Wednesday Roundup: Iran releases Britons

For this morning's Roundup, a little bit of breaking news: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad just announced Iran will release the 15 British troops it has held for two weeks. This is obviously good news, and the geopolitical implications are pretty big. The assumption here is that this is part of a strategy by Ahmadinejad rather than a reaction tactic, but I guess the next month or so will show if there's any truth to that theory.

Speaking of tactics vs. strategy, McCain made some unhappy realizations about himself, got together with top campaign aides to do some reorganizing, and then announced that the official announcement about his campaign will be rescheduled for some later date. This write-up from The Politico also shows that McCain is getting no help from Democrats, as more than one story has come out about him considering a party change. And he wasn't thinking about joining the Whigs, in case you miss the implications.

Where John McCain has problems finding aid and succor, Mitt Romney has plenty of help. It has been said that his religion will end up being problematic for his campaign, and it may. Often though, as is the case here, the same story which talks about his potential problems as a Mormon outlines what it has done for him so far. I know I have jokingly pointed out that Romney comes with an incredible grassroots organizations already installed, replete with bikes, ties, and blockwalking field training, but after seeing how much money Romney raised, it seems like less of a joke. If Romney manages anything moneywise in the second quarter like he did in the first, the entire dynamic of the GOP race will change if it hasn't already.

In local news, the Dallas County Jail had some trouble with standardized testing recently, and officials revealed yesterday that, for a fourth consecutive year, the facility failed its state inspection. Management assures you they are working on it, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see things like become an issue in upcoming campaigns.

The Star Telegram tells us that State Representative Debbie Riddle has filed a bill which would add the words "state under God" to the Texas state pledge, in this context: "Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God and indivisible." This is normally where I would crack wise about how obviously, every other problem must be solved already, but the article also includes the story of a Jehovah's Witness who's been getting in trouble in Lewisville for not saying either of the pledges, as his religion prohibits worshiping false idols. I think the dichotomy is interesting, and I think of this as another illustration of how Republicans have become the party of big, intrusive, expansive government.

Governor Perry called in the Big Guns, if you can possibly refer to the Secretary of Transportation as such. Perry is unhappy with the proposed ban on private toll road deals, and spent some time with Transportation Secretary Peters lobbying the Lege. The language from the Transportation Secretary was, hilariously enough: "Don't derail your success." Doesn't that sound like it should be on a poster?

Lastly today, Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien got the O'Pinkslip from CNN's American Morning. They will remain at the network, apparently, but the new anchors will be John Roberts and Kiran Chetry, late of the Fox News Channel. As usual, I wonder why such things have to happen, and if Cafferty will avenge Team O'Brien.