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4:05 AM ET, April 29, 2008

Top Items:

Wright's Voice Could Spell Doom for Obama — The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, explaining this morning why he had waited so long before breaking his silence about his incendiary sermons, offered a paraphrase from Proverbs: “It is better to be quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

Wright's Poison — I guess I am late to the party, am I not? I didn't watch Jeremiah Wright's National Press Club performance live this morning, as every other blogger seemed to. Wright is not on the ticket of any major party, he is not Barack Obama, and I'm not going to be baited …

Discussion: Ross Douthat, JustOneMinute, Classical Values, Ben Smith's Blogs, Salon, alicublog, The Moderate Voice, Viking Pundit and Daimnation!

Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:

Obama Addresses Ex-Pastor's Media Blitz — WILMINGTON, N.C. - If it was not clear before today, Senator Barack Obama said, it should be clear now: his presidential campaign has no control over what the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., his former pastor, says or does.

Discussion: The Page, American Street, Connecting.the.Dots, The Nation and Salon

Alessandra Stanley / New York Times:

Not Speaking for Obama, Pastor Speaks for Himself, at Length — The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. has wriggled out from under sound bites and screen-grab loops to put himself into context in that most American of ways: on television. — And he went deep into context — a rich …

Discussion: TalkLeft and The New Republic

Mike Dorning / Chicago Tribune:

Obama: Judge my words, not Wright's — WILMINGTON, N.C.—Barack Obama this afternoon asked voters to judge him by his own words and deeds rather than his past associations, as his controversial former spiritual mentor re-emerged in the presidential campaign through a broadcast interview …

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, TalkLeft, The Volokh Conspiracy and Donklephant

Joe Klein / Swampland:

The Reverend Wright — Oy. — And furthermore, I've been to dozens and dozens of African-American church services over the years, including the investiture of one of my friends as an AME minister two years ago, and I have very rarely, if ever, heard the kind of rants that are part of Reverend Wright's canon.

Adam Green / The Huffington Post:

MoveOn: Obama Got Outfoxed — It's no secret that MoveOn.org members have been very supportive of Barack Obama's candidacy - endorsing him with a 70% vote, raising lots of small dollar donations for him, sending hundreds of thousands of personal endorsement emails to friends and family …

Discussion: Threat Level, Doug Ross, The Nation, Corrente, Daily Kos, Brave New Films blog, Ben Smith's Blogs, MyDD and TPM Election Central

Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:

Analysis: Wright does Obama little good — WASHINGTON - The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is going after his critics on an incendiary tour that is doing his one-time congregant, Barack Obama, little good. — After weeks of staying out of the public eye while critics lambasted his sermons …

Discussion: Doug Ross and Confederate Yankee

New York Times:
Reverend Wright at the National Press Club

Discussion: Firedoglake, NewsBusters.org, Video Log, Pajamas Media, The Jawa Report and Tales from the Trail

Mike Allen / The Politico:
Wright to Obama: ‘Coming after you’

Discussion: New York Times, Atlas Shrugs, The Strata-Sphere, This ain't Hell …, The Daily Dish, The New Republic, The Confluence, NO QUARTER and Raw Story

WLS / Patterico's Pontifications:
Well, Well, Well — As John McLain would say: “Welcome to the Party Andrew”

Discussion: Classical Values

Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:
Wright says criticism is attack on black church

Discussion: PunditGuy, CNN and Redstate

Josh Gerstein / newyorksun.com:
McCain Reverses Course on Obama's Pastor

Discussion: Power Line and The Corner

Amy Sullivan / Time:
Jeremiah Wright Goes to War

Discussion: The Democratic Daily

Jonathan Weisman / The Trail:

With Bingaman Endorsement, Obama Takes Senate Support Lead — Sen. Barack Obama officially pulled ahead today in the scramble for endorsements from colleagues in the U.S. Senate, thanks to Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico. — Never one of the Senate's most high-profile members …

Discussion: The Page, Daily Kos, my.barackobama.com, Comments from Left Field, Wonkette, Liberal Values and Donklephant

Associated Press:
AP: N.C. Governor Mike Easley To Endorse Clinton

Discussion: Wizbang

Julie Bosman / New York Times:
As North Carolina Primary Looms, Eyes on Edwards

Discussion: TalkLeft

The Hill:

Clinton: $2.3B in earmarks — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has requested nearly $2.3 billion in federal earmarks for 2009, almost three times the largest amount received by a single senator this year. — The Democratic presidential candidate's staggering request comes …

Discussion: Sister Toldjah and Hot Air

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:

Karl Rove Gives Obama Six Pointers to Recover and Win — Karl Rove, writing in Newsweek, says Obama needs to recover from his recent fumbles. He offers six tips: — Get a new stump speech, the message in his current one has become old and tired. — When you're on the defense …

Discussion: Donklephant, Salon, Newsweek and Oliver Willis

Marc Ambinder:

The GOP Generational Time Bomb — It's no secret that Republicans have a brand problem; the gap between Dem and GOP party identification is greater today than at any point since the vanguard of the Reagan revolution, when Republicans held a double-digit advantage.

Discussion: StephenBainbridge.com and Donklephant

Rebecca Carr / Austin American-Statesman:

NOOSE ALLEGEDLY FOUND AT SECRET SERVICE TRAINING CENTER — The U.S. Secret Service has placed a white agent on leave after an African American employee reported finding a noose hanging at the service's main training facility outside the nation's capital. — The service has acknowledged …

Discussion: AMERICAblog and Shakesville

Borzou / Babylon & Beyond:

SYRIA: More questions about alleged nuclear site — Professor William Beeman at the University of Minnesota passed along a note today from “a colleague with a U.S. security clearance” about the mysterious Syrian site targeted in a Sept. 6 Israeli airstrike.

Discussion: Hot Air, Israel Matzav and ArmsControlWonk

Pamela Hess / Associated Press: Hayden: Syrian site could have produced fuel for 2 weapons

John M. Broder / New York Times:

As Clinton Seeks Gas Tax Break for Summer, Obama Says No — WASHINGTON — As angry truckers encircled the Capitol in a horn-blaring caravan and consumers across the country agonized over $60 fill-ups, the issue of high fuel prices flared on the campaign trail on Monday, sharply dividing the two Democratic candidates.

Discussion: The RBC

Mark Murray / MSNBC:
HILLARY ON REV. WRIGHT AND BILL CLINTON

Discussion: Don Surber

Jad Mouawad / New York Times:

Amid High Oil Prices, Danger Signs in Production — As oil prices soared to record levels in recent years, basic economics suggested that consumption would fall and supply would rise as producers opened the taps to pump more. — But as prices flirt with $120 a barrel …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The American Conservative

HillaryClinton.com:
Hillary Clinton's Plan to Address Soaring Prices at the Pump

Discussion: TalkLeft and The Fact Hub

McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Is an Iranian general the most powerful man in Iraq? — BAGHDAD — One of the most powerful men in Iraq isn't an Iraqi government official, a militia leader, a senior cleric or a top U.S. military commander or diplomat, — He's an Iranian general, and at times he's more influential than all of them.

Discussion: American Street, Swampland and Think Progress

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Brent Scowcroft Echoes Obama: We Need To Talk To Enemies — Brent Scowcroft, the national security adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, said on Monday that he agrees with the position, stated mainly by Sen. Barack Obama, that the U.S. would benefit from having direct talks …

Discussion: The Swamp