Seth Gitell demonstrates that he's more insightful while channel-surfing than most of us are at full concentration, asking how Rudy Giuliani's appearance in a History Channel documentary doesn't trigger the Fairness Doctrine of equal time for candidates.

It's a great question. And I'm sure cable-land is full of documentaries in which John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, Tommy Thompson, and others appear as talking heads.

Update: I have just learned from the FEC that yesterday Romney requested and was granted another 45-day extension to file his personal finance disclosure, giving him until August 13th (two days after the Iowa Straw poll!). He is only allowed two extensions, so this time should be for real.

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A new ARG New Hampshire poll shows Jeanne Shaheen (who has said she'll decide in September whether to run) trouncing John Sununu in a theoretical rematch for US Senator, 57% to 29%. Given how well-known they both are, opinions are unlikely to change as dramatically as Sununu would need, if those numbers are even close to accurate.

A Supreme Court decision just handed down severely limits the use of race as a factor in how children get assigned to schools. The exact line on what's allowed and what's not will probably need to be challenged on a case-by-case basis, and you can be sure that the Boston-area METCO program will get one of those challenges.

This is likely to be a very heated and uncomfortable battle, and a tough political landmine for many of our area politicians.

The local ProgBloggers might not like it, but Frank Phillips has a perfectly valid point in today's Globe. Deval Patrick's fundraising activities absolutely should be watched and monitored closely, and it's up to the Governor to demonstrate, by his actions, that the money doesn't affect the governing.

That's the case, in my opinion, with any powerful public figure, but especially with Patrick.