WOUNDED OBAMA AGREES TO FULL HOUR ON “MEET THE PRESS”

The damage wrought by the Rev Wright debacle on Barack Obama’s presidential aspirations is illustrated by the fact that this Sunday he is sitting down with Tim Russert for an hour on Meet the Press. [TO SEND TIM RUSSERT SUGGESTED QUESTIONS FOR SENATOR OBAMA ON MEET THE PRESS CLICK HERE. ]
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A full hour on Meet the Press is thought to be the toughest interview on television (far more potentially disastrous than a debate) and Obama must be desperate for a break. The downside, obviously, is that the interview goes badly on the eve of key primaries in North Carolina and Indiana.

Russert is a persistent questioner and Obama will have to be prepared to say more about what he knew about Wright’s views and when he knew it.

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We respectfully suggest that Mr. Russert ask , and press for full and complete answers to, the following questions:

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1. Obama has stated that he is a religious man. If so, why did he not take his family to church on the first Sunday after 9/11 during that time of national crisis and grieving? [Note-if he did, he would have heard Reverend Wright deliver his (infamous) sermon blaming America for the 9/11 attacks.]

2. Setting aside whether Obama was in the pews 5 days after 9/11 to hear the Reverend Wright blame the WTC attacks on America, Obama has described a very close relationship with Wright akin to an “uncle”. Presumably, they socialized frequently or at least with some degree of frequency. How is it that Wright and Obama never shared their mutual views on politics, philosophy, and American foreign policy—particularly in view of the interest of both men in those subjects and Obama’s political orientation?

3. How often did Obama socialize with Wright?

4. With what frequency did Obama attend services at Trinity?

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TO SEND TIM RUSSERT SUGGESTED QUESTIONS FOR SENATOR OBAMA ON MEET THE PRESS CLICK HERE.

MISSISSIPPI DEM WHO ENDORSED OBAMA: “OBAMA WHO?”

[Political Punch-ABC News]

ABC News blogger Jake Tapper posted this account today of a Mississippi Democratic candidate who formerly endorsed Obama, but has been so mauled by anti-Obama-Reverend Wright attack ads by the GOP and his opponent that he now disavows any connection to the candidate from Illinois:

“In North Mississippi, Democratic congressional candidate Travis Childers has been hammered by Republicans for ties to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, in THIS AD from the National Republican Congressional Committee and THIS AD from Childers' opponent -- "When Obama's pastor cursed America blaming us for 9/11 Childers said nothing," the ad says.

"Now Childers is pushing back -- by acting as if he's never even heard of Obama.

In a new TV ad launching today, Childers says his family "has heard the lies and attacks linking me to politicians I don't know and have never even met," the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports.

And Memphis's WREG-TV has an interesting report in which Childers distances imself quite a bit from Mr. Obama. Watch HERE.

"Senator Obama hasn't endorsed my candidacy," Childers says. "I have not been in contact with his campaign nor has he been in contact with mine."

“Obama's campaign has tried to help Childers, as you can see on Obama's website.”

Wow, the Wright issue is apparently so toxic in the south that Obama endorsing candidates are suddenly getting Obama-amnesia!

US NEWS: IT’S TIME FOR OBAMA TO CONSIDER DROPPING OUT

[Opinion-Bonnie Erbe-US News & World Report]

Bonnie Erbe—“who has covered Washington politics since God was a baby”—is leading what may soon be a growing chorus of Democratic voices urging Barack Obama to leave the race for he Democratic nomination, at least if he fails to convincingly trounce Hillary Clinton in North Carolina by double digits.

In today’s opinion piece for US News Erbe writes:

“Sen. Barack Obama's response to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's incendiary appearance on Monday at the National Press Club is not just a day late and a dollar short: It's a month and a half late and a few million dollars short.

“Wright's self-promoting and racially divisive remarks have set back a half-century of progress on race relations in the United States. Obama's long-delayed denunciation of his former minister seems to have come too late to save the senator's political self-immolation.”

Wow, strong stuff—particularly in the face of “conventional” Washington insider wisdom that Obama has had the nomination locked up for months by virtue of his insurmountable pledged-delegate lead, and that the supers are just delaying their annoncement of an Obama victory —which is probably true until it isn’t.

Erbe continues:

“We may soon start to see the defection from his campaign of superdelegate support. The New York Times reports, "Eileen Macoll, a Democratic county chairman from Washington State who has not chosen a candidate, said she was stunned at the extent of national attention the episode [Wright's remarks] has drawn, and she said she believed it would give superdelegates pause.

'I'm a little surprised at how much traction it is getting, and I do believe it is beginning to reflect negatively on Senator Obama's campaign,' Ms. Macoll said. 'I think he's handling it very well, but I think it's almost impossible to make people feel comfortable about this.' "”

To Urbe, who feels that the one, two punch of Obama’s “clinging to guns and religion” remarks last month at a San Francisco fundraiser and the candidate's Reverend Wright problem have mortally wounded him, points to a SurveyUSA North Carolina poll showing Sen. Hillary Clinton closing in fast on Obama there—and observes that the full impact of both these events was not yet felt when the poll [showing Obama’s lead shrinking to 5%] was taken.

“As soon as polls start to show the extent of alienation Obama has produced among white Democratic voters, superdelegates won't be far behind. If Obama does not carry North Carolina next week by double digits, he will be in serious trouble. Look for calls by party leaders for him to drop out if his victory in North Carolina is not convincing.”

Urbe closes with the following to illustrate the magnitude of Obama’s current trouble:

“In case you needed one, here from washingtonpost.com is a refresher on what Wright said on Monday:

“From the moment he entered the room, Wright seemed to be looking to stir controversy; he was escorted by Jamil Muhammad , a leader of the Nation of Islam, which contributed to the minister's prominent security detail. Speaking before an audience that included Marion Barry, Cornel West, the New Black Panther Party's Malik Zulu Shabazz and Nation of Islam protocol director Claudette Muhammad, Wright praised Louis Farrakhan, defended the view that Zionism is racism, accused the United States of terrorism, repeated his belief that the government created AIDS to extinguish racial minorities, and stood by his suggestion that "God damn America."

“And remember what Obama said about this man six weeks ago:

“"I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community."”

Is Donna Urbe the leader of a growing chorus, or is her report of Obama’s impending demise (to paraphrase Mark Twain) "much exaggerated"?

