When all else fails in Indiana, play basketball.

The basketball-crazy state got a taste of what it would be like to have a pretty good player in the White House. 

Barack Obama on the campaign trail strapped on his Air Jordans and with his Marines T-Shirt ready to go, embarked on an quickly organized three-on-three in Kokomo, Indiana, with local school kids and WNBA star Alison Bales.

The Illinois senator sunk a left-handed three pointer that sent the crowd into a whirl. With a WNBA star along side him, the man who said he likes to unwind by shooting hoops brought that side of him out for the public to see.

Obama had previously shot some baskets on the “Ellen Degeneres Show” where he also showed off a few dance moves.

While his former pastor, Rev. Wright, continues his cross country publicity tour further damaging Obama’s White House bid, it’s nice to see the candidate still finding the time to connect with the voters on a level both he and they are passionate about - the great game of basketball. 

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In the end, it was a foregone conclusion. Hillary Clinton won Pennsylvania Tuesday by almost 10 points with both sides spinning the primary for their own campaign needs.

Barack Obama took the loss in stride, addressing supporters in Indiana - the site of the next primary. Obama said that after being down 20-plus points in Pennsylvania, to cut Hillary’s lead in half is a milestone. What is worrisome to some Democrats is that Obama failed to win the white working-class vote in rural Pennsylvania. Obama’s camp insists that for every one of those votes that may go to John McCain in a general election, they win over Republicans yearning for change. It is a good argument.

Clinton was elated yesterday and immediately her campaign got a massive influx of cash. Much needed, Obama has enough money to outspend Clinton for the rest of the campaign almost four to one.

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Over the weekend, both Democratic candidates for president crossed Pennsylvania trying to convince voters they were the best choice to lead the country into the future.

With the Pennsylvania primary tomorrow, Obama and Clinton were frantic over the last 72 hours hitting every local bar and factory trying to win votes. The first primary contest in almost a month has been a heated one to say the least.

Jabs were tossed back and forth from both candidates as the Rebpulican nominee was completely out of the news cycle all weekend. After their tenuous debate last week, it appears the Clinton-Obama fracas shows no signs of slowing. Regardless of the results in tomorrow’s contest, the Clinton campaign has vowed to continue until every last primary voter has cast their ballot.

When is that you ask? Why, it’s in June.

Obama supporters, with their candidate in the lead with popular votes and electoral votes, have been quietly to loudly encouraging Clinton to leave the race. Only if the Pennsylvania results are a blowout for Obama could it even be considered that Clinton would drop out.

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The argument that Barack Obama is not one of the people has been flying around since he made Saturday remarks in San Francisco. His opponents have described those comments to voters as a ‘middle-Americans love of God and guns as a product of failing economic times’ attitude that puts Obama out of touch with the rest of the country.

Obama has since tried to explain his comments and now he has an ally in a singer who knows a thing or two about making statements and working-class voters.

Bruce Springsteen was watching the verbal volley lobbed at Obama since Saturday and decided he had enough. He posted the following statement on his website:

“Like most of you, I’ve been following the campaign and I have now seen and heard enough to know where I stand. Senator Obama, in my view, is head and shoulders above the rest,” the rocker wrote.

“He speaks to the America I’ve envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems. At the moment, critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships. While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man’s life and vision … often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment.”

As an unofficial spokesperson of the working-class heroes of America, Springsteen carries a lot of clout in defending Obama against attacks he is out of touch with the masses. The fact that Obama was born in Kansas, raised in Illinois and represents Midwestern issues in the Senate has been completely lost during this debate.

To have Springsteen bring his level-headed passion to this debate is certainly welcomed.

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While at a private fundraiser in San Francisco, Barack Obama was asked why, although he had closed the gap against Hillary Clinton, he wasn’t doing better in Pennsylvania polls.

His answer has ignited a firestorm of jabs in the political arena. Some are from Hillary, and most are from gun lobbyists and conservative talk show hosts. Specifically, this is what Obama said:

“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them,” Obama responded to the question. “And they fell through the Clinton administration and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate, and they have not.”

“And it’s not surprising then. They get bitter. They cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Obama insists he was not implying that he had any problem with the Second Amendment but has been criticized as such since uttering the above words Saturday.

