Castro resigns as president, state-run paper reports  —  HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) — Fidel Castro announced his resignation as president of Cuba and commander-in-chief of Cuba's military on Tuesday, according to a letter published in the state-run newspaper, Granma.

When the Magic Fades  —  At first it seemed like a few random cases of lassitude among Mary Chapin Carpenter devotees in Berkeley, Cambridge and Chapel Hill.  But then psychotherapists began to realize patients across the country were complaining of the same distress.

Feels Like The First Time  —  Does a hostility about one's own country provide a good basis for a campaign?  John Podhoretz notes the very strange assertion from Michelle Obama as she campaigned for her husband in Wisconsin.  It comes as a piece with her exhortation at UCLA two weeks ago …

Why I'm voting for Obama in the Wisconsin primary.  —  I said I was going to write this post, so I'd better do it.  As I said, I want to do an archaeology of the archive and trace my response to Barack Obama as I did to John Kerry in an old 2004 post called “How Kerry lost me.”

Clinton targets pledged delegates  —  Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign intends to go after delegates whom Barack Obama has already won in the caucuses and primaries if she needs them to win the nomination.  —  This strategy was confirmed to me by a high-ranking Clinton official on Monday.

It Depends On How One Views Death  —  E.J. Dionne wonders whether John McCain may have his priorities askew in the upcoming election.  By focusing on terrorism as the “transcendent challenge”, McCain may misunderstand the concerns of ordinary Americans in 2008 and make himself irrelevant, Dionne argues:

Desperate  —  Do you want to know how desperate the Clinton campaign is to stop the gathering momentum of the Obama campaign on the eve of primaries in Wisconsin and Hawaii?  —  Consider the accusations being leveled by the Clinton camp that the Illinois senator is guilty of plagiarizing words …

‘Bomb, slaughter Danes due to republication of Muhammad caricatures’  —  Muslims worldwide should bomb Denmark's embassies and kill it diplomats following last week's republication of caricatures of Muslim prophet Muhammad, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees in the Gaza Strip said on Monday.

Al-Qaeda's choice  —  Bedd Gelert and Vagueofgodalming may well be right about Rees Mogg.  —  My own concern about his piece is this.  He writes: “There are, of course, hypothetical events that could change everything.  There could be an attack on Mr Obama himself, but he is protected by the Secret Service.

Musharraf Wins By Losing, Islamists Just Lose Big  —  The Pakistanis have rejected both Pervez Musharraf and the Islamists in their national and provincial elections yesterday, preliminary results show.  Supporters of slain national leader Benazir Bhutto and returned exile Nawaz Sharif …