Strafing the Speaker

" 'It's a yes or no question,' Mr. Wells interrupted.

" 'I'd like to answer it to the best of my ability,' Mr. Russert replied.

" 'This is a very simple question. Either it's in the affidavit or it's not,' Mr. Wells said. 'Did you disclose to the court that you had already communicated to the F.B.I. the fact that you had communicated with Mr. Libby?'

" 'No,' Mr. Russert said."

Russert says he resisted a subpoena in the case, after talking to the FBI, because he feared a fishing expedition that would force him to reveal other sources and methods. NBC lost that legal battle.

I confess I didn't see this becoming a presidential issue, but Jason Zengerle digs it out:

"Say what you will about Bill Richardson's White House chances, but at least his presidential campaign is making New Mexico safer for roosters. From the AP:

" Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat running for president, has come out strongly in favor of a ban on cockfighting. Legislation to outlaw the bloodsport has come up from time to time in New Mexico, but until recently, Richardson refused to take sides. Some suspect he does not want to look as if he comes from a backward state. . .

"With Obama giving up cigarettes and New Mexico now giving up cock-fighting, this presidential campaign is turning into a remarkably effective vice squad."

Whatever happened to the days when presidential contenders had genuine local roots? The Politico's Jonathan Martin examines the new carpetbaggery:

"Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain are the prototype examples. In both cases, they represent states where they had scant personal history until they settled there to run for office.

"Barack Obama and Mitt Romney also reflect the trend. The Illinois senator, vying with Clinton for the Democratic nomination, was born in Hawaii and raised there and in Indonesia before settling in Chicago after an Ivy League education in New York and Boston. Republican Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, grew up in Michigan, and established his national profile by running the Winter Olympic Games in Utah.

"Not one of these major politicians represents the state where they grew up or have family history -- a new chapter in modern political history."

Is there a campaign on to soften Giuliani's image? Betsy Newmark seems on the verge of gagging:

"Maybe she's a very nice woman, but does she have any sense of how this sounds?

"' I've always liked strong, macho men, and Rudy - I'm not saying this because he's my husband - is one of the smartest people on the planet,' gushed the former Judith Nathan to Harper's Bazaar in editions due out Feb. 20. 'What people don't know is that Rudy's a very, very romantic guy. We love watching "Sleepless in Seattle." Can you imagine my big testosterone-factor husband doing that?'"

"I just have no wish to hear a candidate's wife talking about her husband's testosterone. I hope they can get her to do her gushing in private."

The GOP's discontent is now official:

"Many conservatives say they pick 'none of the above' when faced with a choice of Arizona Sen. John McCain, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani as the 2008 Republican presidential nominee," the Washington Times reports.

Another Bush in trouble? I wasn't familiar with Uncle Bucky:

"President Bush's uncle William H.T. 'Bucky' Bush was among directors of a defense contractor who together reaped $6 million from what federal regulators say was an illegal five-year scheme by two company executives to manipulate the timing of stock option grants, court documents show. "The youngest brother of former President George H.W. Bush, he is the second Bush family member whose name has surfaced in stock options scandals this month."

Whenever there's a controversy, someone, somewhere has studied it. Check out this Popular Mechanics report, via Instapundit:

"A report issued last year that critiqued NASA's plan for long-duration space missions for failing to deal with 'issues of human sexuality' now looks strikingly prophetic in the wake of Nowak's apparent love-triangle meltdown. But trying to predict whether an astronaut will be vulnerable to psychiatric or psychosocial problems remains an inexact science, one of the report's authors says -- though that may change as research into genomic screening, brain scans and biometric monitoring continues."

When further study was recommended, NASA may have been scared off by such headlines as "No sex please -- we're astronauts" and "Astro-naughtiness could cause problems in space."