http://www.mysinchew.com/node/11210?tid=37The Philippine President was recently asked to change her dietary habits. From AP-

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has declined an animal rights group's invitation to become a vegetarian to help fight hunger in her country, her spokesman said Friday.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals challenged Arroyo in an open letter to shun meat, saying that "adopting a vegetarian diet and publicly advocating the same would do far more than any photo op."

The PETA director for Asia-Pacific, Jason Baker, said that raising animals for food is "condemning people in the Philippines and around the world to starvation." He said food fed to animals is enough to feed half the world.

Arroyo was not persuaded to change her diet.

"The president is one who believes in freedom of choice," spokesman Ignacio Bunye told reporters. "You cannot impose on others."

Bunye said some Cabinet members are vegetarian.

Now if Arroyo and her cronies would only vow to stop stealing from the Philippine treasury. That would really help the poor.

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Filed under: Asia, World Politics

From the Sun is Hot/Water is wet department.

TAMPA - At a recent council meeting, two of Mayor Pam Iorio's highest-paid administrators sat side by side for hours. One was there in case the council had questions about a new code enforcement director. The other was there to lead a discussion on a reclaimed water project.

That same morning, Fire Chief Dennis Jones spent hours waiting around council chambers before being called upon to give a two-minute presentation about a permitting issue.

The frustration in the room was palpable. By meeting's end, veteran council member Charlie Miranda declared the board so dysfunctional he wanted to run for county commission.

What has become of the Tampa City Council?

Council members often spend hours debating issues over which they have little say - such as complaints about Verizon's customer service or whether to make state road Florida Avenue a two-way thoroughfare - while issues they can influence often take weeks if not months to resolve.

"I'm a lot more frustrated," said council Chairman Tom Scott, who served on the county commission when that board was considered highly dysfunctional.

Part of the problem is that the council's ambitions to shape city policies runs into the reality of Tampa's political system, where the mayor has far more power to shape issues than the council.

The council also might be a victim of its own meeting schedule. Often, as many as 20 items are scheduled for the same time, causing people with business before the board to arrive in the morning, only to wait hours as the council slogs through the agenda.

Whatever the reasons, this much is certain: Residents are upset they need to spend so much time at city hall. Council members are frustrated with themselves and one another.

Taxpayers are paying the salaries of city administrators who end up sitting at council meetings rather than getting work done in their offices.

Hurry Up And Wait

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Filed under: Florida

Which means Bloggers won't have Ken Livingstone to kick around any more. From the BBC-

Boris Johnson has won the race to become the next mayor of London - ending Ken Livingstone's eight-year reign at City Hall.

The Conservative candidate won with 1,168,738 first and second preference votes, compared with Mr Livingstone's 1,028,966 on a record turnout of 45%.

He paid tribute to Mr Livingstone and appeared to offer him a possible role in his new administration.

Lib Dem Brian Paddick came third and the Greens' Sian Berry came fourth.

Mr Johnson is expected to stand down as MP for Henley, triggering a by-election.

Hat tip- Dr. Taylor at Poliblog

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Filed under: Europe, World Politics

The result is so much at variance with all the other polls recently reported that it is most likely an "outlier," but it will still help Clinton in the short term, Liz Sidoti reports for the Associated Press:

Hillary Rodham Clinton now leads John McCain by 9 points in a head-to-head presidential matchup, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll that bolsters her argument that she is more electable than Democratic rival Barack Obama. Obama and Republican McCain are running about even.

The survey released Monday gives the New York senator and former first lady a fresh talking point as she works to raise much-needed campaign cash and persuade pivotal undecided superdelegates to side with her in the drawn-out Democratic primary fight.

Read the whole story at the link above.

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Filed under: 2008 Presidential Race, Hillary, McCain, Obama, Polls
Tags: poll, presidential campaign

Barack Obama has dealt with the exposure of his association with radical terrorist bomber William Ayers by asserting Ayers was just some eccentric English professor from the 'hood and, since Ayers' terrorist acts had taken place some forty years ago, when Obama was a mere child, it is unfair to insinuate Obama had any knowledge of what Ayers was about.

Naturally, it's baloney, but the adoring press corps eat it up. Ayers, of course, has consistently and repeatedly defended his actions through the years, right up to the present, and the only remorse he has ever expressed was that his bombings weren't more successful. This was no dark secret from the past known only to those who were adults at the time; Ayers' notoriety flowed from it. And Ayers hosted the campaign kickoff fundraiser for Obama's first State Senate run.

But now it seems his denial is an even more blatant falsehood than was already apparent. He and Ayers worked closely for years, according to Larry Johnson of No Quarter:

But William Ayers was not just some guy who "lives in Barack's neighborhood." He is a well-known and controversial Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. And Obama wants you to believe that he knew nothing of Ayers views or politics even though Barack participated in public forums with him there? I don't think so.

But that is not all. Barack also was essentially an employee of Bill Ayers for eight years.

In 1995, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge was created to raise funds to help reform the Chicago public schools. One of the architects of the Challenge was none other than Professor Bill Ayers. Ayers co-wrote the initial grant proposal and proudly lists himself on his own website as the co-founder of the Challenge.

And who did William Ayers, co-creator of the Challenge, help select as the new director of the board for this program? Barack Obama. Barack Obama was the first Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. This appointment came at a crucial time in Barack's life. He was on the verge of challenging longtime state Senator Alice Palmer for her job. When Barack decided to run, it is no surprise that he turned to William Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn for help in organizing the campaign and in hosting his first fundraiser in the district.

Read the entire post at the above link. Just how many bald-faced lies is Obama to be allowed without consequence?

It should be noted the author is a Hillary Clinton supporter, but his claim should be easily confirmed or refuted. If true, a clear pattern is emerging: whenever one of Obama's close associates is found to be corrupt, or anti-American, or a radical terrorist, he has minimized his relationship with that person and falsely so.

Unfortunately, so long as the media refuses to report his lies and evasions - much less take note of the pattern of deception - it really doesn't matter how many he tells, does it?

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Filed under: 2008 Presidential Race, Democrats, Obama, Primaries, Scandal
Tags: Democratic presidential campaign, Obama, primaries, radical, scandal

Hillary Clinton's campaign is already reaping the fruit of her 10-point victory in the Pennsylvania primary. She raised $2.5 million in the day after her big win, and now the trend in Gallup's daily tracking poll has reversed:

The Democratic nomination race is now tied, with Barack Obama favored by 48% of national Democratic voters and Hillary Clinton by 47%.

* * * * *

The latest results, based on Gallup Poll Daily tracking from April 22-24, include two days of interviews conducted entirely after Tuesday's Pennsylvania Democratic primary. Support for Clinton is significantly higher in these post-primary interviews than it was just prior to her Pennsylvania victory, clearly suggesting that Clinton's win there is the catalyst for her increased national support.

Obama's lead dwindled steadily all week, falling from a high of 10 percentage points in interviewing conducted in the three days just prior to the Pennsylvania primary. However, the percentage of Democrats supporting Obama has changed little (declining from 50% in April 19-21 polling to 48% today). Most of Clinton's increased support (from 40% to 47%) has come from previously undecided voters. (To view the complete trend since Jan. 3, 2008, click here.)

Read the whole report at the link above. Only a few days ago, Obama held a 10-point lead nationally, and seemed to have overcome his Pastor Problem. Since then, he's been coming back to earth, and his Pastor is giving a series of public interviews which prove the issue has not, in fact, been put to rest. He outspent Hillary by at least 3 - to - 1 in Pennsylvania but, as in Ohio and Texas, his money couldn't buy enough love.

Notice that only two of the three days polled were after her Pennsylvania triumph. Expect her to keep moving up in the next few days, as the news and analysis of the results are widely discussed. Obama figures to continue slipping with Reverend Wright staying in the news and losing PA after his huge investment.

"Over," someone said? Not by a long shot . . .

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Filed under: 2008 Presidential Race, Democrats, Hillary, Polls, Primaries
Tags: Democratic presidential campaign, Gallup daily tracking poll, Hillary Clinton, primaries

Today's Pennsylvania Democratic Presidential Primary could answer some open questions about the race, and possibly clarify its future course. Or not, writes Dan Balz for the Washington Post.

Read his entire article at the link provided. It's long, but asks a lot of the right questions. I'll briefly describe the eight questions he ponders:

1. The Expectations Game: Does Hillary really need a double-digit win to go on? Or, given Obama's 5-to-1 spending edge, is any clear win an achievement? I think she needs a big win, because that's the only chance of ending up winning the total popular vote - the sort of thing super delegates could point to when voting for her.
2. Who has been hurt worse for the general election by the tough campaign, or have both candidates been strengthened by the competition? Both are probably better for the fight, but Obama's weaknesses are only just being exposed. Are these the tip of the iceberg? With Hillary, it's mostly more of the same old stuff we always disliked about her.
3. What might Obama's performance with working class white Democrats portend of his chances in November? Inquiring super delegates want to know . . . If he gets skunked again in this demographic group, as he did in Ohio and Mississippi, super delegates will be getting nervous tics.
4. Is Bill Clinton a net help or harm to Hillary? Or, as I prefer to phrase it, "Bill Clinton: Threat or Menace?" If not for him, would she even be here? Or running some lefty advocacy group?
5. What's the most important remaining contest AFTER Pennsylvania votes? Indiana.
6. Will super delegates coalesce around a candidate, or does it go to the convention? Obviously most of them would prefer a clear nominee sooner rather than later, but don't want to make a fatal mistake which not only loses the White House, but also hurts the down-ticket. They are looking for an excuse to settle it, but the frontrunner keeps stumbling over his own feet.
7. What about a "dream ticket" of Obama-Clinton or vice versa? No way, Shanté.
8. Is McCain making best use of the time he has gained by the ongoing Democratic contest? Arguments exist for both sides on this one. He probably gets a "B" for unifying the party and beefing up his foreign policy credentials while Barry and Hilly throw mud.

Do read it all for Balz' take.

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Filed under: 2008 Presidential Race, Democrats, Hillary, Obama, Pennsylvania, Primaries
Tags: Democratic presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton, Obama, Pennsylvania, primaries

Chelsea Clinton was a huge attraction Friday night as she toured some of Philadelphia's most famous gay nightclubs, reports Mathew Berger for MSNBC's First Read:

Chelsea Clinton stopped traffic Friday night as she wandered the streets of Philadelphia on a gay bar crawl, winning rave reviews for both her politics and her appearance.

Led around the neighborhood by Gov. Ed Rendell, Chelsea was mobbed by local gays and lesbians, as she walked from one club to the next. They ran up to hug her, posed for pictures and certainly invaded her personal space.

"I grabbed her ass," one young woman exclaimed to her friends after snapping a picture with her arm around the former first daughter.

"Chelsea, the gays love you!" one fan exclaimed, as she took the microphone at Bump, a restaurant and bar that was her first stop. "Oh, gosh, I don't know if everybody loves me," she responded.

Read the rest at the link above. It's not terribly surprising she should be the center of attention while accompanied by Ed Rendell and Rob Reiner, but also along for the crawl was gay superstar actor Robert Gant, who seemed to be in her shadow, too.

What effect surrogate campaigning may have in Tuesday's Pennsylvania Primary remains to be seen. Conventional wisdom holds that Obama needs to roll up heavy majorities in the Philly area to offset Hillary's anticipated sweep of the more rural counties.

Obama has gone all in for PA, outspending Clinton by a reported 5 to 1 and closing the margin in most polls to mid-single digits. However, Hillary has shown the tendency to carry the late deciders by a strong margin (helping her confound polling in New Hampshire, California, and Ohio). Obama pointedly refused to hand out "walking around money" in Philly, which may hurt his turnout there. Traditionally, this is cash put out on the "street" to black community leaders to ensure the turnout, and there may be some resentment that the wealthiest political campaign of all time is so stingy.

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Filed under: 2008 Presidential Race, Democrats, Hillary, Pennsylvania, Primaries, Special Interest Groups
Tags: Democratic presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton, Pennsylvania, primaries

Gallup's daily tracking poll shows Hillary Clinton moving into the lead nationally 46-45%, a statistically insignificant margin, but the first time she has led in this poll in a month. The trend for Obama is down while the trend for Clinton is up over the last few days.

Full results from Gallup.

If you're a Democratic super delegate, it might be a good time for an extended vacation to one of those South Pacific islands without cell phone or internet service.

