The Washington Post reports: After months of work, the momentous day for Peter Feddo and his colleagues at the "draft Hillary" movement had finally arrived: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's formation of an exploratory committee meant a presidential run was imminent.

So what now?

Draft committees are a peculiar political animal; they exist to start building excitement for a presidential candidate who hasn't even decided to run. They launch Web sites, collect names of potential supporters and raise money in anticipation of a presidential bid. ...

Under federal election rules, a draft committee can spend the money on behalf of a politician, as long as it doesn't coordinate efforts with that candidate. But the committee can donate no more than the individual contribution limit of $2,300 for the primary and $2,300 for the general election, according to Michelle Ryan, an FEC spokeswoman. -- When a Draft Group's Candidate Announces, What Comes Next? - washingtonpost.com

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I had the good fortune to meet Father Drinan a few times while I worked in Washington. He will be missed. The New York Times story begins:
The Rev. Robert F. Drinan, a Jesuit who served in Congress for 10 years until stepping down in response to a papal order, died Sunday. He was 86 and lived here in housing for the Georgetown University Jesuit community. -- Rev. Robert Drinan, Ex-Congressman, Dies at 86 - New York Times

And the Washington Post says: The Rev. Robert Drinan, 86, the Roman Catholic priest who played a unique and historic role in American public life as a lawyer, law school teacher, opponent of war and advocate of human rights and as a congressman who recommended the impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon, died Jan. 28 at Sibley Memorial Hospital.

Father Drinan, who had taught at Georgetown University law school since ending his 10 years as a Democratic member of the House of Representatives from Massachusetts, had been suffering from pneumonia and congestive heart failure. He lived at the Jesuit residence on the Georgetown campus.

Last year, Father Drinan was one of four former members of the House to be honored with the Congressional Distinguished Service Award. In 2004, the American Bar Association called him amazing and "the stuff of which legends are made" in awarding him the ABA Medal. ...

When Father Drinan took office, he said he would continue to wear clerical garb. "It's the only clothes I have," he said. -- Rev. Robert Drinan; Congressman, GU Law School Teacher

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The Commercial Dispatch reports: The U.S. Justice Department finished grilling Noxubee County Democratic Party Chairman Ike Brown on the stand Wednesday as the federal government tries to prove he diluted whites' votes and kept their candidates out of local government.

The first voting-rights trial of its kind resumed today in the second week of witnesses appearing before U.S. District Judge Tom Lee.

Lee is being asked by the Justice Department to impose measures for ensuring Noxubee County's black Democratic Party leaders are fair to white voters and candidates.

Brown was called up Tuesday by the Justice Department to testify as an adverse witness to answer allegations he's politically stifled whites in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

The charges include recruiting a black lawyer with a fake Noxubee County residence to try to defeat white County Attorney Ricky Walker, threatening to keep some whites out of Democratic Party meetings and defying a court order to hold a new sheriff's election after black incumbent Albert Walker had defeated the white-favored challenger. -- Commercial Dispatch Online

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Wheeler at Alablawg writes about a story I read but forgot to post: Basically, Troy King’s office is prosecuting a political consultant named Rick Spina because, prior to the last election, Spina allegedly took out an ad in the B’Ham news that included false and damaging information about Jim Carns, a candidate for the JeffCo commission. -- Troy King Thinks Roy Moore Is Political Poison « The Alablawg

Funny stuff.

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AP reports: A bipartisan commission would draw congressional and legislative district boundaries based on population, not politics, under a constitutional amendment that cleared its first hurdle Tuesday.

Though the measure passed the first obstacle, there's a long way to go before the partisan way district lines are drawn could change. Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, has introduced the same proposal since 2002 without success, and on Tuesday, it advanced with the support of just one Republican. ...

The amendment would change Virginia's constitution to put redistricting in the hands of a 13-member commission made up of two appointments each by Senate and House leaders, the minority leaders of each house and the state Democratic and Republican party chairmen. The 12 partisan members then select the 13th member, and if they can't agree, the Supreme Court make the choice.

The "radical" part of the bill, according to Deeds, is that the only demographic consideration that can be made in drawing district lines is population. -- Amendment would let bipartisan commission draw district lines

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The Dallas Morning News reports: The big names on campus – all thanks to big dollars – are emblazoned across SMU: the Meadows Museum, Cox School of Business, Moody Coliseum, Gerald J. Ford Stadium, Bob Hope Theater.

