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Like most Maryland Democrats, I voted for Sen. Barack Obama in the recent Potomac Primary. By doing so, according to the leaders of my church, I put my soul at risk. That's right, says the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops -- tap the touch screen for a pro-abortion-rights candidate, and you're probably punching your ticket to Hell. For a church that "thinks in centuries," things sure are moving quickly. Back in 2004, as Washington correspondent for the independent National Catholic Reporter, I covered what Comedy Central's Jon Stewart dubbed the "wafer wars." A handful of conservative bishops warned Democratic presidential...

Who was it that defined neurosis as repeating the same mistake again and again, and expecting a better outcome each time? That's really what the Clinton campaign is doing in its post-Chesapeake primary strategy. Now Hillary defines Obama as the candidate who makes speeches, while she is the one who provides "answers" and "solutions." Why is Hillary embracing this new line? It's not that she has any great record of solutions or answers of which to boast, but rather that she wants to highlight Obama's lack of a legislative record. Once again, she and her campaign geniuses are making the...

THE curse continues. Regardless of party, it’s hara-kiri for a politician to step into the shadow of even a mediocre speech by Barack Obama. Senator Obama’s televised victory oration celebrating his Chesapeake primary trifecta on Tuesday night was a mechanical rehash. No matter. When the networks cut from the 17,000-plus Obama fans cheering at a Wisconsin arena to John McCain’s victory tableau before a few hundred spectators in the Old Town district of Alexandria, Va., it was a rerun of what happened to Hillary Clinton the night she lost Iowa. Senator McCain, backed by a collection of sallow-faced old Beltway...

Speculation had begun this week that Hillary Clinton's campaign might start going negative on Barack Obama. She didn't have much to lose after the debacle of the Potomac Primaries, and she desperately needs to slow down his momentum. Apparently, the speculation was correct, as Hillary has begun slamming Obama's economic proposals on the stump in Ohio: Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, criticized for taking corporate special interest contributions, proposed restrictions on a wide array of industries Thursday and stepped up her assault on rival Barack Obama, casting him as the candidate more beholden to corporations. In a speech to General Motors...

<p>So did Hillary lose in Virginia? Or did she get smoked like a Virginia ham? Answer: things are looking pretty hamlike tonight.</p> <p>Two snaps, okaaaay?</p>

CENTREVILLE, Md. (AP) — Even as Maryland primary voters cited "moderation" in their picks for president, two congressional districts turned out incumbents for the first time in more than 30 years, one Democrat and one Republican, both accused of being too moderate. The losses Tuesday of Republican Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest, an antiwar critic of President Bush, and Democratic Rep. Albert R. Wynn, whose 2003 vote authorizing the war chafed loyalists in his party, signaled anti-incumbent sentiment that surprised many state politicians. But maybe not voters. "Psychologically, people want to see change," said John Davis, 45, a Republican from Chestertown,...

For those not familiar with Maryland, we are like that that red/blue map of America. Most of the state is conservative but is overwhelmed by the liberals concentrated in Baltimore City and the DC suburbs. Until recently Maryland was divided 4/4 in its congressional representation until the dems redistricted (gerrymandered) Republicans into two main congressional districts. This pretty much guarantees republican wins for these two congressional seats but the problem is that one of these seats is held by a "RINO"-Wayne Gilchrest. Gilcrest voted with Nancy Pelosi more than any other (r)epublican in congress. He is the poster boy for...

VAN SUSTEREN: So what's your plan now? HUCKABEE: We're headed to Wisconsin tomorrow. We'll be up there for a couple of days. We'll kind of see where we're going to be over the weekend, then we'll be back probably in Wisconsin. A lot of our focus over the next few weeks is going to be in Texas, in Ohio. Those are two big states. Texas is a state that's obviously next to us, close to us. We've got a strong organization, a lot of supporters in Texas. It's a very conservative state, and I think that's where we're going to...

**EXCERPT** The old head-scratcher — what happens if an irresistible force meets an immovable object? — now gets its test in the Democratic presidential primary. The force is Barack Obama. His sweep of the Potomac primaries in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC on Tuesday gives him seven straight wins since Super Tuesday, not to mention his first lead in pledged delegates. Unprecedented amounts of money are pouring into his campaign coffers. He now has momentum that any challenger would envy in any year. Indeed, in any other year, a candidate with his numbers would have the nomination locked up tight....

On Wednesday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Harry Smith discussed the ‘Potomac Primaries’ with Democratic Strategist Dee Dee Meyers and Republican CBS Political Analyst Nicole Wallace, who said of John McCain’s conservative critics: "The more that we see kind of the crazies like Ann Coulter out attacking John McCain, the better Republicans feel about their chances in the general election."

