Daily News, 4/2/2008: Est. 1979

April Fool's Day reached into politics yesterday, with humorous results.

I titled a story about John McCain "Political April Fool's Day Joke #1" both because I did not believe McCain would bring the Straight Talk Express to Burning Man, and also in anticipation that there would be more throughout the day. There were — the Hillary Clinton Bowling Challenge was a riot, and yet I forgot to link to it. If I had, it would have been "April Fool's Day Joke #2."

This was not an April Fool's prank, but it was kind of funny to see Rush Limbaugh's primary election voter fraud hijinx backfire. No wonder Olbermann calls him a comedian.

Financial problems continued to mystify the federal government at all levels. A GAO report showed that almost one hundred Defense Department programs are way over budget and running, on average, several years late. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's Big Financial Overhaul™ began to draw criticism, notably from Paul Krugman. In Dilbert terms, Krugman thinks it is time put on your re-org boots.

And in a disheartening signal of how bad things are and could get, the Congressional Budget Office reported that in fiscal year 2009, the total number of users of food stamps in the United States could reach 28 million.

Chris Bell offered some perspective on the case of Reverend Wright in his weekly column, and the Lone Star Project's Matt Angle pointed us all to a new story on Alternet concerning the Texas Attorney General's rather selective approach to voter fraud investigations.

Lastly: today is my birthday, and I was pleased to receive an early birthday present from the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, who included us on his list of top political blogs. The list for Texas:

* Burka Blog
* Burnt Orange Report
* Trail Blazers
* Political Junkie
* Beltway Confidential
* The Texas Blue
* Postcards

That's some pretty great company to be in. Thanks everybody, and if you have a day that's even half as good as mine started out, you're in for a treat.