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The Secret Service says it cannot corroborate reports that a supporter of John McCain’s shouted “kill him” in response to a mention of Barack Obama’s name at a recent Sarah Palin rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Secret Service Agent Bill Slavski, told the Scranton Times-Tribune that agents interviewed more than 20 people who attended the rally and none of them heard those words. “We could not find one person to say they heard the same thing,” Slavski told the paper.

The incident was originally reported by Times-Tribune reporter David Singleton and the paper’s managing editor Lawrence K. Beaupre said they stand by their report, saying of the reporter, “he heard what he heard. He reported what he heard.”

Also in Pennsylvania, Congressman John Murtha is apologizing for a comment he made to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review in which he raised concerns over racial attitudes in the western part of the state. “There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area," Murtha told the paper while insisting that Obama would still win the state. In a statement released today, Murtha apologized, saying, “while we cannot deny that race is a factor in this election, I believe we've been able to look beyond race these past few months, and that voters today are concerned with the policy differences of our two candidates and their vision for the future of our great country."

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After a flood of national polls this week which have established that John McCain came out of the convention crunch at the very least even with Barack Obama for the first time, if not slightly ahead. It’s September, less than eight weeks from Election Day and polls are beginning to take on more importance as a gauge of the race.

Of course those national polls are unimportant compared to those being conducted state-by-state where the election will be decided. There’s a new wave of those out today from two news organizations that paint a similar picture of a very tight race.

McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin and the rallying of the traditional conservative base appears to have given the senator a boost in some of those red states which the Obama campaign has targeted. In Virginia, a new CNN/Time magazine poll has McCain up 50 percent to 46 percent, while another poll by the same shows him leading in Missouri by a similar 50 percent to 45 percent margin. In Florida, a new Quinnipiac poll has McCain up even more, 50 percent to 43 percent.

But there are troubling signs for McCain in the state of Ohio, which played such a pivotal role in re-electing President Bush in 2004. A Quinnipiac poll there has Obama leading 49 percent to 44 percent. Quinnipiac also has Obama up by a slim 48 percent to 45 percent margin in Pennsylvania while CNN/Time has him leading McCain in New Hampshire 51 percent to 45 percent and up 49 percent to 45 percent in Michigan.

For all the excitement generated by the Palin pick among Republicans, these polls numbers should be have a cooling effect. It’s encouraging for McCain that in two big “blue” states – Pennsylvania and Michigan – remain highly competitive. Pulling either of them into the GOP column would highly complicate Obama’s path to the White House. But losing Ohio, so vital to GOP hopes in the past, would make winning one of those other large states essential.

The Buckeye State is where Hillary Clinton scored a big but too-late victory in the primary season and where questions about Obama’s ability to attract those white, blue-collar, Reagan Democrats started really being raised. His lead in Ohio at this point in the campaign is perhaps the most significant of all these polling results.

Of course there will be plenty more polls out in the coming days and weeks, each one given more import than the last. In the meantime, check out our Ways To Win interactive map and plot your own path to the presidency for both candidates.

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The latest Quinnipiac Swing State poll shows Barack Obama with strong support in three of the most critical battleground states.

According to the poll, Obama has a double-digit lead in Pennsylvania (52 percent to 40 percent), a solid edge in Ohio (48 percent to 42 percent) and is even ahead in Florida (47 percent to 43 percent), a state where many observers have assumed McCain would have the advantage.

It's still too early to put much credence in general election polls, but the Quinnipiac Poll is notable for the fact that just last week, Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe made the case at a private fundraiser that the presumptive Democratic nominee does not even need to win the decisive battlegrounds in 2000 and 2004—Florida and Ohio—in order to reach the magic number of 270 electoral votes.

In a conference call with reporters this morning, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe laid out how the Obama campaign sees the post-Pennsylvania electoral landscape.

He also discussed yesterday's loss. "Pennsylvania is clearly a state demographically that was favorable to [Clinton], and we fought as hard as we could," Plouffe said.

Plouffe took reporters through the campaign's strategy in upcoming states, noting that the Obama campaign expects the primary battle to last into June. He said that Clinton would have to win 70 percent of the remaining pledged delegates to erase Obama's pledged delegate lead, and argued "the structure of the race remains the same."