We will have the first indications when the actual votes in North Carolina and Indiana are tallied after the polls close on May 6.
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[TO SEND TIM RUSSERT SUGGESTED QUESTIONS FOR SENATOR OBAMA ON MEET THE PRESS THIS SUNDAY, WHERE OBAMA WILL BE QUESTIONED FOR THE FULL HOUR, CLICK HERE. ]

HILLARY CONTINUES TO LEAD OBAMA IN NATIONAL DEM POLL

Editor's note: This image is conceptual and not literal.

[gallup.com ]

For the third day in a row, Gallup’s national tracking poll shows Clinton leading Obama among registered Democrats, 47% to 46%, Gallup reported today, April 30, 2008.

In addition, a new Fox News poll out today shows that:

“Nearly half of Democrats (48 percent) think Hillary Clinton has a better chance of beating John McCain in November - 10 percentage points higher than the 38 percent who think Barack Obama can win”.

Whether this trend will continue until June—when many super-delegates will be under intense pressure by Democratic party leaders to publicly announce for one candidate or the other—remains to be seen.

Obviously, wins by Clinton in North Carolina, Indiana, and Kentucky (where Clinton leads by 36 points three weeks before the primary contest there) will significantly affect these polling numbers.

OBAMA ON DEFENSIVE IN NORTH CAROLINA OVER WRIGHT’S VIEWS

[Reuters]

DURHAM, North Carolina (Reuters) - Racially charged rhetoric by his former pastor has pushed U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama to a place he didn't want to be -- trying to ease white voters' worries about where he stands on race issues, while retaining black support—just days before a key primary election in North Carolina—a state Obama was expected to easily carry due to the large percentage (38%) of black voters among registered Democrats there.

The issue has disrupted Obama's campaign, in which he portrays himself as a uniter after years of American political and racial polarization.

The Illinois senator had been forced again to denounce comments by Rev. Jeremiah White that could increase a growing view among many white voters that Obama is a black radical. At the same time, Obama must carefully avoid offending black voters who up until now have given the candidate overwhelming support.

Wright repeated assertions this week that the United States deserved some blame for the September 11 attacks and said Washington played some role in spreading AIDS to blacks, who are disproportionately affected by the HIV virus.

African Americans interviewed in Durham, North Carolina by Reuters, said they feared Wright's sudden prominence would give white voters a reason to abandon Obama's campaign, the news service reports.

"He (Wright) keeps ringing a bell that doesn't need to be rung and I am saying 'why would he do that?'" said Wilma Dillard, owner of Dillard's Barbeque, a popular restaurant in a largely black suburb of Durham.

In one indication of the damage Wright could cause among white voters, people in a restaurant in Shelbyville, in southeast Indiana, said the pastor made them doubt whether Obama was trustworthy.

"I definitely don't like Obama because of the mess with him and his pastor. I don't think he's been honest about it," said Candace Demmin, 37, as she had lunch with her mother.

"How can you go to a church for 20 years and not hear your minister say something off-color? Either he's heard it and is lying about it, or he's lying about going to church as much as he does," said Demmin. She said she had yet to decide who to support in Tuesday's primary.

Wright's comments are viewed as particularly sensitive for Obama because U.S. politicians running for state or national office rarely dwell on race, which can be a strongly divisive issue, Reuters says.

But if Wright remains in the public eye he could serve to render Obama less neutral in terms of race, said Charmaine McKissock-Melton, a professor of English at North Carolina Central University who supports Obama, Reuters reports.

"It (Wright's controversial appearances) makes Barack seem black and prior to this time he was just Barack Obama .... If you really want to help your candidate why don't you sit down and shut up," she said.

CLINTON GAINS ON OBAMA IN KEY PRIMARY STATES

[AFP]

***BREAKING NEWS****

Hillary Clinton appeared Wednesday to be making huge gains on Barack Obama in two key primary states, Indiana and North Carolina after her Democratic foe tried to quell another damaging uproar sparked by his fiery former pastor. In a third state, Kentucky, there is no change, but Clinton enjoys a 36 point lead there.

“Clinton's message seems to be hitting home after her campaign-saving victory in Pennsylvania last week”, AFP news service reports.

A Howey-Gauge poll in Indiana released Tuesday had Obama up by just 47 to 45 percentage points, well within the margin of error, with eight percent of likely primary voters undecided.

Clinton had trailed by 15 points in the same poll in February--a Clinton gain of 13 points.

A Public Policy poll had Clinton up eight points, weighting the average of recent polls in the state by RealClearPolitics.com in her favor, showing her up two points.

In North Carolina, a state where Obama hopes a large African-American population (38% of registered Democrats) will help carry him to victory, he leads the RealClearPolitics average by 10 points, but a Survey USA poll Tuesday had him up by only five.

However, it is expected that following the re-emergence of Obama’s former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, onto the national scene over the week-end and on Monday (and not in a good way), Obama’s lead in North Carolina will further erode. (Mayhill Fowler of the Huffington Post has described the extent to which the Wright issue was resonating with white and educated voters in North Carolina—and that was before the latest Wright controversy broke on Monday.)

In addition, Clinton got a boost in the Tar Heel State on Tuesday with the endorsement of popular North Carolina Governor Mike Easley--who has promised to help deliver the state to Clinton on May 6.

WHAT DID OBAMA KNOW ABOUT WRIGHT AND WHEN

[RealClearPolitics]

Barack Obama has twice addressed the nation on his 20 year very close friend, advisor, and former pastor.

In March the candidate said in a major address necessitated by the firestorm set off by video tape experts of Wright’s sermons being played 24-7 on the cable networks:

“I can no more disown [Wright] than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother.”

Yesterday, as we all know, Obama finally disowned Wright. Not because of his controversial views (apparently)—which even Obama admits were all known by the candidate before his March “race speech”—but because Wright crossed the “enough is enough” line by suggesting Monday in a speech at the National Press Club that Obama never distanced himself from Wright’s views, and that the candidate said what he said in March only out of political expediency:

"What particularly angered me was his suggestion that my previous denunciation was somehow political posturing," Obama said, calling it "a show of disrespect for me."

Yet, after two national speeches on the subject in just over a month one overarching question remains: What did Obama know about Wright’s views on 9/11, Zionism, American foreign policy, and Aids that he did not know a year ago, seven years ago, or even 20 years ago?

Much has been made of Obama’s “uninviting” Wright to the announcement last year of Obama’s presidential candidacy as proof that Obama must have known about Wright's views by then.

But logic teaches that given the closeness of the prior relationship, Obama must have known for years what Wright's views were.

