DNC chairman under Bill Clinton: Unite behind Obama  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — A leader of the Democratic Party under Bill Clinton has switched his allegiance to Barack Obama and is encouraging fellow Democrats to “heal the rift in our party” and unite behind the Illinois senator.

A Strained Wright-Obama Bond Finally Snaps  —  Late Monday night, in the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, N.C., Barack Obama's long, slow fuse burned to an end.  Earlier that day he had thumbed through his BlackBerry, reading accounts of the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.'s latest explosive comments on race and America.

‘Mission Accomplished’: How the Media Covered the Bush Pronouncement 5 Years Ago — and its Aftermath  —  NEW YORK On May 1, 2003, Richard Perle advised, in a USA Today op-ed, “Relax, Celebrate Victory.”  The same day, exactly five years ago, President Bush, dressed in a flight suit …

Indiana Democratic Primary  —  Indiana: Clinton 46% Obama 41%  —  Senator Hillary Clinton leads Senator Barack Obama by five percentage points in the Indiana Democratic Presidential Primary.  The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the state finds Clinton attracting 46% of the vote while Obama earns 41%.

Just Between Us  —  Telecoms and the Bush administration talked about how to keep their surveillance program under wraps.  —  The Bush administration is refusing to disclose internal e-mails, letters and notes showing contacts with major telecommunications companies over how to persuade Congress …

Obama picks up 3 more Illinois superdelegates: Daley, Currie and Stroger.  —  WASHINGTON—When the Democratic Party of Illinois meet next week to finish filling out the delegate slate, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will pick up three more superdelegates, according to Steve Brown …

Wright's wrong  —  Barack Obama gave his “More Perfect Union” speech in Philadelphia on March 18 to tamp down the furor caused by the release of videos excerpts of his pastor's sermons.  Obama himself had proclaimed the importance of his pastor to his life over the past twenty years in books and interviews.

U.S. has Mandela on terrorist list  —  WASHINGTON — Nobel Peace Prize winner and international symbol of freedom Nelson Mandela is flagged on U.S. terrorist watch lists and needs special permission to visit the USA.  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls the situation “embarrassing,” and some members of Congress vow to fix it.

A pre-emptive strike from Andrew  —  In his letter to fellow superdelegates, Joe Andrew — whose switch today is a very useful moment for Obama — pre-emptively guesses how the Clinton campaign will cast him, and accuses them of hypocrisy. … No doubt, perhaps; it doesn't seem to have happened yet.

Doubts grow over ethanol  —  Sharply rising food prices may force Congress to reconsider the fivefold increase in ethanol production it mandated just four months ago, some lawmakers say.  —  Few members appear willing to call for the outright repeal of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) …

Hell No, No Premonition Coulda Seen This!  —  Seven months of declined U.S. casualties in Iraq are over — as even Bob Gates is acknowledging — with 48 fallen soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors taken from us in April.  McClatchy reports that two soldiers were killed in Anbar last month …