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.

Gallup Daily: Obama Back Into Lead in Democratic Race  —  McCain enjoys advantage in general election trial heat  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Today's Gallup Poll Daily tracking update finds Barack Obama with an eight percentage point advantage over Hillary Clinton (50% to 42%) …

BREAKING: Dean wants closure by July 1  —  A potential game-changer from CBS News and “The Early Show.”  Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean says he wants superdelegates to make a decision by JULY 1 — the most specific he has been in his effort to prod the party …

Transcript: Mark McKinnon On Why He'll Leave The McCain Campaign If Obama Is The Democratic Nominee  —  National Journal's Linda Douglass sat down with Mark McKinnon for the March 28 edition of “National Journal On Air.”  This is a transcript of their conversation.  —  Q: I want to introduce Mark McKinnon.

McCain Ad: Cue the Ugly “American” Campaign  —  The American president Americans have been waiting for!  —  That's the tag line on John McCain's new ad, which features a film clip of McCain as a captured POW and a baritone-voice narrator asking, “What must a president believe about us, about America?”

Mahdi Army Stands Firm in its Basra Neighborhoods; Demonstrations in Baghdad against al-Maliki  —  Mahdi Army Stands Firm in its Basra Neighborhoods;  —  Demonstrations in Baghdad against al-Maliki  —  People are asking me the significance of the fighting going on in Basra and elsewhere.

DUKE LOWERS THE BAR AGAIN  —  Many of you probably know that 38 members of the 2006 Duke lacrosse team have filed a civil suit against Duke University, its president Richard Brodhead (yes, he's still Duke's president), the city of Durham, and others associated with the outrageous behavior directed …

FBI Focusing on ‘About Four’ Suspects in 2001 Anthrax Attacks  —  WASHINGTON — The FBI has narrowed its focus to “about four” suspects in the 6 1/2-year investigation of the deadly anthrax attacks of 2001, and at least three of those suspects are linked to the Army's bioweapons research facility …

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.

Bush aide resigns  —  White House cites improper use of grant money  —  WASHINGTON - An aide to President Bush has resigned because of his alleged misuse of grant money from the U.S. Agency for International Development when he worked for a Cuban democracy organization.

GIULIANI WEIGHING ‘SPECIAL’ RUN FOR GOV  —  In the latest twist in New York politics, Rudy Giuliani is eyeing a run for governor in a special election this fall should Gov. Paterson be forced to resign, sources say.  —  A top adviser to the former mayor, who pulled the plug on his presidential bid …

Hillary Clinton; fibber in chief  —  Her blatant deceit over Bosnia, among other lies, is about the last nail in her coffin  —  A good memory is needed once we have lied," observed Pierre Corneille, the 17th-century French tragedian.  He was right.  The complexities involved in keeping …

NAA Reveals Biggest Ad Revenue Plunge in More Than 50 Years  —  NEW YORK The newspaper industry has experienced the worst drop in advertising revenue in more than 50 years.  —  According to new data released by the Newspaper Association of America, total print advertising revenue …

Limbaugh safe from voter-fraud charges  —  Radio host encouraged fans to vote Democratic  —  Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh has been telling his audience for days now that he could be indicted for encouraging Ohio Republicans to take a Democratic ballot in the March 4 primary in what he calls “Operation Chaos.”

CHELSEA: MOM, BETTER PREZ THAN DAD  —  From NBC/NJ's Matthew Berger  —  ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Chelsea Clinton was asked whether her mother would be a better president than her father, and she said yes.  —  Speaking at Lehigh Valley Hospital Friday, she laughed when a man in the front row asked her to choose between her parents.