Gallup Daily: Obama Takes Lead Over McCain, 48% to 42%  —  Has consistently led McCain since Clinton decided to suspend campaign  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Barack Obama is enjoying a modest bump in support following Hillary Clinton's exit from the presidential race.

John McCain: Putin Is The President Of Germany  —  You learn new things all the time!  —  (Nobody tell Angela Merkel that Pooty-poot got her job!)

McClellan to testify before House in CIA leak case  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush's former spokesman, Scott McClellan, will testify before a House committee next week about whether Vice President Dick Cheney ordered him to make misleading public statements about the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.

DEM LAWMAKER PRESENTS ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST PRESIDENT BUSH  —  An Ohio Democratic lawmaker and former presidential candidate has presented articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush to Congress.  —  Thirty-five articles were presented by Rep. Dennis Kucinich to the House …

McCain resurrects call for gas tax holiday  —  From CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby, CNN's Dana Bash  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - With gas prices reaching a national average of four dollars a gallon — a record high — John McCain is planning to resurrect his call for a national gas tax holiday …

Obama Says He's Partnering With Elizabeth Edwards On Health Care  —  Obama's speech in Raleigh launching his economy tour is underway, and towards the end, during a discussion of health care, he drops a surprise aside that wasn't in the speech's prepared remarks: … More on this when we can establish the details.

Today's Obama Smear Attempt  —  Here's one of the ways the right's smear machine works.  Far-right blogs post something.  Then a site higher up their food chain picks it up, like NewsMax, CNSNews, WorldNetDaily or Politico.  Then the Drudge Report or Moon's Washington Times gets it from there and spreads the story further.

Austan Goolsbee Lives!  —  Now that the Dem primary is officially over, it's safe for the Obama campaign to let economics adviser Austan Goolsbee (remember NAFTA-gate?) start publicly making the case for Obama's economic policies.  —  And so, today on a conference call today with reporters …

MCCAIN: OBAMA MEANS 2ND CARTER TERM  —  From NBC's Mark Murray  —  In an interview to air later tonight on Nightly News, McCain tells NBC's Brian Williams that while Obama might criticize him for representing a third Bush term, Obama seems to be running for a second Carter term.  Part of the transcript...

Bush confronted Rove's sins in church  —  Fired and brimestone  —  If you're going to fire someone, you want to make sure you do it in a place where the now-unemployed can't make a scene.  —  You know...a place like, say, a church.  —  That, according to a new book - “Machiavelli's Shadow” …

Further Adventures Down the Rabbit Hole  —  The “Michelle Obama tape” rumor mill started churning a lot more slowly this weekend, a development that, I'm sure, had nothing to do with Hillary Clinton's exit from the race.  It would be odd if Clinton supporters were only spreading the rumor …

For Clinton, Millions in Campaign Debt and Limited Options  —  With her campaign now officially suspended, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is confronting still another challenge: whittling down what is believed to be the largest presidential campaign debt in history.

The “grumpy Republican” problem; Update: E-mail from a Texas GOP convention attendee  —  Scroll down for updates...e-mail from Texas GOP convention attendee...  The Texas GOP convened its party convention this week.  It's finding the same problem plaguing the party in other states and at the national level: Disgruntled grass-roots.

Rev. Pfleger to return to St. Sabina with ‘no restrictions’  —  He'll be back at St. Sabina, but he has to stay out of presidential politics  —  The South Side parish of St. Sabina exploded with shouts of joy and a standing ovation Sunday morning at the news firebrand Catholic pastor Rev. Michael Pfleger would be returning June 16.

Senate Votes To Privatize Its Failing Restaurants  —  Year after year, decade upon decade, the U.S. Senate's network of restaurants has lost staggering amounts of money — more than $18 million since 1993, according to one report, and an estimated $2 million this year alone, according to another.

Obama Could Debunk Some Rumors By Releasing His Birth Certificate.  —  Having done some Obama-rumor debunking that got praise from Daily Kos (a sign of the apocalypse, no doubt), perhaps the Obama campaign could return the favor and help debunk a bunch of others with a simple step: Could they release a copy of his birth certificate?