NEW PA. POLL HAS CLINTON HOLDING LEAD  —  From NBC's Chuck Todd  —  A new MSNBC/McClatchy/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette poll of Pennsylvania indicates things are staying fairly competitive in the Pennsylvania Dem primary.  —  The poll of 625 likely Dem primary voters was conducted Thursday …

McCain: A Question of Temperament  —  John McCain cupped a fist and began pumping it, up and down, along the side of his body.  It was a gesture familiar to a participant in the closed-door meeting of the Senate committee who hoped that it merely signaled, as it sometimes had in the past …

Obama: Can't ‘Swift Boat’ Me  —  Charles Ommanney / Getty Images for Newsweek  —  Seeing Ghosts: Obama's ties to Ayers and Auchi are distant, but his foes plan to pounce  —  The Obama campaign is planning to expand its research and rapid-response team in order to repel attacks it anticipates …

Debate Analysis: ABC Asked Most Scandal Questions, Obama Was Clear Target  —  The furor over ABC's Democratic debate last week was not universally shared.  —  While Obama supporters (and many media critics) decried what they saw as biased, gotcha-style questioning, a vocal minority (mostly Clinton supporters) was unmoved.

Gallup Daily: Obama Holds Slight 47% to 45% Advantage  —  First time in days that Obama's Democratic bid has gained supporters  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The peeling away of national Democratic support for Barack Obama seen this past week may have run its course.

Obama, Clinton And Capitalism: It's Okay For Them, But Nobody Else  —  Remember Chico Escuela?  —  He was a character created by Actor Garrett Morris on the “Saturday Night Live” TV show, back in the 1970's.  Morris became famous for uttering these simple words in broken-English …

Notice Anything?  John McCain doesn't wear an American flag pin on THIS WEEK  —  Let's call Nash McCabe.  I don't see a single lapel pin between them, do you?  —  Spotlight  —  No Trackbacks To “Notice Anything?  John McCain doesn't wear an American flag pin on THIS WEEK”

Fear and Loathing at the Los Angeles Times  —  With the Iraqi Army defeating Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army in Basra, the L.A. Times has moved on to tell its readers how terrible things might get in Najaf.  Buried in the middle of the piece, however, is a bit about the battle for Basra:

Major revelation: U.S. media deceitfully disseminates government propaganda  —  (updated below)  —  This morning's “blockbuster” New York Times article by David Barstow, documenting the Pentagon and U.S. media's joint use of pre-programmed “military analysts” who posed as objective experts …

In Pennsylvania's Democrat primary for president: Vote for Clinton  —  For decades, the two major parties have chosen their presidential candidates long before Pennsylvania holds its primary.  —  Not this year.  —  Ron Paul's maverick candidacy aside, Republicans have settled on John McCain, whom we previously endorsed.

Republicans outlawed the Ku Klux Klan  —  For decades after the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan was the terrorist wing of the Democratic Party.  Klansmen murdered hundreds of Republican activists and office-holders, including U.S. Representative James Hinds (R-Arkansas).

Undecided superdelegates don't feel bound by primaries  —  WASHINGTON - Many of the Democratic superdelegates who are still undecided say the most important factor in their decision is simple — they just want a winner in November.  —  Problem is, after nearly four months of primaries …

AP IMPACT: Islamic schools lure African boys into begging  —  DAKAR, Senegal - On the day he decided to run away, 9-year-old Coli awoke on a filthy mat.  —  Like a pup, he lay curled against the cold, pressed between dozens of other children sleeping head-to-toe on the concrete floor.