Racial tensions roil Democratic race  —  A series of comments from Senator Hillary Clinton, her husband, and her supporters are spurring a racial backlash and adding a divisive edge to the presidential primary as the candidates head south to heavily African-American South Carolina.

Let's have some fun in Michigan  —  In 1972, Republican voters in Michigan decided to make a little mischief, crossing over to vote in the open Democratic primary and voting for segregationist Democrat George Wallace, seriously embarrassing the state's Democrats.

THE AD MS. MAGAZINE REFUSED TO RUN:  —  The message, I take it, is pretty clear — “Feminists should like the way women are treated in Israeli life,” coupled with the pretty strong implication of “... and look how favorably it compares on this score to Israel's enemies.”

John Edwards is a loser.  He has won exactly two elections in his life and lost 31.  Only one of his wins and all of his losses were in presidential primaries and caucuses.  He remains perfectly positioned to continue to lose with a Kucinich-like consistency.  Nothing but egomania keeps Edwards in the race now.

Does Chris Matthews have a problem with women?  —  Using overtly sexist language, he has referred to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) as a “she devil” and compared her to a “strip-teaser."  He has called her “witchy” and likened her voice to “fingernails on a blackboard.”

HUMAN EVENTS Endorses Fred Thompson  —  The 2008 presidential election is the most unusual and most important in many years.  It's been more than five decades since such a race didn't feature an incumbent President or Vice President.  Since World War II, America has not had a presidential election …

LAS VEGAS STOP: Clinton pitch hits home  —  Democratic hopeful goes door to door  —  People in the Las Vegas neighborhood saw all the cameras and trucks and buses and police on the streets Thursday, and they began to trickle out of their houses to find out what was going on.

“We're all fascists now”  —  Jonah Goldberg is not a popular man among liberals.  The son of Lucianne Goldberg, the literary agent who played a pivotal role in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, he already had that as a strike against him when he began his career as a conservative political commentator in the late 1990s.

Ricks: Baghdad Only Seems ‘Peaceful’ Because 2006 Was ‘Pure Hell’  —  Discussing the one-year anniversary of President Bush's call for the “surge” on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night, Washington Post Pentagon reporter Thomas Ricks said that, “judged on the terms …

HOW TO PREVENT A NAVAL WAR WITH IRAN.  —  Just how serious was the half-hour standoff Sunday morning between three American warships and five Iranian speed boats in the Strait of Hormuz?  Did we come close to war?  Was there any provocation?  Was the Pentagon's version of events, as the Iranians claim, a fake?

Are We All Democrats Now?  —  Peace and prosperity are age-old winning campaign issues.  Reduced marginal tax rates have stood the test of time.  They are an effective economic stimulant, creating permanent incentives to work and invest and sufficient fire power to expand the economy's long-run potential to grow.

MIRROR, MIRROR, ON THE WALL, WHO'S THE BIGGEST PANDERER OF ALL?....Mike Huckabee currently has the loopiest tax proposal on the table, a 30% national sales tax that he supports because he read a book about it once and thought it sounded kinda neat.  It's unworkable, hugely regressive …

Snow falls on Baghdad for first time in memory  —  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Snow fell on Baghdad on Friday for the first time in memory, and delighted residents declared it an omen of peace.  —  “It is the first time we've seen snow in Baghdad,” said 60-year-old Hassan Zahar.  “We've seen sleet before, but never snow.