As my colleague Robert Schlesinger posted earlier today, one new major national presidential tracking poll shows Sen. John McCain beating Sen. Barack Obama by 5 points. This is the first time this political season I've seen Senator McCain in a national poll this far ahead.

More American women are choosing not to have children, according to a new report from the Census Bureau.

But the Census Bureau and the mainstream media continue to refer to women without children as "childless" instead of "child-free." Child-free implies women made an affirmative decision not to have children. Childless implies women are infertile and could not have children. As one who made that affirmative decision (I had no children on purpose), I am hereby launching my own personal media campaign to make "child-free" the term of choice, not "childless."

The tortures visited on too many (not all, but too many) Tennessee walking horses make one's skin crawl. The reason "eye examinations" are now permitted by the annual Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration, according to the Humane Society, is that some owners use eye drops to temporarily blind their horses. This makes them lift their hooves higher to try to feel their way around, since they cannot see. The most widely used technique, according to the Humane Society, is "soring," in which caustic chemicals, such as diesel fuel, kerosene, or mustard oil, are painted on the horse's pasterns (ankles). The pain is so intense the horse lifts its hoof to try to alleviate or get away from it.

It's that time of the year again when Shelbyville, Tenn., hosts its annual Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. Let's hope 2008 marks the year when the horses are allowed to celebrate along with the humans by being treated and trained in a humane manner. But that's a slim bet.

My colleague Morgan Felchner got a torrent of response to her blog posting of last Friday asking, "Hillary Clinton supporters: Are you happy now?"

I also posted on Sen. Barack Obama's decision (yes, the DNC was part of the negotiating team, but the Obama campaign in essence runs the DNC these days) to allow Clinton's delegates to vote for her when her name is placed in nomination at the Democratic convention next week.

But I would like to respectfully report on the perspective of former Hillary supporters who disagree with the tone of the question: "Are you happy now?"

This falls into the "You heard it here first" category. It also falls into the "Ho, hum: Should we be surprised?" category.

Let's see. The party that's predicted to make significant gains in Congress and should be winning the White House in a walk (due to the retirement of an unusually unpopular president heading the other party) acts surprised because the party's presidential nominee is in a precarious position in the national polls. Perhaps that is because party elders and primary voters and caucusgoers fell in love with an unknown with extremely liberal views. Perhaps it is because they nominated a freshman senator with no legislative accomplishments to his name. Anyway, take a read:

I didn't set out to make Fox News Channel's Gregg Jarrett one of Keith Olbermann's "Worst Persons in the World" when I appeared with Jarrett last Saturday, but I suppose I could have seen it coming.