Obama and Edwards Meet in NC  —  CHICAGO (AP) — Barack Obama sneaked down to North Carolina Sunday and met with former rival John Edwards, who has yet to make an endorsement in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.  —  Officials at North Carolina television station WTVD …

BILL SPARS WITH OBAMA SUPPORTER  —  From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli  —  CANTON, OH — Robert Holeman came to Timken High School here today with a message to deliver to Bill Clinton.  He did — and he said the former president wasn't happy about it.  —  Clinton spoke to a capacity crowd …

Democrats Should Read Kipling  —  Browsing through a used-book store Friday — in the Milwaukee airport, of all places — I came across a 1981 paperback collection of George Orwell's essays.  That's how I happened to reread his 1942 essay on Rudyard Kipling.

Tanzania Welcomes Bush, but Obama Is Topic No. 1 on the Streets  —  DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — President Bush has been smothered with affection here, never more so than on Sunday, when he sat at a wooden desk under a sweltering sun with President Jakaya Kikwete by his side and signed a $698 million grant of foreign aid to Tanzania.

How Evangelical Leaders Blew It  —  Dan Gilgoff does a post-mortem on how the evangelical movement managed to allow John McCain to win the Republican Party nomination over two candidates more amenable to their cause.  Gilgoff focuses on their failure to back Romney, and makes it plain …

Obama's No-Win On Financing  —  A year ago, at the beginning of his bid to secure the clean-up-Washington mantle, Barack Obama made a pact with John McCain that, if the two were to be their party's nominees, each would accept public financing for the general election.

USDA Orders Largest Meat Recall in U.S. History  —  The Agriculture Department has ordered the largest meat recall in its history — 143 million pounds of beef, a California meatpacker's entire production for the past two years — because the company did not prevent ailing animals from entering …

For McCain, a Choice on a Role for Bush  —  WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain's campaign advisers will ask the White House to deploy President Bush for major Republican fund-raising, but they do not want the president to appear too often at his side, top aides to Mr. McCain said Sunday.

Why Torts Trumped Terrorism  —  A closed-door caucus of House Democrats last Wednesday took a risky political course.  By 4 to 1, they instructed Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call President Bush's bluff on extending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to continue eavesdropping on suspected foreign terrorists.

CNN LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER  —  Interview With Bobby Jindal  —  THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.  THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.  —  WOLF BLITZER, HOST: It's 11 a.m. in Washington, 10 a.m. here New Orleans, 7 p.m. in Baghdad.

System Worries Clinton Backers  —  Supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton are worried that convoluted delegate rules in Texas could water down the impact of strong support for her among Hispanic voters there, creating a new obstacle for her in the must-win presidential primary contest.

In Washington State Vote, Relevance Is an Issue  —  SEATTLE — As many as 1.5 million votes are projected to be cast in Washington State's presidential primary on Tuesday.  The question is whether they will count.  —  The state is obliged to tally the numbers, of course …

America's Three Worst Presidents  —  Presidents Day has taken a deep back seat these days on our holiday calendar to the point that not only do schools go on as scheduled, but so do many state and government offices.  This is not surprising in 2008, and many revel in it.

Poetic Political Commetary: Election (Under) Coverage  —  If you try really hard and know where to look, you can find the major presidential candidates' positions on important issues.  But you sure won't learn these things from what passes in this country for prime time election coverage...

The Dungeon of Fallujah  —  “This is not Norway here, and it is not Denmark.”  - Lebanese Forces militia leader Bashir Gemayel.  —  FALLUJAH - Next to the Joint Communications Center in downtown Fallujah is a squalid and war-shattered warehouse for human beings.  Most detainees are common criminals.