Barack Obama took the stage this evening in Grand Rapids, MI, in front of more than 12,000 supporters and said, “I know that we didn’t have the chance to campaign here during the primary – and I felt bad about it. I didn’t have a chance to talk to you guys about the issues. I felt guilty about not campaigning and so as a consequence I decided that I would try to give you something special,” he said to applause. “I decided that on my first full day of campaigning in Michigan, that I wouldn’t be fooling around, that I wasn’t just going to do the same old thing. But I decided that I was going to bring out one of the greatest leaders we have in the Democratic Party – please give it up for my friend John Edwards!”

John Edwards entered the arena to thunderous applause as Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising” blared over speakers (a Kerry/Edwards ‘04 favorite). Before he praised Obama, Edwards was sure to mention the other Democrat still in the race - even as the Obama supporters booed at the sound of her name.

“I want to tell you, I know this is hard to understand sometime, but it is very, very hard to get up every day and do what she’s done. It is hard to go out there to fight and to speak up when the odds turn against you. And what she has shown is strength and character, and what drives her is something that every single one of us can and should appreciate,” he said, noting she is a woman “made of steel.”

“She’s a leader in this country not, not because of her husband, but because what she has done, because of speaking out, because of standing up. And we, when this nomination battle is over, and it will be over soon – brothers and sisters, we must come together as Democrats and in the fall stand up for what matters to the future of America, to make America what it needs to be. And we are a stronger party because hillary Clinton is a democrat. We are a stronger country because of her years of public service, and we’re gonna have a stronger nominee in the fall because of her work,” he said.

And then the news all the Obama fans were there to hear:

“The reason that I am here tonight is because the Democratic voters of america have made their choice and so have I,” he said as the arena erupted. “There is one man who knows and understands that this is a time for bold leadership. There is one man that knows how to create the change, the lasting change that you have to build from the ground up. There is one man who knows in his heart that it is time to create one America, not two, and that man is Barack Obama.”

Barack Obama had equally glowing things to say about his one-time rival and promised to join in Edwards’ fight to end poverty. “The fight that John is waging right now will be a fight I carry into the White House for the next four years,” he said. “I want to make sure that everybody knows that he will have a partner in that effort, because that is a goal that I will set as President of the United States of America.”

Soon after, a man in the crowd yelled out, “Does that mean Obama-Edwards?”

Obama laughed, Edwards smiled, but no one commented on the question. The message, rather, was unity. Obama said, “John Edwards and I believe in a different America. Hillary Clinton believes in a different America. The Democratic Party believes in a different America. One America, where we rise and fall together as one people and that’s why we are gonna take Washington by storm this November.”

PORTLAND, Ore — Despite limited resources, impossible delegate math, and a ticking clock working against her, Hillary Clinton’s first few public events after a big loss in North Carolina and too-narrow victory in Indiana on Tuesday have shown very little to suggest that she’s changed her strategy or approach going forward.

In the wake of that poor performance, some pundits suggested that Clinton would cease and desist in attacking her Democratic rival Barack Obama to pave the way for a graceful exit and possibly curry favor for a joint ticket. Indeed, in her remarks in Shepherdstown, WV on Wednesday, there was nary a mention of Obama or even “my opponent.”

But yesterday saw Clinton criticizing Obama for opposing a federal gas tax holiday — as she did in the last days before Tuesday’s primary — and calling him out for ducking a debate in Oregon, much as she did in the week after her win in Pennsylvania last month. She also repeated her standard attacks on his vote for what she calls the “Dick Cheney Energy Bill” in 2005

The only concessions to her new political reality now come in the form of defiant responses to those who would end the election before all the votes are counted.

“People say to me all the time, are you going to keep going? Of course I’m going to keep going”!” she said in Central Point, OR. And in Charleston, WV, she listed all the times she defied the odds when she was counted out. “Some in Washington wanted us to end our campaign, then I won New Hampshire. Then we had huge victories on Super Tuesday. Then we won Ohio and Texas and Pennsylvania. And I was never supposed to win Indiana,” she said. “Now there are some folks who have said, well, we needed to end this before we got to West Virginia. Well I don’t think so. I think we want to keep this going so that the people of West Virginia’s voices are heard.”

There is, however, a hint of wistfulness amid the tough talk. Clinton thanked supporters at a fundraiser in Washington for sticking with her though all of the ups and downs of this campaign. And in Central Point apologized for being late with something of a metaphor for the uphill battle she’s facing.

“We were flying against the wind,” she said. “You know, that’s the story of my life. Fly against the wind, you’ll get there eventually.”

The marathon Democratic primary means stressed out candidates—so how do they relax? In the case of Democratic frontrunner Senator Barack Obama it seems as though board games are his choice for a break. This evening on a flight from Washington, DC to Portland, Oregon Obama was challenged to a game of Taboo. The game pits teams against each other to guess different words, but players are forbidden to say certain clues. Instead, teams have to describe the word to elicit a response out of their team members. The game is something the press corps has picked up on recently to endure the long flights.

The game got competitive pitting the press versus Obama and his staffers. At one point a reporter standing next to Obama gave the clue, “This is where Senator Obama said his bitter comments.” The answer: California. Obama chuckled, “I came back here to get away from this.” There were other light campaign related moments–when one clue was “White House” a reporter glanced at the senator and said, “Barack wants to live there,” which was quickly followed up with an, “Excuse me, Senator.” Another member of the press shouted out that Senator Obama wants to take over this man’s job. The answer: George W. Bush.

Another crucial rule of Taboo are the lists of words you cannot say on the back of the game card. If a player messes up a watcher from the opposing team hits a buzzer. Obama joked with his buzzer rival from the press not to buzz him and if she did she would be forbidden access. The whimsical threat didn’t stop her from buzzing him several times.

There were also some answers that raised a few eyebrows. When the press guessed the clue “Menopause” Obama let out a “Wooooo.” In another round, one staffer gave the clue of where a Gay person shops. Senator Obama guessed “Abercrombie and Fitch,” but the staff member was trying to get his team to say “Gap.” Another answer was Playboy’s Hugh Hefner, which communications director Robert Gibbs guessed after the clues of, “His daughter supports the senator” and “He is often wearing a bathrobe.”

When it was Obama’s turn he got the word, “Revolution.” His hint: “This is something Thomas Jefferson called for every now and then.” He then added that clue may be “too obscure” and changed his hint to a Beatles song. His team quickly nabbed the point. The answer that Obama struggled with the most was “Cockatoo.” He described it as having colorful plumage and mimicking the sound of a human, but the closest his staff got was parrot. He later added, “Cockatoo killed us!”

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Indianapolis, IN—

All eyes, at least in the world of politics, are on Indiana today as polls opened at 6AM. There are no irregularities or problems to report currently, but there were some small hiccups this morning in Marion County–home to the state capital of Indianapolis.

Two polling places opened late due to tardy inspectors. Alternative workers were located and the polls opened shortly after 6:30AM. At two other polling locations there were missing Democratic ballots in the poll kit–extra ballots were printed and sent out. Touch screen machines were available to voters at both locations while the replacement ballots were delivered. At another location there were some mechanical issues with a touch screen machine, but it was resolved by 6:15AM. The Marion County Clerk’s office says all voting now is going smoothly.

According to the Secretary of State’s office by midnight last night a record-breaking 173, 525 absentee ballots have been received statewide—that number includes all early voting that ended yesterday at noon.

Supporters of the Democratic candidates statewide this morning are outside of polling locations and on the street trying to get out the vote. Yet, there was only Obama electioneering outside of the Children’s Museum in downtown Indianapolis, which is one of Marion County’s most voter heavy polling locations. The more urban parts of the city are strongholds for Obama, even as Clinton leads statewide polls. Enthusiastic supporters are waving signs that say, “Honk for Obama” and “My Grandma voted for Obama.“

Indianapolis, IN—

Indiana is getting ready for a primary day tomorrow that Hoosiers here haven’t seen in at least 40 years. The excitement in the Obama-Clinton head to head has resulted in 303,893 new voter registrations, which includes 138,297 new and 165,596 updated registrations in the state. Even with the expected high turnout Secretary of State Todd Rokita expects “to have a fair and accurate election that incorporates integrity” and that they will have a “decisive tally” and a “true choice” of the people tomorrow night. Rokita is looking at tomorrow as “final exam day” and says Indiana’s 30,000 poll workers are ready for the test.

