Tuesday's reads

'Death of a Salesman' - Rick Perlstein - The Big Con.

[T]oday's lesson in the hidden history of conservatism: nearly all its important foundational figures have been salesmen, good ones — some not merely figuratively but literally.

'Bill targets political pay to spouses' - Richard Simon - The Los Angeles Times.

The action comes after a number of lawmakers [64 in toto], including Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Roseville), have come under scrutiny for paying their spouses from campaign funds.

Doolittle's wife took 15% of the campaign contributions she raised for her husband, once earning $90,000 from a single event.

'Lieberman's New Party Line' - David Nather - CQPolitics.com.

During the abortive debate on the defense authorization bill, [Lieberman] attended daily tactical sessions to help them plan their strategy for combatting anti-war amendments and their rhetorical points for use against the Democrats. And in a fitting symbolic twist, some of those meetings convened just down the hall from the office of Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who essentially owes his 51-seat majority to Lieberman’s continued caucusing with the Democrats.