The World is Talking. Global Politics

“Pennsylvania Avenue, the 1.2-mile stretch between the White House and the Capitol, is where the influential and ambitious congregate. Through stories of party strategists, money men, policy-makers, fixers, socialites, lobbyists, spinners, deal-makers, and more, Harwood and Seib explore the great political transformations that have altered in a fundamental way the relationship between Americans and their government.” 

The latest Evans-Novak Political Report says that “a rumor running through the political community” now puts former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) in the lead to be Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential candidate. “But Romney has many critics in the McCain inner circle, and we don’t think the decision has been made.”

There is also speculation McCain could name his veep early “to step up fund-raising before the national convention.”

Five more Democratic superdelegates have made their choices so far today, with Sen. Barack Obama getting three and Sen. Hillary Clinton getting two.

By our count — and it’s not always easy to count — Obama snagged 41 since the Ohio and Texas primaries, while Clinton won the support of 10.

Even since losing the Pennsylvania primary, Obama leads the superdelegate battle by picking up 10, while Clinton picked up 6.

The latest count from NBC News gives Clinton the overall superdelegate lead over Obama, 268 to 247, with 280 still uncommitted.

“I don’t see any reason at all to continue after June 3rd when we know who got the most delegates, who got the most popular votes, who won the most states and so forth.”

– Jimmy Carter, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, on the Democratic presidential race.

While several previous polls suggested Sen. John McCain might make New Jersey competitive this fall, a new Monmouth University poll shows Sen. Barack Obama beating McCain, 56% to 32%, and Sen. Hillary Clinton winning, 52% to 38%.

Meanwhile, “all signs point to Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) being in a strong position for re-election in both the primary and general elections.”

Karl Rove calls it “politically troubling” that Sen. John McCain “is one of the most private individuals to run for president in history.”

“When it comes to choosing a president, the American people want to know
more about a candidate than policy positions. They want to know about
character, the values ingrained in his heart. For Mr. McCain, that
means they will want to know more about him personally than he has been
willing to reveal.”

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll — to be formally released tonight — shows that just 21% of Americans approve of President Bush’s job in handling the economy — his lowest number ever as president on that question.

In addition, an amazing 81% believe the country is currently in a recession.

Our cable “news” organizations did not do it. But The Daily Show did. Is it journalism? It is useful information. From…

With Republicans and independents likely to be the deciding factor in next week’s Democratic primary in Indiana, Rick Hasen points to a “quirky state law” which “gives voters the right to challenge other
voters at the polls for not being sufficiently loyal to the political
party in whose primary they are voting.”

While the primary is technically open, the law requires that voters in a Democratic primary “voted for more Democrats than
Republicans in the last general election” or “did not vote the last time around but intend to
vote for a majority of Democrats in the next general election.”

Furthermore, the law
“specifically provides that a voter can challenge another voter at the
polling place for not meeting these requirements. The challenger gets
to demand that the voter sign an affidavit stating that she meets one
of the two requirements above. If the voter signs the affidavit under
penalty of perjury, she can vote.”

Plitical intra-elite battles and anti-corruption crusades both remain hot topics on the agenda of Kazakhstani blogosphere, but speculations over the looming global food crisis and its implications for Central Asia made the bloggers cover this issue in their discussions.
Ehot wonders, what will Kazakhstan be looking like if the food deficit strikes the region harshly […]