Campaign roundup

Clinton ahead in Pennsylvania polls; Scaife and Moore make their endorsements.
Steve Benen
April 21, 2008 7:58PM (UTC)

Today's installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn't generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

  • So, what do the latest polls in Pennsylvania say about tomorrow's primary? Quinnipiac has Clinton up by 7 percentage points (51-44); Strategic Vision (R) also has her up by 7 (48-41); Mason-Dixon has her up by 5 (48-43); Zogby has her up by 6 (48-42); ARG has her up by 13 (54-41); Suffolk shows her leading by 10 (52-42); and SurveyUSA has her up by 6 (50-44). Public Policy Polling (D) is the oddball, showing Obama leading by 3 (49-46).

  • On Saturday, for the first time in several weeks, the Gallup Poll Daily tracking report showed Clinton taking a narrow, 1-point lead over Obama. By Sunday, however, Obama had reclaimed the lead, 47 percent to 45 percent.

  • The Clinton campaign still has some financial trouble: "Financial reports released to the Federal Election Commission around midnight this morning show that Clinton raised around $20 million in March and had roughly $8 million available at the beginning of April for use during the primary. But the campaign also reported debts of $10.3 million, which makes it in the red leading into contests in Indiana and North Carolina."

  • Most of Pennsylvania's newspapers have endorsed Obama, but Clinton picked up the support Sunday of the right-wing Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, owned and published by Richard Mellon Scaife, who helped finance the anti-Clinton crusade of the 1990s. (Just as an aside, the paper said it supports Clinton in the "Democrat [sic] primary." Even when endorsing, conservatives have to use the grammatically incorrect name for the party.)

  • Bloomberg takes a look at what it would take for Clinton to win the Dems' popular vote: "Clinton would need a 25-point victory in Pennsylvania, plus 20-point wins in later contests in West Virginia, Kentucky and Puerto Rico. Even that scenario assumes Clinton, 60, would break even in Indiana, North Carolina, South Dakota, Montana and Oregon -- a prospect that's not at all certain. More than just big margins, Clinton would need record voter turnout too."

  • Michael Moore endorsed Obama.

    • Steve Benen

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