Some obscure facts on St. Patrick's Day. First, Patrick himself, who died on this day in 461, was not Irish. He was English (or the contemporary equivalent), in fact. Also, on this day in 1762, the first St. Patrick's Day parade is held in New York, underscoring the fact that the holiday is as thoroughly American as green beer. Ireland has only in the last couple decades followed the American version of St. Patrick's Day for the tourists, rather than the more traditional Catholic feast day of the saint. On to today's top stories:

"Obama Under Fire As Personal Ties Stir Controversy" (Christopher Cooper and Nick Timiraos, Wall Street Journal) If Barack Obama gets the nomination, he will look back at this point in the campaign as the dark times. Not only is there the Tony Rezko trial to deal with, but also the Jeremiah Wright mess. Fortunately, no one's voting for another month, so maybe this was the best possible moment for these problems to hit.

"Church Accuses Media of 'Crucifixion'" (Lisa Lerer and Mike Allen, The Politico) The subject of so much controversy, Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, is fighting back against the media "crucifixion." Which is entirely natural, but might cause Obama more problems.

"McCain Arrives in Iraq, Plans to Meet Maliki" (Joshua Partlow, Washington Post) John McCain showed up in Iraq yesterday, visiting the city of Mosul and is scheduled to meet with the prime minister. Although not a campaign event, the senator will surely speak of his visit on the stump when he returns.

"White Male Vote Especially Critical" (Dan Balz, Washington Post) While Clinton has shown her strength with whites, Obama has shown his strength among men. Put the two together and you have the key voting bloc in Pennsylvania that both need to win.

"Behind Closed Doors, Democrats Seek Answers" (John Harwood, New York Times) As reporter Harwood says, we've reach the "back-room deal-making" phase in the Democratic campaign. While the candidates themselves hopscotch across Pennsylvania for the next several weeks, their aides, party leadership and local state officials will be busy trying to iron out the mess the party finds itself in.

"Candidates Court Catholics" (Amy Chozick, Wall Street Journal) In addition to "white men" Catholics also make up a sizeable share of the Pennsylvania electorate, and while neither of the two candidates is a Catholic, both are in hot pursuit of them.

"McCain's Mixed Signals on Foreign Policy" (Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times) In today's parlance, is McCain a "realist" or "neocon"? Those aren't satisfactory descriptions, as they come with a host of baggage from the last five years, but McCain's foreign-policy views have oscillated from the pragmatic (realist) to the idealist (neocon).

Get today's other election stories at RCP's Politics and Election page.