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- The Pennsylvania primary is still almost a month away. That's easy to forget, but it's essential because a lot of the punditry going on right now entails straight line projections from the present. For instance, at the height of the Jeremiah Wright controversy, people started talking about what would happen if Obama lost North Carolina. Now, as he's responded to that and Clinton is embroiled in her own YouTube moment, one poll shows Obama with a commanding lead there. Now, Obama is having a good week and people are starting to talk about pushing Clinton out of the race. But it just would be bizarre for her to do so now. But who knows, Edwards dropped out a weird time too, so anything is possible.
- Is the Democratic primary recruiting new Democrats? The Washington Post makes the case.
- More people (more than 4 million) watched Obama's speech on race on YouTube than watched Mike Huckabee's Chuck Norris endorsement -- which previously held the record for most viewed video by a presidential candidate.
- A few weeks ago, when Clinton wasn't doing too well, she floated the idea of getting Obama's pledged delegates to switch to her side (which they are allowed to do under party rules but which would be widely and correctly perceived as illegitimate and underhanded). Her campaign scrambled to backtrack, but now she's doing it again and her campaign is sending mixed messages about their intentions. Really though, this is all just a way to increase uncertainty and prevent a perception of an inevitable Obama victory.
- Finally, just for fun, the campaign has gone on so long that it's starting to generate some of the most deeply perplexing and bizarre web videos I've ever seen. I mean did you really expect a music video starring Hillary Clinton as portrayed by a Chilean little person of indeterminate gender? Or a horrendously off-key performance of a song called "It's Raining McCain?" Did ya?
--Sam Boyd
