Daily Tidbits: June 11, 2008

• New WSJ/NBC Poll shows change remains the dominant theme among voters as Obama’s lead over McCain widens to 47-41%.  Poll suggests room for more growth for Obama given that it shows some reluctance among white suburban women to support Obama, but the poll was taken just as Hillary was conceding.  In addition, in the generic question of which party should win the White House, the Democrats win by 16%.  All in all, a positive poll for Obama.
• The New Republic:  Is the McCain campaign deluded by its improbable, low budget primary win, while the Obama campaign is a battle-tested machine running aggressively following its much harder fought 50-state contest?
• Obama makes surprise visit to 8th grade graduating ceremony at Young Women’s Charter School of Chicago.  Class chants “Change!” ”Change!” in response.
• James Carville says Obama should pick Al Gore as VP and energy czar.  It feels so odd to agree with James Carville, but I do.
• Halperin:  Why Obama is different (i.e., better) than Democrats of the past.  For someone who wants to change the game, Obama can play it well until he does.
• McCain says on the Today Show show “It’s not too important” when our troops return from Iraq because we’ve had troops in Germany and South Korea for over 50 years and that’s been fine.  This seems to be a confirmation of his earlier controversial statement that he’s okay with our troops staying in Iraq for 100 years or more.  His campaign had tried to walk that one back.  Oops.

UPDATE:  McCain campaign changes position on what McCain meant, in an admission they’re taking on water.  Now the campaign is trotting out this tortured construction:  when he said “it’s not too important” he was referring to whether he had an estimate of when the troops would be coming home, not when they’d be coming home.  This contradicts the campaign’s own initial reaction to the fuss over McCain’s statement, in which they acknowledged McCain’s point was the duration of our occupation isn’t important so long as our casualties are tolerable.

• New Poll shows former Clinton supporters moving to Obama.  Hillary’s most loyal base, women over 50, now support Obama over McCain by 6 points, 47-41%.
• Chuck Todd crunches numbers to forecast the 2008 election.  He takes 2004’s results and overlays the new voters added to the rolls and the higher turnout we saw in the primaries and sees four states flipping from red to blue (significantly more than necessary for Obama to win because one of the four is Ohio, which flips the election outcome by itself).
• WaPo Fact Checker slams McCain’s false and misleading attacks on Obama’s tax policies.
• Obama starts off general election in a strong position to carry Iowa.
• Proof of Peggy Noonan’s earlier observation that America dodged a bullet when Hillary lost: her strongest supporters keep an enemies list as if they were still in power and capable of exacting revenge. Another reason why the Clintons can’t return to the White House.
• Buzz grows around Romney as McCain’s Veep pick.
• Obama to campaign with Governor Strickland in Ohio with Michelle on Friday.
• Time profiles the leading Veep candidates of both McCain and Obama.
• Paglia on Obama’s Veep choice and Hillary’s concession speech.  She likes Sebelius and detests Hillary.
• NY Times discusses the Obama Veep possibilities.
• ABC News: McCain caught once again contradicted by prior statements, this time on Social Security taxes.