Noted.

REMEMBERING BENDINER: Robert Bendiner, who was managing editor of The Nation from 1937 to 1944, died February 7 at the good age of 99. After a stint at The New Masses, he joined The Nation in 1937, which was then in the throes of some of its most economically and politically fraught years, shaken by the Depression, with the left riven by the great intervention debate. He could later say, "Grim as things were, there was an exhilaration, often a gaiety, sometimes even a giddiness in the offices of The Nation that wholly belied the times." His daughter, Peggy Margoshes, called him "very witty, an optimist" who loved the Marx Brothers and sought to infuse humor into The Nation.

After service in World War II, Bendiner returned to the magazine as an associate editor. Disagreeing with editor Freda Kirchwey's editorial policies, which he considered too soft on the Soviets, he resigned in 1950. Later, he and his friend theologian Reinhold Niebuhr asked that their names be taken off the masthead amid the imbroglio over former art critic Clement Greenberg's calling foreign editor J. Alvarez del Vayo a Stalinist tool. In 1956 Bendiner became a contributing editor for The Reporter, and in 1968 he joined the editorial board of the New York Times. A liberal Democrat, he wrote campaign speeches for Hubert Humphrey. He remained politically involved to the end, rejoicing in Obama's election while in the hospital, his daughter said.   RICHARD LINGEMAN

BURRIS TSURIS: Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich may have been impeached, but his alleged attempt to auction off Barack Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder is the scandal that keeps on giving. Now it turns out that Blago's appointee, Roland Burris, talked with key associates of the governor about his interest in the seat and that--at the request of gubernatorial brother Robert Blagojevich--he mounted a fundraising drive for the man who would make him a senator. Burris appears to have recalled these salient details only after a visit from federal investigators who may have some of the discussions on tape. Yikes!

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