Frank Quattrone’s Qatalyst Group, which was launched last month to “provide high-end merger & acquisition and corporate finance advice to technology companies globally,” is advising Google on the Microsoft/Yahoo! merger & acquisition deal according to a report by Andrew Ross Sorkin and Michael J. de la Merced on the DealBook blog.

The first standing ovation during Elton John’s sold-out benefit performance at Radio City Music Hall on Wednesday night wasn’t for Sir Elton, but for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Just when the campaign of Hillary Clinton thought they had the Colombian free trade debacle behind it comes this - Bill Clinton supports the bilateral agreement being pushed through congress by the Bush administration, which Hillary Clinton opposes.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell was relaxing around his house last weekend when the phone rang. On the other end of the line was a pollster from the Quinnipiac University poll looking to get his opinions about the upcoming April 22nd Democratic presidential primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Rendell, a supporter and fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, was one of 1,340 likely Democratic voters polled in the state from April 3rd to the 6th.

Jackie Speier is heading back to Washington, but this time it will be as a Congresswoman Speier and not as a congressional aide. Speier, a Democrat from Burlingame, was an aide to former Rep. Leo Ryan who was killed in Jonestown in 1978. She is a Jonestown survivor who was shot five times and left for dead during the massacre.

A new poll released today by Quinnipiac University shows Hillary Clinton’s lead slipping in Pennsylvania - even among women. Clinton leads Barack Obama by 50% to 44% among likely primary voters. Less than a week earlier, in an April 2nd poll by the university, Clinton was leading Obama by 50% to 41%.

Richard Fisher, president of the Fed’s Dallas bank, and Charles Plosser president of the Fed’s Philadelphia bank, both voted against the most recent cut in the Fed’s federal funds rate according to minutes of the March 18th Federal Open Market Committee meeting released on the Fed’s web site. The committee voted 8-2 to approve the rate cut.

Washington Mutual today announced a $7 billion bailout by an investment group led by TPG, the private equity firm. The group will seat two directors on WaMu’s board - David Bonderman, a co-founder of the equity firm, and Continental Airlines chairman & CEO Lawrence Kellner.