With Oprah Winfrey, the intersection of politics and education is making for strange bedfellows. Federal tax returns and other reports confirm that she’s accepted at least $5 million for her self-named South African girls’ school from perhaps Barack Obama’s single greatest political enemy.

Oprah was front and center in her support of Obama's presidential bid -- not so for her acceptance of $5M in contributions from one of his staunchest foes.

Oprah is probably the most well-known celebrity to back Senator Barack Obama’s bid for the presidency. She threw him a lavish launch party, endorsed him on her show, stumped for him in the early primaries, and cried — as captured by photographers — in a Chicago park when he won the election. Her loyalty seemed fierce.

But it turns out that Winfrey is very close friends with Dallas billionaire named Harold Simmons, a leading Republican donor and supporter of John McCain.

This past August it was revealed that Simmons was the single donor to a 527 committee called American Issues Project. Its only issue: to run ads linking Obama to William Ayers, the political activist who was once part of the Weather Underground. Simmons paid $2.9 million to try and make Ayers the Obama campaign’s “Swift Boat,” an issue that might have sidelined permanently the Illinois senator’s chances and advance John McCain — Simmons’s candidate — to the White House.

Nevertheless, Winfrey has cultivated her friendship with Simmons on many social fronts since 2001, resulting in his being second only to her in donating funds to her Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa.

According to the 2006 federal tax filing for the Oprah Winfrey Operating Fund, Winfrey accepted a $1 million donation to the school from Simmons. That amount, The Dallas Morning News reported in 2007, was only part of a $5 million pledge to the Academy. Simmons is considered Dallas’s leading philanthropist to worthy causes. In this case, though, it might have been unnecessary, since Winfrey herself has donated over $60 million to the school.

It’s not like Simmons is a new Republican donor. He gave over $100,000 in the 2007-2008 election cycle to Republican candidates, separate from his Ayers campaign. He has always been an active Republican. In 2004 he was a major donor to the Swift Boat Veterans, the group credited with destroying the campaign of John Kerry for president.

Winfrey has long been close friends with Simmons and his wife Annette. She’s their neighbor in Montecito, California, having bought the estate next to them in 2001. As recently as two weeks ago, Oprah mentioned the couple on her show during a telephone discussion of the Montecito fires with another neighbor, actor Rob Lowe.

(Winfrey was not available for comment, according to her representative. Simmons, who doesn’t have a press representative, did not return our call.)

The Dallas Morning News—thanks to the dogged byline of Alan Peppard — is full of stories over the years documenting Oprah’s friendship with the Simmonses. They are often at each others’ homes and parties. When Oprah’s significant other, Steadman Graham, spoke to a group in Dallas, it was noted that he dined with the Simmonses. In April, 2006 — two years after the Swift Boat scandal was revealed — Oprah sent a camera crew to a Dallas luncheon hosted by Annette Simmons showcasing the thousands of tulip bulbs surrounding the lake on her property.

It’s unlikely though that the Simmonses were at Oprah’s house next door on September 9, 2007. That’s when she hosted an all-star fundraiser for Obama with Stevie Wonder and guests like Halle Berry, Will Smith, and other A-list Hollywood names. One can only imagine what Simmons thought as the sound of “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now” blared over the loudspeaker system.

Interestingly, that was the last time either Oprah or Graham, for that matter, contributed any money either to the Obama campaign or to the Democratic Party. While they could have each made donations to Obama’s presidential bid, they gave just for the primary. And neither of them showed any interest in the Party itself, which funneled money to Obama.

Simmons, on the other hand, is a regular and constant Republican donor. And it’s not like the Obama campaign hasn’t taken notice of him. On August 21st and 25th, Robert Bauer, general counsel for Obama for America, wrote letters to John C. Keeney, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, concerning the American Issues Project.

On the 25th Bauer wrote: “New facts have come to light that underscore the patently illegal nature of AIP’s formation and operation, and also demonstrate a knowing and willful violation of law on the part of its contributor, Howard Simmons [sic].” Bauer then attaches the Federal Election Committee filing by AIP that states its sole purpose: to defeat Barack Obama. Contran Corporation, owned by Simmons, is listed as AIP’s owner.

