Although thousands were evacuated from buildings in Beijing and Shanghai, for me the swaying ceiling lamps and window blinds (and my barking dog) were my only hints of the earthquake that hit eastern Sichuan province at 2:29 PM local time. Now we hear the temblor was 7.8 on the Richter scale and that state media are reporting that as many as 5,000 people were killed in a single county. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, 80 percent of the buildings collapsed in Beichuan county in Sichuan province, with 900 high school students said to be trapped in the rubble of their building. The U.S. Geological Survey says it took place 93 kilometers (about 56 miles) northwest of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu. More

In this week's mothership magazine cover story, "The O-Team," Richard Wolffe and Evan Thomas report on how Barack Obama's campaign has (almost) won the fiercest Democratic primary clash in recent history--and how his aides plan to battle the coming GOP onslaught. Below, I've excerpted what I consider the most intriguing passage: a description of the 527 attack Obama can expect to face, and an admission from a McCain staffer that "it's going to be Swift Boat times five on both sides." Apparently, top McCain aide Mark Salter found the passage intriguing as well--and complained Sunday in an email to NEWSWEEK editor Jon Meacham. "The characterization of Republican presidential campaigns as nothing more than attack machines that use 527s and other means to smear opponents strikes us as pretty offensive," he wrote. Salter makes a point worth debating: that Evan and Richard proceeded under the "biased" assumption that Republican campaigns (more than their Democratic rivals) have "won elections and will try to win this one simply by tearing down through disreputable means their opponents." Is the true, historically? Do Evan and Richard, rightly or wrongly, actually accept this construct as if it were objective? Does the "other side use the same tactics, with no opposition" from the press? Or are Salter's cries of "media bias" simply a political strategy meant to simultaneously dissociate McCain from the coming attacks--while giving him an excuse not to shut them down? Read on. The comments are all yours.

From "THE O-TEAM," by Richard Wolffe and Evan Thomas:

It's easy to see how the presidential campaign could swiftly descend into tit-for-tat name-calling. Obama's advisers insist that the race will be about the big issues because there are stark contrasts between the candidates on Iraq and the economy. But if McCain thinks he can't win on those issues—if the war remains unpopular and the Bush downturn goes on—he will be sorely tempted to run down his opponent. The McCain campaign is now poring over Obama's record, looking for weaknesses that can be exposed without race-baiting or hitting below the belt. They want to brand Obama as a "superduper liberal who is out of the mainstream," says one McCain adviser who did not wish to be identified discussing internal campaign strategy.

A campaign insider who declined to be identified for the same reason says McCain aides are studying a private, 52-page dossier, compiled for the aborted 2004 campaign of Illinois Republican Senate candidate Jack Ryan (slated to be Obama's opponent until disclosure of some embarrassing records related to his divorce forced him to drop out). The dossier, a copy of which was obtained by NEWSWEEK, brands Obama as "in favor of coddling sex abusers" and "shamefully soft on crime and drugs." It hits, for instance, Obama's vote in 2001 against a GOP-sponsored measure to toughen penalties against "gangbangers," pushed after a particularly brutal gang killing in Chicago. Charlie Black, McCain's top strategist, tells NEWSWEEK he had not personally reviewed the Ryan dossier, but saw no problem with using Obama's votes on justice issues in the Illinois Legislature. "What's wrong with that?" he says. (An Obama spokesman says the criticism in the dossier was "long ago debunked," and that the candidate "is supported today by law-enforcement officials across Illinois and the nation.")

McCain's top aides include some veterans of past Republican attack campaigns, like campaign strategist Steve Schmidt, who was in charge of rapid response for Bush-Cheney '04, and Black, whose experience goes all the way back to the campaigns of right-wing Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina. John Weaver, McCain's former chief strategist who resigned from the campaign last summer but keeps ties to McCain, suggests that McCain could try to block low-road smears. "He could say, 'If any major donors or political operators do that, then you will be persona non grata in my administration'," says Weaver. But McCain himself has said that he will not "referee" between various independent groups who always want to have their say in presidential campaigns. (The model is the notorious Swift Boat Veterans for Truth who unfairly but effectively questioned John Kerry's war record in 2004.) Black tells NEWSWEEK McCain was powerless to stop the "527s," named after the provision of the tax code that covers political expenditures by nonprofits, from running attack ads on their own. "Look, there's nothing we can do about the 527s," says Black.

