New West Notes

Senator Bob Casey endorses Barack Obama.

** NORTH CAROLINA: BIG OBAMA LEAD. After the Rev. Wright firestorm, Barack Obama’s lead in the increasingly pivotal North Carolina primary on May 6th dipped to the low single digits. Last week, the freshman Illinois senator campaigned there, as did the New York senator and the former president. The upshot of last night’s Public Policy Polling tracking poll? Obama 54%, Clinton 36%. He leads everywhere but in the mountains.

** ICK(ES). In case you missed it, the not entirely late LA Times has a profile of Hillary Clinton’s changeable agent Harold Ickes. This guy is a real piece of work. “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.”

Sweetie, you try biting me on the leg and we are publishing your obituary. With not a lot of effort on my part, incidentally. Things just happen naturally.

** KENTUCKY: HILLARY’S BEST STATE? With Hillary Clinton’s numbers dropping around the country, we may have found the best state left in America for the former Democratic presidential frontrunner. That would be the Bluegrass State, Kentucky. (I was last there for the Kentucky Derby, some years ago.) According to this poll, Clinton, in a closed Democratic primary, leads Barack Obama, 58% to 29%. Not that it will make a bit of difference in the outcome.

** NEW PODCAST. The road ahead, following Snipergate, Wrightgate, et al. Heading into this week’s John McCain tour.

** WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.

Barack Obama campaigns in Lancaster and Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Hillary Clinton campaigns in Harrisburg and Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania.

Bill Clinton, the ultimate trouper for his wife — or is he? — campaigns in Portland, Salem, and Bend, Oregon. All very familiar turf for NWN. Here’s a tip: Obama wins big.

John McCain kicks off his my-biography-is-the-story-of-America tour (somewhat discussed on NWN) in Meridian, Mississippi.

** PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON’S CALIFORNIA CONVENTION SUPERDELEGATE HAUL: 0. There is a long form. That is the short form. And the ultimate bottom-line end result of this year’s California Democratic Party convention. Aside from Jerry Brown wowing the crowd on Saturday. Which was also not exactly a surprise to anyone paying attention here.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel.

You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.

While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** CHRONIC TECH PROBLEMS CONTINUE ON NWN. They especially affect commenting in the Forum. Sorry for the continuing difficulty.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil is trading in the $105 to $106 per barrel range.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum.

Former President Bill Clinton first attacks Barack Obama, as “fairy tale.”

SUNDAY REPORTS

** OBAMA UP BIG NATIONALLY, BILL CLINTON TOMORROW. More on former President Bill Clinton, and his seeming California swan song this weekend, tomorrow. Meanwhile, Barack Obama, clearly surviving the Rev. Wright firestorm, has moved to a 10-point lead over Hillary Clinton in the Gallup national tracking poll. It’s Obama 52%, Clinton 42%.

** 2010 GUBERNATORIALS AT THE CALIFORNIA CONVENTION. Possible gubernatorial candidates spoke at the convention yesterday, as I reported yesterday. Former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown, Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, state schools superintendent Jack O’Connell, and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom all spoke to the general session. Treasurer Bill Lockyer was scheduled, but I believe a no-show (before I arrived, not that it matters because he isn’t running). LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa didn’t come. Former Controller Steve Westly did not speak, but was all over the convention as Barack Obama’s California co-chairman (among other things, addressing a meeting of 500 Obamans). Phil Angelides? Haven’t seen him around.

There were no hospitality suites.

Brown, as noted yesterday, clearly got the best of it with a very spirited and amusing speech. Newsom, an old Brown family friend, scored points. As some sharp-eyed bloggers noted, Brown and Westly did have a private meeting. And so it goes.

** THAT MIGDEN-LENO CONVENTION FIGHT. For those intent few of you interested in this — I described it below yesterday — and there are certainly some folks getting carried away, with Democratic bloggers saying it overshadows Bill Clinton’s California convention appearance, which it quite obviously does not, here goes. (For everyone else, kindly ignore this.) I happened to show at the state senate district endorsement meeting last night as they were counting the votes. Very slowly. San Francisco Senator Carole Migden stormed out as I walked in. (Though it’s hard to tell when she’s storming, or not.) After about 40 more minutes, they finally finished counting, presumably utilizing base 11 arithmetic. Migden prevailed over SF Assemblyman Mark Leno, 150 to 115. Marin Assemblyman Joe Nation, who may actually win the primary, was third. With, er, one vote. One ultra-lib defeated another ultra-lib, with a moderate lib third.

President Clinton’s prominence is safe.

Of course, it being SF politics, the Leno forces didn’t take their defeat lying down, and immediately circulated a petition to force a convention floor vote on the local party endorsement. They got twice the, um, 300 signatures they needed. In my opinion, and I’m through thinking about this as of now, Migden’s party endorsement doesn’t look good. Ironically, it probably doesn’t matter, since the race is in one of the most highly educated, activist-oriented electorates in the country.

** WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.

Hillary Clinton is off the trail in Chappaqua, New York.

Bill Clinton is campaigning in San Jose, California and Medford, Oregon.

Barack Obama is campaigning in University Park and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

John McCain is off the trail in Sedona, Arizona.

** OBAMA’S BIG WIN IN TEXAS CAUCUSES REAFFIRMED IN SATURDAY’S COUNTY CONVENTIONS. The Texas Democratic caucuses — which drew a national record caucus turnout of some 1.1 million Texas Democrats on March 4th — were won by Barack Obama as first reported here. But the numbers were a bit unclear, in part because Hillary Clinton’s campaign tried at every turn to slow down the count or have it ended entirely. I’ve reportedly extensively on this.

The Clinton campaign tried unsuccessfully to have the next phase of the national delegate selection process shot down by stopping the Texas county conventions on Saturday. Texas party chairman Boyd Gaines put out a statement about this at the time, as reported here. And the effort to she Texas county conventions failed. Though some as yet unknown entity went to the trouble of arranging massive robocalls falsely claiming that the county conventions had been cancelled.

After all those machinations failed, the Texas county conventions took place yesterday. The result: Obama emerges with a landslide 59% to 41% victory over Clinton.

As a result, and as I’ve reported previously would be the case, Obama wins the overall Texas contest, emerging with five more delegates from Texas than Clinton.

SATURDAY REPORTS

** A FEW CONVENTION NOTES. As you’re gathering, I’m not exactly live blogging the California Democratic convention in San Jose. It’s not that big a deal. Mostly useful for gathering information, saying hi to a lot of people, and so on. And I’m paying a fair amount of attention to what’s happening this weekend in Iraq. Which is, er, not so good. A few non-random thoughts during a slow Saturday mid-afternoon …

… Former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown delivered a stemwinder of an address this morning. Speaking seemingly off the cuff, and certainly without teleprompter, Brown won roars from the crowd as he discussed his work on climate change, environmental, and consumer issues, and ripped repeatedly into the Bush Administration. I’ve known Brown since I was in school, by which I do not mean college; he’s a master at this.

Here’s how he closed: “I don’t do much today but sue people. But hopefully someday I’ll get around to doing a little more than that and maybe you’ll help me.” State party chairman Art Torres, who was legislative director of the United Farm Workers when Brown instituted the state’s Farm Labor Act, told him as he exited the stage to a wave of approval: “I’m honored to follow in your footsteps.”

… San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has made a good impression here. He picked up a Mentor of the Year award from the Young Democrats, met with various interest group leaders, and spoke to the convention this afternoon. While he didn’t scale up to the hall as Brown did — the Newsoms are old family friends of the Browns, incidentally — he did well, telling the crowd about various accomplishments in San Franciso.

Newsom has a great line he uses about San Francisco, which is also my native city. He usually mentions that “somone” called the City by the Bay, “47 square miles surrounded by reality.”

That someone, I will now reveal, is Paul Kantner of the Jefferson Airplane.

… It wouldn’t be a state convention without some very odd political behavior. The, um, exciting battle for the party endorsement in a Bay Area state senate district between two San Francisco left-liberals, state Senator Carole Migden and Assemblyman Mark Leno, tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee in the big picture (Migden is lesbian and Leno is gay), features roaming bands of supporters chanting and waving signs. The main impression they’re having on me is that they keep getting in my way. And they make me wonder why they’re wasting their time on this “visibility” work, which has no real world impact whatsoever.

Another thing. I think a lot of these folks work for the Democrats in their respective houses. A lot of bad blood there, making this even more psychological and emotional than political. And that’s precisely as much attention as that warrants.