Bauer finishes his letter demanding Simmons’s prosecution: “We reiterate our request that the Department of Justice fulfill its commitment to take prompt action to investigate and to prosecute the American Issues Project, and we further request that the Department of Justice investigate and prosecute Howard [sic] Simmons for a knowing and willful violation of the individual aggregate contribution limits.”

Simmons, Bauer complained, had exceeded his personal donation limit because he’d given $2.88 million — roughly $2.7 million more than was allowed by FEC guidelines that state only $42,700 may be given to organizations other than candidate committees or party committees.

It wasn’t the first time Simmons had had trouble with political donations. In 1993, the FEC fined him just under $20,000 for exceeding limits in donations from 1988 and 1989. According to the New York Times, Simmons’s Swift Boat group was fined almost $300,000 for illegally spending $20 million to influence the election. Another Simmons-backed anti-Kerry group, Progress for America, was fined $750,000. They’d spent $31 million.

Simmons’ contentiousness is not limited to the backing of the Swift Boat Vets and the Ayers campaign to smear Obama. In December 1997, according to reports in the New York Times and elsewhere, Simmons was sued by two of his four daughters for abusing his powers in controlling millions of dollars he placed in trust funds for them. A jury agreed that he’d breached his financial duty as guardian of their inheritance, but were undecided on other issues. The case ended in a mistrial. Unusually, the case had been catalyzed when Simmons served her legal papers on one of the daughters by dropping them in her baby’s crib. The child had been born premature and was susceptible to infection, according to the New York Times and other reports.

Read more at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,460109,00.html

Sarah Palin’s spokeswoman denies the wave of anonymous post-election criticism coming from some members of John McCain’s campaign team.

Palin's spokeswoman comes out swinging, denies anonymous criticisms from ex-McCain aides

Sarah Palin’s allies are pushing back against a stream of accusations leaking out of John McCain’s campaign that the Alaska governor was incompetent during the run-up to the election. One Palin aide called the charges “sickening.”

Palin spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton on Friday denied reports that have surfaced since Election Day that there was tension between the vice presidential candidate and McCain’s staff.

They range from claims that Palin went on extensive spending sprees to accounts that campaign officials had serious doubts about her preparedness to to be vice president.

Sources told FOX News, for instance, that Palin did not realize that Africa was a continent and not a country, and that she could not name the nations that had signed the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Palin herself brushed off the finger-pointing Wednesday, saying she wouldn’t engage “any of the negativity” or “pettiness” from anonymous sources.

Stapleton released a written statement Friday calling the charges “unfortunate and, quite honestly, sickening.”

“The accusations we are hearing and reading are not true and since we deny all these anonymous allegations, there is nothing specific to which we will respond,” she wrote. “We have the highest regards for Senator John McCain. Governor Palin was honored to be chosen as McCain’s running mate.”

Newsweek also reported that Palin may have spent “tens of thousands” of dollars more on wardrobe expenses than the $150,000 that was reported in the days before Election Day. The money allegedly went toward clothes for her and her family from high-end stores, even though she was originally told to buy just three suits and hire a stylist for the Republican National Convention.

One aide called the spree “Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast,” according to the magazine. Palin also reportedly asked to speak at McCain’s concession speech Tuesday, and was denied.

McCain adviser Nicole Wallace defended Palin on NBC’s “Today Show” Friday morning, saying the Alaska governor “did nothing wrong.”

“She is, perhaps, the most un-diva politician I’ve ever seen,” she said. “The only thing I’ve ever seen her ask for is a diet soda.”

Palin said right after the election that she’s sorry if she cost McCain even “one vote.”

But some are tired of what they say looks like scapegoating.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum told FOX News that McCain himself needs to come out and put a stop to the Palin criticism.

