Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) endorsed Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential bid, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“Rockefeller credited Obama for opposing the war in Iraq from the
beginning when Obama was still a candidate for the Senate.
Rockefeller’s nod further narrows Clinton’s lead in endorsements from
their Senate colleagues — Clinton has 13 and Obama now has 11.”
“I would encourage you on March 5 to call Sen. Clinton at 3 a.m. and ask that question.”
– Obama adviser Richard Danzig, after a reporter asked whether Clinton should drop out of the presidential race after Ohio and Texas vote on March 4.
A new Fox News poll in Ohio shows Sen. Hillary Clinton has an 8-point lead over Sen. Barack Obama, 46% to 38%, “due largely to the support of white women, seniors and working-class voters.”
In Texas, Obama edges Clinton, 48% to 45%, a statistical tie.
The survey’s margin of error is 4 points. Complete results are available.
Sen. Barack Obama “is rapidly gaining ground” against Sen. Hillary Clinton in Ohio, according to a new Rasmussen Reports survey.
Clinton leads Obama among likely voters, 47% to 45%, making it a statistical tie.
Key finding: Clinton’s lead is now just two points in Ohio, down from five-points in the previous poll, an eight-point advantage last week and fourteen points two weeks ago.
Two new American Research Group polls:
In Texas, Sen. Barack Obama leads Hillary Clinton 51% to 44%. Clinton leads among self-described Democrats 48% to 46% and Obama leads among self-described independents and Republicans 64% to 32%. Among men, it is Obama 60% and Clinton 32%. Among women, Clinton leads 53% to 44%. Clinton and Obama are tied at 49% each among early voters and Obama leads Clinton 51% to 43% among in-person voters.
In Ohio, Clinton leads 50% to 45%. Clinton leads among self-described Democrats 52% to 42% and Obama leads among independents and Republicans 54% to 42%. Obama leads among men 57% to 36% and Clinton leads among women 62% to 35%. Obama has increased his support among Democrats by 7 percentage points and among men by 8 percentage points since our last survey.
Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign played the national security card in a new ad that will get plenty of free air time across the cable news networks and Internet today. It echos the “red phone” ad that Walter Mondale used successfully against Gary Hart in the 1984 Democratic presidential race.
Key line: “It’s 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep… Something’s happening in the world… Who do you want answering the phone?”
Ben Smith calls it “the scariest ad of the cycle, one that echoes, in a soft-focus way, some of President Bush’s 2004 campaign spots.”
First Read: “Does it remind anyone of that LBJ Daisy ad? Ok, that’s a little extreme… But it sure does raise the specter of fear. Of course, remember, primary voters are more likely to vote their heart than head, which may mean an ad like this won’t be as effective as it would, say, in a general election.”
Marc Ambinder: “Arguably, this is her best argument against Barack Obama, and yet it’s taken her 13 months to make it so explicitly.”
Update: Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign took no time in responding with an ad featuring retired General Tony McPeak. Key line: “Barack Obama opposed this war in Iraq from the start, showing insight and courage others did not. And he’s our best hope to restore our security and standing in today’s world. The old Washington hands have let us down. We need a new leader to lift America.”
Arianna Huffington: “Should Barack Obama end up winning his party’s nomination, he will give his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on August 28 — 45 years to the day Martin Luther King delivered his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.”
Sen. Barack Obama has taken a slight lead in the Texas for the first time, according to the Belo Texas tracking poll.
Obama leads Sen. Hillary Clinton, 46% to 45%, making the race a statistical dead heat. “The numbers, however, show that Obama is making up ground quickly, gaining three percentage points since Sunday, while Clinton lost a percentage point in that same period.”
The poll has a 2.8% margin of error.
The Texas Democratic Party warned that next Tuesday’s election night caucuses “could be delayed or disrupted” after aides to Sen. Hillary Clinton “threatened to sue over the party’s complicated delegate selection process,” the Houston Chronicle reports.
“Democratic sources said both campaigns have made it clear that they might consider legal options over the complicated delegate selection process, which includes both a popular vote and evening caucuses. But the sources made it clear that the Clinton campaign in particular had warned of an impending lawsuit.”
“I’m a proud, conservative, liberal Republi — Hello! Easy there.”
– Sen. John McCain, quoted by the AP, later correcting himself by saying he was a “proud, conservative Republican, and both of my possible or likely opponents today are liberal Democrats.”
