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LIGHTNING ROUND: IT'S NOT A TRAINSMASH.
- Think Progress runs down McCain's extensive connections to the oil industry and his record of supporting tax breaks for oil companies.
- You wouldn't know it from your average newspaper, but in many ways the general election has already started.
- McCain is raffling off a seat on his press bus to top donors. I guess there's nothing wrong with that and, as Jay Carney says, it's a way for McCain to raise money off his warm relations with the press, but if I were a reporter on that bus I'd feel a bit uneasy being used to raise money for the candidate I'm covering.
- Obama supporter, superdelegate, and Governor of Puerto Rico Aníbal S. Acevedo Vilá has been indicted for campaign finance violations. This creates some problems for Obama in a state where the conventional wisdom was already that Clinton was favored. However, according to this guy, who seems to know what he's talking about, the American media doesn't get Puerto Rican politics and Obama is actually better positioned to win there.
- You know all the punditry based on the Gallup daily tracking poll? Hooey says Pollster.com. Similarly, Mori pointed out that the number of Democrats saying they would vote for McCain if their preferred candidate doesn't get the nomination is actually quite low by historical standards. I'm still not convinced this primary is good for the party, but it isn't as disastrous as we think (it's not a trainsmash, as an English friend of my family likes to say) which is a good thing because, as I said on Tuesday, it ain't gonna be over anytime soon.
- The recession, coming soon to an economy near you.
--Sam Boyd
COMMENTS (2)
There's another factor, beside the heat-of-battle negative feeling for the other side, that may play into the poll numbers. Dittoheads are not the only ones who can try to game the system. If 10-15% of Hillary's vote in Mississippi came from Repubs who were trying to pick a weak opponent, you don't think 10% of Dems in a phone poll that doesn't count for anything might exaggerate how they feel about the candidate they don't want?
I DID it two months ago, when asked my opinion of the three (at the time) Democratic choices. My real opinion of Hillary - mediocre, a weak choice, unlikely to make any substantive change. In the poll, I chose the worst option available for every question. If called right now about the NC primary, I'd tell them I intend to vote for McCain over Hillary - and there is not the slightest chance in Hell I will vote for anyone other than the Democratic nominee, or stay home. But I feel that strongly that she is a terrible choice - not necessarily that she would lose, but that she would cost 4 Senate and 12 House seats, and greatly reduce the chance of Dem victories in '12 and '16, which is what it will take to get a decent Supreme Court. If a poll calls me, that is a chance to make my voice count a lot more than it will on May 6, and I'm going to take it.
Are there many people who would do this? Maybe not (how many are reading TAPPED at 1:45am?) But I can easily imagine 10% of likely primary voters feeling strongly enough to do this, even though there November vote is in no doubt whatsoever.
Posted by: david | March 28, 2008 1:47 AM
A "good reporter" following McCain (if there are any) would use the donor auction as an opportunity to find out who's supporting St. John and why. Someone who's not used to the press would be a relatively easy target for this.
Posted by: Rich | March 29, 2008 8:47 AM