Obama staffer gave warning of NAFTA rhetoric  —  Barack Obama has ratcheted up his attacks on NAFTA, but a senior member of his campaign team told a Canadian official not to take his criticisms seriously, CTV News has learned.  —  Both Obama and Hillary Clinton have been critical …

Clinton raises $35 million in February  —  Hillary Clinton's camapign is set to announce later today that she's on track to raise roughly $35 million in the month of February, a huge month by any standard measure of political fundraising and her best of the campaign.

Disturbing New Photos From Abu Ghraib  —  NSFW: VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.  As an expert witness in the defense of an Abu Ghraib guard who was court-martialed, psychologist Philip Zimbardo had access to many of the images of abuse that were taken by the guards themselves.

Ickes: Blame Penn  —  Harold Ickes definitely doesn't buy the argument that Mark Penn isn't responsible for everything that has happened to the Hillary Clinton campaign.  —  “Mark Penn has run this campaign,” said Ickes in a brief phone interview this morning.

Some hateful, radical ministers — white evangelicals — are acceptable  —  One of this week's hysterical press scandals was that Minister Louis Farrakhan praised Barack Obama's candidacy even though Obama had previously denounced numerous Farrakhan remarks and the Obama campaign did nothing to seek out the Farrakhan praise.

“60 Minutes” Too?!!... MAJOR SCANDAL Brewing Over Rove Hit Piece!  —  Alabama GOP Asks For Proof on Karl Rove Hit Piece...  Or, demands that the network retract the story!  —  Did CBS learn nothing from their last major scandal?  —  The chairman of the Alabama Republican Party sent a letter to …

Prince Harry in Taleban fighting  —  Prince Harry has been fighting the Taleban on the front line in Afghanistan, the MoD has confirmed.  —  Harry, 23, who is third in line to the throne, has spent the last 10 weeks serving in Helmand Province.  —  The prince joked about his nickname …

Geldof and Bush: Diary From the Road  —  I gave the president my book.  He raised an eyebrow.  “Who wrote this for ya, Geldof?” he said without looking up from the cover.  Very dry.  “Who will you get to read it for you, Mr. President?”  I replied.  No response.

How Not to Run for Vice President  —  Minnesota's Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, carefully prepared his plan for controlling greenhouse gas emissions to present it at the annual winter meeting of governors in Washington.  That effort coincided with Pawlenty's fast-rising prospects to become …

POLL: MCCAIN LOOKING GOOD IN FL  —  From NBC's Domenico Montanaro  —  McCain leads both Obama and Clinton in potential general-election match ups with either candidate in the all-important swing state of Florida, according to a Mason-Dixon poll out today.  —  McCain leads Obama 47%-37% and Clinton 49%-40%.

McCain in A Glass House  —  Certain kinds of conservatives, distrusting Richard Nixon's ideological elasticity, rejected him — until 1973.  Although it had become clear that his administration was a crime wave, they embraced him because the media were his tormentors.

Today's Must Read  —  You can understand their exasperation.  The administration and Congressional Republicans have done everything in their power to protect the telecoms.  They used every legislative tactic at the ready, made every speech or public pronouncement possible …

Iran ‘number one world power’: Ahmadinejad … President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared on Thursday that Iran was the world's “number one” power, as he launched a bitter new assault on domestic critics he accused of siding with the enemy.  —  “Everybody has understood that Iran is the number …

Louisiana Governor Pierces Business as Usual  —  BATON ROUGE, La. — Downstairs, legislators gnashed their teeth, while upstairs at the Capitol here this week, the new governor claimed victory against the old customs down below.  —  Six weeks into the term of Gov. Bobby Jindal …

Prediction  —  In the next few days, there will be a wave of liberals — Frank Rich comes particularly to mind — who will use WFB's memory to beat up on today's conservatives.  Ramesh and I wrote a piece about this tendency last year.  Liberals today bemoan how wonderful the conservatives …

The “Race Card” let us count the ways  —  There are a few themes developing that should be called out now for what they are.  —  First, the racist junk that right-wing radio. blogs, and conservative interest groups are going to throw out.  That somehow a black candidate secretly hates …