Hillary Clinton will be on Larry King Live tonight. It begins in 30 minutes here, and I'll try to live-blog. She was also on Keith Olbermann -- that live thread is here.

Watching a clip now. She says Obama's campaign has gone negative in the past days but overall it's been a positive campaign. She would like nothing better than to keep the discussion on issues like the differences in their health care plans. She'll put a Republican or two in her cabinet and will make good use of Sen. McCain.

Show is about to start. I'll live blog it below.

Hillary Clinton is on Countdown with Keith Olbermann tonight. I'll try to live-blog. Hope you'll add in in comments.

Keith does an intro with the MSNBC/McClatchy poll showing Hillary up by 5. He then has a tape of Obama saying he's showed great restraint in attacking Clinton. Then he shows Hillary at a rally saying "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." He plays the Osama image in her PA ad and a bit more of it.

Here's Hillary in Harrisburg. Is the election going to be decided by the price of the gallon of gas? Can a President do anything about the price of gas?

She answers the economy is going to be a big issue. There are things the President can do. She'd launch an investigation to make sure the prices aren't being manipulated. She'd release some oil from the petroleum reserve. She gives more specifics. (So yes, Keith, there are things the President can do.) She then talks about how the President needs to develop a new energy policy. She links it right to gas. She's sounding very smart and ready. [More...]

The North Carolina Democratic Party today announced the April 27 debate has been canceled.

Which candidate do you think agrees with the reason? After noting the heightened interest in the race between Hillary and Obama, the notice reads:

However, there were also growing concerns about what another debate would do to party unity.

Has a debate ever been canceled before on grounds of party unity?

By Big Tent Democrat

Josh Marshall gins up the overwrought reaction to the Clinton ad calling the Obama's camp's link to a Bill Clinton 2004 statement a "gotcha" moment. Just absurd. Obama supporter Steve Benen says it well:

The initial response from the Obama campaign directed reporters to a video of Bill Clinton in 2004 saying, “If one candidate’s trying to scare you and the other one’s trying to get you to think; if one candidate’s appealing to your fears and the other one’s appealing to your hopes, you better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope.” True enough. But I’ve seen plenty of demagogic fear-mongering, and this ain’t it. There’s a touch of the “fear card” there, but it’s so mild, it maybe registers a two on the political Richter scale.

(Emphasis supplied.) The Obama and ObamaWorld overreaction was quite absurd and not smart politically.

By Big Tent Democrat

Why? Because delegate results will be delayed:

The wait is almost over for Pennsylvania's Democratic presidential primary Tuesday, but voters may have to wait a little longer to find out who won the most delegates to the party's national convention. As in other Democratic contests, Pennsylvania awards delegates based on the statewide vote and the vote in individual congressional districts.

Unlike most states, Pennsylvania has a large number of counties split into multiple congressional districts. That could delay results by a day or more as election officials work to assign votes to the appropriate districts.

The popular vote prevails for once. Hurray!

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

I think John McIntyre of right leaning Real Clear Politics describes the CW Goal Posts well:

Senator Obama has another opportunity tomorrow [to KO Clinton] in Pennsylvania - and this time he doesn't even have to win. If he simply outperforms the latest RealClearPolitics Average which has him trailing by 5.9%, that will be enough to calm nervous superdelegates while all but eliminating any hope Senator Clinton has of claiming a popular vote victory. Senator Clinton has a much higher hurdle. With time running out and Democrats increasingly anxious to turn their fire on John McCain, a win by 2-4 points along the lines of New Hampshire and Texas will simply not get the job done. Hillary Clinton needs a double-digit win.

More...

Here is an Xcel spreadsheet from the PA Secretary of State showing the final tally of registered voters for the primary.

Highlights: 4.2 million voters are registered to vote in the Democratic primary. Of those, 800,000 are in Philadelphia. 567,000 are in Allegheney (Pittsburgh.) The next biggest seem to be Delaware with 157,000, Bucks County with 185,000 and Montgomery with 248,000.

By age, 401,000 (10%)are 18 to 25; 655,000 are 25 to 34; 709,000 are 35 to 44.

58% of registered Dems are over 45. 20% of registered Dems, are in the 45 to 54 age group. And 38% are over 55.

As for new voter applications, they surged for the periods of March 24 and March 31, but dropped dramatically after that until voter registration closed April 22. In Philadelphia, 23,000 new voters registered during those weeks -- statewide almost 100,000 registered.

About 100,000 voters changed party registrations during the three weeks of March 17, March 24 and March 31.

Any number crunchers out there want to weigh in on what these numbers might mean for tomorrow's primary?

Update: County Map is below the fold

By Big Tent Democrat

The SUSA's internals.

Whites make up 81% of the vote, A-As 14% of the vote. But SUSA has Obama making real inroads into the white vote. It now is a 22 point spread (previously a 30 point spread), 58-36. The A-A vote is, predictably, 87-11 Obama.

Here's the deal, if the white vote breaks 62-38 (assuming a 4-2 break among the white undecided for Clinton), she wins by about 8 or 9, assuming a split among "other voters." If it is less or more than that, it will be almost a one to one percentage change in the result. Almost all undecided voters in the SUSA poll are now white voters.

By Big Tent Democrat

I am with Kevin Drum on the Obama campaign's overwrought reaction to the latest Clinton ad:

Are the pro-Obama forces seriously trying to get their troops outraged over this latest ad from Hillary Clinton? Just because it contains a ten-second sequence of presidential crises (Depression, Pearl Harbor, gas crisis, Katrina, etc.) and flashes a half-second clip of Osama bin Laden as part of it? Spare me. Are Democratic political ads no longer even allowed to mention the fact that the next president is going to have to deal with the war on terror?

The reaction is overwrought and I think politically obtuse. It makes it seem like Obama really is afraid to discuss the war on terror and we know he not only is not, but it is one of his strongest arguments - that we need to fight the war on terror not the Debacle in Iraq. Strange reaction from the Obama camp and his supporters.

Update (TL): The ad is below:

By Big Tent Democrat

NOTE - The big news from the call was the categorical denial of the Drudge Report post that Clinton internal polling has Clinton up 11. There is no such polling says Garin. Indeed, he implies there is no recent internal Clinton polling at all, citing "frugality."

I will live blog the Clinton Conference Call starting now. They will discuss their closing ad. Garin and Wolfson on. Garin discusses the ad. Says the ad is about issues. (I have not seen the ad.) More . . .

By Big Tent Democrat

The new World's Greatest Pollster now has Obama closing fast in PA, cutting a 14 point deficit to 6. The SUSA poll shows a 50-44 result (previously it was 54-40.)

Details to follow when available but this is what has been offered - "The poll . . . concluded that women will carry Clinton to victory, despite a surge for Obama in the southeast portion of the state." We need to see the cross tabs to understand this better. More . . .

(103 comments, 317 words in story) There's More :: Permalink :: Comments