FreedomWorks cuts its crowd estimate for the 9/12 rally it organized by a whopping one-half. Which means only 5 trillion people were in attendance.

Slideshow: Bernie Madoff’s NYC penthouse is on the market for a cool $9.9 million.

You may or may not have seen the reports that FBI agents raided several residences in Queens today as part of counter-terrorism investigation. Authorities say there was no specific plot in progress and, according to the Times, a law enforcement official said they had “only a hazy view of the group, its operations and goals, but decided to act fearing that undercover surveillance had failed to detect plans that might be developing.”

There are very few details about just what this is about, other than the suggestive clue that senior members of Congress have been briefed on the investigation. But it’s precisely the dearth of information that caught my attention. Read More

After the weekend I wanted to get one of our reporters piecing through whatever meaningful data there was about crowd size at the Tea Party protest in DC. The latest is that Freedom Works has down-revised their estimate from a completely crazy 1.5 million to a 1/2 completely crazy estimate of between 600k and 800k, which nevertheless appears to be at least ten times what independent observers estimate.

One complicating factor is that there are no official estimates. And when Eric Kleefeld called the DC Fire Department to ask about their unofficial estimate of between 60k and 70k, they told Eric that whoever had released that estimate to ABC hadn’t been authorized to do so. So even they’re running for cover.

Eric has the details.

There’s an interesting poll I wanted to flag about the NJ governor’s race. This new Monmouth poll showed Christie over Corzine by 8% among likely voters but Corzine over Christie by 1% among registered voters.

Now, that’s no big consolation for Corzine since a well-executed ‘likely voter’ screen means the people who are actually going to vote. But that’s a big likely-to-registered spread. And it shows how big a deal intensity is playing in this election — a vast turnabout from a year ago.

One of the things that struck me in Rep. Joe Wilson’s (R-SC) day-after comments about “You Lie!” incident was that, notwithstanding his anti-illegal immigrant politics, he actually used to be an immigration lawyer. Well, turns out he was never an immigration lawyer.

Vice President Biden has arrived in Iraq this morning on a previously unannounced visit. That and the day’s other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.

Rep. Joe Wilson has a new web ad up featuring his wife who is there to defend him, in theory, but who admits that after Obama’s speech last week, she asked her husband, “Joe, who’s the nut that hollered out, ‘You lie?'”

Fellow House Republican from South Carolina, Bob Inglis, tells Joe Wilson he should go to the well of the House and apologize.

We told you last week about the tragic circumstances in Lexington, where the ex-fiance of a well-known Kentucky politico was murdered. The whole thing is rather baroque. Steve Nunn, a former legislator and one-time gubernatorial candidate, had a history of violence toward Amanda Ross, including one incident where after beating her he threw a glass of bourbon in her face. He is 57; she was 29. Ross, a state employee, got a restraining order against him, and to her credit had it enforced. Read More