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Filed under: 2008 Presidential Race, Democrats, Hillary, Obama, Polls, Primaries
Tags: Democratic presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton, Obama, poll, primaries

The (presumably) final debate of the Democratic Primary season was held in Philadelphia, and the City of Brotherly Love saw some Sisterly Toughness. ABC News' Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopolous did a great job with the questions, easily within the top three or four (including both parties) of the election cycle. Barack Obama was on his heels for most of it, unused to playing defense against an aggressive media, and turned in one of his weakest debate outings yet. Hillary Clinton took some shots also, but recovered well and kept turning the heat up on Obama, who looked like he just can't handle pressure.

And, of course, he can't, really. Not this sort of pressure, and certainly not the pressure a President is under every single day. He's a sharp young man with great political instincts, but his lack of experience is telling. Obama should run for Governor of Illinois. If he can do a good job of cleaning up that mess with a corruption-free administration in a state government which has seemed rife with it for years - a goal which would undoubtedly offend and alienate some old supporters - he would become a more viable candidate. The sort of guy who might play in Peoria.

A smattering of other opinions:

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:

Thanks to a surprisingly tenacious set of questions for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton from ABC moderaters Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous, Barack Obama got exposed over and over again as an empty suit, while Hillary cleaned his clock. However, the big winner didn't even take the stage tonight.

* * * * *

The winner of this debate? John McCain. Both Democrats came out of this diminished, but Obama got destroyed in this exchange. If superdelegates had begun to reconsider their support of Obama after Crackerquiddick, they're speed-dialing Hillary after watching Gibson dismember Obama on national TV tonight.

Jim Geraghty of NRO's Campaign Spot:

But she tore into Obama on all of his weak spots. Relentlessly. For the most part, she avoided looking nasty while she did it. She focused on the 'cling' comment in the context of not understanding the role of religion in people's lives. She repeated what Wright actually said the Sunday after 9/11, and probably introduced Wright's blaming of America to a lot of people who had only heard Wright's sermons through a media filter. She twisted the knife when she noted that people don't choose their families, but they choose their pastor. When Obama tried to downplay his relationship to William Ayers, she brought up the Woods Foundation.

After about forty-five minutes, David Axelrod probably should have thrown in the towel and stopped the fight.

Read their whole posts at the respective links. From the center, Ann Althouse, and from the left, Talk Left here and extended here.

Obama apologists Josh Marshall and Andrew Sullivan were not amused. Olberman blew a gasket. Our resident cultists haven't been observed for a while and are presumed to have been picked up by the Mother Ship and returned to Planet Farrakhan.

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Filed under: 2008 Presidential Race, Democrats, Hillary, Obama, Primaries, debates
Tags: debate, Democratic presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton, Obama

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's chief political adviser, Ahmed Yousef, was interviewed on WABC Radio on Sunday, and revealed Hamas hopes Obama will win. Why hasn't this key international endorsement made the "mainstream" US media, wonders John Hinderaker at Power Line:

The interview produced a scoop which, for some reason, has not been widely publicized: Hamas has endorsed Barack Obama for President. Yousef said, "We like Mr. Obama and we hope he will win the election." Why? "He has a vision to change America." Maybe Yousef has some insight into what Obama means by all these vague references to "change."

Of course, Hamas's taste in American presidents is suspect. Yousef also described Jimmy Carter, who was about to pay a call on Hamas when the interview was taped, as "this noble man" who "did an excellent job as President."

Read the rest, along with a link to the audio of the interview, at the above link.

Well, we've already noted the prominence of critics of Israel in Obama's circle of advisers. Apparently others are noticing, too . . .

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Filed under: 2008 Presidential Race, Democrats, Obama, Primaries, Special Interest Groups
Tags: Democratic presidential campaign, endorsement, Hamas, Obama

O great and mighty Karnak, in your great wisdom, divine the question which is answered, "Malcolm X, Deval Patrick, and John Edwards."

"Name two Black Men and one Breck Girl."

Seriously, Malcolm was blunt, radical, and original. Patrick and Edwards were clients of political puppet master David Axlerod, who also happens to manage Barack Obama's campaign. Throw in radical immigrant worker unionizer Cesar Chavez for good luck . . . What do they all have in common?

Take a few of what rhetoricians call "God terms," because concepts like "progress," "hope," change," and "a better tomorrow" are universally liked but mean nothing specific, add a proficient and attractive actor, tone down the radical side or hide it altogether, mix well, package with positive images, and send to market.

