St. Pete Times Poll: Bye-bye Rudy?  —  It's Mitt Romney vs. John McCain in the final stretch of Florida's crucial Republican primary.  —  A new St. Petersburg Times poll shows the former Massachusetts governor and Arizona senator neck and neck among Florida Republicans, while Rudy Giuliani's Florida-or-bust strategy has been a bust.

Bill Clinton gets upset with CNN reporter  —  (CNN) - Bill Clinton became visibly upset Wednesday over comments by a prominent South Carolina Democrat that compared the former president's actions on the trail to those of infamous Republican strategist Lee Atwater.

Your Harry Reid-led Senate in action  —  (updated below - Update II - Update III)  —  Harry Reid — who has (a) done more than any other individual to ensure that Bush's demands for telecom immunity and warrantless eavesdropping powers will be met in full and (b) allowed the Republicans …

“Legendary” GOP Strategist Launches Hillary Namecalling Effort  —  A couple of days ago, a group called Citizens United Not Timid filed papers with the IRS as a “527” organization.  Then we saw that Roger Stone had signed on as the group's “assistant treasurer."  Uh oh.

Exclusive: Hamas ‘spent months cutting through Gaza wall in secret operation’  —  James Hider of The Times at the Rafah border crossing  —  As tens of thousands of Palestinians clambered back and forth between the Gaza strip and Egypt today, details emerged of the audacious operation …

Hunter endorses Huckabee  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — California Rep. Duncan Hunter, a former presidential candidate, announced Wednesday he is endorsing Mike Huckabee's White House bid.  —  “I got to know Governor Huckabee well on the campaign trail,” Huckabee said in a statement.

ABC News Badly Mischaracterizes Obama's Alleged “Testy Exchange” With Reporter  —  Okay, this is really a bad one.  Late yesterday, ABC News posted a story called: “Is Bill Clinton getting in Obama's head?"  —  The piece reported that Obama had had a “testy exchange” with New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny …

John Gibson Mocks ‘Weirdo’ Heath Ledger's Death: ‘He Found Out How To Quit You’  —  Opening his radio show with funeral music yesterday, Fox News host John Gibson callously mocked the death of actor Heath Ledger, calling him a “weirdo” with a “serious drug problem.”

Gore for same-sex marriage  —  Not sure what prompted this, but Al Gore has quietly released a video with a forceful endorsement of equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians.  It pushes the Democratic establishment that much closer to a position he now shares with Eliot Spitzer and some other leading Dems …

The Senate GOP Leadership Embraces the Minority  —  The Senate GOP has been having its retreat.  This is the first retreat since Lamar Alexander (R-TN) was named Chairman of the Conference.  In this position, Alexander is charged with developing the GOP agenda and controlling the message.

No recession expected this year: Congressional Budget Office  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The slowing U.S. economy is unlikely to sink into an election-year recession and an economic rebound could begin as early as next year as housing and financial market turmoil fades, the Congressional Budget Office forecast on Wednesday.

Economic Downturn Adds Urgency to SCHIP Veto Override  —  UPDATE: House Republicans have again narrowly sustained President Bush's veto, with a vote of 260 in favor of passage and 152 against, despite the veto-proof margin in the Senate.  —  The House is currently debating the override …

Romnibus: If A Dog Gets Out in the Woods, and No One Hears It...  Number three question on the Romnibus today — after “When's lunch?” and “Where's the power strip?":  “Why isn't that video of Romney jive-talking at an MLK parade getting more play?  Shouldn't it be a 'macaca moment'?”