From ABC News:

A University of North Carolina professor said Friday that John Edwards’ campaign demanded that he pull a student reporter’s television story that focused on the upscale location of the campaign’s headquarters.

C.A. “Charlie” Tuggle, an associate professor at the school, said the Edwards campaign contacted the reporter, second-year master’s degree student Carla Babb, asking for a video of her report to be removed from the Internet. When that failed, the campaign demanded in three calls to Tuggle that the TV story be killed, he said.

So how bad for the campaign was the video? Nowhere near as bad as the fallout it will create on the Internet. See Babb’s video below:

By attempting to censor the story the Edwards camp has now given ammunition to journalists online and off to attack not only the presentation of the story but the meat and potatoes, further evidence that Edwards lives lavish but tries to hide it.

I doubt it will become a national obsession but it goes to show that the Edwards camp and running effective media campaigns don’t seem to mix.

Read about it in the blogosphere at Captain’s Quarters, Pirate’s Cove, New York Times, American Pundit, Prez Vid

It looks like Democrats in Iowa are ready to join Republicans in moving the caucus to January 3rd.

When voters head to the polls in Missouri Hillary Clinton and Ron Paul will top the ballot list for their respective parties. How did this happen? Well when representatives for the campaigns file on the first day in Missouri they are given numbers to be drawn in a lottery. Representatives for Republicans Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain also filed on Tuesday, as did Democrat Barack Obama.

“I think that is a position which is not consistent with the fact,” Mr. Romney said. “Actually, just look at what Osam — uh — Barack Obama, said just yesterday. Barack Obama calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq. That is the battlefield. That is the central place, he said. Come join us under one banner.”

The New York Times passed off the “gaffe” as Romney possibly being tired. Romney’s spokeman said it was a simple mistake. Obviously they forgot about this:

I keep saying it. I have no idea why the Obama campaign and liberals seem to think the Senator is somehow going to walk into the campaign like Teflon. I guarentee if Clinton falters and it looks like Obama can get in you are going to suddenly hear “Barack Hussein Obama” every five minutes along with “Osama Hussein Obama” and every variation. Then they will get into accusations that he attended a radical Madrasah etc. etc. etc.

Politico reports that influential blog RedState has banned all Ron Paul commentary from recent users who have signed up for the sight seeing their constant pro-Paul comments as spam. I for one am happy to hear it.

Hey, we’re sure *some* of Ron Paul’s supporters really are Republicans. They can post at any one of a zillion Ron Paul online forums. Those who have *earned* our respect by contributing usefully for a substantial period of time will be listened to with appropriate respect. Those who have not will have to *earn* that respect by contributing usefully in the other threads… and not mentioning Ron Paul. Given a month of solid contributing, send one of us an email and we’ll consider lifting the restriction on your account.

I love to see grassroot support but let’s be honest, this Ron Paul stuff is getting out of hand. In Internet etiquette there is a difference between campaigning and spamming just as in the real world there is a difference between campaigning and standing infront of people and just screaming “you don’t know anything, this is the way you should vote, you don’t know anything”. See the difference between being effective and annoying? These Ron Paul spammers don’t and have taken over the politics section of Digg and Fark and have flooded the comments sections of blogs all over the Web.

The announcement was made at Redstate in this post.

Sorry to be on the side of the big bad Web site machine and against the spammers here but really I cannot applaud Redstate enough.

During the latest Republican debate Mike Huckabee, who has been getting endless media praise lately, remarked that “most” of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were “clergymen” like himself. The problem? As Politifact.com points out, only one of the fifty-six signers was an active clergyman.

There may possibly have been as many as three former clergymen who also signed, but the historic record is somewhat sketchy on that point.

The remark is making its way around the blogosphere. You can see what Carpetbegger Report, Mother Jones, Liberal Values.

I don’t see anything thus far on Conservative leaning sites but if you know of one leave it in the comments.

From the Associated Press

Republican Party leaders on Monday recommended punishing five states for shifting their nomination contests earlier, moving to strip New Hampshire, Florida, South Carolina, Michigan and Wyoming of half their delegates.

At least one state, South Carolina, is considering legal action in an effort to keep its delegates to next year’s Republican National Convention.

Let me right now declare my belief that this countries primary/caucus system is one of the dumbest things ever created by man. I just so happen to be working on a long series of blog posts that look at the history of the primary system and explains this belief in more depth. But I think it is silly Iowa and New Hampshire have been given their status, silly that the vote is rolling and not decided on a national primary date and silly that as bad as you think this primary system is, you probably don’t even know the half of it.

So be on the lookout for those posts and for what will surely be endless ranting on the primary system.

Found via David All. AWESOME moment.

There is an interesting article entitled Clinton Finds Way to Play Along With Drudge. If you have been following along with what we think we know about the Clinton teams courting of Drudge than you can skip page one. If not have a read.

Page two goes into it with a little more detail along with how Mitt Romney may have become the favored Republican candidate of the Drudge Report and how that came at John McCain’s expense. This is the meat of the article and of big interest to those playing along at home.

Overall the main thrust of the article and the idea we should all pay attention to is how and why one man from outside the mainstream of journalism, punditry, television and fancy Web design has become so influential in politics and news and so courted by political operatives.

It is a testament to the power of the Internet and love him or hate him of one man. I also think it is an important lesson. All the fancy Web 2.0 gadgets popping up in political circles still pale in comparison to the viewership of Drudge and its liberal alternative Huffington Post. What do these sites do? They bring you the news in a simple, easy to follow and dare I say it, in a traditional way that seems to work.

There is a lot to look at and consider there.

From the New York Times:

Mr. Thompson walked slowly onto the stage, kissed his wife, Jeri, on the cheek, made a joke or two, claimed to be a “consistent conservative” — and said good night. He spoke for four minutes.

“I was really kind of shocked,” said Linda Hoffman, 47, who wore stickers for all the candidates on her blazer, reflecting her indecision. “We were all hoping he would say something we could get behind, but there was nothing.”

What can I say? Like and old man slipping into a warm bath, Fred Thompson continues his campaign.