GENERAL NEWS HEADLINES with excerpts

THE CANDIDATES:

Mike Huckabee... today's headlines with excerpts

GOP growing irritated with Huckabee

Republican officials and aides to John McCain are growing concerned that the longer presidential candidate Mike Huckabee stays in the race, the more it will suck money, attention, and support away from the likely eventual nominee.

"We're getting pretty frustrated with his campaign," says a top GOP official. "He can't win. Like [McCain campaign manager] Rick Davis said, he'd have to win 125 percent or more of the remaining delegates, and that's not good math for him." The McCain campaign has been careful not to publicly attack Huckabee, but the frustration has also become apparent.

Davis jokes that with Huckabee staying in, at least reporters are paying attention to McCain. But privately, campaign associates are concerned about having to continue spending money to fight Huckabee in upcoming primary states. Republican officials not associated with the campaign are growing louder in their calls for Huckabee to quit the race and back McCain, as Mitt Romney did this week.

Boston rocker to Huckabee: no more covers

Pop music lovers of a certain (advancing) age will recognize a song on the playlist of Mike Huckabee's band, Capitol Offense, as Boston's "More Than a Feeling," a hit from the band's eponymous 1976 debut album. And a former Boston band member, Barry Goudreau, has done appearances with Huckabee, leaving the impression that the band is backing the bass-playing Baptist preacher. But band leader Tom Scholz, whose guitar forms Boston's signature sound and who wrote "More Than a Feeling," says nope, and has asked Huckabee to drop the song from the playlist.

"Boston has never endorsed a political candidate, and with all due respect, would not start by endorsing a candidate who is the polar opposite of most everything Boston stands for," Scholz, a Barack Obama supporter, wrote to the Huckabee campaign.

John McCain... today's headlines with excerpts

McCain got loan by pledging to seek Federal funds

John McCain's cash-strapped campaign borrowed $1 million from a Bethesda bank two weeks before the New Hampshire primary by pledging to enter the public financing system if his bid for the presidency faltered, newly disclosed records show.

McCain had already taken a $3 million bank loan in November to keep his campaign afloat, and he sought from the same bank $1 million more shortly before this month's Super Tuesday contests...

... The unorthodox lending terms also raised fresh questions from McCain's critics about his ability to repeatedly draw money from the Maryland-based Fidelity & Trust Bank.

McCain to hammer Obama on financing

John McCain is accusing Barack Obama of backing away from a promise to participate in a public financing program that would force him to turn off his free-flowing spigot of campaign cash, foreshadowing a likely flash point if the two are pitted in a general election battle for the presidency.

Obama’s campaign has denied making the promise, and Obama on Thursday said he’d work with McCain to reach an agreement on financing.

But that didn’t satisfy McCain, whose campaign signaled it wasn’t ready to let the issue drop.b

see also: McCain says Obama should take public funding

McCain overstates his criticisms of Rumsfeld

...  a debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., aired on CNN, McCain said, "I'm the only one that said that Rumsfeld had to go."

A McCain spokesman acknowledged this week that that was not correct. "He did not call for his resignation," said the campaign's Brian Rogers. "He always said that's the president's prerogative." Asked specifically about the senator's statements in Florida and California, Rogers said, "I think he's really just pointing out that he's the only one who really called out the Rumsfeld strategy, and that is certainly true again and again."

Ron Paul... today's headlines with excerpts

Hillary Clinton... today's headlines with excerpts

Bill: Obama ignores accomplishments

Former President Clinton on Friday accused Sen. Barack Obama, his wife's rival for the Democratic nomination, of trying to ignore any accomplishments they achieved during their years in the White House.

"You have one candidate who's made the explicit argument that the only way we can change America is to move into a post-partisan future and therefore we have to eliminate from consideration for the presidency anybody who made good things happen in the '90s or stopped bad things from happening in this decade," said Clinton, who was winding up a day of East Texas campaign appearances for his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"It doesn't matter how much good you did," the former president said at Stephen F. Austin University. "We've got to get rid of you because you had to fight to make something good happen. You had to fight to stop something bad from happening. And if you fought, you made somebody mad, we ought to give you an old watch and retire you. You can't possibly make a contribution to America's future."

Without mentioning Obama by name, Clinton said the Illinois senator was promoting a position that it's "actually an advantage to not have any experience because you've not made anybody mad."

"It's been very effective," Clinton said. "It's already taken four good candidates out. It would have taken Hillary out if she didn't have so much grass-roots support and so much guts."

Hillary's counter shout out - 'yes we will'

Hillary Clinton has upped the imperative ante, countering Barack Obama's call of "Yes, we can!" with "Yes, we will!"...

Hillary goes all-out negative in new ad

Mrs. Clinton’s new TV spot accuses Mr. Obama of putting out “false attack ads” in response to her original TV spot that criticized him for not agreeing to debate her in Milwaukee. Mr. Obama’s ad, put out Thursday, said that the 18 past debates and two upcoming forums in Ohio and Texas were enough.

The new ad not only calls out Mr. Obama for refusing the debate invitation, but it also reiterates her contention that his health care plan would leave 15 million Americans without coverage.