Free Republic

A former host of CNN's ``Crossfire Sunday" and regular contributor to CBS ``This Morning" paid a Fairfax County woman to perform sex acts on him at his Maryland home and was then threatened that the incident would be made public unless he paid $50,000, according to Virginia court records. Bob Beckel, a political analyst who managed Walter Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign, paid a woman $300 per hour to visit his home on June 27 and 29. Days later, he found a note on his car and a message on his answering machine demanding money and threatening to release evidence of...

Bloopers Gone Wild It's official: KKT's propensity for getting things upside down and backward in her speeches is not a legitimate election issue. So says Towson University professor Michael Vatz in Monday's edition of The (Baltimore) Sun. According to Vatz, ``There are lines that negative criticism should not cross," including ``Ms. Townsend's inarticulateness and gaffes. This is a point that may well be considered by voters, but it is not legitimate as an issue." Nevertheless, the press corps is keeping a growing anthology of ``KKT's Bloopers Gone Wild," including, of course, her famous congratulations to the NFL's Baltimore Ravens for...

Baltimore's police union endorsed Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s bid for governor Monday night, the first time the organization has endorsed a Republican gubernatorial candidate in 36 years. The board of directors of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, which represents 5,000 current and retired city police officers, unanimously selected Ehrlich over Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend two weeks ago. The full union membership ratified the board's decision at a meeting Monday night.

[SNIP] O'Malley, who ran for Montgomery County State's Attorney in 1998, put a copy of his manuscript, titled ``Deep Throat: Fact or Fiction,'' on the Internet last week. The book can be downloaded for $12. Dean is expected to publish his own e-book on the online magazine site Salon.com on June 17, the 30th anniversary of the bungled Watergate break-in, with his theories of who Deep Throat was. O'Malley said he doesn't need to put forth any theories, he has a confession from the source himself - Joe Lowther, a former aide to Watergate Judge John J. Sirica and one-time...