Obama picked up several of Edwards' delegates Thursday.

(CNN) – At least six of John Edwards' pledged delegates in South Carolina will throw their support to Barack Obama following Edwards’ endorsement of the Democratic frontrunner, bringing the total number of delegates switching to Obama on Thursday to eight.

One Edwards delegate from Iowa, Machelle Crum, came out for Obama on Thursday morning, as did New Hampshire delegate Joshua Denton. Crum made the decision after receiving a phone call from Edwards supporters encouraging her to make the switch.

In South Carolina, Daniel Boan, Christine Brennan-Bond, Robert Groce, Susan Smith, Mike Evatt and Lauren Bilton — all elected as pledged delegates for Edwards following his third place finish in the primary there on January 29 — announced Thursday they will follow Edwards’ lead and pledge their support to Obama at the Democratic National Convention in August.

John Moylan, the Columbia attorney who directed Edwards’ campaign in the state and is now serving as an alternate delegate for Edwards, appeared on CNN’s “American Morning” Thursday. He stated his support for Obama and hinted that more members of the Edwards delegation would follow later in the day.

“I didn't reach all eight of them, but I can tell you that at least six of the eight are prepared to endorse Senator Obama,” Moylan said this morning.

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James Carville is supporting Hillary Clinton's White House bid.

(CNN) — James Carville has been one of Hillary Clinton's most energetic defenders, but on Monday he all but declared Barack Obama will become the Democratic nominee for president.

Speaking to students at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, Carville argued Clinton should stay in through the final nominating contest in early June, but said the Democratic tide appears to be moving in Obama's direction.

"I still hear some dogs barking," Carville said, according to The State newspaper. "I'm for Senator Clinton, but I think the great likelihood is that Obama will be the nominee."

"As soon as I determine when that is, I'll send him a check," he added.

Asked about who might share a ticket with Obama, Carville floated Clinton's name, as well as that of Clinton ally Gen. Wesley Clark. Carville also mentioned Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg as possible running mates, according the Greenville News.

Watch John McCain’s new ad called A Better Way.

(CNN) – Kicking off a week-long push seen as outreach to independent and Democratic voters in crucial swing states, John McCain will deliver a speech in Portland, Oregon this morning outlining his vision for fighting global warming.

“We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great,” McCain will say, according to prepared remarks. “The most relevant question now is whether our own government is equal to the challenge.”

McCain’s commitment to fight global warming puts him at odds with some Republicans in Congress and the Bush administration, which has not made climate change a top priority. His stance on carbon emissions places him closer on the environmental spectrum to Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

In his speech, the Arizona senator will propose capping carbon emissions incrementally, with the goal of returning to 1990 emission levels by the year 2020 using a cap-and-trade program. Such a program would cap greenhouse gas emissions at certain levels, and allow more efficient energy producers to sell off emissions permits to other, less efficient companies, thereby creating market-wide incentives to reduce carbon output.

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Watch portions Sens. McCain and Lieberman's remarks Friday.

NEWARK, New Jersey (CNN) – John McCain on Friday defended his charge that the terrorist organization Hamas is rooting for Barack Obama to win the presidency — and said voters were welcome to discuss whether his age should be a factor in the fall campaign.

A Hamas official told an interviewer last month that the group approved of Obama's candidacy. Friday, McCain said the group's opinion is relevant — despite Obama's characterization of that opinion as a “smear.”

“It's very obvious to everyone that Senator Obama shares nothing of the values or goals of Hamas, which is a terrorist organization,” McCain said. “But it's also fact that a spokesperson from Hamas said that he approves of Obama's candidacy. I think that's of interest to the American people.”

McCain's campaign reacted with outrage Thursday to Obama's remark that the senator was “losing his bearings” over the course of the campaign — a phrase they said was a dig at the Arizona senator's age. But McCain himself said Friday the language didn't bother him.

“I ignore it,” McCain said. “I don’t take offense to it.”

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Mark Sanford poses for a picture with President Bush.

(CNN) – Mark Sanford might be considered a vice presidential prospect by some, but the South Carolina governor won’t be appearing with John McCain when the presumptive Republican nominee arrives in the Palmetto State on Friday.

Sanford, a member of the Air Force Reserves, has reserve duty on Friday, a commitment that will keep him far away from McCain’s press conference in Columbia this afternoon.

