Midday Open Thread

• More guilty pleas from Republicans: This time, the former second-highest-ranking person at the Interior Department, for lying about his Abramoff ties.
• What influence will Fred Thompson's decision about whether to run for president have on Chuck Hagel, and what does that tell us about how Hagel would run?  The Right's Field explains.
• A Texas state senator (Republican, natch) is proposing a law to pay women $500 not to get abortions.    Moiv at Culture Kitchen filets the plan.
• Emptywheel sees some coincidences of timing on calls for Carol Lam to be fired.
• Tom Vilsack is endorsing Hillary Clinton.
• The Washington Post on Elizabeth Edwards:

  "With Elizabeth, what you see is definitely what you get, and that's the way she is in private," says Gordon Livingston, whose friendship with Edwards dates to the bereavement network that helped her after the death of her son.

  "And she's been tested as few other people have, and I think what's important for people watching this is to see the unflinching way in which she's remained optimistic in the face of bad news," Livingston said.

  A staunch advocate for her husband's campaign and his closest adviser, she made clear yesterday she wanted her husband to continue campaigning because "it's unbelievably important that we get his election right. And in my view, there's nobody who's offering people in this country a more positive and delineated vision about where we can go than John."

• The 2004 Bush campaign appears to be getting away with a $40 million campaign-finance violation, according to The Carpetbagger Report.