To the Point

Race for the White House Moves to Washington, Michigan, Maine

In the race for the Democratic nomination, John Kerry has embraced the role of front-runner, openly relishing a final contest with President Bush. He's won seven of nine Democratic contests so far, but he doesn't have it sewed up yet. Only a fraction of the convention delegates have been chosen, and the biggest states have yet to be heard from. Can Howard Dean get his campaign off life-support in Michigan and Washington? Can John Edwards and Wesley Clark exploit Kerry-s weaknesses in Virginia and Tennessee? Is there still a major confrontation upcoming between the liberal and moderate wings of the Democratic Party? We look at last night-s exit polls and at what-s coming next with political reporters and analysts, independent liberals and centrist Democrats. Making News: Blair Sets up Iraq Inquiry, Is Heckled in House of Commons Yesterday, Prime Minister Tony Blair announced his own investigation into the quality of intelligence information on Iraq, but barred the panel from asking if he made the right decision in going to war. Today, Parliament was suspended after hecklers disrupted proceedings with shouts of -murderer- and -whitewash.- Mary Dejevsky, diplomatic editor of London's Independent, reports on growing "popular protest and resentment." Reporter's Notebook: US Changes Direction in Middle East Policy In 1975, American policy makers floated the idea of seizing the Saudi oil fields to break the oil cartel that had disrupted America-s economy. That April, the US ambassador to Saudi Arabia sent a confidential cable to Washington denouncing the idea as -criminally insane.- That-s from today-s Wall Street Journal, which obtained the 34-page document under the Freedom of Information Act. Andrew Higgins wrote the story.