Michael Barone has some scenarios for the election of 2008. My gut still tells me the Democrats will win, if the Iraq War is still going the way it is going today, but Dick Morris has a scenario evolving from the looming stand-off about funding for the troops. As I also remember the government shutdown stand-off during the Clinton years, I can see the parallels which, this time, would bode well for the GOP.

Are we losing the war in Afghanistan? Are we losing the so-called war on terror, as Al Qaeda rebuilds its leadership infrastructure?

Michael Ware of CNN shows a lack of professionalism during a press conference in Baghdad.

Is Israel re-thinking the Iran problem?

Henry Kissinger says the war in Iraq cannot be won militarily. Certainly, as long as the MSM continues to run stories like this one, morale on the home front will continue to plummet. (By the way, there is nothing in the story that explicitly advocates a point of view either for or against our continued deployment in Iraq. It doesn't have to be explicit. It simply has to show the awful reality of war, and the seeming futility of the fight in Iraq).

Ynetnews is reporting that, according to Israeli intelligence, Iran and Hizbullah are preparing for an American strike.

Sources tell the Jerusalem Post that the U.S. is positioned to strike Iran as early as Good Friday. While the assets may be in place, I don't think the order will be given. Mainly, because the Iranians have hostages, who are constantly being paraded in front of the TV cameras. Eli Lake says the Iranians may hold the hostages until Tony Blair leaves office this Summer. If the hostages we held for 20 or 30 years, they would probably return to an unrecognizable country, based on stories like this one which illustrates the trends.

At least some in the U.K. realize that their European "allies" have already failed them. Of course, Mark Steyn already sees the whole episode as an example of British, and European, weakness. The Washington Times is reporting that the British government will send an envoy to try and obtain the hostages release, presumably by apologizing.

Here is an article in Slate that points out how few bombers the U.S. has left, and how the Air Force brass isn't planning to build any more, despite the fact that our bombers are far more effective than they have ever been.

Bob Novak says Fred Thompson is in the race for the GOP Presidential nomination. The link to this video is spreading, which tells me some folks are preparing the ground for a run. I welcome him into the race, as I am one of those Republicans unhappy with the current crop of choices.

Finally, it is Opening Day around most Major League Baseball (the Mets beat the Cardinals in the solo opener last night). While here in Red Sox Nation we continue to marvel at how our team has become so nationally prominent, at least one writer, anticipating the big story of the year (which will be when Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron's all-time career home run record under a cloud of steroids suspicion), writes that he believes it was expansion in the 1990s, not steroids, that led to the home run explosion.