• Is Obamamentum fading? That question deserves to be raised as Hillary goes through a banner day today with the pick-up of three superdelegates. They are ex-Pittsburgh Mayor Sophie Masloff, newly elected California Congresswoman Jackie Speier (won the now-deceased Lantos’ old seat) and Bill Burga, head of the Ohio AFL-CIO. All three had been considered major undecided “gets” for each candidate. Masloff was seen as leaning Clinton due to the almost universal support for HRC among top Pennsylvania Dems, but the other two are key indicators of Hillary’s continued appeal to many Democrats. And it shows that superdelegaets  and their moves cannot be predicted. Isn’t Obama supposed to be packing away the most important SD’s? Howard Dean can’t be liking this…
  • More Pennsylvania love for Hillary: Luke Ravenstahl, the young and politically ambitious mayor of Pittsburgh, has come out and endorsed HRC in the PA primary race, a surprising boost for her campaign and a potential game-changer with young voters in the state. Ravenstahl was seen as the arbiter of 30-and-under support in the Keystone State - a core demo for Obama’s success. That the Pittsburgh Mayor broke for Clinton is a sign of just what an uphill battle Obama has to gain any traction in PA.
  • More national polls out this morning. The AP-Ipsos poll covers national numbers for the Democratic primary battle and has match-ups of the two Dem contenders against GOP nominee McCain. Biggest surprise: McCain has come back very nicely head-to-head against Obama, with the two now tied at 45%. Obama had been leading McCain by 10-points late in February.  So at least one poll shows the ill effects of the Rev. Wright controversy have yet to wear off of Obama. Hillary still retains her lead over McCain - albeit a smaller advantage. And Obama is steady among national Democrats, with a 3-point lead over Hillary. No change from Feb. in that number.
  • Hillary may be picking up superdelegates but Obama is gaining some interesting bipartisan support as former Bush administration Secretary of State Colin Powell showers some strong - yet uncommitted - praise upon the Dem frontrunner in an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer. He shocked us all when he refused to give any hint of support to Republican nominee McCain (he is still a Republican), and didn’t even bring up the name of Hillary. Powell didn’t voice political solidarity with Obama, instead using some enthusiastic phrases to say that he backed Obama in the Rev., Wright fiasco and that he thought Obama’s speech on race was “a good speech.”  Powell went on to say… “I admired him for giving it. And I agreed with much of what he said.” Yet another Obamican?
  • Slate’s excellent John Dickerson writes that the McCain campaign is hoping for some major props and good will comes out of JMac’s upcoming “outreach tour” that will focus on photo ops’ and stops in places not necessarily thought of as Republican strongholds. Lots of attention paid to African-American issues and urban regions usually ignored by the wealthy suburban GOPers.  Think of it as a first direct general election salvo against Obama, whom the McCain team is convinced will be the Dem’s nominee (another bombshell…) They want to go on offense against Obama right away, painting him as a “phony” who can’t match his rhetoric with solid policy or action. Sounds like someone else’s argument against Barack…
  • NYC mayor Bloomberg fuels up the speculation machines as he shows McCain major love introducing him before a speech in New York today. No independent bid, no endorsement of Obama… Maybe McCain’s his guy? After all, JMac was a key Republican backer of Bloomberg’s mayoral run back in ‘01.
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