The "start of a coordinated effort to build public support" to privatize Social Security "and pressure Congress to act" included a Washington DC town hall with the president and six "carefully selected participants." One was a Seattle-area businessman who, after being contacted by the White House, got a call from the conservative lobbying group FreedomWorks, "offering to pay his expenses." FreedomWorks

"For the first time in its 43 years, a Wal-Mart CEO is publicly responding to detractors." The giant retailer launched a national PR blitz, including interviews with its CEO, an open-letter ad in more than 100 newspapers, and a new website, walmartfacts.com, that promises the "unfiltered truth." CEO Lee Scott said that criticisms o

Despite the bankrupty of his company, former Enron CEO Ken Lay apparently still has some money to spend on spin. "The former chairman's computer-literate litigation team is making use of 'sponsored links,' which appear prominently in searches for a word or name in an Internet search engine," reports Mary Flood.