This is like something straight out of a Don DeLillo novel. According to video report on Time Magazine's Web site, middle class Mexicans are paying to roleplay crossing the U.S. border illegally.

According to Ioan Grillo, who filed the night-vision green report from Parque Alberto, Mexico for the magazine's Web site, "A group of returning migrants have made their experience of dodging sirens, trekking over deserts, and wading through rivers into a kind of extreme sport."

The slightly-longer than 4-minute video, which feels like an episode of Cops meets The Blair Witch Project (en español, naturalmente) is worth watching to see one participant saying with a straight face, "To become part of this, to be like a migrant, and to take part in a performance seems like a lot fun. Above all, because it is at night."  read more »

Who needs delegates and vice presidential nominees, sex on skates and funny hats to hold a convention? Not Lou Dobbs.

CNN announced today that next week Mr. Dobbs will be hosting a "convention" targetting independent-minded voters during his regular 7 to 8 p.m. hour on CNN.

More from the release:

In the wake of the Democratic and Republican national conventions, CNN's Lou Dobbs will host the first-ever televised independent convention. "Lou Dobbs Tonight Independent Convention" airs throughout the week of Sept. 8 to focus on election-oriented topics from an independent perspective not traditionally the focus of the Democrats or Republicans.

"Independent Convention," which airs during the regularly scheduled Lou Dobbs Tonight timeslot from 7 p.

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Robert Zimmerman--a Democratic National Committee member and one of Hillary Clinton's major New York-based fund-raisers--appeared on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight last night and essentially called for Eliot Spitzer's resignation.

When asked, Zimmerman said he does not think the governor should survive the revelation that he patronized a prostitution ring, "If the facts are as they appear to be."

Zimmerman also said of Spitzer's public appearance yesterday, "He didn't get it."

Partial transcript after the jump.   read more »

Earlier today, Space.com founder and noted (illegal) alien-phobe Lou Dobbs sat down with Constitutional scholar Floyd Abrams in front of an audience of journalists and immigration advocates as part of Columbia Journalism School’s “First Amendment Breakfast Series.”

Viewers of Mr. Dobb’s CNN show, Lou Dobbs Tonight, would not have been surprised by his populist-tinged tirades against the Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, Big Media, the National Council of La Raza, and the political leadership of both the Republican and Democratic parties.  read more »

A story in today's Wall Street Journal has kicked off the latest round of fevered Lou-Dobbs-for-President speculation. Perhaps with one eye on his ratings, CNN's Mr. Dobbs is still playing coy about a possible independent bid, telling the paper: ""I haven't got the personality or nature to be a politician," but adding, "I cannot say never."

Say what you will about Mr. Dobbs' populism and his obsession with illegal immigration, but at least there's evidence of significant public support for his platform -- which is more than you can say about that other independent who's flirting with a presidential run.

Keith Olbermann has raised his profile and his numbers at MSNBC in part by taking on other cable hosts. And last night, notes TV Newser, he opened another campaign, naming CNN's Lou Dobbs as the"Worst Person in the World" (there's a new one every night, so don't take it literally).

Mr. Dobbs provoked Mr. Olbermann's ire with a tirade of his own, attacking LA Times columnist Tim Rutten on his Monday show, after Mr. Rutten wrote a column that argued that CNN devoted too much of its recent Republican debate to immigration, as a way to help Mr. Dobbs' show, which focuses on the issue.

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Just in time for next near's presidential race, CNN's Lou Dobbs will launch a daily national afternoon radio talk show in partnership with United Stations Radio Networks, it was announced today in a press release.

Said Mr. Dobbs: "The political climate is rapidly changing. Independents are registering at an unprecedented rate and will determine the outcome of the 2008 election. I'm excited to be adding my voice to the talk show arena and have an opportunity, along with my listeners, to help enrich our national dialogue."

Full release after the jump ...  read more »

Why, given the endless supply of eager political pundits who are unaffiliated with the Clintons and every other campaign, did CNN ever offer such a prominent spot to James Carville and David Gergen?  read more »

Yesterday we noted that, according to The Wall Street Journal, friends of Lou Dobbs say he's "seriously considering" a run for president as an independent. After the jump: Some revealing excerpts from Mr. Dobbs' column for CNN.com this morning:  read more »

LAS VEGAS—Tonight, Hillary Clinton hit back.

After weeks of withering attacks by her Democratic rivals, political missteps by her own campaign and a seeming inability to give a straight answer on the hot-button issue of driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants, Ms. Clinton took the platform at a debate at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, pointed to her charcoal jacket, and said “This pantsuit—it’s asbestos,” suggesting she was ready to withstand any onslaughts.

And they started right away.  read more »