Articles of Interest 3-2-2008

248 Days until Election Day

MORNING UPDATE:

I’ll be at our boy scout troop’s annual fundraiser most of the day today.

POLITICO’s Sunday Talk Show Tip Sheet below…in the Rest of the Story.

THE REST OF THE STORY:
.
Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows:

POLITICO’s Sunday Talk Show Tip Sheet:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8773.html

On the eve of make-or-break primaries in Texas and Ohio, the Democratic presidential race once again dominates the Sunday television talk shows.

CBS’s “Face the Nation” features a pair of former Democratic presidential hopefuls — Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson — to break down the race.

Will the two offer any inside dirt, having waged firsthand battle with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton?

Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh  — long on the list of potential Clinton running mates — rounds out the CBS lineup.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean leads the way on CNN’s “Late Edition,” offering his perspective as the race, perhaps, nears resolution.

Host Wolf Blitzer also discusses the controversial electronic surveillance legislation stalled in Congress with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas).

And Blitzer follows with more discussion of the surveillance measure, the war in Iraq and other national security issues with House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.).

Finally, Blitzer interviews NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, fresh off his Friday visit with President Bush at the White House.

“Fox News Sunday” also leads with the surveillance debate, with interviews with Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence committees.

And Karl “The Architect” Rove, the former top Bush strategist turned part-time Fox analyst, follows with his own spin — and likely a few jabs.

NBC’s “Meet the Press” dedicates its full hour to a roundtable on the presidential race: Host Tim Russert surveys the landscape with the ubiquitous political power couple Democrat James Carville and Republican Mary Matalin, as well as Republican strategist Mike Murphy and Democratic strategist Bob Shrum.

Will they predict doom and gloom for Clinton, or do they see signs of another comeback?

Remember New Hampshire?

ABC’s “This Week” also goes the roundtable route, breaking down the latest political developments with New York Times columnist David Brooks, Republican strategist Matthew Dowd, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile and ABC’s George Will.

Bloomberg’s “Political Capital” devotes its weekend show to analyzing the presidential race, with host Al Hunt discussing all of the ins and outs with syndicated columnist Robert Novak and Bloomberg’s Margaret Carlson.

C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” focuses on the electronic surveillance issue, with an interview with Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.

Smith will be questioned by Roll Call’s Jennifer Yachnin and Politico’s Martin Kady II.

Saul Anuzis

STATE STORIES

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_REVENUE_WORRIES_MIOL-?SITE=MITRA&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-03-02-08-37-10

State warily waits to see if revenues hold up in February

By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN

Associated Press Writer

Mar 2, 8:37 AM EST

 

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan took in more tax money than expected in November and December, but a falloff in January revenues has state officials nervously watching for February's numbers later this week.

With the national economy slowing and inflation rising, fears have grown that the country could be headed for a recession. Any national slowdown could mean

Michigan

's already battered state economy, and thus state government, could take a further hit.

"We always say that one of the big factors in the

Michigan

economy is the

U.S.

economy," says senior economist Jay Wortley of the nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency. "There's been a lot of bad news since our revenue estimating conference."

When the heads of the Senate and House Fiscal agencies met for the Jan. 11 revenue estimating conference with state Treasurer Bob Kleine, the trio decided that revenue projections made last May for this budget year should be reduced by about $370 million. They also reduced future revenue predictions based on the softening national economy

http://battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080302/OPINION01/803020301

EDITORIAL

State needs to rethink incarceration efforts

The fact that

Michigan

is one of four states that spends more on prisons than on higher education is nothing short of tragic. But it also should prompt us to take a long, hard look at our state's incarceration efforts and determine whether there is a better way to punish criminals and use tax dollars more effectively. Some might credit

Michigan

's burgeoning prison population for a declining crime rate. But if that is so, why is

Michigan

incarcerating people at a 40 percent higher rate than neighboring

Great Lakes

states, yet those states also are seeing their crime rates decline? There is no question that the public needs to be protected from violent criminals. People convicted of murder, rape, robbery and assault should be behind bars. Both crime victims and society in general deserve justice when people violate the law. But is prison always the best answer?

