Author Toni Morrison Endorses Obama  —  ABC News' Rick Klein and Sunlen Miller Report: Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison — who famously declared Bill Clinton to be the nation's “first black president” in a 1998 essay — today endorsed Barack Obama for president, via letter from Morrison to the Illinois senator.

A RUN ON THE BANK  —  Every indication is that Rudy Giuliani is sinking like a stone in Florida.  Barring a miracle, he'll finish either a bit above or a bit below Mike Huckabee.  Once Florida Republicans saw that Rudy was dropping in the polls, I think a lot of them jumped ship …

The Bush Who Got Away  —  AS George W. Bush prepares to deliver his final State of the Union address, it's worth revisiting the first speech he gave to a joint session of Congress.  His valedictory words tonight will provide an opportunity to reflect on the kind of president Mr. Bush was.

McCain, Long a G.O.P. Maverick, Is Gaining Mainstream Support  —  LADY LAKE, Fla. — Is John McCain, the maverick flyboy of the Republican Party, becoming the candidate of the Republican establishment?  —  Mr. McCain, who has delighted in sticking his thumb in the eye of mainstream Republicans throughout …

Team Obama Is Courting Everybody But the Press  —  GREENVILLE, S.C. — When reporters filed onto Barack Obama's press plane after his acrimonious debate with Hillary Rodham Clinton last week, one thing was noticeably missing amid the wine and snacks on the Boeing 737.

Lessons of 1992  —  It's starting to feel a bit like 1992 again.  A Bush is in the White House, the economy is a mess, and there's a candidate who, in the view of a number of observers, is running on a message of hope, of moving past partisan differences, that resembles Bill Clinton's campaign 16 years ago.

BREAKING: Hillary Clinton To Vote “No” On Cloture Tomorrow UPDATE: Barack Obama Will Be There Too  —  According to the Clinton campaign, Hillary Clinton will be in the Senate tomorrow to vote “no” on cloture on the Intel version of the FISA bill.  The vote is scheduled to take place at 4:30 pm tomorrow.

The Final Mission, Part I  —  FALLUJAH - At the end of 2006 there were 3,000 Marines in Fallujah.  Despite what you might expect during a surge of troops to Iraq, that number has been reduced by 90 percent.  All Iraqi Army soldiers have likewise redeployed from the city.

Strategizing for Super Tuesday  —  Candidates Refine Plans As They Vie for Delegates In Coast-to-Coast Contest  —  For weeks, presidential candidates have waged battle one state at a time.  But now the race enters a new phase, with candidates delving into the complex coast-to-coast contest known …

NOT SO SECRET  —  HUMA Abedin, the traveling aide who is rarely out of Hillary Rodham Clinton's sight, has been seen with bachelor Rep. Anthony Weiner on the campaign trail.  Shortly before Clinton arrived for a fund-raiser Thursday night at the Hiro club in the Meatpacking District …

Gaza buried in flour  —  The Boston Globe has just run an op-ed under the headline “Ending the Stranglehold on Gaza."  The authors are Eyad al-Sarraj, identified as founder of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program, and Sara Roy, identified as senior research scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University.