From NBC's Mark Murray
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno has just announced that Clinton will appear on the show Thursday. Per the press release, it will be the third time she has been on Leno.

From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan
Does McCain really want troops in iraq for one hundred years? According to Obama the answer is yes.

In a back and forth at today's press conference, Obama insisted he was not taking out of context McCain's comments about keeping troops in Iraq for 100 years. Asked if his attack was disingenous, Obama had the following to say:

"I don't think it's unfair at all," Obama said. "John McCain, I mean, we can run the YouTube spot, has said that we will stay there as long as it takes. And if it takes another 100 years, he's up for that commitment and that implies that there is some criteria by which we would understand how long it takes.

"John McCain has not been clear about what exactly would lead him to decide it's time to pull out. And so, you know, the problem that we've had both with John McCain and George Bush is that there's no clear definition of success. There never was, and that's why this has been such a profound strategic error. And you know, I think it is entirely fair to suggest that unless he's got some criteria where by, at some point, we would be able to pull out our troops. For him to argue that, which he has repeatedly, that any suggestion that we withdraw troops is surrender. That implies that we will be there as long as he thinks it's necessary for us to be there."

Obama was told that McCain had said the presence would be similar to what the United States had done with Germany and Japan in World War II. Obama seemed to agree with that notion but pointed to the costs of the war as a reason to avoid that type of engagement.

"Well we've been in South Korea for for 50 years," Obama said, "and he's used that as an example as George Bush has. And that is decades, and we're spending $10 billion a month in Iraq right now, which means that John McCain is willing to sign up for the prospect of spending as much as $150 billion or more each year for who knows how long. That is something that the US can't afford, and I think that is going to be a debate we are going to have in the general election should I be the nominee."

The RNC has pushed back hard on the issue. Today, it writes this:
"Yes, Barack Obama is misusing John McCain's words. Today, Obama as much as acknowledged he has misrepresented McCain's positions on Iraq.  Even though it's well documented that there is no truth to the statement that Senator McCain wants to fight the Iraq war for another 100 years, Obama has continued to intentionally misrepresent McCain's position. Following Senator Obama's admission today that John McCain's comments are in the spirit of our military presence in South Korea, we expect he will stop using this shameless political distortion to try and score points with the base of his party.
 
"During today's press conference, Obama again failed to condemn Chairman Dean's outrageous comments slandering Senator McCain as a 'blatant opportunist' for discussing his record of military service with the American people. Failing to heed his own call to reject negative politics is no way to establish credibility with voters looking for sincere leadership."

For context, the "100 years" comment came up when McCain responded to questioner in a town hall, "Make it a 100," about the U.S.'s potential committment in Iraq. He added, "We've been in Japan for 60 years. We've been in South Korea for 50 years or so. … That would be fine with me...."

But what's left out often is what he said next...  "as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed. … It's fine with me and I hope it would be fine with you if we maintained a presence in a very volatile part of the world."

Here's McCain's response on this to Tim Russert on Meet the Press.

From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
HARRISBURG, PA -- The Treasury Department's plan to reform the way the financial system is regulated don't go far enough, Clinton said today.

The proposal announced by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson would streamline regulations and give the Federal Reserve new powers to set rules for lending to and regulating a greater list of financial institutions.

The New York senator also continued to bash presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, accusing him of not having a plan for dealing with the economy. "Today, the Administration, through the Secretary of the Treasury, has announced that finally the Bush Administration is going to take some action to better regulate the financial markets," she said during a roundtable at a diner here Monday. "Well, after years of a wait-and-don't-see approach to the regulatory failures that led to the housing and the credit crisis, they've announced a plan that comes late and falls short. No amount of rearranging the deck chairs can hide the fact that our housing and credit markets are in crisis, and they're sinking deeper every day. Every day we fail to take aggressive action is a day lost. You know, Sen. McCain recently gave speech on the economy, and best I could determine his plan was not to have a plan. If he got the 3:00 am call on the economy, he would just let the phone ring and ring and ring."

The senator briefly touched on her own proposals, which her campaign sent out earlier today, for regulating the industry and helping people facing economic hardship. "I have proposed immediate steps we can take right now to shore up the housing and credit markets and to restore confidence and keep millions of families in their homes," Clinton added. "We need minimum mortgage standards so mortgage lenders just can't make bad mortgages and then sell them off to the highest bidder somewhere in Shanghai or Berlin without responsibility. We need to have immediate regulatory safeguards against new risks in our financial markets, more transparency, more oversight of a lot of these new financial products that nobody understands."

The roundtable kicked off the fourth day of an economy tour meant to show Clinton is ready to manage an economic crisis and to help struggling families. She also spoke about doing more to help the middle class, listing some of the groups who have been hardest hit like truckers, farmers, and fishermen. "We want to extend the tax cuts that are about to expire and reform the Alternative Minimum Tax so that it doesn't hit middle class families," she said. "I will cut middle-class taxes by at least $100 billion a year."

Before the roundtable began, Clinton met outside in a light rain with about two dozen truckers who were on site to protest high gas prices, an issue she's been bringing up frequently on the campaign trail as she focuses on so-called kitchen table issues. Two of the truckers took part in the roundtable.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
We listed the Senate superdelegates endorsements earlier today. We've broken out the House backers as well, and Clinton leads 73-69. That means there are 92 House members who are undecided. Also of note among these House endorsers, 23 of Clinton's 72 are reps from New York (32%). By contrast, nine of Obama's House backers are from Illinois (13%).

Here's how Clinton's and Obama's superdelegate support breaks down:
Among senators: Obama 14-12
Among representatives: Clinton 73-69
Then, among party activists/former party leaders: Clinton leads 170-139
TOTAL: Clinton 255, Obama 222

[EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this post did not include Murtha for Clinton or Eddie Bernice Johnson for Obama. Also, we do not include Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has endorsed Obama. Though she sits on and votes in committee, her title is delegate, not Congresswoman. It's the old DC license plate joke: Taxation without representation.]