** GALLUP NATIONAL TRACKING POLL: OBAMA OVER CLINTON, MCCAIN SHADES DEMS. The brand new Gallup national tracking poll shows Barack Obama back with a significant lead over Hillary Clinton, 50% to 43%.

John McCain edges both Democrats at the moment, by two points over Obama and four points over Clinton.

** RASMUSSEN NATIONAL TRACKING POLL: OBAMA OVER CLINTON. For the first time since the Rev. Wright firestorm broke, Barack Obama is back up to a significant lead over Hillary Clinton in the Rasmussen national tracking poll. Clinton had reversed Obama’s prior lead, then she and Obama were neck and neck, with Clinton generally a couple of points ahead.

Now it’s Obama over Clinton, 48% to 42%.

** BILL CLINTON IN CALIFORNIA. Former President Bill Clinton continues his relentless drive to help his wife secure the Democratic nomination against new frontrunner Barack Obama this weekend with a speech to the California Democratic Party convention in San Jose and a private meeting with uncommitted California superdelegates to the Democratic national convention.

After a couple of events in Pennsylvania, Clinton flies into San Francisco Saturday night. He’ll have a private meeting some 20 superdelegates — he’s called them before pitching Hillary — and address the state party convention Sunday morning, now set for 10:30 AM. Then he’s off for a town hall meeting in Medford, Oregon late Sunday afternoon. And a day of campaigning in other parts of Oregon, where Obama has a big lead over Hillary, on Monday.

The Obama campaign is countering former President Clinton in the superdelegates pitch department with former state Controller and eBay honcho Steve Westly and San Francisco Districty Attorney Kamala Harris.

Incidentally, I’m told that California party chairman Art Torres — who is, of course, himself an uncommitted superdelegate — said yesterday that the superdelegates should ratify the choice of the earned delegates. And their almost certain choice is Obama.

** CHRONIC TECH PROBLEMS CONTINUE ON NWN. They especially affect commenting in the Forum. Sorry for the continuing difficulty, which I’ve been assured was eliminated. There is a workaround, if you need it, in the Forum section.

** PELOSI REAFFIRMS HER STAND ON THE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION. At last night’s chairman’s welcoming reception at the California Democratic Party convention in San Jose, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reaffirmed her position that the superdelegates should essentially ratify the candidacy of whomever wins the most delegates in the primaries and caucuses. As that will almost certainly be Barack Obama, a group of 20 Clinton fundraisers, as previously discussed, had sent Pelosi an angry letter telling her to back off that position. It’s the fond scenario of the Hillary Clinton camp that her candidacy will be saved by a raft of superdelegates after all the voting is done.

It turns out that this group of 20 Clinton fundraisers, many from New York, have put together about $24 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee over the past decade. Which is clearly a lot. But since there is a new fundraising model in the new century, centering more on small donors mobilized via the Internet than on super-rich donors or on relatively smaller groups of the affluent bundled by influentials, the threat rang a bit hollow. Or merely old century.

In any event, Pelosi, by all accounts, was perturbed by the attempt to push her around. As she chairs the Democratic National Convention in Denver, this was, let us say, a remarkably heavy-handed and dunderheaded move.

Indeed, Pelosi has countered with her own letter to Democratic contributors, in which she expresses serious concern about the tone and length of the presidential nomination race.

I will do whatever it takes to protect our candidates and make sure their campaigns to drive change forward don’t skip a beat. …

Throughout the Presidential nominating process, I have been so proud to watch Democrats turn out in record numbers and demonstrate enormous grassroots energy. And soon we will have an exciting presidential nominee who will make our entire party proud.

WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.

Barack Obama campaigns in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

Hillary Clinton campaigns in Indianapolis and New Albany, Indiana, and in Louisville and Madisonville, Kentucky.

Bill Clinton campaigns in Girardville and Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

John McCain is off the trail, spending the weekend at his prospective Western White House in Sedona, Arizona.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel.

You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.

While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil closed at $105.62 per barrel on Friday. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum.

John McCain launches this general election TV ad today in
the battleground state of New Mexico.

** MCCAIN’S OPPORTUNITY, AND PROBLEM. John McCain, as you can tell from the above first broadcast ad of the general election, is moving into another phase of his candidacy. Last week, he toured the Middle East and Europe.

This week, he campaigned in the West, raising big money in California and elsewhere, taking a first stab at the Latino vote, and delivering a well-regarded major foreign policy address in Los Angeles.

Next week, he does a national tour, rolling out the biographical, historical, and patriotic themes of his candidacy.

All well and good for him, especially with the Clintons tearing into frontrunner Obama, and vice versa. But there is a problem. While the surge he championed has had success in Iraq following years of clearcut failure there, that still highly troubled historic approximation of a country is increasingly convulsed in political struggles, strikes, and street fighting between Shiite factions. Ironically, the US is mostly backing the major Shiite political faction most closely aligned with Iran.

Much of this is about maneuvering in advance of Iraqi elections. Can the Iraqi government, itself riven by factionalism, quell the fighting? Or will US forces be drawn into an ever front-and-center position taking sides in Iraqi factional fighting?

The renewed turmoil in Iraq comes at a bad time for John McCain. The political success of his tour next week, which has been shaping up very well, may well hinge in what happens in Iraq over this coming weekend.

** GALLUP NATIONAL POLL: OBAMA WITH SIGNIFICANT LEAD OVER CLINTON. In the brand-new Gallup tracking poll, it’s Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton, 50% to 42%. Reports of Obama’s imminent demise in the Rev. Wright firestorm were exaggerated.

John McCain has a slim two-point edge over Obama, and four points over Hillary.

** CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS TO KICK OFF LOW-KEY CONVENTION. The California Democratic Party convention and its associated activities kick off this afternoon in San Jose. This annual convention is the biennial affair in which a state party platform, usually of interest mainly to party activists, is adopted.

It will be much more low-key than last year’s gathering in San Diego, which featured all the Democratic presidential candidates. This time around, neither of the final candidates — frontrunner Barack Obama and former frontrunner Hillary Clinton — will be present. Although former President Bill Clinton will be on hand to woo uncommitted superdelgates (see list below) and address the convention.

As a headline speaker, the former president somewhat outranks the California Republicans’ ranking speaker last month — South Dakota Senator John Thune.

Seemingly permanent state Dem chairman Art Torres has a kick-off reception tonight featuring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The San Franciscan, incidentally, has reacted angrily to the Clinton campaign’s attempt to use 20 big fundraisers to intimidate her into backing off her view that the superdelegates should not overturn the verdict of the majority of delegates won in the primaries and caucuses. As for Bill Clinton’s lobbying of the uncommitted California superdelegates, he’s called all of them before, to no apparent effect.

Tomorrow morning a variety of speakers will address the convention, including Congressmember Mike Honda, Congressmember Zoe Lofgren, Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Controller John Chiang, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, and former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown.

The legislative leaders luncheon features Democratic Congressional Delegation Chair Zoe Lofgren, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata. The afternoon session will feature former Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, congressional candidate Jackie Speier, Congressmember Jerry McNerney, state Board of Equalization Chair Judy Chu, Assembly Speaker-elect Karen Bass, California Teachers Association president David Sanchez, and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. The Saturday night dinner will feature former talk show host-turned activist Phil Donahue and United Farm Workers president Arturo Rodriguez.

And finally on Sunday, it’s Bill Clinton. The lucky speakers who get to follow him include California Secretary of State Debra Bowen.

** MCCAIN MEDIA STRATEGIST AFFIRMS HE’LL LEAVE RATHER THAN FACE OBAMA. John McCain’s chief media consultant, Mark McKinnon, a Texan who previously performed the honors for President Bush, reiterated to the National Journal that he will step away from the McCain campaign if Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee. Why? Because it will inevitably get negative. And because McKinnon is an Obama admirer.

Well, this goes back to a memo that I wrote to the campaign when I came aboard more than a year and a half ago, and I simply let them know that I had spent time with Obama and read his book and I like the guy. I think he has strong character and a fascinating life story, and I disagree with him fundamentally on issues like Iraq and trade and a number of others. But I just flashed forward to the improbable scenario, at that time seemingly improbable, that John McCain and Barack Obama might face off against one other. And I just told them at the time that I thought that I would be uncomfortable being on the front lines — being as aggressive as you need to be in a presidential campaign — and not only that I would be uncomfortable, but that it would be bad for the campaign, and that if that circumstance were to come to be, that I would just take a step to the sidelines and continue to support John McCain 100 percent and be No. 1 fan and cheerleader. But just kind of take myself out of the front lines.

** PENNSYLVANIA SENATOR ENDORSES OBAMA. U.S. Senator Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat whose socially conservative father served as governor, endorses Barack Obama today. Casey, who had previously said he would remain neutral till after the April 22nd Pennsylvania primary, will introduce Obama this morning at a Pittsburgh event, at the Soldiers & Sailors Museum, kicking off Obama’s six-day bus tour of the Keystone State. Casey will also ride along for part of the bus tour.

Why the switch from neutrality to back Obama in a primary as perfectly set up for Hillary Clinton as any in America? Casey is said to have been impressed by Obama’s handling of the Rev. Wright controversy. His four daughters are all Obama enthusiasts. And Casey, as a superdelegate, wants to start winding down an increasingly damaging nomination contest.

Clinton is backed by most of the state’s Democratic establishment, headed by Governor Ed Rendell, who beat Casey in a 2002 primary. Casey, then the state’s auditor general, went on to crush Senator Rick Santorum, a far right fave, 59% to 41% in November 2006.

Casey is the 16th of Obama’s Senate colleagues to back him. Clinton has 12 of their Senate colleagues in her corner.

** NOTE ON INTERMITTENT TECH PROBLEMS. The site underlying NWN went through a tech transition that has caused intermittent problems here since Monday afternoon. The Forum section has a chronic problem with regard to the posting of comments. A reader developed a workaround, which is near the top of the Forum.

WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.

Barack Obama begins his bus tour of Pennsylvania, starting out in Pittsburgh and continuing to Greenburg.

Hillary Clinton campaigns across Indiana with stops in Mishawaka, Hammond, Fort Wayne, and Muncie.

Bill Clinton barnstorms across North Carolina, with events in Greensboro, High Point, Salisbury, Kannapolis, Gastonia, Hickory, and Asheville.

John McCain raises money in Las Vegas, Nevada.

** CALIFORNIA CUTS ZERO EMISSION VEHICLE REQUIREMENT. The California Air Resources Board has cut its zero emissions vehicles (ZEV) program, initiated in 1990. 25,000 ZEV cars were to be online in California from 2012 to 2014. But automakers haven’t come up with the vehicles, claiming problems with hydrogen fuel cells and electric batteries. So the air board dropped the 25,000 requirement to 7,500. And added the requirement of another 58,000 low emission vehicles, such as hybrids, into the mix.

I have a feeling that a new president will spur Detroit.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel.

You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.

While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil is trading in the $105 to $106 per barrel range.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum.

A portion of Antarctica six times the size of Manhattan broke off
this month.

** PEW RESEARCH NATIONAL POLL: OBAMA LEADS CLINTON. In the latest Pew national poll, Barack Obama leads Hillary Clinton, 49% to 39%.

Large majorities of white Democratic voters view Obama as honest, inspiring, patriotic, and down-to-earth. Obama’s personal image surpasses Clinton’s on almost every personal attribute tested in the survey, except patriotism.

Fewer Democratic voters now think that a long primary contest is a good thing for the party. Just 44% think it is a good thing for the party that the nominating contest has not been settled. A month ago 57% expressed that view.

** CRUDE OIL SHOOTS UP AMIDST IRAQ CRISIS. With John McCain and Barack Obama again concentrating their political fire on one another — both on the economy and geopolitics (Obama says McCain is a do-nothing on the economy, McCain that Obama is a tax-and-spender) — one of the key dividing lines between the two, Iraq, is in renewed turmoil.

Shiite militiamen, mostly associated with Moqtada al Sadr, are breaking away again from the main government. The heavily protected Green Zone in Baghdad is coming under rocket and mortar fire, and one American there has just been killed. Skirmishes are taking place then and in several areas of the country. Sadr has called a strike and many service and health workers are responding to his call.

Now a major oil pipeline, in southern Iraq near Basra, has been bombed. One-third of Iraq’s oil supply has been curtailed as a result, at least for now. As a result, the oil price has shot back up again, to some $107 a barrel.

The US is relying principally on Iraqi forces to put down the Shiite militia uprising. A year ago, those forces would have been totally unable to take the field, much less contest Sadr’s forces.

** A FUTURE TICKET? OBAMA AND BLOOMBERG. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s warm introduction of Barack Obama at the Democratic presidential frontrunner’s major economic address at Cooper Union in New York this morning raised that as an intriguing prospect. This is something to watch. It would certainly be an intriguing trump card with regard to Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s inflammatory comments about Israel and Palestinians. And Bloomberg, an undoubted success as New York’s mayor, not to mention a highly successful media mogul, certainly has the management chops. Perhaps he would be a different type of Dick Cheney.

NWN TECH PROBLEMS UPDATE. There are still some problems posting comments in the Forum. The problem has been intermittent, and a reader has posted a work-around in the Forum section.

** WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.

Barack Obama gave a major economic speech this morning in New York City. He was introduced at the event by independent New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Obama has a fundraiser in New York later today.

Hillary Clinton campaigns across North Carolina in Raleigh, Fayetteville, and Winston-Salem.

Bill Clinton campaigns across in Pennsylvania in Pottstown, Reading, Carlisle, Lewistown, and State College.

John McCain campaigns in Denver, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah where he does fundraising.

** NEW CALIFORNIA POLL GOOD FOR OBAMA, NEGATIVE ON STATE GOVERNMENT. In the new Public Policy Institute of California poll, Barack Obama runs notably better than Hillary Clinton. Obama leads John McCain, 49% to 40%. But Clinton is in essentially a statistical tie with McCain, 46% to 43%.

In California, Obama’s favorable rating is 61%. McCain’s favorable rating is 49%. Clinton’s favorable rating is far less, at 45%.

On state matters, the mood of the public and voters has notably soured. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s job approval rating has slipped to 49% among voters. This is far less than the stratospheric 60s of last year. But two years ago, 49% was a goal.

Schwarzenegger remains much more popular than the Legislature, of course. The reasons for the negativity? Economic woes and the state’s chronic budget problems. Californians appear to be moving into the embrace of a combination of program cuts and revenue increases to solve the budget issue.

On two high-profile initiatives set for the June statewide primary election, dueling eminent domain Props 98 and 99, one is headed to defeat while one may pass.

The one that is going down is Prop 98, heavily funded by landlord interests, who inserted anti-rent control and anti-renters rights language into it. 37% say they’ll vote yes, while 41% are no. On Prop 99, prospects are better, as it starts with 53% support.

** SCHWARZENEGGER LIVE WEBCAST THIS MORNING. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Public Utilities Commission president Mike Peevey join officials of ProLogis and Southern California at a proposed solar energy project in the Southern California city of Fontana.

Schwarzenegger will discuss his Million Solar Roofs measure and renewable portfolio standard goals, which are running behind schedule, in the event, which will be webcast live at 10 AM.

Congressman John Murtha explains why he’s for Hillary Clinton: Experience.
He’s one of a handful of superdelegates to back her since Super Tuesday.
Obama has over 60 since then.

** UNDECIDED DEMOCRATIC SUPERDELEGATES FROM CALIFORNIA. With former President Bill Clinton coming to the California Democratic Party convention this weekend in San Jose to try to pry loose some new superdelegates for his wife’s campaign, here is the list:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Jerry McNerney, Rep. Pete Stark, Rep. Mike Honda, Rep. Sam Farr, Rep. Jim Costa, Rep. Lois Capps, Rep. Howard Berman, Rep. Henry Waxman, Rep. Bob Filner, Rep. Susan Davis, DNC state chair Art Torres, DNC vice chair Alexandra Gallardo-Rooker, DNC member Edward Espinoza, DNC member Inola Henry, DNC member Aleita Huguenin, DNC member Carole Midgen, DNC member Bob Mulholland, DNC member Christine Pelosi, DNC member John Perez, DNC member Robert Rankin, DNC member Crystal Strait, DNC member Keith Umemoto, DNC member Vernon Watkins, DNC member Steve Ybarra

** HILLARY CLINTON HITS NEW NATIONAL FAVORABILITY LOW. The new Wall Street Journal/NBC News national poll shows Hillary Clinton, not Barack Obama, hitting a new low in favorability. Clinton is down to 37% favorable in this poll, with 48% unfavorable. Barack Obama dipped from where he was two weeks, earlier, from 51% to 49% favorable. His unfavorable rating is 37%.

