Daily News Roundup, 11/16/07: The Mystery Miracle Million

Yes, yes, I know there was a Democratic debate last night. I'll get to that in a second. First I want to talk about Chris Bell, and the small matter of some donors that Perry's campaign failed to disclose in the waning hours of the 2006 governor's race. The Mystery Miracle Million may end up costing Perry big.

Full disclosure: I like Chris Bell. I helped out on his race where I could. But even if this lawsuit were filed by someone I had no prior connection to, I would be pulling for them. In politics, it all too often happens that the people in charge feel as if they can do whatever they want without suffering any consequences, and even the Perry camp's response to the lawsuit against his campaign and the Republican Governor's Association is indicative of that kind of attitude:

A Perry spokesman called the lawsuit "sour grapes" because the governor would not give Bell a job lobbying Congress. An RGA official said the lawsuit is "political posturing."

This, essentially, is their message and response to a practical, unemotional challenge of abuse of a mechanical, basic, and very, very important aspect of campaigning — that being who is and who is not allowed to give money to a campaign. The focus of the lawsuit is that the Republican Governor's Association has no PAC arm in Texas and thus can't legally make political contributions in an organized fashion, let alone in the form of millions of dollars. The fact that there were some Tom DeLay-style money flows from Bob Perry to the RGA to Rick Perry's campaign is not the crux of the legal argument, but we've seen this before in Texas and we know it for what it is:

Bob Perry, who isn't related to the governor, donated $500,000 to the RGA on Oct. 31, 2006, according to RGA reports filed with the federal Internal Revenue Service. The very next day, the RGA made a $500,000 donation to Gov. Perry's re-election campaign. In October, Bob Perry gave $1 million to the RGA. Later in the month, the RGA donated a separate $500,000 to Gov. Perry's campaign.

The rules are there for a reason, and so long as people keep getting away with this sort of thing they'll have no incentive to stop or participate in cleaning up the process.

Now, in other news: last night the Democratic candidates for the presidency had their eighth debate, and this one was in Vegas. Senator Clinton did not wait around to be attacked, and got right into the mix. Obama and Edwards joined the battle readily enough:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton shifted to a much more assertive tone in a debate Thursday night by going directly after her opponents, issuing a stern warning that Democrats should stop “throwing mud” and adopting tactics “right out of the Republican playbook.”

John Edwards and Senator Barack Obama of Illinois did not shy away from the fight, criticizing Mrs. Clinton for refusing to provide detailed plans to deal with Social Security, Iraq and Iran. Mr. Obama took on Mrs. Clinton more directly than he had before over health care, while Mr. Edwards attacked her as a defender of a Washington system “that is rigged and is corrupt.”

So, I guess now it is safe to say that the gloves have come off for good. Biden, Richardson, and Dodd tried to chill everyone out, but I think the weight of Iowa as it looms (less than seven weeks) is starting to get to everyone. George was all over this last night, and you may be interested in the liveblogging and analysis he produced.

If you're worried about holiday travel delays, you may be in luck: President Bush announced plans for the F.A.A. to have access to some parts of military airspace to create some kind of Holiday Express Lane for air travel. I don't know if this will work, and even the press is using the term "experiment," but the delays have been getting worse for years, both in the security line and on the tarmac, so maybe this will help alleviate some of those problems.

In case you were wondering if telecommunications companies would sail to immunity via legislation concerning FISA and surveillance laws, it doesn't appear they are going to have such an easy time. The House passed a bill increasing judicial oversight that was bereft of any kind of legal immunity for them, and the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced legislation that also carried no such provision. That's bad news for telecoms, but probably great news for the privacy of all Americans.

Lastly today, I'd like to agree with George about CNN's debate / political coverage in saying that it is not so good. With that in mind, I was surprised and shaken to learn that Lou Dobbs might run for President, but only if he could do it as a 'fourth party candidate' behind the two main party nominees and Michael Bloomberg. And here I was thinking the debates after the primary would be down to a reasonable two people.