Past Due: It may happen exactly as Senator Clinton has predicted. Party leaders and Super-Delegates, not the pledged kind selected by the voters, rearing up and taking command of the Democratic party, determining that one potential presidential nominee can succeed and the other cannot; that one can lead them to the White House, and the other can lead them only to friction and even fracture, and saying to one of them, "in the name of God, go." Only, they may not do it to Senator Obama. They may do it to her.

Sadr State of Affairs: Iraq. All quiet on the Western and Eastern Fronts. Unless you count the rockets and guns. Senator Chuck Hagel joins us on that and on the whispers about who might want him, as Vice-President.

ODDBALL: A racetrack deliberately configured for crashes.  Fun for the whole family!

Booed at the Ballgame: For a President of the United States, there is nothing quite like experiencing the barometer of public opinion, in person, from a crowd that has not been vetted for affection. President Bush, who even his fiercest critics acknowledge is a pretty good baseball fan, threw out the first pitch on the deliriously happy occasion of the grand opening of the first new baseball-only stadium in Washington since 1901. And they still booed him.

Worst Person in the World: Walmart vying with an Ohio Judge and the Governor of Pennsylvania for top honors.

5 Years of Countdown: We celebrate five years to the day, of the first newscast in this series, by returning to a date slightly more recent. August 30th, 2006. The first "Special Comment."

A reminder to tune in to NBC tonight live at 7pm et for a special anniversary edition of  Countdown with Keith Olbermann!

Amy Robach in for Keith tonight...

Get Out the Vote:  Some Democrats believe that the party's nominating process has picked up steam only recently... While others feel it has long since passed its sell-by date... But not until today did a leading Democrat actually call on one of the candidates to drop out of the race. Our fifth story on the Countdown: Senator Patrick Leahy says its time for Senator Clinton to pick up her marbles and go home.

Empire State of MInd:  It's more than the current President had five years ago..And yet - dependent on so many contingencies - its feasibility is highly questionable. Our fourth story on the Countdown - more on the Clinton exit strategy. Not from Iraq. But from the Race.

ODDBALL: A first pitch gone wrong, a big fat cat and the world's most important polar bear news.

Ad Hominem:  In a move that mirrors the paradox facing John McCain... today he released the year's first general-election ad... In one state. Our third story tonight, the ad offers answers to the question "Who is John McCain"... and offers hints to the question... "Who is John McCain running against?" On that subject, a couple viewing tips... Note the gender used in the questions about the next president. And see if you recognize the actor narrating the ad.

You are NOT the Father:   It is one of the most pertinent questions in modern America Spawning a generation of talk shows - reality shows and sideshows unparalleled in our culture. Our second story on the Countdown - Who's your daddy? And as our own Michelle Kosinski reports - the answer just got a lot easier.

Paris' Turkey Special:  Paris Hilton is in her prime. How else can you explain a woman who is judging a beauty pageant in Turkey... and building her own personal disco in the basement of her house. Now that's livin'! And in our number one story on the Countdown, Ms. Hilton knows it, seeing herself as a role model for girls. This, from the heiress who once compared herself to other iconic blondes like Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana.

McCain Enable:  It has been the danger at the heart of the Clinton election strategy from the very beginning.  Taring down your Democratic opponent, in part by praising the presumptive Republican nominee... And have you not just made the case for four more years of G-O-P rule in the White House? Our fifth story on the Countdown: With no end in sight for the bloody Democratic nomination battle... new evidence tonight of a potential Democratic defection in the general election... the notion of McCain Democrats beginning to take hold.

Nancy Ploy: It was an extremely thinly-veiled threat - sent to the Speaker of the House by 20 wealthy democratic donors...We give your party a lot of money -- we support Hillary Clinton - now stop supporting Senator Obama's contention that superdelegates should follow the votes of the pledged delegates. Our Fourth story on the Countdown -- the Clinton campaign knew of the letter, though not letter-by-letter... And the Speaker tells them to shove it. With one caveat.

ODDBALL: A car stolen at the police station, and the former Peruvian President falls asleep at his war crimes trial.

McEnomics: It's no longer just the security crisis call at three in the morning. Now, Hillary Clinton is warning about the economic crisis call at three in the morning. Let's hope the White House has call waiting. In our third story tonight, this time the subject of the senator's telephonic ridicule was not her Democratic rival... but the Republican nominee. And more over, her stance was almost identical, to Barack Obama's.

Tabby Time....

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Lee Scott of Walmart, Michael Chertoff and  Senator Lindsey Graham vie for tonight's top honors.

To Catch a Cable News Thief:  Perhaps the cable news war is a "knife fight"... as a buddy of mine likes to say. And goodness knows the competition has employed skull-duggery... to artificially boost its ratings. But in our number one story on the Countdown, this is not just a matter that concerns all of us here on the Countdown. This -- Joe and Jane Q Public -- is now threatening the peace and happiness of everyone in the land. Because after having tried to steal me -- and my producers -- from this network... CNN is now trying to poach our guests. In fact, we believe they had somebody out there this afternoon casing the joint, to see if they could steal the chairs.

Just Words:  Though polling tonight suggests that the Jeremiah Wright controversy has been less damaging to Barack Obama over the last two weeks... than the Hillary Clinton campaign has been damaging... to Hillary Clinton... The candidacy of implication tonight continues, unabated. Our fifth story on the Countdown: Senator Clinton today... again ruling in the possibility of a pledged delegate switch -- whether by mutiny or epiphany. And Senator Obama, back on the trail, responding to yesterday's implications about his former pastor.

Fog of Memory:  "I was sleep-deprived... I misspoke."  That, Senator Clinton's mis-characterization of her trip to Bosnia in a speech nine days ago. Yet in our fourth story on the Countdown -- and the two other times she mis-recounted the trip?  Chronic sleep deprivation? Continuing through Monday when she clarified her recollection -- which turns out also to have been inaccurate? And if she was - is she really the best candidate to be picking up the phone at 3 am in the White House?

