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 …

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 …

What Obama wishes he could say  —  Thrown off his game by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright uproar, Barack Obama's strongest answer to Hillary Rodham Clinton is one he won't give: Senator, do you really want to get in a contest with me over who has more unsavory personal associations?

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 …

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 …

‘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.

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 …

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 …

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.

Garin: Our Polling Shows “Gas Tax Holiday” Is Helping Hillary Politically  —  Is Hillary gaining politically by her support for a so-called “gas tax holiday”?  —  On a conference call with reporters just now, Hillary chief strategist Geoff Garin claimed that the campaign's internal polling shows that it is.

Breaking: ABC's ‘This Week’ holds town hall with Clinton  —  Hillary Clinton will appear in a live town hall meeting Sunday on ABC's “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”  —  Just two days before the primaries, ABC's town hall event will be broadcast live from Indiana, and also include viewer questions from North Carolina.

North Carolina Papers Cover Rev. Wright  —  For the first time, virtually all the North Carolina papers put Rev. Wright and Obama on their front page yesterday.  Here are two examples: