GENERAL NEWS HEADLINES with excerpts

Obama to Clinton: Stay in the race

“My attitude is that Senator Clinton can run
as long as she wants,” Mr. Obama said
at a press conference in the high school
gymnasium here. “Her name is on the ballot.
She is a fierce and formidable opponent
and she obviously believes she would make
the best nominee and the best president.”

Reid to candidates: 'Cool it.'

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, is among the Democratic party leaders concerned about the tone of the presidential campaign. In an interview, Mr. Reid said that Democrats fretting over divisions in the party “need to relax and cool it a little bit.”

He said he has had separate conversations with the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean and former Vice President Al Gore recently and is confident that the nominating fight will end naturally.

“People should not lament what is going on,” Mr. Reid said. “This will be over long before the convention. Does it mean June 5 or two weeks from now? I don’t know, but this will all be just fine.”

Gore thinks Dem race will resolve itself

He's increasingly mentioned as a potential Democratic powerbroker, but former Vice President Al Gore said Thursday he still expects his party's heated White House race will resolve itself.

"What have we got, five months left?" Gore told the Associated Press after delivering a speech at Middle Tennessee State University.

"I think it's going to resolve itself, but we'll see," he added.

Dean wants superdelegates to decide by July 1

DNC chairman Howard Dean: “Well, I think the superdelegates have already been weighing in. I think that there's 800 of them and 450 of them have already said who they're for. I'd like the other 350 to say who they're at some point between now and the first of July so we don't have to take this into the convention.”

see also: Dean: Dem race too personal

McCain targets Obama in new general election ad

The ad, is called "624787."

That's not some weird new zip code;
that was McCain's Navy serial number
which you see him rattle off from
his hospital bed as a North Vietnamese
prisoner of war.       watch it

McCain's ad prompts chatter

Generating the most attention, though, is the ad's final line: "John McCain: The American president Americans have been waiting for." It appears to be an allusion to Obama's much-quoted line that "we are the ones we have been waiting for." But it has also sparked an online debate about what is meant by "American president."

Bloggers and commenters on political Web sites wondered what other kind of president American voters would be selecting. Is "American" a harmless patriotic modifier, or is McCain seeking to raise doubts about Sen. Barack Obama, a potential opponent who has an exotic African name, spent much of his youth living in a Muslim country and attended a church run by a pastor known for his occasional anti-American rhetoric?

Gallup poll: Barack is back in the lead

Today's Gallup Poll Daily tracking update finds Barack Obama with an eight percentage point advantage over Hillary Clinton (50% to 42%), this gives him a statistically significant advantage for the first time since before the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy.

Obama's 'Big Oil' ad draws fire

In his second new TV spot of the day — this one now playing in Pennsylvania — Barack Obama takes a strong stand against Big Oil, saying he “won’t let them block change anymore.”

... Mr. Obama proposes putting a tax on the windfall profits of oil companies, and he says he’ll end American dependence on foreign petroleum. He can take aggressive steps against Exxon Mobil, he points out, because he hasn’t accepted donations from oil companies or lobbyists.

... Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign was quick to send out an e-mail accusing Mr. Obama of making false statements in his ad, saying he has received more than $160,000 from the oil and gas companies.

... Bill Burton, press secretary for the Obama campaign, reaffirmed the ad’s message, saying “Senator Obama is the only candidate in the race who doesn’t accept campaign contributions from special interests PACs and Washington lobbyists, and that includes oil companies and oil lobbyists.”

Obama vindicated on law school title

As the first in a bill of particulars titled "Just Embellished Words: Senator Obama’s Record of Exaggerations & Misstatements," the Clinton campaign charged earlier this week: "Sen. Obama consistently and falsely claims that he was a law professor. ...

But the University of Chicago Law School has now posted a statement declaring his claims semantically sound: "The Law School has received many media requests about Barack Obama, especially about his status as 'Senior Lecturer.' From 1992 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Barack Obama served as a professor in the Law School. He was a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996. He was a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004, during which time he taught three courses per year. Senior Lecturers are considered to be members of the Law School faculty and are regarded as professors, although not full-time or tenure-track. The title of Senior Lecturer is distinct from the title of Lecturer, which signifies adjunct status. Like Obama, each of the Law School's Senior Lecturers have high-demand careers in politics or public service, which prevent full-time teaching. Several times during his 12 years as a professor in the Law School, Obama was invited to join the faculty in a full-time tenure-track position, but he declined."

Ralph Nader... today's headlines with excerpts