Joel Sawyer, a spokesman for the governor, said Sanford’s wife Jenny will attend the McCain press conference as well as a big-ticket fundraiser in Columbia later in the day.

Despite the vice presidential speculation surrounding Sanford nationally, several McCain insiders in the state have privately downplayed the likelihood that he will tap Sanford, a staunch fiscal conservative, as a running mate.

McCain was asked about his vice presidential search process at a campaign event in New Jersey on Friday morning.

“There is a period where you just start looking at a large number of people,” McCain responded, “and we are still at that stage.”

Obama held a conference call with Edwards delegates on Thursday afternoon.

(CNN) — After a morning spent courting superdelegates in Washington, Barack Obama convened a conference call Thursday afternoon to reach out to pledged delegates in South Carolina committed to former candidate John Edwards.

Two Edwards delegates on the call said Obama discussed his vision for the presidency and told the delegation he looks forward to working with them at the Democratic National Convention this summer.

Ed Turlington, an Edwards adviser from North Carolina who committed to Obama in April, participated in the conference call, as did former South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges, an Obama backer.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the call was simply an opportunity for the Democratic frontrunner "to give folks an update on the campaign and a chance to ask questions."

Several South Carolina Democrats familiar with the Edwards delegation said a handful of the former senator's eight pledged delegates in the state are considering throwing their support to Obama.

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McCain stumps in Michigan on Wednesday.

ROCHESTER HILLS, Michigan (CNN) – What temper? John McCain parried away a question Wednesday about his supposedly hot-headed demeanor by talking up his long bipartisan record in the United States Senate.

“If I had some problem as such has been described, my friends, I would not have been able to work with Joe Lieberman and Russ Feingold and Ted Kennedy and all the other members on the other side of the aisle,” McCain said, responding to a Republican voter who described McCain’s temper as “something of concern.”

The voter read McCain a quote from Republican Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, who said in January that “the thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine.”

“He is erratic,” Cochran told the Boston Globe. “He is hotheaded. He loses his temper."

“I am familiar with the quote,” McCain cracked, as the questioner recounted Cochran’s comments.

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Fred Thompson joined John McCain on the campaign trail Tuesday.

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (CNN) — Fred Thompson made his first public appearance since dropping out of the presidential race Tuesday, using his conservative credentials to backstop a major speech Tuesday from presumptive Republican nominee John McCain on judicial appointments.

Thompson, seated behind McCain on stage and rocking back in his arm chair, grinned as McCain called him “an old and very dear friend” and made a few light-hearted references to Thompson’s acting resume.

“I know exam week involves some tough moments,” McCain told students in the audience at Wake Forest University. “Like when you're up at 3:00 a.m. and have to choose between studying or watching one of Fred's old movies.”

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Sen. John McCain said he has no opinion on the Democratic battle for a nominee.

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (CNN) – John McCain, who consistently avoids commenting on the Democratic horserace, was forced to discuss the ongoing fight between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on Monday when a voter asked him: “What scenario is best for you?”

McCain admitted he watches cable news coverage of the Demoratic race “like everybody else.”

“I observe with interest,” McCain answered. “I have heard one argument that says this that the competition between Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama allows me a chance to establish roots, unite the party, et cetera.”

“And then I have heard the other argument on the other side, and I channel surf like every body else, that this is a chance for the Democrats to sign up new voters and invigorate their party,” he said. “I really have no opinion because I really have no influence on it.”

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John McCain touted his stance on immigration Monday

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (CNN) — John McCain the presidential candidate suddenly sounded like the John McCain of 2005 on Monday, touting two pet issues that have generated considerable heartache among grassroots conservatives: the “Gang of 14” compromise and comprehensive immigration reform.

McCain brought up the “Gang of 14” saga unprompted at a town hall here, in advance of a major speech on judicial appointments he is set to deliver tomorrow in Winston-Salem.

“I know what bipartisanship is,” McCain said. “I am going to talk tomorrow again about our Gang of 14: seven Republicans, seven Democrats that got together rather than blow up the Senate, and we confirmed so many federal judges.”

In the spring of 2005, McCain and 13 other senators from both parties agreed on a compromise to avoid the so-called “nuclear option,” which would have curtailed the right of the minority to filibuster. Democrats had been filibustering to prevent the confirmation of three conservative judicial nominees named by President Bush.

