1:29 p.m., and John McCain speaking in Texas, about Iraq. Things are not looking hopeful for the public good, here: As always, Iraq is "the central battleground" in the global war against Islamic extremist jihadists--at least they've stopped calling it a 'war on terror'. But of course he does not mention, cannot mention, that al-Qaeda and the other groups HAD NO NETWORK IN IRAQ until its government and infrastructure were destroyed by military force.

McCain also says the surge is working. He does not mention that much of the 'pacification' to use the Hitlerian term is owing to ethnic dispossession if not outright ethnic cleansing in some regions, and that part of any dip in violence has come about simply because so many people have been killed.

However, McCain does mention that we may be able to "gradually leave." That seems to be new. Unless it's borrowed from the Nixon playbook of 1972.

Back to the Dem side, in Texas it is est that 3.3M people will vote today, and t.v. people estimate that turnout at this evening's caucuses will be 100K. I wd guess higher, myself.

btw, the networks' bemusement at the "Texas two-step," also referred to as a "complicated process," and Texas as "the only state where you can vote twice, without breaking the law," is obtuse. For those of you following at home, the political shindigs in question are called precinct conventions.

Correct term: precinct conventions. You see, they are located in individual precincts. (Look it up.) The aim is--as it has been for decades--grassroots participation. (Look it up.) It's not rocket science.

A guy I knew, back in Houston, participated as a precinct delegate for the first time as a young man, back in the contentious 1968 or 1972 election, I forget which. He was up in a balcony, sipping a Coke in a cup and listening to the awfulness by the power brokers down below, one of whom said something particularly atrocious even by local standards and also had a bald head. John was thinking of pouring his drink on the guy's head but wrestled with himself, decided he shd represent the youth of America more creditably and determined not to. Next thing he knows, an entire Coke can comes whizzing over the balcony to hit the guy, and he turns around to see that one of his professors at Rice threw it.

1:42 p.m. Back to CNN, "the best political team on television" acc to it, and Rush Limbaugh is exhorting his followers to vote for Clinton. No surprise there. We shd know, as so few of the most prominent analysts seem to know by now, that she's the opponent they want. Nothing like seeing Bill Clinton on the campaign trail again. I can visualize the hand-lettered signs about Juanita Broddrick (NOW, where were you?).

2:00 p.m. Candy Crowley of the crack CNN team brings up all they've got against Obama, again. Two items: NAFTA and the Rezko trial in Chicago. Crowley does not elucidate that NAFTA was passed by the Clintons. Shows clip of Hillary Clinton accusing Obama of a "wink wink" on NAFTA. Crowley does not mention that Clinton ascribes something of a winkwink to herself, saying that she was quietly dubious about NAFTA behind the scenes. Then there is the Rezko trial, in which Obama is not accused of any wrongdoing--last night the rumor was being pushed that he wd be a witness. The rumor was flatly denied by defense counsel. Crowley again does not mention Norman Hsu in connection with the Clintons, or the Ron Burkle association that reportedly netted Bill Clinton $20 million. But then, I have not yet heard CNN report that both Clintons were broke when they left the White House and have been made millionaires since.