Friday Buffet

Happy Friday, everybody. Who doesn't like a buffet to start their weekend?

TIME Mag is thinking like InstantReplay: they're asking around to figure out who the G.O.P. frontrunners are for 2008. One name I had forgotten was that of Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, who's been seen in New Hampshire at least once. He comes in on the Chatter Rankings with a 198, which would have placed him ahead of Hagel and Rice on Tuesday's charts.

In the same vein, the Concord Monitor says that conservative groups, headed by the Family Research Council, have been interviewing and screening G.O.P. hopefuls with an eye to creating a united conservative front that could triumph over the McCain/Giuliani split likely in the primaries.

Tom DeLay has been enjoying a quiet June. But it might be getting busier: Newsday got a scoop today that there may be a conflict of interest with Exxon-Mobil. It's a weak scandal, compared to the others, but it could be enough of a spark that it reignites the discussion of DeLay's scumminess. I have to say, the fact that the media did not utterly (and successfully) crucify him is proof positive that the conservative trend in news is a reality.

The latest economic news says that we have more of the same: strong growth without spending restraint. When one is in a hole, one should stop digging. Instead, we've set a new record with our first-quarter current account deficit. Hat tip to Drudge.

The EU's troubles just keep compounding. The current fight over agricultural funding is just a crude divide-the-pie problem as European countries fight like cats to steal money from each other. This shouldn't shake the EU's economic or political foundations, but it sure looks ugly coming on the heels of the "Non" and "Nee" votes.

Iran goes to the polls today. Check out Open Democracy's election headquarters, which has an election day log. Iran's blogfather, Hoder, thinks reformist Mostafa Moeen (also spelled 'Moin') will edge out establishment candidate (and former president) Hashemi Rafsanjani. Brooding Persian is one blogger who plans to sit the election out. Low turnout, says the CS Monitor, is the regime's greatest fear, which shows that they consider the election something of a sham themselves.

The Red Sox have won four in a row, and have the pleasure of hosting Pittsburgh tonight. They need to keep running it up against the weak teams for the rest of June, and then take it up a notch to battle it out with Baltimore and New York on each side of the All-Star Break.