Obama in "excellent" health

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama's doctor said Thursday the Democratic presidential candidate was in excellent health at the time of his last checkup 16 months ago, but he has a family history of cancer and a big, obvious risk: a smoking habit that he's trying, again, to break.

In a one-page letter released by the campaign, Obama's longtime physician, Chicago internist Dr. David Scheiner, said he was summarizing 21 years of medical records.

Hanging over the positive assessment: Obama is a smoker who has quit but relapsed several times. Obama, 46, said in February that he was quitting again with the aid of Nicorette gum. His doctor said Obama is using Nicorette "with success."

Scheiner said the senator's last official checkup in January 2007 showed he exercised regularly, often jogging three miles, and had "no excess body fat."

Pastor apologizes for mocking Clinton

CHICAGO — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday he was "deeply disappointed" by a supporter's sermon at his church that mocked Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, the white pastor of predominantly black Saint Sabina Roman Catholic Church in Chicago, also apologized for Sunday's sermon at Obama's church, Trinity United Church of Christ, in which he said Clinton's eyes welled with tears before the New Hampshire primary because she felt "entitled" to the Democratic nomination and because "there's a black man stealing my show."

In video circulating on the Internet, Pfleger said the former first lady expected to win the nomination before Obama's sudden popularity. He went on to parody Clinton, sobbing and wiping his face with a handkerchief.

"She wasn't the only one crying," he said. "There was a whole lot of white people crying."

Obama won the Iowa caucuses in January. Days later, Clinton's eyes brimmed with tears and her voice broke as she talked with New Hampshire voters on the eve of the primary, which she won.

Pfleger said he regretted his words: "These words are inconsistent with Senator Obama's life and message, and I am deeply sorry if they offended Senator Clinton."

Franken's Playboy piece offends

WASHINGTON — Senate candidate Al Franken 's satirical and explicit take on virtual sex and other topics, published in Playboy magazine eight years ago, is drawing concern instead of laughter from some Minnesota Democrats.

Rep. Betty McCollum complained Thursday that she and other Minnesota Democrats will be on the same November ballot as a candidate "who has pornographic writings."

Franken, a former "Saturday Night Live" writer and performer and a best-selling author, is the Democratic front-runner to take on Republican Sen. Norm Coleman. Minnesota Democrats hold an endorsing convention next week and a primary Sept. 9.

Two other Minnesota Democrats in the House, Keith Ellison and Tim Walz, also expressed concerns about the 2000 satirical article titled "Porn-O-Rama!" that Republicans began circulating last week.

No one called on Franken to step aside. Seattle Times news services