I just finished a blogger conference conference call with the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Hillary has picked up a big new endorsement: Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

Joe says he has known Hillary for over a decade and has spent a lot of time discussing Iraq with her. He thinks she is the most likely to get us out of there.

During the last four years while he and Valerie went through the Republican meat-grinder process, Hillary reached out to them repeatedly to share the lessons she learned from her experience in the meat-grinder.

She has the leadership ability. She understands the political process. She has an enormous commitment to this country. She is the best equipped to fight for us.

The call then opened up for questions. Taylor Marsh, Steve Clemons, Dave Johnson, Tom Burka were among those who questioned him. Check out their blogs for their reactions.

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Hillary Clinton, on the campaign trail with Bill in Iowa today, tore into President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby. She told the Associated Press:

"I believe that presidential pardon authority is available to any president, and almost all presidents have exercised it," Clinton told the AP. "This (the Libby decision) was clearly an effort to protect the White House. ... There isn't any doubt now, what we know is that Libby was carrying out the implicit or explicit wishes of the vice president, or maybe the president as well, in the further effort to stifle dissent."

She also released this statement:

"Today's decision is yet another example that this Administration simply considers itself above the law. This case arose from the Administration's politicization of national security intelligence and its efforts to punish those who spoke out against its policies. Four years into the Iraq war, Americans are still living with the consequences of this White House's efforts to quell dissent. This commutation sends the clear signal that in this Administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice."

Hillary also distinguished the Clinton pardons from the Scooter commutation:

Her husband's pardons, issued in the closing hours of his presidency, were simply routine exercise in the use of the pardon power, and none were aimed at protecting the Clinton presidency or legacy, she said.

On Monday, Bill Clinton joins Hillary for campaign events in Iowa. I don't think the question is will it help or hurt, but how much will it help?

Bill's role has been carefully crafted. He will introduce Hillary as the person who knows her best and provide biographical details of her life and talk about her accomplishments. Hillary then will speak about issues facing the country.

The theme of the tour is “Ready for Change, Ready to Lead.”

What song is Hillary going to pick? Watch her, Bill and Johnny Sack in the Diner doing a Soprano's ending. Incredibly cool.

And the winner is: Celine Dion, You and I. Not my favorite song by a longstretch, but I'm sure there are other considerations besides music at work -- like which song will have the broadest appeal. Bill was rooting for Smashmouth.

I think the video is brilliant.

Barack Obama said he was going to avoid negative campaign attacks. However, his campaign just made one against Hillary Clinton.

The New York Times reports that the Clintons recently divested themselves of their stocks held in a blind trust (meaning the stocks were chosen by trustees and they were not allowed to be advised of which stocks they were holding) to avoid any allegations of conflict of interest.

When Hillary became a presidential candidate, regulations required her to dissolve the blind trust so that she would know what stocks she held.

Once she learned what they were, she and Bill decided to liquidate them all, even though by doing so they will have to pay hefty capital gains taxes.

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How much does a major Hollywood endorsement help a presidential candidate? I don't know, but if it does, Hillary Clinton just scored a major win by getting the backing of Director and mogul Steven Spielberg.

Influential filmmaker and philanthropist Steven Spielberg today announced that he is officially endorsing Hillary Clinton for President. Spielberg said that he has chosen to endorse Clinton because of her experience and strength.

“I’ve taken the time to familiarize myself with the impressive field of Democratic candidates and am convinced that Hillary Clinton is the most qualified candidate to lead us from her first day in the White House,” Spielberg said. “Hillary is a strong leader and is respected the world over. As president, she will bring America back together, rebuild our prestige abroad and ensure our protection here at home.”

In what I envision as true mogul ego style, one paragraph of the endorsement contains quotes about Hillary and the rest is about Spielberg's accomplishments and career. One would think he's the candidate.

Nonetheless, good for Hillary. He's a big fish.

Hillary Clinton is asking for help choosing her campaign song. The finalists are here. I voted for "Ain't No Stopping Us Now."

Too many of the choices are love songs, which I don't think really apply. Plus, if they're going to go down that road, maybe they should have included the Chiffons' One Fine Day. Or Bruce Springsteen's "Tougher Than the Rest." I like Cher's version.

Go on over and vote.

