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May 1 (Bloomberg) -- Hillary Clinton runs stronger than Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama in a match-up against Republican John McCain in the crucial swing states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida, a Quinnipiac University poll shows. Clinton's support in the three states is built on white working-class voters, who also were essential to her primary victories over Obama in Ohio and Pennsylvania, the poll found. Clinton, a New York senator, would get 49 percent to McCain's 41 percent among all voters in Florida and she is ahead of McCain 48 percent to 38 percent in Ohio. In Pennsylvania, Clinton bests...

About 200 Democrats from Florida did indeed picket outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters building on Ivy Street in Southeast Washington today. According to my colleagues at CongressDaily, Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL) threatened to "shut down the convention" unless the full delegation were restored. Many of the protesters were members of LULAC, a Latino-rights group. Video link of the protest at DNC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq1KE7oG53s

Hillary Clinton's latest ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jv1_H8xsIs Hillary: I'm Hillary Clinton, and I approved this message. Announcer: The economy's in trouble, When the housing crisis broke, Hillary Clinton called for action: a freeze on foreclosures. Barack Obama said no. Now gas prices are skyrocketing and she's ready to act again. Hillary's plan: use the windfall profits of the oil companies to pay to suspend the gas tax this summer. Barack Obama says no again. People are hurting. It's time for a president who's ready to take action now. You know, I had worried that McCain's and the RNC's criticism of Obama for...

The AFL-CIO is sending out mail attacking John McCain, according to the Hotline. To whom? The piece has been sent so far this cycle to more than 400,000 swing voters, notably those much-courted Reagan Democrats living in OH, WI, MI and MN. Note that "Democrats" are swing voters. These "swing voters" are Hillary Clinton primary voters. These are people who have a high likelihood of becoming McCain voters. AFL-CIO is terrified that its members are going to vote for John McCain. These are those white working class voters that Barack Obama seems incapable of appealing to. They are going to...

April 30, 2008 -- ALBANY - The Rev. Jeremiah Wright would be happy to see Barack Obama's presidential campaign derailed because the pastor is fuming that his former congregant has "betrayed" their 20-year relationship, The Post has learned. "After 20 years of loving Barack like he was a member of his own family, for Jeremiah to see Barack saying over and over that he didn't know about Jeremiah's views during those years, that he wasn't familiar with what Jeremiah had said, that he may have missed church on this day or that and didn't hear what Jeremiah said, this is...

No Change in Democratic Presidential Contest in Kentucky -- Clinton Still 2:1 Atop Obama: In a Democratic Primary in Kentucky today, 04/29/08, three weeks until votes are counted, Hillary Clinton decisively defeats Barack Obama, 63% to 27%. In three SurveyUSA tracking polls over the past 30 days, there is no movement in the contest. Obama gains a little bit of ground in Greater Louisville, but loses an equivalent amount in other portions of the state.

POLL: PPP Indiana (4/26-27) Public Policy Polling (D) Indiana n=1,388 likely voters, 4/26-47 Clinton 50, Obama 42 Another poll after SurveyUSA is showing Clinton with a comfortable lead in Indiana. PPP skewed a bit in Obama's favor in past surveys. They predicted a 3-point win by Obama in PA, and it did not pan out.

Re: Obama's Numbers [John Hood] Rich, I'm told that a new Survey USA poll for a NC television station today will put Clinton within five points of Obama. So, yeah, assume a roomful of scaredy cats over at Obama HQ.

Howard Dean sent the following email to his mailing list yesterday: Dear Friend, John McCain wants to stay in Iraq for 100 years. He’s said it, and it’s on tape. But his campaign hates that he was caught. They’ve viciously attacked anyone who reminded the American people that he said it, including me. They’ve said that those who reference the 100 years comments are “deliberately misleading voters.” So we’ve taken John McCain’s own words — video of him saying that 100 years would be “fine with me” — and made a TV ad. There’s no confusion, no distortion, no misleading...

Help Us Barack Obama, You're Our Only Hope, Cont'd [Jonah Goldberg] Check this out on Daily Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/26/83118/7371/654/503796 People have always regarded comets as "messengers of the gods". The meaning ascribed to a comet's appearance is comprised of many factors, including the mythological story of the constellation that the comet's path highlights. This past autumn (2007), a remarkable comet, Holmes, appeared in the nightime sky, as a huge blue sphere (larger than the diameter of our sun). It's path of maximal brightness carried it through the constellation of Perseus, crossing in front of two of that constellation's stars in particular-...

What a difference two weeks of intense campaigning can make. The final two weeks of campaigning in the Pennsylvania Primary may not have changed the outcome of the Democratic race, but it helped John McCain in the Keystone State. Two weeks ago, in Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton enjoyed a nine-point lead over McCain and Barack Obama had an eight-point edge over the Republican hopeful. Now, however, Clinton’s lead is down to five points and Obama trails McCain by a point. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in Pennsylvania finds McCain with a statistically insignificant 44% to 43% advantage over Obama. Clinton...

On MSNBC a few minutes ago Terry McCauliffe announced the Hillary Clinton campaign raised $10 million online "with 50,000 brand new donors" since the polls closed in Pennsylvania last night. "The biggest day we've ever had." Hillbeast will fight on and on and on... Operation chaos is definitely working. I am giggling like a girl!

This is Clinton country. A new poll from Suffolk University, out today, shows Clinton leading Barack Obama statewide, 52 percent to 42 percent. But in the southwestern part of the state, here in the Mon Valley, Clinton has a huge lead, 74 percent to 17 percent. And people here aren’t just for Clinton. They’re against Obama. At this Hillary rally, no one expresses any outright hostility to Obama, but they tell me over and over again that they just don’t like him, that they don’t care for him, that they don’t trust him. They view him as inexperienced and not...

The big areas of movement include NM which shifted from -6 for McCain against both Ds to +6 against Obama and +3 against Clinton. Also VA went from a tie in both races to a McCain lead of 16 against Clinton and 8 against Obama. The KY difference is still astounding but it is showing up over time. Clinton makes the race a tie now (it used to be a 10 point McCain lead), but Obama as the nominee makes the race 63-29 for McCain similar to March's 64-28. Finally, I don't know how SUSA can do this polling and...

BARACK OBAMA Obama, After Saying He Won't Wear a Flag Pin, Says He Never Said He Wouldn't Wear One Obama, last night: "I have never said that I don't wear flag pins or refuse to wear flag pins." Obama, October 4, 2007: "You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin," Obama said. "Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won't wear that pin on...

Silvio Berlusconi is Italy’s new prime minister - again - after winning a General Election against Walter Veltroni, who modelled himself on the US Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama. ... The results from the General Election on 13 and 14 April 2008 gave Berlusconi a majority in both the Lower and Upper (Senate) Houses of Parliament. Berlusconi’s People of Freedom Party (PDL) won 272 seats in the Lower House compared with 211 for Veltroni’s Democratic Party (PD); at the time of writing, 12 seats are still to be assigned from foreign constituencies. In the Senate, the PDL won 141...

The Italian Obama Loses Big! [Michael Novak] Michael Ledeen was correct earlier this week that hatred for America has grown so intense in Europe recently that the nations there seem to be falling all over themselves trying to elect pro-American leaders. The past weekend produced a landslide victory for the pro-Americans in Italy, a majority of well over 100 deputies in the Chamber of Deputies, and some thirty seats in the Senate. As a Major League infield in Europe, Berlosconi to Merkel to Sarkozy is now a great combination in the field, and they are long-ball hitters, too. Untold story:...

A Pinocchio problem? To fib . . . or is it a faulty memory? • • To wit: Dem presidential contender Barack Obama's handlers may be telling the press Obama has NO "recollection" of a 2004 party at influence peddler Tony Rezko's Wilmette house, but a top Sneed source claims Obama not only gave Rezko's guest of honor, Iraqi billionaire Nadhmi Auchi, a big welcome . . . but he made a few toasts! • • Trial file: The name of Auchi, who was banned from the U.S. in 2005, according to court papers, surfaced at Rezko's trial Monday. (Top...

As a reader noticed, Obama was sporting the much-debated flag pin for his speech to veterans today.

BEIJING, April 12 (Xinhua) -- If an opinion poll were to be carried out on the Internet in China to choose the most disgusting figure, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would probably be on top of the list, as she confused right with wrong on the issue of Tibet, held double standards to interfere in China's internal affairs, hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and impaired China-U.S. relations. The fact that Pelosi is detested by the Chinese people is closely connected with her recent move to clamor for "Tibet independence" and instigate "boycotting the Olympic Games".