A New Sex Scandal on Capitol Hill

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Messy Meeting

Bill Clinton met privately with California's superdelegates on Sunday — but it didn't go too well. One superdelegate told the San Francisco Chronicle, "It was one of the worst political meetings I have ever attended."

Clinton, it seems, had one of his Vesuvius eruptions after a delegate complained about former Clinton campaign manager James Carville’s calling New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson "Judas" for endorsing Barack Obama. A red-faced and finger-pointing Clinton responded, "Five times to my face Richardson said he would never do that!"

That's a claim Richardson aides deny. Clinton then attacked the media — and finally asked what the reaction would be if Barack Obama was trailing by one percent and people were telling him to drop out.

Well-Oiled Falsehood

Meanwhile, in a TV ad in Pennsylvania on his energy proposals, Barack Obama says, "I don't take money from oil companies."

The truth is — no candidate takes money from oil companies because it is illegal to accept donations from corporations. But companies employees can give — either individually or through political action committees. Obama does not take money from PACs either — but he has received nearly $214,000 from oil and gas industry executives and their families.

Twisting the Truth

The liberal British newspaper The Independent ran a front-page story yesterday with the heading, "United States of America 2008: The Great Depression." The problem is, the article is about food stamp usage and never mentions a depression. It says 28 million people in the U.S. will be using government food stamps to buy essential groceries, the highest level since the program was introduced in the 1960's.

But critics suggest that number is misleading since 28 million people would be just 9.2 percent of all Americans. Back in the Clinton years, food stamp distribution reached at an all-time high of almost 10.5 percent in 1993 and 1994 and 10 percent in 1995.

Oh, and the the front-page photo showing people standing on a relief line turns out to be three years old and has nothing to do with food stamps. The picture was taken back in 2005 and shows people lining up in New York for an annual free coat giveaway.

Too Much Information

And finally, Senator Debbie Stabenow's husband, Thomas Athans, told authorities in Troy, Michigan that he paid a prostitute $150 for sex in late February.

Athans was pulled over on the night of February 26 and ticketed for driving on a suspended license. When questioned, he acknowledged that he had been at a hotel and paid for sex with a woman he met on the Internet.

Athans is a radio producer who has spent the past several years trying to launch liberal talk shows to counter popular conservative radio. After leaving Air America in 2006 when that network went bankrupt, Athans started another liberal firm called Talk USA Radio. He has not been arrested or charged.

Meanwhile, his says, "This is very disturbing and serious. Obviously, it's a deeply difficult and personal matter."

— FOX News Channel's Martin Hill contributed to this report.