Free Republic

....ex-NY state Sen. Hiram Monserrate pleaded guilty to scamming more than $100,000 in "discretionary govt funds" for the non-profit "Latino Initiative for Better Resources and Empowerment" (LIBRE) for his campaign..... Prosecutors said two former LIBRE employees, several former members of Montserrate's city council staff and "a number of residents of Queens" who were paid by LIBRE to conduct work for his campaign using govt funds would testify against him. The Queens Democrat was expelled from state office after being convicted of roughing up his girlfriend.

HARACTER COUNTS; some- times it counts in the count. In Florida, Arizona Sen. John McCain yesterday won the Republican primary, overcoming big disadvantages favoring former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. What disadvantages? Let us, well, count. Mr. Romney built a huge campaign apparatus in Florida over the last year, while Mr. McCain, since his campaign nearly expired last summer, was able to do very little organizationally in the Sunshine State. Many Floridians voted early--before Mr. McCain picked up the endorsements of Florida U.S. Sen. Mel Marinez and the state's governor, John Crist (to say nothing of Sly Stallone). The number of...

Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Thursday that he has not ruled out running for governor or president, but he offered no specifics on what his political future might hold. "I haven't ruled it out and I haven't ruled it in," a relaxed-looking Giuliani said Thursday at a news conference to announce a venture with a big Texas law firm. "I don't know the answer to that until the future." Giuliani, whose political stock soared as he led New York through the horror of the Sept. 11, 2001, assault on the World Trade Center, is a leader in national polls for...