The highest centers of new voter registrations are in Marion County where Indianapolis is located and in the university towns—a good sign for Barack Obama even as Clinton leads the polls.

People could early vote, technically absentee voting, until noon today and there have been a record breaking 167,783 ballots cast—double the amount of a usual primary and close to the amount of early ballots cast in a general election. These votes will be counted throughout the day tomorrow.

Rokita says Indiana is prepared for their big day printing extra ballots, having more electronic voting machines, and training alternative poll workers, but he stresses no election is perfect:

“We have laws in place for when those mistakes happen and we have well trained leaders and poll workers to react to those issues when the pop up,” Rokita told reporters, “My biggest fear and it’s a wonderful fear to have. Is that there will be so many people. Such a high turn out there will be long lines. “

The polls open at 6am tomorrow and close at 6pm. 12 of the 92 counties are in central time, which means they will actually close at 7pm eastern. They believe turnout will be as heavy as a general election, but Rokita says that poll workers will be able to handle the crowds and will get everyone processed as fast as possible.

Historically, Indiana’s May primary has been too late in the year to really matter, but with the tight Democratic race Indiana is aware this is the first time the state has held the spotlight in a presidential process in 40 years. Rokita welcomes the attention and is confident that everyone who wants to vote tomorrow will be able to:

“From a presidential perspective yes it’s the first time we’ve mattered in 40 years and I welcome it. I hope Indiana can matter every year and that’s a different press conference,” Rokita said, “What I’m worried about is that all people get a chance to vote. I’m not worried that we have a perfect election. I do expect us to have an election that is fair and accurate in its integrity and if the poll workers are trained as I have been told and expect they are everyone that is 18 or older and a U.S citizen that wants to vote in tomorrow’s election should be able to.”

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WAKE FOREST, NC — Hillary Clinton today cast Barack Obama’s opposition to suspending the federal gas tax for the summer as part of a larger inability to provide both short term and long-term solutions to the problems facing the country.

“Someone running for office, particularly running for the presidency, has to be able to deal with both the immediate, the urgent, the long-term and necessary,” she said. From the gas tax, to the mortgage crisis, to health care, Clinton argued that she’s the only candidate who’s shown that ability.

“My opponent is running ads and holding press conferences attacking my plan to try to give you some kind of break this summer,” she said. “There is no contradiction between trying to provide immediate relief and having a long term vision and a plan for what we must do to lessen our dependence on foreign oil and be moving toward more homegrown fuels.”

“So here’s what I propose: I want the oil companies to pay the federal gas tax this summer.”

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New Orleans, LA — Sen. McCain repeated his demand that the North Carolina Republican party pull a TV ad using statements from Barack Obama’s controversial pastor, calling Thursday for all GOPers in the state to echo his call and repudiate their own leadership.

“I cannot in my role dictate to the North Carolina Republican Party what their message is but I can condemn it,” McCain said during a media availability following his tour of the Lower Ninth Ward. “I can appeal to the overwhelming majority of Republicans in North Carolina who also repudiate that kind of activity and I am calling on them to repudiate the people the small handful of people that have refused to understand that we are the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan and that party–that Republican Party–there is no room for this kind of activity.”

The ad, which declares that Obama is “just too extreme for North Carolina,” was launched by the party on Wednesday.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean is calling on McCain to exercise “real leadership” in getting the ad pulled.

“This is a test of leadership for John McCain,” Dean said Thursday. “If he can’t pick up the phone and make members of his own party stop airing a television ad he claims to oppose, how can he lead our country through an economic crisis or the war in Iraq? After shifting his positions on gun control, immigration and tax cuts throughout this campaign, McCain should not equivocate on this issue. Making a show of releasing your emails to the press is not leadership. If he is serious, he will get this ad pulled.”

Asked if he would limit the state party’s role at the GOP convention this summer if it continues running the spot, McCain was reluctant to “start making threats.”

“Lets see if they respond not only to what I have to say and virtually the entire leadership of the entire Republican Party but also lets see what average hardworking dedicated Republicans in the state of North Carolina are able to achieve too because I know they agree with me,” McCain said.

Hillary Clinton says Obama should stop complaining about taking hard questions at Wednesday’s ABC News debate — since he’ll have to face a lot tougher issues if he becomes president.

