Penn: Never Out, Still In  —  Demoted Hillary Clinton strategist Mark Penn may no longer have the coveted title of chief strategist, but he remains a key member of the campaign's senior staff.  —  Mr. Penn took part on the campaign's morning message call this morning, as usual.

Gallup Daily: Obama Moves to 9-point Lead Over Clinton  —  McCain, Obama remain tied in general election trial heat  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Barack Obama has gained support in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking report for April 4-6, and now leads Hillary Clinton by a statistically significant margin, 52% to 43%.

Iraq and Its Costs  —  When Gen. David Petraeus testifies before Congress tomorrow, he will step into an American political landscape dramatically different from the one he faced when he last spoke on Capitol Hill seven months ago.  —  This time Gen. Petraeus returns to Washington having led …

If the system made sense, Clinton would be far ahead  —  Under a winner-take-all primary system, Hillary Clinton would have a wide lead over Barack Obama — and enough delegates to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination by June.  —  Hillary Clinton celebrates with supporters …

McCain's Speech On Progress In Iraq Interrupted By News Of Mortars Hitting The Green Zone  —  Today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) spoke to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, making the case for the “unmistakable progress” in Iraq.  —  A telling moment in his remarks came when he was arguing why President Bush's surge …

Worst President Ever  —  In a History News Network poll, 61 percent of historians say that George W. Bush has been the worst president ever.  It's very hard to know what to make of these kind of questions.  How can you possibly try to evaluate someone like, say, Andrew Jackson in contemporary terms?

Obama May Not Have Fully Contained Damage From Ex-Pastor  —  Sen. Barack Obama's Philadelphia speech on race relations last month seemed to put the controversial remarks of his former pastor behind him.  But three weeks later, there is evidence of lingering damage.

60 Minutes: Doug Feith once again earns his nickname  —  (click image to see full 12:00 report)  —  As John noted the other day, Douglas Feith is one of the most deceitful war architects, a difficult distinction to attain considering the company.  On “60 Minutes” this Sunday …

McCain Raises $15M In March  —  Sen. John McCain's fundraising is picking up, relatively speaking.  —  In March, officials said he raised about $15M, his best month since early 2007 and well above his $2M-per-month pace in late 2007.  The final number is still being tallied.

Grains Gone Wild  —  These days you hear a lot about the world financial crisis.  But there's another world crisis under way — and it's hurting a lot more people.  —  I'm talking about the food crisis.  Over the past few years the prices of wheat, corn, rice and other basic foodstuffs …

On Tim Russert , Hitchens said to Sullivan: “Oh, well don't be such a lesbian.  Get on with it”  —  On the April 5 edition of MSNBC's Tim Russert, Andrew Sullivan and Christopher Hitchens debated the significance for Sen. Barack Obama of comments made by his former pastor Jeremiah Wright …

Representative tries to put the fear of God in atheist  —  Did you hear about the state legislator who last week blasted a Lutheran minister during a committee hearing for spewing dangerous religious superstitions, and then attempted to order the minister out of the witness chair on the grounds …

Cokie Roberts speaks out on the war on behalf of the American people  —  The single most dishonest and propagandistic tactic of establishment journalists is to take their own opinion and assert as a fact that “most Americans” agree with them, even when that assertion is indisputably false.

MAYHILL FOWLER  —  BIO Become a Fan Get Email Alerts Similar Bloggers  —  Last night at a fundraiser in San Francisco, Barack Obama took a question on what he's looking for in a running mate.  “I would like somebody who knows about a bunch of stuff that I'm not as expert on,” he said, and then he was off and running.

Ex-Clinton Insider Launches Unity Ticket Drive  —  Hillary/Obama '08 becomes official today.  In a way.  —  A Clinton insider who served as ex campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle's executive assistant for several years has set up a new website, http://www.voteboth.com/ and plans to register with the Federal Election Commission today.