Senate Passes Bill to Expand Government's Spying Powers  —  WASHINGTON — After more than a year of heated political wrangling, the Senate handed the White House a major victory Tuesday by voting to broaden the government's spy powers after giving legal protection to phone companies that cooperated …

Inside the Clinton Shake-Up  —  Like so much involving Hillary Clinton, Sunday's departure of her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, has gotten tons of attention, but its larger significance has been somewhat misunderstood.  I've spent a fair amount of time over the last two years reporting on …

Early Exit Poll Data in MD, VA  —  Highlights of preliminary exit poll data in the Maryland and Virginia presidential primaries Tuesday:  —  ___  —  CONSERVATIVES AND EVANGELICALS  —  Nearly seven in 10 voters in Virginia's Republican primary called themselves conservatives.

Gov. ‘Blunt Talk’ Rendell (and other topics)  —  So many topics, so little space:  —  Gov. Ed “Don't Call Me ‘Fast Eddie’ ” Rendell met with the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week to talk about his latest budget.  But before turning the meeting over to his number-crunchers …

Obama Unplugged  —  Lost without a Teleprompter.  —  USUALLY WHEN BARACK OBAMA gives a major speech, the overdone hosannas from the liberal commentariat follow as surely as night follows day.  The American Prospect's Ezra Klein wrote of Obama's post-Iowa victory speech, “I've been blessed to hear many great orations.

William and Mary president resigns in disgrace  —  The head of the College of William and Mary, Gene Nichol, has resigned in disgrace.  Several readers send along his resignation letter.  You'll recall that he roiled the campus with his decision to hide the cross at the famous school chapel to make it “less faith-specific.”

Source: Hillary Adviser Harold Ickes Tells Surrogates To Refer To Super-Delegates As “Automatic Delegates”  —  In a sign that the spin war over the significance of super-delegates is underway in earnest, Harold Ickes told assorted Hillary supporters on a private conference call yesterday …

Battle-tested  —  Hillary Clinton fought the Republican attack machine, and emerged stronger  —  With the emergence of Sen. John McCain as the presumptive Republican nominee, the choice for the Democrats in the 2008 presidential election now shifts to who is best positioned to beat him …

Women ‘falling for Obama’  —  College Park, Maryland - You can see it in their flushed-face smiles and hear it in their screams.  They say the phenomenon is difficult to describe, but once they experience it they tell their friends, sisters, mothers and daughters, and they come back for more if they can.

Why I Voted for Obama  —  College Park Rally, originally uploaded by Barack Obama.  —  I grew up in the 1990s loathing Bill Clinton.  He and his wife represented everything that was bad about politics — from the corruption and lies they brought from Arkansas to the immoral and embarrassing behavior in the White House.

John McCain's Top 24 Potential Picks For Vice-President  —  Predicting whom a particular candidate will take as Vice-President is always difficult because so many factors play into it.  Do both candidates get along?  Is the presidential nominee looking to carry a particular state, region …

Cool on O'Bama  —  All this emoting over Barack Obama's wonderful, wonderful personality is starting to trigger my gag reflex.  —  What are we electing here, a faith healer?  What is Obama's view of the executive power?  How, exactly, does he propose to “bring us together”?  Just by being half-black?

D.C. Mayor Supports Obama a Little Too Aggressively  —  Slate's Josh Levin reports in with this dispatch:  —  As I left my apartment in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C., this morning, I passed a small group of vocal Obama supporters.  Closer to my polling place …