Another McCain adviser, who asked for anonymity discussing internal campaign strategy, bluntly warned: "It's going to be Swift Boat times five on both sides … The candidates will both do their best publicly to mute it. But in a close race, I don't see how to shut that down." Indeed, two of the most experienced attack artists are already gearing up. Floyd Brown, who produced the infamous "Willie Horton" commercial that used race and fear of crime to drive voters away from Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988, produced an ad before the North Carolina primary accusing Obama of being soft on crime. He tells NEWSWEEK that Obama is "extremely vulnerable" to questioning about his ties to Chicago fixer Tony Rezko, who has been indicted for political corruption. (Obama is not linked to any wrongdoing.) Another target is former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, whose association with Obama will remind voters of bomb-throwing student radicals of the 1960s. "There's plenty of stuff out there," says Brown. "I'm kinda like in a candy store in this election."

Then there's David Bossie, already deep into a mudslinging campaign against Obama through a political organization called Citizens United. Bossie is planning a widespread DVD release of a documentary that will portray Obama as a "limousine, out-of-control leftist liberal … more liberal than [Vermont Sen.] Bernie Sanders, who is a socialist," Bossie tells NEWSWEEK. McCain has little leverage over Bossie, who has run ads attacking McCain as too liberal in the past.

It's possible that aiming low will backfire. In the recent special election for a solidly Republican House seat in Louisiana, the national GOP ran an ad tying the Democratic candidate, Don Cazayoux, to Obama and his allegedly "radical agenda." The Democrat won—taking away the seat from the Republicans for the first time in 33 years. The result was "a sharp wake-up call for Republicans," declared former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich. "The Republican brand has been so badly damaged that if the Republicans try to run an anti-Obama … anti-Reverend Wright campaign, they are simply going to fail," Gingrich wrote. "This model has already been tested with disastrous results."

Maybe so, but desperate times can call for desperate measures. With his huge Internet network of donors, Obama can raise much more money than McCain. The Republicans will need those independent expenditures to try to keep up, no matter how distasteful the attack ads they buy.

SALTER'S RESPONSE AFTER THE JUMP...
 

More

A round-up of this morning's must-read stories.

ALREADY, OBAMA AND MCCAIN MAP FALL STRATEGIES
(Adam Nagourney and Jeff Zeleny, New York Times)
In a sign of what could be an extremely unusual fall campaign, the two sides said Saturday that they would be open to holding joint forums or unmoderated debates across the country in front of voters through the summer. Mr. Obama, campaigning in Oregon, said that the proposal, floated by Mr. McCain’s advisers, was “a great idea.”... He and Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, are starting to assemble teams in the key battlegrounds, develop negative advertising and engage each other in earnest on the issues and a combustible mix of other topics, including age and patriotism. Mr. McCain, of Arizona, will spend the next week delivering a series of speeches on global warming, evidence of his intention to battle Mr. Obama for independent voters... Clearly concerned that questions about such things as his association with his former pastor had damaged his standing with independents, Mr. Obama, of Illinois, is likely to embark on a summertime tour intended to highlight the life story that was once central to his appeal. Preliminary plans include a stop in Hawaii, his birthplace, and a major address there at Punchbowl Cemetery, where his maternal grandfather, who fought in World War II, is buried... Both sides say the states clearly in play now include Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. Republicans said they hoped to put New Jersey and possibly California into play; Democrats said African-Americans could make Mr. Obama competitive in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Mr. Obama’s advisers said they had a strong chance of taking Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio and Virginia away from the Republican column.