ODDBALL: The cow that milks itself.

War More Years:  John McCain hates war. He hates every single war he lobbies for... with such consistent fervor... that his major foreign policy speech today included some of the same exact sentences he used back in 2001... to tell us how much he hated war in Afghanistan, too. Our third story on the Countdown: and he's seen a lot of wars to hate. Perhaps he will later regret beginning his speech by saying, quote: "When I was five years old, a car pulled up in front of our house in New London, Connecticut, and a Navy officer rolled down the window, and shouted at my father that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor." The only way he could have reminded more voters, more pungently, that he is not a spring chicken is if he had begun that speech with "Abraham Lincoln told me..."

Worsties...see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: James Dobson, Bill-O and Walmart vie for tonights' top honors.

David and Behemoth:  Last night on "American Idol"... Simon Cowell compared one contestant's performance to something out of a theme park..."One of those ghastly songs you sing when you've got animated creatures with you". In our number one story on the Countdown, at least Mr. Cowell is moving somewhere closer to the truth... in his critique of a show that may be calcifying in its seventh season

The "Tonya Harding Option"?: John McCain has defended Barack Obama against criticism related to Reverend Jeremiah Wright..Mike Huckabee has defended Barack Obama against Wright-related criticism. Hillary Clinton's Pastor has defended not just Obama... but Reverend Wright himself. Today, in our fifth story on the Countdown, Senator Clinton, for the first time, pounced on an opportunity... to attack Obama about Reverend Wright. This, as one unnamed Democratic Party official described what he called Senator Clinton's "Tonya Harding option" -- that the only way to get the nomination is for her to, quote, "knee-cap" un-quote, Senator Obama.

You Say Dubai, I say Hello:  "I was usually the first person Bill would talk to about anything. It was a factor of both proximity and relationship."That - the latest argument from Senator Hillary Clinton as to why she is better suited to handle crises as than Senator Barack Obama. Because her husband - the President - spoke to her. First. By which logic - Laura Bush should likewise be on the ballot in November - perhaps on a joint ticket with her mother-in-law. Our fourth story on the Countdown - are you experienced? Have you ever been experienced?.

ODDBALL: We'll try again...fightin people and fightin robots.

Economy of Ideas:  It is remarkable that during the Wild West saloon riot that has broken out in place of the Democratic primary season... The presumptive Republican nominee could stumble, at home and abroad, literally and figuratively. In our third story: Senator John McCain, also the ranking Republican on the Commerce Committee, speaking today on the nation's mounting economic crisis. And... he had no suggestions as to what to do now.

Tabby TIme!  The good news: Britney Spears got through it. The bad news: this was on tape, if she hadn't gotten through it, it would have been erased for all time. 75 seconds of our number two story on the Countdown, Keeping Tabs.
 
WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: USA Today Sports Weekly, John Yoo, and Bill-o vie for tonight's top honors.

The Commander in Chief Test:   "I think it's imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold.  "And I believe that I've done that. Certainly, Senator McCain has done that. And you'll have to ask Senator Obama with respect to his candidacy." Our number one story on the Countdown -- what is the threshold test of which you speak? Well, Countdown has exclusively obtained a copy of said exam. On our 5th Anniversary special, Sunday Night on NBC, we will bring you the entire test, all 17 questions, plus the grading scale, in which you can find out for yourself whether you, or a presidential candidate near you, has passed the Commander-in-Chief threshold. Tonight... a preview...The Prep Course, if you will, for Sunday night's exam.

A Grim Milestone: Which will decide, just how much larger this nightmarish number, will become: 4,000. 4,000 American men and women in uniform, who went to Iraq ,and never came home.  All of them -- in the vernacular of the White House -- seemingly sacrificed not by the Bush Administration for its conflict... but instead somehow having managed to sacrifice...themselves. Our fifth story on the Countdown: A grim milestone is reached... with little accountability... and a galling, repeated, drumbeat today... that they were all volunteers.

To Tell the Tuzla: Breaking news tonight...For the first time, Hillary Clinton herself is calling her claim about landing in Tuzla under sniper fire... a "misstatement"... reversing her past defense of her account, even as she told Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News today this was, quote, "a minor blip." But in our fourth story tonight, that minor blip... a major point in Clinton's narrative about herself as a crisis-ready candidate... her own campaign staff earlier today acknowledging only that it was "possible" she misspoke last week about coming under sniper attack so heavy that a 1996 greeting ceremony at the airport at Tuzla in Bosnia, had to be cancelled. That acknowledgment coming after videotape of the ceremony that wasn't at all cancelled, re-appeared on the internet... and even then, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson insisted today that she was still, quote, "on the front lines." Clinton's war stories first started unraveling when they came under fire from her former comrade-in-arms... Sinbad, the comedian, also on that Tuzla trip.

ODDBALL: Pillow fighters and fightin robots.

Surrogates & Delegates: It's hard not wonder whether the relevant electrons passed each other somewhere in the ether today. In our third story tonight, the Battle of the Surrogates... At almost exactly the same time the Clinton campaign today sent out an email seeking donations because two Obama supporters analogized Bill Clinton's rhetoric with that of Joe McCarthy-- the fear-mongering senator of the Red Scare...

Worsties....see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD:  Warren Vandeveer, Senator McCain, and William Kristol vie for tonight's top honors.

A Dyngus for the Rest of Us: Today is indeed Dyngus Day... In Polish tradition, a celebration marking the end of Lent, as opposed to a search for the definition of the similar word "ding-us." A day when boys playfully douse girls with water... and girls strike the boys with pussy-willows (or in some instances, dirty dishes)...  All as a means of showing affection. But in our number one story on the Countdown, Dingoos has evolved to a largely political event in South Bend, Indiana... And today, former President Clinton was stumping for his wife in that upcoming primary state. Thus, the water-splashing and pussy-willows were kept to a minimum. 

The Richardson Endorsement: Forget the 3 A-M phone call. The biggest early morning development of this campaign season might well turn out to be the 3 AM bulletin. Our fifth story on the Countdown: The office in Santa Fe sending out the urgent at three seconds after 3 AM Eastern this morning: "The Associated Press has learned that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is endorsing Senator Barack Obama for president." Within eleven hours... veteran reporters Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen wondering if the media might be a little more "urgent" about the Democratic race... writing on Politico dot com, quote: "Hillary Rodham Clinton has virtually no chance of winning" the nomination. Governor Bill Richardson joins us in a moment...Briefly, the details...

Once More Unto the Breach:  With the comforting reassurance that it was not just the State Department Passport File of one Presidential candidate breached by some sub-contractors the way a teenager might go through his dad's Playboys -- but all three...In our fourth story tonight, the investigations have begun. Internally by State's Acting Inspector General. Externally by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

ODDBALL: A Spring celebration and the devil whipping festival rides again.

Homeland Insecurity: Senator John McCain, running on the claim that he understands national-security issues better than Democrats do... issued a statement today on the State Department's passport breaches... referring to them, in our third story tonight, only as a matter of privacy. Apparently not believing that, six years after 9/11, no one should be able to access sensitive information, including social-security numbers:-- About three powerful U-S senators...On four separate days... Let alone non-government employees of two private companies...Let alone inside the State Department itself...Let alone without top State officials allegedly not finding out about it until months after the first episode... And finding out, from a newspaper.

Tabby Time....

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson, Rupert Murdoch and Kiran Chetry vie for tonight's top honors.

Political Bracketology: A rather unexpected caller recently, to my old friends Al Morganti and Angelo Cataldi on the morning show at all-sports radio station WIP in Philadelphia. Barack from Chicago. On the day the NCAA basketball tournament began... and, as we know, ended at 6:58 Eastern Time yesterday when Stanford defeated Cornell 77-53 in the championship game. Our number one story on the Countdown: Senators Obama and McCain actually released their tournament picks -- brackets -- to reporters. Is there risk here?

BREAKING....

So...by now you're in on the story at the State Department. NBC News is reporting that Senator Barack Obama's passport file was breached on three different occasions by three different people who did not have access to do so. The first was January 9th, the second February 21st and the third was last week...March 14th.

The State Department says there was no political motivation for the breaches. They call it "imprudent curiosity"  Two of the people were fired, the third case is pending. We don't have names of the people involved yet, but they are said to be low level employees.

The Obama Campaign's statement is as follows:

"This is an outrageous breach of security and privacy, even from an Administration that has shown little regard for either over the last eight years. Our government's duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes. This is a serious matter that merits a complete investigation, and we demand to know who looked at Senator Obama's passport file, for what purpose, and why it took so long for them to reveal this security breach,"

  ---Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

There is a State Department conference call scheduled for after 9p eastern...we'll see what come of it.

Trail Mix: For Senator Clinton... there is the vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq that she probably wishes never happened...And the Michigan re-vote... that likely never will happen... no matter how hard she might wish. Our fifth story on the Countdown: Five years to the day after the Iraq war began... Senator Clinton preferring to spend her day in Detroit, talking about a primary do-over in that state that instead looks... over and out. Her opponent, Senator Obama... using the anniversary of the conflict to address military families near Fort Bragg... and to attempt to cast himself as the only true anti-war candidate.

You Say Dubai, I say Hello: At first, John McCain's claim that Irahn was taking in members of al Qaeda in Iraq, training them, and then sending them back to Iraq... appeared to be a momentary misstatement... that he meant to say "extremists." In our fourth story tonight, despite the fact that McCain himself said he was wrong... his campaign today issued a prepared statement, saying, quote, "Al Qaeda and Shia extremists--with support from external powers such as Irahn--are on the run but not defeated."

ODDBALL:  Chris Matthews dances on Ellen, and the TN state legislature milks some cows on your dime.

War More Years: "I assure you, this will not be a campaign of half measures". The words of George Walker Bush exactly five years ago tonight -- as he plunged America into a war that to date has cost 3,991 American soldiers their lives... Cost four-and-half million Iraqis their homes.... Cost the American taxpayer 526 billion dollars -- with hundreds of billions more already unavoidable. Yet in our third story on the Countdown, the President still declared this morning... with a straight face.. that --quote-- "The successes we are seeing in Iraq are undeniable".

Worsts...see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: MLB, Sean Hannity and  Lynndie England vie for tonight's top honors.

5 Years Later:  The fifth anniversary of the Iraq War...Marked with a speech by its Chicken Little creator, President Bush... And coinciding with a cranky interview by its mother hen, Vice-President Cheney... But in our number one story on the Countdown...From the war's principal media cheerleaders... nary a peep.

The Wright Stuff: What began as the most important day of Barack Obama's candidacy for president... might well end up being remembered as the most important week of his campaign. Our fifth story on the Countdown: Having today broached the sensitive topic of race in a speech that even many of his critics saw as sweeping and moving...The Obama campaign announcing that tomorrow he will move on to address Iraq and national security... and then Thursday: Iraq and the economy.

The Audacity of Unity: The dirty little secret of politics, is that those who cover it, dream one day of hearing a speech so significant and so material that it -- and they -- transcend politics. Our fourth story on the Countdown: put your thesorauses away... since Abraham Lincoln sat down at Gettysburg in 1864, there have been precious few of them, and Barack Obama's today, was almost certainly not one of them. But as a political speech -- and as to its political impact -- this was a whopper. And look carefully. If it hadn't occurred to you already...This may have also been... an audition.