McCain said he took pride in his votes to confirm Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito, a line that drew applause from assembled members of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.

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A voter said a “Swift Boat”-style group should come to McCain’s aid.

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) – A voter at a John McCain campaign event told the presumptive Republican nominee that he needed a “Swift Boats for McCain” group to aid his campaign this fall.

Air Force veteran Clif Sams told McCain that he had done a “damn good job” surviving his imprisonment during the Vietnam War. He then told the senator: “I hope that we have somebody called Swift Boats for McCain come out and help you. You’re damn good.”

“Thank you sir, and thank you for your service,” McCain responded.

In 2004, McCain vigorously defended John Kerry against attacks from “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth,” a group which sought to undermine Kerry’s Vietnam war record. At the time, the Arizona senator called the ads “dishonest and dishonorable.”

Asked why McCain had not had a similar reaction to Friday’s "Swift Boats for McCain" comment, campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said the senator had repeatedly staked out a “clear position” against third-party groups, and "the only 527 activity is against us."

Sams, the Air Force veteran who now sells life insurance, re-iterated to CNN after the town hall that he would like to see a group similar to “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” to help McCain defend himself from Democratic attacks in the general election.

He predicted “there will be a lot of veterans like us who come out of the woodwork this fall” to assist McCain.

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) – John McCain’s campaign said Friday that Fred Thompson and Sam Brownback will join the presumptive GOP nominee in North Carolina next week for a major speech on judicial appointments.

Both Thompson and Brownback have endorsed the Arizona senator, and both Republicans presented themselves throughout the Republican primary battle as “consistent conservatives,” particularly regarding social issues and judicial appointments.

The speech, to be held Tuesday at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, will be just one element of a broader outreach to conservatives next week, according to the campaign.

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McCain found his springtime Iowa swing a far more pleasant trip.

DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) – Ah, Iowa. Where the grass is a green, the temperature is a balmy 72 degrees, and a triumphant Sen. John McCain stands before a Republican audience as his party’s standard-bearer.

Yes, the landscape of the Hawkeye State has changed considerably since the political world evacuated en masse late in the evening on January 3, headed to New Hampshire and beyond on chartered jets, steeling themselves for just a few more weeks of campaigning, thinking each party’s nominees would soon be determined.

On Thursday, four weary months later, the national reporters and TV crews assigned to McCain’s campaign returned to Des Moines for the first time since January to cover a town hall put on by the presumptive Republican nominee.

The scene offered a few muted flashbacks to those frigid weeks before the caucuses: the fleet of women wearing fire truck red “Divided We Fail” t-shirts, the elderly gentlemen sitting and clutching small American flags, even the slow-paced, meet-the-candidate format of the town hall itself.

The politician on stage chatted about ethanol subsidies and lauded the tenacity of Iowa farmers. CNN even spotted Tim Albrecht, Mitt Romney’s ubiquitous former Iowa communications director, milling around, lending a friendly helping hand to the event planners. This all seemed familiar.

But in other ways during this journalist homecoming, it was bizarro Iowa.

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John McCain said there should be a federal gas tax holiday.

CLEVELAND, Ohio (CNN) — John McCain continued his push Thursday for a federal gas tax holiday that would eliminate the 18.4-cents-per-gallon gas tax and 24.4-cent diesel tax during the summer travel season.

McCain is framing the gas tax debate as a simple choice between helping working families or continuing to stifle their income with high prices at the pump.

“The lamentations of people about the draconian consequences of giving Americans just a little relief for the summer continues to amaze and amuse me,” McCain said at a press conference here, after touring the Cleveland Clinic to learn about new health information technology.

“I’d like to see families in America have a relief from ever increasing costs of gasoline,” he said, “so maybe at the end of the summer after this tax holiday they could buy school supplies for their children as they start the school year.”

Despite a chorus of criticism from independent experts who believe a gax tax holiday amounts to nothing more than ploy for votes that will do little to address long-term energy concerns, McCain and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton have held firm in their calls for a temporary suspension of the tax.

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(CNN) — John McCain responded to a question about groups that continue to use his "100 years" remark in negative ads by directing his fire at Barack Obama.