** OBAMA EXPANDS LEAD IN NORTH CAROLINA. A new Public Policy Polling tracking poll of the North Carolina primary shows Barack Obama expanding his lead in the wake of the Rev. Wright firestorm. It’s now Obama 55%, Hillary Clinton 34%. Clinton has been making a serious effort in North Carolina. And there was some evidence a week ago that Obama had dropped there amidst the Rev. Wright firestorm.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel.

You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.

While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil is trading in the $102 to $103 per barrel range on news of a freshly weakening dollar.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum.

Hillary Clinton, spinning and attacking, reels from the revelation
of her repeated, dramatically false statements on Bosnia.

** CALIFORNIA POLL: OBAMA STRONGER THAN HILLARY AGAINST MCCAIN. The new Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) poll, which was embargoed until late night, shows Barack Obama running stronger in California against John McCain than John Hillary Clinton. In California, it’s Obama 49%, McCain 40. And Clinton 46%, McCain 43%, essentially a dead heat. Obama has a much higher favorable rating in California, 61% to McCain’s 49% and Clinton’s 45%. More about this in the AM. The poll also shows Californians souring on state government amidst economic and budgetary woes, and what may be the beginning of an emerging consensus that a combination of spending cuts and revenue increases will be necessary for the latter.

** QUICK HITS. John McCain’s big speech in LA on national security and geopolitics was a success. Carried on all the cable news nets, the speech and subsequent Q&A was 60 minutes of McCain the statesman. Resolute on Islamic jihadism without saber rattling, a closing of Guantanamo, a departure from Bush on climate change, a return to a qualified multilateralism through new overtures to Europe and the League of Democracies I’ve mentioned before, with more focus on Latin America and Asia. Not unlike an updated Scoop Jackson approach mixed with environmentalism. But does he have new solutions on Iraq if the current ones don’t work. Um, no. More on that tomorrow. McCain is raising serious money in California. But he is still heavily dependent on events, unlike the Democrats, especially Barack Obama, who has created a 21st century fundraising machine that is not at all dependent on fat cats. … Meanwhile, back at the bash … Former President Bill Clinton campaigning in West Virginia, shedding his recent pose above the fray, invoked the fray as raison d’etre for his wife’s continued role in the campaign, saying that “If a politician doesn’t wanna get beat up, he shouldn’t run for office.” Oh, does he want to get beat up? Well, if that’s what he wants … Hillary Clinton continued to struggle with the revelations of her repeated and dramatically false statements on her Bosnia role. Meanwhile, 20 of the Clintons’ financial backers sent a nasty letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying she should back off her stance that superdelegates ought to back the winner of the most delegates in primaries and caucuses, pointedly referencing their past roles as money providers for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. But frankly, these folks are not as important as they used to be. Really rich people, conventional bundlers, these folks will always have importance, especially in getting something going. But the Internet has created a new fundraising model, and the model that these folks represent is fading.

** NEW TECH PROBLEMS. My road Internet connection was down for about 90 minutes, when I was going to write up the John McCain geopolitics address. Which I’ll do for tomorrow. I’m going to look into satellite Internet.

** OBAMA REBOUNDS IN GALLUP POLL. In the regular Gallup Poll, conducted over a four-day period but not counting Easter Sunday, Barack Obama is back to a slight 47% to 46% edge over Hillary Clinton. In the immediate aftermath of the Jeremiah Wright firestorm, Obama had dropped from a lead into a a seven-point deficit, 42% to 49%.

This poll was mostly conducted prior to the controversy over Clinton’s repeated false statements about Bosnia.

** AIR FORCE PILOT WHO FLEW HILLARY TO BOSNIA REFUTES AIR PORTION OF HER STORY. Hillary Clinton has repeatedly told the now thoroughly debunked story of her death-defying mission to Bosnia 12 years ago yesterday. The US Air Force pilot who flew her in to the now obviously heavily guarded Tuzla base refutes the remaining element of her tale, the one regarding the “evasive maneuver” that Clinton had him making before making the famous arrival.

Never happened, says the pilot.

** NWN TECH PROBLEMS UPDATE. Some problems caused by the shift in underlying tech undertaken late Monday afternoon are still continuing. They appear to affect the Forum section most of all, although some people have been able to post.

** LATEST PODCAST. My thoughts on The Speech, the race, and the road ahead.

** WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.

Hillary Clinton is in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Bill Clinton campaigns across West Virginia in Parkersburg, Chesapeake, and Beckley.

Barack Obama, back from his Virgin Islands mini-vacation, has a town hall meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina.

John McCain, fresh from a big fundraiser last night on the West Side of Los Angeles, delivers his first major address on national security and geopolitics following last week’s tour of the Middle East and Europe this morning to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. He has major fundraisers later in the day in Pebble Beach and at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco.

** EXCERPTS FROM THIS MORNING’S JOHN MCCAIN ADDRESS ON NATIONAL SECURITY AND GEOPOLITICS.

“When I was five years old, a car pulled up in front of our house in New London, Connecticut, and a Navy officer rolled down the window, and shouted at my father that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. My father immediately left for the submarine base where he was stationed. I rarely saw him again for four years.

“Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed. We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies.”

** BILL CLINTON COMPARES THE CAMPAIGN TO AN EPISODE OF “DALLAS.” In an emotional day of campaigning yesterday in Kentucky, reports the Hotline blog, former President Bill Clinton compared the race to an episode of Dallas, said his wife deserves the chance to run through all the primaries and caucuses, likened himself to a zoo animal as an object of curiosity, and mused about the huge crowds he once drew as president.

President Clinton will be at the California Democratic Party convention this weekend in San Jose. There he will give a speech on Sunday, and meet privately with a group of uncommitted superdelegates. All of whom, as it happens, he has spoken with several times before.

** SCHWARZENEGGER LIVE WEBCAST THIS MORNING. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger renews his push for his version of California budget reform in a meeting with local elected officials and leaders in law enforcement, business, and the community in the Central Coast community of San Luis Obispo. The event will be webcast live at 10 AM.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel.

You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.

While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil is trading in the $102 to $103 per barrel range on news of a freshly weakening dollar.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum.

Hillary Clinton’s dramatic claims of peril on a Bosnian mission
were thoroughly debunked last night in this CBS News report.

** NWN TECH PROBLEMS UPDATE: I see now that comments in the Forum are sometimes not working. I’ll have this worked on. Sorry for the problems.

** THE STATE OF PLAY ON HILLARY AND HER BOSNIA WHOPPER. Confronted with widely viewed video of what actually happened in Bosnia, seen by over a million people on YouTube, then running on cable and broadcast networks — her brave experience no more consequential than a flight into Burbank, minus the little girl reading the poem, of course — Hillary Clinton said today that she had misspoken. Once. Due to sleep deprivation. Which did not explain why it was in her prepared text. Or why she had said it many times before. Or why she actually upped the ante on her story after comedian Sinbad called her on it a few weeks ago. As you see below, she specifically dismissed him as “a comedian.”

Then she attacked Barack Obama, saying that she would never be a member of the Trinity Unified Church of Christ in Chicago. As she is not a black person, that was fairly obvious. As was the intent, to distract from her crisis by doing what her campaign had said it would not do.

** MCCAIN IN THE O.C. Interesting morning with John McCain, who today receives Nancy Reagan’s endorsement prior to a big fundraiser on the West Side of Los Angeles, in Orange County. A planned roundtable with Latino business owners in a Santa Ana printing company turned into something of a major address on the nation’s housing and financial markets crises. An address which achieved “roadblock” — carried live on all cable news nets.

The speech was strong on interesting analysis. But vague on policy prescription. Here’s the core of the analysis: That leaves us with a puzzling situation: how could 4 million mortgages cause this much trouble for us all?

Because managers did not fully understand the complex financial instruments and because there was insufficient transparency when they did try to learn, the initial losses spawned a crisis of confidence in the markets.

As for solutions, McCain would convene various accounting and financial experts to explore the mess, jawbone lenders into keeping some families in their homes — something Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has done to a certain degree in California — and entertain as yet undisclosed governmental solutions. Naturally, his Democratic opponents referred to this as “Herbert Hoover economics.”

McCain shone as usual at a press availability, taking at least 15 questions on all topics before, behind schedule, racing off to a a fundraising luncheon.

His speech, as you see, had its interesting moments. He read from teleprompters, including one large flat screen display about 30 feet in front of him. Intriguingly, he twice referred to “leaders” when he meant to say “lenders.” Clearly, he is most comfortable when discussing leaders rather than lenders, for clearly the two are not the same. In other words, when he is dealing with geopolitics. That’s tomorrow’s big speech, and there will be nothing impromptu about that at a breakfast meeting of the LA World Affairs Council at the Bonaventure Hotel when he gives his report on last week’s tour of the Middle East and Europe.