In an interview with Fox 29 in Philadelphia, Clinton said of her Democratic opponent, “I know he spent all day yesterday complaining about the hard questions he was asked. Being asked tough questions in a debate is nothing like the pressures you face inside the White House.”

“I’ve been through, what, 23 of these debates?” she said. “As I recall, I was asked some pretty tough questions in nearly every one of them.”

In North Carolina, Obama echoed critics who said ABC’s moderators were focused on trivial matters — and that they seemed tougher on the Illinois Senator than his New York counterpart. “Last night I think we set a new record because it took us 45 minutes before we even started talking about a single issue that matters to the American people,” he said. “Senator Clinton looked in her element. She was taking every opportunity to get a dig in there. Ya know? That’s alright. That’s her right. That’s her right to kind of twist the knife a little bit.”

Clinton’s response: if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. “The special interests are going to be a lot tougher than 90 minutes of questions from two journalists and we need a president who is going to be up there fighting everyday for the American people and not complain about how much pressure there is, and how hard the questions are,” she said.

Of course, Clinton’s campaign complained about some of those tough questions after an NBC debate in Philadelphia in October — when Clinton famously seemed to take both sides of the issue when asked whether she supported drivers licenses for illegal immigrants. Aides blamed moderator Tim Russert for unfairly targeting her.

UPDATE - at her second event today in Radnor, PA, Clinton again brought up Obama’s debate complaint — saying “I know that some of my opponent’s supporters and my opponent are kind of complaining about the hard questions.” That drew jeers from the crowd. “Having been in the White House for 8 years and seeing what happens in terms of the pressures and the stresses on a president, that was nothing,” she said to applause.

“I’m with Harry Truman on this: if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,” she said. “Just speaking for myself, I am very comfortable in the kitchen, so when the heat goes up that’s ok with me.”

Pittsburgh, PA– Continuing her assault on her Democratic rival, Sen. Clinton said Monday that she doesn’t think Obama “really gets it that people are looking for a president who stands up for you and not looks down on you.”

While Obama’s criticism of Clinton to the American Association of Manufacturers conference earlier in the morning were particularly well received, Clinton received some cat calls and booing as she launched into what is becoming her daily rebuke of Obama’s “bitter” comments from last week.

“I understand my opponent came this morning and spent a lot of his time attacking me. Well, I know that many of you, like me, were disappointed by recent remarks that he made,” she said, receiving some shouts of “no” from the first few rows (commotion can be heard in video above). “I am well aware that at a fundraiser in San Francisco, he said some things that many people in Pennsylvania and beyond Pennsylvania have found offensive. He was explaining to a small group of his donors what people who live in small towns right here in Pennsylvania are like and why some of you aren’t voting for him. But instead of looking at himself, he blamed them…I don’t think he really gets it that people are looking for a president who stands up for you and not looks down on you.”

She also slammed Obama for not yet taking up her call for President Bush to boycott the Olympic opening ceremonies in Beijing as she discussed the importance of standing up to China.

“I’m still waiting for my Democratic opponent to give us a clear answer on the Olympics. He says he is of two minds,” Clinton said. “Well as a President you’ve got to be able to make up your mind and you’ve got to be able to stick with your decisions and if you can’t stand up to China over an opening ceremony, how are you going to stand up to China when it comes to trade.”

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Indianapolis, IN — Indiana Senator Evan Bayh called on Democratic superdelegates and primary voters to consider the potential fallout from Obama’s remarks during the general election, arguing that it provides “fodder” for the GOP.

“I think it’s a real potential political problem and its something for superdelegates and voters to think about,” Bayh told reporters after Clinton’s first speech this morning in Indianapolis. “The far right wing has a very good track record of using things like this relentlessly against our candidate, whether its Al Gore or John Kerry and I’m afraid this is the kind of fodder they might use to really harm him with.”

While he noted that he does not believe that Obama is an “elitist,” he said the remarks can be interpreted that way–putting the IL Democrat on “dangerous ground.”

“(The Republicans are going to say) that we are cultural elitists, that’s what they are going to say about us regardless of who our candidate is. The question is have we given them some hope to hang their hat on to make that argument. These comments… might be that hook that they use,” he said. “There’s this cultural divide that exists…I think it’s an issue the Democratic party is potentially vulnerable on and has to address.”

Bayh is campaigning with Clinton throughout the Hoosier State Saturday.