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The phrase “natural born” was in early drafts of the Constitution. Scholars say notes of the Constitutional Convention give away little of the intent of the framers. Its origin may be traced to a letter from John Jay to George Washington, with Jay suggesting that to prevent foreigners from becoming commander in chief, the Constitution needed to “declare expressly” that only a natural-born citizen could be president.

Ms. Duggin and others who have explored the arcane subject in depth say legal argument and basic fairness may indeed be on the side of Mr. McCain, a longtime member of Congress from Arizona. But multiple experts and scholarly reviews say the issue has never been definitively resolved by either Congress or the Supreme Court.

The smears are going to get sillier and sillier. I guess the good news is this is the best they can come up with. Closing quote:

“If I were on the Supreme Court, I would decide for John McCain,” Ms. Pryor said in a recent interview. “But it is certainly not a frivolous issue.”

Of course, all this might generate a little more sympathy had not some Democrats in recent months become so fond of the name "George Felix Allen, Jr." During the campaign, winning Senate candidate James Webb routinely referred to his opponent as George Felix Allen, Jr. (just search for the name at webbforsenate.com.) Although it wasn't even correct — Allen, whose father's middle name was Herbert, wasn't a junior — the use of Allen's full name was clearly a campaign strategy, first, to diminish Allen, and then, after news of Allen's Jewish ancestry emerged, to make an oblique reference to that.

However, the pastor of his church, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, has created problems for Obama in Jewish circles. A magazine connected to Wright honored Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, and last month Obama said he condemned "the anti-Semitic statements made by Minister Farrakhan" and disagreed with a decision to honor him.

Wright, Obama said Sunday, "is like an old uncle who sometimes will say things that I don't agree with. And I suspect there are some of the people in this room who have heard relatives say some things that they don't agree with, including, on occasion, directed at African Americans. ... I am not suggesting that's definitive."

Obama also distanced himself from Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security adviser in the Jimmy Carter administration who traveled to Iowa with Obama when he made an Iraq speech.

"I do not share his views with respect to Israel. I have said so clearly and unequivocally," Obama said. "He's not one of my key advisers. I've had lunch with him once. I've exchanged e-mails with him maybe three times. He came to Iowa to introduce ... for a speech on Iraq."

Obama, of course, defuses the whole issue with a joke about the difference between "rejecting" and "denouncing," and the audience is laughing at Hillary's insertion of her own "rejection" of anti-Semitic supporters. Sorry, Hill. You can't win, can you?

The bottom line: If the popular vote in Texas splits about evenly, either candidate could end up with maybe a 10-delegate edge if she or he got lucky in her or his percentages in certain districts, but it's likely to get much closer than that. A close popular vote Clinton win gets her no significant distance closer to pledged delegate parity. And of course Obama looks likely to be better organized to score in the caucuses that will be held later that night. Clinton needs to improve on her current standing in Texas to get her closer to the nomination. And a popular vote loss here looks like curtains for her campaign.

The bottom line is that a 7-point advantage in the poll (50-43) seems likely to give Clinton a 6 percentage point advantage in delegates (76-67). That's nine delegates, a long way from overcoming Obama's current lead of 99 delegates (1,374 to 1,275) in realclearpolitics.com. The Democrats' proportional representation rules, combined with determining so many delegates by congressional districts, make it hugely difficult for any candidate who is behind in a close delegate race to forge out into a lead.

“Well, I have been asked so many difficult questions in my life. And, you know, some questions you can answer yes or no. But when it comes to glitter, what on earth would grade-school children do for their special projects? So maybe, maybe what we do is we ban glitter for anyone over… 12?”

That worked for DeGeneres.

“Good idea. That’s what I like about you. I like that you have solutions,” she said.

DeGeneres then got serious for a moment, asking Clinton what she had to do to change the momentum in her race against Barack Obama.

“Well, we’re going to win Ohio and Michigan,” Clinton said to screams and cheers – before rewinding on that one.

“Ohio and Texas,” she corrected. “I already won Michigan.”

DeGeneres asked if the contests were make-or-break for the New York senator’s presidential bid.

“Ellen, I’d say it ranks way up there with banning glitter,” Clinton said.

But Clinton's favor in the eyes of the working class took a hit last week when the 1.4 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters endorsed Obama, who is also pushing a message of job creation and health-care reform. That followed endorsements from the Service Employees International Union and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which represent a combined 3.2 million workers.
 
Obama's campaign coupled the endorsements with an attack positioning Clinton as a supporter of trade policies many workers believe dealt a death blow to their jobs...
 
But a 21-point lead at mid-month has dropped to 9 points, with Clinton up 51 percent to 40 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday.

I think it is hasty to say that Clinton lacks a "reasonable" chance to win the nomination. If she wins Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania - the race will hinge upon how each super delegate answers and values these questions. I'm not saying that I favor Clinton to win. At this point, I don't. She stands a chance if she wins the three big states that remain. He stands a chance regardless. This tips the scales in his favor. He also has an advantage due to the pledged delegates - the more of those you have, the fewer super delegates you need, the less pressure there is for you to argue a case. Nevertheless, Clinton still has a reasonable shot if she can win next week.

We're on the way to locking this nomination down," he said.