Political bits

Isn't it wonderfully ironic that Rudy Giuliani is trying to sell himself to Republicans as the only one who can stop Hillary Clinton, while at the same time, Mitt Romney is trying to sell himself to Christian conservatives as the only one who can stop Rudy Giuliani?

(Politico) The Clinton camp is trying to sell the line that they will claim a substantial portion (24%) of the Republican women's vote. Couple this with a statement saying that Giuliani's appeal is limited to white male, and the Clinton campaign seems to be trying to set the media conventional wisdom.

(TPM) The prostitutes have shown up at the Brent Wilkes trial.

(ThinkProgress) And, maybe not coincidentally, Dennis Hastert, whose name came up in the testimony, moves his retirement forward. (NBC) Or maybe he doesn't.

(Bloomberg) "Several freshman Democrats who have boosted their chances of hanging onto hard-won seats by using their fundraising prowess to scare off challengers."

(AP) A claim in the NYDaily News that Giuliani's "conservative support" is not really all that "conservative." (I'm sick of that word.)

(CNN) A video segment looking at Fred Thompson's falling fortunes in New Hampshire. (It looks like the bubble is bursting. And, god, is he awful on the stump.) The main criticism is that he's not campaigning enough. (But he's not lazy.)

And, if anyone cares, (AP) Brownback is quitting.