ODDBALL: A bobcat on the terlet and the oldest marathoner on planet earth.

Party Crashers: While Barack Obama was reportedly up until two o'clock this morning working on his speech to address the most serious crisis of his astonishing run... what was his campaign doing? In our third story tonight, some of Obama's top staffers were talking to Politico dot-com... not to augment his message of healing and unity... but to push a message of their own... that Hillary Clinton will sacrifice anything, including the Democratic Party itself, to win the nomination...  An unnamed senior aide to Obama saying he believes Clinton is willing to, quote, "destroy the party" to get the nomination.

Worsties...see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Rupert Murdoch, John McCain and Keith himself vie for tonight's top honors.

The Luv Guvs:  Three present or former Governors...A singing prostitute...And a menage-a-trois that was dubbed "The Friday Night Special"... My producers say... "Number One Story!" I say... "Stories My Producers Are Forcing Me To Cover." And oh yeah, trysts at a Days Inn... Could be worse, could be Motel 6... we'll leave the light on for you.

It's a Big Speech:  It may not have merited the description of a network newscast tonight: "Firestorm." It has received but not earned -- as you will hear later -- a comparison to the saga of Willie Horton in the 1988 election, and a hysterical fabrication that found its way into the New York Times. But in our fifth story on the Countdown: there is no doubt that the issue of Pastor Jeremiah Wright -- specifically his references to quote "God Damn America" and his claim of some American culpability for 9/11 -- is a critical moment for the presidential aspirations for Senator Barack Obama. And in news breaking at this hour: he will address them -- and the larger issues of race and religion -- in a speech tomorrow in Philadelphia...A speech which -- as this day wore on -- became more and more obvious, as perhaps the most important speech by any candidate in any party, yet given in this longest of campaigns.

Delegate Dance:  Whether Florida's delegates will ever be seated -- and counted -- at the Democratic National Convention... newly in doubt at this hour... Our fourth story on the Countdown... Democratic party leaders in that state have abandoned a plan to hold a re-do, mail-in vote. Chuck Todd with the latest on that, presently. But at least there's Iowa. The home of the first-in-the-nation caucus is still counting... And Senator Barack Obama has managed to net an additional nine delegates.

ODDBALL: A flaming piano and our first female streaker.

Spilling Blood & Treasure: I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth, banks are going bust.  32 years ago, that made the fictional Howard Beale mad as hell. And he didn't have Iraq or Afghanistan. In our third story tonight... We do.

Worsties...see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: The editor of the New York Times, Billo and Heather Mills McCartney vie for tonight's top honors.

Billo's Spitz Take:  After years of talking out of his seat… Bill O'Reilly of Fixed News has finally found a subject to pontificate about, in which his personal knowledge actually reaches to the level of expertise. A topic in which he is not just hypocritical scold, but battle-scarred veteran. Our number one story on the Countdown: Billo analyzes… Eliot Spitzer.

Obama on the Record:  This week in the presidential race started with debate over race and religion, and it will end with it. Now, our fifth story on the Countdown: Senator Obama, finding himself under fire tonight... for the controversial sermons of one of his now former spiritual advisers.  Breaking news that Obama campaign has just announced that the spiritual adviser in question -- the Reverend Jeremiah Wright -- is no longer associated with the Obama campaign. The Illinois Democrat -- having already condemned and rejected the statements in question today: outright, vehemently and categorially -- joining us presently so he can address them further.

****Senator Obama Joined the show live, Keith gives way to the great Alison Stewart****

S-CHIPed Beef: Our fourth story on the Countdown: It looked as if Senator Clinton had put any doubts about healthcare far behind her...But just a week after her claims of leadership in a variety of foreign-policy incidents came in for criticism from people who were there... a Boston Globe story suggests that her claims of playing a crucial role in crafting the popular, federal health-insurance plan for children, known as S-CHIP, do not hold up to scrutiny, either.

ODDBALL: NO ODDBALL TONIGHT!

Freeze Framed: Maybe the President likes the Ella Fitzgerald classic--"Isn't it Romantic?" You know how it goes---"Isn't it romantic? Music in the night, a dream that can be heard. Fighting the Taliban in sub zero rugged terrain?" It's about the only explanation that we can come up with to understand the President's view of the 6 /12 year struggle in Afghanistan as romantic? A view he expressed... in a video-conference with U-S military personnel ---who are, well fighting there---details in a minute.  And in our third story on the Countdown, General David Petraeus speaks frankly about conditions in Iraq... saying that Iraqi leaders are not making the requisite progress.

Tabby Time: In our number two story... a brief look, now, at the world of celebrity where the fabulously rich and famous yearn for the simple joys of friendship... and even make a buck off-it.

Oddball Plays of February:   Tomorrow...the 15th...is the dreaded "Ides of March" And it was on that date in the year 44 B.C. when Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was betrayed and murdered by a group of nobles. Just before he kicked it, Caesar famously delivered those words of shock and astonishment: "Et Tu Brute" Ironically, tomorrow is the birthday of another famous Italian, also known for a famous line of wonder and surprise. The date was March 15th, 1959 The man was Fabio, and the line..."I can't believe it's not butter!" With that, let's throw it in reverse and head back to last month...for the Oddball Plays of February.

You may have caught his latest blog over at Huffington Post, tonight catch him live on Countdown. Please join us tonight at 8p et for an interview with Senator Barack Obama.

