Hunt plays defense for Ohio's Gov. Taft

Republican Gov. Bob Taft of Ohio is getting help from an unexpected quarter -- Democratic former Gov. Jim Hunt of North Carolina.

Taft was labeled in a recent Time magazine issue as one of the worst governors in the country.

"The only thing more stunning than the spectacle of a quivering, hangdog Ohio governor pleading no contest in August to criminal charges is the fact that he is still in office," wrote Time.

Taft, the great-grandson of a president and the son of a senator, was fined for failing to report 47 golf outings paid for by others.

In its current edition, Time prints a letter from Hunt in which the Raleigh attorney blasts the magazine for "unfair attacks."

"While taking potshots at the governor, you failed to mention his many accomplishments in education," writes Hunt, who calls Taft a friend.

So what is the Hunt-Taft connection?

Here's a clue. Taft participated in and helped lead a three-day conference in Charlotte in November that was sponsored by the James B. Hunt Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy.

Time named Taft, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford as the worst governors.

Named the best were Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley did not rate a mention.

Edwards gathers no moss

Former Sen. John Edwards is in Baton Rouge today to speak at a Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration sponsored by the local NAACP.

Edwards continues to move around the country in what most people think is an effort to lay the groundwork for a 2008 presidential run. Last week he was on the West Coast, where he called for a substantial reduction in American troops in Iraq.

Troop withdrawals would "send a clear, unmistakable signal to the world that we intend to leave, to permit the Iraqis to govern," Edwards said in a speech at the Mondavi Center at the University of California at Davis.

Edwards, a former Democratic vice presidential candidate, was paid $55,000 as part of a lecture series at the Davis campus, according to the Sacramento Bee.

He also traveled to Seattle, where he talked at a luncheon hosted by the Gonzaga University School of Law.

Edwards has been traversing the country talking about the problems related to poverty. He is director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity in Chapel Hill.

On Tuesday, Edwards will be back in Chapel Hill introducing the Rev. William J. Barber II, the new president of the state NAACP. Barber will speak at the poverty center.

Meanwhile, a photograph of his wife, Elizabeth Edwards, who is recovering from cancer, was featured in a December edition of People magazine.