I had been meaning to mention this — something that was confirmed to me today but that was first reported by James Barnes in National Journal. It turns out the pollster Matthew Dowd, who on April 1 broke with President Bush in a splashy page-one New York Times story, was on the Republican National Committee payroll until pretty recently. Sources say his company was paid $15,000 a month for a two-year, $360,000 contract ending at the close of the 2006 election cycle. It’s not surprise that there are some Republicans who find his acceptance of all that money a little disappointing — actually, some find it outrageous — when he was such a short time away from turning on the president. Others are a bit more understanding — but they do wish Dowd had done things differently.