Free Republic

Less than a month ago, Texas Democrats turned out in huge numbers for the presidential nominating contest between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, confident that, no matter who won, the party would have a popular, well-financed candidate. But that exuberance is gone now. Across the state this weekend, tense confrontations -- even shoving matches -- erupted as partisans for Clinton and Obama battled over how to interpret the March 4 election results and how to choose delegates to the Texas Democratic convention. At one particularly raucous session Saturday at Texas Southern University, a leading Clinton backer, U.S. Rep. Sheila...

NAJAF, Iraq - A radical cleric whose loyalists battled U.S. troops for the fifth straight day Monday vowed to continue fighting and said he would not to budge from the holy city of Najaf, despite government demands that he and his fighters lay down their weapons. The violence, which raged throughout Shiite areas for a fifth day Monday, forced oil officials to stop pumping from Iraq (news - web sites)'s key southern oil fields, which account for about 1.8 million barrels per day, or 90 percent of Iraq's exports, an official with the South Oil Company said on condition of...