Here's the list of the House backers:
CLINTON (73)
AR Marion Berry
AR Mike Ross
AR Vic Snyder
AZ Ed Pastor
CA Joe Baca
CA Dennis Cardoza
CA Jane Harman
CA Doris Matsui
CA Grace Napolitano
CA Laura Richardson
CA Lucille Roybal-Allard
CA Loretta Sanchez
CA Brad Sherman
CA Hilda Solis
CA Ellen Tauscher
CA Mike Thompson
CA Maxine Waters
CA Diane Watson
CA Lynn Woolsey
CO Diana DeGette
IA Leonard Boswell
MA Barney Frank
MA Stephen Lynch
MA James McGovern
MA Richard Neal
MD Dutch Ruppersberger
MO Emanuel Cleaver
NJ Robert Andrews
NJ Frank Pallone
NJ Bill Pascrell
NJ Donald Payne
NJ Albio Sires
NV Shelley Berkley
NY Gary Ackerman
NY Michael Arcuri
NY Timothy Bishop
NY Yvette Clarke
NY Joseph Crowley
NY Eliot Engel
NY Kirsten Gillibrand
NY John Hall
NY Brian Higgins
NY Maurice Hinchey
NY Steven Israel
NY Nita Lowey
NY Carolyn Maloney
NY Carolyn McCarthy
NY Michael McNulty
NY Gregory Meeks
NY Jerry Nadler
NY Charles Rangel
NY Jose Serrano
NY Louise Slaughter
NY Edolphus Towns
NY Nydia Velazquez
NY Anthony Weiner
OH Stephanie Tubbs Jones
OR Darlene Hooley
PA Paul Kanjorski
PA John Murtha 
PA Allyson Schwartz
PA Joe Sestak
RI James Langevin
TX Henry Cuellar
TX Gene Green
TX Ruben Hinojosa
TX Sheila Jackson Lee
TX Solomon Ortiz
TX Silvestre Reyes
VI Donna Christensen 
WA Norm Dicks
WA Jay Inslee
WI Tammy Baldwin

OBAMA (69)
AL Artur Davis
AZ Raul Grijalva
CA Xavier Becerra
CA Anna Eshoo
CA Barbara Lee
CA Zoe Lofgren
CA George Miller
CA Linda Sanchez
CA Adam Schiff
CO Ed Perlmutter
CT Rosa DeLauro
CT John Larson
CT Chris Murphy
GA John Barrow
GA Sanford Bishop
GA Hank Johnson
GA John Lewis
GA David Scott
HI Neil Abercrombie
IA Dave Loebsack
IL Melissa Bean
IL Jerry Costello
IL Danny Davis
IL Luis Gutierrez
IL Phil Hare
IL Jesse Jackson Jr.
IL Bobby Rush
IL Janice Schakowsky
IL Dan Lipinski
KY Rep. John Yarmuth
MA Michael Capuano
MA Bill Delahunt
MD Elijah Cummings
MD Al Wynn
MN Keith Ellison
MN Betty McCollum
MN Jim Oberstar
MN Rep. Tim Walz
MO Russ Carnahan
MO Wm. Lacy Clay
MS Bennie Thompson
NC G.K. Butterfield
ND Earl Pomeroy
NH Paul Hodes
NH Carol Shea Porter
NJ Steven Rothman
OR Earl Blumenauer
PA Chaka Fattah
PA Patrick Murphy
RI Patrick Kennedy
SD Stephanie Herseth
TN Steve Cohen
TN Jim Cooper
TX Lloyd Doggett
TX Rep. Chet Edwards
TX Al Green
TX Charlie Gonzalez
TX Eddie Bernice Johnson
VT Peter Welch
VA Jim Moran
VA Rick Boucher
VA Bobby Scott
WA Rep. Brian Baird
WA Adam Smith
WV Rep. Nick Rahall
WI Steve Kagen
WI Ron Kind
WI Gwen Moore
WI David Obey

From NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger
PHILADELPHIA -- While a final number may not be available for a few weeks, the Pennsylvania Department of State has released an update on the number of people registered to vote in the April 22 Democratic primary here. And it shows a massive registration effort on the final day of eligibility.

The state now has 4,119,213 registered Democrats. Since March 24, the last day of eligibility for the primary election, the state has received 33,281 new Democratic registrations and 45,977 party changes to the Democratic Party. The secretary of state's office is still accepting new registrations and party switches that were postmarked by the deadline.

State officials said the activity on the final day was intense, and these new numbers likely include large swaths of registrations that were collected by both the Obama and Clinton campaigns and submitted just before the deadline.

Since the first of the year, the state has received 101,499 new Democratic applications and 132,688 switches to the Democratic Party.

By contrast, the Republican Party in Pennsylvania now stands at 3,197,586 people. Only 32,191 citizens have joined the Republican roles and 13,937 have switched to the GOP since January 1.

From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy 
MERIDIAN, Miss. -- With a 20-minute long familial history here this morning, John McCain kicked off what his campaign is formally calling the "Service to America" tour meant to reintroduce McCain to voters. But if today was any indication, the tour could accurately be renamed "Faith of my Fathers on Stage." 
 
This morning's speech was a Cliffs Notes version of the McCain Family story found in the senator's best-selling autobiography -- written with assistance from senior advisor Mark Salter. The message of the speech focused on how the military service of his ancestors inspired him to serve his country as well. 
 
"The family I was born to, and the family I am blessed with now, made me the man I am, and instilled in me a deep and abiding respect for the social institution that wields the greatest influence in the formation of our individual character and the character of our society," McCain said. "Government must be attentive to the impact of its policies on families so that it does not through inattention or arrogance make it harder for parents to have the resources to succeed in the greatest work of their lives -- raising their children." 
 
The several hundred people seated in the audience sat quietly for the first 15 minutes of McCain's talk before applauding loudly when the candidate called for the federal government to be mindful of its effects on the American family.
 
Going forward, McCain visits his high school and college in the coming days when he is expected to outline how his education shaped his character and prepared him for the presidency.

*** UPDATE *** Howard Dean's response to the McCain tour, via the DNC: "John McCain deserves our respect for his service to our country, but no reinvention tour can change the fact that a vote for him is a vote for four more years of President Bush's failed policies. No matter how many times he tries to reintroduce himself, the voters already know that John McCain is out of touch with the challenges facing working families, admits he doesn't understand the economy, and is willing to keep our troops in Iraq for 100 years. John McCain can talk about his past, but only a Democrat can bring the change the American people want for the future."

From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann
Several Democratic sources familiar with North Carolina politics expressed surprise at today's Wall Street Journal story, saying that -- although several members of the delegation are likely Obama backers -- an en masse endorsement would include nods from several Dems who most expected to stay on the sidelines in the Clinton-Obama race.

A staff member close to one of the superdelegates in question confirms there is no truth to the story.

Per Dan Leistikow, a spokesman for the Obama campaign in North Carolina, "Despite the Wall Street Journal's optimism, none of them has said told our campaign that they are ready to announce their endorsement of Senator Obama -- so we'll keep working on it."

One Democrat who supports Obama did say that some elected officials and candidates for office in the state have expressed concern about a prolonged nomination, saying that many believe that a popular election result overturned by superdelegates "would destroy the party.." A mass endorsement by the delegation would send a clear message of party unity, he said.

