‘Bounty Hunter’ becomes part of Tancredo’s White House bid

Call it the “Dog” plank in the presidential platform of Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.

The conservative congressman has been at the forefront of the effort to prevent the extradition of bounty hunter and reality TV star Duane “Dog” Chapman and his brother and son to Mexico on a deprivation of liberty charge.

Now, Tancredo has made it a part of his presidential campaign. Tancredo recently sent a letter to the Mexican government protesting the action, and his campaign site now sports a form that allows users to add their name to the letter and “let my congressman know how I feel.”

“I’ve read the letter to the Mexican government and I agree,” the petition states. “It’s time for the Mexican government to dismiss the charges against all the Chapmans and end their attempts to extradite.”

After convicted rapist Andrew Luster, an heir to the Max Factor fortune, jumped bail last fall, Chapman pursued him into Mexico and captured him without the cooperation of the Mexican government. U.S. Marshals later arrested Chapman at his home in Hawaii as Mexican authorities demanded extradition.

Tancredo immediately sent a letter, co-signed by 29 other House members, to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking her to deny the extraction of Chapman.

“It seems that Mexican authorities are pressing this case only because they are so stung by the embarrassment of failing where Mr. Chapman succeeded,” Tancredo wrote.

On March 28, along with the letter to Mexico, Tancredo sent another letter to Rice inquiring as to whether the United States has a legal obligation to extradite bounty hunters based on an agreement that could just amount to “a wink and a nod” between governments.

Bill would create D.C.’s version of Rodeo Drive

Amid all the fuss last week over the city budget and Mayor Adrian Fenty’s plan to take over the schools, one new piece of legislation was overlooked.

D.C. Council members Marion Barry, Kwame Brown and Harry Thomas Jr. introduced legislation to create the Commission on Fashion Arts and Events.

According to a release from two women who are pushing the initiative — fashion lawyer Mariessa Terrell White and fashion show consultant Christine Brooks Cropper — the new office would “not only recognize the achievements of D.C.’s burgeoning fashion community, but will also be responsible for carving out a section of the city’s landscape for the singular purpose of showcasing international designers and specialty retailers inside the Beltway … akin to Chicago’s Magnificent Mile or Los Angeles’ Rodeo Drive.”

What we’d give to see Karl Lagerfeld strolling down K Street …

Bush beats Kerry ... in traffic

Oh, how 100,000 votes in Ohio would have changed this scene: Last week, President Bush flew into Los Angeles and choppered to the home of financier Brad Freeman in the Brentwood neighborhood for a fundraiser that the Republican National Committee expected to rake in $2.2 million.

Coincidentally, Bush’s erstwhile opponent, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was also in the neighborhood. He and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, were at Dutton’s Bookstore signing copies of their new book, “This Moment on Earth.”

According to the LA Observed blog, there were accidents on “both sides of the 405 near Wilshire and the northbound Pasadena [was] backed up near [Interstate] 5.” The presidential visit closed even more streets and made traffic even more difficult. The result: The Kerrys were 20 minutes late to their event, while Bush soared above, on time, to his.

At least Kerry enjoyed a friendly crowd: LA Observed reports that the “boos and hisses [that were heard] when Bush was mentioned were probably due partly to the partisan crowd and partly to the traffic mess.”

Will Hillary ever appear on ‘Imus in the Morning’?

Although many 2008 presidential candidates have appeared on radio host Don Imus’ popular morning program, don’t expect to see Sen. Hillary Clinton on there anytime soon.

On Friday’s “Imus in the Morning” program, Donald Trump encouraged Imus to bring the New York senator on his show, but Imus said that there’s still some bad blood there, namely due to Imus’ controversial roast of the Clintons at the 1996 Radio and Television Correspondents Association annual dinner. The Clintons didn’t appreciate his humor and Imus didn’t appreciate how upset the White House got at the time. Later in the program, Imus told NBC’s Tim Russert, “I will bet you $1 million, to go to a charity of your choice, that she will not appear on this program.”

Stay tuned ... will the biggest surprise of the 2008 presidential campaign be a Hillary/Imus kiss-and-make-up session?

Think tank

“Will large campaign coffers mean mo’ money, mo’ problems for candidates in ’08? Or make for smooth sailing?”

“Ask any marathoner — it’s pretty tough to call the winner based on who starts off sprinting. Then again, I run marathons like Mitt Romney hunts.”

– Rachel Sklar, The Huffington Post

“Headline fundraising numbers were as expected (record setting) on the Democratic side and somewhat surprising on the Republican side. I only hope that regardless of the fundraising heightsbeing reached, as many and as varied viewpoints as possible stay in the race to push the debate.”

– Devin Talbott, co-founder, Generation Engage

“If we could put a man on the moon, shouldn’t we able to send a bum to the White House for less than a projected $1.5 billion in this election cycle?”

– Nick Gillespie, Reason magazine