Midday Open Thread

• Republican David Vitter lucked out and won't have to take the witness stand to discuss his "sins" in the court case against DC Madam, Deborah Palfrey.
• With food costs still on the rise, public school cafeterias are struggling to find a balance between serving healthy (expensive) foods and keeping costs reasonable.
• IRS audit rates for large corporations (making more than $250 million annually), are less than half of what they were 20 years ago.  Conversely, small and mid-size corporations have seen an increase in audits.
• Windows XP fans are circulating a petition to get Microsoft to reconsider permanently pulling it from store shelves.
• A group of student protestors were arrested in front of the White House yesterday as they called for an end to crisis in Darfur.
• Rupert Murdoch was announced as one of four new members of the Associated Press Board of Directors.
• For those trying to make sense of today's wildly gyrating ARG poll on PA, Mark Blumenthal and Charles Franklin provide some perspective at pollster.com (Comparing Pollsters in Pennsylvania.) The Q poll is out tomorrow. - DemFromCT
• Still hoping to see a reconstituted Federal Election Commission during 2008?  It's time to be even less hopeful, as former FEC chairman Bob Lenhard has withdrawn his name from consideration as a nominee for one of the vacancies, frustrated by the ongoing stalemate.  --Adam B