Hey, how 'bout that McCain running his open campaign with the media, eh? How 'bout that Bush winning South Carolina? Hey, how 'bout that Bradley bringing an academic flair to American politics? Hey, how 'bout that Gore winning pretty much every primary anyway.

Hey, how 'bout those -- wait, excuse me... yawwwwwwwn -- politics? Those primaries? How 'bout those media headlines about -- uuuuuhhh, hold on, yawwwwwwwwwwwwwwn -- those politics and primaries? Wouldn't you just love to spend this evening reading a Rule Breaker recap devoted entirely to what is already splayed across most of the other media headlines we're reading these days?

You say, you... you... you would? Really?!

Sorry. Little interest in politics here.

But, I do plan to reveal at the end of tonight's recap my Foolish Presidential Predictor, which has served me well campaign in and campaign out, consistently predicting who will be president 18 months in advance of the final election. And it's hitting another home run again this year. Not only will I lay out the way the Predictor works, I'll let you know at the end who our next president will be.

Not, frankly, that I care. I really don't. I think most of the true solutions available to us as a society come from the private sector, not the public one. (That's worth bold text, italicized.) And they are happening, and will continue to happen regardless of who and what party is in office, especially as the parties continue to present us mainstream candidates who think more similarly and differ less noticeably with each passing election.

Which is your favorite color, purple or violet?

Which is perhaps the most political statement you'll get from me.

OK, let's step back from politics and take stock of the Rule Breaker portfolio so far this year. So here we are, February 22nd, 12 percentage points behind the Nasdaq. Hmph. We do remain two percentage points ahead of the S&P 500 at least. Given that probably upward of 80% of all managed stock mutual funds will announce at the end of this quarter that they're losing to the S&P 500 in 2000, I'm not ashamed of our performance.

It's been a year in which our top dollar holding, America Online, seems no longer the apple of the market's eye. So what a HUGE SURPRISE that the Rule Breaker Portfolio has gotten off to a poor start, eh? AOL president and chief operating officer Bob Pittman said at the time of the Time Warner merger, "One plus one really does equal three." And you know, I wish it were true. Maybe it will be true one day, I dunno. I figure Bob's smarter than I am; the evidence is all there.

But so far, one plus one has not equaled three, and it hasn't even equaled two, either. (Somebody spot me two right now; I'll take two.)

One plus one has equaled MINUS 31%.