Call me paranoid, call me a skeptic but my first reaction to such shocking headlines is concern. Not necessarily for the safety of Barack Obama — but for the way the fear factor is amplified among the throngs of people at the Convention and the proof that any derelict who gets pulled over can make headlines across the world by claiming to be involved in a plot against the first black candidate with a decent chance of becoming president.

In fact, the reporting in the CBS4 article with the uber-dramatic headline above is so very hasty and unprofessional, it is cringeworthy. And I’m not going to nitpick on the ridiculously misinformed and misspelled URL [OK, fine, it is after all: http://cbs4denver.com/investigates/assisination.plot.obama.2.802827.html]. Officials aren’t saying much, although Denver’s U.S. attorney is expected to make a statement this afternoon, but at least we have this ландшафтthorough exclusive interview by CBS4 reporter Brian Maass:

One of those suspects spoke exclusively to CBS4 investigative reporter Brian Maass from inside the Denver City Jail late Monday night and said his friends had discussed killing Obama.

“So your friends were saying threatening things about Obama?” Maass asked.

“Yeah,” Nathan Johnson replied.

“It sounded like they didn’t want him to be president?”

“Yeah,” Johnson said.

Below, the actual TV news clip from CBS4 Denver:

Earlier, Al Gore endorsed Obama — you would have missed Obama’s speech however if you were watching cable news. It was uStreamed live (watch the full video, archived above).

Barack Obama made a strong speech tonight in Raleigh, North Carolina and while i’ve been confident ever since Super Tuesday that the candidacy was his to lose and more recently, all but “signed, sealed, delivered,” it felt especially sweet to walk into my living room tonight and find myself staring at a large poster of the next president of the United States. Anyway, this will undoubtedly drag on, however, it’s nice to celebrate and i’ve got my fingers crossed that somehow, someway, Senator Clinton will wake up Wednesday relieved, refreshed, and bathing in the revelation of reality. It’s time, Hillary, time to put your energy back into the party, time to back Barack. With only six months until election day, I’d love to see the debunking of John McCain take place over the next eight weeks as opposed to a continuation of the embarrassing bickering holding up the Dems campaign. Clinton already announced that she’d be taking the day off, so who knows… perhaps she will step back, mull it over, and do what’s best for herself, the party, and the country.

ABC News, what is the matter with you?

ABC News, the National Constitution Center and WPVI-TV will host a Democratic Presidential Candidate debate in Philadelphia on Wednesday, April 16th. The live 90-minute debate, moderated by ABC News anchors Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, will air from 8-10 PM ET/PT on the ABC Television Network. — U.S. State Dept. Web site

This is such an ignorant, irresponsible, and backwards move on behalf of ABC, it’s beyond belief.

This would be a perfect opportunity for Disney-owned ABC News Networks to promote their streaming video services. I am crossing my fingers that the debate WILL be live-streaming via local Philadelphia affiliate WPVI. As it stands right now, WPVI has a “breaking alert” that they will live-stream President Bush talking about Climate Change in about 30 minutes.

Don’t even get me started about how ridiculous this concept is: Bush addressing climate change with THE POPE at his side? Hilarious!

Philly Inquirer previews tonight’s debate. This as Jersey boy Bruce Springsteen endorsed Obama on his website.

Obama Plays Basketball — Bryant Gumbel reports:

All screenshots via WPVI and KGO

The whole Karl Rove tactics talk is all funny until you see that the Democratic candidates for president really may be beating each other up so bad that — assuming Obama wins the nomination — nearly 30% of Clinton supporters polled would defect from the party and support McCain. Unbelievable. And with McCain being such a weak candidate, this bodes even worse for the Democratic party in state and local elections. Once again — the two party system proves to be B.S. and it comes down to the lesser of two evils for most voters.

Scary.

Kucinich always has good things to say and is a refreshing voice with (in many cases) a healthy, progressive perspective. But as the trend has been — super-hot wife or not — dude is too short.

Perhaps this is another reason why you need Perot- or Bloomberg-like billions to get the media establishment accept you as a third-party candidate.

If you’re like me and don’t have cable — click here to watch a live stream (no ads even) of MSNBC’s debate online, moderated by Brian Williams. So far, pretty interesting.