Ed Morrissey

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is also feeling the pinch of quasi-unemployment these days.

Lawyers and his associates inside the Beltway tell The New York Times that Gonzales, who was forced to resign last year amid the dismissed attorneys scandal, hasn't been able to get any law firms to bite on his resume.

Gonzales' experience should be enough for firms to be chomping at the bit. We've all heard his personal story - the son of poor Mexican immigrants makes his way through the Texas public school system, then goes on to Rice University and Harvard Law School. He has won numerous awards and accolades for his accomplishments, and, prior to his tenure at the Justice Department, served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas as Texas' 100th Secretary of State. While in private practice, Gonzales also taught law as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center. But despite all that, less decorated Justice Officials are getting jobs and he's not.

Last year Gonzales took a lot of heat for his role over the firing of several federal prosecutors and for not being forthcoming with lawmakers about those dismissals and the government's wiretapping program. President Bush said his old friend was "dragged through the mud" for political reasons. The Times reports that since he left office on Aug. 27, 2007, his main source of income has come from talks at colleges and before private business groups - at at least $30,0000 a pop.

Firms may be hesitant to hire him because not only are they concerned about his behavior toward the end of his DOJ tenure, but his troubles aren't over. His conduct is being investigated by the Office of the Inspector General of the Justice Department, which could recommend exonerating him or criminal charges. Then there's that pesky torture issue that keeps resurfacing. And the DOJ is getting slammed with allegations of politically tainted actions amid probes of White House interference in personnel matters.

Barack Obama's campaign has apparently identified 50 superdelegates who are ready to go public with their support for him over Hillary Clinton.

Veteran newsman Tom Brokaw said Tuesday that sources very close to the Democratic presidential hopeful's camp told him that those superdelegates would announce their support for Obama "before too long."

"That's a lot. That's a big number," Brokaw said on MSNBC this morning.

Clinton is currently ahead in the superdelegate count but Obama's new support would propel his count to just beyond Clinton's. An AP count has Clinton with 241 superdelegates and Obama with 199. Clinton is behind in the regular delegate count.

But Clinton adviser Terry McAuliffe said that with 400 delegates at stake in races today in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island, Clinton in no way should be counted out. "You can feel the excitement, Hillary's going to win Ohio" and Texas, McAuliffe said from the Buckeye State. Even though Bill Clinton has said his wife is out of the race if she doesn't win Texas, McAuliffe reminded viewers that Bill didn't win the Democratic nomination in his White House bid until June 1992. "She's going to do what she thinks is in the best interest of the country," he said.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll out today shows that two-thirds of Democrats think that even if Clinton wins either Texas or Ohio today, she should stay in the race - no matter what her husband says. But 51 percent say she should drop out of she loses both states. Meanwhile, a Reuters-CSPAN-Houston Chronicle poll also released today shows that Clinton has retaken a small lead over Obama in Texas and has deadlocked the Ohio race.