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- Looks like the Huckamoon is over. Murray Waas dropped a bombshell about the Wayne Dumond affair on Huffington Post last night. Dumond was a convicted serial rapist who became a pet cause among certain conservative activists (including close friends of then-governor Huckabee) because one of his victims was a distant relative of Bill Clinton. Huckabee, soon after his election as governor, announced his intention to commute Dumond's sentence and then may or may not have lobbied the parole board to release him which it subsquently did. Dumond went on to rape and murder two more women. Waas's bombshell is a cache of letters from the victims of the original rapes that Huckabee recieved before his meeting with the parole board that make it clear he at least should have known exactly what he was risking by releasing Dumond.
- It also turns out that Huckabee, like Rudy and Romney isn't liked at home as much as you might think.
- Rudy Giuliani has enough friends under indictment, investigation, or in jail to field a baseball team and Paul Kiel has a two new nominees for Rookie of the Month. The story involves a former drug runner, a star sheriff convicted of bribery, and a criminal conspiracy involving both the sheriff's wife and mistress (named Deborah and Debra respectively).
- Giuliani, meanwhile, is running a new ad with a promise to be tough on Iran in 1980. This is a new and, I dare say, promising tactic for Republicans. Perhaps McCain could promise to bomb Vietnam in 1974 and Romney could vow to send all Egyptian terrorists from the mid '80s to Guantanamo.
- Speaking of Iran, my favorite new blog (new to me, anyway) has a good think-piece on what the new NIE means for Clinton's campaign.
- Meanwhile, Clinton stakes out a surprisingly tough position towards the mortgage industry.
- Obama's big announcement for the day takes him from Kennedy-esque to Kennedy-redux--it's a slate of new national-service programs for young people (doesn't he have those votes sewn up already?). The comparison was underscored by the endorsement of Peace Corps founder, former Senator, and universal health care advocate Harris Wofford.
- The Kucinich campaign is dead, long live the Kucinich camapaign! The congressman confirmed today that he will soon begin to run for reelection to Congress, possibly putting a crimp in his presidential plans, especially since he faces two office-holding primary challengers.
- Finally, the full transcript of yesterday's Democratic debate is worth a read.
--Sam Boyd