THE NEVADA CAUCUS: Poll: Nevada going to Clinton, Romney  —  Obama picks up no ground; Giuliani fades  —  Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Mitt Romney have comfortable leads in Nevada going into Saturday's presidential campaign caucuses, according to a new Review-Journal poll.

Mitt Romney's Lobbyist Connections  —  In a tense exchange with an AP reporter on Thursday, Mitt Romney insisted that even though a registered lobbyist is one of his senior advisers, lobbyists do not “run” his campaign.  —  The claim is part of Romney's new self-styled outsider message …

McCain, You Depress Me  —  My colleague Leon has been “rather stirred” by many things about John McCain, including his “decency about immigrants."  I'm rather stirred by that too — it is my favorite thing about McCain, his capacity to argue that it's a profoundly American imperative …

Placing the Candidates  —  Interesting chart from the Pew Center.  One piece of bad news for liberals is that it seems that the self-assessed ideology of the American people is still somewhat right of center.  It's also funny how unhinged Republicans' views of Hillary Clinton are.

The Constitution is Not a “Living, Breathing Document”  —  This morning I heard that one of the other candidates commented that the Constitution is a “living, breathing document."  —  Frankly, I assumed this came from Senator Clinton or Senator Obama.  It is identical to what Al Gore …

Obama Debuts New Act in Vegas  —  LAS VEGAS (AP) - The White House campaign has brought a new act to Vegas.  Barack Obama has stepped up his campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton, and he's trying to use humor to bring her down before this weekend's Democratic presidential caucus.

Mauling survivor said he yelled at tiger  —  (01-17) 18:05 PST SAN FRANCISCO — One of the two survivors of the San Francisco Zoo tiger attack that left a 17-year-old dead told the victim's father that the three had yelled and waved at the animal while standing atop the railing of the tiger's exhibit …

The president of Florida  —  Just to be safe, I'm going to say right off the bat that Rudy Giuliani might be the smartest campaign strategist in many a year.  —  That way, if the improbable occurs and the former New York mayor wins the Republican presidential nomination, I can say I knew it all along.

Nicholas Burns and the Clinton Legacy at State  —  Reports indicate R. Nicholas Burns, the State Department's Number 3 official, will be stepping down.  A career foreign service officer, Burns will best be remembered for his most visible post: the Clinton administration's top State Department spokesman during the mid-1990s.

Southern Blacks Are Split on Clinton vs. Obama  —  ATLANTA — The People's Voice African-American Weekly News in tiny Roanoke, Ala., has not endorsed a candidate in the state's Democratic presidential primary on Feb. 5 — much to the frustration of its publisher, Charlotte A. Clark-Frieson, a Barack Obama supporter.

Callous Conservative  —  After watching Fred Thompson debate his Republican rivals, I have often wondered why he is not in the top tier of candidates.  He seems to have John McCain's honesty, without his razor-sharp edges, and Mitt Romney's conservatism, without his jaw-dropping inconsistencies.

Hillary Personally Slams Obama Over Reagan Comments  —  The Hillary campaign clearly made a decision to go all out on Obama's Reagan comments today.  Hillary herself just lit into Obama over them in Las Vegas, according to a transcript provided by her campaign:

McCain Lies His Head Off; NY Times Asleep at Switch  —  One of the most common-supply-side talking points is that tax cuts always lead to higher tax revenues.  It's not really true (revenues crashed after the 2001 Bush tax cuts) but even if it were, it's misleading: Tax revenues tend to rise …