On this day in 1861 President-elect Abraham Lincoln leaves his home in Springfield to travel to Washington, D.C., and into the heart of crisis -- seven Southern states having already seceded from the Union. On to today's top stories:

"Maine to Obama; Clinton Replaces Campaign Leader" (Katharine Seelye, New York Times) With Maine on Sunday, Barack Obama swept the weekend's four primaries and caucuses. It was not an unexpected outcome, although the sting of reality for the Clinton campaign must hurt this Monday morning. Indeed, Clinton replaced campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle with Maggie Williams, her former White House chief of staff, which only adds to the media line that this is a campaign in deep trouble.

"McCain Still Dogged By Conservatives' Ire" (Laura Meckler, Wall Street Journal) Although John McCain received a semi-nod from President Bush on Sunday, he still lost two of the weekend's three contests, and won Washington state by only the slimmest of margins -- the Huckabee campaign is contesting the results. Further complicating McCain's last steps to the nomination are conservatives who have yet to fully come onboard the Straight Talk Express.

"Conservatives Learn to Live With McCain" (David Paul Kuhn, The Politico) At the same time, as reporter Kuhn learned talking to prominent conservatives at last week's CPAC conference in D.C., many on the right do feel McCain is the strongest of the two remaining candidates to take on either Clinton or Obama and retain the White House for Republicans.

"As Crunchtime Arrives, All-Out Appeal in Region" (David Nakamura, John Wagner and Amy Gardner, Washington Post) Tomorrow is the so-called "Potomac Primary" -- Virginia, Maryland and D.C -- where McCain is looking to rebound for the weekend's losses. He leads in the polls, and so does Obama, which means it could be another rough couple days for Clinton.

"McCain a 'True Conservative,' Bush Says" (Associated Press) It was only an endorsement if McCain wins the nomination, but Bush's comments about McCain yesterday to Fox News' Chris Wallace was surely meant as a signal to conservatives and leery Republicans that in McCain they have a true conservative champion: "He is tough fiscally. He believes the tax cuts ought to be permanent. He is pro-life. His principles are sound and solid as far as I'm concerned."

"Iraq Aside, Dems Mum on Foreign Policy" (Donald Lambro, Washington Times) For now at least there is no Obama Doctrine or Clinton Doctrine on foreign policy. Both candidates focus their foreign-policy views to Iraq and the need to end the war -- with both leaving open the possibility of doing exactly the opposite. Obama, however, does keep to his line that as president he would meet with America's enemies.

"Huckabee Protests Washington Results" (Kevin Freking, Associated Press) Needing all the delegates he can get, Mike Huckabee is challenging Saturday's Washington state results which show McCain winning by two points. Huckabee, however, says the race was called too early and that there are still 1,500 uncounted votes.

"Pelosi Calls Iraq a 'Failure'" (Mike Allen, The Politico) Twice referring to Iraq as a "failure" Sunday, Pelosi's comments could bring Iraq back to the forefront of presidential politics (not that it necessarily hasn't been) and serves as a reminder of what we might see come the fall election.

"Analysis: Silence Is Bloomberg Trademark" (Sara Kugler, Associated Press) Yes, it's your daily Bloomberg news story.

Get today's other election stories at RCP's Politics and Election page.