More than 50,000 people currently are incarcerated in

Michigan

correctional facilities. State taxpayers are forking out nearly $2 billion a year to keep them there. The cost averages out to about $30,000 per inmate a year - more than enough to send them to a private college.

http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19351085&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=472539&rfi=6

Our View: Raising state gas tax, borrowing money both problematic

03/02/2008

Gov. Jennifer Granhom's plan to borrow $150 million to replace or repair roads and bridges this summer doesn't make a lot of sense in a state that already is mired in debt.

Granholm wants the money to pay for nearly three dozen road projects that will put 2,100 construction workers and engineers to work this summer. She moved the projects to this year from 2009 and beyond because she wants to stimulate

Michigan

's economy.

None of the money will be available for dealing with potholes in local roads.

As Mike Nystrom of the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association said, "we applaud the governor's acknowledgement that our roads need an emergency cash infusion, (but) this small amount of money won't even begin to make a difference for drivers out there who are dodging dangerous potholes every day."  Instead, Nystrom's group supports an increase in the state's gasoline tax that would add on 3 cents a gallon each year for three years.  We agree with Granholm that this tax hurts low-income drivers more than it does anyone else. But we have been forced to deal with gas prices that can fluctuate 30 cents on any given day.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_MAYORS_CONFERENCE_DETROIT_MIOL-?SITE=MIPON&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-02-29-23-47-49

Mayor's text-messaging scandal forces convention from

Detroit

Feb 29, 11:47 PM EST

DETROIT

(AP) -- Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's troubles over a text-messaging sex scandal may have prompted a national organization to move its annual convention to

New Orleans

.  The Detroit Free Press is reporting Friday that the National Conference of Black Mayors chose another site for its convention in April after speaking with Kilpatrick's office.

The convention had been expected to bring about 2,500 mayors and staff members to

Detroit

.  Executive director Vanessa Williams tells the newspaper that Kilpatrick's office wanted her organization to move to a different site.

Kilpatrick spokesman James Canning says city officials were unable to work out logistics to ensure the convention would live up to standards set by past major events visiting

Detroit

.

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080302/NEWS01/803020680/1001/news

Mayoral scandal may have prompted relocation

Black mayors group opting to move its annual convention

Published March 2, 2008

Robin Erb

Special to the State Journal

About 2,500 mayors and staff members who were to converge on

Detroit

in April - bringing an economic boost and national exposure to a beleaguered city - are rerouting to

New Orleans

.  Asked if the decision to move the annual convention was tied to the text message scandal, Vanessa Williams, executive director of the National Conference of Black Mayors, told the Free Press, "I think anyone can look around and see what's going on."  Williams said Friday the group made the change after contacting Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's office. "I think the mayor wants to focus on the issues at hand," she said, alluding to the legal and political controversies swirling around him.  For more than a month, since the Free Press reported on personal text messages between the mayor and his top aide, Kilpatrick has been the focus of extraordinary controversy, with several members of

Detroit

's City Council calling this week for his resignation.

Kilpatrick has steadfastly denied acting improperly or illegally and vowed not to resign.

Williams said her office called Kilpatrick's office about a month ago to inquire whether the conference was still on. It goes to a different site annually.

"When we saw what was going on," she said, "we were reaching out to the mayor's office to say, 'Are we OK?' 'Is the conference OK?' The response was that the mayor wanted us to go to another site."

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080302/NEWS01/803020687/1001/news

Tumbling enrollment: Mid-Mich. cushions the impact by merging schools, closing buildings

Derek Wallbank & Al Miller

Lansing

State

Journal

Published March 2, 2008

Cedar Street Elementary aide Kelly Donaldson and her colleagues saw the writing on the wall.  Declining enrollment already had forced staff layoffs and program cuts. Then, the Mason school board voted in February to close the 324-student school.

"We knew it was coming, but it's really sad," Donaldson said, choking back tears at the meeting where the school board voted unanimously to close the school. "It's like your family."  Experts predict few mid-Michigan parents and students will escape the changes with which local public school districts are grappling as the impact of lower birthrates and families leaving the state combine to create challenges not seen in

Michigan

public education in decades.  Across the tri-county area, school districts in Lansing, Mason, Eaton Rapids and

St. Johns

are considering or have implemented plans to close school buildings. Districts such as DeWitt have suspended future growth plans. Others, such as

Charlotte

, are taking hard looks at how future enrollment melds with existing facilities.

