The John Solomon era officially begins at the Washington Times with an “investigative” piece that seems to be another gotcha without any apparent gotcha.

From The Politico …

Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), a certified public accountant, had pushed for months for an internal audit of the National Republican Congressional Committee, according to GOP members, but the committee’s treasurer at the time was reluctant.

Finally, at a recent meeting, the now former NRCC treasurer, Christopher J. Ward, relented, giving Conaway what was supposed to be an official internal audit from 2006. That document was a fake, the GOP members said. Even the letterhead on which it was sent was a forgery.

Revelations about the falsified document touched off an unfolding scandal that has rocked the NRCC and spurred a criminal investigation by the FBI into the committee’s accounting procedures.

Fearing the fallout from the discovery, the NRCC informed its principle lender, Wachovia, of potential accounting problems. Wachovia, which declined comment Thursday, had lent the committee $9 million in 2006, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Knowing the bank was required by law to notify federal investigators of any “suspicious activity,” the NRCC also alerted the FBI, Republican insiders confirmed.

At the same time, NRCC officials notified the FEC that the committee may have filed inaccurate disclosure statements.

Don’t forget, Spring Internship apps are due today!

In today’s episode of our Weekend Clip Extravaganza we toast all the special moments we shared with Mitt Romney lo these many months. Varmint shooting, dog torture, so many silvers, Mack Daddy Mitt … Ahhh, yes … I Remember It Well …

Watch this episode on Blip.

We now know that MSNBC’s David Shuster has been suspended over the Chelsea ‘pimp’ comment. It seems to me there are a couple possibilities for what is happening here.

What Shuster said was tasteless and crude. And even the logic behind it, let alone the way he said it, didn’t really make sense to me. I don’t come close to defending it. And he should apologize for saying it, which he did — though perhaps he might have done so more fulsomely. I do not think the comment played to specific stereotypes about women in general or about Hillary in particular as it would if you refer to a black man as “lazy” or “shiftless” or a woman as “shrill” or a “shrew.” Nor am I aware that Shuster has any history of such comments — unlike some other MSNBC TV personalities.

Unlike pretty much everyone else on the chat shows he’s a reporter who consistently does pretty solid investigative pieces. But regardless of that, who can name me the last political chat show host or reporter who was suspended over anything? To say that he’s being held to a different standard than TV chatters normally are is probably a farcical statement in itself since I’m not clear that there are any standards.

Does anyone watch Fox News?

On the other hand, many have rightly criticized Chris Matthews for his repeatedly degrading, often sexist and consistently clownish comments about Hillary Clinton. The most logical way for me to understand this development is that MSNBC is under a lot of fire for Matthews — but Matthews is untouchable — and Shuster’s easier to can or suspend.

Let me follow up on the Shuster story by agreeing with Atrios. I referenced this briefly in the post below. But, setting aside the language Shuster used, I don’t get what’s ‘unseemly’ or weird about Chelsea playing any role she wants in her mother’s presidential campaign. Many of us may remember her from when she was twelve, or whatever age she was. But I think she’s almost thirty years old. So I’m not being rhetorical when I say I don’t even know what that’s about. I find it mystifying.

Meanwhile, Greg Sargent brings us more background on the contretemps and negotiations taking place now between Hillary’s campaign and NBC and how that upcoming debate figures in.

TPM Reader VH checks in …

I am not a Hillary supporter – I voted for Obama. But, I applaud the response of the Clinton campaign for the insulting remark about Chelsea and Hillary. It is extremely important for both Democratic
candidates to make the networks aware right now that treating either of them as Bill Clinton was treated will be done with severe consequences. If that means every single network finds itself on the outside looking in, then so be it.

Bush made sure the networks, and news media in general, knew that any disrespectful treatment of him like Bill Clinton was subjected to was going to bring results they would find very uncomfortable. That
worked – of course in part it worked because the networks and media in general supported Bust no matter what he did. But, even if they don’t support the next Democratic president we can’t allow him or her
to be treated with the dripping contempt that Bill Clinton faced. This episode was the first shot in that “war”.

We’ve got three caucuses (Washington, Nebraska and Kansas) and one primary (in Louisiana). And we’ll be bringing you results live here at TPM. We’re expecting the first results shortly from Kansas, where Republicans are caucusing. Then we’re expecting results from the other states after 8 PM in Nebraska and after 9 PM in Washington state and Louisiana.

The results are just coming in now. And Huckabee appears to have taken Kansas running away. More soon. See the results on our scoreboard down to the right.

Continuing Update: It looks clear that Huckabee didn’t just win but won in a blowout. It’s important to note that Kansas is good territory for Huckabee. Evolution’s been on the defensive in the state for many years. And it’s a caucus, which privileges the most committed and engaged voters. That said, McCain’s the presumptive nominee. So it will be important to watch how many states Huckabee can either win or seriously compete in. If the presumptive nominee continues to lose states that will, by definition, be a sign of something less than party unity.

Doofus Election Official Update: You’ll notice on our election results scoreboard in the news section that we’ve got vote results out of Kansas but no percentage of how many caucuses have reported. It turns out that the state party officials forgot to include percentage reporting in their results.

Final Update: With 100% of caucuses reporting, Huckabee takes 60%, McCain 24%, and Ron Paul 11%.–DK

Mike Huckabee may be romping in Kansas today, but the latest national poll, from Newsweek, gives John McCain a 51-32 lead over Huckabee. The survey data is from the day before and the day of Mitt Romney’s withdrawal.