He also rejected the notion that Clinton is more likely than Obama to beat John McCain in November, an argument that the Clinton campaign has been making in an effort to sway superdelegates to the Clinton camp.

"We think this is a flawed exercise to somehow suggest performance in primaries is somehow a leading indicator as to what's going to happen in the general," he said, arguing against the notion that Clinton's wins in battleground states like Pennsylvania and Ohio point to her relative strength in November.

Plouffe argued that Obama is a "much stronger general election candidate," citing states in which the Illinois senator polls better than Clinton in a head to head match up with McCain.

He also said that Democrats will back whichever Democrat is nominated, and so it is strength with independents that could decide the election. And on that front, he said, it is Obama, not Clinton, who is the stronger candidate.

And asked if the campaign would go negative in upcoming contests – as was suggested by an Obama adviser in a story this morning – Plouffe said: "We’re not going to do that."

After six weeks of intense campaigning, tens of millions of dollars worth of television ads and controversies enveloping both Democratic candidates, the much-anticipated Pennsylvania primary yielded much sound and fury while clarifying nothing.

Hillary did what she needed to do in order to continue her campaign into North Carolina and Indiana two weeks from now, perhaps through the end of the primary process in June and potentially all the way to the Democratic convention in August. She almost certainly muted any calls for her to exit the race.

Barack Obama was unable to do what he needed, which was an outright victory in Pennsylvania or at least a very narrow loss. Either scenario could have effectively ended the race right now. His failure to do so casts at least a sliver of doubt on his candidacy, his seemingly insurmountable delegate lead and near lock on the nomination.

After months of campaigning, unprecedented coverage unfathomable resources and record voter interest, the only thing that’s clear in this race is uncertainty.

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Polls close at 8:00pm in Pennsylvania and here is a look at some of the early exit poll results among Pennsylvania Democratic voters. Most Keystone State voters made up their minds about who they were supporting before last week. Seventy seven percent said they made their choice before that, 23 percent did so within the past week. (Click here for the updated exit poll data.)

The economy was the issue that Democratic primary voters said mattered most to them today, as it has been in most every other state throughout the campaign. Fifty four percent chose the economy as the most important issue, compared to 28 percent who said the war in Iraq and 14 percent who said health care. Eighty nine percent said the U.S. is in a recession while 10 percent said it is not.

Change was the most important quality for voters in Pennsylvania today. Forty nine percent of voters said change was what they were most looking for in a candidate while 26 percent said experience was what mattered to them. Fourteen percent said they were looking for a candidate who cared about them and just 8 percent said they most wanted a candidate who could win in the fall.

After being deluged with campaign ads for weeks, more than half said those ads were an important factor in their decision. Fifty four percent said the ads were important while 43 percent said they were not.

More than half of the supporters of both candidates say they would not be satisfied if the other candidate ends up as the Democratic nomination. Sixty four percent of Clinton voters said they would not be satisfied with Obama as the nominee while 35 percent said they would. Fifty four percent of Obama voters also said they would not be satisfied with Clinton, 44 percent said they would be. Overall however, 70 percent of all Democratic primary voters said they would be satisfied with Clinton as the nominee while 64 percent said they would be satisfied with Obama.

When it comes to the general election, Clinton fared slightly better against John McCain among Democratic primary voters today. Clinton led McCain 80 percent to 11 percent while Obama bested the presumptive GOP nominee 72 percent to 15 percent. But 26 percent of Clinton supporters say they will support McCain in the fall election if Obama is the nominee while 17 percent of his supporters said they would vote for McCain if Clinton wins the nomination.

One question on political watchers' minds today: Has today's likely record voter turnout in Pennsylvania been coupled with voting irregularities?

The answer, at this point, seems to be yes – but the problems that have arisen have been relatively insignificant, according to the Pennsylvania State Department. A spokesman told NBC/NJ that "It's just been minor, normal kinds of stuff. Nothing major, nothing widespread."

But reports of problems have been coming in. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that more than 100 complaints have been lodged so far today, often concerning malfunctioning machines. The newspaper reported one claim that malfunctioning machines meant a two-hour wait for voters at one polling place.

At another polling place, the wrong voting machine was delivered – potentially disenfranchising voters. Liberal Web site Daily Kos says that "new voters were sent cards in the mail with the wrong polling place."

Overall, however, things have gone relatively smoothly, according to Zack Stalberg, president and CEO of the election watchdog group the Committee of Seventy.

"There have been scattered reports of problems but it sounds like they're being dealt with pretty quickly," Stalberg told the Inquirer. "Frankly we've seen a lot more problems with machine malfunctions than we're seeing today."

Philadelphia favorite son Benjamin Franklin would have made a great pundit in this age of one-liners and pithy observations and predictions. But even the verbose and prolific founding father might find himself at a loss to describe campaign 2008.

As Democrats in Pennsylvania flood to the polls today, there are a lot of questions but few expectations that the primary will add any finality to the proceedings. Hillary Clinton, whose support among older, blue-collar, lower-educated and income voters have kept her in the race is expected to win in a state where those demographics dominate. The two big questions are how big of a win will she need to gain any momentum and whether the hundreds of thousands of new voters added to the state’s Democratic rolls might somehow give Barack Obama a surprising (and probably decisive) win.

That Obama will be traveling to Indiana, the site of the next important primary contest, tonight tells you his campaign isn’t banking on basking in the glow of an upset win in the Keystone State. And whether Clinton wins by one-point or 15-points, her campaign has given no indication that she’s even considered exiting the race after a win in Pennsylvania.

So what have the past six weeks (since Obama won the Mississippi primary) been all about and what does today’s primary mean for the coming months? The eternal optimists within the Democratic Party will see a net positive from this lengthy and costly campaign. It’s toughened the eventual nominee up for the fall campaign, generated tremendous excitement and brought legions of new voters (and donors) into the re-energized party.

But those glass-half-full types are getting harder to find the longer the campaign continues and the more hits their front-runner has taken. Clinton’s campaign long predicted that Obama would undergo the type of “vetting” process that would tear away some of the veneer from his candidacy. With the Rev. Wright controversy, his “bitter” comments and not a little help from Clinton herself, that has certainly happened to a degree.

Something else has happened however that may be more damaging – he has failed to put Clinton away in spite of holding a nearly insurmountable delegate lead. Barring some catastrophe, Obama is almost certain to finish this race having won more states, more delegates and more of the popular vote. But he won’t have an overwhelming margin in any of those categories and that’s not exactly the kind of momentum he needs heading into a general election, particularly after having out-raised and outspent Clinton by tens of millions of dollars.

There are divisions within the Democratic Party and they are likely to be on display once again in today’s primary. These are not small differences. They are fundamental and break down along racial, gender, economic and educational lines. Party leaders fretting about bringing them back together have cause for concern and time is not a luxury they can afford to waste.

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Hillary Clinton's campaign has released a new ad in Pennsylvania, "Kitchen," in which a famous line from Harry Truman is used to make the candidate's case.

"It’s the toughest job in the world," an announcer says as the spot opens. Onscreen, a newspaper trumpets news of a stock market crash; black-and-white images of Pearl Harbor explosions follow. Then, more images: Gas shortages. The Berlin Wall. Osama Bin Laden. Hurricane Katrina.

"You need to be ready for anything," the announcer continues. "Especially now, with two wars, oil prices skyrocketing and an economy in crisis. Harry Truman said it best: 'If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.'"

The ad closes with the announcer asking, "Who do you think has what it takes?" That question is followed by video of Clinton.

Watch it:



Barack Obama's campaign also released two new ads today in North Carolina. "Billy" shows Obama talking to a group of people talking about the pharmaceutical industry.

"The pharmaceutical industry wrote into the prescription drug plan that Medicare could not negotiate with drug companies," he says. "And you know what? The chairman of the committee, who pushed the law through, went to work for the pharmaceutical industry making $2 million a year."

You can watch it here.

The other spot, "Turn it Off," shows Obama discussing education – and imploring parents to "turn off the TV."

"As President, I'll expand early childhood education," Obama says. "Recruit new teachers. And pay them better. But the truth is, government can’t do it all. As parents we need to turn off the TV, read to our kids. Give them that thirst to learn."

Watch it: