Morning Read: September 28, 2006

The Post calls yesterday's news of a federal investigation into Jeanine Pirro over allegations of illegal wire-tapping a "devastating blow to her campaign," while the Daily News has a sidebar piece - leading with the cancellation of a planned fund-raising appearance by Rudy Giuliani - headlined "Uh, Jeanine, hope you had career Plan B."

Jeanine Pirro's plan to bug her husband's boat is, according to her lawyer, perfectly legal under federal law.

And the Times coverage includes a stand-alone piece on the fact that former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik is once again in the spotlight, with predictably unflattering results.

Last night, the AP reported that Giuliani defended President Clinton's anti-terrorism efforts, saying, "Every American president I've known would have given his life to prevent an attack like that."

Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey is getting a great reception. In Florida.

Some Republicans want to lose the midterm elections because the party has drifted from its fiscal conservatism.

The Journal takes note of a clever political calculation in the GOP decision to hold the 2008 convention in the Twin Cities instead of, say, New York: "It has become less of a Democratic bastion and more of a swing-voting state, a change attributed in part to population growth in the Twin Cities suburbs."

Congress will approve a bill to spend more money on the Iraq War than was spent in the Vietnam War and during the arms race under President Reagan.

The City Council is going to convene a "nightlife summit" to mull issues of safety at bars and clubs.

Forest City Ratner agrees to shrink the Atlantic Yards project.

And Tom Frieden's trans-fat offensive is unpopular among restaurant owners and the Post editorial board.