Here's the story....

Today's Globe has the above feature on the Republican candidates for President, and it provided a hell of a lot of insight. For example, I had no idea that Rudy Giuliani was running for President. Also, Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson look like they're appearing on album cover.

Other tidbits about the Republican candidates and Iraq:

1) Ron Paul can't locate Iraq on a map
2) Rudy Giuliani supports the surge so much that he is divorcing it on national television
3) Mike Huckabee believes the war on terror will be won through a combination of prayer, weight loss, bass guitars, hunting, accepting inappropriate gifts from contributors, running marathons, raising children who kill dogs, and roundhouse kicks.
4) John McCain surprisingly has no opinion on the Iraq war.

In other news, Mitt Romney used the memory of his father's civil rights march with Abraham Lincoln to secure his first major victory of the primary season, beating John McCain in Michigan and even further muddling the Republican field. Polls now show John McCain with a comfortable lead nationally as well as in South Carolina, where the Republicans head on Saturday.

Mike Huckabee needs a win here. Real bad. Like if he doesn't win he's gaining that 100 pounds back bad. After a big win Iowa, he's placed in the teens (and third place) in New Hampshire and Michigan, two places without such a commanding evangelical base. South Carolina is his wheelhouse -- it went for Bush in 2000 after a racist primary campaign that destroyed John McCain. Who other than Mike Huckabee could possibly benefit from racist right wing crazies? Oh, right, all of the candidates.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama picked up the endorsement of elderly Vermont Senator Pat Leahy, as well as a court ruling that allowed casinos to hold individual caucuses during the Nevada caucus on Saturday. Bill Clinton said this was unfair, then called Barack Obama an Uncle Tom.

Stay tuned tomorrow for Nevada and South Carolina predictions.