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Direct Relief International: Emergency medical assistance
Washington Post
5/14
Burdened by the Weight of Inflation
Nearly seven in 10 Americans are worried about maintaining their standard
of living, as concern has spiked higher in just the past five months,
according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Soaring consumer prices
are a major challenge, with many people struggling under the weight of the
rising costs of fuel, food and health care. . . .
ABC
News
5/14
The
Race Factor in West Virginia
A confluence of groups inclined toward Hillary Clinton gave her an easy
victory in the West Virginia primary, with less-educated, lower-income
whites predominating in this Southern state. In a trouble sign for
delegate-leader Barack Obama, barely more than half said they'd vote for
him in November if he's the party's nominee. . . .
Los Angeles Times
5/14
Most don't see economy improving soon
Most Americans see little hope that the economy will improve in the next
six months, and many also are decidedly pessimistic about the direction of
oil prices and inflation, according to a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll
released today. The views on inflation could become troublesome for the
Federal Reserve: If more Americans believe inflation will worsen there is
a risk of those expectations becoming self-fulfilling. . . .
ABC News: The Numbers
5/13
Obama and Working-Class Whites
The anticipated outcome of today's contest in West Virginia is prompting a
fresh review of Barack Obama's difficulties winning support from
working-class white voters in this year's Democratic primaries. One
question: The extent to which it does or doesn't predict problems for
Obama if he's the party's nominee in November. . . .
AP
5/13
Networks, AP sue in South Dakota over exit polling
The three major networks, CNN, Fox News and The Associated Press filed a
lawsuit Monday asking a federal judge to strike down a South Dakota law
that prevents exit polling within 100 feet of a voting place. The law
violates the First Amendment because it restricts the news organizations'
speech and commentary about the political process and limits their
opportunities to gather information about that process, the lawsuit said.
. . .
Democracy Corps
5/13
Youth for the Win!
... Young voters at this point are as supportive of Democrats as they were
in 2004 and 2006. Democratic identification is stable and young people’s
support for a generic Democratic candidate for President stands at 59 to
32 percent, a margin which exceeds young voters’ Democratic performance in
the 2006 elections. There is every reason for Democrats to seek an even
bigger youth margin in 2008. . . .
ABC
News
5/13
Advantage Obama
Pushing back against political punditry, more than six in 10 Democrats say
there's no rush for Hillary Clinton to leave the presidential race, even
as Barack Obama consolidates his support for the nomination and scores
solidly in general-election tests. . . .
ABC
News
5/12
Bush Hits New Low as 'Wrong Track' Rises
Public disgruntlement neared a record high and President Bush slipped to
his career low in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll. Eighty-two
percent of Americans now say the country's seriously off on the wrong
track, up 10 points in the last year to a point from its record high in
polls since 1973. And 31 percent approve of Bush's job performance
overall, while 66 percent disapprove. . . .
Politico
5/12
The Obama campaign's 'unsung hero'
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had just declared victory in the Nevada
caucuses when most campaign reporters heard Jeffrey Berman's voice for the
first and only time. Berman, Sen. Barack Obama's director of delegate
selection, chimed in during a conference call with the media to make an
unexpected case: Despite Clinton’s popular vote victory in Nevada and an
authoritative Associated Press count giving Clinton the edge in the Nevada
delegate count, Obama had actually won the state by the only measure that
mattered. . . .
New York Times: Willam Galston & Pietro Nivola
5/11
Vote
Like Thy Neighbor
The buzz these days is that American politics may be entering a "postpartisan"
era, as a new generation finds the old ideological quarrels among baby
boomers to be increasingly irrelevant. In reality, matters are not so
simple. Far from being postpartisan, today's young adults are
significantly more likely to identify as Democrats than were their
predecessors. . . .
New York Times: Jack Bass
5/11
In
Dixie, Signs of a Rising Biracial Politics
Across the South, Barack Obama's smashing primary victory in North
Carolina last week reflects a new reality -- a half-century of rising
Republican red tide has crested, with signs of receding. . . .
Wall Street Journal: Gerald Seib and John Harwood
5/10
America's Race to the Middle
The long, fascinating spectacle of the presidential primaries has all but
obscured their potential impact on American politics: Campaign 2008 may
break Washington's gridlock by reviving the long-dormant political center.
