In its first poll taken since Hillary Clinton dropped out of the presidential race, the Washington Post finds Independent voters are split between Obama .

n the first Washington Post-ABC News poll since the Democratic nomination contest ended, Obama and McCain are even among political independents, a shift toward the presumptive Republican nominee over the past month. On the issues, independents see McCain as more credible on fighting terrorism and are split evenly on who is the stronger leader and better on the Iraq war. But on other key attributes and issues -- including the economy -- Obama has advantages among independents.

The presumptive Democratic nominee emerged from his primary-season battle against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton with improved personal ratings overall, but with no appreciable gain in the head-to-head competition with McCain. Majorities view both men favorably, but about twice as many said they have a "strongly favorable" impression of Obama as said so of McCain.

What does th poll mean? The Washington Post says:

bama still has some work to do to unite the Democratic Party. Almost nine in 10 Republicans now support McCain, while not quite eight in 10 Democrats said they support Obama. Nearly a quarter of those who said they favored Clinton over Obama for the nomination currently prefer McCain for the general election, virtually unchanged from polls taken before Clinton suspended her campaign.

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Wouldn't you expect John McCain to have known that "his good friend Clayton Williams" isn't someone in whose company he wants to be seen during a presidential campaign?

While running unsuccessfully against Ann Richards for governor, the Texan was overheard comparing rape to the weather: "As long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it."

It seems to have dawned on the McCain camp that Williams' role as a fund-raiser wasn't helping McCain's reputation.

Following the resurrection of this and other off-colour remarks [reported here], the McCain campaign decided abruptly to cancel the fundraiser at Mr Williams's lavish Midland home.

The McCain camp wants us to know that the Republican candidate-to-be doesn't think Williams' joke is funny. Let's not forget that McCain's own sense of humor can tend toward the vicious. [more ...]

NYTimes:

“Patti will be an asset and good addition to the Obama campaign. After nearly two decades in political life, she brings with her the ability to tap an extensive network that will be a huge asset to Senator Obama. As Senator Clinton has said, we’re all going to do our part to help elect Senator Obama as the next President of the United States," said spokesman Mo Elleithee.

Hmmm. Hillary is fine with it publically. If the Obama gambit was to have Clinton stoically stew, and then say "see, not a team player," it did not work. I say the discussion of Hillary as VP takes an uptick now. Was that Obama's goal? Personally, I doubt it. He is still between a rock and a hard place on the VP issue imo.

by Big Tent Democrat

Kevin Drum links to the real meaning of the Solis Doyle naming - a slap in the face to Hillary Clinton:

Not exactly a signal that Obama is considering Hillary Clinton for the job. At least that's how Clinton loyalists see it. "It's a slap in the face," Susie Tompkins Buell, a prominent Clinton backer, said in an interview. "Why would they put somebody that was so clearly ineffective in such a position? It's a message. We get it." She said it was a "calculated decision" by the Obama team to "send a message that she [Clinton] is not being considered for the ticket." . . . The sentiment reflected what another person in the immediate Clinton orbit described as "shock" that Obama would send such a strong signal that he is not considering Clinton as his runningmate so soon.

Unity? Not if the Obama camp has anything to say about it.

By Big Tent Democrat, Speaking for me Only

Comments now closed.

13 days after Hillary Clinton "ripped apart" the Democratic Party by not immediately and effusively apologizing for even running against Barack Obama and endorsing him and threatening violence against her supporters who do not vote for him, Al Gore has decided to endorse Barack Obama:

Al Gore says he is backing Barack Obama and will do whatever he can to help him get to the White House. . . . He's planning to appear with Obama at a rally in Detroit Monday night.

It is good to see Gore finally gave up his hope for a brokered convention with him emerging as the nominee. Oh wait, you mean Gore was not hoping for that? Well how do you explain his waiting until NOW to endorse Obama? You know the Media told us Gore is a big fat liar, and they always tell the truth . . .

By Big Tent Democrat, snarking for me only

Former Hillary Clinton Campaign Manager Patti Solis Doyle has joined the Obama campaign.