AND NOW . . . amidst billowing clouds of fragrant, aromatic first- and second-hand premium cigar smoke. . . it is time for . . . that harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, the highly-trained broadcast specialist, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, from behind the golden EIB microphone, firmly ensconced in the prestigious Attila-the-Hun chair at the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies, with talent on loan from G-d, at the cutting-edge of societal evolution, with half his brain tied behind his back — just to make it fair, the all-knowing, all-caring, all-sensing, all-feeling,...

Coming off a sweep in the Potomac Primaries, John McCain’s campaign has a message for Mike Huckabee: It’s over. The campaign released a memo after McCain won Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia Tuesday night saying the victories make it “mathematically impossible for Governor Huckabee to secure the Republican nomination for president.”

Of all the ways to describe Tuesday night as a bad night for Hillary Clinton, perhaps the most dramatic is to point out this: the pundits on CNN and MSNBC started comparing her to Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani, of course, has become a national punch line for his decision to skip the first four Republican contests and put all his chips on Florida, where he lost humiliatingly because ... he skipped the first four Republican contests. Clinton is not in that bad a position, and fans of Barack Obama who are tempted to think so need to refrain from gloating -...

. . . the same Washington game . . .It’s a game where the only way for Democrats to look tough on national security is by talking, and acting and voting like Bush-McCain Republicans, while our troops are sent to fight tour after tour of duty in a war that should’ve never been authorized and should’ve never been waged. That’s what happens when we use 9/11 to scare up votes, and that’s why we need to do more than end a war – we need to end the mindset that got us into war.That’s the choice in this primary. It’s...

With his string of overwhelming victories last night in the Potomac primaries, the cult of Obama worship has now become more reverent than ever. In keeping with this mood, first let me indulge in a bit of revent Obamassiah music composed by that famous Tin Pan Alley songwriter, pastor, and DUFU guest host, Charles Henrickson who currently, at great personal sacrifice, has given up eating lima beans for Lent although we expect him back soon after Easter. So now let us listen to his Obama cult composition titled, I Don't Know Why I Love Him from the Hit Musical,...

In the end, the Mike Huckabee surge in Virginia fell far short of victory. John McCain swept the Potomac Primaries last night, winning by nine in Virginia and winning among conservatives in Maryland. The delegate count now makes his nomination inevitable: Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) swept Republican primaries in Virginia, Maryland and the District last night, defeating former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and adding to his vast delegate lead in the race to become his party's presidential nominee. But even as he dominated the Potomac Primary, McCain lost conservatives in Virginia, as he has across the South and parts of...

After Barack Obama swept the Potomac Primaries last night, one might have expected Hillary Clinton to say a few words to her supporters to explain the losses. If so, the crowds that turned out for her in Texas had to manage their disappointment. They managed to let her know when they disagreed with her, however: As news of her triple defeat in the Potomac Primary sank in, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton did what has become a specialty in recent weeks: She headed someplace else. After flying from Virginia to Texas for a rally on Tuesday night, Clinton did not publicly...

A conservative political commentator says former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's savvy campaigning held Arizona Senator John McCain to only a modest victory in the winner-take-all Virginia Republican primary. A strong showing in the more affluent Northern Virginia suburbs propelled McCain to a close win over Mike Huckabee, who trailed in a recent Virginia poll by 28 points. Exit polls show Huckabee did well among conservatives in Virginia, while McCain did well among self-described conservatives in Maryland. Former Republican National Committee official Genevieve Wood notes endorsements McCain picked up from veteran Senator John Warner and two former Virginia Governors - George...

The media loves campaign metaphors. Yesterday, some MSM wag delighted in pointing out that Mike Huckabee's campaign van had twice run out of gas. Today, it was Hillary Clinton's turn. In the wake of her devastating defeats in the Potomac primaries, Good Morning America rolled an extended clip of her struggling up an airplane stairway. Speaking with Diane Sawyer, George Stephanopoulos had just finished opining that if in Texas Obama cuts into Hillary's coalition of women and Hispanics the way he did last night, he will be the nominee. View video.

JOHN MCCAIN AND Barack Obama swept the Chesapeake Primaries, as expected. With his victories last night, McCain further solidified his status as the almost-certain nominee of his party. Obama, meanwhile, has taken a lead among delegates to the Democratic convention and is now arguably the frontrunner. With the outcomes last night widely expected, aides to both Obama and McCain had plenty of time to craft victory speeches that would reflect their candidate's thinking on the state of the race. And with varying degrees of intensity, both men used that freedom to begin to frame a McCain-versus-Obama general election contest, something...