CHILL OUT....The hot topic of conversation right now is the proposition that a long, drawn-out Democratic primary runs the risk of destroying the party and putting John McCain in the White House.  So for the good of the country, Hillary should withdraw.  —  Now, this might be true.

DNC Lays Out Choice For Florida And Michigan: Rules, Re-Vote  —  Howard Dean will not bend the party rules to grandfather in the disputed delegates from Michigan and Florida, the Democratic party chairman said in a statement today.  —  Instead, he put the state parties on notice …

Bush: McCain ‘Is Not Going To Change’ My Foreign Policy  —  At the White House today, President Bush threw his support behind Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).  In a press conference after a private lunch, a reporter asked the duo how McCain would “make the case that you're going to provide the change that the voters seem to want.”

Obama camp: What's Clinton hiding'  —  (CNN) - Barack Obama's campaign took fresh aim at Hillary Clinton Wednesday for refusing to release her tax returns, asking in a memo circulated to reporters, “What does Clinton have to hide?”  —  “In the face of her unwillingness to release her tax returns …

It's Rush Wot Won It  —  In the days running up to these last primaries, Rush Limbaugh told his national audience of conservatives to vote in the Democratic race. … It turned into a pretty hot meme in Texas, and on Monday, while Rush was out, guest host Mark Davis scored an interview with Bill Clinton.

Gallup Daily: Clinton 48%, Obama 44%  —  Based on polling conducted March 2-4, 2008  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Hillary Clinton has moved ahead of Barack Obama in national Democratic nomination preferences, 48% to 44%, in polling conducted Sunday through Tuesday.

Thanks for publishing this moron, WaPo  —  Ugh.  Charlotte Allen's chat over at the WaPo is bloody painful: … In other words: sure, more women are graduating from law school and medical school, but they'll only comprise the stupid doctors and lawyers.  —  In other news …

Obama: ‘Premature’ to talk joint ticket  —  Speaking to reporters on his plane before leaving San Antonio for Chicago, Sen. Barack Obama hinted at taking a tougher line against Clinton in the coming weeks, telling reporters that she must back up her experience argument with details, my colleague Carrie Budoff Brown reports.

Rep. Ellison: Clinton Trying To Reap Benefit Of Obama-Muslim Smear  —  The Clinton campaign flatly denies any hand in the Obama-is-a-Muslim smear campaign that has bubbled beneath the media surface, but it is more than willing to take advantage of it, says the lone Muslim member of congress.

Bush May Fire CentCom Chief Adm. Fallon, Replace With Commander More ‘Pliable’ To War With Iran  —  Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called CENTCOM commander Adm. William Fallon “one of the best strategic thinkers in uniform today.”  Fallon opposed the “surge” in Iraq and has consistently battled …

Olbermann to Matthews: “[E]specially you” should “[d]istance yourself as far as you can from” the word “bitch”  —  During MSNBC's March 5 coverage of the March 4 Democratic presidential primaries and caucus, NBC News anchor Brian Williams and MSNBC hosts Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann discussed …

Clinton campaign making Obama “blacker”  —  Or maybe more Muslim?  The sordid details are in this diary by Troutnut, but it can be distilled down to this:  —  As you can see, the campaign ad has darkened Obama's skin tone, while stretching the video horizontally to give Obama a wider nose.

Nasty  —  Sadly, I agree with Chris that this is going to get nastier.  The campaigns and candidates themselves may not get nasty, but I get the sense that supporters of the various candidates are getting angrier at the other camp.  Sure a lot of this is just relatively harmless virtual …