From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
On the subject of delegate math and what Clinton's path to the nomination is with the current mathematical configuration, top Clinton aide and DNC rules guru Harold Ickes assailed the Obama campaign, rather than lay out Clinton's arithmetic.

"I hope they don't get their hands on the federal budget, because they can't count," he said of the Obama campaign.

He stressed that neither campaign can win the nomination without the now 794 superdelegates. "Either candidate needs a substantial number of superdelegates to win," Ickes said.

"The math argument has been turned on its head," he said. He went on to hint that one of the ways the math is changing or might change is because "new information" is coming out or might come out about Obama, Ickes said.

For reference, here's our superdelegate math today from First Thoughts:

If the remaining contests split up "as expected" meaning Clinton wins her base states (PA, KY, WV, etc.) and Obama wins his base states (NC, OR, MT, etc.) and the two split Indiana down the middle, the two campaigns will likely split those 566 delegates right down the middle 283-283 (margin of error +/- 5 delegates). This means Obama would need 34% of the uncommitted superdelegates to hit the magic 2024 number, while Clinton would need 72% of the uncommitted Supers to hit 2024. 

From NBC's Ron Allen
Here's my nominee for the word of the day -- if such a thing exists. It came from Hillary Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson yesterday, responding to questions about the senator's description of landing, "under sniper fire," at the Tuzla, Bosnia, airport while First Lady, as the war was winding down, back in 1996.

After citing numerous articles from the time, referring to the danger, and how unusual it was for a first lady to travel to such a war-torn place, Team Clinton conceded she "misspoke" about the sniper fire. And running with, "our heads down," from the airport.

Clinton herself told the editorial boards of the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer that she "misspoke." Further clarifying her comments, she said the pilot aboard her aircraft had warned there was sniper fire in the area at the time when she was arriving in Tuzla.

VIDEO: NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports on Hillary Clinton misspeaking about being under fire during a 1996 trip to Bosnia.

"[W]hat I was told was that we had to land a certain way and move quickly because of the threat of sniper fire," she said. "So I misspoke -- I didn't say that in my book or other times, but if I said something that made it seem as though there was actual fire -- that's not what I was told. I was told we had to land a certain way, we had to have our bulletproof stuff on because of the threat of sniper fire."

She added later, "I gave contemporaneous accounts, I wrote about a lot of this in my book. you know, I think that, a minor blip, you know, if I said something that, you know, I say a lot of things -- millions of words a day -- so if I misspoke, that was just a mistatement."

So why does this matter? Because Clinton has been accused of inflating her national security credentials to prove she has "passed the Commander-In-Chief test. That's the "test" that exists somewhere in the minds of her campaign staff, a test Sen. Barack Obama has not passed, according to Team Clinton, even though by every measure, except electoral votes won, he's winning the race.

Would you think some of the millions who've voted for him think he's fit to be Commander-In-Chief? Most Americans know that's part of the president's job. How can they be wrong and Clinton's advisors be right?
 
Anyway, back to Bosnia where sniper fire was ringing out. Or not. Believe me, if you've ever been in a place where there is real sniper fire, it's unforgettable. And indeed, you might misspeak trying to describe the seemingly random horror of it.    

Thinking back to those days, Sarajevo was notorious for its sniper alleys during the lengthy Serb siege of the city, down the road from the airport, along the route from the Holiday Inn to the TV station where the western journalists all worked, coming over Mt. Igman, concealed by the early dawn morning fog, barreling down a rutted road into the city in range of Serb positions on the opposite hillsides. In fact, at times, broad stretches of that beautiful city were no-go zones.

As for Tuzla, for the most part, I recall it being a much calmer place. None of that is to say that Sen. Clinton didn't take some risks by traveling there. Even after a strong contingent of western troops arrived, Bosnia was still a bit of a mess. And, as her team points out, Obama probably doesn't have very many, if any, similar experiences to talk about. But, apparently embellishing a story, or "misspeaking" about it, will only lead to more questions about what Clinton really did when she was in places like Bosnia.

For example, did she really help bring peace to Northern Ireland, as she claims in her speeches? I don't recall that being a headline-grabbing story at the time. You would think it would have been all over the American, British and Irish press. "First Lady solves the Troubles." Or "helps" solve.

On her campaign plane recently, Clinton said she made more trips to Northern Ireland than her husband. But was she a key player, as we know former Senator George Mitchell was, in hammering out the Good Friday peace accords in the late 90s?

And lastly, what about her claim of helping to open the Kosovo-Macedonian border for refugees fleeing that conflict? Again, that wasn't a big story at the time. Yes, it's true a lot of diplomacy goes on behind the scenes. And yes, no one is claiming Clinton did these things single handedly.

Millions of voters believe Clinton is the best candidate to become this nation's leader during a time of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Her "Commander-In-Chief test." She has traveled the world, as first lady and as a senator from New York. Though often it seems she was carrying out the traditional role of first lady back then. That usually has nothing to do with dodging sniper fire, opening borders and ending decades old intractable conflicts.  

Having spent a considerable amount of time in Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Macedonia and many more than my fair share of places like those, and a lot of it during the Clinton administration, I guess it just catches your attention when someone "misspeaks" about what really might or might not have happened.

Ron Allen was a foreign correspondent based in London from 1992 thru 2003 and extensively covered the events discussed in this story.

From Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro
War of words: Democrats who don't have a horse in the presidential race, but do have to worry about House and Senate races are starting to wonder aloud if this protracted primary fight has hit a tipping point. Every day this goes on, they say, is bad for the party as a whole. Every day this goes on, they say, is bad for the party as a whole. Remember, there's a reason that the party that gets its nominee first has won 9 of the last 10 presidential elections. Think about the most recent and memorable primary fights for presidential nominations: Ford-Reagan; Kennedy-Carter; Mondale-Hart, not a single ultimate general-election winner. And all three, to this day, have bitter partisans who still bicker about that fight. The same thing is happening with Obama-Clinton. There's a real bitterness developing that rivals these other three examples. Check out how James Carville didn't back down from his "Judas" remark on Richardson at all. In a conference call with reporters Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson said, "If I had said it, I would apologize, because I am representing the campaign. I did not say it, and if I had I would." Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign is using Gen. McPeak's "McCarthy" attack on President Clinton and trying to raise money off of it.

VIDEO: NBC Political Director Chuck Todd talks about potential fatigue within the Democratic Party as a result of the prolonged nominating contest.
 
*** "Misspoke?": The Clinton campaign in a conference call yesterday said Hillary Clinton "misspoke" when she said, "I remember landing under sniper fire" during her trip to Bosnia. OK. But there are two problems. What she said was with certitude (the remarks you can find on her Web site; those remarks on the web site, by the way, are "as delivered" not "prepared for delivery" as was mistakenly reported by one of us on TODAY). But beside that, as NBC's Ron Allen writes, "Believe me, if you've ever been in a place where there is real sniper fire, it's unforgettable…. As her team points out, Obama probably doesn't have very many, if any, similar experiences to talk about. But, apparently embellishing a story, or 'misspeaking' about it, will only lead to more questions about what Clinton really did when she was in places like Bosnia." Or her role in the Irish peace talks or in children's health care, etc. This brings a focus back on her at a time when she'd rather see the press continue its focus on Obama. For instance, were it not for the Bosnia story, today's NYT piece on Obama's liberal record in the Senate might be the cable talker of choice.  
 
*** Women back in Focus: The last two weeks were dominated by race and yesterday, in addition to her speech on housing, Hillary Clinton held a "Women for Hillary" rally -- "the first such event in weeks," notes NBC/NJ's Athena Jones. This was something that was routine in Iowa and New Hampshire, but has faded of late. Is gender politics making a comeback?  Women, particularly older women, have been the backbone of Clinton's support both at the ballot box and apparently in her bank account. Pushing the issue of gender is also a way to create a movement that is similar to what has propelled Obama. The one demographic subgroup among women that has eluded Clinton to an extent has been educated younger white women. If she can crack this code, she'll have the chance to really make up ground fast in places like North Carolina and Indiana, let alone over-perform in the Philly suburbs and potentially keep Obama's vote total lower than expected in Pennsylvania.
 
*** Bluegrass primary? Bill Clinton campaigns hard in Kentucky today. Yes, Kentucky, which holds its primary on May 20th. Is this a sign this will go on and on and on -- even if Clinton loses Indiana or North Carolina? Clearly Kentucky is one Clinton's base states of the contests that remain and considering that the campaign still doesn't have the money to start paid advertising in Pennsylvania, let alone the May primaries, the campaign has now decided it's important to start showing up some of these places early so that Obama doesn't get the head start he's gotten in so many of these places. Bill Clinton's been used more and more as the campaign guinea pig, sending him first in some of these places to see what the response will be. He was in Indiana before his wife; he's hit North Carolina before his wife and now he'll hit Kentucky first as well.

*** Another sign of things to come? By the way, check out the added stop Hillary Clinton has made for Montana on 4/5 and 4/6. Montana is a JUNE primary state; the last day of the primary season. No doubt Clinton is sending the subtle message that she's in this race to the end. But why else would she set a Montana campaign stop two months before the primary? Is there an endorsement she's bagged that she'll unveil that day? Look for reporters to start making calls to Montana's Democratic hierarchy, all of whom would be good gets for Clinton: Gov. Schweitzer or Sens. Baucus and Tester.

