More on Romney Religion Speech  —  The venue is not a surprise, since Romney has given a previous major address (on defense policy) at the Bush library, and the two families are very close.  And Texas, of course, was also the venue for John F. Kennedy's famous speech on religion in 1960 …

Doing the Marxist Slide— Venezuela Votes on Chavista Rule... Update: CHAVEZ WINS!... Update 2: Maybe Not?  —  CHAVEZ WINS!!!  (4:30 PM CST)  —  Aljazeera reports: … Reuters reports that "Government Sources" have confirmed that Chavez has won.  —  Sky News and China News are reporting the win for Chavez.

And now for some shoddy war reporting...from an NRO milblogger  —  Ugh.  This is bad on many levels.  W. Thomas Smith, Jr., a former Marine and milblogger who writes at National Review Online's The Tank (and whose work in Iraq I've praised and linked to here), posts a long-winded defense of bogus …

Jay Leno turns traitor: Fires his writers  —  I guess passing out some donuts while wearing his Republican lapel pin to striking writers was as far he was willing to go.  What a putz. … Bob Cesca says:

Jeb'd  —  state of Florida. … Don't know if Siedle has information or if he's just making a guess, but I too suspect that the last gasp of Big S**tpile involved finding marks in state and local governments.

An Attack, From the Candidate's Mouth  —  CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - At a news conference here just now, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton expanded her attacks on Senator Barack Obama by suggesting that he has a character issue because of his assertions that his health insurance plan covers all Americans …

TRYST FUND 'SICKENS' EX-OFFICIAL  —  A former Giuliani administration official says he's "sick" over reports that his little-known agency was used to hide taxpayer money that funded police escorts during the ex-mayor's romantic rendezvous in the Hamptons.  —  "The cover-up of this and the explanations …

A loss for civilisation  —  ACCORDING to my Oz-watching pals in Britain and the US, John Howard is not a failure but a victim of his own success.  He made Australia safe for the Labor Party: or, at any rate, safe enough that a sufficient number of bored electors were willing to take a flier …

Bagpipes a threat to the environment (and we're not talking noise pollution)  —  THEY were once outlawed for being used as seditious weapons of war.  Now, bagpipes have been blasted as an environmental menace.  —  Over-intensive logging means that the African wood used to make Scotland's national instrument faces being wiped out.

DCCC spends $148K for negative campaign ad  —  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has purchased over $148,000 in television air time in Ohio for a negative campaign advertisement in next week's special election to replace the late Rep. Paul Gillmor (R-Ohio) …

Memo to Obama: win Iowa or lose the race  —  Not that you have asked for advice, but here it is anyway: Iowa is your chance to best her.  If you do not do it there, odds are you never will anywhere.  You are way behind her in most national polls.  The only way to change that is to beat …

Prognosis: Rudy and the records  —  Predictably, Ben's story about Rudy's security billing got considerable play on the Sunday shows.  —  But whether it lives past today remains an open question.  Let's look at both sides.  —  In support of Argument A, that it does: