Entries for May 2007

Lewis "Scooter" Libby told a judge today that he does not deserve the roughly three years behind bars that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald recommended he receive last week for perjury and obstruction.

Meanwhile, the judge in the case, Reggie B. Walton, decided to release the 150-some letters he received, many of which are expected to express support for the former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Last week, Fitzgerald wrote in his sentencing memo that Libby showed no remorse, and recommended that Walton peg Libby with 30 to 37 months of jail time. That memorandum is available here on USNews.com.

Which presidential candidate would you want to see in your hometown?

Today users of the website Eventful.com are saying Texas Rep. Ron Paul, no surprise given the candidate's surprisingly vocal support on the Internet.

The website, which allows users to demand that performers come to their cities, is gaining traction among political candidates and political junkies alike, and is beginning to play a role in deciding where candidates appear on the campaign trail. So far, Paul's popularity on the site has translated into an extra stop in Los Angeles, where the congressman received 420 demands overall from users in that area.

Sen. Barack Obama's campaign has also used the site as a communications tool, letting users know when the senator will be appearing in their areas, according to Eventful.com CEO Jordan Glazier.

Eventful.com comes as another tool for candidates to gain support on the Web. The difference, Glazier says, is that unlike popular social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, his site directly translates "online passion into real world activity."

Below is a list of how many requests each candidate appearing on the site has garnered:

--Nikki Schwab

The governor of New Hampshire signed legislation today legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples starting in January, joining seven states that already allow civil unions or domestic partnerships, including Massachusetts, the only state to allow gay marriage. Oregon also will join those ranks in January.

As U.S.News & World Report noted last August, the political push for gay rights--and the counteroffensive from those advocating a man-and-woman definition of marriage--have evolved, with victories and setbacks for each side.

This morning's top stories:

• The Russian businessman accused by British officials of playing a role in the death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko counteraccused the British this morning, saying he had evidence that their special services were involved in the murder.
• Meanwhile, Russia and the United States clashed over a proposed missile shield at a planning meeting ahead of the G8 summit in Germany.
• Authorities in both the United States and Europe are attempting to track down the manifests from several flights taken by a man who was discovered to have an extremely drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis.
• Colombian novelist Gabirel Garcia Marquez has returned to his hometown of Aracataca for the first time in 25 years.

Whispers Editor Paul Bedard reports today that former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson has decided to toss his hat in the ring and run for the Republican nomination for president and will make the first formal moves next week, which will allow him to begin raising money.

But contrary to a report by the Politico, Bedard says, Thompson will not officially declare on July 4, when many people are away and not paying attention to politics, but at some more strategically sound time near that date.

Read Bedard's item here.

When Lewis "Scooter" Libby is sentenced next month for his involvement in the Valerie Plame-CIA spy scandal, friends and legal allies fear that he will immediately be shipped to jail.

"I think that he will get some jail time and probably be sent away that day," said a member of the Libby Legal Defense Fund.

Libby's supporters plan to make the case again that the prosecution was politically motivated, spun out of control, and ended up nailing someone who wasn't even the leaker of Plame's name in the case. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, however, has already dismissed those claims and added that Libby has shown no remorse for his acts. Fitzgerald is expected to push for a sentence of up to three years in prison for obstruction.

--Paul Bedard