Just when you thought R. Hunter Biden’s retirement as a lobbyist had removed the possibility his business dealings might embarrass his father, comes a report that he and his uncle had business ties with Texas financier R. Allen Stanford.

Consider Earl Devaney a one-man corruption buster.

You could call it a field of dashed dreams. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which convened today to consider Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state, is an object lesson on the soaring ambitions of America’s top politicians - and the often deflated realities of their achievements.

Hillary and Bill Clinton have stepped up their efforts to retire millions of dollars in campaign debt from her failed bid for the White House before she becomes the nation’s top diplomat.

A behind-the-scenes scramble has already begun to fill the Senate seats that will be left vacant by Barack Obama and Joe Biden when they are installed as president and vice-president.

Hunter Biden, the lobbyist son of Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joseph Biden, has quit the business in an apparent effort to shield his father and his father’s running-mate, Barack Obama, from negative political fallout.

R. Hunter Biden’s work as a lobbyist and hedge fund principal has created some awkward moments for Joe Biden, just as the Democratic vice-presidential nominee is emphasizing his working-class origins and how he has tackled moneyed interests on behalf of ordinary Americans.