Naturally, an educated and informed citizenry would never be fooled by such obvious subterfuge. Gotta get us of them one day . . .

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Filed under: 2008 Presidential Race, Democrats, Obama
Tags: Democrat, Obama, presidential campaign, video

Does the NY senator believe half of what she says? From Reuters-

PHILADELPHIA- Democratic White House hopeful Hillary Clinton will unveil a plan on Friday to boost federal spending to help cities and states fight crime by $4 billion a year, aiming to halve murder rates in the most dangerous U.S. cities.

The New York senator will announce the plan in Philadelphia, a city with the highest homicide rate among the 10 biggest U.S. cities and a key battleground in her flagging race against Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Clinton is ahead in Pennsylvania polls before the state's April 22 primary but needs to maintain a strong lead to stay in the race to be the Democratic nominee in the November vote.

The centerpiece of the plan, seen by Reuters, is to set a goal of halving homicide rates in cities. It includes adding 100,000 new police recruits, targeting gang violence and disrupting drug markets, and a federal initiative to crack down on illegal gun trafficking.

We've been spending billions fighting illegal drugs and what's it got us so far? Alot of wasted money and a drug trade that is still thriving. Hillary is big on promises and far removed from the reality most Americans live day in and day out. Then few Washington politicians are.

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Filed under: 2008 Presidential Race, Hillary

By now, it has become apparent that Barack Obama can hardly open his mouth without lying about something. Of course, why not? He could never win telling the truth about himself, his proposals, his associates, and the Old Media is covering for him no matter what he says or does. So he probably felt the same rules applied if he began lying about John McCain.

No, you can't!

Ironically, when confronted with the charge that even The New York Times' ultra-liberal theatre critic columnist Frank Rich believes he "libeled" McCain by knowingly "distorting" what he said, Obama was so brazen as to deny it, claiming "we can pull the quotes up on You Tube" to back him up.

Rut-roh, Astro! Red State's Neil Stevens did just that:

The clip of what McCain actually said is sort of herky-jerky, but whoever was shooting the video might have had an incoming call or something . . .

Obama's pretty clear, at least, as he lies to your face.

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Filed under: 2008 Presidential Race, Democrats, Dirty Tricks, McCain, Obama
Tags: dirty campaigning, lie, McCain, Obama, presidential campaign, video

Hillary Clinton repeatedly uses the sales pitch that she is a competent, experienced and capable manager who knows how to get things done not just talk about them. Yet, if we take a look at her campaign it's pretty easy to conclude the exact opposite as explained Politico:

Clinton has overseen two major staff shake-ups in two months. She has left a trail of unpaid bills and unhappy vendors and had to loan her own campaign $5 million to keep it afloat in January. Her campaign badly underestimated her main adversary, Barack Obama, miscalculated the importance of organizing caucus states and was caught flat-footed after failing to lock up the nomination on Super Tuesday.

To this list of errors, I would add the squandering of her husband as a campaign asset that began with his bumbling mistakes in South Carolina, and Hillary's baffling and inexplicable "misstatements" about her trip to Bosnia.

In contrast the Obama campaign, with some minor missteps, is running like a well-oiled machine. They relentlessly exploit every opportunity to rack up delegates, have created a phenomenal fund-raising machine, and have constructed a powerful grass-roots organization. More on Obama's campaign from the Politico story:

"In every campaign, the strategy is important and the day-to-day management is important. And in Obama's case, it's hard not to argue that they have run a great campaign," said Steve Elmendorf, deputy campaign manager for Kerry's 2004 bid and a Clinton supporter. "It's been one of the best-run presidential campaigns in the last 20 years. I think they are focused and disciplined and on message. ... The test of a good campaign is having a plan and keeping an operation on track to execute a plan."

Put simply, Obama has shown he can offer a compelling vision, execute a complicated strategy to convey it and, all the while, keep the ledger in the black. That's not a bad first step to becoming a strong leader.

Running a large and extraordinarily complicated enterprise like a presidential campaign is certainly a good indicator of a candidate's management skills. John McCain also deserves credit for the campaign he has run that faced obstacles almost as daunting as Obama's.

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Filed under: 2008 Presidential Race
Tags: Democratic presidential campaign

Barack Obama misleads about his mother on the campaign trail, pretending he was instructed in Christianity from childhood. But he even deceives in his book, Dreams For My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, by omitting a central fact about dear ol' Dad: he was a communist. Greg Ransom writes at PrestoPundit:

There's a big mystery at the heart of Barack Obama's Dreams For My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. What was Barack Obama doing seeking out Marxist professors in college? Why did Obama choose a Communist Party USA member as his socio- political counselor in high school? Why was he spending his time studying neocolonialism and the writings of Frantz Fanon, the pro-violence author of "the Communist Manifesto of neocolonialsm", in college? Why did he take time out from his studies at Columbia to attend socialist conferences at Cooper Union?

And there is more mystery in the book. Why does Obama consider working in a consulting house for international business like being "a spy behind enemy lines?" Why does he repeatedly find it so hard to explain his political views to others? Why was he driven to become a left-aligned political organizer? It's a question Obama again and again can't seem to answer to the satisfaction of the interlocutors in his own memoir.

If there is a mystery at the heart of Barack Obama's Dreams For My Father, one thing is not left a mystery, the fact that Barack Obama organized his life on the ideals given to him by his Kenyan father. Obama tells us, "All of my life, I carried a single image of my father, one that I .. tried to take as my own." (p. 220) And what was that image? It was "the father of my dreams, the man in my mother's stories, full of high-blown ideals .." (p. 278) What is more, Obama tells us that, "It was into my father's image .. that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself." And also that, "I did feel that there was something to prove .. to my father" in his efforts at political organizing. (p. 230)

Read the rest, including some of Dad's own words, at the link above.

Why write a book about your father and how your political journey tried to understand him without mentioning his core beliefs? It's like they were . . . inconvenient or something . . .

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Filed under: 2008 Presidential Race, Democrats, Obama
Tags: book, Democratic presidential campaign, heritage, Obama

Obama has opened up a large lead with the Gallup daily poll:

Obama: 52%
Clinton: 43%

This one was just a three point lead the day before so we'll have to see if this trend holds.

The Rasmussen tracking poll isn't much better for Hillary:

Obama: 51%
Clinton: 41%

And what about those recalcitrant Pennsylvania voters who have been resisting the trend towards Obama? According to a just-released ARG poll they are now split:

Obama: 45%
Clinton: 45%

Hillary was up by 12 points in this poll just a few weeks ago.

It's not hard to figure out why this is happening. The reason is that Obama wears well as voters get to know him, whereas Hillary has the opposite effect. Most people (excluding those who are afflicted with a pathological case of Obama Derangement Syndrome) find Obama a likable personality in much the same way that George W Bush came across during the 2000 presidential campaign. He seems much more authentic and believable than Hillary who more often appears rehearsed and practiced.

Obama's big advantage is that he is still in the process of defining himself for voters while perceptions of Hillary are pretty much set in stone at this point. She has high negatives among a good segment of the population and there's not much she can do about that. The recent imbroglio of her Bosnia story-telling has only reinforced some of those negative perceptions.

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Filed under: 2008 Presidential Race
Tags: Democratic presidential campaign

After Hillary Clinton had closed the gap in North Carolina to single digits a few weeks ago, Barack Obama has rebounded strongly to take a large lead in the state, according to Rasmussen Reports:

In North Carolina, Barack Obama has opened up a twenty-three percentage point lead over Hillary Clinton. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that Obama attracts 56% of the vote while Clinton earns 33%. A month ago, Obama's lead was just seven percentage points.

While the absolute numbers are different, the trend is similar to results from Pennsylvania where Obama gained ten-points on Clinton during the month of March.

Perhaps the only disturbing news for Obama in the survey is that most Clinton voters (56%) say they are not likely to vote for the Illinois Senator in the general election against John McCain. A month ago, 45% of Clinton voters said they were not likely to vote for Obama against McCain

Read the whole story at the above link. Rasmussen does an automated telephone poll, so the response rate would be useful information to have in evaluating his potential accuracy - but it's the same method he has used all along, so the trend should be reliable. The trend is toward Obama.

