A new SurveyUSA poll in Kentucky shows Sen. Hillary Clinton crushing Sen. Barack Obama, 58% to 29%, in the closed Democratic primary to be held on May 20.
Key findings: Clinton leads narrowly in greater Louisville, but leads decisively in other parts of the state, including 4:1 in Eastern KY. Obama trails by 20 among men, trails by 37 among women.
Jonathan Alter says that some Democrats “terrified that their bloody primary campaign will doom them in November” are suggesting Sen. Hillary Clinton run for governor of New York.
“The travails of New York Gov. David Paterson have opened up a new potential career path for Clinton, according to well-informed Democratic Party insiders who refused to allow their names to be used when discussing contingencies. They want her to consider the option if she concludes after the April 22 Pennsylvania primary that she cannot overtake Barack Obama for the party’s presidential nomination. Hillary Clinton, while fully committed to continuing her presidential campaign, was said to be open to discussing the idea, while Bill Clinton rejected it out of hand.”
My Seinfeldian streak of not throwing up came to a gaudy end on Friday evening when I was walloped by a bout of food poisoning. It is one of the bylaws of modern lowbrow comedy (the only comedy that survives…
The latest Public Policy Polling survey in North Carolina finds Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. Hillary Clinton, 54% to 36%.
Obama’s greatest strength “is coming from voters who have a history of
voting in general elections but not in primaries. With that group he
has a 60% to 32% advantage. Bringing more folks into the political process
has been one of the central successes of the Obama campaign, and it
appears he’s doing that in North Carolina.”
Key findings: “Obama
now leads in every part of the state except the Mountains, which has
very few black voters. He has an advantage across every age group, and
is up by double digits with both men and women. He is also doing
respectable with the white vote, where he has 36%, and has his
customary large lead with black voters (81% to 11%).”
“Democrats promised an unprecedented era of transparency and openness when they imposed new rules on colleagues who shop for their next jobs while still in Congress,” CQ Politics reports. “But those new requirements are delivering little, if any, disclosure about who might be voting on an issue of interest to an employer-in-waiting.”
The Los Angeles Times profiles Harold Ickes — “the man in charge of Clinton’s feverish effort to lock up
superdelegates.”
“Aggressive, profane, openly scornful of rivals, Ickes rules Clinton’s
superdelegate operation with an intimidating style and a mythic persona.”
His “enthusiasm for no-holds-barred politics
sometimes rattles friends and foes alike. Ickes once got so carried
away that he bit another political operative on the leg. Now, some 35
years later, at age 68, he has mellowed so little that it could happen
again.”
Said Ickes: “It depends on how heated the circumstances are.”
A new American Research Group survey in North Carolina finds Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. Hillary Clinton, 51% to 38%.
Key findings: Obama leads among men 50% to 35% and he leads among women 51% to 40%. Clinton leads among white voters 49% to 37% and Obama leads among African American voters 78% to 17%. Obama leads 51% to 39% among likely primary voters under 50 and he leads 51% to 38% among likely primary voters 50 and older.
Al Gore was interviewed by Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes over the weekend and reiterated that he was not going to get involved in the Democratic presidential race.
Leslie Stahl: “Are they calling you every minute?”
Al Gore: “Not every minute.”
Stahl: “No? Lotta pressure though, I’ll bet.”
Gore: “We unplugged the phones for this interview, so I can’t say with
authority. But no, everyone — they both call. And I appreciate that
fact.”
Stahl: “And what about the idea of the honest broker who goes to the two
candidates and helps push one or the other of them off to the side?”
Gore: “Yeah, kind of a modern Boss Tweed.”
Stahl: “Except his name would be Al Gore.”
Gore: “Well, I’m not applying for the job of broker.”
Former President Clinton urged Democratic Party superdelegates and
activists “to be patient in selecting a presidential nominee and
let the primary election process play out over the coming months,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
Said Clinton: “Don’t let anybody tell you that somehow we are weakening the Democratic
Party. Chill out and let everybody
have their say. We are going to win this election.”
“My attitude is that Senator Clinton can run as long as she wants.”
– Sen. Barack Obama, quoted by the New York Times.
