Read More