John Edwards to Quit Presidential Race  —  John Edwards will end his presidential bid today, a source close to the Edwards campaign confirmed.  —  The former North Carolina senator is scheduled to speak in New Orleans this afternoon — an appearance billed as an anti-poverty speech …

Gallup Daily: Tracking Election 2008  —  Based on daily polling from Jan. 27-29, 2008  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Barack Obama has now cut the gap with Hillary Clinton to 6 percentage points among Democrats nationally in the Gallup Poll Daily tracking three-day average, and interviewing conducted …

McCain may win, Romney can't  —  Some may agree with Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) positions on his myriad of causes and enthusiasms.  Others may embrace Mitt Romney's record as governor and his experience in business.  But one fact remains pre-eminent — McCain has a much better chance …

Mukasey Holds Back on Torture Issue  —  Attorney General Won't Offer Senate Panel Definitive Opinion on Waterboarding  —  Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said yesterday that the interrogation tactic known as waterboarding appears to be clearly prohibited by current law in some circumstances …

The Right Guy?  —  It's looking more and more like John McCain could be the Republican nominee.  What can he do to rally conservatives?  Can he?  —  ALVIN S. FELZENBERG  —  Well, the identity of the Republican nominee for president appears even more settled than it did a week ago.

US AND THEM....You already knew this, but the Bush administration is nuts.  Here's exhibit #3,886: … It's dumb enough that we have a policy of refusing to speak to Iran in the first place, as if merely talking to them would give us geopolitical cooties.  But to repeatedly get bent …

A King Backs Clinton  —  Amy Chozick reports on the presidential race from Little Rock, Ark.  —  As the Obama campaign basks in the Kennedy glow, chief rival Sen. Hillary Clinton picked up an endorsement today from a larger-than-life southern entertainer known for his sideburns and white rhinestone-studded jumpsuit.

Top Edwards Adviser Joe Trippi: Hillary And Obama Are “Banging Down The Doors” For Our Endorsement  —  Top Edwards adviser Joe Trippi just confirmed to me by phone that the Hillary and Obama campaigns are already working overtime to woo Edwards to their sides — even before his official dropout speech.

Compassionate to the End  —  When President Bush took his final walk to the rostrum of the House chamber, his speech and manner conveyed little nostalgia.  He views both meditation on the past and speculation about his legacy with equal suspicion, preferring to live in the urgency of the now.

Rudy defeat marks end of 9/11 politics  —  Rudy Giuliani's distant third-place finish in Florida may put an end to his bid for president, and it seems also to mark the beginning of the end of a period in Republican politics that began on Sept. 11, 2001.  —  Giuliani's national celebrity …

Commission Confidential  —  EXTRA  —  In a revelation bound to cast a pall over the 9/11 Commission, Philip Shenon will report in a forthcoming book that the panel's executive director, Philip Zelikow, engaged in “surreptitious” communications with presidential adviser Karl Rove …

The Daniel Pearl Standard  —  This week marks the sixth anniversary of the murder of my son Daniel Pearl, a reporter for this newspaper.  It is a fitting occasion to step back and reflect on what this tragedy has taught us.  —  I am often asked why Danny's death has touched so many people and why he …

Terminated  —  Arnold Schwarzenegger's “universal” health-care plan died in the California legislature on Monday, in what can only be called a mercy killing.  So let's conduct a political autopsy, because there are important lessons here for the national health-care debate.