Down in the Lone Star State, a pair of hopes will face a crossroads on March 4. Hillary’s team is admitting she needs to win the state, along with Ohio and Pennsylvania, or face a dramatically widening gap with Obama in delegates. On the Republican side, it’s the next, and perhaps last, state where Mike Huckabee can make a splash.

(Besides splashing around the Cayman Islands.)

A new poll has good news for both of them. On the Democratic side, Hillary leads Obama, 49 percent to 41 percent. On the Republican side, McCain leads but within the margin of error, 45 percent to 41 percent.

Ron Paul claims 6 percent of the vote and 5 percent say they are undecided.

They like their Republicans down there:

• McCain’s image is 75% favorable, 22% unfavorable, while Huckabee’s is 75% favorable, 15% unfavorable. Huckabee has a 36% strong favorable rating compared to McCain’s 29%.
• McCain leads 49% to 36% among voters planning on voting early while the candidates are tied within margin of error (42% McCain, 45% Huckabee) among those who are waiting to vote on Election Day.