Setting aside the question why Obama—a man of god—was not in church the Sunday after the 9/11 attacks in order to hear Wright’s sermon blaming the attacks on America, how is it that Obama never discussed with an man with whom he was as close as an “uncle” philosophy, politics, and American foreign policy? Particularly since both men share a mutual interest in those subjects?

Until the question of precisely what Obama knew about Wright’s extreme, anti-American, anti-Jewish, anti-white views and when did he know it is answered, then questions about Obama’s judgment and character will linger.

Simply continuing to deny that he was in church for the more controversial sermons, or stating (as he did yesterday) that Wright is not “the man I met 20 years ago” is not enough.

CLINTON MAINTAINS 36 POINT LEAD OVER OBAMA IN KENTUCKY

[SurveyUSA]

If the Democratic Primary in Kentucky was held today, April 29, 2008, three weeks until votes are counted, Hillary Clinton would decisively crush Barack Obama, 63% to 27%.

In the three SurveyUSA tracking polls over the past 30 days, there is no movement in the contest. Obama gains a little bit of ground in Greater Louisville, but loses an equivalent amount in other portions of the state, SurveyUSA reports.

Kentucky’s primary is on May 20, 2008.

OBAMA TRIES TO CONVINCE NC VOTERS THAT HE (FINALLY) DENOUNCES WRIGHT

[Ben Smith-politico.com]

“In Winston-Salem, Obama sharply attacks Reverend Jeremiah Wright and the substance of his remarks yesterday, a far sharper disavowal than he gave in Philadelphia last month.
“The core of his message: That Wright was not only offensive, but the polar opposite of Obama's own views and politics.

"I have spent my entire adult life trying to bridge the gap between different kinds of people. That’s in my DNA, trying to promote mutual understanding to insist that we all share common hopes and common dreams as Americans and as human beings. That’s who I am, that’s what I believe, and that’s what this campaign has been about," Obama said.

"I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened by the spectacle that we saw yesterday," he said.

“Obama also distanced himself from the man in a way he has been reluctant to in the past."The person that I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago," he said. "His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate, and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church.""They certainly don’t portray accurately my values and beliefs," he said."If Reverend Wright thinks that’s political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn’t know me very well and based on his remarks yesterday, I may not know him as well as I thought either.""

"I gave him the benefit of the doubt in my speech in Philadelphia, explaining that he has done enormous good in the church," he said. "But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS; when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st century; when he equates the U.S. wartime efforts with terrorism – then there are no exuses. They offend me. They rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced, and that’s what I’m doing very clearly and unequivocally here today."

"It is antithetical to my campaign. It is antithetical to what I’m about. It is not what I think America stands for," he said.”

OUR TAKE: Nothing that Wright said at the National Press Club yesterday was anything new—except for Wright’s claim that Obama’s March 11 disavowal of some of Wright’s [unspecified] remarks over the last 20 years was an insincere declaration by a “politician” based not on principle but polling data. Which raises the unanswered question: Why does Obama distance himself now? Could it be that Wright has his close friend pegged, that Obama is merely a politician reacting to his fall in the polls? In any event, Barack Obama has failed—once again—to explain how it is that given Wright’s passionate, clear, anti-American, anti-Jewish, racist views—why Obama waited 20 years to put distance between himself and the white separatist preacher.

Moreover, Obama—in today’s press conference—asserted that the Reverend Wright at yesterday’s National Press club speech “is not the Reverend Wright I met 20 years ago”, but one is left to speculate whether this is the same Reverend Wright that Obama knew 5 days after 9/11 when 3,000 souls perished in the WTC towers alone, and Wright blamed those deaths on America at that Sunday’s sermon--let alone whether this is the same Reverend Wright Obama knew a year ago when he "disinvited" Wright from the event where Obama announced his candidacy for the office of president. In addition, and according to Wright, Obama never 'disinvited' Wright at all--he just kept him in the basement for the public part of the ceremony.

GALLUP: CLINTON PULLS AHEAD OF OBAMA IN NATIONAL POLL

For the first time since mid April, 2008, Hillary Clinton pulled ahead of her Democratic rival Barack Obama in Gallup’s national tracking poll result for April 29, 2008.

According to Gallup today, April 29:

“At the national level remain very closely divided in their preferences for their party's presidential nomination, with the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update showing 47% favoring Hillary Clinton and 46% supporting Barack Obama.

“This marks the fifth consecutive Gallup Poll Daily tracking report in which the two Democratic candidates have been within a point of one another…From a broad perspective, this situation marks a loss for Obama, who has generally been in the lead over Clinton for the last month.

“The next scheduled events that have the potential to shake up the race will be the North Carolina and Indiana primaries to be held one week from today. (To view the complete trend since Jan. 3, 2008, click here.)”

WASHINGTON POST: REV. WRIGHT HAS NATION OF ISLAM BODYGUARDS

[Dana Milbank-washingtonpost.com]

Dana Milbank at the (formerly) Obama friendly Washington Post gives us more details about the Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s disastrous appearance yesterday morning at the National Press Club in Washington DC:

“From the moment he entered the room, Wright seemed to be looking to stir controversy; he was escorted by Jamil Muhammad, a leader of the Nation of Islam, which contributed to the minister's prominent security detail.

“Speaking before an audience that included Marion Barry, Cornel West, the New Black Panther Party's Malik Zulu Shabazz and Nation of Islam protocol director Claudette Muhammad, Wright praised Louis Farrakhan, defended the view that Zionism is racism, accused the United States of terrorism, repeated his belief that the government created AIDS to extinguish racial minorities, and stood by his suggestion that "God damn America."

"Most problematic for the Democratic presidential front-runner was Wright's suggestion that Obama was insincere in distancing himself from his former pastor. "He didn't distance himself," Wright announced. "He had to distance himself, because he's a politician, from what the media was saying I had said, which was anti-American." Wright spoke of friends who told him that "we both know that if Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected," and he said of his past parishioner: "Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls."

“And that apparent decision by Obama to exclude Wright from his presidential kickoff announcement? Didn't happen. "I started it off downstairs with him, his wife and children, in prayer."

“In front of 30 television cameras, he mocked the media, leveled charges of racism at the government and, at one point, did a little victory dance on the podium. It seemed as if Wright, who jokingly offering himself as Obama's vice president, was actually trying to doom his former parishioner. The pastor played right into the small band of anti-Wright
protesters outside, who waved a sign: "Obama's chicken comes home to roost."

“He explained his claim that the Sept. 11 attacks meant "America's chickens are coming home to roost." Said Wright: "You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it never to come back on you."”

Wow!

Could the man that Barack Obama refused to disown have been more controversial and offensive to white America if he tried? Walking into the press conference with bodyguards from the Nation of Islam? Again claiming that America created HIV-Aids to kill blacks?

It will be a miracle now if Obama can even carry North Carolina.

OBAMA’S REVEREND WRIGHT PROBLEM IN NORTH CAROLINA

[Mayhill Fowler-Huffington Post]

Yesterday’s Huffington Post article by Mayhill Fowler caught my eye.

Ms. Fowler has been spending time in North Carolina, and gives some insight into the question of how badly Barack Obama’s association with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright has hurt his candidacy there—particularly now that Wright has broken his silence by refusing to apologize for his view that America is a terrorist nation that brought 9/11 on itself.

She reports:

“It doesn't look good. Last Wednesday at a Bill Clinton rally in Elon College, NC, Sandra, an older Democrat said, "His [Obama's] being black hasn't had much to do with it here. He hasn't had a problem until the Church business. It's a pivotal point in his campaign. It's really hurt him. You can't plead ignorance of something you heard for twenty years--not if you're a politically-minded person."

“Sandra's incredulity I found at every NC campaign event before Wright made his appearance with Bill Moyers on PBS Friday, before Wright's Detroit NAACP address and National Press Club appearance. At a Hillary Clinton rally Sunday on the Wilmington riverfront, for example, Pierce, a younger woman, an undecided voter, said she would hear Senator Obama on hMonday before making up her mind. But she went on to ask, "Why was he [Obama] around him [Wright] for so long?" The unanswerable question bothered not only her but also some of her husband's colleagues--all professors at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

“Richard Rooks and his neighbor Joan Lopez, both Democrats, both taking in the beautiful evening and the rally on the Cape Fear River, echoed Pierce's observation. "Reverend Wright will be the deciding factor for 'undecideds' in North Carolina," Richard said. Again it is worth noting that Rooks made this observation before Wright's appearance at the National Press Club Monday. Also, Rooks was unaware of Wright's remarks to the Detroit NAACP earlier Sunday.

“Eight days out from the primary, North Carolina no longer looks like such an easy win for Barack Obama because ten percent of voters are still undecided. Yes, Obama has the black vote (38% of NC Democrats, until this year) and most of the Democratic youth vote. With the surge of newly-registered voters (178,000+), however, there's no way of knowing what final percentage this double demographic will give Senator Obama. If Hillary Clinton has always had the lion's share of the white Democratic vote, the saving grace for Barack Obama is that most white folk in North Carolina are Republicans. Since the Democrats, whoever the nominee, have little chance of winning North Carolina in November, the Democratic presidential primary is a nine-day wonder here. The real political fighting is down-ballot; therefore, local strategies are influencing the national race rather than vice versa.”

Could Barack Obama be so wounded that he might lose North Carolina?

Stay tuned.

REV. WRIGHT'S PRESS CLUB DEBACLE HAS CNN ANCHOR GROANING 'AH, BOY'

[NewsBusters.org]

Mark Finkelstein had this insight into Rev. Wrights speech at the National Press Club today:

“How bad was Reverend Wright's appearance before the National Press Club this morning? Bad enough that even CNN contributor Roland Martin—who yesterday enthused about Wright's address to the Detroit NAACP, who gave Wright's chat with Bill Moyers an 'A'—flunked it with an 'F.'

“Bad enough that David Gergen condemned it as "narcissistic almost beyond belief." Bad enough that, introducing a panel discussion of the speech, the palpably distressed CNN Newsroom host Tony Harris let out an audible groan of "ah, boy," and later wondered how much damage had been done.”

OUR TAKE: Expect Barack Obama to give another speech--this time kicking Wright to the curb. But it will be too little, too late.

REV. WRIGHT MOCKS JFK IN NAACP SPEECH (VIDEO)

[taylormarsh.com]

As blogger Taylor Marsh notes, Barack Obama gave the GOP carte blanche to have at it on the Reverend Wright issue through his appearance on Fox on Sunday:

“In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Obama said that while he believes Wright and his church have been treated unfairly in the controversy, he expects the minister to be a part of the political debate.

"I think that people were legitimately offended by some of the comments that he had made in the past," Obama said. "The fact that he is my former pastor I think makes it a legitimate political issue. So I understand that."

“McCain, who has said little about the Wright controversy and has asked the North Carolina Republican Party not to air an ad critical of Wright and Obama set to run today, seized on Obama's comments during a news conference in Florida.

"Senator Obama himself says it's a legitimate political issue, so I would imagine that many other people will share that view and it will be in the arena," McCain said, according to Reuters wire service.”

Moreover, as if the Reverend Wrights comments at the National Press Club today—praising Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, reiterating his claim that America brought the 9/11 attacks on itself, and defending his “God damn America” sermon— were not bad enough, Wright spoke mockingly of civil rights icon John Fitzgerald Kennedy at the NAACP dinner (Wright was the keynote speaker) in Detroit:

"Nobody in Detroit speaks English. We all speak different varieties of American. ... .. John Kennedy could stand at the inauguration in January and say, (mocking Kennedy's Boston accent) "Eee-ask not what your country can do for you. Eee-ask rather what you can do for your
country." How do you spell eee-ask? Nobody ever said to John Kennedy, 'That's not English. Ee-ask. What's ee-ask? Only to a black child was it said, "You speak bad English." Kennedy got killed. Johnson stepped up to the podium in Love Field -- we just left Love Field -- and Johnson said (mocking of Johnson's southern accent follows, as the speech continues.)... “

Video excerpts of Wright mocking JFK can be seen in the above You Tube video.

NORTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR EASLEY ENDORSES CLINTON

***BREAKING NEWS****

April 28, 2008

[Associated Press]

North Carolina Governor Mike Easley will endorse Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, the Associated Press reported 38 minutes ago.

“Easley was expected to announce the endorsement Tuesday morning in Raleigh, the state capital, one week before North Carolina's primary on May 6, according to persons close to the governor and to Clinton. The individuals spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement had not yet been made,” the AP reports.

Easley is a Democratic super-delegate who has served two terms as governor.

The endorsement is a major boost for the former first lady. Besides being a respected figure among Democrats in the state, Easley is one of the all-important super-delegates likely to choose the party's presidential nominee.

Easley had backed former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards for president before Edwards dropped out of the race in January.

REV. WRIGHT PRAISES FARRAKHAN, AGAIN BLAMES US FOR 9/11

[Telegraph-London]

“Barack Obama's former pastor returned to plague his White House bid yesterday with a nationally televised speech in which he blamed US policy for the September 11 attacks and praised the controversial black leader Louis Farrakhan, the Telegraph reports.

