The Bush administration repeatedly ignored corruption at the highest levels within the Iraqi government and kept secret potentially embarrassing information, two former State Department employees say.

Former Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said Sunday that he thinks Barack Obama will be the party's presidential nominee and that Hillary Rodham Clinton must be careful not to damage the party's prospects.

The battle over voting rights will expand this week when lawmakers in Missouri are expected to support a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow elections officials to require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote.

Under the Dome:A legislative office created to examine the benefit of public programs was ready to give its report last week on the state's mental health services.

The election on Tuesday in Mississippi could be a bellwether.

State lawmakers face pressure to act on widely publicized issues that have emerged since they adjourned nine months ago. Those issues include widespread problems in the state's probation and mental health systems and calls for the state to better protect poultry workers from injuries.

Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama are already drawing up strategies for taking each other on in the general election. They're focusing on the same groups -- including independent voters and Latinos -- and about a dozen states where they think the contest is likely to be decided this fall, campaign aides said.

Rob Christensen:There has been a lot of history in that old basketball barn, Reynolds Coliseum -- the Dixie Classic, Everett Case and David Thompson. We can now add Sen. Barack Obama's victory speech Tuesday night -- which had the look and feel of a convention nomination acceptance speech.

Barack Obama erased Hillary Rodham Clinton's once-imposing lead among superdelegates Saturday when he added more endorsements from the group of Democrats who will decide the party's nomination for president.

Here's a sample of the issues state lawmakers might take up in the General Assembly session that begins Tuesday:

Some political observers speculated that the the former senator and Democratic presidential primary candidate from North Carolina made a verbal slip-up signaling that he favored Illinois Sen. Barack Obama over New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Two state agencies charged with cleaning up state government are fighting over who gets to hold the broom.