Hillary Clinton joining Jay Leno's lineup -- again

by Mark Silva

Chelsea Clinton, daughter of the presidential candidate and former president, confronted a question about the Monica Lewinsky scandal again on the campaign trail today.

And, just as she replied at Butler University in Indianapolis last week, the only child of Sen. Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton -- whose relationship with a White House intern marred his reputation as president -- told her questioner at a student center North Carolina State University today:

“It’s none of your business….That is something that is personal to my family. I'm sure there are things that are personal to your family that you don't think are anyone else's business either.’’

She did add this, however: "I don't think you should be voting for or against my mother because of my father.''

Hillary Clinton's friends and schoolmates Betsy Ebeling, left, Ernest Ricketts of Oak Brook, right, and Hardye Moel, foreground, of Chicago, at a town hall meeting via satellite with Clinton at Clinton's alma mater, Maine South High School, on Feb. 4. Chicago Tribune Photo by Candice C. Cusic.

by Rick Pearson and updated with a campaign check.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign has made little secret that it has been routinely outspent by rival Barack Obama in the extended race for the Democratic presidential nomination and has been forced to curtail checks for some of its vendors and staff.

But stiffing your high school alma mater?

That’s apparently the case, according to federal campaign disclosure reports that show that among more than $8.7 million listed as debts, the Clinton campaign owed $3,161 to Maine South High School in Park Ridge for renting the school for an event, as well as for catering.

Clinton, then Hillary Rodham, was a 1965 Maine South graduate.

The Clinton campaign used the school’s Watson Auditorium for an election eve event prior to the Feb. 5 “Super Tuesday” balloting in Illinois and more than 20 other states. The event was a “town hall meeting,” broadcast on the Hallmark Channel, which allowed supporters across the country to question the candidate.

The FEC form listed only a “Dr. Rose” as a contact at the school. A switchboard operator at Maine South said no one was available to discuss the debt and that the only “Dr. Rose” at the school was Dr. Rose Garlasco, the assistant principal of students, who was unavailable.

Jay Carson, a spokesman for Clinton's campaign, said the invoice from Maine South High School was paid today.

by Mark Silva

Sen. Barack Obama is outspending Sen. Hillary Clinton by about three-to-one in Pennsylvania’s television campaign, an independent analsyst says – a sign that, even if Obama cannot overcome Clinton’s apparent advantage in the April 22 primary there, Obama plans to make Clinton pay for the fight.

“He has dropped a couple million bucks in his first week on the air there,’’ says Evan Tracey, chief operating officer for Campaign Media Analysis, a TNS company, an independent analyst of campaign media advertising. “If you judged it against Clinton’s, in a basketball game, it would be a rout.’’

The Obama campaign is spending about $150,000 a day now on TV advertising in Pennsylvania, Tracey said in an interview with the Tribune today – compared with about $50,000 for the Clinton camp.

Since Obama turned on his TV campaign in the Keystone State on the 21st, Tracey said, he has spent about $2 million. Since Clinton started her ads there on the 25th, she has spent about $440,000.

“Part of it is putting his fundraising advantage to work,’’ Tracey said. “If he spends a lot there, she has to spend a lot to keep up with him…. He is buying at high levels, a strategy to bring her into a war of attrition she can’t afford.''

by Mark Silva

There may be only one thing indisputable about the season-opening game of the Washington Nationals in their home stadium last night: They beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2.

But on the question of President Bush's (high) ceremonial opening pitch for the inaugural game at National Park, there seems to be much dispute.

Not on the ball itself -- a good long throw from the rubber.

But on the roar of the crowd (no smell of grease-paint) -- more boos or cheers?

A certain partisan Web-site says more boos. The pool reporter (from a Texas newspaper) who covered the president's pitch says more cheers.

Here's the video: What's your call, ump?

by Mark Silva

Here’s something both Democrats and Republicans might agree upon:

Barack Obama could give John McCain a tougher contest in November.

That’s what the Gallup poll has found.

Gallup’s daily tracking pver the weekend portrayed Obama, senator from Illinois, with a 10-point advantage over Clinton, senator from New York, among Democrats. Today's results of the latest daily track show Obama up eight points. The Pew Research Center has found a similar margin.

But with numbers that are certain to add fuel to Obama’s pitch to those superdelegates on whom Clinton counts to turn the nomination her way, Gallup has found this as well:

In a March 24-27 survey of 1,005 people:

 Democrats were asked whether Clinton or Obama has the better chance of defeating McCain in November: 59 percent said Obama does, and 30 percent said Clinton does.

 Republicans were asked whether McCain has a better chance of defeating Clinton or Obama. Sixty-four percent said McCain has a better chance of beating Clinton, 22 percent said Obama.

"Gallup polling has recently shown some positive momentum for Obama in the Democratic nomination battle -- he has moved into the lead over Clinton in the preferences of Democratic voters nationwide,’’ Gallup’s Jeffrey Jones reports. “Both candidates are competitive with McCain in Gallup's latest polling on registered voters' general election preferences, though Obama has tended to do marginally better than Clinton in the more recent updates.''

by Frank James

Franklin and Marshall professors Terry Madonna and Michael Young have a new Politically Uncorrected" column in which they assert that the endorsement by Sen. Bob Casey of his fellow junior senator, Barack Obama, may spell doom for the presidential hopes of Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Cutting to the chase, their premise is that Casey is popular with a lot of blue-collar voters in the state and while his endorsement of the senator from Illinois may not lead to Obama winning Pennsylvania, it could cut significantly into Clinton's lead, giving her a less-than-huge win and causing enough super delegates to declare for Obama.

Here's their piece's money quote:

The take away point here is that the Casey endorsement may be a game-ender, a final speed bump for Clinton that blocks any remaining viable path to the nomination. She needs to win Pennsylvania big, and Casey’s presence in the race makes it hard for her to do that. Clinton probably still wins the state—but not by enough to allow her to continue the race past Pennsylvania.

Read on for the entire piece.

by Mark Silva

Cesar Chavez Day.

That's what Sen. Barack Obama is endorsing: A national holiday in honor of the late, legendary activist for farm-worker rights (1927-1993), pictured here.

Today is Chavez's birthday -- and Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign was first to draw attention to that this morning, with a statement celebrating the 81st anniverary of Chavez's birth. But the senator from Illinois one-upped the senator from New York in joining the call for a new national holiday to commemorate the father of the United Farm Workers.

"As farmworkers and laborers across America continue to struggle for fair treatment and fair wages, we find strength in what Cesar Chavez accomplished so many years ago,'' Obama said in a statement released by his campaign today. "And we should honor him for what he's taught us about making America a stronger, more just, and more prosperous nation.

"That's why I support the call to make Cesar Chavez's birthday a national holiday. It's time to recognize the contributions of this American icon to the ongoing efforts to perfect our union. “

Clinton said, in a statement released today: “Today, I join millions of Americans in commemorating the life of one of our great civil rights leaders, Cesar Chavez. Driven by his strong desire to ensure better quality of life for migrant farm workers across the country, Chavez helped found – along with Dolores Huerta – the United Farm Workers of America, arguably one of the first effective farm workers’ union in the United States.''

by Mark Silva

Sen. Hillary Clinton is promising "universal health care.''

Her campaign is just a little slow in paying for it for staffers.

Among the debts reported this month by the New York senator's presidential campaign, Politico.com has unearthed: $292,000 in unpaid health insurance premiums for her campaign staff

Clinton, facing pressure within her party to drop her campaign against Sen. Barack Obama, already has at times asked campaign workers to work without pay and loaned her campaign $5 million of her own funds.

But health insurance -- the promise of it for all -- is something that has been central to her camapign for president from the start.

The campaign provides health insurance to all its employees, spouses, partners and children – and that wasn’t interrupted by any lag in payments to insurance providers, Jay Carson, a Clinton campaign spokesman, has told Politico.

The campaign this month paid off all of its outstanding bills to Aetna Healthcare and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, he says by way of explanation. "Those payments will be reflected on a report the campaign will file this month with the Federal Election Commission, which Carson said will show 'zero debt owed to both vendors,''' Politico reports today.

“Sometimes invoices are not paid immediately because we need additional information for our records, or to verify expenses,” Carson said in a statement emailed to Politico. “Sometimes invoices arrive at the very end of the month at the cut-off of the reporting period, which means that we are required to report them as a debt on the current FEC report, even where they are paid in regular course during the next month.”

Exiled Tibetan Buddhist monks held one minute of silence during a candlelit vigil in Dharmsala, India, today.The Dalai Lama, Tibetans' exiled spiritual leader, lives in India along with tens of thousands of Tibetans. (AP Photo by Ashwini Bhatia)

by Mark Silva

Tibetans and friends of Tibetans are marching today in Washington, with a rally starting in the park across the street from the White House, calling on President Bush to skip the opening ceremony for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing this summer.

Bush, however, has left for a weeklong tour of Europe, including a NATO summit and stops in Ukraine and a Russian resort city for a meeting with Vladimir Putin.

And he plans to attend that Olympic Games ceremony.

Following the rally in Lafayette Park, protesters are marching to the Chinese Embassy to demand a dialogue with the Dalai Lama.

The rally was organized by the Capital Area Tibetan Association and the International Campaign for Tibet, protesting the Chinese government’s crackdown in Tibet .

"The whole world is watching China’s response,'' the group says, "and world leaders have come forward to support the Tibetan people in this time of crisis.''

by James Oliphant

The Pentagon Monday announced it had brought charges against a detainee at Guantanamo Bay in connection with the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Tanzania.

The Aug. 7, 1998 attack in Dar es Salaam killed 11 and injured hundreds. The government seeks to try Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani before a military tribunal, and if he is found guilty of the most serious charges against him, put him to death.

Specifically, the Defense Department accused Ghailani of:

* Purchasing TNT, detonators and detonation cord on multiple occasions and transporting the bomb components to Dar es Salaam;

* Moving the bomb components to various safe houses in and around Dar es Salaam;

* Assisting in the purchase of the truck used in the attack;

* Facilitating the purchase of oxygen cylinder tanks which were used as bomb components;

* Escorting the bomb engineer between Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, Kenya after the bomb had been assembled;

* Scouting the American Embassy with the suicide bomb driver;

* Meeting with co-conspirators in Nairobi, Kenya, shortly before the bombing; and

* Joining the co-conspirators on a flight from Nairobi to Karachi, Pakistan, one day prior to the bombing.

by Sabrina Fang

Sen. Hillary Clinton insists that this is no time to stop an election.

And her husband, former President Bill Clinton, has this to say to Democrats calling for a surrender to Sen. Barack Obama: “Chill Out.’’

“There are some folks saying, well, we ought to stop these elections,’’ Hillary Clinton tells a crowd. “I didn’t think we believed that in America.’’

Her husband maintains that the campaign is “strengthening’’ the Democratic Party: “Chill out,’’ he tells supporters, “We’re going to win this election.’’

“My attitude is that Sen. Clinton can run as long as she wants,’’ Obama says.

by John L. Micek

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- First, it's a rally in front of 22,000 screaming supporters at Penn State University. More than an hour later, it's a more intimate stop at a sports bar off Route 322 in rural Mifflin County.

Such are the extremes of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's first barnstorming tour across Pennsylvania.

The six-day bus excursion that the Illinois senator hopes will help him close the double-digit polling gap that separates him from U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., started Friday in the towns of western Pennsylvania that are believed to Clinton strongholds.

Then it looped through the vast rural middle of the state, stopping in Johnstown and Altoona, before continuing on to eastern Pennsylvania and concluding in the Philadelphia suburbs that Obama campaign hopes will propel him to victory in the state's April 22 primary.

''I think he can make a lot of progress. I don't know if I want to make predictions about whether he can win,'' U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) tells reporters after a town meeting at Greater Johnstown High School on Saturday afternoon. ''But I do know that this region... has a lot of people who would be responsive to his message.''

Sen. John McCain, accompanied by wife Cindy, right, greets a crowd at the Wings over Meridian Air Show at McCain field on the Meridian Naval Base on Sunday.Photo by Mary Altaffer / AP

by Mark Silva

John McCain, a warrior from a family of warriors, returned to a Naval air field in Meridian, Miss., named for his grandfather for the start of a weeklong tour of reminiscences aimed at reminding voters of his credentials in national security.

Casting himself today as an “imperfect servant of my country’’ – a phrase he coined in the memoir penned for his last presidential campaign, Faith of My Fathers, in 1999 – McCain spoke of ancestors buried at Arlington National Cemetery and “the honor we earn and the love we give when we work and sacrifice with others for a cause greater than our self-interest."

McCain wrote in that ’99 memoir that his father, a Navy admiral, like his grandfather, had told him: “In leadership, there is no such thing as a master’s degree.’’

And that’s pretty much the campaign message that McCain is attempting to deliver this week.

This is the start of a “Service to America Tour’’ for the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee for president. McCain was not speaking of his potential Democratic rival today – either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton – but rather spinning the tale he hopes to tell of himself in a reintroduction to American voters at the start of a free season for the GOP.

by James Oliphant

The Supreme Court Monday let stand an appeals court ruling that curtails the FBI's power to search congressional offices.

The case arose out of the FBI's raid of the offices of Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) in 2006. Jefferson, who is fighting federal corruption charges, sought the return of the seized materials, claiming they were protected by the constitutional privilege known as the Speech and Debate Clause. That clause is intended to ensure that legislative process is free from interference from the executive branch.

Last year, in a setback for the government, the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. ruled that some of the materials grabbed by the FBI were likely protected by the privilege--even though agents had properly obtained a search warrant-- and should have been subject to Jefferson's review before they were handed over. The government appealed to the Supreme Court, which Monday declined to hear the case. That lets the appeals court decision stand.

by Frank James, updated and revised at 11:48 am CDT

Housing and Urban Development Secretay Alphonso Jackson is out.

Jackson, a man a lot of people in Washington wouldn't recognize as a big shot but for his security detail, has been paradoxically a controversial and anonymous figure in President Bush's cabinet because of allegations that he has misused his position to help friends and hurt political opponents of the administration.

The Wall Street Journal last night was first to report that Jackson was headed for the exit.

Jackson had a 10 am mpress conference in which he actually used the cliched line that he's leaving to spend more time with his family.

Here are his brief remarks:

SEC. JACKSON: Good morning.

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Good morning.

SEC. JACKSON: On April 18th I will step down as the secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. There come a time when one must attend diligently to personal and family matters. Now is such a time for me.

I have devoted more than 30 years of my life to improve housing opportunities for all Americans, regardless of income, skin color or spoken accent. My life work has been to build a better community that families are proud to call home.

Several years ago, President Bush gave me an extraordinary opportunity to serve HUD and the nation. As the son of a lead smelter and nurse midwife, and the last of 12 children, never did I imagine I would serve America in such a way. I am truly grateful for the opportunity.

During my tenure here, I have sought to make America a better place to live, work and raise families. We have helped families keep their homes. We have transformed public housing. We have reduced chronic homelessness. And we have preserved affordable housing and increased minority homeownership. We have done this together.

I will say that I take great pride in working alongside some of the most dedicated civil servants in America. The hardworking people here at HUD make a difference in the lives of thousands of Americans daily. Marcia and I want to thank you for the many acts of kindness we have received over the last seven years, and I say this from the bottom of my heart: May God bless you, and may God continue to bless our country. Thank you for the opportunity.

by Mike Dorning and Christi Parsons updated at 11:38 am EDT

HARRISBURG, Pa -- Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar will endorse Barack Obama later this morning, according to an announcement the Obama campaign e-mailed to reporters this morning.

While Hillary Clinton began the campaign with an overwhelming advantage in endorsements among fellow senators, Obama now leads in public backing among his Democratic Senate colleagues, with support from 13 against 11 for her.

Klobuchar's support follows a suprise endorsement Friday from Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), a socially conservative Democratic with a broad following among white working-class voters in Pennsylvania, site of the next Democratic primary.

Commitments of support from Democratic members of Congress are especially important this year because each of them is automatically entitled to a vote at the party convention as a superdelegate, along with certain other elected and party officials.

Since the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday primary, Obama has received public commitments of support from 64 superdelegates versus 9 who have endorsed Clinton since then.

In an interview with reporters, Klobuchar said she decided to get off the fence and support Obama because of his popularity with voters.

But she praised Clinton at several turns, and argued against other Obama supporters who think it's time for the New York senator to bow out of the primary race.

"I believe that Sen. Clinton has every right to continue," Klobuchar said. "I don't agree with those who have said things to the contrary."

by Frank James

Former Vice President Al Gore will be campaigning but not in the way many people have asked him to--at least not yet.

In an effort that on the surface appears to have little to do with presidential politics, Gore is the force behind a three-year, $300 million public-advocacy campaign to get Americans to become more involved in the fight against global warming.

Gore is supporting the fairly massive advertising campaign by the Alliance for Climate Protection whose first ad is at the top of this post.

According to the Washington Post, the ads and other marketing efforts will constitute one of the largest public-advocacy campaigns ever.

Gore gave the Post an extended interview in which he sounds somewhat exasperated by the inability of the nation's political leadership to collectively get its act together in the global-warming fight.

"This climate crisis is so interwoven with habits and patterns that are so entrenched, the elected officials in both parties are going to be timid about enacting the bold changes that are needed until there is a change in the public's sense of urgency in addressing this crisis," Gore said. "I've tried everything else I know to try. The way to solve this crisis is to change the way the public thinks about it."

Post reporter Julie Eilperin evidently tried to get Gore to open up about how much he was kicking into the $300 million effort. Looks like he didn't want to talk specifics.

While Gore declined to quantify his contribution to the effort, he has devoted all his proceeds from the Oscar-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," the best-selling companion book, his salary from the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers and several international prizes, such as the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, which add up to more than a $2.7 million.

So it would appear the former veep is putting his money where his very capable mouth is.

by Andrew Malcolm

Pennsylvania, the next important Democratic primary state, is a lot like the very first primary state of New Hampshire except that Pennsylvania has millions more people, thousands more square miles, live members of minority groups, actual cities, big-league sports teams, a sizable number of electoral votes, streets not named for trees and an economy based on more than knickknacks and apres-ski lounges.

Everyone in New Hampshire is on a first-name basis with every candidate of every party in recent memory, or says they are. But Pennsylvania is large enough that every candidate could be in the state at once and hardly anyone would notice.

So it's a very exciting thing in the Keystone State when you run into an actual candidate or, almost as good, someone famous who's married to an actual candidate. That's what happened to Ceena Ford the other day when she skipped classes at Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School to see former President Bill Clinton at Dickinson College in Carlisle.

He's still campaigning, as he always seems to be, this time for his wife, Hillary, who wants to move back into the White House and relive those fun times of the 1990s that we all remember so fondly. But first she's got to really thump this younger senator from Illinois by hundreds of thousands of votes in several states to look like she's catching up to him in this marathon primary election season.

So, the ex-president was speaking about himself and his wife too and suddenly, OMG, he was standing right there next to Ceena. It was, like, so unbelievable! So Ceena did what any conscious teenage girl does when excited: She reached for her cellphone and took the picture above. And then to show it to the world, she sent it to CNN.

Andrew Malcolm writes for Top of the Ticket, the L.A. Times' political blog.

President and First Lady Laura Bush head for Marine One, for start of a journey to NATO summit. Photo by J. Scott Applewhite / AP

by Mark Silva

President Bush, departing for Europe this morning, left a returning Congress with a full assignment of issues to address.

“They have a lot of work to do,’’ said Bush, standing on the South Lawn of the White House this morning at the first light of dawn.

The Congress needs to enact intelligence surveillance reforms, the president said – insisting on immunity from lawsuits for telecommunications companies that have aided the government in the surveillance of suspected terrorists.

“Our intelligence officials are waiting on the Congress,’’ Bush said, in a brief statement delivered with his wife by his side before the two strode to Marine One on the lawn for a hop to Andrews Air Force Base and journey to a NATO summit in Bucharest.

Bush also will meet with outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Russian resort city, with the two continuing talks about U.S. designs for a missile defense network based in Poland with radar support in the Czech Republic.

In the meantime, the traveling president is calling on Congress to “modernize the Federal Housing Administration’’ – with congressional leaders and the administration alike examining plans to back the loans of homeowners stranded with mortgages costing more than their homes are worth.

The Congress needs to act on a free trade agreement with Colombia, he added, asking leaders of both parties to act speedily.

Then the president and First Lady Laura Bush pivoted just as quickly and boarded Marine One awaiting their departure from the South Lawn.

Sen. Barack Obama collected flowers from supporters as he left his hotel for a rally on the old main lawn of Penn State University on Sunday. Chicago Tribune photo by Zbigniew Bzdak.

by Mike Dorning

HARRISBURG, Pa.— Barack Obama hit the bowling lanes and walked the factory floor, hoisted the local brew and even nursed a calf as he introduced himself over the weekend to the working-class residents of hardscrabble towns in the valleys and mountains of southern Pennsylvania.

In the first days of a bus tour that marks the opening of Obama's campaign in the Pennsylvania primary, a candidate who has done best among the young, the well-educated and African-Americans devoted much of his time to well-publicized visits to habitues of blue-collar America.

