The Indiana senator

The Indiana senator, who introduced Obama, has been at the heart of the VP buzz. Political pundits had speculated that Obama might tap him to be No. 2 as early as this week because of their joint appearance.

Bayh, a former two-term governor of Indiana, was a big supporter of Hillary Clinton during the primaries. Advocates of an Obama-Bayh ticket say he'd help unify the party and could shore up some of Obama's weak spots because of his time on the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees.

Happy Birthday, Barack Obama

"Happy Birthday, Barack Obama," read the note that came in the package from the Republican National Committee in Washington, D.C. "In celebration of Barack Obama's special day, the RNC is sending you an important gift in his honor."

It then quotes Obama's contention that properly inflated tires would save as much energy as could be gained by increased drilling.

"Instead of actually increasing America's domestic oil supply, this is how Obama thinks you should try to alleviate your pain at the pump," the note ends, with "best wishes" from the RNC.

The gauges were sent to producers from the five major TV networks and most print reporters. They came in several colors, including gold, blue and green.

a slight plurality

Close to half (48%) of Pew's interviewees went on to say that they have been hearing too much about Obama lately. And by a slight, but statistically significant margin - 22% to 16% - people say that recently they have a less rather than more favorable view of the putative Democratic nominee.

In contrast, if anything, Pew's respondents said they want to hear more, not less about the Republican candidate. Just 26% in the poll said they had heard too much about McCain, while a larger number (38%) reported that they had heard too little about the putative Republican candidate. However, as for Obama, a slight plurality reports that recently they have come to have a less favorable view of McCain rather than a more favorable view of him - (23% to 18%).

head-to-head national polls

Here is some additional data to consider when pondering the strength of Obama’s current campaign.

I’ve calculated the average of the 15 most recent head-to-head national polls and Obama’s average is 47.2 and John McCain’s is 43.0. In three of these 15 polls Obama hit the 50 percent threshold (50 twice and 51 once).

I then calculated the average of the 15 polls taken in the 2004 Bush-Kerry race at roughly equivalent times in campaign season (the Democratic convention was at the end of July in 2004, so I pushed back the 15-poll average to just before that convention).

The media has covered Obama more than McCain

The media has covered Obama more than McCain every week since the race narrowed to the presumptive nominees, except for last week when the coverage balanced out, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

The Pew report also shows that Republicans and Democrats think Obama's television advertisements have been mostly positive, while both parties believe McCain's have been mostly negative. However, Republicans are less likely to call McCain's ads negative, similar to how Democrats are more likely to call Obama's positive.

Obama gave a point-by-point rebuttal

It was another day of Paris, Britney and energy this morning, as Obama gave a point-by-point rebuttal to a new ad from his rival, and he and a top surrogate quipped about the celebutantes, during a town hall in this red state the Democrat hopes to turn blue.

McCain began running a television ad yesterday that referred to him as the "original maverick." The ad said Washington was “broken,” the country was “worse off” now than four years ago and that the Arizona senator would reform Wall Street and battle Big Oil.

Obama joked that it had taken McCain 26 years in Washington to figure out that the system was broken and argued that contradicted McCain's earlier assertions that America had made "great progress economically" over the past eight years. He said McCain had boasted about voting with George Bush 90% of the time, which showed he was no maverick.

the real choice on energy

While distorting John McCain's vision for energy independence, Barack Obama is also misleading the American people when he says John McCain supported the Bush-Cheney energy policy. Let there be no mistake: the only candidate who voted to give tax breaks to Big Oil is Barack Obama when he supported the 2005 Bush-Cheney energy bill that gave $2.8 billion in subsidies to the oil companies. John McCain voted against this bill for the very reason that he opposed these tax breaks to oil companies and as president he will ensure their repeal. While he may decry them on the campaign trail, Barack Obama had no problem standing side-by-side with the oil companies while in the United States Senate.


Both these distortions distract from the real choice on energy: While both candidates support aggressive expansion of alternative energy sources, Barack Obama says there are some energy sources such as drilling and nuclear power that should not be developed. John McCain believes that we must tap all our energy resources to become energy independent, including alternative energy, nuclear and offshore drilling. This is the very clear choice that will confront the American people at the voting booth in November.