A Few Words About...

Newt, by contrast, knows how to get conservative hearts racing. Take his little chat with the New York Post:

"Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich yesterday called Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 'a nasty woman' who runs an 'endlessly ruthless' campaign machine.

"The conservative Republican made the surprising comments - after months of taking care not to trash the Democratic presidential front-runner - in a wide-ranging New York Post editorial-board interview.

"Asked whether Americans are ready to elect Rudy Giuliani - a leader, the questioner noted, whom Ed Koch had called a 'nasty man' - Gingrich shot back, 'As opposed to a nasty woman?'

"Gingrich added that he thinks she'll be the nominee, and cited the battle between Clinton's camp and Sen. Barack Obama's team last week over Obama donor David Geffen bashing the former first couple.

" 'Nobody will out-mud the Clintons,' said Gingrich, who added that he'll decide in the coming months whether to run for the White House. He called Clinton's political team one of the most 'talented' in U.S. history, but 'endlessly ruthless.'

" 'You can't beat them tactically . . . They're too relentless, they're too well-organized, they have too big a machine and they'll just grind you down,' he said. 'If they think [Obama] is a real threat, they'll just grind him up.'

"Gingrich's harsh comments about Clinton were surprising because he has complimented her abilities and worked with her last year on a health-care initiative. Clinton campaign spokesman Blake Zeff cited several instances in the last year where Gingrich had kind words for the senator."

Guess that was before he was thinking of running for the same job.

This is an interesting poll:

"A majority of Americans say the federal government should guarantee health insurance to every American, especially children, and are willing to pay higher taxes to do it, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

"Only 24 percent said they were satisfied with President Bush's handling of the health insurance issue, despite his recent initiatives, and 62 percent said the Democrats were more likely to improve the health care system."

Okay, Dems, the ball is in your court.

A D.C. madam who might sell the phone records that identify her capital clients? Yikes.

Finally, welcome to the virtual campaign:

"Mr. Edwards's virtual campaign headquarters in Second Life was vandalized on Monday night, according to a report on the Edwards' campaign's official blog. Second Life is a virtual reality world where users' 'avatars,' or graphical alter-egos, can walk around, talk to one another, buy things using a currency that can be exchanged for real dollars, and, evidently, make destructive political statements. Writing in the blog today, someone know as robinrising leveled this allegation, which we have edited to correct the spelling:

" Shortly before midnight (CST) on Monday, February 26, a group of Republican Second Life users, some sporting 'Bush '08' tags, vandalized the John Edwards Second Life HQ. They plastered the area with Marxist/Leninist posters and slogans, a feces-spewing obscenity, and a Photoshopped picture of John in blackface, all the while harassing visitors with right-wing nonsense and obscenity-laden abuse of Democrats in general and John in particular."

So much for the Internet elevating the level of campaign discourse.