The Democratic Party Platform Committee agreed on a platform for the Convention. It comes closer to Hillary Clinton's view of health insurance than Sen. Barack Obama's but it does not mandate insurance coverage at government expense. The final version reads:

All Americans should have coverage they can afford; employers should have incentives to provide coverage to their workers; insurers and providers should ensure high quality affordable care; and the government should ensure that health insurance is affordable and provides meaningful coverage. As affordable coverage is made available, individuals should purchase health insurance and take steps to lead healthy lives.

On criminal justice, it's a bit disappointing. While it stresses prevention and drug treatment, including more drug courts, there's a lot of emphasis on more cops and nothing criticizing mandatory minimum sentences. See pages 48 and 49 (pdf).

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Rielle Hunter's ex-husband is a lawyer who is also the son of former Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter, infamous for his handling or mishandling, depending on your view, of the JonBenet Ramsey murder. Rielle Hunter and Alexander "Kip" Munro Hunter III were married for 10 years.

Here's more on Fred Baron, the Dallas lawyer and former John Edwards campaign chief who provided relocation funds (his own, not the campaign's) to Hunter and Andrew Young to relocate.

Hunter also was the inspiration for the Alison Poole party-girl character in Jay McInerney's book, Story of My Life. More on Hunter here.

The New York Times tries to figure out why politicians go on TV to do mea culpas.

Narcissism doesn’t lead politicians to believe that they can have an affair and get away with it. It leads them to believe that they can go on television and dispel it.

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Starting today, entries from George Orwell's diaries (annotated by Orwell scholar Peter Davison) will be posted online. The first entry, from August 9, 1938, is a brief description of Orwell's encounter with a snake. Future entries promise to be more enlightening:

What impression of Orwell will emerge? From his domestic diaries (which start on 9th August), it may be a largely unknown Orwell, whose great curiosity is focused on plants, animals, woodwork, and – above all – how many eggs his chickens have laid. From his political diaries (from 7th September), it may be the Orwell whose political observations and critical thinking have enthralled and inspired generations since his death in 1950. Whether writing about the Spanish Civil War or sloe gin, geraniums or Germany, Orwell’s perceptive eye and rebellion against the ‘gramophone mind’ he so despised are obvious.

The City of St. Paul is installing 45 new cameras to monitor the area around the Xcel Energy Center during the Republican National Convention.

The $2 million system is funded with money from the Department of Justice to the Republican Convention. All of the cameras will stay in St. Paul after convention visitors leave, though some of them will be moved to other parts of downtown.

The good news is that feeds from the cameras will be streamed over the internet so that the public can see what Big Brother is seeing. While the cameras are supposed to help the police keep an eye on protesters, the video streams will help the public keep an eye on the police. Protesters have learned the value of video.

Protesters have trained at least 70 people to carry camcorders, too. "It's very important that we have evidence showing police misconduct if it does happen," said Rachael Bengston, a lawyer with the National Lawyers Guild. She said a group of legal observers will log the video and keep it in case of any legal action.

It seems clear that the quality of life is improving for Baltimore residents, and that Mayor Sheila Dixon shares responsibility for that happy development.

Baltimore's murder rate is down 37% so far this year, compared with the same period in 2007. Many credit Ms. Dixon, who brought in a new police commissioner and directed the force to shift focus to the most-violent repeat offenders and away from petty crimes. The mayor has launched a program to combat homelessness, imposed a smoking ban and formulated a plan to use a land bank to acquire vacant properties and return them to use.

It's less clear whether Dixon violated any laws as a member of the city council before she became mayor. A federal investigation ended without an indictment, and the City's Board of Ethics cleared her of misconduct allegations. That hasn't stopped Republican state prosecutor Robert Rohrbaugh from continuing an investigation he started in 2006. Is this another example of Republicans targeting Democrats for political purposes? [more ...]

RIP Bernie Mac.

Big Tent Democrat is taking the weekend off from blogging. I'm taking the day off. I'm not sure what TChris is up to.

Here's a an open thread for you. Keep it civil and I'll be back in time for tonight's Olympics. Hopefully, we won't have "technical difficulties" like we did last night from a rain storm. Neil Young:

Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 20th Century.

Here's the transcript of the Nightline interview with John Edwards. (Short video clip from interview here.)

I think it raises more questions than it answers.

Here's the video of Edwards initial denial of the affair.

Thoughts before we put this story to bed?

Update: According to Nightline, Sen. Barack Obama told them today he didn't think either Elizabeth or John Edwards would be attending the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Update: I have a new theory, outlined below. It's just my speculation and it has nothing to do with Edwards' morality or elections. It's about crime. I orignally put it in the comments but it's too long for a comment. Read it and let me know what you think?

A McCain campaign adviser says Joe Lieberman is being vetted as the Republican vice presidential nominee. As John McCain's puppeteer loyal friend, Lieberman seems an ideal choice.

“Conservatives would be pissed as hell – I think you would have a revolt, but sometimes John does what John wants to do,” the McCain adviser said.

It's difficult to believe that Joe Lieberman is too liberal for conservatives, but Grover Norquist calls Lieberman "completely unacceptable" while evangelical leader Richard Land thinks the pro-choice senator would be a catastrophic pick (William Kristol is a notable exception). At least we know that Lieberman is experienced at losing vice presidential elections, not to mention Democratic primaries. As to his future in the Senate:

Mr Lieberman has left open the possibility that he would speak at the Republican National Convention, a move that would probably ensure that Democrats would strip him of his chairmanship of the committee on homeland security.

With tarring and feathering to follow.

Here's the problem:

Beginning with their stunning inability to defeat the most detested politician in American history, Richard Nixon, and continuing through their stunning inability to defeat the most detested politician in the world, George II, the Democrats are the masters of blowing it. And they don't just simply "blow it" - they blow it especially when the electorate seems desperate to give it to them.

In his new book, Mike's Election Guide 2008, Michael Moore explains what Barack Obama can to do to lose the presidency again. The extract published here ends with these words:

We can't take four more years of this madness. We need you to be a candidate who will fight back every time they attack you. Actually, don't even wait till you have to fight back. Fight first! Show some vision and courage and smoke them out. Take the offensive. Keep asking why these lobbyists are McCain's best friends. Let's finally have a Democrat who's got the balls to fire first.

Here's a thread for the Olympics in case you're watching. I am.

There are also China protests going on around the world.

And I thought of all the bad luck,
And the struggles we went through
And how I lost me and you lost you
What are these voices outside loves open door
Make us throw off our contentment
And beg for something more?

...And the more I know, the less I understand
All the things I thought Id figured out
I have to learn again
Ive been trying to get down
To the heart of the matter
But everything changes
And my friends seem to scatter
But I think its about forgiveness
Forgiveness

Peace to John and Elizabeth Edwards. This is an open thread.

I just watched ABC's World News Tonight. It shows the interview with John Edwards without sound, using text overlay for some of his quotes. You'll have to watch Nightline to hear him in his own voice.

The interview does provide these dates:

• Edwards says he met Rielle Hunter in 2006 -- after she was hired as a campaign videographer. The affair was in 2006.
• He told Elizabeth about the affair in 2006. She was furious.
• Edwards launched his presidential campaign in December, 2006.
• The National Enquirer reported the affair in October, 2007, and Edwards denied it.
• Edwards came in second in the Iowa caucuses in January, 2008 and dropped out a few weeks later.
• The baby was born in Feb. 2008.
• He denies being the father because the affair ended before Hunter would have conceived.
• Edwards met with Hunter last month at the hotel in Beverly Hills to convince her to stay quiet about their affair. He doubts the authenticity of the Enquirer photograph showing him holding the child.

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