In National Politics....

--I have only two comments about the latest Blagojevich shenanigans. First, Blago's speaking voice is an absolute dead ringer for Deval Patrick's, and ever since I noticed the resemblance it's all I pay attention to whenever I hear a clip from Blago's press conference. Second, while I admire Blagojevich's chutzpah, I have to think that a real, first-class political egotist in his position -- say, a Rudy Giuliani -- would have named himself to the Senate seat. Then we'd have some fireworks!

--Bill Richardson had to give up his Commerce Secretary appointment. Just when you think the Tufts Jumbos are close to respectability.... How much you wanna bet he's replaced by a Harvard alum?

--Will Michael Bennet of Colorado (via Connecticut's elite academic institutions) be the first GenX US Senator? I believe he was born in 1964, and the cut-off is usually considered to be 1965. I'm reserving judgment for the moment. I actually always thought John Sununu (the younger), born in '63, was pretty X-ish -- and of course he's now been booted for a genuine-article, 1947-born Baby Boomer, which is a very GenX-ish fate.

--Tomorrow at 1:00 the candidates for RNC chair debate, and you'll be able to catch it on live streaming and C-SPAN. Keep your eye on Ken Blackwell; he's nailed down some very big ultra-conservative endorsements, and it's starting to look like the race might boil down to him against incumbent Mike Duncan. Blackwell is promising to take the party directly off the right-wing cliff to irrelevancy, and there's a good chance the committee members will give him the reins and let him do it. I'll have much more about all this later, including the magnificent, Hannity-esque answers he gave to a 37-part questionnaire for the chairman candidates from ultra-conservative old-timer Morton Blackwell (no relation).

--My predictions about all things GOP in the last cycle were mostly spot-on, but I had a tougher time with the Democrats. One of my misses was my guess that Tim Kaine would be Obama's VP pick. Instead, it appears Kaine gets to be DNC chair.