In Case You Missed It …

1) See Bob Cusack’s story from Friday about Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), House majority whip, who is rationalizing that Mike Huckabee is to blame for the race card the Clintons have played in the Democratic primary. He says Huckabee’s bringing up the confederate flag issue in the GOP primary in South Carolina last week started it all. Clyburn, undeclared (or neutral, as the non-endorsers are called), is terribly torn and noble in his efforts to hew to a middle ground. But this new declaration is beyond a stretch. It should be noted, however, that Hillary Clinton’s initial comment about the Voting Rights Act came on Jan. 7 and provoked reaction throughout the party before Huckabee’s comments about the flag that came nine or 10 days later. This speaks to my point about how much turbulence the Democratic Party is suffering with and how much damage will be done by convention time — why would Clyburn make this connection?

2) When Bill Clinton said in South Carolina this week: “As far as I can tell, neither Sen. Obama nor Hillary have lost votes because of their race or gender. They are getting votes, to be sure, because of their race or gender — that’s why people tell me Hillary doesn’t have a chance of winning here.” — just what card was he playing ?

3) John McCain thinks Rudy is going down. Last night McCain, not one to throw out a softie for good feelings, went out of his way to compliment Giuliani and called him a hero for his leadership in New York City after Sept. 11, 2001. It stood out as, well, not McCain-esque. The newly minted front-runner is clearly shopping for Rudy supporters before the ballots are counted.

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Is the racial tension in the Democratic primary Mike Huckabee’s fault? Won’t he have the best comeback about that one? Write to me at askab@digital-staging.thehill.com to join my weekly video Q & A.