CHESTERTOWN MUTT STRUT

Tomorrow at 9 am, the colonial era town that the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed in 2007 as a top 10 place to visit -- Chestertown, Maryland -- will host the 11th Annual "Mutt Strut" benefit for the Humane Society of Kent County. The goal of organizers is a "100 Mutt Strut." Last year, 67 mutts participated. TWN will be covering the event.

CLINTON'S SMALL TOWN EDGE

As reported in the Charlotte Observer, the last time a U.S. president passed through Hillsborough, North Carolina, a small hamlet northwest of Durham, was sometime in the early 1980s when Ronald Reagan cruised by in a train.

But last Wednesday, former President Bill Clinton hopped on to a platform at a baseball diamond behind an old high school in Hillsborough and gave one of his typical folksy stump speeches.

"The country rises and falls based on whether people like you can live their dreams," said Clinton. He then described how smaller communities were fueling his wife's presidential campaign. "That's what's carrying her on," Clinton said. "This is America; the future of our country is embodied in all these communities. I went to 47 towns like this in Pennsylvania, and I've already been to 20 in North Carolina."

After shaking hands with the locals, Clinton and Charlotte Mayor Pro Tem Susan Burgess headed off to Elon, Asheboro, Thomasville and Statesville before the campaign day ended.

Campaign analysts say Hillary Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary because Sen. Obama fared worse than expected in Philadelphia's suburbs. But she also owes her victory to small towns throughout the Keystone state. Senator Clinton, her husband and daughter Chelsea, hit 44 different countries in Pennsylvania while Obama focused on the Philadelphia suburbs. Today and tomorrow Bill Clinton campaigns in these cities in Oregon -- North Bend, Junction City, Albany, Monmouth, McMinnville and Oregon City. And then on Sunday, he's back in Indiana -- Hartford City, New Castle, Shelbyville and Martinsville.

WHO DID ELIOT SPITZER IN?

The New York Post revealed yesterday that a second call girl has provided federal investigators with details of "Client-9's" sexual fetishes in graphic detail. So former Governor Spitzer liked to keep his socks on during sex and had a penchant for props. But who set him up?

While private investigators in New York City and Washington D.C. can't prove it, they are pointing the finger at insurance executive Hank Greenberg, among other one time high-profile targets of Spitzer. It should be noted that those being pointed at are crying foul and denying any role in Spitzer's fall.

Rumors abound that John McCain and Hillary Clinton's campaigns have had investigators churning every aspect of Obama's life -- and while Obama's people recently decided not to make Hillary's team scramble on any scandals in Bill Clinton's staggering 2007 income, word is that McCain's chief henchmen think that they have toxic stuff in their arsenal. One wonders though what more could possibly be out there on Obama when some suggest he has overstated his past misdeeds to garner street credibility.

WHITE HOUSE FURIOUS AT MUSHARRAF

A new Pakistani government overture to terrorists in the Taliban-controlled South Waziristan region of Pakistan that would remove Islamabad's army from this area and free some militants now in custody has infuriated the White House.

The prospect of a peace deal has raised concerns in Washington that the area will become a haven where terrorists can regroup and intensify their attacks in Afghanistan. Bush Press Secretary Dana Perino said yesterday that "we are concerned about it, and what we encourage them to do is to continue to fight against the terrorists and to not disrupt any security or military operations that are ongoing in order to help prevent a safe haven for terrorists there."

Irritation with Islamabad may explain why NATO troops have entered into Pakistan in recent days and shot up locals in pursuit of Taliban forces.

On the Afghanistan front a shameful debate (from the viewpoint of TWN) has surfaced in Canada on how much a dead, innocent Afghan is worth? The Canadian government has been paying between $2,000 and $9,000 to relatives of Afghani civilians who are accidentally killed by their soldiers. The average Afghani makes about $350 a year. The Canadians are spending a billion a year to support their troops in Afghanistan.

Perhaps America's crusades in the Middle East would diminish if the liability to Coalition forces for the death of innocents were jacked up much higher.

CHINESE SURFERS

More than 16 percent of the Chinese people surfed the internet last year. BDA, a Chinese technology company estimates that China's web population will grow by about 18 per cent a year, putting the total at 490 million users by 2012.

CAMPAIGN 2008 NEWS

According to the Charlotte Observer, Senator Obama's supporters raised more than $600,000 from North Carolinians in March, as opposed to just over $200,000 for Hillary Clinton. Obama raked in big bucks from the Triangle, particularly in Chapel Hill and Durham. Meanwhile, Californians are urging Senator John McCain to consider former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorina, as a potential running mate. In recent weeks, Fiorina has served as a McCain surrogate on economic issues, appearing on cable talk shows and joining the Arizona senator on the road this week to discuss economic revitalization in some of the nation's poorest towns.

But do her advocates remember this?

-- TWN Staff