A Playboy article written in 2000 by current Minnesota Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken has caused a maelstrom of outrage -- and not just from the opposing party.

With just a week before the state convention, where Franken was all but assured of winning the DFL endorsement (which is often tantamount to the nomination), the endorsement could now be in question because of a sexually explicit article he wrote eight years ago on the future of pornography.

Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum, who represents St. Paul and Ramsey County, has been particularly perturbed by the piece. "As a woman, a mother, a former teacher, and an elected official, I find this material completely unacceptable," McCollum said, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. McCollum had supported wealthy attorney Mike Cerisi in the primary before he dropped out earlier this year.

The Star Tribune also quoted other Democratic congressmen from Minnesota who found the article to be inappopriate, including Reps. Keith Ellison and Tim Walz, both of whom are freshmen. McCollum also stated that during a weekly meeting the Minnesota Democratic delegation holds, "The overwhelming majority of us thought it was a serious political problem," while "others thought it was a problem but that it would blow over."

The article was first circulated by the Minnesota Republican Party last week, The Hill reported then.

The Franken campaign has responded, saying that the work was merely satire. And Franken spokesman Andy Barr also directly responded to McCollum, saying "it's unfortunate that she's trying to create divisions in our party rather than working with other DFLers to take on [Coleman]," according to the Star Tribune.

In general election polling, Sen. Norm Coleman currently holds a 6.3-point lead over Franken in the RCP Average for Minnesota.

In the Headlines:

"Obama again apologizes for a pastor's comments" (John McCormick and Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune) - Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign on Thursday was forced to again apologize for the remarks of a Chicago pastor and friend backing his candidacy who spoke from the pulpit of Obama's longtime South Side church.

"McClellan Says Book's Tone Evolved" (Dan Eggen and Linton Weeks, Washington Post) - Scott McClellan says he did not set out to write a memoir that was sharply critical of the White House. Indeed, one publishing industry insider described his early concept as "a not-very-interesting, typical press secretary book."

"Obama prepares to declare victory after Tuesday primaries" (Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers) - Barack Obama is preparing to claim victory in the Democratic presidential nominating contest after next Tuesday's final primaries in Montana and South Dakota.

"Fate of Fla., Mich. delegates gets down to nitty-gritty" (Fredreka Schouten, USA Today) - The Democratic National Committee's rules and bylaws panel meets Saturday to try to resolve the long-running dispute over convention delegates from Michigan and Florida.

On the Morning Shows:

Good Morning America - George Stephanopoulos, on Obama's latest pastor problem, Fr. Pfleger: "This is going to hurt Obama's efforts right now to try to bring the party together." (Video)

Today - Tony Blair: "I still believe Saddam was a threat and had to be dealt with. When I'm out there, it's a region that hangs in the balance right now and we can't afford to give up on the struggle to defeat those forces."

(Greg Bobrinskoy contributed to the Morning Report.)

The ruckus that Scott McClellan's book has created -- or reintroduced -- will probably play out like previous ones in that it will add relatively little to the debate but will cause both sides to come out swinging at each other. Which side you choose to believe comes down to which side you already believe.

But given the above, consider what McClellan told the Today Show this morning:

"My hope is that by writing this book and sharing openly and honestly what I learned is that in some small way it might help us move beyond the partisan warfare of the past 15 years," he said.

As others have pointed out, McClellan's willingness to bring up rumors of the president's cocaine use seems to belie his claim of noble intentions. In fact, the one thing we can be sure his book won't do is move us beyond partisan bickering. That McClellan, who's spent his entire adult life in politics, seems to think otherwise is either grossly disingenuous or hopelessly naive.

Moving on to the election, there are very few fence sitters left on the hot buttons McClellan pushes in the book (the Iraq war, the integrity of Bush administration, the Plame leak, etc.) so it's hard to imagine that he will convince anyone one way or the other. But, as I said, it does reintroduce the issue, and Obama and his surrogates have wasted little time linking it all to McCain.

So will this be a big campaign issue? Probably not. It's like asking if Richard Clarke (remember him?) will be a big issue come the fall.

A new national survey released from the Pew Research Center shows Obama holding a 3-point edge over McCain (May 21-25, 1,242 RV).

Obama 47 (-3 vs. last poll, April 23-27)
McCain 44 (nc)
Und 9 (+3)

Obama leads by 2.8 points in the RCP National Average

Obama also leads McCain in favorable ratings: 51% have a favorable and 40% an unfavorable opinion of Obama, compared with 46% favorable, 44% unfavorable for McCain. For Clinton, 48% view her favorably, while 44% hold an unfavorable opinion of her.

