Fred Upton, a Republican lawmaker from Michigan, is charging Google with manipulating a government auction for C-block airwaves that will force those airwaves to be open to any device, even though Google did not win the auction.

The rules set forth by the government were simple: if the bidding for the C-block airwaves surpassed $4.6 billion, the company that won the auction would have to open up those airwaves to all devices, rather than restricting them to devices using their service. Google bid $4.71 billion, triggering the open-access rule. Verizon Wireless won the auction with a final price of $4.74 billion.

Basically Upton is saying that Google bid just enough to trigger the rule, but had no intention of winning the auction. He said that by triggering the rule, Google discouraged other potential bidders, short-changing U.S. taxpayers. I believe that to be a fallacy, because the only way U.S. taxpayers are short-changed is if the bidding would have gone higher than the final price of $4.74 billion. That means the open access rule would have had to have been triggered in order for the government to have earned more money from the auction.

What Upton is really upset about is this auction did not go so well for his corporate fat-cat buddies at Verizon Wireless or the other telecoms that were contenders in the bidding. Even though Verizon won, they are not going to profit as much as they would have if Google had not been involved. That means fewer donations to Fred Upton political campaigns in the future.
Bloomberg.com: News

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer announced his resignation today with his wife by his side. It was just two days ago that the media was informed of an investigation into Spitzer's involvement in a prostitution ring.

I supported the Spitzer campaign vigorously, and I'm disappointed with these recent revelations. It's not so much the lurid details of his affairs that angers me, but the recklessness he display while in such a powerful position. By getting involved with an illegal enterprise that has ties to the mob, Spitzer put himself at risk of being blackmailed, which in turn put the state of New York at risk. Resigning today was not only the best thing for Spitzer's family and the Democratic party, but also for the tens of millions of people in represents.

I'll admit that I know next to nothing about Lt. Governor David Patterson, who will be replacing Spitzer. He will be the first black governor of New York, and also the first blind governor of any state in the country. The buzz on him is good - apparently he's more liberal than Spitzer but has better working relationships with the Republicans in the state legislature.

Hillary Clinton is once again the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination after winning the California primary on Super Tuesday. Clinton also took New York, Massachusetts, and a handful of other states, with Barack Obama winning a greater number of smaller states with fewer outstanding delegates.

Super Tuesday did not bode well for the Democratic party. By stunning Obama in Massachusetts, thanks to a huge turnout from female voters, Clinton has shown that she can still win by dividing gender lines, a strategy that will not likely work in the general election. Clinton does not poll as well against John McCain, her likely opponent, as Obama does.

After today's primaries it's clear that the Democrats are once again trying to lose what should have been a softball presidential race.

Hillary Clinton discovered something about the American public last month when it appeared she would lose the New Hampshire primary: they respond to tears. Her miracle emergency comeback in that state left the media with egg on its face for having all but called the primary for Obama the day before. She did it by giving a tearful speech the night before.

Clinton is back at it again. With the Obama campaign train railroading the divisive senator, Clinton has once again resorted to crying on the day before Super Tuesday, when numerous primaries around the country will likely decide on who will be the Democratic nominee. Obama has surged in the past week, opening up a lead in the crucial state of California and extending his lead in several other states.

Will voters respond to Hillary's cry for pity? I doubt it this time. Cry me once, shame on me. Cry me twice, you don't cry again (how the hell does that saying go again, Mr. President?).

Rudy Giuliani, the man who withheld funds from NY firefighters prior to 9/11 that would have been used to upgrade their radio communication system, who used NY policemen as escorts for his mistress, and who exploited the tragedy of 9/11 to support his political cause, has decided to bow out of the presidential race. He will back Senator John McCain, the friendliest of his rivals.

With McCain winning Florida and gaining Giuliani supporters (which consists of himself, his current wife, and an elderly Jewish couple living in Palm Beach), he's on the fast track for the GOP nomination, with strong support over Mitt Romney in most of the western states.

Dennis Kucinich, the only presidential candidate who could stand by his voting record with 100% confidence, recognized that he was not getting through to primary voters and decided to drop out of the presidential race today. Kucinich voted against the war in Iraq, and is currently promoting the impeachment of President Bush.

The Obama campaign has released a tape recording of a robocall that has been going out to Democrats in the state of Nevada that uses his rarely-used middle name "Hussein" a total of 4 times. The phone call goes out of its way to refer to Obama as "Barack Hussein Obama" repeatedly despite the fact that he never uses his full name himself.

These calls are clearly an attempt to scare people by associating Barack Obama with the executed former dictator of Iraq. There is no indication of where the phone call is coming from. I wonder why there is no law requiring disclosure of autocalls like there is for political TV ads. Perhaps because that would take all of Camp Clinton's dirty tricks away.

Here's a link to the phone call: Barack Hussein Obama
Robocall trashes "Barack Hussein Obama" - Ben Smith's Blog - Politico.com

GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has a slightly different strategy for winning votes from the southern states: attracting the white supremacist vote.

Huckabee, who once gave a speech to the Council of Conservative Citizens, a group that does not hide its hatred of minorities, has tried appealing to whites in South Carolina by defending their stance on the Confederate flag issue. In a recent speech in front of white evangelical Christians, he said that if anyone came into his state of Arkansas and told him what to do with the flag, he'd tell them what to do with the pole.

Former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan, now a top conservative pundit, once said that anyone involved with the Council of Conservative Citizens "does not deserve to be in a leadership position in America." Hmmm, I wonder if conservatives who have disavowed this group are prepared to bring the hammer down on Huckabee.
The Raw Story | Huckabee gave speech to white supremacists