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 …

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.

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 …

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.”

The Netroots Shift  —  You can sense a change in the left-liberal blogosphere.  They have now become quite virulently anti-Clinton.  As often, Kos leads the pack.  Part of me wonders whether the Clintons understand this.  They don't care juch for the netroots, to put it mildly …

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.

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.

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 …

Both Obama And Clinton Hold Edge Over McCain  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) kicks off his general-election campaign trailing both potential Democratic nominees in hypothetical matchups, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Franken faces $25,000 workers' comp penalty  —  DFL Senate candidate Al Franken owes a $25,000 penalty to the New York State Workers' Compensation Board for failing to carry workers' compensation insurance for employees of his namesake corporation from 2002 to 2005, state officials said.

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.

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 …

Some New Projections: Scenario Gertrude  —  Allocating (generously), 60 percent of the remaining superdelegates to Clinton and running the following projections through Forbes's delegate calculator, I've come up, quite unexpectedly, with a 1,976 to 1,976 delegate tie.  I'll call this scenario “Gertrude.”

House Approves Bill on Mental Health Parity  —  WASHINGTON — After more than a decade of struggle, the House on Wednesday passed a bill requiring most group health plans to provide more generous coverage for treatment of mental illnesses, comparable to what they provide for physical illnesses.