According to his doctor Obama is in "excellent" health. Obama's still young enough where it shouldn't be a problem, but with years of smoking it's been a small issue. Here's ABC News:

According to a memo released to reporters from his primary care physician, Obama's health has been "excellent" and overall in "good physical and mental health needed to maintain the resiliency required in the Office of President."

Dr. David L. Scheiner, MD on staff at the University of Chicago Hospital and Rush University Medical Center has been Obama's primary care physician since March of 1987 and completed a review of Obama's records for the last 21 years.

Scheiner says that Obama has been seen regularly for checkups, his last being in January of 2007, and treated for minor problems like upper respiratory infections, skin rashes and minor injuries.

"A complete review of systems was unremarkable," Scheiner writes, "his build was lean and muscular with no excess body fat. His physical examination was complete normal."

Well that should settle that. On a related note, John McCain is down with a cold.

If a man told you for years that he didn't love you, essentially had no regard for you at all, and then suddenly, when he needed you, told you he adored you, would you fall for it?

That's the opening graf of Jon Ralston's column today looking at John McCain's about face on Yucca Mountain. McCain has been a longtime supporter of the nuclear waste repository site at Yucca Mountain, but he's had a bit of a change of heart now that he's looking at a potentially very tight general election battle where Nevada's small stash of 5 electoral votes could prove pivotal.

In his speech on nuclear power earlier this week McCain blew a not-so-subtle kiss at the Silver State:

I would seek to establish an international repository for spent nuclear fuel that could collect and safely store materials overseas that might otherwise be reprocessed to acquire bomb-grade materials. It is even possible that such an international center could make it unnecessary to open the proposed spent nuclear fuel storage facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

So will the candidates' respective positions on Yucca Mountain matter this fall? Probably not. Nevada has traditionally voted Republican, with the exception of Bill Clinton who carried the state barely in 1992 (37%-35%-26%) and again in 1996 (44%-43%) - narrow victories that many attribute to his promise to veto any bill authorizing Yucca Mountain.

But George W. Bush won the state in 2000 by four points (50-46) margin without promising a veto and, even more tellingly, won the state again in 2004 (50-48) after signing legislation approving Yucca Mountain in 2002.

So despite McCain's longtime support for Yucca Mountain, it'll most likely be other factors that drive the outcome in Nevada this fall, but it could be razor close. The most recent poll, a Rasmussen survey from May 20, shows the Arizona Senator leading Obama by six points, 46% to 40%.

Two new general election polls out in Michigan show John McCain with an ever so slight lead over Obama:

EPIC/MRA (May 19-22)
McCain 44
Obama 40

SurveyUSA (May 27)
McCain 41
Obama 37

Overall, McCain leads by 3.0% in the RCP Average for Michigan.

Post Script: If you haven't read Bob Beckel's piece today outlining why he thinks it'll be an Obama blowout in November, click here. Included in Bob's piece is this graf on why he thinks Michigan is a lock for Obama:

The most devastated economic state in the Bush years is a McCain target? Let me get off the floor and stop laughing. Michigan has 1.4 million blacks with 300,000 yet to be (but will be) registered. It has one of the largest populations of college students in the country, and 150,000 new voters will turn 18 by Election Day. Any bets how they will vote?

Michigan is highly unionized in a year where unions will spend more and be more active for Democrats than at any time since the halcyon days of the 1950s. "Uncommitted" in the Democratic primary almost beat McCain's total vote - and that's when no Democrat campaigned in the state.

The truth is that McCain has very little chance of winning Michigan.

Agree or disagree?

On GMA, uber-Clinton backer James Carville backtracks on the notion the race will be settled on June 3:

On GMA, uber-Clinton backer James Carville backtracks on the notion the race will be settled on June 3:

Nope, just livin' la vida loca.

The Clinton campaign announced today the endorsement of Puerto Rican singing sensation Ricky Martin. Here is a quote from Martin taken from the Clinton press release announcing his support:

"These elections will have historic repercussions both in the United States and the world. Senator Clinton has always been consistent in her commitment with the needs of the Latino community. Whether fighting for better education, universal health care and social well-being, as First Lady and Senator from New York -- representing millions of Latinos --she has always fought for what is most important for our families," said the 5-time Grammy award winning artist.

There is, of course, context to this endorsement, as the Puerto Rican Democratic primary takes place Sunday.