Checking In With The Democrats

There's still about two weeks left before the Pennsylvania primary, and so the silliness that erupts in such a vacuum continues. For instance, Sen. Clinton decides to officially delve into self-parody with her latest ad... a re-do of the 3am ad, this time on the economy-



The concerns of Pennsylvania voters likely explain the change to the economy, though the Bosnia flap may also explain her decision to focus away from national security for the time being. Kudos, though, for attacking McCain rather than Obama this time.

(UPDATE: And since Hillary set up the football for him, McCain released his own 3am ad)

Meanwhile, senior Hillary adviser Harold Ickes spoke with TPM, and confirms that the Clinton camp is pushing the Rev. Wright story to superdelegates, as a way of getting them to turn away from Sen. Obama. Scary scary black scary! Still, he insists that they are running a "genteel" campaign. Harold, tell that to Bill Clinton, whose superdelegate strategy appears to involve screaming and pointing.

And as the tensions of this genteel campaign continue to grow, Howard Dean continues to insist that he will make sure that the race is settled before the convention. "The only thing that's going to keep us from winning is disunity in the Democratic Party. We've got to bring this to an orderly close at the right time," he said. Better get ready to make good on this promise, Howie.

Over on the Obama side, he made some headlines by answering a question on whether Al Gore would have a place in his administration. "I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and play a central part in us figuring out how we solve this [climate] problem," adding that "He's somebody I talk to on a regular basis."

And someone forget to tell Obama that NY already has its primary, because he's been here more often than our own junior Senator lately. His latest trip was for a private LGBT fundraiser in Manhattan. The article notes that "Obama said he did not think it was 'politically feasible' to secure marriage rights for same-sex couples in the country at this point.... but said that he favored civil unions for now while leaving open the possibility that his position might evolve in the future." Points for honesty, at least.

Finally, Obama joined Chris Matthews for the first College Tour special 'Hardball' episode.