Daily Tidbits: October 6, 2008

• Obama up +8 nationally in new CNN poll, 53-45%.
• Obama up +6 in North Carolina in PPP poll, 50-44%.
• Joe Klein of Time gets it 100% right on McCain’s vile and opportunistic personal attacks of Obama in the midst of an economic crisis.
• John Heilemann of New York Magazine on how Bush lost his “base” – the Beltway media.
• Obama up +5 in New Mexico in Albuquerque Journal poll, 45-40%.
• Obama up +12 in Virginia Suffolk University poll, 51-39%.
• Obama up +10 in Virginia SUSA poll, 53-43%.
• Obama up +13 in New Hampshire SUSA poll, 53-40%.
• Former CEO of Bank of America and NationsBank, Hugh McColl, Jr., writes Op-Ed in Charlotte Observer endorsing Obama.
• ABC News: The McCain camp’s decision to pull out of Michigan reflects their financial disadvantages and difficult odds they’re facing in the economically hurt Midwest.  The buried lede suggests McCain campaign has shifted resources away from offensively attacking blue Kerry states Pennsylvania and New Hampshire to defensively protecting red Bush states Virginia, Colorado and New Mexico.  Money Quote: “The more terrain you’re playing on the better your odds of winning via various channels,” said Sara Taylor, the deputy strategist for George W. Bush’s 2004 campaign. “Losing Michigan shrinks McCain’s options,” she said. “This decision is going to raise the stakes even more in battleground states. It means fewer opportunities and fewer choices for McCain.”
• Anybody Know the Statute of Limitations for Bigamy in Arizona? WaPo expose on John McCain’s adulterous affair with Cindy McCain while married with Carol McCain has this bombshell:  he got his marriage license for his marriage to Cindy while he was still married to Carol. Also highlights how McCain has repeatedly given false accounts of the circumstances of his separation and divorce from Carol and his adulterous courting of Cindy.
• Daily Tracking Polls. Rasmussen has Obama hitting new all-time high margin, +8, 52-44%.  Research 2000 also has Obama at its poll’s all-time high, +12, 52-40%.  Gallup has Obama tying his all-time high margin, +8, 50-42%.  Hotline Diageo also remains at all-time high margin for Obama, +7, 48-41%.
• Newsweek: GOP strategists question marketing of Sarah Palin as “joe sixpack” instead of her credentials as a governor.
• LA Times: reckless mishaps marked McCain’s military record as naval aviator, with three avoidable crashes.  Navy officials faulted his judgment.
• Howard Wolfson in The New Republic:  It’s over.  Vicious attacks won’t save John McCain.
• Team Obama launches new site dedicated to fact-checking John McCain’s record.
• Paul Krugman:  “I agree: the McCain plan would do for health care what deregulation has done for banking. And I’m terrified.”

• WaPo: Latest voter registration data shows surge of new Democratic voters.