[Guest post by DRJ]

The NY Times’ The Caucus reports that Clinton aides who started a website to pressure Barack Obama to select Hillary Clinton as his VP have suspended their efforts, acknowledging that Obama will not pick Hillary:

“In an e-mail message shutting down the effort, the two men said Mr. Obama’s offer of a keynote address to Mrs. Clinton at the Democratic National Convention indicated that she would not be tapped to be his No. 2. It is expected that she will speak on Tuesday night, Aug. 26.

“Because it seems that Senator Obama has made his decision to offer the slot on the ticket to another candidate,” the men wrote, “we believe that continuing to ask him to pick Hillary is no longer helpful to our party’s chances of winning in November.”

Obama has done everything he can to keep the Clintons out of his campaign without alienating Hillary’s supporters. In addition, it seems like he’s only done one or two events to help Hillary pay her campaign debts and even that was lackluster since he almost forgot to ask for donations.

It will be interesting to see how the Clintons respond now and over the next three months.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Beldar compares how John McCain and Barack Obama see themselves.

I agree it’s revealing.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Newsbusters’ post on tonight’s panel discussion at Hardball (without Chris Matthews) says the panel agreed that Barack Obama played the race card when he accused John McCain of saying that Obama “doesn’t look like the other presidents on the currency:”

“But what makes the punditry panel’s unanimity notable is that no one would accuse them of being McCain backers, and what’s more, that they turned up on Hardball. Surely Chris Matthews, were he not on vacation, would have found one diehard to deny reality. But with Mike Barnicle guest-hosting, a consensus of truth-telling broke out.”

Video and more on the participants are at the Newsbusters’ link.

— DRJ

[Posted by WLS — can I say “chick”?]

The NYT Editorial Board obviously senses that blood has been drawn from Obama by the post-European World Tour as evidenced by the cratering of Obama’s poll numbers under the onslaught of the assault on his unbearable lightness of being (hey-that’s kind of lyrical).

As Ben Smith at Politico notes, they couldn’t even wait for an editorial tomorrow before rushing to condemn McCain for alleged race baiting. Their hook? Well, because the Tennessee GOP ran an ad in the 2006 campaign against Harold Ford which referenced his attendance at a Playboy party — the ad ending with an attractive young white woman peering into the camera and suggestively saying to Ford to “Call me” — therefore the use by the McCain campaign of pictures of Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears is really just code for all you bigoted white people in America to understand that Obama really just wants to sleep with all your women.

The ad gave us an uneasy feeling that the McCain campaign was starting up the same sort of racially tinged attack on Mr. Obama that Republican operatives, some of whom work for Mr. McCain now, ran against Harold Ford, a black candidate for Senate in Tennessee in 2006. That assault, too, began with videos juxtaposing Mr. Ford with young, white women.

Mr. Obama called Mr. McCain on the ploy, saying, quite rightly, that the Republicans are trying to scare voters by pointing out that he “doesn’t look like all those other Presidents on those dollar bills.’’

That’s a pathetic excuse for the NYT’s waiving the bloody shirt of racism over this campaign. What Obama actually said was:

So what they’re going to try to do is make you scared of me. You know, ‘he’s not patriotic enough, he’s got a funny name,’ you know, ‘he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.”

The obvious import of McCain’s ad is that Obama is, like Hilton and Spears, famous for “being famous.” He’ certainly not famous for anything he’s accomplished in this life.

But to suggest that Obama’s retort is “rightly” calling McCain on this ploy might be accurate but for one inconvenient fact — as noted here by Powerline, Obama made this same pathetic claim a month ago, but without trying to disguise it with the “dollar bill” reference:

We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid. They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?”

Which only serves to make complete liars out of the Obama campaign’s  statement earlier today that he wasn’t referring to race when he made the “dollar bills” reference. 

“What Barack Obama was talking about was that he didn’t get here after spending decades in Washington,” Gibbs said Thursday. “There is nothing more to this than the fact that he was describing that he was new to the political scene. He was referring to the fact that he didn’t come into the race with the history of others. It is not about race.”

List that bald-ass lie right there along with the multiple rationalizations about why Obama cancelled the trip to Landstuhl Hospital.

Besides, it wasn’t the McCain campaign that raised the whole Obama/White Chick issue. It was Madtv’s Fear Mandingo Love:

Maybe McCain has hired MadTV to do his campaign spots?

[Guest post by DRJ]

I am as reluctant to post on this subject as Patterico was in his obligatory post. Nevertheless, the National Enquirer just won’t let this story go and I can’t either.

The National Enquirer reports that payments of $15,000 a month were made to Rielle Hunter and unspecified amounts to Andrew Young, an Edwards’ supporter/aide who claimed he is the father of Rielle Hunter’s daughter. The payments were allegedly made by a person tied to the Edwards’ campaign:

“The money is being funneled to Hunter by a wealthy colleague who was closely tied to the Edwards’ campaign. This same man is also shoveling cash to Edwards’ pal and former aide Andrew Young – who tried to take the heat off the ex-Senator by claiming he is the father of Rielle’s baby.
***
“A super-rich pal – who was closely involved with the campaign finances – is helping John. It’s likely this man doesn’t know all the dirty details of John’s extramarital affair, but is acting out of loyalty and is not asking a lot of questions – only writing the checks,” revealed a source very close to the situation.”

John Edwards still declines to comment, citing the source.

— DRJ

Posted by WLS:

This has been all over radio and the blogosphere today, but its simply too much of a head-shaker to ignore.

breitbart.tv

I’m beginning to wonder if there has ever been a less serious candidate for President run by a major party.

