From CNN, Peter Hamby

James Carville has been one of Hillary Clinton’s most energetic defenders, but on Monday he all but declared Barack Obama will become the Democratic nominee for president.

Speaking to students at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, Carville argued Clinton should stay in through the final nominating contest in early June, but said the Democratic tide appears to be moving in Obama’s direction.

“I still hear some dogs barking,” Carville said, according to The State newspaper. “I’m for Senator Clinton, but I think the great likelihood is that Obama will be the nominee.”

“As soon as I determine when that is, I’ll send him a check,” he added.

Asked about who might share a ticket with Obama, Carville floated Clinton’s name, as well as that of Clinton ally Gen. Wesley Clark. Carville also mentioned Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg as possible running mates, according the Greenville News.

Keep reading….

From the AP

Wearing a flag lapel pin, Sen. Barack Obama emphasized his patriotism and support for a strong and humane military Monday, while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton implored West Virginians to sustain her hopes of somehow denying him the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama expects Clinton to win Tuesday’s primary in West Virginia, which has large numbers of working-class whites — a group that usually backs the former first lady — as well as a strong military tradition. He used his visit to Charleston to combat critics’ claims that he is not particularly patriotic or ready to be commander in chief, in part because he never served in the military, usually does not wear a flag pin, and opposed the Iraq war from the start.

Keep reading….

From the AP

Democratic presidential leader Barack Obama said he regrets the division that has grown between Jews and blacks and he remains committed to ensuring Israel’s security.

Obama discussed his relationship with the Jewish community and Israel in an interview posted Monday on The Atlantic magazine’s Web site, part of his continuing effort to reassure Jewish voters who have expressed some unease about his candidacy. The situation didn’t improve as an adviser to the militant Palestinian group Hamas recently said they hope Obama wins the presidency.

Obama said some in the Arab world may be attracted to his candidacy because he spent part of his childhood in the Muslim nation of Indonesia, has the middle name Hussein and advocates presidential-level talks with foreign leaders ostracized by the Bush administration.

“I welcome the Muslim world’s accurate perception that I am interested in opening up dialogue and interested in moving away from the unilateral policies of George Bush, but nobody should mistake that for a softer stance when it comes to terrorism or when it comes to protecting Israel’s security or making sure that the alliance is strong and firm,” Obama said. “You will not see, under my presidency, any slackening in commitment to Israel’s security.

Keep reading….

From the AP

Hillary Rodham Clinton hoped a convincing win in Tuesday’s West Virginia primary would raise doubts about Barack Obama’s electability, but her rival was already mapping out his strategy for the upcoming presidential campaign against Republican John McCain.

Clinton has every reason to expect a big victory over Obama in West Virginia yet scant hope it could turn around her bid to become the first female U.S. president. Polls show her leading by as much as 40 percentage points in a state that has large numbers of working-class whites — a group that usually backs the former first lady.

Obama may be only a few weeks from clinching the Democratic nomination, no matter what happens in West Virginia or in another Clinton stronghold, Kentucky, a week later.

In his tone, words and itinerary, Obama is focused on McCain almost to the exclusion of his fading Democratic rival. He planned to spend primary night in Missouri, a bellwether in the general election

Keep reading….

From the AP

Barack Obama turned his focus to the expected presidential contest against Republican John McCain, but Hillary Rodham Clinton tried to keep her campaign afloat even though her Democratic rival has an almost insurmountable lead in the delegate count. Clinton spent Sunday wooing voters in West Virginia ahead of Tuesday’s primary, aiming for a big win that she hopes will keep her campaign afloat.

Obama, inching closer day by day to claiming enough delegates to secure the nomination, was spending the Mother’s Day holiday off the campaign trail at home in Chicago.

Obama’s chief strategist said in a television interview Sunday that his campaign is considering a suggestion from McCain’s campaign for the two presidential hopefuls to participate in joint town meetings and debates around America starting this summer.

Keep reading….

From the AP

He’s a Republican, for starters. He describes himself as “older than dirt.” And he makes no apology for an Iraq war that is especially unpopular on college campuses. Doesn’t sound like a recipe for winning the hearts of young voters. And yet John McCain has vowed to make a serious play for the 18- to 29-year-old crowd that’s often identified with “Obama-mania.”

Could the 71-year-old grandfather possibly have a shot?

Several polls, including a recent AP-Ipsos survey, show Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton faring far better with that age bracket when pitted individually against McCain.

But in the last month or so, there have been blips in McCain’s favor. One recent AP-Yahoo News poll found that 38 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds supported McCain, while 37 percent were for Obama. When pitted against Clinton, it was McCain 43 percent, Clinton 28 percent. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

The varying outcomes may indicate the difficulty pollsters have in getting a good sample of youth, particularly when many have cell phones and no land lines. Some political scientists also note that young voters have historically been among the most “fickle” or “soft” — more willing than some to change their minds right up to the election.

Keep reading….

From the AP

Republican John McCain, reaching out to both independents and green-minded social conservatives, argues that global warming is undeniable and the country must take steps to bring it under control while adhering to free-market principles.

In remarks prepared for delivery Monday at a Portland, Ore., wind turbine manufacturer, the presidential contender says expanded nuclear power must be considered to reduce carbon-fuel emissions. He also sets a goal that by 2050, the country will reduce carbon emissions to a level 60 percent below that emitted in 1990.

“For all of the last century, the profit motive basically led in one direction — toward machines, methods and industries that used oil and gas,” said McCain. “Enormous good came from that industrial growth, and we are all the beneficiaries of the national prosperity it built. But there were costs we weren’t counting, and often hardly noticed. And these terrible costs have added up now, in the atmosphere, in the oceans and all across the natural world.”

Keep reading….

From the AP

Barack Obama is headed to the neglected Democratic states of Florida and Michigan, as he focuses on a general election strategy with his primary race winding down.

It will be Obama’s first time in either state since signing a pledge nine months ago not to campaign in the two states that violated national party rules with early primaries. Obama will have to build relationships in the two critical general election battlegrounds if he wins the Democratic nomination.

The Obama campaign announced a five-state tour over the next two weeks that includes stops in remaining primary states South Dakota and Oregon but is dominated by swing states where he hopes to run strong against Republican John McCain once the marathon Democratic race ends.

Obama leads in delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination, even though he’s expected to lose badly on Tuesday to rival Hillary Clinton in West Virginia. He’ll try to move on from the loss by campaigning in Missouri, a state that President Bush won in 2000 and 2004.

Keep reading….

From Foxnews.com

Former Georgia Rep. Bob Barr announced Monday that he’s running for president as a Libertarian, a candidacy that could hurt John McCain.

“I will be a candidate for the presidency of the United States, and it is precisely to give the American people a voice, to give them a meaningful choice so that they do not have to once again go into the polling booth on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, hold their nose and pull a lever — or touch one of those magical touch-screens that seem to be so much in vogue now — and vote for the lesser of two evils. America deserves better,” Barr told reporters at his Washington, D.C., announcement.

Barr plans to run to the right of McCain and to position himself as the true conservative in the presidential race. His third-party candidacy would likely draw more disenchanted Republican voters than Democrats.

“Anybody who stands at the foundation of their domestic agenda McCain-Feingold, to me, can not ever lay legitimate claim, at least with a straight face, to calling themselves or being labeled as a conservative,” Barr said of McCain’s landmark campaign finance reform law, which the Arizona senator co-sponsored with liberal Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold.

Keep reading….

From Alan Silverleib and Mark Preston
CNN Washington Bureau

Sen. Barack Obama took a major step Tuesday toward securing the Democratic presidential nomination. He not only scored a convincing victory in North Carolina, but he also made Hillary Clinton’s path to the nomination even more difficult by finishing closely behind her in Indiana.

Clinton vowed to soldier on, telling supporters at an Indiana rally that “it’s full speed on to the White House.”

Obama on Wednesday morning has a larger lead in pledged delegates as well as the overall popular vote. For Clinton, time for a rebound may be slipping away.

The finish line is 2,025 delegates. With North Carolina and Indiana in the rearview mirror, six contests and 217 pledged delegates remain.

In addition to wooing the dwindling pool of voters remaining in this nomination battle, Clinton and Obama are actively pursuing the roughly 280 uncommitted superdelegates, aides said.

These party insiders and elected officials — who are granted special voting privileges at the national convention — eventually will determine the next Democratic nominee.

Keep reading….