Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. Rush Limbaugh Still Tough on McCain
2. Harold Ickes Is Hillary's Point Man on Superdelegates
3. Jerry Brown for Governor . . . Again!
4. Money Laundering Law 'Stretched Beyond Recognition'
5. Jewish Delegates Could Be Key in Democratic Race
6. McCain Plays Down Temper
7. We Heard: Rupert Murdoch, Melanie Morgan
1. Rush Limbaugh Still Tough on McCain
Top radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh isn't softening his criticism of John McCain now that he's the presumptive GOP candidate — and Rush says he won't abandon his conservative principles even to defeat the Democrats.
Responding to a caller who suggested that Rush spends "too much time criticizing" McCain and could in effect help elect the Democratic candidate, Limbaugh said on April 2: "If that happens to be the case, there will be one person responsible for that, and that will be Senator McCain, not me. Senator McCain is the one actively seeking Democrat votes.
"Senator McCain gives a speech at Annapolis today, and he basically tells the achievers of this country, the people who are working, that they are cynical and lazy, and that they have had wealth come to them too easy and they need to go out and do public service.
"He needs to give that speech to the people in the entitlement industry in this country who are sitting around waiting for handouts from their fellow citizens.
"The Republican Party is the home of people who believe in American exceptionalism, and Senator McCain's speech is not about American exceptionalism. He's clearly targeting liberal Democrats as his support base."
Rush told listeners that after he delivered a recent speech, someone in the crowd told him to "get over it," referring to McCain being the GOP nominee-in-waiting.
Limbaugh said on his show: "I said, 'Get over it? You're asking me to get over my principles! You're asking me to get over what I think is best for this country. You're asking me to get over what I think needs to be done, and that is liberals need to be defeated and not joined and not appeased.'"
Rush also said that if he did endorse McCain now, not only would he "lose my audience," but liberal Democrats and independents who are going to vote for him "would scram, if they think that I all of a sudden like him. The worst thing I could do is come out and endorse the guy."
Later in the show Limbaugh changed course and referred to a shocking recent study that found that three out of 10 American public high school students do not graduate, and in many cities less than half receive a diploma.
"There's no question that inner-city schools are failing minority kids," said Limbaugh.
"These are primarily black and Hispanic kids in Democrat Party-run cities, and they are left to fail year after year, decade after decade! Liberalism is giving us this problem, and it has for a long time . . .
"Liberal politics is designed to keep unions strong, including the teachers and minority kids underachieving. I mean, to the extent that there's institutional racism in America, it is in these blue states, run by liberal Democrats for years."
Limbaugh did return to his earlier target, John McCain.
"The problem, folks, is liberalism — liberalism which controls most of the government and how it seeks to transform our society for the worst," Limbaugh stated.
"Senator McCain could easily address that and contrast himself with the Democrats also seeking the presidency, but he doesn't; he doesn't address it in this way. He doesn't blame the government or liberalism for this, because he believes in a lot of it."
Editor's Note:
2. Harold Ickes Is Hillary's Point Man on Superdelegates
With the Democratic primaries and caucuses now expected to end in stalemate, the party's superdelegates have become extremely important — and that makes political veteran Harold Ickes a key figure in the Hillary Clinton campaign.
"The man in charge of Clinton's feverish effort to lock up superdelegates is Ickes, whose enthusiasm for no-holds-barred politics sometimes rattles friend and foes alike," the Los Angeles Times reported.
Democratic superdelegates number nearly 800, and these elected officials, party leaders and activists can vote for whichever candidate they choose, regardless of the results of the primary or caucus in their state.
Clinton led Barack Obama in superdelegates by a margin of 108 in December, but that lead has now dwindled to around 30, according to Associated Press surveys.
And with neither Hillary nor Obama likely to have enough delegates to secure the nomination before the Democratic convention in August, the outcome of the battle for superdelegates could prove to be the deciding factor in selecting the nominee.
That's where Ickes comes in.
The 68-year-old son of President Franklin Roosevelt's Interior secretary, Ickes has played the role of party maverick for decades, the Times observes.
He worked for Eugene McCarthy's 1968 campaign to wrest the nomination from President Lyndon Johnson, aided Ted Kennedy's 1980 attempt to deny President Jimmy Carter the renomination, and worked for Jesse Jackson's presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988.
Ickes, who also worked on Hillary's first Senate campaign, now runs her superdelegate effort from an office in Arlington, Va., where about 20 aides seek to woo uncommitted delegates and to prevent defections among those already committed to Clinton.
Ickes recognized early on how important the superdelegates might be in determining the nominee, and "in assigning him responsibility for them, Clinton chose a veteran whose loyalty was proven — and whose iron focus on the goal at hand matched her own," the Times noted.
Andy Card, President Bush's former chief of staff, also believes that neither Clinton nor Obama can win the nomination without superdelegates.
"I think it's very hard for Clinton to come up with a strategy to win it right now," Card told Newsmax.
"I'm inclined to think that the superdelegates will somehow caucus, or there will be some means for them to find a relative consensus, maybe before the Olympics in China, so that they can go to the convention in Denver with a known winner rather than a bloodbath."
Editor's Note:
3. Jerry Brown for Governor . . . Again!
Former California Gov. Jerry Brown dropped a few hints that he might decide to run for the office one more time.
Brown, who served two terms as a Democratic governor from 1975 to 1983 and is now California's attorney general, spoke at the California Democratic Party convention on March 29 and touted his achievements as the state's chief executive.
"I tried hard not to build freeways, but we built three times more than [Pete] Wilson and [George] Deukmejian combined," he said, referring to his Republican successors.
"Even without trying, we did more than those idiots."
