That would be four to five days, in case you’re wondering. This last tidbit of information was read to a federal jury here Wednesday by Abbe Lowell, the lead defense attorney for former senator John Edwards, who is accused of violating campaign finance laws by allegedly failing to report $1 million spent to cover up his affair with Hunter during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Yet the little-known state senator emerged victorious over both the establishment-favored candidate and a favorite of the tea party — both of whom, we should note, are statewide elected officials.

Romney’s speech has already been dissected by Jonathan Chait and Steve Benen. They note that it’s entirely at odds with conventional understanding of how deficits work, and utterly disconnected from context, rendering it almost unquantifiably misleading.

Today’s Trail Mix takes a look at why the tiny buy was worth it:

The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act (S. 1910) is scheduled to go before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for a vote.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) is leading a group taking off Friday for a week in Taiwan and South Korea, looking at three days in Seoul and three in Taipei.

I suppose it’s a forgivable oversight. The stooped, frail-looking woman in a powder-blue dress was neither a celebrity nor a newsmaker when she appeared on “The Tonight Show” in August 1987. She was just a little old lady from a tiny town in Kansas—and by old, I mean historic. She was 105 at the time. But she had all her marbles, as well as a fierce, straight-shooting wit, and that was enough for Carson.

Consecutive oh-no performances — Rodriguez walked two batters and gave up a walk-off grand slam in Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati and was yanked with one out after walking the bases loaded in Monday’s victory over San Diego — prompted Manager Davey Johnson to issue a “he’s-still-my-guy” vote of confidence for the reliever who has a 100-mph fastball and apparently no clue where it’s headed.

Ellen, as she is known to the millions who watch her syndicated talk show, had this to say about the award.

In addition to its successful Wednesday comedy block, the network will launch another block on Tuesdays and will resurrect its Friday family comedy block, last seen during ABC’s “TGIF” days.