Consumer advocate Nader starts presidential bid  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer advocate Ralph Nader said on Sunday that he is launching another long shot independent campaign for president of the United States.  —  Nader, who will turn 74 this week, announced his presidential bid on NBC's …

Dispatch from Maryland  —  Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, spoke at St. Mary's college in Maryland last week and offered a very frank assessment of the state of the Clinton campaign.  A Political Wire reader emails a summary:

Saturday Night Live Pulls One Out for Hillary  —  Do not miss the You Tube of Tina Fey's commentary on Saturday Night Live last night when it comes out.  It was incredible.  My DD has a rough transcript of the last part. … More...  At Fey's first sentence, mentioning that Hillary …

Obama: I'd get different treatment if I lost as much as Clinton  —  (CNN) — Hillary Clinton's campaign says it remains upbeat about the New York senator's White House chances, but rival Barack Obama said Saturday he would likely be treated differently if his campaign had suffered a similar string of losses as her's.

The Audacity of Hopelessness  —  WHEN people one day look back at the remarkable implosion of the Hillary Clinton campaign, they may notice that it both began and ended in the long dark shadow of Iraq.  —  It's not just that her candidacy's central premise — the priceless value of …

Obama Assassination ‘Would Leave Road Paved for McCain’ ...  One of the most disturbing questions that Barack Obama's candidacy raises is this: What if he were murdered?  If Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination and was gunned down before November, what effect would this have on the presidential race?

Pervez Musharraf ‘will exit in days, not months’  —  Pervez Musharraf is considering stepping down as president of Pakistan rather than waiting to be forced out by his victorious opponents, aides have told The Sunday Telegraph.  —  One close confidante said that the president believed …

Why the right reluctantly defended McCain  —  Conservative leaders often portray their political mission in moralistic terms: right vs. wrong.  But their reaction to a news report that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) might have had an inappropriate relationship with a female lobbyist shows …

¿Quién Es Less Macho?  —  If this is truly the Decline and Fall of the Clinton Empire, it is marked by one freaky stroke of bad luck and one striking historical irony.  —  How likely is it that a woman who finally unfetters herself from one superstar then finds herself eclipsed by another?

On Center Stage, a Candidate Letting His Confidence Show  —  AUSTIN, Tex. — Barack Obama has a Barcalounger manner about him these days, padding about those campaign stages like a man commanding his den.  —  Mr. Obama is on an electoral roll, polls show him pulling closer in Ohio and Texas …

Hear No Evil  —  Are House Democrats serious about national security?  —  On February 16, last year's bipartisan legislation governing the collection of foreign intelligence and protecting from liability all persons who comply with federal directives to assist in such collection …

The Re-Up  —  I think the NAFTA mailing that comes in for secondary discussion in this article is harsh but well within the bounds of basic politics.  The health care flier is, however, pretty seriously dishonest as other Obama fans have noted in earlier incarnations.