Presidential Race: More Odds and Ends

I can't keep with the news cycle anymore. But here's a post in which I try-

Good news for Democrats... the number of voters who say they're Democrats is on the rise, whereas independents are giving Republicans their lowest approval #s of the Bush era.

This chart has the most succinct summary of the Democratic race I have found. It shows how many delegates each candidate has, how many remain and in what states, and what the candidates' strategies are moving forward. The underlying fact remains neither can win without superdelegate votes.

One argument both will be making to said superdelegates is electability. A new poll finds that both can beat Sen. McCain in a general election... but Obama wins by a slightly better margin. What's truly interesting about the poll is a look at how the two candidates differ in shaping the electoral map (Hillary's wins are more traditional; Obama does better at blue-ing red states). Also to be considered is what effect each would have on the congressional and Senate races in each state.

And in the actual campaigns, Hillary wants you to know that she has crossed the "commander in chief threshold" and that John McCain has too, unlike that loser Barack O'McTalksALot. McCain > Obama? This sort of rhetoric is angering a lot of voters... including the never shy Keith Olbermann.

Keith Olbermann also did a report on the same show on the truth about the NAFTA story.

Sen. Obama, meanwhile, fires back on his ability to handle a crisis.

On the Florida and Michigan front, the Clinton team still seems reluctant about do-over contests. They still say the original votes must count... even though Clinton said last Fall that she was keeping her name on the Michigan ballot because "It's clear, this election they're having is not going to count for anything." Oops!

A top Obama advisor resigned this week after referring to Clinton as a "monster" in an overseas interview. Kudos. If only the numerous Clinton staffers who've thrown the kitchen sink at Obama this past month (African Muslim! Ken Starr!! Karl Rove politics!) had the dignity to do the same.

Glenn Greenwald, meanwhile, has an excellent post on how conservatives are saying they find "scary" the level of enthusiasm that Obama supporters are showing for their candidate. Greenwald reminds said conservatives of the cult of personality that they built, with no tolerance of dissent, around their hero, George W. Bush.

Moving on to the Republican side, a few people decide it's time to set the record straight on McCain's revisionist lie that he was critical of the Iraq strategy and of Donald Rumsfeld. A good start. The media has a very bad habit of taking McCain's lies at face value.

Finally, with the GOP primary over, a video tribute to what a circus it was.