WRIGHT AGAIN BLAMES US FOR 9/11 ATTACKS

Questioned about his remarks after September 11 that "America's chickens are coming home to roost", the Rev Jeremiah Wright said:

"You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it never to come back on you. Those are Biblical principles, not Jeremiah Wright bombastic divisive principles."

WRIGHT PRAISES FARRAKHAN

Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, Wright described Louis Farrakhan, the anti-Jewish Nation of Islam leader, as "one of the most important voices in 20th and 21st century".

WRIGHT REPEATS CLAIM THAT US CAUSED AIDS TO KILL BLACKS

At the same National Press Club speech in Washington, Wright said the American government was "capable" of infecting its black population with the HIV-Aids virus - a slightly watered down version of an earlier assertion.

How will all of this play out in the upcoming primary races on May 6 in North Carolina and Indiana? Stay tuned.

REV. WRIGHT: ATTACKS ON ME ARE ATTACKS ON “BLACK CHURCH”

[Los Angeles Times]

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose fiery sermons as Democrat Barack Obama's former pastor, close friend, and mentor of 20 years set off a political firestorm last month, told reporters today at a National Press Club speech that he has been "crucified" by the media and that attacks on him are really attacks on the black church, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Said Wright:

“It is not an attack on Jeremiah Wright, it is an attack on the black church." "Maybe now we can begin to take steps to move the black religious tradition from the state of invisible to the state of invaluable."

Wright disputed that he was unpatriotic when he used the phrases "God damn America," and "U.S. of KKKA,"

Wright claimed that his remarks were “taken out of context” but the former preacher was unrepentant in his most controversial views, in which he suggested that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were retribution for U.S. foreign policy.

In fact, Wright repeated his opinion that the United States brought the 9/11 attacks on itself by engaging in worldwide terrorism:

"You can't do terrorism on other people and not expect it to come back on you," Wright said. "Those are Biblical principles, not Jeremiah Wright bombastic principles."

The National Press Club speech came amid a three-day media blitz for Wright, who appeared before the Detroit NAACP branch Sunday night and gave an interview to PBS' Bill Moyers on Friday night.

CLINTON LEADS OBAMA BY 9 POINTS IN INDIANA, NEW POLL SAYS

[Survey USA]

***BREAKING NEWS***

April 28, 2008

A new Survey USA tracking poll concluded over the week-end on April 27 gives Hillary Clinton a commanding 9 point lead over her rival Barack Obama in their quest for the Democratic nomination in the Indiana primary—which will occur on May 6, 2008.

OBAMA-REV. WRIGHT ATTACK ADD RUNNING IN MISSISSIPPI

[Washington Post-The Trail]

We previously posted about Reverend Wright inspired GOP ads attacking Barack Obama—and those office seeking Democrats that have endorsed him—that are running in North Carolina, Louisiana, Ohio and Texas.

Now—reports The Trail—“Barely two weeks before a special election to fill a vacant U.S. House seat, GOP nominee Greg Davis has begun airing a political attack ad featuring grainy images of Obama, his former pastor and Davis's Democratic opponent, Travis Childers, who is running an unexpectedly strong campaign in a conservative northern Mississippi district.”

"Travis Childers, he took Obama's endorsement over our conservative values. Conservatives just can't trust Travis Childers," the narrator says over pictures of the candidate, Obama and Wright.

Accordng to The Trail, the ads are:

“[T]esting whether Obama would be a drag against downballot Democratic candidates. In Louisiana, where another special election
is being held Saturday to fill a vacant formerly GOP-held House seat, the National Republican Congressional Committee and a conservative group are linking the Democratic congressional nominee to Obama's health-care plan, saying the Democrat supports Obama's "big government scheme." In North Carolina, the Republican Party is running ads linking the Democratic candidates for governor to Obama and Wright, including footage of the pastor yelling "God damn America" from the pulpit.

The Trail adds:

“The Louisiana and Mississippi races follow the special election in llinois last month, when Democrat Bill Foster used Obama to score an
upset win in the district previously held for 21 years by former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).”

Will the Reverend Wright issue work for the GOP? Stay tuned.

CLINTON, OBAMA REMAIN IN DEAD HEAT IN NATIONAL TRACKING POLL

April 28, 2008

[Gallup.com]

In each of the last four Gallup Poll Daily Democratic National tracking reports the Obama-Clinton race has been a dead heat.

Gallup Poll Daily tracking conducted April 25-27 shows Democrats closely divided in their nomination preferences, with 47% favoring Barack Obama and 46% backing Hillary Clinton.

This follows Clinton's victory in the April 22 Pennsylvania Democratic primary -- an event which has helped Clinton challenge what had been a growing sense of inevitability around Obama winning the nomination. (To view the complete trend since Jan. 3, 2008, click here.)


But Clinton remains ahead in the national registered voter preferences for the fall, with Clinton beats John McCain by three percentage points, 47% to 44%, and Obama is even with McCain, each at 45%. -- Lydia Saad

OBAMA, CLINTON NOW TIED IN NATIONAL TRACKING POLL

[USA Today]
Support for Hillary Rodham Clinton is "significantly higher" in the polling it has done since her victory in Tuesday's Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary, Gallup just reported.
That shift has pushed the race between them back to basically a tie, from what was a 10-point lead for Obama on Tuesday.

Gallup says that as of today, Obama "leads" Clinton among Democratic voters by just 1 percentage point: 48%-47%. The margin of error on each result is +/- 3 percentage points.
On Tuesday, Clinton was the choice of 40%. Her support has bumped up each day since. Obama was at 50% on Tuesday.

The poll of 1,246 Democratic voters and other voters who "lean" Democratic was done over three days -- Tuesday through Thursday. "Support for Clinton is significantly higher in these post-primary interviews than it was just prior to her Pennsylvania victory," Gallup writes, "clearly suggesting that Clinton's win there is the catalyst for her increased national support."

In hypothetical general election match-ups, Clinton now does better than Obama against McCain as well. Clinton now leads Republican John McCain 47%-45%. McCain moved past Obama, to a 46%-45% advantage.

GOP TROTS OUT MORE OBAMA ATTACK ADS

The first salvo was fired in against Obama by the GOP in North Carolina with its anti-Obama ad featuring the Reverend Wright’s “God damn America” sermon video clip.

Now, reports The Los Angeles Times, the GOP launched a Louisiana TV ad attacking Obama's healthcare agenda as "radical", which has proved so threatening that the House candidate it targeted, Democrat Don Cazayoux, distanced himself from Obama on Thursday, issuing a stern statement saying that he "has not endorsed any national politician."

Says the Times:

“The flurry of attacks underscores how Republicans and their allies are sensing opportunity in the increasingly battered image of Obama, whom many Democrats have viewed as their best hope for appealing across ideological lines and helping their party win in conservative areas.”

Also running in different states, a GOP Pennsylvania ad attacking Barack Obama for his well publicized “bitter” comments, and a New Mexico radio ad says Obama disrespects "the American way of life."

Meanwhile, concern is growing in Democratic circles that Obama is too venerable to these attacks, and that it could cost the Democratic Party the White House in November:

“Now, many Democratic leaders are trying to determine whether they are on the verge of nominating a candidate who, in addition to asking voters to accept him as the first African American president, could be vulnerable to being cast as too far out of the mainstream.”

The Times adds:

“Some Democratic activists said Thursday that they were worried about Obama's prospects in the general election, wondering if certain working-class white Democratic voters might abandon him for the Republican nominee, particularly in key states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio.

“"I've lived my entire life in Ohio and, unfortunately, there are pockets of intolerance and there are people who are resentful of minority gains," said John Hartman, 62, a Bowling Green resident and local Democratic committeeman.

“Brett Penrose, an Obama supporter and vice president of the Democratic Club in Johnson County, Missouri, said in an interview that
some white Democrats would be turned off by Wright's sermons.

“"Definitely, in this part of the country, it plays more than people want to say," said Penrose, 42. "Does it hurt? In the end it does hurt."”

OBAMA BRIBES THE DNC WITH PROMISE OF MILLIONS

[Ben Smith's Blog - Politico.com]

Ben Smith reports at Politico.com:

“Obama has entered into a deal with the DNC, a fairly standard arrangement that could pour soft larger chunks of hard money into the DNC's coffers and turn it into an effective, and well-financed, voice against McCain.

“One question: How much control will the Obama campaign want, and how will they take it?”

Wow!

Let me understand this.

Obama has cut a deal with the Democratic National Committee—which already has its thumb on the nominating scale for Obama’s nomination—to share some of his millions of dollars in campaign money with the DNC in November?

Naturally, the DNC figures in a position to influence the nominating process—from muscling the super-delegates to declare for Obama soon after the last primary race is held to deciding whether to seat the delegates from Florida and Michigan—will not allow this “deal” to influence their nominating decisions, right?

POLITICO: DENYING OBAMA NOMINATION WITH 90% BLACK SUPPORT “HARD TO CONCEIVE”

The Democratic nominating process has apparently again run aground on the shoals of race.

On the one had, we have the continual criticism of former president Bill Clinton for allegedly “playing the race card”, even though Team Obama primed its troups with a campaign memo to jump on any comments by the Clintons (or their surrogates) that could be construed as racial. Indeed, the opening salvo against the Clintons came in response to Bill Clinton referring to the Obama campaign as “the biggest fairytale I ever heard”—hardly an overtly racist remark.

Then of course Team Obama (we now know pursuant to the strategy outlined in the campaign memorandum) jumped all over Geraldine Ferraro for stating that Obama had gained momentum in the nominating process because he is black. (Never mind that a well known black scholar, Brown University professor Glenn Loury, explicitly stated that it was precisely because so many black voters viewed him as the black candidate that he enjoys a lead in the delegate count and that Obama has been “hypocritical in its exploitation of a simple-minded racial voting reflex among black Americans.”)

Then we learn from recent news accounts that as an apparent counterpart to Obama winning over 90% of the black vote in the three most recent primary contests, Clinton is now winning over 60% of the white vote. Hardly a 'post racial' candidacy or primary election.

And now we have this observation from Politico.com as to why it believes that it is hard to imagine Obama not winning the nomination:

“As Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, among others, wrote weeks ago, when Obama finishes the primary season ahead in elected delegates, as he will, it is hard to conceive the circumstances that would cause Democratic superdelegates to deny an African-American politician with overwhelming support from the party’s most loyal constituency.”

So let me get this straight.

Not only have we suffered attacks on a popular former president and former female vice presidential candidate as “racists” for telling the truth and saying (milder versions of) the same thing black scholars were saying—according to an Obama plan hatched before any comments were made—we now have to sit back and watch our party elders anoint Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee because he is African-American and we don’t want to offend the Democratic Party’s “most loyal constituency”: Blacks?

I am sorry, but this “constituency” is hardly “loyal”. After a very long history of affection between the Clinton’s and the black community, it turned away from the Clinton’s and into the arms of Barack Obama in a heart-beat, before the end of a single 24-hour news cycle.

Second, lets get our priorities straight.

The super-delegates have a duty to nominate the most electable Democratic candidate for the presidency as between the two candidates that failed to win the nominating process by attaining at least 2,025 pledged delegates.

The exercise is not a mathematical one—simply ascertaining who has the more pledged delegates (we could have any accounting firm do that)—nor should it be based on racial considerations, let alone fears of offending a fickle group of voters who make Bill Richardson look loyal in comparison.

OBAMA TRIES TO MAKE MCCAIN OWN NC-GOP ATTACK AD

Republican Nominee has Requested in Writing that Ad be Pulled, but Obama Blames him Anyway

[Ben Smith's blog-Politico.com ]

According to Politico’s Ben Smith:

“Obama's camp is aiming to make McCain own Republican attacks he says he's trying to stop, and to prevent the development of what someone today called a "good GOP, bad GOP routine.”

Team Obama says:

"The fact that Senator McCain can't get his own party to take down this misleading, personal attack ad raises serious questions about his promise to the American people that he will run a civil, respectful campaign."

Responds McCain spokesman Brian Rogers:

“Barack Obama has time and again refused to step forward and personally condemn repeated attacks on John McCain’s character and integrity by the Chairman of the DNC -- not a state party -- nor outrageous attacks by his surrogates Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Ed Schultz. We’ll start taking lessons from Barack Obama when he displays one ounce of the decency and courtesy that John McCain has shown in his campaign.”

CLINTON GETS NEEDED BOOST WITH $10M RAISED SINCE PA PRIMARY

[Politico.com]

Hillary Clinton raised $10 million in Internet donations after her Pennsylvania primary victory on Tuesday night, Clinton claims.

That’s a record haul and one desperately needed by Clinton, who is essentially broke after Democratic rival Barack Obama forced her to spend all her resources to capture the must-win state.

In May, the candidates will compete in a succession of contests that will leave little time for replenishing campaign war chests in between.

