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This warm and muggy week brought two big resignations, the wooing of celebrity donors, and even more confirmation that Arthur Branch was to be president. Check it out after the fold. Willard “Mitt” Romney had a pretty good spring taking advantage of his rivals’ weaknesses on his way to the front of the GOP pack, making a reasonable claim to be the “best blend of conservativism and electability”. However, Million Dollar Mitt made an awkward at best, damaging at worst slip of the tongue in Atlanta last week, mistaking SC Lt. Gov Andre Bauer for conservative activist Ralph Reed. To make matters worse, he confused his Bauers, calling him Gary (another conservative activist and Romney friend) not Andre. What does this all mean? Probably nothing but Mitt is annoying and Stay Cold likes when he looks stupid.

Of more consequence to Romney is the confirmation that the inevitable is, well, inevitable and Fred Thompson will be entering the Republican primary in early July. In addition to being a movie star with the all elusive “gravitas”, Thompson may beat out Romney in the afformentioned “conservative and electable” field. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn has jumped ship already,  former Romney backer is now on the Thompson team. Is this the begining of an exodus?

Busy weekend ahead of the Democratic candidates as they attend the Iowa Democratic Party dinner on Saturday then head east for a debate in New Hampshire on Sunday. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were courting celebrities, each bringing aboard some big names. The Hope Machine secured the backing of Danny Ocean and Jason Bourne, while HRC got American Idol’s Katherine McPhee’s endorsement. Speaking of the junior senator from New York, it has come to light that Jeff Gerth, the author of the upcoming anti-Clinton book Her Wayis married to a top advisor to senator Chris Dodd (D-CT). Dodd is also seeking the Democratic nomination for president.

Immigration is a prickly issue all around, but nowhere is it more true than within the Republican party. It is clearly the most dangerous wedge issue for the GOP. Many conservatives (the people who vote Republican and volunteer their time) are staunchly opposed to what they see as an invasion of foreigners while business types (who pay the bills in the party) like cheap labor. The firestorm surrounding the recent immigration bill highlights just how sensitive it is, and the first visible consequences hit this week. The drying up of donors angry at the immigration bill caused the RNC to fire 65 employees that work in fund raising.

Dan Bartlett, a senior aide to the president, announced he will be leaving next month. Bartlett had worked for Bush since 1993. In other resignation news Tim Griffin  has stepped down as US attorney in Arkansas. This is at the center of the Gonzogate scandal that has been going on in DC for the last few months. Griffin is a former aide to Karl Rove and director of opposition research at the RNC. He also may be implicated in some well dodgy stuff.