According to the Wall Street Journal, the FCC will approve the merger of the two satellite radio companies, Sirius and XM.

FCC Reaches Tentative Deal
To Approve XM-Sirius Merger
By AMY SCHATZ
July 23, 2008 2:34 p.m.

WASHINGTON – A tentative deal has been reached by a majority of commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission to approve the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., a FCC source close to the review said Wednesday.

Republican commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate is the only FCC member left to vote on the deal and she is expected to do so shortly, two FCC officials close to the negotiations said. She is expected to sign off on the deal in exchange for a consent decree that resolves several enforcement issues involving the satellite radio companies and a combined fine of about $20 million, an FCC source close to the deal said.

Or is all of this Russert stuff becoming a little over the top? From all accounts, Russert had a close knit family and many friends, who all seem to speak very highly of him. I'm sure they'll miss him very much.

But jeez, he was a talk show host. He wasn't someone who will be discussed by historians in future generations.

Bob Novak has come out with his first stab at a General Election forecast for Evans-Novak Political Report. The remarkable thing about this forecast is that for all the talk lately about "changing the map" he forsees a map identical to 2004 except for Colorado and Iowa changing from Red to Blue. Those additional 16 EVs would result in a heartbreakingly close 270-268 loss.

Former Senator Howard Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) died tonight at 90. Metzenbaum, who was appointed to the Senate in 1974 by Gov. John Gilligan (the father of current Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius), defeated in the primary for a full term, then returned to the Senate for three terms from 1976 through 1994.

According to the New York Times, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has told aides he is involved with a prostitution ring, and will hold a press conference at 2:15 EDT.

According to the New London Day, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) has asked Connecticut Democrats not to vote for him in today's primary.

Sen. Chris Dodd is asking Connecticut residents not to vote for him in today's Democratic presidential primary. Dodd dropped out of the presidential race last month after a poor showing in the Iowa caucus, but his name will still be on the ballot in his home state. That's because he withdrew from the race too late to get it removed.

...

He is instead encouraging registered voters to go to the polls and cast their votes for one of the candidate who is still vying for the nomination.

What a classy move! Are you listening Joe Biden, Bill Richardson & John Edwards?

A lawyer for ex-Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) has announced that the Justice Department has ended its criminal inquiry into Burns' association with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

According to the Missoulian:

Burns accepted about $150,000 in contributions from Abramoff, his clients and associates, more than any other member of Congress. He later gave the money away.

Abramoff's sentencing in the Capitol Hill influence-peddling case has been delayed because he is helping federal prosecutors look into his dealings with lawmakers. He is serving prison time for an unrelated fraudulent casino deal.

The Abramoff controversy played a large role in Burns' re-election bid in 2006, which he lost by less than 1 percent of the vote. Now-Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., hammered home the ethics theme throughout the race.

Tester's office declined to comment on the close of the investigation.

"From the get-go, I did not lose faith in the system, as I knew justice would prevail when I offered complete cooperation with the government's inquiry," Burns said Wednesday afternoon.

The Des Moines Register will make its endorsements in tomorrow's paper (announced today) for the presidential caucuses next month. Who will it choose? Historically, with the exception of 2000, the Register's endorsement has been incredibly influential--particularly in Des Moines and Central Iowa. In recent contested races, it has endorsed:

    1984: Walter Mondale
    1988: Paul Simon
    2000: Bill Bradley
    2004: John Edwards

While this is a small sample, Midwestern (or at least rural) backgrounds are helpful in getting the endorsement. Interestingly, both Mondale and Simon were the sons of Methodist ministers.

Rep. Mike McNulty (D, NY-21), one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress from the Northeast, will announce his retirement tomorrow for health reasons.

The AP is reporting that former Reagan aide Michael Deaver, 69, has died of pancreatic cancer.

Deaver was celebrated and scorned as an expert at media manipulation for focusing on how the president looked as much as what the president said. Reagan's chief choreographer for public events, Deaver protected the commander in chief's image and enhanced it with a flair for choosing just the right settings, poses and camera angles.

"I've always said the only thing I did is light him well," Deaver told the Los Angeles Times in 2001. "My job was filling up the space around the head. I didn't make Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan made me."

Deaver's own image suffered a setback in 1987. He was convicted on three of five counts of perjury stemming from statements to a congressional subcommittee and a federal grand jury investigating his lobbying activities with administration officials.

First Merv Griffin, now Deaver. Nancy Reagan's friends are dropping like flies.

John Kerry has delivered a classic limerick about his disgraced Senate colleague, David Vitter:

"There once was a man named Vitter/Who vowed that he wasn’t a quitter/But with stories of women/And all of his sinnin’/He knows his career’s in the — oh, never mind," Kerry said.

(West Coast viewers are warned that some of this may be spoilers for you.)

I haven't seen one yet, so here it is.

FWIW, here's my (admittedly worthless) prediction:

Note that the gun Tony fell asleep holding was the assault rifle Bobby gave him for his birthday. He will use it. There will be a violent shootout that Tony will survive but Paulie will not. Phil will be killed. Janice will snap & do omething crazy. A.J. will go out with a whimper. Uncle Junior won't even appear.

On paper, Bill Richardson is a dream candidate for president. He has an incredible résumé: 14 years in Congress, UN Ambassador, Energy Secretary, Diplomat and Governor. But his campaign isn't going anywhere.

Why not? Could it be that he is, uh, non-athletic?

In Bob Novak's weekend column, he predicts that Sen. John Warner (R-VA) will retire rather than seek reelection--no surprise given that John Warner will turn 81 next year, and that ex-Gov. Mark Warner (D), no relation, will not be a candidate to replace him:

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that, according to a poll by J. Moore Methods, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for Governor of California in 2010 is none other than Jerry Brown. Brown, of course, is current Attorney General and former two-term Governor in the 70s. In between, he ran for President in 1976, 1980 and 1992 and served two terms as Mayor of Oakland.

Is this serious? Governor Moonbeam again?

In the past week, two major GOP pundits have written very favorable columns on Bill Richardson's 2008 Presidential candidacy. First, on Sunday, David Brooks wrote:

Then Bill Richardson walked onstage (at a "Cattle Call" of Democratic candidates). He was dressed differently — in slacks and a sports jacket. He told jokes that didn’t seem repeated for the 5,000th time. He seemed recognizably human, unlike some of his overpolished peers. He gave the best presentation, by far.

Then a heretical question entered my head: What if Richardson does this well at forums for the next 10 months? Is it possible to imagine him as a leading candidate for the nomination?

When you think that way, it becomes absurdly easy to picture him rising toward the top. He is, after all, the most experienced person running for president. He served in Congress for 14 years. He was the energy secretary (energy’s kind of vital).

For several weeks, I have monitored the poll on NewPoliticalReview.com, which asks people to rank each of the 100 U.S. Senators. For some time now, the top four slots have rotated among John Kerry, Russ Feingold, Barack Obama and Jim Webb. Going down the list, the top 50 slots were all held by Democrats, followed by 49 Rethugs, and finally with Joementum bringing up the rear at # 100.

Yesterday, however, this suddenly changed. Apparently this poll is being Freeped by some right-wing site, and now the poll is totally dominated by Rethugs!

Let's turn this around! As they used to say in Chicago, "Vote early and often!"

Ex-Congressman Harold Ford (D-TN), has accepted a new job as Vice Chairman and Senior Policy Advisor at Merrill Lynch. I guess his DLC gig didn't pay the bills.