AP and BBC are reporting that a suicide bomber has rammed a car full of explosives into the gates of the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital, killing 41 people and injuring 141.

Five embassy personnel were killed - India's defence attache, a senior diplomat and two security guards - as well as an Afghan man.

Five Afghans died at Indonesia's embassy nearby.

After a claim by senior McCain adviser Charlie Black that a terror attack on the United States would help McCain in political terms: " I strenously disagree".

It seems that McCain disagrees with himself!!!!

More below the fold...

You guys might remember Bradley Schlozman as the head of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division-cum-U.S. attorney in Kansas City, and then due to his work at Main Justice. Schlozman's became famous around DKos because he talked of replacing Clinton appointees with "good Americans" and keeping tabs on a lawyer who he had heard, "didn't even vote for Bush" and after his arrival in Kansas City, prosecutors filed charges agaisnt ACORN, which made democrats suspicious. In August 2007 he left justice department.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that lawyers have filed for a grand jury referral, which could lead to criminal charges, in order to investigate Schlozman's involvement in improper prosecutions during his time running the DOJ's civil-rights division in general.

Tonight is the Indiana Jefferson Jackson Dinner.  It is, of course, sold out.  Hopefully and Likely with Obama supports.  

Here is a Live Feed or here .  It is a bit of an odd player.  So you can watch it on   as well at 9:30 pm.  I believe CNN will also be feeding it as well as playing it liv.  Schedule says Obama is speaking first...around 9pm, yet we shall see.

Public Policy Polling's new North Carolina shows Barack Obama ahead for next Tuesday's primary but the lead is cut in half.

Obama   51% (-6)
Clinton   39% (+6)

The bulk of the movement in the race over the last week has come from white voters.The survey last week showed Obama pulling to within five points of Clinton with that group, but her lead now is back up at 56-35.

A new statewide poll conducted by Harrisburg-based Susquehanna Polling and Research, Inc., in the upcoming PA Democratic Presidential Primary Election shows Hillary Clinton at 40%, Obama-37% with 18% undecided.  

This represents a significant drop from her 14-point lead in our last poll conducted March 5-10, where Clinton led by a 45/31 margin.

The current poll was conducted April 6-10 with 500 likely Democratic voters and has a margin of error of 4.3%.

More data below the fold.

A new SurveyUSA poll of Indiana, the first public poll of the state since mid-February, gives Hillary Clinton the lead: Clinton 52%, Obama 43%. Margin of error for the poll is 4.3%. The poll was conducted for WHAS-TV Louisville and WCPO-TV Cincinnati.

Sample size: 530 likely voters.

Internals below the fold.

Greg Sargent over at TPM is reporting that Hillary campaign has dropped a negative mailer in Nevada hitting Obama on Social Security and taxes.

The mailer has statements such as

"Nevada families need to keep more of their hard-earned dollars-not less..."

And

Barack Obama: A plan with trillion dollar tax increase  on America's hard working families...

The mailer seems to be identical to the one that was dropped in New Hampshire before the primary. Such as: "New Hampshire families need to keep more of their hard-earned dollars -- not less..."

BBC is reporting that at least 30 people have been burned to death in a church in western Kenya, after seeking refuge from the mounting violence over last week's elections. A mob attacked and set fire to the church in the town of Eldoret where hundreds of people were hiding, say police and eyewitness reports. Dozens more are reported to have been taken to hospital with severe burns. Also, a curfew was imposed in Kisumu, the country’s third-largest city.

Many people are furious since President Mwai Kibaki was declared a winner in a fiercely fought election despite widespread evidence of ballot rigging. EU election monitors said the presidential poll "fell short of international standards". In an interim report, chief EU monitor Alexander Graf Lambsdorff said the tallying process "lacked credibility".

About 100 people have been killed across Kenya in violence blamed on the disputed presidential election. Trouble started after Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki has been declared winner by the country's electoral commission after a closely-fought election. However, Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga rejected Mr Kibaki's victory, accusing him of electoral fraud and demanding a recount of the results.

Mr Odinga has called for a million-strong rally by supporters in Nairobi on Thursday, Jan 3, 2008. However, police banned his supporters from holding a mass alternative inauguration ceremony in the centre of the capital today, a day after Mr Kibaki was sworn into office again.

ABC News is reporting that the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has registered the names of two Web sites with the express goal of attacking her chief rival, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. The two websites are Votingpresent.com and Votingpresent.org. Both these websites use domains hosted by the same IP address as official Clinton Web sites, such as TheHillaryIKnow.com.

According to ABC News:

The Clinton campaign intends to use these new Web sites to paint Obama as cowardly.

Clinton has attacked Obama for having occasionally voted "present" as an Illinois state legislator when it came to contentious legislation.

According to a Concord Monitor/Research 2000 poll published in todays Concord Monitor paper reveals that Barack Obama has caught Hillary Clinton in the campaign for the Democratic presidential primary in New Hampshire. Here's the breakdown:

Obama - 32 percent
Clinton - 31 percent
John Edwards - 18 percent
Bill Richardson - 8 percent
Dennis Kucinich - 3 percent
Joe Biden - 2 percent
Chris Dodd - 1 percent
Undecided - 5 percent

Margin of Error for this poll: +/- 5 percentage points

Latest on Hillary-Obama dust up. She has been promising to draw a "contrast" with Obama more forcefully in the home stretch of the race in Iowa. Today in Iowa, she did just that, unloading on Obama in a new speech that is her most direct effort yet to frame the choice voters face.

Excerpts below from TPM.

"A couple of my leading opponents, directly and through surrogates, have spent months criticizing me without having to answer any of their own questions. They’ve been attacking my character. As I have said repeatedly, I really would prefer to attack the problems of the country and let my opponents run their own campaigns."

A new poll from American Research Group confirms that the democratic race is still tight in Iowa. The result among likely caucus goers: Obama 27%,Clinton 25%,Edwards 23%. Margin of Error for this poll: 4%.

Among other democrats: Biden 8%, Richardson 4%.

More below the fold.

Richard Perle is at it again. He is lending political assistance to exiled regime change advocates from Syria and Iran; sort of next Ahmed Chalabi.

The regime change advocates are: Farid Ghadry, an exiled Syrian dissident who heads up the Syrian Reform Party; and 32 year old Amir Abbas Fakhravar, an Iranian dissident who heads the Iran Enterprise Institute.

According to Alan Weisman, who wrote an op-ed in LA Times, Ghadry had already been granted audiences with David Wurmser, Vice President Dick Cheney's top Middle East advisor and Perle protege, and with Cheney's daughter, Elizabeth, who headed the State Department's Iran-Syria desk from 2005 until last June.

It seems that gloves are finally off.

Hillary today:

"I believe I have the right kind of experience to be the next President. With a war and a tough economy, we need a President ready on Day One to bring our troops home from Iraq and to handle all of our other tough challenges.
"Now voters will judge whether living in a foreign country at the age of 10 prepares one to face the big, complex international challenges the next President will face. I think we need a President with more experience than that."

Obama's response below the fold.

Barack Obama gave a speech today in Iowa outlining his economic proposals which the campagin termed as the "American Dream". The speech draws heavily from Obama's own experience, having been raised by his single mother and maternal grandparents, and of course from his work as a community organizer.

Some excerpts from the speech below.

TPM has obtained a statement from Barack Obama's campaign regarding AG-designate Mukasey.

Statement below the fold.