Obama plans major race speech tomorrow  —  Barack Obama will give a major speech on “the larger issue of race in this campaign,” he told reporters in Monaca, PA just now.  —  He was pressed there, as he has been at recent appearances, on statements by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

ON DEADLINE: Obama walks arrogance line  —  WASHINGTON - Arrogance is a common vice in presidential politics.  A person must be more than a little self-important to wake up one day and say, “I belong in the Oval Office.”  —  But there's a line smart politicians don't cross — somewhere between …

Florida gives up on re-vote  —  Florida Democratic chairwoman Karen Thurman sends out an angry email abandoning hope of a re-vote in the state: … This is a real setback for Hillary, who could have gotten both delegates, momentum, and — crucially — a stronger chance to claim a popular vote lead out of the revote.

The Clinton civil war  —  Al Giordano, on the laughable Clinton-supporters “strike” of this blog: … I would add one more item to the list above — this site has also been hostile to the corrosive consultant class that gave us our timid and weak party until Howard Dean shook it up in 2004.

WRIGHT: ISRAEL A “DIRTY WORD;” JOKES THAT BLACKS GET ALL QUIET AT MENTION OF ISRAEL  —  Scared to speak, he says.  —  Why?  Would that be anti-semitism that many left-indoctrinated blacks are reluctant to to express out loud?  —  Well, Obama's 20 year political ally and spiritual mentor encourages …

A Generalized Run on the Shadow Financial System  —  Since the onset of the liquidity and credit crunch last summer this column has been arguing that monetary policy would be impotent to address such a crunch because, in part, of the existence of a non-bank “shadow financial system”.

News from the Louisiana delegation in the nation's capital  —  Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has been mostly mum on the prostitution scandal that forced Democratic New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to announce his resignation last week.  But Vitter let down his guard a bit in a conference call with constituents.

Saudi wields British law against U.S. author  —  Billionaire leverages harsher libel rules to suppress unflattering book  —  NEW YORK - Rachel Ehrenfeld writes about terrorism for a living.  But now she is the one who feels targeted.  —  Her modest midtown Manhattan apartment is filled …

A Last Minute Hurdle Erected In Michigan?  —  The proposed primaru re-vote legislation in Michigan prevents those who've voted in the Republican primary from voting in the re-vote.  —  Fair enough, right?  —  But about 32% of the those who vote in the GOP primary, according to the exit polls, were Democrats or independents.