The presumptive Republican nominee said that every objective assessment of “the distortion of my statement about our involvement in Iraq is totally, totally false.

“And it’s a little distressing to me when Senator Obama says that he wants to run a very great campaign that is above politics, and above the mundane aspects of political campaigns, and then keeps turning around and saying and totally falsifying my statement,” which said it was acceptable to have troops in Iraq along the lines of the long-term U.S. presence in South Korea, said McCain.

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ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania (CNN) – In a press conference Wednesday, John McCain trained his fire on Barack Obama’s opposition to a so-called “gas tax holiday,” accusing the Democratic presidential hopeful of hypocrisy.

On the gas tax issue, McCain said that while Obama refuses to endorse “a gas tax holiday” later this summer, he had “voted for it several times when the price of gasoline was about a dollar and a half per gallon,” referring to Obama's record in the Illinois state senate.

Obama, along with many economic analysts, has said the gas tax holiday – a suspension of the gasoline tax designed to put a few more dollars in the pockets of summer travelers – is little more than a “gimmick” to curry favor with voters.

McCain and Hillary Clinton both support a gas tax holiday. Despite criticism from analysts, McCain insisted he does not see temporary gas tax relief as a cure-all.

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Preventive care is a key part of the McCain health care plan.

TAMPA, Florida (CNN) — Perhaps taking a cue from his former Republican rival Mike Huckabee — a re-born health nut who spent much of his presidential campaign promoting healthy lifestyles — John McCain on Monday emphasized the role personal responsibility will play in reforming America's health care system.

Before McCain's speech, a top policy adviser had said that a significant chunk of the presumptive Republican nominee's health care plan relied on encouraging people to make their own healthy choices, like maintaining a healthy diet and getting regular exercise.

"But many of us never quite get around to it, and the wake-up call doesn't come until the ambulance arrives or we're facing a tough diagnosis," said McCain at the University of South Florida's Moffitt Cancer Center Tuesday.

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McCain has begun to publicly address the Wright controversy.

MIAMI (CNN) — Despite his newfound willingness to make political hay out of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, John McCain insisted three separate times on Monday he does not believe Barack Obama shares Wright’s “extremist views.”

McCain, campaigning in South Florida, faced a series of questions about Wright from reporters shortly after the pastor made a defiant public appearance at the National Press Club in Washington, in which he defended his church and condemned the national media.

“I’ve said again and again, I do not believe that Sen. Obama shares Rev. Wright’s extremist views which he has stated, whether it be the United States Marine Corps or the flag or what,” McCain said. “I am leaving that issue to a dialogue between Sen. Obama and American people.”

In another press conference held Sunday, McCain broached the topic of Wright unprompted for the first time, despite previous suggestions that the Wright issue would be an out-of-bounds topic in the presidential race.

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Former UNC center Eric Montross was a big backer of John Edwards' White House bid.

(CNN) — The pageantry, the emotion, the packed gymnasiums — basketball fanatics in Indiana and North Carolina have seen it all before.

Democrats in both primary states are beaming about their newfound roles in this extended nomination contest, but long after the bumper stickers and campaign buttons are packed away, and when the awkward sports metaphors are nothing but distant memories, Hoosiers and Tar Heels will always have that familiar sound of sneaker-on-hardwood to fall back on.

Still, with politics and hoops now crossing paths, a handful of basketball icons have become caught in the moment, stepping off the court to endorse presidential candidates this cycle.

Here's a quick look at which basketball celebrities from North Carolina and Indiana have weighed in on the 2008 race, according to Federal Election Commission data and news reports.

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Clinton said Obama was acting like the GOP on universal health care.

BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania (CNN) – Hillary Clinton on Sunday once again took umbrage at a new Obama television spot running in Pennsylvania that censures Clinton’s universal health care plan. The Obama ad suggests Clinton's plan would force people to purchase health insurance, even if they cannot afford it.

“He persists in it,” she said at a rally here, referring to Obama’s criticisms of her health care plan. "I really regret that because the last thing we need is to have somebody who is spending as much money as he has downgrading universal health care.”

“We need to try to achieve universal health care not create political opposition to universal health care,” she remarked. “That is what the Republicans do, not what Democrats do.”

The Clinton campaign in recent days has criticized Obama for saying that the New York senator has adopted the tactics of her GOP critics.

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