Something about the presidential candidates

Sen. Barack Obama's name could well come up in the trial of his longtime friend and accused Illinois fixer Tony Rezko, according to Chicago lawyers following the case.

Even before Barack Obama graduated from law school, his career as a lawyer and politician was nurtured by a Chicago businessman named Tony Rezko. Now Senator Obama avoids discussing Rezko.The most recent public appearance of the once-dapper businessman was in a federal court, unshaven, wearing an orange jumpsuit and constrained by leg irons.

Senator Obama hopes to beat Hillary Clinton in this week's Texas and Ohio primaries, victories that may ensure his nomination for president. At the same time, prosecutors and defence lawyers are expected to be in a Chicago courtroom selecting a jury to decide Rezko's fate.
In a high-profile corruption case, Rezko is accused of extortion for peddling influence in the administration of the Democratic Governor, Rod Blagojevich. The trial could last until June, over four critical months in Senator Obama's presidential campaign. His campaign aides know Rezko will be a distraction but do not believe it will have serious impact.

"Rezko has been a friend and supporter [of Obama's], as he has been with many politicians," said Senator Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod. "It's always easy in retrospect to say this or that should have been a warning flag."Mr Blagojevich, believed to be a subject of the investigation though he is not charged, denies wrongdoing. Senator Obama is not implicated. But the US District judge Amy St Eve made it likely that Senator Obama's name would come up in court by ruling that prosecutors may introduce evidence that Rezko used straw donors to make donations to politicians, apparently including Senator Obama.

In a debate in January, Senator Clinton jabbed Senator Obama over his legal representation of Rezko "in his slum landlord business in inner-city Chicago". Senator Obama said the characterisation was not accurate.Senator Obama had represented the non-profit Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp, founded by Bishop Arthur Brazier of the Apostolic Church of God.

Woodlawn was a partner of Rezko in four low-income housing projects. In 1994 Senator Obama represented Woodlawn on a troubled project it later shared with Rezko.The city of Chicago sued, alleging Woodlawn failed to provide tenants with heat in the winter, and Senator Obama represented the landlord in court.


In 1975, a 27-year-old Hillary Rodham, acting as a court-appointed attorney, attacked the credibility of a 12-year-old girl in mounting an aggressive defense for an indigent client accused of rape in Arkansas — using her child development background to help the defendant....
In her 2003 autobiography "Living History," Clinton writes that she initially balked at the assignment, but eventually secured a lenient plea deal for Taylor after a New York-based forensics expert she hired "cast doubt on the evidentiary value of semen and blood samples collected by the sheriff's office."...

"She was vigorously advocating for her client. What she did was appropriate," said Andrew Schepard, director of Hofstra Law School's Center for Children, Families and the Law. "He was lucky to have her as a lawyer ... In terms of what's good for the little girl? It would have been hell on the victim. But that wasn't Hillary's problem."...

Presidential contender John McCain has a lawyer joke that he routinely tells when he is on the stump, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports.The well-known—and rather old—joke goes like this:What is the difference between a catfish and a lawyer? One is a scum-sucking bottom dweller. The other is a fish.

McCain also told the joke on the Tonight Show. When asked to comment, McCain spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker simply told the blog, “It’s a joke.”The blog’s comments section included several more jokes, including this one:A junior partner at a national law firm dies in an accident. He meets St. Peter at the pearly gates and protests, “This has to be a mistake, I’m only 35 years old.”St. Peter replies, “No mistake. According to your billing diaries, you’re 110.”

Huckabee was born in Hope, Arkansas, to Mae Elder (1925-1999) and Dorsey Wiles Huckabee (1923-1996), both natives of Hope. His surname is of English origin. His father worked as a fireman and mechanic, and his mother worked as a clerk at a gas company. His father was a strict disciplinarian, and left a lasting impression. Speaking to Charles Gibson of ABC News, he explained with a grin: "My father was the ultimate patriot. You know, he’d lay on the stripes, and I’d see stars."

Huckabee's first job, at 14, was working at a radio station where he would read the news and weather. He was elected Governor of Arkansas Boys State in 1972 and is a Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Alumnus. He was president of Hope High School in 1973. He has one sister who is a middle school teacher.Huckabee married his wife, Janet McCain, on May 25, 1974. He graduated magna cum laudefrom Ouachita Baptist University, completing his bachelor's degree in Religion in 2½ years before attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where he dropped out after one year.

He has two honorary doctoral degrees: a Doctor of Humane Letters, received from John Brown University in 1991, and a Doctor of Laws from Ouachita Baptist University in 1992.

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