Pregnant Pause  —  It was, in this reporter's opinion, the most interesting moment in today's Clinton campaign phoner with reporters.  Responding to the release of HRC's new TX TV ad, which asserts in no subtle terms that only she has the experience to deal with a major world crisis, and …

Of Ohio, Texas and Onion Dip  —  It's all up to Texas and Ohio!  —  Everything — the Democratic nomination, the fate of the presidency, the solution to global warming, the next American Idol — hinges on Tuesday's primaries.  Texas and Ohio rule!  —  O.K., and Rhode Island and Vermont.

Dogs and Fleas  —  Glenn Greenwald has done yeoman work in exposing anti-Catholic bigot Pastor John Hagee's endorsement of John McCain and the latter's refusal to disavow the endorsement.  I agree that McCain should reject Hagee's endorsement.  You lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.

Bush Aide Resigns After Admitting Plagiarism  —  WASHINGTON — A longtime aide to President Bush who wrote occasional guest columns for his hometown newspaper resigned on Friday evening after admitting that he had repeatedly plagiarized from other writers.  —  The White House called his actions unacceptable.

AG Refuses Probe of Ex-Bush Aides  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Michael Mukasey on Friday rejected referring the House's contempt citations against two of President Bush's top aides to a federal grand jury.  Mukasey says they committed no crime.  —  Mukasey said White House Chief …

On the Press Bus, Some Soul-Searching Over Accusations of Favoritism  —  On the bus ferrying a group of reporters to an appearance by Senator Barack Obama at Ohio State University on Wednesday, Lee Cowan, the NBC reporter assigned to the campaign, was asked the media question of the week …

Potential Deal Could Assure Retroactive Immunity  —  This is from last night's Congress Daily PM dispatch by Chris Strohm and Christian Bourge: … This is not a good sign.  If Title I and Title II of the Senate-passed Intelligence Committee bill are voted on separately in the House …

CLINTON CAMP FIRES BACK AT OBAMA  —  From NBC's Mark Murray and NBC/NJ's Athena Jones  —  The back-and-forth over Clinton's new ad in Texas continues... In an hour-plus conference call with reporters, the Clinton campaign rebutted Obama's criticism that Clinton had her red-phone moment — the 2002 Iraq war authorization — and failed.

Air tanker deal provokes US row  —  Boeing's loss of a $40bn contract to build a new in-flight refuelling aircraft for the US military has drawn angry protests in Congress.  —  Lawmakers from Washington state and Kansas, which have big Boeing plants, voiced “outrage” that it had gone to a consortium including Europe's Airbus.

Clinton camp tries to change expectations  —  This photo was taken by our own David Kent.  Apparently, someone in the posh Tower condos in downtown Fort Worth is not a fan of Obama.  —  Continuing on that theme, this memo just came in from the Hillary Clinton campaign:  —  To: Interested Parties

China's Olympic Deal With al-Qaeda: ‘There Will Not Be Blood’ ...  This is just one of the allegations in Roger Faligot's book, The Chinese Secret Services: From Mao to the Olympic Games.  This specialist in intelligence retraces the history of the ties between the Middle Kingdom and al-Qaeda.

Inside Delegate Math: The Numbers  —  Using delegate projection software created by Matt Vogel, I ran a scenario yesterday showing how tough it will be for Hillary Clinton to catch up to Barack Obama's earned delegate lead.  —  Some of you have asked for my specific state-by-state projections.