It's been decades since I read Nora Ephron's Heartburn, her novel based on the crumbling of her marriage to Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein, so I don't have a ready answer as to whether Bernstein is a sexist. But judging from his new book on Hillary Clinton, I wouldn't be surprised.

Check out these passages from the book:

“The prospect that she could not bear a child, which seemed increasingly likely in the first two years of her marriage--and which she probably feared even earlier—could have been as frightening to her as anything she might conjure….Hillary suffered from a condition called endometriosis, which often makes conception difficult, can cause infertility, and frequently results in extreme pain during and after intercourse.’” (P. 149-50)

“‘She’s not a heavy-duty intellectual. He’s much brighter than she is. She’s bright, but she’s not very bright…” (p. 275).

“Her ankles were thick.” (p. 32)

“‘At first, she didn’t wear stockings….Her hair was friend into an Orphan Annie perm….There wasn’t one…feminine thing about her.’” (p. 130)

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It seems absurd to debunk a sexist smear, but nonetheless, in today's political world, it must be done. And Greg Sargent, with an assist from Carl Bernstein, does it:

We've just received our copy of Carl Bernstein's new book on Hillary, and something leaps right out at us. Specifically: Bernstein's reporting directly contradicts one of the more important and more damning allegations about Hillary and Bill that is made by former Timesman Jeff Gerth and current Times reporter Don Van Natta in their big forthcoming Hillary book. . . . The charge in question in the Gerth-Van Natta book -- which is called Her Way -- is that just after Bill's election in 1992, he and Hillary were already plotting two terms for her in the White House. . . . But Bernstein's book contains extensive on the record testimony . . . -- that appears to directly contradict this charge.

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Two new books about Hillary Clinton are set for release in June. One is by Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr., the second is by Carl Bernstein.

As for the ridiculous assertion that 20 years ago Hillary and Bill were planning on how to each be two-term Presidents, Media Matters provides the debunking.

What's left is like sifting through old coffee grounds. Do we really need new books re-hashing old Clinton marital woes?

How about the facts? Gerth and Van Natta, Jr. make a big deal out of Hillary's non-review of the National Intelligence Estimate when it came out. Why? It's not as if she claimed otherwise. Only six senators did review it (none of whom are current Presidential contenders.)

When Hillary was asked about this a few weeks ago in New Hampshire, she said she was briefed extensively on it. That only six Senators read it was documented during the 2004 presidential campaign, for example by ABC on 4/14/07 and the Washington Post (article by Dana Priest) on 4/27/04.

More old coffee grinds:

Hillary Clinton's campaign has released this statement explaining why she voted against the Iraq funding bill:

"Tonight I voted against the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill because it fails to compel the President to give our troops a new strategy in Iraq. I believe that the President should begin a phased redeployment of our troops out of Iraq and abandon this escalation. I fully support our troops, and wish the President had followed the will of the people and signed the original bill we sent which both funded the troops and set a new course of phased redeployment. But the President vetoed Congress's new strategy and so Congress must reject the President's failed policies. I will also continue to press with Senator Byrd for our legislation to end the authorization of the war in Iraq.

While I am deeply disappointed that the supplemental does not provide for a new course in Iraq, I want to recognize the many worthy parts of this bill: funding to help those sickened in the aftermath of 9/11, additional relief for Katrina and Rita victims, homeland security funds for high-threat cities like New York City, resources to protect parts of New York affected by recent flooding, $650 million for the State Children's Health Insurance Program, and the first federal minimum wage increase in ten years. I support these measures but cannot support this Emergency Supplemental which will not change our course in Iraq."

Hillary Clinton has come out swinging against Don Imus. Her campaign sent out this alert:

She has started an initiative on her website encouraging people to show their support for the young women of Rutgers (note: people who send messages do not get signed up for the campaign email list unless they opt in).

After praising the women of the Rutgers' team, she writes:

Don Imus's comments about them were nothing more than small-minded bigotry and coarse sexism. They showed a disregard for basic decency and were disrespectful and degrading to African Americans and women everywhere.

Please join me in sending the young women of Rutgers a message of respect and support. Show them that we are proud to stand with them and for them."

Question: Will she refuse to appear on his show? Here's her quote:

Hillary Clinton said, "I've never been asked to go on the show and I've never wanted to go on his show...and I certainly don't ever intend to go on his show."