Toby Harnden from The Daily Telegraph (4/30) reports that JIMMY CARTER has given Barack Obama a boost by calling for the bitter Democratic nomination battle to end on the day of the final primaries on June 3. The former US president did not formally endorse Mr Obama, but is clearly favoring Obama. "My children and their spouses are pro-Obama,'' he said. "My grandchildren are also pro-Obama. As a super-delegate, I would not disclose who I am rooting for, but I leave you to make that guess.''  "Overseas there is an intense infatuation with Obama, perhaps more than there ever has been in previous history with any candidate''. "A lot of them see Obama as kind of a diametrical opposite from George W Bush and they think that he will bring to the presidency a brand new picture of what the White House and Washington and the United States ought to be.'' "If the first statement he made was 'while I'm president of the United States we will never torture another prisoner and while I'm president of the United States we will never go to war unless our own security is directly threatened' ... it would transform the image of the United States in the minds of many people around the world.''

More Superdelegates Decide 
Taegan Goddard reports that five more Democratic superdelegates have made their choices so far today, with Sen. Barack Obama getting three and Sen. Hillary Clinton getting two. By our count Obama snagged 41 since the Ohio and Texas primaries, while Clinton won the support of 10. Even since losing the Pennsylvania primary, Obama leads the superdelegate battle by picking up 10, while Clinton picked up 6. [MORE]

Indiana Poll Shows Tight Democratic Primary
From The White House BulletinThe Howey-Gauge poll, a new survey released yesterday afternoon by the Howey Political Report, a publication specializing in Indiana politics, shows Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. Hillary Clinton 47%-45% among likely Democratic primary voters. In a poll of just Democrats likely to vote in the primary, Clinton and Obama are tied at 46% apiece. Gauge Market Research Pollster Holly Davis said, "The Democratic primary is going to be decided by non-Democrats. To be determined is which group -- Republicans or independents -- are going to decide this race."

From the Deseret Morning News About three-in-10 Americans (31%) say their opinion of Hillary Clinton has grown less favorable in recent days, including 28% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, while 24% of Americans -- and only 13% of Democrats and Democratic leaners -- report less favorable views of Barack Obama. By comparison, in a recent Pew survey, 11% overall, and 15% of Democrats and Democratic-leaners, say their view of Clinton has improved in recent days, while 18% and 28%, respectively, report more favorable feelings toward Obama. The Daily Number is a statistic, updated every weekday and typically drawn from Pew Research Center project findings, that highlights an important trend.

Having observed our nation's press coverage of the presidential race thus far it has become apparent that Barack Obama is somehow responsible for everything that everybody he ever knew ever said, while John McCain isn't even responsible for the things that he himself has said.
From Letters to the Editor, Daniel Welch, Lombard
The Chicago Sun-Times