memeorandum: MALPRACTICE — I really don't get what it is with the Clinton campaign sometimes. (Josh Marshall/Talking Points Memo)

7:30 PM ET, May 1, 2008

Top Items:

Gallup Daily: Clinton 49%, Obama 45% — McCain leads Obama in general election; McCain and Clinton tied — PRINCETON, NJ — Hillary Clinton has edged ahead of Barack Obama, 49% to 45%, in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update. — The four percentage point Clinton advantage …

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, Weekly Standard Blog, The Moderate Voice, NO QUARTER, TPM Election Central, The Campaign Spot and The Strata-Sphere

Pew Research Center:

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 …

Discussion: Washington Wire, Fox News, Hot Air, PewResearch.org, Boston Globe, TPM Election Central, The Page and Wake up America

Rasmussen Reports:
Indiana Democratic Primary

Discussion: MyDD, Agence France Presse, Hot Air, Tennessee Guerilla Women, Buck Naked Politics and The Other McCain

Michael Calderone / The Politico:
Breaking: ABC's ‘This Week’ holds town hall with Clinton

Discussion: The Jed Report, Wonkette, AMERICAblog and Cliff Schecter …

WRAL-TV:
Poll: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama in tight race for N.C. votes

The Politico:

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?

Discussion: Cliff Schecter … and The Campaign Spot

Xan Brooks / Guardian:

Spike Lee tells US pastor to ‘shut up’ — Director Spike Lee has waded into the ongoing controversy surrounding Jeremiah Wright, the Chicago pastor whose provocative statements have proved a thorn in the side of Democrat frontrunner Barack Obama. Lee advises the preacher to do the right thing and keep quiet.

Discussion: The Corner and Don Surber

Robert D. Novak / Washington Post:

Obama's Misplay — “That is just terrible, absolutely dreadful,” a prominent supporter of Barack Obama said Monday morning after listening to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's screed at the National Press Club. He proposed to me that the presidential candidate at long last must denounce his former pastor, unequivocally and immediately.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Crunchy Con, The New Republic, The Campaign Spot and Blue Crab Boulevard

Associated Press:
Huckabee says Obama's former pastor needs him to lose

Discussion: Newshoggers.com and The New Republic

Joseph J. Andrew / The Huffington Post:

On My Switch From Clinton to Obama — I have been inspired. — Today I am announcing my support for Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States of America. I am changing my support from Senator Clinton to Senator Obama, and calling for my fellow Democrats across my home State of Indiana …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Roger L. Simon, TalkLeft, Washington Wire and Digg

Katie Escherich / ABCNEWS:

Clinton Says Calls to Drop Out Are ‘Just Idle Talk’ — Clinton on Why She'll Fight to the Finish, and Why Bill Won't Be in the West Wing — Hillary Clinton campaigned Wednesday in Indianapolis, on the same day that Indiana superdelegate and former Clinton supporter Joe Andrew announced …

Discussion: The Page

Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:
AP NewsBreak: Former Democratic leader switches to Obama

Lynn Sweet:
Obama picks up 3 more Illinois superdelegates: Daley, Currie and Stroger.

Discussion: The Jed Report, The Page, Ben Smith's Blogs, Marc Ambinder, No More Mister Nice Blog, Donklephant, The Reaction, The Washington Independent and AMERICAblog

CNN:

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 …

Discussion: Think Progress, MoJoBlog, The American Conservative, The Moderate Voice, Wonkette, Democrats.com, Greatscat!, rubber hose and Cliff Schecter …

Hillary Clinton / CNN:
CNN Poll: Obama losing support

Discussion: Real Clear Politics

Associated Press:

‘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.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, The Reaction, michellemalkin.com, Pam's House Blend and The BRAD BLOG

myfoxtampabay.com:

DC Madam commits suicide in Tarpon Springs — TARPON SPRINGS - Police were called to the home of DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey's mother on Thursday to investigate her apparent suicide. — Police have confirmed that the dead person is Palfrey who was 52.

Discussion: The Swamp, The Raw Story, Wonkette, Political Machine, Gawker, Buck Naked Politics, Althouse and Outside The Beltway

Hilzoy / Obsidian Wings:

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 …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Matthew Yglesias:
Lincoln-Douglass

Discussion: Wonkette

SilentPatriot / Crooks and Liars:
FOX News: Lincoln debated Frederick Douglass in 1858?!?

Discussion: The New Republic

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

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 …

Discussion: TalkLeft

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Wolfson: I'm Not Sure That Joe Andrew Is “Actually From Indiana”

Discussion: Spin Cycle

Daniela Deane / Washington Post:

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.

Discussion: The Crypt's Blogs, MyDD and The Daily Politics

Des Moines Register:

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 …

Discussion: Firedoglake and Bob Cesca's Goddamn …

Learfield / Radio Iowa:
McCain's May Day in Des Moines

Discussion: TBogg and The Page

Peter Dreier / The Huffington Post:

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 …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs

Jonathan Weisman / The Trail:

Pelosi Comes Out Against Proposed Gas Tax Holiday — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) lent her name to the growing chorus of Democrats opposed to a gasoline tax holiday proposed by Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain. — Pelosi said this afternoon that Congress will not consider …

Discussion: MSNBC, Swampland, Spin Cycle, New York Times and The Page

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
How to Beat Gas Tax Demagoguery

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs and MSNBC

Michelle Malkin:

The Michelle Obama-patented subject-changer — In a pickle with your spouse over laundry you neglected to do or trash you forgot to take out? — Looking for an easy way to wriggle out of a tough spot with your boss? — Never fear. Michelle Obama is here with her new patented subject-changer:

Discussion: JustOneMinute

Aamer Madhani / The Swamp:

Murtha again plays age card on McCain — Rep. John Murtha is hardly a spring chicken, but it doesn't seem to keep the Pennsylvania Democrat from from tweaking the 71-year-old presumptive Republican nominee about his age. — During an address this morning at the liberal Center for American Progress …

Discussion: The Page