by Rick Pearson

LAFAYETTE, Ind.-- Ever since her campaign in Ohio in early March, Hillary Clinton decided to adopt the "tough" approach. Regardless of what polls showed to be a growing negative attitude toward her, she still won in Ohio and Texas.

Six weeks later in Pennsylvania, her chief backer in the state, Gov. Ed Rendell, hijacked the "Rocky" theme song and attached it to the Clinton campaign. She won again.

Now, in Indiana, the "tough" theme is continuing, though a local labor leader gave a unique description for the New York senator that is not likely to show up again on the campaign trail.

At a union-hall event in Portage, Paul Gibson, the president of the United Steelworkers Local 6787, was selected to introduce Clinton. In Gibson's words, Clinton was the kind of leader with the "testicular fortitude" to make hard decisions.

"I do think I have fortitude," Clinton said to laughter and applause. "Women can have it, as well as men."

by Mark Silva

In an interview with Barack and Michelle Obama that NBC's Today show will air in the morning - with excerpts aired this evening on the NBC Nightly News - Today's Meredith Vieira asked the candidate's wife if she believes that the candidate's longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, had betrayed Obama.

"I think Barack has spoken so clearly and eloquently about this,'' Michelle Obama said.

"But do you personally feel that the Reverend Wright...'' Vieira asked.

"You know what I think Meredith? I think we gotta move forward,'' the candidate's wife said. "You know, this conversation doesn't help my kids. You know, it doesn't help kids out there who are looking for us to make decisions and choices about how we're going to better fund education.''

by Andrew Zajac

The turnover in the Justice Department's executive suites continues. This afternoon it's Alice Fisher, head of the criminal division, who announced she's leaving, effective May 23.

Departures are expected in the waning days of a lame duck administration, but they began earlier and have been more frequent in the Bush 43 Justice Department, thanks to last year's federal prosecutors firing uproar and mounting discontent on Capitol Hill over DOJ's role in crafting post-9-11 counter-terror policies on surveillance and treatment of detainees.

Fisher, 41, had the kind of political credentials common in the upper reaches of the administration's legal apparatus: Federalist Society, deputy counsel in the Senate Whitewater investigation and the national steering committee of Women for Bush/Cheney, 2004.

But she managed to avoid getting dragged into the contentious Congressional hearings that so badly damaged former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and several other top Justice officials.

Fisher, who served two different stints in the criminal division, oversaw the unit's response to the 9-11 attacks, including advising on the prosecutions of John Walker Lindh, Zacharias Moussaoui and Richard Reid, and she had a hand in carrying out provisions of the Patriot Act.

Here's DOJ's announcement of Fisher's pending departure:

by Mark Silva

"We're going to send Jessica Simpson to the Democrat National Convention,'' President Bush said today, with a sort of joke for the members of the Super Bowl-winning New York Giants assembled at the White House.

"You secured a wild card,'' Bush told the team. "And it was interesting, in the last game of the season, a lot of folks thought the coach would just kind of lay down and let New England cruise to a perfect season. I remember a lot of people speculating about that last game of the season -- and yet you didn't, coach.

"Your team didn't win on the scoreboard, but you won the hearts of a lot of Americans for contesting the game,'' Bush said on the South Lawn. "And it clearly gave your team some self-confidence, because you stormed through Tampa Bay and then went into Dallas -- I'm a good sport,'' said the Texan sports fan in chief. "We're going to send Jessica Simpson to the Democrat National Convention..''

by Rick Pearson

LAFAYETTE, Ind.--Sen. Hillary Clinton is making it clear to Indiana and North Carolina voters that she believes the road to the White House is one without a summer of federal gasoline taxes.

From a new TV ad airing in both states in advance of Tuesday's primaries in the Hoosier and Tar Heel states to local radio interviews to her public appearances, the Clinton campaign thinks it has found an issue of resonance with the white, blue-collar voters who have flocked to her campaign previously in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

With Democratic presidential rival, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, opposed to a summer gas-tax holiday, Clinton's camp is viewing the issue as a clear-cut difference on a tangible pocketbook issue--and something far less mind-numbing than debating the differences of whether a universal health care plan can truly be universal without mandating that all adults get health insurance. (For the record: Her plan mandates coverage, Obama's only mandates coverage for children.)

In a new TV ad that was launched in Indiana and North Carolina last night, an announcer chides Obama on the issues of a federal gas-tax cut and a freeze on home foreclosures.

"People are hurting," the announcer in Clinton's ad says. "It's time for a president who's ready to take action now."

The Obama campaign rapidly pounced on the new Clinton ad, labeling it the first negative TV commercial produced by a candidate in the May 6 battle.

by John McCormick

INDIANAPOLIS - Gathered under a park pavilion with three-dozen supporters, Sen. Barack Obama and his wife sought to change topics today from the ongoing controversy surrounding their former Chicago pastor.

But then Marc Bilodeau, an economics professor who lives here, asked the question:

"Recently you have been forced to basically turn your back on someone who had been a good friend for a long time," said Bilodeau. "I wonder if you could tell us how much a toll this takes on you to be forced by attacks, sometimes unfair attacks on people, to have to have to turn your back on people who have been good to you in the past?"

In answering, Obama tried to make the case that the voters are being shortchanged by what he considers campaign distractions.

"The situation with Rev. Wright was difficult. I won't lie to you. He's somebody who married us, he had baptized our children, he has done good things in terms of building the church," Obama began. "But, frankly, what he said over the last few days and in some of the sermons that have been excerpted were unacceptable and weren't things that we believed in or cared about, or cared to believe in."

Obama said his statement on Wednesday against Wright was "hard to make," but he is also trying to put the matter behind him, if that is possible.

"What we want to do now, though, is to make sure that this doesn't continue to be a perpetual distraction," he said.

by Mark Silva

Sen. Barack Obama may believe that he has put the Rev. Jeremiah Wright behind him, but Sen. Hillary Clinton does not.

"Well, I take offense at it,'' Clinton says of the remarks of Obama's longtime and now retiring pastor, in an interview with FOX News' Bill O'Reilly that will start airing on The O'Reilly Factor this evening.

"I think it's offensive and outrageous,'' Clinton tells O'Reilly. "And, you know, I'm going to express my opinion, others can express theirs. But, you know, it is -- it is part of, you know, just an atmosphere that we're in today where all kinds of things are being said.

"And people have to, you know, decide what they believe,'' Clinton says, with a ready allusion to one of Wright's more infamous suggestions: "I sure don't believe the United States government was behind AIDS."

While Clinton corners The O'Reilly Factor tonight, NBC Nightly News will air excerpts of an interview with Obama and wife Michelle and CNN is promoting a talk with Michelle Obama on Anderson Cooper 360. The FOX News Channel interview with Clinton, conducted in South Bend, Ind., today. will air in segments, starting tonight at 8 pm EDT and again Thursday at the same time.

Obama this week sought to distance himself from the retiring pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, whose remarks from the pulpit have created a storm of controversy for the campaign of a longtime congregant.

Clinton speaks about more than Obama, of course, in the FOX interview. She addresses the high price of gasoline and more:

"I'm trying to lay the groundwork so that when I'm president, we can get in there and say this has been going on way too long. I also want to take on OPEC. You know, OPEC is a cartel, it's a monopoly,'' Clinton tells O'Reilly. "Nine of the 13 biggest oil-producing countries that are in OPEC are also members of the WTO. I would file complaints. I would also change the law so that citizens and businesses could file antitrust actions. We're going to begin to hold them accountable."

See more here, courtesy of FOX News, from the O'Reilly interview of Clinton:

by Mark Silva

"One of the interesting questions you get in my line of work is, 'Can you name a teacher who's influenced you,'' President Bush said today at a celebration of the nation's teachers of the year. "Yeah,'' he said, "my wife.''

Wife Laura, trained and experienced as a school librarian, was out on a book tour with her daughter Jenna, Bush explained at the Rose Garden ceremony.

"I'm not suggesting that people buy it, of course,'' the president told the teachers. "It would be unseemly here in the Rose Garden.''

The Federal Reserve Building, Washington, D.C. Photo by Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg News

by Frank James

Federal Reserve policymakers sound like they're going taking a break, at least after today, from lowering the key short-term interest rates they control.

In their statement released today, members of the Federal Open Market Committee, who dropped a key rate by 25 basis points to two percent, strongly signaled in Fedspeak that they've probably done enough in recent months to goose the flagging economy.

The substantial easing of monetary policy to date, combined with ongoing measures to foster market liquidity, should help to promote moderate growth over time and to mitigate risks to economic activity. The Committee will continue to monitor economic and financial developments and will act as needed to promote sustainable economic growth and price stability.

Fed officials weren't exactly saying they wouldn't drop rates futher, but they certainly sounded like they were moving from an activist posture to what doctors would call watchful waiting. Still, they're clearly leaving open their options should the economy worsens.

But they also are clearly running out of ammunition, with the federal-funds rate, what banks charge each other for overnight loans, getting closer to zero percent, which is basically free money, than the central bank would like, especially since inflationary forces are at play in the world, which the Fed duly noted:

Although readings on core inflation have improved somewhat, energy and other commodity prices have increased, and some indicators of inflation expectations have risen in recent months. The Committee expects inflation to moderate in coming quarters, reflecting a projected leveling-out of energy and other commodity prices and an easing of pressures on resource utilization. Still, uncertainty about the inflation outlook remains high. It will be necessary to continue to monitor inflation developments carefully.

by James Oliphant

According to FOX News, running as an African-American candidate is old hat.

Monday, while the hosts of the program "Fox & Friends" were discussing Hillary Clinton's call for Lincoln-Douglas style-debates with Barack Obama, a split-screen graphic showed Abraham Lincoln and . . . Frederick Douglass.

Frederick Douglass was a 19th century African-American abolitionist. Stephen Douglas was Lincoln's opponent for the Senate in 1858. MSNBC caught FOX in the act.

by Mark Silva

Quick.

What comes to mind when we mention John McCain?

"Too old?" That's what 12 percent of Americans say on first blush.

"Good man/like him?'' That's what another 12 percent say.

These are the most frequently mentioned "top-of-the-mind'' responses to the name of the Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee, the Gallup Poll has found. Then there are the Democratic candidates:

Barack Obama?

"Young/inexperienced'' - 15 percent. "Fresh face with new ideas/good change'' - 13 percent.

"Like him'' - 9 percent. "Dislike him'' - 9 percent.

Hillary Clinton?

"Dishonest/Don't Trust'' - 15 percent. "Past baggage, associated with Bill.'' - 13 percent.

"Qualified/capable of being president'' finally shows up at No. 3 on the list of top-of-the-mind responses to Clinton's name. But it's closely followed by "Dislike her'' - 9 percent. And "Strong'' - 8 percent.

Overall, the survey of 1,008 adults conducted April 25-27 collected more negative remarks about Clinton (55 percent) than positive (30 percent), an even divide of negative and positive (40 percent) for McCain and slightly more positive (42 percent) than negative (39 percent) for Obama. People volunteered these remarks.

See the full report from Gallup here.

by Frank James

Does Sen. Barack Obama ever cut loose and let his anger and, more broadly, his emotions show? And if not, what is that about and will voters go for a candidate who always seems buttoned down?

Those are questions that arise from Obama's press conference in Winston-Salem yesterday.

If ever there were a perfect opportunity for Obama to really show what most people would recognize as anger, it was yesterday, the day after his former pastor Jeremiah Wright's histronics at the National Press Club.

Here Obama is in a difficult presidential-nomination fight that has gone on longer than anyone imagined it would when it all started. He has sacrificed his young family to the campaign. Thousands of workers have put their lives on hold to help him get to the nomination and, perhaps, beyond.

Many more have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to get him to the point where he could win the Democratic nomination.

Then a man the candidate once counted as important to his life, his former pastor, essentially calls Obama an opportunistic, say-anything-to-win politician and appears intent on doing everything he can to sink his former congregant's chances.

Candidates have been driven to public displays of ire over less. And it may have helped some voters connect with more since most people would understand a candidate getting "fired up," as Obama might say, over such a perceived betrayal as Wright's.

But while Obama seemed sad yesterday, there was little fire. He came off like Star Trek's Mr. Spock, mostly passion-free at a moment when searing emotion was called for.

While some reporters in the room said they saw glimpsed anger, watching on television it was very hard to see. What was more apparent was pique. Obama seemed very tamped down. He didn't even appear to be doing a slow burn.

by John McCormick

INDIANAPOLIS - As he prepares to stump in Indiana for the next several days, Sen. Barack Obama's campaign said today it has filed a complaint with federal election officials over a group running anti-Obama ads.

Obama's campaign claims the American Leadership Project, a so-called 527 committee, has close ties to Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Calling it a "Swift Boat wannabe," Obama campaign lawyer Bob Bauer told reporters on a conference call that the group has shown a pattern in Pennsylvania and now Indiana of "illegal 527 activity."

Asked how Obama's campaign knows the group is seeking to boost Clinton, Bauer said there is "nothing on the record that suggests any other purpose."

by Jill Zuckman

It's an outrage.

I finally make it onto The Colbert Report, one of the most prominent sources of political information on television, and I'm quoted out of context!

Stephen Colbert was worrying that the Reverend Wright controversy might peter out, forcing Sen. Barack Obama to actually talk about the issues. Then he shows a clip from MSNBC with Nora O'Donnell asking yours truly whether the soap opera surrounding Obama's pastor might be over now.

"I don't think so," I said, as the tape cuts to Colbert.

"Oh thank God," he exclaims.

For those of you who would like to know the rest of what I said, here's the gist: Republicans and independent expenditure groups trying to defeat Obama will spend the rest of the election reminding voters that he attended a church for 20 years with a minister who believes the federal government is responsible for spreading AIDS and bringing on 9/11.

But Colbert isn't interested in context. Apparently with him, it's all about the soundbite, all about the "gotcha."

So let me tell you this, Stephen. You're ON NOTICE.

Bring out the on notice board, Jimmy.

by Mark Silva

Sen. Hillary Clinton likes to tell the tale of the Chinese government buying a good American company in Indiana, laying off its workers and moving its critical defense technology work to China. But, as McClatchy Newspapers reports, it was the Clinton administration that approved this deal.

"If she were president, she says, she'd fight to protect those jobs,'' McClatchy's Steve Thomma reports. "It's just the kind of talk that's helping her win support form working-class Democrats worried about jobs and paychecks, not to mention their country's security.

"What Clinton never tells in the oft-repeated tale is the role prominent Democrats played in selling the company and its technology to the Chinese. She never mentions that big-time Democratic contributor George Soros helped put together the deal to sell the company, or that the sale was approved by the administration of her husband.''

"Hillary Clinton must have been hoping we Hoosiers have short memories," Ed Dixon of Valparaiso said in a letter to a local newspaper after a recent Clinton visit. "Her husband was president at the time and allowed this to happen."

See the McClatchy report here:

by Mark Silva

In the final week of the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in North Carolina, Sen. Hillary Clinton is rolling out the poet Maya Angelou.

"Hillary Clinton is a prayer of every American who really longs for fair play,'' Angelou says in the new, 60-second TV ad that the Clinton campaign is airing in North Carolina. "Working men and women have had their jobs snatched from underneath them, their homes snatched away from them. And what we need, I think, is a person, a president who can make a difference in our country.''

The ad pictures Angelou, seated on a stage with Clinton, delivering a warm testimonial to an appreciative candidate, interspersed with photos of Clinton on the road. Angelou, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and other award-winning literature, read a poem at the inauguration of the candidate's husband, Bill Clinton, in 1993.

"She intends to help our country become what it can become,'' the poet says of Hillary Clinton . "She dares to say human beings are more alike than we are unalike.

"I watched her become interested in public health and in education for all the children. And I watched her stand,'' Angelou says. "I have found the person I think would be the best president for the United States of America.''

by James Oliphant

Mark Daniels is a Lutheran minister in southeastern Ohio who writes a thoughtful blog on religion, society and politics.

Daniels has some interesting to thoughts to share on Barack Obama's denunciation Tuesday of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The upshot is that he believes Obama when he said that although Wright was his pastor, he wasn't his "spiritual mentor." Why? Because his congregation has told him the same thing:

[T]he gist of their responses was simple: "I don't attend Sunday worship and I'm not involved with my church because of the pastor. I'm here because this is my Christian family. This is the fellowship in which I worship God, hear God's Word, and receive the Sacraments."

They admitted that if a pastor has deficiencies, it can be tough to keep coming to worship week after week or to be involved in the church's ministries. But each person who spoke said that Jesus Christ is the reason they're involved with the Church, not the pastor.

Daniels talks of the limitations of a pastor who oversees a large church.

by Mark Silva

Now that Barack Obama