He also acknowledged his reputation for unconventional ideas, the Los Angeles Times' Top of the Ticket column reported.
"They didn't call me Moonbeam for nothing," Brown said.
After attacking the Bush administration over several issues, Brown suggested he might run for governor in 2010.
"I don't do much these days except sue people," he said. "But maybe one of these days I'll get around to doing more than that, and maybe you'll help me."
Since Brown's terms in office are not covered by term limits that came into effect in 1990, he would not be barred from running for governor again.
Brown also served as the mayor of Oakland from 1998 to 2006, and sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976, 1980, and 1992.
Editor's Note:
4. Money Laundering Law 'Stretched Beyond Recognition'
Federal prosecutors are using a 1986 money laundering law to threaten and penalize defendants the law was never intended to target.
That's the view of Joel Androphy, a partner in Houston's Berg & Androphy law firm and author of a four-volume casebook on white-collar crime.
When Congress moved in 1986 to criminalize money laundering, the intent was to crack down on organized crime groups that were laundering the proceeds of drug deals and extortion through legitimate businesses and real estate, Androphy points out in Forbes magazine.
But prosecutors have extended its meaning to cover almost any offense that involves cash, from gambling to Medicare fraud, even to people who overstate their income to get a mortgage.
In the hands of federal crime fighters, the law "has been stretched beyond recognition," Androphy writes.
He points to one case, now on appeal, in which a drug courier caught with drug proceeds in his car was convicted of money laundering, a charge that carries a fine of up to $500,000 and 20 years in prison, even though he merely transported the cash from one point to another.
Prosecutors often use a money laundering charge and the threat of a long prison term to extract pleas from defendants in fraud cases, says Androphy, who concludes: "In the civil realm, Congress has moved to rein in outrageously unfair punitive damage awards in security suits and tort cases.
"Money laundering charges are the punitive damages of the criminal sector. It's time Congress cracked down on the prosecutors."
Editor's Note:
5. Jewish Delegates Could Be Key in Democratic Race
A disproportionately large number of Democratic superdelegates are Jewish, and they could prove crucial in deciding whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama wins the party's nomination.
Thus far 36 Jewish superdelegates have declared for Clinton, while Obama has 12 Jewish superdelegates. But 26 Jewish superdelegates are among those who are still undeclared.
"If the Democratic presidential primary comes down to a photo finish, these Jewish insiders could play an outsized role in anointing a nominee at the party's August convention," according to the Forward, a Jewish publication that has conducted a new survey of Jewish superdelegates.
Superdelegates are largely elected officials and party officials, and the number of Jewish politicians has grown significantly in the past half-century. In 2006, 33 Jewish candidates were elected to Congress, up from 13 in 1950, the Forward reports.
And over the past 15 years, the Democratic National Committee has had three Jewish chairs.
One of those chairs, Massachusetts-based activist Steve Grossman, is now a Clinton fundraiser. And with Obama ahead of Hillary in pledged delegates and the popular vote, Grossman has sent out an open letter to DNC members urging them not to fall in behind Obama until all state contests are concluded.
Grossman told the Forward that if the result from the disputed Florida primary is counted, and Hillary does well in upcoming primaries, the overall results would be inconclusive and it would be the responsibility of superdelegates to vote their conscience.
The Forward also notes that Hillary has personally been doing some "heavy arm-twisting" in an effort to secure Jewish superdelegates.
Editor's Note:
6. McCain Plays Down Temper
John McCain has brushed aside suggestions that his well-known quick temper could interfere with his ability to serve as president.
The Republican nominee-in-waiting admitted that he can get angry on occasion, but he told CNN's Dana Bash that was a "very minor thing" compared to his achievements in Congress.
"My leadership qualities required an even temper and those abilities to reach across the aisle and work with Democrats for the good of my constituents and the country are clear indications that that's a very minor thing as compared to my record of accomplishment," he said.
McCain also said he believes voters will expect him to get angry from time to time.
"When I see corruption in Washington, when I see wasting [of] tax dollars, when I see people behaving badly — they expect me to get angry, and I will get angry," he told Bash.
McCain has been dubbed "Senator Hothead" by more than one publication, and he's lashed out in anger at fellow Republican Senators on several occasions.
Last year he dropped the "f" word on Texas Sen. John Cornyn during a discussion of an immigration bill, and he has also hurled epithets at Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley and New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici.
McCain quickly apologized to Cornyn, who endorsed McCain's presidential bid in February.
Editor's Note:
7. We Heard . . .
THAT conservative activist Melanie Morgan has praised Newsmax for its efforts in support of the Marines accused of killing Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005.
Reporting that Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum had been exonerated, becoming the fifth Marine out of the eight originally implicated to be cleared, radio personality Morgan stated on her Web site: "My organization, Move America Forward, played a small role in helping the [Marines'] families by swapping e-mail lists with Newsmax.com to fundraise for legal defense expenses.
"Newsmax.com's publisher Chris Ruddy took the leadership role in helping these young men."
Newsmax has raised nearly one-half million dollars to help pay the Marines' legal bills.
Morgan left the air on San Francisco radio station KSFO on March 3. Her Move America Forward organization supports U.S. armed forces in the war on terror, and has been called the conservative answer to MoveOn.org.
THAT News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch believes U.S. antitrust officials may seek to block his acquisition of Long Island's Newsday newspaper.
News Corp. is one of several bidders for Newsday.
After delivering an address to Georgetown University students in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Murdoch — whose holdings include the New York Post — said acquiring Newsday will make the Post "viable and give it a much more secure future."
Then he added that the antitrust division of the U.S. Justice Department "may not let us have it," The Wall Street Journal reported.
News Corp. last year acquired Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Journal.
Editor's Note:
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