The problem, experts say, is that birthrates across mid-Michigan are down 15 percent in the last two decades. And

Michigan

's weak economy is exacerbating the problem, causing families to leave the state for economic reasons and curtailing an influx of new families.

http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/030208/loc_local03.shtml

Political newcomer launches anti-county executive group

Sunday, March 2, 2008

By

Chad

Selweski

Macomb

Daily Staff Writer

An opposition group has emerged to fight the May ballot proposal that would mandate a government overhaul and create an elected county executive.

A fledgling organization known as Protect Our Future-Macomb has been formed by Nathan Hlavin of

Macomb

Township

, a 29-year-old manager of an IT company. Despite very limited experience in politics, Hlavin said he stepped up when he concluded that a "one-sided debate" was shaping up over the executive issue.

"I called around and I discovered that nobody really was organized around this issue as an opposition group," he said. "This is going to be very grassroots, a word-of-mouth type of thing."

Hlavin said the group will release a list of members next week that will show Protect Our Future-Macomb is a bipartisan group that includes some local elected officials.

The Macomb County Republican Party has formally announced its opposition to an executive, but as recently as early February it appeared that the county's pro-executive group might face no organized opposition campaign.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_PASSPORT_OFFICE_MIOL-?SITE=MIPON&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-03-01-08-19-37

Detroit

to get "

Gateway

City

" passport office

Mar 1, 8:19 AM EST

DETROIT

(AP) -- The U.S. Department of State plans to open a "

Gateway

City

" passport office in

Detroit

.

The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press report plans for the emergency passport agency were announced Friday.

Ann Barrett, deputy assistant secretary for passport services at the State Department, says similar offices are planned for

Dallas

and

Minneapolis

.

Barrett says the new

Detroit

office will mean

U.S.

citizens who need a passport for emergency travel will no longer have to go to

Chicago

to get one.

The office is to open by October in downtown

Detroit

. The city was chosen because of its proximity to

Canada

's border, its size and demand.

NATIONAL STORIES

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8777.html

Texas

may be Huckabee's last stand

By: Jonathan Martin

Mar 1, 2008 07:33 AM EST

With fewer delegates still available than what he would need to reach 1,191, Mike Huckabee intends to fight on. 

WACO

,

Texas

— Both in public and in private, Mike Huckabee’s advisers have intimated that

Texas

would be his last stand. Yet Huckabee appears intent on going forward, regardless of what happens here. Campaigning in

Texas

ahead of Tuesday’s primary, Mike Huckabee has taken to wrapping himself in the

Lone

Star

State

’s most fabled tale of grit: the brave but ill-fated defense of the

Alamo

. Addressing a rally here, a straight shot up Interstate 35 from

San Antonio

’s shrine, Huckabee even paraphrased William Barret Travis’s famous letter from the besieged garrison, requesting aid but promising to battle unto the death like a good soldier.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/117839

McCain and the Oath

He has not been bashful about advising the Supreme Court. He should weigh in again, against aspects of McCain-Feingold.

Mar 10, 2008 Issue

John McCain aspires to take the presidential oath to "preserve, protect and defend, the Constitution," but some of his actions have raised doubts about whether he would do that. Two controversies, one now before the Supreme Court and the other perhaps headed there, raise questions pertinent to his grasp of constitutional values.  One case challenges the "millionaires' amendment" to the McCain-Feingold legislation that rations political speech by restricting the financing, content and timing of it. The other case concerns the right of SpeechNow.org to speak freely against people like McCain. If he still supports the former and does not support the latter, he should not take that oath.  McCain-Feingold's purported purpose is to combat corruption or the appearance thereof. The Supreme Court has said that it will be deferential to the legislative branch if but only if the restrictions it puts on political activity have the purpose of preventing corruption.

