**Tonight on Countdown*** (Keith Olbermann)

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Former stripper turned weight-loss promoter Anna Nicole Smith faced the scales of justice on Tuesday, a Supreme Court showdown with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line. The legal issue, stemming from a nasty family feud over the fortune of Smith's late husband, J. Howard Marshall II, turns on whether state or federal courts have jurisdiction in the matter. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11601459/

Did Scooter Libby bump into her? And did it jog his memory about what happened when in that pesky leak investigation?

The latest CBS News poll finds President Bush's approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 34 percent, while pessimism about the Iraq war has risen to a new high. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/27/opinion/polls/main1350874.shtml

Le Moyne College/Zogby Poll released Tuesday said that 72 percent of American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year. http://www.nbc4.com/news/7541767/detail.html

Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann broadcasts LIVE at 8 pm et, and the count is never complete without you. Join us.

'Tradition' reigns as Mardi Gras rolls in. First post-Katrina celebration is more modest, but still raucous. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11603646/

CBS/Infinity chairman Les Moonves is about to launch a $500 million lawsuit against his departed superstar Howard Stern, claiming Stern breached his contract by failing to disclose the details of his new deal with Sirius Satellite Radio while still employed by Infinity. "When you mention the name Howard Stern to Les, his face turns red and his rage becomes uncontrollable," said a CBS insider. "And Les has a bunch of Washington, D.C., lawyers who hate Howard almost as much as he does." http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/gossip/pagesix/60391.htm
But at a news conference today, Stern ripped into Moonves, saying his actions were a childish "personal vendetta".

That's some of what we're planning for tonight's show.

Finally,

-- Carey Fox

Countdown Home: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

More:
The Supreme Court dealt a setback Tuesday to abortion clinics in a two-decade-old legal fight over anti-abortion protests, ruling that federal extortion and racketeering laws cannot be used to ban demonstrations. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11604762/

President Bush said he believes his 2004 re-election victory over Sen. John Kerry was inadvertently aided by Osama bin Laden, who issued a taped diatribe against him the Friday before Americans went to the polls, The Examiner newspaper reported on Tuesday. Bush said there were "enormous amounts of discussion" inside his campaign about the 15-minute tape, which he called "an interesting entry by our enemy" into the presidential race. Bush's comments in the Washington newspaper were excerpts from the new book "Strategery" by Bill Sammon, a long-time White House correspondent. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11604530/

Two explosions late Tuesday at a Shiite shrine and mosque in Baghdad killed at least 15 people, Iraqi police said, raising Tuesday's death toll from attacks to at least 56. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11491483/

Maoist rebels set off a land mine under a truck on Tuesday in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, killing 55 people and wounding at least 20 who belonged to a government-backed anti-Maoist group, police said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11600924/

Darvon, Darvocet and related painkillers were associated with the deaths of at least 2,110 people between 1981 and 1999, critics said Tuesday in asking the government to ban the drugs. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11604116/

Sales of existing homes fell for a fifth consecutive month in January as the once-sizzling housing market cooled further. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11604815/

America Online is taking advantage of a first-of-its-kind anti-"phishing" law in Virginia to sue three international groups that allegedly stole information from unsuspecting AOL users by sending e-mail that appeared to be legitimate messages from the company. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11603528/

A lawyer for the publisher of the "The Da Vinci Code" argued in court Tuesday that ideas which two writers claim were stolen for Dan Brown's blockbuster novel are so general they are not protected by copyright. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11603512/

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