Notes up North.

The big freeze of the winter settled on the land the day of the Democratic candidates' debate in New Hampshire, but it was nothing compared with the glaciation that has paralyzed political discourse among the major players. Politician Tom Harkin, who is staking a claim to bear the progressive standard, won the debate by waiting until the tail end of the two-hour snooze to bash record of governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton. Lawyer Ralph Nader and U.S. novelist Charles Brown, in their distinctive and complementary ways, ably catalogue the corruptions of the corporate and political culture.