The millionaires' amendment, however, obviously has nothing to do with preventing corruption. Its patent purpose is to assuage the legislators' dread of self-financing opponents. It says:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/throw_out_the_maps_in_2008.html

Throw Out the Maps in 2008

By Michael Barone

March 01, 2008

It's time to throw out that old map with the red states and blue states. The map that implies that all but a handful of states will definitely vote Republican or Democratic and that the real contest will be decided in

Florida

or

Ohio

or whatever. For a time, the map served its purpose. Only three states changed parties between the 2000 and the 2004 presidential elections, and the average change in percentage margin in those states was only 1.5 percent. But such hugely static political patterns are the exception rather than the rule in our history. The last two presidential elections whose results so closely resembled each other were 1952 and 1956, when the two parties nominated the same candidates and only four states' results were different. In 2000 and 2004, the Republicans nominated the same man and the Democrats nominated men with similar personas and similar places on the political spectrum. This year, it's different. The Republicans will nominate John McCain, and the Democrats seem 95 percent certain to nominate Barack Obama. There are important differences between them and their parties' previous nominees. Many votes that went Democratic in 2000 and 2004 are available to McCain. Many votes that went Republican in 2000 and 2004 are available to Obama. And many of the new voters surging into the electorate may be available to both candidates.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8V53EVO1&show_article=1&catnum=3

Clinton

Focuses on Boosting Turnout

Mar 2 12:10 AM US/Eastern

By MIKE GLOVER

Associated Press Writer

SAN ANTONIO

(AP) - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton turned her attention Saturday to the mechanics of delivering voters to the polls in a round of primaries Tuesday that could hold the key to the future of her presidential ambitions.

Clinton

also sharpened her criticism of rival Barack Obama, hoping to give her backers a jolt of energy. "His entire campaign is based on a speech he gave at an anti-war rally in 2002,"

Clinton

told reporters aboard her campaign plane as she flew between events in

San Antonio

and

Fort Worth

,

Texas

. "The speech was not followed up by action, which is part of a pattern that we have seen repeatedly." It was the second day she has made national security the focus of her closing argument to voters, seeking to portray Obama as inexperienced and untested. Obama fired back at rally in

Providence

,

R.I.

, telling supporters: "Real change isn't voting for George Bush's war in

Iraq

and then telling the American people it was actually a vote for more diplomacy when you start running for president."  

Clinton

was racing between key primary states, opening in

Texas

and moving to

Ohio

, both seen as competitive contests with Obama.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/2008/view.bg?articleid=1077029

In twisting Democratic race, once-unstoppable

Clinton

struggles to overcome Obamania

By Associated Press

Saturday, March 1, 2008

WASHINGTON

- A year ago, Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-Inevitable, was joshing about whether she could appoint her husband secretary of state when she became president, and Barack Obama was urging a throng to be realistic about his own chances. "Let’s face it," he said. "The novelty’s going to wear off."  But a funny thing happened on the way to the

Clinton

coronation.  The Democratic presidential race took so many twists that close observers might have needed a chiropractor to follow it. And now

Clinton

, once the instant favorite in a crowded field of candidates, is struggling to overcome a daunting wave of Obamania. "There’s a problem with inevitability," said Dick Harpootlian, a former

South Carolina

party chairman who supports Obama. "It rarely proves to be true."

When Clinton joined the race in January 2007 with a cozy Webcast from her living room couch, the notion of a former first lady-turned-senator running to be the first female president was so new, so different, she quickly eclipsed rival candidates such as Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson, all seasoned politicians with solid credentials.

"I’m in to win,"

Clinton

proclaimed. And she had the money to back up her bravado.

"I don’t think anyone can stop her," John Catsimatidis, a

New York

businessman and member of

Clinton

’s finance team, trumpeted in February 2007. "She’s unstoppable; she’s got such a machine." 

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/2008/view.bg?articleid=1076970

Hill’s new ad has fans, foes

By Jessica Heslam

Saturday, March 1, 2008 - Updated 22h ago

A provocative, last-ditch political TV ad in

Texas

by Hillary Clinton’s campaign has created a stir, but her

Massachusetts

supporters are defending it, saying it bolsters her rallying cry that she’s the most experienced Democratic candidate.  “What she’s really trying to explain to people and what she has tried to do in all the debates - (is show) that she is the one who is most prepared,” said Diane Saxe, a Democratic superdelegate.

