Tuesday politicians

• More news from the case/plea of Street pal Leonard Ross (prev. here):
  
  
  1. His plea agreement does not require him to cooperate in other cases arising from the City Hall probes.
     
     
  2. His plea does involve extortion involving the late Ron White, in which developers were shaken down for campaign contributions.
  
  
• George Bush was in town for a speech and consequent gathering of protesters yesterday:
  
  
  1. Bush apparently drew parallels between the early days of the US, as experienced here in Philadelphia, and the experience of Iraqis with their own nation-building now. Bush defended the Iraq war before the World Affairs Council at the Bellevue (and even took unscripted questions!), and then Rep. John Murtha gave a rebuttal speech a few blocks away.
     
     
  2. Hundreds of protesters braved the cold to wave signs and yell from across the street. Inevitably there were a couple of scuffles and a few arrests...
  
  
• And finally, in a sign that news really is slow around the holidays, much is being made of the plans by New Jersey's governor-elect Jon Corzine to bring a date to his inaugural ball...