Although the Latino roundtable was originally meant to showcase his drive to win a large chunk of the Latino vote this November, it became an amalgamation in which the Latino element was diminished. Notwithstanding the fact that virtually all the people up front participating in it were Latino. (Including the owner of the printing business. Nosing around out back, I found a gleaming black Lamborghini. The printing business must be good.)

Meg Whitman served as the moderator of the roundtable. She, of course, is not Latino, but the billionaire former CEO of eBay who served first as national finance co-chairman for Mitt Romney and is now a national co-chair of the McCain campaign. Some high-ranking Republicans want her to run for governor of California in 2010. We’ll see how that goes. She could also turn up in a McCain cabinet.

** LATEST PODCAST. My thoughts on The Speech, the race, and the road ahead.

** TECHNICAL PROBLEMS ON NWN. Many of you have noted various technical problems with NWN, beginning late yesterday afternoon and continuing into today. I’ve been experiencing them, too, and have had trouble managing the site. They stem from an underlying technical transition with the host system. I’m told the problems will soon be corrected.

** HILLARY’S BIG ADVENTURE NOW A BIG PROBLEM.

From Hillary Clinton’s George Washington University speech last Monday: Good morning. I want to thank Secretary West for his years of service, not only as Secretary of the Army, but also to the Veteran’s Administration, to our men and women in uniform, to our country. I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia, and as Togo said, there was a saying around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or too dangerous, the president couldn’t go, so send the First Lady. That’s where we went.

I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.

Hillary Clinton has a big problem. Her now famous “3 AM ” TV ad helped keep her candidacy alive on March 4th, playing up concerns about Barack Obama’s inexperience and positing her as an experienced national security crisis manager. But she’s having trouble, as readers know, with her proffered experience.

Trouble, however, does not begin to describe her problem with an oft told tale of her “harrowing mission” to Bosnia. Which, as fate would have it, was 12 years ago today, on March 25th, 1996.

After comedian Sinbad, who was on that mission along with singer Sheryl Crow (and daughter Chelsea Clinton), scoffed at Clinton’s story, the Washington Post Fact Checker blog put together the facts last Friday. It assigned the former first lady four pinocchios for lying about what happened. I’ve excerpted that below.

Then CBS News set the record straight in the report you see above.

The truth is, Hillary’s supposedly death-defying arrival in Bosnia looks about as dangerous as arriving in Burbank, as you will see. Although in Burbank, you don’t get the little girl reading a poem on the tarmac.

If Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama did something like this, his campaign would be over. It will be interesting to see how Clinton fares.

Clinton, incidentally, says now that she “misspoke.”

From the Washington Post Fact Checker: Hillary Clinton has been regaling supporters on the campaign trail with hair-raising tales of a trip she made to Bosnia in March 1996. In her retelling, she was sent to places that her husband, President Clinton, could not go because they were “too dangerous.” When her account was challenged by one of her traveling companions, the comedian Sinbad, she upped the ante and injected even more drama into the story. In a speech earlier this week, she talked about “landing under sniper fire” and running for safety with “our heads down.”

You can see CBS News footage of the arrival ceremony here. The footage shows Clinton walking calmly out of the back of the C-17 military transport plane that brought her from Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.

The original CBS report on then First Lady Hillary Clinton’s
uneventful arrival in Bosnia 12 years ago today.

Among the U.S. officials on hand to greet Clinton at the airport was Maj. Gen. William Nash, the commander of U.S. troops in Bosnia. Nash told me that he was unaware of any security threat to Clinton during her eight-hour stay in Tuzla. He said, however, that Clinton had a “busy schedule” and may have got the impression that she was being hurried on her way. See clarification below.

Replying to Sinbad earlier this week, Clinton dismissed him as “a comedian.”

WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.

Hillary Clinton campaigns in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

Bill Clinton campaigns across Kentucky in Frankfort, Paris, Maysville, and Morehead.

Barack Obama is vacationing on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands.

John McCain campaigns in California with a Latino economic roundtable in Santa Ana and private fundraisers.

** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in private meetings today in the state Capitol, with much of his discussion centering on the California budget.

He will resume pushing for his budget reform plan around the state on Wednesday.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel.

You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.

While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil is trading in the $100 to $102 per barrel range. The oil price has dropped dramatically in the past several days on expectations of a global economic slowdown and possible recession.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum.

“I charge the white man.” This incendiary speech, opening the film Malcolm X and culminating with a burning American flag resolving into the letter, encapsulates the anger and fear surrounding Barack Obama’s association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

** MCCAIN ON IRAQ TODAY IN CHULA VISTA. Campaigning today at a town hall for veterans and military families in the San Diego area, John McCain had some comments about the situation: “As you know, I was in Iraq, Jordan, Israel, France and England on my last visit. And a couple of days ago, as you probably know, an audiotape — actually it was last week — an audiotape was released where bin Laden said, and I have to quote bin Laden, … ‘the nearest field to support our people in Palestine is the Iraqi field.’ He urged Palestinians and people of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to quote ‘help in support of their mujahedeen brothers in Iraq, which is the greatest opportunity and the biggest task.’ Now my friends, for the first time I have seen Osama bin Laden and General Petraeus in agreement, and that is, the central battleground in the battle against al Qaeda is in Iraq today. And that’s what bin Laden is saying and that’s what General Petraeus is saying and that’s what I’m saying, my friends, and my Democrat opponents who want to pull out of Iraq refuse to understand what’s being said and what’s happening, and that is, the central battleground is Iraq in this struggle against radical Islamic extremism.”

** PUERTO RICO MOVES UP. As expected, Puerto Rico switched its contest from a caucus to a primary and moved from June 7th to June 1st, moves backed by both the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigns. This means that the nomination contests will end on June 3rd, with contests in Montana and South Dakota.

** FRED THOMPSON RETURNS TO HOLLYWOOD. Former Senator and Law & Order star Fred Thompson, whose ballyhooed Republican presidential campaign never really got going, is returning to Hollywood. The William Morris Agency has just signed the veteran character actor, who gave up a great gig on the perennial NBC police procedural.

Thompson looked to many like the great right hope. But after watching him declare last fall on The Tonight Show, and writing about 2000 words on the event, it occurred to me that he was not off to a flying start. His best showings were a tie with John McCain for a distant third in Iowa, and a distant third in South Carolina, after which he withdrew from the race.

** OBAMA ON TAP. Barack Obama is vacationing with his family in the Caribbean through Wednesday. Obama, who won the Democratic caucuses in the U.S. Virgin Islands with 84% of the vote, is on St. Thomas. When he returns, the Democratic presidential frontrunner will go to New York on Thursday, for what I do not yet know, then launch a bus tour of Pennsylvania on Friday which will run till next Wednesday. Hillary Clinton will, of course, win the Pennsylvania primary next month. It’s one of the oldest, most traditional Democratic electorates in the country, a place helpfully described by longtime Clinton spinner James Carville as “Philadelphia on one side, Pittsburgh on the other, and Alabama in between.” Hillary has a huge lead there. Which Obama merely needs to cut some in order to guarantee his continuing popular vote lead at the end of the primary season in June.

** CALIFORNIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OPPOSES PROP 98 EMINENT DOMAIN INITIATIVE. Something actually happened last week in California politics, and I missed doing an item about it at the time. Call it the press of other events. The California Chamber of Commerce came out aginst the emininent domain initiative backed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association on the June statewide primary ballot that would preempt local rent control ordinances and other renters rights measures. They’re neutral on the competing eminent domain initiative backed by some local government groups and others, Prop 99. It turns out that over 80% of the funding for Prop 98 comes from landlord interests.

** WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.

Hillary Clinton is campaigning in her latest firewall state, Pennsylvania, with events in Philadelphia, Blue Bell, and Uniontown.

Bill Clinton is campaigning across Indiana, with events in South Bend, Rochester, Logansport, and West Lafayette.

Barack Obama is vacationing in the Virgin Islands, where he won 84% of the vote.

John McCain is campaigning with veterans and military families in Chula Vista, California, and having private fundraisers, as we say, in various locales in Southern California.

** SCHWARZENEGGER LIVE WEBCAST THIS MORNING. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger resumes his campaign for California budget reform this morning in Bakersfield with a meeting with local elected officials, law enforcement officers, and business and community leaders. The event will be webcast live at 10 AM Pacific.

