Maverick Fails The Test: McCain Votes Against Waterboarding Ban  —  Today, the Senate brought the Intelligence Authorization Bill to the floor, which contained a provision from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) establishing one interrogation standard across the government.

McCain Adviser Won't Fight Obama  —  ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: A top adviser to John McCain said Wednesday that he will step down from the Arizona senator's presidential campaign if the presumed GOP nominee faces Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in the general election.

Clinton counts on superdelegates  —  WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton will take the Democratic nomination even if she does not win the popular vote, but persuades enough superdelegates to vote for her at the convention, her campaign advisers say.  —  The New York senator …

Court strikes down Texas ban on sex toys  —  Federal appeals court says law violates right to privacy.  —  A federal appeals court has struck down a seldom-enforced Texas law making it a crime to promote or sell sex toys.  —  The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruling in a case originally filed …

Craig admonished by ethics panel  —  The Senate Ethics Committee publicly admonished Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) late Wednesday for attempting to use his public office to get out of his arrest last summer in a Minneapolis airport restroom sting.  —  The public letter of admonition signed …

Clinton tries to spark Wisconsin campaign  —  The Clinton campaign has coaxed Teresa Vilmain (left), who earned high marks for running her Iowa operation, down from the wilds outside of Madison to run her suddenly-rejuvenated Wisconsin operation, we're told.

Jewish Rep. Cohen Battles Antisemitism and Racism In Re-Election  —  If you thought race was an uncomfortable issue in the Democratic presidential primary, wait 'til you get a load of what's going on in the Democratic primary in the Memphis area's 9th District of Tennessee …

Gallup Daily: Tracking Election 2008  —  Based on polling conducted February 10-12, 2008  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama remain locked in a statistical tie among Democrats nationally for the Democratic presidential nomination.  —  In Gallup Poll Daily tracking conducted …

U.S. Muslim Inciting Murder of Danish Mohammed Cartoonists: “you fools seem to forget the end of Theo Van Gogh”  —  If this isn't an incitement to murder, I don't know what is.  Samir Khan, the Charlotte, NC al Qaeda supporter & blogger on Kurt Westergaard and other cartoonists …

Was there a Housing Bubble?  —  The conventional wisdom is that there was a housing bubble which has now popped.  The data, however, tell a different story.  Remember, that the evidence for the bubble was that real house prices had increased tremendously since around 1997 leading to prices …

Carville and Matalin talk politics at Builders Show  —  Fresh from Tuesday's night “Potomac Primary” bi-partisan couple James Carville and Mary Matalin took shots at each other and talked politics in front of thousands of attendees at the International Builders Show.

Iraqi Lawmakers Pass 3 Crucial Laws  —  BAGHDAD — Using old-fashioned behind-the-scenes politicking, Iraq's Parliamentary leaders pushed through three divisive laws that had been delayed for months by bitter maneuvering between factions and, recently, threats to dissolve the legislative body.

Conyers Introduces Contempt Resolution, Call for Lawsuit against White House  —  As expected, things are finally moving forward in the House today to bring contempt resolutions against White House officials for ignoring Congressional subpoenas as part of the U.S. attorney firings investigation.

The “Superdelegates”: Always Intended to be Independent  —  There is certainly a valid concern expressed by those who fear that the 796 “superdelegates” to the August 2008 Democratic National Convention — Democratic elected officials, party officials and VIPs - might make the difference …

FISA Fight: House Blue Dogs enabling the GOP  —  CQ is reporting ( link here) that the House Republicans will try to derail the effort to pass a 21 day extension of the existing surveillance law and force a vote on the Senate bill: … The Blue Dogs that have endorsed the Senate passed bill wrote to Pelosi last week.

Shorter Glenn Reynolds  —  RANK ANTISEMITISM in the Democratic congressional primary in Memphis  — If Barack Obama wants to prove he's not just another crazy Negro, he'd better condemn some guy whom no one has ever heard of.  —  ‘Shorter’ concept created by Daniel Davies and perfected by Elton Beard.

UP FROM KNAVERY!  You can read the truth about Matthews—but only in readers' comments:  —  DOWD HEARS A JOKE: Mental illness causes great suffering.  Ideally, it shouldn't be joked about.  It shouldn't be flippantly “diagnosed” as part of our public discourse.