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.

THE PITIFUL AL MALIKI  —  As you've probably heard, our local boss in Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki, sternly set forth a 72 hour deadline for members of the Mahdi Army to surrender their weapons or his government forces would take them by force, attack, whatever.

Rice hits U.S. ‘birth defect’  —  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national “birth defect” that denied black Americans the opportunities given to whites at the country's very founding.

Woman Says TSA Forced Piercings Removal  —  Traveler Says TSA Forced Her to Remove Nipple Piercings at Texas Airport  —  Mandi Hamlin, right, who claims a Transportation Security Administration agent forced her to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane demonstrates …

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 …

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.

Getting Mrs. Clinton  —  I think we've reached a signal point in the campaign.  This is the point where, with Hillary Clinton, either you get it or you don't.  There's no dodging now.  You either understand the problem with her candidacy, or you don't.  You either understand who she is, or not.

Obama now says he might have left church  —  In appearance taped for airing this morning on “The View,” Senator Obama makes news by saying he might have left Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ if the Rev. Jeremiah Wright had not retired.  —  In a clip posted by ABC, Obama says …

McCain targets Obama in new general-election ad  —  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.

Obama-Backing Senator Calls for Clinton to Drop Out  —  Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vermont, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a high-profile supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, has called for Obama's opponent to drop out of the race.  —  In an interview on Vermont Public Radio …