Hillary has to be kicking herself. After Obama fell into difficulties for the first time in the campaign a few weeks ago, her support had surged, revitalizing her flagging campaign. So, what happened since then? Obviously, the major news event affecting her chances was being caught in a bald-faced lie about landing in Tuzla "under sniper fire," which reminded voters of her troubled relationship with the truth (she reportedly told the federal grand jury investigating her Rose Law Firm billing records - the ones under subpoena for over two years before a low-level aide "found" them in Hillary's private library - "I don't recall" some 147 times . . . can we afford a President with such a weak memory?).

Obama should send her a "Thank You" card for bailing him out - or rather, giving the fawning press a reason to stop asking him tough questions and pile on Hillary instead. It could be a gag card, maybe with a front reading, "BANG! BANG! BANG!" and the inside saying, "No, it isn't 'sniper fire,' - but you're dead anyway!"

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Filed under: 2008 Presidential Race, Democrats, North Carolina, Obama, Polls, Primaries
Tags: Democratic presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton, North Carolina, Obama, poll

Mark Penn, long-time Clinton adviser and pollster, has resigned as Hillary's "chief strategist" after his PR firm met with their client, the government of Columbia, to discuss lobbying efforts for the free trade treaty pending before the Senate, which Hillary opposes. David Wiessler reports for Reuters:

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's chief political strategist, Mark Penn, stepped aside on Sunday after news that he lobbied for a free trade treaty with Colombia that Clinton opposes.

A meeting between Penn and Colombia's U.S. ambassador over the trade deal posed political problems for the campaign of the New York senator, who is vying with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama to become the Democratic nominee in the November election.

"After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as chief strategist of the Clinton campaign," the campaign manager, Maggie Williams, said in a statement.

Read the rest at the link above. Rumors of Penn resigning/being fired have surfaced repeatedly during this campaign - perhaps not uncoincidentally, just after almost every big setback: Iowa, South Carolina, Super Tuesday . . . and considering Hillary was the odds-on favorite going in, and right up to Super Tuesday, the lackluster results of the campaign would indicate some top strategist NEEDED to be fired.

Oddly enough, every single time one of the major Democratic candidates has had to distance themselves from an adviser's policy statement, the adviser has been the one who was right. Obama had to eat their words on NAFTA, Iraq policy (twice), and FISA, and the advisers were offering a more reasonable policy in every case.

And so here was Penn, although he wasn't actually making the case out of conviction - he was being paid to do it. The free trade agreement with Columbia is different from previous treaties on trade. In this one, every single request by leading congressional Democrats for protection for labor rights and wages and environmental issues was incorporated into the deal. There is NO rational reason to oppose it, other than the words "free trade" cause a rather Pavlovian response in the mind-numbed morons who oppose it (out of fear, ignorance, and stupidity).

God forbid a Democrat ever advocate a rational policy - their base would never stand for it.

UPDATE: Statement from Hillary's campaign manager, Maggie Williams:

After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as Chief Strategist of the Clinton Campaign; Mark, and Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, Inc. will continue to provide polling and advice to the campaign.

[emphasis added] . . . so the separation isn't complete, it seems. Via K-Lo at The Corner

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Filed under: 2008 Presidential Race, Democrats, Hillary, Primaries
Tags: adviser, Democratic presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton, policy, resignation

Another day has passed and we have signs of desperation from the Clinton camp.

Sen. Hillary Clinton made a blunt appeal to North Dakota delegates to switch their support to her, despite the fact that Sen. Barack Obama handily defeated her in the state's caucus in February.

In an indication of how tense the battle has become for each Democratic delegate, Obama abandoned the campaign trail in Pennsylvania and scooted to North Dakota for the state party's annual dinner last night, despite the fact that he's already won 14 of the state's 21 delegates as well as six of the state's seven superdelegates.

The two candidates also will battle for votes tonight in Butte, Mont., when Democrats there hold their annual dinner. The Montana primary, which offers only a handful of delegates, is scheduled for June.

Clinton made it clear to North Dakota Democrats last night that she believes there is no such thing as a pledged delegate and highlighted that stubborn streak in her appeal for delegates to switch from Obama to her when the Democratic national party holds its nominating convention this August.

"I am here tonight because I am seeking your support," Clinton said, adding that she never gives up.

"I know what it's like to stumble. I know what it means to get knocked down. But I've never stayed down. I never will and neither will America if we get ready to win this election in November," she said.

Hat tip- Below the Beltway

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