Further explaining what he really, really and truly meant:

"We lived for the first 13 years of our marriage up until three years ago in a three-bedroom condo without a garage so if you live in Chicago that means you're scraping ice every morning," he said in rejecting the elitist label.

Man oh man. Scraping ice every morning proves he can connect with the common people.

My husband noted that it's a good thing he learned how to wax his surfboard when in lived in Honolulu while attending the elite Punahou School because some of the same movements are necessary for scraping ice.

While Obama shouldn't be held accountable for the actions of those he's associated with over the years, the William Ayers' question was a legitimate one, because whether we want to admit it or not, we are influenced by our choice of relationships. Posing the question gave Obama an opportunbity to explain -- he'll most certainly be asked about his relationship with Ayers in the general election if he's the Dem nominee.

There's an assumption here that Steph would not have asked the question without Hannity's prompting to do so. I hate it when people act like they are mind readers.

Learn to read for content.

For crying out loud! A journalist wearing a flag lapel pin on a news broadcast is a form of jingoism!

A graf from Michael Scherer in the Columbia Journalism Review in March, 2002:

One month after the first U.S. bombing of Kabul, Fox News correspondent Brit Hume delivered a short but stinging report on his nightly broadcast. "Over at ABC News, where the wearing of American flag lapel pins is banned," said Hume, his own pin firmly in place, "Peter Jennings and his team have devoted far more time to the coverage of civilian casualties in Afghanistan than either of their broadcast network competitors."

I, for one, really don't feel offended by their line of inquiry. How politicians respond to seemingly superficial questions can reveal a lot about their character, judgment, ability to think on their feet, demeanor, temperment, composure, etc.

There's sure a lot of airtime and ink being devoted to discussing stupid questions. Why are writers here at salon.com flogging this BS?

How 'bout WRITING about the issues?

The estimated turnout of 35000 at O's rally has been adequately reported.

But, why is this such a big deal to you?

John Kerry had an estimated turnout of 80,000 or over in Madison, WI, in 2004. You see how that turned out.

FROM THE ARTICLE: But as the former Clinton pastor was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for inappropriately touching a 7-year-old girl at his home last March, Judge Michael L. Dwyer said Procanick sacrificed his honesty the day he testified.

Stop lying Canco52! Procanick was pastor at Resurrection Assembly of God Church in Clinton, NY before stepping down in Spring of 2007.

Clinton is a LOCATION, not a person, in this case!

whether the Democratic race will wrap up too late for the party to come back together again. (Steve Benen)

Again? The Democratic Party hasn't been "together" since the Vietnam War era.

The division in the Democratic Party is between the pragmatic progressives and the purist left, couple that with the fisticuffs between the Obama v. Clinton supporters, add the Dems' inability to even agree on basic "rules" and that is a recipe for disaster.

Please don't blame the divisions on the long primary slog. The divide is nothing new, so don't start looking to place blame on Hillary Clinton lacking the grace to bow out or some damned thing.

1) a winner

2) a loser

3) a spin cycle

how does that make him disadvantaged? His mom was supposedly married twice and he lived with his grandparents for a number of years, while he attended the exclusive Punahou School in Honolulu.

BUT...the reason Obama is having problems closing the deal is that he talks down to voting blocs that he calculates he cannot ever win: “Our problem has less to do with white working-class voters,” Mr. Obama told reporters Wednesday in Indiana. “In fact the problem is that — to the extent that there is a problem — is that older voters are very loyal to Senator Clinton.”

Yes, older voters are loyal to Senator Clinton. But, I guess it's never occurred to Obama that "older voters" include union workers, blue collar workers, lower income workers, middle income workers, non-college educated workers.

He's condescending to a large voting bloc. He cannot win MICHIGAN, OHIO, PENNSYLVANIA or other big battleground states without those OLDER VOTERS described in the previous paragraph.

Obama had better figure out a way to change his tone, because he sounds more and more like an ageist elitist.

"I'm very proud that as of today, I have received more votes by the people who have voted than anyone else," Clinton said Wednesday.

If Michigan and Florida are counted, Clinton has approx. 100,000 more votes -- 15.1 million to Obama's 15 million. Without those states, Obama has a 500,000 vote lead, 14.4 million to 13.9 million.

Okay...MI and FL voters (and votes) are being thrown under the bus, but she did get more votes, even if they aren't counted.