The Note: Bills & Chills in Battle of Wills

 

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As for Michigan and Florida -- nothing in place yet, meaning a negotiated settlement is the most likely way out of Howard Dean's nightmare.

Things look stalled in Michigan: "State lawmakers looking at a Democratic presidential primary redo in Michigan appear to be locked in a standoff heading into a crucial week: Legislative leaders say the U.S. Sen. Barack Obama camp needs to agree to the repeat election before legislation is written, and Obama supporters say they must see the bill before signing off on the plan," Mark Hornbeck and Deb Price write for the Detroit News.

Things aren't much better in Florida: "As the Florida Democratic Party gets ready to decide Monday whether to pull the plug on a long-shot bid to restage the state's presidential primary by mail, it faces a larger question: Is there a Plan B?" Lesley Clark writes in the Miami Herald.

"Democrats say there are a few options -- though none that the state party controls -- to give the state's voters a voice in picking the Democratic presidential nominee. Most of them, though, have as many political flaws as the technical hurdles involved in mailing ballots to the state's 4.1 million Democrats."

And Gov. Charlie Crist may be wearing more than one hat. "Mr. Crist, a career politician 15 months into his first term as governor, may well have other motives" in seeing Florida's delegates seated, Abby Goodnough writes in The New York Times.

"Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York won the state's unsanctioned Democratic primary on Jan. 29 by a wide margin. So seating the 210 delegates from Florida or allowing a revote could help her become the nominee of her party."

The New York Times' Julie Bosman looks at the human toll (and no, Clinton spokesman Doug Hattaway is NOT sleeping in that photograph -- just meditating on possession arrows in preparation for March Madness). At least Clinton spokesman Jay Carson squeezed in his (delayed) wedding, Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor has gone nine weeks without a day off.

Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday visits Baghdad, in a surprise visit that happens to coincide with Sen. John McCain's congressional trip to the region. "Like McCain, Cheney is in Iraq as part of a wider tour to the Middle East," Reuters' Tabassum Zakaria writes. "Cheney will also visit Saudi Arabia, Jerusalem, the Palestinian territories, Turkey and Oman on a nine-day tour."

McCain is keeping a low profile this time -- no trips to markets yet. "Unlike a previous trip to Iraq, in which he was criticized for his optimistic pronouncements about progress and security, McCain's visit on Sunday was largely out of the public view," The Washington Post's Joshua Partlow writes. "U.S. Embassy and military officials stressed that the visit was not a campaign event. McCain apparently did not travel with reporters or make press statements."

AP's Ryan Lenz looks at McCain's Iraq trip by the numbers: "The Iraq war, to which the probable Republican presidential nominee has linked his political future, will be five years old Thursday. Around that date, the U.S. military is likely to suffer its 4,000th death in the war. And McCain's arrival Sunday coincided with the 20th anniversary of a horrific chemical weapons attack in northern Iraq."