- Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-IN) goes to Hillary. HRC won his district last night. Daily tally finishes 4-1 in favor of Obama (at least so far). UPDATE: Even her little glimmer of good news gets dinged today. Ellsworth’s staff hastily calls media this evening to clarify that at Convention, he will vote the will of his district “unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise.” Ahem, like support the Party nominee, perhaps?
- AP says Obama won 97 delegates and Hillary won 86 last night, with 4 still to be awarded.
- The Right struggles with how to “brand” McCain. Apparently, “An American President Americans Have Been Waiting For” isn’t cutting it. I still like “A Panama Canal Zone-Born President American Lobbyists Have Been Waiting For” — conveys the product clearly and honestly, like good branding should.
- Saddened by Obama’s strong performance last night, and worried that it means he is coated in teflon, the Right has one last hope: lasting division and bitterness between Hillary and Obama’s camps post-nomination.
- Daily Tracking Polls. Gallup has Obama’s lead narrowing to 47-46%, although that was before last night’s victory. In Rasmussen, Obama holds same 47-43% advantage as yesterday.
- The Beginning of the End. Obama picks up four new super delegates, including one who switches from Clinton to Obama. Hillary picks up Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC) who had earlier pledged to endorse the candidate who wins his rural district (Hillary did). For the day, Obama gained four and Hillary “netted” zero (she gained one and lost one). In addition, Obama gained former Presidential nominee McGovern as a switcher from Hillary, but he is not a super delegate.
- New Hillary Loan Controversy. Ben Smith of Politico uncovers a new controversial element to the loan news. Total value of Hillary’s loans ($11.4M) seemingly exhausts value of her personal assets, meaning she likely drew from Bill Clinton’s assets to make the loan. Her campaign tried to discount this issue when pressed today. But it raises a troubling point: the campaign still refuses to be fully transparent about Bill’s donors to his presidential library and his business relationships. Recall also that Bill Clinton was paid by a pro-Colombia Free Trade Agreement organization to give a speech, which Hillary tried to deflect as simply Bill’s business and not relevant to her campaign. But if she is drawing from his earnings to fund her campaign, she can’t treat his business dealings and income sources as irrelevant. Recall when she was asked this directly, she reacted with her tell, the hysterical laughing non-answer.
- At last, somebody said the unspeakable. Sally Quinn says Bill Clinton is Hillary’s Rev. Wright. You don’t choose your family, but you do choose your husband.
- Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times: Obama to meet with superdelegates in DC on Thursday.
- George McGovern, for whom the Clintons worked as young aspiring political wonks during the 1972 election, switches from Hillary to Obama and calls for Hillary to drop out.
- Running On Empty. Hillary loaned her campaign anther 6.4 MILLION last month, on top of the $5M loan earlier. On the Today Show this morning, Tim Russert suggested that Hillary and Obama’s campaign are or will discuss a diplomatic exit strategy for Hillary which will include Obama paying off her debt (including some $12M owed to Mark Penn), so arguably Obama just loaned her $6.4M. Indeed, if this is true, you could say as she continues to run in West Virginia, she’s doing it on Obama’s dime.
- Keys to Obama’s performance: He cut into Hillary’s base of working class whites, Catholics, and women. Obama also won the gas tax holiday argument - it reminded folks of his honesty and change candicacy, and of her propensity to say or do anything to get elected.
- David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign chief, sent out a memo last night to superdelegates reminding them of the delegate math. In the memo (link to full copy here), he noted Hillary would need to win 68% of the remaining delegates. The reality is Obama is likely to win the majority of the remaining contests (Oregon, Montana and South Dakota, while Hillary is projected to win West Virginia and Kentucky (Puerto Rico’s delegates are ceremonial)). Plouffe said: “With the Clinton path to the nomination getting even narrower, we expect new and wildly creative scenarios to emerge in the coming days. While those scenarios may be entertaining, the are not legitimate and will not be considered legitimate by this campaign or millions of supporters, volunteers and donors.” He also noted, “With North Carolina and Indiana complete, Barack Obama only needs 172 total delegates to capture the Democratic nomination. This is only 36% of the total remaining delegates.”
- Andrew Sullivan: In a form of sweet justice, African Americans brought down the House of Clinton. NBC’s Ron Allen adds a point about the Clintons’ seemingly worsening relations with African American voters, and how they seem to be “taking for granted” (ahem) that such voters will return to the fold if she is the nominee.
- NY Times: Delegate math seals deal for Obama nomination.
- WaPo gets inside story on Obama’s adjustments to campaign after loss in PA.
- WaPo gets inside story on Clinton aides sense of doom. One aide says “We lost this thing in February.”
- MSNBC’s First Read offers an excellent summary of the MSM print coverage of the primary election results.
- Politico looks at the demographics of NC and IN contests.
- NY GOP Congressman’s (an increasingly endangered species) DUI arrest could cost the GOP yet another seat in November.
- Politico’s delegate guru says Obama’s net gain is +15 for the night, and notes that the battle for pledged delegate majority is essentially over.
- Tim Russert declares during election coverage that it’s all over for Hillary - Obama has won:
- After factoring in Rush’s “Operation Chaos,” by which GOP voters were encouraged to vote for Hillary to manipulate Democratic primary, Obama effectively won Indiana.
- Vote in Indiana is now within 17K votes with 95% counted.
- With NC victory and very narrow IN loss, the fat lady will sing for Obama.
- Fire Dog Lake: Did we hear Hillary concede tonight? I think she came as close as she could. She couldn’t go any further. Not yet. But if she loses IN, it will be very difficult for her to go on.
- Hillary has canceled all morning TV appearances for Wednesday, including planned appearances on morning TV shows.
- Drudge, Russert and Chuck Todd call the nomination for Obama tonight.
- Nagourney’s CW: Hillary’s options are dwindling.
- WaPo: Gary, Indiana Mayor thinks that Obama won city so big that he will win Obama.
- As the candidates waited, the surrogates spun and spun.
- McCain says he’ll stock SCOTUS with right wing judges. What a maverick.
Daily Tidbits: May 7, 2008
May 7, 2008 · No Comments
Categories: Barack Obama · David Plouffe · Democrats · Economy · GOP · Hillary Clinton · Indiana Primary · John McCain · Kentucky Primary · MSNBC · Montana Primary · News · North Carolina primary · Oregon primary · West Virginia Primary · campaign speeches · election 2008 · opinion · politics
Tagged: Chuck Todd, David Plouffe, delegate math, Drudge, DUI, election 2008, Gary Indiana, heath shuler, Hillary, Hillary loan, Indiana Primary, Kentucky, maverick, McCain, McCain's brand, Montana, North Carolina primary, Obama, Obama victory, Operation Chaos, Oregon, Panama Canal Zone-born President, Rush Limbaugh, Sally Quinn, SCOTUS, South Dakota, superdelegates, surrogates, Tim Russert, West Virginia













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