This, that and the other thing

Some odds and ends today...

• Big endorsement: Boy I bet Mitt Romney is quaking in his boots today over word that Paul Cellucci is backing John McCain. This one was highly predictable from the moment Romney shoved aside Cellucci's No. 2 Jane Swift. Undoubtedly of more concern to Mitt is the McCain pickup of Weld-Cellucci and Healey mainstay Rob Gray. If anyone knows Romney's weaknesses (and has no penchant for attack), it's Gray.

• If ever anyone doubted Dick Cheney's role as the man behind the curtain, doubt no more. The machinations on display at the trial of Scooter Libby reveal the Veep's power in all its lurid details.
  

• The aforementioned Mr. Cheney "personality" has never been more vividly on display than in a combative interview with Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday. To still insist we are "winning" in Iraq if only the media would do it's part is denial of the highest magnitude. But it clearly demonstrates who continues to have W's ears. Anyone seriously think the call for bipartisan cooperation is real?

• What's a Duncan and why would you hunt them? And what has Chuck Hagel been smoking to think the Lemming Party will support him?
  

• Say good night Phil. You did your job and put a Democrat back into the Corner Office and what could have been a monumental blunder in putting the race card on the on the table early in the general election actually worked by exposing Rob Gray's Healey ads for what they were. Don't deny Deval Patrick the right every victorious candidate has -- to install his own person at the top of the party.

• Think John Kerry's friends believed in their heart of hearts that he had a chance? The swift shift of Kerry fundraiser Alan Solomont to the Obama camp tells you what you need to know.

• Marie Parente, are you smoking the same stuff as Dick Cheney? Speaking of someone who needs to make a graceful exit and not compare themselves to overpaid athletes....