DANGER DAY: HILLARY FACES ‘15-POINT DEFEAT’ IN NC; SEES INDIANA WIN  —  Hillary Clinton's inner circle now fears a stinging defeat is likely in North Carolina.  —  “Look, we worked hard and gave it our best shot, but the demographics, well, they are what they are,” a top campaign source explained …

‘Hardcore’ Republicans voting Democrat  —  10:51 AM — ‘Hardcore’ Republicans voting Democrat  —  The two precincts at Broad Ripple Family Center selected Republican Jon Elrod over Democrat Andre Carson in March's special election for U.S. Congress.  But by 9 a.m., just 21 voters …

FBI Agents Raid Work, Home Of Special Counsel's Bloch  —  WASHINGTON — Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raided the Office of Special Counsel here, seizing computers and documents belonging to the agency chief Scott Bloch and staff.  —  More than a dozen FBI agents served grand jury subpoenas shortly …

Two GOP Losses That Validate a National Pattern  —  These two special elections validate a national polling pattern that is bad news for Republicans.  According to a New York Times/CBS Poll, Americans disapprove of the President's job performance by 63 to 28 (and he has been below 40% job …

Matthews: MSNBC's support of Obama is ‘not official’  —  Chris Matthews spoke last night at the Institute of Politics, and the Harvard Crimson (a Politico campus partner) was on hand. … And later.

Roberts declares ‘Wright-free zone’ for Obama interview  —  NEW YORK (AP) — CNN's John Roberts declared his interview with Barack Obama on Monday a “Rev. Wright-free zone” to telegraph he wouldn't ask the Democratic presidential contender about the controversy over his former pastor.

Excerpt: ‘The Assault on Reason’  —  Television's quasi-hypnotic effect is one reason that the political economy supported by the television industry is as different from the vibrant politics of America's first century as those politics were different from the feudalism that thrived …

Gas tax hysterics  —  OK, this has gone overboard.  —  Hillary Clinton's proposed gas tax holiday is not, in my view, a good idea.  But the furor over what is, when all is said and done, a small and temporary policy proposal is entirely disproportionate.  What's going on?

Pins and Panders  —  Obama Wears His Independence on His Lapel  —  Sometimes I think the best thing about Barack Obama is that little empty space on his lapel.  It is where other politicians wear the American flag pin, a kitschy piece of empty symbolism that tells you nothing …

Combat and Composure  —  Life is short, but campaigns are long.  And during the course of them, each candidate will have impressive and pathetic moments.  But underlying the highs and lows, there are the fundamentals.  The fundamentals of the Obama-Clinton race were on display Sunday morning.

FLASHBACK TO 1992  —  Return with us now to the thrilling days of yesteryear, when a Clinton running for President not only thought economists mattered but touted their support for his economic plan in this TV ad:

FBI says men in ferry photo were innocent sightseers  —  2 European businessmen reveal selves to U.S. envoy  —  The FBI has called off a global manhunt for two men who looked Middle Eastern and were spotted snapping pictures and demonstrating “suspicious behavior” on a Washington ferry last summer.

Dept. of cognitive dissonance  —  It's a bit of a puzzle to me, though maybe it shouldn't be, that some voters seem perfectly able to hold in their heads simultaneously the notion that Obama's a Muslim and that his Christian pastor is a problem.  —  A particularly pungent passage from Richmond, IN Palladium-Item: