Fred''s Low Book, Biden''s Big Book, Mitt''s BooBoo, and Hillary''s Boo...

#1. Fred''s Low Book. Sen. Fred Thompson''s slow peel-and-reveal may have sacrificed cash for dramatic effect. Surely he''s in the race...right? Perhaps the trial balloons have reached a height of diminishing returns with the news of a mere $3.4 million raised for the teasing Thompson. Now, he''s on the defense with coy decoys -- I''m just so humbled by this generosity -- while disloyal surrogates remind us just how much more generosity he''d hoped to have. This isn''t how he wants to come out of the gate.

#2. Biden''s Big Book. Across the Senate aisle, Joe Biden debuts his new autobiography, Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics. The play is a well-tuned publicity plug machine that''s also filled with subplots and subplays to prop up his candidacy and, no doubt, take competitors down a notch or two. It''s a positioning (and de-positioning) clinic by the candid candidate, but not a play with much shelf life.

#3. Mitt''s BooBoo. Gosh, I''m busy, claims Mitt Romney, as GOP debaters march toward their own YouTube free-for-all. He''s deflecting to keep his airtight candidacy above the uncorked digital fray. Who knows what I could get asked?! But it''s creating a proxy issue , for Dems and Republicans alike. If conservatives can''t manage the world wide web, how do they expect to manage the United States of America?

#4. Hillary''s Boo... It has to be said. Cleavage could be a wedge issue (are we mixing metaphors?) in 2008...for Hillary, at least, who lowered her neckline oh-so-slightly a few weeks back. If Hillaryland strategists are just that good, they were deliberately luring rivals (and pundits too) into a quick fracas on the gender question. If it was just a random fashion impulse, then the Lady Senator still played the resulting howls for full effect.

Posted by Alan Kelly & Michael Cornfield