Weekend Wrap-up (Part 1) …

From Friday night’s program:

Well, the majority of the broadcast covered a story that we now know wasn’t what it was originally thought to be. The body found in a shipping yard along some railroad tracks on Friday afternoon in the greater Chicago area did not turn out to be Stacy Peterson, as was initially speculated.



There was also a report about the Democratic candidates appearances, speeches and other last-minute activities in anticipation of the South Carolina Primary (more about that in Part 2 or the wrap-up).




Joe Johns also had a “Keeping Them Honest” report on the “Campaigner-in-Chief” – aka Bill Clinton and what role (or roles) he is already playing in the Hill’s race for the nomination.



The most interesting (political) story of the night came from Gary Tuchman, who was recently in Florida with the Giuliani campaign. I’m fascinated about what led to the strategic decision to ‘focus’ on Florida, and leave the early contests to the other candidates. Gary even ‘grilled’ Rudy (politely, of course) at a public event about the unanticipated challenges he is now facing with winning the state.





Anderson also talked with Republican strategists Terry Holt and Leslie Sanchez about the upcoming Florida Primary, and about how crucial the state is for Rudy.



Gary Tuchman also had a second report aired on Friday night – about the murder of Julie Jensen back in 1998. Her husband is on trial for the crime, and a key piece of evidence is a letter that Julie wrote and left with a neighbor, only days before being found dead in her bedroom – poisoned with antifreeze and smothered. The letter was initially useless because normally, a defendant had a constitutional right to confront his accuser, so a letter such as Julie’s can't be used in trial.




But this case has taken a dramatic twist. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that right has been forfeited because of probable cause that the defendant had something to do with Julie Jensen not being able to testify. Julie’s brothers are attending the trial and hoping that justice will prevail in this case.



Gary blogged about the report – and Jeff Toobin weighed in as well (although he didn’t end up on camera with AC to discuss the case, as he wrote).

And to help welcome Erica into the AC360 family, Anderson debuted the “Erica Hill mullet” ... but what can you expect from a 12-year-old? I was impressed that the spikes were pieced perfectly – not a single spike out of place! I suspect that Erica already knows that’s just the beginning of her ‘initiation’ ...



Part 2 of the wrap-up to follow ...