“Why are the letters ‘NIG’ on the child's pajamas?”  —  Asks a commenter — “Tom” — on my post about the new Hillary Clinton commercial, the one that shows several children sleeping and then Clinton taking a national security phone call in the middle of the night.

Reuters/C-SPAN/Houston Chronicle Poll - Democrats Locked in Tight Races: Clinton Closes on Obama in Texas; Pair Deadlocked in Ohio  —  Republican John McCain retains wide leads in Ohio and Texas in advance of Tuesday's primaries  —  UTICA, New York - Democrat Hillary Clinton stemmed her losses …

On the Press Bus, Some Questions Over 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: Had journalists …

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 …

Mondale's Red Phone Ad  —  Clinton always plagiarizes, doesn't she?

Guns, anarchy text found in room with ricin  —  LV police say terrorism not motive despite discovery  —  The Las Vegas hotel suite where vials of ricin were found Thursday also contained guns and literature about anarchy with information on the deadly toxin, police said Friday.

Judge Reverses His Order Disabling Web Site  —  SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Friday withdrew his earlier order disabling a Web site that allows the anonymous posting of documents to discourage unethical behavior in governments and corporations.  —  On Feb. 15, the judge …

Clinton's mail  —  The late mail in Texas and Ohio is more or less the series of attacks we've seen, with some variation, since Iowa — attacks on Obama on policy issues like health care, credit cards and energy policy.  —  No scary new security mailings to accompany that new ad, at least not yet.

A LETTER TO 60 MINUTES  —  I'm a latecomer to the controversy over the 60 Minutes story on the supposed machinations of Karl Rove to take down former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman.  CBS has posted the story here.  —  On its face, the segment is a remarkably thin piece of work …

War is Good, Isn't It?  —  We have three wardogs in the race for the White House.  Obama — while supporting continued threats to the Middle East and military action in Sudan — seems the most peaceful in intent and current actions.  Hillary is both shrill and angry, and McCain is all that and more.

Hedge Funds' Fire Sales Send Muni-Bond Yields To Historic High Levels  —  Months of turmoil in the municipal-bond market, long a placid haven for individual investors, reached a boiling point Friday — as hedge funds were forced to unwind complicated bets and in the process dump billions of dollars of the securities.

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 …

Bloomberg Steps In to Help G.O.P. in Albany Fight  —  While declaring his commitment to nonpartisanship, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is quietly injecting himself — and his money — into one of the most explosive partisan battles in decades in New York.  —  Several weeks ago …

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

Bailing Out Barack  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Supporters of Sen. Barack Obama concede that Sen. Hillary Clinton's aggressiveness rescued him from a serious blunder in last Tuesday's presidential debate at Cleveland, when he hesitated at rejecting a lavish endorsement of him by black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan.