It’s clear that there’s been about enough of the Bubba Factor for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The Media Research Center, an organization whose stated mission is to “bring balance and responsibility to the news media,” is recruiting conservative supporters with deep pockets.

First Mel Martinez said in December that he wouldn’t run for a second term as the only Republican Hispanic in the U.S. Senate.

Former President Bill Clinton’s extraordinary mission to North Korea that resulted in the freeing of two U.S. journalists marked a thaw in his relations with his former vice president, Al Gore.

Rep. Pete Sessions backed a $1.6 million earmark to a company outside his Dallas-based district, owned by a father and son who have contributed liberally to his leadership PAC.

Robert S. Bennett is investigating former Washington Mayor Marion Barry on possible ethical violations.

Dr. Regina Benjamin, nominee for U.S. surgeon general, is a medical anachronism who rebuilt a microcosmic health care system.

Roland Burris announced last week that he won’t campaign to retain the Senate seat that went vacant with the election of President Barack Obama.

President Obama yesterday named former DNC finance chairman Philip D. Murphy to be U.S. ambassador to Germany, the latest in a growing list of political nominations to diplomatic positions.

Richard Ravitch is taking on the difficult task of getting the New York Senate to run.

When Republican Sarah Palin, the soon-to-be-former governor of Alaska, needs advice, she turns to John P. Coale.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced yesterday that she’s quitting her job with 18 months left to serve.

A man who was one of former Senator John Edwards’s closest aides has a deal to write a tell-all book about Edwards’ affair with Rielle Hunter.

Democrat Al Franken has finally been declared the new senator from Minnesota.

Monica Conyers, Detroit City Council president pro tem and wife of U.S. Congressman John Conyers, pleaded guilty today to bribery conspiracy.

Another GOP presidential likely seems to have killed his own potential this week when South Carolina’s Republican Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to a long-term extramarital affair in Argentina.

Sidney Blumenthal, a fierce supporter of both Clintons, will be joining Hillary Rodham Clinton at the State Department, according to news reports.

Dick Cheney has signed a book deal with Threshold Editions, the Simon & Schuster imprint edited by his close friend Mary Matalin.

Household finances continue to dog Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut.

What would a Republican-led palace coup be without the involvement of self-admitted dirty trickster Roger J. Stone Jr.?