Arianna has news of Democrats searching for the "Anti-Hillary" candidate in 2008. In Hollywood, Al Gore is a hot topic.

"He's been strongly against the war since the beginning," a big Dem donor who is hoping to convince Gore to run told me, "and with gas prices going through the roof and killer hurricanes wreaking havoc, he's the gold standard on global warming, alternative energy, and the environment. What's not to like?"

And Lawrence Bender, who after producing "Kill Bill" is now producing what I hear is a killer documentary featuring Gore and his fight to get our country to take action on global warming, told me that the former VP "would be a hell of a candidate. Unlike 2000, he's now clearly very comfortable in his own shoes. Bold, passionate, committed, and very funny. It's been amazing working with him."

I can see it. While I wasn't crazy about Gore's centrism in 2000, I agree he's had a major turnaround. I appreciate especially his outspokenness about Iraq. The important thing is for Dems to be united in 2008 and to have a clear message. Gore seems to have found his message. Hillary seems to be playing both sides.

Focus on the Family James Dobson aired a broadcast Wednesday disclosing what Karl Rove told him about Harriet Miers the weekend before she was nominated. I agree with Markos of Daily Kos, it sounds like spin.

But we also talked about something else, and I think this is the first time this has been disclosed. Some of the other candidates who had been on that short list, and that many conservatives are now upset about were highly qualified individuals that had been passed over. Well, what Karl told me is that some of those individuals took themselves off that list and they would not allow their names to be considered, because the process has become so vicious and so vitriolic and so bitter, that they didn't want to subject themselves or the members of their families to it.

Crooks and Liars adds its criticism here.

Does the Associated Press know something we don't know? Check this out, what else could it be besides a political obituary?

[Via Josh Marshall and TL reader Squeaky]

[Warning: This is another one of those posts intended only for the seriously addicted PlameGate followers among you. While I mostly refer to TalkLeft posts in which I talk about Fitzgerald's likely concentration on the White House Iraq Group and the Defense Policy Board, I do so because in each post I support my speculation with quotes from a wide variety of news sources that I find myself returning to time and again to support the theory. Those sources are the reason to click on my prior posts, far more than my conclusions. ]

So, the latest: The Wall Street Journal (free link) reports today that Fitzgerald is widening his probe.

Judith Miller's notes of her June 23 meeting with Lewis Libby must be important. After meeting with her today, Fitzgerald has now requested she testify tomorrow before the grand jury.

This doesn't bode well for Lewis Libby.

On the other hand, it does bode well for Judith Miller. Fitzgerald couldn't let her go back to the grand jury without a target warning if he viewed her as a putative defendant. Had he given her that warning, her lawyers would have had her take the 5th, not go back in and testify.

The New York Times provides this version of her appearance tomorrow. There's one comment by Kellor that doesn't make sense.

by Last Night in Little Rock

White House denizens are complaining that Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is "very aggressive" and a "bully" as reported on CNN.com and picked up by leanleft.com.

That prosecutors are aggressive is reality and expected. Get used to it. That prosecutors are bullies depends upon which end of the subpoena one is standing.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Rep. Tom DeLay's defense attorneys have subpoenaed DA Ronnie Earle and two assistants to testify concerning alleged improper contacts with the grand jurors that indicted DeLay as reported here in their effort to get the indictments dismissed. Earle and his assistants, however, refused the subpoena because they had not been issued by the court clerk, so defense counsel will have to get the clerk to issue the subpoena and do it again.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The Oregonian reported Sunday that "Louis Beres, longtime chairman of the Christian Coalition of Oregon, molested three female family members when they were pre-teens."

The Oregonian interviewed the family members, but Beres denies the allegations, a la Tom DeLay:

Great news. In the first opinion issued by the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts, the Court ruled for the defendant in a murder case. Law Prof Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy has the details. Berman quips:

So, when playing the "law nerd" version of Trivial Pursuit, remember that the question "Who prevailed in the first written decision of the Roberts Court?," should be answered "convicted murderer Paul Allen Dye."

The case is Dye v. Hofbauer, No. 04-8384 (S. Ct. Oct. 11, 2005) (available here). More analysis is at Objective Justice.

Intrepid reporter Murray Waas breaks more news today about Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald and the grand jury investigation into the leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Murray writes that Libby failed to tell FBI investigators and the grand jury about his June 23 conversation with Judith Miller. If true, I think Fitzgerald is considering a false statements or perjury charge against Libby. The false statement charge would apply to his omission when being questioned by investigators while the perjury charge would apply to his omission before the grand jury.

Murray's next revelation is that Fitzgerald is weighing whether Libby or his lawyers encouraged Judith Miller not to comply with her subpoena last year. If the grand jury believes this to be true, Libby could be looking at an obstruction of justice charge.

by TChris

A wrongful conviction may have cost William Nieves his life. Certainly, it robbed him of many productive years.

"I was 27 years old when I was convicted. At the time I went to jail, I had just enrolled in community college," Nieves told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a 2002 interview. "I would have had my degree. I would have had my feet in something I enjoy doing. I would have spent much more time with my daughter."

Nieves was convicted in 1994. Prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence, and he was eventually awarded a new trial. He was acquitted and released from custody in 2000, but he complained that the prison failed to treat his ailing liver. By the time he was released, it was too late. Nieves died Saturday at the age of 39.

The Sunday Times has a first person account by former Guantanamo chaplain James Yee on how he came to be arrested and branded a spy. It's a disturbing story and one you should all read.