*** More fun with delegate math: It's been a while since we've done the percentage game on the delegate count. Here's where things stand right now. Obama leads among pledged delegates 1408-1251; Clinton leads among superdelegates, 255-218. Added together, Obama's overall delegate lead is 120, 1626-1506. Now, what's left? There are still 10 pledged delegates NBC News hasn't allocated from contests already held. In addition, there are 566 delegates at stake in the remaining contests. On the supers front, there are 321 folks who haven't picked sides (76 of whom have yet to be named; they'll get named at state convention meetings held between now and the end of June). OK, now, let's play the math game. If the remaining contests split up "as expected" meaning Clinton wins her base states (PA, KY, WV etc.) and Obama wins his base states (NC, OR, MT etc.) and the two split Indiana down the middle, the two campaigns will likely split those 566 delegates right down the middle 283-283 (margin of error +/- 5 delegates). This means Obama would need 34% of the uncommitted superdelegates to hit the magic 2024 number, while Clinton would need 72% of the uncommitted Supers to hit 2024.  

*** Messages of the day: While Obama finishes up his vacation, both Clinton and McCain have major speeches today on two different topics. Clinton will focus on Social Security, timed for the release of the government's report on the long-term viability of the government trust fund. Word is Clinton will pop McCain on the issue; Meanwhile, McCain, fresh from Iraq, will talk about the housing/mortgage issue in a speech in California. The speech is more of a lesson in how this happened and a promise that he'll be open to some government solutions but he wants to make sure we're not bailing out speculators. Like Clinton and Obama, he calls for a summit of sorts, McCain's summit would be with the largest mortgage lenders.
 
*** On the trail: Clinton makes two stops in Pennsylvania, including a town hall and a meeting at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review; McCain again raises money in California; Bill Clinton makes four stops in Kentucky; and Obama is still on vacation with his family and will be back Wednesday.
 
Countdown to Pennsylvania: 28 days
Countdown to North Carolina, Indiana: 42 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 224 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 301 days
 
Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
Text FIRST to 622639 to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.

The New York Post calls the latest Clinton spin, that she leads Obama in electoral votes, "fuzzy math." "She's behind Barack Obama in popular votes, delegates and overall wins, but Hillary Rodham Clinton's backers have found a new way to claim their candidate is on top…"

PENNSYLVANIA: 4/22 (158 delegates)
"Democratic Party enrollment surged past the 4 million mark Monday, setting a state record on the last day Pennsylvanians had to register to vote in next month's presidential primary. The figures, which showed modest declines in the ranks of Republicans and independents, reflected intense interest in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination and recruitment efforts by both candidates."

Some notes from NBC/NJ's Matthew Berger:
*The Obama team has not released which cities the candidate will visit in a six-day bus tour across the state, which starts Friday in western Pennsylvania and conclude in the southeast.

*Obama's team may still be getting their bearings in the Keystone State. They labeled a press release with the dateline "Pennsylvania, Pa."

*SEIU leaders said they are planning on focusing on "member-to-member" contacts throughout Pennsylvania, choosing not to air advertisements for Obama at this time. "We think in Pennsylvania, the more workers can talk to workers, the more influential we can be," said Anna Burger, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer, in a conference call with reporters Monday.

At 4:30 p.m. Monday, as the doors to Chester County Voter Services automatically clicked shut, several people pleaded for entry, to register to vote for the primary. Election officials across the state said they had never seen a rush like what occurred over the weekend. Obama campaign aides were at the Voter Services door, ready to give those shut out alternative suggestions to register in time. 

*The Department of State reports 120,501 new voter applications this year through Sunday, and 86,711 people changing their party affiliations to Democrat. There's now more than 4 million registered Democrats in the state.

*The state's GOP will need to work hard to bring some of those who switched their party affiliations to Democrats back into the Republican fold, or at least to vote for McCain in November. "We know everybody who switched," state Republican chairman Rob Gleason said. "When this election is over, we're going after those people. We're going to get them back."

INDIANA: 5/6 (72 delegates)
The Washington Post helps to reinforce the C.W. that Indiana is the last remaining "swing state" in this Clinton-Obama primary fight. Southern Indiana is Clinton country while N.W. Indiana (i.e. the Chicago media market bleed) is Obama territory. Should be as fair of a fight that the two have left. Most importantly, what will Indiana's most famous son do? David Letterman? He's shown a liking to Clinton for much of this campaign will he and his famous mom make a full-throated endorsement?

NORTH CAROLINA: 5/6 (115 delegates)
Something to ponder for the upcoming primary and even the general, fewer N.C. folks are self-I.D.ing as Republicans, according to Pew Research data. 

NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann reports, the ever-vigilant RNC has never been enamored of the "Obamacan" thesis -- the idea that fed-up Republicans are crossing the aisle in favor of Barack Obama's supposed post-partisanism. But their objections seem to be crescendoing amidst the recent Clinton death knells tolling amongst the media elite. Yesterday, the RNC comm shop specifically responded to the Obama camp's conference-call argument that North Carolina is up for grabs, flatly denying that the Tar Heel State and other typically red regions could possibly go blue in November. ("Typically for Obama's campaign," writes spokesman Alex Conant re: the crossover theory, "his rhetoric is completely out of touch with reality.")

And in an op-ed in today's USA Today, RNC chairman Mike Duncan cites Obama's liberal record and notes that polls show a significant percentage of crossover votes nationally AWAY from Obama's camp. (Duncan's clever verbal mashup? "McCainocrats.") But Dems are likely to point out new numbers in NC that show the percentage of self-identified GOPers dropping by as much as ten percentage points since 2004. Who's right? And how much does this ever-bubbling back-and-forth raise the stakes for Obama in May?

Clinton's '96 Bosnia trip is getting renewed scrutiny as the campaign -- and the candidate -- now admits Clinton "misspoke" when she talked about her remembrances of that trip. The archive video footage seems to contradict Clinton's memory. "Video footage of that trip shows a smiling Clinton and her then-teenage daughter, Chelsea, casually walking -- without helmets -- from the helicopter to an outdoor welcoming ceremony," the LA Times writes. "'On one occasion, she misspoke,' Clinton campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said Monday in reference to her Washington speech.

"In fact, Clinton also referred to having to move the Bosnia welcoming ceremony inside at least one other time, on Feb. 29. But, Wolfson insisted, Clinton was potentially in danger. 'There were reports of snipers in the hills and they were forced to cut short an event on the tarmac. That is what she wrote in her book,' he said of Clinton's memoirs.

"The Obama camp jumped on the discrepancies. 'When you make a false claim that's in your prepared remarks, it's not misspeaking, it's misleading, and it's part of a troubling pattern of Sen. Clinton inflating her foreign policy experience," Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said.'

In a meeting with the joint editorial boards of the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer, Clinton acknowledged that she "misspoke," made a "misstatement" in her remarks on her 1996 Bosnia trip. Here's what she said, in part: "Now let me tell you what I can remember, OK -- because what I was told was that we had to land a certain way and move quickly because of the threat of sniper fire. So I misspoke -- I didn't say that in my book or other times but if I said something that made it seem as though there was actual fire -- that's not what I was told. I was told we had to land a certain way, we had to have our bulletproof stuff on because of the threat of sniper fire."

More: "I gave contemporaneous accounts, I wrote about a lot of this in my book. you know, I think that, a minor blip, you know, if I said something that, you know, I say a lot of things -- millions of words a day -- so if I misspoke, that was just a mistatement."

The Boston Globe: "Clinton's recall of Bosnia faulted."

Clinton should have owned the news cycle with her unveiling of her mortgage/housing plan but the mini-feeding frenzy that developed over the Bosnia trip seemed to step on things.

The Boston Globe on Clinton's housing speech: "Clinton, seeking primacy on an issue crucial to working-class voters who are her core supporters, proposed that the Federal Housing Administration buy and restructure mortgage debt and called for a new $30 billion federal fund to help state and local governments fight foreclosures.

"The New York senator, who a year ago proposed a moratorium on mortgage foreclosures and more recently a five-year freeze on interest rates, acknowledged that such action could be described as a bailout. But she cast her proposal as a populist parallel to last week's relief for investment banker Bear Stearns by the Federal Reserve, saying 'it's now time for equally aggressive action to help families avoid foreclosure.'"

Today, the Clinton campaign will unveil its plan to keep Social Security secure and the candidate will take a whack at McCain on the issue. This is not a random day to do Social Security, it's the day that the trustees of Social Security and Medicare release their "annual assessment of the fiscal health of the gov't's two biggest benefit programs."

Clinton also told the Daily News and Inquirer, that "she was not altogether sure how her proposals would work in practice but called the ideas 'worth pursuing. . . . My biggest complaint is we've spent a year doing relatively little.'" She also hoped the U.S. Supreme Court would rule gun ownership was not an absolute right. 
 
NYT's David Brooks seems to agree with the Politico take that it's over for Clinton. "The only question is whether Clinton herself can step outside the apparatus long enough to turn it off and withdraw voluntarily or whether she will force the rest of her party to intervene and jam the gears.
If she does the former, she would surprise everybody with a display of self-sacrifice. Her campaign would cruise along at a lower register until North Carolina, then use that as an occasion to withdraw. If she does not, she would soldier on doggedly, taking down as many allies as necessary."

Bill Clinton as Sinatra?
- "It's up to you…" In what's becoming a familiar refrain, Bill Clinton told another state, Indiana this time, that "it's up to you." Reports NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli, Clinton said, "If Hillary wins a big victory in Pennsylvania, she will win in West Virginia in Kentukcy. That means if you vote for her in Indiana, she can win the popular vote, and I believe then she will be the nominee of the Democratic party and the next president of the United States. It is up to you."

More Bill on this "historic" race: "We're going to have a historic election regardless. We're gonna elect either our oldest president ever, or our first African American president, or our first woman president." Catch that "oldest?"

- When you're "young at heart…" Bill Clinton later amended his McCain remarks slightly: "This election's gonna bring a lot of change. We're either gonna elect the oldest person who's ever been elected president, Senator McCain, who's very young at heart."

Returning from his eighth trip to Iraq, McCain didn't back down on his promise to see the war through despite yesterday's tragic milestone of 4,000 deaths. "We're succeeding. I don't care what anybody says. I've seen the facts on the ground," the Arizona senator insisted a day after a roadside bomb in Baghdad killed four U.S. soldiers and rockets pounded the U.S.-protected Green Zone there, and a wave of attacks left at least 61 Iraqis dead nationwide. The events transpired as bin Laden called on the people of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to 'help in support of their mujahedeen brothers in Iraq, which is the greatest opportunity and the biggest task.'"

Did McCain really say he agrees with Osama bin Laden? On the day the 4,000th American troop was killed in Iraq, McCain said, per NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy, "General Petraeus is correct when he says that the central battleground in the struggle against Al Qaeda is Iraq, and Osama bin Laden just confirmed that again with his comments last week," referring to a recent audio recording of bin Laden calling for support of the Mujahadeen in Iraq. 

McCain told reporters after his town hall, "Gen. Petraeus and I and Osama bin Laden are in agreement. It is hard to understand why Senator Clinton and Senator Obama do not understand that [Iraq is the central battleground]. I don't know if it is naiveté or what the problem is but it's obvious that they're dead wrong, and they're wrong when they say that we should leave Iraq immediately… and it's time that they acknowledge that the surge is succeeding and the benefits of success in Iraq will spread throughout the entire Middle East."

The al Qaeda-Iraq argument is a tack the RNC is also taking up against Clinton and Obama, as they wrote in one recent document e-mailed to media, entitled: "While Bin Laden Urges Followers To Fight In Iraq, Clinton And Obama Deny That It Is A Key Terrorist Battleground."

The DNC has been going after McCain on Iraq and his offhanded "100 years" comment, which is almost assuredly going to end up in ads.

Also, McCain is in California today and gives a speech on the economy. He acknowledges, per prepared remarks, "market turmoil" and that many are "feeling both concerned and angry." In answer to the question, "How did we get here?" McCain will say that a housing bubble was created by "the largest increase in home ownership in the past 50 years." To help the problem, he will call for "a meeting of the nation's accounting professionals to discuss the current mark to market accounting systems" and "a meeting of the nation's top mortgage lenders."

But notice the difference between McCain's tone and Clinton's housing speech from yesterday, in which she called for and Emergency Working group on Foreclosures… "Let's start with some straight talk," McCain will say. "I will not play election year politics with the housing crisis.  I will evaluate everything in terms of whether it might be harmful or helpful to our effort to deal with the crisis we face now.  I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.  Government assistance to the banking system should be based solely on preventing systemic risk that would endanger the entire financial system and the economy. 

"In our effort to help deserving homeowners, no assistance should be given to speculators. Any assistance for borrowers should be focused solely on homeowners, not people who bought houses for speculative purposes, to rent or as second homes.  Any assistance must be temporary and must not reward people who were irresponsible at the expense of those who weren't. I will consider any and all proposals based on their cost and benefits. In this crisis, as in all I may face in the future, I will not allow dogma to override common sense."

The AP on the upcoming speech: "McCain wants to leave the door open to a wide array of proposals to address the turmoil in home financing." More: "McCain seemed to suggest he would be open even to potential solutions that, perhaps, stray from the Republican party line, saying, 'I will consider any and all proposals based on their cost and benefits' and 'I will not allow dogma to override common sense.'" He will also call on lenders to help out their customers: " 'They've been asking the government to help them out,' McCain said of lenders. 'I'm now calling upon them to help their customers, and their nation, out.'"

More: "But the small-government advocate and four-term Arizona senator also put restrictions on how far he was willing to go."

The Boston Globe's Canellos calls these "good days" for McCain. "…[A]s the fifth anniversary of the war passed last week, the challenges for the Democrats loomed larger and support for McCain seemed more durable.

"Recent national polls have shown voters choosing McCain by large margins over Clinton and Obama as the candidate most capable of handling the war. A recent Gallup poll showed McCain favored on Iraq over Clinton and Obama by identical 54-to-40 margins. A Los Angeles Times poll had McCain over Clinton on the war by 51 to 35, and Obama by 47 to 34. Democrats view those numbers with suspicion, noting that McCain's views on Iraq are more hawkish than the public realizes, since they haven't been much in the news."

From Beirut, Reuters reports, "Arabs keen to see the end of George W. Bush's presidency fear that a win for likely Republican candidate John McCain will bring little change to U.S. policies they blame for destabilizing the Middle East. For Arab politicians who have gained from U.S. policy in countries including Iraq and Lebanon, continuity may be a good thing. But Bush's many critics in the Arab world worry that McCain will continue current U.S. policies, which they fault for unleashing chaos in Iraq and providing unflinching support for Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians."

McCain is set to appear on Letterman on Monday.

The NYT looks at the National Journal rating of Obama as the most liberal member of the Senate and the fallout it could cause. "In many ways, the Obama campaign is challenging the fundamental political premise that has prevailed in Washington for more than a generation: that any majority coalition must be carefully centrist, if not center-right. Bill Clinton ran in 1992 as a candidate willing to break with liberal orthodoxy on many issues, including crime and welfare, and eager to move the party -- which had lost five of the six previous presidential elections -- to the middle. Mr. Clinton's New Democrats assumed a certain level of conservatism among voters.

Mr. Obama and his allies are basing his campaign on a different bet: that the right-leaning political landscape Mr. Clinton confronted has changed. Several major Democratic strategists, and outside analysts as well, argue that the country has shifted to the left because of the Iraq war, the economy and seven-plus years of President Bush, and that it has become open to a new progressive majority."
 
McClatchy does a fact-check of sorts on Obama's senate record vs. his presidential rhetoric. "Obama says if he were president, he'd take politically courageous stands while forging the consensus needed to enact universal healthcare, immigration revisions, global warming legislation and a withdrawal from Iraq. His three-year record in the Senate, however, offers little evidence that he can do what he's promising. His party was in the minority for his first two years, and in the third he began campaigning for president and missed lots of time on Capitol Hill. He was absent from or only partly involved in some key bipartisan efforts to head off stalemates on judicial nominations, immigration and Iraq war policy."
 
In an interview with Carroll County, Iowa, columnist Doug Burns of the Iowa Independent, ex-Iowa Dem Chair/Obama Iowa co-chair Gordon Fischer says his hit on Pres. Clinton on the blue dress comment was wrong. "It was stupid, idiotic," Fischer said. "I deserve all the venom."
 
"In a phone interview, Fischer explained that anger with what he believed to be President Clinton's challenge to Obama's patriotism motivated the post on his blog and a challenging if not hostile comment on Facebook. The swirl of media attention has so far centered on the post on Fisher's personal blog in which he references Monica Lewinsky's infamous blue dress.
 
More Fischer: "He has removed the controversial post from his personal blog, iowatrueblue.com, but the Facebook comment is alive and readable. When asked if the "you are now on notice" line was a warning shot before the blog post or a threat of some other action, Fischer, a Des Moines employment lawyer who chaired the IDP from 2002 to 2004, said it was meant in a more general sense for both Obama and Clinton supporters whom he believes are engaging in damaging internacine warfare. 'The feeling I had was that some folks in both camps need to rein in the excesses,' Fischer said. 'I myself need to be reined in.'"

"The Obama campaign has sought to downplay Fischer's role with the Illinois senator, which nearly three months after the Iowa caucuses isn't that high-level now. But in the weeks before the Iowa caucuses the Obama campaign played up the Fischer endorsement, suggesting that it carried significant weight in what was then a three-candidate toss up between Obama, Hillary Clinton and former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C. Tonight, Fischer said he was never a co-chairman for Obama in Iowa, but rather a 'volunteer' -- and now a very 'humble' one." 
 
Obama plans to be on "The View" Friday. "Gabbing with Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Elizabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd is one way for Obama to make inroads with female voters," the http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/03/24/obama_mccain_to_make_stops_on_tv_shows/">AP writes. "His rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, has held the edge with women, capturing 51 percent of the female vote to 45 percent for Obama, according to exit polls for The Associated Press of the competitive Democratic primaries."

The AP went to the Virgin Islands to check in on Obama's family vacation. A little paparazzi-like… "Obama was keeping such a low profile that his presidential campaign would not say where he is staying. Local officials also were mum. An official at Government House in the capital, Charlotte Amalie, would only confirm that Obama was in St. Thomas, the most populated of the islands. Tourists said they saw him relaxing on the beach Sunday at a resort hotel there."

A little politics… "Last month, the territory gave him three delegates in the race for the Democratic nomination. Rival Hillary Rodham Clinton did not win a delegate at the caucuses. Six superdelegates will go to the August national convention; four back Clinton and two favor Obama."

Eliot Spitzer steps down after he's found linked to a high-priced prostitution ring. His successor -- a history making blind African American -- is widely hailed as a uniter not a divider by both sides. Then, we find out he and his wife have both had extramarital affairs and last night, in an interview with local TV station NY1, David Paterson admits to youthful marijuana and cocaine use. (The New York Post today dubs him Doobie Dave for it.)

Here's the transcript of part of the interview with NY1's Dominic Carter:
DC: "So now you're the governor of the state, have you ever used any illegal drugs, Governor Paterson?"

DP: "Actually, Dominic, I was in the audience [of a 2006 Democratic gubernatorial debate] and was asked the same question on camera after that interview and I answered in the affirmative."

DC: "You have?"

DP: "Yes."

DC: "Marijuana?"

DP: "Yes."

DC: "Cocaine?"

DP: "Yes"

DC: "You have used cocaine, governor?"

DP: "I'd say I was about 22 or 23. I tried it a couple of times."

DC: "When was the last time? Is that the only time?"

DP: "Yeah, it was around that time. A couple of times...and marijuana probably when I was about 20. I don't think I touched marijuana since the 70s."

DC: "Governor, we're not used to politicians being so forthright and honest. Honestly, they often lie. Why are you trying this different approach and putting your cards on the table?"

DP: "I think, inevitably, a good ethical decision is a good political decision.  A lot of people,  more Americans have tried a lot more during that period of time and gone on to lead responsible lives and hopefully have lived their lives to their fullest.  By the way, the answers I just gave you are the ones I gave you the night at the debate you moderated back in July of 2006."

DC: "I think you would agree it is an entirely different ball game when you're a candidate for lieutenant governor and when you're now the governor of the state."

DP: "Are you suggesting I would change my answer because I was governor than that when I gave when I was lieutenant governor?"

DC: "What I'm trying to say, governor, no matter who is the governor and lieutenant governor, people pay a lot more attention when you're the leader of the state, the actual leader."

DP: "I'm sure there is, but there is only one truth -- and that's what I told you."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Here's the latest fundraising e-mail effort in this livewire contest's war of vitriol...

Dear Friend,

Do you think Bill Clinton is like Joe McCarthy?

Of course you don't. Neither do I. But Barack Obama must because this past weekend, his campaign compared President Clinton to Joe McCarthy. Joe McCarthy!

Ever since we won in Ohio and Texas we have been seeing these kinds of personal attacks from the Obama campaign. It's hard to believe that a campaign that talks so much about changing the tenor of our politics would employ these kinds of tactics, but its the kind of thing we are seeing every day from Senator Obama and his campaign.

Here is just a small sample of the words they have used to describe Hillary and her campaign: "disingenuous," "divisive," "untruthful," "dishonest," and much more.

Well I'm not going to stand for it, and neither should you. There's no better way to fight back than to show your support for our campaign in the face of these attacks.

Click here to make a contribution and help us fight the negative attacks.

I appreciate everything you're doing to help Hillary win, and I know she does too. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Terry McAuliffe
Chairman, Hillary Clinton for President

From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
Here are some interesting quotes from two small Bill Clinton events in South Bend, Ind., this morning. The first is from a Dyngus Day celebration at the West Side Democratic Club:

"She can win this race, and we have got to win. And she will win in Florida. And I must say that this new strategy of denying and disempowering and disenfranchising the voters in Florida and Michigan is I believe a terrible mistake. Hillary believes their votes should be counted. And I don't know how we're gonna go to those people in the general election and say you gotta vote for us even though we dumped all over you in the primary. We let New Hampshire go out of turn. They had a Democratic Secretary of State. The Florida voters are totally innocent. They asked to vote on time. So for all those reasons I think she's the most electable."

VIDEO: Bill Clinton touts his wife's general election chances against McCain during a campaign stop in South Bend, Ind.

The second quote is from a Solidarity Day event at an Elks club:

"I think she can win the election. And I believe that she will win Ohio, Florida, West Virginia, and Arkansas -- four states that we have lost the last two times. If we win Ohio and Florida, it's inconceivable that we could lose the election. And I think that we are running the risk of throwing both Florida and Michigan away if she doesn't get nominated because of the events of the last few days where there has been a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise those voters. And don't you think there has not been a message there. Don't you think that they didn't get it?

"And Sen. McCain is not going to be easy to beat; he has always run well in Michigan. He will run pretty well in Florida. She can win.  Look, if we win these four states we will win the White House; there is no point in doing this if we are not going to win."

From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
BLUE BELL, Pa. -- In the first such event in weeks, Clinton revved up the crowd at a "Women for Hillary" rally outside Philadelphia Monday.

It was of no surprise to find the gym at Montgomery County Community College populated overwhelmingly by women. They made up about 90 percent of the crowd.

It's been a while since the New York senator hoping to become the first woman president has focused on issues of specific concern to women or held a woman-specific event.

She spent some time talking about the changing attitudes in the country and the erosion of barriers holding back women and others. She said the changes had allowed her and Obama to run for the Democratic nomination.

"I think that says a lot," she said. It says a lot about who we are as a party and who we are as a country."

Clinton brought back lines we haven't heard in a long time, like mentioning the women who come up to her and tell her they were born before women could vote but would live long enough to see a woman president. Variations on that phrase were common in the Iowa days.

Clinton said issues like the economy and health care were of special concern to women.

"Women make most of the healthcare decisions in America," she said. "For women, healthcare is a constant worry. You never can have it far from your mind, can you? Because you think about it all the time, 'What happens if--?' You know, I'm the designated worrier in my family and most women I know assume that role and the piece of mind that is never there because, can you let your son or your daughter play sports if you don't have health insurance? What if something happens?"

And the senator brought up the issue of equal pay, which she mentioned last week in West Virginia. She said April 22, the date of the Pennsylvania primary, was national "Equal Pay Day."

"I think it's pretty well-accepted that, still, women are not paid equally with men for doing the same jobs in America," she said, noting the average American woman made about 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. "This is a law that goes back to the early 1960s. This was signed by President Kennedy, and so, we need to finally, once and for all, say in America equality is important, and we're going to finally have equal pay for equal work in every job."

She went on to give her standard stump speech before taking questions from the audience.

NBC's Lauren Appelbaum adds that at the rally, Clinton emphasized her role as a woman -- comparing the role of a caretaker of the family to that of president of the United States.
 
"Marian [Tasco], Connie [Williams], and Allyson [Schwartz] know that the stakes are so high in this election because they work hard everyday to make a difference," Clinton said after the Philadelphia city councilwoman, state senator, and congresswoman introduced her. "It's kind of like what we try to do in our families, where each and every one of us gets up and does the best we can -- sometimes against some pretty daunting odds. Sometimes it's a problem you have to deal with. Sometimes it's an economic downturn or a health crisis."
 
Clinton is well known for saying, "It takes a village" to raise a child. The presidential hopeful took it one step further this afternoon. "A country is like a great big family where we have to work together," she said, "because we're better off if everybody's doing better."

From NBC/NJ's Matthew Berger
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- SEIU leaders said they are planning on focusing on "member-to-member" contacts throughout Pennsylvania, choosing not to air advertisements for Obama at this time.

"We think in Pennsylvania, the more workers can talk to workers, the more influential we can be," said Anna Burger, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer, in a conference call with reporters Monday.

There are more than 75,000 SEIU members in the Keystone State, and the union is setting up eight sites across Pennsylvania. The focus has been on registration through Monday, the deadline for residents to register to vote or change their party affiliation. The next step will be educating members.

While SEIU aired ads for Obama, shortly after announcing their national endorsement, before the Ohio primary, they are not planning to go on television or radio in Pennsylvania at this time. "But that could change," Burger said.

"We think the candidates are spending so much on the air, it's more important for us to be on the door and on the ground," she said.

After a compressed primary schedule earlier this year, union officials said the extra time has allowed them to ensure their membership rolls are up to date and to better organize themselves in the field, which lessened the need for media buys. Burger said members have been spontaneously reaching out to union officials, interested in the race and getting involved.

When asked if Obama could win the union vote in Pennsylvania, with polls showing Clinton at a 15-point advantage, Burger said she thought "we can narrow the gap."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
On the heels of the news that the U.S. death toll in Iraq has risen to 4,000, the Clinton and Obama campaigns issued statements. Here they are:

CLINTON: "Five years after the start of the war in Iraq, there have now been 4,000 U.S. military deaths in Iraq. On this solemn day, we remember the sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform. We honor the tens of thousands more who have suffered wounds both visible and invisible, wounds that scar bodies and minds, and hearts as well. We honor the sacrifices of their families, a price paid in empty places at the dinner table, in the struggle to raise children alone, in the wrenching reversal of parents burying children.

"In the last five years, our soldiers have done everything we asked of them and more. They were asked to remove Saddam Hussein from power and bring him to justice and they did. They were asked to give the Iraqi people the opportunity for free and fair elections and they did. They were asked to give the Iraqi government the space and time for political reconciliation, and they did. So for every American soldier who has made the ultimate sacrifice for this mission, we should imagine carved in stone: 'They gave their life for the greatest gift one can give to a fellow human being, the gift of freedom.'

"I recall the great honor of meeting many of our brave men and women who have served our country. In meeting them, I am always struck by how, no matter how great their suffering, no matter how grave their own injuries, they always say the same thing to me: "Promise that you'll take care of my buddies. They're still over there. Promise you'll keep them safe."
I have looked those men and women in the eye. I have made that promise. And I intend to honor it by bringing a responsible end to this war, and bringing our troops home safely."

OBAMA: "It is with great sadness that we have reached another grim milestone in Iraq, with at least 4,000 of our finest Americans having been killed. Each death is a tragedy, and we honor every fallen American and send our thoughts and prayers to their families. It is past time to end this war that should never have been waged by bringing our troops home, and finally pushing Iraq's leaders to take responsibility for their future. As we do, we must serve the memory of all who have died as well as they served our country, by providing support for their families, caring for our troops and veterans, and upholding the American values which our fallen heroes exemplified through their service."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Obama adviser Gordon Fischer invoked the Monica Lewinsky scandal on his blog while defending another adviser's likening of Bill Clinton to Joe McCarthy, saying Bill Clinton has put "a stain on his legacy, much worse, much deeper, than the one on Monica's blue dress."

He has since apologized for the comment.

"B. Clinton questions Obama's patriotism. In repsonse, an Obama aide compared B. Clinton to Joe McCarthy. This is patently unfair. To McCarthy,"
Fischer, a former Iowa Democratic Party chairman who was seen as a key Iowa pick up for Obama, wrote on his blog. "When Joe McCarthy questioned others' patriotism, McCarthy (1) actually believed, at least aparently, the questions were genuine, and (2) he did so in order to build up, not tear down, his own party, the GOP. Bill Clinton cannot possibly seriously believe Obama is not a patriot, and cannot possibly be said to be helping -- instead he is hurting -- his own party.  B. Clinton should never be forgiven.  Period.  This is a stain on his legacy, much worse, much deeper, than the one on Monica's blue dress."

He later wrote ABC News, part of which he posted on his blog: "On my individual blog, I made a stupid comment.  I sincerely apologize for a tasteless and gratituous comment I made here about President Clinton. It was unnecessary and wrong. I have since deleted the comment, and again apologize for making it. It will not happen again. I hope my readers will accept my apology and we can move on to the very important issues facing our state and country. Thank you."

"A sincere apology is always a good thing," Clinton Communication Director Howard Wolfson said in a conference call with reporters. "But I don't know why he would apologize; it seems consistent with the kind of campaign the Obama campaign is trying to run."

From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- Clinton called for a non-partisan federal emergency working group on home foreclosures that would meet to figure out how best to deal with the mortgage crisis.

The senator catalogued the problems facing the economy, including high gas prices, job losses and the credit crunch that has stemmed from problems in the mortgage market and said "confidence" was the currency of the American economy that the federal government should take stronger steps to shore it up.

"How do we keep today's turmoil from spiraling into a long and painful recession?" Clinton asked in her opening remarks.

She said more than 10 percent of all homeowners were struggling with mortgages underwater, a figure she said was the highest percentage since the Great Depression.

VIDEO: Clinton lays out her policy for combating the home foreclosure crisis during a speech in Philadelphia, Pa.

Clinton went on to repeat her call for a moratorium on home foreclosures and said she supported the legislation introduced by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) that would expand the government's capacity to guarantee new loans from banks that help families facing foreclosure. She also said a government entity like the Federal Housing Authority may have to act as a temporary purchaser of mortgages.

"In order to determine whether the approach outlined by Sen. Dodd and Rep. Frank is sufficient or whether we need the government to step in as a purchaser, I'm calling on Pres. Bush to appoint an Emergency Working group on Foreclosures," the senator said.

She said the country could not wait until Congress passed legislation to help families in need. She proposed the working group be led by "a distinguished, non-partisan group of economic leaders" like Alan Greenspan, Paul Volcker and Robert Rubin and that it be required to report back to Congress within three weeks.

The senator proposed new legislation to clarify legal liability for mortgage servicers to help more of them work with homeowners, and she repeated her call for $30 billion to help hard-hit states and localities to fight foreclosures.

With still a month to go before the Keystone State votes in the April 22nd primary, the senator has been campaigning heavily in the state, often focusing on so-called kitchen table issues like jobs, the economy and the mortgage crisis. She plans several events here today and tomorrow.

Clinton began her speech this morning by mentioning Iraq, where deaths over the weekend brought the toll after five years to 4,000.

"I want to take a moment to note yesterday's heartbreaking news, that five years after the start of the war, there have now been 4,000 U.S. military deaths in Iraq," clinton said. "Tens of thousands of our brave men and woman have also suffered serious wounds both visible and invisible, to their bodies their minds and their hearts as president I intend to honor their extraordinary service and the sacrifice of them and their families by ending this war and bring them home as quickly and responsibly as possible."

From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan
Trying to set the tone of the day again, the Obama campaign held a morning conference call to push back against Clinton's speech this morning on leadership in the economy.

Campaign manager David Plouffe claimed that Clinton couldn't change the system, when she was "wallowing" in special interest influence and money. He cited issue break-out sessions lobbyists had paid to attend with Clinton as well as ties to the financial industry, which he claimed would make it difficult for her to provide real reform.

Looking more broadly at the state of the race and the delegate count, Plouffe claimed that the Clinton campaign tried to create a new rationale every day for how the nominee should be selected. "Next, it will be that only states starting with 'N' should count" toward picking the nominee, Plouffe said.

He also acknowledged, after prodding, that Gen. McPeak's comments, which compared Bill Clinton to Joe McCarthy, didn't have a place in the race, but adamantly insisted that the Clinton campaign had a habit of making inappropriate comments and then saying their meaning was misinterpreted.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
It's back to Hollywood for Fred Thompson. The as-seen-on-TV candidate, who dropped out after his once-vaunted presidential run faded, has been signed by a high-powered Hollywood agency.

The "William Morris Agency announced this week that it has signed the actor/politician, signaling a return to the screen for the former senator from Tennessee," the AP reports.

Maybe he can become president in 2008 after all -- even if it is just pretend.

From Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro
*** Clinton's day: The candidates have been taking a breather. Clinton was down all weekend, and Obama has left the continental U.S. for some quality time with the family and won't check back in until Wednesday. (BTW, since he's reportedly so close, will Obama stop off in Puerto Rico on his way home? But we digress). It should be a slow week but noting that we've said THAT before. As for today, it is Clinton's day. She could dominate the news cycle with a major speech on the housing crisis in Pennsylvania. On this issue, Clinton has devoted more campaign time to the issue than either Obama or McCain. It's potentially in Clinton's wheelhouse for a number of reasons: (1) She's seen as the candidate of policy positions; she's bread and butter not inspiration and that could play well with Pennsylvania's blue-collar housing-nervous electorate and (2) Her last name is a solid credential on the economy. While Clinton's tried to (sometimes clumsily; see Bosnia) claim foreign policy experience in her days as First Lady, the real benefit she should be figuring out how to get out of the Clinton presidential years is credit on the economy; those were the real successes of the Clinton year; if anything foreign policy was, at best, a mixed bag and only now being seen in a more positive light by some because of the current president.
 
*** "All this other stuff..." Bill Clinton's Friday afternoon comments about why he thinks a Clinton-McCain contest will be better for the country has been viewed by Obama supporters has an attack on the candidate's patriotism. But be sure to focus on this phrase, "all this other stuff" intruding on the campaign and less on the "loves America" line. Wasn't Clinton sending another message to the crowd of older, white male voters? (Remember, he was at a VFW and there was barely a member of the audience under 60, according to our reporter in the field)? The message: That if you don't want to talk about race, then Clinton's the candidate; if you do want race intruding into the campaign, then support Obama. There are many older, white voters, while sympathetic to Obama's message on race, don't want to be reminded to take their medicine and the subtle message Clinton may actually have been sending was just that, support Clinton and avoid taking your race medicine.

VIDEO: NBC Political Director Chuck Todd discusses the Clinton campaign's reaction to Gov. Bill Richardson's endorsement of Obama last week.
 
*** The latest spin: So yesterday on the Sunday shows, two Clinton surrogates made their latest case to the superdelegates, which is, add up the electoral votes of the states won by Clinton vs. the states won by Obama. Why this metric? Because it is the only metric the Clinton campaign has come up with yet has her ahead: she's behind in popular vote, behind in delegates earned JUST through primaries and behind in pledged delegates. Of course, keep in mind, two of Kerry's final primary victories in '04 which essentially drove everyone out of the race (though the candidates did fight through Wisconsin) was Virginia and Tennessee; Kerry didn't carry either state. The motivation to use this Electoral College talking point is yet another attempt by the Clinton camp to discount some of Obama's small-state victories because Obama's won nearly twice the number of states. If you recall, in '00, during the recount dispute, the Bush campaign made sure the country saw that county-by-county map from around the country which showed the country in a sea of red. Obama's victory map, right now, looks more impressive than Clinton's visually. By the way, one other point, there's a reason Clinton's done well in bigger states, and that's time. Obama starts off behind some 15-20 points in most of these big states; when he campaigns in the state, he always closes the gap to a point. But is the de facto lever pull for less informed Dems Clinton until Obama spends an enormous amount of money? Just asking...
 
*** Hello, my name is…: The NYT's/CNBC's John Harwood curtain raises the planned re-introduction of McCain to the American populace. Campaign Manager Rick "Davis's plan involves laying a sturdier foundation for Mr. McCain's positive, but relatively shallow, public image," Harwood writes. "It starts in earnest on March 31 with a 'Service for America' tour, intended to link the senator's biography with his values and policy stances. Along the way, it will underscore life events that occurred in battleground states -- like Virginia, where Mr. McCain attended high school, and Florida, where he trained as a Navy pilot. He will address the dominant domestic issue with events in April promoting his economic agenda." In addition, McCain will also continue to try and put together a campaign infrastructure; He still doesn't have a pollster and he may need a new media consultant since Mark McKinnnon has said he won't work against Obama. By the way, will conservative talk radio take a break from Rev. Wright to discuss the NYT piece about McCain's two flirtations with leaving the GOP? Our guess: no. What's done is done; had the GOP primary still been active when this story hit, then maybe this would have become a hot topic.
 
*** California going e-Bay? Speaking of the McCain team, get to know e-Bay CEO Meg Whitman, who may be using her role as National co-chair of McCain's campaign to size up a California governor's run in 2010. The L.A. Times has the scoop (Addendum: Actually, our friends at the Cailfornia Target Book broke the news of Whitman's interest in running for governor back in December) on the pro-choice businesswoman who wasn't a registered Republican for much of her time in California. The state GOP is always looking for a non-conforming party person to run for statewide office and it looks like Whitman is the current dream candidate for 2010.
 
*** Dyngus Day: Sometimes we wish we worked for Stewart or Conan or Jay or Dave or even Jimmy. Why? Because of days like this. Bill Clinton is in Indiana (with Chelsea), celebrating Dyngus Day, which according to one Google search, is a Polish holiday where guys get to drench gals in water. (Seriously, we're not making this up!); Apparently tomorrow, gals get to throw dishes at the guys. Just what part of Dyngus Day will Bill Clinton take part in? Ok, sorry, couldn't help ourselves, but seriously...

*** The Delegate Count: Obama leads Clinton 1,626-1,506 overall. This includes the pledged count of Obama 1,408, Clinton 1,251 and the superdelegate count of Clinton 255, Obama 218. in the popular vote, Obama is ahead 13,405,271-12,706,194.
 
*** On the trail: Today is the last day voters in Pennsylvania voters can register to vote as Dems to participate in the 4/22 Dem primary. Clinton makes three stops in Pennsylvania, including her housing speech; McCain has two California fundraisers and holds a town hall there; Bill Clinton makes five stops in Indiana (including Dyngus Day celebrations); and Obama is on family vacation.
 
Countdown to Pennsylvania: 29 days
Countdown to North Carolina, Indiana: 43 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 225 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 302 days
 
Click here to sign up for First Read emails.  
 
Text FIRST to 622639 to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.

The Washington Post does some resume busting on both Obama and Clinton, writing about instances where both Clinton and Obama embellished their roles in various policy fights. 
 
AP: "Clinton and Barack Obama took a much-needed rest from their presidential campaigns on Easter Sunday as their tight race for the Democratic nomination looked set to drag on for months. Republican John McCain, who has locked up his party's nomination, returned from an overseas trip where he tried to polish his foreign policy credentials and prepared for a fundraising swing through Western states this week." More: "Clinton took Friday through Sunday off from active campaigning and was scheduled to resume events in Pennsylvania on Monday. Obama, who campaigned in Oregon on Saturday, was taking a vacation with his family and would not return to active campaigning until Wednesday in North Carolina."
 
Sen. Arlen Specter urged Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate the passport breaches of all three presidential candidates, "saying the breach could be a violation of several federal criminal statutes. Specter also indicated that the Judiciary Committee might take a look as well. 'Privacy is a very fundamental matter. And if you can't have privacy for Senator McCain and Senator Clinton and Senator Obama, so what's the average person facing?' he said." 
 
The Boston Globe profiles James Roosevelt, co-chairman of the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee. He was called "unflappable" and "perfect" for the job by supporters of both Clinton and Obama. When it's formed in June, Roosevelt will also co-chair the convention credentials committee, which is where the Florida-Michigan fight goes if it's not settled beforehand. Roosevelt "is going to have to be Jesus and Moses all at the same time, and maybe Solomon, too," said Don Fowler, the 1995 party chairman, who appointed Roosevelt to the RBC co-chairmanship. 
 
Salon's Walter Shapiro laments the Dem primary calendar. "With more than five months to the Denver Convention, the problem for the Democrats remains the crazy-quilt schedule that caused far too many to vote too soon. That is the real buyer's remorse -- a front-loaded political calendar that has turned most partisan Democrats into now-irrelevant bystanders just when a real decision is needed."
 
NORTH CAROLINA: NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann notes, Obama may be favored to win here based on demographics, but the Carolina press corps is not shy about painting this one as a squeaker. Recent articles call the race "unexpectedly tight."
PENNSYLVANIA: The Boston Globe reports on Obama's goal securing the popular vote lead. "Obama's campaign has given every indication that he does not expect to win the most delegates when Pennsylvania votes on April 22, due to an overwhelmingly white, working-class electorate that has already given Hillary Clinton a sizable lead in some polls. But Obama's team has put to work an intense registration program designed to achieve a broader strategic goal: limiting the scale of Clinton's win to maintain Obama's national edge in the number of total votes cast in the Democratic primaries. 
 
The Washington Times notes the two Dem candidates may be pressed on their gun stances by Philly Dem leaders. Of course, what city leaders want to hear about guns may not be what rural leaders want to hear.
 
NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan notes today marks the last day that voters in Pennsylvania can change their registration to vote in the closed Democratic primary on April 22nd. It's a critical date for the Obama campaign, which has been running a not quite under the radar voter registration drive, aggressively recruiting Independents and Republicans to participate in the Democratic primary. For the week of March 10th alone, 22,152 people changed their registration to Democratic, according to the Pennsylvania Secretary of State's website. Since February 5th, the number of newly registered Democrats has spiked, with several thousand registering every week. The campaign's effort in recruiting volunteers through email appeals to supporters is clearly working. From mid February when over 4,800 Democrats had changed their party, the number nearly doubled by the first week of March when over 8,600 voters registered as Democrats.
 
But in looking at the numbers, there should be a word of caution before assuming that Republicans and Independents could tip the Democratic primary. New voter applications have also spiked. The week of the Potomac primaries, over 10,000 people registered to vote, when Obama was riding high on a winning streak. That number was doubled on the week of March 10th, when over 20,000 people registered to vote following Clinton's wins in Texas and Ohio. Several thousand voters have been registering to vote in Pennsylvania every week since the first of the year.
 
Some more PA news and notes from NBC/NJ's state-based reporter Matthew Berger:
Obama says he's going to treat Pennsylvania like it's Iowa. "Hopefully, I'm going to be able to go back to that style of meeting people one-on-one and in small groups, having conversations," Obama said in an interview with The Inquirer late Friday. "That approach works well for me."

*Obama spent about $330,000 to run the new ads in Philadelphia through today's voter registration deadline. 
 
*The 60-second ad, "Opportunity," focuses on his work for change. His two 30-second ads key in on his efforts to taking on special interests and uniting Democrats and Republicans. 
 
*Both campaigns registered voters throughout the weekend. "According to state voting records, Democratic registration has soared across the state since last fall. From November through March 10, enrollment has increased by 111,000 - a roughly 3 percent bump." 
 
*Allentown mayor Ed Pawlowski hasn't endorsed yet, and said he'll likely endorse the first candidate to make their way to his neighborhood.

Clinton hits the trail today in Philly to give what the campaign is billing as a major speech. She'll unveil a four-part plan to address underwater mortgages, the broader housing crisis and credit crisis. She'll call for a broader government role in buying out underwater mortgages and protecting homeowners. Clinton has consistently talked more about this issue more than either of her two foes, Obama or McCain. (See excerpts below.)
 
Meanwhile, Bill and Chelsea hit Indiana all day today. They'll be there for something called Dyngus Day. According to one Google search, Dyngus Day is a day where guys get to drench gals in water; apparently tomorrow, gals get to throw dishes at the guys. It's a Polish holiday. Of course, what part of Dyngus Day will Bill Clinton take part in?
 
The newest Clinton campaign talking point to justify how superdelegates can vote for Clinton over Obama: the number of electoral votes Clinton has won in her primary/caucus wins vs. Obama. Both Evan Bayh and Ed Rendell tested out this talking point on Sunday shows.
 
"So far, Mrs. Clinton has won states with a total of 219 Electoral College votes, not counting Florida and Michigan, while Mr. Obama has won states with a total of 202 electoral votes." 
 