“She’s the one that energized the base, she’s the one that got the crowds out. … She’s the one that comes out of this without any scars and now they’re trying to give her some,” Santorum said. “John McCain should come out and say, ‘This is ridiculous,’ and set the record straight.”

Strategists and experts say it’s back to Washington for the Arizona Senator.

John McCain won’t be standing before the American people on January 20 to be sworn in as the next president. Instead, the longtime Arizona senator will be returning to Congress, where it’s expected he’ll continue to reach across the Senate aisle and remain a powerful voice for the Republican Party.

Arizona senator won't be the next President but one strategist says 'he's still got many years of service ahead of him.'

“John is someone who has always served his country and he has his entire adult life, and I anticipate that after some time off, well deserved, and some time with his family, well deserved, he’ll be back in Washington, rolling up his sleeves and getting back to work,” John Weaver, McCain’s former top campaign strategist, told FOXNews.com.

“This is his last run, obviously, for national political office, but he’s still got many years of service ahead of him,” Weaver said.

Weaver said he thinks McCain will be a positive voice for Republicans who will find themselves in the minority in both the House and Senate when Congress convenes in January.

“John McCain will be John McCain. I think he’ll continue to be a maverick in the Senate. He’ll continue to be a voice of leadership and a voice of opposition to the coming administration. And his voice will carry a great deal of weight for both the party and the country,” said Michael Steele, former lieutenant governor of Maryland and chairman of GOPAC, a conservative political organization.

McCain has two more years remaining in his fourth term in the Senate, and there’s no reason to suspect he won’t run again — and win — in 2010.

“He’s won all of his elections by pretty good margins, even when he had some reasonable competition,” said University of Arizona political science professor Barbara Norrander. “He’s been able to win his elections handily, and most of the polls show him to be pretty popular — and not just with Republicans. With Independents and even some Democrats as well.”

McCain’s office confirmed that he’ll be back in Washington to finish out his term, but didn’t have any other information on the senator’s plans.

He will be 74 years old on Election Day, 2010.

The Republican candidate conceded defeat and congratulated President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday night after a grueling and expensive battle for the presidency.

In exit polls, many Americans said McCain’s age was a bigger factor than Obama’s race when it came to choosing the next president.

“This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight,” McCain told supporters.

“Its natural tonight to feel some disappointment, but tomorrow we must move beyond it and work together to get our country moving again,” he said.

DEVELOPING STORY — Intimidation tactics, missing ballots and faulty machinery are plaguing some voters across the country as they go to polling stations to elect either John McCain or Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States.

FOX News' Rick Leventhal speaks to a reported Black Panther at a Philadelphia polling station.

In Philadelphia, FOX News’ Rick Leventhal received a report from Republican poll watcher Chris Hill that two Black Panthers had stationed themselves at the door to a polling station and were intimidating voters. One held a nightstick, Hill said.

Hill told FOX News that he went to talk to the men, and they told him white power didn’t rule there.

The man reportedly carrying a nightstick was escorted away from the polling station by police. Outside, FOX News found another Black Panther who said he was a certified observer. Police asked him and the FOX News crew to leave the polling station.

As of noon, FOXNews.com had received complaints from voters around the country that polling stations were not prepared, that voting lists were inaccurate and some voters were worried when they were asked to cast paper ballots instead of using voting machines.

Gregory Holden reported that the voting list at his polling station in Lugoff, S.C., had problems. “Many people who have always voted in this precinct are all of a sudden not on the roll,” he said. “They only have five machines and there are about 300 people in line. People are so discouraged some are leaving,” he wrote.

Francesca Lourdes, in Maryland, said that she voted with three others, and the polling station where their official voter registration cards told them to vote didn’t have them on the registers. She said they had to cast provisional ballots.

Watchdog groups and government officials are telling FOXNews.com that voters are reporting a range of problems and that some polling places aren’t able to handle the expected record turnout.

According to Wendy Weisner, of the Brennan Center for Justice and non-partisan watchdog group Election Protection Center, the group has been receiving calls from voters experiencing problems with machine breakdowns around the country.

