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The State Department, under Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, created an arrangement for her longtime aide and confidante Huma Abedin to work for private clients as a consultant while serving as a top adviser in the department. Ms. Abedin did not disclose the arrangement — or how much income she earned — on her financial report. It requires officials to make public any significant sources of income. The disclosure of the agreement that Ms. Abedin made with the State Department comes as her husband, former Representative Anthony D. Weiner, a Democrat, prepares for a mayoral run in New York City. Politico...

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN MAY 21, 2006 20:00:02 ET XXXXX DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE WORKED TO DEFEAT NAGIN **Exclusive** The Democratic National Committee (DNC) secretly placed political operatives in the city of New Orleans to work against the reelection efforts of incumbent Democrat Mayor Ray Nagin, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. DNC Chairman Howard Dean made the decision himself to back mayoral candidate and sitting Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu (D-LA), sources reveal. Dean came to the decision to back the white challenger, over the African-American incumbent Nagin, despite concerns amongst senior black officials in the Party that the DNC should...

MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS 442 of 442 precincts reporting Candidate Number of votes Percentage of votes Mitch Landrieu (D) - 54,131 - 48% Ray Nagin (D) - 59,460 - 52%

After last week's revelation in this newspaper that former Council President Peggy Wilson had met with consultants for a bid to seek the Orleans' Chief Executive post, sources reveal to The Louisiana Weekly that State Senator Francis Heitmeier is also considering a bid for Mayor. ... The Algiers Democrat, a Caucasian, hails from one of the only parts of New Orleans untouched by Hurricane Katrina could prove a formidable challenge to any candidate, especially Wilson who would count on the area's middle class whites. ...the changing racial dynamics of the Crescent City point to a white candidate having an advantage...

The rumors of the candidacy of former Orleans Council President Peggy Wilson for Mayor are now confirmed. In an interview with The Louisiana Weekly, Wilson confirmed that she had met with a group of consultants and has begun fundraising for a bid for the city's chief executive post. Three months ago, the idea that a Republican, much less a white Republican, seeking the Mayor's office would have brought nothing but the proverbial "guffaws" of the impossible or quixotic. Yet, with a February election looming, and most of the city's population gone, perhaps permanently, the former Council President's quest seems less...

http://powerlineblog.com/archives/011542.php I bring this up because I saw a lot of ambulances, police cars, and fire equipment flooded in the Katrina footage. It will be interesting to see what the NO preplanning was since their director of emergency response is all over the tv blaming Bush. We went through Frances (cat 4) and three weeks later Jeanne (cat 3) last year and I think Palm Beach County and Jeb Bush did a pretty good job. It's up to local and state people to tell the feds what they need and to run the emergency command centers, not just throw their...