McCain-Jindal?  —  Barack Obama said Friday, “We've had a rough couple of weeks.”  Actually, he's had a rough couple of months.  He's lost three big primaries to Hillary Clinton.  And, should he hold on to win the nomination, he can no longer be considered a clear favorite over John McCain in the general election.

Outback Strikes Back  —  Ezra Klein's right to bemoan the sneering condescension in this NYT piece on suburban chain restaurants.  For me, this is made all the worse by the knowledge that the attitude of contempt is almost certainly fake.  I was actually born and raised in Manhattan …

Bill Ayers stepping on a US flag in 2001  —  My good friend Anne Leary of Backyard Conservative, a fabulous North Shore blogger, tipped me off to this picture, which I've heard rumors about, of Bill Ayers stepping on a US flag in 2001.  —  I believe it's from Chicago Magazine …

In Iraq, a storm before the calm  —  April saw 49 U.S. casualties in Iraq, the highest total in seven months.  Does this mean, as some insist, that the enormous progress we have made since the start of the military surge is being lost?  —  As one who has spent nearly two years …

Obama Says Teamsters Need Less Oversight  —  Campaign Talks On Issue Preceded Union's Backing  —  Sen. Barack Obama won the endorsement of the Teamsters earlier this year after privately telling the union he supported ending the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption …

Ruthlessness and Grit Seen in Clinton's Style  —  Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton at a campaign rally on Sunday at Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne.  That state and North Carolina will hold primaries on Tuesday.  More Photos >  —  JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is waving …

California superdelegates' wavering bodes ill for Hillary Clinton  —  Some who have supported her say they'll switch to Barack Obama if she doesn't make big gains in the remaining Democratic primaries.  —  FRESNO — Hillary Rodham Clinton, stung last week by the defection of a prominent superdelegate …

WHY THE GAS TAX WAS DIFFERENT.  —  Ryan Avent brings us some good news: … The problem with the press's relatively good behavior on the gas tax is that it was a one-off produced by a fairly rare set of circumstances: Namely, a 1) high profile fight between two leading national candidates who were 2) …

Wright's Secret  —  There's an aspect of the Rev. Wright business that tells us something about human nature — something that makes most Americans uncomfortable.  —  From the May 3 issue of The Economist: … As a religious entrepreneur, in other words, Wright has been a roaring success.

Dartmouth's ‘Hostile’ Environment  —  Often it seems as though American higher education exists only to provide gag material for the outside world.  The latest spectacle is an Ivy League professor threatening to sue her students because, she claims, their “anti-intellectualism” violated her civil rights.

I Don't Want to Talk About the Clintons Anymore  —  Even bloggers get tired.  I'm tired of writing about the sins of the Clinton campaign.  Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow all filled with new energy, but much like the way I feel about the Bush administration, I feel like my point has been made.

Obama at issue in Mississippi  —  In perhaps the toughest negative spot yet in a Mississippi congressional race where Barack Obama has become a central issue, Greg Davis accuses Travis Childers of falsely distancing himself from Obama.  —  The downside to Obama for these ads …

And Then You Wonder Why They Burn Your Buildings Down  —  In a city consumed by chaos, war, occupation, corruption, intermittent and unreliable electricity, sewage overflows that you sometimes have to wade through, food shortages, public-health crises, you know what you shouldn't build?

The Willie Horton of the 2008 Campaign?  —  Conduct a thought experiment: Imagine that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor to presidential candidate Barack Obama and preacher with controversial views, was not an outspoken black man but a white woman who penned her controversial ideas in a scholarly journal.