Originally, Governor Rendell threw money at Delaware senator Joe Biden’s campaign. Then it was New Mexico governor Bill Richardson. But now? It’s Hillary Clinton, in town today for a 1:15 p.m. press conference at City Hall to pick up the sloppy thirds support from our beloved roly-poly Eagles fan.

The Hillary stop is an impromptu pause on the way to Jersey to start restocking her stump arsenal for a showdown in the Garden State with Barack Obama during the February 5th primaries. Meanwhile, husband and former intern-diddling president Bill Clinton was supposed to head to South Jersey, but has reportedly backed out — perhaps because he forgot his bulletproof vest?

Rendell to endorse Clinton at City Hall [Inquirer]

Last night, former Inquirer columnist and current ESPN megaphone Stephen A. Smith made another appearance on Chris Matthews’s political yell-fest Hardball, this time to talk about Sen. Barack Obama’s roundtable debate with John Edwards and Hillary Clinton. Smith was not impressed. In fact, he was “disgusted.” Smith also said he was “totally bored” with Obama’s performance. “I thought Barack Obama took a significant step back,” he scoffed into the camera.

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Governor Ed Rendell’s visit to California this weekend with New York mayor Michael Bloomberg to speak at an event with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has writers and politicos speculating that Fast Eddie is pole-positioning as a potential running mate for Bloomberg if — big IF — Mayor Mike decides to do a last-second hat-tossing into the 2008 election as an independent. Where is this coming from? Nobody knows.

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After a month of mulling over what he’s going to do, Councilman-at-large runner-up David Oh is pursuing legal action against the Philadelphia Board of Elections, alleging that the board’s “unfair and unlawful” procedures for handling absentee ballots led to fraudulent votes being cast in the name of nursing home residents who later insisted they never voted.

Oh spoke to the Daily Examiner in November, telling us that he “couldn’t exit the election until he addressed this problem.” Supporters of Oh’s opponent, Councilman Jack Kelly, probably hoped — and thought — he’d just go away. Apparently not.

For now, the City Solicitor is reviewing all of Oh’s allegations and had no other comments, pending an investigation.

Oh pursuing allegations of voter fraud, sues election board [DN]
David Oh: Sore Loser or Shenanigan Detector? [Daily Examiner]

Eagles head coach Andy Reid’s probably not too happy with the way things are shaping up in the primary caucuses right now, considering that he threw a maximum $2,300 contribution behind fellow Mormon Mitt Romney. Reid topped the list of notable sports figures who contributed to the stalling Romney campaign (also included, NBC Sports analyst Johnny Miller, Ravens TE Todd Heap and former MLB outfielder Dale Murphy), according to Dan Steinberg’s masterful D.C. Sports Bog.

Romney is in dire need of a win in the upcoming Michigan caucus, so maybe it’s time for Coach Reid to give him a little call and open up the back of the playbook for such desperate situations. If Romney launches a surprise on-side kick as he stumps through Dearborn, we’ll know they talked.

Athletes and the Primaries [DC Sports Bog]

On December 23rd, former Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Mark Bowden published a column in the paper titled “In Defense of Waterboarding”, which outlined his justifications for the U.S.’s use of the controversial torture tactic on “terrorist” Abu Zubaydah. Three days later, the piece remains one of the most viewed and most e-mailed on philly.com. In this guest post, Philadelphia magazine writer-at-large Jason Fagone calls B.S. on the whole deal.

Ever wonder why Inquirer honcho Brian Tierney had to lay off about 70 of his local news gatherers and copy editors despite claiming that he wanted to make the Inky the best pound-for-pound local newspaper in the country — the “Mossad” of American journalism? Well, apparently it was so he could hire people like Mark Bowden to write op-ed columns that read, for all of Bowden’s experience as a reporter in the Middle East, like they were issued from the desk of Dick Cheney’s lawyers, or Rudy Giuliani’s campaign.

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Talking Points Memo, a popular political blog, has released its first annual Golden Duke nominees — awards given in various categories to numerous political figures that TPM claims are “crooks, scoundrels, and bamboozlers” — and state Sen. Vince Fumo made the list. Fumo’s nod came in the best “Local Scandal” category, thanks to a corruption scandal that resulted in a 139-count indictment for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud, etc.

Winners of the categories will be announced December 31st. Congratulations, Senator, for this most prestigiously dubious achievement.

It’s not an honor just to be nominated [Young Philly Politics]
Dukey Nominees Announced [TPM]

The Philly legal community has been abuzz the last few days with rumors that Lynne Abraham will step down as district attorney in early 2008. Abraham was re-elected in 2005 after a stern primary challenge from former assistant district attorney Seth Williams.

“It would not surprise me if she did step down,” says political consultant Larry Ceisler, “because Lynne has been mentioned for a long time in political circles as a potential candidate for state attorney general.”

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Between 5:30 and 7:30 tomorrow night, the Electric Factory becomes ground zero for Hillary fundraising as the (barely) front-running senator looses her reformed poon-poacher of a husband upon the city to stump. A $100 donation ($50 for students) gets you in the door to listen to Bill Clinton talk glowingly about his wife and watch him power-thumb her closer to the Democratic nomination.

In addition, attendees get to listen to the feel-good Collective Soul-ness of the band Ike, who may require a little saxophone assistance at some point, according to one organizer of the event. So, in addition to being a part of the country’s future, you could witness firsthand the revival of an old cultural touchstone, as Big Willy may just start wailing like he did on the Arsenio Hall Show 16 years ago. Woof-woof.

Electric Factory event tickets [Hillary for President]

With their latest e-mail blast — “DO NOT BOW TO UNJUST DECISIONS” — it’s obvious that the Casino-Free Philadelphia folks are fired up about the impending groundbreaking at the SugarHouse Casino.

Daniel Hunter, one of the organization’s lead sled dogs, says he’d actually prefer a “slap in the face” than agree with the state Supreme Court’s ruling on the issue. “They’re systematically saying, over the course of the last couple months, that the voters of Philadelphia have no authority to deal with this issue,” Hunter tells the Daily Examiner. “Now they’re saying City Council has no power.”

So now it’s power-to-the-people-with-no-delay time. The CFers are planning emergency training sessions and holding a City Hall press conference tomorrow to keep up the spirited push-back against the dastardly casinos and their shady development teams. And, Hunter says, if the groundbreaking does begin sometime in the near future, there will, in fact, be protesters lying down in front of bulldozers and dump trucks and any other large vehicle attempting to drag one piece of metal onto the site on Delaware Avenue. For real.

“It’s a stall tactic,” Hunter says. He personally hasn’t done it before, but he does offer suggestions on how best to Tiananmen Square dat ass: “Be big. Wear something bright.”

Great start. Make a note of it.

Actions This Week [Casino-Free Philadelphia]
Court Clears Way for Casino [Inquirer]