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Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has been moved from a federal prison in North Carolina to a minimum-security prison camp in Montgomery, Ala., after clashing with prison officials and being placed in solitary confinement, a source told the Chicago Sun-Times. The 49-year-old former Chicago congressman had been advising other inmates in North Carolina about their rights in prison, according to the source, who said a guard took exception to that. As a result, the longtime South Side politician was placed in solitary confinement for four or five days more than a month ago, the source said. It took about...

Washington - When Michelle Obama worked in Mayor Daley's City Hall in the early 1990s, she was "distressed" by how a small group of "white Irish Catholic" families -- the Daleys, the Hynes and the Madigans -- "locked up" power in Illinois. And as she prepared to become first lady, Mrs. Obama naively wanted to delay a move into the White House for six months, so her daughters could finish the school year. Her initial thought was to "commute" to the White House from her South Side home. And Marty Nesbitt, one of President Obama's best friends, had been recruited...

First Lady Michelle Obama took a lot of grief for her decision to vacation in Spain last week, a glitzy getaway that prompted one New York Daily News columnist to liken her to Marie Antoinette. But now we're learning more about the trip, which, despite the furor over its alleged excess, seems to have been launched with good intentions. According to the Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet, the first lady made the trip because she wanted to spend time with her best friend, Chicago physician Anita Blanchard, who lost her father this summer. Blanchard (who is married to President Obama's best...

Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet buried this gem at the end of her article on a Sarah Palin speaking engagement in Washington, Illinois on April 17:FOOTNOTE: In her Tea Party speech, Palin mocked Obama by asking "how's that hope-y, change-y stuff working out for ya?" I asked White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett recently what she thought of Palin's dig. Said Jarrett: "Making fun of the folks' real, sincere hopes for change that Americans across our country felt, I don't know that making fun of that is constructive. I prefer we would say, 'Come and think of constructive solutions that...

Although the reporter involved denies she coordinated with the White House, speculation abounds over the genesis of the press conference inquiry last week by Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times, whose question about Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. prompted a national race scandal involving President Obama.

JERUSALEM – Although the reporter involved denies she coordinated with the White House, speculation abounds over the genesis of the press conference inquiry last week by Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times, whose question about Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. prompted a national race scandal involving President Obama. Several blogs have picked up on unanswered questions surrounding the event and have speculated that the White House may have coordinated the question. "Sweet was prepped, planted and performed on cue," was the title of a piece on The Real Barack Obama blog. "Lynn Sweet has earned her bones as a...

July 24, 2009 BY LYNN SWEET Sun-Times Columnist WASHINGTON -- I asked President Obama what turned out to be a provocative question at his press conference on Wednesday night -- well, it was his answer that was really provocative -- about the arrest of noted Harvard African-American studies Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home in Cambridge, Mass. I asked,"What does that incident say to you? And what does it say about race relations in America?" Obama's answer included a sound bite picked up by scores of outlets, whether print, TV, radio or on the Web. Said Obama, "the...

I contend that Obama's response that the Cambridge police acted "stupidly" was not a mistake or poor judgement - I think it was calculated. Obama is desperately looking for something to steal the headlines from his disasterous healthcare plan and this kind of story his perfect. Obama's hope is that this will galvanize the media and "right wing critics" allowing Pelosi to push this plan through. I wouldn't be surprised if the White House actually planted that question. If you watched the presser you'll notice that the reporter almost didn't get to ask the questions - another reporter took her...

Lynn Sweet wants the Obama team to come clean over its contacts with Blago. David Shuster has a different concern. He's hoping the media won't get "adversarial" once the Obama folks get around to releasing their report about who said what to whom. Shuster made his pre-emptive plea for good media manners on this evening's 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the MSNBC show Shuster has recently begun hosting now that David Gregory has moved on to Meet The Press. Sweet, of the Chicago Sun-Times, began with a reasonable reporter's take on the pending release by Team Obama of its accounting of contacts...

Say what you will about President George W. Bush, but I don't recall him ever mocking an elderly widow in his pronouncements. But Barack Obama couldn't get through his first press conference as president-elect without doing just that. Answering a question from Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times as to the presidents he has consulted during the transition, Obama took a gratuitous jab at Nancy Reagan. BARACK OBAMA: In terms of speaking to former presidents, I've spoken to all of them that are living, obviously President Clinton--I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing...

Chicago Sun-Times columnist, Lynn Sweet, already known for her not so hidden partisanship on behalf of Barack Obama, has just surpassed even her previous extreme bias. In reporting on new fundraising efforts by the Obama campaign due to their worry over the energized McCain-Palin team, Lynn slips from straight reporting to acting as a flat out PR agent for an upcoming Chicago fundraiser. First Lynn mentions the new concern about the rise of the Republican presidential team in her column: WASHINGTON--The McCain-Palin ticket is up in the polls--but wait--it's a fund-raising opportunity for the Obama team, a chance to sound...

The problem Hillary has is that when you read that headline, you knew it was referring to her.Lynn Sweet has seen an angry Hillary up close and personal, and it left a mark, as you can see by the screen capture of Sweet describing that moment. You can't get much more mainstream than Lynn Sweet: D.C. bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times, columnist for The Hill, a weekly newspaper that covers the Congress, member of the National Press Club and the Gridiron Club. Appearing on this afternoon's Hardball, Sweet was discussing the incident in which Hillary, in Iowa, jokingly referred...

'There's an old rule in politics, and I've seen it many times," said retired Gen. Wesley Clark on Thursday night, as he brushed aside Fox News talker Sean Hannity's demand for him to condemn Sen. Dick Durbin. "Whoever uses the 'Nazi' word first loses," said Clark, the former Democratic presidential candidate who is a political analyst for Fox.

At the very end of Friday night's second debate between President Bush and John Kerry, Bush tossed out a congenial "been enjoyable," about a contentious session dominated by the Iraq war with a heavy emphasis on domestic programs. Polite for the president to say, but it was only at the end, when the questions were on domestic issues, that Bush seemed to relax and help himself in the face-off that was otherwise dominated by Kerry. There were no real pleasant exchanges, but there was plenty of tough talk. "I don't see how you can win in Iraq if you don't...

"I am a Christian.... So, I have a deep faith. I'm rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people. "That there are values that transcend race or culture, that move us forward, and there's an obligation for all of us individually as well as collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived." Thus, U.S. Senate candidate for Illinois Barack Obama in a campaign contribution by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Cathleen Falsani. Obama's...