On all the major political talk shows Sunday, the candidate and his aides tried to limit the damage from the remarks. They insisted the comments had more to do with economics than a social commentary.

Meanwhile Clinton and her campaign have jumped all over this story in hopes of making a bold, blow-out statement in the Pennsylvania primaries that are only eight days away.  Most likely, that is still not going to happen. Obama is predicted to still make it close.

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While Hillary Clinton is fighting for her political life, the architect of her resurgence in the polls has resigned.

Mark Penn, who has come under fire of late, is considered by many to be the man behind the Democratic race who is getting nasty. It was Penn who used the “kitchen sink” strategy before the Texas and Ohio primaries to sink Clinton’s rival, Barack Obama. But what appears to have sunk him were his meetings last week with the Colombian government over free trade agreements that Clinton is completely against.

Democrats across the nation are calling for the party to be unified as John McCain is allowed to act presidentially unchecked by the opposite party. That sentiment seems to have proliferated into the higher echelons of the Clinton campaign.

Both Hillary and Bill have said they will not back out of the race before every primary is held, promising to take the contest to the convention. “Not big on quitting” was a recent email sent out by the former President that truly came from Mark Penn’s desk.

What his resignation means to Clinton’s campaign merely weeks before the giant Pennsylvania primary, is anyones guess at this point.

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In the state that the fictional fighter came from, Hillary Clinton has invoked Rocky’s name to describe herself in her run for the White House.

Addressing a crowd in the city Rocky made famous - Philadelphia - she recalled a famous scene at the Philadelphia Museum of Art that she thought particularly fit for her presidential run. Rocky racing up the steps to the top overlooking the city has inspired many a person, but Clinton’s candidacy may be a stretch.

“Let me tell you something, when it comes to finishing a fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit. I never give up. And neither do the American people,” Clinton said.

Funny thing is most audiences probably don’t remember Rocky questioning Apollo’s minister or his qualifications to fight in the same ring as him. Just a thought!

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Although it may seem as if they have been at each other’s throats of late, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promised Thursday that the Democratic Party would be a united front for November.

Hillary addressed a crowd in North Carolina and told her faithful that talk of each candidate’s supporters voting for John McCain in the general election was absurd.

“Every time we have a vigorous contest like we’re having this primary election, people get intense. Senator Obama has intense support. I have intense support. It’s exciting because people want to be involved,” she told the crowd. “But, the differences (between us) are pale in comparison to the differences between us and Senator McCain.”

There is still weeks to come until the next primary contest in Pennsylvania. Count on more lobbing of political insults and jabs.

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Although New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson served both as a cabinet member for President Clinton and an ambassador to the U.N. for him, he chose to endorse Clinton’s rival, Barack Obama.

After witnessing Barack Obama’s race speech earlier this week, he decided to endorse the Illinois senator.

Joining Obama at a rally in Oregon, Richardson (who watched the Super Bowl with President Clinton at his New Mexico home to get the Governor’s support for his wife) spoke of a man who has the traits of leader like this country hasn’t seen in a generation.

“There is no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama has the judgment and courage we need in a commander-in-chief when our nation’s security is on the line. He showed his judgment by opposing the Iraq war from the start, and he has shown it during this campaign by standing up for a new era in American leadership internationally.”

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There has been a security breach at the U.S. State  Department — all in an effort to gather information on Presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

Breaking news alerts went off across the news channels last night as Obama was giving a speech in Indiana. The campaign immediately issued a statement portraying this as another situation reflective of the “lies” and “undermining efforts” that are acceptable in the current White House.

Why a government official with the current administration would be prying into the private and illegal-to-be-gazing-at passport documents of a candidate for the highest office in the land from the opposite party is an answer that will be answered in coming weeks. Initially Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice apologized to Obama for the breach.

“I told him I was sorry, and I told him that I myself would be very disturbed,” she said in a press conference this morning. “None of us wants to have a circumstance where any American’s passport files are looked at in an unauthorized way.”

This breach is actually three compromises of security. The first happened January 9, the second February 21, and the last just a few days ago on March 14.

Bill Burton, Obama’s spokesman, said this was an “outrageous breach of national security.”

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