Philly mayor John Street easily won re-election today:

It was the electronic bug found hidden in the ceiling of the mayor's office on Oct. 7 that overshadowed the campaign's final month and brought national attention to the race for mayor in the nation's fifth-largest city.

The continuing federal probe bolstered Street in surprising ways, as many voters in a 4-1 Democratic city listened to the Democratic Party's assertion that the federal probe was a GOP dirty trick.

Street's supporters contended it was evidence of a possibly racially inspired GOP plot to oust a Democratic mayor. Katz saw it as a logical result of a culture of corruption that he contended existed in City Hall.

Bump and Update: Here's the transcript of the debate. Some early news of the debate shows much criticism of Howard Dean for his confederate flag remark.

Sharpton called the Confederate flag "America's swastika," accused Dean of misquoting King and said of Dean's flag comment, "I think it is insensitive and you ought to apologize for it. You are not a bigot but you appear to be too arrogant to say 'I'm wrong.'"

When Dean again tried to defend himself, Sharpton dismissed him, saying he sounded more like "Stonewall Jackson than Jesse Jackson" and accusing Dean of stereotyping southern whites by suggesting they all display the Confederate flag on their pickups.

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Original Post 11/4 3pm

Eight of the nine Democratic presidential nomination contenders will debate tonight on CNN at 7 pm ET--sponsored by Rock The Vote.

Who's missing? Dick Gephardt, who would rather campaign in Iowa.

What's different about this debate? Young voters will ask the questions.

Just goes to show Dick Gephardt really is your father's oldsmobile.

This appeared on Donald Luskin's and Atrios's weblogs today:

A JOINT STATEMENT FROM DONALD LUSKIN AND ATRIOS We both regret a series of misunderstandings that have resulted in something that neither of us intended. We have discussed our differences, and both of us are confident that such misunderstandings will not occur again in the future. As a result, Mr. Luskin is retracting his demand letter of October 29, 2003. We congratulate each other on having quickly achieved an amicable resolution. We are both glad to have put this behind us.

A credit to both of them for resolving the matter without a lawsuit.

Arnold Schwarzenegger will be sworn in as Governor on Nov. 17. He's named Bonnie Reiss — a Democrat and outspoken environmentalist — as his senior advisor.

Al Sharpton will serve as host of Saturday Night Live on Dec. 6.

A police officer testified today in day five of the Scott Peterson preliminary hearing and acknowledged there was no sign of struggle inside the Peterson home. Nor was there any smell of bleach.

All in all, there is evidence of one hair that was in a pair of pliers on the Peterson boat that mitochondrial DNA testing says might be Laci's. So what? Hair is easily transferred and there are dozens if not more explanations for how a hair of Laci's could have gotten on the pliers or in the boat.

Amber Frey, Scott's girlfriend of one month (they met Nov. 20 and Laci disappeared Dec. 24) is scheduled to testify later in the week. We doubt she will add much to the case--other than details of conversations after the fact showing Scott was a cheating husband.

As low as the threshold for probable cause is, we don't see it so far.

The Supreme Court heard argument today in a Fourth Amendment case involving a faulty warrant by an ATF officer who faces a civil suit for damages. The 9th Circuit ruled the agent does not have immunity. The Justices seemed highly critical of the agent.

The warrant was issued for a ranch in Montana. The affidavit stated weapons would be found there. But the warrant itself, which is what the agents take with them when they go to execute the warrant, failed to mention weapons. It just mentioned the house as a place to be searched with no mention of what was to be searched inside the house.

The Fourth Amendment requires that items to be seized be specified with particularity. This warrant didn't fit the bill.

Why not just apply the constitutional provisions?" Justice Sandra Day O'Connor asked Groh's lawyer. "Why couldn't the agent be responsible for checking the warrant?"

Lawyer Richard Cordray told the justices that while the warrant itself omitted mention of weapons, all the specifics were listed on the affidavit used to win court approval of the search. Justice David Souter was unimpressed. The affidavit, he noted dryly, was back at the courthouse while agents were knocking on the door.

Then it was Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's turn. "Here's a house, and there's no bound at all" on what police can look for or what they can seize, she said. "It looks like just what the Fourth Amendment was supposed to address."

Only Scalia tried to help the ATF agent.

A former New Jersey prison guard pleaded guilty Monday to selling cigarettes to inmates at a cost of $50 a pack. He had the families of the inmates wire him the money via Western Union. His punishment will be probation and an agreement not to hold public office. His name is Wesley Thomas, 40, of Somerset, N.J. Just in case you ever see his name on a ballot.

The Pentagon is oiling up the draft machine. We join Maxspeak in calling upon Country Joe and the Fish to phone their office--it's time for a comeback.

For those of you too young to remember Country Joe or the "Feel Like I'm Fixing to Die Rag",here's Country Joe himself on the song from his latest website.

Update: Here's the notice from the Selective Service Website.

There was new information Sunday and Monday that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. It came from Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz who surrendered to the U.S. and has been interrogated by U.S. officials:

The Post said Aziz, who surrendered to U.S. authorities in April, also claims Iraq did not possess stocks of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons on the eve of the war. That assertion compliments similar statements from other detained Iraqi leaders and scientists.

The newspaper said several high-ranking detainees say the reason Saddam did not disabuse United States and other intelligence services of their belief he had weapons of mass destruction was to save face with his Arab neighbors.

The prisoners say Saddam believed Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and other countries paid him deference only because they feared he had weapons of mass destruction.

France denies coaching Saddam. More details on Aziz's statement are here.

Florida's Senator Bob Graham has announced he will not seek re-election. Graham dropped out of the Democratic presidential nomination race last month. We had hoped he would run again for Senator. Except for his support of the death penalty, he's been a good, liberal senator for Florida.

This compounds problems for the Dems on the national scale as it opens up another seat in the 2004 elections:

CNN noted that Graham and three other Senate Democrats from the South -- John Edwards of North Carolina, Zell Miller of Georgia and Ernest Hollings of South Carolina -- have all decided to leave next year, forcing the party to defend four open seats in a region that is becoming increasingly Republican.

We offer two helpful ideas for the Dems: Rock the Vote (get the younger voters currently feeling apathetic or turned off to politics registered) and push the felony disenfranchisement bills so that ex-offenders can vote. Both of these groups would likely tilt towards the Dems.

The Supreme Court has asked the Bush Administration for an explanation in the case of a post-911 immigrant detained in secret proceedings:

One of those immigrants, known only as M.K.B., challenged his detention. But even that has been shrouded in secrecy. His appeal has reached the Supreme Court, only there is little written evidence that his case exists. Lower courts sealed all the legal filings, as well as the records of how his case was handled. The proceedings were held in secret.

That is unconstitutional, Miami public defender Paul Rashkind argued in the case from Florida. The Supreme Court should intervene, Rashkind wrote in an appeal, "to preserve and protect the public's common-law and First Amendment rights to know, but also to reinforce those rights in a time of increased national suspicion about the free flow of information and debate."

You can read the background and details of the case at Scotus Blog .

The cert petitition filed in the Supreme Court (M.K.B. v. Warden, No. 03-6747) can be viewed here. [link via How Appealing.]

Update: One of our readers points out this excellent article on the case.

CBS is pulling the plug on its Ronald Reagan miniseries . Too many complaints the series cast Reagan and wife Nancy in an unflattering light.

The Reagans, a mini-series that is said to depict Ronald Reagan as an affable but rather detached president and Nancy Reagan as something of a control freak, was due to be broadcast in two parts later this month.

But since snippets of the less than flattering drama were seen last month, CBS has faced an onslaught of complaint. Michael Paranzino, who last month set up the website BoycottCBS.com to rally opposition to the show, said: "The idea that a TV network can make a buck... while a great American president lies on his deathbed with his wife taking care of him at his side is repugnant to the American people."

CBS on Tuesday announced it was pulling The Reagans off the network, saying: "Although the mini-series features impressive production values and acting performances...it does not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans." The programme will instead be made available to Showtime, the cable channel also owned by CBS's parent Viacom.

Looks to us like Viacom wins both ways--only network viewers lose.