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 …

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 …

Spike Lee tells US pastor to ‘shut up’  —  Director Spike Lee has waded into the ongoing controversy surrounding Jeremiah Wright, the Chicago pastor whose provocative statements have proved a thorn in the side of Democrat frontrunner Barack Obama.  Lee advises the preacher to do the right thing and keep quiet.

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 …

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 …

A downsized Thursday for Obama  —  UNION MILLS, Ind. - As Sen. Barack Obama sat on a picnic table this evening in the backyard of a farmhouse, it could have been Iowa.  —  Campaigning in advance of Tuesday's Indiana primary, the Illinois Democrat decidedly downsized the show Thursday …

‘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.

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 …

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 …

Iran Protests to U.N. About Clinton Comments  —  TEHRAN — Iran has lodged a formal protest at the United Nations about comments by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton that the United States would “totally obliterate” Iran if it attacked Israel with nuclear weapons, the state-run news agency, IRNA, reported Thursday.

EXCLUSIVE: MYSTERIOUS CRIMES PLAGUE US ATTORNEY TARGETS  —  The Permanent Republican Majority Part VI  —  MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA - In two states where US attorneys are already under fire for serious allegations of political prosecutions, seven people associated with three federal cases …

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.