THE MORNING COLUMN

The week ahead in presidential politics, as may be the case with much of the next seven-odd months, is dominated by the racial politics swirling around Barack Obama. And by the questions yet unanswered by his speech last Tuesday in Philadelphia. These questions are at least as much about patriotism as they are about race.

John McCain, returned from his tour of the Middle East and Europe, is in California for three days this week to raise badly needed funds and to try to stake a claim to the Golden State in the general election. On Wednesday morning at the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, he delivers a major address on national security and geopolitical matters, addressing what he learned in Iraq and the other nations he toured last week.

Notwithstanding the firestorm of controversy over the past comments of his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and some consequent teetering in the polls, Obama had a good week last week. For one thing, it became apparent that he had far more cash on hand at the end of February than rival Hillary Clinton, not to mention John McCain, whose best month of fundraising doesn’t match Obama’s best week. And that his fundraising machine, centered on the Internet, was humming along.

For another, Hillary’s fading hopes for the nomination took a major hit when it became apparent that there would be no do-over primaries in Florida or Michigan, two states which she had previously claimed notwithstanding the fact that she’d earlier agreed with the Democratic Party’s decision not to recognize their rogue primaries in which no one campaigned. The hurdles to hastily organized primaries at the tail end of the season in June were too high, and Clinton forces sought to block independents who participated in the real Republican primary — largely on behalf of McCain — from voting in a real Democratic primary.

By week’s end, it was apparent that Clinton almost certainly could not catch Obama in delegates won in the primaries and caucuses or in the popular vote. The media counts, incidentally, which have Obama over 700,000 votes ahead of Clinton, do not include, oddly, votes cast in the caucuses. Most of those have had record turnouts, making them easily the equivalent of smaller primary elections. Include those in the popular vote, as they should be, and Obama’s lead is well over a million votes.

And Obama got a good start on addressing his Jeremiah Wright last week. But only a start.

As I wrote in real time as the Jeremiah Wright firestorm broke 10 days ago, it was a clearly survivable situation.

And as I wrote in real time when Obama gave his speech on race in America and the Jeremiah Wright controversy six days ago, he solved much of his problem with regard to the Democratic nomination fight. Polls show that his speech worked, especially with Democratic voters, and largely with independent voters.

An even more recent poll for CBS News showed, as does the Rasmussen poll, that most Americans think highly of Obama’s speech.

Nevertheless, Barack Obama’s path to the White House has certainly gotten longer and more perilous.

I think that Obama is not going to become president unless he can explain Malcolm X (Wright’s most outrageous statements are a stand-in for what he represented), the anger that produced him, and the preposterous statements that not infrequently emanate from the black church.

He can’t simply float as the easy post-racial figure, a man Americans can vote for as a salve for the issue of race in America.

Which may have been inevitable. And was certainly inevitable when he decided not to be a Hawaiian, or a nice Ivy League lawyer, but a black Chicago politician who ended up running for president.

For Obama made a choice. He was born and in large measure raised in Hawaii, America’s polyglot paradise in the Pacific, a place where questions of racial background can become so complex as to be irrelevant. But after a glittering Ivy League debut, he decided to enter into politics, not as a multi-racial, post-racial figure in Hawaii or California — where he spent two years attending Occidental College — but in a 76% black state senate district in Chicago.

Why he decided to embrace his blackness as a very young man may be a matter more for the psychologically inclined than the politically inclined. In any event, it is what he did.

As a man who was neither a movie star nor super-rich, Obama needed a base for his rise. As he is a politician and not a deity, he is by nature an opportunist. (All politicians are opportunists. The question is the degree of egregiousness.) A big part of his opportunity was being a member of what is arguably the leading black church in Chicago.

For a man with a missing father, Trinity United Church of Christ and the Rev. Wright played a key role in Obama’s life. Mothered by a white woman and raised in large measure by white grandparents, Obama sought what he did not have in his life as a biracial boy. A black family. The black church in Chicago became a stand-in for that. And Wright, a complex man who, by most accounts, has done some serious good in Chicago to balance his now well-publicized ranting, became in Obama’s own recent words, an “uncle.”

The church also answered the formerly frequently posed question about Obama. Is he “black enough?”

But as a result of this embrace — and Obama notably refused to disown Wright even as he renounced his now infamous comments — Obama still has serious questions to answer.

He has to explain to America — and in particular, to key voting groups such as the Scots-Irish who make up much of the working class and patriotically-oriented in the country — the anger that produced such irrational notions as the US government inventing AIDS to destroy the black people. And the idea that the US may have deserved 9/11. And why men such as Wright, whose generation grew up with a frequently rugged racism directed toward them and developed within them, have a chip on their shoulder today.

It’s certainly not what Obama wanted to do when he launched his candidacy on a wave of high-flown, impressively-delivered rhetoric, floating over the historic divisions of America on a cloud of post-racialism.

But it is what he must do now. He didn’t intend to run as “the black candidate” but as a candidate who happened to be black. But being black, or at least, “black enough,” as it turns out, was at least in part a choice for Obama. And as a result of that choice, he rose in Chicago enough to become a United States senator. And as a result of being a senator, he has enough stature to wage this campaign.

This conversation about race will continue throughout the campaign.

What is his idea of America? How is he an American patriot in a time of war?

What can he do to convince the Scots-Irish American voter that he is enough of a patriot to take on the uber-patriot, John McCain, a man who does not have to wave the flag because his very presence waves the flag?

In many respects, Obama represents an emerging America. Multi-racial, with an internationalist perspective. But he will not represent any America, at least as president, until he demonstrates that he represents the enduring America. …

You can always see the full MMQ on PJ Media.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel.

You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.

While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil is trading in the $100 to $102 per barrel range. The oil price has dropped dramatically in the past several days on expectations of a global economic slowdown and possible recession.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum.

I’m afraid I’ve come up short on the Easter movie front.

SUNDAY REPORTS

** 4000 OFFICIAL U.S. COMBAT DEATHS IN IRAQ. Happy Easter. A bombing attack which killed at least four US service members in Baghad on Easter Sunday left the US combat death toll in Iraq at at least 4000. That does not include the many US contract personnel who have also given their lives in the service of the various US policies in Iraq after the invasion just over four years ago. Nevertheless, the situation in Iraq has improved. Yet, we are not out of the woods. A challenge to both sides in the conventional debate.

** INCIDENTALLY … There was a bunch of other junk-type political news thingies going on since Saturday morning — most of them, though not all — from the former first lady’s campaign. Out of respect for Easter weekend, I won’t even mention them. But I will say this. Folks in each of the Democratic presidential campaigns should retreat to kindergarten corners for times out. And most of them, though not all, work for the former president and first lady. And if they don’t like my assessment of their realities — which, given their hostile and toxic natures at this point, is quite likely — that is, as the saying goes, unfortunate. Which means, as I’m sure you can gather, it doesn’t matter to me.

SATURDAY REPORTS

** NEW PODCAST. My thoughts on The Speech, the race, and the road ahead.

** BILL CLINTON HEADLINES CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONVENTION NEXT WEEKEND. NWN has learned that former President Bill Clinton will address the California Democratic Party convention next Sunday, March 30th, in San Jose. A gaggle of uncommitted superdelegates will be participating in the convention. Wife Hillary, now a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, is not expected at the convention, though she will be in California for fundraisers a few days later. I don’t know if Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama will be on hand for the annual state convention.

** WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.

Barack Obama has a rally today in Medford, Oregon. He may be heading to the Virgin Islands for an Easter holiday. He’s expected back on the trail Wednesday in North Carolina.

Hillary Clinton, down for the day on Friday in Chappaqua, New York, is down again for the weekend. It’s said that she will be in Chappaqua, although her campaign famously does not keep the press apprised of all her movements.

John McCain, returned from his tour of the Middle East and Europe, is down for the weekend, probably in Sedona, Arizona.

** CARVILLE TRASHES BILL RICHARDSON. The tightly-wrapped James Carville, showing the strain of the Hillary Clinton campaign’s situation — now that he’s no longer pretending to be a CNN political analyst discussing Clinton’s “masterful” debate performances — trashed Bill Richardson in today’s New York Times. It was an appropriately hyperbolic Easter theme.

“Mr. Richardson’s endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic.”

The article describes the two months of entreaties from the Clintons to gain Richardson’s endorsement after the New Mexico governor dropped out of the presidential race. Of course, Richardson — who served as UN ambassador and energy secretary in the Clinton Administration — endorsed Barack Obama yesterday.

My understanding is that Richardson, the first major Latino presidential candidate, did it, not “for 30 pieces of silver,” as the overwrought Carville would have it, but because he’s come to the conclusion that Obama is the superior political figure.

Since Super Tuesday, Obama has been endorsed by 62 superdelegates. (Or “automatic delegates,” as Clinton agent Harold Ickes preferred to call them in arguing that they would deliver the nomination to Hillary.) Clinton has been endorsed by four. She lost one in the form of former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer.

** F1 TONIGHT! At 11:30 PM Saturday night, live from Kuala Lumpur, it’s the Malaysian Grand Prix. After last week’s season opener in Australia, 23-year old Brit Lewis Hamilton, the first black driver in Formula One racing, leads the way following another victory. But the Ferrari team, including the man who beat Hamilton by a single point for last season’s F1 world championship, Kimi Raikonnen, qualified for the front row on the starting grid. You can watch it in the US on Speed TV.

** SCHWARZENEGGER PUSHES HIS BUDGET REFORM PLAN. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger continued his push this week for his version of state budget reform in Saturday’s weekly radio address. Opposition has yet to coalesce. The Democrats are in some disarray on the issue; some may recognize that the governorship is highly problematic otherwise, as former Governor Gray Davis learned.

Hi, this is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with another California Report.

I am going up and down the state talking about budget reform, because nothing is more important to move California forward. So let’s fix the system, restore the public’s confidence in government and give California a stable budget and a bright future. Thank you for listening.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel.

You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.

While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil closed at $101.84 per barrel on Friday. The oil price has dropped dramatically in the past few days on expectations of a global economic slowdown and possible recession. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum.

Bill Richardson endorsed Barack Obama today in Portland, Oregon.

** SCUFFLING ENDS FOR THE DAY. This stuff gets very old. Let’s see, Clinton chief strategist Mark Penn, he of the endless Hillary-is-inevitable memos, said today on one of those increasingly goofy conference calls that Bill Richardson’s endorsement isn’t important, that his time has passed. Which would be why Bill and Hillary Clinton kept pushing to get it, and why the candidate herself did not take the news from Richardson in last night’s phone call terribly well.

Bill Clinton said in, ah, somewhere in North Carolina, that a race between John McCain and his wife would be a race between two patriotic people, absent all the “distractions” that often intrude in politics. Which some bloggers and press interpreted as a knock on Obama. I don’t think so. I think it’s his opinion, perhaps fanciful in imagining that the far right would not knock themselves out with their longstanding Hillary hatred, but I didn’t hear an imputation that Obama is not patriotic.

And there is another new poll, a CBS poll, that much like this morning’s Rasmussen poll indicates that Obama did quite well with his speech on race and Wright on Tuesday. I’ll get into that poll, and the overall issue, in the Monday Morning Quarterback column. Which I will front, incidentally, with the opening scene from a famous movie. Any guesses?

** BROWN PUSHES ON GREENHOUSE EFFECT. With all the continued focus here on presidential politics — much of it occasioned by the Clintons’ continuing rearguard actions against Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama — former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown has been up to some interesting things in his work against climate change. He has, of course, joined forces with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in suing the Bush Administration for it foot-dragging and ultimate refusal to issue the customary clearance for the state to pursue its landmark law cutting greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles. Many other states have followed California’s lead in the absence of federal action.

Meanwhile, Brown is working with local elected officials around the state to make the greenhouse effect a part of the planning process. This week, he convened the first in a series of workshops to develop this program, meeting with some 200 local officials in Oakland. “In the absence of national leadership,” Brown said, “local government must take the lead in bringing about a low-carbon future.”

This was the first of five Brown workshops with local officials around California. Four more such workshops will take place, in Sacramento, Visalia, Monterey, and Los Angeles.

Brown stressed the need to combat climate by setting greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. Governor Schwarzenegger’s appointee Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board, joined Brown — her one-time boss — and discussed local government’s role in California’s plan to fight global climate change.

** THE DEMOCRATIC FUNDRAISING GAP. According to the AP, the fundraising gap between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton only increased last month.

Hillary Rodham Clinton upped the tempo of her fundraising and her spending last month, only to be eclipsed by rival Barack Obama. At month’s end, with debts of nearly $9 million, her money was nearly spent and he was sitting atop $30 million in available cash. …

Both Democrats ended up with more than $30 million in the bank, but Clinton can’t use two-thirds of her cash on hand because it’s only for the general election. That and her debt left her with less than $3 million in the black. The debt doesn’t include the $5 million she lent her campaign in January.

** HILLARY’S ANTI-NAFTA ROLE AGAIN DISPUTED. According to the ABC News blog, Hillary Clinton’s claims of having opposed NAFTA during her time as first lady — which coincides with President Bill Clinton pushing through the controversial North American trade pact — have again been disputed. This time by multiple, on-the-record sources with contemporaneous knowledge of her activities. In this case, three former Clinton Administration officials.

“The Clinton campaign,” writes ABC correspondent Jake Tapper, “continues to propagate this myth” that the former first lady opposed NAFTA.

UPDATE: The item I linked to below, on the well-regarded (and frequently pro-Hillary) Political Wire site, with regard to Clinton fundraising claims, has been removed. Apparently the author misread the numbers. I say apparently because the item was simply removed, rather than explained.

** CLINTON DIDN’T RAISE $35 MILLION IN FEBRUARY. Remember those claims from the Hillary Clinton campaign that they raised $35 million in February? Supposedly on the strength of “one million dollars a day on the Internet,” a much ballyhooed claim during the month.

I said at the time that that did not sound right to me. And got some flak from some flacks for it. Not that that sort of thing is effective.

Turns out that my view, based on a sense of political reality, as well as some sources around the Clinton campaign, was correct.

The Clinton campaign actually raised $20 million in February. The other $15 million? $10 million transferred from her Senate account and a $5 million loan.

** VOTER GRADES FOR THE OBAMA SPEECH. The Rasmussen robopoll nightly track of US voters has grades for Barack Obama’s big speech on race. They are generally good. Especially with regard to his short-term prospects for the Democratic presidential nomination.

84% of likely US voters say they have seen or heard at least part of the Obama speech. 51% say the senator’s speech is excellent or good, 26% say it’s fair, and 21% say it’s poor. There is, naturally, a big partisan gap here. 67% of Democrats call it excellent or good, along with 53% of independents, but only 31% of Republicans.

45% of white voters call the speech excellent or good, while 86% of black voters feel that way.

So as I said immediatly after Obama delivered the speech, it’s a strong effort that helps tremendously with the Democratic nomination, perhaps guaranteeing it to him. However, there is much more to be done for a general election. Unanswered questions that must be answered. And I’ll be writing about that in the Monday Morning Quarterback column.

Republican presidential runner-up Mike Huckabee discusses
his campaign just past and defends Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

** WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.

Barack Obama campaigns today in Oregon, with events in Portland, where he will be endorsed by New Mexico Governor and former UN Ambassador Bill Richardson, Salem, and Eugene.

Hillary Clinton is down for the day at home in Chappaqua, New York.

Bill Clinton campaigns in Charlotte and Cary, North Carolina.

After meeting with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, John McCain continues his foreign tour in France, where he meets with President Nicolas Sarkozy.

** BILL RICHARDSON FOR OBAMA. Saying he feels a kinship with the freshman Illinois senator as someone who grew up “between worlds,” declaring it’s time for “a new generation of leadership,” New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson informed his presidential campaign supporters last night that he will endorse Barack Obama this morning in Portland.

Richardson, a native Californian, is the nation’s only Latino governor and the first major Latino presidential candidate. He finished fourth in the Democratic nomination race.

Famed for his international trouble-shooting, first as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, then as a member of the Bill Clinton Cabinet, and as New Mexico’s governor, Richardson held two Cabinet posts under President Bill Clinton. He served as US ambassador to the United Nations and as US secretary of energy. He also watched the Super Bowl together with Clinton this year.

At times, Richardson appeared to be Hillary Clinton’s wing man in the presidential campaign debates, with many thinking he was positioning to become her vice president. But as time went on, say his associates, his admiration for Obama grew substantially.

