This is only a test.

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Obama just said to a group of voters in South Bned, IN, that part of the reason we send troops to Iraq is for oil. I have never heard him say that before. He presented his statement by comparing our response to trouble in Tibet and Dafur vs. the Middle East. Not sure how this will play.

New Jersey voters are proving as fickle as the April weather.

Only two months after handing U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton a healthy 10-point presidential primary win over Sen. Barack Obama, the state's Democratic voters now say they prefer Obama for president by the same margin, a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll found.

And in a head-to-head contest, John McCain — the presumptive Republican presidential nominee — would lose to either Democrat if the election were held today. The poll found that Obama would defeat McCain by 24 percentage points, while Clinton's vic-tory margin would be 14 points.

So what's happened since the Feb. 5 Democratic primary, when Clinton beat Obama 55 to 45 percent?

"New Jersey Democrats see that Obama has the (nationwide) lead, and they feel he should win the nomination," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. "Democrats want to see the party united. They feel that if this (contest) goes on, it will hurt the party."

The poll results showed that nearly 40 percent of Democrats said the continuing battle between Obama and Clinton will damage the party's chances in the November general election.

Regardless, the poll found that no matter who wins the Democratic nomination, he or she will defeat McCain in the state.

Hillary has an ad blasting Obama for not offering Indianians and North Carolinians a summer holiday from the gas tax.

"I know that times are tough right now," Clinton said. "My opponent opposes giving consumers a break from the gas tax, but I believe the American people are getting squeezed pretty hard by everything happening, the housing crisis, the health care costs and now, of course, this increase in gas prices."

The total saving would be $30 on average. So whadda ya say Carolina? How do ya feel Indiana? Will you vote for her if she promises you a $30 tax break?

On his interview with Bill Moyers, when Wright was asked about how he responded to Obama's denounciation of Wright's controversial statements, Wright responded that Obama is a politician and he (Wright) was a pastor and they spoke to difference audiences. Many pundits have seen this as an attack on Obama, but I see it differently.

The point Wright was making was that the responsibility of a pastor, in the black tradition, is not to be politically correct, but to speak to his parishioners as a spiritual leader should. Just as the prophets of the New and Old Testament spoke harshly to and about those things or persons who  where ungodly, some pastors find it their duty to do the same today. Obama responsibility as a politician, is different then Wright's responsibility as a pastor. As Wright said during last night's speech, "different not deficient." Politician isn't a dirty word, although some politician might be "dirty."

I don't think Wright is out for revenge. I think he, has to respond to the needs of his church, as there are 8000 members; a lack of response on his part would not reflect well on him or the church. Surely the ongoing vociferous attacks against Wright, are have a demoralizing effect his congregation. Therefore a response is appropriate. Many are suggesting that the timing was wrong, that Wright should have waited until after the election. I have even heard comments to that effect from other pastors. But the truth is that Wright postponing his comments for a later time, would have been politics, and a derilection of his pastorial duties.

By speaking now, Wright, may in fact be helping Obama. His sermons are out there. Before Wright's interview with Moyers, all we knew of Wright came from the media's caricature of his sermons. The effect has been to brand Wright as a devisive angry black man, and calls into question Obama's judgement. Republicans are likely to take sinpets from his speeches, present them out of context, with the intention of damaging Obama. They would release there political ads, and send their surrogates out to all the talk shows just before the general election. The political benefit of Wright speaking now is that we get a chance to air it out and diminish or eliminate the shock value from Rev. Wright's fiery speeches sooner than later. It defuses the "Wright effect," and weakens the Republican attack tool in the general election.

In fact, once you get over the "shouting," for those of us who are not use to that type of sermon, Wright makes a lot of sense. You don't have to agree with all he says, but the comments made by Wright, taken in context, are not without merit. With is public commentary, Wright, who first gained national stature as a caricature, is being transformed into a formidable national religious leader. He is likely to gain the respect of many of all races. 

What do you think?