There's even the Laura Bush Promenade – a walkway financed by a $250,000 gift eight years ago from George W. Bush to his wife's alma mater.

Colleges routinely offer naming rights to encourage donors. But public recognition is voluntary. Private schools don't have to identify financial supporters, and neither do presidential libraries, such as the one Mr. Bush may place at Southern Methodist University.

Watchdog groups have warned of potential abuse when presidents building endowments for their libraries are allowed to accept unlimited, anonymous gifts from corporations, federal contractors, even foreign governments. Seeking more openness, the Senate last week voted to require disclosure of donations of $200 or more to presidential libraries or inaugural committees – but only from registered lobbyists. -- Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | News: Local News

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The Fort Collins Coloradoan reports: A bill requiring so-called 527 political advocacy groups to identify financial donors passed the Colorado House Committee on State, Veterans and Military Affairs by a 9-1 vote on Thursday.

It will now head to the full House for a vote.

The bill, aimed to identify financial donors that have flooded both state and federal elections with millions of dollars that mostly fund political attack ads, will bring more fair rules to campaign finance laws, said Rep. Morgan Carroll, D – Aurora. -- The Coloradoan - www.coloradoan.com - Ft. Collins, CO.

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The Billings Gazette reports: Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., recently opened a special joint fundraising account to raise cash for himself and for the possible 2008 re-election bid of hospitalized Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D.

The paperwork has been filed and organizers plan to hold a "big, signature event" in February, said Jim Messina, Baucus' chief of staff. All money will be evenly split between the two senators. ...

Baucus, who also is up for re-election in 2008, had $1.4 million cash on hand as of Sept. 30, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission reports. Johnson, who only narrowly won his last re-election battle, had $651,000.

Messina said organizers have been "pleasantly surprised" by how many people have already expressed interest in contributing. -- BillingsGazette.com :: Baucus to assist ailing senator

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The Detroit News reports: Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger filed a federal lawsuit today against U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the Federal Election Commission, alleging a grand jury investigation of Fieger and his law firm is unlawful.

A federal grand jury has been investigating more than $50,000 in political donations made to Democrat John Edwards by Fieger and Fieger associates when Edwards was a candidate for his party's 2004 presidential nomination. ...

In his lawsuit, Fieger alleges such a matter can only be referred to the attorney general after an investigation and referral by the FEC. Fieger alleges such a referral never happened. He asks the court for a declaration that the grand jury investigation is unlawful. -- Fieger sues U.S. Attorney General

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Why are articles with titles like this, Obama's Appeal to Blacks Remains an Open Question, even considered newsworthy?

The election turns on the votes of all the people -- or of the Supreme Court.

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The New York Times reports:
As many as four big states — California, Florida, Illinois and New Jersey — are likely to move up their 2008 presidential primaries to early next February, further upending an already unsettled nominating process and forcing candidates of both parties to rethink their campaign strategies, party officials said Wednesday.

The changes, which seem all but certain to be enacted by state legislatures, mean that the presidential candidates face the prospect of going immediately from an ordered series of early contests in relatively small states in January to a single-day, coast-to-coast battlefield in February, encompassing some of the most expensive advertising markets in the nation.

The changes would appear to benefit well-financed and already familiar candidates and diminish the prospects of those with less money and name recognition going into such a highly compressed series of contests early next year.

Associates of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the New York Democrat, and Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, said that should either of them stumble early on, the respective party primaries in California and New Jersey — two states that would seem particularly hospitable to them — could offer an expensive but welcome firewall. -- Big States’ Push for Earlier Vote Scrambles Race - New York Times

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The Austin American-Statesman reports: Travis County prosecutors Wednesday urged the state's highest criminal appellate court to re-instate criminal conspiracy charges against former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Lawyers for DeLay and two associates countered that lower courts were correct in dismissing the indictment because conspiracy did not apply to the 2002 election laws that DeLay is accused of violating.

They also raised the specter that if the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rules against their clients it could raise the question whether the defendants had "fair notice" that they were committing a crime. ...

The issue before criminal appeals court Wednesday was whether DeLay and his associates, who had hands-on responsibility for the committee, can be charged with conspiring to violate that ban against corporate donations.

At the heart of the issue is whether criminal conspiracy applies to felonies listed in laws outside the penal code. -- Travis County seeks to reinstate conspiracy charge for DeLay

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The Mobile Press-Register reported on Sunday: Democrats in the Alabama Senate are exploring the possibility of redrawing districts in the state early in hopes of boosting their chances of winning more seats in the Legislature and Congress.

The senators, who said they got the idea from Republicans in Texas, approved rules this month that simplified passing redistricting bills in the Legislature's upper chamber before the 2010 Census. ...

Democratic Sens. Zeb Little of Cullman and Roger Bedford of Russellville said they do not have specific plans, but said they passed the new rules with the intention of keeping their options open. ...

Little, the Senate majority leader, said Democrats' goal would be to create districts in Alabama that were more favorable to their party. He said their main goal would be maintaining Democratic power in the 35-member Senate. -- Alabama Democrats exploring redistricting

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The Hill reports: In a move that left Republicans crying foul, the House voted Wednesday to change its rules and grant limited and mostly ceremonial voting rights to the five delegates representing the District of Columbia and four U.S. territories.

The resolution passed 226-191, largely along party lines. The voting rights for the District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are largely symbolic and the rules change is designed to make sure that the delegates' votes cannot affect the fate of legislation.

Regardless, Republicans were fuming after the vote and labeled it "a power grab." Four of the five delegates are Democrats. ...

The rules change will allow the delegates to cast votes on amendments. However, they cannot vote on final passage of a bill, and, if the delegates tip the balance on any given amendment, the House will re-vote on that amendment without the delegates' participation. -- Delegates get limited voting rights, Republicans get angry

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The Commercial Dispatch reports: An unsuccessful candidate for sheriff testified Monday that Noxubee County Democratic Party Chairman Ike Brown's allies include the sheriff's department, which has been used as “the strong arm” to split the county along racial lines.

Sam “Tiny” Heard said the black-dominated Noxubee County Election Commission also works to shut whites out of politics.

“The ones who abuse their positions are the polarizing effect,” said Heard, a white who lost the 2003 election to black Noxubee County Sheriff Albert Walker. ...

The Justice Department alleges Walker and his deputy sheriffs are part of the “political machine” used to ensure Noxubee County whites lose elections. They've escorted Brown in patrol cars to Election Day precincts to aid his attempts to rig the vote, and they've intimidated witnesses with evidence against Brown, according to the claims. -- Commercial Dispatch Online

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AP reports: Retired Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., may use campaign funds for legal expenses racked up while the House ethics committee and the Justice Department were investigating his connection to a scandal involving House pages, the Federal Election Commission wrote in a draft advisory opinion made public Tuesday.

Kolbe, who retired last year, told the FEC that he incurred legal expenses after he became involved in the unfolding scandal over former Republican Rep. Mark Foley's salacious communication with former House pages. ...

FEC officials wrote that the legal fees count as "ordinary and necessary expenses" incurred in connection with holding federal office.

The commission will consider the case during a meeting Thursday. -- Kolbe gets green light on use of extra funds | www.azstarnet.com ®

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TalkLeft.com reports: Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-CA) has introduced the Federal Election Integrity Act (H.R. 101.) It would prohibit chief state election officials from engaging in political activity on behalf of federal candidates over whose elections the officials have supervisory authority. -- Election Integrity Bill Introduced in Congress

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The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports: A black Noxubee County Democratic Executive Committee official said she was going to follow her own law in counting absentee ballots during a 2003 primary election, a white candidate's son testified Monday.

"I was not allowed to make challenges," said Richard Heard, whose father was a candidate for county sheriff.

In the first lawsuit of its kind in the United States, the Department of Justice is accusing black political leaders in majority-black Noxubee County of discriminating against white voters.

A trial on the lawsuit is in its second week in U.S. District Court in Jackson. District Judge Tom S. Lee will decide the case.

The Justice Department is still presenting its side. -- Absentee vote count questioned - The Clarion-Ledger

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The Stamford Advocate reports: The secretary of the state is proposing a change that would force candidates to petition their way onto the November ballot weeks before a party primary.

The move would allow voters to know upfront that candidates who lose a primary collected enough signatures to be on the ballot on Election Day.

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said she is making the proposal after U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman collected signatures and formed his own party last summer after it looked likely he could lose the Democratic primary to Greenwich cable entrepreneur Ned Lamont. In the fall election, Lieberman ran as petition candidate and won. ...

Bysiewicz's proposal does not go as far as the "sore-loser" laws, found in more than 40 states, that force candidates to make a choice - either run in a primary or petition their way onto the ballot. ...

