Dem voter surge could cut Clinton margin  —  An historic spike in Democratic voter registrations in Pennsylvania could help Barack Obama cut into Hillary Clinton's vote in Tuesday's primary, robbing her of the big victory margin she needs to justify continuing the primary fight.

Palestinians' backing for terror rises  —  The number of Palestinians who support attacks against Israelis continues to rise and more than half of them favor suicide bombings, according to a poll published this weekend.  —  The survey also showed that Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh …

Trailing in Pennsylvania, Obama Sharpens Tone  —  READING, Pa. — Senator Barack Obama sharpened his tone against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday as the six-week Pennsylvania primary contest raced to a close, with the rivals marshaling extensive resources in a battle for undecided voters …

But the melody lingers on  —  I've spent the weekend with the Democrats—yesterday with Obama, today with Clinton.  I'll have a lot more to say about the race in my print column this week...but a few quick notes from Pennsylvania:  —  Substance: Both Clinton's and Obama's stump speeches have collapsed into blatant pandering.

Rice Praises ‘Coalescing Center’ in Iraqi Politics  —  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit here Sunday to promote what she called the “coalescing center” of Iraqi politics around the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.  —  The visit followed a night …

Exodus Exegesis  —  Every presidential campaign has to produce a stream of appropriate statements for religious holidays, patriotic commemorations, and the like.  Campaigns don't expect to win votes with these messages.  They produce them because there's a risk of giving offense to some group or other if they don't.

What Nafta Trade Deficit?  —  It is amazing how some presidential candidates are blaming the North American Free Trade Agreement for U.S. job losses.  They seem to believe that a substantial part of the three million manufacturing jobs lost since 2000 resulted from Nafta …

My Vote's for Obama (if I could vote) ...by Michael Moore  —  I don't get to vote for President this primary season.  I live in Michigan.  The party leaders (both here and in D.C.) couldn't get their act together, and thus our votes will not be counted.  —  So, if you live in Pennsylvania, can you do me a favor?

CAIR'S FIRST CONGRESSMAN  —  The Council on American-Islamic Relations holds itself out as a civil rights group and has insinuated itself into programs sponsored by government agencies as a bona fide spokesman for America's Islamic community.  Knowledgeable observers have nevertheless long had their doubts about CAIR.

Relativity and the Prelate  —  A couple of points on relativity / relativism  —  (1) Neither the special nor the general theory of relativity asserted that “everything is relative.”  All they did was to replace a model of physical reality built around … with a different model built around

PA on the verge  —  Three polls out: Zogby, ARG, M-D.  —  I won't get into their specific findings, they average out as a Clinton with a 49-42 percent lead with 9 percent undecided.  —  Obama's big problem is that he's ending with an even lower final numbers than he had at the end of Ohio's polling …

Voices in Her Head  —  Inside Hillaryland's fatal psychodrama.  —  By the time Hillary Clinton's campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle finally packed up her lovely corner office with its fresh blue carpet and mini-fridge full of Diet Coke, her exit must have come as a relief—even to many of her friends on Team Hillary.

Party Chiefs Plan Push To Avoid Long Fight  —  Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton unveiled new negative television ads and attacked each other personally from the stump this weekend ahead of Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary, stoking more worries among Democrats that the party's eventual nominee …