HOW TO END A PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
(Ben Smith, Politico)
Clinton is balancing a range of considerations: her bank account; her political future and the party’s; her need to win back Obama’s supporters, particularly African-Americans; and her need to keep faith with voters in her own (nearly) half of the party, many of whom have grown to dislike her rival. And so her options range from swift and gracious (although time is running out on that one) to the political version of Custer’s last stand: taking a losing hand to the Democratic National Convention in August. Each has its benefits and its drawbacks, but together they’re what’s left of Clinton’s options.   1) Never Say Die... 2) Extract a Job... 3) Cash Out...  4) Kicking and Screaming...  5) Racial Meltdown...  6) Unconditional surrender.

HILLARY WHO? OBAMA ACTS LIKE IT'S OVER
(Carrie Budoff Brown and Kenneth P. Vogel, Politico)
When the election returns filter in Tuesday from West Virginia, Sen. Barack Obama won’t be there. Nor will he leapfrog ahead to a later primary state, as he usually does on election nights. Exercising his new-found role as the likely Democratic nominee, Obama will instead travel to Missouri, a general election swing state, to begin laying the groundwork for November. He will do the same next week in Florida, raising money and setting out on what aides describe as a fence-mending bid in the orphaned state. The travel schedule is just one mark of a candidate eager to shift from primary to general election mode. Obama and his aides repeatedly told reporters this weekend that the primary is not yet over. But the signs of change were everywhere during the senator’s first campaign trip after a big win in North Carolina and a narrow loss in Indiana nudged him closer than ever to the Democratic nomination. In a two-day swing through Oregon, Obama purged Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton from his stump speeches, addressing his Democratic rival only when asked by voters. Obama instead focused solely on Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.  

MORE: Obama, Clinton Adjust Aim, Target McCain (Matt Phillips and Joel Milman, Wall Street Journal)
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton stepped up their criticism of John McCain and aimed fewer potshots at each other amid signs the nomination fight is winding down and the Democratic Party is coalescing around Sen. Obama. Before taking time off the campaign trail Sunday, Sen. Obama zeroed in on the Republican presidential candidate's "gas-tax holiday," ridiculing the proposal as saving motorists "a quarter and a nickel a day" through the summer. He also tested a new, harsher message: Sen. McCain's involvement in the 1987 Keating Five savings and loan scandal would be fair game for the general election... Sen. Clinton also seemed to pull back her direct criticisms of Sen. Obama, invoking his name only in passing at a Manhattan fund-raiser Saturday. Instead, she sounded themes of party unity.

ENVIRONMENTAL STANCES ARE BALANCING ACT FOR MCCAIN
(Julie Eilperin, Washington Post)
McCain has made the environment one of the key elements of his presidential bid. He speaks passionately about the issue of climate change on the campaign trail, and he plans to outline his vision for combating global warming in a major speech today in Portland, Ore. "I'm proud of my record on the environment," he said at a news conference Friday at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. "As president, I will dedicate myself to addressing the issue of climate change globally." But an examination of McCain's voting record shows an inconsistent approach to the environment: He champions some "green" causes while casting sometimes contradictory votes on others.

QUESTIONS FOR JOHN MCCAIN
(George Will, Newsweek)
Peripatetic John McCain, the human pinball, continues to carom around the country as his rivals gnaw on each other. Although action, not reflection, is his forte, perhaps he should go to earth somewhere, while the Democrats continue the destruction, and answer some questions, such as... Our goal in Iraq is "success," which you define as "the establishment of a generally peaceful, stable, prosperous, democratic state." Would a "generally" peaceful, stable, prosperous but authoritarian state be unacceptable? Or a mildly prosperous and "generally" stable state but one with simmering violence—which describes a number of nations today, including Iraq? Does the task of making your four adjectives descriptive of Iraq require and therefore justify more years of military involvement in the suppression of groups that are manifestations of sectarianism, criminality and warlordism? What other nations should we police? 

CONTINUED AFTER THE JUMP...
 

