The Government is expected to rest its case against outspoken Michigan lawyer Geoffrey Feiger tomorrow. He's accused of violating campaign finance laws by reimbursing associates for donations to John Edwards and obstruction of justice. His lead counsel is Gerry Spence. (Background here.)

It looks like Fieger's biggest liability is his mouth. Today's headline: "Gym owner says Fieger called him an 'idiot' for speaking to FBI"

Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger raised his voice to the owner of his gym and called the man an idiot when he learned the man had spoken to FBI agents who were investigating him, Fieger's criminal trial in federal court was told Wednesday. Shant Gharibian, owner of Exclusive Fitness in West Bloomfield, testified Fieger told him "he must be some kind of idiot" to talk to the FBI. "He raised his voice and yelled at me," Gharibian said.

Only when you get to the end of the article do you learn:

But under cross-examination, Gharibian testified Fieger never told him to lie to the FBI and Fieger told him he believed the reimbursements were legal.

Good luck Geoff and Gerry.

Via How Appealing, a Texas Court of appeals has reversed the verdict against Merck in the Vioxx case. I found this interesting:

After the trial, a juror admitted borrowing thousands of dollars from [deceased Plainff]Garza's widow, Felicia Garza, although that does not seem to have been a factor in Wednesday's appellate court decision.

The opinion is here.

There are no primary contests on May 31. But there will be a meeting of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee where the issue of the Florida and Michigan delegations will be taken up. This meeting will no doubt be the central political event of the day. It will garner a significant amount of coverage. And what will the Democratic Party say to Florida and Michigan on that day, on that stage? During today's Clinton Media Call, I asked about the May 31 RBC meeting:

The pro-choice organization NARAL has endorsed Barack Obama.

Of course, they also endorsed Joe Lieberman and had a hand in giving us Justice Sam Alito.

More here and here.

Hillary Clinton's win last night in West Virginia has resulted in a superdelegate declaring for support for Hillary today:

Tennessee Automatic Delegate Vicky Harwell announced her support for Hillary Clinton today. Harwell, of Pulaski, is president of the Tennessee Federation of Democratic Women.

"Hillary's decisive victory in West Virginia is the latest evidence that she is the strongest candidate to take on John McCain and win back the White House," Harwell said. "Hillary has the plans, leadership and experience to deliver real results as President."

Hillary got 40 pledged delegates in the TN primary while Obama got 28. Breakdown of Tennessee's 85 delegates below:

Terry McCauliffe says last night was a fantastic night. There was a record turnout. Clinton won by 41%. We are in this thing. They raised over a million dollars last night. Financially they are in good shape. They feel comfortable about where they are today. A big fundraiser powwow this afternoon. Tremendous enthusiasm for this campaign.

Now ahead in the popular vote.

Howard Wolfson - we had to have a big night in WV, we had it. A stunning 40 point victory. A state where Clinton won in 1992 and 1996. A decisive state. Hillary Clinton will carry WV in November. Obama had more money and more people and more resources and Clinton decisively defeated him. WV said no to all the pundits and people who said it was time for the contest to end.

More below . . .

The Democratic National Convention Committee, through DNC Chair Howard Dean, has announced the selection of credentialed blogs for the "50 state blogger corps" for the Democratic Convention. They include one blog from each of the 50 states. To be eligible, the blog must concentrate on the politics of its state. National blogs and video and niche bloggers will be selected at a later date.

Congratulations to Colorado's Square State Blog for being selected as the credentialed state blog for Colorado.

For the first time, state bloggers will be seated on the convention floor with their state's delegates.

Aaron Silverstein at Square State has this interview with Chair Howard Dean about the credentialing of bloggers.

Barack Obama is almost certainly going to be the Democratic Presidential nominee. The Superdelegates will decree it. Of course Hillary Clinton has every right, indeed, she has an imperative, to continue. But it is my view that Obama will be the nominee. As such, he needs to think about what he needs to do to improve his chance of winning in November.

This is a Democratic year. The Dem nominee SHOULD win November. But there are some danger signs for Obama. I will concentrate on 3 in this post.

1. Unify the Party. I think this is the easiest task, if there are grownups in the Obama camp. The answer is simple. Pick Hillary Clinton as his running mate. Problem solved. It is a no brainer. Only Clinton haters can argue against this. Imagine for a second, two candidates running for President having such a tight race and the winner NOT picking the second place finisher? It is unthinkable. It should be unthinkable here.

More . . .

USA Today has an editorial explaining how Voter ID laws suppress turnout.

The photo ID laws in seven states are problematic enough, but now several states are also looking at ways to require voters to prove U.S. citizenship. Arizona does that already, and Missouri's legislature is debating a constitutional amendment that would pave the way for requiring voters to present a driver's license or a substitute when they vote. Obtaining such an ID in Missouri requires proof of citizenship, so voters would, in effect, have to prove their citizenship to cast ballots.

To be sure, only citizens should vote. But as with photo IDs, there's little evidence that voting by illegal immigrants is a problem. Most stay as far away from government officials as they can lest they be caught and deported, and fraudulent voting is a felony. Proof-of-citizenship requirements are likely to trap legal citizens who don't have their birth certificates and would have significant trouble getting them.

Hillary Clinton issued this statement Monday opposing Voter ID laws such as the one upheld by the Supreme Court in Indiana and those contemplated by Missouri and 19 other states.[More...]

The Washington Post continues its excellent series on abuse of immigrant detainees. Today's segment reveals how immigration officials forcibly injected hundreds with sedatives when preparing them for flights back to their home country.

The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged.

The government's forced use of antipsychotic drugs, in people who have no history of mental illness, includes dozens of cases in which the "pre-flight cocktail," as a document calls it, had such a potent effect that federal guards needed a wheelchair to move the slumped deportee onto an airplane.

One example: [More...}

President Bush says the U.S. does not engage in torture. The ACLU has new evidence from documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act that it does.

These documents provide further evidence that the torture of prisoners in U.S. custody abroad was not aberrational, but was widespread and systemic," said Amrit Singh, a staff attorney with the ACLU. "They only underscore the need for an independent investigation into high-level responsibility for prisoner abuse."

The newly obtained documents are available here.

The narrative of the racist southern and/or working class white voter serves disappointed liberals by giving them a way to cope with rejection, and it serves Republicans by reassuring them that people can still be easily manipulated by racial bias.

A. Serwer, The American Prospect, via John Petty

As an elitist myself, someone who chuckled at the jokes about Bill Clinton's "feeling your pain," it has not been easy to see how the Democratic problem with white working class voters has been endemic. But this campaign season has opened my eyes. BTW, it is not about God, guns and gays. It is about standard of living. It is about respecting these voters.

In denial about Barack Obama's problem with white working class voters across the entire Eastern part of the United States (as well as parts of the Midwest and Western part of the United States), the Creative Class blogs are clinging to the fallacious Appalachian theory to explain Obama's problem with white working class voters. Josh Marshall now takes up the cause: