Maverick Fails The Test: McCain Votes Against Waterboarding Ban  —  Today, the Senate brought the Intelligence Authorization Bill to the floor, containing a provision from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that establishes one interrogation standard, requiring the intelligence community to abide …

Obama ‘Takes It Down a Notch’  —  ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: After touring a General Motors plant in Janesville, Wisconsin, Sen. Barack Obama delivered a speech on the economy that he said is on the “brink of a recession.”  —  The senator told GM workers to bear with him as he gave a more policy oriented speech.

ON DEADLINE: Chickens Come Home to Roost  —  For years, Bill and Hillary Clinton treated the Democratic National Committee and party activists as extensions of their White House ambitions, pawns in a game of success and survival.  She may pay a high price for their selfishness soon.

Conyers Introduces Contempt Resolution, Call for Lawsuit against White House  —  As expected, things are finally moving forward in the House today to bring contempt resolutions against White House officials for ignoring Congressional subpoenas as part of the U.S. attorney firings investigation.

Edwards Weighs Clinton Endorsement  —  Former Candidate Torn Between Clinton and Obama in Democratic Race  —  As he weighs a possible endorsement in the Democratic race, former Sen. John Edwards is as split as the party he once hoped to lead — and is seriously considering supporting …

Mohammed cartoon reprint: Show your solidarity  —  Two years ago, the Mohammed cartoon conflagration consumed the world and the blogosphere helped lead the way in fighting back.  Longtime readers will remember that this site hammered the issue in support of Denmark.

Was there a Housing Bubble?  —  The conventional wisdom is that there was a housing bubble which has now popped.  The data, however, tell a different story.  Remember, that the evidence for the bubble was that real house prices had increased tremendously since around 1997 leading to prices …

Inside Iraqi politics - Part 3.  Examining the legislative branch  —  The first two installments of The Long War Journal's series on Iraqi politics examined the structure, challenges, and progress of the executive branch.  This installment looks at the legislative branch.

Obama's Wiretap Votes  —  Now and then sanity prevails, even in Washington.  So it did yesterday as the Senate passed a warrantless wiretap bill for overseas terrorists while killing most of the Lilliputian attempts to tie down our war fighters.  —  “We lost every single battle we had on this bill …

Jewish Rep. Cohen Battles Antisemitism and Racism In Re-Election  —  If you thought race was an uncomfortable issue in the Democratic presidential primary, wait 'til you get a load of what's going on in the Democratic primary in the Memphis area's 9th District of Tennessee …

An Obama spin win  —  A Democratic operative notes a bit of a victory in the spin wars:  —  The news organizations counting and referring to the delegate count have started much more clearly breaking out the pledged delegates from the superdelegates, and referring to the pledged delegates as a key metric.

A Master Terrorist Is Killed  —  According to multiple press accounts, Iran's and Hezbollah's master terrorist, Imad Mugniyah, is dead.  He was reportedly killed by a car bomb in Damascus last night.  Hezbollah is claiming that he was killed by the Israelis.

Gallup Daily: Tracking Election 2008  —  Based on polling conducted February 10-12, 2008  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama remain locked in a statistical tie among Democrats nationally for the Democratic presidential nomination.  —  In Gallup Poll Daily tracking conducted …

50 means 50, and far from over  —  I'd like to take my friend Markos at his word, that Obama is running a 50-state strategy.  As a fellow 50-state propagandist, I would expect that he shares the opinion that it applies not just to a presidential campaign, but also to the presidential nomination.

Court strikes down Texas ban on sex toys  —  Federal appeals court says law violates right to privacy.  —  A federal appeals court has struck down a seldom-enforced Texas law making it a crime to promote or sell sex toys.  —  The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruling in a case originally filed …