The 30-second spot began airing yesterday in

Texas

, just days before Tuesday’s primary. It begins with a shot of a suburban home at night. Sleeping children and a baby, tucked in their beds, appear to the ringing of a telephone.  “It’s 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. But there’s a phone in the White House and it’s ringing,” says a male voice.

“Your vote will decide who answers that call, whether it’s someone who already knows the world’s leaders, knows the military, someone tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world.”  During the spot, a concerned mother opens a bedroom door to check on her child. It ends with the narrator asking, “Who do you want answering the phone?” and shows

Clinton

, wearing glasses, answering the phone.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080302/NATION/218635971/1001

Clinton

calls

Ohio

,

Texas

must-wins

By

S.A.

Miller and Christina Bellantoni

March 2, 2008

FORT WORTH

,

Texas

— Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday that she would "have to win" on Tuesday as the Democratic presidential campaigns revved up their get-out-the-vote efforts on the frenzied days before the big primaries in

Texas

and

Ohio

.

The

New York

senator and Sen. Barack Obama of

Illinois

also exchanged a barrage of criticisms, particularly on trade, while Mrs. Clinton, speaking at a fundraising event in

San Antonio

, acknowledged the high stakes of the upcoming vote, in which she needs to break an 11-state contest losing streak.  "We have to win on Tuesday," she said. "That's not a surprise to any of you. And we are going to win on Tuesday."  In a speech in Providence, R.I., Mr. Obama accused Mrs. Clinton of pandering to voters, including reversing her position on the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is unpopular in Ohio and blamed for some of the state's widespread job losses.  "If we want real change, we need leaders in

Washington

who say what they mean and mean what they say," he said.  "Real change isn't about changing your position to fit the politics of the moment. And that's the choice in this election," he said, accusing Mrs. Clinton of double talk, including the promise of stopping job losses to globalization while backing free-trade deals and saying she would stand up to lobbyists and special interests but then taking their money, and voting for the Iraq war but then saying it was a vote for diplomacy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/magazine/02wwln-lede-t.html?ref=magazine

The Emerging Minority

By JAMES TRAUB

Published: March 2, 2008

Barack Obama, who does not have too many problems nowadays, does have a Hispanic problem. In

Nevada

, the first state with a large Latino population to hold a primary, Hillary Rodham Clinton won 64 percent of the Hispanic vote and Obama only 26 percent. By the time of the Super Tuesday primaries on Feb. 5, Obama had apparently picked up many of John Edwards’s Hispanic votes, but

Clinton

still held her own, 63 percent to Obama’s 35 percent. With her back now against the wall,

Clinton

is counting on Hispanics to carry her to victory in

Texas

this Tuesday and thus preserve her electoral viability.  It comes as no surprise that black voters prefer Obama or that women prefer

Clinton

. But why have Hispanic voters chosen

Clinton

by about the same margin that women have? The two candidates have similar positions on immigration, poverty, English-language teaching and the like. Experts in Hispanic politics tend to ascribe her lead to the years she spent cultivating the Hispanic community, to her heavy advertising on Spanish-language media, to a deep reservoir of fondness for her husband and to Obama’s relative neglect of this constituency, at least until recently. At the same time, shouldn’t the politics of identity dictate that Hispanic voters would broadly prefer a black man to a white woman?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/8781.html

Obama slow to gain among Catholics

By: David Mark

Mar 1, 2008 05:30 PM EST

One potentially critical set of voters remains stubbornly resistant to Obama's appeal—Catholics. Barack Obama’s 11 straight Democratic primary and caucus victories have been marked by continued and impressive gains among women, lower-income workers, Hispanics and virtually every other demographic group. Yet one potentially critical set of voters remains stubbornly resistant to his appeal—Catholics. In state after state, with only a few exceptions, exit polling shows Hillary Rodham Clinton is the choice of Catholic voters.

