- Tue. Jul 8, 2008
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WHAT'S NEWS
• New polls of IN Dem LVs show Hillary Clinton leading Barack Obama 49-43% (Suffolk Univ.) and 53-44% (ARG/R), while Zogby shows Obama leading HRC 44-42% (releases). Meanwhile, new polls of NC Dem LVs show Obama leading HRC 52-41% (ARG/R) and 48-40% (Zogby) (releases).
• A new CBS/New York Times poll of Dem LVs shows Obama leading HRC 50-38%, while a new USA Today/Gallup poll of Dem LVs shows HRC leading Obama 51-44% (releases).
• "After a marathon all-night counting session," Obama beat HRC in the 5/3 Guam caucuses "by a mere seven votes" -- 2,264 to 2,257 (AFP). HRC and Obama picked up two pledged delegates each, while the Guam Dem chair/vice chair election "added a superdelegate for Obama and subtracted one" for HRC (ABC News).
• Obama scored endorsements from superdelegates/USW assoc. member Kalyn Free and NM Dem chair Brian Colon; the Charlotte Observer; Gary Post-Tribune; Louisville Courier-Journal; Muncie Star Press; and Friends of the Earth Action (release). Meanwhile, Obama supporter/ex-SC educ. superintendent Inez Tenenbaum was elected as an add-on superdelegate (AP), as was Obama supporter/ex-MD Gov. Parris Glendening (D) (WTOP.com).
• TX superdelegate/DNC member Jaime Gonzalez Jr. endorsed HRC this weekend (release), while HRC supporter/ex-MD LG Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D) was chosen as an add-on superdelegate (WTOP.com).
• Two of HRC's five superdelegates who spoke at this weekend's CA Dem convo "said they would reconsider their support" if Obama maintained his lead in elected delegates and the popular vote after the 6/3 contests (Los Angeles Times).
• HRC and Obama, "competing for votes ahead of tomorrow's critical primaries," fought over the gas tax yesterday, with Obama calling HRC's plan a "Washington gimmick" (Boston Globe), and HRC dismissing opposition to the gas tax holiday as "elite opinion" ("This Week").
• In response to HRC's gas tax holiday-criticism, Obama released a new TV ad in IN and NC, arguing that HRC's plan "would boost oil industry profits but not do much for families who need relief" (release). He will also air a closing two-minute TV ad in IN and NC tonight, in which he "continues to speak out against a gas tax holiday" (release).
• FEC filings through the first quarter show, 17 Senators -- 16 GOPers and Joe Lieberman -- "had written a check to support" John McCain's WH bid (Roll Call).
• HRC's camp sent out a mailer in IN that asks: "Where does Barack Obama really stand on guns?" (New York Post).
• HRC launched her first TV ad in OR this weekend, highlighting her "commitment to take on the big challenges" (release).
• According to camp and union officials, Obama won the Teamsters' endorsement this year "after privately telling the union he supported ending the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption" -- an "unusual stance" for a WH candidate (Wall Street Journal).
• "Pointing to a difficult landscape for the GOP this fall" (USA Today), state Rep. Don Cazayoux (D) defeated '96 SEN nominee Woody Jenkins (R) 49-46% in the 5/3 LA-06 special election (Baton Rouge Advocate). And in a special LA-01 election to fill now-Gov. Bobby Jindal's (R) seat, state Sen. Steve Scalise (R) earned a "commanding" 75-22% win to take the seat (New Orleans Times-Picayune).
• For more headlines, see today's Earlybird: Top News; Campaigns; Pundits & Editorials; Network News; TV Guests; Today In Washington.
PLAY OF THE DAY
FNC's Gretchen Carlson goes back to anatomy class on Play of the Day!
HAIR OF THE DOG
At 12:30 pm today, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) will "present middle school student Riley DiNoia with a Joe's Heroes Award for raising money for a police dog's bulletproof vest" at Chippens Hill Middle School (Newsday).
GOSSIP BUFFET
• HRC suffered "an unfortunate metaphor" at this weekend's Kentucky Derby, when her chosen horse, Eight Belles, "broke her front ankles in the race and was euthanized" on the track (NBC).
• Tom Hanks "just released a new short film" endorsing Obama (New York Post).
• Sources said that a "major reason" why ex-church member Oprah Winfrey stopped attending Trinity United services in the '90s was that she "was never comfortable with the tone" of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's "more incendiary sermons" (Newsweek).
• Obama supporter/Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) thinks Obama wouldn't be having half as hard a time getting beyond the Wright controversy if he would only "remember the Aloha spirit" ("The Sleuth").
• Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), who has quite the "spirit for hogs," owns three motorcycles, "including one with a sidecar" (Roll Call).
• "Somebody faints at nearly every one of these things now. At my age, I didn't think I could make anybody faint anymore" -- Bill Clinton, on making people faint (AP).
• NV Gov. Jim Gibbons (R) -- who filed for divorce from his wife, Dawn, on Friday, and has been "spending nights" at the couple's home in Reno -- still has his "clothes and boots" at the Governor's Mansion (Las Vegas Review-Journal).
• Just over a year after leaving the hospital "in a wheelchair and with a titanium rod in his left thigh," NJ Gov. Jon Corzine (D) ran yesterday's Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K in 33 minutes and 16 seconds (Newark Star-Ledger).
• HRC said she likes to give her husband "little mementos," such as "a metal frog that I thought was cute," because "he's collected frogs a long time" ("The Caucus").
• Canvassing in Elkhart, IN, on Sunday, Obama stopped to talk to Rose Bias, 44, who had her son, Trenton, "on a leash because the toddler was apt to run off" ("The Trail").
• Watching the Arizona Diamondbacks play the New York Mets in Phoenix yesterday, McCain "was greeted with subdued cheers and a smattering of boos" when he was shown on the giant video screen (AP).
• OH AG Marc Dann (D), who admitted having an affair with his 28-year-old ex-scheduler, said he won't resign and is "very hopeful" his wife will forgive him (Cleveland Plain Dealer blog).
• Conan O'Brien, on the YouTube video of HRC having trouble with a coffee pot: "When he saw the video, Bill Clinton said, 'Yeah, she's not very good at turning things on'" ("Late Night").
ROOSTER'S CROW
• The Energy Dept.-sponsored Nat'l Science Bowl finals for high school students (today).
• "Mockery of Cinco de Mayo Stereotypes" fiesta (Cafe Citron, 4 pm- 10 pm).
• Chinese Music Society of Greater DC celebrates Korean Children's Day (Kennedy Center, 6 pm).
• Arianna Huffington at Politics and Prose (7 pm).
• Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" (Comedy Central, 11 pm).
BREAKFAST FLAKE
"Happy people treat others better than unhappy people do" -- Syracuse prof. Arthur Brooks, on why the politics of happiness deserves politicians' attention (Chicago Tribune).
Nora McAlvanah, Editor
Maura O'Brien, Associate Editor
About Wake-Up Call
- A morning news briefing on politicians and the press.