From his campaign:

PROVIDENCE, RI – The Obama campaign in Rhode Island today announced that Rhode Islanders who knock on doors Saturday morning in advance of Senator Obama’s “Stand for Change” rally will gain access to a VIP area reserved for canvassers to see Senator Obama speak.

Volunteers will meet at 9:00 AM Saturday morning at various staging locations throughout the state to receive a doorknocking route.

As part of the continuing clash this week between Channel 6 and the City Hall of Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, WLNE-TV plans to do a story today at 4 and 6, reporting on the letter sent by chief of staff Deb Brayton in response to Jim Hummel's questioning of crime stats compiled by the Providence police.

I talked to Hummel, and he declined to comment on the controversy.

On February 8, N4N reported on how the Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island Action Network had launched a suprisingly sharp attack on progressive Representative David Segal, who has been a strong supporter of women's rights.

The organization has since backtracked, as this statement makes clear:

A statement from Miriam Inocencio, CEO, and Barbara Dickinson, Board Chair, of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island:

The Providence Newpaper Guild's annual Follies, the most Rhode Island-related fun that someone can have while eating and drinking in Massachusetts, takes place tonight, as always, at the Venus de Milo in not-too-distant Swansea. By statutory requirement, the event can not take place in the Ocean State.

Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline has remained a loyal soldier for Hillary Clinton. He stuck with her when he had to give up his chairmanship of her Rhode Island campaign. And although he was upset and reconsidered his support when he was told not to attend her Providence fundraiser last weekend, Cicilline was successfully cajoled to come back into the fold.

UPDATE II: TEDDY IN TOWN TOMORROW:

PROVIDENCE, RI – The Obama campaign announced today that Senator Edward M. Kennedy will travel to Rhode Island to campaign for Barack Obama tomorrow, Friday February 29th. Congressman Patrick Kennedy and Attorney General Lynch will join Senator Kennedy as he makes stops around Rhode Island to discuss why he believes Senator Obama has the judgment and character to bring about change we can believe in.

You don't have to be a political scientist to know that polling -- thanks in part to the ubiquity of cell phones -- is a lot less reliable in the past. Scott MacKay and Mark Arsenault take a look at the trend in today's ProJo:

Pollsters say this race is a perfect storm of uncertainty, with a volatile electorate, well-financed campaigns, and record voter turnout that makes predicting who will show up to vote more difficult.

I'm more partial to his son, Christopher, but it's hard to deny Buckley's influence. From the NYT:

William Buckley, with his winningly capricious personality, his use of ten-dollar words and a darting tongue writers loved to compare to an anteater’s, was the popular host of one of television’s longest-running programs, “Firing Line,” and founded and shepherded the influential conservative magazine National Review.

Like Jim Langevin, Bob Weygand is one of those quintessential Rhode Island political types -- a pro-life Democrat, so this endorsement could help Obama a bit with the more socially conservative parts of Hillary's local base:

PROVIDENCE, RI – The Obama campaign today announced that former U.S. Congressman Robert Weygand and his wife Fran Weygand have endorsed Barack Obama for President.

Here's the text of a letter sent by City Hall in response to Jim Hummel's Tuesday night report on crime stats in Providence:

February 28, 2008

Regent Ducas

News Director

ABC6 WLNE

10 Orms St.

Providence, RI 02904

Dear Mr. Ducas,

Last night, Channel 6 featured the second installment of Jim Hummel's look at the Providence Police Department, focusing this time of the salary and benefits of Police Chief Dean Esserman. Co-anchor Allison Alexander, in introducing the piece, said she thought a lot of people would be surprised by the information, but, as Matt pointed out yesterday, much of this was reported more than four years ago by Amanda Milkovits in the ProJo:

Brown's Center for Environmental Studies is presenting a program tonight on Fair Trade coffee and the power of consumers:

Thursday, February 28 7:00 pm in MacMillan Hall 117 Dean Cycon of Dean's Beans will present Justice in the Coffeelands: The Social, Economic & Environmental Impact of Fair/Unfair Trade in the Coffee Communities of Africa, Asia and Latin America

The Boston Phoenix endorsed Obama prior to the Massachusetts primary, and the Providence Phoenix carries the endorsement in this week's paper. Here's an excerpt:

Obama’s candidacy is not only about hope, not only about change. Most important of all, it is about the future.

Almost four years ago in Boston, Obama, then an Illinois state senator, electrified and inspired the Democratic convention as no national newcomer had done since 1948, when Hubert Humphrey championed the cause of civil rights.

Matt offers a look at the delegate process in RI, and how it might impact the primary on Tuesday:

Here’s how the system works: 4050 delegates at the Democratic Convention in Denver will select a nominee for president. Of these, 3250 are elected delegates who are chosen through the state-by-state primaries or caucuses.

The Rhode Island primary continues to heat up, with plans by the past and present rock stars of the Democratic Party to visit here, respectively, today and Saturday.

I take a look at the race in this week's Phoenix:

If Barack Obama proves unstoppable in his pursuit of the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton could remember her Rhode Island College rally last Sunday as one of those instances of what might have been.