Clinton

even defeated Obama among Catholics in his home state of

Illinois

. It seems the more Catholic the state, the more likely she is to have won it.

While Obama has closed the once-gaping gap during his post-Super Tuesday string of wins, even in victory he has underperformed among Catholics. In

Virginia

, where he won the state 64 percent to 35 percent, he won only 52 percent among Catholics. In

Maryland

, where he won 60 percent to 37 percent, he nevertheless lost the Catholic vote, 48 percent to 45 percent.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/more_evidence_of_obamas_bipart.html

Obama: A Thin Record For a Bridge Builder

By David Ignatius

March 02, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton has been trying to make a point about Barack Obama that deserves one last careful look before Tuesday's probably decisive Democratic primaries: If Obama truly intends to unite America across party lines and break the Washington logjam, then why has he shown so little interest or aptitude for the hard work of bipartisan government?  This is the real "where's the beef?" question about Obama, and it still doesn't have a good answer. He gives a great speech, and he promises that he can heal the terrible partisan divisions that have enfeebled American politics over the past decade. And this is a message of hope that the country clearly wants to hear. But can he do it? The record is mixed, but it's fair to say that Obama has not shown much willingness to take risks or make enemies to try to restore a working center in

Washington

.

Clinton

, for all her reputation as a divisive figure, has a much stronger record of bipartisan achievement. And the likely Republican nominee, John McCain, has a better record still.  Obama's argument is that he can mobilize a new coalition that will embrace his proclamation that "yes, we can" break out of the straitjacket. But for voters to feel confident that he can achieve this transformation should he become president, they would need evidence that he has fought and won similar battles in the past. The record here, to put it mildly, is thin.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/us/politics/02primary.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Obama Spends Heavily to Seek Knockout Blow

COLUMBUS

,

Ohio

— Taking advantage of his financial edge, Senator Barack Obama is buying large amounts of advertising and building extensive get-out-the-vote operations in an effort to end Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s candidacy with twin defeats Tuesday in

Ohio

and

Texas

. The intensity of Mr. Obama’s drive is especially apparent on television, where he has outspent Mrs. Clinton by nearly two to one in the two states. That is helping him eat deeply into double-digit leads she held in polls just weeks ago.

But after a month in which she raised $32 million — a remarkable amount, but still less than the $50 million or more brought in by Mr. Obama — Mrs. Clinton is fighting back.

The expenditures of the two Democratic presidential candidates, combined with a travel schedule that sent them and their surrogates from border to border in

Texas

and

Ohio

, reflect the expectation that the voting this week may be climactic. Mrs. Clinton’s advisers have suggested that she will bow out of the race if she falters in either state, after 11 straight losses.  Their face-offs are not just on television. Mr. Obama, of

Illinois

, has a town-hall-style meeting Sunday afternoon in

Westerville

,

Ohio

. Mrs. Clinton, of

New York

, just announced one there, too. Mr. Obama will be at

Westerville

Central

High School

, Mrs. Clinton at

Westerville

North

High School

.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/01/AR2008030101720.html?hpid=topnews

In Tuesday's Contests, a Party Divided

By Eli Saslow

Washington

Post Staff Writer

Sunday, March 2, 2008; Page A01

BROWNSVILLE, Tex. -- State Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. pulled into the parking lot at Rudy's "Country Store" and Bar-B-Q one day last week in an old pickup truck worn by 237,000 miles. He winced as he stepped down from the driver's seat, evidence of two heart attacks and a recent hernia surgery. Doctors had ordered him to stay home, but he refused to watch Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's

Texas

campaign deteriorate from his couch. Lucio, 62, planned to use his influence across the

Rio Grande

Valley

to save her. State Rep. Eddie Lucio III, 29, arrived in a new Saab compact with a Barack Obama bumper sticker on the rear window. A few months ago, when he applied the decal, friends heckled him. His endorsement of Obama alienated some constituents in a Latino district thick with

Clinton

loyalists. Career suicide, some colleagues called it. Now, Lucio hoped to prove his instincts right. Father and son had met here at Rudy's for dozens of meals, but as they ate smoked brisket and casually talked about their respective candidates last week, the Lucios struggled with an uncomfortable new divide. "I admire Eddie's optimism, but it's a little naive," the father said. "Ah, come on," Big Ed -- as his father calls him -- joked. "The world is just passing you by." A generational rift defines the Democratic race among Latinos in the

Rio Grande

Valley

, where

Clinton

once enjoyed almost complete support. Obama introduced himself here two weeks ago, and he has since generated enough momentum with young voters to threaten

Clinton

's Latino support base. Polls indicate that

Clinton

's lead has evaporated in

Texas

, a state that her husband has said she must win Tuesday.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25280

How about some campaign talk about education?

by Star Parker

Posted: 03/01/2008

 

A new study shows the central importance of education in getting ahead in our country today.  In today's knowledge-driven economy, advanced education is essential. Plus, the economic returns on an advanced degree and the penalties for lack of it keep increasing.

According to the study, "Education and Economic Mobility," by Brookings Institution scholar Ron Haskins, the inflation-adjusted median family income for adults ages 30-39 with a graduate degree was 80 percent higher in 2006 than in 1964. For those with a four-year college degree, almost 60 percent higher. But incomes for those with a high-school education or less have remained virtually unchanged over the same period.  Stated otherwise, the gap in real family income between adults with a graduate degree and those with only a high-school diploma is four times greater today than 40 years ago.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/819quqzg.asp

William F. Buckley Jr.,

1925-2008

What he fought for.

by William Kristol

03/10/2008, Volume 013, Issue 25

Here's one measure of the man and the scope of his achievement: No serious historian will be able to write about 20th-century

America

without discussing Bill Buckley. Before Buckley, there was no conservative movement. After Buckley, there was Ronald Reagan. Reagan was the most important American political figure of the latter half of the 20th century. No one was more central to his emergence and success than Bill Buckley.

It was not just a happy coincidence that Buckley, in the course of promoting conservatism, also helped his country. It's true that he saw in conservatism a set of doctrines that transcended any one nation, or any one time, and that approached the status of political, even metaphysical, truths. But Buckley wasn't embarrassed to view his conservatism as being in the service of his patriotism, and to see in the conservative movement a means of defending our country and of defending freedom. Indeed, because of the debilities of postwar liberalism, conservatism had to take as its task the defense of Western civilization itself. And so it did.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/01/AR2008030101862.html?hpid=topnews

Businesses Tightening Their Belts

Cost-Cutting Could Slow Economy More

By Neil Irwin and Zachary A. Goldfarb

Washington

Post Staff Writers

Sunday, March 2, 2008

U.S.

businesses are holding off on hiring, delaying new investments and trimming expenses, creating a new threat to the nation's economy. Corporate

America

is reacting to a pullback by consumers and the crisis in the financial system. Businesses are acting defensively, seeking to avoid the massive layoffs and dramatic falloff in profits like those in 2001, when they were in less sound financial shape. Innovative Business Interiors, a

Silver Spring

furniture company, for example, is putting off replacing a nine-year-old sport-utility vehicle. A Floral Affair, a

Woodbridge

florist and wedding planner, has cut back its inventory of flowers. And SLM Holdings, a

Long Island

, N.Y., firm that sells software to financial advisers, has turned its salespeople and other staff into independent contractors who work remotely -- and can be easily dismissed if business turns down.

The cutbacks are large and small, but it is the cumulative effect that has economists worried. Business belt-tightening is likely to create an additional drag on the economy, contributing to the period of slow growth that economists almost uniformly expect and to the recession that some fear.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/01/AR2008030101554.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Danish Prime Minister Visits Bush Ranch, Pushes for Global Pact on Climate Change

By Michael Abramowitz and Steven Mufson

Washington

Post Staff Writers

Sunday, March 2, 2008; Page A05

CRAWFORD,

Tex.