She will be the Chief of Staff to Obama's as yet unnamed running mate.

Anyone want to read the tea leaves on that one?

Michelle Obama is getting an image-booster:

In addition, the campaign has hired Democratic strategist Stephanie Cutter to work as chief of staff for Michelle Obama. Her first order of business will be to buff and polish the image of the candidate's wife, who has been the target of sharp attacks in recent weeks.

More staff changes below:

Oliver Willis is right about this disgusting McCain supporter:

So a guy makes a sick joke about rape that was highlighted in a campaign ad, but the McCain camp still thought it was perfectly fine to take his money and have a fundraiser with him until the press comes a knockin’. . . Here’s an idea: Tell John McCain to give back the $300,000 he raised via a man who jokes about rape.

Absolutely. Perhaps now Willis can see this psycho ex-girlfriend stuff was not funny. That in fact it was sexist and offensive.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

According to a report (pdf) released today by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, "46% of Americans have used the internet, email or cell phone text messaging to get news about the campaign, share their views and mobilize others." The readers of this post are all in that 46 percent. John McCain is not.

For list lovers, the top three election-related internet activities are: [more ...]

Barack Obama and John McCain are in a statistical dead heat according to the Daily Gallup tracking poll. Why? Seems to me to be the high number of undecideds combined with those who won't vote for either.

Although the margin between Obama and McCain is now similar to what it was in the last few weeks of the Democratic primary race, the structure of the race looks slightly different than at any other time this year as a result of the relatively high percentage of voters -- 15% -- not favoring either major-party candidate. This includes 7% of voters who say they are undecided and 8% who say they will not vote for either candidate (including 1% who volunteer they will vote for another specific candidate).

....As a result, the percentages of Americans now supporting Obama and McCain are near the lowest seen for either candidate since Gallup Poll Daily tracking on the Obama-McCain matchup started in early March, and well below the high of 48% achieved by each at them at various times.

John McCain has locked up the Republican nomination, but he may not have locked up Republican votes in the general election. Will he need to move farther to the right to keep the Republican voting coalition intact?

The size of the evangelical community ensures its voice must be listened to. In the post room of Focus on the Family, dozens of workers sift through the mail, which can be as much as 150,000 items a day. Such power and influence mean evangelicals are a voting bloc McCain cannot write off. His campaign is bombarding 600 nationwide leaders with regular emails and appeals for help. Plans have been drawn up to mobilise the evangelical vote in 18 vital states. His top staff, like senior aide Charlie Black, have regular meetings with evangelical leaders. It might work. McCain's record on the key issue for many conservative evangelicals - abortion - is solidly hostile. 'The evangelical community will come around in the end,' said Steve Mitchell, a political pollster and chairman of Mitchell Research. 'Some leaders have not endorsed him yet because they are just tough negotiators. They are playing politics.'

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Tim Russert's passing reminds me that this Obama-McCain matchup was the election the Media dreamed of. This was the one that was going to change politics.

Well, anyone watching the first week of the campaign since the departure of Hillary Clinton must have noticed that in fact what we have gotten is more of the same. John Mercurio writes:

[L]isten closely to the debate this week over the campaign's No. 1 issue, and you'll hear how comfortably Obama and McCain conform to their parties' tried-and-true orthodoxies, the ones that repeatedly set the stage for a sharply divided -- and static -- electoral map.

As a Democrat, I am glad to see the Obama team understands that Obama can not change politics, that he must engage in it. A sharply partisan campaign is very much to Obama's favor and the first rule in politics is you win before you can transform. Others have noticed the pedestrian nature of the campaign:

Barack Obama dissed the "New Rochelle train" and commuting to work.

David Mendell's Obama: From Promise to Power, p. 148-149:

"[Obama] always talked about the New Rochelle train, the trains that took commuters to and from New York City, and he didn't want to be on one of those trains every day," said Jerry Kellman, the community organizer who enticed Obama to Chicago from his Manhattan office job. "The image of a life, not a dynamic life, of going through the motions... that was scary to him."

....There's nothing wrong with saying, "that life, taking the New Rochelle train, just isn't for me."

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