Several of those contests – Indiana, North Carolina and Kentucky – are also home to pricey media markets. In Indiana, for instance, candidates must advertise in six markets, including ultra-expensive Chicago, to reach the entire state, Politico reports.

Team Clinton is also trying to ratchet up pressure on Obama to agree to more debates, which offer invaluable amounts of free media time. Thus far, Obama has turned down debate offers.

OUR TAKE: After Obama’s disastrous Philadelphia debate performance on the eve of the Pennsylvania primary where Clinton clobbered Obama dispite his clear financial advantage both on television and on the ground, no way is Obama going to debate before the Democratic nomination process is concluded. On the financing, Obama will continue to be able to blitz the media markets in the upcoming primary states with superior spending power, but Clinton will raise enough to nominally stay in the game. And as Mitt Romney recently learned, more money does not a nominee make.

ROCKER MELENCAMP SUPPORTS HILLARY CLINTON TOO

[Politico.com]
The former Edwards supporter Rocker John Melencamp, who welcomed Obama to Indiana, is doing an event for Hillary too:

Bob Merlis, Mellencamp's publicist, said the rocker hasn't said who he'll vote for but sees Democrats as the greatest hope for change."Neither candidate is as liberal as he would prefer, but he's happy to contribute what he can," Merlis said Tuesday.

MCCAIN BEGS NC REPUBLICANS TO KILL REV. WRIGHT TV AD

[ Politico.com]


In an attempt to lay down a marker on racially-motivated tactics, McCain's campaign sends word that the candidate himself sent a strongly-worded email to North Carolina GOP chair Linda Daves regarding their anti-Obama ad. McCain said in a letter to the NC GOP, "This ad does not live up to the very high standards we should hold ourselves to in this campaign."

However, the NC GOP will run the ad anyway.

The North Carolina GOP will still run an ad featuring Barack Obama's pastor despite the pleas of the RNC and John McCain himself, according to a spokesman for the state party:

"Yes, the ad will air," said Brent Woodcox, communications director for the North Carolina GOP.

The ad appears above.

OBAMA STILL CANNOT WIN OVER TRADITIONAL DEMOCRATIC BASE

[Associated Press]

Obama’s stunning double digit Pennsylvania loss, despite a massive multi-million dollar cash infusion and huge campaign presence in the state, underscores his persistent problem: He cannot win over many of the voters who form the traditional Democratic party base, and that will need to support him if he has any hope of winning a general election in November.

While the Illinois senator remains overwhelmingly popular among blacks, rich white liberals, and young people, other groups key to building the Democratic coalition remain elusive—like white people, women, those over 60, people who work for a living, those people.

To be sure, Obama has performed well among those groups in a handful of primaries, including Wisconsin and Virginia, both likely general election swing states. But that was before Reverend Wright, and before Barack Obama won over the overwhelming majority of black voters at the expense of whites.

In Mississippi—the last primary contest Obama won—he garnered over 90 percent of the black vote, as he did yesterday in Pennsylvania. But 60 percent of white voters went with Hillary Clinton and then lied about their vote to exit posters—who measured only a 4% Clinton victory on election night in Pennsylvania.

Obama had considerable superior strength in Pennsylvania — money first and foremost. He spent $11.2 million on television ads to Clinton's $4.8 million. He spent countless more on phone banks, mail and voter targeting.

Clinton also goes into the final nine contests at a significant cash disadvantage, although she said Wednesday morning in a round of television interviews that her campaign had raised $3.5 million online since winning Pennsylvania.

The candidates face their next major test May 6, with primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.

DOUBLE DIGIT WIN FOR HILLARY CLINTON IN PENNSYLVANIA

The lead: Hillary Clinton won the commanding double digit lead in Pennsylvania just about everyone said she needed to keep alive her bid for the Democratic nomination, raising $2.5 million online within two hours of it becoming obvious she would win, and decreasing her deficit in the popular vote by over 200,000 net votes.

The back story: 80% of the tracking polls leading up to last night’s contest, and all of the network exit polls were dead wrong, overestimating how well Barack Obama was doing in the contest relative to Mrs. Clinton, a phenomenon known as “over polling”—calling into question the accuracy of tracking polls in Indiana and North Carolina as predictors of those races. Poll respondents are reluctant to say how they are going to vote for and whether they have voted for Obama—something pollsters also call the “Bradley effect”.

Clinton, who wound up thumping Barack Obama by winning 10% more of the Pennsylvania vote than he did, dominated in most demographic categories and in most counties—ceding only Philadelphia and a couple adjacent eastern suburbs and capturing the rest.

Clinton got 55 percent of the vote to Obama's 45 percent in yesterday's Democratic presidential primary. She also narrowed his popular-vote advantage in contested elections and caucuses by some 200,000 votes to about 600,000—but after considering Florida ) but not Michigan) Clinton only has to make up 200,000 additional net votes to erase Obama’s popular vote lead.

This was a fantastic victory for Hillary Clinton, considering Barack Obama’s financial advantage, and his all out effort to go for the knock-out punch in the keystone state.

Obama spent a record $2.2 million a week in Pennslyvania on television advertising alone—a record for the Keystone State for any campaign. Obama outspent Clinton by a margin of 3-to-one, and made over 150 appearances in the state over a six week period

BREAKING: CLINTON INCHING UPWARD IN POPULAR PA VOTE

With 76% of the vote counted, saving the more Clinton favorable counties in the outlying areas, the vote tally in Pennsylvania is Clinton 896,941, Obama 754,489.

More in the morning when the full results are known, but counting only Florida, Clinton has erased Obama’s popular vote lead tonight.

BREAKING: EARLY EXIT POLLING SUGGESTS CLINTON BY 6

Fox news is reporting that early exit polling is showing a 6 point Clinton lead—with the suspicion that her lead is being understated.

Its is going to be a long night.

NEW PA POLL HAS CLINTON UP BY SIXTEEN POINTS

***BREAKING NEWS UPDATE (and reassuring to Blogonaut’s prediction of a 14 to 16 point Clinton victory today) American Research Group, Inc. just released its April 21, 2008 Pennsylvania poll results: Clinton 56%, Obama 40%--a 16 point lead.

Moreover, these results show a 3 point increase from 4/19/08, demonstrating a clear trend in Clinton’s favor—meaning a Clinton victory of 19 points is not out of the question.

VIDEO: NEW OBAMA THEME SONG [Warning: may be offensive to Obama fans]

Hat tip: Above the Law -Non-Sequiturs: 04.21.08--this video is AWESOME, just AWESOME!

