Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D) sentenced to 18 months to 5 years in prison.

The battle between GOP establishments and Tea Party candidates is playing out across the country — but seldom as flat-out and publicly as the case in North Carolina. Tim D’Annunzio is the leading candidate for the Republican nomination to challenge conservative Dem Rep. Larry Kissell (D). But the state GOP says he’s unfit for office and is circulating divorce court records claiming that D’Annunzio once claimed to be the Messiah, traveled to New Jersey to try to raise his stepfather from the dead, believed God would drop a 1000 mile high pyramid on Greenland and even that the Ark of the Covenant would be found in Arizona.

The last suggestion, frankly, you could see catching on in this climate.

It’s not looking good for state Rep. Nikki Haley down in South Carolina. The Republican operative-turned-blogger who revealed yesterday that he had what he calls an “inappropriate physical relationship” with Haley, the leading GOP gubernatorial candidate, now claims to have years of emails, voicemails, and texts between himself and Haley that prove the existence of the relationship. And a post on his blog suggests he might divulge them since Haley is strenuously denying any sexual relationship whatsoever.

Blumenthal campaign releases poll data purporting to show that the candidate has already weathered the Vietnam scandal with only manageable damage.

As I noted last night, I think the Dems in Connecticut got a huge stroke of luck when word leaked last night that Rob Simmons is dropping out of the campaign and leaving the field to Linda McMahon.

Rob Simmons is reportedly dropping out tomorrow from Connecticut Senate race.

Have to say I think the Dems are getting really lucky here.

Earlier this evening the Simmons campaign sent out an email alerting the press that Simmons would appear tomorrow at 9 AM in New London to make an “announcement on [the] future of [the] senate campaign.”

Released a short time ago …

Lieberman, Levin, Murphy Announce White House Support for
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Repeal Amendment

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and Carl Levin (D-MI), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, along with Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA) today sent a letter to the White House announcing that they “have developed a legislative proposal for consideration by the House and Senate that puts a process in place to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ once the working group has completed its review” and the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs “certify that repeal can be achieved consistent with the military’s standards of readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention.”

Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag’s response confirmed that “the Administration is of the view that the proposed amendment meets the concerns raised by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff” and “the Administration therefore supports the proposed amendment.”

The full letter from Senator Lieberman, Senator Levin, and Congressman Murphy is available online here.

The Administration’s response is available online here.

Today Show host Ann Curry gave the commencement address over the weekend at Wheaton College, praising the school for famous alums like evangelist Billy Graham and filmmaker Wes Craven among others.

Too bad she was at the secular Wheaton College in Massachusetts, not the evangelical Wheaton College in Illinois where Graham and Craven went to college.

California Republican Senate candidate Chuck DeVore says “Jack Bauer” would support him for US Senate.

Over the weekend Connecticut held its state nominating conventions. Richard Blumenthal was nominated unanimously by the Democrats while Republican chose former wrestling CEO Linda McMahon over former Congressman Rob Simmons. Simmons isn’t out of it; he got enough votes to force a primary on August 10th.

Polls currently show that McMahon is a stronger candidate against Blumenthal (though not by much) and that McMahon is the favorite in the primary (though there haven’t been many polls so it’s really not clear). But this strikes me as a really poor choice for Republican chances. Read More

Arizona Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth explains to questioner at townhall event that the United States never actually declared war on Nazi Germany.