But as of today, added another source familiar with the story, the idea might have simply been born of one Obama supporter's wishful thinking.

From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann and NBC's Mark Murray
Obama is heavily favored in the May 6 North Carolina primary. And not surprisingly, the Clinton campaign has downplayed expectations there (just like Team Obama has downplayed expectations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky).

But -- in a nod to the power of surrogates -- it's worth noting that the Clinton clan has visited the Tar Heel State more often than the Obama clan has since March 4. 

Barack Obama -- 2 days, 3 total stops
Michelle Obama -- 0 days, 0 total stops

Hillary Clinton -- 1 day, 3 total stops
Bill Clinton -- 2 days, 9 total stops
Chelsea Clinton -- 2 days, 4 total stops

From NBC's Pete Williams
In something of a surprise, the U.S. Supreme Court today declined to hear an appeal involving the FBI's unprecedented search of the Capitol Hill offices of Congressman William Jefferson.

A federal appeals court ruled that the FBI wrongly used its own agents look through the material seized to determine what might be covered by congressional privilege. This is a considerable victory for Jefferson, largely validating his objections to the search and giving him certain bragging rights. But prosecutors claim they have sufficient evidence independent of the search. The cash in his freezer, for example, was found well before Jefferson's offices were searched.

The court today handed down just one decision, a victory for Delaware. The state hoped to stop construction of a proposed British Petroleum liquified natural gas port on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River. The court, acting in its special role as the sole decider of disputes between the states, ruled Delaware has a say in what's built on the New Jersey side of the river involving projects that would extend into the river, where both states have joint authority.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
With the endorsement by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) for Obama, we decided to take a look at who each Democratic senator is backing. Obama, it turns out, leads Clinton, 14-12. Twenty senators are uncommitted. A couple of notes... excluded from the list is the Florida-Michigan contingent of senators: Debbie Stabenow, of Michigan, who is backing Clinton; Carl Levin, of Michigan, who is uncommitted; and Bill Nelson, of Florida, who has endorsed Clinton. Also excluded are senators, who caucus with Democrats, but do not have a vote at convention: Bernie Sanders (I-VT-Uncommitted) and Joe Lieberman (I/D-CT-McCain). Lieberman was stripped of his superdelegate status when he endorsed McCain.

Here's the full list of the Senate superdelegate endorsements:
OBAMA (14)
Robert P. Casey, Jr.
Kent Conrad
Christopher J. Dodd
Byron L. Dorgan
Richard J. Durbin
Tim Johnson
Edward M. Kennedy
John Kerry
Amy Klobuchar
Patrick J. Leahy
Claire McCaskill
Ben Nelson
Barack Obama
John D. Rockefeller
 
CLINTON (12)
Evan Bayh
Maria Cantwell
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Dianne Feinstein
Daniel Inouye
Blanche Lambert Lincoln
Robert Menendez
Barbara Mikulski
Patty Murray
Mark Pryor
Charles E. Schumer
Sheldon Whitehouse
 
Uncommitted (20)
Daniel Akaka
Max Baucus
Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Jeff Bingaman
Barbara Boxer
Sherrod Brown
Robert C. Byrd
Benjamin L. Cardin
Thomas Carper
Russell D. Feingold
Tom Harkin
Herb Kohl
Mary Landrieu
Frank R. Lautenberg
Jack Reed
Harry Reid
Ken Salazar
Jon Tester
Jim Webb
Ron Wyden

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** Stay or go? To paraphrase that old Clash song, "Should she stay or should she go?" ("If I go there will be trouble; and if I stay it will be double…") That was the question that continued to dominate the Beltway chatter over the weekend. The problem for Clinton is that she's busier trying to prove her relevance in the process rather than debating Obama about the economy, health care, or Iraq. Indeed, Clinton told the Washington Post that she's in until the end. But it's simply not good for any campaign to have call up major national reporters to tell them that. A few questions we have about this interview: Did the need to do this come from financial duress, superdelegate duress, or both? Have more folks contacted the Clintons privately that the press hasn't heard about that's giving this pushback from the campaign more of a sense of urgency? Could some Clinton supporters (or even active campaigners, paid or unpaid) be ready to bolt? We in the media have been accused of creating this sense of urgency over whether she should stay in the race or not. But did Clinton herself need to add to the storyline with this interview? Apparently, she did. Nevertheless, more superdelegates are flocking to Obama. According to the Wall Street Journal, and confirmed by NBC's Andrea Mitchell, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) will endorse Obama today. And the Journal also reports that Obama will get the support of North Carolina's entire Democratic congressional delegation before that state's primary on May 6.

VIDEO: NBC Political Director Chuck Todd offers his first read on the big superdelegate add for Barack Obama while Hillary Clinton continues to fight calls to drop out of the race.

*** "I'm reporting for duty," part II: The comparisons between McCain's '08 bid and Kerry's in '04 have been unmistakable: Both men, early on, were their party's overwhelming favorites to win the nomination; then they encountered trouble and got overshadowed by other candidates; and then -- almost out of nowhere -- they locked up the nomination. Now, as McCain today embarks on his "Service to America" tour across the country, there's another comparison between the two men: the emphasis of their military experience. Today, McCain stumps in Meridian, MS, where he served as a flight instructor and where an airfield is named after his grandfather. Per excerpts of his speech, McCain will discuss his family's lifetime of service, as well as his thoughts on how the government can support parents' ability to raise their children. On Tuesday, he's at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA, where he graduated from high school. On Wednesday, it's to Annapolis, MD, where he attended the US Naval Academy. On Thursday, he heads to Pensacola and Jacksonville, FL, where he served stateside. And on Saturday, he gives a speech in Arizona, which he now calls home.

*** But biography isn't everything: McCain's military service -- including his five years as a POW in Vietnam -- is without a doubt one of the central narratives of his life and his political career. It is also something that clearly distinguishes him from both Obama and Clinton. But as Bill Kristol writes in today's New York Times, you can't win presidential on biography alone. "If voters had simply looked at the biographies of the major-party candidates, they would have chosen George H. W. Bush in 1992, Bob Dole in 1996, Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. Instead, they rejected four veterans who served in wartime (and who also had considerable experience in public life) for Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who had lesser résumés, both civilian and military." Kristol adds, "Campaign consultants like to say elections are about the present and the future more than the past." Also, keep this in mind: If McCain fails to win the presidency, it will likely mean that no Vietnam War veteran will ever be president. That should keep historical psychologists busy for years.

*** The Texas three-step: Over the weekend, we finally got an idea of the complete Texas caucus results. But we still don't have final results. As for the change in the delegate count, NBC had already allocated all but nine of the 67 caucus delegates up for grabs. The Obama campaign is claiming they've secured seven of those nine; the Clinton campaign is not projecting their caucus delegate count but believes Obama may only net five of those nine, not seven. Still, the best case for Obama, based on our totals, is a net of five additional delegates -- so not a massive change in the numbers. He may be getting more superdelegate endorsements today than he'll net out of what's remaining in Texas.

*** The Goreacle speaketh: One person who doesn't seem eager to step in and resolve the Clinton-Obama fight is Al Gore. "I'm not applying for the job of broker," he said on 60 Minutes last night. But what Gore is doing is launching is "a three-year, $300 million campaign Wednesday aimed at mobilizing Americans to push for aggressive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, a move that ranks as one of the  most ambitious and costly public advocacy campaigns in U.S. history," the Washington Post writes. Climate change advocates have been frustrated that the issue is not yet a voting issue; Gore et al have succeeded in creating awareness, but they have yet to create a sense of urgency on the issue. That's what this campaign is designed to create.

*** Opening Day: Today is Opening Day, and after last night's amazing Nationals ending (thank you, Ryan Zimmerman!), it's a reminder that the beauty of Opening Day is that fans of EVERY team have high hopes and can think, "Maybe this is the year..." Well, today is a new Opening Day for McCain as he tries to jumpstart his general election campaign. And then there's Clinton, who desperately needs an Opening Day; the campaign needs that hope again. And as for Obama, he's like the baseball team who has a seven-game lead going into the final month of the season but hasn't yet clinched. The pennant appears to be his for the taking, but for some reason the veteran team chasing him keeps hanging around and hanging around…

*** On the trail: Elsewhere today, both Clinton and Obama are in Pennsylvania: Clinton hosts a roundtable discussion in Harrisburg and an economic rally in Fairless Hills, while Obama has a town hall in Lancaster and a rally in (cue Billy Joel) Allentown. Also, Bill Clinton stumps in Oregon.
 
Countdown to Pennsylvania: 22 days
Countdown to North Carolina, Indiana: 36 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 218 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 295 days
 
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On Sunday, the Washington Post ran this front-page story, "In her most definitive comments to date on the subject, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sought … to put to rest any notion that she will drop out of the presidential race, pledging in an interview to not only compete in all the remaining primaries but also continue until there is a resolution of the disqualified results in Florida and Michigan… 'I know there are some people who want to shut this down and I think they are wrong,' Clinton said in an interview during a campaign stop here Saturday. 'I have no intention of stopping until we finish what we started and until we see what happens in the next 10 contests and until we resolve Florida and Michigan. And if we don't resolve it, we'll resolve it at the convention -- that's what credentials committees are for.'"

"'We cannot go forward until Florida and Michigan are taken care of, otherwise the eventual nominee will not have the legitimacy that I think will haunt us,' said the senator from New York. 'I can imagine the ads the Republican Party and John McCain will run if we don't figure out how we can count the votes in Michigan and Florida.''

 "As the smoke cleared from this weekend's regional Democratic conventions, Barack Obama emerged with a majority of the state's at-large presidential nominating delegates and possibly a majority of all Texas delegates," the Houston Chronicle reports. "But Hillary Rodham Clinton's supporters vowed Sunday to continue the fight for Texas delegates all the way to this summer's state party convention, promising to cut his lead in delegates." More: "Clinton won the popular vote in the March 4 primaries and a majority of the primary-allotted delegates, giving her a 65-61 lead. Obama's campaign claimed he came out of this weekend's conventions with a 38-29 at-large delegate lead, giving him a five-pledged-delegate lead over Clinton... "Clinton state Chairman Garry Mauro conceded that Obama is likely to have a 37-30 advantage in the at-large delegates, which would give Obama a total lead of three pledged delegates over Clinton."

Speaking yesterday at the California Democratic Convention in San Jose, Bill Clinton argued that Democrats shouldn't worry about the nomination fight going into June -- and possibly beyond, NBC's Abby Livingston notes. "Don't you let anybody tell you that somehow we're weakening the Democratic Party by telling the people in Pennsylvania and North Carolina and Indiana and Kentucky and West Virginia and Montana and South Dakota and Oregon and Puerto Rico that they count too. Chill out, we're going win this election. If we just chill out and let everybody have their say."

But on ABC yesterday, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile -- a DNC member who has remained neutral so far -- disagreed to an extent. "This notion of bringing this fight on to the convention is not a wise idea, and I think whoever is coming up with this strategy is not looking at the math," she explained, per NBC's Frank Thorp. Brazile also said she expects the remaining undecided superdelegates to choose their pick soon after the last primary ends: "sometime before July 4th, I am clear that the superdelegates will break one...way or the other." 
 
Brazile mentioned that Obama was the clear front-runner with more states won, more pledged delegates, and more of the popular vote, stopping short of saying that Senator Clinton should drop out of the race. But when confronted with one of Senator Clinton's trump cards, the seating of Michigan and Florida's delegates, Brazile quipped "clearly Florida and Michigan will be dealt with...but we should not tear the party up just to prove a point."

Sen. Jack Reed (D) also weighed in. "I think to this point the nomination process has been helpful," he said yesterday, per NBC's Sandy Luong. "It has generated an unusual amount of enthusiasm, the number of people coming out to vote and the quality of candidates I think has been very, very helpful to us. But I think we all have to recognize that it has to come to a conclusion and after the primaries I think we'll have a candidate and we'll move forward very successfully this fall."

Reed continued: "Individual candidates have to make judgments about whether they will stay in a race or leave a race and it's a very difficult decision. Because it represents years of their lives focusing every particle of their being in their campaign. They also carry the hopes and dreams of thousands of thousands and thousands of people who support them um passionately. So that's not an easy choice but a choice only a candidate can make and I would be presumptuous to suggest one way or the other what she should do."

The Democratic Party's nightmare, per the AP: "The chief worry is that Clinton may carry her recent winning streak into Pennsylvania, Indiana, North Carolina and other states, leaving her with unquestioned momentum but fewer pledged delegates than Obama. Party leaders then would face a wrenching choice: Steer the nomination to a fading Obama, even as signs suggested Clinton could be the stronger candidate in November; or go with the surging Clinton and risk infuriating Obama's supporters, especially blacks, the Democratic Party's most loyal base.
 
"Some anxious Democrats want party elders to step in now to generate more 'superdelegate' support for Obama, effectively choking off Clinton's hopes before she can bolster them further. But many say that is unlikely, and they pray the final 10 contests will make the ultimate choice fairly obvious, not excruciating."

The Los Angeles Times profiles Harold Ickes as Clinton's "not-so-secret" superdelegate weapon. Of course, has he been a weapon at all? "In a Clinton campaign that can seem machinelike, Ickes is conspicuous for his idiosyncrasies. A female aide said that when she noticed his dress shirt unbuttoned practically to the navel, it was like glimpsing an unzipped fly. 'I thought someone should have pulled him aside to tell him. I later came to realize that's how he wears his shirts.'"

"Temperament and eccentricities aside, with the importance of the superdelegates increasing Ickes now carries a burden that may be second only to the candidate's own. Clinton is ahead among superdelegates, but the margin has been slipping. In December, she led Obama by 106 superdelegates. In early February, the number was down to 87. Today it is 36, according to Associated Press surveys."

The Washington Post goes back and examines the attempt Obama and McCain made to work together on ethics reform. "[W]hat began as a promising collaboration between two men bent on burnishing their reformist credentials collapsed after barely a week. The McCain-Obama relationship came undone amid charges and countercharges, all aired publicly two years ago in an exchange of stark and angry letters. Obama questioned whether McCain sided with GOP leaders rather than searching for a bipartisan solution; McCain accused Obama of 'typical rhetorical gloss' and 'self interested partisan posturing' by a newcomer seeking to ingratiate himself with party leaders."

More: "More than two years later, with McCain and Obama potentially poised to go head to head in a presidential campaign with stakes far greater than regulating who picks up steakhouse tabs, the reform fight has emerged as a looking-glass moment of what a fall campaign could resemble. McCain's backers view it as emblematic of Obama's ability to talk grand ideas and aspirations, but also of his ultimate failure to produce substantive results. Obama's supporters contend that the moment was vintage Obama, with the newcomer defusing the feud with a cool demeanor that allowed him to claim the high ground while rolling up his sleeves to eventually help pass a broader ethics overhaul bill in August 2007."

PENNSYLVANIA: The Boston Globe front-pages how the Democrats have moved from talking about NAFTA to "expanding beyond their past populist appeals and using a broader language that can address different experiences of economic change. In Pennsylvania, which on April 22 will host the largest of the remaining contests, Clinton and Obama have turned their emphasis from industrial policy to household economics, such as subprime mortgages, the rising price of gas, supermarket costs, and the interest rates charged on student loans.

Allentown mayor Ed Pawlowski was supposed to have backed Clinton when Bill came to town last week, but didn't. Rendell said he will eventually.

NORTH CAROLINA: Per NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann, of the six uncommitted NC congressmen who reportedly will endorse Obama, four are from congressional districts that skew in Obama's favor. But the biggest blow to Hillary Clinton's prospects in the state might be an Obama nod from Rep. Heath Shuler, a conservative Democrat from a traditionally Republican district in Western North Carolina. Shuler, who was reportedly one of several superdelegates wined and dined at a recent schmancy dinner chez Hillary, is the only Democrat who represents a congressional slice that currently polls in the New York senator's favor. His constituents are mostly white (over 90% of residents are white, per the 2000 census) and rural -- making them one of the most important symbolic demographics being targeted by both candidates in the race.

So does Clinton have a money problem? Apparently, the campaign is slow at paying bills, particularly for events. And some of these local vendors are actually warning colleagues about getting Clinton money up front. Per the Politico, "Hillary Rodham Clinton's cash-strapped presidential campaign has been putting off paying hundreds of bills for months — freeing up cash for critical media buys but also earning the campaign a reputation as something of a deadbeat in some small-business circles."

Moving the goalposts ... again? In Saturday's New York Times, anonymous Clinton aides said if Clinton didn't win the Indiana primary, they'd urge her to get out. But if she narrowly wins Indiana but loses North Carolina, she'll have a hard time making up ground in the delegate count or the popular vote. There was one other quote that jumped out at us in this NYT piece: Rendell's bizarre claim on if rolls were reversed. "'Just flip it for a second,' Mr. Rendell said. 'Let's say Senator Clinton was ahead by about 110 delegates and ahead by less than 1 percent of the vote cast, and she and her supporters started to call on Senator Obama to get out. Just picture what the media would be saying. They'd be saying you're being racist, you're being everything in the world. It's nuts! It's nuts!'"

Really, governor? Really? There wouldn't be TWICE the pressure on Obama to get out than there is right now on Clinton? Rendell has been throwing around the race card easier than most folks of late.

The Los Angeles Times' Finnegan and Z. Barabak point out a fact that has gotten lost with many folks in the media who seem to have amnesia about the Clintons' role leading the Democratic Party in the '90s. "A complication for Clinton, as she courts superdelegates, is the rocky history that she and Bill Clinton have with many in the Democratic establishment. Obama portrays her as a Washington fixture, and after 15 years inside the Beltway -- eight of them as first lady -- the New York senator is very much steeped in the capital and its culture. So, too, are Clinton's campaign team and many of her political allies."

"Even so, she and the former president have long had a more complex and difficult relationship with fellow Democrats -- especially those on Capitol Hill -- than might be expected for a couple who have reigned like no pair since Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Whether it was the botched effort to reform healthcare; tough votes on taxes, trade and welfare; the president's 'triangulation' against fellow Democrats; or the Monica S. Lewinsky mess, the Clintons often made life uncomfortable for their party peers during eight years in the White House."

The New York Post has this headline: "Insult." The story features Bosnians surprised or offended by Clinton's sniper fire story, including the little girl who read Clinton the poem on the tarmac that day. 

Bill Clinton is once again keeping as busy (if not busier?) schedule than the two candidates running: He hit Pennsylvania, California, and Oregon over the weekend, and he campaigns more in Oregon Monday and Montana Tuesday. Of course, the Montana stop is about sending the message that the Clinton campaign plans to contest the nomination through the last day of primaries -- June 3, the day of the Montana primary.

Wow, the payoff from that Bill Clinton-Richard Mellon Scaife sitdown a few years back continues. Check out this Scaife column about Hillary in Sunday's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the newspaper Scaife owns: "Her meeting and her remarks during it changed my mind about her. Walking into our conference room, not knowing what to expect (or even, perhaps, expecting the worst), took courage and confidence. Not many politicians have political or personal courage today, so it was refreshing to see her exhibit both."

Meanwhile, Frank Rich -- per usual -- is tough on Clinton and wonders whether the Bosnia sniper-fire story is a watershed moment for HRC, which, apparently could explain the dramatic drop in her personal ratings in last week's NBC/WSJ poll.

Per excerpts of the speech he will give today in Meridian, MS, McCain will say: "As you might know, I was once a flight instructor here at the air field named for my grandfather during my long past and misspent youth. And it's always good to be in Mississippi, which you could call my ancestral home. Generations of McCains were born and raised in Carroll County, on land that had been in our family since 1848… By all accounts, the McCains of Carroll County were devoted to one another and their traditions; a lively, proud and happy family on the Mississippi Delta. Yet, many McCains left here as young men to pursue careers in what has long been our family's chosen profession -- the United States Armed Forces."

More: "The family I was born to, and the family I am blessed with now, made me the man I am, and instilled in me a deep and abiding respect for the social institution that wields the greatest influence in the formation of our individual character and the character of our society." 
 
McCain's campaign also has released a Web video highlighting his family's military service.

The New York Times curtain-raises McCain's general election kickoff week with a fact that many folks have whispered about for some time. "With attention focused on the Democrats' infighting for the presidential nomination, Senator John McCain is pressing ahead to the general election but has yet to sign up one critical constituency: the big-money people who powered the Bush fund-raising machine."

McCain and the mortgage industry… "What McCain did not say [in his speech on the economy] -- which some believe smacks of politics -- is that two of his top advisers were recently lobbyists for a notorious lender in the mortgage meltdown. John Green, the senator's chief liaison to Congress, and Wayne Berman, his national finance co-chairman, billed more than $720,000 in lobbying fees from 2005 through last year to Ameriquest Mortgage through their lobbying firm, disclosure forms reviewed by the Daily News show."

Yesterday, as violence escalated in the Basra region of Iraq, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I) stood firm behind the decisions of the Maliki government and his friend McCain, NBC's Abigail Williams reports. "We're not fighting for them, we're backing 'em up, they are leading the fight to take control of their own destiny and that's what we've wanted all along."

Lieberman added, "It is a decision by the democratically elected government of Iraq to move against the Shia extremists in the south of Iraq, the gangs, the militias most of whom are being supplied and trained, certainly supplied by Iran."

Lieberman also blasted the Democratic Party as not his party. "It's not the Bill Clinton-Al Gore party, which was strong internationalists, strong on defense, pro-trade, pro-reform in our domestic government," he said. "It's been effectively taken over by a small group on the left of the party that is protectionist, isolationist, and very, very hyperpartisan. So it pains me."

Obama drew 20,000 to Penn State. Check out the photo of him with the Penn State football jersey. Wasn't he doing that in Austin, too?

Another super for Obama. He picks up the endorsement of Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar today, giving him another superdelegate supporter. The endorsement will occur in a conference call at 10:30 am ET. "In a statement provided to The Associated Press, Klobuchar said Obama 'has inspired an enthusiasm and idealism that we have not seen in this country in a long time.'" Also: "North Carolina's seven Democratic House members are poised to endorse Sen. Obama as a group -- just one has so far -- before that state's May 6 primary, several Democrats say." But Obama spokesman Bill Burton tells First Read that there will be no endorsements from North Carolina congressmen coming today. "That did not come from our campaign, we have not confirmed that," Burton adds.

The Washington Post caught Obama in an exaggeration about the Kennedy family role in getting his father to America. It turns out the Kennedys were not involved in any Kenyan airlifts until after Obama's father was safely in Hawaii. What is it about politicians trying too hard to be a part of history? Sometimes, there isn't a destiny; that's ok too.

The Los Angeles Times does something many Obama supporters have been asking the media to do for weeks: put Rev. Wright in some context. "Examining the full content of Wright's sermons and delivery style yields a far more complex message, though one that some will still find objectionable. For more than 30 years, Wright walked churchgoers every Sunday along a winding road from rage to reconciliation, employing a style that validated both. 'He's voicing a reality that those people experience six days a week,' said the Rev. Dwight Hopkins, a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School and a Trinity member. 'In that sense, he's saying they're not insane. That helps them to function the other six days of the week.'"

Politico reports, "During his first run for elected office, Barack Obama played a greater role than his aides now acknowledge in crafting liberal stands on gun control, the death penalty and abortion– positions that appear at odds with the more moderate image he's projected during his presidential campaign. The evidence comes from an amended version of an Illinois voter group's detailed questionnaire, filed under his name during his 1996 bid for a state Senate seat."

"Late last year, in response to a Politico story about Obama's answers to the original questionnaire, his aides said he 'never saw or approved' the questionnaire. They asserted the responses were filled out by a campaign aide who 'unintentionally mischaracterize(d) his position.' But a Politico examination determined that Obama was actually interviewed about the issues on the questionnaire by the liberal Chicago non-profit group that issued it. And it found that Obama – the day after sitting for the interview – filed an amended version of the questionnaire, which appears to contain Obama's own handwritten notes adding to one answer."

More: "Through an aide, Obama, who won the group's endorsement as well as the statehouse seat, did not dispute that the handwriting was his. But he contended it doesn't prove he completed, approved – or even read – the latter questionnaire. 'Sen. Obama didn't fill out these state Senate questionnaires – a staffer did – and there are several answers that didn't reflect his views then or now,' said Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Obama's campaign, in an emailed statement. 'He may have jotted some notes on the front page of the questionnaire at the meeting, but that doesn't change the fact that some answers didn't reflect his views. His eleven years in public office do.'"

Obama "described the Bush Administration's sweeping changes to financial market regulation as "inadequate." "While noting that he hadn't yet seen the full proposal, which Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will unveil Monday, the Illinois senator said that, based upon news reports, he believed the proposed regulatory reforms didn't go far enough, though he lauded the proposed consolidation of regulatory agencies. Sen. Obama laid out his own proposals to boost regulation of the financial industry during a speech in lower Manhattan last week."

Last week, we alerted you to the possibility that Ebay CEO Meg Whitman was pondering a gov run in 2010 in California. Well, her opponent could very well be ... Jerry Brown. "Brown spoke at the state Democratic Party convention Saturday, and boy, did he sound an awful lot like a candidate for Golden State governor -- again. Eerie."

"Brown, who served two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983 before term limits took effect, reminded his Democratic audience assembled in San Jose of some of his 'highlights,' like getting rid of former Gov. Ronald Reagan's bulletproof limousine and using a blue Plymouth from the state motor pool. Brown said he kept the Plymouth for eight years and put 240,000 miles on it, adding: 'Now that's sustainability.'"

From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan
STATE COLLEGE, PA -- Obama has launched a charm offensive in Pennsylvania, forgoing days packed with town halls and cheering crowds at rallies to make small unannounced stops that take the locals by surprise.

Case in point, trying not to strike out in Pennsylvania to Clinton, Obama went bowling Saturday night at Pleasant Valley Lanes in Altoona, five minutes from a hot dog shop that he had visited earlier in the day.

When Obama walked in with Sen. Bob Casey, who recently endorsed him, locals stopped munching mid-fry to stare. The presidential hopeful shook hands, posed for pictures and then joined local Roxanne Hart to bowl a few frames.

"I haven't bowled in 30 years," Obama declared before putting on size 13 1/2 shoes. Casey joined in, and the two rolled. Casey's ball went into the left gutter; Obama's rolled into the right. And so it went, though the locals didn't seem to mind the poor performance. Little kids offered advice and joined in the game. Casey managed to improved steadily, though the last time he bowled was in high school. Obama's balls on the on the other hand meandered their way into the gutter time and time again.

"My economic plan is better than my bowling!" Obama declared at one point to the crowd that had gathered around the lane, growing with each frame as patrons texted and called friends and family to see the political spectacle.

Eventually, in the seventh frame, Obama made a spare, cleaning up one pin left standing with his second ball. He started chanting, "Yes I can!" and a few in the crowd joined in. He quit while he was ahead, signing two bowling pins for the owners before leaving.

The stop was one part of a new offensive by the candidate to find a way to connect with voters outside of events that appear filled to the brim with his own supporters.

At Altoona's Original Texas Dog restaurant yesterday, the campaign planned a round table with three women at the local stop. Munching on hot dogs while talking health care is much more "man of the people" than shouting, "I love you back," to adoring, screaming crowds.

Obama's deficit in Pennsylvania polls may cause some to raise eyebrows at the new tactic, but at a press conference yesterday Obama said that the length of time offered by Pennsylvania's April 22 primary allowed him to campaign at a more "leisurely pace." The rallies and town halls would come, he promised.

At that same press conference, Obama was asked how he would appeal to voters in Western Pennsylvania when he "bombed" with voters in Eastern Ohio, a similar demographic group that he tried to reach out. Obama simply said that he hadn't been in Ohio enough to win them over.

But the events he had in Ohio were serious affairs, focused on four to five town halls, roundtables, and tours of plant factories per day -- designed to make the candidate appear serious and focused on the economy. It was your standard campaign fare, and it didn't help him in the state.

But it's questionable if voters will remember Obama talking about the economy -- or him feeding a baby calf from a bottle like he did at Penn State this morning when they open their local paper or turn on their evening newscasts.

The new efforts, Obama and his aides have said, are focused on trying to get voters to know Obama better. The Clintons, they like to say, are well known here and their support runs deep. Despite the small stops, Obama has said that his message will stay the same, and there's a definitely an economically themed component to most of his stump speeches.

But one has to wonder, as Obama left  a Sharky's Café, a sports bar in Latrobe, talking about Yuengling with a local, if the goal isn't so much to introduce Obama to voters as it is to introduce a different image of him.

"You know I got a beer down there. What do they cal it.. a Yuengling?" Obama said to a local man.

"Yuengling! Like you didn't know," the guy joked back.

"Trying a Pennsylvania beer, that's what I'm talking about. Is it expensive though?" Obama asked. "Wanna make sure it's not some designer beer or something."
 
He shook a few hands and took a few more sips of beer before he walked out, the headline writing itself: "The Candidate You Can Drink a Beer With..."

From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann
DURHAM, NC -- Asked yesterday how her mother's stance on NAFTA would correct economic problems without "contradicting" her father's engineering of the policy, former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton said that the trade deal is one area of disagreement between her parents.

"Well, we don't agree on everything as a family," she told the questioner at a Q&A; session of North Carolina's Young Democrats in Durham yesterday. "My mother and father agree on most things, not everything," she added. "And what you're talking about is one example of that."

NAFTA is likely to be a major issue in the state for the presidential primary, as many residents blame the loss of textile and manufacturing jobs on the trade deal spearheaded by Bill Clinton's Administration.

Chelsea Clinton also delivered an impassioned defense of her mother's candidacy when a friendly questioner asked if she thought her mother has been mischaracterized by the press and the public during the prolonged nomination fight.

"I didn't really get how much sexism there was in this country," she said, citing examples of voters who had approached her with concerns about a woman's capacity to be commander in chief. She singled out gag gift figurines of her mother as a "nutcracker" ("not in anything that I'd consider a respectful posture," said Chelsea) as particularly offensive.

During the session, which lasted well over an hour, the former first daughter said that she feels compelled to campaign, not by familial duty, but by passion for her mother's cause.  "My mom never asked me to do this," she said. "My dad never asked me to do this."

From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
WILLIAMSPORT, PA -- Calling Hillary Clinton "the most unconventional person I have ever seen to be running for president," Bill Clinton yesterday highlighted his wife's advocacy for children as a young woman as an example of her work as a change-maker.

Bill Clinton, still wearing a greenish suit after his visit to a St. Patrick's Day parade earlier, told a crowd of several hundred about Hillary's work after law school for the Children's Defense Fund, saying that part of her efforts led to legislation guaranteeing all children the right to a public school education without regard for disabilities.

"It changed lives for millions and millions of families. And she was doing that when she was a young woman, making changes in other people's lives," he said.

He then referred to the three remaining candidates, saying all were "admirable people," but that if one compared their records as an agent of change "it is not close." But, he added, the coverage of the race hasn't borne it out.

"She's the most unconventional person I have ever seen to be running for president, because she did most of this before she had an elected office," he said. "[But] you never read about any of stuff in the press, do you? Because the intermediaries of the campaign, these kinds of things don't matter to them, because they don't need a president, they need a story. They want a feeling. You gotta decide whether you need a president or not."

From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan
JOHNSTOWN, PA -- Obama yesterday said that Sen. Patrick Leahy's call for Clinton to leave the race was premature, declaring that Clinton had a right to stay in the race as long as she wanted.
 
"Yeah. I hadn't talked to Pat about it," Obama said when asked about Leahy's comments and if it was a premature move on the part of his surrogates.
 
"My attitude is that Sen. Clinton can run as long as she wants. Her name is on the ballot. And she is a fierce and formidable competitor, and she obviously believes that she would make the best nominee and the best opponent," he said. "I think that you know she should be able to compete and her supporters should be able to support her for as long as they are willing or able."

Obama said that the nominee should be decided upon after all the Democratic contests have been completed "some time in early June." 

"At that point, we would have had contests in all 50 states and some territories. We would have tallied up the pledged delegate vote. We would have tallied up the popular vote. We would have tallied up how many states were won by who, and I think people will have more than enough information to make a decision," he said.

Obama added it was "important to pivot as quickly as possible." He called on the superdelegates to make a quick decision, so that the Democratic nominee has as much as time as possible to select a running mate and plan and prepare for the Democratic convention.

From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann and NBC's Chuck Todd
Check out this line from today's Bill Clinton-signed fundraising email for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign: "We're facing a big deadline on Monday. Our opponents and the media will scrutinize our fundraising reports and look for any sign of weakness. By making a contribution today, you can help make sure we show nothing but strength."

Of course, the campaign could be playing an expectations game.

From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan
GREENBURG, PA -- Barack Obama promised that his foreign policy would be
a return to what he says was the realist approach practiced by George
H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.

"My foreign policy is actually a return to the traditional realistic
policy of George Bush's father, of John F. Kennedy, of in some ways
Ronald Reagan," he said Friday.  A voter at the town hall in Greenburg
had asked Obama to respond to charges that his foreign policy was
naïve.  

"It is George Bush who has been naïve and it's people like John McCain
and unfortunately some democrats that have facilitated him acting in
these naïve ways that have caused us so much damage in our reputation
in the world," Obama said.

Drawing on the example of the first Gulf War, Obama said that the first
President Bush had "conducted a Gulf War with allies that ended up
costing twenty billion dollars and left us stronger because they were
realistic."

"Remember, people were saying why didn't you go into Baghdad and
overthrow Saddam Hussein?  The realists understood that that would be a
nightmare.  And it wasn't worth our national interests," Obama added.

He described this President Bush's world view on foreign policy as a big stick approach.

"Certainly George Bush's foreign policy has been dominated by the idea that because we are so militarily powerful we can dictate events around the world," he said. "If people don't like it doesn't matter because we are the biggest, toughest thing on the block. Now that is naïve."

Obama claimed that since 9-11, the way foreign policy was viewed had turned from one that understood the limits of military power and had placed a greater emphasis on diplomatic and economic strength to one that placed its sole emphasis on country's military might.

He described the conventional thinking in Washington on foreign policy as "bipartisan" and this "both ideological and highly political."  

That foreign policy he argued operated from the assumption that United States could act "as a lone super power" and said that "Senator Clinton is as captive to it in some ways as John McCain and George Bush."

"I do think that Senator Clinton would understand that George Bush's polices have failed," Obama added. "But in many ways she has been captive to the same politics that lead her to vote for the war in Iraq. Since 9-11 the conventional wisdom has been you have to look tough on foreign policy by voting and acting like the republicans. And I disagree with it."

The answer on foreign policy was one of many questions on health care, energy, jobs and even what to do with the penny that Obama took at the first town hall of his six day bus tour.

He refused to let Illinois take the blame for stopping the production of pennies, and promised that he would look into it promised that he would look into it with one condition.

"I will seriously consider eliminating the penny as long as we can find Lincoln another place to land. Because Lincoln's a pretty important guy," Obama said.

And he told the crowd that they were "lucky" to get him on the first day of the bus tour.

"By the sixth day I'm all unshaven and my suits are all wrinkled," he said.

From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan
GREENBURG, Pa. -- The Clinton campaign today accused the Obama campaign of "false advertising," claiming that a recent ad Obama released in Pennsylvania was disngenous because Obama has been the recipient of more than $200,000 from the oil and gas industry.

In the ad, Obama says, "I'm Barack Obama, and I don't take money from oil companies or lobbyists, and I won't let them block change any more."

Obama has taken $213,884 from the oil and gas industry as of Feb. 29th, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Sen. Hillary Clinton has taken $306,813 in that same period.

Two of Obama's campaign bundlers are also CEOs for oil and gas companies, per a list released on his campaign Web site.

Robert Cavnar, listed as a bundler who has raised between $50,000 to $100,000 for the campaign, is the chairman and CEO of Mission Resources Corp., a Houston-based firm. George Kaiser, also listed in the same $50,000 to $100,000 category, is the CEO of Tulsa-based Kaiser-Francis Oil Company.

"It's unfortunate that Senator Obama is using false advertising to explain why he can be trusted to do something about energy prices," Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said.  "Senator Obama says he doesn't take campaign contributions from oil companies but the reality is that Exxon, Shell, and others are among his donors."

Obama routinely criticizes companies like Exxon-Mobil on the stump, but over the course of his presidential campaign he has taken more than $30,000 from individuals working for Exxon-Mobil. Clinton has taken more than $20,000 from Exxon-Mobil in the same period.

Just last month, Obama took more than $11,000 from individuals at Exxon-Mobil, per the center. At least 12 of those contributions came from individuals who contributed $250 each, the lowest listed donation. In that same period, Clinton took more than $3,000 from individuals working at Exxon-Mobil.

However, many of those contributions appear to come from workers at the firm not just executives. For example, Patrice McGowan, an Exxon-Mobil shift supervisor, who lives in Joliet, Ill., has donated $982 to Obama as of January. She also has a blog profile on Obama's campaign Web site.

"I am a single woman who has worked shift work all my life, sometimes never seeing another woman on the job for weeks," her profile reads, in part.

In a statement today, Obama spokesman Bill Burton, reiterated that Obama doesn't take PAC money or money from federal registered lobbyists, and "that includes oil companies and oil lobbyists."

Picking on the energy industry is a standard part of Obama's stump speech, where he harshly criticizes the 2005 energy bill and the Vice President Dick Cheney's efforts in passing it.

"Exxon Mobil reported more than $10 billion in quarterly profits," Obama told a town hall in Greenburg, Pa. today. And then referring to Cheney, he added, "He met with the oil and gas companies 40 times. So is it any wonder than that the energy laws that were written were good for Exxon-Mobil but they are not good for you?"

However, Obama did vote for that bill and has been repeatedly criticized by the Clinton campaign for the vote. Obama has defended that vote saying that despite it being a "flawed bill," it had strong provisions for alternative fuels and was the best deal that could be struck on the issue. 

Today, spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the bill, supported by Pennsylvania Congressmen Murtha and Kanjorski "actually raised taxes on oil companies and made the largest investment in renewable energy in our nation's history."

Despite the attacks, Obama doesn't appear to be backing down from his criticism of the energy industry or on special interest influences.

"I don't take PAC money," he said this evening. "I don't take money from federal registered lobbyists. I don't want those strings attached."

From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. -- Just in case you were wondering what Hillary Clinton's No. 1 fan thinks of recent calls for her to drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination, Bill Clinton has three words for you: "Bunch of Bull."

"All these people tell you, 'Aw, we oughta shut this thing down now; the Democrats are so divided,'" Clinton said at a campaign event here. "That's a bunch of bull."

The former president went on to note that he did not earn enough delegates to clinch the 1992 nomination until June of that year, around the same time that the final primary votes will be cast this year.

He also argued, as he often does, against the "disenfranchisement" of voters in Michigan and Florida. "She wants you to have your say," he added.

Notably, Clinton described the remaining primaries as contests for the popular vote (not for delegates.) "Now we're going to have to go all the way through to the end to see who has the most popular votes," he said. "And that's good."