For your weekend enjoyment. One of Doug Feith’s stovepipers holds out for the Iraq-al Qaida relationship in a new column for the Washington Post.

Ouch.

McClatchy reports from NH …

When Fred Thompson made his debut on the presidential stage here this week, he left some Republicans thinking he needs more work before his nascent campaign matches the media hype it’s gotten in advance.

The former Tennessee senator with the baritone drawl showed up Thursday in New Hampshire, the site of the first primary voting, and gave a speech that lasted only nine minutes, skipping over hot-button issues such as Iraq and immigration to invoke platitudes about freedom and strength.

Really, I can’t say I’m surprised. It’s not that I think Thompson is such a disaster. It’s just that it’s not at all clear why he should be more than a mid-tier GOP presidential contender, at best. It is only Republican desperation that has spun him into some sort of dream candidate.

Just ain’t so.

I shoulda figured there’d be another Friday DOJ resignation before I sent everyone home for the day.

Rachel Brand, assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Policy, is out.

Of course, pretty soon, virtually no one will be left from the Purge crew beside Alberto Gonzalez. But c’mon. That’s the Bush system. Mistakes were made.

Senator Jim Webb to ratchet up role against Iraq War. That and other political news of the day in today’s Election Central Happy Hour Roundup.

Elizabeth Edwards explains to Wolf Blitzer as clearly as possible exactly what’s wrong with Ann Coulter.

Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) cheerleads the Justice Department’s investigation of… him.

Everyone in Washington keeps telling us that the big drop-dead political moment on Iraq will come when General Petraeus gives us his report in September.

But Spencer Ackerman points to some compelling evidence suggesting that the far more significant Iraq assessment may come in an accompanying report from U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker — whose report, Ackerman theorizes, may undercut Petraeus and help the antiwar cause.

Hillary and Bill unveil new plan to deliver personal video reports directly to your computer screen from the campaign trail in Iowa.

Conyers and Leahy make the next move in the battle with the White House over the U.S. attorney firings.

Yesterday, the White House asserted a blanket claim of executive privilege for everything the House and Senate judiciary committees were seeking. Today, Conyers and Leahy have responded with a letter asking for a more specific response. If they don’t get it, they say, then the fight goes to the next level.

Uh, oh — real trouble ahead for Mitt.

The worst story yet for the Romney campaign goes national.