, March 1 -- The Danish prime minister, the host of the next big international meeting on climate change, used unusual one-on-one time Saturday with President Bush to press the

United States

to take a greater leadership role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In an interview and in remarks while visiting Bush at his ranch here for a weekend of bike riding and casual dining, Anders Fogh Rasmussen indicated hopes of reaching a new agreement at Copenhagen next year to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol with a plan that would set a target for reducing greenhouse gases and create a new global trading system for carbon emissions. "We need a comprehensive global agreement, and American leadership is needed to reach that goal, and American leadership is crucial in order to motivate major economies like

India

and

China

to contribute," Rasmussen said after private talks with Bush and top aides. In his public remarks, Bush was noncommittal, other than to cite the need to develop alternative energy technologies. But an administration spokesman said the president assured Rasmussen in private of his interest in reaching a global warming deal, including binding targets for reductions in emissions -- as long as it includes steps by China, India and other developing countries, as well as flexibility in how countries meet the targets.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080302/NATION/614461865/1001

Bush seeks more NATO troops in

Afghanistan

By Jon Ward

President Bush yesterday called on European nations that are part of the NATO-led mission in

Afghanistan

to place more troops in major combat areas, and said he will push for commitments on that at a summit next month in

Romania

.

"We expect people to carry a heavy burden if they are going to be in

Afghanistan

," Mr. Bush said, during a press conference at his ranch in

Crawford

,

Texas

, with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. 

Afghanistan

will be a primary issue at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit, planned for April 2-4 in

Bucharest

.

"I am going to go to

Bucharest

with the notion that we're thankful for the contributions being made, and encourage people to contribute more," Mr. Bush said.

About 28,000

U.S.

troops in

Afghanistan

, along with soldiers from a few other nations, are bearing the brunt of heavy fighting in

Afghanistan

's southern and eastern region. Mr. Bush is sending 3,200 more Marines to

Afghanistan

this spring.

Meanwhile, some of the largest European countries have been reluctant to place their soldiers in harm's way.  There are about 28,000 non-U.S. troops under NATO command in

Afghanistan

.  Mr. Rasmussen agreed yesterday that "we need more troops in

Afghanistan

" and cited

Denmark

's 50 percent increase last fall to a force of almost 800 soldiers, mostly in southern

Afghanistan

, as evidence that his country already has stepped forward.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080302035401.49iahdpn&show_article=1&catnum=3

US, South Korean troops kicks off massive joint drill 

Mar 1 10:54 PM US/Eastern

Tens of thousands of US and South Korean military troops on Sunday kicked off a massive drill which

North Korea

has condemned as provocative and aggressive, officials said.

US

aircraft carrier Nimitz has been deployed off the Korean peninsula and about 27,000 American troops would taking part in the week-long "Key Resolve" exercise, a spokesman for

US

troops in

South Korea

said. A Joint Chief of Staff spokesman said "a significant portion" of

South Korea

's 680,000 troops were participating in the exercise, due to last until Friday, though

Seoul

disclosed no exact figures. The US-South Korean manoeuvres came as international efforts to dismantle

North Kora

's nuclear weapons programmes were in a stalemate.

North Korea

reacted angrily, with

Pyongyang

's cabinet-published newspaper Minju Joson Saturday denouncing the drill as preparing "a war of aggression" against the communist state.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/01/AR2008030101723.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=new

In Search for Peace, a Shrinking White House Role

By Glenn Kessler

Washington

Post Staff Writer

Sunday, March 2, 2008; Page A16

When Palestinians broke through the barrier dividing the Gaza Strip and

Egypt

in January and streamed across the border by the tens of thousands, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak faced a moment of crisis. His phone soon rang, but the world leader offering help on the other end was not President Bush -- it was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mubarak took the call, resulting in the first such contact between leaders of the two nations since relations were severed nearly three decades ago.   The conversation signaled a growing rapprochement between

Egypt

, which receives nearly $2 billion in annual aid from

Washington

, and

Iran

, a country that the Bush administration has tried to isolate as a possible threat to

U.S.

interests in the region. As

Secretary

of State Condoleezza Rice heads back to the Middle East this week, three months after Bush hosted a peace conference bringing together Israelis and Arabs in Annapolis, prospects for peace have shifted dramatically. There has been little clear movement in peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, while the Iranian-backed militant group Hamas has shown increasingly that it can set the region's agenda.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080302/FOREIGN/702550681/1001

Gaza

siege halts peace talks