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Blogger and Georgetown law professor Heidi Feldman says she has raised $6,800 aimed at retiring Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-N.Y.) presidential campaign debt through her blog this month.

Feldman announced the fundraising drive on her blog June 8. Visits to her blog tripled to 2,239 June 11, she said, and have remained around 1,000 daily. Feldman credits the increased traffic to the effort.

The blogger says retiring Clinton's debt would empower the senator and push the Democratic Party toward her ideas.

"I believe that Clinton supporters have a need to refocus their passion and energy," Feldman said in a press release. "Many are not happy with the DNC and do not want to support Obama. If a significant amount of money is raised toward the primary debt, it empowers Clinton to have her positions represented in the Party Platform at the Convention and, hopefully it will prod the DNC to make internal changes."

Clinton entered June with over $30 million in campaign debt, Forbes reported.

After a Rasmussen poll indicated a tight race for Sen. Mary Landrieu's (D-La.) seat earlier this month, Landrieu's campaign has released an internal poll showing her up big on her Republican challenger.

The internal poll shows Landrieu up 16 percentage points over Republican John Kennedy, leading him 48 percent to 35 percent. The Mellman group surveyed 600 Louisianans from May 17 to 20 for the poll.

On June 1, Rasmussen released a poll showing Landrieu up by only three points and ahead of Kennedy, 47 percent to 44 percent.

Landrieu's seat has been a targeted by the national Republican Party, as the National Republican Senatorial Committee has attacked her in press releases and web ads (see here and here).

Former Vice President Al Gore will endorse Barack Obama Monday night at 8:30 p.m. in Detroit.

Gore was one of the biggest remaining names in the Democratic Party yet to endorse and has recently become one of the more mentioned names as a potential Obama vice presidential pick.

In an email to his supporters, Gore wrote, "A few hours from now I will step on stage in Detroit, Michigan to announce my support for Senator Barack Obama."

"Over the past 18 months, Barack Obama has united a movement. He knows change does not come from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or Capitol Hill. It begins when people stand up and take action," Gore wrote.

"From now through Election Day, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure he is elected President of the United States."

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) sent an email to supporters today directing them to an online photo album that encourages viewers to donate to her campaign.

Clinton's campaign had about $9.5 million in unpaid debts at the end of April, in addition to the $11.4 million the candidate loaned her campaign, the New York Times reported last week.

"Together, you and I changed America forever," Clinton said in the e-mail. "We touched so many lives over the course of this campaign, and I can't thank you enough for the support you showed me. I met so many wonderful people out on the trail, and I wanted to share some of those memories with you."

See the photo album here.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) sent a letter to former White House adviser Karl Rove's attorney Monday making clear the committee expects Rove to testify at a July 10 hearing investigating the federal prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (D) on bribery charges.

"We want to reemphasize that we expect Mr. Rove to attend the hearing," Conyers wrote, pointing out he had not yet received and formal objection to Rove appearing.

Conyers reiterated that the committee would not accept an arrangement that Rove testify on Justice Department politicization in general but not on the Siegelman case specifically.

"Accordingly, we hope and expect that Mr. Rove will appear on July 10, when any objections to specific questions on executive privilege or other grounds can be dealt with appropriately," Conyers said.

Rove has been accused by Siegelman and others of orchestrating federal prosecution against the former governor in order to gain political advantage. At the time of his prosecution, Siegelman was the leading Democrat in Alabama.

Siegelman served some of his prison term, but is now out on appeal.

The committee subpoenaed Rove on May 22.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) today asked the Defense Department to investigate what he says may be thousands of criminal cases involving fraudulent contracting in Iraq.

Waxman's committee received a report in May from Department of Defense (DoD) Inspector General for Audit Mary Ugone finding that the U.S. Army had not provided enough documentation for its disbursements in Iraq, Egypt, and Kuwait. The audit centered on concerns of waste, fraud, and abuse related to over $10.7 billion in Army payments.

More than 7,000 of the audited transactions may indicate criminal behavior, Waxman said today in a letter to DoD Inspector General Claude Kicklighter.

In the letter, Waxman officially requested an investigation and asked Kicklighter to make recommendations to DoD and Congress on how to identify, investigate, and prosecute criminal activity in Army contracting in Iraq.

The White House Office of Administration will not have to release details about millions of missing emails, a federal judge ruled Monday.

The AP reported Monday that U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the White House Office of Administration does not have to comply with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington to release information on the missing emails.

The judge ruled that the Office of Administration has no authority to compel another executive office to release information, even though the office had complied with all FOIA request made until the White House changed the policy in August 2007.

- Kristen Coulter

Barack Obama said Monday that he will visit Iraq before the November election.

Obama said he spoke to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari Monday about the war and a visit to the country.

The Illinois senator has taken heat from rival John McCain for his infrequent visits to Iraq, and was challenged a few weeks ago to visit Iraq with McCain.

Responding to the news, Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant said that "when Obama visits Iraq, he

The Barack Obama campaign announced Monday the Patti Solis Doyle, longtime confidant to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and former campaign manager to Clinton's presidential bid, will be the chief of staff to Obama's eventual vice presidential pick.

Solis Doyle left her post as campaign manager for Clinton after a staff shake up in February. She was replaced by Maggie Williams, who led the campaign until Clinton dropped out and endorsed Obama earlier this month.

Some may see Solis Doyle's position as an indication that Sen. Clinton may join Obama's ticket, but the move to the Obama campaign has been long rumored and may not signal anything more than a party attempting to coalesce around its candidate.

In addition to the Solis Doyle pick, 15 more high profile general election positions were announced Monday, many of which were promoted from within the campaign.

From outside the campaign, Solis Doyle will be joined by Jen O

This week's cover story in New York Magazine examines the fall of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-N.Y.) presidential run, and what the New York senator gained in her losing bid.

The piece includes this behind-the-scenes look at the final moments of the race with Clinton at AIPAC the day after Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination:

The Hillary I encounter a few minutes after Obama leaves the building is somber, prideful, dark-humored, aggrieved, confused