Bob Casey to endorse Obama, join bus tour  —  Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey plans to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president today in Pittsburgh, sending a message both to the state's primary voters and to undecided superdelegates who might decide the close race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Iraqi police in Basra shed their uniforms, kept their rifles and switched sides  —  Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi Government ordered his unit of special police to move against al-Mahdi Army fighters in Basra.  —  His response, while swift, was not what British and US military trainers …

Obama would have left if Wright stayed  —  WASHINGTON - White House hopeful Barack Obama suggests he would have left his Chicago church had his longtime pastor, whose fiery anti-American comments about U.S. foreign policy and race relations threatened Obama's campaign, not stepped down.

Loans and Leadership  —  When George W. Bush first ran for the White House, political reporters assured us that he came across as a reasonable, moderate guy.  —  Yet those of us who looked at his policy proposals — big tax cuts for the rich and Social Security privatization — had a very different impression.

Exclusive Photos Show Al-Hanooti's Political Clout  —  Before he was alleged to have become a spy for Saddam Hussein's regime, Muthanna Al-Hanooti's charity work and political activism provided him with access to the highest echelons of government.  —  Newsletters collected by the Investigative Project …

Bill Clinton: Caucuses ‘Killing Us’  —  ABC News' Teddy Davis, Sarah Amos, and Talal Al-Khatib Report: While speaking by phone Thursday to his wife's Texas supporters, former President Bill Clinton downplayed the importance of caucuses and argued that his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. …

Woman forced to rip out nipple ring  —  A WOMAN in the US says she was forced by airport security guards to remove her nipple rings with a pair of pliers before she could board a flight.  —  Mandi Hamlin, 37, is demanding a civil rights investigation, as well as an apology from federal security agents …

Transcript: Sen. Christopher Dodd On The Fight For The Democratic Nomination  —  Q: I want to welcome Senator Chris Dodd.  He is the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.  He was a presidential candidate this year — very well liked by many — and was in the '90s the general chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

The Hillary Deathwatch  —  GAUGING THE ODDS THAT CLINTON WILL WIN THE NOMINATION.  —  Hillary Clinton is as good as dead.  This became the consensus over the past week, when the media awoke en masse to the dual reality that 1) Clinton can't close the pledged-delegate gap and 2) Obama has her beat in the popular vote.

Rev Jeremiah Wright lands Barack Obama in trouble again  —  Barack Obama faced fresh controversy yesterday over the anti-Israel views propagated by his former pastor even as he was being welcomed to New York by Michael Bloomberg, the city's Jewish Mayor.  —  The disclosure of articles published …

MoveOn responds to Pelosi letter  —  MoveOn responds to the letter Clinton donors sent yesterday to Nancy Pelosi by sending out a letter of their own: … Full letter after the jump.  —  Dear MoveOn member,  —  This is pretty outrageous: a group of Clinton-supporting big Democratic donors …