If you have any doubt that a McCain administration would not differ significantly from what Bush has been dishing up for the last 7 years, I offer this quote from McCain about the Iraq War as evidence that he listens, considers, and pays attention just as well as our current president:

We're succeeding. I don't care what anybody says. I've seen the facts on the ground.

The big news this morning is actually about yesterday, when President Bush was briefed on a force deployment plan in the Iraq War that calls for a relatively unchanged amount of troops after the post-surge drawdown until 2009. I would argue, though, that the subtext is actually the important part:

But it now appears likely that any decision on major reductions in American troops from Iraq will be left to the next president. That ensures that the question over what comes next will remain in the center of the presidential campaign through Election Day.

If this is codified as the actual plan, as I suspect it will be, then those of you concerned that the Iraq War will be a forgotten issue in this election may have less reason to be worried than you thought.

Things that make you go hmmm:

Private National Mortgage Acceptance Company, LLC (PennyMac) is a financial services firm created to address the dislocations in the U.S. mortgage market. Our focus is investing in and servicing residential mortgage assets on behalf of private investors.

Wayne Slater reports on the Texas Supreme Court and a new report from Texas Watch that finds it takes the Supremes a long time to do stuff, a condition that is only getting worse:

Justices take an average 416 days to write an opinion after the Court has heard oral arguments -- a 31% increase from 04-05 to 06-07.

Also check out the official report from Texas Watch.

In commentary for FoxNews.com, former Texas Congressman Martin Frost suggests a path for avoiding a convention floor fight.

Congressional Quarterly has examined the financial action at the national legislative campaign organizations in February and has determined that things look good for Democrats.

I hadn't heard of them until I saw this report on TPMuckraker, but the Republican Majority Campaign is spending a whole lot of money against Democrats and when asked for specifics, they keep it general and vague. There will be plenty of groups like this popping up between now and November, and you can bet they will have plenty of cash to spend.

According to a new CNN poll, most people do not plan on spending their rebate. I am curious as to what the economic impact of 20 percent of people spending this money will be, if this poll reflects reality. We could see different numbers once the checks go out and the question becomes, "What did you do with your rebate?"

Senator Clinton called on the Bush administration to actually do something about the growing tide of foreclosures in the United States today via a special working group at the federal level. The group would recommend ways to solve the mounting housing crisis, including auction methods for home loans in default.

Existing home sales rose rose 2.9 percent in February. It's the first such increase since July, but it's still too early to signal the end of the housing crisis. Sales were still down more than 20 percent from last February.