Jimmy Carter  accused Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of being untruthful over remarks made about his controversial meeting with the Islamist Hamas group.

Rice had chided Carter for meeting with Hamas, saying US State Department officials had told him such talks would not help the Middle East peace process.

Carter-Hamas meeting achieved nothing: Palestinians

Last week's meeting between former US president Jimmy Carter and the exiled leader of Hamas militants did not produce any results, Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said here Wednesday...

THE CANDIDATES:

John McCain... today's headlines with excerpts

McCain's tough economic sell

...Appealing to blacks and rural Democrats may be difficult as job losses and gas prices have made the economy the leading issue on voters' minds. McCain's economic plan is heavy on tax breaks for big business and admonishments about not relying on the federal government for help. He proposes a cut in corporate income taxes from 35 to 25 percent, help for companies who depreciate equipment and other incentives....

McCain says government isn't poverty's sole solution

...Mr. McCain called for a “People Connect Program” that would provide tax breaks to private companies and federal loans and low-interest bonds to small towns to help provide high-speed Internet service to isolated communities like Inez — a way, he said, “to knit together all of the United States with 21st-century information networks” that “will make location less of a factor in the potential for economic success.”

Afterward, at least one Democrat in what appeared to be a majority Republican crowd said she liked what she heard...

McCain opposes Equal Pay bill in Senate

"I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what's being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems," the expected GOP presidential nominee told reporters. "This is government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system."

The bill would overturn a Supreme Court decision limiting how long workers can wait before suing for pay discrimination.

McCain and his shadow

Elements of Richard Nixon’s inability to escape Dwight Eisenhower’s leadership within his party, Hubert Humphrey’s link to Lyndon Johnson’s unpopular war and Al Gore’s struggle with how to use Bill Clinton on the stump all are present in the complex dance that John McCain is undertaking vis-à-vis George Bush in 2008....

Pa. primary: Look out, McCain, they still love Huck and Paul

Mr. McCain won every county in Pennsylvania in the Republican primary Tuesday — yes, the Republicans had a nominating contest there, too — but former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (who dropped out of the race in March) and Representative Ron Paul of Texas did surprisingly well in some of its most conservative counties.

Overall, according to The Associated Press’s count, Mr. Paul took 15.9 percent in the Pennsylvania G.O.P. primary, with 11.3 percent of Republicans voting for Mr. Huckabee.

Hillary Clinton... today's headlines with excerpts

Online donations - over $8M in 24 hrs

Hillary Clinton is in the midst of a record-breaking fund-raising day on the Internet, collecting $8.3 million as of just before 6 p.m. Wednesday since the race was called for her in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night, her campaign said.

The money has come from roughly 85,000 donors, about 70,000 of whom are new to the campaign,..

With over $10M cash infusion, Hillary eyes Indiana

More than $10 million flowed into Clinton's nearly empty campaign accounts after the results of Pennsylvania's Democratic primary were announced Tuesday night, her aides said. That amount represented half of what she raised in all of March.

"You know, we were up late, but it sure was worth waiting for," Clinton told several hundred supporters standing in 80-degree heat here. "I'm going to be here for the next two weeks, doing everything I can to help Hoosiers understand that I will be there for you and you can count on me." ...

WashPost 'The Fix': How Clinton can win it

...First and foremost, Clinton needs to find a way to avoid being outspent by Obama at anywhere near the volume with which he bombarded her in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

...There's no scenario by which Clinton can make a strong case to superdelegates if she can't win in the Hoosier State on May 6.

...She needs a road win too. The most likely? Probably Montana or South Dakota -- small, rural, white states.

... Florida. At the core of Clinton's path to the nomination is finding a way to pass Obama in the popular vote.

Politico's Roger Simon: Run, Hillary run

Run in Guam, run in North Carolina, run in Indiana. Run in each and every one of the nine contests that are left.

Then make some states do their contests over.

... And even if you can’t get ahead in the delegate count, don’t stop running!

Go to the convention in Denver and chain yourself to the front door of the Pepsi Center and refuse to leave unless every resident of Florida and Michigan — not just the rogue delegates but all 26 million residents! — is seated inside and gets to cast a ballot for you.

What’s the worst that could happen? Howard Dean comes out and bites you on the ankle?

More finger wagging from mis-remembering Bill Clinton

see video

what he deemed a misinterpretation of his remarks during a radio interview in which he said the Obama campaign “played the race card on me.”

...  “No, no, no,” Mr. Clinton said in Pittsburgh, wagging his finger. “That’s not what I said. You always follow me around and play these little games, and I’m not going to play your games today. This is a day about Election Day. Go back and see what the question was, and what my answer was. You have mischaracterized it to get another cheap story to divert the American people from the real urgent issues before us, and I choose not to play your game today. Have a nice day.”