A Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Here's a look at headlines you may have missed from the Trib's Washington bureau this weekend.

* Jim Tankersley profiles Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, playing a lead role in the Obama administration's response to the Gulf spill. "Since taking over Interior, the 55-year-old native of Colorado's San Luis Valley has elbowed his way into some of President Obama's highest-profile initiatives, some outside the traditional parameters of his job," Tankersley notes.

* Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger look more closely at Rep. Joe Barton's (R-Texas) ties to the oil and gas industry, following his controversial comments at a House committee hearing Thursday. "Since 1990, Barton has received about $27,300 from BP officials and political action committees. The amount places him among the top recipients in Washington but well below President Obama, who has been the leading recipient of BP cash."

* Doyle McManus wrote about a potential turning point for the White House with the Gulf crisis this week. The deal reached with BP, McManus says, showed "Obama had finally embraced the wisdom of his fellow Chicagoan, Al Capone: You get much further with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone."

* Janet Hook reported from Capitol Hill on the latest tweak to a jobless bill, after the Senate voted to postpone a scheduled cut in physician pay under Medicare. The bill has "bogged down in the Senate because of complaints about its cost," a factor in the vote Thursday that fell short of ending a GOP filibuster.

* Jim Oliphant keeps up with the paper trail on Supreme Court justice nominee Elena Kagan. E-mail messages released late Friday revealed little in the way of controversy, though some showed "flashes of personality," as she acknowledges a tendency to lose her cool at times.

Good Monday morning from Washington. Here's a look at headlines you may have missed from the Trib's Washington bureau this weekend.

* Democrats are now optimistic about passing long-stalled energy legislation, which "seemed virtually impossible a few weeks ago." The reason: public anger over the gulf oil spill. "A new energy bill could be shorn of its most controversial feature -- the costly and complex 'cap-and-trade' system, which would set a declining limit on emissions from power plants and factories and force emitters to buy permits for the release of heat-trapping gases. But even without cap and trade, the measure contemplated by Senate Democratic leaders could bring far-reaching change, including new renewable energy requirements, tougher liability caps on oil companies and stronger energy-efficiency measures," Lisa Mascaro writes.

* Jim Puzzanghera reported on the latest Treasury Department report on TARP repayments. "For the first time, the amount repaid by banks and other recipients has surpassed the outstanding balance," something the department hailed as a "milestone in the history of the controversial $700-billion bailout fund."

* Security experts are raising concerns about the new fleet of body imaging machines being rushed into service at the nation's airports, Ken Dilanian wrote. "Officials hastened deployment of the scanners after Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly smuggled a powdered explosive sewn in his underwear onto a Detroit-bound flight from Amsterdam last Christmas, but failed to detonate it. However, Stephen M. Lord of the Government Accountability Office told Congress in March that the TSA's classified testing shows it's unclear whether the technology would have detected Abdulmutallab's bomb."

* More on the oil spill from Richard Simon, as the U.S. Coast Guard "demanded that BP come up with a speedier plan within 48 hours to contain the oil gushing from its broken Gulf of Mexico well and to base its new actions on revised flow estimates that are up to double previous projections."

* Is a college degree still worth it? Don Lee looks at the question being asked as commencement season has ended, and notes that "government surveys indicate that the vast majority of job gains this year have gone to workers with only a high school education or less, casting some doubt on one of the nation's most deeply held convictions: that a college education is the ticket to the American Dream."

* Republicans are targeting a provision in legislation to expand unemployment aid that would boost Medicare reinbursements to physicians in metropolitan areas. Per Noam Levey, Sen. Tom Coburn (R) of Oklahoma argues that California is getting a special deal; supporters point to GAO studies that show the reimbursement formula "has depressed Medicare payments in parts of many states, but most prominently in California."

* And Katherine Skiba talked to former White House social secretary Desiree Rogers, who has returned to Chicago with no regrets about her time in Washington. She "turned aside questions about party crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi by saying she doesn't want to make more difficult the work of her 'many good friends' in the administration."

by Mike Memoli

Longtime readers of this blog have no doubt noticed the departure of longtime chief Mark Silva. Today I have the privilege of taking over the reins of The Swamp and working with the great team here in the Tribune Washington Bureau to bring you the latest news from the nation's capital.

In the coming days, weeks and months we intend to step up our game, especially as we head into the Midterm Elections. I welcome your comments and suggestions about what you'd like to see. Feel free to post them below or e-mail me directly.

I'd also invite those who aren't regular readers to bookmark this site, subscribe to our RSS feed and also follow us on Twitter.

Good morning,

It's a crystal clear and chilly morning in Washington.

Near the end of one of the biggest political years in modern times, it may be quiet here today, but on this day in history:

IIn 1922, The Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics was established through the confederation of Russia, Byelorussia, Ukraine, and Transcaucasian Federation.

The USSR is gone.

In 1940, California's first freeway opened.

U.S. highways need rebuilding.

In 1972, President Nixon halted the heavy bombing on North Vietnam.

In March, the war in Iraq will enter its seventh year.

President Bush is on vacation at his Texas ranch.

President-elect Barack Obama is on vacation in Hawaii.

Congress is in recess.

Although the comment has sometimes been attributed to Daniel Webster, it was a New York State judge who wrote,, in 1868: "No man's life, liberty or property is safe when the Legislature is in session.''

He didn't say anything about the stock market.

Good morning, It's Thursday, Dec. 4.

And on Capitol Hill, the leaders of the Big Three automakers, arriving in a hybrid caravan after taking heat for their last journey in corporate jets, are asking Congress for billions of dollars in aid to avert a collapse of the ailing American auto industry.

In Chicago today, President-elect Barack Obama will hold another press conference as he continues announcing members of his new administration.

by Frank James

I'm told that the problem we were having with comments to The Swamp has been fixed. So let those pent-up comments flow. Thanks for your patience.

by Frank James

We're having a problem on The Swamp with error messages when people try to post comments. We've notified our tech elves and are hoping this problem goes away soon.

We'll keep you updated. At least we're just talkig about technical problems with a blog and not an aircraft we're on at 30,000 feet.

by Mark Silva

Think of it as a week's vacation.

It certainly was frustrating for all of us here at The Swamp, which suffered the mother of all technical failures with the collapse of its comments board. A lot of diligent and fine people spent a lot of time working at repairing the comments board. And now, it's up. We thank them for their work.

It's been a little more than a week that you've run silent, while we've run deep. The crash started with a flood of comments and views on a spat between the Obama campaign and WGN over Bill Ayers, the old radical turned professor. We pulled 450,000 page views that day, and during the convention just passed we were drawing 100 K a day, which means people were still reading, while unable to comment.

So for all of you who have been yearning to say something about Sarah Palin, Bristol Palin, Levi Johnston, John McCain, Cindy McCain, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Joe Biden and the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention, and the news media, which cannot get enough bashing these days, and the pollls, which cannot get enough bashing, and everything else under the political sun.

Welcome back!

by Frank James

Just wanted to update loyal readers of The Swamp on the Great Swamp Comments Meltdown of 2008.

I'm told by the people who know that everything is being done to get our comment boards back up and running. As anyone who knows anything about software knows, there are mysteries to be found in the bytes that aren't easily understood.

The problem is that when our technical people turned off the comments boards last week to help the site deal with a huge surge in traffic caused by a posting that got Drudged, went they went to turn the comments back on, the software just looked at them and laughed.

But our people and our vendors "working this problem," as engineers say. We're hoping that there's a fix today but we've been disappointed before.

In any event, thanks for continuing to read us even though the comment boards are currently unavailable. We hope to see this glitch in our rear-view mirror real soon.

Meanwhile, if you need to get something off your chest or contact us, feel free to do so at theswamp@tribune.com.

by Frank James

Day three of the Great Comments Crisis on The Swamp. On Thursday, we were forced to disable our comments board after the incredible volume of comments traffic we received on an Obama-WGN posting which Drudge linked to wound up swamping our site. (pun intended.)

Unfortunately, we've gotten caught up in a web of unintentional consequences. After turning off the comments, we now can't turn them back on for some reason our technical people can't figure out.

It there's a Movable Type expert out the there who experienced a similar problem and solved it, I have a simple request. HELP US, PLEASE HELP US!!!!

While our technology team tries to solve this problem, we ask for your continued patience. We realize it's hard to keep a blog community together when the interaction that is the very definition of community is missing.

But if you have to have a technological mishap, better that it happen under these circumstances instead of, say, when you're having open-heart surgery or hurtling five miles above the earth in a jet aircraft. We will, all of us, I hope, try to keep this in perspective. Let's call this a blogcation.

by Frank James

We've temporarily had to disable comments because our server was being overwhelmed by comments on the Obama campaign-WGN item. We hate doing this since there's little we value more than the discussions that occur in The Swamp's community.

We are working on solving this problem and as soon as we do we will enable comments again. We appreciate your patience.

by Mark Silva

Welcome to my 5,000th posting in the Swamp.

So says the automatic counter at the e-publishing platform that delivers the Swamp to your e-step every day of the week and weekend and at most hours of the day.

In honor of the occasion, this is a posting about nothing.

Nothing, that is, except the pleasure I have had, since my colleague Frank James in the Washington bureau of the Chicago Tribune, with the blessing of our bureau chief at the time, Mike Tackett, launched this blog dedicated to all things Washington.

Since we started, in January of 2006, our readership has soared. We are counting more than a million "page-views'' each month, upwards of 3 million at peak points in the presidential campaign underway. And we have collected, and posted, hundreds of thousands of comments from readers such as you.

Our coverage has reached beyond the boundaries of politics and government. I have a place in my heart for my posting, "Sweet Home Chicago,'' the account of a late-night session with a very-old bluesman. It has drawn a loyal following of its own, people who spend more time these days talking to one another than to us here at the Swamp. Which is what we hoped to build here: A community. "Homies,'' you know who you are. Rock on.

Join us, please, during the next two weeks, as the Swamp takes you to Denver and to St. Paul for the formal nomination of the presidential candidates of the two major parties. If it's starting to feel like peak season again, here in the Swamp, wait 'til fall.

Heading to Denver in the morning.

5,000 and rolling.

by Frank James

The Swamp has been honored with a nomination for a prestigious Webby Award. We thank all those who see our politics and policy blog as worthy of this, the Internet community's highest honor, and promise to do our best to remain deserving of such a selection.

Each Webby nominee is actually eligible for two Webbys. One is based on the votes of the 550 members of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. The other, the Webby People's Voice is awarded based on the votes of the on-line community.

So we're doing what any smart politician will tell you is essential in closing the deal with voters: we're asking for your vote.

We're hoping fans of The Swamp will cast their votes for us by May 1, 2008, the deadline. Go to the Webby People's Voice site, register, and then look for us in the blog-political category.

Thanks, again, to all our friends. Onward and upward.

by Frank James

In our effort to make The Swamp even better, we tried to upgrade to a new and improved publishing platform last night. It didn't work but our technology people are going to try again, probably tomorrow night.

We hope we didn't lose any of your incoming comments during last night's failed upgrade but you know how funky technology can be. We're just thankful to be up and running this morning. At least I think we're up and running.

So we apologize if anything was lost and ask for your patience during this period. We believe, in the end, it will all be worth it.

by Mark Silva and Frank James

Welcome to the new Swamp.

We have started with a new logo, as pictured above, which we hope will be as memorable as the thousands of postings -- and the nearly 190,000 readers' comments -- which have appeared on these e-pages since the inception of The Swamp in January 2006.

And we'll be introducing a broader offering of insight into the world of national politics and government in the months ahead. But for now, we are settling in to a new visual environment.

Thank you, to all, who have brought us here.

And, as with everything else that appears here in The Swamp, we hope you'll offer your comments.

by Frank James

Our Swamp live chat has started. Click here to see it.

by Frank James

We've scheduled another live chat on The Swamp for today, Wednesday, March 5. Join us at 1:30 pm ET to discuss the results of last night's primaries and what we can expect going forward in Campaign 2008.

Please send your questions to this link. We'll try to answer as many of them as we can.

by Frank James

We've scheduled another live chat on The Swamp for tomorrow, Wednesday, March 5. Join us at 1:30 pm ET to discuss the results of tonight's primaries and what we can expect going forward in Campaign 2008.

Please send in your questions to this link. We'll try to answer as many of them as we can.

by Frank James

The Chicago Tribune has a new website devoted to the trial of Antoin "Tony' Rezko, the indicted Chicago-area businessman and long-time friend and former political fundraiser to Sen. Barack Obama.

It will be THE place to check for new developments in a trial that's being watched closely by political observers to see what impact, if any, it will have on Obama's presidential aspirations. So make sure to bookmark it.

by Mark Silva

So it took a day or two longer than expected.

But in four fast months we have added 50,000 readers' comments to a Swamp that took the better part of two years to collect its first 100,000 comments.

And for all of that, the Swamp thanks you.

And, for all the readers who have come and gone without pausing to comment, for those who have occasionally dropped in with comments, for regular, and extra-regular commentators, and for all the rest, we bring you: No. 150,000, posted this evening, Sunday night, during the Grammys.

There is something somehow fitting about No. 150 K, arriving more than one year into a presidential campaign which is yielding a foregone conclusion among the Republican candidates and a virtual tie between the top two Democrats months from Election Day, with this comment, posted by "Tired of it All'' in the posting about the fight for the "Superdelegates:''

"And people wonder why the voter turn out is so low and that voter apathy is what it is. What a crock all of this is.......'' -- signed, Tired of it All.

There's much more to come.

by Mark Silva

Sometime tonight, or more likely perhaps Saturday or early Sunday morning, the 150,000th comment from readers will be posted in the Swamp.

This is cause for great cheer here in the Swamp, because the 100,000th comment was posted on Oct. 2, 2007, one year and nine months into the life of this newsblog.

The 150,000th comment arrives just a little over four months after No.100,000.

Do the math. Life is good.

We have, on certain days during the past few weeks, recorded more than 100,000 page views of the Swamp on a single day. We did today -- 175,000 in fact. And 284,000 on Monday These are records here.

And, while most who pause to read here move on without comment, many stay to share their views. We appreciate all of you, readers and reader-commentators alike. And It's all on the rise: Readership and commentary alike. And for all of that, the Swamp thanks you.

by Frank James

Some of you may've noticed that The Swamp was down for a while earlier this afternoon. Apparently, our server decided to stop serving us. Maybe it was shocked by Mitt Romney suspending his campaign.

In any event, it's obviously back up now. Sorry about the lapse (I can't believe I'm apologizing for a machine hundreds of miles away.) We're going to try to figure out what went wrong so we can prevent it from happening again.

by Frank James

Have questions about what's happening on the ground in New Hampshire, or anything else related to race for the White House or Election 2008? The Swamp is hosting a live video chat at 12:30 pm central time from Manchester, N.H. with Tribune journalists covering the campaign.

E-mail your questions to us and we'll answer as many as time allows.

by Frank James

Have questions about what's happening on the ground in New Hampshire, or anything else related to race for the White House or Election 2008? On Monday, we'll host a live video chat at 12:30 pm central time from Manchester, N.H. with Tribune journalists who are covering the campaign.

E-mail your questions to us and we'll answer as many as time allows.

by Frank James

Due to what was described to me as "connectivity issues," we've had to cancel today's live video chat. Instead, Tribune reporter Jill Zuckman, who's on the trail in New Hampshire, will be answering your questions live-to-tape and we will post the video later.

Sorry about that, but that's life in the (broadband) fast-lane.

by Frank James

We could use more questions from you for today's 12:30 pm central time video chat on The Swamp with Tribune journalists in New Hampshire who are covering the presidential campaign.

So if you have questions about the results of last night's Iowa caucuses, what's happening now in New Hampshire or anything else in the race for the White House, e-mail them to us and we'll answer as many as possible during our the chat which is scheduled for 12:30 pm central time today.

by Frank James

Have questions about the results of last night's Iowa caucuses, what's happening now in New Hampshire or what's next in the race for the White House or anything related to Election 2008? E-mail them to us and we'll answer as many as possible during our live video chat scheduled for 12:30 pm central time today.

by Frank James

Have a question about what’s happening on the campaign trail? Here’s your chance to ask us directly!

It’s time for our first-ever Swamp video chat with Tribune journalists in Iowa answering your questions about the highs, lows and everything in between related to the race for the White House.

Start sending us your questions now and watch us answer them live Wednesday.

by Frank James

As you've probably noticed by now, The Swamp looks like it has been taken over by some sort of bug that turns pretty much everything into plain-text mode.

We are trying to fix this problem but, so far, no luck. We think it has something to do with our "Style file," wherever that is. We're waiting for the people with the super-secret codes who can access that to do their thing.

Just another of the many joys of the Internet.

Thanks for your patience.

by Frank James

We are experiencing serious technical problems today which, we're told, may have something to do with bandwidth issues, like maybe we need some more. The Swamp was completely unreachable earlier but now appears to be back up, though it's kind of working in fits and starts.

Our techs are aware of the problem and are trying to fix it. Thanks for your patience.

by Frank James and Mark Silva

Nearly two years ago, the Tribune launched The Swamp as a new way of reporting on Washington and invited readers to comment. And so you have.

The 100,000th comment has been posted in The Swamp -- it arrived after dark last night -- and the next 100,000 is under way.

Not all who read these pages pause to comment on them. We recorded nearly 800,000 "page views'' by online surfers here in The Swamp in September alone.

We thank those who spend some time here, and we thank those who leave their thoughts with us before moving on. We also note that, with Nos. 100,000 and 100,001 alone, we have captured some of the flavor of what makes The Swamp smolder on controversial matters and what makes it more reflective at quieter times. We'll take the heat with the reflection....

by Mark Silva, and updated, and updated again....

At some point either tonight or in the morning, the 100,000th reader's comment would be posted here in the Swamp. It was tonight.

We looked forward to reading it, and perhaps making note of it as well. (We are)

So take note, regulars and newcomers alike: Sharpen those keys, and make those momentous Swamp words count.

... a drumroll please, it's nigh.

And it's here...

For all the debates this year, the one between Rep. Ron Paul and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee got most people talking here in The Swamp. AP photo by Jim Cole.

by Mark Silva

Some September we've had.

The war, Gen. Petraeus, MoveOn.org, and Rush Limbaugh have captured our attention. The college student Tasered at John Kerry's appearance at the University of Florida and Sen. Larry Craig's suspended resignation have turned our heads. Alan Greenpan and Dick Durbin. President Bush and Barack Obama. Immigration. All big draws. But what does it say about the presidential campaign underway, and the crowded field in both parties, that the two candidates who have drawn the most comment in these Web-pages are Republicans Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee?

Here is a review of the stories in The Swamp that drew the most commentary this month (as of this hour, of course. The Swamp is always churning, so the rankings may as well.) We'd normally opt for a Top 10, but seeing how some of the top-draws covered the same subject matter, we've expanded the count to include the Top-15 draws of your comments:

No. 1: What does it say indeed that the debate sparked by Ron Paul, the Texas congressman, and Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, topped the list for September commentary: 241 comments.

No. 2: That Tasering at the university that also calls its football stadium the Swamp was big: 145

No. 3: The "phony soldier'' story that Rush Limbaugh calls a "phony story'' has drawn considerable commentary and contoversy, which, of course, is what the radio talk show host thrives on: 137

No. 4: The war captured our attention for much of the month, starting with President Bush's surprise stop in Iraq on Labor Day, and continuing with Gen. David Petraeus' report to Congress and then the president's declaration that the U.S. will withdraw troops with a "return on success.'' But this story, about Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois drawing the line on war spending bills drew: 102

No. 5: Ron Paul again, reminding us that highway accidents claim more lives than 9/11 did: 97

No. 6: Rush Limbaugh again, trying to explain that "phony soldier'' comment of his and in the process expanding his "genuine phony soldier'' roster to include Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.): 96

No. 7: More on the Taser: 94

No. 8: With President Bush poised to veto the expansion of health care coverage for the children of lower- and middle-income families, Sen. John Kerry's call to the president to try getting on the "right side of history'' drew some notice in the Swamp: 90

No. 9: Immigration is hot this year, with virtually any mention of the debate over any consideration of relief for the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the United States -- OK, Mr. Dobbs, "amnesty for aliens'' -- a big draw. The Department of Homeland Security suing Illinois over immigration law enforcement was big: 88

No. 10: That newspaper ad that MoveOn.org took out calling Gen. Petraeus "General Betray Us'' was good for some controversy, with a story about the Senate resolution rebuking MoveOn drawing: 79

No. 11: Who would have thought that Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman and model of reserved rhetoric, would have it in him to say the Republicans have only themselves to blame for losing Congress and to chide President Bush for a shy veto pen? Greenspan: 76

No. 12: President Bush held another press conference this month, in which he noted his own average grades as a student. He does get an A for keeping taxes low, he suggested, but admitted that "I got a B in Econ 101": 67

No. 13: More on that MoveOn.org vote in the Senate, the vote on which Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, a Democratic candidate for president, took a walk: 61

No. 14: Sen. Larry Craig's lawyer insists that the Republican senator from Idaho had only one intention when he walked into a men's room at the Minneapolis airport in June: "To go to the bathroom." But Craig, insisting he only wanted the whole case to "go away'' when he pled guilty to disorderly conduct in August, announced at the start of this month that he would resign from the Senate -- today, in fact. Now he is seeking to overturn his conviction, and in the meantime plans to stick around the Senate. Craig had called himself "an unwanted distraction:" 61

No. 15: At that press conference of his this month, President Bush suggested that the GOP has a good record on which to run in the black community. Tom Joyner, the radio talk show host, was calling that record into the question the other night when he noted the no-shows at a debate for Republican candidates at historically black Morgan State University: Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, John McCain and Fred Thompson. Bush's claim about his party's prospects drew some notice here in the Swamp: 56

by Frank James

The problem with commenters' postings not going up appears to be solved, thanks to the very fine work of our technological savior, Chris Handzlik.

We'll probably have other issues come up, so as you spot them, let us know.

by Frank James

I'm told that the comments functionality should now be working for all the different URLS that point to The Swamp.

We could use your help in testing the fix. Post your comments, the more, the better.

by Frank James

Just got an update on the problem with posting comments. Evidently, it is not a Movable Type problem.

It's more of a self-inflicted wound. Basically, we have several URLs that point to The Swamp. The technical expert working on this informs me the posting problem exists with the new www.swamppolitics.com URL but not this one:

http://weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/blog/

So I'm told use of this gnarly-looking URL will permit comments.

by Frank James

This is one of those "technology is great, when it works" moments. As many of you've noticed, we are having problems with posting comments. We are trying to figure out what's happening.

Evidently, while some comments are getting through, others aren't even being accepted by the software. Again, why that should be, we don't know. If there are any Movable Type experts out there, HELP!

Seriously, we do have people working on this so we're hoping to get it solved soon. We'll keep you posted. But I'm also serious about the Movable Type experts. Anybody out there ever see this kind of problem before?

by Frank James at 7:37 am CDT

The Swamp has a new address which I encourage you to bookmark. It's http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/

You'll notice The Swamp also has a new look. We have officially become the blog for the Tribune Company's Washington Bureau, home to not just the Chicago Tribune, but the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, the Sun (Baltimore), the Hartford Courant, the Orlando Sentinel, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) and the Daily Press (Hampton Roads, Va.) It's also home to Tribune Broadcasting's Washington operations.

We thank all our regular readers and posters and promise to make every effort to continue the spread of The Swamp, which has achieved quite a bit in its first year and a half, including recently winning an Editor and Publisher "EPpy" award as "best media-affiliated news blog" and a Peter Lisagor Award given by the Chicago Headline Club.

From the great affairs of state, such as the Iraq War and the choosing of the Republic's next president, to less consequential matters, The Swamp has become a significant forum for information and discussion. We hope to keep you with us and to bring more along.

By the way, we know that all the reader postings from the weekend haven't transferred yet and are working on making that happen. Thanks for your patience.

Posted by Mark Silva at 7:55 pm CDT

The construction that prompted a pause in postings this afternoon has not been completed on schedule. Come on, though, do you even know how telephones work?

While the conversion from an old program to a new one carries on this weekend, the old Swamp carries on, too. So feel free to post away on the day's entries, the week's archives, and all else that lurks in the past.

And we will carry on with new postings as well, until we reach the promised Swamp.

Posted by Frank James at 12:37 pm CDT, updated at 1:07 pm CDT

The Swamp will be switching over this afternoon to its new publishing software, Movable Type, from Typepad. We've been told that because of some problems with our archive, we will need to stop posting between 2 pm EDT and 6 pm EDT today.