There was Johnstown Wire Technologies, which supplies wire used to make Slinkies, where the Illinois Democratic senator walked among giant coils of cable while steam rose from vats behind him. And Pleasant Valley Lanes in Altoona, where Obama exchanged his polished black oxfords for a pair of size 13½ blue-and-white Velcro bowling shoes.

At Altoona's Original Texas Hot Dogs, where nothing costs more than $2.15, Obama salted his fries generously and shoved a Texas dog into his mouth. And at Penn State University's research barns, he nursed a calf with an oversized baby bottle.

"Come on, buddy," he coaxed as his charge slurped.

Sen. Hillary Clinton campaigning at Sara's Diner in Fort Wayne, Ind., on Friday. Photo by Charles Dharapak / AP

By Jim Tankersley

Scattered across the Internet are an array of tools for measuring how easy it is to understand a piece of writing. They are called "readability" tests. Most deliver their scores in grade levels. For example, the readability test in Microsoft Word says the first sentence in this paragraph reads at the 11th grade level. The second and third sentences combine to read at the fifth-grade level.

Today, we employ those tests to help explain one of the key dynamics of the Democratic presidential primaries: Hillary Clinton's success courting working-class voters.

Across the country, especially the Rust Belt, blue-collar Democrats have sustained Clinton's candidacy. Voters, analysts and political strategists trace that support to lingering affection for her husband and the economic boom of his presidency — but only in part.

They also say a range of strategies has won the New York senator working-class backing, including an economic message that she delivers in simpler terms than rival Barack Obama.

Consider the "major speeches" each candidate gave on the housing crisis last week. Obama launched his in New York with a 300-word history of the Founding Fathers' views on free markets. "In the more than two centuries since then," he said, "we have struggled to balance the same forces that confronted Hamilton and Jefferson – self-interest and community; markets and democracy; the concentration of wealth and power, and the necessity of transparency and opportunity for each and every citizen." Final readability measure: 12th grade.

Clinton began her speech in Philadelphia with a quick recounting of economic ills: a falling dollar, rising gas prices, a mortgage crisis that has become a credit crisis. "And now we face an urgent question," she said. "How do we keep today's turmoil from spiraling into a long and painful recession?" Final readability: 10th grade.

In today's Chicago Tribune, read the full story about the language and messaging that help Clinton style herself a "Working Class Hero."

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Monday, March 31.

President Bush is leaving this morning for the Ukraine.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is speaking at the Brookings Institution and later at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce dinner on bilaterial trade opportunities.

The International Campaign for Tibet is holding a rally to urge President Bush to not attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summer Olympics.

President Bush delivered the ceremonial first pitch at the season opener of the Washington Nationals. Photo by Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images

by Mark Silva

More cheers than boos were heard at National Park tonight when President Bush tossed the first ceremonial pitch for the season opener of the Washington Nationals, playing host to the Braves, at the new home park of the Washington club.

After both the Braves and Nationals were introduced on the field and Denyce Graves sang the National Anthem, the two teams cleared the field. Nationals Manager Manny Acta, third baseman Ryan Zimmerman and owner Ted Lerner came back on. Then Bush emerged from the Nationals' dugout to throw the first pitch.

He wore a red Nationals jacket and dark slacks.

“It seemed there were more cheers than boos, but not by much,’’ the pool reporter reported tonight. The president “walked quickly to the mound and almost immediately, with a high delivery, threw a high fastball that would have been a ball to anyone other than Yao Ming.

“Acta rose to catch it, manager and president quickly shook hands and Bush was waving to the crowd as he walked back into the dugout. The crowd reaction after the pitch was decidedly mixed.

“Bush, back in the dugout, gave the ball to team President Stan Kasten and went back up the tunnel. Bush smiled throughout, despite the boos. Bush was watching the start of the game from the owner’s box and would offer some ESPN commentary during the third inning.

With thanks to Jason Embry of the Austin American-Statesman, on pool duty with the president tonight at National Park.

by Mike Dorning

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Barack Obama now has a 10-percentage point lead over Hillary Clinton in a national tracking poll conducted by Gallup, the largest lead he has posted in the poll this year.

Gallup reported Obama now leads among Democrats 52 percent against 42 percent for Hillary Clinton, the third day in a row he has held a statistically significant lead against Clinton in the poll.

The movement in the national poll follows a week in which Clinton was widely lampooned for exaggerated accounts she gave of a visit to Bosnia in which she claimed she ran for cover under sniper fire. After the pilot of her plane and reporters who were on the trip with her disputed the account, she conceded she her account was a "mistake" and chalked the incident up to campaign-trail fatigure. But the exaggeration rapidly became fodder for late-night comics and video spoofs on the Internet.

Allies of Barack Obama, most notably Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), also last week promoted arguments that Clinton now has little chance of winning the Democratic nomination and that a prolonged Democratic primary would damage the eventual nominee.

The tracking poll averages polling over the past three days. Gallup noted Obama's strongest lead was in polling conducted on Saturday, the most recent day included.

New York Times photographer Dith Pran photographs on assignment at an immigrant rights rally on September 4, 2006 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Getty Images)

by Frank James

One of the most haunting movies many of us have ever watched was "The Killing Fields," the story of the Cambodian genocide as witnessed by photojournalist Dith Pran who survived those hellish years to work for the New York Times.

That movie was so powerful and painful it has stayed with many of us for nearly a quarter of a century.

And that meant that in an almost mystical way, Dith was with us too, even with those of us who never had the opportunity to meet him.

Word comes today that Dith has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 65. So he no longer walks among the living.

It is sad that he is gone. But at least we are comforted by knowing that his death came not at the hands of the murderous Khmer Rouge but of nature's killing field.

There is also some satisfaction that in surviving some of the worst human evil imaginable, he was able to continue his career as a journalist and to faithfully raise awareness about the Cambodian genocide.

Over the years, there was always a special fascination for many of us when we saw a photo in the NYT that Dith had taken. It could be a picture of something relatively run-of-the-mill, of a person in a Times profile, or of some everyday event.

But the fact that it was a Dith photo, that you were seeing something through Dith's eyes, a man who once walked among the dead, was once given up for dead himself, always made any photo of his something noteworthy, at least to me.

Dith may be gone now, but he is still with us. We have his photos. And we will always carry with us his remarkable story, as told by "The Killing Fields."

The Los Angeles Times has a worthy obituary to Dith which you can read here.

by Mike Dorning

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa .— A proposal from former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton each commit to pick the other as their running mate received non-committal responses from campaign surrogates appearing on the Sunday morning talk shows today.

In effect, Cuomo would like to shift the Democratic primaries into a contest over which order the two candidates would appear on the party's ticket, with both Obama and Clinton guaranteed at minimum a vice presidential nomination.

While Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Clinton ally, was careful not to commit his candidate, he expressed enthusiasm for the idea on ABC's "This Week."

“I can’t speak for Senator Clinton, but I would love that,” Rendell said, later adding, “I think that this duo, regardless, is a history-making duo.”

Sen. John Kerry, an Obama ally, gave a cooler reception.

“It’s certainly one of the options that’s available to him, and that would be terrific in a lot of people’s minds. But you have to leave that up to him,” Kerry said, also on "This Week."

Clinton allies previously had advanced the idea that an ideal Democratic ticket would put Clinton at the top and Obama as her running mate, an idea that the Obama campaign rejected and interpreted as an attempt to belittle his stature.

But Cuomo argued in an opinion article published in today’s Boston Globe that “Democratic disaster” looms in November because the prolonged primary fight risks fueling antagonism between supporters of each candidate.

“Who can solve the problem?” Cuomo asked.

Obama and Clinton can - by putting aside personal irritations, and to some extent personal aspirations, and agreeing to end the hostilities and form a ticket that offers both of them, a candidate for president and a candidate for vice president who is clearly good enough to serve as president, should the occasion arise. That candidate for vice president would also have a good chance of being elected president eight years from now because neither of the two would be too old in 2016. If they are not capable of doing that, the two could announce they will complete the primary schedule and convention with the winner becoming candidate for president and the other agreeing to be a candidate for vice president, thereby mollifying to some extent the constituency of the candidate who was not chosen as the nominee for president.

by Mark Silva

Dick Cheney, home from a 10-day tour that ranged from Iraq and Afghanistan to Turkey and Saudi Arabia, “is not your regular road warrior.’’

So writes Deb Reichmann, of the Associated Press, who accompanied the vice president who travels with “a green duffel bag stuffed with nonfiction books about military campaigns and political affairs… an iPod and noise-canceling earphones to listen to oldies and some country-western.’’

The vice president managed to squeeze some tourism into this last trip. He and his wife, Lynne, and daughter Liz saw Topkapi Palace, seat of the Ottoman sultans for almost 400 years. “For all his globe-trotting,’’ Reichmann writes, “Cheney had never been to Istanbul, home of the Bosphorus Bridge that links Europe and Asia.

“More often, Cheney's days on the road are spent holed up on planes, helicopters, hotel rooms and stuffy government buildings,’’ she notes in an AP dispatch from Washington. “They are long, grueling days.

“His staffers say they have to run fast to keep up with a schedule that seems especially rigorous for a 67-year-old man who has had four heart attacks,’’ she notes. “Like the gadget inside his chest that makes sure his heart is beating in sync, Cheney paces himself.

”Pack the Diet Sprite — a Cheney favorite,’’ Reichmann notes. “Keep the decaffeinated lattes flowing and tune the tube to Fox News.''

For McCain, the general election campaign already is underway.

by Mark Silva

Sen. John McCain’s "Straight Talk Express'' will roll out for a nostalgia tour this week, a bus-storming tour of many of the touchstones in the senator’s long life.

Yet, for the two Democrats still battling over their party’s presidential nomination, this will be a season to forget – if they can.

The spillover from the worst that Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have faced in a bruising marathon winter and spring of campaigning will provide McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, with endless fodder for a general election contest. Most likely, he will keep that bus on the high road, and leave it to his party to remind voters of the baggage that the Democratic nominee is carrying to the fight this fall.

How much will it matter this fall, should Obama claim the Democratic nomination, that he devoted two decades to a church whose pastor spoke of damning America for its racial practices? While Obama has condemned the most “incendiary’’ words of the now-retired Rev. Jeremiah Wright, he has not disowned the man. How much will it matter that the man positioned to become the first African-American president in a nation still seeking that “more perfect union’’ has acknowledged that his own grandmother was a “typical white person’’ in her responses to men of another race?

How much will it matter this fall, should Clinton claim the Democratic nomination with the support of her party’s superdelegates, that the great experience she has evoked in her campaign – signaled with that television ad asking who America wants to answer the phone at the White House when it rings at 3 a.m. – is not always borne out in the roles that she actually played in her husband’s administration? That landing “under sniper fire’’ in Bosnia in 1996 looks more like a photo opportunity to TV viewers today.

How much will it matter, should all or half of the delegations of Florida and Michigan be denied their seats at the Democratic National Convention in Denver? Will the party find a way to accommodate the states that broke its rules with early primary elections, or will the party of voting rights enter that general election bearing the guilt of “disenfranchising’’ millions of its own voters in the naming of a nominee?

All the while that the party ponders the “electability’’ of its candidates – the question which superdelegates ultimately will be asked to answer when the race between Obama and Clinton ends in early June, or perhaps even at the convention in August – that McCain tour bus motors along like one big rolling billboard for victory.

McCain will roll Monday in Meridian, Mississippi, Tuesday in Alexandria, Virginia, Wednesday in Annapolis, Maryland, where he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. Thursday in Pensacola, Florida, where he learned to fly, and Friday in Jacksonville, Florida, where his family sat out his captivity as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. On Saturday he will return to his adopted home state of Arizona.

Along the way, his campaign bus is likely to pick up nothing that will do the candidate any harm in his contest with Obama, or Clinton, in November.

by Mark Silva

A debate over the long-term role of the government in a fast-changing economy will play out this year in the midst of an immediate housing crisis, and possible recession, with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's call this week for entirely new framework of federal regulation.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says congressional hearings will get under way quickly. Yet it likely will take years to embrace many of the proposals that Paulson will spell out on Monday -- with some, such as improved coordination among existing federal regulators, within the grasp of the president to approve immediately, but most requiring congressional action.

“We fully expect that this needs to be debated,’’ David Nason, Assistant Treasury Secretary for Financial Institutions, tells the Tribune. “Issues of this complexity cannot be dealt with in breakneck fashion…. It is time to engage in these issues.’’

In the long run, Paulson proposes a new federal triumvirate:

-- A Market Stability Regulator, based at the Federal Reserve, with oversight of investment banks, hedge funds and other financial markets, with the ability to move in and take swift action to prevent abuses from destabilizing the market

-- A Prudential Financial Regulator, with responsibility for the safety and soundness of banks.

-- A Business Conduct Regulator, with authority for consumer protection in the public’s dealings in financial markets.

See the financial industry's response, and the response of presidential candidates -- with much of this falling to President Bush's successor -- in today's Tribune:

by Mike Dorning

JOHNSTOWN, Pa.— Barack Obama rejected suggestions from his allies that rival Hillary Clinton should end her presidential campaign, saying Saturday that she should "stay in as long as she wants."

The Illinois senator told reporters that fears that the prolonged primary battle is dividing the party are "somewhat overstated."

Even so, Obama argued that the party must quickly settle on a nominee after the final primary votes are cast on June 3 so Democrats can quickly shift to the general election campaign that presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona already has begun.

"At that point there are no more contests. And I think it is important to pivot as completely as possible, for the superdelegates or others, to make a decision as quickly as possible so that we can settle on a nominee," Obama said at a brief news conference after a campaign appearance in Johnstown, Pa.

Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), an Obama supporter, said last week that Clinton cannot win the nomination and should drop out to avoid damaging the party's nominee in the fall election.

Clinton and her husband, Bill, have seized on the withdrawal suggestions from Obama supporters in campaign appearances in states that have yet to vote, arguing that voters in those states should have a say in the nomination. States with remaining primaries such as Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina rarely have played a role in selecting the nominees in recent campaigns.

by Mark Silva

Hillary Clinton says she’s in the presidential race until the end of the party primaries, and until there is a resolution of the barred delegates from the Florida and Michigan primaries.

In an interview with the Washington Post, the senator from New York says she will take her campaign all the way to the August convention if needed. Clinton echoed what she had told other reporters, as reported here in the Swamp on Friday night.

“I know there are some people who want to shut this down and I think they are wrong," Clinton told the Post during a campaign stop in Indiana on Saturday. "I have no intention of stopping until we finish what we started and until we see what happens in the next 10 contests and until we resolve Florida and Michigan.

“And if we don't resolve it, we'll resolve it at the convention,’’ a defiant Clinton told the newspaper for a report today. “that's what credentials committees are for.''

by Glenn Thrush

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign manager, Maggie Williams, earned about $200,000 on the board of a Long Island subprime lender that charged prepayment penalties — a practice that Clinton, a critic of the subprime industry, now seeks to eliminate.

Williams, who took over the reins of Clinton’s campaign in early February, served as a director on the board of the Woodbury, N.Y.-based Delta Financial Corp. from April 2000 until the firm declared bankruptcy in December, according to Securities and Exchange Commission records.

She was originally recruited by former New York City Deputy Mayor Bill Lynch, a Delta consultant. Her assignments were to create a new code of “best practices,” and to improve the company’s crisis management operation in the wake of state and federal predatory lending probes that resulted in a $12 million payout to borrowers.

Her hiring coincided with stepped-up Delta outreach efforts in minority communities, where the company made a large number of its loans, an initiative that included parties for homeless children and mortgage seminars in Brooklyn and Queens.

Williams, 53, isn’t the only Clinton insider who made money from an industry the candidate has demonized. A month ago, The Wall Street Journal reported that Clinton ally and former HUD secretary Henry Cisneros grossed more than $5 million in stock sales and board compensation from Countrywide Financial, one of the nation’s largest subprime lenders.

by Mike Dorning

JOHNSTOWN, Pa--Barack Obama today brushed aside suggestions from some of his allies that Hillary Clinton should withdraw soon from the presidential race, saying his rival should " run as long as she wants."

At least, that is, until the last state primary in early June.

"At that point there are no more contests," Obama told reporters after a campaign event in Johnstown, Pa. " And I think it is important to pivot as completely as possible, for the superdelegates or others, to make a decision as quickly as possible so that we can settle on a nominee."

In the meantime, Obama said, he and his rival should have at it.

"My attitude is that Senator Clinton can run as long as she wants," Obama said. "Her name’s on the ballot, and she is a fierce and formidable competitor, and she obviously believes that she would make the best nominee and the best president, and I think that, you know, she should be able to compete and her supporters should be able to support her, for as long as they are willing or able."

Obama added that he had not spoken in advance with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) about remarks the senator made earlier this week suggesting that Clinton should withdraw from the race soon to avoid damaging the party's nominee in the general election.

Obama's comments today suggested a different sentiment than he offered Friday. At a rally in Pittsbrugh, he likened the Democratic primary campaign to “a good movie that lasted about a half an hour too long.”

by Mark Silva

"Just relax,'' former President Bill Clinton says to people calling for his wife, the senator from New York, to quit the Democratic presidential contest.

Clinton was marching today in the St. Patrick's Day parade in Girardville, Pa., a tiny town in the coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania, which will hold a party primary election on April 22 that Hillary Clinton counts on reestablishing her claim to the nomination.

Clinton responsed to the argurment voiced by many -- but most notably Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), an Obama supporter, this week -- that Clinton cannot win enough delegates.

Clinton suggested that Leahy doesn't want the former first lady to compete in states such as Pennsylvania because — as he put it — "she might win."

"People should just relax and let the process go on."

The Associated Press reported.

by Mark Silva

Former Sen. John Edwards, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004 and a candidate for president in this year's early primaries, today declined to get in the middle of the contest between Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

"I have a very high opinion of both of them," Edwards said at the convention of the Young Democrats of North Carolina today. "We would be blessed as a nation to have either one of them as president."

Both Obama and Clinton have sought Edwards' endorsement. Before dropping his bid for nomination this year, Edwards won a promise from both Clinton and Obama to make ending poverty central to their ongoing presidential campaigns.

Edwards pointed out the historical nature of both campaigns today.

"We are blessed, first, to have an extraordinarily talented African American who could be the next president of the United States," Edwards said. "There's no way to contest the fact that he's inspired this country."

"And Senator Clinton, who has served America for so long and so well, and has shown so much strength and leadership, has really forged an extraordinarily historic campaign as a woman for the nomination and for the presidency."

But, with the North Carolina primary on May 6 still more than a month away, the former senator stopped short of any endorsement: "When I have something to say, I'll let you know.''

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

by Mark Silva

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Monday will propose a far-reaching streamlining of the federal regulation of U.S. financial markets – involving everything from mortgages and insurance to stocks and commodities markets.

Much of what Paulson will propose requires congressional action, both this year and in the years ahead – with the prospect of any quick action during this election year questionable. But in the short run, the treasury secretary will propose closer coordination among federal regulators.

The plan – a “Blueprint for Financial Regulatory Reform’’ – arrives in the midst of a home mortgage crisis in which spiraling foreclosures have rippled through the economy and already undermined one major Wall Street investment firm, Bear Stearns. But the broader goal of modernizing regulation to keep pace with rapidly changing global financial markets has been under study for more than a year, the Treasury Department says.

The crises of the last several months, and also events in recent weeks, have underscored the importance of a modernized regulatory structure, Treasury believes.

“The United States can no longer rely on the strength of its historical position to retain its preeminence in the global markets,’’ the Treasury Department states in a summary of the blueprint.

Much of what Paulson envisions – such as a merger of the Securities and Exchange Commission with the Commodity Futures Regulatory Commission – requires congressional action. Ultimately, in an “optimal’’ plan which Treasury admits could take several years to enact, Paulson proposes three over-arching regulatory arms of the government focused on financial markets, banks and consumer protection.

Paulson will outline his plan in a speech Monday morning at the Treasury Department. But the planning for all of this started a year ago, after Paulson, former CEO of a Wall Street investment banking firm, was named treasury secretary in October 2006.

"There's a lot of temptation to view this through the lens of what's in the newspapers today,'' said David Nason, Assistant Ttreasury Secretary for Financial Institutions. "But this is a project we've been working on for over a year.''

By Jim Tankersley

Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.), the newest member of the House, delivered the Democratic Radio Address today. Topic: the economy. Gist: Democrats working hard for the middle class.

“Good morning, this is Congressman Bill Foster from Illinois’ 14th District," he began. "Just three weeks ago, I was elected to Congress in a special election. I haven’t been on the job long, but even at my first constituent meeting at a grocery store in Aurora, Illinois, voters reminded me of what I learned in the campaign.

“The families I met know the challenges our nation is facing better than anyone in a government office building.

“My constituents are worried about the economy, and with good reason. They can barely afford groceries or a trip to the gas station. If they talk about health care, it isn’t about the latest medical advances, but about the latest increase in costs. They want a good college education for their kids, but they’re nervous about tuition increases. And virtually everyone I talked to was worried about their homes and the mortgage crisis.

“I’m a scientist and a businessman, so when I went to the voters of Illinois, I pledged not to continue the endless political bickering in Washington, but to work on solving problems.

“So today, I am proud to report that Democrats in Congress are putting middle-class families first and fighting for real solutions."

by Mark Silva

That economic stimulus check will soon be in the mail.

Or in your direct deposit.

It cost the government some $40 million to mail the letters that went out recently advising everyone of the Economic Stimulus checks that will start arriving in May -- A maximum of $600 for an individual, $1,200 for a couple, and another $300 for every child eligible for a tax credit. And it will cost the government over $100 billion to make good on the checks.

In his radio address today, President Bush touts the checks -- which he proposed this year as a "shot in the arm'' for a slowing economy, and which Congress quickly authorized -- as well as assistance which the government is offering for homeowners struggling with mortgages.

"For many families, the greatest concern with the economy is the downturn in the housing market,'' the president said today. "The problems in the housing market are complicated and there is no easy solution. But by supporting responsible homeowners with wise policies, we'll help them weather a difficult period, we will help get our economy back on track, and we will ensure America remains the most prosperous Nation in the world.''

By Michael Tackett

Let's sit back and get a little less comfortable.

Nothing can cause a collective national squirm quite like a little racial tension. All those sentiments that are usually the stuff of private conversation, if spoken at all, are playing out in the harsh light of the presidential campaign. That black thing-white thing, thing. We are dealing with race--again--whether we want to or not.

It is hard to believe that a mere three months ago, the good and overwhelmingly white people of Iowa started the whole process of the presidential race, delivering a powerful verdict on the Democratic side that Barack Obama's race was no impediment to his pursuit of the White House.

How quaint.

by Rick Pearson

HAMMOND, Ind.—Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said party leaders are free to voice their feelings about the prolonged race for the nomination but she has no intention to drop her bid and she disagrees that it will take a toll on the eventual nominee.

“There are millions of reasons to continue this race--people in Pennsylvania and Indiana and North Carolina and all of the contests yet to come,” Clinton told reporters after addressing a rally at the Hammond Civic Center.

“This is a very close race and clearly I believe strongly that everyone should have their voices heard and their votes counted, and that includes Michigan and Florida. We have got to resolve the votes of those two states and I think that is imperative. So there is a lot still to be done and I’m looking forward to campaigning hard over the next several months.”

Michigan and Florida lost their convention nominating delegates when their party primaries were moved up in advance of the Feb. 5 “Super Tuesday” contests. Clinton “won” in both states but efforts between the camps of Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois to try to reach agreement with Democratic officials in both states on how to make their delegations count at the national convention in Denver have come to naught.

Clinton maintained that the nearly 800 top party officials and members of Congress who make up the superdelegates to the national convention will ultimately decide the nominee since neither the New York senator nor Obama will have crossed the 2,024 delegate threshold needed to sew up the nomination.

By Jim Tankersley

House Democrats have tapped their newest member to rebut President Bush on the airwaves this weekend.

Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.), who won a special election this month to replace retired former Speaker Dennis Hastert, will discuss the economy in this weekend's Democratic radio address. The speech will be broadcast across the country.

“Now, Democrats in Congress are fighting to cut taxes for middle-class families who need relief, and we’re working to keep families in their homes by addressing the mortgage crisis head-on," Foster will say, according to excerpts of the speech his office released today. "Next week, the House of Representatives will continue to work on a comprehensive plan to help families who are on the brink of losing their homes. Our plan will help more families avoid foreclosure and gives cities the chance to rehabilitate foreclosed homes and put them back on the market."

He goes on to urge an end to foreign oil dependence, additional alternative energy tax incentives and expanding a federal children's health insurance program.

“I am honored to be chosen to speak on a national stage on behalf of my constituents," Foster said in a press release. "From Dixon to DeKalb and from Geneseo to Geneva and everywhere in between, the problems of the 14th District are the same ones felt across the nation – and these are the problems, that both Democrats and Republicans, must work together to solve.”

President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley outside the West Wing today.Rice spoke about the paradox of racial issues in America but said: "I don't do politics.'' AP photo by Ron Edmonds.

by Mark Silva

Condoleezza Rice isn't running for anything.

But the secretary of state says it was time that the nation heard the speech that Sen. Barack Obama delivered about race and unity in Philadelphia recently.

Rice, the top-ranking African-American in the Bush administration and viewed by many as a potential candidate for vice president, told the Washington Times today that she had watched Obama's speech last week. "I think it was important that he (Obama) gave it for a whole host of reasons," said Rice, in a transcript released by the State Department today.

While saying repeatedly she did not want to discuss the election campaign -- "I don't do politics,'' Rice said -- and also reiterating her lack of interest in the vice presidential slot, she said the United States had a hard time dealing with racial issues.

"There is a paradox for this country and a contradiction of this country and we still haven't resolved it," she said in a detailed reply to questions about Obama and race issues as a whole. "But what I would like understood as a black American is that black Americans loved and had faith in this country even when this country didn't love and have faith in them, and that's our legacy."

Rice said her own father, grandmother and great-grandmother had endured "terrible humiliations" growing up in the segregated south and yet they still loved America.

Rice told the Times again that she is "not interested" in the vice presidential job and she planned to return to her California home when the Bush administration ends in January 2009.

"It's time for new blood," Rice said.

Wire services contributed to this report.

by Jessica Reaves

PITTSBURGH -- Barack Obama’s voice rang out across the cold, depleted expanse of lawn connecting Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall to the broad, busy avenue below. Audible for blocks in any direction, the familiar cadence drew curious onlookers away from their daily routines and up the Hall’s wide staircase.

Those who approached were met with an odd sight: Hundreds of people huddled around a pair of loudspeakers, apparently mesmerized by a disembodied voice. These hardy souls, blowing into cups of coffee, shoulders hunched against the chill, were just a few of the people who couldn’t get tickets to see Obama in person. University students, administrative staff, restaurant employees, retail workers, faculty members -- they were all settling for the next best thing.

A few yards back from the main crush of bodies, Obama supporters Anh Ninh and Ida Bormentar sat on a low wall, shivering slightly and nodding along with Sen. Obama’s words.

Ninh, a 26 year-old from Oklahoma City who’s pursuing a dual graduate degree in social work and international development, is drawn to Obama’s biracial background, which she says makes him more accessible to a wide range of people. She’s also impressed by Obama’s decision to be a community organizer when he could have taken much higher-paid jobs. “I’ve worked as an organizer,” Ninh said, “and it’s incredibly hard work.”

For Bormentar, also 26, supporting Obama means breaking the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton cycle. Born in Liberia and raised in Philadelphia, Bormentar was never all that interested in politics, and never considered abandoning her Liberian citizenship. Obama’s candidacy, she says, changed all that. She’s now a self-described “politics junky” and is pursuing U.S. citizenship. She hopes to cast a vote in the general election this fall.

By Mike Dorning

PITTSBURGH — Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) presented Barack Obama to Pennsylvania voters today as a political underdog who could identify with the struggles of the state’s working class families.

Never mind the fact that Obama is leading the Democratic nominating contest with the most convention delegates pledged to him and is far ahead of rival Hillary Clinton in fundraising.

Casey, a socially conservative anti-abortion and pro-gun rights senator popular among working-class voters, stressed that Obama enters the state behind Clinton in the polls here, simultaneously engaging in a bit of expectations-setting and burnishing a connection with financially pressed families.

“He understands what it’s like to be an underdog and what you’ve got to do to fight when you’re an underdog. There are a lot of families in this state that are underdogs right now,” Casey said at a press conference after endorsing Obama today.

The endorsement was a reversal for Casey, the scion of a prominent Pennsylvania political family whose late father was governor of the state. Casey had repeatedly declared that he would remain neutral in the primary.

by Rick Pearson

HAMMOND, Ind. — Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton paid her respects to the steel-making background of Northwest Indiana today, vowing to bring a modern rebirth to an industry that has seen regional job losses in the tens of thousands amid complaints about the dumping of foreign-made steel.

“I think it’s time we had a president who stood for a comeback for Northwest Indiana,” she told a crowd at the Hammond Civic Center. “I know a little bit about comebacks. I know what it’s like to be tied down and counted out. But I also know that there isn’t anything that will keep us down if we are determined to get up and fight on.”

When Clinton told the crowd that “there are some people who want us to stop this election,” they responded with boos. “I’ve got to tell you, I think it’s pretty exciting that Indiana is going to get to pick the next president of the United States.”

Clinton, on the first day of a two-day trip to Indiana, which has its primary on May 6, hit many of the same economic points that she used during her successful campaign in economically depressed Ohio on March 4. She repeated her call for tougher enforcement of trade agreements, despite questions about her initial support for the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was approved during her husband’s White House tenure and which she now wants to see amended to include more stringent labor and environmental standards.

Clinton noted that she had testified in favor of tariffs to try to halt the illegal dumping of steel. Contending the nation’s defense industry, including essential defense products, have increasingly become subject to outsourcing. She said she considered steel in the category of an essential defense product.

She also said one way to rebuild the steel and auto industries would be by finding new ways to make production energy efficient. Though not referring to challenger Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois by name, she noted that he voted for and she voted against an energy bill that she said contained $7.5 billion in subsidies to the oil industry.

by Bay Fang

It seemed like only yesterday that journalists watched the New York Philharmonic give a groundbreaking concert in Pyongyang, and wondered if this bit of cultural diplomacy signaled a thaw on the continent.

But in the last two days, North Korea has given at least an initial answer. Following an announcement Wednesday by the new South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, that his government would not expand economic cooperation with North Korea unless it cooperated in dismantling its nuclear weapons programs, Pyongyang ordered the expulsion of South Korean officials from a jointly-operated industrial zone in the North.

The next day, the regime test-fired a number of short-range guided missiles. The South Korean news agency, Yonhap, reported that the three ship-to-ship missiles were launched around 10.30am.

Seoul played down the incident, saying the tests were routine. "I believe North Korea would also not want a strain in inter-Korean relations," said Presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan.

President Lee's predecessors abided by a "Sunshine Policy" towards the North, offering billions of dollars of aid and incentives to keep Pyongyang at the negotiating table. The conservative Lee is more willing to join the US in applying pressure on the North for its nuclear activities.

by James Oliphant

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Friday called on Hillary Clinton to abandon what some say is an increasingly quixotic quest for her party's presidential nomination.

In an interview with Vermont Public Radio, Leahy, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said:

I am very concerned. John McCain, who has been making one gaffe after another, is getting a free ride on it because Senator Obama and Senator Clinton have to fight with each other. I think that her criticism is hurting him more than anything John McCain has said. I think that's unfortunate. . .

There is no way that Senator Clinton is going to win enough delegates to get the nomination. She ought to withdraw and she ought to be backing Senator Obama. Now, obviously that's a decision that only she can make. Frankly I feel that she would have a tremendous career in the Senate.

by Rick Pearson

HAMMOND, Ind.—Evoking memories of her husband’s always-behind-schedule late arrivals, Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton was running an hour behind schedule on her Hoosier “economic town hall” at the Hammond Civic Center.

Trying to placate the 1,500 people who waited for hours, various musical acts and local officials took the stage to implore people to hang on for her arrival.

Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott, who is among seven Northwest Indiana mayors who are backing Clinton, urged people to eschew the civic center’s hot dogs and return to their seats.

“I know those hot dogs are good,” McDermott said, “but Sen. Clinton is 20 times better than that.”

by Mark Silva

Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, sidelined superdelegate and supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, still sees a path for Clinton to claim the party's presidential nomination -- if she runs the tables of major primary elections in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Indiana and beyond.

"Then the momentum is with her... and at that point it's a jump ball,'' Nelson says in an interview that will be aired Sunday on C-SPAN's Newsmakers.

Yet Nelson, whose vote as a superdelegate has been frozen along with the votes of all the delegates of Florida and Michigan for holding early primaries in violation of party rules, suggests too that the contest-settling superdelegates will be hard-pressed to ignore the candidate who claims the most votes when the primaries are finished in June.

"If I had a vote as a superdelegate, I'd want to know who won the states that are going to be critical in November,'' says Nelson, pressed on what his advice for fellow senators and other party superdelegates will be if Sen. Barack Obama still claims the most support in June. He also sees little likelihood of resolution of the campaign before then: "I think we're in a stalemate for at least another couple of months, until the course of the primaries run.''

And this Floridian says this about the deadlocked dispute over the state's barred delegates: If the party does not resolve the matter before the convention in August, the party will pay a steep price in November: Farewell to Florida and its 27 Electoral College votes.

"So goes Florida in this election, likely will go the country,'' Nelson warns.

by David Nitkin

Republican John McCain’s campaign moves into a new gear next week, with a series of speeches in six places the Arizona senator has lived and worked designed to highlight the values that have influenced his life.

The tour will include two stops in the Washington area: on Tuesday, he’ll speak at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., from which he graduated. On Wednesday, he’ll be at Navy and Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis. McCain is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, where he famously finished near the bottom of his class as his reputation as a maverick began to emerge.

McCain will also visit Meridian, Mississippi, where an airfield is named for his grandfather; Pensacola and Jacksonville, Florida, where he trained as a pilot and was stationed; and Prescott, Arizona.

Expect talks that remind voters of McCain’s experiences as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and of the sacrifices sometimes needed to preserve and defend the country.

McCain will be telling voters of the “aspects of his personal history he will use to guide him going forward,” campaign spokesman Jeff Sadowsky said.

The tour illustrates further the luxury that McCain is enjoying this spring: As Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton duke it out with negative, the certain Republican nominee can turn to his stirring biography and positive personal history to build support.

President Bush answers a question on Iraq during a news conference at the White House March 28, 2008 in Washington, DC. He was accompanied by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

by Frank James

President Bush was asked today at a White House press conference where he was accompanied by the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, about the Iraqi government's assault, with U.S. military assistance, against the Mahdi Army militia in Iraq.

In his response, Bush said the military actions ordered by Iraqi Prime Minsiter Nouri al-Maliki, appear to be a straightforward effort by the Iraqi government to eliminate a lawless element that saw itself above the law.

But as we wrote recently, it's by no means clear to experts that it's a good-guys-versus-bad-guys conflict we're presently watching unfold in Iraq.

Indeed, there's some concern that the Iraqi government may be taking sides in an internecine Shiite battle that pits the Badr Brigade militia which has links to the government against the Mahdi Army, whose leader is the typically sullen cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Al-Sadr has been a constant pain in the side of the U.S. and Iraqi governments, so there's a tendency to see him as the arch villain of the piece.

But the fight that's occuring presently is seen as much more nuanced than that. Curiously, none of that nuance came across in the president's comments today.

Here's Bush's exchange with the reporter:

Q Mr. President, thank you very much. I'd like to ask you about Iraq. Yesterday in Dayton in your remarks, you said that the Iraqi offensive against criminals and militants in Basra was a sign of progress. But it's also triggered clashes with supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr. And this morning, U.S. forces were again fighting the Mahdi Army in Sadr City. What does this say about progress in terms of reconciliation in Iraq among the various factions? And what can the United States do, what can you do, what can your administration do to help Prime Minister Maliki make progress in that area?

And, Mr. Prime Minister, if I could ask you, when you're in Bucharest next week at the NATO summit, what's going to be your message to the European allies to try to bring them along, to have the same sort of commitment you just stated here, and a commitment to have military operations with their forces in Afghanistan?

PRESIDENT BUSH: John, any government that presumes to represent the majority of people must confront criminal elements or people who think they can live outside the law. And that's what's taking place in Basra and in other parts of Iraq. I would say this is a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq. There have been other defining moments up to now, but this is a defining moment, as well. The decision to move troops -- Iraqi troops into Basra talks about Prime Minister Maliki's leadership.

By Mark Silva

First it was Dick Cheney.

Barack Obama's long-lost cousin.

Now it's Brad Pitt.

Another distant connection to the senator from Illinois who is running for president, according to New England genealogists.

Obama addressed the connection today, on ABC's The View.

by Mark Silva

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who ran for president, joined Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican Party nominee, aboard his campaign plane.

Romney, who has said that he would be happy to serve as McCain's running mate, suggested that it's still early to be getting too specific about the Arizona senator's best choice.

“There are probably 20, maybe even more,'' Romney, standing by McCain's side, said of the potential long-list of running mates. "I can think of probably 20 names of people who I think would be excellent vice presidential nominees for our party.’’

No word from McCain on what he thinks of the short list.

by Mark Silva

Howard Dean – he of the campaign scream heard ‘round the world – worries that Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and their supporters tearing each other down could be demoralizing the party’s base and damaging the party’s chances of winning the White House. He says so in an interview with the Associated Press.

The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, himself a candidate for president in 2004, says he hopes that the party’s nominee will be determined shortly after primary voting ends in early June – and he will encourage party superdelegates to make up their minds before the party’s convention in Denver in August.

The countercharges between Clinton and Obama have grown too personal at times, Dean suggests.

“You do not want to demoralize the base of the Democratic Party by having the Democrats attack each other," Dean said Thursday in an interview reported today by the AP’s Nedra Pickler. "Let the media and the Republicans and the talking heads on cable television attack and carry on, fulminate at the mouth. The supporters should keep their mouths shut about this stuff on both sides because that is harmful to the potential victory of a Democrat."

The superdelegates, the nearly 800 party and elected officials who can support whomever they choose at the convention, should decide soon, he says.

"There is no point in waiting," Dean told the AP. “The Democratic political organization "is as good or better as the Republicans,' and we haven't been able to say that for about 30 years. But that all doesn't make any difference if people are really disenchanted or demoralized by a convention that's really ugly and nasty."

“Somebody is going to lose," said Dean, the former governor of Vermont who lost his own bid for the party's nomination early in the 2004 primary season. "My job is to make sure the person who loses feels like they have been treated fairly so that their supporters will support the winner."

by Frank James updated at 1:40 pm with the DNC's response

Why wait to start the general-election campaign until the Democrats have their presidential nominee sorted out? An aggressive campaign like Sen. John McCain's might as well start it now.

That's the message coming from McCain, winner of the Republican presidential primaries. His campaign has released what it's calling the first ad of the general-election campaign.

And the ad is clearly targeted at Sen. Barack Obama. The McCain campaign has apparently decided that Obama will be the Democratic nominee. More on that later.

The ad, is called "624787." That's not some weird new zip code; that was McCain's Navy serial number which you see him rattle off from his hospital bed as a North Vietnamese prisoner of war.

McCain's campaign put its candidate's POW story into heavy rotation during the Republican primaries, knowing that no other presidential contender could match its sheer dramatic narrative power.

And if this first ad indicates what's to come, the McCain campaign is going to continue to play up its candidate's Vietnam heroism for all it's worth. The McCain campaign's hope has to be that by the time the campaign ends, we'll all be reciting his serial number from memory.

by Mark Silva

Sen. Barack Obama, in an appearance on ABC's dayttime talk show, The View, today addresses his relationship with the retired pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and much more.

This is the Wright who declared in a 2003 sermon that has reappeared in sensational snippets this year that the government delivers drugs, prisons and a three-strike law and "then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent peoplel God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

Obama has denounced the pastor's "incendiary'' words, but not the pastor, whom he has long known as a man larger than some notorious words.

"I'm not vetting my pastor," Obama told The View, in a taping Thursday that will be broadcast at 11 am EDT today. "I didn't have a research team during the course of 20 years to go pull every sermon he's given and see if there's something offensive that he's said."

by Mark Silva

Bill Neikirk of the Chicago Tribune -- and these six words are worthy of a salute today -- writes of the "political fervor'' for a broad re-regulation of America's financial markets in the midst of a credit crunch that has "pummeled'' both Wall Street and Main Street.

He writes about it on Page One.

When Bill writes, it's worth taking note. Because Bill writes with signature grace and insight about a subject that eludes too many in Washington and beyond: The intracacies of the economy. And today, especially, it's worth taking note, because this is Bill's last day at the Tribune.

For nearly 34 years, this grand guy of 70 years who hails from Kentucky and greets everyone as if they were walking into his own country home, has served the Tribune and its readers with a dedication that is a model for all.

Bill started in Washington with the Associated Press in 1969 and covered Capitol Hill and the economy. He covered Jimmy Carter's White House, and played softball in Plains one day, with Carter pitching against the press corps. He covered the economy for the Tribune, wrote a column and served as assistant managing editor for business from 1988-91. He returned to Washington to cover the Clinton White House, then Congress and the impeachment of Bill Clinton. He has covered the economy for the past several years.

And Bill has written two books, including one about Paul Volcker.

Bill is a journalist bred in the old school of getting the facts straight and making sense of it all fast. And he has embraced the new school of communication practiced here in these e-pages -- a frequent and valued contributor to the Swamp -- with the fervor of a kid right out of school.

We've joked that Bill has a future on Broadway, judging by his skills as a humorist and past president of the Gridiron Club.

We call him Mr. President. He is at home on Page One today, his final day. And while we will miss his wisdom, humor and camraderie around the bureau, we hope to see his words here in the Swamp down the road.

Congratulations, Bill.

See the story in today's Tribune here:

by Mike Dorning

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) is to endorse Barack Obama today, according to Obama campaign aides, providing Obama with a prominent local backer in Pennsylvania weeks before an important primary there.

Casey is a socially conservative abortion opponent and gun rights suppoter popular among working-class white voters in Pennsylvania, a demographic group that Obama has not performed well among.

Casey is to to make the endorsement at campaign rally in Pittsburgh later today and then join Obama for the start of a six-day bus tour of Pennsylvania.

President Bush threw the first pitch during the St. Louis Cardinals’ season opener against the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium in St. Louis in April 2004. White House photo by Eric Draper

by Mark Silva

On the mound Sunday night for the season-opener of the Washington Nationals in their inaugural game in their new home stadium: George W. Bush.

The president, onetime managing partner of the Texas Rangers, will toss the first ceremonial pitch at National Park when the Nationals host the Braves for a night game.

After three years of play at the old Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, the Nationals are moving into the newly erected ball palace near the Navy Yard, a modern stadium of high-definition video boards and high expectations for a still-young team.

The Nationals will stage a demonstration game with the Orioles on Saturday, but for the official season-opener Sunday at 8:10 pm EDT, Bush will break the evening air over home plate.

Bush, some might say, has pitched less than a perfect game as president, but there's nothing like a president to toss the first pitch.

And Pope Benedict XVI will have the run of the field in mid-April, holding a mass at National Park, following a welcoming at the White House, during his visit to the United States.

With all these blessings on their new diamond planned, MLB.com asked Nationals President Stan Kasten if the Nationals can "finish over .500 this year?''

"I never predict wins because it's silly in our business,'' Kasten said. "You don't know about injuries. You don't know about other teams. Let's face it -- at least the top three teams in our division got much better in the offseason, too. All I know is, we have gotten better and the progress we are making has been significant, and we are definitely on the right track.''

by John McCormick

NEW YORK -- After delivering a speech on the economy, Sen. Barack Obama has a busy afternoon and evening of fundraising in Manhattan. His first of four stops was at a $1,000-a-plate event at the Credit Suisse building.

As Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign has been pointing out for several days, Credit Suisse is a major subprime lender, a financial service Obama believes needs added regulation in the wake of the nation's housing crisis.

"Today, Sen. Obama gives an economy speech followed by a fundraiser at -- you guessed it -- one of the top 10 issuers of subprime loans in America," spokesman Phil Singer said in a statement. "In fact, Sen. Obama has taken more money from the top 10 issuers of subprime loans than both Sen. Clinton and Sen. McCain."

But those in attendance were not all Credit Suisse employees. The suggestion that Obama was holding a fundraiser at the offices of a subprime lender brought a response statement from his campaign.

"The American people are tired of the sniping from the Clinton campaign, both real and imagined," said Jen Psaki, Obama's traveling press secretary. "Today's event was a general fundraiser in a room paid for by our campaign and attended by people from varied backgrounds who are committed to changing the tone of our politics, and rejecting the kind of tactics that the Clinton campaign is now embracing...Any suggestion that this was a fundraiser hosted by the mortgage industry is as imaginary as the other tall tales that have been coming out of the Clinton campaign lately."

by Frank James

The reaction to the latest Obama Girl video, "Hillary! Stop the Attacks" may indicate that she could be used as a secret Republican weapon against Sen. Barack Obama since her presence on a screen appears to really turn people against the Democratic presidential candidate from Illinois.

HCD Research Inc., which employs its MediaCurves technology to focus-group media content, found that many of the 440 participants in its survey conducted via Internet were left feeling less warm about the senator because of the young model, her message, or both.

What's more, when they asked the participants to pick a word that described their emotional response to the new video, many chose "irritated" and "embarrassed" to characterize their reactions.

Amber Lee Ettinger, the curvy young woman who plays Obama Girl, became a big Internet deal with last year's "I've Got a Crush on Obama" video. Apparently, she's now soooo 2007.

Still, it's noteworthy that even though men and women seemed to indicate they had negative feelings towards Obama based on the video, women appeared more turned off by the video than men (duh.)

Anyway, based on the response, if Obama eventually wins his party's presidential nomination, Republicans might want to pay Ettinger a king's ransom to keep turning out the Obamaphiliac videos. Just a thought.

This is from the HCD press release:

Among the study findings:

Among political parties, the emotions most felt by Democrats while watching the video were “irritated” (51%), followed by “embarrassed” (41%), compared to Republicans, who reported “irritated” (52%) and “skeptical” (35%) as the emotions most felt, and independents who reported “irritated” (42%) and “embarrassed” (36%) as the emotions most felt.

A majority of all respondents (71%) reported that if they saw the video online, they would not forward it to family or friends.

There was little change regarding which candidate respondents would vote for after viewing the video.

Half of all respondents (50%) reported that the video was produced by “a separate organization unrelated to any campaign” and 34% thought it was sponsored by the Obama campaign.

by Mark Silva and updated

Sen. John McCain delivered some remarks about the wretchedness of war this week that were awfully reminiscent of the words of rretired Navy Adm. Timothy Ziemer, a member of the Bush administration who today is leading the administration's war against malaria -- but it seems that Ziemer's writers must have gotten les bon mots from McCain's.

McCain's remarks before the Los Angeles World Affairs Council on Wednesday echoed heavily the remarks of Ziemer at a Seawolf Reunion Speech on July 4, 1996.

The McCain campaign angrily says that any accusation of copy-catting on McCain's part is misdirected -- pointing out that McCain uttered these words in a speech well before Ziemer's, in 1995. And Mark Salter, longtime aide and speechwriter for McCain -- Salter says he penned the words spoken by his boss in '95 -- takes umbrage at a Democratic Web-site's allegation of plagiarism.

"Now, unless you are a veteran, you might find it odd that some of us feel indebted to the Navy for sending us to war,'' Ziemer said in Washington in 1996. "At the same time, none of us feel that in Vietnam there is a romantic remembrance. War is awful and when nations seek to resolve their differences by fighting, a million tragedies ensue.''

"I detest war,'' McCain said in Los Angeles this week. "It might not be the worst thing to befall human beings, but it is wretched beyond all description. When nations seek to resolve their differences by force of arms, a million tragedies ensue.''

"War is wretched beyond description,'' Ziemer said in Washington. "Nothing, not the valor with which it is fought, nor the cause with which it serves can glorify war. Neither do we share the exhilaration of combat.''

"Not the valor with which it is fought nor the nobility of the cause it serves, can glorify war,'' McCain said in Los Angeles.

Credit the Center for American Progress, a think tank home to a lot of influential Democrats, for matching the texts. They called it "plagiarism.''

But the McCain campaign, upset over the accusation, suggests they are pointing the finger at the wrong person.

“The charge is completely false,'' Brian Rogers, spokesman for the McCain campaign, said today. "The senator used that language in 1995 and possibly earlier, so the idea that it was somehow plagiarized… is completely incorrect.’’

Sen. Barack Obama leaving the stage after delivering a speech on the economy at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. Photo by Damon Winter / The New York Times)

by Mark Silva and updated with RNC response

Sen. Barack Obama spoke of raising taxes -- on the wealthiest Americans -- today in an interview coinciding with his delivery of an economic address in New York City.

And, insisting that he is no "wild-eyed liberal,'' Obama allowed that any decisions about the economy must be made in the context of conditions when "I'm going to be sworn in in January.''

"What about the top marginal rate for ordinary income?'' Maria Bartiromo, inquiring about raising top-tier taxes during an "economic slowdown,'' asked the senator from Illinois on CNBC's Closing Bell. "Who ought to pay more and who should pay less?

"Well, you know, what I've said is that we should go back to probably a top marginal rate of 39 percent -- what it was before the Bush tax cuts'' Obama said. "So I would roll back those Bush tax cuts.

"I would not increase taxes for middle class Americans and in fact I want to provide a tax cut for people who are making $75,000 a year or less,'' he said. "For those folks, I want an offset on the payroll tax that would be worth as much as $1,000 for a family.

"Senior citizens who are bringing in less than $50,000 a year in income, I don't want them to have to pay income tax on their Social Security. And as part of my overall approach to housing, I actually want to provide an additional 10 percent mortgage deduction, a credit, mortgage interest credit, for those who currently don't itemize.

"Because if you live in a house that's pretty expensive, like I do, and I itemize, I get a pretty big break from Uncle Sam'' Obama said. "If you own a $100,000 house and you're making 65, $75,000 a year, you're not getting that same deduction. I think that they deserve a break as well. That will actually help relieve some of the pressure on homeowners.''

by Mark Silva

Al Gore, the Nobel Prize-winning former vice president and Democratic nominee for president in 2000 who won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College, contends that those who doubt global warming -- and he counts Vice President Dick Cheney in that crowd -- remind him of those who doubt that man landed on the moon or who believed the world is flat.

These are among the declarations that the Democratic warrior against climate change (and an ucommitted super-delegate so far this year) makes in an interview airing Sunday evening on CBS News' 60 Minutes. Another declaration: Gore, pictured right at a climate confernce in India, will use profits from his book and film, An Inconvenient Truth, to support a $300-million advertising campaign to boost awareness of global warming. Enter Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks.

Gore, who repeatedly has ruled out another run for the White House yet is repeatedly asked the question in the midst of a protracted campagin for the Democratic nomination, speaks with Lesley Stahl in an interview airing at 7 pm EDT Sunday.

Stahl tells Gore that some prominent people, including the nation’s vice president, are not convinced that global warming is manmade.

Gore replies: “You’re talking about Dick Cheney. I think that those people are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view, they’re almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the world is flat.

"That demeans them a little bit, but it’s not that far off.''

Some of the ads that Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection will air will feature an ecumenical odd couple, the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Pat Robertson. as well as odd political bedfellows, Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich, and a pairing of country crooners who flank the right on left on the radio, Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks.

(Photo of Gore in New Delhi March 15 by Raveendran / AFP / Getty Images)

by Mark Silva

The controversy over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's most incendiary remarks "has not hurt'' Sen. Barack Obama's campaign for president nationally, a Washington-based pollster says.

"Obama’s lead over Hillary Clinton remains as wide as it was in late February,'' says Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center, and "both Obama and Clinton continue to run slightly ahead of McCain in a general election matchup.''

While the Gallup Poll and others portray a dead heat between Obama and Clinton among Democrats nationally, this poll run March 19-22 finds 49 percent of Democrats surveyed supporting Obama, 39 percent Clinton

"The new polling suggests that the Wright affair has not hurt Obama’s standing, in part because his response to the controversy has been viewed positively by voters who favor him over Clinton,'' Kohut reports.

"Obama’s handling of the Wright controversy also won a favorable response from a substantial proportion of Clinton supporters, and even a third of Republican voters.''

Read more below, and see the Pew poll here.

Sen. Hillary Clinton campaigning in Raleigh, N.C., today. Photo by Jason Arthurs / Raleigh News & Observer / McClatchy Tribune)

By Jim Tankersley, updated

RALEIGH, N.C. – Presumably, the scene would play out something like this:

A darkened bedroom. A ringing phone. A groggy hello. An operator's voice.

"Madam President, the Treasury Secretary is on the line. The Nikkei is in free-fall. The world needs you, now."

That's the new version of the now-famous "3 a.m. phone call" that Sen. Hillary Clinton raised today in North Carolina, diverting from a jobs-themed speech to take a swipe at the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's command of economic issues.

“It’s time for a president who is ready on day one to be the Commander-in-Chief of our economy," Clinton said, riffing on a line she usually wields against Democratic opponent Barack Obama. "Sometimes the phone rings at 3 a.m. in the White House and it’s an economic crisis. And we need a president who is ready and willing and able to answer that call.

"I read the speech that Senator (John) McCain gave the other day which set forth his plan which does virtually nothing to ease the credit crisis or the housing crisis," Clinton continued. "It seems like if the phone were ringing, he would just let it ring and ring and ring."

Barack Obama at Cooper Union today: "Our economy is in a recession.'' AP photo by Alex Brandon.

by Mark Silva

Americans are suffering an “economic slowdown,’’ the White House says.

“A rough patch.’’

“Our economy is in a recession,’’ Sen. Barack Obama said today.

Sen. Hillary Clinton stops short of embracing the term, which carries a strict definition in economics, but her campaign suggests that people know a problem when they see it.

“Obviously, in terms of the economic pain that people are feeling, the technical term is not important,’’ Howard Wolfson, Clinton’s communications director, said today.

Obama (D-Ill.) made it clear in his speech about the economy today at Cooper Union in New York that he believes the United States already has entered those two successive quarters of a declining economy that define a recession – and three-quarters of the economic experts surveyed by the Wall Street Journal recently said that’s right.

“Now, as most experts agree, our economy is in a recession,’’ Obama said today. “To renew our economy – and to ensure that we are not doomed to repeat a cycle of bubble and bust again and again – we need to address not only the immediate crisis in the housing market. We also need to create a 21st Century regulatory framework, and pursue a bold opportunity agenda for the American people. ‘’

Sen. Hillary Clinton at Wake Forest Technical today: Stops short of recession talk, but "in terms of the economic pain that people are feeling, the technical term is not important,'' a spokesman says. AP photo by Charles Dharapak.

by Mark Silva

The campaign is not over, camp Clinton says.

“I do think we have seen an effort on the part of the Obama campaign to attempt to persuade as many people as possible that the race is essentially over, and that they have the election in the bag,’’ said Howard Wolfson, communications director for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, in a conference call with reporters today.

This is what Wolfson is telling important campaign donors: “In campaigns, it is always better.. to watch what the campaigns do, rather than what they say…

“What the Obama campaign says is that the race is over and that we have no chance to win,’’ he said. “But what they do belies that, because every day since Ohio and Texas and lately with increasing ferocity, the Obama campaign engages in a systematic effort to attack Sen. Clinton’s character, to attack her in personal terms.’’

And speaking of attacks: The Clinton campaign today accused the Obama campaign of appropriating Clinton’s own remedies for the economy in his address at Cooper Union today -- "He is following our proposal by a week,'' Wolfson said of Obama. "That is not leadership. That is follwership.''

Wolfson maintains that the Obama campaign's words for Clinton suggest they know the contest is far from finished.

“I can only conclude that by what they do, despite what they say, they know the race is far from over,’’ said Wolfson, also accusing the Obama campaign of betraying its promise of hopeful campaigning with attacks on Clinton. “If the Obama campaign is willing to take the risk of undermining the essential premise of his candicacy on a daily basis… they do that only because they believe it is necessary for their victory.’’

By Mark Silva

Rep. Jack Murtha, the decorated Vietnam War veteran who was early among members of Congress speaking out against the war in Iraq, is campaigning for Sen. Hillary Clinton in his home state of Pennsylvania -- where Clinton hopes to stage a strong rebuttal of Sen. Barack Obama's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination on April 22.

"Let me tell you something. I’ve served with seven presidents,'' Murtha (D-Pa.) said in an opener, in a video that the Clinton campaign is promoting. "I am convinced that we’re in probably one of the worst situations that I’ve seen in the 35 years I’ve been in Congress. We need a person with experience, a person that understands the policy.

"When the Clinton administration left, there was a $250 billion surplus. Now, there’s almost a $3 trillion deficit.

"The military has been so depleted by this war. We’re spending $343 million dollars a day to build roads in Iraq and we’re not spending money on the projects that are so important.

"And who can solve that problem – Hillary! ...

"The next president of the United States – Hillary Clinton!''

by Mark Silva

President Bush, maintaining that the “surge’’ of forces which he ordered in Iraq is a success, said today that his decision about pausing a drawdown of forces this summer – as military commanders are recommending – will be based on the urgency of a “strategic victory.’’

Bush, labeling calls for speedier withdrawals of troops a "retreat,'' said flatly today that the arguments coming from Democratic candidates for president that the United States is fighting the wrong war -- that the real front against terrorism is in Afghanistan -- are mistaken.

'This argument makes no sense,'' Bush said to the applause of a friendly audience.

“As I consider the way forward, I will always remember that the progress in Iraq is real, it's substantive, but it is reversible,’’ Bush said in a war address today at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. “And so the principle behind my decision on our troop levels will be ensuring that we succeed in Iraq.

“I'm going to carefully consider the recommendations of (Defense) Secretary Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and those on the ground, Gen. (David) Petraeus and Ambassador (Ryan) Crocker. And I'll announce my decisions soon, after I have, you know, fully met with them and heard their -- heard their recommendations.

“As this debate unfolds,'' the president said, "I ask people on both sides to keep an open mind and to take a close look at the situation on the ground.''

Smoke rises after a mortar attack as U.S helicopters fly on March 27, 2008 at the Green Zone area in Baghdad, Iraq. (Photo by Muhannad Fala'ah /Getty Images)

by Frank James

Even as President Bush tries to get the nation today to focus on progress that's been made in Iraq, the images coming out of Iraq in recent days are a stark counterpoint to his message. Many Americans won't be able to hear him because the images speak so loudly and don't bear much resemblance to progress.

Today, the Green Zone in Baghdad where the U.S. has its embassy and the Iraqi government is based, came under serious attack for yet another day this week. The attacks this week, which appear to come from a Shiite area, have killed at least one U.S. civilian and injured other Americans, including military personnel, and Iraqis.

Meanwhile, the violent clashes between rival Shiite forces continued in the nation's south as Iraqi government forces tried to rein in well-armed elements of the Mahdi Army, fighters loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The violence in and around Basra included the bombing of an important oil pipeline which caused the price of oil futures to jump in world markets.

Bush may have something of a Tet Offensive problem on his hands. During Vietnam, the Tet Offensive, which occured from January through September 1968 when North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong combined to launch military operations throughout South Vietnam.

The U.S. military and South Vietnam forces successfully beat back the communists. But the images of grueling fighting, particularly by U.S. troops in Hue and Khe Sanh, helped to sour American public opinion, once and for all, against the Vietnam war.

Iraqis march during a massive protest in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, March 27, 2008, demanding the prime minister resign because if his crackdown on al-Sadr's militiamen. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

by Mark Silva

Sen. Hillary Clinton, casting her campaign forward to the primary election campaigns in early May, appeared in North Carolina today with a plan for a $2.5 billion a year workforce training program aimed at bolstering a sagging economy.

Clinton will carry her “Solutions For The American Economy” tour to Indiana and Pennsylvania as well. Pennsylvania, with its vote April 22, offers a critical test of the New York senator’s strength in a continuing contest with Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. The North Carolina and Indiana primaries on May 6 will double-check that test.

On a day in which both Obama and Clinton addressed the nation’s economic woes, Clinton today outlined a plan to invest $2.5 billion per year – $12.5 billion over five years – to strengthen the nation’s workforce development efforts. This includes “universally available’’ job retraining – note the term, universal, a promise of her health care plans as well – for dislocated workers, new Pell Grants and on-the-job training .

“We are competing in a new global economy, but our policies to equip American worker for the twenty-first century are stuck back in the twentieth,’’ Clinton said in prepared remarks. “When it comes to retraining assistance, our government is more focused on how you lost your job than how you can find a new one.

“While we have been rightly focused on trying to help people who are out of work, there’s been too little thought and effort to help people gain new skills while they still have their existing jobs – so they can move up or move on to higher-wage positions.”

by John McCormick, updated

NEW YORK – Sen. Barack Obama proposed sweeping regulatory reform for banks and other financial institutions in a speech here today meant to address the sagging economy, a topic of key interest to many voters.

"We let the special interests put their thumbs on the economic scales," Obama said at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. "The result has been a distorted market that creates bubbles instead of steady, sustainable growth; a market that favors Wall Street over Main Street, but ends up hurting both."

The Illinois Democrat's speech comes as the latest figures show the economy sputtered out during the final quarter of last year and is likely doing even worse now as the housing crisis and credit crunch continue to take their toll.

The Commerce Department reported today that gross domestic product increased only 0.6 percent in the October-to-December quarter. In the quarter prior, the economy recorded a robust 4.9 percent growth rate.

The latest data has left economists -- and Obama -- saying the economy is either on the brink or in a recession.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had breakfast with the presidential candidate when he was in New York in November, introduced Obama and noted that Abraham Lincoln had once spoken from the same podium, calling him "another man from Illinois who is also running for president."

Also in attendance was former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

Obama called for numerous changes to the regulation of the financial sector and the nation's markets. He said he sees the economy under strain almost everywhere he goes.

by Tamara Lytle

WASHINGTON - Puerto Rico Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila and 12 others were indicted in a case related to his political campaign fund-raising, the U.S. Justice Department announced this morning.

Charges for the 13 defendants include conspiracy, false statements, wire fraud, federal program fraud and tax crimes.

"Our democratic system cannot function when public officials act as though they are above the law. Public officials must comply with the law and those who do not comply will be held accountable," said Luis Fraticelli, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Juan Field Office.
The case involves Acevedo Vila's successful 2004 gubernatorial campaign and 2000 and 2002 campaigns for resident commissioner, which is Puerto Rico's representative in the U.S. Congress.

The indictment unsealed today, which was returned by a grand jury in San Juan Monday, paints a picture of illegal campaign donations that were then covered up.

A group of Philadelphia businessmen, for instance, allegedly solicited donations for the governor from family and staff and then illegally repaid those donors. Acevedo Vila then helped those businessmen win contracts for Puerto Rico's government, the indictment says.

(Photo from official Puerto Rico website)