Edward Still, an Alabama elections attorney who maintains a Web site and blog called Votelaw, said that if Bysiewicz's new deadline passes, party leaders could establish their own rules preventing primary candidates from running simultaneously as petition candidates.

"That would prevent anybody from having two different choices (and) actually give the change in law some teeth," Still said. -- courant.com | Ballot Controls Proposed For Candidates

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The Montgomery Advertiser reports: A Montgomery judge split two lawsuits challenging the election of five Democratic state senators, ruling Monday the cases involving campaign finance reports are too different.

Circuit Judge Charles Price sent the suit challenging the election of state Sen. Larry Means, D-Attalla, to Circuit Judge Gene Reese to hear. Price still will handle the suit challenging the election of Democratic Sens. Lowell Barron of Fyffe, Zeb Little of Cullman, Roger Bedford of Russellville and Hank Sanders of Selma.

The suit against Means was filed by his write-in opponent in the Nov. 7 election, Jack Lowe Jr. of Gadsden. -- montgomeryadvertiser.com :: Judge splits suits challenging election

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The New York Times reports: The public financing system for presidential campaigns, a post-Watergate initiative hailed for decades as the best way to rid politics of the corrupting influence of money, may have quietly died over the weekend.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York became the first candidate since the program began in 1976 to forgo public financing for both the primary and the general election because of the spending limits that come with the federal money. By declaring her confidence that she could raise far more than the roughly $150 million the system would provide for the 2008 presidential primaries and general election, Mrs. Clinton makes it difficult for other serious candidates to participate in the system without putting themselves at a significant disadvantage.

Officials of the Federal Election Commission and advisers to several campaigns say they expect the two candidates who reach Election Day 2008 will raise more than $500 million apiece. Including money raised by other primary candidates, the total spent on the presidential election could easily exceed $1 billion.

People involved in the Republican primary campaign of Senator John McCain of Arizona say he, too, is beginning to seek private donations for the primary and general elections, albeit with the option of returning them. A longtime proponent of campaign finance change, Mr. McCain has recently removed his name as a co-sponsor of a bill to expand the presidential public financing program.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, another Republican primary contender, has already decided to forgo public financing for the primaries. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, a rival to Mrs. Clinton for the Democratic nomination, declined to comment, as did spokesmen for several other candidates. -- Death Knell May Be Near for Public Election Funds - New York Times

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The Washington Post reports (in print and via a video): By noon on Jan. 10, Matt Rhoades and Kevin Madden knew they had a problem.

The two men handle communications for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's presidential exploratory committee and had been told about a video flying around the Internet that spliced clips from Romney's 1994 debate with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). In it, Romney (R), then running for the Senate in a losing campaign against Kennedy, voiced support for abortion rights and gay rights -- positions he has since renounced.

Romney's political inner circle, alerted to the threat, decided to strike back quickly. Less than eight hours after the attack appeared, a video of Romney rebutting the charges was being sent to his supporters and to Republican blogs.

"In a viral information age, a distortion of the record can quickly sink in as fact," Madden said. "It was very important to show that what was an anonymous attack eventually became a moment of strength for our campaign." -- On the Electronic Campaign Trail - washingtonpost.com

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AP reports: The movement to junk the Electoral College and choose a president by a nationwide popular vote has come to Mississippi.

Legislation has been filed here and in 46 other states this year to award a state's electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote nationally.

Sen. Gloria Williamson, D-Philadelphia, filed the bill here. She said the effort, led by the National Popular Vote, is aimed at preventing a repeat of 2000, when Democrat Al Gore lost the electoral vote and, ultimately, the presidential race, despite getting more individual votes than Republican George W. Bush. -- SunHerald.com | 01/22/2007 | Miss. lawmaker says presidential Electoral College system is outdated

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AP reports: When the bells ring announcing a vote, 435 members of the House stream out of their hearings and offices and head for the House floor. Five others, banned from voting, seldom bother.

That would change if the new Democratic majority succeeds in changing the rules this week to give partial voting rights to the delegates from the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam and the Virgin Islands. A vote is scheduled Wednesday on restoring the rule.

It was in effect in 1993 and 1994 _ the last time Democrats were in power _ but rescinded when Republicans took over Congress in 1995. ...

