Daily Tidbits: April 14, 2008

• New Pennsylvania poll shows Obama closing gap and down by only 3 points, 40-37%, after same poll had him down by 18 last month.
• More Evidence “Bitter” Fuss is Contrived. Bill Clinton, at a rally in North Carolina, tells crowd “Everywhere I go there are all these people with signs, saying I’m not bitter – I’m not bitter!” as if he saw evidence of a grass roots wave of outrage. The signs, as the Clinton campaign sheepishly admitted to MSNBC, were printed and distributed by Hillary’s campaign. On top of that, Ben Smith reports that few in the crowd had them or knew what they were about.
• NY Times Rains on Our Parade. “It’s Raining McCain” was a fake after all. Noooooo!!!!
• Robert Reich, born poor in Scranton, PA to become Labor Secretary under Clinton, slams the media treatment of “bitter” comments.
• Philadelphia Inquirer columnist John Baer agrees with Obama on “bitter” remarks.
• Geoff Davis (R-KY) refers to Obama as “that boy.” Update: He apologized.
• Josh Marshall of TPM weighs in with interesting insights on the pseudo-”Bitter” controversy and how it’s been played by Hillary in particular.
• Obama slams McCain at Associated Press annual meeting in DC. Highlight:

“Now, Senator McCain and the Republicans in Washington are already looking ahead to the fall and have decided that they plan on using these comments to argue that I’m out of touch with what’s going on in the lives of working Americans. I don’t blame them for this — that’s the nature of our political culture, and if I had to carry the banner for eight years of George Bush’s failures, I’d be looking for something else to talk about too.

But I will say this. If John McCain wants to turn this election into a contest about which party is out of touch with the struggles and the hopes of working America, that’s a debate I’m happy to have. In fact, I think that’s a debate we need to have. Because I believe that the real insult to the millions of hard-working Americans out there would be a continuation of the economic agenda that has dominated Washington for far too long.”

• Daily Tracking Polls Show Obama Bounce/Hillary Decline. For second straight day, Gallup’s daily tracking poll shows a widening margin for Obama, with Hillary slipping further 50-40%. Rasmussen’s daily tracking poll also shows widening margin for Obama, 48-44%. Both daily polls reflect views following Obama’s “bitter” remarks hitting press. It’s the widest margin for Obama in Rasmussen since last Thursday (4/10), the day before the story broke. For Gallup, it’s the widest margin since last Wednesday (4/9).
• Crowd Not Buying Hillary’s Attacks. At same Alliance for American Manufacturing conference in Pittsburgh that Obama spoke to earlier this morning (see below), Hillary’s anti-Obama attack lines were greeted with groans and a shout of “No!”
• Right Wing Froth. After Kristol compares Obama to Karl Marx in his New York Times column, Limbaugh opens his radio show by painting a picture of radical black militancy with code words “insane rage” and “extreme radical elements.” Surprisingly, Limbaugh did not blame Obama for Donovan McNabb holding the starting quarterback position with the Eagles…
• John Sydney McCain III endorses Hillary! Drudge is breathlessly reporting that McCain has told staff he’d prefer to run against Hillary, so they should hold their fire against Hillary, despite her Bosnia lies, etc., and focus all their energy on attacking Obama. McCain’s campaign website is almost exclusively targeting Obama. (Prepare for backlash among Dem super delegates).

  Why? Andrew Sullivan gives the simple answer that’s on the money: she’s easier to beat, she’s unlikely to withdrawal from Iraq in a meaningful way and she’ll maintain the red-blue divisiveness that has served the GOP well for decades. But it’s more fun to speculate further. Here’s the conspiracy theory du jour: we’ve already had several knowledgeable pundits publicly opine that Hillary knows she has little chance to win the nomination, but she wants to weaken him enough so that he loses the general election as the nominee against McCain, which would give her a clear path in 2012. Some have speculated McCain may not be interested in a second term if he wins (he’d be running for a second term at age 74). Could we have a Faustian bargain at work here: McCain and Hillary collusively tag team to weaken Obama and give victory to McCain. McCain gets his presidency to crown his career but doesn’t run for a second term. Hillary is then the “inevitable” candidate in 2012. (Obama would be tarnished at that point, having lost in ‘08.) Aside from Drudge, some evidence supporting this is how McCain and Hillary have worked off the same talking points to attack Obama over his “bitter” remarks.Just sayin’.

• Pittsburgh Steelers’s owner/chairman Dan Rooney endorses Obama.
• Obama on offense today in Pittsburgh speaking to Alliance for American Manufacturing – lampoons Hillary’s overreaching over the weekend, dragging camera crews into bar to film her throw back a shot & a beer.
• Obama turns tables on Hillary in Steelton, PA: “She knews better – shame on her.”
  (WaPo article linked here — YouTube video next post below).
• Hillary and Obama talk faith and politics on CNN. Another take here. Ben Smith picks up on a moment I also found odd during tonight’s CNN Compassion Forum: Hillary takes a gratuitous slap at Gore — blaming his loss in 2000 on coming across as elitist to working class voters. Obama later tosses in a nonsequitor that he thinks Gore “won” in 2000. I’ve discussed the hints that Obama seems to be dropping that Gore is on his VP short list. Hillary dinging Gore and Obama praising him tonight does nothing to hurt my little theory.

Here’s a clip of Obama at the Compassion Forum: “Fear is not good counsel.”

• I Wish I Knew How to Quit You. Bob Novak says Hillary owes Mark Penn’s firm $10M and that’s why he’s still around. If Penn forgives the debt, it could be deemed an illegal contribution.
• Obama getting “unexpected support” from pro-life politicians like Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and former Rep. Tim Roemer (D-IN).
• 21 leaders of small towns and rural communities in Pennsylvania sign letter supporting Obama and criticizing the attacks of Hillary and McCain.
• Deja Vu All Over Again. WaPo editorial again misstates Obama’s position on public financing. Today’s WaPo editorial harkens a similarly false WaPo editorial on Obama and public financing in February.
• Right wing columnist Bill Kristol deliberately misinterprets Obama’s remarks to compare him to Karl Marx, argues his twisted interpretation is the real “unmasked” Obama, and make the same “condescending” argument as Hillary/McCain. Andrew Sullivan adds his own strong rebuttal to Kristol here. (A sample from Sullivan: “A non-Christian manipulator of Christianity is calling a Christian a liar about his own faith. That’s where they’ve gone to already. And it’s only the middle of April. What are they so scared of?”).
• Co-payments for prescription drugs are sky-rocketing.