$2.2 million in the first quarter of this year. Saturday Night Live alum Franken is turning out to be the real deal, candidate-wise, and incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman is responding by attempting to raise money at an equally productive clip.

When I think about politics, it is usually in terms of the rich tapestry or the grand game. When I write about politics, it is usually geared towards New or (often unapologetically) hyper-subjective. I hadn't thought of doing a comparative piece like this one from Maureen Dowd about the presidential candidates and their vices, but then again, I'm not a Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist, either.

General Electric profits tank, panic follows.

Recently, John McCain said of the ever-growing mortgage crisis that "...it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers." Now he has changed his tune, and I think it may have to do with some highly-placed people letting him know that the whole "I don't care if you all suffer and end up homeless" message won't work well on a button or a yardcard.

I'd just like to take this opportunity to say something fun that has nothing to do with politics at all: the Dallas Stars are in the playoffs again, and they spent last night destroying Anaheim in Game 1, 4 - 0. Go Stars.

For all you IMINT enthusiasts out there, how about some pictures of an Iranian space program / ballistic missile facility?

Coordination in 3, 2, 1... I'm not entirely sure how this is going to work, especially considering the divide in the party between the NeoCons and Pragmatists.

President Bush's latest approval rating: 28 percent.

We haven't heard much from former Secretary of State Colin Powell for years, but he's come out with something very interesting today. Powell says that no matter who the next president is, they will have no choice but to reduce troop levels in Iraq. That's about as tidy as it ever gets, and the reasoning is tidy as well. Says Powell:

Whichever one of them becomes president on Jan. 1, 2009, they will face a military force that cannot continue to sustain 140,000 people deployed in Iraq and the 20 (thousand) odd or 25,000 people we have deployed in Afghanistan and our other deployments.

The full letter (with citations) that the Lone Star Project sent to Senator Kim Brimer concerning the 'rent to own' scandal is now available in PDF. You can also see a workup of the whole affair at LSP's site.