UPDATE: Maureen Dowd Column Incites Hillary-Obama War of Words  —  NEW YORK Maureen Dowd's column in The New York Times today, in which she quoted former Bill Clinton supporter David Geffen offering a few caustic comments, has incited a strong Hillary Clinton campaign attack on Geffen …

Militants Using Chemical Bombs in Iraq  —  For the third time in a month, insurgents deployed a new and deadly tactic against Iraqi civilians today: A chemical bomb combining explosives with poisonous chlorine gas.  —  A pickup truck carrying canisters of the gas, which burns the skin …

Arguing from ignorance  —  Paul Campos has beclowned himself.  He did it in the usual way, by arguing loudly about things he does not understand.  —  Campos chose to devote an entire column ("The right's Ward Churchill," Feb. 20) to a blog entry of mine from last week …

Tell Democrats to Freeze Out Fox News  —  The Nevada Democratic Party is working with Fox News Channel to host a debate with all the Democratic Party presidential candidates in August.  This is, to put it mildly, insane.  Fox News is a partisan Republican propaganda outlet, not a news station …

WHY I VOTED FOR CAROL SHEA-PORTER THIS MORNING  —  Today Russ Feingold started up his Pick A Progressive Patriot Campaign again.  It's a great idea and helps grassroots Democrats get acquainted with our representatives.  The winner will get $5,000 from Russ' PAC.

Ted Wells, Center Of the Defense  —  Scooter Libby's Attorney Makes His Case for the Powerful  —  For most of the month-long trial, Ted Wells, Scooter Libby's high-priced attorney, had been all smiles.  He laughed.  He shared light moments with the judge, the jury and with his opponent, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald.

February 21, 2007 - Giuliani Tops Clinton In 2008 Presidential Race, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Republican Runs Strong In Red, Blue And Purple States  —  Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani leads Sen. Hillary Clinton 48 - 43 percent among American voters …

Liveblogging the Carson City AFSCME Forum  —  In the interest of as clear disclosure as possible, my trip to Nevada has been sponsored by AFSCME.  —  I'm now in the Carson City Community Center for the first Democratic presidential forum ahead of the Nevada caucuses.

Blair to Draw Down British Troops  —  Tony Blair is taking 1600 troops out of Basra in the next few months and will aim to be down to only 3,000 or so (from 7,100 now) by the end of the year.  Denmark is also going home.  —  This is a rout, there should be no mistake.

Worship of Incumbency  —  Joe Klein's just trolling at this point, so no linky for him, but I've been long fascinated by the elite consensus that there's something distasteful about running primary challengers against incumbents.  Certainly primary challenges can be strategically stupid …

Poll: Hollywood And Politics  —  (CBS) Arnold Schwarzenegger just started a second term as the governor of California, and you can find a whole lot of people who think Oprah Winfrey should run for president.  But the American public is divided on whether Hollywood celebrities should be involved in politics, a new CBS News poll finds.