Countrywide's Many ‘Friends’  —  Two U.S. senators, two former Cabinet members, and a former ambassador to the United Nations received loans from Countrywide Financial through a little-known program that waived points, lender fees, and company borrowing rules for prominent people.

McCains report more than $100,000 in credit card debt  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his wife reported more than $100,000 of credit card liabilities, according to financial disclosure documents released Friday.  —  The presidential candidate and his wife Cindy reported piling up debt on a charge card between $10,000 and $15,000.

McCain Stacks Fox News ‘Town Hall’ With Supporters  —  Tonight was the first in a much-hyped series of ‘town hall’ forums scheduled by John McCain's campaign, in which Barack Obama had been challenged to show up to discuss the issues directly with the GOP nominee.

Iraq PM: security deal talks at dead end  —  AMMAN, Jordan - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says talks with the United States on a longterm security agreement have reached a “dead end.”  Al-Maliki says the talks slumped because each side refused the other's demands.

Obama Campaign Dispatching Thousands  —  Moving to harness the grass-roots energy that helped win the Democratic nomination, Sen. Barack Obama's campaign will deploy 3,600 volunteers in 17 states this weekend, each committed to six consecutive weeks of full-time political work.

Fox News Would Like To Take a Moment To Remind You That the Obamas Are As Black As Satan's Festering, Baby-Eating Soul  —  Back in the day - you know, when presidential candidates were respectably white - news organizations called potential First Ladies “wives.”

Media Charged With Sexism in Clinton Coverage  —  Angered by what they consider sexist news coverage of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, many women and erstwhile Clinton supporters are proposing boycotts of the cable networks, putting up videos on a …

Perfect Madness  —  John Podhoretz nominates this Judith Warner post for the “Repulsive Blog Item of the Year Award.”  I would second the nomination, but I also think it's worth zeroing in the structure of Warner's post, which reflects the kind of gonzo inanity that's made her a hathetic joy to read for a long time now.

Dems delegate turns ugly  —  So much for party unity: As Florida Dems prepare for Saturday's Jefferson-Jackson dinner aimed at bringing the party “together once and for all,” a spat over the Obama campaign's decision to replace some already-designated Florida delegates with Obama backers has intensified.

Gun Control Group Braces for Court Loss  —  'We've Lost the Battle on What the 2nd Amendment Means,' Brady Campaign Head Says  —  The nation's leading gun control group filed a “friend of the court” brief back in January defending the gun ban in Washington, D.C. But with the Supreme Court poised …

McCain should know better  —  Context and decency elude the GOP presidential nominee  —  SPECIAL COMMENT  —  Tonight, a Special Comment on Sen. John McCain's conclusion that it's “not too important” when American forces come home from Iraq.  —  Thoughts, offered more in sorrow, than in anger.

The Kozinski mess  —  So the wires are a twitter with the story of Chief Judge Alex Kozinski's “web site” which, from reading the stories, you'd think was filled with porn (and worse), revealing a dark soul who, some experts in legal ethics suggest, shouldn't be presiding at an obscenity trial.

Administration Strategy for Detention Now in Disarray  —  In the days following the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush and his advisers sought to create an unprecedented parallel system to detain suspected terrorists far from the normal scrutiny of the U.S. judiciary.

ANOTHER OBAMA “SMEAR”  —  The Obama campaign might want to add another “smear” to their web page: the idea that some Obama backers, at least, have an odd affinity for murderous Communists.  It started in Houston, and apparently has spread to Ohio.  This photo of an Ohio judge (!) appeared in USA Today this morning: