Walter Jones pushes pardons for agents

U.S. Rep. Walter Jones has taken up the cause of two U.S Border Patrol agents convicted in October of shooting a Mexican drug smuggler.

Jones, a Farmville Republican, has written four letters to President Bush asking for pardons. The last letter was signed by 50 House members.

Jones appeared last week on Lou Dobbs' program on CNN to argue for a pardon.

The two agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, were sentenced to 11 and 12 years, respectively, and are scheduled to report to federal prison in January. They were charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and defacing a crime scene.

The two agents chased a suspicious van at night along the Texas-Mexico border and shot the smuggler as he was fleeing across the border. They said they thought he had a gun. There were 743 pounds of marijuana found in the van. The drug smuggler fled to Mexico but was later granted immunity to testify against the two border agents.

The case has become a cause celebre among activists against illegal immigration.

"The drug dealer has numerous charges against him in this country," Jones said last week during a visit to The News & Observer.

"Where does any of this make any sense?" Jones asked. "These guys are Hispanic Americans who love this country and have done nothing but try to protect the American people from an invasion of illegals coming across the border. This is a travesty."

Edwards leads in Iowa polling

Former Sen. John Edwards has a 20-point lead in in the latest poll in Iowa over Sen. Hillary Clinton -- a lead so big that it is making the Edwards camp a little nervous.

Edwards had the support of 36 percent of likely caucusgoers and 40 percent of county Democratic chairs and vice chairs, according to the telephone survey conducted in October by Harstad Strategic Research of Colorado. The poll was paid for by Environmental Defense.

Among caucusgoers, Clinton had 16 percent and Sen. Barack Obama had 11 percent. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack had 9 percent. Among county chairs, Vilsack had 15 percent, Obama had 11 percent and Clinton had 8 percent.

The group surveyed 602 likely caucus participants and 100 Democratic county chairs and vice chairs. For caucus participants, the margin of error was plus or minus 4 percent. For the county party leaders, the margin of error was plus or minus 6.7 percent.

Two new polls show that Clinton still has a commanding lead nationally among Democrats. A new MSNBC poll found Clinton favored by 37 percent, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama 18 percent, and Edwards 14 percent. But in a head-to-head match-up, Edwards is the only Democrat who would beat Republican Sen. John McCain, according to the poll.

Senate Democrats choosing

Senate Democrats meet this afternoon at Shaw University in Raleigh to decide who they will support for president pro tem, or Senate leader, for the coming session.

Sen. Marc Basnight, a Manteo Democrat, is expected to extend his record-breaking tenure as the chamber's leader with election to an eighth term.

As Senate leader, Basnight makes committee appointments, presides over the chamber when the lieutenant governor is absent and works with other senators to set the Senate's agenda. Basnight was first elected to the Senate in 1984.