“It took a Clinton to clean after the first Bush and I think it might take another one to clean up after the second Bush.”

- Hillary Clinton at the Democratic presidential debate in Los Angeles on Thursday.

On the Democrat’s side of things:

John Edwards is dropping out of the presidential race.  The two-time presidential hopeful will be making the announcement at 1:00 pm, EST at an event in New Orleans.   The democratic race is now really just between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  Edwards is not expected to immediately endorse one of the other candidates.

Hillary Clinton easily took home Florida on Tuesday night, beating Democratic rival Barack Obama by a convincing margin in the state’s presidential primary.

On the Republican side of things:

Rudy Guiliani will be dropping out of the presidential race.  Guiliani is said to be endorsing John McCain for president.

John McCain and Mitt Romney were neck and neck in Florida with McCain barely taking the win, but he came out on top in the Republican primary.

Oprah Winfrey has publicly endorsed Barack Obama for president, but her mentor Maya Angelou is supporting Hillary Clinton for president.

The Clinton campaign is featuring the esteemed poet in a new radio commercial featuring her distinctive and captivating voice.

Says Angelou:

“As a child, Hillary Clinton was taught that all God’s children are equal, so as a mother she understood that her child wasn’t safe unless all children were safe.

I know what kind of president Hillary Clinton will be because I know who she is. Hillary Clinton has always been a strong woman and a passionate protector of families. For 35 years, that’s exactly what she has been doing.

Each generation of African Americans stands on the shoulders of those who came before. Today, the challenges facing us threaten the dreams we have had for our children. We need a president with the experience and strength to meet those challenges.

I am inspired by Hillary Clinton’s commitment and courage — a daughter, a wife, a mother — my girl.”

A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The study concluded that the statements “were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.”

The study was posted Tuesday site on the website of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel did not comment on the merits of the study Tuesday night but reiterated the administration’s position that the world community viewed Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, as a threat.

“The actions taken in 2003 were based on the collective judgment of intelligence agencies around the world,” Stanzel said.

The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.

“It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida,” according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members, writing an overview of the study. “In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003.” (more…)