White House Denies Charge By Attorney That Administration Threatened To Destroy Investment Firm's Reputation

From ABC News:

A leading bankruptcy attorney representing hedge funds and money managers told ABC News Saturday that Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration's Auto Industry Task Force, threatened one of the firms, an investment bank, that if it continued to oppose the administration's Chrysler bankruptcy plan, the White House would use the White House press corps to destroy its reputation.

The White House and a spokesperson for the investment bank in question challenged the accuracy of the story.

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Jackie Clegg Dodd Making Big Money As Corporate Director

Jackie Dodd, left, with daughter, Christina, 2, introduces her husband Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Chris Dodd at a campaign stop Christmas Eve Monday, Dec. 24, 2007, in Carroll, Iowa. (M. SPENCER GREEN / AP / December 24, 2007)

From Hartford Courant:

U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd has long had a reputation as a politician of limited means — a reputation underscored, for good or bad, by recent disclosures about his dependence on friends to finance his homes.

The reputation could prove difficult to sustain as Dodd begins what political operatives predict might be the toughest campaign of his 35-year congressional career — considering the dramatic uptick in his wife's income since they married.

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The White House Press Corps: You Report, We Deny

The White House Press Corps. SOURCE: AP/Charles Dharapak

From The Other McCain:

Sweet how the White House denies -- and everyone in the WH press corps except ABC's Jake Tapper ignores -- the accusation by an attorney that "Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration’s Auto Industry Task Force, threatened . . . an investment bank, that if it continued to oppose the administration’s Chrysler bankruptcy plan, the White House would use the White House press corps to destroy its reputation."

Glenn Reynolds has a roundup, including a link to Nick Gillespie of Reason. Also, Jimmie Bise at Sundries Shack is on it, and there's lots more at Memeorandum.

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Feds Search Edwards Campaign for Affair Cover Up

John Edwards

From ABC News:

Did the presidential campaign of John Edwards pay Rielle Hunter to keep quiet about her affair with the former North Carolina senator?

That's what federal investigators are looking into.

Former Sen. Edwards confirmed to the Associated Press that feds are looking into his campaign funds.

The Charlotte Observer first reported that U.S. Attorney George Holding is conducting an investigation of the 2008 Edwards presidential campaign, looking for a cover up and or improper use of funds from campaign donors, and a federal grand jury could consider evidence, the Observer reports.

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John Murtha Airport: Earmark Reform Poster Child

Photo: Rep. John Murtha

From Mother Jones:

Pennsylvania Congressman John "Jack" Murtha, a Democrat and the powerful chairman of the House appropriations committee, is a creature of the Washington culture that needs to be changed. Here's another example of why:

At the behest of Rep. John P. Murtha (D), chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, the Pentagon has spent about $30 million equipping the little-used airport named for him so it can handle behemoth military aircraft and store combat equipment for rapid deployment to foreign battlefields....

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FACT CHECK: Obama Disowns Deficit He Helped Shape

Photo from The White House

From Myway News/AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) - "That wasn't me," President Barack Obama said on his 100th day in office, disclaiming responsibility for the huge budget deficit waiting for him on Day One.

It actually was him - and the other Democrats controlling Congress the previous two years - who shaped a budget so out of balance.

And as a presidential candidate and president-elect, he backed the twilight Bush-era stimulus plan that made the deficit deeper, all before he took over and promoted spending plans that have made it much deeper still.

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My Comment: Some decent reporting from the AP .... finally.

Elizabeth Edwards Writes About Husband's Affair In Book, 'Resilience'

Elizabeth Edwards tells all in a new book. Miller/Getty

From New York Daily News:

Campaign cad John Edwards' cheating ways made his wife, Elizabeth, sick to her stomach - literally.

After the former presidential hopeful confessed his betrayal, Elizabeth Edwards writes in her new book, "I cried and screamed, I went to the bathroom and threw up."

Elizabeth, 59, who is terminally ill with cancer, speaks in far more detail than before about her husband's infidelity in her new memoir, "Resilience," due to be published May 12 by Broadway Books. A copy was obtained by the Daily News.

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