February 20

As the Bush and Kerry camps position themselves to fight a national campaign with resounding echoes of the past, an interesting piece today by Daniel Schorr raises the question of what Secretary of State Colin Powell must think of his current boss....

This all comes at a time when there are suggestions that some senior Republicans might be starting to think the unthinkable.

Despite a recent poll showing Kerry should choose John Edwards as his running mate, the arm-wrestling continues between the two, with the southern gentleman throwing down the gauntlet to the yankee interloper, as long as the duel takes place in his own backyard.

According to The Note, though, they'll get a chance to square off this Sunday on George Stephanopolous's 'This Week' show. By the end of that, it should be clearer what Edwards' strategy and tone is going to be in the run-up to the March 2nd contests.

(Following on from yesterday's musical reference, by the way, it should probably be pointed out, if anyone bothers, that Edwards' campaign plane used to be the preserve of one Paul McCartney.)

With Howard Dean out of the- competitive - picture, his former campaign manager Joe Trippi says the thousands of people who contributed to his effort were supporting a beta test of a new form of online democracy, and pegs the beginning of Dean's decline as a viable contender for the nomination to the Al Gore endorsement.

Political Americana's 'Button poll' attempts to measure candidates' popularity based on sales of their campaign buttons and memorabilia. It seemed to work for the Wisconsin contest.

But as Dave Barry helpfully points out, forget the primaries; this is the vote to watch....