Katie Connolly

Another one of Mark Sanford's relationships is on the rocks today. This time it's his publisher. Sanford had a contract with Sentinel, a conservative publisher owned by the Pengiun Group, for a book titled "Within Our Means".

Obama gave a wide ranging interview to the Associated Press today, where he finally spoke about Michael Jackson's death."I'm glad to see that he is being remembered primarily for the great joy that he brought to a lot of people through his extraordinary gifts as an entertainer," Obama said, adding that his briallinace "was paired with a tragic and in many ways, sad personal life." He brushed off the notion that African Americans were disappointed that he hadn't issued a formal statement after...

Amid the heartbreaking turmoil of her personal life, South Carolinians appear more enamored than ever of their first lady, Jenny Sanford. As Newsweek's Kathy Deveny noted, Mrs.

The Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously ruled Al Franken the winner of the hotly contested Minnesota Senate race this afternoon. Incumbent Norm Coleman had appealed a lower court's decision, primarily arguing that absentee ballots had been improperly handled by electoral officials.

As I noted earlier, the first couple hosted a celebration honoring LGBT Pride Month in the East Room this afternoon. The event comes amid rising tensions between the Obama administration and the gay community, who are disappointed at the lack of attention given to their issues so far this year.

Over the past couple of weeks, we at the Gaggle have been discussing Obama's fraught relationship with the gay community, a group that provided his campaign with both staunch support and cash. (Read Holly's summary post here.) Today there are two symbolically important developments in this relationship.

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani appeared on CNN's American Morning today and admitted, in a roundabout fashion, that he's considering running for governor of New York in 2010.

Josh Eller, a military contractor stationed in Iraq in 2006, was driving through Balad Air Base when he spotted the wild dog. He wasn't sure what was in its mouth—but when Eller saw two bones, he knew he was looking at a human arm.

Since the tragic news about the passing of pop icon Michael Jackson broke, your Gaggler has been wondering if and when the president would make a statement.

Mark Sanford's unexpected and emotional revelation of an affair yesterday has caused much hand-wringing about the future of a seemingly scandal-plagued GOP.

Gallup is out today with timely poll today finding that 92% of Americans find extramarital affairs to be morally unacceptable. Pollsters asked respondents how they felt about a range of topics, like the death penalty, cloning and gambling.

Mark Sanford's wife Jenny has just released a statement announcing that she asked her husband to leave for a trial separation two weeks ago. (Your Gaggler, was actually quite pleased to not see her at the press conference today.

It's official: If DC pundits consider you a contender for the GOP nomination in 2012, then it's just a matter of time before you are publicly humiliated (or sent to China.) Seriously.

At one of the lighter moments of today's Presidential Press Conference, McClatchy Reporter Margaret Talev asked Obama something we've all been wondering: Is he still smoking?

Gallup just announced that the President's job approval has slipped to 58%, an all time low for him in Gallup's daily tracking poll. Obama's approval rating has averaged at 63% since he took office, peaking at 69% early in his presidency.

The White House today released an official portrait of First dog Bo Obama. It's a cute picture of Bo, who is quite a fine specimen. But it strikes your Gagglers as a little odd because, as Holly pointed out to me, the girls don't have official portraits yet, nor is there an official first family portrait.The White House has also released an official Bo baseball card to answer all the burning questions about the world's most famous pup.

The revolution won't be televised - it will be twittered, apparently. NBC's Libby Leist is reporting that the State Department has asked Twitter not to shut down for regular maintenance because tweets have proved useful in monitoring the situation in Iran.

I just read a White House pool report that I found quite poignant, so I wanted to share it with you, dear Gaggle Readers. The report is from Mike Riley who covers the Washington for Denver Post.

After a week of outraged chatter on both sides on the debate, David Letterman has issued a full apology to Governor Palin for his unsavory joke about her daughter last week.

The Washington Post has a story out today about the Administration's decision to stop pushing Congress to allow freed Guantanamo detainees to settle in the United States.

The White House just sent around another list of Ambassadorial posts. Amongst the names of career diplomats with long histories of service, three appointees stood out, and they just happened to coincide with the three most alluring posts on the list: Belize, Switzerland and Belgium.

Last night David Letterman tried to clear up his tasteless joke about Sarah Palin's daughter being impregnated by Alex Rodriguez. In a bizarre defense of his comments, Letterman suggests that his jokes were above board because they were in reference to Palin's 18 year old daughter Bristol (who recently had a baby) rather than her 14 year old daughter Willow, the one who actually attended the Yankees game with her mother. "These are not jokes made about her 14-year-old daughter.

The White House just released an official statement from the President regarding today's shooting at DC's Holocaust Museum, which left one security guard dead.  "I am shocked and saddened by today's shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

It was former First Lady Barbara Bush's 84th birthday on June 8, and no doubt George Bush Sr. spent some time pondering what surprising and thoughtful gift to give his spouse of 64 years.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has responded to an off-color joke about her 14 year old daughter Willow made by Late Show host David Letterman Monday night. During his regular monologue, Letterman joked about Palin's daughter getting knocked up by Alex Rodriguez after the Governor's recent visit to Yankee Stadium.

For months, Creigh Deeds trailed his two better funded, media magnet opponents in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Virginia. Last night he trounced both of them, winning with 50 percent of the vote.

Aside from cheating on their wives and ruining their political careers in the process, both men celebrate their birthdays today. Edwards is 56 today, while Spitzer celebrates the big 5-0.

Domestic policy blogger Ezra Klein over at the Washington Post is kind of the blissfully nerdy girl's dream wonk. I've never met the lad, but he seems to adore policy and writes about it in clear, sharp and occasionally self effacing ways.

Just how tough is Sonia Sotomayor? Holly recently noted an episode from her time as a private attorney when she gave chase to some crooks on a motorcycle through the streets of NYC.

The White House last night released some interesting stats from the Cairo speech, gathered from their Embassies around the world. Here's a few things they found:200 million Indians watched the speech in IndiaIn Sierra Leone, the Embassy organized for 11 cinema centers to screen the speech, allowing around 1000 residents to view the speech who otherwise would not have been able toAround 20,000 people signed up for the text message serviceThe Consul-General in Sydney Australia organized for 40...