The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

p> COBURN OK br> Sen. Tom Coburn is mulling an entry into the Republican presidential primary, according to sources inside and outside the Senate. Coburn, a senator from Oklahoma, is believed to be receiving encouragement from a small group of wealthy businessmen and philanthropists in the Oklahoma-Kansas-Texas region of the country. /p>

"He's all about faith, lower taxes, and staying the course in Iraq," says an adviser outside of the Senate who has been speaking to Coburn.

Coburn had been mulling a run earlier this year, but with what appeared to be a crowded field, including two sitting Senators (John McCain and Sam Brownback), along with another seriously looking (Chuck Hagel), Coburn appeared to pull back.

"He's not bound to any timetable or any fundraising imperative," says a longtime adviser to Coburn, who has spoken with him. "What's important for him is that there is no other true, Reagan conservative in the race, and he thinks he can fill that void."

Coburn is believed to have the backing of several low-profile members of the so called "Swift Boaters," men who financed the ads that doomed the presidential aspirations of Sen. John Kerry.

p> CROSSED THE LINE br> For all of the posturing by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee during the testimony of former Department of Justice political appointee Monica Goodling , they and their Democrat colleagues in the Clinton administration went to far greater lengths to identify and track the political activities of career and politically appointed lawyers in the Department of Justice and elsewhere.

topics:
Taxes, John McCain, Business, Law, Iraq, NATO