Pity Party  —  Big picture, May 2008:  —  The Democrats aren't the ones falling apart, the Republicans are.  The Democrats can see daylight ahead.  For all their fractious fighting, they're finally resolving their central drama.  Hillary Clinton will leave, and Barack Obama will deliver a stirring acceptance speech.

Hypocrisy on Hamas  —  McCain Was for Talking Before He Was Against It  —  If the recent exchanges between President Bush, Barack Obama and John McCain on Hamas and terrorism are a preview of the general election, we are in for an ugly six months.  Despite his reputation in the media …

McCain widens dialogue on blogs  —  Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign is trying to tap a new audience of potential voters by taking his campaign message straight to liberal and nonpolitical issues-based blogs, which reach millions of readers but don't often delve into conservative politics.

What Went Wrong?  —  The exclusive story of Hillary's fall, as told by the high-level advisors, staffers, fundraisers, and on-the-ground organizers who lived it.  —  Endings are rarely as joyous as beginnings—and in the case of a long, wearing, and ultimately disappointing campaign, they can be downright brutal.

Obama, Bush at Odds Over Media-Ownership Vote  —  Democratic Presidential Candidate Urges House of Representatives to Follow Senate's Lead, Scrap FCC's Media-Ownership-Rule Change  —  The fight over the Federal Communications Commission's Dec. 18 media-ownership vote set up a potential battle between …

SO IF THE REPUBLICANS ARE IN TROUBLE, WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE SO HAPPY?  I'm at the NRA Convention in Louisville, Kentucky.  I haven't been to a big gun event in probably a decade, and the change in mood is striking: People are, well . . . not ebullient, really, but noticeably cheerful and confident.

Perfect timing: Obama's super show-stoppers  —  With her deep party ties, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was supposed to own the superdelegate primary.  —  But in the last two months, it's been the rookie, Democratic rival Barack Obama, who has maximized his superdelegate moments.

Obama's sniper tale?  When he stood up to Detroit's ‘cold’ shoulder  —  Is this another Bosnian sniper incident, where a Democratic candidate for president describes a scene involving some personal courage, but later videotape shows that maybe perhaps it wasn't really quite all like that exactly?

Belittled Woman  —  At some point along the way, Hillary Clinton became “poor Hillary” and it stuck.  —  She went up against a charmer who once made an audience cheer just by blowing his nose (poor Hillary), and she lost states and delegates and she bet on a filly that died (poor Hillary) …

Who You Calling Activist?  —  CALIFORNIA'S GAY-MARRIAGE DECISION REFLECTS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JUDICIAL ACTIVISM AND, UM, JUDGING.  —  When it comes to gay marriage, California is a hotbed of activism.  Their activist Legislature has twice passed bills that would legalize gay marriage …

FIRST THOUGHTS: BUSH'S GIFT TO OBAMA  —  From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro  —  *** Bush's gift to Obama: When President Bush — thousands of miles away in Israel — decided to fire his thinly veiled shot at Obama yesterday, it was a giant gift to the Illinois senator and his campaign.

Barack Obama: the new Great Redeemer  —  First it was Kennedy... now the US media are prostrating themselves before the saviour  —  Every decade or so the people who control the way we see the world anoint some American politician the Redeemer of a Troubled Planet.

Florida and Michigan Can't Save Clinton  —  Sorry, Sen. Clinton.  Michigan and Florida can't save your campaign.  —  Interviews with those considering how to handle the two states' banished convention delegates found little interest in the former first lady's best-case scenario.