In the history of campaign promises, Barack Obama's latest might also be the toughest to keep. Read my lips, he's essentially pledging, "no Newports." Actually, he's a Marlboro man. But Obama has made a promise to his wife—and because the press got wind of it, the public—to quit smoking during his presidential bid.

He's on the Nicorette now instead.

• Obama's L.A. Times coverage. In a story Sunday, the Times quotes Obama's fellow activists who say there are too many "I"s in Obama's memoir, suggesting he played up his activist role in the 1980s. The next day, Obama dispatched his people to write a point-by-point refutation of the story.

OBAMA VS. CLINTON: WIN-WIN!

LOS ANGELES -- The story so far: David Geffen, the ultimate Hollywood guy, says that he has discovered Hillary Clinton is "ambitious" and, like all politicians, a liar. INVESTIGATE HOW THE PRESS LED US INTO IRAQLOS ANGELES -- I don't think there is much argument now that the United States made a mistake going into Iraq. We have destroyed the image we had earned or had tried to create as the necessary nation, the benevolent and humble superpower. Instead, with unbelievable arrogance, we have sowed civil war, scorn and hatred that will last for decades and almost certainly spread through the Middle East and beyond. BED AND BREAKFAST IN BAGHDADLOS ANGELES -- A few years from now, when our occupation of Iraq seems funnier than it does now, a writer will come forward to do the "Catch-22" of the Iraq War.

Obama swings through area

SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, on his first Bay Area swing since announcing his bid for the presidency, said Monday that the nation's most vital division is "between the American people and their government."

And he warned that if government doesn't address such issues as global warming, the federal deficit and lack of investment in education, "We may be consigning the next generation to an America that is a little meaner and a little poorer than the one we inherited.

"That is un-American," he told a crowd of about 1,000 people gathered in San Francisco for a fundraiser for U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer.

The audience saved its biggest applause for Obama's blunt assessment of the war in Iraq.

"We're in the midst of a war that should have never been authorized," he said.

Jennifer Aniston, Eddie Murphy, Morgan Freeman and Hollywood Elite ...

Presidential candidate Barack Obama attracted some of Hollywood's heavy hitters on Tuesday night at a $2,300-per-ticket fundraiser held at the Beverly Hilton. Addressing the crowd of 300, Obama spoke of the entertainment industry's power to influence, and with that power they bore a tremendous amount of responsibility.