Some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
On the Job Hunt
President Obama was mistaken when he said this week his stimulus plan helped save jobs at a Columbus, Ohio architecture firm.
Speaking to neighborhood residents in a suburban backyard, the president said the Recovery Act helped pay for the renovation of a Columbus police station, saving employees at the architecture business from layoffs. But the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports the stimulus did not fund the project. It says the federal money actually came from earmarks sought by three Ohio members of Congress.
The White House played down the error, saying it was not intentional.
Pump Fake
An Alabama mayoral candidate got caught in a photo fumble after her campaign claimed she was endorsed by University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban.
Dorothy Davidson's campaign circulated a flier which certainly appears to show Saban and Davidson posing for the camera with a ringing endorsement from the coach who won the college national championship. But the Birmingham News reports a university athletics official says Saban never endorsed her.
Davidson then acknowledged the original photo of Saban and his wife was altered to include her. Her campaign manager stepped down after he admitted lying about Saban's endorsement.
Let's Make a Deal
It wasn't a Senate seat for sale, but former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich's stuff was sold to the highest bidders during an auction Thursday.
Mementos from the governor's office ranged from $5 boxes of paperwork to an Elvis Presley statue that fetched over $20,000. A storage company seized the furniture after the former governor failed to pay his rent for a year.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports Ava Barcelona walked away with a $375 neon sign of Blagojevich's name. She said of her plans for the item, "I'm going to put it next to my Nixon poster. I liked him, too."
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