Obama Unplugged  —  Lost without a Teleprompter.  —  USUALLY WHEN BARACK OBAMA gives a major speech, the overdone hosannas from the liberal commentariat follow as surely as night follows day.  The American Prospect's Ezra Klein wrote of Obama's post-Iowa victory speech, “I've been blessed to hear many great orations.

Amnesty Day for Bush and lawbreaking telecoms  —  (updated below - Update II)  —  The Senate today — led by Jay Rockefeller, enabled by Harry Reid, and with the active support of at least 12 (and probably more) Democrats, in conjunction with an as-always lockstep GOP caucus …

Voting begins in battle for the Potomac  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama heads into Tuesday's so-called Potomac primaries looking to sustain the momentum he mustered in his sweep of five Democratic contests last weekend.  —  The demographics in Virginia, Maryland and the District …

John McCain's Top 24 Potential Picks For Vice-President  —  Predicting whom a particular candidate will take as Vice-President is always difficult because so many factors play into it.  Do both candidates get along?  Is the presidential nominee looking to carry a particular state, region …

When Reality Bites  —  There's a big difference between the Republican and Democratic campaigns: The Republicans have split on policy grounds; the Democrats haven't.  There's been a Republican divide between center and right, yet no Democratic divide between center and left.

Outside the Beltway and Off the Rails  —  James Joyner is rushing to do damage control for Barack Obama: Obama Che Guevara Flag ‘Scandal’.  He takes particular exception to an “insinuation” (his word) he says I made: … “Loyalty oath?”  Where the hell does that come from?

McCain still winner after caucus count  —  After a day of heated rhetoric over alleged irregularities in the state Republican precinct caucuses and continuing complaints from presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's campaign, state Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser late Monday night released updated numbers …

Mortgage Crisis Spreads Past Subprime Loans  —  The credit crisis is no longer just a subprime mortgage problem.  —  As home prices fall and banks tighten lending standards, people with good, or prime, credit histories are falling behind on their payments for home loans …

8 Questions the Potomac Primary Could Answer  —  1) Will a Sweep by Obama Make Him the Front-Runner?  —  Victories in Maryland, Virginia and the District would give Barack Obama a narrow but undisputed lead among pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

Palestinians Ask U.S. To Intervene in Suits Over Terrorist Attacks  —  The State Department is considering supporting the Palestinian Authority in its quest to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments won by American victims of Palestinian terrorist attacks in Israel …

Go with the tough guy  —  The new ‘axis of evil’ doesn't fear the U.S. McCain could change that.  —  Some conservatives are having conniptions over the rise of John McCain as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.  Personally, I am less interested in what Rush Limbaugh …

EVEN HIS ENDORSEMENT IS A SNOOZER  —  Did you hear?  Fred Thompson endorsed John McCain.  —  Don't worry.  No one else heard either.

There is No Such Thing as the Texas Primary Part II: Delegate Projections  —  Previously we examined delegate allocation and the caucus process in Texas.  The short version is that:  — Texas has 193 pledged delegates, as well as 35 unpledged delegates  — The Statewide Primary vote …

McCain and the Talk-Show Hosts  —  What a kerfuffle!  Half a dozen talk-radio hosts whose major talent is that, like hairdressers, they can talk all day long to one client after another as they snip, have decided that the presumptive Republican nominee does not hew sufficiently close to their gospel.

The German Way of War  —  The Greatest Battle  —  Stalin, Hitler, and the Desperate Struggle for Moscow that Changed the Course of World War II  —  Moscow 1941  —  Absolute War  —  THERE IS A GERMAN WAY OF WAR.  —  Its distinctive characteristic is the muster of overwhelming force and a rapid advance into enemy territory.

Senate OKs immunity for telecoms  —  WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Tuesday to shield from lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on their customers without court permission after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.  —  After nearly two months of stops and starts …