Old news: The winning bidder for the Star-Bulletin shirt offered here last week was photographer Dick Schmidt, who retired from the staff of the Sacramento Bee a few years ago.

Schmidt explains:

Trivia: I set my $71.72 bid in fond recognition of my time on the S-B photo staff (1971-1972.) That time for me, though short, remains one of my most memorable periods of my life… wonderful people, colorful characters as co-workers.

Thanks, Dick.

The legal defense by the State Elections Office in the lawsuit brought by the GOP challenging the Democratic candidate in the Manoa House district got a lot of news coverage yesterday. Click here to examine the legal documents submitted to the court on behalf of Chief Elections Officer Kevin Cronin.

The chairman of the board of the national citizens’ lobby Common Cause has stepped down from his position, at least temporarily, after publicly endorsing Barack Obama. The endorsement violates the group’s nonpartisan stance, which prohibits political endorsements by its top officers.

Jim Leach, who served as a Republican congressman from Iowa for 30 years, was named chairman in December 2007. He is one of several prominent GOP members who have come out with public endorsements of Barack Obama.

According to a story last week in the Chicago Sun-Times:

Leach coming out for Obama is no surprise. After the conference call Leach and I chatted and he told me he gave a speech at Princeton before the Iowa caucus where he was very “positive” about Obama, and a version of that speech played as an essay in some Iowa newspapers before the crucial Iowa vote that Obama won.

Leach spent three decades in Congress as a Republican and now backs Obama over his GOP rival. Leach is quoted further in a Sioux City Journal blog:

“Obama’s platform is a call for change, but the change that he is so gracefully articulating is more renewal than departure. It is rooted in very old American values that are as much a part of the Republican as Democratic tradition. There’s an emphasis on individual rights, fairness and balance at home and progessive internationalism.”

Leach initially dismissed questions about a possible clash between his endorsement and Common Cause policies, according an Associated Press story by Mike Glover:

Leach’s decision could cause ripples with the group Common Cause, where he serves on the board and which has a policy against political endorsements. Leach said he wasn’t aware of any concerns by the nonpartisan group, which supports accountability in government.

Actually, within hours of Leach’s endorsement, Common Cause annouced that he “is voluntarily stepping aside from his position as Board Chair and as a member of the Common Cause National Governing Board until after the November election.”

The organization’s Executive Committee is expected to meet this week to review their policy and, if necessary, clarify or update it in light of Leach’s endorsement.

On the other side of the political ledger, former Hawaii Republican Orson Swindle has surfaced publicly saying that he recalls a conversation in the early 1970s in which John McCain recounted a POW story which has been questioned by many observers.

Although touted by the McCain campaign, Swindle’s vague memory is discounted by others, who point to his long service as a GOP political operative.