Numbers like these (reported here today in the New York Post) have to be worrying the Obama team:

[A] new poll says 64 percent of Democrats nationwide, want [Hillary] to stay in the race.

Even 42 percent of Obama's supporters in the ABC News/ Washington Post  poll, said they don't want Clinton to throw in the towel. . . . . 

Separate polls released yesterday show Clinton beating Obama in West Virginia, 60 percent to 24 percent, and in Kentucky, 58 percent to 31 percent.

If I were on the Obama campaign, I'd want to know why so many Democrats want Hillary to stay in.  It's one thing if they're just enjoying the excitement and coverage the race is generating -- quite another, however, if they want to keep their options open and not be locked in yet with Barack as their nominee.

As a more general matter, it's worrisome that Hillary Clinton is beating Barack so soundly in West Virginia and Kentucky.  Usually, when it becomes clear that one person is pretty certain to be the eventual winner, that person picks up support and electoral momentum because of a "bandwagon effect" -- most people want to go with a winner.  That's why so few campaigns or candidates are ever willing to admit that anything is less than great . . . they know such an admission can begin (or accelerate) a downard spiral for them.

Given all this, it's hard not to wonder:  Where's Barack's bandwagon, and what does it mean that he doesn't seem to have one?

(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

This morning, The Hill reported that Rep. John Murtha’s infamous earmark for the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) was stripped from the 2009 intelligence authorization bill, the very same project which Democrats fought so hard to defend last year. 

The earmark worth $23 million was handily defeated in the House Intelligence Committee by a vote of 17-4.

Perhaps, the beltway establishment is starting to wake up to the public's distaste for these wasteful and corrupting earmarks.

I feel violated.

This election season has been racialized, genderized and heck, even agecized so much even I'm offended. That is, offended at the amount of whining going on because someone dare mention something like the "white vote."

Barack Obama is crying foul because John McCain had the audacity to bring up the fact a member of the terrorist group Hamas endorsed Obama. Obama complained McCain was "smearing" him and accused McCain of "losing his bearings" i.e., old man McCain is off his rocker and confusing things.

In layman's terms Obama threw down his "race card" and raised McCain the "age card."

But I don't understand how discussing Hamas is a "distraction" as Obama calls things that highlight his weaknesses. Is terrorism now off-limits because Obama's middle name is Hussein? I'm having a hard time figuring out the obscure political correctness standard on this one.

Obama is countering the so-called slime by dredging up the Keating Five scandal McCain was implicated in. This is what ultimately led McCain to push horrendous campaign finance laws roundly hated by conservatives. Keating Five is "fair game" says Obama.

Obama's right. Keating Five is absolutely fair game. And so is Hamas. Not because of Obama's middle name, either.

These issues aren't "smears." When McCain talks foreign policy, it isn't an attack on Obama's upbringing. The proper response is not calling McCain an old man. This seems obvious. What is ever more obvious is someone's  "cards" are being overplayed. Obama's. And I think it's time for him to fold 'em.

Caring For China is establishing an Earthquake Relief Fund to assist the victims of the Central China Earthquake of May 12, 2008.  To donate to this fund, go to http://www.CaringForChina.org and go to “Donations”.  The link will give you several options, including PayPal, which is quite easy.  Caring For China will send you a tax deductible receipt and you will be automatically put on Caring For China’s newsletter list.  The list is not distributed to anyone else, and you may opt out at any time. 

We thank you for your heartfelt concern for the people who have suffered in this natural disaster, and for acting so quickly to do something about it.  The funds will be wired to Central China where they will be distributed by our local staff to those in most need.  Please contact us if you have any questions concerning our organization or our mission.

Thus far there is no report of injury to any of the children at the orphanages though at least one of them has been evacuated with the children outside while the building is checked for safety.

The centerpiece of McCain's approach to slowing global warming is a nationwide "cap-and-trade" system for reducing emissions -- setting an overall pollution limit, then letting individual polluters buy and sell emissions allowances within that limit.

Political minefields

But in delivering his manifesto Monday, he also stepped directly on two of the biggest ideological land mines around global warming reductions. He endorsed nuclear power and proposed to crack down on China and India if they don't adopt similar caps to control their accelerating emissions.

Conservatives seem to be snickering over the latest Susan B. Anthony List update.  ... SBA’s No. 1 goal is to end abortion in this country.

This is why some find it highly interesting that the two new co-chairs of the SBA List are former Mitt Romney folk: Barbara Comstock and Cesar Conda. (Conda works at Navigators, the baby of GOP Svengali Mike Murphy, while Comstock has her own shop.)

Still, heads are shaking at the news — especially considering Romney’s abortion-rights past. And, even better: SBA is also holding a fundraiser ($500 a head) with who as its highlighted star of the night? Mitt Romney. “Having Romney headline a SBA event doesn’t pass the laugh test in town among real conservatives,” snickered one self-described “real conservative” who went on to ask: “Two senior Romney people in charge of the SBA? Are they trying to kill the institution?”