States of Confusion: The lyric was sung with gusto by Howard DaSilva as Ben Franklin in the movie "1776." It was about a struggle by the Founding Fathers, each of whom wanted to avoid writing the declaration of Independence... But tonight it has unexpected relevance to the 2008 Democratic Primary. "I won't put politics on paper -- it's a mania... "So I refuse, to use the pen, in Pennsylvania." Our fifth story on the Countdown: the Clinton Campaign is using its pen, Strategist Mark Penn, in Pennsylvania, but may wish it hadn't. First, Penn declared Barock Obama incapable of winning the general election if he couldn't beat Clinton in the Keystone State... Then, the campaign tried to backtrack and insist he hadn't and had only said it raised "serious questions." Indeed.

Spare the Rod:  While Senators Clinton and Obama re-enact Punch and Judy... Senator McCain, freed of the responsibility of campaigning to mainstream America, or even while the media was watching, found a new religious group to cross off his campaign mailing list... Muslims. In our fourth story tonight, on February 27th, McCain angered Catholics and, y'know, sane people... when he happily accepted the endorsement of...

ODDBALL: More Mascot on Mascot action, and the world cheese championships.

Spy Way or the Highway:  The House floats a FISA Bill that doesn't protect the Administration?  The President promises a veto saying --quote-- "Voting for this bill would make our country less safe". The Head of U-S Central Command disagrees with the White House on Iraq and Iran? The President asks the Defense Secretary to --quote-- "handle it", and suddenly, there's a resignation letter. Our third story on the Countdown -- every once in awhile George W. Bush does something nefarious, to remind us all, that he's still around.

Worsties...see below

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Michael O'Hanlon, Lou Dobbs, and Billy Crystal vie for tonight's top honors.

Spitz Takes: If you think it callous to be making jokes about a man who had to bail out during his 15th month as governor of New York after being caught in a prostitution sting... Relax. Our number one story on the Countdown: Eliot Spitzer's successor, Governor-To-Be David Paterson, asked at his first news conference today, quote, "so New Yorkers don't have to go through this again, have you ever patronized a prostitute." Paterson's answer: "Only the lobbyists." Thank you, try the veal, please tip your precinct captains, I'm here all term...

Resign of the Times:  She still believes it...She is not sorry she said it... She said the same thing about another African-American in the race for president twenty years ago... And if that were not enough... she blames Senator Obama for what has happened... to her. Our fifth story on the Countdown: Former Congresswoman and Vice Presidential Candidate Geraldine Ferraro might have left the Clinton campaign today... because of the controversial comments she made about Senator Obama's candidacy... but there is little doubt that the controversy has not left her. Later: My Special Comment on Senator Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro... and the opportunity the candidate missed to say "In this I believe."

Miss By That Much: Momentum being as quantifiable as catching the scent of the seaside in a bottle... In our fourth story tonight, Barrock Obama's victory in Mississippi last night... has erased all the delegate gains Hillary Clinton made on March 4th in Ohio.

ODDBALL: A gnome unveiled in Argentina, a stinky photo shoot and robot dinosaurs.

Spitzer Resigns:  It has been 34 years since a governor of New York resigned, mid-term. That one, Nelson Rockefeller left, to become Vice President of the United States. Though the subject of women -- divorce, in particular -- probably kept him from becoming a presidential candidate. In our third story tonight... now, Governor Eliot Spitzer has quit -- with the subject of women certainly keeping him from becoming any kind of national figure. Our correspondent Mike Taibbi has the story of Spitzer's extraordinary fall from Grace... if that was her real name.

Worsties...see below

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD:  Organizers of "Garden State Equality's Legends Dinner," (well, they didn't really do anything wrong),  Dave Weldon and Paul Broun vie for tonight's top honors.

The Ferraro Special Comment:  See new post. 