It's kind of like the blog is going to be anesthetized while it's undergoing surgery.

I'm not sure what that means for posting comments and the guy who knows more about this stuff than yours truly hasn't responded yet to my frantic last-minute e-mail.

Earlier this week he e-mailed me to say: " 'The Swamp' " will be fully accessible to users during this time, but no new blog postings should be made."

I think that places us in the "post comments at your own risk" zone. Here's hoping it all works out and that we'll see you after we come to. Pray for us.

UPDATE: The aforementioned guy got back to me to say readers can continue to post comments to their heart's delight. So keep posting. It's only us reporters who shouldn't post.

Posted by Frank James at 9:44 am CDT

We received a number of comments from readers who noted that we didn't have a link for Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) along with the other presidential candidates.

We have fixed that oversight and we regret that it occurred. It was an oversight, nothing more.

It definitely wasn't an intentional editorial decision by this part of the MSM to not give coverage to the libertarian candidate.

With his opposition to the Iraq War and concerns about the downside of the war on terror on Americans' civil rights Paul has clearly resonated with many Americans who may have seen him for the first time at last week's Republican presidential candidates' debate at the Reagan Presidential Library. It's reminiscent of the spike in interest that happened on the Democratic presidential side with Mike Gravel, the former Democratic senator from Alaska.

Posted by Frank James at 2:18 pm CDT

Our own Naftali Bendavid, deputy chief of the Chicago Tribune’s Washington bureau, has a new book “The Thumpin’, that chronicles Rep. Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats’ takeover of Congress. The title comes from President Bush’s characterization of the defeat Republicans experienced at Democratic hands last fall.

The book grew out of a post-election article Naftali wrote based on his exclusive year-long access to Emanuel, the peppery and profane Chicago-area congressman and former Clinton White House political operative who ran the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s successful efforts in 2006.

To mark the book’s publication by Doubleday and its going on sale Tuesday, Naftali has agreed to blog tomorrow about Emanuel, the book, and the House Democrats.

So even though we know Swampers haven’t had a chance to read the book, don’t let that stop you from weighing in on Emanuel or joining our “Ask Naftali” session. Look for his posting early tomorrow and send in those questions or comments.

Posted by Frank James at 4:03 pm CDT

John Lennon had it right. Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.

I had planned on keeping my usual routine of tending to The Swamp the last couple of weeks. Instead, I was with my beloved mother for what turned out to be the end of her life. We buried her Saturday.

Needless to say, my attention was far from Washington politics. A few stories broke through the haze of my grief: Scooter Libby’s conviction and the spreading fallout from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal to name two.

Mostly, however, my mind was understandably fixed on my mother and the impact of our influential matriarch’s death on our large extended family.

But life is for the living, as Thomas Jefferson said after the death of his wife. My mother would’ve agreed with that.

So, despite a heavy heart, it’s back to The Swamp.

Posted at 2:35 pm CST

The Swamp apologizes for several hours of disruption of service here today, caused by difficulty that the privately operated Web-site which manages both Swamp postings and the comments of Swamp readers suffered during the middle of the day.

Your comments have piled up in an ether-hold, and will be liberated shortly. Your patience, and good comments, are appreciated.

Posted by Frank James at 10:20 am CDT

Like everyone who uses the Typepad blogging software to produce blogs, The Swamp was stopped dead in its tracks yesterday by computer problems at the company that hosts the blog. The Swamp could be read but new postings were impossible, as were comments.

We briefly lost some of yesterday's postings. I was able to restore them. Alas, who knows what great comments we missed out on due to the glitch.

It appears the problems are behind us. So comment away.

Technology is a wonderful thing, when it works.

Posted by Frank James at 3:57 p.m CST

A few commenters have accused me of plagiarizing an idea from an Associated Press story in my posting “President Bush fights the strawmen” because my piece, which was posted to the Swamp after the AP piece, has essentially the same theme.

In fact, I independently observed the same thing as the AP reporter, independently drew my own conclusions, then wrote the posting.

I was totally unaware of the AP story until a commenter brought it to my attention. That I posted my piece a few days after the AP story ran is coincidence, no more.