OUR PREDICTION FOR THE PENNSYLVANIA PRIMARY:

OUR PREDICTION FOR THE PENNSYLVANIA PRIMARY:

We will make this short and sweet: We have been predicting a double digit win by Hillary Clinton in the Pennsylvania primary for weeks.

We are predicting she will run away with this race late tonight when all the returns are in by 14-16 points.

Why?

Four recent polls show HRC with a double digit lead. HRC’s internal polling showed an 11 point lead yesterday. Undecideds were about 10% yesterday, and that block has broken to HRC so far in this primary and in the last 3 she has won.

What could upset the applecart?

Several hundred thousand new voters registered by Barack Obama for one. High inner-city turnout for another.

However, we stand by our prediction.

Praise or ridicule is now being accepted in the comments.

=

***BREAKING NEWS UPDATE (and reassuring to Blogonaut’s prediction of a 14 to 16 point Clinton victory today) American Research Group, Inc. just released its April 21, 2008 Pennsylvania poll results: Clinton 56%, Obama 40%--a 16 point lead.Moreover, these results show a 3 point increase from 4/19/08, demonstrating a clear trend in Clinton’s favor—meaning a Clinton victory of 19 points is not out of the question.

OBAMA CAMPAIGN ALREADY SPINNING PA LOSS AS “VICTORY”

[Politico.com]

“I’m not predicting a win. I’m predicting it’s going to be close and that we are going to do a lot better than people expect,” Obama told the Pittsburgh radio station KDKA Tuesday.

An Obama aide said that even if Clinton wins by 15 or 20 percentage points, she can’t change the race’s underlying dynamic.

Hillary Clinton spokesperson Howard Wolfson sees it differently:

“Sen. Obama has outspent us 3-to-1 in Pennsylvania,” he said in an earlier interview. “If he can’t win a big swing state with that advantage, just what will it take?”

OUR TAKE: The Obama campaign is already spinning a 15 to 20 point Clinton victory in Pennsylvania tomorrow as irrelevant to the nomination process. Which means that Team Obama’s internal polling sees those kind of numbers as a real possibility. We agree. And in view of the $2.2 million per week Obama spent on PA TV ads, the hundreds of thousands of new voters Obama registered in PA, his 6 day campaign tour of the state, and over 150 PA campaign appearances, a double digit Clinton victory in the Keystone state will mean the beginning of the end of Barack Obama in 2008.

OBAMA DIRECTED FOUNDATION WORKED TO BAN HANDGUNS

[Politico.com]

Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has worked to assure uneasy gun owners that he believes the Constitution protects their rights and that he doesn’t want to take away their guns. But before he became a national political figure, he sat for eight years on the board of a Chicago-based foundation, Joyce Foundation, that doled out at least nine grants totaling nearly $2.7 million to groups that advocated the opposite positions. The foundation funded legal scholarship advancing the theory that the Second Amendment does not protect individual gun owners’ rights, as well as two groups that advocated handgun bans. And it paid to support a book called “Every Handgun Is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns.”

As with most foundations, Joyce did not record how individual board members voted on grants, but former Joyce officials told Politico that funding was typically approved unanimously.

In his appeal to gun owners, Obama has not emphasized his own legislative record, which includes supporting a ban on semiautomatic weapons and concealed weapons, and a limit on handgun purchases to one a month. He has blamed his staff for indicating on a questionnaire filled out during his 1996 state Senate bid under his name that he supports banning “the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns.” However, an amended copy of the questionnaire has surfaced--partially in Obama's handwriting--that contains the identical position on a handgun ban.

THIRD NEW PA POLL GIVES CLINTON DOUBLE DIGIT LEAD

[Southern Political Report]

****BREAKING NEWS*****

April 21, 2008

A new Insider Advantage poll just released today, April 21, 2008, gives Hillary Clinton a 10 point lead over Democratic rival Barack Obama in Pennsylvania.

Hillary Clinton leads Barack Obama 40% to 39%, with a remarkable 12% of likely Pennsylvania Democratic primary voters still undecided.

A separate poll also published today by American Research Group, Inc., has Clinton leading Obama by 13 points.

A new Suffolk poll also has Clinton leading Obama by double digits.

Two wild cards, the 12% undecided voters and the 217,000 new Democratic voters that Team Obama has registered since January 17, 2008 in the Keystone State, could move these percentages up or down on election day, April 22, 2008.

Stay tuned. (We are standing by our prediction of a double digit Clinton blow-out.)

AMG POLL: CLINTON LEADS BY 13 IN PENNSYLVANIA

American Research Group, Inc. is showing that Clinton still holds a commanding 13 point lead in Pennsylvania, according to polling released over the week-end.

Other polls are also showing a significant lead by Clinton in the Keystone State primary:

Rasmussen: Clinton +5; Zogby Tracking: Clinton +6; Suffolk: Clinton +10; Strategic Vision (R): Clinton +5.

We believe that the tracking polls are underestimating Clinton’s strength in Pennsylvania, and that she will pull off a double digit lead, dispite Obama outspending her in that primary contest by 5-to-1.

However, we will all know who is correct by 10:00 pm tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

OBAMA DOES NOT EXPECT TO WIN PENNSYLVANIA PRIMARY

[The Herald-AP]

In the first indication that Team Obama’s internal Pennsylvania polling is predicting a Hillary Clinton victory in the Keystone State, Obama is now telling supporters that he does not expect to win.

"I'm not predicting a win," he told Pittsburgh radio station KDKA. "I'm predicting it's going to be close and that we are going to do a lot better than people expect."

Some experts have predicted that Hillary Clinton will need to win Pennsylvania—whose Democratic primary election is tomorrow—by double digits to remain viable as a candidate, including the ability to raise the necessary campaign funds.

If Clinton does pull off a double digit victory, it will be all the more amazing for Obama’s record television advertising spending of $2 million per week in the Keystone State.

As has widely been reported, Obama has spent an estimated ten million dollars to defeat Clinton in Pennsylvania, and spent six days touring the state in a bus tour. Obama has made over 150 campaign appearances in Pennsylvania, and a resounding loss with hurt the candidate from Illinois badly precisely because he decided to pull out all of the stops and go for the knock-out blow in Pennsylvania, outspending Clinton by a ratio of 5-to-1.

If Obama cannot win a Midwestern swing state primary with unlimited financial resources and 30 days to focus exclusively on that state, how can he expect to win the general election in November? (At least, that will be Clinton’s argument, should she win in Pennsylvania tomarrow.)