Zogby Poll: Obama Holds Big Lead Over Clinton in NC; Pair tied in Indiana  —  UTICA, New York—Five days before the important Democratic presidential primaries in North Carolina and Indiana, Barack Obama of Illinois enjoys a substantial lead in one state and remains tied with Hillary Clinton …

As Gas Costs Soar, Buyers Are Flocking to Small Cars  —  DETROIT — Soaring gas prices have turned the steady migration by Americans to smaller cars into a stampede.  —  In what industry analysts are calling a first, about one in five vehicles sold in the United States was a compact …

McCain fields audience question on whether he called wife an expletive  —  A widespread Internet rumor about Sen. John McCain popped up in an audience question today during the Republican presidential candidate's Iowa forum.  —  A member of the audience at the Polk County Convention Complex asked …

Fox trumps Netroots; bloggers rebel  —  The nation's top Democrats are suddenly rushing to appear on the Fox News Channel, which they once had shunned as enemy territory as the nemesis of liberal bloggers.  —  The detente with Fox has provoked a backlash from progressive bloggers …

Democrats Scramble for Indiana  —  In Open Primary,Republican Voters  —  Could Decide Victor  —  INDIANAPOLIS — Determining the victor in Tuesday's presidential nominating contest in Indiana could very well be left to that most elusive of Democratic primary voter: the Republican.

Barack Obama is the choice of free-agent donors  —  Obama has received twice as much money as Hillary Clinton has from donors who supported other candidates in the Democratic race.  —  Campaign donors who previously backed also-ran Democratic candidates have adopted Sen. Barack Obama as their second choice …

D.C. Madam: Suicide Before Prison  —  Deborah Jeane Palfrey, known as the “D.C. Madam,” once implied that suicide was cowardice but, in the end, she seems to have chosen that same path herself.  “She wasn't going to jail, she told me that very clearly.  She told me she would commit suicide …

Experience makes Clinton better choice in primary  —  In this extraordinary election year, Indiana's Democratic voters have been presented with an extraordinary opportunity: Choose for their party's presidential nominee between a gifted senator from Illinois who has enthused millions of new voters …

AL FRANKEN: THE COVER-UP BEGINS  —  We've covered the tax and legal compliance problems of Minnesota Democratic Senatorial candidate Al Franken over the past few weeks.  First came the revealation of his failure to pay workers' compensation insurance in New York.

The Return of the Paranoid Style  —  Less than two weeks before the United States and its allies invaded Iraq, in March of 2003, Sony Pictures released a war movie called Tears of the Sun.  The director was Antoine Fuqua, fresh off the success of 2001's Training Day; the star was Bruce Willis …

On YOUR Dime: Congressmen Lease Luxury Cars  —  Little-Known But Exploited Loophole Allows Politicians To Drive, Maintain Expensive Cars, SUVs On Taxpayer Money  —  Rep. Charles Rangel: ‘My Constituents Appreciate It’  —  NEW YORK (CBS) ― You may not realize it …

The ‘Race’ Speech Revisited  —  Guess it's time to disown Granny, if Obama's famous Philadelphia “race” speech is to be believed.  Of course, the speech was not just believed.  It was hailed, celebrated, canonized as the greatest pronouncement on race in America since Lincoln at Cooper Union.

On the brink  —  Some of America's most venerable newspapers face extinction, unless they evolve  —  THE New York Times once epitomised all that was great about American newspapers; now it symbolises its industry's deep malaise.  The Grey Lady's circulation is tumbling …

Brown admits election mauling was a ‘bad night’  —  Gordon Brown today acknowledged a “bad night” for Labour after the party's national share of the vote plummeted to 24% - its lowest level since the 1960s - in his first electoral test as prime minister.  —  With about two thirds …

Bloomberg: Clinton-McCain Gas Tax Break Is the ‘Dumbest Thing’  —  Michael Bloomberg said giving drivers a break from the gas tax is “the dumbest thing I've heard in an awful long time.”  —  I asked him about it right after he delivered his executive budget at City Hall just now.