The World is Talking. Global Politics

Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack “has assumed a role in Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign unlike any of the New York Democrat’s other national advisers. He campaigns for her in Iowa and other key states, spends hours each week on the phone with donors and elected officials and has helped forge policy ideas Clinton presents on the campaign trail,” the Des Moines Register reports.

“In this way, Vilsack has made the quick and seemingly effortless transition from a one-time Clinton rival for the 2008 nomination to a go-to player in her campaign. Aides acknowledge privately that Vilsack’s work for the campaign has the look of a rehearsal for the role of running mate, should Clinton win the nomination.”

On this Memorial Day: I support the troops, not the war in Iraq. The troops do not equal the war. If they…

“My favorite team has always been the Red Sox. I’m also a Yankees fan… This is the thing about me. I can bring people together.”

– New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, quoted by the Boston Globe, losing the New England vote.

Mitt Romney “has surged into the lead in polls in two early voting states — Iowa and New Hampshire,” reports The Politico. “But, for some strange reason, Romney has fallen short in his struggle to rise above single digits in South Carolina.”

“Why? There is concern among the state’s social conservatives because Romney is from liberal Massachusetts. Others fear his switcheroo on social issues, adopting conservative stances, is nothing but political window dressing. And then there are the evangelicals — a third of the GOP primary vote — some of whom consider his Mormon faith a cult.”

“With the mansions along its winding back roads now awash in hedge fund money, Greenwich has joined New York, Los Angeles and Silicon Valley as must stops on the presidential fund-raising tour,” reports the New York Times.

“As Connecticut’s richest town, Greenwich has always held some allure for politicians looking to raise money and make influential friends, but with several of the current presidential contenders wanting to raise upwards of $500 million to stay competitive through the general election, the richest of the town’s 61,000 residents are being wooed more than ever.”

James at Japan Probe writes about news reports indicating that the head of Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Matsuoka Toshikatsu, committed suicide today, noting that the suicide could be in response to news from a few days ago that Minister Matsuoka had received 13 million yen in donations.

Democratic political operative Bob Shrum, “whom press accounts of his forthcoming memoir depict as hostile to John Edwards, actually recommended the former senator from North Carolina for the vice presidential nomination in both 2000 (unsuccessfully) and 2004 (successfully),” Robert Novak reports. As a senior adviser to Al Gore and John Kerry in those years, Shrum “was engaged in the selection of vice presidential nominees.”

“Shrum’s book, No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner, scheduled for publication next month, is described by those who have read it as extraordinarily candid.”

Mzalendo is looking for its users in Nairobi: “Are you a regular Mzalendo user based in Nairobi? If you are interested in being interviewed on your views about Mzalendo by Reuters, please get in touch with us via the contact page.”

In or out of mating season, John Bolton in full swollen umbrage is never an edifying spectacle, which makes it all the more puzzling that producers insist on providing this diplomatic reject and rage-aholic with a peddler’s license to lie,…

Babilown points to an article in Le Matin (Fr) about rumors that Benin’s government plans to create a Ministry of Religion, and outlines the potential of such a ministry to erode the constitutional separation of church and state (Fr). In a comment, T. Nouatin agrees that although a Ministry of Religion can hijacked by […]