Obama plans major race speech tomorrow  —  Barack Obama will give a major speech on “the larger issue of race in this campaign,” he told reporters in Monaca, PA just now.  —  He was pressed there, as he has been at recent appearances, on statements by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

Gov. Paterson admits to sex with other woman for years  —  The thunderous applause was still ringing in his ears when the state's new governor, David Paterson, told the Daily News that he and his wife had extramarital affairs.  —  In a stunning revelation, both Paterson, 53, and his wife …

ON DEADLINE: Obama walks arrogance line  —  WASHINGTON - Arrogance is a common vice in presidential politics.  A person must be more than a little self-important to wake up one day and say, “I belong in the Oval Office.”  —  But there's a line smart politicians don't cross — somewhere between …

Florida gives up on re-vote  —  Florida Democratic chairwoman Karen Thurman sends out an angry email abandoning hope of a re-vote in the state: … This is a real setback for Hillary, who could have gotten both delegates, momentum, and — crucially — a stronger chance to claim a popular vote lead out of the revote.

WRIGHT: ISRAEL A “DIRTY WORD;” JOKES THAT BLACKS GET ALL QUIET AT MENTION OF ISRAEL  —  Scared to speak, he says.  —  Why?  Would that be anti-semitism that many left-indoctrinated blacks are reluctant to to express out loud?  —  Well, Obama's 20 year political ally and spiritual mentor encourages …

U.S. SENATOR,  —  Washington, D.C.  —  GWEN IFILL: Senator Obama, welcome.  —  SEN. OBAMA: Thank you.  —  MS. IFILL: The president said today we are in challenging times.  You said yourself that we are teetering on the edge of a potential crisis.  When you watch what the Fed …

The Clinton civil war  —  Al Giordano, on the laughable Clinton-supporters “strike” of this blog: … I would add one more item to the list above — this site has also been hostile to the corrosive consultant class that gave us our timid and weak party until Howard Dean shook it up in 2004.

A Generalized Run on the Shadow Financial System  —  Since the onset of the liquidity and credit crunch last summer this column has been arguing that monetary policy would be impotent to address such a crunch because, in part, of the existence of a non-bank “shadow financial system”.

News from the Louisiana delegation in the nation's capital  —  Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has been mostly mum on the prostitution scandal that forced Democratic New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to announce his resignation last week.  But Vitter let down his guard a bit in a conference call with constituents.

Memo To The Fed: Stop Those Rate Cuts  —  The markets rallied last Tuesday in response to the Fed's growing assistance to holders of mortgage-backed securities.  Yet many onlookers are convinced that an aggressive cut in the federal funds rate at the upcoming March 18 meeting is still necessary to avoid a painful recession.

now if jeralyn and cliff were the only ones blogging, we'd be set  —  two of our good blog buddies, jeralyn merrit of talk left and cliff schecter of cliff schecter, were on msnbc this morning discussing how the dems are afraid that the blog wars between obama supporters and clinton supporters may destroy the party.

Obama tells vets no lower drinking age  —  SCRANTON, Pa. - Democrat Barack Obama on Monday promised Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans help with their grievances — save one.  “I know it drives you nuts.  But I'm not going to lower the drinking age,” the presidential candidate said.