The rule that existed briefly a decade ago let delegates vote in what is called the "committee of the whole," a term for the procedures the House uses when debating and amending a bill before going to a final vote. But the rule also stipulated that if a delegate's vote has a decisive impact on the outcome, the committee of the whole disbands and the full House votes on the issue without delegate participation. -- House Delegates May Get Some Voting Rights

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The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports: A federal judge has stayed the implementation of closed nominating primaries in Virginia.

The stay has political implications because conservative Republicans hope to use closed primaries to nominate their candidates in the June 11 General Assembly primary.

State Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, representing those seeking to close the primaries, appealed U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson's stay order and asked the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals for an expedited hearing.

"We want a decision by Feb. 22, when the legislative district committees start considering their nominating procedures," Cuccinelli said yesterday. -- TimesDispatch.com | Judge orders stay on closed nominating primaries in Va.

Note: For the earlier story on this case, click here.

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Indian County Today reports: In a Jan. 10 vote, the Senate dealt a setback to an amendment that sought to define tribes as corporations under the Federal Election Campaign Act. By tabling the amendment on a 56 - 40 vote, the chamber killed the amendment's chances of being attached to lobbying and ethics reform legislation.

But 40 senators voted in favor of keeping the amendment alive. For an amendment that did not make it out of the Rules Committee in the 2006 Senate session, according to Capitol Hill senior staff who spoke on background but not for attribution, 40 votes is a surprisingly strong showing. Unlike the House of Representatives, the Senate abides by no ''germaneness'' rules on amendments, meaning the amendment of Sen. David Vitter, R-La., can be offered to any bill, regardless of whether it is germane to its subject matter.

The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 actually leaves tribes out of account, like a bevy of laws from that era. In implementing and enforcing the law, the Federal Election Commission has made rulings on tribes in light of the 1971 enactment. Several leading results of the commission's rulings are that 1) tribes are defined for election purposes as ''persons'' but not as ''individuals,'' and so are not subject to any aggregate limit on their political contributions; 2) tribes are not political action committees ''because their major purpose is not to influence the election or defeat of candidates''; and 3) ''Because Indian tribes do not typically incorporate, are not labor organizations, and are not national banks, the prohibitions ... on these entities making contributions do not extend to Indian tribes.'' -- Vitter amendment killed in Senate vote : ICT [2007/01/19]

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AP reports: State Rep. Jeff McLaughlin says he has felt like "Linus in the pumpkin patch" the last six years, watching time and again as his proposed ban on PAC-to-PAC transfers cleared the House with great fanfare only to quietly die in the Senate. ...

Here's how it works: A candidate's campaign finance report filed with the secretary of state's office shows he or she received a large donation from a PAC, usually with a name filled with initials that mean nothing to most voters. A check of the PAC's finance report finds a large donation from another PAC.

McLaughlin said it often takes at least several steps of going from report to report to find the actual source of the contribution. Even then, he said it can be impossible to know for sure because some PACS receive money from various sources. ...

Some legislators believe the recent change in Senate leadership - which lifted Sen. Hinton Mitchem, D-Union Grove, a friend of McLaughlin, to senate president pro tem - could mean easier sailing for the proposal. Also, it was endorsed during last year's campaign by Democrats, Republicans and Gov. Bob Riley. -- AP Wire | 01/20/2007 | Legislators predict 2007 may be year to pass PAC-to-PAC ban

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With Sen. Sam Brownback's announcement, the Wall Street Journal's Circling the Oval Office has been updated.

Update: And for Gov. Bill Richardson's exploratory committee.

Second Update: CQ Politics has a list, the "2008 White House Derby: The Field So Far." The list was last updated on Saturday before Brownback and Richardson announcements.

If someone knows of a frequently-updated chart on the Internet with links to these candidates' websites, please let me know. I will link to it.

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WSJ.com's "Circling the Oval Office" has been updated with the announcement of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

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The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court stepped back into the debate over campaign finance regulation on Friday, announcing an expedited review of a ruling last month that substantially narrowed the application of a major provision of the McCain-Feingold federal campaign law.

At issue is a section of the 2002 statute that imposes a blackout period before elections on television advertisements that meet the law’s definition of “electioneering communications� and that are paid for from the general treasuries of corporations or labor unions.

The question is how to reconcile that provision with the free-speech rights of groups that say they are engaged in grass-roots lobbying, the sort of genuine issue advertising the First Amendment protects.

The court heard the same case a year ago, shortly before Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. took his seat last January. Faced with the prospect of a 4-to-4 deadlock in the absence of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who was days away from retirement and would not have been able to participate in a decision, the court then sent the case back to the lower court. -- Justices Revisit Campaign Finance Issue - New York Times

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AP reports: Three county elections workers conspired to avoid a more thorough recount of ballots in the 2004 presidential election, a prosecutor told jurors during opening statements Thursday.

"The evidence will show that this recount was rigged, maybe not for political reasons, but rigged nonetheless," Prosecutor Kevin Baxter said. "They did this so they could spend a day rather than weeks or months" on the recount, he said.

Jacqueline Maiden, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections' coordinator, faces six counts of misconduct over how the ballots were reviewed. Rosie Grier, manager of the board's ballot department, and Kathleen Dreamer, an assistant manager, face the same charges. ...

Ohio law states that during a recount each county is supposed to randomly choose 3 percent of its ballots and tally them by hand and by machine. If there are no discrepancies in those counts, the rest of the votes can be recounted by machine. ...

Baxter said testimony in the case will show that instead of conducting a random count, the workers chose sample precincts for the Dec. 16, 2004, recount that did not have questionable results to ensure that no discrepancies would emerge. -- AP Wire | 01/18/2007 | Ohio elections workers on trial

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The DCist blog reports: Last year ended on a bit of a sour note for District voting rights, but activists aren't letting a little bad news stop them.

After being stymied by Republican leaders in the closing weeks of the 109th Congress, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) and D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton re-introduced legislation on January 9 to grant the District one voting seat in the House of Representatives. The legislation, known as the Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act, is currently before the House Judiciary Committee, and voting rights activists hope to have it before the full House in February. In a press briefing last week on the matter, D.C. Vote Executive Director Ilir Zherka recognized that the legislation's re-introduction represented a "second chance to finish this marathon," also admitting, "we're in the last few miles...[they're] the most difficult." -- DCist: Voting Rights Bill Re-Introduced; Faces Challenges

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AP reports: Attorneys for Noxubee County Democratic Party official Ike Brown continued a rigorous cross-examination of a government witness Thursday in an attempt to find flaws in the witness' testimony.

Theodore Arrington, a University of North Carolina political science professor testifying for the U.S. Justice Department, examined the politics of Noxubee County and found that Brown and the county's Democratic Executive Committee are disenfranchising white voters.

He took the witness stand early Wednesday morning and finished at 4 p.m. Thursday after sometimes heated exchanges with Brown's defense attorney. ...

Brown's attorney, Wil Colom, closely questioned Arrington on Thursday about his earlier testimony and his investigative documents. Of the six election complaints cited by Arrington, five were overturned. The one upheld was the only election that took place under Brown's supervision as head of the executive committee.

Colom asked Arrington, the former vice chairman of the Republican Party in Charlotte, N.C., to give specific proof of ballot fraud and that coercion took place at the polls. A clearly frustrated Arrington could not. -- The Sun Herald | 01/19/2007 | Expert cross-examined in voting trial

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The Kingsport Times-News reports: Retired mail carrier Don Estridge was sentenced to 18 months in jail by Wise County Circuit Judge Tammy McElyea on Thursday for Estridge's role in an Appalachia election fraud plot.

The judge, however, balked at a recommended two-year jail sentence for former Appalachia Mayor Ben Cooper, considered the "kingpin" of a conspiracy to steal the 2004 town elections.

A jury found Estridge guilty on Oct. 12 on three of four counts, including conspiracy to prevent others from exercising their right to vote, conspiracy to steal absentee mail ballots, and aiding and abetting violations of Virginia's absentee ballot procedures.

Estridge, the only one of 14 original defendants to proclaim his innocence throughout what has been nearly a yearlong legal ordeal, did so before the court again on Thursday. All the other defendants - including Cooper - forged cooperation and plea agreements with the special prosecution team of Tim McAfee and Greg Stewart. -- Tri-Cities, Tennessee Personal News and Media Center

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The Monterey County Herald reports: Slow-growth advocates on Thursday trumpeted the first victory in their effort to head off enactment of the Monterey County general plan update.

In 10 days, the backers of a referendum challenging the county's new general plan have gathered more than 9,000 signatures, enough to qualify under election law. They said they plan to gather at least 15,000 signatures before submitting them to the county elections department Feb. 1. ...