   Finally, as promised, a Special Comment on the presidential campaign of the Junior Senator from New York.
      By way of necessary preface, President and Senator Clinton -- and the Senator's mother, and the Senator's brother -- were of immeasurable support to me at the moments when these very commentaries were the focus of the most surprise, the most uncertainty, and the most anger. My gratitude to them is abiding.
      Also, I am not here endorsing Senator Obama's nomination, nor suggesting it is inevitable.
      Thus I have fought with myself over whether or not to say anything.
      Senator, as it has reached its apex in their tone-deaf, arrogant, and insensitive reaction to the remarks of Geraldine Ferraro... your own advisors are slowly killing your chances to become President.
      Senator, their words, and your own, are now slowly killing the chances for any Democrat to become President.
      In your tepid response to this Ferraro disaster, you may sincerely think you are disenthralling an enchanted media, and righting an unfair advance bestowed on Senator Obama.
      You may think the matter has closed with Representative Ferraro's bitter, almost threatening resignation.
      But in fact, Senator, you are now campaigning, as if Barack Obama were the Democrat, and you… were the Republican.
      As Shakespeare wrote, Senator -- that way… madness… lies.
      You have missed a critical opportunity to do... what was right.
      No matter what Ms. Ferraro now claims, no one took her comments out of context.    
      She had made them on at least three separate occasions, then twice more on television this morning.
      Just hours ago, on NBC Nightly News, she denied she had made the remarks in an interview -- only at a paid political speech.
      In fact, the first time she spoke them, was ten days before the California newspaper published them... not in a speech, but in a radio interview.
      On February 26th, quoting...
      "If Barack Obama were a white man, would we be talking about this, as a potential real problem for Hillary? If he were a woman of any color, would he be in this position that he's in? Absolutely not."
      The context was inescapable.
      Two minutes earlier, a member of Senator Clinton's Finance Committee, one of her "Hill-Raisers," had bemoaned the change in allegiance by Super-Delegate John Lewis from Clinton to Obama, and the endorsement of Obama by Senator Dodd.
      "I look at these guys doing it," she had said, "and I have to tell you, it's the guys sticking together."
      A minute after the "color" remarks, she was describing herself as having been chosen for the 1984 Democratic ticket, purely as a woman politician, purely to make history.
      She was, in turn, making a blind accusation of sexism -- and dismissing Senator Obama's candidacy as nothing more than an Equal Opportunity stunt.
      The next day she repeated her comments to a reporter from the newspaper in Torrance, California.
      "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."
      And when this despicable statement -- ugly in its overtones, laughable in its weak grip of facts, and moronic in the historical context -- when it floats outward from the Clinton Campaign like a poison cloud, what do the advisors have their candidate do?
      Do they have Senator Clinton herself compare the remark to Al Campanis talking on Nightline... on Jackie Robinson day... about how blacks lacked the necessities to become baseball executives, while she points out that Barack Obama has not gotten his 1600 delegates as part of some kind of Affirmative Action plan?
      Do they have Senator Clinton note that her own brief period in elected office, is as irrelevant to the issue of judgment as is Senator Obama's…
     …while she points out that FDR had served only six years as a governor and state Senator before he became President?
      Or that Teddy Roosevelt had four-and-a-half years before the White House?
      Or that Woodrow Wilson had two years and six weeks?
      Or Richard Nixon… fourteen... and Calvin Coolidge 25?
      Do these advisors have Senator Clinton invoke Samantha Power -- gone by sunrise after she used the word "monster" -- and have Senator Clinton say, "this is how I police my campaign and this is what I stand for," while she fires former Congresswoman Ferraro from any role the campaign?
      No.
      Somebody tells her that simply disagreeing with and rejecting the remarks is sufficient.
      And she should then call, "regrettable", words that should make any Democrat retch.
      And that she should then try to twist them, first into some pox-on-both-your-houses plea to 'stick to the issues,' and then to let her campaign manager try to bend them beyond all recognition, into Senator Obama's fault.
      And thus these advisers give Congresswoman Ferraro nearly a week in which to send Senator Clinton's campaign back into the vocabulary... of David Duke.
      "Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let's address reality and the problems we're facing in this world, you're accused of being racist, so you have to shut up.
      "Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white.
      "How's that?"
      How's that?
      Apart from sounding exactly like Rush Limbaugh attacking the black football quarterback Donovan McNabb?
      Apart from sounding exactly like what Ms. Ferraro said about another campaign, nearly twenty years ago?
      Quote:
      "President Reagan suggested Tuesday that people don't ask Jackson tough questions because of his race. And former representative Geraldine A. Ferraro (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that because of his "radical" views, "if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race."
      So... apart from sounding like insidious racism that is at least two decades old?
      Apart from rendering ridiculous, Senator Clinton's shell-game about choosing Obama as Vice President?
      Apart from this evening's resignation letter?
      "I am stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself and you can continue to speak for yourself about what is at stake in this campaign.
      "The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you."
      Apart from all that?
      Well. It sounds as if those advisors want their campaign to be associated with those words, and the cheap… ignorant… vile… racism that underlies every syllable...
      And that Geraldine Ferraro has just gone free-lance.
      Senator Clinton:
      This is not a campaign strategy.
      This is a suicide pact.
      This week alone, your so-called strategists have declared that Senator Obama has not yet crossed the "commander-in-chief threshold"…
      But -- he might be your choice to be Vice President, even though a quarter of the previous sixteen Vice Presidents have become commander-in-chief during the greatest kind of crisis this nation can face: a mid-term succession.
      But you'd only pick him if he crosses that threshold by the time of the convention.
      But if he does cross that threshold by the time of the convention, he will only have done so sufficiently enough to become Vice President, not President.
     
      Senator, if the serpentine logic of your so-called advisors were not bad enough...
      Now, thanks to Geraldine Ferraro, and your campaign's initial refusal to break with her, and your new relationship with her -- now more disturbing still with her claim that she can now "speak for herself" about her vision of Senator Obama as some kind of embodiment of a quota...
      If you were to seek Obama as a Vice President, it would be, to Ms. Ferraro, some kind of social engineering gesture, some kind of racial make-good.
      Do you not see, Senator?
      To Senator Clinton's supporters, to her admirers, to her friends for whom she is first choice, and her friends for whom she is second choice, she is still letting herself be perceived as standing next to, and standing by, racial divisiveness and blindness…
      And worst yet, after what President Clinton said during the South Carolina primary, comparing the Obama and Jesse Jackson campaigns -- a disturbing, but only borderline remark...
      After what some in the black community have perceived as a racial undertone to the "3 A-M" ad... a disturbing -- but only borderline interpretation...
      And after that moment's hesitation in her own answer on 60 Minutes about Obama's religion -- a disturbing, but only borderline vagueness...
      After those precedents, there are those who see a pattern... false, or true.
      After those precedents, there are those who see an intent... false, or true.
      After those precedents, there are those who see the Clinton campaign's anything-but-benign neglect of this Ferraro catastrophe -- falsely or truly -- as a desire to hear the kind of casual prejudice which still haunts this society voiced... and to not distance the campaign from it.
      To not distance you from it, Senator!
      To not distance you... from that which you as a woman, and Senator Obama as an African-American, should both know and feel with the deepest of personal pain!
      Which you should both fight with all you have!
      Which you should both insure, has no place in this contest!
    
      This, Senator Clinton, is your campaign, and it is your name.
      Grab the reins back from whoever has led you to this precipice, before it is too late.
      Voluntarily or inadvertently, you are still awash in this filth.
      Your only reaction has been to disagree, reject, and to call it regrettable.
      Her only reaction has been to brand herself as the victim, resign from your committee, and insist she will continue to speak.
      Unless you say something definitive, Senator, the former Congresswoman is speaking with your approval.
      You must remedy this.
      And you must... reject... and denounce... Geraldine Ferraro.
      Good night, and good luck.

It's been all over the place at this point, but Keith will have a Special Comment tonight on the Senator Clinton Geraldine Ferraro story.  Stay tuned for a transcript/text. 

Excerpt here.

