POLITICAL ROUNDUP
Moseley Braun is out:
Former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun is expected to end her presidential campaign today and throw her support behind Howard Dean: ["Braun to drop out of race, will endorse Dean"].
This comes as a bit of a surprise. Why quit with just four days until the Iowa Caucuses and 12 days until the New Hampshire primary? While her campaign was ill-conceived from the start - with some thinking she was only running to siphon votes off from the Rev. Al Sharpton - why quit before the first two big voting events? It doesn't make any sense. Although, there were rumors that her campaign was in debt. Because she was so low in the polls, many of Braun's negatives didn't come out - like her cozy relationship with African dictators and past campaign finance problems - although Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now" reportedly tore into Braun about the dictator issue. However, Braun was impressive in the debates. She was thoughtful in her demeanor, and looked and acted presidential.

Other stuff:
There have been rumors around New Hampshire that the Dean campaign has been telling independents via a push poll that they can't vote in the primaries. American Research Group reported on the anomaly after starting their tracking polls. A number of elderly independent voters had told ARG phoners that they had been told they couldn't vote. At least one voter said when she told the phoner that she was voting for Dean, the caller said she actually could vote and was mistaken. The Dean campaign has denied any involvement in the push poll. However, the AG's office has now gotten into the act: ["State explains independents can vote in coming primary"].
The Phoenix's Adam Reilly posts his Ralph Nader speech story although it has more to do with the fringe past [and present] of the conference's organizers, Lenora Fulani and Fred Newman: ["ChIP off the old block"].
Actually, as always, the Phoenix has a lot of good presidential features and coverage this week, including reports filed from the Clark ["Catch a fire"], Dean ["Freezing for Dean"], and Kerry campaigns ["Kerry on"].
Author Paul Loeb says progressives should back Dean over Kucinich: ["Dean And Kucinich"].
More analysis on the bad news of NAFTA: ["NAFTA's legacy -- profits and poverty"].

More polls
Zogby's latest poll from Iowa shows John Kerry taking over the lead in what is essentially a four-way race: Kerry at 22 percent, Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt at 21 percent, and John Edwards with 17 percent.
American Research Group released its latest New Hampshire numbers: Dean with 32 percent, Clark with 22 percent, Kerry with 13 percent, and Lieberman with 9 percent. Undecideds make up 16 percent of the poll.
Suffolk University/Channel 7 in Boston have a new poll out from New Hampshire: Dean with 32 percent, Clark with 17 percent [up from 10 in their last poll], Kerry at 12, Lieberman in with 11 percent [up from 6], with Gephardt and Edwards both down to 3 percent. Undecidedsmake up 16 percent.
While it isn't scientific, TruthOut.org posted poll results from almost 24,000 of their readers: Dennis Kucinich would get 44.5 percent, Dean with 32.4 percent, Wesley Clark with 14.6 percent, Kerry at 3.6 percent, and Edwards with 2.4 percent.