In Virginia, there are reports from more than 40 polling stations that election officials don’t have paper ballots to distribute when electronic machines break down.

In Pittsburgh and Philadelphia there are reports from voters of machines breaking down and no emergency paper ballots being distributed.

Voters in Palm Beach County, Fla., are reporting that optical scan machines are breaking down.

An increasing number of problems are being reported with voting machines in Dayton, Ohio.

Election Protection had fielded more than 12,000 calls nationwide by 9 a.m., the group reported.

In New York City, voters began lining up as early as 4 a.m. ET, even though polls didn’t open until 6 a.m., said Valerie Vazquez-Rivera, a spokeswoman for the city’s Board of Elections.

“We have a system that is traditionally set up for low turnout,” said Tova Wang of the government watchdog group Common Cause. “We’re going to have all these new voters, but not a lot of new resources. The election directors just have very little to work with.”

Polls along the East Coast opened at 6 a.m. and by 8 a.m. one polling station in Atlanta had already run out of paper ballots, according to Clare Schexnyder, media spokeswoman for Georgia Election Protection, a non-partisan watchdog group.

“We had one location [in Atlanta] where all of the machines went down this morning and they didn’t come back up until 8:08 a.m. They had problems with cards kicking out and a voter not getting a chance to vote,” Schexnyder said.

About 2 million of Georgia’s 5 million voters had cast ballots in early voting, she said, but that still leaves 3 million potential voters hitting the polls on Election Day.

An election protection volunteer helped that voter cast her ballot, she said, but there were up to 100 voters in line at one point, waiting while the six machines were down. “They were voting with paper ballots during the time they were down and they ran out of paper ballots and had to switch to provisional ballots. They are provisional ballots that will be counted, but there was craziness at that one polling place.”

Virginia has also had its share of election mishaps, although the state is not yet reporting any incidences of fraud or voter intimidation.

Voters are turning out to the polls in record numbers in spite of the weather, according to Susan Pollard, a spokeswoman for the State Board of Elections. “Although a light rain is falling across the state, it does not seem to have dampened turn-out. Lines have been reported at some polling places; however, voting is proceeding quickly at many others.”

The rain is causing an unexpected problem — wet ballots don’t feed properly into optical scan machines.

“Poll workers are setting the wet ballots aside and drying them out and asking voters to dry off before they handle the ballots.To make sure you don’t have any problem with your ballot going through the optical scanner, be sure to dry your hands before completing your ballot,” Pollard said. “All votes will be counted.”

Three of the state’s 2,349 polling stations opened late, two due to human error. One, at a library in Richmond, opened 25 minutes late because the librarian with the keys to the building overslept.

While the North Virginia suburb of Arlington has had one wet ballot issue, so far county registrar Linda Lindberg describes voting as “smooth sailing.” She said 8,000 absentee ballots were sent to troops in Afghanistan and will be counted as a separate group “hopefully before midnight.”

To assure that every voter gets a chance to cast a ballot, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has sent more than 800 monitors to 59 jurisdictions in 23 states.

Several have had problems in the past with minority voters or with providing personnel at polling stations where Spanish or Native American languages are spoken.

In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where the Feds have sent election monitors, voters reported 58 problems voting to OurVoteLive.org.

In Ohio’s Franklin County, Board of Elections spokesman Ben Piscitelli said officials again were dealing with typical glitches. “We’re taking care of things like that,” Piscitelli said. “But there’s nothing major or systemic.”

Schexnyder, from Georgia Election Protection, said she doesn’t expect the problems voters are reporting to keep them from casting their ballots, although many will wait.

“We’ll probably see problems all day as we see long lines, and any times you have computers connected to the equation, I think that every computer glitch we have is going to create longer lines,” Schexnyder said.

FOXNews.com’s Jennifer Lawinski and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Well, i think this sums up the kind of person that Obama Hussein Obama really is…. He can’t even respect John McCain enough to get through a compliment without throwing a vulgar gesture in there.