Brokered conventions (where no candidate arrives with a majority of the delegates) are predicted every four years, and every four years they don't actually happen. However, it does seem likely this year that we'll, at the very least, see a closer result than any since 1980 or even 1968. We might not even know who will win until the convention gets underway. Edwards could act as a kingmaker by throwing his delegates to Clinton or Obama and putting him or her over the top (his delegates would not be required to follow his instructions, but they will likely be personally loyal to him). Or, unelected superdelegates could throw the nomination to a candidate who comes in second in pledged delegates. Even if the result is known at the start of the convention, it might not be determined until June or July.

The question Romney must be asking himself is what is his ultimate goal now? Should he do everything he can to stop McCain now or should he figure out how to run, but do so with dignity so he can keep his options open in the future, should McCain fail to win the general. As McCain is about to prove, the GOP regularly nominates the runners-up in previous primaries; Reagan, Bush and Dole to name a few. Romney, though, does need to play the conservative critic of McCain for a certain length of time in order to win the loyalty of the conservatives who aren't happy with McCain now. These folks could serve Romney well in '12 or '16.

It doesn't get madder than this. Swaziland is in the grip of a famine and receiving emergency food aid. Forty per cent of its people are facing acute food shortages. So what has the government decided to export? Biofuel made from one of its staple crops, cassava.

The trade should be frozen until second-generation fuels - made from wood or straw or waste - become commercially available. Otherwise, the superior purchasing power of drivers in the rich world means that they will snatch food from people's mouths. Run your car on virgin biofuel, and other people will starve.

He could not stop talking about 9/11. As Joe Biden said, Rudy's sentences consist of a noun, a verb and 9/11. Rudy's constant invocation has become a running joke. For Rudy, this campaign will end. But the damage to his life -- that will go on forever. Rudy will no longer be the hero of 9/11. He will be the man who tried to capitalize on 9/11. He will not be regarded as a savior, but as a huckster, a man who took and took from our great day of tragedy to benefit only himself.

No matter who wins the Democratic nomination, the fact remains that the Edwards campaign has set the domestic policy agenda for the entire field. He was the first with a bold universal healthcare plan, the first with an ambitious climate change proposal that called for cap-and-trade, and the leader on reforming predatory lending practices and raising the minimum wage to a level where it regains its lost purchasing power. Edwards's rhetoric has started to bleed into his rivals' speeches as well.

The American people take that phrase “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” at face value. Most believe that the policy allows a person to serve as a gay American so long as he or she does not tell anyone. Unfortunately, as we know from our SLDN client base of approximately 75 cases at any one time, men and women can be discharged because someone else “tells,” such as a mother who can’t stand the thought of her son returning to Iraq, or a jealous partner, or an intercepted innocent e-mail from an admirer back home.

And because the criterion for discharge is “credible evidence from a reliable source,” with no standard for what “credible” or “reliable” means, the policy is arbitrarily enforced at the discretion of the commander.