More

Unlike the Olympics’ second round of ticketing -- during which the online sales system was overwhelmed with traffic and ultimately forced to a halt -- Round 3 sales were heralded as a success by China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency . Within the first... More

Around noon today, the powers-that-be at NEWSWEEK posted "A Convention Quandary" on our website. In the story, investigative ace Michael Isikoff reported that the man chosen by John McCain's presidential campaign to run this summer's GOP convention--Arizonan Doug Goodyear--was causing some headaches within the ranks. The problem? Goodyear is CEO of DCI Group, a consulting firm that earned $3 million last year lobbying for ExxonMobil, General Motors and other clients--not the most convenient association for a candidate who's already struggling to reconcile his reputation as an anti-special interests crusader with the sizable number of lobbyists on his senior staff. Further complicating matters: Isikoff's revelation that DCI was paid $348,000 in 2002 to represent Burma's military junta, leading "a PR campaign to burnish the junta's image, drafting releases praising Burma's efforts to curb the drug trade and denouncing 'falsehoods' by the Bush administration that the regime engaged in rape and other abuses." Ouch.

Apparently, Goodyear agreed.

Shortly after 4:00 p.m. this afternoon, the Republican National Convention announced that it had accepted Goodyear's resignation, setting a new land speed record for shortest time lapsed between the "story breaks" and "ax falls" phases of a political scandal. "Today I offered the convention my resignation so as not to become a distraction in this campaign," said Goodyear in written statement. "I continue to strongly support John McCain for president, and wish him the best of luck in this campaign." Asked later by the Politico whether Team McCain had given him the boot, Goodyear said no. "My decision," he added. "[It was] unambiguously the right thing to do."

Ironically enough, though, Goodyear defended his involvement with the brutal Burmese regime in Isikoff's original story. "It was our only foreign representation, it was for a short tenure, and it was six years ago," he told NEWSWEEK at the time, adding that the junta's record in the current cyclone crisis is "reprehensible."

Funny how the spotlight changes things.

More

May 19, 2008 issue 
By Tara Weingarten

Illustration: Tim Bower for Newsweek

Priscilla Marquard wanted to set herself and her three daughters on a lifelong course of healthy eating. Marquard was about 10 pounds overweight, and her daughters, 12-year-old triplets, were “beginning to pudge up.” So she brought them to the Pritikin Family Program in Aventura, Fla., a two-week weight-loss camp for parents and kids (pritikin .com). The family had such a good time playing tennis, running on the beach and learning to make healthy tacos in cooking class they hardly noticed they were shedding pounds. Last December, Marquard’s daughters chose a return trip to the weight-loss camp over a family vacation in Barbados.

Since many families put on weight together, it makes sense to lose it together. Program options include high-end camps like Pritikin (two weeks cost $6,500 for adults and $2,500 for kids, sometimes partly covered by insurance), as well as less expensive outpatient services. Most of these offer a combination of fun activities mixed with group therapy, parenting classes and medical checkups. Experts say these types of programs, where kids and parents make a commitment to losing weight together, tend to have lasting results. The idea is to change the whole home environment, rather than putting the kids on a diet. “If the changes made are familywide, they have a very good chance of sticking,” says Dr. Bill Dietz, a pediatrician and director of the Centers for Disease Control’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity. In Marquard’s case, she and her kids cut back on restaurant meals and started carefully monitoring fat and calories in prepared foods. They now cook mostly fish and vegetables at home.

More

May 19th, 2008 issue

Our top picks for the week  

See “The Horse,” at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The exhibition examines the relationship between these magnificent creatures and human beings, showing how horses have influenced war, transportation, agriculture and other aspects of human life. (May 17, 2008-Jan. 4, 2009; amnh.org)

Rent “The Fire Within.” Louis Malle, with elegant, eloquent anguish, observed the last 24 hours in the life of a dissolute, suicidal playboy (Maurice Ronet) in this little-seen 1963 gem. Set to a spare Satie piano score, it’s a haunting study of depression—but too artful to be depressing itself.

More

OK so I'm never going whine about having two little kids. This is a vow to you people. Never again shall I moan about how scared I am about having more than one little one, about losing sleep, about how hard life is as a parent and boo-hoo-hoo. You see i have made a horrifying discovery: I have discovered Jon & Kate Plus 8.

Those of you with lives who aren't watching Oprah every other minute or religiously tuning into the TLC because you're actually sane might not know what I'm talking about. Allow me to breakitdown:

I was at the gym the other day, a rare treat. Riding the ol' stationary bike. Watching TV. Totally zoned out. It was great. I'm flipping through the channels and because I don't really know my way around the cable lineup, not having cable at home, I'm just randomly watching whatever. I start with The Hills. I don't really get The Hills, but then I know I'm not the target demographic. I do think my soul died a little bit the day I learned who Spencer Pratt was. (Although, I will say this: JustinBobby is kind of rad.) I can't get mad at these children--they're pretty, paid handsomely to have nary a care in the world.

A a commercial break, I start surfing the channels. I end up on a scene where some mom is wrangling her kids into the kitchen. She appears to have two or three of them. "Ah," I say to myself, "This looks familiar. Herding cats. Heh." I watch for a minute and it slowly begins to dawn on me, she has more than three kids. Actually, wait. There's another. She has more than four kids. Dear God. She has more than five kids, seven kids. She has eight freaking kids. And they're all under the age of six or something.

It was at this very moment that my brain broke.

I stayed on the bike for about three hours, my broken brain attempting to process episode after episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8. Absolutely captivating television. The scoop, for those of you who don't know it: Jon and Kate Gosselin  couldn't get pregnant so they took fertility drugs. Then they had twins. So very cute. A sane person would have stopped right there. But they are, apparently, not very sane. She says she wanted to have just one more baby because she didn't know what it was like to not have to split her attention between two babies. Ah, but the cosmos loves a good practical joke. Instead of one baby she had ... six. At one time. A whole litter of pups.

My broken brain was trying so hard to understand this fact. Eight kids. All under the age of four. In one house. Sweet Jesus.

After watching Jon & Kate for a while (they are, it turns out, very charming and kind of badass, if a little too heavy on the God stuff, at least on their Website), I toggled back over to The Hills. The blonde one was on some date with some cute boy she went to high school with or something and they were all like giving each other loaded meaningful glances over uneaten frisee salad and triple skim lattes and talking about the crisis in Darfur. No, wait. They were discussing recent breakthroughs in string theory and quantum physics. Hahah. I'm kidding of course. They were talking about, well, it's hard to explain, but I'm sure it was something meaningful about, like, cool stuff. that they bought shopping. And like. Yeah. Whatever. Also, Audrina's a slut.

I toggle back to Jon & Kate and there they are just trying to get through breakfast alive. It's chaos plus insanity times madness to the power of crazy. I'd buy a whole haberdashery just so I could tip every single hat in it. Man.

Talk about two very different "reality" shows.

This is when my broken brain formed it's first idea since breaking. It was a fantasy. My fantasy is this: I want Heidi and Spencer to have eight kids. I want Lauren and Brody to have eight kids. I want Audrina and JustinBobby  to have eight kids. I want all those little Hills turds to have eight kids just for one day. That is something I'd subscribe to cable to watch.

More

1. An ad from John McCain, running Sunday on EstrogenTV (A&E, Hallmark Lifetime, Oxygen)

2. A video for Hillary Clinton--"loving and devoted" mother--from Chelsea.
"And remember your little girls can be everything they want to be in America when they grow up," she says. "Even if it's the second woman president."  Wink, wink.

 
3. And from Obama? Nothing yet. Perhaps that's because his mother passed away in 1995--and he's not a mother himself. Still, there's Michelle, and grandma Madelyn Dunham...

Leave it to a busy young man to wait until the last minute.

More

Isn't American politics grand? 

When Barack Obama ordered a locally-brewed Yuengling at a Pennsylvania sports bar back in March, he made sure he was sending the right message. “Is it expensive, though?" he asked a male patron. "Wanna make sure it’s not some designer beer or something.” Of course, the point of chugging a cold one with the cameras watching is to show that even though you're freakish enough to want to lead the free world, you're also fake in touch with the working man. So "designer beers" won't do. Which is why when Obama showed up at the Raleigh Times pub on the eve of this week's North Carolina primary and asked "Where's my beer?", he faced a potentially disastrous conundrum. Turns out the Raleigh Times is a hard-core beer-snob hangout known for serving premium brews like Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron and Avery Maharaja. (D'oh.) So Obama did what any self-respecting, Maureen-Dowd-dreading politician would do: ordered the only "downscale" beer that's ironically hip enough to be served in an upscale brewpub. "PBR," he said--Pabst Blue Ribbon. What instincts. 

But Obama has a problem going forward. His next big contest is on May 20 in brewery-rich Oregon--where PBR won't cut it with the suds-obsessed locals. In fact, at a stop in Beaverton today, a few supporters openly mocked his proclivity for Pabst (video above). "When in PBR land, you drink PBR," he explained. "What's the beer of choice in Oregon?" IPA, someone shouted. "IPA?" Obama asked. "Is it good? We're gonna have to try some of that." In terms of Average-Joe street cred, Obama acquitted himself well; by not recognizing the acronym IPA (India Pale Ale), or knowing that it's a type, not a brand, of beer (like, say, stout), the Illinois senator demonstrated an admirable lack of beer snobbery. But Oregon is justly proud of intense local micobreweries like Deschutes, Hair of the Dog and Rogue, the last of which makes ales flavored with chipotle, chamomile and juniper. So if Obama wants to keep his IPA promise and please Oregonians, it appears that he may have to risk shattering his carefully cultivated "Larry the Cable Guy" image--and indulge in one of the state's "designer" drinks.

Luckily, we here at Stumper headquarters--beer snobs all of us--are happy to help. If Obama is forced choose an IPA before the 20th, we recommend Rogue's I2PA, or Imperial India Pale Ale. What it lacks in working-class grit it more than makes up in pure alcohol by volume (9.2 percent=two PBRs). The only hitch? Flavor. I2PA is heavy on the hops, meaning that it's floral, citrusy and--brace yourself, Barack--uncommonly bitter. But then again, so is every other IPA. So it looks like you're stuck.

Paging Maureen Dowd...

More

Elise Amendola / AP

Here's my NEWSWEEK colleague (the indomitable) Suzanne Smalley with a dispatch from the Clinton roadshow in Oregon. Despite speculation to contrary, Suzanne reports, the candidate is actually "escalating her rhetoric" against Obama.

At a rally in Central Point, Ore., last night, Hillary Clinton didn't leave any doubt that she's still in it to win it. She challenged Barack Obama to a debate in Portland on Friday, where they'll both be campaigning, saying she'll meet "absolutely anytime, anywhere." She stressed her knowledge of controversial local issues, saying Obama is on the wrong side of them. And she taunted Obama for talking a good game without backing it up, not unlike, Clinton said, President George W. Bush.

"My opponent voted for legislation … which gave more tax subsidies to the oil companies, more tax subsidies to the nuclear industry, and which took away the right of states to determine whether [liquefied natural gas] terminals would be placed along their coast. So there's a lot we should be debating about," she told a raucous crowd of about 1,000 supporters. "Back in 2000 some people voted for President Bush because he went around telling people in settings like this that he was a compassionate conservative. Nobody knew what that meant, did they? But it sure did sound good."

... 

The New York senator's resilience and unflinchingly broad smile belied her grim circumstances, three days after she failed to perform well enough in the North Carolina and Indiana primaries to turn the race around. Despite her strong rhetoric, it is now clear that Clinton can't win the Democratic nomination unless the superdelegates overturn the popular vote and Barack Obama's pledged delegate lead. Even if Florida and Michigan votes are fully counted, Clinton still will finish the primary race behind Obama in pledged delegates. How then does the campaign justify continuing?

To hear Clinton's chief superdelegate hunter Harold Ickes tell it, Clinton is continuing the fight because she's convinced she can beat McCain. Clinton has refused to come out and say Obama can't beat McCain (when pressed to by several debate moderators, she has demurred). But in an interview with NEWSWEEK, Ickes strongly suggested that Obama can't win come November. "We have to remember McCain is not a standard, off-the-shelf Republican," Ickes said, echoing the argument he says he's making to superdelegates, and pointing up Clinton's inarguable strength with Roman Catholics, Hispanics and elderly voters in key November battleground states such as Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. "He will have a lot of appeal for Hispanics. He'll trounce [Obama]."

The pool of uncommitted superdelegates—numbering 230 or so--being wooed by the Clinton camp are worried about Obama's general-election viability, Ickes said. He stressed that if Obama can't win Florida or Ohio—both states in which he has polled less favorably than Clinton—then states like New Mexico and Nevada will take on more importance. And Ickes suggested Obama can't win in those places either. "Big Hispanic populations," Ickes said. "If you look at the reach she has from a general-election perspective, she is a much stronger candidate. She has a much stronger base in swing or Purple States and she has a much stronger base to get to 270."

Clinton has also started mentioning race more frequently. In an article published yesterday in USA Today, Clinton said she would have a larger group of voters to draw a winning coalition from because "Senator Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again." What happened to playing nice? Even as surrogates have called for a less bitterly fought campaign, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein publicly warned Clinton yesterday that she is concerned about the "negative dividends" of the contest. Some advisers have been quoted speaking privately about plans to keep the campaign's tone positive going forward. But the candidate only seems to be escalating her rhetoric.

READ THE REST HERE. 

More

USA Today

Padres part ways with Edmonds
MLB.com - 45 minutes ago
By Corey Brock / MLB.com SAN DIEGO -- The Padres decided to sever ties with Jim Edmonds on Friday, releasing the 37-year-old, eight-time Gold Glove winner after he struggled offensively and defensively during the first month of the season.
Padres release veteran OF Edmonds Sports Network
Padres release struggling CF Jim Edmonds USA Today
San Diego Union Tribune
all 41 news articles

More

Sportsnet.ca

Sexson suspended for 6 games by MLB
USA Today - 48 minutes ago
NEW YORK (AP) - Seattle slugger Richie Sexson was suspended for six games and fined Friday by Major League Baseball after charging the mound and throwing his helmet at a Texas pitcher the previous night.
Sexson fined, suspended 6 games after brawl SportingNews.com
Sexson slapped with six-game suspension; he'll appeal Seattle Post Intelligencer
Dallas Morning News - MLB.com - The Canadian Press - Sports Network
all 421 news articles

More

Sioux City Journal

Obama Offers Veep Talk
New York Times - 54 minutes ago
By Jeff Zeleny BEAVERTON, Ore. - When Senator Barack Obama arrived at a software and technology plant here today, holding a town meeting with a few dozen Oregon voters, he came armed with a prepared speech about Senator John McCain.
Economics 101: Obama vs. McCain Salon
Obama focusing on McCain at Oregon campaign stops WAND
CNN Political Ticker - National Journal - Mother Jones - WHNT
all 1,672 news articles

More

Chatter Shmatter

Nick Hogan Gets 8 Months Jail, Plus Probation
People Magazine - 59 minutes ago
Nick Hogan - real name: Nick Bollea - received an 8-month jail sentence, plus probation and suspension of this driver's license for three years, after he entered a plea of "no contest" in a Florida courtroom Friday on charges of felony reckless driving ...
Nick Hogan "Happy" with 8 Month Jail Sentence Actress Archives
Nick Bollea Gets Jail, Probation FOX 11 Online
WLTX.com - OK! Magazine - FOXNews - ProWrestling.net
all 487 news articles

More

Obama Adds Seven Superdelegates, Closing on Clinton (Update3)
Bloomberg - 1 hour ago
By Christopher Stern May 9 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama picked up seven more superdelegates, including one who switched from Hillary Clinton, and has almost drawn even with his rival in endorsements from the party ...
Obama narrows Clinton lead in superdelegates CNN
Obama Has More Supers, Clyburn Says CBS News
Los Angeles Times - The Associated Press - ABC News - Houston Chronicle
all 707 news articles

More

Earthtimes (press release)

