12 charged with falsely registering California voters

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Twelve people have been charged with tricking voters in Orange County into registering as Republicans, prosecutors said Monday.

The defendants, ranging in age from 19 to 52, were accused of fraudulently registering 37 voters as Republicans between August 2005 and February 2006. Democrats, Green Party members and a noncitizen were registered as Republicans, prosecutors said.

The suspects were hired to register new Republicans by private firms paid by the Orange County Republican Party, prosecutors said. No charges were filed against the companies or the Republican Party.

The recruiters visited shopping centers and college campuses and were paid $10 a head for newly registered Republicans in a district represented by Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez, prosecutors said. Voters were asked to sign petitions for lower taxes or stricter sex-offender laws, then tricked into signing voter-registration cards, prosecutors said.

Probe reopened in Nevada case

LAS VEGAS — The district attorney said Monday that authorities have reopened their investigation into a cocktail waitress's claim that a Republican congressman running for governor assaulted her in a parking garage after a night of drinking.

District Attorney David Roger said the case involving Rep. Jim Gibbons — which had been closed after the woman, Chrissy Mazzeo, dropped her complaint — is under investigation again.

Mazzeo accused Gibbons, 61, of pushing her up against a wall Oct. 13 and propositioning her. Mazzeo, 32, said she had been pressured and offered cash from people linked to the Gibbons campaign to drop the complaint.

The five-term congressman, who is in a close race with Democratic state Sen. Dina Titus for Nevada's open governor's seat, has denied wrongdoing.

GOP congressman to run for president

LOS ANGELES — Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and a vigorous opponent of illegal immigration, announced Monday he is starting the process of seeking the presidency in 2008.

Hunter, 58, said he will form an exploratory committee for a presidential run, adding his name to those of better-known GOP hopefuls such as Arizona Sen. John McCain, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

"I've always laid my cards on the table," Hunter said at a news conference in San Diego. "As I finish my final two years as chairman of the Armed Services Committee, I'm also going to be preparing to run for president of the United States in 2008."

Hunter is expected to cruise to re-election next week, but if Democrats win a majority in the House he would lose his committee chairmanship. That may be a factor in his announcement, said John Pitney Jr., a government professor at Claremont McKenna College.

In surprise, New York Post endorses Clinton

NEW YORK — The New York Post endorsed Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for re-election Monday, saying her Republican challenger "isn't a credible alternative."

"Surprised? Well, so are we — a little," said the editorial in the Post, which has a conservative editorial page. "But, then, there really isn't much of a choice in this race."

Clinton won her Senate seat despite a concerted effort by the Post to attack her candidacy. The Post, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. media empire, was for years also harshly critical of Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton.

A spokesman for Clinton's GOP opponent, John Spencer, declined to comment on the endorsement.

Compiled from The Associated Press and The Washington Post