Powerline has a great dismantling of this fatuous claim.   Bottom line — 11,308 years of proper tire inflation will result in the same savings in oil consumption as would be produced by drilling in ANWR, on the outer-continental shelf, and recovery of oil from shale in the Rockies.

[Posted by WLS]

3 Day Gallup Tracking Poll:

7/27 — Obama +9

7/28 — Obama +8

7/29 — Obama +6

7/30 — Obama +4

7/31 — Obama +1

UPDATED:   8/1 — 44-44

Math is hard, but since this is based on a 3 day rolling “average”, the fact that he was up + 6 two days ago when the polling period was Sat-Sun-Mon, but is up only +1 today when the polling period was Mon-Tues-Wed, means there was a 5 point shift in the average when Tues-Wed replaced Sat-Sun.

I don’t know what that means, but it sounds bad.

The Gallup non-tracking poll from Monday showing McCain +4 no longer looks like an outlier.

Its interesting to consider the analysis from Gallup’s pollster than came with that non-tracking poll showing McCain +4:

This difference between registered and likely voters indicates that now McCain voters are disproportionately represented among the estimate of those most likely to vote if the election were held today. This difference (in which Republicans gain among likely voters compared to registered voters) appears for the first time in USA Today/Gallup polls this year. In earlier 2008 polls, more Democrats than Republicans were engaged in the campaign and considered likely voters. This is generally a rare occurrence given that Republicans have historically been more likely to qualify as likely voters under Gallup’s model (a fact that has been borne out in the real world as Republicans are able to win elections despite facing deficits in party identification or pre-election standing among all national adults).

The similarity between the likely voter and registered voter numbers in previous polls this year may be because there has been atypical interest in the election and enthusiasm among Democrats — likely due to the exciting nomination campaign between Obama and Hillary Clinton.

The current shift in likely voters could be a result of a short-term energizing of the GOP base as a reaction to the Obama foreign trip or some other cause. (Data from the current poll do suggest that Republicans are overwhelmingly likely to feel that the news media are too positive about Obama and too negative about McCain.) The degree to which this current shift toward the GOP candidate among likely voters remains in place remains to be seen. In general, most poll consumers agree that the likely voter model is most predictive in the final poll before an election; analysis based on likely voter models this early in the campaign should be considered to be a snapshot in time and suggestive of possible turnout scenarios and their implications.

The registered voter number, which would be equivalent to all eligible voters turning out, generally produces more stable estimates. This is the number that Gallup’s Daily tracking poll has reported to date.

The likely voter model gives a sense of what voter preferences might look like if those most likely to vote — based on their current interest in the election along with their past voting behavior — voted. The likely voter group measures hypothetical turnout “if the election were held today” with the understanding that conditions will change between now and the election, and knowing that well-designed and executed opinion polls can only measure the current state of affairs and not project many months into the future.

Update:  Quinnipiac has new polling out today on Ohio, Florida, and Penn.

Florida:  Obama 46-44 (June – Obama 47-43, down 2)

Ohio:  Obama 46-44 (June – Obama 48-42, down 4)

Penn:  Obama 49-42 (June – Obama 52-40, down 5)

I’ve always thought the Quinnipiac poll was a Dem leaning poll, sort of like the Field Poll in Calif.  So, the fact that they show the margins in these battleground states shrinking at the same time the national tracking polls show Obama losing nearly all his margin over McCain, suggests that Obama’s campaign since he became the presumptive nominee has gone the wrong direction.  He’s had two bounces — following Hillary’s capituation, and following his trip abroad.  Both disappeared in short order.  He’s like the sinlge guy in a bar late at night who always goes home alone — he just can’t close the deal.

[Guest post by DRJ]

Ludacris recently released “Obama is Here” and LiveLeak has the video and lyrics:

“I’m back on it like I just signed my record deal
yeah the best is here, the Bentley Coup paint is dripping wet, it got sex appeal
never should have hated
you never should’ve doubted him
with a slot in the president’s iPod Obama shattered ’em
Said I handled his biz and I’m one of his favorite rappers
Well give Luda a special pardon if I’m ever in the slammer
Better yet put him in office, make me your vice president
Hillary hated on you, so that b^$&%* is irrelevant
Jesse talking slick and apologizing for what?
if you said it then you meant it how you want it have a gut!
and all you other politicians trying to hate on my man,
watch us win a majority vote in every state on my man
you can’t stop what’s bout to happen, we bout to make history
the first black president is destined and it’s meant to be
the threats ain’t fazing us, the nooses or the jokes
so get off your ass, black people, it’s time to get out and vote!
paint the White House black and I’m sure that’s got ’em terrified
McCain don’t belong in ANY chair unless he’s paralyzed
Yeah I said it cause Bush is mentally handicapped
Ball up all of his speeches and I throw em like candy wrap
cause what you talking I hear nothing even relevant
and you the worst of all 43 presidents
get out and vote or the end will be near
the world is ready for change because Obama is here!
cause Obama is here
The world is ready for change because Obama is here!”

The Obama campaign has already rejected Ludacris’ lyrics as “outrageously offensive.” In addition, in a Rolling Stone interview, Obama had previously expressed concern about letting his daughters listen to Ludacris.

Ludacris hasn’t helped Obama with lyrics like these and I’m sure we won’t get to hear Ludacris perform this little ditty at the Democratic Convention, at least not in public.

— DRJ

And to my high school friend Amy Riley.

And, if you’re so inclined, to me.

If you know anyone else who was also born on July 31, 1968, please wish them a Happy 40th Birthday as well.

Mine could have been better, for reasons we’ll discuss some other time. But it also could have been a lot worse, but for the intervention of a kind soul (someone you know, but who may not wish to be identified) who helped me when I could use the help.

Life is good when you have friends. Right now, I feel like life is very good.