GENERAL NEWS HEADLINES with excerpts

THE CANDIDATES:

Mike Huckabee... today's headlines with excerpts

Huckabee sweeps Kansas, wins Louisiana

Mike Huckabee swept to victory in the Kansas Republican presidential caucuses yesterday, beating his party's presumptive nominee John McCain by a margin of more than 2-1.

Huckabee also won in Louisiana, where the former Arkansas governor had 43 percent of the vote to 42 percent for Arizona Senator McCain, Fox News Channel reported. Huckabee captured 60 percent of the vote in Kansas to 24 percent for McCain and 11 percent for Texas Representative Ron Paul. The Washington state caucuses were too close to call.

Huckabee, challenging McCain for the party's more conservative voters, said he won't heed calls to pull out of the race, as former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney did last week.

Huckabee forges ahead, seeks 'micracle'

"I know what they say, 'Well the math doesn't work out.' Folks, I didn't major in math, I majored in miracles. And I still believe in them," said Huckabee, a Baptist minister. "Across America, everywhere there's a vote to be cast, I'm still standing."

'Mircale' Mike Huckabee electrifies CPAC crowd

Hitting his mark, he emphasized the issues that resonated well with the several hundred cheering conservatives in the room:

Pro-traditional marriage, pro-life stance, border security, all Republican platform benchmarks, and with Huckabee’s argument for each, the audience roared with approval, and regular standing ovations.

... Huckabee then concluded with a story from  a supporter from Kentucky who had recently lost her house in the tornadoes that ravaged the South on Tuesday.

“Despite damage to her home there was one thing that was pretty remarkable. She had a Mike Huckabee yard sign -- when the tornado had gone through -- standing pristine, without a hint of damage, or even meaning, was that yard sign.” Huckabee continued, using the image as an  analogy for his campaign. ”Across America, everywhere there is still a vote to be cast, I am still standing.”

John McCain... today's headlines with excerpts

McCain has work to do

It won't impact his path to the nomination, but John McCain got a reminder Saturday of the work he has to do with his party base.

Despite his inevitability, McCain lost two of the first three GOP contests to take place since the departure this week of Mitt Romney.

Mike Huckabee blew him away in the Kansas caucuses and edged him out in the Louisiana primary.   In Washington, which held caucuses, McCain bested Huckabee by two percent.

And in a symbolic straw poll vote at CPAC, McCain was narrowly topped by Romney.

Virginia Gov. Gilmore endorses McCain

John McCain yesterday added the endorsement of former Gov. Jim Gilmore three days before Virginia's presidential primary.

Loss points to McCain's conservative difficulty

McCain has been trying to wrap up the nomination, in part, by getting the Republican establishment behind him in primary and caucus states. On Saturday, former Gov. Jim Gilmore of Virginia endorsed him, and McCain also recently received the endorsement of former Sen. George Allen of Virginia. Former Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich, who had backed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has also endorsed McCain. But as the Arizona senator learned in Kansas on Saturday, endorsements don't always matter.

Bush says McCain is a true conservative

John McCain is a "true conservative," President Bush says, although the presumptive Republican presidential nominee may have to work harder to convince other conservatives that he is one of their own.

McCain "is very strong on national defense," Bush said in an interview taped for airing on "Fox News Sunday." "He is tough fiscally. He believes the tax cuts ought to be permanent. He is pro-life. His principles are sound and solid as far as I'm concerned."

But when asked about criticism of McCain by conservative commentators Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, the president said, "I think that if John is the nominee, he has got some convincing to do to convince people that he is a solid conservative and I'll be glad to help him if he is the nominee."

Bush said some of the criticism of the Arizona senator was the result of "probably, some personal animosity toward me. You can't please all the people all the time."

Ron Paul... today's headlines with excerpts

Ron Paul appears to have Kucinich moment

Just as the liberal Ohio congressman realized last month that his long-shot presidential campaign was imperiling his prospects for keeping his House seat, Paul appears to be choosing the comfort of incumbency over a continued effort to win a nomination that he has virtually no shot at capturing.

Last night, the libertarian-leaning Texas congressman sent a message to his supporters signaling that he was scaling back his presidential bid. 

The most telling passage:

"I also have another priority. I have constituents in my home district that I must serve. I cannot and will not let them down. And I have another battle I must face here as well. If I were to lose the primary for my congressional seat, all our opponents would react with glee, and pretend it was a rejection of our ideas. I cannot and will not let that happen."
 

Hillary Clinton... today's headlines with excerpts

Hillary's campaign manager is out

Clinton's campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, left the position today, to be replaced by Clinton's former top White House aide, Maggie Williams. The change formalizes a shift in the campaign's power structure that began to set in after Clinton's win in New Hampshire...

Hillary rips MSNBC's Shuster

Hillary Clinton ripped MSNBC over reporter David Shuster’s suggestion that Chelsea Clinton was “sort of being pimped out” by the campaign.

“I found the remarks incredibly offensive,” Clinton told reporters...

... “Nothing justifies the kind of debasing language that David Shuster used and no temporary suspension or half-hearted apology is sufficient,” Clinton wrote to NBC News President Steve Capus, who apparently had already called Clinton to personally apologize.

“I would urge you to look at the pattern of behavior on your network that seems to repeatedly lead to this sort of degrading language,” Clinton wrote. “There’s a lot at stake for our country in this election. Surely, you can do your jobs as journalists and commentators and still keep the discourse civil and appropriate.”

... The letter and harsh rebuke followed similar comments made by her top advisers and came a day after Shuster issued an on-air apology and was suspended.