AP's Sidoti writes that the electoral road to the WH favors Dems this fall - either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton - and has John McCain "playing defense to thwart a presidential power shift." "Both parties count on victory in dozens of states that long have voted their way. The competition to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to win is expected to play out primarily in 14 states. All but one saw the greatest action" in '04. The exception is VA, "a longtime Republican stronghold where Democrats have made inroads." Eight of the states went for Pres. Bush four years ago, including OH and FL. Six, including big-prize PA, voted for John Kerry. In the battlegrounds, far more electoral votes, 97, are up for grabs for Dems than the 69 available for McCain to go after. Twice as many of the closest states - decided by 2 or fewer percentage points - voted GOP in '04; they include NM and IA, which the GOP won by 1 point. "Both sides argue that their candidates can expand the playing field by making more states competitive than in previous elections. But they likely will only spend time and money to test that theory once they feel confident about higher priority states" (4/26).

Move Over, Maverick

Obama and McCain "are setting up a battle over who is the more proven party 'maverick,' a debate that could loom large" in a potential 11/08 matchup "likely to hinge on the choice of independent voters." GOPers "are already questioning Obama's record of bipartisanship by citing a history of liberal Senate votes, and the frontrunner" for the Dem nod "tried to fight back" 4/27 on FNS, "pointing to his support for less regulation, tort reform, and charter schools as areas where he has broken with Democratic Party orthodoxy." The GOP strategy "mirrors" the efforts Dems have made for months to undercut McCain's image as a straight-talking maverick. They have hammered McCain for supporting an extension of tax cuts he originally opposed as well as for his campaign's withdrawal from the public financing system for the GOP primary, a move Dems say is at odds with his backing of campaign finance reform earlier in the decade" (Berman, New York Sun, 4/28).

More On "How Things Should Be," By Elizabeth Edwards

In the New York Times, Elizabeth Edwards takes on the media, saying that information about WH'08ers' priorities, policies and principles "too often did not make the cut. After having spent more than a year on the campaign trail with my husband, John Edwards, I'm not surprised." Press "is now consigned to smaller venues, to the Internet and, in the mainstream media, to occasional articles. I am not suggesting that every journalist for a mainstream media outlet is neglecting his or her duties to the public. And I know that serious newspapers and magazines run analytical articles, and public television broadcasts longer, more probing segments. But I am saying that every analysis that is shortened, every corner that is cut, moves us further away from the truth until what is left is the Cliffs Notes of the news, or what I call strobe-light journalism, in which the outlines are accurate enough but we cannot really see the whole picture." "Voters who take their responsibility to be informed seriously enough to search out information about the candidates are finding it harder and harder to do so, particularly if they do not have access to the Internet. ... If voters want a vibrant, vigorous press, apparently we will have to demand it. Not by screaming out our windows as in the movie 'Network' but by talking calmly, repeatedly, constantly in the ears of those in whom we have entrusted this enormous responsibility. Do your job, so we can -- as voters -- do ours" (4/27).

Phones Ringing Off The Hook In Cobb County

Headline: "Barr's Campaign For White House Taking Shape." Barr, in a recent interview: "There are several things we want to get in place before we would make an announcement. We anticipate having them nailed down in very short order." "So, has Barr heard anything — veiled threats, promises of plum ambassadorships — from the McCain forces lately?" "No, not directly," replies Barr, who "had to give up his weekly op-ed column in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution when he launched the exploratory committee. Of the few "more traditional" GOPers he has heard discouraging words from: "They have this sort of idea in their minds, bless their hearts, that nobody should do anything to upset the Republican nominee. This notion that the political world swirls around two galaxies only, Republican and Democrat only, and anybody else who enters that fray is going to affect the other two and that's bad — that's a very myopic notion" (Vejnoska, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4/26).

Point-And-Click-And-Pay

The "explosive growth in online political contributions is helping to make this the most expensive presidential campaign in history. But lost in the money pipeline is the cost of point-and-click donations." An Arizona Republic analysis of campaign expense records shows that orgs that process credit-card transactions have collected more than $11M in fees for handling Internet contributions and related services. "Candidates in both parties, including the three major candidates still in the race, have divided the processing fees among several orgs, with some turning to openly partisan sources to process the bulk of their donations, the analysis shows" (Hansen, Arizona Republic, 4/27). New York Times' Rohter/Cooper write that the three top WH'08ers "differ strikingly in their approaches to taxes and spending, but their fiscal plans have at least one thing in common: each could significantly swell the budget deficit and increase" the nat'l debt by "trillions of dollars," tax and budget experts say. "For fiscal experts concerned with the deficit, both approaches are worrisome" (4/27).

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