Why we didn't run the McCain story  —  I chose not to run the New York Times story on John McCain in Thursday's P-I, even though it was available to us on the New York Times News Service.  I thought I'd take a shot at explaining why.  —  To me, the story had serious flaws.

FEC Warns McCain on Campaign Spending  —  The nation's top federal election official told Sen. John McCain yesterday that he cannot immediately withdraw from the presidential public financing system as he had requested, a decision that threatens to dramatically restrict his spending until …

The McCain World Rift  —  The staff of the McCain campaign had a rude awakening last Jan. 25th.  They opened The Washington Post and found a front-page story linking McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, to the Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska.  Who, some wondered, was feeding damaging information about Davis to the press?

THAT LINE  —  I mentioned at the end of my debate blog that the pivot of Hillary's powerful concluding remarks came from Bill Clinton's 92 campaign.  Clinton had various permutations to it back then.  But TPM Reader CG found one example in this November 1992 article by Anna Quindlen ...

Hillary Clinton's Texas-size moment  —  All that mattered about the showdown in Austin was whether she could stop Barack Obama's momentum.  Were her powerful closing words a magic bullet?  —  Sen. Barack Obama debates Sen. Hillary Clinton in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 21.

Oh My  —  Congressman Rick Renzi (R-AZ) indicted.  —  “Conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, insurance fraud, criminal forfeiture.”  (from CNN TV)  —  ...AP says it's about a land deal.  —  ...there were resignation rumors 10 months ago, though it didn't happen.