Obama's Image Slips, His Lead Over Clinton Disappears  —  Public Support for Free Trade Declines  —  Summary of Findings  —  Democratic voters are not as positive about Barack Obama as they were a month ago.  Somewhat smaller percentages of Democrats describe Obama in favorable terms …

Poll: Bush most unpopular in modern history  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — A new poll suggests that George W. Bush is the most unpopular president in modern American history.  —  A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Thursday indicates that 71 percent of the American public disapprove …

What Obama wishes he could say  —  Thrown off his game by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright uproar, Barack Obama's strongest answer to Hillary Rodham Clinton is one he won't give: Senator, do you really want to get in a contest with me over who has more unsavory personal associations?

‘D.C. Madam’ dead in Florida  —  Palfrey had been convicted of running $2 million prostitution ring  —  TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. - The woman convicted of running a high-end Washington prostitution ring that snagged a senator killed herself Thursday, police said, weeks after she was convicted on charges she vowed not to go to prison for.

The Lincoln-Douglass Debate: Live On Fox!  —  Two weeks ago, publius tried to imagine what the Lincoln-Douglas Debates would have looked like had they been moderated by ABC.  I thought it was one of the funnier things I'd ever read.  It turns out, however, that in a startling breach with precedent …

McCain fields audience question on whether he called wife an expletive  —  A widespread Internet rumor about Sen. John McCain popped up in an audience question today during the Republican presidential candidate's Iowa forum.  —  A member of the audience at the Polk County Convention Complex asked …

MALPRACTICE  —  I really don't get what it is with the Clinton campaign sometimes.  Getting Joe Andrew's super-delegate endorsement is a minor coup for the Obama campaign.  It certainly gives them some help in Indiana.  But he's hardly a household name.  So why is it that when Howard Wolfson gets asked …

Clinton Says Calls to Drop Out Are ‘Just Idle Talk’  —  Clinton on Why She'll Fight to the Finish, and Why Bill Won't Be in the West Wing  —  Hillary Clinton campaigned Wednesday in Indianapolis, on the same day that Indiana superdelegate and former Clinton supporter Joe Andrew announced …

Sidney Blumenthal Uses Former Right-Wing Foes To Attack Obama  —  Former journalist Sidney Blumenthal has been widely credited with coining the term “vast right-wing conspiracy” used by Hillary Clinton in 1998 to describe the alliance of conservative media, think tanks, and political operatives …

Rep. Fossella Arrested on Charges of Driving While Intoxicated  —  Rep. Vito J. Fossella (R-N.Y.) was arrested overnight in Alexandria and charged with driving while intoxicated, court records showed today.  —  Fossella is scheduled to appear in Alexandria General District Court on May 12 for an advisement hearing, the records said.

Garin: Our Polling Shows “Gas Tax Holiday” Is Helping Hillary Politically  —  Is Hillary gaining politically by her support for a so-called “gas tax holiday”?  —  On a conference call with reporters just now, Hillary chief strategist Geoff Garin claimed that the campaign's internal polling shows that it is.

Breaking: ABC's ‘This Week’ holds town hall with Clinton  —  Hillary Clinton will appear in a live town hall meeting Sunday on ABC's “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”  —  Just two days before the primaries, ABC's town hall event will be broadcast live from Indiana, and also include viewer questions from North Carolina.

North Carolina Papers Cover Rev. Wright  —  For the first time, virtually all the North Carolina papers put Rev. Wright and Obama on their front page yesterday.  Here are two examples: