You have probably never heard of Robert Shrum. He's the most sought-after Democratic strategist right now, and today we find out that he's signed on with Kerry. ABC's The Note refers to this as winning "the Shrummy" or the "Shrum Primary." Last year, Joel Klein wrote a piece prophesying the importance. Why the excitement?

Just so it's all in one place. In October 2001, the lab received unauthorized shipments of anthrax. In August 2002, two Los Alamos employees are put on administrative leave for abusing expense accounts. The lab says they took $2,500. A watchdog group says it's more like $900,000. From July 2001 to October 2002, two more employees pilfer TV monitors, CB radios, GPS navigators, picnic table, gas grill, lawn chair and dozens of hunting knives they bought through the lab. That got the attention of the Albequerque DA. Finally, in January 2003, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham made sure that John Brown, director of Los Alamos, stepped down. He was replaced by Navy Vice Admiral Pete Nanos. Two weeks later, investigators hired by the University of California (which operates the lab for the government) were fired, probably because they talked with outside investigators about $2.7 million in pilfered items and expense abuses. LANL promptly lost a laptop containing designs for nuclear weapons. Joke's on LANL: the two investigators have since been called back. Is that everything? Today, Congress starts hearings on this debacle. Watch it at work!

Los Alamos National Laboratory is in trouble again. The world's most important nuclear research facility, and birthplace of the atom bomb, was broken into -- not by a crack team of commandos, but a Wired reporter with a torn Achille's tendon. Now, in addition to the camping gear bought on their credit card, the LANL has to explain how this reporter was able to enter the "secure" Technical Area 33. They'll have to think quickly: Congressional hearings on mismanagement at Los Alamos start tomorrow.

The EPA is being sued by seven Northeastern states, who are each hoping that the agency will be found negligent in its implementation of the Clean Air Act. There are a number of different actions pending. The states don't like sneaky procedural changes that don't treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant and prevent a thorough review of emissions from power plants. The NYT article highlights the poor treatment that the environment gets in this administration. Case in point: the voluntary carbon dioxide control program that the President touted in lieu of the Kyoto Protocol was announced in the cafeteria of the Department of Energy.