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White House press secretary Dana Perino said Wednesday that the Bush Administration "could absolutely not defend" reports of politicized hirings at the Department of Justice by senior aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

"There should be concern any time anyone is improperly using politics to influence career decisions. We believe that is improper," Perino said. "We could absolutely not defend that."

Referring to a report released Monday claiming that hiring decisions for non-political positions were often dictated by political affiliations a voting records, Perino said, "there's obviously information in there that would cause concern to anybody."

The White House press secretary said potential department hirings "should not have had any sort of questions put towards them as to what sort of party they represent, or what affiliation they might belong to, or who they might vote for," calling those question "inapropriate."

Perino did not address reports that sexual discrimination based on preference took place, as the report says.

The spokewoman said Bush had expressed "overall disappointment" to the report and is "glad" the practice is "no longer ongoing."

Though the report came out Monday, Wednesday was the first time the issue was addressed during the daily White House press briefing.

New surveys by Public Policy Polling shows Barack Obama and John McCain running neck and neck in Michigan and North Carolina.

In Michigan, Obama leads McCain 46 percent to 43 percent. The margin of error in that poll is 3.3 percentage points. Obama had led McCain by nine percentage points in the previous Michigan poll.

In North Carolina, McCain is ahead of Obama 47 percent to 44 percent. Libertarian candidate Bob Barr gets 3 percent. The margin of error in that survey is 3.4 percentage points. McCain had led Obama by four percentage points in the last poll of Tar Heel State voters.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) kept after China Wednesday for what he sees as government spying on hotel guests.

Brownback, on CNN, repeated his concerns that China is going to use a security system set up in hotels to spy and gather information on guests staying in Beijing during next month's Olympics. He said that the spying system and China's decision to censor large parts of the Internet for foreign journalists goes against their previous pledges to keep things open.

"But this is just totally outside of what they agreed to do in the Olympics," he said. "They agreed to host an open Olympics. This is this big coming-out party for China to the world, and then they are doing something like this."

When Brownback was asked whether he thought giving the games to Beijing is a mistake, he said, "Well, if they're not going to monitor their agreements, I think it is. I don't think the president should go. He think he should spend his time meeting with Darfur refugees or refugees from North Korea. China is the biggest enabler of human rights abuses around the world today for the number of countries that they block for. And I think we ought to highlight that instead of the accomplishments of China, what they're doing against human rights."

"He's the biggest celebrity in the world," a narrator tells viewers in John McCain's latest TV ad, which features footage of paparazzi darlings Britney Spears and Paris Hilton mixed with shots of McCain's Democratic rival, Barack Obama.

"But is he ready to lead?" the narrator asks. The ad will air on national cable and in "key states," according to McCain's campaign.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) deflected questions about whether he's being considered as a possible running mate for John McCain.

"I have the greatest job in the world, being governor of the state of Florida," he said on MSNBC Wednesday when asked whether the McCain campaign has vetted him.

He later said, "I can't discuss the process."

Crist endorsed McCain during his state's crucial early primary in January, which McCain won.

The House Judiciary Committee has voted to hold former White House adviser Karl Rove in contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena requesting his testimony.

The 20 to 14 vote went along party lines.

Rove's testimony is sought in the committee's investigation of the politicization of the Department of Justice, specifically the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (D).

In a memo to the committee, summarizing Rove's refusal to testify, Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) wrote, "Mr. Rove has refused even to appear before the Committee and assert whatever privileges that he believes may apply to his testimony, relying on excessively broad and legally insufficient claims of "absolute immunity" - never recognized by any court - in declining to appear."

Ranking member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said the vote "disregarded" the facts of Rove's involvement with the Department of Justice.

"There is no credible evidence to support a contempt resolution against Karl Rove. Every individual involved in the claimed incident

Offering an interesting solution to the nation's energy crisis, President Bush joked that a wind farm should be set up around Washington, D.C. to catch all the "hot air" coming from the nation's capital.

"I believe we're in a transition period from an era of hydrocarbons to new technologies," Bush explained during a speech at a welding plant in Euclid, Ohio Tuesday.

"Part of the mix has got to be solar and wind power," Bush said. "There's a lot of wind -- they ought to have the biggest turbine farm in Washington, D.C., where there's not only a lot of wind there's a lot of hot air."

The line was met with loud laughter and applause before Bush turned to advocating for clean coal and expanded drilling.

If Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) attends the Republican National Convention, he may be greeted by a 30-foot inflatable rat.

Ed Anderson, founder of the website DumpJoe.com, said he's readying the rat, often used by unions to call out workers who cross picket lines, for a Lieberman visit to the GOP convention in St. Paul, Minn., the Stamford Advocate reports.

Anderson said he's miffed by the decision of Lieberman, the former Democratic vice presidential nominee, to back John McCain in this year's presidential race. Lieberman has not said whether he will attend the convention in September, but his spokeswoman said he doesn't have plans to go.

"If Joe Lieberman is going to be out there, then we're going to have our say," Anderson said. "You can't do what Joe's doing. There's rules to the game."

Below is a photo of an inflatable rat, courtesy of Ann Althouse's flickr page.

Just hours after the indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) Tuesday, the campaigns of at least three Republican senators running for re-election this year said they would return donations from received from the 7-term senator.

Sen. Gordon Smith's (R-Ore.) campaign said it would give the $10,000 received from Stevens to a charity.

The campaigns of Sens. John Sununu (R-N.H.) and Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) also said it would donate the $10,000 each had received from Stevens to charity.

Democratic candidates for Senate called on incumbents to give return the money from Stevens, given through his Northern Lights Political Action Committee, after hearing the news of his indictment.

"These charges [against Stevens] cast an ethical cloud on money he raised from oil companies and others, some of which he passed on to Gordon Smith," said Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley in a statement.

From the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona where John McCain had a piece of skin removed from his cheek Monday:

"Senator McCain visited the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, yesterday for a routine check of his dermatological health. The biopsy that was performed did not show any evidence of skin cancer. No further treatment is necessary."