Despite a lawsuit by Latino voting rights advocates challenging the circulation of earlier English-only petitions, the latest petition was not translated into Spanish. Fitz said he is convinced the latest petition is on solid legal ground, citing a recent court decision that he said protected privately circulated petitions from a translation requirement.

He added that petitioners were prepared to assemble a Spanish-language petition, but county officials said they couldn't translate the hulking general plan update documents into Spanish until the end of March. Mitchell added that some of the signature gatherers are Spanish speakers and were able to explain the issue to non-English speakers. -- Monterey County Herald | 01/19/2007 | Petition drive going strong

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The Basehor Sentinel reports: The chairman of a committee that deals with election law has proposed a measure that would require voters to provide photo identification before their ballot would count.

"I am certain these integrity measures will enhance the confidence of the citizens of Kansas in our election process," state Sen. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, said.

Huelskamp said he has heard from dozens of Kansans who are concerned that people who aren't allowed to vote, including illegal immigrants, are casting ballots. ...

Huelskamp's measure has a list of acceptable photo identification including driver's license, employment badge, credit card, neighborhood association, retirement center, school, military, buyer's club, passport, public assistance or from the state revenue department. -- Basehor Sentinel: Proposal would require photo I.D. to vote

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The Indianapolis Star reports: Plaintiffs challenging Indiana's voter identification law filed a motion Thursday seeking a rehearing, saying they think a federal appeals court erred when it upheld the law earlier this month. ...

But the plaintiffs, who include Democrats and civil liberties activists, want the entire 12-judge court to weigh in. They argue there is plenty of evidence showing the law has caused voting problems. -- Plaintiffs seek rehearing on state's voter ID law | IndyStar.com

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Trapper John at DailyKos lists the GOP candidates for President. --
Daily Kos: GOP Cattle Call 2008: Week of 01/15/07

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The Washington Post reports: It's this season's must-have political entity: the presidential exploratory committee. The legal equivalent of sticking one toe in the campaign waters, an exploratory committee allows prospective candidates to begin raising money for a campaign while they are still deciding whether to take the plunge.

Obama hand-delivered his committee paperwork to the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday morning, explaining that he would announce a formal decision Feb. 10. The five-page file reveals little beyond who's keeping the books and which bank the campaign is using (Citibank). But it puts his campaign on firm legal ground. Most candidates would prefer not to announce a candidacy this early, but given the massive sums they must raise to compete these days, they need all the time they can get. ...

The word "exploratory" is not in any FEC regulations. Instead, the phase is referred to as "testing the waters," and an exploratory committee is legally just a campaign committee with "exploratory" in its name. When a formal campaign is announced, the candidate usually changes the name of the committee -- for instance, from "Obama Exploratory Committee," as the senator named his new entity, to something like "Obama for President."

"If you want to just test the waters, assess your viability, you don't necessarily have to register a committee with us," said FEC spokesman Robert W. Biersack. "But in exchange, you cannot do certain things: create a war chest, actively campaign, generate material that says 'Vote for me.' " -- Before Running, Candidates Must Explore - washingtonpost.com

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Mary L. Dudziak writes on Legal History Blog: The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the Thurgood Marshall Law Library at the University of Maryland announce a joint project to make records of the Civil Rights Commission available on-line. The press release, below, refers to the Civil Rights Act (presumably meaning the Civil Rights Act of 1964), but of more value to researchers will be Commission reports, such as a 1961 report on voting rights, available here. While these documents should be available in libraries that are government document repositories, the website will make them much more accessible to a broader range of researchers. Some briefing papers are included, but the collection principally consists of published reports. Some materials are in Spanish. The Commission was established in 1957. The materials appear to range from the early 1960s to at least 2004. -- Legal History Blog

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The main briefs have now been filed in the State of Alabama v. Gooden appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court (this was Gooden v. Worley in the trial court). Click on the links to get the Appellants' brief (1711 kb) and the Appellees' brief (219 kb). For earlier posts about this case, go to the Voting archive page on my other website.

Ryan Haygood, Sam Spital, and I represent the plaintiffs in this action seeking to restore the voting rights of thousands of Alabamians who have wrongfully been denied the right to vote.

A group of clergy have filed an amicus brief (1362 kb) in support of the plaintiffs. We appreciate the work of the Brennan Center and the Birmingham firm of Whatley Drake & Kallas LLC in producing this brief.