SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:53 P.M. ET:

ROMNEY WINS NEVADA – Mitt Romney is the projected winner of the Nevada caucuses.  This was expected.   Entrance polls showed Romney way ahead among those who value electability, and among evangelical Christians.  He was also helped by Nevada's large Mormon population.  Romney becomes the first GOP candidate this year to win two consecutive primaries, having won Florida earlier in the week.

FRONT LINE OF DEFENSE – Thousands of stadium workers at tomorrow's Super Bowl game in Indianapolis, from parking attendants to hot-dog vendors, have been trained by the Transportation Security Administration to spot potential terrorists.  The TSA calls it the "First Observer" training program.  So remember, if you're going to the game, your safety may depend on a guy whose first professional obligation is asking, "Mustard or relish?"  I'm so relieved.

THE NEW MUNICH CONFERENCE – The name "Munich" has become synonymous with "appeasement."  It was at the infamous Munich conference in 1938 that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, and the French leadership, gave Adolf Hitler the right to annex the Sudetanland.   Chamberlain returned from Munich claiming he had achieved "peace in our time."  He had not.  Now, almost pathetically, Secretary of Defense Panetta and Secretary of State Clinton have appeared at a new security conference held in Munich to assure Europeans that the Obama administration is not abandoning them.  Can you imagine that?  The United States, which has done more to sustain the Atlantic alliance than any other nation, must assure European allies that they're not being abandoned by Barack Obama.  My, how the mighty have fallen.

February 4, 2012