Get in line. Before lecturing Robert Gates and Condoleezza Rice today at his suburban residence, Vladimir Putin kept them waiting for 40 minutes.

Rudy makes a cell phone joke. Meanwhile, Rudy's former police commissioner, Bernie Kerik, already something of an albatross for the campaign, might get just one phone call.

Via Marc Ambinder, Rudy comments on the Kerik situation from the trail:

Without commenting on that case, I've already said I should have checked his background more carefully. I didn't. I've learned a lesson from it. I'm going to check more carefully in the future.

But I think you have to look at the thousands of choices I've made of people, and you have to look at the results that I got. I must have been making the decisions about people mostly correctly, because I was able to reduce crime by 66 percent.

Perhaps feeling a bit left out, John McCain has joined Mitt Romney in criticizing Giuliani over his opposition to the line-item veto as mayor.

From Stall to Hall: Larry Craig inducted into the Idaho Hall of Fame today.

Senator Kennedy gets a carotid endarterectomy. It's not as bad as it sounds. He'll be back at the bar in no time.

Hillary gets caught telling a voter she would consider a SS tax hike after publicly saying she wouldn't. John Edwards is not happy.

Reid Wilson notices the love fest between New Mexico and the White House.

Boo! With an objection from Major League Baseball, the Dodd campaign has called off its Red Sox tickets contest.

Favre who? Vinny Testaverde, who might start for Carolina Sunday at age 43, makes Brett Favre look like a rookie.

Lastly, the police chief in Aspen, Colo. has been put on leave amid allegations of sexual harassment. For some reason the story reminded me of Hunter S. Thompson's now legendary race to become Sheriff of Pitkin County on the "Freak Power" platform. Thompson promised to legalize drugs, tear up sidewalks and parking lots and replace them with grass, and ban the construction of any buildings that would block the view of the mountain.

And in classic Gonzo fashion, Thompson shaved his head bald and then began referring to the Republican incumbent, a military veteran who sported a crewcut, as "my long haired opponent." He ended up losing of course, but one can't help but wonder what Aspen would look like today had Thompson won.