. . .
Bloomberg
5/10
Clinton, Obama Top McCain on Handling the Economy
Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama get higher marks than
Republican John McCain from voters on handling the U.S. economy, which
Americans now consider the nation's top issue. A Bloomberg/Los Angeles
Times survey shows Clinton is favored by 32 percent of registered voters
as the presidential candidate best equipped to manage the economy,
followed by Obama at 26 percent and McCain with 23 percent. . . .
New York Times: Andrew Kohut
5/9
The
Widening Gap
The phrase "generation gap" came into vogue in the 1960s as a way of
describing the wide gulf in values, beliefs and lifestyles that emerged
between baby boomers and their parents and grandparents. Indeed, this
difference between younger and older people played out sometimes
turbulently in the '60s in virtually all aspects of life, including the
ballot box. . . .
Washington Post: Behind the Numbers
5/8
Clinton's Broader Base?
Hillary Clinton's comments to USA Today arguing that her support among
white voters in the primaries provides her with a broader base of support
have set the blogosphere abuzz. . . .
Gallup
5/8
Obama's Support Similar to Kerry's in 2004
Barack Obama's current level of support among white voters in a
head-to-head matchup against John McCain is no worse than John Kerry's
margin of support among whites against George W. Bush in the 2004
presidential election. . . .
Salon: Dan Conley
5/8
What
does Hillary want?
From watching the coverage of the 2008 race, you'd think that the
Democratic Party has never been down this road before -- divided along
racial lines, mired in a bitter personal battle, seemingly incapable of
repairing the divisions in time to defeat the Republicans. If you believe
this, then you probably didn't experience the 1994 U.S. Senate race in
Virginia. . . .
CBS News
5/7
Non-Democrats Influenced IN, NC Vote
Sen. Barack Obama sailed to an easy victory in North Carolina, while Sen.
Hillary Clinton edged him out in Indiana. National exit polls conducted
for CBS News by Edison/Mitofsky. Research show that each candidate
retained the bases they have held throughout the primary season, with
state characteristics making most of the difference. . . .
ABC
News
5/7
White Working-Class vs. Change in IN; Blacks Lift Obama to NC Victory
A divided electorate made for a close contest in the Indiana Democratic
primary, where working-class whites and controversy over the Rev. Jeremiah
Wright worked to Hillary Clinton's advantage, while liberals, new voters
and the mantle of "change" boosted Barack Obama. . . .
AP
5/7
Race key in NC, IN but Wright's impact mixed
Race again played a pivotal role in Tuesday's Democratic presidential
clashes, as whites in Indiana and North Carolina leaned solidly toward
Hillary Rodham Clinton and blacks voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama,
exit polls showed. Half the voters said they were influenced by the focus
on Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. . . .
CBS News: Poll Positions
5/6
Why
Do Polls Yield Different Results?
If polls that seem to be similar yield different results, you've got to
find out why. And this week, we've seen different results from several
polls that apparently asked the same "horserace" question: Who's ahead --
Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama? . . .
Salon: Thomas F. Schaller
5/6
How
Hillary Clinton botched the black vote
If Hillary Clinton fails to wrest the Democratic presidential nomination
from Barack Obama, there will be plenty of second-guessing about how she
ran her campaign. . . . [O]ne little-discussed factor (with direct or
indirect relation to all of the above) appears to have had fatal
consequences for Clinton's campaign: She failed to mount a strong enough
challenge to Obama's claim on the African-American vote. . . .
Pew Research Center
5/6
Pope Benedict's Image Improves Following U.S. Visit
Following his first visit to the United States as spiritual leader of the
world's Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI is viewed more favorably than he was
a few weeks before his trip. Currently, 61% of Americans say they have a
favorable impression of the pope, up from 52% in late March. . . .
Democracy Corps
5/5
The MySpace Election
Two outcomes are almost certain in 2008 -- Democrats will win the youth
vote and young people will vote in record numbers. What is less obvious is
the size of the margin and the scale of their participation. . . .
ABC News: The Numbers
5/5
Battling Data: What Gives?
There were at least a few crossed eyes today over conflicting data and
analysis in the latest New York Times/CBS and USA Today/Gallup polls. We
share your pain. . . . Before we get into what gives, we'll use this as an
opportunity to repeat our long-standing advice to de-emphasize the horse
race in pre-election polls. It is lowest-common-denominator reporting. And
in poll-to-poll comparisons it's the single most unstable measure we see.
. . .
New York Times: Rhodes Cook
5/5
Popular Mechanics
While Hillary Clinton probably can't catch Barack Obama in the race for
most pledged delegates at the Democratic presidential nominating
convention, she does have a shot at overtaking him in the popular vote.
Whoever triumphs in that symbolic total will have a persuasive argument to
use with the wavering superdelegates who are likely to decide the race
this summer. . . .
New York Times
5/5
Voters Say Wright Could Weigh on Obama
A majority of American voters say the furor over the relationship between
Senator Barack Obama and his former pastor has not affected their opinion
of Mr. Obama, but a substantial number say it could influence voters this
fall should he be the Democratic presidential nominee, according to the
latest New York Times/CBS News Poll. . . .
New York Times: John Harwood
5/4
A
Fault Line That Haunts the Democrats
AS this historic Democratic primary season enters its next grueling phase,
the party has become embroiled in a conflict between antagonists who would
seem better cast as allies. Senator Barack Obama is a black candidate who
has built his career on de-emphasizing race, while Senator Hillary Clinton
is a white liberal who has been sensitive to minorities, and the issues
facing them, during her long years of political activism. . . .
National Journal: Ronald Brownstein
5/3
When
Blue Collars Are a Tight Fit
After Hillary Rodham Clinton's decisive win in last week's Pennsylvania
primary, Barack Obama and his advisers quickly offered a series of
explanations for her resounding advantage among working-class white voters
there. In rapid fire, Obama and his team insisted that he had carried
those voters in many other states, was improving his performance among
them, and did not need them to win a general election; to the extent he
faced a problem at all, Obama declared, the difficulty was age and not
class. But exit polls from this year's Democratic primaries show that
almost all of those assertions are debatable and some are flat-out wrong.
. . .
Washington Post: Behind the Numbers
5/3
White Catholics for Clinton: A Demographic Look
Throughout the Democratic party's nomination process, white Catholics have
consistently been a strong point for Hillary Clinton, a group among which
she tops or ties Barack Obama in almost every single state where exit
polling has measured their votes. Exit polling conducted in Pennsylvania
shows that Clinton's edge with Catholics is not a function of the
demographic makeup of Catholics themselves, but instead cuts across
demographic lines. . . .
CBS News: Poll Positions
5/2
Why
Question Order Changes Poll Results
Polling seems easy. Write questions. Make sure the options balance, and
that the choices cover the range of options. Train interviewers to ask the
questions as written, and tally the results. But if you don't also ask
those questions in the right order, things can get complicated. . . .
Pew Research Center
5/2
Obama's Image Slips, His Lead Over Clinton Disappears
Democratic voters are not as positive about Barack Obama as they were a
month ago. Somewhat smaller percentages of Democrats describe Obama in
favorable terms, and he has lost his lead over Hillary Clinton in the race
for the Democratic nomination. Nationally, Democratic voters are about
evenly divided between Obama and Clinton; Obama holds a slight 47% to 45%
edge. . . .
UVA: Alan I. Abramowitz
5/1
Societal trends reshaping American electorate
Discussions of the current political situation and comparisons between the
2008 election and earlier contests frequently overlook a crucial fact. As
a result of changes in American society, today's electorate is very
different from the electorate of twenty, thirty, or forty years ago. Three
long-term trends have been especially significant in this regard:
increasing racial diversity, declining rates of marriage, and changes in
religious beliefs. . . .
New York Times
5/1
Primary Loss and Furor Over Ex-Pastor Hurt Obama
Senator Barack Obama's aura of inevitability in the battle for the
Democratic presidential nomination has diminished after his loss in the
Pennsylvania primary and amid the furor over his former pastor, according
to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll. . . .
MSNBC
5/1
Bush a liability for McCain
Sen. Barack Obama’s ties to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright could hurt his
presidential hopes. So could his comment about "bitter" small-town America
clinging to guns and religion. And Americans might question Sen. Hillary
Clinton’s honesty and trustworthiness. But according to the latest NBC
News/Wall Street Journal poll, the bigger problem appears to be John
McCain's ties to President Bush. . . .
[
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