by kos [courtesy of Daily Kos]

On Friday, Obama met with the editorial boards and reporters at both the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune, promising to answer any and all questions about the Tony Rezko matter. He did, and gave a more extensive accounting of the relationship than before.

The Clinton campaign tried to curry some political gain from Obama's transparency:

"The revelations in today's newspapers make it clear that Sen. Obama has not always been as straightforward" as he has suggested, Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said.

There hasn't been a definitive response from the liberal Sun-Times' editorial board, but the conservative Tribune's board has arrived at its conclusion:

We fully expect the Clinton campaign, given its current desperation, to do whatever it must in order to keep the Rezko tin can tied to Obama's bumper.

When we endorsed Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination Jan. 27, we said we had formed our opinions of him during 12 years of scrutiny. We concluded that the professional judgment and personal decency with which he has managed himself and his ambition distinguish him.

Nothing Obama said in our editorial board room Friday diminishes that verdict.

The Chicago Tribune has never endorsed a Democrat for president in its history. Its editorial board had every partisan reason to try and further damage Obama on the issue. Instead, it has essentially exonerated him. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Sun-Times follow suit in the next couple of days, but that would be expected. The Chicago Tribune doing so is startling.

by The Huffington Post News Team [courtesy of Politics on HuffingtonPost.com]

As the trial of embattled Illinois political insider Tony Rezko creates headaches for Sen. Barack Obama, the legal fate of Sen. Hillary Clinton's famously disgraced campaign financier is playing out as well. Norman Hsu, who on Feb. 28 pleaded not...

by Seth Grahame-Smith [courtesy of Politics on HuffingtonPost.com]

I've watched Hillary's descent into pettiness and fear-mongering with the heartbreak of a child who grows up to realize that his beloved mother has been a terrible person all along.