Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani should not have received communion during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit because the former presidential candidate supports abortion rights, New York Cardinal Edward Egan said Monday.

They described it an act of faith, rather than of defiance.

Casting has begun for Oliver Stone’s upcoming film W., which will tell the story of George W. Bush’s early years.

The story on Thanksgiving Day began bravely (ironically?) with five simple words: “Even lawyers need a hug.”

But if they’re a recent law school graduate already making well over $100,000 a year do they also need free milkshakes brought to their desks?

The “happiness committee” at the Washington office of the law firm Perkins Coie has answered that question in the affirmative, according to The New York Times.

Not every candidate would welcome an endorsement from a guy known as “Meathead.”

But when that guy is Rob Reiner — Meathead in the 1970s television hit All in the Family — you take the endorsement and run.

Reiner, the 62-year-old actor, director, comedian and political activist, and one of the most connected people in Hollywood and Democratic politics, came out for Hillary Rodham Clinton in September.

What’s so funny about the 2008 presidential race?

Not much so far, unless you count Rudy Giuliani taking a cell phone call from his wife while he was giving a speech to members of the National Rifle Association, a moment that became a YouTube hit.

But, take heart; JibJab.com is back and making fun of the scary side of politics.

JibJab, you may remember, is the Internet humor site that produced the flash animation video, This Land is Your Land for the 2004 presidential race.

The video established the JibJab brand and significantly improved its fortunes.

The This Land video featured singing heads of George W. Bush and John Kerry dissing each other to the tune of the Woody Guthrie song.

The script has changed.

Pointing to Al Gore, parents throughout the country may be telling their children that if they study hard, lead good lives and not become president they could be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Gore is the co-winner of this year’s Peace Prize for sounding the alarm on global warming. He shares the prize with the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

While Gore may have fashioned a grand comeback, a look at the post-defeat careers of other recent unsuccessful presidential wannabes shows that there can be life, a good life at that, after losing. All have found things to do, sometimes lucrative things, and many have held elective office, most often in the U.S. Senate.

All have continued in public life and some have remained in politics, most especially in the U.S. Senate.

When Curt Schilling takes to the mound in the American League
Championship series, he’ll be pitching for the Boston Red Sox against
the Cleveland Indians.

Off the field, Schilling is one of a relatively small group of baseball players who are willing to pitch for political candidates.

He campaigned for President Bush in 2004, and earlier this year, he
said he was backing Sen. John McCain of Arizona for the 2008
Republican presidential nomination. However, he added that if Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois were the Democratic candidate he would have a hard time choosing between the two men.

A voter turnout group backed by George Soros has been fined by the Federal Election Commission for improper fundraising in the 2004 election.

The now-inactive organization called America Coming Together agreed to pay a $775,000 penalty. According to the FEC announcement, the group failed to properly report expenditures to candidates and failed to meet federal guidelines for administrative expenses.

America Coming Together conducted a major get-out-the-vote campaign in 2004, in an effort to help elect John Kerry.