Citigroup Plans to Shed About $400 Billion of Assets (Update6)
Bloomberg - 1 hour ago
By Josh Fineman May 9 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit plans to get rid of about $400 billion of assets over the next three years as he starts to whittle away at the company built by Sanford ``Sandy'' Weill.
Citi Shedding $400 Billion in Businesses TheStreet.com
Citigroup to shed more than $400 billion CNNMoney.com
MarketWatch - Forbes - The Associated Press - 13WHAM-TV
all 383 news articles

More

Sydney Morning Herald

Experts: Myanmar cannot run aid effort alone after cyclone
International Herald Tribune - 1 hour ago
AP BANGKOK, Thailand: With only a few aging helicopters and little disaster experience, Myanmar's junta is risking the lives of millions of cyclone survivors by running the relief operation alone, aid experts said Friday.
Video: Questions About Aid Plague Myanmar Cyclone AssociatedPress
Myanmar approves US aid cargo flight Jerusalem Post
Bloomberg - Monsters and Critics.com - AFP - Xinhua
all 3,729 news articles

More

dBTechno

Medicare tackles marketing abuses
Chicago Tribune - 1 hour ago
Here’sa primer to help you understand the latest regulations proposed by federal regulators for private plans that operate under Medicare.
Hard Sell to Medicare Insurance Buyers Would Get Softer Under New ... New York Times
Proposal Would Limit Medicare-Plan Marketing Wall Street Journal
Reuters - Boston Globe - Houston Chronicle - Bizjournals.com
all 120 news articles

More

ITProPortal

MySpace Enables Sharing of User Data
eFluxMedia - 1 hour ago
By Alice Turner MySpace has enabled its users to allow sharing of data across a variety of partner sites such as Yahoo, eBay, Photobucket, and Twitter, with more to come soon.
Facebook Responds To MySpace With Facebook Connect TechCrunch
Better late than never: MySpace finally enables data sharing Ars Technica
CNet News.com Blog - PC World - VentureBeat - Mashable
all 319 news articles

More

San Diego Union Tribune

Russia puts on a Soviet show of might
Telegraph.co.uk - 1 hour ago
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow DMitry Medvedev, Russia's new president, delivered a coded rebuke to the West yesterday as Russia paraded its nuclear missiles through Red Square in a show of force not seen since Soviet times.
Video: Russia parades its military might AlJazeeraEnglish
Russia Parades Military Might New York Times
Voice of America - The Associated Press - Washington Post - Times Online
all 658 news articles

More

Air Canada adds fuel surcharge as oil prices soar
Reuters - 1 hour ago
By Jeffrey Jones CALGARY, Alberta, May 9 (Reuters) - Air Canada (ACa.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) has tacked fuel surcharges on to fares for domestic flights and US routes to cope with crude prices that soared above $126 a barrel on Friday for the ...
Northwest Airlines to increase fuel surcharge by $10 each way Forbes
Northwest boosts fuel surcharge by $10 each way Bizjournals.com
Detroit Free Press - Aero-News Network - Cheapflights.com - FOX 9 News
all 2,572 news articles

More

The Southern Ledger

NC officials: Fatal twister could have been worse
Houston Chronicle - 1 hour ago
By MIKE BAKER AP Writer © 2008 AP RALEIGH, NC - Amber Parker watched on television as the storm near her home grew into a tornado threat.
Video: Raw Video: Strong Storms Rip Through Virginia AssociatedPress
Tornado knocks vehicles around in N. Carolina, kills 1 San Jose Mercury News
WIS - Prescott Herald - CNN - KMPH Fox 26
all 806 news articles

More

Javno.hr

Several dead in Sri Lankan bombing
Aljazeera.net - 1 hour ago
A bombing in Sri Lanka has killed at least 11 people and wounded another 29, the military has said. The blast in a café in Ampara, about 350km from Colombo, the capital, came a day before the first local elections in the region in two decades.
Cafe Bombing in Eastern Sri Lanka Kills 11 Voice of America
LTTE blamed for Ampara blast; 11 killed, many injured Hindu
The Associated Press - Monsters and Critics.com - Bloomberg - Reuters
all 857 news articles

More