News Buzz: Pennsylvanians Head to Polls, Condoleezza Rice on Jimmy Carter's Hamas Visit, and More

Today—six weeks after it all began—the polls are open and Pennsylvania voters finally get a chance to choose between the two bickering Democratic candidates. Hillary Clinton was the early favorite in the Keystone State, but since the campaigning in Pennsylvania, polls show Barack Obama has chiseled into her lead. A big win for Clinton would mean the candidates press on to the next set of primaries in Indiana and North Carolina. A win for Obama or a narrow win for Clinton could signal that the long battle between the two candidates is over.

Al Qaeda's No. 2 in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, discredited a theory blaming Israel for the September 11 attacks in comments posted on an Islamic website. He held Iran and Shiite Hezbollah responsible for spreading the disinformation in an attempt to discredit al Qaeda's role. Al Qaeda is a Sunni organization. Zawahiri has recently criticized Iran for trying to extend its power throughout the Middle East.

The Bush administration today voiced opposition to former President Jimmy Carter's decision to meet with Hamas leaders in Damascus over the weekend, saying that the State Department had told Carter well in advance of his trip not to carry out the meeting. "The United States is not going to deal with Hamas," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said earlier this morning, "and we had certainly told President Carter that we did not think meeting with Hamas was going to help." Carter says he received mixed signals from U.S. officials. Regardless, he failed to persuade Hamas to halt rocket attacks on Israel.