There was no cone of silence - period.  McCain wasn't even in the building yet when this was announced at the outset of Obama's interview.
"Pastor Rick" has just admitted this on CNN.  CNN reports they know McCain was still in his motorcade on the way to Saddleback when the Obama segment began.

Uh, oh...  This is NOT good news...
Here we go again...

This just scrolling off the APF newsfeed:

In a scheduled talk to members of an independent think tank
Sunday, March 30 in New Orleans, LA,  the Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright revealed
background details of some of his past sermons that had aroused
considerable national controversy in recent weeks.  Reverend
Wright's latest assertions seem certain to once again place
presidential candidate Barack Obama squarely in the middle
of a new firestorm of criticism.

"As the most politically astute of my flock, of course Barack
would be the one to whom I would turn when composing a sermon
that addresses our national condition,"  Reverend Wright allegedly
asserted in his remarks to an audience of over 200 members of
Americans for a Better Way.  "The child is truly father to the man."

Here's the link.
A TEN POINT SPREAD!
NOT SEVEN, NOT EIGHT.... TEN!
(I believe this is pronounced: MO-MEN-TUM).

Bear in mind this is a 3-day rolling average poll.  So this reflects
voters' feelings BEFORE the news of recent endorsements of Obama.

The new CBS poll is out complete with this "fast fact":

Half of Americans think the level of violence in Iraq will be unchanged by Zarqawi's death, while 30 percent say it will actually lead to more attacks against U.S. forces.

and this one:

Fifty-five percent of Americans still say the war in Iraq is going badly for the United States, while an overwhelming majority, 82 percent, describe the situation in Iraq as a civil war between Iraqis.

 BUSH'S JOB APPROVAL DROPS

June 10-11
Approve: 33%
Disapprove: 60%

May 2006
Approve: 35%
Disapprove: 60%

I have now watched both Tucker Carlson on MSNBC and Wolf Blitzer on CNN give us an example of how the media intends to handle Robert Kennedy Jr.'s Rolling Stone article on the 2004 election fraud.  Our democracy is under attack by criminals and these sleek, smug talking heads snipe and sneer. They engage in distraction, prevarication, sloppy research, and outright lies. When confronted with incontrovertible evidence, they drag red herrings and toss straw dogs into discussions with the few responsible citizens like Robert Kennedy Jr. who are doing their investigative reporting jobs for them.

I've really had it!
Below the fold is my e-mail to Wolf Blitzer.
Let's all send him one!  In fact, let's send him thousands!

Four polls featured here today:
Three usually right-leaning pollsters and one "apolitical" (yes, it's Gallup).

The most recent is Diageo/Hotline:
Diageo/Hotline Poll  conducted by Financial Dynamics. May 18-21
               Favorable   Unfavorable
   5/18-21/06   37%   61%                  
   2/16-19/06   45%   52%

Nothing surprising about these figures - an 8% plunge in favorability and a 9% rise in unfavorability.  Altogether a 17% shift since the last time this pollster sampled the American public in mid February. Click here for the complete Diageo/Hotline poll with analysis (Adobe Acrobat .pdf file).
(MORE POLLS BELOW THE FOLD!)

The way to combat the efforts of the "pollutant industry" (my own catch-all phrase for Big Oil, auto manufaturers, et al) is to take a page from the book of how Big Tobacco was brought down.

Tobacco companies weren't brought to their knees because they produced products that were harmful to humans.  They were brought down because it was proved in court that they KNEW what they were doing and engaged in deceptive practices to convince the American public that there was "debate" about the effects of cigarette smoking and its addictive properties. In other words, they KNEW that science had proved the toxicity and addictive properties of their products.  Their own research proved it and their own scientists KNEW it and they engaged in both a cover-up of the scientific results and a massive campaign to convince the public that "all the facts weren't in". They KNEW and they pursued a policy that put profits ahead of the well-being of the public.  

Sound familiar, so far?  It should.

This kind of activity is exactly what the pollutant industry is now engaged in.   (Below the fold: HOW TO TAKE THEM DOWN)

I haven't seen much news on today's New Orleans election other than that as of 2:00pm (PT), the mayoral race was still too close to call.  For DailyKos members, here's the link to the Parish Election Results.
No results right now (2:15 pm PT) but hopefully the site should start yielding numbers soon.
The mayoral race between Nagin and Landrieu is 4th from the top.  Both Democrats, of course...

You can cast your vote below the fold...

The new ABC/Washington Post poll is out...
(The link above is to pollingreport.com.) The poll actually came out yesterday, but for some reason wasn't posted on the WP web site til today. Here it is on the Washington Post's own web site.

5/11-15/06
33% Approve
65% Disapprove

When you examine this poll's trend, notice that there is a full 10% shift since the last poll (5% each way)

(more below the fold including a poll on the poll)

The topic of the CA50 special election seemed to abruptly cease being grist for the DailyKos mill after this past Tuesday when Busby failed to obtain more than 50% of the votes.  Here's a resurrection of sorts from the Washington Post this morning:

Democrats Face Uphill Battle to Retake House

Not a particularly encouraging headline...

An 18-month recruitment drive by the Democrats has produced nearly a dozen strong candidates with the potential for unseating House Republicans, but probably not enough to take back control of the House absent a massive anti-incumbent wave this fall, according to House political experts.

And CA50 is cited here:

But Tuesday's special election north of San Diego to fill the seat of former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) showed that the Democrats face an uphill battle to pick up seats even in districts where the Republicans have their backs to the wall... [SNIP - more
below:]