In The Line of Ferraro:  The harbinger of election calls Chuck Todd bags another one, this time it's Barack Obama's victory in Mississippi.  All this as an extraordinary controversy erupts around Senator Clinton -- her fundraiser, former Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Geraldine Ferraro, first declared that if Senator Obama quote "was a white man, he would not be in this position" in the presidential race... And has now followed that up by accusing those who disagree with her, of reverse racism. That -- and Mississippi -- the last vote until Pennsylvania -- tonight.

Delegate Situation:  With 33 pledged delegates - it is the 40th state to cast a vote so far in the 2008 democratic presidential contest...and tonight, Senator Barack Obama takes the state and a presumably large portion of the delegates. Before today's primary - Senator Obama had 1,379 pledged delegates to Senator Clinton's 1,230. Both far short of the 2,025 needed for the nomination. But surprisingly fluid... insomuch as Senator Obama will yet gain a few delegates from the vote in Texas last week... and apparently from the vote in California a month ago.

The Ferraro Comment(s):  The politician who first broke the glass ceiling that had kept women off the Presidential tickets... Has answered criticism about her startling conclusion that Senator Obama is only "in the position he is in" because he's a black man... By bristling that anybody who quote "says let's address reality and the problems we're facing in this world, you're accused of being racist, so you have to shut up. Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?" Our third story on the Countdown: It is not clear who is the "they" in the follow-up statement from Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 Democratic nominee for Vice President, and now a fund-raiser and speaker for the Clinton Campaign. But among those who criticized her depiction of Obama as some sort of "Equal Opportunity Hire" in the presidential race -- was Senator Clinton. Though Senator Clinton has not fired former Congresswoman Ferraro.

Worsties...

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: The leader of the New York State GOP, Steve Doocy and Bob Novak vie for tonight's top honors.

Sad Songs Say So Much:   NBC News projects Senator Barack Obama will win the Democratic Primary in Mississippi... His 14th victory in his last 17 contests with Senator Clinton... she won two outright... Texas' popular vote went to her; its delegates to him... If one theme has dominated the presidential campaign--in both parties--it is that Washington is out of touch. In our number-one story tonight, Washington is so out of touch, it's not funny... but Washington's laughing anyway.

States of Confusion:  In a span of 48 hours, Senator Clinton has gone from trying to poach some of Senator Obama's support by hinting he might be her choice for the Vice Presidency, and a vote for her now might be a vote for both of them later..To having her chief strategist say that right now, anyway, Obama has not passed whatever qualification test for Vice President the Clinton campaign has -- but maybe he can later. Perhaps he has to take the SAT's. In the same time span, Senator Clinton has gone from referencing the two kinds of delegates -- pledged and super -- to inventing a third category all her own... "Caucus Delegates."  Even though her victory in Nevada was in a caucus, and her victory in New Mexico was in a caucus hybrid. Our fifth story on the Countdown: Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote it in 1841: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Whatever else you think of her: Hillary Clinton's... is not a little mind.

You Say Dubai, I say Hello:  If it doesn't sound like cynical political manipulation... Does it at least sound like a logical disconnect? Senator Clinton turns her campaign into a declaration that Senator Obama is not ready to be President. Then Senator Clinton suggests she might chose Senator Obama as her Vice President, even though two of the last eight Vice Presidents, and four of the last sixteen, have had to unexpectedly and suddenly succeed to the Presidency. And then Senator Clinton's advisor says, well, no, Obama is not ready now... but he might be... and he suggests that the date he might be, would fall just after, say, Senator Clinton had been nominated for President. Our fourth story on the Countdown: no, I'm not kidding.

ODDBALL: The ugliest dog in the world and the longest ear hair in the world. Ew.

Interstate Commerce:  Even for the world of politics -- leading American distributor of hypocrisy, sleaze, and gall -- it was quite a moment. The Governor of New York -- a vehement anti-corruption campaigner, and harsh-sentence advocate -- turning up in an FBI sting of an international call-girl and money-laundering operation, and reportedly ready to resign -- though he has not yet. Our third story on the Countdown: on the other hand, it isn't even the most impressive implosion by a governor in the New York-New Jersey-Fairfield County Connecticut Metropolitan Area, not as long as the tapes of Jim McGreevey still exist. But there is this: New York Governor Eliot Spitzer -- and at last check he is still New York Governor Eliot Spitzer -- is also a Democratic Super-Delegate... pledged to Senator Clinton. OK: news conference first, in its brief entirety, then the back-story.

Worsties...see below 

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Brent Bozell, Joseph Abrams, and Steven King vie for tonight's top honors.

The SNL Effect:   Three Saturdays ago, Senator Clinton loved Saturday Night Live. Two Saturdays ago, Senator Clinton appeared on Saturday Night Live. 48 hours ago? Senator Clinton would probably say she was watching "Hannah Montana" over on Disney Channel. Gene Robinson of The Washington Post joins me in a moment, for our Number One story: It's 3 AM, but somewhere at 30 Rock, a phone is ringing, and it's somebody from the Clinton Campaign, complaining about this sketch.

Fresh off a week in which she pulled slightly closer to Barack Obama in the pledge delegate count, Senator Clinton has unveiled a new way of identifying those delegates and told Newsweek that according to DNC rules that all the delegates are in play and can switch candidates at will. 

We'll explore the Veep talk that happened this weekend. Bill Clinton says Clinton/Obama would be unstoppable...and Senator Obama halts any chatter and floats his own opinion as to why the Clintons may be floating the dream ticket.

Also, we'll have more on the breaking Eliot Spitzer news...awaiting a news conference from the New York Governor now.

