At the end of the day

Tonight's GOP debate from CA -- Liveblogged by Josh Marshall here and here.

Debate headline: McCain and Romney spar bitterly in GOP debate

Edwards has left the building -- Good-bye, John, and good luck! Here's to hoping someone is smart enough bring you on board somehow, some way... if that's what you want. Best wishes to Elizabeth, too.

Ed Kilgore offered some thoughts on " Why Edwards Lost" vs. Jonathan Cohn on " Why John Edwards Won."

Speculation over who will benefit from presidential candidate drop-outs.

Polls for 13 Super Tuesday states: The Democratic frontrunners -- Clinton ahead in AL, AZ, CA, MA, MO, NJ, NY, OK, and TN. Obama ahead in IL and by a nose in GA. Clinton and Obama are neck and neck in CO, CT. Click the link for GOP results and caveats. New state polls to come in 24 hours at Pollster Blog. With John Edwards having withdrawn, polls can change dramatically. So beware. There are still a lot of "undecideds." Wheeeee-oooooo! It's a horse race!

He's better than AbuGonzales but -- AG Mukasey dodged and weaved again on whether waterboarding is torture and he "got a harsh reception on Wednesday from senators of both parties, who used his appearance on Capitol Hill to accuse the Bush administration yet again of contempt for the rule of law and American values." NYT

Krugman on today's GDP report and "three reasons" to withhold conclusions on "whether a recession or recession-like period has started."

Rove & Zelikow -- Emptywheel: "By this point, it should surprise no one that Karl Rove does a lot of dirty business using his phone and blackberry. Apparently, that extends to softening the reports of the 9/11 Commission.... ...Rove carried on back-channel discussions with Philip Zelikow, the Commission's Executive Director."

Conservatives and fascism by David Neiwert at Orcinus.

Bipartisanship -- What does it mean in D.C.? Greenwald explained it's "already rampant in Washington" and it happens when "enough Democrats join with all of the Republicans to endorse and enact into law Republican policies, with which most Democratic voters disagree." See Glenn's list of "bipartisan" lawmaking.

Another Repub says no -- Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) will not seek reelection. "There are now 28 House GOPers vacating their seats." (h/t Logan)

Speaking of the GOP exodus -- " 'The open-seat situation is so lopsided as to deny Republicans any chance of taking back the House in 2008,' said David Wasserman, who analyzes House races for The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan publication." Furthermore, "Republicans face a worrisome financial gap in comparison to House Democrats" fundraising. Ending 2007: Democrats -- $35 million cash, $1.3 million debt. Repubs -- $5 million cash, $2 million debt.

Predatory mortgage lenders -- The FBI is investigating 14 "companies, including some of the world’s largest banks..." John Amato provided commentary and video.

Suicidal soldiers -- "Suicides among active-duty soldiers in 2007 reached their highest level since the Army began keeping such records in 1980, according to a draft internal study... Last year, 121 soldiers took their own lives, nearly 20 percent more than in 2006.... At the same time, the number of attempted suicides or self-inflicted injuries in the Army has jumped sixfold since the Iraq war began." Thursday WaPo

Outposts in Iraq -- In an effort to firm up security, "Maj. Gen. Jeffery W. Hammond said he would increase the number of garrisons in [Baghdad] from 75 to 99 by June... ...[M]eanwhile, the remains of 19 people -- 10 heads and nine intact corpses -- were discovered in the town of Muqdadiyah in Diyala province, northeast of the capital, police said. Elsewhere, officials said a suicide car bomber in the northern city of Mosul injured at least 15 people."

Dowd and Brooks -- Echidne unveiled the NYT columnists' codewords about "gender stereotypes" and Clinton Derangement Syndrome.

Fickle Tweety competed with Bloody Bill for the title, Wrongest Wingnut of All. His past praise of Rudy and what a diff a day makes at TP.

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At the end of the day

All three Democratic presidential candidates -- Hillary, Edwards, and Obama -- support the death penalty "...as have virtually all leading Democrats running for office in the past 20 years.... Why so much longstanding support for capital punishment? It is the easiest way to combat the quadrennial charge that Democrats are 'soft on crime.' "

The NYT editorial board endorsed Hillary as their Democratic "primary choice." Is this a good thing when the Times publishes loony columnists Bill Kristol, David Brooks, and MoDo? They also endorsed McCain as their Repub "primary choice." Well, at least the NYT has Paul Krugman on board. Still...

Michigan and Florida delegates -- When the DNC objected to states moving their primary dates up, they decided to strip the states of their delegates. Edwards and Obama removed their names from the ballot in Michigan but Hillary and Kucinich did not. "Today, Hillary announced that she will demand the DNC seat Michigan's and Florida's delegates. Delegates that only she - in violation of DNC rules - competed for." Yellow Dog provided details. Via Deb-TUD, Josh Marshall had something to say about it, too.

Yesterday, Joe Conason indicated he's gotten some heat for not bashing Hillary enough. His response: "There's no taking sides" and concluded, "I perceive strengths and weaknesses in both of the leading Democrats. They're politicians and human beings, not angels or devils. I can certainly imagine voting for either of them in the general election." His favorite pick for president didn't run. Hmmm, I would guess that's Al Gore!

Mitt and McCain vie for who's the biggest tax cut whore of all! But, wait a minute... Rudy wants the coveted title.

FactCheck.org identified Repub falsehoods in last night's GOP debate in Boca Raton, FL. Mitt "misrepresented" Hillary's health care plan, plus note the Huckster's "FairTax fairy tale," "Giuliani's fables," and "McCain's tax evasion." Some are old lies, and some are new. Unsurprising, isn't it?

Atrios pointed out the Draft Bloomberg effort has recorded "a whopping 3136 signatures." At the time of this posting, the amount has catapulted to 3,375! Wheee-oooo. Are you feeling the "Mikementum"? His favorable rating is "Teh Suck".

The latest Florida poll, a national Gallup primary poll, and Mark Blumenthal discussed variations in SC polling.

Cernig at Newshogger posted an in-depth discourse on a "nuke policy blog tank." An excellent synopsis and worth the time to click the link (h/t to blogging goddess, Avedon).

Toe-tappin' Larry Craig sex sting -- "No one on the tight-lipped Senate committee will say how far along any investigation is or whether they expect it to yield any findings." CREW hasn't heard anything. Craig's lawyer remains silent. Is anything being investigated? "No one with the committee has asked to speak with anyone connected with Craig's arrest or asked for more information about it, said Patrick Hogan, a spokesman for the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport." McClatchy

Tortured silence -- Today during a press conference, AG Mike Mukasey wouldn't say if waterboarding is torture. "In a letter to Mr. Mukasey this week, all 10 Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee pressed him again for an answer to the question of whether waterboarding is torture and suggested it would be a focus of an oversight hearing next week at which the attorney general is scheduled to testify." Tomorrow's NYT

Bloody Iraq -- Today Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, said "that Iraqi reinforcements have begun moving toward the northern city of Mosul for a 'decisive' battle with the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda." Also in Mosul, "A provincial police chief was killed by a suicide bomber" on Thursday. "Duraid Kashmoula, the governor of Nineveh province, said the number of people killed in Wednesday's attack had increased from 15 to 38.... The revised death toll made Wednesday's bombing the deadliest in Iraq since mid-December. Kashmoula said 134 people had been wounded."

Pakistan -- SecDef Gates said the U.S. will send "troops to conduct joint combat operations with Pakistan's military against al-Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan's tribal areas."

Check out Corpus Juris' funny video post below. Hilarious! Our hyperbolic media stars... erupt!

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