South Carolina was billed as the "first black primary" by this magazine and many others.

But South Carolina was more than that. It was also a referendum on the campaign conduct of the Clintons over the past few weeks, particularly the bizarre behavior of President Clinton. The Clintons and their surrogates injected race into the campaign and then disingenuously pretended otherwise, courting the African-American vote while also appealing to voters less charitable instincts, prompting fears that Bill Clinton in particular was content to tear the Democratic Party apart as long as his wife was the beneficiary.

There's a new ordinance in town, and it's labeling you and me criminals.

Ordinance No. BL2007-66, known as "the panhandling ordinance," classifies most Nashvillians as criminal panhandlers.

We all need; we all ask. However, if you ask for 50 cents, a cigarette, or "anything of value," "upon any street sidewalk, public place or park" after dark, then you will be violating our city's ordinance. The same goes for your grandchild, parent or date. But the reality is, you won't be cited unless you look poor. So why should I care, if I'm not poor? I care because I've gained a different perspective...

For all of the talk about nuclear power being a potential solution to the problems of a carbon-based economy, the same challenges associated with nuclear power 30 years ago are still with us today. Has an acceptable alternative to "burying nuclear waste where no one will ever find it" ever really emerged? What about the costs associated with the "new" security threats of the post-9/11 world?

Aside from Edwards' outright rejection, the Democrats too are mostly invested in the nuclear option as a potential green technology, provided it can be, well, "greened." But it wasn't Edwards who was taking a really bold stance, but Obama, who went beyond the need for finding alternative sources of clean energy and instead linked our energy needs to our consumption habits.

The race and gender cards have always been out there, and every President in history has played identity politics on some level. The age card, the region card, the masculinity card, the patriotism card--those are identity politics too, and everyone running for President has played that game.

Still, if a campaign argues that being the first woman or being the first African-American to become President would be historic, then that campaign shouldn't pretend that it doesn't want to talk about gender or race. Granted, the campaign doesn't want to talk about it in the crude ways it has been discussed of late, but it still wants to talk about it none the less.