Daily Tidbits: May 8, 2008 « Roadkill Refugee

Daily Tidbits: May 8, 2008

May 8, 2008 · No Comments

Time cover story: On to the general election.
Superdelegate Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA) endorses Obama. Second super of the day for Obama (not including David Bonior, who is not a super).
Terry McAuliffe, chief Hillary propagandist, admits race will be over before the Convention.
Superdelegate Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) endorses Obama.
Hillary disenfranchises Michigan voters. Rejects plan proposed by leading Michigan Democrats.
Daily Tracking Polls. For third straight day, Rasmussen has Obama leading 47-43%. Gallup also shows no change, with Obama leading 47-46%.
John Edwards scheduled to be on the Today Show tomorrow. Hmmm… (recall his former campaign chief, David Bonior, endorsed Obama today).
Montana superdelegate commits to Obama.
NY GOP Rep. Fosella, who was recently arrested on DUI in DC area, admits to a lengthy extramarital affair that resulted in a love child. Story came out in part because the mystery woman paid his bail after his DUI arrest, and sparked interest in her motivation for doing so. Fosella is one of a shrinking number of elected Republicans in NY.
Obama makes a surprise visit to House floor this morning, works the room, chats up uncommitted superdelegates. Ben Smith reports he was mobbed like a rock star — a Clinton-committed superdelegate asked for his autograph on the NY Daily News edition that declared Obama the nominee (perhaps she’s not so committed) and even a GOP member crossed the aisle to greet him with three children in tow.
Politico has quotes from senior Obama campaign official that they will declare victory on 5/20, based on obtaining a majority of delegates under the 2024.5 metric, and that Hillary will dispute it, arguing the delegate number should include MI & FL.
Stephanopoulos on GMA this morning. Hillary’s debt may be $20M or more. FL and MI won’t be resolved to her liking. There are more uncommitted superdelegates for Obama than for Hillary — many Obama supers are waiting for Hillary to concede before they announce.
Hillary Plays Race Card. Hillary makes explicit racial argument for her candidacy. She says “Sen. Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.” Did she really just make an explicit connection between “hard working” and “white” or is my eyesight failing? But since she brought up the topic, how exactly does she plan to succeed without winning a material percentage of the most loyal segment of Democratic Party, African American voters? You have to wonder if this kind of insanity will push some undeclared superdelegates to declare sooner than they planned. For example, I can’t imagine these comments make “undeclared” super Donna Brazile too happy, given her comments on CNN Tuesday night about her frustration with Hillaryland’s divisive tactics. (Video in separate post, above).
David Bonior, former campaign chief for John Edwards and Democratic Congressman from Michigan, to endorse Obama today. Bonior’s core constituency was always blue collar labor, so this could be a helpful pick-up as Obama campaigns in West Virginia and Kentucky.
Hillary, Before You Pay Mark Penn’s $12M Bill, Read This. Hillary’s 5 biggest mistakes, one of which was Mark Penn not understanding that California was not a “winner take all” state. That’s why Penn thought they’d win the election on Super Tuesday — the idiot didn’t understand the rules! No wonder they’re whining that they would have won if they played by the Republican primary rules — they thought they were playing by those rules!
The cash gap between Hillary and Obama is significant and will affect upcoming contests.
Toni Morrison explains what she meant by “Bill Clinton is the first black president” and why she endorsed Obama this time.
The Gas Tax Holiday. A Pander Too Far.
Hillaryland insiders share their grim fate to the NY Times.
GOP stuck with wrong poster child for its new state voter ID law campaigns: disenfranchised elderly nuns.
Michigan offers another plan to get its delegates seated.
WaPo finds many elected Dems willing to say off the record that it’s over and time for Hillary to quit graciously.
The Hill gets many Dems to turn backs on Hillary on the record, including supporter Sen. Feinstein (D-CA).
Milbank: Hillary’s very bad day.
Yglesias: Hillary staying in until MI & FL are resolved is just an excuse.
GOP thinks it is already prepared launch GE attack on Obama.
Russert’s call of the race was decisive, and rippled through the MSM coverage.
Obama’s apparent victory is a significant changing of the guard after 16 years of the Clintons.