Hillary — the Comeback Kid

O P I N I O N

Just when you think you have a grasp on this election season, along comes another surprise.  After Sen. Barack Obama won 11 primaries/caucuses in a row, people were proclaiming him the Democratic nominee apparent.
     After tonight’s rope-a-dope in the primary ring with Sen. Hillary Clinton, it’s evident that this ain’t no TKO. Obama scored an early, strong victory in Vermont followed by Clinton’s win in Rhode Island. All eyes shifted to the big prizes — Ohio and Texas. Just before 11 p.m. E.T., Clinton was declared the projected winner in Ohio. At the time of this writing — 11:45 E.T. — Clinton is leading in Texas with 53 percent of the vote tallied, 50 to 48 percent. There are still big locales where current vote tallies show Obama ahead that might upset the current course. But as of this moment, the big story of the night is the charge of the Hill Brigade.
     After suffering four strong defeats tonight, Mike Huckabee pulled out of the GOP race. Sen. John McCain earned enough delegates to crown him the GOP nominee. No word on Rep. Ron Paul’s plans at the moment.

Will last-stand analogies meet their Alamo?

World: The New York Times reports that among the papers found after a Colombian rebel was killed was a document that showed FARC “appeared interested in acquiring 110 pounds of uranium.” For perspective, according to an entry on Wikipedia, “As little as 15 lbs. of uranium-235 can be used to make an atomic bomb.”

Science: Here’s a new twist on killing cancer. The BBC reports Scottish researchers have discovered that nanomagnets made by bacteria “could be guided to tumour sites and then activated to destroy cancerous cells.”

Nation: Remember my Feb. 12 post about the British using a controversial crowd dispersal tool called the Mosquito that works only on youths? It emits a high pitched frequency that older ears don’t hear. WCBS TV is reporting that it’s being used here in the States, at an apartment complex in Jamaica, Queens, N.Y. The building owner had problems with teens loitering in the lobby.

World: We’ve all seen that scary video of the Lufthansa airliner that was windswept during a landing attempt at the Hamburg in heavy wind. Der Spiegel reports that at that moment, a 24-year-old co-pilot was steering the Airbus 320. Her senior pilot who is 39 and has far more experience then took over and lifted back off for a retry that was successful, thankfully .

Health: The Herald Sun of Australia reports that U.S. regulators and Roche Holding AG have warned of abnormal behavior found in patients taking Tamiflu, the drug that is being stockpiled in case of a bird flu epidemic. Tamiflu’s label has been updated, the Sun says, and “includes new information on delirium and other abnormal behaviour, some resulting in fatal outcomes.”

O P I N I O N

Can we end the not-at-all subtle references to today being Sen. Hillary Clinton’s Alamo? There’s no way she’s getting out of the presidential race now, unless she is trounced by Sen. Barack Obama today. The polls just don’t show that. If they’re right, the race looks more like a photo finish.
     Anyway, the timing would be premature for a departure, I’d wager, because the trial of Obama’s former fundraiser Tony Rezko is just under way. Who knows what dirt might be swept out of the corner in the process? So give up on the “Hillary Crocket” talk, people. It look like this fight is far from over.