Power Play:   "Battle not with monsters," warned the dark philosopher Nietzsche, "lest you become one." A quote that might be floating around the Obama campaign tonight. Amid its whiplash and its outrage after a week of verbal assaults from the Clinton campaign, a collective comparison suggesting Senator Obama is not as good as John McCain, and just as bad as George Bush, Karl Rove, and Kenneth Starr... Obama's Senior Foreign Policy advisor might have topped them all. Our fifth story on the Countdown: Samantha Power, Pulitzer Prize-Winner, and Harvard Professor, told a Scottish newspaper that Hillary Clinton was quote "a monster" who will "do anything to win." She immediately apologized to Senator Clinton... and nearly as immediately, resigned.

Power Outage: Last month after it had accused Senator Obama of plagiarism because he and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick freely and knowingly exchanged speech ideas...  The Clinton campaign would not guarantee that it had never used someone else's rhetoric without crediting them, and a series of examples bubbled quickly to the surface. Our fourth story on the Countdown: That was not even one of the examples given today by Obama campaign manager David Pluff... when he said, quote, "There seems to be a different standard in the Clinton campaign."

ODDBALL: Dinky the singing dingo and the ding dong bandit strikes!

Temper Mental:  In the words of Republican presidential candidate John McCain... "eff you." That was him to Senator John Cornyn. Senator Chuck Grassley?  An "effing jerk." Senator Pete Domenichi... a "hole" of some sort. In our third story tonight, McCain, the button, and a temper that led Domenichi, a Republican, to say, "I decided I didn't want this guy anywhere near a trigger."

Worsties...see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Oliver North, Dana Perino and Bill-O vie for tonight's top honor.

Domain Name Game:  In politics.... bad-mouthing your opponent -- as a destination -- is nothing new. Just string together a few words and add dot-com.. But today, there's, "Calculating Clinton .com"...And "Faux-Bama.com"... And "Hate McCain.com". And in our number one story on the Countdown, all of those actual examples... are now owned by the Republican National Committee... The first two...placeholders for possible future use. The latter, bought pre-emptively, so no one else can use it against Senator John McCain. And there are more than 50 others... filling the RNC's virtual domain-name vault. Apparently "Monster.Com" has been taken.

Praising McCain:  Having -- last Saturday in Austin -- suggested that she and John McCain will each be able to campaign on their "lifetime of experience" but Barack Obama will only be able to "put forth a speech in 2002..." Having -- last Monday in Toledo -- stated she and Senator McCain will each bring that "lifetime of experience" to the White House but Senator Obama would only have that speech... Having -- today in Washington -- announced that she and Senator McCain have each crossed "the commander in chief threshold" but "you'll have to ask Senator Obama with respect to his candidacy"... Our fifth story on the Countdown begins with a rhetorical question. Hyperbole for sure. But maybe not that much hyperbole. Would Senator Clinton really prefer to see McCain become president than Obama? And if so, wouldn't that make her, a Leiberman Republican... or maybe a McCain Democrat?

NAFTAshock: The first stumble of the Obama campaign. That was the almost universal reaction, to reports that the Senator had talked about altering NAFTA, but his campaign had reassured the Canadians he'd be doing nothing serious. Startling developments tonight that turn the story around. The Chief of Staff to Canada's Prime Minister, quoted as saying, it was Senator Clinton's campaign which said she would be making the empty threat to changing NAFTA, but don't worry, she doesn't mean it.

ODDBALL: Cutting hair with your mouth and the Grand Canyon gets a colonic. Ew.

Your More Fears:  It took precisely one day after President Bush endorsed John McCain... for us to hear that once-familiar refrain... In our third story tonight... we're in danger, but we're safe... and now, only McCain can keep us that way.

Worsties, see below.... 

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Brit Hume, Tonya Reiman and the owners of a restaurant in Georgia vie for tonight's top honors.

Dance Dance Revolution: Politicians who try to entertain us -- deliberately -- do so at their own peril. Because when true wit is not at the tip of their tongues, they tend towards burlesque. But for two days running, no one can adequately explain this.

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One of the funnier things we've seen recently on the internets...behold "Parking Garage: Beyond the Limit".

About Last Night: Hillary Clinton snatches victory in Ohio and Texas from the jaws of defeat after almost snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. And what did she win exactly? The Democratic voter saw his shadow last night -- so she -- and we -- all get seven weeks in Pennsylvania. Our fifth story on the Countdown: and after negative campaigning earned her that reprieve, a sub-set of the twelve weeks until the caucus in Puerto Rico -- how many of the dozen, will be dirty?

Dream Ticket?:  Last night's results not only kept the Democratic race alive... they ignited anew, speculation that the best ticket, and the best solution to the many pot-holes suddenly evident on the Democratic horizon... might incorporate both historic candidates. The speculation, of course, often fails to address that tricky question of who would get top billing... and the white building... and the cool plane... and who would be left, conceivably marking time until 2016. In our fourth story tonight...whose dream... is the dream ticket?

ODDBALL: A streaker gets struck and the crawlin-est protest you ever did see.

Altered States:  If last night's split results mean neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton can clinch the nomination based on delegates alone, any more, then this is a job... for super-delegates. But in our third story tonight, they may not come to the rescue... until the very last minute. Super-delegates in a moment, but first, because we're talking messed-up elections, Florida. And-- this year, anyway-- Michigan.

Worsties...see below

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD:  Glenn Beck and a certain large-domed Fox News host vie for tonight's top honors.

Johnny Come Lately:  The day after the Republicans mathematically anoint their nominee. A traditional spike in any campaign. The formal endorsement of that nominee, by the incumbent President. A second traditional spike in any campaign. The bonding of two former cut-throat enemies from the same party, at the very moment the other party consigns itself to as much as five months of throat-cutting. A third, climactic, spike, in any campaign. And, in our number one story on the Countdown: the guy... shows up late. Seriously? No On-Star in the car, Senator McCain? They stopped giving traffic reports on WTOP?