Daily Tidbits: May 12, 2008

• Newsweek cover story on Obama’s upcoming battle with McCain.
• New SUSA Poll has Obama up 54-43% in Oregon, a 5-point bounce since last poll.
• House GOP’s new slogan is already used by an antidepressant drug: “The Change You Deserve.”
• New WaPo/ABC Poll. Obama leads McCain by 51-44%. Elected someone age 72 is a problem for 39% of voters, while electing a woman is a problem for 16% and an African American, 12%. As for the old Rev. Wright thing, 60% of all Americans and 73% of Democrats think Obama handled it just “right.” And almost forgot, Obama leads Hillary 53-41%.
• Obama goes on the offensive against McCain on climate change as McCain tries to refashion himself as green to woo independent voters.
• Brilliant Move by Obama in WVA Today. Frank Rich wrote yesterday that the GOP’s biggest mistake has been treating this election as if it were framed by the same old polarized divisions of the 1970s or ’80s. It is a different time and many of the voters of that era are now in their sixties and seventies. Obama recognizes where we are. In WVA today, in front of an audience of Vietnam veterans, he denounces how many in the Sixties were unfairly critical of the soldiers who returned from Vietnam. He makes it clear that it was wrong and should not be repeated. Obama was born in the Sixties – he wasn’t a part of that time – and he is not going to be a captive of those old debates.

• Daily Tracking Polls. Obama maintains 10-point lead in Rasmussen, 52-42%. Gallup shows biggest Obama lead since mid-April, 50-43%.
• McCain’s Campaign Run by Lobbyists for Communists, Military Dictators and the Oil Monarchy that Gave Us Osama Bin Laden. In the wake of the resignation of two lobbyists for the Burma’s military junta from McCain’s campaign, the New York Sun examines how other lobbyists with senior leadership positions in McCain’s campaign are paid lobbyists for China (Charles Black, his senior adviser) and Saudi Arabia (Thomas Loeffler, his co-chairman). So McCain is calling for a gas tax holiday while his campaign managers are representing Saudi’s best interests? Is that because a gas tax holiday will stoke demand for gas? Such questions are relevant when you have these conflicts of interest.
• Drip, Drip, Drip. Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME) endorses Obama. Since last Tuesday’s primaries in NC and IN, Obama has picked up 20 superdelegates to Hillary’s net of 1.5 (after taking into account several switchers) — that may not be a “flood” as McAuliffe defines it, but a net gain of 18.5 delegates in any primary contest would be a landslide. UPDATE: Obama now up +4, with the endorsements of a DNC official, Senator Akaka (D-HI) and the Idaho State Democratic chair (I believe it’s a wicker).
• No More Fear Factor. Democratic politicians on the Hill and state and local offices no longer fear Hillary — a key turning point that is evident in sharper public criticisms of the Clintons and endorsement switches to Obama.
• Former Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) to declare himself a Libertarian candidate for president. Presumably any votes for Barr would otherwise be votes for McCain, not Obama. While it’s unlikely he’ll have a material impact in many states, it’s always possible that in a particular swing state, he could cost McCain a victory. There is a faction of the GOP that despises the Bush/Cheney neocon-”imperial executive” approach to governance, and yet many of these voters would be unwilling to vote for Obama. To the extent McCain continues to sell himself as a Bush third term on the neocon agenda, Barr gives these folks an alternative (even if it is a symbolic protest vote).
• “Vino” Fosella’s (R-NY) troubles grow worse by the day. First was the DUI, then the illicit affair and love child, and now word that the feds are investigating his possible use of taxpayer funds for questionable trips abroad. He took an expensive “fact-finding” trip to France alone (“Let’s see, is France still there? Check.”), which is unusual for a Congressional junket, and there are questions about whether he was joined by his mystery woman.
• Hillaryland confirms it’s at least $20M in debt. The campaign has already disclosed it owes Mark Penn $12M and Hillary $11.4M (to repay her loans) — that’s $23.4M. The actual total could easily be over $30M in debt.
• Howard Kurtz gives a lengthy profile on the zen master of the delegate count, Chuck Todd.
• WaPo looks at McCain’s enviromental record, which he plans to play up to woo independent voters, and finds it mixed at best.
• Ben Smith looks at Hillary’s grim options.
• Novak: McCain has a real problem with the evangelical Right.
• Word of the day for Democratic voters who threaten to cross party lines if the candidate they like doesn’t win the nomination: pissenfranchised.
• Oops! New Hillary ad uses newspaper clipping of “TrooperGate” scandal. TrooperGate involved allegations that Arkansas state troopers were told to find “liaisons” for then-Governor Bill Clinton. Is this what happens when you don’t pay your vendors?
• House GOP – Double Agents for Obama? House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) acknowledges that McCain is running for “Bush’s third term”, and adds with no sense of irony the Seinfeldian qualifier, “There’s nothing wrong with that!”
• Hillary leading in West Virginia and Kentucky by huge margins.
• Missouri among 19 states looking for “proof of citizenship” as a voting requirement to protect America from the likes of geriatric nuns who might destroy our democracy.
• NY Times looks at Karl Rove, Stephanopoulos and other former pols who, in a revolving door similar to the lobbyist game, join the ranks of MSM TV punditry.
• Politico: Obama acting like the nominee. He will be in Missouri the night the WVA returns come in — telegraphing a focus on the general election battle.
• Could the GOP’s dominance in the South be coming to an end?