Richardson has been a very successful and popular governor of New Mexico, a key swing state in the November election, and is well known for his ability to reach across the aisle. For example, he and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger forged a Western states pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Obama will continue to roll out major endorsements for the rest of his campaign for the nomination. Aside from Congressman Jack Murtha, I don’t recall the last big name endorsement for Hillary Clinton. Of their U.S. Senate colleagues, Obama has been endorsed by 15 senators, Clinton by 12.

Here are excerpts from Richardson’s message late last night to his supporters:

We are blessed to have two great American leaders and great Democrats running for President. My affection and admiration for Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton will never waver. It is time, however, for Democrats to stop fighting amongst ourselves and to prepare for the tough fight we will face against John McCain in the fall. The 1990′s were a decade of peace and prosperity because of the competent and enlightened leadership of the Clinton administration, but it is now time for a new generation of leadership to lead America forward. Barack Obama will be a historic and a great President, who can bring us the change we so desperately need by bringing us together as a nation here at home and with our allies abroad.

During the past year, I got to know Senator Obama as we campaigned against each other for the Presidency, and I felt a kinship with him because we both grew up between worlds, in a sense, living both abroad and here in America. In part because of these experiences, Barack and I share a deep sense of our nation’s special responsibilities in the world.

** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. After spending most of the week launching his drive for California budget reform, and musing about shifting tax policies, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today for private meetings and conversations.

Incidentally, the new TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which Schwarzenegger has no formal connection with, has not yet been renewed for a second season. But Fox TV sources indicate that it will be.

In part because of cross-promotional opportunities with the renewed Terminator film series. Schwarzenegger is not formally involved with that, either, but I predict that he will be down the line.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel.

You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.

While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil is trading in the $101 to $103 per barrel range. The oil price has dropped dramatically in the past few days on expectations of a global economic slowdown and possible recession.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum.

The “shock and awe” phase of the Iraq War commenced five
years ago last night over Baghdad.

** IS DRUDGE NOW FOR OBAMA?! Check the exclusives there in the last 15 minutes … Barack Obama’s passport file intruded into by State Department employees — two fired, one suspended. And a picture of Rev. Jeremiah Wright with Bill Clinton. At a White House gathering of religious leaders brought together to defend him during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

UPDATE: Hillary Clinton was at the White House gathering with Wright.

** PETRAEUS WANTS PAUSE IN IRAQ TROOP WITHDRAWALS. General David Petraeus, preparing for next month’s report on the situation in Iraq, wants a pause in withdrawal of surge forces. But some members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — notably Army Chief of Staff General George Casey and Marine Corps Commandant General James Conway — are very worried about delays in scheduled drawdowns of US forces in-country. Their concern is about the effect of long deployments on units and families.

How long would any “pause” be? That’s what in discussion now.

Petraeus goes before Congress on April 8th.

** U.S. GOVERNMENT STABILIZES FINANCIAL MARKETS WITH BILLIONS IN LOANS. The Federal Reserve Bank is loaning billions of dollars to stabilize teetering investment banking firms. It’s the most expansive use of Fed authority since the 1930s. Needless to say.

** MCCAIN FLOATS ABOVE IT IN BRITAIN. While Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama struggles to dig out from under the load of Jeremiah Wright videos, and former frontrunner Hillary Clinton struggles with increased scrutiny of her claims to experience, John McCain was toasted today in London by the British elite.

After meeting for an hour at 10 Downing Street with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, now the leader of Labour following the retirement of Tony Blair, McCain emerged to declare the “Al Qaeda is on the run” around the globe, and that the military surge in Iraq is succeeding in stabilizing the situation there.

He thanked Britain for its support in Iraq and strenuous efforts in Afghanistan. “I fully appreciate that British public opinion has been frustrated by sometimes our lack of progress in both areas, but all I can do is express my gratitude to the British government and people and especially the young people who are serving,” he said.

He also expressed appreciation for Brown and Blair’s leadership on climate change. “I want to make it clear again, we will not have a global agreement that is effective unless India and China are part of it,” he added. “I think that there will be sufficient International pressures and domestic pressures as well as the facts of the environmental challenges that will bring them into a global agreement.”

McCain went on to a fundraiser at Spencer House, which was built in the 18th centuries by ancestors of Diana Spencer, the late Princess Di. Bill Clinton and Michelle Obama have previously held fundraisers in London. From London, McCain is on to Paris to meet with new President Nicolas Sarkozy, and still newer French First Lady Carla Bruni.

** OBAMA HITS ON IRAQ WAR, NAFTA REVELATION. In a second day in a row of delivering a major speech on the Iraq War, now at its fifth anniversary, Barack Obama blamed the cost of and focus on the war for much of America’s current economic troubles. As the Democratic frontrunner did so, his campaign hit Hillary Clinton hard for claiming in the campaign that she opposed NAFTA when her just released, albeit heavily redacted, White House schedules revealing that she pushed for its passage as first lady.

But the major focus was on Iraq, and John McCain.

“When you’re spending over $50 to fill up your car because the price of oil is four times what it was before Iraq, you’re paying a price for this war,” Obama said in Charleston, West Virginia, a primary in which Clinton leads. “When Iraq is costing each household about $100 a month, you’re paying a price for this war.”

Referring briefly to Clinton’s criticism this week of McCain on Iraq, Obama noted: “Her point would have been more compelling had she not joined Senator McCain in making the tragically ill-considered decision to vote for the Iraq war in the first place.”

“For what folks in this state have been spending on the Iraq War, we could be giving health care to nearly 450,000 of your neighbors, hiring nearly 30,000 new elementary school teachers, and making college more affordable for over 300,000 students,” Obama said.

Obama was introduced by West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “He’s a man who’s worked for everything he’s achieved. That’s something I can’t say,” he quipped.

** HILLARY WON’T DENY HER CAMPAIGN IS PUSHING THE WRIGHT STORY. At a press avail today following her appearance in Terra Haute, Indiana, Hillary Clinton twice refused to deny that her campaign is pushing the Jeremiah Wright story to block superdelegates from coming over to Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama. As I’ve noted a number of times, the Clinton campaign, which was already running out of options, suffered major setbacks this week in not gaining do-over primaries in Florida and Michigan. Neither state would allow her to catch Obama in the popular vote — which in almost all measures does not include the record turnouts in caucus states — or earned delegates.

** RASMUSSEN NATIONAL TRACKING POLL: OBAMA SLIGHT EDGE OVER CLINTON, MCCAIN SIGNIFICANT LEADS OVER BOTH. The latest Rasmussen robopoll has Barack Obama clinging to a narrow lead over Hillary Clinton, 46% tp 43%. Obama had a 5-point lead over Clinton yesterday; 8 points before the endless loop of Rev. Jeremiah Wright incendiary comments.

In general election match-ups, John McCain leads Obama, 49% to 42%. And McCain leads Clinton, 51% to 41%.

** BIG CLINTON LEAD IN PENNSYLVANIA. A new Franklin & Marshall College poll gives Hillary Clinton a continuing big lead in the Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary. It’s Clinton 51%, Obama 35%.

Pennsylvania, which has its primary on April 22nd, has always been one of the most favorable states to the Clintons in the entire process. Witness her image score there: 65% favorable, 18% unfavorable.

The poll was taken March 11-16, which mostly coincides with the height of the furor around the Rev. Jeremiah Wright tapes, and of course prior to Obama’s speech. For Obama, tougher sledding that has gotten still tougher. He has a 47% favorable and 25% unfavorable rating. His favorable dropped 10 points since last month; his unfavorable rose nine points.

** WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.

Barack Obama campaigns in Charleston and Beckley, West Virginia. He has another major speech on Iraq, this time with regard to the US economy.

Hillary Clinton campaigns in Terre Haute, Anderson, and Evansville, Indiana. She keeps pushing for do-over primaries in Michigan and Florida, without which she has no hope of catching Obama in the popular vote.

John McCain continues his foreign tour of the Middle East and Europe. The maverick Western senator, now frontrunner for the presidency, is in London for a meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Conservative Party leader David Cameron, and others, and a fundraiser at Spencer House.

** SCHWARZENEGGER LIVE WEBCAST THIS AFTERNOON. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who yesterday floated the idea of shifting sales taxes away from goods to services, today continues his push for California budget reform with a meeting with Orange County local elected officials, law enforcement officials, and business and community leaders in Anaheim. He’s pushing what he calls his Budget Stabilization Act. The event will be webcast live at 1:15 PM.

** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel.

You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.

While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.

** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil is trading in the $100 to $102 per barrel range. The oil price has dropped dramatically in the past few days on expectations of a global economic slowdown and possible recession.

Your posts are welcome in the Forum.