This is the only metric the Clinton campaign has come up with yet has her ahead: she's behind in popular vote, behind in delegates earned JUST through primaries and behind in pledged delegates.
 
Of course, keep in mind, two of Kerry's final primary victories in '04 which essentially drove everyone out of the race (though the candidates did fight through Wisconsin) was Virginia and Tennessee; Kerry didn't carry either state. The motivation to use this Electoral College talking point is yet another attempt by the Clinton camp to discount some of Obama's small-state victories because Obama's won nearly twice the number of states. If you recall, in '00, during the recount dispute, the Bush campaign made sure the country saw that county-by-county map from around the country which showed the country in a sea of red. Obama's victory map, right now, looks more impressive than Clinton's visually. 
 
The WSJ goes through the details of the financial reports released on 3/21 via the FEC and finds that Clinton has a big time cash problem; two-thirds of the cash-on-hand total reported by Clinton is untouchable because it's general election money. This may explain why Clinton isn't yet on the air with any TV ads.

Clinton housing speech excerpts to be delivered today in Philadelphia:
"Ultimately, the true currency of today's American economy is confidence. When people lose confidence in the economy -- and our President's ability to manage it -- problems become crises, and crises lead to more crises.

"So we need a President who can restore our confidence. A President who is ready to confront complex economic problems with comprehensive solutions…working to prevent crises, rather than just reacting to them once it's too late. We need a President who is ready on day one to be Commander-in-Chief of our economy. If you give me the chance, I will be that President.

"I will start by facing our economic situation as it is, not as we hope or wish it would be. That means acknowledging that our economic crisis is, at its core, a housing crisis.

…

"Your home isn't just your greatest source of wealth – it's your greatest source of security. It's what anchors you to your neighborhood and community. It's the center of your family.

…
 
"Over the past week, we've seen unprecedented action to maintain confidence in our credit markets and head off a crisis for Wall Street Banks. It's now time for equally aggressive action to help families avoid foreclosure and keep communities across this country from spiraling into recession.

"Today, I am announcing my four part plan to Protect American Homeowners: A plan to help our families keep their homes and help communities hard hit by the housing crisis get back on their feet.

…

"The time for action is now -- not a month from now, or a year from now -- but right now. And the reality is that many of our families need more than just basic refinancing. That's why I support new legislation proposed by my colleagues, Representative Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd, that would expand the government's capacity to stand behind mortgages that are reworked on affordable terms…

"...The Frank-Dodd legislation would…[set] up an auction system for mortgage companies that hold hundreds of thousands of these mortgages. Through this system, these companies could sell mortgages in bulk to banks and other buyers. The buyers would be willing to purchase these mortgages – and restructure them to make them affordable for families – because they know the government will guarantee them once they're reworked…

"…But given the severity of today's housing crisis, simply facilitating this auction process might not be enough to get our economy moving again. That's why I believe the Federal Housing Administration should also stand ready to be a temporary buyer -- to purchase, restructure, and resell underwater mortgages.

"Just as it has in the past, this kind of temporary measure by the government could give our economy the boost it needs and families the help they need. It would not require a single new government bureaucracy, and would be designed to be self-financing over time -- so it would cost taxpayers nothing in the long run. It is a sensible way for everyone -- lenders, investors, mortgage companies and borrowers -- to share responsibility, keep families in their homes, and stabilize our communities and our economy.

"In order to determine whether the approach outlined by Representative Frank and Senator Dodd is sufficient -- or whether we need government to step in as a purchaser -- I am calling on President Bush to appoint an emergency working group on foreclosures. That is the second part of my plan.  
 
"We simply cannot wait until Congress passes legislation to find the best way to help millions of families restructure their mortgages on affordable terms. That's why I'm proposing an Emergency Working Group on Foreclosures that could be led by a distinguished, non-partisan group of economic leaders like Alan Greenspan, Paul Volcker and Robert Rubin. This is the kind of proactive step that would help re-establish confidence in our economy by showing that this Administration was taking our economic crisis seriously.

…

"Just over a month ago, Congress passed, and President Bush signed, a $168 billion stimulus package. But this package did next to nothing to help homeowners and communities struggling with foreclosure. Congress is trying to combat a recession caused by the housing crisis without doing anything to address that crisis.

"Well, if the Fed can extend $30 billion to help Bear Stearns address their financial crisis, the federal government should provide at least that much emergency assistance to help families and communities address theirs."

The Washington Post looks at the "tightrope" McCain is walking in regards to Pres. Bush. "Throughout a week-long trip that took him to more than a dozen meetings with leaders in five countries, McCain walked a fine line on Iraq and other issues as the all-but-certain Republican nominee confronted perhaps the central dilemma of his presidential campaign -- the question of what role Bush and the legacy of the past seven years will play in his campaign for the White House."
 
More: "At home, the answer may determine how well McCain succeeds in keeping his Republican base happy while also attracting the independents and Democrats he will need to win in November. And, win or lose, it will shape his image abroad, where a debate is already raging over whether a McCain presidency would be a de facto third term for the embattled incumbent." 
 
NYT's Harwood has some details of what McCain's spring is going to look like. "The visible part of Mr. Davis's plan involves laying a sturdier foundation for Mr. McCain's positive, but relatively shallow, public image. It starts in earnest on March 31 with a "Service for America" tour, intended to link the senator's biography with his values and policy stances. Along the way, it will underscore life events that occurred in battleground states -- like Virginia, where Mr. McCain attended high school, and Florida, where he trained as a Navy pilot. He will address the dominant domestic issue with events in April promoting his economic agenda.
 
"Drawing attention amid the Clinton-Obama battle will not be easy. Mr. Davis counts on regional news media coverage from Mr. McCain's travels and on the instinct for the spotlight of "the best earned-media candidate in history."
 
"The campaign plans cable television advertising, but only a little, because Mr. McCain is demonstrably not the best candidate in history at raising money. The $12 million he collected in February was less than a quarter of the $55 million for Mr. Obama, of Illinois. To close that gap, the campaign has scheduled a dozen fund-raising events for the next week alone and promises a similar pace throughout the spring."
 
More: "Another priority is to bolster Mr. McCain's campaign infrastructure, which has been skeletal since his 2007 fund-raising collapsed. His early triumph in the nominating process allowed him to install operatives at the Republican National Committee, who in tandem with White House political aides can help with strategic planning.
 
"Yet Mr. McCain still does not have a pollster, and his ad maker, Mark McKinnon, has said he will not work against Mr. Obama's bid to become the first black president. Other aides expect Mr. McKinnon to overcome his reluctance, but some Republicans outside the campaign worry about the pace of organizational progress."
 
"The senator from Arizona has spent $58.4 million on his Republican primary effort. Those who have committed to public financing can spend no more than $54 million on their primary bid. McCain's lawyers contend that the spending cap no longer applies." More: "But David Mason, chairman of the commission, wrote to McCain's campaign last month to alert him that the commission had not yet granted that withdrawal request, and that the commission would first have to vote on the matter. One snag is that the commission has four vacancies and therefore lacks a quorum to consider the matter." 
 
The AP Sunday took a look back at McCain's involvement in the Keating Five. "Sen. John McCain's ethics entanglement with a wealthy banker ultimately convicted of swindling investors was such a disturbing, formative experience in his political career that he compares the scandal in some ways to the five years he was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
 
" 'I faced in Vietnam, at times, very real threats to life and limb,' McCain told The Associated Press. 'But while my sense of honor was tested in prison, it was not questioned. During the Keating inquiry, it was, and I regretted that very much.'" 
 
USA Today also does an examination of the number of lobbyists helping McCain that have ties to the telecom industry which had a lot of business with McCain in his days leading the Commerce Committee. "McCain has netted about $765,000 in political donations from those telecom lobbyists, their spouses, colleagues at their firms and their telecom clients during the past decade, a USA Today analysis of campaign-finance records shows.
 
"It's unclear how much more money those lobbyists have raised for McCain. Eighteen of them are listed by the campaign as "bundlers," which are major fundraisers. McCain doesn't disclose how much each bundler has raised -- unlike Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, who categorize their bundlers by the amount they raise. For example, Clinton's "Hillraisers" have brought in more than $100,000 each."
 
Will conservative talk radio pick up on this story today or stick with Rev. Wright? The NYT goes through the two instances in McCain's career where he almost left the GOP. "What Mr. McCain almost never mentions are two extraordinary moments in his political past that are at odds with the candidate of the present: His discussions in 2001 with Democrats about leaving the Republican Party, and his conversations in 2004 with Senator John Kerry about becoming Mr. Kerry's running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket.
 
"There are wildly divergent versions of both episodes, depending on whether Democrats or Mr. McCain and his advisers are telling the story. The Democrats, including Mr. Kerry, say that not only did Mr. McCain express interest but that it was his camp that initially reached out to them. Mr. McCain and his aides counter that in both cases the Democrats were the suitors and Mr. McCain the unwilling bride.
 
"Either way, the episodes shed light on a bitter period in Mr. McCain's life after the 2000 presidential election, when he was, at least in policy terms, drifting away from his own party. They also offer a glimpse into his psychological makeup and the difficulties in putting a label on his political ideology over many years in the Senate."
 
Get to know e-Bay CEO Meg Whitman, who may be using her role as nat'l co-chair of McCain's campaign to size up a CA GOV run in 2010. "The McCain-Whitman alliance could be beneficial to both of them. By the end of this experience ... she'll have a real good idea of what she'd have to go through herself to win an election in a state the size of California," said Republican strategist Rob Stutzman, a former California campaign advisor to Romney. Republican consultant Don Sipple said Whitman would get to know political donors "that she will need to tap if she was to pursue a political career of her own."
 
"Whitman's fundraising skills and connections in Silicon Valley are an obvious asset to McCain, who raised $11 million in February -- compared with the combined $90 million taken in by his Democratic opponents. McCain's team is also trying to broaden his appeal among professional women as well as bolster his economic credentials. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina was recently named to lead the Republican National Committee's political and fundraising efforts for the 2008 campaign."
 
More: "Little is known about Whitman's political views; until recently she was registered as an independent. She grew up in a Republican family on Long Island. But when she moved from New York to California in 1980, she said, 'I had voted Republican most of the time, but I wasn't entirely sure -- and I thought 'You know what, let's just do decline-to-state.'
 
"She wasn't politically active until Romney called in late 2006, she said. She met McCain when he spoke to a group of EBay users she had accompanied to Washington to talk about small-business issues. The Arizona senator called Whitman seeking her help after Romney suspended his campaign. Whitman lines up with McCain on many issues -- although she said she doesn't agree with his call for overturning the abortion rights decision Roe vs. Wade."

The story was broken back in December by our friends at Cailfornia Target Book, who wrote then, "Sources say that MEG WHITMAN, the President and CEO of eBay and a Republican, was in Sacramento recently to have discussions on a possible race for governor in 2010. Whitman, 51, whose worth is estimated at $1.4 billion, also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Procter & Gamble and Dream Works Animation.

"She attended Princeton University as an undergraduate and received an MBA from Harvard Business School. She is married to Dr. Griffith R. Harsh IV, a prominent neurosurgeon. They have two children. Whitman has made several political contributions in the past, including Orrin Hatch, Charles Pickering and George Allen. She is a supporter of former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney for President and is serving on his national finance team."
 
The DNC is unveiling a new web site today called "McCain vs. McCain." From the DNC release: "McCain will appear in a series of debates to be broadcast on www.mccaindebates.com. The one candidate in this debate who could beat John McCain, is John McCain himself. As the two McCains square off, the American people will have the opportunity to hear the old McCain and the new McCain for themselves." More: "The McCain vs. McCain debates will be held over the coming weeks, with the first debate to be held today on Iraq."

The Washington Times looks at a fact that has been largely overlooked the last six weeks: the amount of outside special interest money that has benefited Obama, particularly unions like SEIU. 
 
Obama gave an interview with Philly radio talk show host Michael Smerconish that airs today. Obama, asked if he ever spoke with Rev. Wright about some of his controversial views, said, "I'll be honest with you, I didn't have that many conversations with him over the last year just because I've been so busy. I haven't been going to church. I wasn't hearing a lot of these comments. In fact, the ones that are most offensive are ones that I just never knew about until they were reported on.
 
"I had conversations with him in the past -- in fact from the day that I first met him -- about some of his views. But understand this, something else that I think has not gotten reported on enough, is despite these very offensive views, this guy has built one of the finest churches in Chicago. It's not some crackpot church. I mean, witness the fact that Bill Clinton invited him to the White House when he was having his personal crises.
 
"This is a pillar of the community and if you go there this Easter Sunday and you sat down in the pew, you'd think, 'Well this is just like any other church.' You got kids and little girls with bows in their hair and people dressed in their Sunday finest. They're talking about Jesus and the Resurrection.
 
"So I don't want to suggest that somehow this was...the loop that you've been seeing typified services all the time. But that's the danger of the YouTube era. It doesn't excuse what he said, but it is to just give it some perspective so people understand."
 
The New York Post reports on how Rev. Jeremiah Wright's replacement took the controversy. "The Rev. Otis Moss III, used the opportunity of his Easter sermon yesterday to lash out at the scrutiny his retiring predecessor has received. Fox News reported yesterday that Moss called the negative media attention focused on Wright 'a public lynching,' and he made clear that he thought the church owed no apologies.
 
" 'If I was Ice Cube, I'd say it a little differently: 'You picked the wrong folk to mess with,' " Moss said."
 
The New York Daily News reports that the Rev. Calvin Butts, the leader of Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church, weighed in on the controversy surrounding Wright in his Easter homily. "Jeremiah Wright said some uncharacteristically ugly things because this nation has been uncharacteristically ugly towards black people," Butts said. "Being critical of America, that is nothing to condemn someone about. There have been black and white preachers who have been critical of America." But, he said, "What [Wright] said about America, that was a little strong coming from the pulpit. ... You can't just cuss like that from the pulpit." 
 
And Richardson as "Judas"? After James Carville was quoted as calling Richardson Judas for backing Obama, Richardson said, "You know, that's typical of many of the people around Sen. Clinton. They think they have a sense of entitlement to the presidency."
 
The Chicago Sun-Times' Sweet has the scoop from the Obama campaign on the full release of its national finance committee. How long before the Clinton campaign or others have dossiers on some of these folks? These are folks are bigger than just the bundlers they regularly release the names of. "Members of Obama's NFC have been invited to special briefings with Obama and his advisors, were given priority in getting into Oprah Winfrey's fund-raiser at her home near Santa Barbara, Calif. and have been encouraged to travel to primary and caucus states to volunteer knocking on doors and at phonebanks."
 
Some names are very familiar, including ex-CA GOV candidate Steve Westly; former Commerce Sec. Bill Daley; big time Boston fundraiser Alan Solomont; movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg; and one-time Obama senate rival Dan Hynes. 
 
The L.A. Times does some early adulthood profiling of Obama. 
 
AP: "Prominent supporters of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama yesterday both faulted Obama's campaign for allowing a retired general and backer of the Illinois senator to equate comments by Clinton's husband - which appeared to question Obama's patriotism -- to McCarthyism." 
 
The AP on Sunday wrapped Obama's "tough" and "turbulent" last couple of weeks. "Obama refers to the past couple of weeks as a tough, turbulent stretch. And why not? His foreign policy adviser quit for calling Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton a 'monster.' Then he had to distance himself from his longtime pastor's fiery statements, a controversy that threatened his image as a uniter. He trails in polls in the upcoming Pennsylvania primary. Obama also watched his lead wither in national opinion surveys." But it "could have been worse," the AP writes.
 
"Obama received generally favorable reviews for his somber speech on the nation's racial divide, though it didn't completely silence the criticism over his former pastor's rhetoric. Then Florida and Michigan indicated they would not hold new primaries to replace the contests that favored Clinton but violated party rules. Campaign finance reports showed him far ahead in the money race. And finally, he picked up the much sought-after endorsement of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson -- one Clinton also had coveted."

Meet Roger Stone. A long time attack dog of Eliot Spitzer's, "who boasts of being the sleaziest man in American politics" and who predicted Spitzer "wouldn't serve his full term."
 
"The comments didn't draw much attention at the time since Stone was a well-known enemy of Spitzer who worked for the governor's nemesis, Majority Leader Joe Bruno," the New York Daily News reports. "Nobody knew that Stone had already tipped off the feds to Spitzer's high-priced hooker habit in a Nov. 19 letter to the FBI. It also cattily mentioned the governor's fetish for having sex with socks on. It's unclear whether the prosecutors knew anything about Spitzer's involvement in the Emperors Club VIP call girl ring when Stone wrote the letter."

From NBC's Abigail Williams and Frank Thorp
After telling the American public for the last month that he is stepping out of the mess of political life,  Sen. Chuck Hagel spent the morning telling those left in office how to clean up after he's gone.

Invoking the recent Gallup poll showing that 81% of the American public did not like the direction America was headed, Hagel called for a new consensus within the next administration and emphasized the need for a bi-partisan coalition no matter who takes the White House.

Referring to Sen. John McCain as a "good friend," Hagel continued to criticize the Republican presidential candidate's foreign policy platform, pointing to a financial toll of $12 billion to $15 billion a month for the Iraq war and a high casualty rate.

"We have lost 900 Americans since the surge began," Hagel said. "We are in a mess in Iraq. And the reality is we are going to have to deal with it."

Hagel was blunt but could offer no specifics on the troop levels needed in the present or future. He was however, quick to absolve himself from finding any solution.

"I don't intend to be in the government next year," he said. "I don't anticipate it, and I don't look forward to it."

From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann
RALEIGH, NC -- The back-and-forth continues between Teams Obama and Clinton over the former president's comments in Charlotte yesterday, which some have interpreted as a swipe at Obama's patriotism.

Yesterday, Obama surrogate Gen. Tony McPeak decried Bill Clinton's remarks as echoes of Joe McCarthy's anti-Communist fear-mongering during the Red Scare.

That, said Clinton spokesman Phil Singer, is "an outrage that doesn't pass the laugh test."

In a statement issued this afternoon, Singer went on to say that McPeak was "willfully and deliberately distorting Bill Clinton's remarks" and accused the rival campaign of using the incident as a distraction from Obama's "recent political troubles."

Bill Clinton said in Charlotte yesterday that a general-election matchup between his wife and John McCain would represent "an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country, and people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics."