Whether the Rudy Giuliani campaign memo was misplaced or purloined, that's not the point. Nor is the point the content of the memo. Newsweek explains.

The real problem for Giuliani isn’t the missing binder itself, it’s that it went missing in the first place. Giuliani’s candidacy, after all, will be centered around his expertise in security, order and efficiency.

“It’s hard to say you’re staying up all hours thinking about every unplugged hole in the homeland-security infrastructure when you can’t even keep track of your own documents,” said one Republican strategist who asked not to be identified because he has yet to affiliate with a presidential candidate.

There's an even deeper problem developing surrounding Giuliani, one concerning his arrogance.

The new Vanity Fair has a ten page article by Todd Purdham on John McCain in which he discusses the war in Iraq, Bush, Hillary Clinton and more.

Purdum, who spent two long stints on the road with John McCain last fall, reports that he kept up a punishing pace. According to Purdum, he is mentally sharp, verbally facile, and perpetually curious, and on one of the trips, he was rereading Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. But he is visibly older, thinner, balder—and, yes, frailer—than he was just six years ago.

On Adam Nagourney of the New York Times:

This is Adam Nagourney, New York Times. They’re a Communist paper, but he’s O.K.”

On Hillary Clinton:

“People underestimate her political intelligence and her antennae. She’s not her husband—no ones’s her husband. But she’s good. And I like her. I know you’re not supposed to say that, but I do.”

Barack Obama may not be my number one choice for a Presidential candidate, but I hardly hold this against him:

Long before the national media spotlight began to shine on every twist and turn of his life's journey, Barack Obama had this to say about himself: "Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man. . . . I got high [to] push questions of who I was out of my mind."

....In the book, Obama acknowledges that he used cocaine as a high school student but rejected heroin. "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though," he says.

Why did he make the admission?

John Edwards was on the Situation Room yesterday. I happened to watch it live and thought both anchors were very negative to him. But, he never lost his cool and gave some excellent answers, particularly on the war in Iraq.

On the minus side, he said executing Saddam was a "good thing." From the transcript:

HENRY: Now, you want to be commander-in-chief. And in your first move, you would take 40,000 to 50,000 U.S. troops out of Iraq. Do you really believe the Iraqi government could survive?

EDWARDS: Here's what I believe: I believe an escalation of our presence in Iraq is a enormous mistake. I think this McCain doctrine doesn't make any sense. There is no military solution to what's happening in Iraq. Everyone knows that. The only solution -- potential solution is a political solution. I mean, the Iraqis are going to have to decide whether they're actually going to have a representative government that includes everybody, including the Sunnis. And that's the only way to ultimately tamp down this violence.

John Edwards is running a different campaign this time around. It's great to see him take such a strong progressive stand:

Edwards said it's not just Iraq that it is chaos and in need of moral leadership from the United States. He said the United States should be leading an end to genocide in Sudan and to atrocities in northern Uganda. He also said the United States should be part of the International Criminal Court, something that Bush has fought against to keep Americans from facing politically motivated prosecutions.

John Edwards was set to announce his bid for the 2008 Democratic nomination for President tomorrow in New Orleans. Due to a glitch on his website which went live with the news today, he made it official.

His campaign platform: Changing America, which includes:

"Providing universal health care for all Americans," "Rebuilding America's middle class and eliminating poverty," and "Creating tax fairness by rewarding work, not just wealth."

Typical Rudy. He thinks he can reinvent himself.

On Rudy Giuliani's new exploratory committee website you can find a bio of the former Mayor and current frontrunner for the GOP Presidential nomination. The bio describes his current marriage as follows: "In May of 2003, Rudy married Judith S. Nathan. Mrs. Giuliani is a registered nurse with an extensive medical and scientific background." Yet intriguingly, Rudy's bio makes no mention of the two children he had from his second marriage to Donna Hanover, who similarly goes unmentioned.

Duncan speaks on the Primaries:

Some Notes on Primary Season

1) Your favorite candidate is the only one who can win.

2) Your favorite candidate is the only one who will truly get behind a progressive agenda.

3) Other candidates are part of some nefarious conspiracy to destroy your candidate.

4) Supporters of other candidates are motivated by groupthink.

5) Supporters of other candidates are operating in bad faith and arguing dishonestly.

6) "Powerful" bloggers shouldn't be "biased."

7) Primary season is the silliest season of all.

True dat.

Congressman Charlie Rangel said today he would support a Rudy Giuliani - Bernie Kerik ticket. He was joking.

Political observers say Giuliani's relationship with Kerik could be a problem if the former mayor goes ahead with a run for president.

Gee, you think? Here's some TalkLeft background on Rudy and Bernie. More here and here.

What a pair. Under their administration, Jeanine Pirro probably would be Attorney General. (Not to be confused with Jeanette Pinero.)

There must be a role for Judith Regan in here someplace. What cabinet post would Rudy and Bernie award her?

If none of the others lock it up by Labor Day 2007, Newt Gingrich said today he might enter the Presidential race.

The former House speaker from Georgia said it would not be too late for him to enter the race after next Labor Day, if he believed no candidate had a clear advantage. He praised Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani as the contenders to watch.

''If one of them seals it off by Labor Day, my announcing now wouldn't make any difference anyway,'' Gingrich said. ''If none of the three, having from now 'til Labor Day, can seal it off, the first real vote is in 2008. And there's plenty of time in the age of television and e-mail, between Labor Day and 2008.''

Just what we need, another contract on America. It took us twelve years to work our way out from under the last one.

I don't think he has a prayer. His own personal peccadillos are too well known. Besides, he's too busy working on his current mission, restoring religion to American Government.

I love it when Republicans bash Rudy. Now, he's accused of making a "rookie mistake" by scheduling a major fundraising event in the days before Christmas.

As one Republican strategist says:

"He's viewed as erratic, mercurial," said Republican strategist Nelson Warfield. "His history is not one that inspires confidence that he can make a decision and go forward with it."

John Edwards is going to announce his 2008 Presidential bid.

Edwards, who represented North Carolina in the Senate for six years, plans to make the campaign announcement late this month from the New Orleans neighborhood hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina last year and slow to recover from the storm.

I'm glad. He has good ideas that need to be heard. I think it's time to expand the talk beyond Hillary and Obama. The more choices the better.